president whose intel's trip to the united states and we will talk about jobs and job growth in 2011. all that and a look at the newspaper and your phone calls and waits on "washington journal" which starts at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. we will see you then darie. . [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]

now, a discussion with some activists who recently traveled there. some of the topics are disease response, humanitarian aid concerns, sexual violence and sanitation. this is an hour and 30 minutes.

brookingsstitution here in d.c. >> my name is ted picone, senior fellow and deputy director of the foreign policy program. we're very honored to have with us an incredible panel to talk about the tragic earthquake in haiti that took place almost exactly one year ago. we are here today really at a momentous time to step back and reflect on the challenges that haiti faces, the terrible tragedy and to take a moment to take stock of the circumstances the and how to move forward in the best possible way for all concned. we're going to have a full diussion and it will proceed in the following way. we're first going to hear from our honored guest, sean penn, who's the founder of the j.p.

haitian relief organization and you'll hear lots more about that as we go through. and we will then also hear from paul wechlt wisenfeld. they will each speak from the podium for about ten minutes, then we'll take some questions and answers. we will then turn to our panelists and i lint deuce them in a moment and we will take a very brief break when mr. penn needs to leave around 3:00 but we will then continue with the discussion until 3: 30. let me formally introduce our panelists. mr. penn is a two-time academy award winner and you have their bios. i won't recount them in detail and it is an incredibly

impressive career in film, writing as a journalist, and increasingly as humanitarian. his work in haiti has been particularly remarkable. he's also done some work in new orleans after the hurricane katrina. but recently he's been spending all of his time when he's not on a film set, it seems, in haiti, in port-au-prince working side by side th the victims of the earthquake. his organization runs the largest camp in port-au-prince and established the first emergency relocation in the country. he's worked quite closely with u.s. military. it will be interesting to hear his thoughts on that. he's been commended with many different awards from the u.s. military and we're very honored to have him here. we will then hear from paul

weisenfeld. he's had over 18 years of experience at usaid and sved as the coordinator of usaid haiti's task force in the aftermath of the earthquake, has a lot of field experience in countries like per rur, zimbabwe and egypt and he willive us a sense of how things look from a usaid perspective. we'll take some q and a, we'll go back to the panel and hear from samuel worthington, president andeo of interaction which is a partner in hosting this event. interaction is the largest alliance of u.s.-based international non-governmental organizations with 190 members. he's also very involved in interagency standing committee at the united nations and i will come back and make an announcement about their work in a moment. we also have the privilege of hearing from two other speakers.

beth ferris is the director of the brookings project on internal displacement and also senior fellow here at foreign policy. she's an expert on force migration, human rights, humanitarian action, the role of civil society, she's just returned, as many of our speakers have, from haiti. she's spent many years in geneva working for the world council of churches, teaches and writes extensively on these topics. and then we will hear from claude jedat, director of habitat for humanitarian haiti and he's been running that position since 2004. habitat for humanity has been in haiti for 27 years so they have a long-term perspective on the issues of shelter and housing on the island. he's also a member of the interim haiti reconstruction commission which is the body that is co-chaired by prime

minister of haiti and former president bill clinton that will also be hearing about in the course of the discussion. as you know from the press attention on this niversary, a lot of people are asking what's going on, why aren't we seeing more progress on reconstruction. i think the job here is to really with these experts explore some of the complexities of the situation, both of the happenings on the ground and overall international response to it. one question that we'll want to focus on is more than the immediate response and logistics but also the rights and dignity of the haitian people inlved in this disaster. and in that spirit, there is a new document that we have been here at brookings very involved wi in particular, a project on internal displacement, which is the guidelines, the operational guidelines, on human rights and natural disasters.

we have copies for you out front. this document was adopted by the interagency standing committee which is a body affiliated with the united nations and is the highest humanitarian coordination body that we have in the world. and these principles, i think, put front and center the whole range of rights that are implicated in natural disasters and how to think about them in an intelligent way. as you know from the statistics, the earthquake killed over 200,000 people, displaced 1 1/2 million people, the infrastructure is ruined in port-au-prince, the capital city. you'll hear a l more statistics. i will not go through them all. i think it is clear that there's very strong political will on the part of governments and the general public to help haiti. the outpouring has be tremendous, but we're now in this window where the immediate crisis is past us and there

needs to be action on reconstruction. this is where it really takes a long time to get moving. it's in a planning phase. you don't see as much of the progress as you'd like to see on the ground. and that situation, how long does that situation last and where can things go wrong, at are the trade-offs to really show tangible progress for the haitian people, is one of the key questions i think we'll be talking about today. so with no further ado, let me ask sean penn to come to the podium. >> thank you. well, in the last days, beginning yesterday and today, we understand that the office of the american states is going to make a recommendation that the candidates supported by the president of haiti, jude sillstein, drop out of the race and the run-off be between

martelli and manigot. whether the president will accept this proposition remains to be seen. the assumption is that an official announcement and cep response will follow the anniversary an the attendant media. in either case, just to frame the circumstances that we're talking about today and that you'll hear a lot of various perspectives on, to go back to the beginning, we had a country with a rather broken infrastructure and void of infrastructure in many ways prior to the earthquake. government offices, close at 4:00 on the afternoon. an earthquake that happened at 5:00 in the afternoon and 60% of government buildings collapsing on those committed enough to stay after hours and killing so

many of the valuable resources, human resources and human beings in haiti. this is to say that while so much of the attention is going to be at the slow pace of things, that the interconnectedness of a human population so severely traumatized with such a chaotic disaster as an earthquake where infrastructure, building codes, mixed so poorly and created so much damage, this, in the best of circumstances, would be a venture that took some enormous patience and a kind of, i think, re-education of cultural interetation and media coverage. patience that would be more human than commercial and one that we should be pushing very

hard to see in the coming year. when the international donors conference toward a new future for haiti was held in march of last year, $9.9 billion was pledged over the ne thramount, billion was pledged for 2010-2011. pledges that range from the offer to build a senegal-based haitian consulate to an imf pledge of conssion on loan and debt relief. so here we are, january 10th, 2011. while the world media will focus on haitian election fraud and call for re-elections and recounts, it would be worth our considering our own closet. how would it be if we were to do a redo of the donors conference with caveats -- no nation may diminish the value of their

initial pledge and no nation may pledge in-kind donation or diversified pledges. this translates into a conference which would allow the haitian government and the haitian people to hold donor nations' feet to the fire by requiring not cash but tangible components of reconstruction. this would look like france, stating th it would rebuild eight hospitals that were destroyed, repair and pay out debt on the 22 that were severely damaged. as a coalition, all donor nations would commit that every haitian have access to potable water and drilled wells with filtration or decellenization units so every haitian would have access to clean water by 2012. with each nation responsible for a city and outlying area, including the mountainous and remote areas who are attic lar risk of mortality as they suffer cholera with aack of clean

water accessible. 2012 is a year for visionaries. with an already-severely malnourished infrastructure, haiti faced a devastating earthquake that killed nearly 300,000 people. 300,000 human beings in ten seconds one year ago. not to mention the nearly 400,000 with largely devastating injuries. since that time, tens of thousands have been killed from flood and mudslides, hurricane tomas put port-au-prince in the crosshairs of catastrophe. for nearly a week and a near-miss, sending aid organizations into a virtual lockdown and panicking an already-vulnerable population. then the recent elections and the doubts in their legitimacy showed that, though a resoluly civil society, this recent and passionate expression is synonymous with a traumatized culture fding its first voice

since the most devastating disaster in human history occurred just one year ago. this is where it gets tricky. because as we have seen, the media will report on chaos, death and destruction, and with our haitian partners burgeoning emotional readiness and make no mistake, there is still mourning to do. the alchemy that is our culture's lack of patience, their country's immediate needs are going to be at odds. because what will potentially be newsworthy tragedy in the upcoming months of social struggle surrounding elections will be the perception of a chaotic and unsolvable set of problems at the most solvable moment. if the media and if we in the international relief community, and our donors, stand beside this expression of the people,

and stand beside the curnt government and whatever future government they may choose, 2012 will be the beginning of a triumph that has never been seen so tangibly on a small island nation of 10 million an hour and a half from our shores. how did we do it. how did we change the failed dynamic of relief work of the last several decades. we can start by looking at the common thread of failure. i've been in haiti since mid-january, 2010. i came with a fresh eye, but no know that creating and sustaining an effective ngo is not at all unlike before, the stakes are immeasurably higher but the process is nearly identical. in our ngo, jphro, today our

burn rate is approximately $1 million a month. in film our burn rate is about $120,000 a day which adds up to about three times the burn rate of my ngo. the number of staff is approximatelthe same. cash-for-work programs pay far less to the equivalent for fees of crowd scenes, comprised of members of an extras union. we break it wnads and areas of . in one case, money adds up to entertainment and given a little care, perhaps a few provocative thoughts gifted to the culture. and the other cas in the ngo case, it adds up to the preservation olives, of men, women and children, and with a little luck, human hope and independence. this brings me back to the thread of failed aid in haiti

and the front row seat that i have had had in this past year. in film, if we fail to provoke an audience, we fail a medium that is obliged to more than entertainment. with its power to be big cultural medicine. and when we fail that, it is due to our reliance on cliche. so here is a cliche that you often hear in the ngo community. here's a cliche that, as much as any, is as hollywood as anything i've ever seen and should be given its finaloffin now. don't give them fish, teach them to fish. what fish? what school? what building inspector? what building code? what materials? of course, we have to support

haiti with training, parallel training. but that can also be the smokescreen that teach them to fish, the smokescreen that leaves hundreds of thousands of vulnerab and unsanitary camps through next year's hurricane season. we've got to put the fish there. the time for action is now. one year after the earthquake we're facing challenges with donors on issues like camp management. i'm hearing every day that more and more ngos are relieving themselves of the role of camp manager because e funding is dryi up for those activities or because the job's just too hard and they no longer want to be in such difficult position. camp management f, for the reco, is not about keeping people in the camps but about helping people return to viable sure communities or to reach their osen durable solution.

ose who left the camps up easi to help. there were host family opportunities. for example, we have a rubble removal outfit, a heavy equipment wing. you identify an area of operations with the population of your camp. you go, you remove the rubble. get other ngo partners, find transitional or permanent shelters, or repair shelters. and then offer those families in camp to move back into those neighborhoods. those options have been largely exercised. and what remains in the camps today are those in the most desperate of circumstances. those who have no alternative. there's no short will give an e. to date in port-au-prie,

temporary shelters erected number about 7,000. that's in a year. what is needed to get allli bac minimally -- hurrice-resistant structures, homes that a not on tarps on mud banks, ond fld other where one match could light the whole camp on fire. where disease, infections, can spread like lightning. so where you had as many as 1.8 million at one point, coming down dramatically to 1.2, and now at about 750,000, but now going to be the slow part. now it's going to be the tough part. 7,000 shelters were erected, 400,000 is what would be needed.

given that the shelters themselves are all single level, they will not spread in the areas available, and so this goes back to is going to be ma. so all of the things, whatever happens in port-au-prince, and what have happens with the international community, is going to have to be complemented by business interests and aid diversifying into other areas supporting t cities outside of port-au-prince and the remote areas and of course, agricultural interests. there's got to be more rubble removed. more shelter an housing solutions. more water and toy lets, roads, hospitals, schools, jobs. we've got to offer them a way out of the camps. landowners are getting increasingly frustrated and most

camps are on private lands. we cannot allow forced evictions, putting people from harsh into even more harsh conditions. so we must show a change of pace to landowners. according to the most recent iom report on displacement, the number of internally displaced persons is still at 810,000, which includes 750,000 people still living in camps. people still living in idp camps are doing so because they have no alternative. no one wants to live in an idp camp longer than necessary but we have to allow them to return to communities that are safe, secure and stable. the people of haiti deserve a haiti that is better than it was before and itme. funning and resources.

if forced evictions and relocations are condoned by the international community and the haitian government, we will see camps move from private lands into the streets of port-au-prin wg we can all agre worse circumstance. the time for action is now because haiti cannot wait any longer. we cannot let the sense of optimism and belief that haiti can recover and transform into a self-sustaining nation fade out of impatience, frustration or complacency. we can do this right and we owe the people of haiti to do cultures of sustainable development and emergency reli. so i think that notwithstanding a haitian perspective, or an

answer that would be easily pick up on by the media from a haitian spokesperson in the relief community, one has to -- we ourselves, as american citizens, have to ask ourselves, when we say that for children of a certain age that nutrition that applies to brain function, meaning permanent, long-lasting brain function capacity, when it's not just about how much food but what food, as that would apply in haiti, this is an emergency. so we'ren emergency phase. this is one among many emergencies. shelter. chole cholera. emergency and sustainable development should not be competing cultures of aid. they have to work interlinked

and long-term. once upon a time the united states was known for its capacity to take on complete visionary projects, the hoover dam, and with canada the st. lawrence seaway with its dividend linking the great lakes to the atlantic. there was an fdr's tennessee valley authority bringing electricity to the south. it was a roguefashion that demonstrated who we are as a people. when our first lady, michelle obama, experienced widespread criticism in exclaiming first-time pride in our country. the criticism was wildly opportunistic, because as beneficiaries of those great generations with their bold american endeavors, we all share the hunger and need for the return of our nation's dignity.

not only hurcinternll said of t marshal plan that it was the most unsorted act in world history. and it is just such an act that is the opportunity we have in haiti today. a reborn haiti will spark a new generation of american might through dignity. hamost impoverished neighbor and it is a one-hour and a half flight from miami beach. thank you. >> afternoon. thanks for this opportunity today. it is obviously an appropriate ti to do a stock taking of what's been going on in haiti think about the events over the last year and the relief efforts. from usaid side, we'd also like to think about the year going

forward. i think haiti is obviously at a pivotal moment, as sean penn said, right now. sometime this year we hope to have a new gome elections in a second. we've had the cholera epidemic has been all-consuming for the last few months and epidemiologists tell us the curve of that is that it will lessen over this year. there's also been an enormous analytical effort to undertake designs of new reconstruction programs so 2011 should see reconstruction start to begin a pace in haiti. we have to get through some significant challenges but we are at a pivotal moment. i think some of thegroundwork for that pivotal moment has been laid with some of the successes that we've seen over the last year. as a development agency we know that success ultimately depends upon the capacity of the local governmentnd local people. we can respond to immediate issues but sustaining them, carrying them forward, is ultimately an issue of local capacity. you need a government that's committed. you need a government that's committed to make difficult decisions and trade-offs that it

takes to pro tell development. you need strong institutions of government that can deliver services, respond to citizen needs, and you need markets that function so that they can allocate resources and people can invest and jobs can be created. if you think about haiti at 9:00 in the morning on january 12th, 2010, they would score low on any of those criteria. so the challenge ishat haiti faces pre-earthquake were overwhelming challenges. obviously at 4:53 on january 12th those challenges were made considerably more severe in terms of having institutions of government that were strong, even having the people, as sean penn said, to respond to those issues. nonetheless, i do think it is important to recognize some of the challenges. the last year of haiti has been a tragedy upon a tragedy upon a tragedy but there have been whek back and think that some things did go right. you think again immediately after the earthquake with large numbers of people displaced, the largest urban displacement in

history. initially 1.8 million people. the number has moved over time but the international community's immediate fear was widespread disease, malaria, all sorts of diseases. there was a tremendous international effort to vaccinate 1 million people, to distribute 800,000 mosquito nets. and that effort has largely been success. . we have t seen an outbreak of any of those diseases in haiti. we were also tremendously worried about the hurricanes. when you've had the largest displaced people ever in an urban setting in an island that's subject to natural disasters and hurricanes, that was an overwhelming fear. there was again an enormous international effort of tens and tens of millions of dollars to mitigate, put in mitigation efforts to prepare for the that debris that every year floodhou haitians. included stabilizing slopes around camps and building drainage difference and

retaining walls and sabags and all sorts of engineering fixes. the were 21 people who died when hurricane tomas went through and that obviously 21 deaths too many. when you think out 2008 when haiti was subject to a series of tropical storms, not even a hurricane, several in a two-week period, they had over 1,000 deaths so there is some success to talk about. we've seen the haitian government take leadership in those areas. it was the department of of civil protection that did pry and -- that had over 100 people out on the streets after hurricane tomas leading the effort to assess the damage and coordinate international relief. the resilience of the haitian people is just extraordinary. many of you i'm sure have traveled to haiti. their ability to suffer all of these tragedies and continue going on. we talk a lot about the search and rescue effort that the international community led which again was the largest search and rescue effort in history. haiti, unfortunately, gives us a lot of firsts, none of which a

positive. but most of the people who were saved in haiti are saved by haitians. haitians dug their own family and friends and countrymen out of the rubble and they've continued to show tremendous resilience in the face of extraordinary challenges. challenges going forward are numerous. you have to have a government partner that coordinate lead development and work up to sustainability. even before the elections were finished, the opposition claimed fraud. some of the ngos that were involved in it pointed to serious irregularities right away. the united states was very supportive of the international effort to send in teams to assess this the president ultimately requested a mission from the oas to look at this. they sent in aninternational team that included people from the hemisphere as well as europeans. the goal is obviously to have an election that reflects the will of the haitian people so our focus is always on the process.

what is a process that reflects the will of the haitian people and can confer legitimacy on a new government. we did support the mission that went in to do a statistic analysis. there are lots of media reports today about what the report says. none of us have seen the official report. we understand that it does point to irregularities. it is expected to be given to the president and the electoral council toy, we believe. some time in the coming week it is expected be given to the council of the oas. we'll look at with a kind of recommendations we c support again focused on the issue of an election that reflects the will of the haitian people and relts in a government that has legitimacy of the haitian people. the result is obviously in part a political process. whatever happens has to be agreed to by the parties moving forward so we don't see instability and disruption in

haiti. we know instability is never someing good for development. our primary concern is moving forward in a way that deals with the underlying problems with the poverty in haiti. other challenges, sean penn has mentioned a number of them. rubble removal. rubble has been the thorn around everyone's neck. 80% of the area of the country is a slope. simply finding places to dispose of the rubble. people who's traveled there know that after most of the -- much of the rubble was taken from the main roads, the bk roads that are winding and narrow and are not easily accessible to large-scale equipment, it is just an overwhelming enormous challenge but we have to move forward on that. i mean we know through our efforts that we've removed 1.3 million cubic meters of rubble but we don't even know how much rubble there is. estimates are alover. army corp of engineers said early on 19 million. subsequent engineeri ining estis

say 25 million cuber meters of rubble which would be trucks filled bummer ebumper to bumpe going half-way around the globe. in haiti we know finng precise data is always a challenge. regardless of the total figure, we have to move forward with efforts to remove the rubble. that will be a significant impediment to anything. housg which is obviously related to the rubble. you have to clear the rubble to erect housing. it is priority number one to resettle people into a dignified life. that's our focus. for usaid, for the u.s. government, more for much of the international community. it is difficult but we have to get people to where they can live with dignity. our numbers are a little bit different. as we can count through the international community there have been 26,000 temporary shelters constructed which would be sufficient to house over

200,000 people. we do know that sincejune, the number of displaced in the camps has dropped from about 1.3 million to under 1 million. that's a significant accomplishment. it is not enough. obviously 800,000 or 1 million or whatever the number is, people living in those kinds of conditions, is untenable and unacceptable for the international community. in any other disaster, if you removed -- if you resettled 200,000, 300,000 people, it would be an extraordinary achievemt. where you have more than 1 million people displaced you can hardly see that if you're at ground level in the visual so there is a lot of work to be done. cholera is another enormous challenge. it's consumed efforts. it started in the noh central valley. unfortunately it didn't start in the camps which was one of the fears. we do think the efforts to distribute clean water were successful in preventing those kinds of diseases in the camps but cholera is, asedical people know better than i, it is the deadliest form of diarrhe a

diseases and in an environment without proper infrastructure for water it spreads like wildfire. haiti is unfortunately a terrible place if you add cholera into the mix. so the international community's thrown lots and lots of resources at it. we still have over 3,600 deaths since october 22nd. the disease onits own will start to decline but we need to continue filling the pipeline for mmodities as much as we can. cholera again is a tragedy for the deaths, it is a tragedy because gaus diverit diverts re from other things to try to make lasting improvements in people's lives. we will continue to focus on both prevention, which is providing clean water, providing hygiene messages, providing commodities so people can engage in normal hygiene activities and that will reduce the number of cases obviously intended to reduce the number of cases. and treatment through the various treatment options of oral rehydration therapy and intravenous therapy for more severe cases to reduce the

number of deaths. but that will be a challenge going forward. overcoming the challenges is going to be difficult in hiti given the conditions there. what can we do about it? one of the things we know that you have to do is you have to shift as quickly as you can to using local resources, using private resources. so we started in the early days with general food distribution and we tried to shift as quickly as possible to rather than giving out food, handing out cash vouchers and buying food locally. you hand out cash vouchers so people can buy it locally and that stimulates the local economy. you keep flooding poor countries with food, farmers don't have an incentive to grow so we tried to shift early on to supporting those local solutions. same thing with water provision. haiti has a private sector system of water provision in the cities that function so we tried to build into that system instead of providing water because you want to strengthen local systems. innovation is another thing that we have to continue to look at. the extent of the challenges in

haiti requires new thinking to overcome them. there's no question. we don't have all the answers. the types of things we've look at are providing mobile money. we're doing a joint program with the bill and melinda gates foundation where we've set aside cash prices to cell phone operators and banks who can provide a functioning mobile money system. haiti is a country where over 80% of the people have never had access to a bank account. if you're in that kind of situation, it is almost impossible get out of poverty so proving access to financial services through new technologies is something critical and we're hopeful to announce today the giving of the prize for setting up a mobile money system. agriculture as well. 66% of the haitian population are engaged in agriculture. if you spend your time in port-au-prince you don't necessarily see it but it is fundamentally an agricultural economy. poverty there is fundamentally agriculturally based. how do you get people out of poverty in agriculture? you have to look at new

technologies, new seeds, new fertilizers. since the earthquake we've had some programs where we've seen with targeted technical assistance and new sd varieties, productivity can be increased by 75 taurus % to 100. in the lives of poor people it makes an enormous difference to double their income. we need to look at those kinds of solutions and expand them. ultimately we'll have to continue building local capacity. we'll have to work with a new government that will reflect the world of people and generate investment. foreign investment, t there's domestic investment. there are wealthy haitians. one key challenge we find in development, you can go anywhere in the world and find people who have money, even in haiti. but where do they invest their money? wealthy haitians ten to invest their money in miami or france so we need to help the government create the conditions where the wealthy haitians feel that it is a good investment to invest in their own country. if that happens, then you're rely rocking and rolling.

you're really doing something to stimulate forward investment and help haiti pro tell its own future. i know we're going to have a queson and answer period but thank you very much for this opportunity. >> we're going to do a quick question and answer and just take a moment for our panelists to be miked. i wanted to pose a question. we can open it up forurther questions. which is a general sense of time line here. i mean this is one of the really difficult questions but one that might give both donors and the american population an haitians some sense of what are we talking about in terms of time? we're dealing with an unprecedented situation in terms of rubblremoval, for example. what do you see from the ground level as -- are we talking about three to five years, something where we might be able to think

of haiti as in a situation where it is out of this emergency place and into a more sustainable development phase? but before you answer that, let's open the floor to other questions. this gentleman in the middle right here. yes. >> wait for a microphone and please identify yourself. >> yes. my name is mark bossford of bossford global. since day one of the earthquake, the debate about economic sustainability or emergency care has been on everybody's mind. we have started a group called my town. it provides community planning and development. we're partnering with the korean government, talking to the u.s. government, trying to get the idp out of port-au-prince into -- return back to their communities and we think we've t everything pretty much sewed up. we're rolling out the ngos.

and -- >> you have a question? >> yeah. the question is, what do you think about the icrh's mandate, supposed to be for 18 months? do you think it will go out for another year? >> let's take a couple more before we come back to sean and paul. this gentleman in ont here. >> good afternoon. my name is danny yates. i'm a william and mary student and i was in haiti on january 12th, 2010 at the time of the earthquake. ever since i return to the u.s. i've been trying to helpome of my haitian friends which are college students over there and my question is, based i guess on higher education, 95% of the university sector is knocked out and i know all the world's attention has been on things like food and medical and shelter but i'm trying to work with a group that's going to bring some students to a college here in the u.s. of course funding issues are a big problem. do you any thoughts on higher education and sort of the next

generation of haitian leaders. that's my question. thank you. >> let me take one more right here in the front. >> hi, i'm adam kunz from international relief and development. since the early daysf the disaster, there's been lot of discussion and rhetoric about the need for decentralization. because port-au-prince was much too overpopulated. the discussion continues about the need for that, but i'd like to hear a little bit about the mechanisms. how we'll actually accomplish that, rather than just hope it happens. >> great. why don't we -- you all are miked up. turn back to paul and sean for some responses. time line, both general and specific on ihrc and gher education, this last question. >> the ihrc mandate was initially for 18 months. a lot of people have assumed that it is going to be extended beyond 18 months but there's no decision yet. it was created by an act of

parliament of the government of haiti with the agreement of the international community. obviously the elections are something that having a functioning government in place is key t so many things moving forward. we need some sort of act of parliament. it is not just the presidential election that's held up, it is the parliamentary elections that are also subject to some dispute. that's something that has to be dealt with before we can do that. my guess is that we would expect to see its mandate extended but i can't commit to that. in terms of university education, education is critical. i can't see who asked the question but, the higher education unit institutions were considerably damaged. from our side we're committing to help recon instruct the mid wivry school and medical school. but like anything else in hti it is going to be an effort of many years. one of the things we need to do is bring more haitians to the

united states while those institutions are being built up. we have a commitment to bring a couple of dozen a year for higher education in the u.s. and we need to look at ways to increase that because you're right, that's critical. >> i mean i think that my impression of the ihrc is that it is a highly functioning group of economic academics and well-intended force of people with an entirely unrealistic structure of -- i think the meetings are about once a month for two hours focusing o all proposals and thousands of pages of them to enac any kind of project plan or action plan. so at this moment, i think there could be many reasons for that. that could change and it may well be subject to what has been perceived since even before the earthquake as a lame duck administration and with some intention to wait until after. at the moment it is those kinds

of projects and major reconstruction projects that have made, for example, the camp management things that i was talkingabout remain with the appearance of being static. the options are not there. on the education level, one of the things that comes t mind immediately when that's talk about, i think as a constitutional issue in the haitian cotitution having to do with thebility of die as practice to participate in haiti and with a constitutional amendment on that issue will come more incentives. then there is the ise of decentralization which we see in a very tangible way in haiti, in port-au-prince, every day. just how necessary it is and again, this is one of the things where, whether it be through the ministries and idb or through the ihrc project plaing, the

encouragement of private business, for example, an international airport which is a ready-made business opportunity for so many which has i think about 200-room capacity in hotels and is a beautiful tourist destinatn. a hotel and airpo there i think would be the beginning of the kind of complementary situation to international relief organization work that would start to stimulate, you know, the potential that haiti has. >> what i'd like to do is actually give our panelists a chance to begin their remarks and so i'm going to ask i believe sa you're our first up. you can speak from the chair. >> oh, sure. i returned from haiti this past saturday after spending a week visiting some interaction members on the ground. we have about 100 u.s. non-profits operating there. many of them have been in haiti

for 20, 30 years befehand and at the time of the earthquake, some 3,400 staff of u.s. non-profits were on the ground. unfortunately, like many organizations, their lives were lost. i'm starting with the non-profits in a sense, because it is important to recognize that all this effort is done by people. there's a sense of -- i wouldn't call it burnout but these are very tired people. there is a tremendous burden, 12, 16-hour days, day after day for the last year. many organizations have rotated their infrastructure through haiti and in many ways what we see here -- i'm talking just about the u.s. non-profit community, a disaster of magnitude that is far larger than our capacity to respond. because the world has not built the infrastructure, whether it is in the u.n. sstem or within the ngo community around the world, to handle disasters to the magnitude of haiti or pakistan all happening at once. it is a gap between our capacity and what can be done. but ultimately, haiti is about

the haitian people, it is about a people trying to pull their lives together, it is about the ability of a family to rebiuild themselves. where non-profits and ngos start, just like sean penn's effort, is the ability to help a family pull themselves up. you start that family by family. one of the accusations that is often made of the non-profit communities is we can't get the scale. to me, haiti is an example of our community at scale. not only did the american government give, but the american public gave. our members received $1.3 billion from the american public. roughly half of those resources have been spent to date in haiti by the end of october. an the reality is actually we're tight on resources. because wisely, the community divided its resources between short-term relief, and long-term development, and in many ways those short-term relief resources are drying up ways th

relief resources are drying up and you're forced to a quandary. and that's dilemma, these choices, that are being made on the ground that i would like to highlight today. they'd been lots of -- preamble sort of on the challenging of the environment, the reality of the number of people in the camps, but it comes down to small ttle changes. is getting a tent up to provide education. it's seeing that, say, the children are sent in a tent, learning that 90% of the people who were in education system before, are now back in -- at school. their school in tent and you see the children trying to build 54 schools going forward. at the same time before the earthquake, we had half the population not going to school. so returning to preearthquake levels is what the difference here it is not rebuilding a haiti, it is building a haiti

for the firsttime. it's seeing a rather ingenious rubble removal project run by catholic relief services. spent time in the areas where there's no truck could, go as all wheel barrels, it's walking through rubble with wheel barrels, bringing it to a site where a $6,000 grinder is being operate by a group of men and it's all being run by a business, a business woman who had a business before the earthquake is now running this. there are 30 or so people involved. they are gathering the rubble from the neighborhoods. running it through this crank. turning it into small pieces of rock and sand. bagging it. and selling that to the organizations that are rebuilding houses and temporary shelters per all of the people that enterprise are pa for by the proceeds of that sale. so you see these types of exercises replicated throughout the city. but an ability to get this many

people out of camps as everyone has said is going to take time, most of the resources that the american people gave to nonprofits is being spent on a tremendous burn rate of simply keeping people alive, of ensuring that water and sanitation facilities exist in camps, are ensuring that drainage is available whenhe ins come, that there is some degr of hope. but the challenge is, and this is the dilemma that sean penn pointed out. the challenge is that you have to ultimately move your attention to communities around the camp tent. the ability to have a clinic at the edge of a camp providing health services that is also now being -- providing services to 80% of its clients, being people from neighborhoods, because there's actually now less demand in this one camp from within the camp than in the outside. but tensions are real, and this

is where cholera. you need to staff it 24/7. you had case coming in the night. eight people died in this clinic. there simply wasn't the staff to be able to take trained personnel to enable that cocom . you got it up and running and now th cholera is up and running. clinic at edge of the camp up and running again. it's these trade-offs that are tremendously difficult for us to deal with. one of our member organizations, you know, sort of talked about haiti as sort an onion. the more you peel it, the more, in essence, each crisis makes

the population cry a little bit harder and the challenge has been, not only was there is an earthqua but there are series of emergencies after the earthquake. and my guess is there will be service of emergencies going forward. we don't know what the political situation will bring. we do not know whether another slew of hurricanes will come through again next year. we do know and one thing that's pretty clear is that the resilience of the haitian people, the ability of the haitian people to rebuild is real. when people talk about building transitional shelters, this is not someone coming in to build shelters. these are haitian people cranking out every single day, frames of wood, floors, roofs out of tin that can be bolted down so that they're safe from hurricane winds, just three different ngos it was roughly abt 500 shelters of the shelters being built every week. you see a cranking up of a capacity to produce. what slows things down is

there's no land. there's hardly any space. every piece of land, there's no clear tenure system. you have two or three landowners claiming that same piece of land, claiming the house on that land. the only way to sort that out is to have a dialogue with the community because you don't want to rush to rebuild in the wrong way. you want to rebuild where you can rebuild effectively over time. cash for work, and this ishe cash that has, for hundreds and thousands of haitians, is providing removal of rubble eventually will run out. over time, we'll see clinics moving out of camps and i think sean penn t his finger on it curately. if you move too fast, you in essence, are stopping services for very needy people right now. there's a reality that individuals who are left in the camps, if we're down to about 750,000, we're down maybe about half of what they were at the peak of the earthquake. the individuals left in the camps are not the easy ones to

solve. most of the people in camps were renters. they're multidwelling buildings. those multidwelling buildings collapsed. there is simply no land to build those buildings again, it will take time. efforts to build outside of the city have proved somewhat problematic. the challenge is that there is a clear frame under the interim coission of a general direction for the country but there is no clear operational direction. the ngo community is committed to partner of the government with haiti, in many ways having done an evaluation of the tsunami for president clinton, we see bett crdination in this disaster than during the tsunami, for example, but we need a clear vision and direction, not as simply the high direction at policy, but at the operational level. what do you do with these 50,0 people in this neighborhood? what if only a quarter of them with move back to their previous where they used to live?

how do you handle, enabling populations that have moved out of the city, have some access to jobs when there's a poll of international aid bringing people back to the city? and these dilemmas are at the art of what has slowed down the reconstruction. it is the ability of an organization like provision. building 167 temporary shelters. about 6,000 people have sheltered that n that area. concerned worldwide a similar effort, do then build a school, and you'd negotiate for the department of education, to build that school? when you build the school, what happens when the government doesn't have the resources for the teachers? does the ngo then step in and pay for teachers? and it is ts vacuum that we're trying to feel in some ways. but at the same time it is not our role to fill. the international aid community, in particular the international nonprofit community, is not the government of haiti.

we can't go in and pay for teachers over time. ultimately, it requires a partnership. and it requires the ability of the haitian people themselves to stand up and that will take time. there will be people in camps a year from now and over the next ten years, many of the organizations that are part of interaction will be there. and i think the best way to get a sense of the diversity and direction of our community is we've recently prepared a map, it's called the haiti aid map. you can see it on our website at interaction.org. it lifts where, i think it's about 67 different ngos and 500 projects around the country. it gives you a sense of who is doing what, where. that is just our piece. and will take many other pieces to make this all come together. thank you. >> thank you, sam. before wturn to our other panelists. i know, sean, you have to leave. i want to thank you again for being here. >> thank y. >> and good luck with all of your work. we really honor it. >> thank you very much.

>> see y, sean. >> okay. we're going to continue and next hear from beth ferris. beth? >> thanks a lot. listen, every speaker so far has mentioned internally displaced persons and so i'd like to do in about five minutes is to deepen the analysis a little bit. and look at some of the particular challenges of working with idps in haiti and some of the challenge that haitian displacement poses for the humanitarian community generally. displacement in haiti is massive. you know whether the numbers are 800,000 or down from 1.8 million, when last summer, this is a large percentage of the population. over a thousand idp sites or camps in port-au-prince alone. every street corner, every empty lot is filled with makeshift

tents -- actually it's filled with pretty tattered tarps a s rather than tents themselves. the numbers are soft. we really don't know a lot aout displace in the haiti. i om has done a magnificent job of trying to track the numbers, but it's hard, in part, because this is a dynamic, complicated situation. not everybody living in these idp camps lost a home in the earthquake. you know desperely poor people do desperate things. when there's rumors that assistance is being distributed, to idps, suddenly it becomes popular, attractive to be an idp. and certainly people have moved into the camps from poor urban communities in hopes of accessing some kind of assistance. it's hard to imagine these camps as being a draw, but at least people have a bit of shelter. usually they have water. and 1 out of 5 sites they have

some access to health care. but it's a dynamic population. people move in and out. a month after the earthquake, reportedly half a million people moved to the countryside. we don't know what happened to those people. anecdotally, we hear that a lot of people have come back to the capital because they didn't receive sufficient assistance, but no one is keeping track of these movements of people. reportedly some families keep some members in the camp in case better assistance develops there while sending kids or relatives to live elsewhere in the communities. it's been mentioned with the number of idps reportedly dropped by about about half in recent months. that's a good thing but it's also a troubling thing. why would people leave and go back to homes that have probably not been reconstructed in a safe way? perhaps because they saw the damages of hurricane thomas and

the flooding, and made the judgment that maybe it was better to take a chance back in those damaged buildings than to suffer another hurricane season or threats of flooding given the tarps and the tents under which they were living. there is a fear, i think, as well that cholera might hit the camps and although the evidence so far has been the it's camps have been less hit than the other areas. simply because of the congestion of the people. or perhaps it was the election violen. it's been a truism and work with idps for years, but in order to work with displaced people, you have to work with host communities. but it's all mixed up in haiti. host community, urban poor, displaced people, other people affected by hurricanes, by the earthquake. while are there some displacement's spefic needs in such a setting the vulnerabilities and the needs are so widespread that perhaps it doesn't make sense to single out assistance to idps, but rather to work with larger

vulnerable communities. but our humanitarian system isn't set up that way. our wonderful humanitarian relief actors are set up to provide life-saving assistance, not to deal with structural, urban, longterm, chronic poverty. and this has always been a thing that several of the speakers have mentioned, this -- this difference between humanitarian response, long-term development. we haven'tgot ten right anywhere in the world. but i think it comes in stark relief in the case of haiti. solutions for displacement are needed urgently. estimates are that about 20% of these thousands or so idp sites in port-au-prince arod the country are facing the threat of rced evictions. a lot of these camps are built on private land. of course landowners want their land back. it's been a year. land is a very valuable asset in haiti. the negotiations with landlords.

can you get them stay a little longer while we look for solutions? they're labor intensive but they're vital with coming up with solutions. when i think about the magnitude of things to be done, number one, as we need a strong haitian government. there are decisions that need to be made whether it's operational plans, sites for dumping rubble, decisions onhich camps will become part of the new urban landscape of port-au-prince, decisions need to be made by the haitian government. t the political situation is such that a lot the government energy is directed towards the elections ands politics around that. ngos and u.n. staff dealing with the government, wonder, oh, i'm talking with this minister. he probably isn't going to be here in a few months. so some of the uncertainty and the fear that if the clear decisions aren't mad there will be a political vacuum which will last longer, means

decisions won't be made and so on. last comment i'll make is that i think that what we're seeing in haiti is the humanitarian scenario of the future. the urban nature of the disaster. the juxtaposition with a devastating natural disastwer chronic poverty, underdevelopment, poor governance, conflict, and a politically mobilized population is different. it's very different than working even with displacement refugee situations in rural africa. requires different skills, different kinds of coordination, and most of all, much better work between long-term development actors and long-term response. >> great, thank you very much, beth. now -- >> good afternoon and thank you for inviting me.

as a haitian born in haiti raised in haiti and i was a survivor of the earthquake. allow me to just take a minute to say thank you to those who organized this meeting this afternoon. and thanks to you who take part of your time for assistance. for me a sign, a grit sign of suppt to a country that really needs this support. i am not to be here today with you, my fellow panelists, guests and members of the media. i wish to take interaction and the brooking institution for inviting me to sit on this panel to share my perspective of the -- process in my country and to provide my thoughts as a

citizen of haiti and i represent it -- for humanity. an organization that has walked in haiti for more than 26 years. providing thousands of families with decent, safe and affordable housing. committed to haiti for the long-term and engaging with local communities and its partners to aress current and long-term shelter needs. i also come to you today as a survivor of the earthquake. to leave as in wars as the former offices came down on me. for me my fellow haitians and all who were impacted by the earthquake, this is not an easy time. the one-year anniversary

connotes something to celebrate. we're not celebratinghe earthquake. we are marking this occurrence one year later and taking note of what is going to work and what has not since that dreadful day. for me and millions more, this past year has offered little time to pose, reflect, and cry. we have not moved beyond the emotional impact, and i suspect we may never. whereby the grace of god the support of the local and the international community. the haitian people, we will move ahead and make haiti a better and safer place to live.

my assessments of the work construction process in haiti is a very mixed one. the challenges for humanity and ngos over the past year have been well documented. from the weaknesses on the current outbreak, the lack of infrastructure, the international support in the economic systems. unrest and rubble removal. to name some of the biggest challenges. that being said, there has been progress. interaction members are prepared. 1.6 million people build tens of thousands of tents for families. and activities into shelter construction in e mobile of our projects.

the emergency response immediately after the earthquake including the distribution of 800,0 tops, 100,000 tents was both mixed humanitarian effort and note work the the successes. humanity and its partners including the american red cross, the catholic services, brother-in-law, care usa have shared the children. [ unintelligible ] conducted 2,000 damage assessments. and constructed more it has on the shelters. we're going to complete many more in the coming weeks and months. also tre more than 500 haitians in seismic.

and hired more than 200 local workers to help in construction activities. in the nation rate and employment rate of 60%, job opportunities are crucial, part of rebuilding. placing experts from the haitian -- to provide community focus, technical support to help the haitian government make critical decisi decision. on their program funded by the u.s. agency for international development through its office of foreign disaster. progress has been made but it's clear to me today that in national comprehensive urban strategy including settlement

and shelter is desperately needed. shelter is a busy human neerksd critical to good health, stabile employment and effective education. a failure to prioritize decent shelter in haitian efforts will not only aect the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of haitian, but also diminish the turns of order, long-term allotment investments the delaying or founding of haiti. must be the call of this plan. the lack of clear land right system today are slowed, the ability for the shelter of the agency to be responsible as possible.

landownership was a complicated manner in haiti before the earthquake and is more mplicated now because of the loss of life in the tragedy. much of the poverty in haiti lacks clear issue. many deaths during the earthquake have not been formally documented, making claims on land by earth's complicated, if not impossible. it is very difficult within th current system to have easy and clear access to land building permanent homes is not possible if shelter agencies do not own the land or have a long-term deal rights on the property which to build. putting haitians back into homes without e security of tenure will put them under the same risk for evictions. that existed before th

earthquake as most people who lost their homes during the earthquake while renrs. it gives a reason to invest in their homes. their investments will create gross domestic product and contribute to the economy as a whole. successful plan under the context of a broader urban strategy depends upon the work of the haitian government and the international community to empower locale communities and citins to walk together to solve landisputes and security of tenure. comphensive urban strategy about which i speak must be led by the government and people of

haiti. improved haiti of tenure. environmental issues. the improvement delivery of business services including water, sanitation, air services and transportation, national community appointment and job creation appointments. import from those who have lost their homes and communities and the needs of renters will make up the majority of the populati population. the plan must include incentives, implementation plans and realistic timetable to transition families from their camps. to support shelter settlement, policemakers should focus on a community in neighborhood -- families to fix homes that can

be repaired and that are practical plans for the integration of haitians into their original neighborhoods. policymakers also address shelter needs, are farmer renters, when return to -- units is impossible. policies of urban inclusion and -- with establishing fair neness underground. priorities should also be given to building the capacity of the haitian government of the international looker on many levels. it is now frequent as the ngo capital of the world. this is both the recommendation of the incredible -- of support of the united states and the international community. and a warning on the amount of

work to be done in developing local haitian capacity in all sectors. not just shelter. international organizations. vibrant, sbile and prosperous long after the recovery effort. all the international ngos must work to increase the capacity of local and municipal governments. local ngos, community base organizations and the private sector to address the daily needs and aspiration of the haitian people. while i firmly believe in an urgent advocate for a comprehensive urban strategy, we

do not have the luxury to make it a prerequisite for current project to continue or new ones to launch. we cannot wait for a plan to be develop developed but must continue to move ahead, cooperating with local capacities, communities, partners and donors to provide logical and effective support needed, to give millions of haitians a better life today and a brighter future tomorrow. let today be the first day of a new opportunity to rethink of our policies, to be flexible and creative in our response and to find new ways to help haiti recover and rebuild. today when i visit refugees, i see families coming together, singing and playing, i see signs of hope.

habitat for humanity following the earthquake say, "when you know someone cares about you, you feel less pain." because of the global support that we've received over the past year, people like -- let us join together once again to bring hope to many more families. i thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. i am humble every day by the outpouring of prayers, support. i'm thankful to be alive. and i am personally committed along with habitat for humanity to be part of haiti today and in the weeks and months and years to come. thank you again.

>> well, i thank you really for those very moving and personal words of both thanks and looking forward to very practical solutions and your comment in particular about how a sense of caring helps alleviate pain i think is one that we can all take home and inspire us in the months and years ahead. let's take some questions. and i did want to pose two thoughts and then before coming back to the panel, we'll also go back to the room, but there are two subjects that we really haven't touched on very much which i know are of pressing concern. one is sanitation. and, beth, in particular thinking about some notes that you sent me yesterday about this. you know it's such a difficult and practical problem and it involves land use, of course. help us think about that problem. and, secondly, the issue of sexual violence business particularly in the camps. you know, what's being done more generally about security around

the camps. do we have enough international presence to deal with that? is there enough training going on of local police? i'd like to hear a little bit more about that as well. let's take a couple of questions from the floor. i see someone in the way back and then we'll move -- try to move forward. i see a gentleman also. >> thank you very much. my name is amy, i'm with the pan-american development foundation and i did want to say something about the sexual violence, gender-based violence peace in the camps. my organization had been implementing a human rights project over the past three years, and one of the things that was done immediately following the earthquake was to immediately work with our 40-plus haitian partners, organizations, to set up monitoring committees in the camps. specifically to address the issue of protection and sexual and gender-based violence. so there are efforts going on that are spearheaded by camp

leaders, camp, community-based organizations to -- to report, monitor, and try to work with local authorities on that issue, although the issue is overwhelming and a lot more work needs to be done. so one piece i wanted to ask is, what usaid strategy going forward might be related to that issue? some those projects are closing down. anthe need rains very, have been great. the only other thing i wanted to mention, sorry, my original comment was to pick up on what the colleague from habitat was discussing with regard to one of the achievements, i think, one of the positive notes is this damage assessment piece. working with the ministry of public works, unops the pan-american foundation with the funding from aid and the world bank over 400,000 structures in port-au-prince were assessed with damageassessments that are

quite detailed. and the outcome of that is now a prepa repair strategy. meaning, homes that have received limited untreat yellow tags that can be repaired at a relatively low cost. not only that, creates jobs in the neighborhoods, it gets people back into their homes, and also works with haitian engineers, mason, contractors, et cetera, as well as the ministry of public works. so my second piece was to get additional comments on what some people call the neighborhood approach, the neighborhood strategy, and, sam, maybe any comments you may have from your recent trip about that repair-based work? i know that are there plans moving forward to increase that, in fact we're holding a training that -- >> thank you, we have a couple of other people who want to jump in in. >> sorry. >> thanks very much. i appreciatehat. >> yes, this gentleman in the

back and then ehl ve forward. >> good afternoon, how are you? i thank the entire period. my name is dominique. the reason that most of the ngo organizations e in haiti is because there was a vacuum of leadership tat existed right after the earthquake. people donating massive amounts because they wanted that vacuum to be filled. they thought the solutions would come. they're still not there. what i would want to ask specific to emergency preparedness, the rainy season is coming a few weeks. what is being done to prepare people for that time frame? and a couple of weeks later we'll be start of the hurricane season. so what is being done and that's based there? the final comment is, instead of focusing so much on the difficulties that exist, which is lear. you know we've been seeing the reports for the past year, let us try to focus more on the

possibilities and the solutions that can be found. thank you. >> thank you. let's take one more. over here, this gentleman in the middle. >> my name is johnny young, i'm with the u.s. conference of catholic bishops. and we have been in haiti through catholic relief services for over 50 years and of course we'll continue to be there. we helped in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and hope -- and will be there for the longer term. we've talked about no quick fixes, and we certainly agree with that. but there are -- there remains some items that still need to be done and i would like to ask that the u.s. government look into what more can be done in four areas. one would be in delayi the

deportation of persons back to haiti for criminal offenses. the second would be, family reunification for persons who are brought to the united states and the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and now are separated from their family members who are still in haiti. we have one case for example -- >> we have little time left. >> well, family reunification. >> give meyour two more. >> okay, fine. the other would be in temporary protective status for persons who came to the united states after the earthquake. and the other would be expeditious approval for those haitians who have already been approved to immigrate to the u.s. moving them up in the queue. so those are the four areas. >> thank you very much for those

very specific. go back to the panel for some final comments, and please respond as much as you can to these questions. >> starting with me. >> thanks. yes, please, paul. >> i guess i will start with the sexual violence question, which i think you know -- we know that if you have a situation of large displacements, it's predictable that there are worries about sexual violence. we have, as the person who asked the question answered, we've programmed some resources to try and deal with that issue in a number of the camps. if the money's running out, as long as the camps are there, it's something that we need to seriously consider, continuing to program resources for. the long-term solutions have to be with strengthening the local capacity of the social -- of the welfare ministry to deal with these issues, as well as the security option. we don't -- on usaid we don't work directly with the police but obviously a security dimening to this, the haitian national police are the organization primarily responsible. i think it's also one of e successes over the last year. i think we've seen multiple polls that show that if haitians

are asked, where do you get your -- where do you want to get your security services from, they choose the haitian national police over the international community which -- and there's been a lot of work over the last several years, not by us but by the international community but by the state department principally on strengthening the police. so we need to continue do that to make sure that the security option is there and working. emergency preparedness, there's been an ongoing effort for years. it was accelerated last year before the onset of the hurricane season to strengthen it at the national level, private and civil protection, as well as the municipal levels. it's not just port-au-prince. there are lots of areas where we're working with local government to strengthen their capacity to prepare for and to respond to hurricanes and storms. we'll also have to take another look at the hurricane mitigation efforts that were done before the last season and to see what needs strengthening. on the range of immigration issues, i know that the department of state, the department of homeland security

have been in a dialogue with elements of the haitian dias per, the haitian got those issues and i know that there's a lot of under consideration. i can't speak to the specifics of those four issues. >> great. beth, we'll just come down. >> on the sexual violence. it is horrific. it is horrific, widespread. the police are barely present, sorry. when i met with the u.n. protection class are talking about this, and i said what about the police? and they said, we're trying to get phone numbers of local police stations. we're trying to get phone numbers. you know county's a big success. policing arm is now patrolling the most vulnerable camps but that's 1/10 of the total camps and by patrolling it, it means driving around once or twice a month. the violence is horrific. and much more needs to be done on it. sanitation is very much related to the temporary nature of some of these camps. it doesn't make sense or it isn't possible to construct permanent latrines or other

ways, disposable that is temporary. and so these portable toilets are being used which are very expensive to bring in, out, clean, so forth. and so long-term solutions for sanitation depends in part on coming upith a governmental policy for development. >> sam and then claude. >> there is a clear gender i mentioned to haiti. the average haitian household is run by awoman. it has to be a recognition of the role of gender in the haitian context. and i won' say more than the reality is a rough one. people don't go into the camps at night. there's a degree of security in the daytime, is at night when we have a problem. on sanitation, it's a long way to go. i'll give one very positive example. it's an interesting role for ngo, worldvision, every single sludge truck that drops human wastes in one place that leaves that site is cleaned wh

chlorine to not spread cholera and other diseases. you've got sites where you could begin to do this. but ultimately it is not an attendable situation. the efforts on sanitation have to be in each village which gets me to the neighborhood approach and this was an interesting effort that we saw of the catholic relief services. it is an effort in a community. it is that neighborhood rebuilding itself. it is providing the materials to build ahouse. it is looking at the drain of water in the center of that community, and can you clean it over time, so when the rain falls,hat there's significant place for that water to go. we are not rady for another hurricane haiti. if there is a direct hit, it would be a real mess. an enormous amount has been done to dredge, to move resources, but ultimately we're going to need some more secure shelters. and it comes down to this ability of haitian institutions

and haitian neighborhoods to take some degree of control over their lives. that transition from international nonprofit to a local institution is a transition that is taking time. it is a transition that needs to take place, and i think it will happen neighborhood by neighborhood. neighborhood development will not happen overnight. we'll be at it for years but it is ultimately the core of any success in this effort. >> claude? >> i would like to make two quick comments about -- to sam's questions. for the rainy season, as an organization habitat for humanity keeps building secure and safe building for the families affected. so we -- we not only build more than 1,000 but bear planning to build almost 2,000 in the next coming months. it's a way to take people out of camps and to place them in more safe place -- in a safer place. besides of that, we are working

closely with municipalities and civil protection department where we are building -- we are putting place some local communities to identify the risky areas. if somhing happened, if there's a flood, for example, where to go? so we have six local communities all ov the country. they clearly know where to go if something happens. it's the best way that we can support the civil department the municipalities wheel we are building a safer place for thm. in terms of, let's focus -- let's be focused on solutions instead of problems. as i mention before, the best way to do it is to empower haitians to take them in charge instead of comg and acting on behalf -- to do some mistakes. give us the possibility to work

besides international community. because there could not be in haiti forever. so a certain momentum, we need to be able to take chae. so the best way to bring solutions is to empower, to trust me, the knowledge the competency we don't have now. we have so many organization workindown there, lack of leadership, as you mentioned, lack of capacity. so how long can we actually act organization. let build the capacity. maybe if something happened in the near future, we'll be able to welcome any helper, but have less because we got the capacity to respond directly to our problems. >> well, i think that's an appropriate note to end on. we've run out of time. thank you all for coming and please join me in thanking the panelists.

>> c-span is a private, non- profit company created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service. up next, the u.s. chamber of commerce president's annual state of u.s. business speech. after that, patrick leahy on the priorities for the 112th congress. kathleen sebelius discusses the republican efforts to overhaul the health-care reform. that is at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. it is time to upload your video for the c-span documentary

competition. the deadline is this thursday. it is your chance to win $5,000. this year's topics, washington, d.c. through my lens. the u.s. chamber of commerce president, thomas donohue, outlines the business community's priorities for the next year. this is about 35 minutes. he u.s. chamber of commerce in washington. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning, everyone. welcome to the u.s. chamber of commerce. by margaret spelling,resident of the u.s. forum for policy

innovation. thank you for being here this morning. come on and sit down encryptor coffee. in a few moments, those president ceo, and tom donohue will give his annual state of address. he for he does and the two sa a few things about my friend tom donohue. 2010 with a challenging year for this organization, as he contended that the worst economic climate of the great depression, one of the busiest legislative session in recent memory and of course the midterm elections. while our success in such a difficult environment can't he completely attributed to just one person, tom deserves most of the credit for what the chamber was a book to achieve. he provided the leadership and the vision that led to a number of legislative aries, tremendous success in the elections and another strong year of fundraising.

what make's time so effective? for starters, the fact that he works harder than people less than half his age, for one. but it's also his ability to anticipate and take action on the next big thing. tom always has the organization positioned to play an important role in the debates that matter to our members and business. this means that the american business community always has a seat at the table. as we face the challenges and meet new opportunities in the coming year, i'm confident that tom will leave the chamber to even greater success. and i'm really thrilled to be a part of that. here now to share his outlook on the american econy and other poli issues that will impact business is chamber president and ceo, tom donohue. [applause]

>> thank you very much, margaret. that sounded somewhat like an obituary. but i appreciate very much you all being here today. and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. let me thank margaret and the national chamber foundation and office staff who organized this event. and thank you all for coming. at the outset, i'd like to express on behalf of the united state chamber of commerce, our shock and sadness over the tragic shooting in arizona. under any circumstance, the violence, injury and loss of life that occurred are an outrage to all of us. we are especially offended by e fact that this rampage was directed at our democracy so, striking down public servants as

well as free citizens who had come to engage in a dialogue and express their views. we are praying for the full recovery for congressman giffords and others who were injured and our hearts go out to the families of those who lost their lives. while the new year has begun on this site know, i can report that when it comes to the nation's economy, we began 2011 in better shape than we found ourselves last year. at the state of american business is improving. last year we worried about a double to recession. today we are cautiously optimistic that the recovery willontinue and pick up steam as the year progresses. the new tax package could give

growth and jobs a significant boost. overall, we believe the economy will expand by 3.2% in 2011 and create 2.4 to 2.6 million new jobs by the end o the year. yet, we still face a number of risks that could send us in the wrong direction and our recovery is fragile and uneven at best. housing and construction are still very weak. a new wave of home foreclosures could drive down home values in both agai oil and gasoline prices are rising rapidly and could reignite inflation. major state are nearly insolvent and will be looking to raise taxes on consumers and businesses. and we faced a long list of

known and unknown geopolitical and national secrity threat that could change our economic aspects overnight. to be re, november's election result, the tax package, progress on the korean trade agreement and a new tone coming from the white house have addressed some of the business communities immediate concerns. yet i searched the on companies, lenders and investors still abound. there are many unanswered questions about regulation, taxes and other policies that must be addressed in order to run these aggressive hiring in the air. and ladies and gentlemen, when it ces to jobs, we have a steep hill decline. unemployment has succeeded 9% for 20 consecutive months. that hasn't happened since the

1930s. some 27 million americans are either unemployed, underemployed or have given up lki for work. let's suppose we do create about 2.5 million new jobs -- ne new jobs this year. as welcome as that would be, it would only drive the unemployment rate down by about 1%. in fact, we must create 1.2 million jobs a year, just to absorb the new insurance coming into the workforce. on our current cost, it could take years to get back to where we were before this recession and the financial crisis head. in my book, that's not good enough. therefore in 2011, the chamber's top priority will be to turn an

economic recovery into a jobs recovery so that we can put americans back to work. to succeed, we must work to enact policies that will sustain economic growth or removing regulatory uncertainty and doubling u.s. exports over the next five years. we must make our domestic economy more dead to global investors, to job creators and do startup entreprenrs pay clearing away the impediments that are causing them to sit on their capital or invest their money outside the united states. and we must do right for future generations by beginning a serious effort to cut runaway spending, reform entitlements and bring vernment deficit and debt under control.

to successfully improve our own economy, we must take into account what other nations are doing to improve their economy. in many respects, america is not keeping up. too deep in our understanding about our nation's competitive challenges we are doing what any smart coach or political candidate would do before a big game for an important election campaign and that is to learn everything we can no about our opponents strengths, weaknesses and those of ourselves. what about our weaknesses? what about our strength? the chamber is no examining in a factual and object to equate the actions by our government and the actions by the business community that are either moving us forward in a global economy or holding us back. we will then compare it to what

our competitors are doing around the world. these findings, which we planned to release this spring will set the stage for a major project to strengthen americans competitive position in the global economy. at the same time, the chamber will seek to focus our government's attention on a host of immediate priorities and we're prepared to work with anyone in order to make progress on these issues. time doesn't permit me to cover them all, so let me briefly touch on just a few issues, particularly in four areas. regulatory restraint and reform, expanding america's trade, rebuilding the nation's economic foundation, its infrastructure and reducing runaway spending deficits and dbt. first, we must rein in excessive regulation and reform the

regulatory process. at the federal level alone, regulations already fill 150,000 pages of fine print and it cost to america of $1.7 trillion a ar. outlook, many of these regulations are important to the economy and we support them. yet in recent years, we have seen an unprecedented explosion of new regulatory dignity. furthermore, the administration is likely to turn increasingly to the regulatory agencies now that getting legislation under the congress could be more difficult. the result resulting regulatory tsunami poses in our view the single biggest challenge to jobs, our global competitiveness and the future of american enterprise. for example, the new health care law -- think about this a minute, creates 159 new

agencies, commissions, panels and other bodies. it grants extraordinary powers to the department of health and human services to redefine health care as we know it. by mid-december of last year, hhs saturday granted 222 waivers to the law that it just been passed. would pale in acknowledgment that the war is not totally workable. and with key provisions on the challenge in the courts by states and others, it's time in my opinion to go back to the drawing board. last year, while strongly advocating for health coverage form, the chamber was a leader in the fig against this particular bill and does he support legislation in the house to repeal it. we see the upcoming houseboat,

however, as an opportunity for everyone to take a fresh look at health care reform and to replace unworkable approach is with more efficient and take measures at a lower cost, expand access and improve quality. the regulatory tsunami is also about to wash over our capital markets. the dodd-frank contains the numbers again. they change all the time. 259 mandated rule makings. another 188 suggested rule makings. 63 reports in 59 studies. your grandchildren and my grandchildren will be old and retired before it is all implemted. the chamber's ceer for capital markets competitiveness is deeply involved in the regulatory rulemaking triggered by this massive law.

we are particularly concerned that the new consumer financial protection bureau does not use its broad authority and ways that will deny credit to small businesses and consumers and the financial products that business needs across the board. we want to make sure that main street and users are still able to use derivatives in an effort to way to manage their legitimate business risk without sidelining billions of dollars in productive capital and costing tens of thousands of job. and although our pending litigation against the sec over its proxy asks us to roll has delayed its implementation. that battle is far from over. we will continue to oppose proposals that would expand the ability of special interest shareholders such as unions to

exploit proxy access rules to the detriment of companies, jobs and all of the shareholders. job creators are also facng unprecedented regulatory activity and case law changes and the department of labor. the national labor relations board and in similar agencies, over 100 such efforts are underway today, covering compensation, contract team, leave, ergonomics, workplace safety, hiring, firing and union organizers. you can only wonder what will be rthcoming. the chamber is going to fight hard throughout the year to challenge policies and rulings that are unfair to employers. but much mor than workplace rules are at stake here. some unions, particularly the public employee unions are pushing an extreme agenda that

extends well beyond representing their members in the workplace. they have been using their position as a perful political force to sabotage the nation's trade agenda, which has damaged our standing around the world. someone to vastly expand the size and force of government, perpetuate the status quo and are feeling public scools and the type of nation's best companies through destructive taxes. the sad irony is that all of the fact deputies undermined the nation's ability to create and keep good paying american jobs. we will also continue our legal and legiative efforts to stop the epa from misapplying environmental law in order to unilaterally regulate greenhouse gas. the chamber will support

appropriate bipartisan legislation to delay or stop the epa and return the important climate change issues to the purview of the congress and the united state. beyond greenhouse gas, epa regulatory agenda list 342 rule makings in various stages of development and completion. of these, 30 are deemed economically significant, each with a cost to our economy of more than $100 million. how would the chamber challenge this faster rate of regulatory committees across our government? will use a range of tools, depending on the circumstances. get the time has come to also reform this regulatory process it felt, to restore some badly needed balance and accountability for the system. this could be done by giving congress the right to vote up or

down on major roles before they take effect and by strengthening the burden of proof that all the regulatory agencies would have to demonstrate when they are imposing major roles on the business community and other elements of society. finally, the chamber will soon stand up a new group that will engage one or more of the most respected advocates of stature and experience in the regulatory arena. this group will continually told the story to the american people, to policymakers and the media about the massive cost of excessive regulation on jobs and found our personal and economic freedom. we cannot allow this nation to move from a government of the people to the government of the regulators. that's where it has been added under the republican party and

democratic party a lake. we're going to be engaged in this fight for years to come and turn this curve any more acceptable direction. another key priority for the chamber is to create jobs by advancing a pro-american trade agenda that they'll both exports and five years and then doubles them again in the next five years. last year, we heard a lot of talk about expanding trade, but we didn't see very much action anywhere in our government. we have a good bipartisan opportunity tochange that in 2011. a year ago the chamber released a study, which warned that the united states will lose more than 380,000 existing jobs and 40 billion export sales if we fail to implement our free trade agreements with -- that are all

standing, ready to b implemented. and if we don't do it, what is going to happen, both the e.u., canadand other nations are putting their free-trade agreements in and they'll take the business would like to have. the administration must work urgently with the new congress to appro south korean in colombia and panama agreements. we will pull out all the steps we can to help the administration get the vote to pass these bills. we also strongly support the transpacific partnership negotiations to open market and expand trade with some of the fastest-growing asian countries. that's where our opportunities are. and let's not overlook america's rgest commercial partner, the e.u. this month i'll be traveling to dublin, brussels on the world

economic forum in dumbo switzerland. at one key object of my trip is to advance the idea of simply eliminating all tariffs on goods and the 600 lan dollars transatlantic trading relationship. an independent study commissioned by the chamber, but done in europe found that doing this wouldincrease transatlantic trade for more than $100 billion in the next few years. we think it could also jumpstart global trade negotiations and set the stage for similar agreements with other parties. we also need stronger global rules as well as mre effect of enforcement to address the rampant success of intellectual property in both the digital and physical worlds. this is an issue that unites business and labor. republicans and democrats.

no one wants our intellectual property stolen. consumers should not be threatenedby unsafe and counterfeit products and we cannot stand by as 19 million jobs and our most innovative and creative industries are threatened. in addition, we need to reform export control rules, which are designed and were designed during the war and cost us billions and billions of dollars in lost export sales. the administration deserves serious credit for the progress it has made in creating a single export control list that distinguishes between the crown jewels of american tech allergies and those widely available anywhere in the world. we urge officials to move quickly to move these adjustments. we also continue to press our

major trading partners to open their markets and create level playing fields for american goods and serces. china is a vital market for the united states. our exports for that country are growing faster than i must anhere else in the world. but we are also concerned about a host of chinese policies permit expert to promote indigenous innovation to the favoritism that shows two domestic industries to its lax ip protections, to its undervalued current v. some progress has been made on these and other issues. more progress is needed and soon. but starting a trade lie with one of the fastest current export markets in the world is not the answer. as we work to persuade china and others to adhere to the principles of free and fair

trade, we must also live up to those print, we must also live up to those print, we must also live up to those print. that's why we welcome last week's news that the administration is taking the first serious step towards resolving the longest-running u.s. trucking dispute. it's been 15 years since the united states promised carefully inspect the trucks to move back and forth between our countries. the resulting tariffs imposed against us and authorized under nafta has cost us 25,000 american jobs in recent time. it's time to keep our word and get the trucks moving. we also need to make the united states more track is to global investors. to global talent into tourists. the chamber will work to reform our tax code, lower the corporate tax rate, which is the

second-highest in the developing world. almost all of us, our sons and daughters are descendents of immigrants. the chamber will continue to pursue with others a comprehensive immigration reform program. we also urgently need to improve visa processing, oppose attempts to get temporary worker programs and increase the number of worker visas. regrettably, many americans think that trade agreements cause jobs to foreign integration and our national sovereignty and the u.s. investments abroad take the domestic jobs away. to change these misconceptions, and they are misconceptions, will launch a major initiative to educate citizens and polic makers on trade that will clearly link global engagement

to american jobs. 95% of the people that we want to sell some into live overseas, outsider country. there are 283 free trade agreement in force around the globe today. the united states has just 11 free trade agreements covering 17 countries. it's time to get our country back in the trading game across the globe. other priority that we're putting front and center this year is the need to rebuild america's economic foundation. the platform of the infrastructure on which our society runs. as we il to act on gross returns will soon run out of capacity. our economy will hit a wall and we will be physically unable to

grow. we will lose jobs and even lives as a result. of course service transportation, aviation and water resources programs are all operating under a series of short-term funding arrangements. makes it impossible for states and the federal government to work together, to fix these problems and to create jobs. but the chamber will lead the fight to remove the lakeview tory vico atbarriers that have locked away federal money, but hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars of private infrastructure spending. but we must also have a strong, consistent and reliable commitment to infrastructure or these private dollars will go somewhere else. now with crude oil prices on the rise again, i'm sure we all noticed with gasoline costs, we

are all reminded of the compelling need to develop more of our own fast energy and other natural resources. according to one study, increasing access to american domestic oil and gas resources, could in the next 10 or 15 years create a minimum of 500 dirty thousand jobs and give us about $150 billion in government revenue or the equivalent of 4 million barrels of oil today. we use about 20 million barrels of oil a day in this country. there is no good and valid reason to send her money to other countries, to pay something we have an adequate supply of right here at home. we can create jobs, reduce our trade and budget deficits and increase their security by prudently and environmentally

soundly developing all forms of alternative renewable in traditional energy. in order to expand trade and move people, goods and information and money throughout the world, we have got to focus our attention to this country on america's glob supply chain. now it operates on our infrastructure, but it is a supply chain that moves everything that i just mentioned. and so, we have done something i think will help us and we'll all benefit from. we think it shut potter, the former postmaster of the united case, the longest-serving postmaster general said the 1800. we pass them to the base. portend projects for us. he will consult with the leading supply chain firms and experts across the country and the world and help us validate the business community around a plan tomprove, maintain, secure and

advocate for a 21st century global supply chain imagistic systems. that rebuilding america's economic foundation is about more than physal infrastructure. it is undamentally about we the people. in 2011, the chamber will continue to mobilize our grassroots federation to the cause of improving education and training opportunities for all americans. this is more than an economic issue. how can any of us that still when millions of americans children are track and ailing schools and a third don't even get a high school iploma. this is a moral outrage and a taking social timebomb in this country. business, like all americans, must also do its part to help

address another defining challenge of our time. the growth of government spending and entitlement and with it, the explosion of government debt on a federal and basis. the national debt are dx reads $14 trillion is on track to nearly double over the next 10 years. our current fiscal path leads only to one destination, insolvency. to control deficits, we must first put unemployed americans back to work so they can be paying taxes instead of collecting benefits. the congress and the administration must also move swiftly to reduce spending. now this next sentence i am going to say i'm not sure on the numbers are gog to love it, but the chamber will support strong proposals, even if we don't like all the details.

we also make the case -- will make the case for entitlement reform because any plan that fails to tackle these runaway programs is doomed to fail. great preponderance of our expenditure on entitlements. now ladies and gentlemen, let me end where i began. i note of optimism about our economy and our country. our economy is picking up steam and will see stronger job creation ahead. and while the philosophical gap on some issues will be too wide for us to bridge, i believe that our elected officials can find enough common ground or at least some shred of the blatant self-interest to make progress on the priorities that i've outlined today. to help her save them from the chamber will keep our grassroots system, including our voter

education and issues advocacy programs fully mobilized, funded and fired it through this year. we'll continue to expand our free enterpre programs and all of the committees were conducting around the cuntry. we will also significantly expand our efforts to support small businesses and do everything we can to assure their success. but at the same time, we look at small businesses more actively engaged in the chambers political, legislative advocacy veterans. and we will spare no effort to vigorously defend the rights of companies and associations to lobby, to petition the governme and to fully participate in the political and policy debate that will shape the future of this country. we will not allow to be

intimidated and we will use every tool at our disposal to challenge those who try to silence our voice. our approach in washington will be to call them as we see them. we'll continue to have our differences from time to time, but a white house on some issues, but on many them will work vigorously together. will support the new house leaderip on many occasions and will work with democratic legislatures as well. but no one should expect the chamber to march in lockstep with anyone. we have a clear mission and an agenda of around to continue to win important policy victories for our members, the american business community. it is to support, protect and advance the free enterprise syst that made this country great. and it is to help create good

jobs and promising opportunities for the people of our country so that they can achieve the american dream. i want to thank you again for coming. we look forward to working with all of you to vigorously on proudly represent the one institution in our nation that really works one institution that can put our nation back to >> starting tuesday, the house takes up the repeal of the health care law. watch the debate and final vote live on c-span and go to c-span

to read the bill on line. this weekend on c-span 2's book tv on afterwards, former adviser to martin luther king with a behind the scenes look at the scenes leading up to the march on washington. a critical assessment on stereo tipse and a new biography on our new president. after senator's remarks, he answered questions regarding congress members and security issues in the wake of the tuscon shooting. this took place at the newsium in washington, d.c. it's about 50 minutes.

>> i want to welcome you all here and senator leahy. he has been here a number of times, i think because we have the biggest first amendment sinon the world. right out there with all 45 words of the first amendment. senator leahy is such a champion of the first amendment. he cannot go by pennsylvania avenue without looking at it. we appreciate you coming back here today, senator leahy. in this very room, president obama held a town meeting. the week after next, the supreme court justice breyer is going to come here to talk about matters of the judiciary and public issues.

it is a delight that the newsuem to serve as a place where the members of the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judiciary branch in come here and hold civilized discourse about public affairs, about the media, about the things that abydos, and the things that bring us together. it is in that light that the newseum is delighted to welcome senator leahy today. i am going to turn the program over to the dean of the georgetown university law center, welcome, bill. [applause] >> it is a pleasure to be here. our speaker come at it become a

tradition to begin each new congress with a report on the upcoming priorities of the senate judiciary committee which he chairs. the georgetown university law center has been proud to play a partner in role and chairman leahy's others and we are especially place and see is one of our most distinguished alumni not only did he earned a law degree in 1954, but 30 years later, we were pleased to recognize his service with an honorary degree. in the united states senate, patrick leahy offers a unique combination of experience, expertise, and currency in some of the most significant issues of our day. he is a blend of old school and new school. now the second most senior member of the senate, he also continues to lead on cutting edge technology issues. as the "new york times" have dubbed him, for is enthusiasm of

the internet. he has that passion for civil liberties, the devotion to the rule of law of a former prosecutor, and the enthusiasm for technology of a 16-year-old. [laughter] he is often held congress bridge the gap between security and privacy, taking the lead in writing checks and balances into such laws as the communication assistance for law enforcement act and the first and second patriot act. if patrick leahy was elected to the united states senate in 1974. he remains the only democrat ever elected to this office from vermont. at 34, he was the young this united states senator ever to be elected from the green mountain state. a graduate of st. michael's college in vermont, he received his j.d. from georgetown university and served for eight years as state's attorney in a

can county where he gained a national reputation, and in 1974, he was selected as one of three outstanding prosecutors in the united states. he has been a champion of an independent judiciary and open government and the public's right to know. the son of a month per earlier printing family, in 1996 he was installed as of freedom act hall of fame, and the is one of only two politicians ever offered an award. he has partnered with republican senator john corn and to offer several improvements, including their open government act, of 2007. he was also the lead sponsor of the protection act which addresses flaws in the capital punishment, and in 2004, he offered provisions of law to require dna testing and better

access to competent legal counsel to ensure that innocent people are not executed. long known for his work on congressional oversight, he led the judiciary committee's 2007 investigation into the massive firings of u.s. attorneys and the political influence over a decision making. he is voted on the nomination of all current supreme court justices and he oversaw and chaired the hearings of the last three confirmations to the court, justice sotomayor, and justice kagan. he is also a member of this agriculture committee and his long cochaired in energize the work of the senate national guard office in its efforts to modernize and adequately equip the modern national guard of today. he has three children and five grandchildren. his home is in middlesex, vt., where they live in the 19th century farmhouse in the midst of their farm. senator leahy.

[applause] >> dean, thank you very much for the introduction. it's hard being away from the farmhouse, but charles, i thank you in your superb staff. hosting this discussion means a lot. you and i have worked together on these issues over the years. i must admit, when i started preparing this speech, press: and others in my office, we were talking about it, things change. over the weekend. we can talk about the tragic events of these past week and for a moment. they call us to reflect on the parlance of our democracy, and

our responsibilities as beneficiaries and stewards. as we enter this beautiful program today, many of us passed by these magnificent words of the first amendment. charleses' carve them into marble on the facade. their 74 feet high. congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or their right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. parents used to say that everything we needed in a democracy is in there. it promises diversity, practice any religion or nine if you want, to speed can be protected by your government in your speech. that guarantees diversity. you guarantee diversity, you

guarantee a democracy. the day before she was in the attack, congresswoman giffords, a member of the house of representatives, whose role was to recite these words on the house floor. in a free society, the society that we americans must always want our country to become a government should not and must not restrain free expression. but we learned this children, with freedom comes responsibility. couple flowering of democracy relies on the self restraint of each citizen, organization, and group of citizens. the blog post and the twitter feed all have the power to inspire, to motivate, and to inform.

but they also have the power to inflame and in sighcite. the seating rhetoric has gone too far. the demonizing of opponents, of government, of public servants, has gone too far. our politics have become incendiary. we all share the responsibility the temperature. that is a responsibility to keep our democracy thriving. the 535 members of the house and the senate have been at elected to represent more than 300 million americans from all walks of life. we have responsibilities within our borders, but we also have responsibilities outside our borders. as our nation charts its way into complex and often very

dangerous world. it is time to stop polarizing and to work together on the substance of the many challenges we face as a nation. otherwise, our country, a blessed, bountiful, expansive nation, which survived a revolutionary war, a civil i cannot accept that. neither should anybody in this room. you know, i am the only democrat elected to the senate in vermont history. i was introduced that way once shortly after i was elected.

he carried every state except maine and vermont. shortly after that, franklin roosevelt came to vermont. my father told me the story. across the street from us was the national life insurance company. president roosevelt went by in an open car and my father was standing next to the president of the national and everybody wore hats. the president went by and the head of the company took his hat off and held it direct my father turned the women said, i never thought i would see your -- you take your hat off for president roosevelt.

he said, i tip my hat off to the president. think about that. we should show respect. the sheriff was in every man for this tragic moment. we need to work together for the good of the country and the american people. after oklahoma city, after the horrendous a tax of 9/11, we came together. we need to come together again. the tragedy is -- on common ground. it is easy to appeal to resentments, distressed, and selfishness and hate. leaders should appeal to or better angels.

one common ground remains elusive, we must respect the rights of others to express their own views and beliefs. one more thing -- we must not allow any assault on representatives of democracy to succeed in thwarting or meeting people's access to the elected representatives. i am committed to work with the new chairman as well as the president and the attorneys general as we face the problem confronting our nation. i look forward to working with the new ranking republican. we served together since he came to the senate in 1981. we know the value of bipartisanship and civility. i began meeting with the senator last month. i will make sure they include

those that are important to both of us. we have taken a keen interest in -- the first bill we considered last congress and one of the bills we signed into law by president obama was the recovery act. working together, we also strengthened and we made sure that taxpayers would be protected from fraud. in the new congress, we need to build on that progress. i will focus the first hearing of this congress on fighting fraud. on our january 6 -- 26 tiering, we plan to learn more about the recovery of more than $3 billion of taxpayer dollars in fraud actions by the department of justice in the past fiscal year

alone. that is our taxpayer -- tax dollars coming back into the treasury. the administration has been a partner and our crime-fighting efforts. we want to make sure that the new provisions are having the intended effect. i can tell you that these kind of investments will pay taxpayers back many times over. americans are worried about their budgets at home. we need to protect their investment. fighting fraud and protecting taxpayer dollars -- these difficult economic times, we need to continue that. of bipartisanship. we also have to talk about focusing on american jobs.

last year, the senate judiciary committee unanimously supported bipartisan efforts to stop online criminals from stealing our nation's intellectual property. it cost the economy billions of dollars every year. barring -- our intellectual property based businesses are one of the most productive in our economy. they are part of our best sources of export dollars. we cannot stand by and see them ravaged. we cannot have americans consumers subjected. we will renew our efforts on this this year. among our top priorities is the patent reform act. this bipartisan initiative to modernize our patent system has received considerable attention in the last several congresses. there are days i feel that i

hold schedule revolves around that. we have been updating our antiquated pat and system will keep america -- patent system will keep america the forefront of innovation. it protects jobs. it does it without adding a sense -- a cent to our nation's deficit. he agrees that patent reform is sorely needed. again, this is something more democrats and republicans can work together, can help the country, and help lower the tension. we work together over the years in confronting anti-competitive business concept, especially in agriculture. the last two years, the justice department has become more aggressive in protecting

competition. competition -- this is a very interesting thing. we will build on that as we talk about the concentration and agricultural businesses. i hope congress will finally repealed the health insurance industry's exemption from antitrust laws. there was bipartisan support for that in the last congress. there is no place in our market for anti-competitive abuses. repealing this antitrust is a good way to start. it is in the health-insurance market. there are many ways in which the committee can help our economic recovery. we can strengthen programs.

it encourages foreign investment, spur is job creation. i would like to see foreign money come in here to create jobs in the united states more than american money going abroad and creating jobs in other countries. we will look at how we can move forward toward immigration proposals spurted ways to approve of the subprograms. -- ways to improve visa programs. there are some good economic science finally. democrats and republicans should be working together on these measures. the american people expect us to work together. the american people expect us to make the country better. -- we have also

seen the last decade encroach on america is privacy. there is no other decade in our history imperative of security, the proliferation databases, the spawning of interactive social media combined with earlier expectations about having the choice to be left alone. i will tell you a story. one of the few things i have kept -- is friend of my wall. -- it is sprayed on my wall. it is a short piece on that profiled me. we live on a dirt road.

the family has known me since i was a teenager. it is saturday morning, and at a state car drives up and sees the old farmer. he says, the senator live up this road? the farmer says, are you a relative of his? he said, no, i am not. are you a friend of this? not really. is he expecting you? never heard of him. [laughter] we believe in our privacy. in the digital age, a time darkened by the threat of terrorism, we face a difficult challenge of protecting the nation's. we encourage american innovation and we respect privacy rights. the jury committee will continue to work to of state electronic communications privacy act.

i want security agencies to have the tools needed to keep us safe from cyber threats. i also want to have federal privacy laws to keep pace with advancing technology. this is not an easy balance. i think it can be done. we will examine several emerging privacy issues and a growing concern to me and many americans. including the invasive full body screening and our airports. the tracking of americans activities online. i want to work with the obama administration with senators on both sides of the aisle to revisit the communications assistance to law enforcement act. it bridges law enforcement needs with citizens' privacy rights. i remember writing that law in their early 1990's. we cannot even have imagined

that it has changed. we have to update the law. we have to have the same consideration we had in the 1990's. balancing privacy rights as well as a legitimate need for law enforcement community to gather valuable court ordered surveillance information to keep the nation safe. the aftermath of 9/11, we passed the patriot act. i am pleased that attorney general walter agreed to implement the civil liberties oversight and reporting improvement i suggested. it is a good solid step forward. we have to take the next step and extend certain provisions of that act that are slated to expire next month. there is another area in this annual reports.

chief justice roberts recently wrote about the urgent need to fill the federal decency -- federal judiciary vacancies. they have reached historically high levels. that resulted overburdened courts. litigants' are unable to have their cases heard. i will try to work with the senator and the senate leadership of both parties to lower those vacancies. unfortunately, this is another instance where private -- partisanship has been a destructive influence. we need good and capable women and men to be willing to serve as judges. to protect the rights of all americans and appalled blog -- and uphold a rule of law. we cannot to ask people to take on the public servants -- service of judge ben expose them

to accumulating delays in the process. we can protect our national security and our constitutional liberties, but it takes care and foresight. this is not an area where we can use symbolism. we go to substance. do we want to be saved? do we want to protect ourselves? of course we do. let's be honest. it is going to take work to have that balance. at a time -- we need care and foresight. we continue to face the threat of terrorism and violence. the american people expect us to do no less. the government of the people, by the people, for the people must be accountable to the people. we need a commitment to vigorous oversight and government transparency.

when we can join together, republicans and democrats, -- a conservative republican from texas, he is joined with me over and over again to strengthen and expand the freedom of information act. we share the view that open government is not very democratic issue or a republican issue. it is an american value. we will continue our productive partnerships. i will reintroduce the act, a bill to establish a bipartisan commission and improve the implementation of. we will do that later this year. you also have to do it by example. i will pledge that the proceedings of the committee will continue to be web cast, available to all americans in real time.

like internet access to hearings and business meetings. i know it works. i get back to my office and there will be a call, what did you mean by that? the important thing is that it is open. it is a special honored to be at newseum on pennsylvania avenue. i am the son of this paper publishers. we drove down today and i thought how my parents would have loved the idea and the reality of this great museum. i'd been mom and dad would have embraced the incidents -- indispensable work of free speech and a free press. do not ever stop. it is so easy to argue for

censorship for just this one issue or just this one issue. no. open, free debate. i think the constitution project for their interest. review in the judiciary committee's priorities is becoming a tradition. i like this kind of traditions. just last week, members of the congress were sworn in, pledging to uphold the constitution. with its new term comes a responsibility of governing. as john f. kennedy said, to govern is to choose.

i served in the majority and minority. three democratic president and four republican presidents. i know that we can be productive. i worked with republican house chairman. i worked with the republican senate majority and republican president to extend the voting rights act. to enact the innocence protection act, which provides dna testing for those wrongfully convicted. i look forward to continuing this tradition. this is a new year. this is a new congress. the year started in a very tragic and troubling way. every year is a year of promise

for america. in our committee, we have a challenging agenda. we have the challenge with some of the most capable members. we pursue the goals and make good artist a more perfect union. i thank you for listening to me very sad -- to me. [applause] >> he will be glad to take some questions as time permits. he will take questions from the audience. many of you may have asked questions -- past questions to the aisle. ok. questions from the press? >> thank you, senator.

in the wake of the shooting at fort hood, there was a push by the president and others to withhold judgment about the man's botas and intentions until more was known. however, in the wake of the most recent shooting, there was no shortage of accusations that the two-party or talk-radio was behind motivating the individual. why is there the lack of caution on this particular incident? >> the president withheld judgment in the first situation. it implied that he did not in this instance. the president has taken the same position on both. he has withheld judgment, as he should. i prosecuted lot of murder cases. i have arrested murderers.

i withhold judgment until the evidence is in. the president has done this in both cases. president obama is right in doing that. it is a heinous crime, terrible crime. i want members of congress to be able to meet anywhere in this country with their constituents. this is part of our open government. the ability to petition congress, to speak to congress. i do not want that to change. let's find out what happens. let's not get a tragedy mixed up in politics. the president has not and i have not. i am more interested in finding out what was the motivation of the person who has been arrested. my heart goes out to the families of those who love lost members, a nine-year-old girl, a

husband who died protecting his wife, a super qualified member, a highly respected member of congress fighting for life. those are the things we should be concerned about. >> the first question from the audience, do you believe cyber security legislation will move ahead this session? >> thank you. i think cyber security legislation has to move ahead. we are losing billions of dollars because of the fraud on the internet. a lot of it is from overseas. we pay -- are real questions of

our security. so much of what we do is done via computers and internet. think about the heating systems when it is five below zero in the northeast or other parts of the country. think of the devastating consequences of a cyber attack. think of the billions and billions of dollars counterfeit goods are sold and many of them coming from overseas. people have lost life savings. people have had their bank accounts and their credit relent. -- relent. -- ruined. my guess is that if we can -- i am working with governments and with industry, with users, consumers. i am trying to bring them all

end to make sure that everybody is that the table. i can guarantee that if we read the most perfect bill this year and pass it, it a couple of years, we will have to revisit it. i want to write a bill that can be updated. the types of problems that we are seeing and the types of attacks is amazing. >> we have two more questions from the audience. the first concerns patent reform. you're a minute to the pop reform act was seen as a strong and widely acceptable compromise on a complicated issue. you mentioned your conversations with their house colleagues. police star with a blank slate? >> -- will you start with a blank slate? >> when i began working on padded reform, i had hair.

[laughter] i do not want to go back to a blank slate. we have done an enormous amount of work. we have brought an end -- we have brought in every state culture. -- stakeholder. we have had countless meetings with all the stakeholders. we have worked with the patent office and others. i think the bipartisan legislation we put together is a good step and it is a good place to begin. i will not start with a blank slate. i will work with both republicans and democrats in both the house and senate to try to have a good solid bill or we can begin. if it comes to the floor of the senate, it will pass. i would like to do it now before

we get tangled up next year with presidential elections and everything else. >> a few more questions. what do you anticipate the senate will do in reaction to disclosures by wikileaks? >> i wish i knew the answer. i know the justice department has already had subpoenas' out. we have been revealing what the law is. -- revealing what the law is. -- reviewing what the law is. i believe in an open government, but i do not believe in putting good men and women in danger. we have had to bring people out of other countries where they were serving at great risk to their own lives, serving to protect your safety, my safety.

they were very valuable in doing that and we have had to remove them from those countries because they had been exposed. we have seen people in some countries who have faced the death or have been killed because of that. that is not responsible. i will also ask the obvious question. i had lasted so many times in my office. what in heck do we have all this material or a private to first- onto could download it cds? who made that can -- and of made

that decision? -- who made that decision? >> what are the specific plans they considered to strengthen eb5? >> it is a program where investors are able to come from overseas, invest in businesses in the united states and they move forward in the immigration process doing it. that is the shorthand to it. it is being used in many places. it has been used very effectively in my state. there been some questions whether it has been misused and other places. in most places, it has been used well. i think it should be made a permanent program, but with some very specific oversight.

government and congressional oversight to make sure that it does best -- money comes in to the united states, creates jobs, americans are being hired for those jobs. frankly, as an american, i would wrapped -- much rather see money coming from outside this country coming in and creating jobs. >> we have three questions on the nomination process. the first is -- what did you schedule for nomination hearings? when will mr. -- when will the atf nominee will likely have a hearing? >> especially those who went

through the committee unanimously last year. they should not have to go through it again. i do not know how you ask someone. you put them through a humiliating to lead. i am urging all of us to back away from that. the president has gone across party lines. he has saw the advice of republican senators and democratic senators. we have to get away from that. i will put on the agenda very quickly those two of already been confirmed. the president sent most of those names back to us.

we senators are dependent on our staff. they do the work. we will get them through. there are so many vacancies. we had 85 district courts with vacancies. 16 circuit courts. first president bush's two years in office, the democrats were in charge for a year-and-a-half. in a year-and-a-half, we went through 100 of its judges. i just happen to have these numbers here. [laughter] we were able to put through only about half of that, just over half of that.

we have to get away from that. you have good men and women who are willing to serve. let them do that. be a judge is a prestigious office. it is a very hard working office. it does not come without risk. as we saw this weekend. >> the final to questions also concerned delays in the process. what can be done differently to speed up the confirmation process for judges? the delays in confirming federal judges to a tragic toll. meetttended congresswoman's and greet. what will the senate judiciary committee to do -- due to honor his memory?

>> that was a leading question. [laughter] i am going to both democratic and republican leadership and say, this is a new congress. what's that back. let's do something similar to what i did in my first two years. let's move judges through quickly. we will have been heard in in committee and they will be confirmed their carry it if you have somebody who has been confirmed unanimously, the tradition has always been -- you

take 10 minutes of debate equally divided and to roll call them. they go through unanimously. i want to get back to them. let's have a debate on them. and then vote. but vote yes, vote no, do not vote may be. >> we have time for two more questions from the press. >> you were the target of an attack in 2001. i am wondering if you could talk about whether that attack or this one will change how you interact with constituents or other senators. >> i had an attack on myself shortly after 911. i received one of the deadly

anthrax letters. people died because of letters addressed to me. i still wonder who sent it and why they sent it. i will wonder that for the rest of my life. for a period of time, the capitol police were superb, providing security. i felt i really did not need it. i felt totally safe in my state of vermont. it is this a this state in the nation. i know our local and state police in vermont have procedures for public meetings. i am very satisfied with what they are. i will not go into the details for security reasons. the capital itself is very, very secure.

when i think about what it was like at law school, all the doors were open. it is a little bit different today. i did not feel any worry being there. i would not want to see every member of congress walking around with security. we have the obvious ones. i have no problem with that. i would not want to see members of congress walking route with security. read it is not the kind of country we are. i've been -- it is not the kind of country we are. i have been to a totalitarian countries. some of these countries, to visit and they are surprised that i drive to -- in my own car. i want to keep it that way. it would be a mistake if we put any more barriers.

the one place we can be ourselves is that home. i want that to continue. the country is better off if we can. i would urge, i really would urge -- i urge this for the right and left. everytime you disagree with somebody in public office, stop attacking their motives and describing some sort of nefarious motive. we have good men and women across the political spectrum who represent people in this country across the political spectrum. there are no easy answers to the problems facing america. there never have been. there were not any easy answers during the great depression. we had men and women who came

together to stop the best interests possible to make this a better country. don't we owe that to our children and grandchildren? step back from the rhetoric. go to substance. start working together. this is a great and wonderful country. we are a beacon to the rest of the world. let's make sure that this began as a little broader than it has been. r than it has been. >> should there be more talk about gun control? >> there will be, but i do not know if it will change. that is an easy answer. vermont has the lowest crime rates in the country. it doesn't have gun control. but i would not want those laws

-- vermont laws to be in an urban area. we have to figure out what works best. thank you. i really appreciate you being here. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyri

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> we look at issues impacting the nation on the c-span content vehicle. we take you to detroit for the north american auto show. we caught up with michigan senator debbie stabenow and a member of the task force on the automotive industry. >> this plays a pivotal role in helping us get where we are in terms of restructuring. this allows ford to be here. our section 136 has improved and allowed us to have an extraordinary facility.

the cars here are impacted by section 136 loans. jobs came back from mexico to michigan as a result of retooling the loans. we will be able to expand those and get our suppliers the opportunity to lose -- to use those loans. we are excited about the investment of $2 billion in manufacturing. we are the center for the country. there are investments in the retooling loans and the manufacturing tax credits. all of those things, coupled with the incentives, are a reflection of the fact that we believe in manufacturing. >> this is about a partnership. the president stepped forward in an extraordinary way and provide

leadership. these companies deserve a lot of credit. ford, general motors and chrysler as well. this is not a one-man band. there are the shareholders, workers, managers who came together. odyssey, senator stabenow -- obviously, senator stabenow was critical as well. we ask that people getting the help as -- people getting the help exercise self help. ford was helped by the overall work done to save the industry. ford went out and worked with its workers, its creditors in an extraordinary effort. we are hugely proud.

136 helped. ford did this. we are proud of what they have done and happy to be a part of this today. it is nice to be in detroit where we can talk about car of the year and we can talk about market share increases and about ford adding 7000 jobs and talk about its position in "consumer reports." these are the sorts of things we need to talk about. is an extrad day for this car industry. i would add one thing. >> one thing i am focused on is how we can support electrical vehicles. we have 30% credit in terms of we have something in place to increase that to 50%. we want to make sure we are doing things that help major investments and the technology that has been developed by ford

and all of our companies. >> what do you see it for the rest of the nation out of what has happened in detroit for the last few years? what can the manufacturing industry learned and what has the government learned about rebuilding manufacturing based on what has happened here? >> the automobile industry has always in some ways been at the center of united states manufacturing. the lesson is about people working together. there is a role for government, but it is a limited role. there is a level of intervention required. but what you have seen us do with general motors is back off when we could. that does not mean government does not have a role to play. that means helping with the issues senator stabenow benton. government is there to provide a measure of help.

but the private sector needs to lead. when you have companies like ford that has its act together and has dynamic management and terrific relationships with employees, you have something that works. i think our industry is a wonderful illustration. the car industry is going to require innovation to be successful. this is a company that is innovating. it is not the only one. that is terrific. that competition will make for a better company and make its competitors that the companies. that is what american manufacturing has always been about. we are an innovation leader. i think this is a metaphor for the broader question of how we leave the manufacturing in america. the level of intervention was unique. the broad level of support we look for will continue.

[unintelligible] [unintelligible] >> no comments about the future. nothing on the future. it is funny. we need to work on [unintelligible] >> but we cannot drive it away. we have it locked. it is a safety modification.

>> we will be evaluating. we will have to see what the market does. the financial markets can be uncertain. we are determined to exit as soon as practical. we are not going to do a fire sale. the ipo gives you a sense of the balance which struck. the remainder of our sales -- we are going to look to strike something in the same neighborhood. >> what do you think about press the's plan -- think about chrysler's plan? >> they have every right to pay us back. we would be delighted if they did. obviously, their payment is good. we will have to see if they make good on those plans. i have no comment on that now.

if you work in this location one year ago and you had listened to what people wereay chrysler, i do not think anybody who was not using a controlled substance would have said on this day chrysler would have been taken relatively seriously. there is a lot of the development. they have a long way to go. we have no illusions about it. if you ask me how we feel if they paid us back [unintelligible] [unintelligible] >> i do not think we can predict. we did a large transaction, the largest public offering in the united states' history. whether that is an appropriate step now, we will not speculate

on that. the stock is going toward $40. i have no view on whether or not that is appropriately done. as the lockup comes off, we will evaluate our options. we will comny's input. this will be a secondary sale. we will consult with financial experts. [unintelligible] >> no comments about my future. >> you wanted to show the market you were serious. what is driving the timetable for the rest of the sale? >> i think the timing for the rest of t different from the ipo timing. the president has said, i want to exit this as soon as practical. we have demonstrated, not that

it was ever in doubt, that we want to put a bullish government motors talk to bed. it is not the proper role for government. i think that a complete exit is important for the broader economy. it is important for us to fulfil the mission we set out to do when we initially invested. we have to balance that with getting a fair return. as soon as practical is a watchword and is still alive. 500 million more shares than we want to have. we should be looking for a way to sell those shares. >> does the general motors success make you more optimistic?

>> we are not day traders. the stock market has been strong in the last little while. that is good. people are more optimistic about the overall economy. the tax deal gave people a shot of optimism about the overall economy. i will not look at the last two or three weeks of the stock market performance and prognosticate about that. >> thank you. >> the c-span local content of vehicles are traveling the country as we look at issues impacting the nation. for more information on our local content of vehicles, " c- span.org -- go to c-span.org. stuart hoffman outlined the economic forecast for 2011. he predicted an increase in job

growth expected to push the unemployment rate down to 9%. the american bankers association is hosting this event. it is about 30 minutes. >> i would like to introduce the american bankers association chief economist, who will start

off the event today. >> let me welcome you to the board room. i have had the distinct pleasure of working with 14 teeth economists from major banks around this country over the last several days. many of them were able to stay for this press conference. i will introduce them and we will have the opportunity to meet with them afterwards. the chairman of the committee was unable to make this meeting in person. we have asked stuart hoffman. we have had the pleasure to work with him. as always, this group meets twice a year. as part of that meeting, we meet with the federal reserve board. we do not discuss anything about that meeting. it is completely off the record. we like to keep it that way. if you have question related to

the fed, at the fed. we know how response of they often are for that. we like to keep that relationship the way we have had it in the past. what you win here today -- what you will hear today is the same type of presentation. the forecast reflects the feelings of this committee. i would like to introduce ethan harris, scott anderson, scott brown, and nathaniel. let me turn this over to stuart hoffman from pnc financial services group. >> thank you and good morning to everyone. we had a busy day yesterday in preparation for that.

a lot of interaction and e-mails getting ready for yesterday. what i would like to do is share with you the highlights. as i look out, it is nice to see familiar faces. good to have you back. there are six highlights from our economic outlook. we shared them with the board of government -- the board of governors. they have been outlined in the press release. with the outlook for real gdp. as the press release says in the headline, our committee -- this is a consensus from the median of our committee. i will talk about the balance around that. our committee felt that the real gdp growth was around 3.3%.

that compares to what we call potential gdp. we felt as though the economy would be going ahead of the long-term speed limit in the coming year. in 2012 and 2013, we have preliminary numbers. we continue to see economic growth in those years. maybe something closer to the order of 3%. an indication for the job market, which we are focused on. that kind of economic growth we anticipated would add just over 2 million jobs over the course of 2011. last year, we were just shy of 1.2 million jobs added. clearly, an improvement. that is enough to take a small bite out of the unemployment rate. it was 9.4% in december.

that could understates things a bit. the fourth quarter average last year was 9.6%. our forecast for the fourth quarter of this year will be 9.1%. even the 3.3% real gdp growth, while it is big enough to provide job growth and not the unemployment rate down, leaves the unemployment rate. in a year of progress, there is a lot that needs to be done to bring the unemployment rate down to what we think is the long- term potential our average. in this environment, we thought inflation would remain relatively tame depending on which measure of inflation you used. some went in the order of on

1order our one -- order of 1.5%. the core cpi was 1.1%. our forecast would be a slight increase this year. something on the order of 1.5%. that is still below what the fed often says it is its preferred inflation rate of somewhere around 1.5% or 2%. in terms of the balance of risk for the forecast, i have been doing this for many years. as chairman last year and on the committee or the year before, i stood up before you and we talked about the forecast. there was a bias in our forecast

to the downside. we were concerned that if the forecast was wrong, it would be weaker rather than stronger. around the 3% economic growth, the committee felt there were downside risks in the housing market and house prices and problems in state and local government financing and some commercial real estate and if oil prices were to go substantially higher than they were. there was some upside potential. stronger global economic growth. healthy corporate balance sheets. this time, we felt more of a balance that we could have downside risks, but we could have upside surprises that we felt would balance on both sides. not only is the median forecast higher, some degree of confidence and the odds of a

missed are not skewed to the downside that if it does not happen, it will be more likely worse than better. this time, maybe it will turn out to be better than we forecast. in bank lending, the committee thought that the availability of credit for consumers and businesses would improve over the coming year. there are some signs it has already begun to happen. we thought there would be growth. we think consumer lending will rise around 2.5% this year and business lending around 4.25%. that would be a growth in business loans we have not seen in a while. delinquencies and charge-offs would decline a little as they often do in response to the economy. finally, in talking about the fed, the forecast was that there would be no change in the fed funds rate. there were 2 or 3 people who

thought the fed could nudge the funds rate up by the end of this year. the majority of us thought the funds rate target we have last . the committee felt unanimously that the fed would finish the $600 billion of what data easing. but there was unanimous expectation that there would not be a need of another asset purchase of quantitative easing 3 initiated in the latter half of the year. the fed would complete and be somewhat dormant for the second half of the year in the sense of not initiating new asset purchases or making any movement in their target fed funds rate. that summarizes the highlights of the forecast. it is a lot more detail and

numbers in their quarter by quarter. let me sum it up -- in there quarter by quarter. let me sum it up there. we will open up for your questions. my colleagues will be available to speak with you as well. >> i am from our readers. -- from reuters. why are you anticipating a jump in oil prices? can you comment on the europeaoe prices will stand at $90 a barrel. perhaps some will go up during the spring. it is seasonal. there is a downside risk. if there were a bigger increase in oil prices for a variety of reasons, supply constraints or

problems of that nature, over $100 a barrel, it would be a negative for downside risk for the u.s. and for a global economic growth. based on our expectation, oil is going to stay around $90 a barrel. there is a potential downside risk to push oil prices higher over the course of the year. >> was there a risk for europe? >> we did not order the risk, so we did not talk about the priority. we might run up in oil, there would be a greater risk. maybe i am is speaking for myself ratherhow much of a facte tax cuts and the additional stimulus in the forecast and how

they affected the change to the upside for your group? >> we know what is going to happen with this policy in 2011. there were some questions about what some of the temporary effect would be in 2012. we did not specifically address them. i can speak for myself that the bush tax cuts -- i refer to it as the dog that did not bite. rates did not go up. you have the payroll tax cut as well as the extension of unemployment benefits. our group felt that degree of uncertainty -- what is going to be the tax rates -- was settled. there was some modest stimulus coming from the payroll tax cut. that was part of the reason why the forecast of of our group was higher than it was six months

ago. i cannot say specifically that we passed, how much more did you add to your forecast in terms of jobs or gdp in terms of the tax cuts? may be individual members can speak to that. the feeling was there was a degree of uncertainty and we now know what it is. and there was a modest stimulus that puts our outlook up a bit. there was more covenants in e f. >> real estate outlook for 2011. what kind of a factor is it in your forecast? will it be a head wind for the economy? >> in terms of the gdp number, we have small increases in residential investment in terms of prices. we have a small increase in house prices. i would say it is more of a neutral.

it was a downside risk. there was concern that there would be a bigger drop in house prices from the foreclosure issue and how that is resolved. the feeling was that with some job growth, there was modestly higher interest rates -- there were modestly higher interest rates. we have a fixed mortgage rate in our forecast of around 5.20%. our feeling was housing would be somewhat of a drag on the economy, but not a new downward cycle or a double dip in housing or house prices. that was not what was propelling the economy. it was more business investment, consumer spending, exports and global economic growth rather than significant improvement in housing construction, home

sales, or anything from home prices. >> how do you factor in the crunch on state and local governments? >> we talked a lot about that at length. we do that as a downside risk. when we talk about job growth, we did not break it down between private and public. the committee would agree that the expectation is that jobs will decline in the public sector so that the growth in jobs we get will be all accounted for in the private sector as opposed to the public sector. we did not talk about the numbers we noted. they have been -- public-sector jobs have declined in 2010. we think that will continue. from an investment point of view, state and local

governments will be a drag on the time. there will not be a major crisis event in the municipal market that will spill over into the rest of the financial markets. there has been a lot of publicity and focus about coupl. we saw that as a downside risk. it was something we felt would be manageable and that a municipal bond prices that would become infectious or the rest of the financial market or cause a sharper decline in jobs and investment in the public sector. >> could you repeat the question? it helps with the audio. >> next question that i can repeat? [laughter] >> on inflation, was the consensus that it would stay quite low throughout the year it? or could we see a pickup? >> the question was about inflation and how strong was our

feeling that it would stay low and would it pickup later this year because of energy or commodity prices? the consensus was fairly strong. we also do a balance of risk in terms of both economic growth and in terms of inflation. out of the 10 people responded, 6 felt the risks of inflation were balance. 2 felt it could be to the upside could be to the downside. there are some concerns on the headline side of inflation that energy or other commodity prices could push the headline cpi up. that was definitely not a big concern. not something that gave us a lot of heartburn. we were bounced around the idea of continued low inflation. -- balanced around the idea of

continued low inflation, not deflation. yes? >> do you think the united states will become a more competitive player on the global market? >> the question is if i believe our the committee believes the united states will become more competitive on the global market. we have exports as a source of growth on the economy. in terms of the value of the dollar, we talked about the trade weighted value of the dollar. we do not forecast a significant rise or decline in the decline -- in the value of the dollar over the coming year. we did not spend a lot of time talking about that. with the competitiveness of the u.s. economy in the year and beyond, our feeling is that the manufacturing sector and productivity improvements are making the u.s. more competitive

in prices and quality of goods. exports and the glowing -- the growing global economy will be part of the growth story in the u.s. economy. i think the answer is yes. >> two questions about the fed. you talk about when they would raise the federal funds rate? it looks like by the end of the year more people are expecting it to move. the talk about 2012 at all? >> the question is did we talk about when the fed might start to move the fed funds rate. we did not have a large discussion about that. there were feelings among the committee that sometime in 2012 or toward the spring, the fed will start to raise the fed

funds rate target. i would not say that that is a unanimous decision. you can ask members individually. we focus on the fact that during the next year, we reasonably foresee that the fed would not be raising the rate. i would guess that when we do this six months from now and we are looking out to 2012, there would be 2 or 3 people who think the target rate will start moving up next year. next question? >> bay reserves are piling up -- bank reserves are piling up. what is going on in that dynamic? >> the question is about reserves. our forecast is that you will see more lending on the part of banks, specifically tied -- the reserves are already there. there borrowing and the

willingness on the part of banks to loan money. we will see a rise in consumer lending this year and even faster rise in consumer -- in business lending. our banks are competing aggressively for good quality are worse in the middle market and in smaller companies -- for good quality borrowers in the middle market and smaller companies. for those who want to borrow, there is a willingness on the part of banks and an ability on the part of banks to lend money. this year, we will see an increase in loans to businesses and consumers. >> with that include mortgage credit? >> we did not specifically break mortgage credit out. i would think that probably, depending on how this

foreclosure thing comes out, mortgage availability will also be on the rise as well. we talked about the consumer, we talked about businesses. housing is a neutral. i would not think we would see a lot of demand for mortgage credit. it could be up a little from the banks. there are many mortgage lenders beyond what the banks do. >> it is not just a demand question. it is also a lending question. it is not necessarily in the portfolio. would that be part of the equation in increase lending? with their be an easing of lending standards? >> we did not specifically tie it lending.

the majority of us saw an increase in credit availability as well as an increase in the quality of credit. i can remember 12 months ago when it was a mixed bag. some said it was about the same period a few of us said there would be improving availability. the evolution of that question from this committee has gone to the side that says credit availability is expected to be much better in the year ahead than we have seen in the last couple of years. if that is matched by a demand, it should result in more loans made that outstanding. >> you said no one expects the fed to go beyond its $600

billion plant. how much of a factor is what they are going to do or what you expect them to do? >> the question is, no one is expecting them to go beyond $600 billion. i will try to answer your question exactly. that is factored into everybody's forecast. we all agreed that this monetary stimulus coming from the purchase of $600 billion of some magnitude that there would not be a need to do anything beyond that. the general backdrop of the fed that completes the purchases and not raising the fed funds rate in the latter half of the year is a degree of monetary stimulus or a combination that underlies the improvement and is making a contribution to the improvement in the economy. [unintelligible] >> we think it is effective, yes.

>> did you talk at all -- as all of this gets withdrawn from the government at the fiscal level north dakota is continuing -- at the fiscal level and these continuing low interest rates, you could talk about job creation and the government stepping back. can you discuss that? >> we discussed the eventual withdrawal of monetary and fiscal stimulus. you use an escape philosophy, which is the title of my article. we have differences of opinion around the word self sustained. self sustained in the sense

that the private sector is feeding on itself or there is a lot of monetary is the stimulus. the compromise is that we need more job growth. we need evidence of solid job growth to say we are in a self sustaining economic expansion. my team -- monetary fiscal stimulus is keeping the economy growing and growing more rapidly. in terms of looking beyond the next couple of years, there was discussion about tightening of fiscal and monetary policy with no agreement or no firm opinion as to what the economy or what it would look like or what it -- or what would occur. the feeling was that that was a 2011 event. fiscal policy is quite stimulative. in the future, both of those will have to be less stimulative.

when that occurs, whether it is 2012 or 2013, we did not come to any firm conclusions on that. i will not say it is beyond our forecast horizon, but we were focused on 2011 and 2012. the feeling was that was not going to happen in that time frame. it might start to happen in 2012, but not 2011. both on the monetary fiscal side. >> can you talk about the consumer and the savings rate? >> it looks like the savings rate is flat, around five. 5.5%.out in the fourth quarter, spending outgrew income. in 2011, income growth generated

by jobs would be in line with consumer spending. the pace of consumer spending is somewhere around 3%. it is a little lower than the 3.3% we are forecasting for gdp growth. consumer spending is making a solid contribution. it is non-residential, potentially business equipment. the feeling was income would grow in line with spending or maybe the other way around. real spending would grow with income after tax cuts, taking advantage of the tax cuts that are occurring on the payroll tax. consumer spending in line with income would mean the savings rate would stabilize around 6%. we are up from 1% 3 or 4 years

ago. there was not a feeling that it would go to 8%. it is more likely to come back down again on a persistent bases with consumer spending more in line with income growth. >> any other questions? if not, thank you. as they say, i am sticking around. my colleagues are sticking around. if you want to talk to us one on one, we are available. thank you for attending. we will see you in six months. >> the tonight, tavis smiley pulse -- hosts an event called

"america's next chapter." one of the topics discussed was the reason shooting in tucson. >> bill first example of the answer been found in the problem and the compensation the country is engaged in about civility. help me understand how bad is the way forward if it requires a heinous act like that to get us to have a conversation about civility. i have heard members of congress tomorrow on "washington journal passing themselves on the back and sticking out their chests ," a discussion on the new reminding us that there are no congress and the obama republicans or democrats. administration. we are all americans. we were all americans two weeks also, a preview of president hu jintao's visit to the united ago before it happened. states. it cannot take a heinous act later, u.s. unemployment and job

like this for us to realize that growth in 2011. we are in this together and we that is live at 7:00 a.m. are all americans. >> you can see the entire forum eastern here on c-span. tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern and tomorrow, on "newsmakers," 5:00 p.m. pacific here on c- span. kathleen sebelius. she discusses the overhaul of the health care legislation. treasury secretary timothy geithner on the u.s.-china economic relationship. his speech is seen as a preview of topics that the president will discuss with president hu jintao. this is almost one hour. chinese president's visit. >> we have a special event

today. timothy geithner, to this country, will speak to us on u.s./china economic relations. the subject as all of you know is great importance to most countries and to the world. in the absence of justice einhorn who is watching this event from italy, head of our china studies department david langton who is watching from korea, in the international school. i have been asked to introduce the secretary and serve as moderator during the question and answer session. i teach courses on china's economy at the school. since timothy geithner is well known to all of you are can keep my introductory commentary very short. he played a prominent role in national and international economics and finance for many years.

he has always had special interest in east asia. he was sworn in as 75th secretary of the treasury on 26 january 2009 in the middle of a deep recession. i don't need to remind you. there are very few challenges that have not been thrown at him since that time. he worked in the treasury department earlier from 88 to 2001. under two secretaries, robert rubin and lawrence summers. the last two years as undersecretary for international affairs. after that he became director of the policy department at the imf and was appointed to the new york fed in 2003 as its ninth president and ceo. he got his be a in government studies from dartmouth and his am a in national economics and

east asian studies from this school. he lived in china and japan and studied both languages. finally before i invite him to the podium, may i remind you to put yourself phones on silent. [applause] >> i spent two years of my life here long time ago studying the chinese and japanese economics, didn't in joy the economics that much. i played quite a lot of pull in the basement. i don't know if there is a pool table there anymore but it is a great place and i admire what jessica and her colleagues have built. i am biased but this is one of the preeminent institutions in

the united states engaged in one of the most important challenges in public policy education to help americans understand the world and the role we play in it. this is important because we can effectively pursue our interests as a nation unless we understand the objectives and capabilities of other nations. president obama will host president hu at the white house. this takes place at a time of important transition for the world economy, and for the american economy. global economy is emerging from the financial crisis but the crisis left lasting scars that will take years to repair and left a growing gap between the growth trajectories of the developed economies and rapidly growing emerging economies. many major economies are confronted with the challenge of rebuilding after a crisis, many of the emerging economies are at

the early stage of what should be a long period of rapid economic growth with rising in comes creating growing demand for resources and investment capital. the growth of the united states stands somewhere between these two divergent paths. we are lucky to grow at half the rate of the major emerging economies but twice the rate of europe and japan. these growth dynamics' will change the balance in the world economy forcing changes in the architecture of the trade and in this new global context china's principal economic challenges are how to manage the next stage in the transition from a state dominated developing economy dependent on external demand and external technology to a more market-oriented economy with growth powered by domestic demand and innovation. i want to talk about the implications of these changes

for our economic relations with china and u.s. economic policy. china presents the enormous opportunities for the united states and world but its size, the speed of its ascent and policies are growing source of concern both here and in countries around the world. to put those concerns in context i want to state some fundamental propositions about our economic relationship. first, the economic relationship between the united states and china provides tremendous benefit to both our nations. even though we compete in many areas our economic strength are largely complementary. china faces a very complicated set of challenges as it transitions more toward a market economy but it is in our interest and the world's interest that china manage these challenges successfully. third proposition. our priorities in this economic

relationship from the exchange rate to protection of natural property to reflect changes that are fundamentally in china's interest. ultimately china will need to make these changes to promote long-term prosperity. the fourth and final proposition, the prosperity of americans depends overwhelmingly on the economic policies we pursue to strengthened american competitiveness. even as we work for further reforms in china we need to understand our strength as a nation will depend not on choices made by china's leaders but on the choices we make here at home. over the last few decades china has emerged as a major economic force. growth was the least by china's economic reforms and a growing labour force and one of history's great migrations from factories. china's growth was made possible

by the actress china enjoyed to the market's, investments and technology of the united states and other major economies. the open multilateral trading system with its balance of rules and responsibilities was built with the leadership of the united states decades before china opened up to the rest of the world and opportunities created by that system were fundamental to china's economic sense and remain vital to china's ability to continue to grow. china needs the united states but the united states benefits substantially from a rapidly growing economic relationship with china. the benefit to the relationship are hard to capture in any one specific but remember this. the united states is on track to export more than $100 billion of goods and servicess to china this year. our exports are growing at quite the rate of growth of exports of the rest of the world. these exports support hundreds

of thousands of jobs across the nation in all sectors from high technology to soybeans bleaker still aircraft, automobiles, forklift and financial services. we have a great deal invested in in our economic relationship with china we focus on two principal objectives -- the first is to expand opportunities for you as company's to export and sell in this requires a more level playing field to compete china's companies. courage shifted domestic consumption. as part of this china's exchange needs to strengthen in response to market forces. i want to provide a quick review of some of our concerns. the extent of progress we have achieved as we see it in each of

these areas. first, on the broader competitive landscape in china, we face in that market, the commanding heights of the chinese economy and financials are still overwhelmingly dominated by the government. workers are able to take range of preferences and subsidies. operate behind trade to give them a competitive advantage relative to u.s. and other foreign firms and workers. they get access to low-cost land and energy. they enjoy a preference in terms of access to government contracts. the electrical properties widere