the chinese complaint. free trade is important. having a skilled work force is important. attracting the best and the brightest. focusing on the use of spectrum and thinking about our future. the most significant companies in the world are based here. as a u.s. strategy, we should not be going after them. >> when they go around the world, they want to attack those companies. but you talk about clothes systems and antitrust and violent murders, they're going after google and qualcomm and going after our best companies. we have to be aware of that. >> you say, make no mistake, i am not opposed to copyright patents, but i am opposed to the monopolies of invention, which is the jealous guarding of

innovation at the expense of further progress. >> that is intellectual property, protected by patents and trademarks. originally, it is the same amount of time, less than 20 years. now the copyrights have expanded, and it is several hundred years and apparently has gotten so high for a company to innovate, it can be subject to billions of dollars of damage if somehow you infringe on a copyright law. we have to be very careful. we have the best copyright infringement protection and we have to protect them from piracy. we have the huge the heat -- we have to change the huge damages that could basically bankrupt companies if they somehow go over none known it laws in their innovation.

>> this is gary shapiro, the comeback, innovation restoring the american dream, with the foreword by dallas mavericks owner mark cuban. thank you for being on the show. >> thank you very much credi. >> c-span possible content vehicles are traveling the country, visiting cities. we now take you to detroit for the north american international automobile show, where we caught up what the michigan senator and a senior adviser on the president's 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. it is an extraordinarily good 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 charging stations. 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. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> no comments about the future. nothing on the future. it is funny.

>> 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 were saying about 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. >> 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 get the company's input. this will be a secondary sale. we will consult with financial experts. >> are you taking on any new jobs and the administration? >> 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 the sale is not 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. >> c-span's local content

vehicle is traveling the country. for more information, go to our website at c-span.org/lcv. >> tomorrow, kathleen sebelius. she discusses the republicans' efforts to repeal the health care overhaul legislation. that is at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> starting tuesday, the house takes up the repeal of the health care law. watched the debate and final vote on c-span, and go to c- span.org to continue the conversation. >> next, a discussion on an annual report that looks at political rights and civil liberties around the world. this is 40 minutes. what is ther, story about tunisia and freedom

in the world? guest: this is the first time an arab leader has been forced from power, and a huge development. the president, after the rise up in the middle of december, he felt he could no longer rule and he felt he had to flee the country. this happened with massive violence. there were estimates of several school were killed in protests -- several scores of people killed in protests. get a new government will finally respect the two nation'' ability to express themselves freely to participate in the political process, for journalists to be able to report -- those things have been deprived from the people of tunisia. host: what specific events led up to what we saw last night? guest: it began in december when

a young man set himself on fire, protesting the state of the economy. he was unemployed and being harassed by the authorities, triggering a whole number of protests and movements by the people of to nietzsche, who then went into the capital. we saw -- people of tunisia, who then went into the capital. about 60 people were killed. the president of tunisia made promises that he would undertake certain reforms, that he would not stay in office beyond 2014. it reached a point yesterday where he felt he had to leave. this will hopefully create new openings for the people and for the region. there was a person in cairo who tweeted about this yesterday.

host: one of the things you do with the freedom house is to look at places in the world where there is a lack of freedom. talk a little bit about the recent reporton that. guest: the report that we issue was an annual survey started in 1972. we surveyed 192 countries and 14 territories around the world. what we have found for the fifth consecutive year is that democracy is receding. there was a reduction in the number of democracies, from 89 down to 87. this is a record decline for our survey. we also see a reluctance among democracies to push back on authoritarian regimes that are trying to challenge the efforts to promote democracies around

the world. so, this report that was unveiled this week reflects some warring trends. host: who you cited many countries stepping up measures. guest: not only within their own borders, but they are more aggressive beyond their borders and, and they are supporting other authoritarian regimes that cannot always get the news. providing economic assistance, financial assistance, to prop up these economic regimes. russia supports belarus, and russia and congratulated them on their rigged election last month.

iran tries to undermine other countries in the region and threatens the one democracy, is real. -- israel. these countries and regimes rely on each other. they consult with each other. they actually you night and come together much more effectively, unfortunately, then democracies have in recent years. host: what does that mean for the recent treaty we signed with russia? we have relations with these countries in question. guest: the united states has the obligation to stand for human rights around the world whether it is with china, russia, or any other country. the united states has interests in economic energy areas with countries, but the democracy

interests should not be shortchanged. it is like a three-legged stool. democracy and human rights should not be the shortest leg of that stool. according to the washington post, president obama is planning to raise a number of human rights issues with china. secretary clinton delivered a speech yesterday, in which human rights was mentioned quite prominently in her speech. i hope this is a reflection that human rights will in fact be a prominent issue during the visit when president obama went to china in november 2009, he was criticized for not raising human rights issues during that trip, for allowing the chinese to orchestrate his visit as a press conference. secretary clinton in february

2009 when she was traveling in asia and on her way to china was quoted by saying we cannot let these human rights issues interfere. i hope it reflects a sustainable change where human rights are going to get an adjustment. look at the reaction of the chinese government to the nobel peace prize committee's decision to grant the award. it pressured other governments to not attend the ceremony. president obama issued a good statement when the award was announced, but there was precious little solidarity with norway. other democracies did not stand by norway. host: david kramer is the executive director of freedom house. if you want to ask him

questions, here is how you can do so. do you find that it takes revolts to really make these changes have been? guest: in some cases. if we think back five years or seven years ago, -- the hope is you do not need of violence or an overthrow of the regime, that regimes will come to understand that violating human rights, suppressing populations, going against minority groups -- that creates the very instability day are trying to prevent it. secretary clinton gave a speech a few days ago. she said those who cling to the status quo may be able to hold

back the full impact of the country's problems for a little while, but not forever. others will fill the vacuum. we saw what happened in the tunisian. host: many of the people in the country are young people. guest: tunisia has a population of well educated people, a population of the " over 10 million. i think what we saw is that the population was driven by frustration with the economic situation, with unemployment, but there were also very bothered about the corruption of the regime. from the wikileaks that were released, there was a cable exposing massive corruption by the president and his family. i think the people were already aware of that, but it had shown even more light on the

situation. host: the report you put out for freedom house comes with a map with various colors. i would like to show the folks the map at home. what do the colors mean? guest: the corrine countries are the free countries around the world -- the agreement countries are the free countries around the world -- the green and countries are the free countries are around the world. the purple countries, which you can see russia and china, but also in the middle east, those are 47 countries with 35% of the population, half of that being the chinese population. host: what factors do you have to look at? guest: political rights and civil liberties.

we do not necessarily evaluate countries based on what the government do. that all these factors into our assessment, but we do and on the ground assessment of the state of political rights and civil liberties. the freedom of expression, speech, association, civil liberties, and the ability of people to choose their leaders in a free and fair fashion, to have a representative of parliament, independent media. all those things come together. there were some 23 different factors in the assessment, a very rigorous process, that the colleagues of mine under toque. i attended two of the review sessions and i was struck by the igor in the report. we make sure that we do the best

job possible in rating countries based on political rights and civil liberties. based on this course they get, that determines the color that they get. host: how can you look at it from our perspective when we have a different perspective? guest: we base it on a universal values, not american values. these are universal values, as well as other bodies and organizations that countries belong to. where a number of these organizations have it charters that lay out basic principles, and those are also guides for us when we undertake our study. host: david kramer is the executive director of freedom house. from minnesota, you are first up, on our independent line.

caller: i am calling to say with all due respect to the gentleman, it is true what you guys are saying. world of freedom is in decline, and that includes the great united states of america. i don't see how we have their rights to talk about civil liberties and freedom and all that junk when every single day they do something with the constitution to change the amendments on it. number two, we do torture and all that and never hold ourselves accountable. our government is corrupt. how do we have the right to talk to the whole world -- to tell the whole world what is true and correct when we do not even follow the rules ourselves?

that is my question. had a good day. guest: freedom house is not an arm of the u.s. government. we are a nonprofit organization headquartered in washington. we are bipartisan and been around since 1941. we are not representing the american government or the american government's position. no country is perfect, by any means, in the united states is no exception to that. the united states has a corrective measures in place, where there are ways to stop with checks and balances built into the system, which are lacking from many other systems. because the united states is not perfect, it does not mean that many people around the world, human rights activists, do not look to the united states for moral support and solidarity.

they look to us to stand up to authoritarian regimes. i think that has stayed the same regardless of the ups and downs that we may have in our own country. host: this is from donna who asks -- why is it so? guest: mongolia has a checks and balance system in place. it is a huge country geographically and a small country in terms of population, but it does stand out in the region because it does have a system in place where officials are elected, or the media are independent and where activists are allowed to engage in whatever kind of activities and they want to without any pressure from authorities. host: sacramento, calif., our republican line. caller: yes, thank you for

taking my call. i would like to ask you to questions. the first question is -- hello? the first question, we have a guy right now who lost an election. it has been more than a month. this guy is still in power. what we do to speed things up to get this guy out of there? he is creating problems for the region. second, we have a country like ghana. the people of the country have demonstrated they want to work, and yet do -- you do not see the west promoting the country. the west is [unintelligible] the same things you are

preaching, you are not promoting. the west is not backing them up. you have to promote the country's so you can see that we are behind you. that is my question, please guest: great questions. on the ivory coast, you are absolutely right that is a bad situation, where the incumbent president refuses to recognize an election that led to his defeat, refuses to cede power to the victor in that election. the countries of west africa have united and have been pressuring the incumbent president to leave. he has not left yet. the united nations has defended

the elected president. i think there has been a strong stance taken by african leaders of the united nations, the united states and europe, where they recognize it is very important for african leaders who lose elections, they need to step down and turn over power. we have seen problems in zimbabwe and in kenya, where the incumbent leaders refuse to leave. i think african leaders will come to discover that is a huge problem, and if they do not take a stand, there will be further problems throughout the continent. the problem is not solved yet. there has been violence, but i think it is positive that there has been a strong stance taken by african leaders. in ghana, it is incumbent upon democracies are around the world to help these fragile, new democracies that are developing. there are programs, one launched

in the bush administration that is continuing in the obama administration, that tries to provide support for democracies that are governing justly proud that is the criteria for receiving support. it is very important that the more experienced democracies in the world come to assistance, because if new democracies failed in delivering on the economic standards of living, economic improvements, then those new democracies could soon change colors on that map. host: you can check it out for yourself at freedomehouse.org. what kind of information have you found? guest: freedom house has been around since 1941. we were founded by eleanor roosevelt. we are a bipartisan organization, which is to say our board of trustees are

nonpartisan. we are headquartered in washington, and we also have an office in new york, as well as 10 offices overseas. we issue reports, such as the one we have been talking about this morning. we do programs that we undertake, supporting human- rights activists, journalists. we also engage in advocacy work, where there is in support of freedom of expression, working with congress, international organizations, foreign governments in trying to raise awareness about human-rights issues are around the world. host: one of the things i read was about the use of social media. does that play a role in the future of these countries? guest: absolutely. we have seen it in a small country of -- we have seen it in

a small country in 2009. people were text messaging each other. we have seen it in other places. we have seen it in china. i think the new communication has become an important tool for a human-rights activists and democracy supporters, to be in touch with each other and exchange best practices, whether it is blocking or text messaging, facebook, all these things are terrific new features and tools to help advance the cause of human rights and democracy. host: detroit, michigan, you are next, on our democrats line. caller: good morning. mr. david kramer, i am very concerned about american democracy, particularly given the resurgence of conservatism here in america. the republicans were just reinstated as the maturity in the house of representatives --

as the majority in the house of representatives. boosting businesses' ability to control voting in this country, by allowing them to donate as much money as they can to control our electoral process. i am concerned that suffrage being a major pillar of any democracy, the people's ability to get out and vote for their preferences is going to be controlled by big business, by conservative forces in this country, which actually want to see a minority, a small group of people, control the majority. guest: i think the caller is registering concerns that a lot of people have in this country.

there is a number of people who would disagree. we have a political process where people are able to go vote for local representatives, national leaders, and even an independent judicial system that acts as a check and balance. that is what we have elections, so if people do not like what happened in the previous election, they can try to change it. host: this message from twitter -- guest: there is no cookie cutter approach. i tend to think alike toro democracies are the best because they ensure leaders are accountable -- i tend to think that electoral democracies at

are the best because they in short leaders are accountable. i would respectfully disagree. i think elected democracies are proven to be the best system. we have seen the number of democracies around the world decline. it is down to 115. there was one drop in the past year alone. elect barack democracies, i think, -- the electoral democracies, i think, are the best. each country will develop its own way, respecting its culture and history. we are now trying to impose a certain model on countries. we are trying to support indigenous movements in these countries fighting for a human rights, freedom, and democracy. host: why is there a shift in

mexico? guest: its has been a source of controversy. it is because of the state of political rights and liberties. due to extensive violence, where we see journalists and murdered and law-enforcement officials murdered, as well as innocent civilians -- host: because of the drug trade. guest: because of the drug >> you create an environment of self-censorship where journalists out of understandable fear do not want to investigate and report on certain stores because they are afraid they will lose their lives. it is not necessarily a certain action that the mexican government has taken. it is almost the inability of the mexican government to control the level of violence there. host: saint petersburg, fla., republican line, go ahead. caller: with all due respect, i

find quite holes in the information you give. i am starting to think that this is pro-fiction. if you say in the u.s. that freedom is declining, i would agree. then you start talking about countries such as venezuela who is actually sponsoring authoritarian rule in other countries. that is completely false. as a matter of fact, if you compare venezuela to the u.s., you'll find that the u.s. has had intervention's every year of a multitude of different countries. for the last 70-80 years. guest: i guess i will have to respectfully disagree. on venezuela, you have president

chavez who has shown no respect for the elections in the fall of last year that produced a very strong turnout for the opposition and after those elections, he used the old parliament to ram through emergency powers were the new parliament will not have the ability to block those powers. chavez has gone after critics and opponents and journalists and civil society activists. he supports the cuban government. he is in close ties with the russian leadership. he has traveled to belarus. the company he keeps would strongly suggest to me that hugo chavez is not a democrat by a long shot. host: washington, d.c., there are democrat blind. caller: i would like to point out that you failed to mention the gude date of event that took place in honduras as well as one of the worst violators of human rights on the planet, saudi

arabia. i would like to take onus with what you said at the beginning about a democracy called israel. human rights watch came out with their international respected report that called separate but unequal, israel's discriminatory treatment of palestinians in the occupied territory. i would like to point out that they said that palestinians face systematic discrimination merely because of their race, ethnicity, and national origin depriving them of electricity, water, schools, access to roads while nearby jewish settlers enjoyed all of these state- provided benefits. while israelis sensettlements flourish, palestinians live in a time warp. not just separate, not just a cycle, but even pushed off their

lands and out of their homes. host: what is the question for the guest? caller: how can you keep israel and saudi arabia off the radar and call israel a democracy when there are hundreds of thousands of israeli-palestinians who live inside israel that are still equally denied democracy as well as the glaring injustice of the occupied territories. guest: on egypt and saudi arabia, neither country is free. they are listed as not free. egypt has terrible parliamentary elections that were much worse than those in 2005. i think we see continued disregard by the egyptian government for the will of the egyptian people. we also now see growing tensions between christians and muslims in egypt including a terrible terrorist attack on new year's

eve of a christian church. israel is a real concern for many who are trying to see egypt moved in made more democratic agenda -- direction. saudi arabia's one of the worst as far as human rights oppression. there is no question. the caller and i would agree on israel. there are problems in israel. i don't mean to suggest that israel is a plus democracy. it has a system in place were the leaders are elected by a population where there is a lively debate in israel and a lively parliament. those things are also very important for looking at the situation. i take the caller's point that the situation for palestinians living in israel is not good at all. that is something we also try to way we do the assessment. host: david kramer is our guest with freedom house. our next call is from our republican line from las vegas. caller: good morning cspan and

good morning my fellow americans and david, you are a very smart man and i know you can probably answer my question after i make a few comments. i am very, very concerned about at the way our country is going. i believe we have been infiltrated at all levels of government by the socialist- communists that said they would take over our country eventually by never firing a shot at it looks like they have a lot of willing accomplices in the democrat and republican party. i call rhinos and republicrats. i became active in politics in 1992 when ross perot can on this date. he talked about the giant sucking sound of our industrial base and it turns out nobody gives him credit. he was absolutely right. host: what is your question to the topic? caller: president bush during

that debate mentioned three words that i cannot shake from my mind. new world order. it looks like it is being pushed by the obama administration because he has all these czars in the white house. when you are number one, there is only one way to go and that is down. guest: i think the caller, when you contrast what he now just said to some earlier callers, reflex that the united states is full of different opinions and diversities. some people are huge fans and supporters of president obama and others like the caller we just had is the top -- are very critical of him. i think that is what makes the united states a very vibrant country. we have elections of a people can determine their leadership and i think that is how this country has operated for many years. host: birmingham, alabama, independent line. caller: i believe that the guest

is absurd. i have been to some of the countries he mentioned. for example, moldova has a gridlock situation with ethnic tension and they have more political parties than we do. when i watch the media there, i am always in formed. i can pick up bbc and cnn and i can pick up russian media and romanian media. people are more literate. russia has over 40 political parties. it has more independent news outlets. it has problems, for sure, but this guy has a right below argentina. it is just absurd. i am calling you from a city in the united states where two of the last four mayors are in prison for corruption. i believe there is a bias that

this is a relative cold war. this person is speaking nonsense. guest: the collar and i will have to agree to disagree. the fact that the officials where he lived have gone to jail for corruption suggests that the system works. in officials engaged inappropriate behavior, there is a system in place that holds them accountable. in the case of moldova, a number of political clout -- party is a country as does not mean it is am vibrant democracyisoldova after events in 2009, has made progress. they had elections at the end of november of last year and they seem to be moving forward in putting together a coalition government. the government that they had before the latest elections was making great progress in moldova.

i have been there many times and i used to work in the state department. i know the country well and i think moldova is moving in the right direction slowly but surely. russia is a place where the government shows no respect for human rights. we have seen this with the verdict in the recent case and with the arrest of an opposition figure, the sentencing of him going to jail, murders of journalists and opponents of the russian government, crackdown against opposition activities, journalists who are afraid to speak out and report. there's no question that russia belongs in the not-three categories. host: go ahead. caller: i would like to get the focus back on the united states and torture. mr. kramer keeps saying that we haven't system of checks and

balances and that we cannot fix our government through voting. we voted for mr. obama in 2008. we voted for a constitutional lawyer because we thought he would engage in comprehensive civil liberties upgrade of the united states. we have recently had a president, mr. bush, who wrote a book and went around the united states bragging that he tortured people. he just doesn't care. show me how our checks and balances are working. mr. obama has continued it renditions. he has targeted an american citizen. he has kept a bradley manning in solitary confinement which i view as torture. guest: let me be clear -- president bush has not gone

around the united states to brag about torture. he has defended water boarding which he felt was not torture and many people do. there are different views on that. president obama, one of the first things he came out and said and did when he became president was to say that the united states would not engage in any torture including water board. he deemed water boarding to be tortured. what president obama has discovered including his promise to close down guantanamo bay where a number of detainees have been kept is that it is difficult to do. there have been a number of detainee's transferred to other countries. his task has been made more difficult by congressional officials who do not want the detainee's to be tried in the united states or to be detained in the united states. president obama is trying to do the best he can on these issues. this was a campaign issue in

2008 where he was arguing that he would change a number of the practices that the bush administration engaged in. in certain cases, he succeeded at other cases it has proven to be more difficult host: lafayette, indiana, republican line, go ahead. caller: i have this article in my scrapbook that said that 75% of the people in the united states should have medical marijuana another article i have says that marijuana is the number-one selling illegal drug in the world. if it was legalized it would hurt the mafia, the street gangs and the host: cartel's target how does that pertain to our discussion? caller: 75% of the people -- the

senate doesn't do like we want i have not taken a position nor has freedom house. host: as far as the matter, what do you expect as far as changes in the future? guest: obviously, we want to see more green on the map next year. it will be interesting to see what happens in tunisia in light of the events in the last 24 hours and the last few days. it would be interesting to see what happens with a number of key elections around the world. if elections are not the only criteria by which we determine and judge democracies. elections are a key part but so is independent judiciary settle society which is strong and active and independent media. those are key elements for democracies around the world. they are universal features of democracies. it is important to understand that an organization like mine is not trying to advance the

american model. we are trying to advance, and features, universal features of democracy and human rights and that is what everyone should want to >> the shootings in tucson, ariz., where the focus of the weekly address this. president obama calls for unity of both political parties as they move forward to address the nation's challenges. in the republican address, jeff like denounces the shootings and says that wrote actions -- and by notes the heroic action bu gabrielle giffords in turn. >> one week later we mourn the victims and remember their lives. we also discovers stories.

with us up, stories of heroism and periphery, courage and community, stories that remind us that we are one american family, 300 million strong. one of the places we saw that sense of committee on display was on the floor of the house, where gabrielle giffords inspires us with her recovery and is deeply missed by her colleagues. a in one by one, representatives from all parts of the country at all points of view rose and common calls to honor her and the other victims and reflect on our shared hope for this country. a shrill as politics can be at times, it was a moment that reminded us of who we really are and how much will depend on one another. while we cannot escape our grief for those we have lost, we carry on now, mindful of those truths. we carry on because we have to. after all, this is still a time

of great challenges for us to solve. we have to grow jobs faster and forge a more clear, competitive economy, shore up our budget and bring down our deficits. we have to keep our people safe and see to it that the american dream remains a vibrant and alive for our children and grandchildren. these are challenges i believe that we can meet, and i believe that we can do it in a way worthy of those who sent us here to serve. so as business resumes, i look forward to working together in that same spirit of common cause with members of congress from both parties. because before we're democrats or republicans, we are americans. as we perform the work of this nation, my prayer is that we stay true to our words and turn to those examples of heroism and courage and perseverance to bring out the better in all of us. thank you for listening. it did have a wonderful weekend.

>> hello, i am just flake and i represent the sixth congressional district. last week's horrific attack is a reminder of the senseless brutality to which some are capable, and the during the four leaders who will uphold their ups and listen to their constituents. my heart goes out to the family of my friend and colleague, rep gabrielle giffords, and all of those impact by this heinous act. among those impacted, a federal judge, young girl born on september 11, a congressional staffer. many were injured and the lives of many are forever changed. these violent acts have no place in our society and we should honor those who stood up and defiance for it was from the status of those -- it was from the shadows that the true act of heroism or rose. a staffer rushing into harm's

way. as he checked the pulses of the wood, he noticed gaby on the ground, and amid the crisis shielded and tended to her. his bravery meant the difference between life and death, literally. doctors have said that the actions that he took may have well saved gabrielle giffords. of course you are afraid, he said, but you have to do what you can. people needed help. that on its own would of been an inspiring if not for the heroes who also deserve our prices, including the men and women who help disarm the attacker and held him until law enforcement arrived. and the talented medical personnel who performed so admirably. i last spoke with gabrielle during our swearing-in ceremony on the house floor. in the past we have partnered on legislation making the house more open and more accountable. while we may not agree on everything, members of congress are bound together by a sacred oath to support and defend the

constitution. as speaker boehner said, an attack on us is an attack on all who served and in the attack on a representative democracy itself. her assailant attacked while she was listening to constituents. it is part of what distinguishes us from the tyrannies of gold and continues to separate us from the despot's of today. the freedom and wisdom of people determine our future, not the winds of dictators or the bullets of fanatics. it is our duty to uphold our oath and listen and represent. we will not let this inhumane act impact us. please keep all of the victims of this horrific tragedy in your thoughts. . the injured mickey speedy recovery and those whose lives we have lost have their reward in heaven. thank you for listening. >> you are watching c-span, >> you are watching c-span, created