generally speaking, every nation truly believes that access to health care is important for the strength and security of the country and that our work forces should be better educated and be exposed to preventive care and health care. you want that. you are just saying you cannot afford it. our job is to say that, one way or the other, government is going to make certain that it is affordable. we consider that a national obligation and go. all industrialized countries do it, not because of compassion, but even in the question of competition, we believe an educated workforce and a healthy work force is more productive. i can understand i can understand that you cannot afford what you would like to

do, but you cannot leave those people out there hanging that have no insurance at all when we find out that personal lives and families are shattered, bankruptcies, not because of you, and not because of the employee that faces serious illness. so, if you wanted to help them, and i truly believe that you do, it does not help the family to say that my boss is great but he cannot afford to help me out. no. i believe, but a lot of people disagree, but i truly believe we have an obligation to give access to health care one way or the other. if you do not like this way, i really believe you have some type of an obligation as business people that have the experience that we do not have generally speaking to not just leave these people out there hanging in to say that no

insurance is better than what we have. i do not really think that is a legitimate -- i do not think it is fair to us to say all the things we have done wrong and not have any positive suggestions, that we can take care of those employees that you want to take care of. >> this is the dilemma that has been discussed for years. i do not take any offense to your comment. >> the gentlemen's time is expired. >> ok. the problem is that in a nutshell, the only solution -- if you ask employers in our industry to pick up that burden now, it is a crushing, complete destruction of our industry. but we cannot turn on a dime. >> i want > > mr. holtz-eakin

-- i want to thank mr. holtz- eakin for testifying. if any of our members have any further questions, they can submit that to writing. but >> mr. chairman? >> yes, and the gentleman is recognized. >> , i am going to send it to use some inquiries about the form. i would like very much if you could respond. >> i would be happy to. >> you are a sister organization, as i understand it, of the american action network. >> that is correct. i want to tell him what i am sending. i was told that he was going to

be here until noon. um, and, so as i said, i think [unintelligible] you are sister organizations. >> yes. >> and we know the action of the network -- >> if the gentleman could conclude -- >> i will conclude very quickly. i want to let him know in the advance. >> the gentleman from michigan shall have his inquiry answered. >> i just want you to know that it does not take you by surprise. i am going to ask you if you could reveal the sources on the form. will you do that? >> i will comply with the bylaws of the form. i will take your questions, look at them --

>> the gentleman will -- the gentleman's time has expired. i apologize for not being here earlier. i just wanted to make a comment about some of the taxes in the provision that are stifling to innovation. the medical device tax -- when you tax something, you get less of it. the medical device tax i believe that increase in taxation will significantly decrease innovation and a fact remarkably high paying jobs. i think that is a direction we should look at. it did. -- the estimates are that an increase would be passed on to the consumers either directly or indirectly. i appreciate mr. womack being

here. i wanted to talk about the consequences. this bill has all sorts of requirements and stipulations and mandates that every single business in this country has to look at. how much time have you spent in trying to make certain you are going to comply? what kind of costs have you expanded to make sure you can comply? what incentives are the bill providing you that might not be beneficial to your business? >> i have personally spent hours of time that i could better spend managing my business reading the health-care bill. interpreting it, using the resources i have within the business organization in trying to interpret how it is going to affect me. >> what have you determined?

how is it going to affect you? >> just at every level. my concern about hiring new employees -- the cost of hiring an employee is not just their wages. wind the health care costs are all known, it really makes me more conservative and say maybe i do not need that employee at this time. >> so the potential rules and regulations and uncertainty that will be passed on the leaves you less able to expand your business or hire new employees? >> without a doubt. >> mr. womack, my sense has always been there are some perverse incentives in the bill itself which make it so so that employers look at the situation and say why should i do that. are you hearing that from your

members? >> oh, absolutely. again, we cannot afford the coverage so we are absolutely going to have to look at the penalties. we have a real concern that our insurance company that we have talked to are not going to allow us to continue to offer the coverage to our salaried staff based on rules of very similar to 401k rules about having compensated employees. that means that through a whole nother avenue, we either offer insurance to everyone or drop it. we have 50 families on health insurance right now in our company. it is an important part of what we offer as a benefit package. >> if you like what you have, you can keep it may not be true in your business? >> absolutely. >> do you have any thoughts on

the incentives for other businesses, small businesses, to move individuals -- their employees from the coverage that they currently have to the exchange? >> i measure that penalty really at $2,800. you have to account for the taxes you pay on the income to pay for the penalties. it is more like $2,800. i cannot imagine that people are looking at $15,000 premium for an employee or $2,800. you do the math and you are going to opt to draw that coverage. it may be some sort of in the event where you have an issue with an insurance company or a 40% rate increase. enough is enough. >> in the real world, dropping the coverage because your competitors will do so and then

you are at a competitive disadvantage? >> i would say offering insurance is a significant benefit that helps make us more competitive so we always want to offer the insurance, but we cannot afford it. >> the gentle lady from kansas is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you for being here. on a panel before you, we had the chairman of the council of economic advisers mr. goolsbee testified. during his testimony, i know that he said this. the affordable care act has already begun to help small business become more competitive by making health insurance more accessible and more affordable. mr. olivo, could you give me an example of how the affordable

care act has already begun to help you become more competitive? >> unfortunately, i cannot give you an example. all i can tell you is that our existing insurance is no longer available, and our insurance premiums have continued to rise at a double-digit percentage for the coming year. >> if they have not already begun, can you give me an example of how you will see them -- how you expect them in the future to cause you to have a more competitive health insurance? >> i do not see how it is going to help us offer a plan that will be more competitive. my concern with the exchange is that they are not true exchanges in the form of competition. they are still heavily-mandated tighten policies, so there is not true competition.

we have the third highest insurance rates in the nation. we have had a guaranteed access community-rated plan since 1993. from that point, i have been running the company since 1988, i have seen a direct correlation with our cost beginning to rise from what that guaranteed access was put into place. i do not see anything that will make the premiums less expensive. >> also, in mr. goolsbee's testimony, he said the affordable care act cannot be a significant benefit to the job market by easing the burden of health care costs on small businesses. once again, i was hoping you could tell us approximately how many jobs you will be able to create thanks to the savings that you will encourage. >> i can say from my company

specifically, 45 employees, we are not eligible for any sort of tax credit which i believe he was referring to. >> thank you. mr. womack, i was home in my district last week and i visited several major employers who have over 50 employees. and there was a consistent message i was receiving this day, that they were frustrated because of the regulations coming about due to this bill. one in particular that they mentioned was that they were being required to provide lactation rooms if they employ more than 50 employees. several of them were concerned. they had multiple locations. one location only had three men working at it, if they were required to provide a lactation

room for those three men, because their overall employees totalled over 50. i was wondering if you had any concerns about this particular regulation or others within this bill. >> i do now. thank you of informing me of that regulation. i was not aware of that. no surprise. there are so many things buried in the law that we do not seem to be aware of. i do not know how to react to that one in particular. this of layering on of all these little things -- they just go on and on and create a tremendous amount of uncertainty, and quite frankly, depression amongst the business community. >> head is there any estimate the cost for your business to meet all of these? you probably do not know to

adequately to make it -- >> we are looking at that big bill. we are not counting the small ones right now. the big bill -- it is a frightening amount. >> ok. if the affordable care act is not getting it done for you, the republicans had an alternative bill. we had toward reform expanded at the fha. what other ideas do you have for us? >> the gentle lady's time is expired. >> we really appreciate you coming. i regret that mr. holtz-eakin had to leave. i am sending him a letter today. since this was a public hearing,

i will make that letter public. i expect him to give us an expeditious response. again, i have much respect for your different views. everyone brings different experiences, and we need to tap into them. so, let me ask you, mr. womack. how many employees do you have? >> approximately 900. >> how many of them have insurance? >> about 50. >> of the 50 -- are as a in a certain category of work? >> they are either salaried manage people or office staff. >> so none of your employees in management have health insurance through their work? >> that is correct. >> you would be required to

provide health insurance under this new law? >> correct. or take the penalty. >> or pay the penalty. so, your 800 or so are part of the 50 million without health insurance in this country. >> that is correct. >> have you inquired it into the cost would be of insuring them? >> yes. >> do you find it too expensive? >> it is much more than we aren't. >> so therefore, trying to get control of health-care costs would be potentially helpful for you in terms of having your employees covered? >> absolutely. the problem is the number has grown to a size where even if you cut it in half, which is not going to happen, it is beyond our ability to pay.

>> how many of them do you know are covered by some kind of public program? >> i have no idea. >> do you know what percentage are women? >> no, i do not. >> just roughly? >> i am going to guess roughly half. >> do you know what happens when they get sick? >> they go seek treatment with a local provider and they get treatment. >> how do you know they get treatment? >> we hear the stories. >> you do not have any systematic way of knowing. >> no. >> do they go to emergency rooms? >> probably, or to a local doctor. >> the local doctors do not charge them anything? >> no, they charge them.

>> ok. mr. olivo, you have a high deductible plan? >> that is correct. >> what is the deductible? >> it varies. roughly within $100, the current the deductible is $1,500 for individuals and for a family is $3,000. >> so they pay for the first $1,500 for individuals and $3,000 for families. >> correct. >> i have no further questions. >> i now recognize for five minutes the gentleman from minnesota. >> thank you. let me thank both of you for taking the time to come in here

and share your background and experiences. i does want to touch on something because i know mr. holtz-eakin had to leave. the president reminded us what we need to compete. he did say that we need to out- innovative. we have to make it and -- we have to make america the best place in the world to do business. one i have to mention is medical devices. that is an industry that employs about half a million individuals and routinely revolutionizes patient care. unfortunately, the health-care law includes a new tax on this industry. i am going to call out one company. boston scientific employs more

than 1000 individuals in my home state of minnesota. that tax is going to cost the company $1 million a year and up to 200 jobs and a substantial cutback in research and development, which is the origin of where all this innovation comes from the president talked about in his speech last night. you took an idea, took the risk, started it out. i am worried that we are killing an industry that is going to be very difficult to jump-start and bring back here. we cannot afford to lose it. knowing we have to keep that innovation here, i had to make the comment because mr. goolsbee mentioned earlier that benefit was going to allow millions of patients to access these defense procedures that would not normally have that market

before. i think the reality is when we look at it now, in massachusetts, there was no increase in device utilization at all as was suggested. i want to follow up quickly with both of you since you are small business people. we know that the health care issues new caps on popular flexible spending accounts that individuals use for their expenses and allows the use of health care savings account for purchases of over-the-counter medications without a prescription. you mentioned what some of those results would be or some of the detriment. knowing there are 10 million americans that used them and 35 million americans using hsa's, give a patient perspective from

your employees. from a patient perspective, what does that offer -- what does that offer for your employees? >> we have had the help savings account plan for six years. i have witnessed how it has improved my employees incentive to better manage not only their health but how they choose to go about attaining health care. also, the first year was very rough in the sense that these people did not like having to pay $150 initially to go to a doctor when it was $15 before at the time. over time, as they see their health savings account build up , it has certainly improved how they go about purchasing health

care. >> mr. womack, do you want to comment as well? >> i think any time you allow people to accumulate money in an account like an hsa for the purpose of their expenses, it becomes a huge incentive for them to manage all of those little costs. sometimes a hidden cost can be significant. you know that when you have the money in the account and you can keep it, you have a very the incentive to manage your costs. >> thank you for the testimony. i have talked to numerous small businesses and their employees who feel like they have had the rug pulled out from under them to take care of their own health care, and they are going to have to make a huge adjustment as the law changes. i would like to see an expansion in flexibility to help

these costs. >> i thank the gentleman. at this point, everyone has gone through inquiring at least once. >> [inaudible] >> i am aware. the gentleman from california will be recognized after i inquired. you currently indicated you have 45 employees, and prior to the recession, you had 54 employees. i assume like most businesses that you would like to grow your business, but under the democrats' health-care law, if you have less than 50 employees, you are not subject to the employer mandate pac's board will that have an impact on your decision to hire more

workers? >> without a doubt it will. it will put me in a position, not only questioning and consider expansion, but once i reached that 50-employee mark and i have to provide health care or pay a penalty, and the penalty currently is less than my premium. unfortunately, that is the scenario that i will have to look at. >> i was talking to an employer in my own district in redding, calif., who was in the same situation. he had about 45 employees. you also mentioned that you currently provide health benefits to your employees, and you pay 100% of the premium for employees who choose high deductible plans. you also contribute to these

employees health savings accounts. could you and debris further on the benefits of pairing a high deductible plan with a health savings account? what would be the impact on you and your employees if this kind of coverage is no longer available under obamacare? >> that is something that with the savings we have been able to gain with reduced premiums, and we have been able to contribute during certain years to our employees' accounts, which really helps them going towards paying that deductible. there are some years that not only are we picking up the cost of the premiums, but we are picking up approximately two- thirds toward the cost of their deductible. their first $1,000 is covered under the plan. i would just say that the health savings account has just been a huge benefit to us for managing

the escalating premium cost. i would not sit here and say that is the only answer, but without a doubt, if we did have the ability to offer these accounts for the past six years, i would not be able to pay anywhere close of my employee's premiums. >> i now recognize the gentleman from california. >> tank you, mr. chairman. i just want to point out that in nine other employees under a best case scenario is making under $15,000 a year. i do not care where you go for your health care on $15,000 a year. chances are, you fall into that category of on compensated care. it is not being provided for free. it is factored into what is driving up the cost for your

salaried employees, for everyone else who buys a policy, or for everyone else who pays out of pocket. i would like to submit for the record a letter that i have that i just got a copy of the. it is from 275 economists from all over the country, including three nobel laureates, the three economic advisers, a former cbo chief, and two prize winners. >> without objection. >> the letter states "we write to convey our strong conclusion that leaving in place the protection and affordable care act of 2010 will significantly strengthen our nation's economy over the long haul and promote more rapid economic recovery in the immediate years ahead. also, i would like to point out

a letter that the secretary of health received from an entity that you are very familiar with. and i believe -- an organization in our home state of california, which is the nation's largest non-federal government purchaser of health care. "they believe the key elements of the reforms represent a fundamental and positive shift in the way health care will be purchased and delivered in the united states. together, they will dramatically shape the future of health care in our country and ultimately benefit everyone." they say more specifically that the provisions regarding retired folks in 2011 will save approximately $200 million based on the reimbursement rate to

more than 115,000 early retirees or spouses and their surviving spouses and their dependents. they have also submitted written testimony as well in which they discussed that this year they will spend $6.7 billion on health-care benefits for 1.3 million active and retired state and local government employees and their families. the further testified that the structure of the law which focuses on constraining the skyrocketing cost of health care in our country while providing quality and insuring health coverage for tens of millions of uninsured, some of those $9 and our employees who cannot buy health care who fall into the uncompensated health care costs and that we all pay for, or the right prescription for this group, the largest non-federal

government purchaser of health care in the country, its members, and our country at large. i would also ask for unanimous consent to submit a copy of this letter for the record, mr. chairman. >> without objection. >> thank you, and i yield back the balance of my time. recognized. >> thank you, and thank you both for taking time away from your families and businesses to come here and provide us with perspective from where you sit. your verbal testimony earlier reminded me of some discussions i had with constituents. in fact, a restaurant owner operators said to me, perplexed, "where did 30 hours come from? full- time is always 3--

time is always 40 hours. where did 30 hours come from? i am from central ohio. my first job was with mcdonald's. when i was working at mcdonald's, a number of the people i work with or under the age of 21 and on their parents' policy. the number of adults of women who had coverage through their spouse. my question is how many employees now do you have there will be impacted by this new regulatory framework of 30 hours of full-time? i am sure it is a guess at this point, but how many employees do you have are teenagers at your restaurant or college-aged students who have coverage

through their parents, or maybe spouses who have coverage? >> i think my best guess is about 20% to 25% of our staff under the age of 20 or 21. a substantial number of our employees are people who are second earners. we know, anecdotally, especially a lot of our service staff, their spouse has coverage elsewhere. >> so, correct me if i am wrong, but you have a number of people that are already covered was the the teenagers or a spouse with insurance. these additional costs on to your business will create a situation where at some point in time you will have to choose

whether or not the person gets a raise, more benefits, or if you hire somebody. >> absolutely. >> how many people could you higher in ohio if this law did not pass? what was your projection? >> our plan from here is to open 12 for 30 more restaurants in central ohio. -- 12 or 13 more restaurants in central ohio. >> that is good news. >> we think if we have to cease development, if there are no changes, you are looking at up to 300 full-time jobs and hundreds of part-time jobs. then there are also construction and all the other things outside of our company. >> your testimony brought home a call that i got right after the election from a constituent who was on his cell phone screaming

at me regarding a meeting he does came out of with his tax lawyer and tax accountant. he had 51 employees and they were giving him a briefing on the new health-care law. if you could figure out over the next year how to get under 50, to not have to comply with this new regulation, or putting all the employees into the government exchange president to continue to provide health care that you provide today, which obviously goes against the premise of the debate, or that this is a bill that this incentivizes entrepreneurs from creating new jobs. why he was yelling at me was because with ohio's unemployment, he is getting advice that he should not hire more people, but figure out how to hire less people or put

people into the government exchange, which he did not want to do. from a competitiveness perspective and the cost of doing business and trying to survive as a business, -- i know you have talked about it already, but can you share with us how frustrating is for you whether it is a state regulation or a federal regulation inhibits your ability to project long- term growth? >> just to give you an idea, we -- when we purchase a piece of equipment, but there are fixed payments. i have to make those payments, so i have to leave myself a margin in which my calculations might not be exact. when there is this much on known, it really causes me to be much more conservative, and it

is affecting how much i am willing to invest in to the company and grow it until i get a better understanding of what is happening pretty quick and would like to submit to the record a letter dated january 18, 2011, from 239 economists. we believe is a threat to u.s. businesses and will create a burden on future generations of americans. >> without objection. i just want to ask a simple question of both of you. we have heard a lot of testimony today and some of it has been very technical. does this health care legislation help you create jobs and help europe -- and help you grow your businesses? or does it make it harder for you to expand your business is it? >> from my point of view, what my concern is is that i know

many on this committee want to provide health-care coverage for everybody. how would i explain to somebody that i could not provide health- care coverage for them? my fear is going to an employee say i have to eliminate your position because i cannot afford your position and the mark. that is what my concern is. >> mr. womack? >> the reality is in this scare's business people to death. when you have this level of uncertainty, wheat quick growing. we tightened up. we have to have a reserve. we cannot go out to the edge financially and then suddenly have $5 a gallon gasoline or commodity prices going through the roof and have no cushion to survive. it just makes us more and more conservative. pure and simple. >> thank you both.

i think at this time, all members have had a chance to inquire this panel. i would like to thank you very much for your thoughtful testimony in the effort you have put in for the employees that you have that. i know how difficult of a response believe that is that you carry around every day so i want to thank you for being here and help in light in this committee. with that, this hearing is adjourned. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> on january 28, 1986, seven astronauts were killed when space shuttle challenger exploded during a launch. tonight on c-span, the ceremony honoring the crew of the challenger at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> this sunday, we will spend an hour talking to former president bush about his life and new book critic here is a portion of the interview. >> a lot of the actions that harry truman took made my life easier as president. many of the decisions i made were controversial such as listening to phone calls of those who might do us harm. after the 2004 elections and after the 2006 elections, i went

to congress and the said we need to ratify through legislative action that which i have done through the constitution by executive order. so the congress despite of the fact passed law that now enabled the president to have certain tools. and why did you not just leaving it under executive order? in some cases, it might be too hard politically for a president to put out an executive order that, for example, authorized enhanced interrogation techniques. >> see the entire interview sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific on c-span. >> the discussion on the financial crisis inquiry commission final report and a look at this week's report from the congressional budget office.

this is about 40 minutes. about the fiscal conditio of the u.s. is douglas holets akin, former congressional director of the congressional budget office and currently a commissioner with the fiscal crisis inquiry commission who released their report earlier this week and also wrote an op ed in the "wall street journal" on thursday. what caused the fincial crisis. so let's start there. what caused t financial crisis? guest: i wrote this with keith hensy and bill thomas, two cocommissioners, and we really point to a list of ten factors. and i think the key there is that there isn't some simplele story that you can say it was this or that. it was a very complicated event driven a lot by some international condition,, credit bubbles, housing bubbles, inclung t u.s. once the housing bubble broke it spread to the rest of the financial system through a series of problems with securitization, these complex

securities, the credit rating agencies, and ultimately big financial institutions who did not understand the risks on their books and once they understood what kind of trouble they were in we had a panic of the most old-fashioned type. host: you write in november 2009 article, martin baily and douglas elliott describe the three common naretives about the crisis. the guest: commissioner peter wolson has argued in public and with the commission pretty vosiffrussly that the pretty most important thing that happened was they were told to issue mortgages to unqualified borrowers and that was a stated policy of the united states to

lend to people who couldn't repay and that the number of such mortgages and the dollar value was so large that when they went bad that was it. we disagree. we think that simple narrative under scores other problems. there's other problems on wall street. it focuses just on the u.s. and a lot of this is global in nature. host: why would anyone want to force these home loans on people they knew couldn't pay them back? guest: that's part of the question. you have -- it had been a policy of both republicans and democrats to give americans homes. we have mortgage interest deductions,e have loan guarantees, we have subsidies for borrowers. and politicians love the american dream of a family in a home. so certainly that contributed. but we don't think that's the only cause of the crisis. host: you also wrote that the second narrative blames wall street and its influence in washington.

so why would they intentionally jeopardize the financial system that in essence pays for their existence? guest: we don't agree with that because it doesn't make a lot of sense. you're going to find lots of bad actors and bad actions, and that's indisputeable. but we don't think you can make the argument that wall street alone, both through unregulated greed and then purchase of power in washington, created this crisis. it would be a sf-defeating move. host: you also talk about a third narrative that you subscribe to, a messier story that emphasizes both global and failures in u.s. picy and super vision.

were there enough bubbles and sort of strange economic activity going on outside of the u.s. that had someone been paying attention they could have seen that it was coming to our shores? host: there was an active debate. if you go back to 2005, 2006, 2007, was it a bubble, was it sustainable? people were looking but no one i think grasped in the moment the magnitude and potential fallout from this. and the reason we're nervous about simple explanations is while they're appealing and you can go on tv and do them, it leads you do you know the wrong path. the one there says it's wall street greed misses the fact that fannie mae and freddie back were ordered to do some things. the orts one that says we have to regulate less misses the

problems that mortgages were given to people who could not repay them. and the entire focus on the u.s. miss the fact that in england we had failures of big banks and the government had to take them er in the same way we had a bailout. and spain had a bubble. the list goes on and on. host: at the time released the chair phil had some comments that he made regarding the report and some of the things that were inside the report. he outlines what he says. and then we'll get a response. >> we concled first and foremost that this crisis was avdable. despite the expressed view of many in the circles that the crisis could not have bee foreseen, tre were my, many warning signs that were ignored or discounted. second, we found widespread failures in financial regulation.

third, our report describes dramatic breakdowns in corporate governance and risk management. fourth, we detail how the explosive brood capessive borrowing risky investments put our financial system on a collision course with crisis. fifth, we concluded that key policy makers, our government, was ill prepared for this crisis. and that their inconsistent response added toncertainty and panic. and finally, this report explains how breaches in accountability and ethics became widespread at all lels during the run-up to the crisis. guest: many of the things that the chairman mentions there are in our dissent. our real points of disagreement come in two forms. if you read the 500 page put out it blames everything -- if everything caused the financial crisis then nothing did. you have to answer the charge that congress gave us which is

to say what things in the past were crucial and necessary in order to have a crisis of the proportions that we experienced. and we didn't see that. the second is the notion that the crisis was avoidable suggests that people were smart enough to see it and drove straight toward it anyway. and we would say we disagree with both. host: we're talking about the fiscal condition of the u.s. with douglas holets akin, currtly a commissioner with the financial crisis inquiry commission. if you want to get involved in the conversation, our numbers are on the bottom of your screen. we also showed you very briefly the report, the financial crisis inquiry commission report and if you would like to read it you can find it on their website. our first call comes from

clearwater, florida on our line for republicans. go ahead. guest: i wanted to comment about the deficit and i wanted to get his opinion on my idea that basically take care of this entire deficit. now, right now we have 47% of wage earners don't pay any taxes. so my solution would be a complete simplification of our tax code. you would have a $10,000 for individual, $20,000 for a married couple, and $3,500 per child. no credits no anything. and the only other deduction you can have is the 10% charitable donation deduction. and en you start the bottom bracket at 5% and end at 25%. anything over that deduction, you pay based on a graduated tax form.

host: we'll leave it there. your thoughts. guest: the caller points out that the u.s. tax code is a disaster area and a lot of people agree with that. there have been two major commissions to address the u.s. budget deficit, one appointed by the president, one a private sector effort. both of them conuded that as part of addressing the deficit you should ha tax reform, that was the route to higher revenues. but also importantly pnted out by saying you could not solve it by taxes alone. that the problem was on the spending side. host: craig, you're on the washington journal. caller: i have two comments to make. one is about as every republican knows that wall reet was bundling those high risk home loans together and selling them. he can sit there and give that republican response that it wasn't wall street's fault for the financial crisis.

it's a talking point. they've rigged the system. and e second thing, this guy calls himself an economist. they've been pushing this free trade stuff for 20-some years ich has really worked out for us. and now, he supported the bush tax cuts. all the republicans can talk about is cutting this and cutting that when eisenhower was president of high tax rate was 92%. how much more, sir, how much more do you want to take out of the middle class of america? . .

the bankers were acting like they were running casinos. i do not know why they have not replaced the same regulations they moved.

bankers were playing the lottery with the houses, because prices kept going up. you could sell it for more then you landed on it. -- lended on it. guest: there were stories of people buying homes in flipping homes. that was very real. in some of the testimony, we had wall street ecutives say they never thought housing prices would go down. that was wrong. it was not really taking care of risk. the job of a financial executive is to manage risk. that is what they do. i think the housing issue pervaded every one.

>> the gambling analogy comes up a lot. the callers have mentioned this a couple of times. gamblers will tell you that to the house always win. who is the house in this case? guest: everyone lost. the big fincial companies, many went out of existence. many had to become bank holding companies. executives lost their jobs. the economy got hammered. the averagemerican got hurt. there are no winners here. that is the sad lesson in history. host: barbour, democrats. caller: our country wants to take from in the middle class to pay the debt off. about fannie mae, many say they

gave house as to the poor people. if you look closely, they gave it to people that had money that could flip houses. they wanted them to stay in their houses. fannie mae and president obama, when fannie mae started to help people that they gave these options to refinance their mortgages, my daughter is one of them. she cannot refinance the mortgage on her house. look at what we are giving to other countries. we can put our debt down by lowering that. guest: if you look at our budget deficit, they are so large.

projected $1.50 trillion next year. elimination of a foreign aid does not come close to addressing the issue on the fannie mae, freddie mac policy, it was the stated goal of the congress. they had affordable housing goals. a certain fraction of their loans had to be made on an income category. that is part of what drove in come to -- to low-income individuals. host: if you want to read the report that came out this week, you can find it on there website. cape cod, massachusetts, republican line. caller: good morning, thank you for sees them. it seems that wall street is

leaning toward a democrat and a liberal thinking. everybody around my area solve this problem years ago where people were getting way too much money for houses and financing for real money. see the't walltreet problem? why didn't the government see the problem way before it all happened? people were saying seven years before the fall, things were not right. host: if people were saying this, why didn't anybody step up and say the bank or someone is offering meet this much money, and i know i cannot pay it back. why don't i borrow a smaller amount of money? caller: one of the problems we sa here, people were doing banking online.

there was no income verification. there was no residence vefication. a lot of funny things going on. money was free and so cheap. we were wondering how could this guy be getting money from an institution out in cifornia, and they are not even citizens in the united states. it is a very common thing that happens this way. it cleaned a lot of money off of the top and went back to their nation of origin. guest: he talks about a lot of complicated facts on this one. greedy people -- they have always been here. you have to look deeper than greed. the notion of having cheap money is a part of this. ben bernanke said it was a global savings glut.

it was a sea of money pouring into the united states and elsewhere to finance houses and credit. we had big credit bubbles and housing bubbles not just here, but around the globe. why didn't we see it and why could we stop it? many put a lot of blame on alan greenspan for not stopping mortgage lending to people that could not pay. it seems like it could be an explanation except when you see the same problems in england, spain, germany, under very different federal reserve style regulations. host: tell us about the process regarding the commission. who did you meet and have as witnesses? what did it take to write about

this 545 page report? guest: congress created the commission in 12 -- 2008 for 2009. we were appointed in march or april. i was appointed by mitch mcconnell. there were six appointed by democrats and a quarter by republicans. we begin meeting in the summer of 2009. we had some hearings and a staff of about 50. we have a subpoena power a cooperation of the oversight agencies such as the federal reserve. people with interest in oversight of the financial system. we met on a very regular basis to decide what would be fruitful and what were the witnesses we would like to have a in our hearings.

begot government witnesses, hank paulson -- we got the government witnesses, hank paulson, other ecutives from citigroup, goldman sachs, of lehman brothers, lynch. we had access to anythin we wanted to know. it was nearly two years long. i think we did a great job of documenting the facts. i think what will be the lasting contribution is an archive of testimony, a document, and the written record of the commission any historian or citizen can go to the website and look through. we also left behind three different stories that went on. the majority to reject majority report, our descent, and in other persons descent. we are still arguing about what

caused the depression 80 years later. >> the rept out now. what happens? it goes to congress or the white house? guest:hat question has been there all ong. before we were appointed, the president put out his proposal for financial reform in congress passed a bill. there has been a hanging question all of the time which is, what are you guys around? the american citizens want to know what went on. this is an enormous national tragedy. we may have found some things that they did not think about. host: if you want to go back and look at some of those commission hearings, you can find it on

our c-span video library. go to our web site c-span.org and the it will take you through the system. michigan, democrats line. caller: midmorning, my name is valerie. i cannot believe what i am hearing. it is not that complicated. even a ray charles can see what went on. these people were after thnew deal, roosevelt's program. they had to get theovernment to say that they could not afford to deal with social security, medicaid, unemployment insurance, that the people pay in themselves and have earned a right to have. all of these programs, they have never liked them. they have been after them for the last 50 years. the only hurt the poor, middle-

class, and the working class -- not the rich. nobody rich got hurt, even if there were $2 billion in losses, they are still sitting pretty. it is only hurting the working people. it is not that complicated. we have too many intelligent people. how can they not know what was going on if they are so intelligent? it is just that simpl if anybo ran a business like that, they would be in jail. there are people doing life in prison for stealing. host: we will leave it there. guest: two different phenomenon get mixed up. the nation's finances may get worse before it gets better unless we do something. the financial crisis we went for is the second one. it had big implications, not

just because banks were being bailed out or because ofailure of wall street firms, but it is drag the economy down in the worst recession since the great depression. we are focusing on understanding that a better and to make sure we have the lessons learned going forward. host: the new york times has a section. and the washington post, the end of your momentum was driven by private sector. in your opinion, is the economy bouncing back into a positive direction? guest: it is moving back at a pace that we will all find slow. unemployment rates at 9.4%. millions have given up looking. it is probably closer to 16% or 17%. the history of the economy's after a financial crisis is that

they do not bounce back. it takes up to five years. we are in the middle of that. host: in addition to what the commission members thought was the reason for the fiscal, financial crisis, is there anything in the report that talks about the future going forward, and what can be done to get to the economy up and running again? guest: the report was about policy recommendations. ll us what happened. how did we get a financial crisis? if we had an agreement, we could put of policy recommendations. we have seen a wide array of t thames to jump-start the economy. -- of attempts to jump-start the

economy. host: next caller. caller: i have to disagree with you. guo green bay packers. [laughter] host: next call. caller: the reason we are in these mortgages is because of -- host: jksonville, fla., independent line. caller: this is john. thank you. i saw the panel the other day on c-span regarding bush.

i have not read the report. i did t seeing the difference by which the servicers treated those having problems. in my particular situation, i got a loan. i am not in the category that st people say people who did not have the funds should not have gotten a loan. i have a long history of good earnings and have made economic contributions to this country. as a particular time, i lost funds, got another job, and a loss of that one.

i was behind one month. but i was making my payments at the end of the month. our system failed. , this particular major corporation that changed its name. their system failed. they refused after many emas and many tried to get them to fix their system. they refuse, modify e score went down, and i could not get the fda loan to do the business venture i was doing, which are the set up and was working with

a major bank in our area. host: what is your question? caller: why have you not spent a lot of time discussing the overlo of mentality in of the banking community in dealing with this? i will hang up now. guest: two responses. in the old days, a bank made a loan to a homeowner. there was a relationship there. when a homeowner got in distress, you could figure out how to work it out. ther securitized asiaation, relationship is broken, and someone is just serving the los and the dynamics of loan distress is changed.

that has been a real problem in dealing with those with problems with their mortgages. we cannot figure out who owns the mortgage and who is responsible when cutting the deal. our job is to focus on because of the crisis not cleaning up after the crisis, which that falls under. host: jacksonvill fla., a republican line. caller: it all sounds really complicated. it seems to mean that the banks were not liable for held to holding on to the mortgage as you mentioned a moment ago. as soon as they're able to take the bad loans and get rid of it, that is when the wheels started falling off. it drives of the tax dollars, which is why the government did not do anything about it.

if they did, they would not have any tax money that they have now. they reverted back 30% of its. they still cannot live off of it. they are trying to offer of even more to get taxes to where they were. then the banks get bailed out by everybody. now they are trying to take their houses now. guest: they bundle these items and sell them off. congress created fannie mae in 1930's. securitization wameant to solve such problems if banks are making loans to homeowners and things go bad, that bank goes under. the idea was to spread the risk

across the country and not making individual community banks so invulnerable. it worked beautifully for 80 years. -- -- so vulverable. it worked beautifully for 80 years. so it can't be just the problem. host: the president spoke about trying to get the financial house in order. let's see what he had to say and then we will get reactions. >> we live and do busine in the information age. the last major reorganization of the government happened in the age of black and white t there are 12 different agencies that deal with this. there are five once the deal with housing policies. then there is my favorite example. the interior example -- agency

is dealing with salmon in fresh water but another agency deals with them when they are in salt water. [unintelligible] [laughter] now -- [applause] we have made great strides in using technoly and getting rid of waste. we have sold acres of federal the space that has not been use. ce that hasn't been used in years and we'll cut through red tape to get rid of more. but we need to think bigger. in the coming months, my administration will come up with a proposal to

guest: the greatest lesson is to think back to the creation of the homeland security. 100 now reports to congressional committees and subcommittees. that is not streamlined. but congress wants its thinkers in a lot of things. it is a tough battle, worth pursuing. in the end, having a more streamlined government will not solve our nation's problems. we need to take on these problems next. host: he is a commissioner with

the financial crisis enquiry commission. tell us about the form you are a part of. guest: it is a think tank dedicated to understand these many policy problems we face, budget deficits, financial crises, how to deal with health care reform. what to do with energy policy in the united states. education reform, making sure our kids get the education they deserve and can compete globally. host: democrat line. caller: i want to revisit this mantra that a good portion of the financial crisis was due to fannie mae and freddie mac giving loans to people who could not afford them, based on previous policy.

it is very irritating to me because people deserve to have a home, if they meet criteria for the mortgage. people could afford the sub- prime mortgage, when they were first issued. the problem came with the greeted in that the loan -- the interest rate would irease after a certain amount of time. it wou increase by an amount that the home owner had no recognition of. you were not able to anticipate how it was going to be.

the mortgage lender could not tell the homeowner how much that increase would be. the increase was also tied to something obscure such as the libor market. that is one thing. the other thing is dead people who could qualify for standard fixed mortgages were also pushed into the sub-prime market. i understand that it was more profitable. one of my neighbors said that when she took out her mortgage, she s charged points for everything except for what the mortgage broker had on that day. host: did you make your point or

do you have a question? caller: ianted to challenge this mantra of loans going to people who cannot afford them. guest: loans went to people who cannot afford them. some loans were done in bad faith on both sides. some took loans they had no intention of paying. others took loans and cannot understand what they were getting into. the most important thing is that neither sign cited is interested in a loan if they did not think they could have the house press go up, get a mortgage, and avoid the interest rate increase. host: the last call com from maryland on the independent line. caller: you say you do not have

a problem with the facts and testimony compiled in the report. the conclusions drawn are differt from what you would draw. . what is the basis of your descent? guest: we compiled of the evidence, and our job was more than just collecting the facts. it was telling us what happened. we parted ways fair. we agree with the basic facts. there were a number of factors important. we came down wit10 in a particular order that led to a financial cris. it is a disagreement on the reading of the record. host: what have we learned to keep us from going dowthis road again?

guest: we always think we have solvedhis problem. in the e, all financial institutions lend a long period when things go bad the bank cannot find it >> this sunday, we will spend an hour talking to former president george w. bush about his life and his new book. this is a portion of the interview. >> what is the latest history book you read? >> i just finished a book about theodore roosevelt. >> you mention de rigueur roosevelt several times. >> -- you mentioned as theodore

roosevelt several times. >> he effectively used power. i did it to defend the presidency. to defend the country. my power was tested on september 11th. one of the interesting things about protecting america in the long run is to encourage democracy, to spread freedom. ultimately, marginalize ideologues who use murder as a weapon to spread their view. >> see the entire interview sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific on c-span's "q&a." >> this week, homeland security secretary janet napolitano gave the first state of american security address. some of the policies ending are the color coded alert system. she says the new system aims to

be more specific to current threats. this is almost one hour. >> thank you very much. i will be speaking at several colleges and universities throughout the year about homeland security, but i am happy to kick off this effort today with an address that will cover our overall state of homeland security. thank you to the homeland security policy institute.

thank you to frank, a good friend of dhs. he was one of those present after the attack of 9/11. under his leadership, i think it is fair to say that the homeland security policy institute has been at the vanguard of treating homeland security as its own discipline that needs a serious study. because of this institute and others emerging at colleges and universities around the united states, homeland security is taking its place among larger and longer standing fields like international affairs and criminal justice. as an area where major global challenges are being studied and addressed. now, for the students and young professionals who are here with us today, or watching online, you are the next wave of homeland security policy

thinkers, professionals, and managers. you can and undoubtedly will have a significant influence on the this emerging field. so, i also want to encourage you today to be thinking about your future in this field. finally, let me talk a moment -- let me pause a moment to thank senator joe lieberman. he could not be with us this afternoon, but the existence of the department of homeland security is due in large part to the efforts that he made in the united states senate. i look forward to working with him over the next two years as we continue to expand and strengthen the field of homeland security. now, two days ago, president obama delivered to congress and the american people his annual address on the state of our union. this is a tradition goes back as far as 79 d, with the namesake

of this institute. -- as 1790, with the namesake of this institute. today, i am beginning a new tradition, an annual assessment of the state of our homeland security. i want to begin by telling two stories that illustrate the breadth and the complexity of our challenge, and also its humanity. just a few weeks ago, i had of spending new year's in kabul, afghanistan, with many of the men and women serving in our armed forces and civilian missions there. i met with people at an operating days and was briefed on operations at a heavily trafficked border crossing between afghanistan and pakistan. this area is not far from a pass. it is where afghan and u.s.

officials, including border security and customs officials from the department of homeland security work side by side to provide security while allowing legal commerce and travel to traverse the border. now, the second experience was very different, and took place about a year ago at ellis island. i was leading a naturalization ceremony, another great honor that goes with this job. i read the oath of allegiance to americans from 48 different countries -- two new americans from 48 different countries, including a 98-year-old woman from the dominican republic. in the rumor individuals to be all wanted the same thing, -- in that room, individuals all wanted the same thing, to experience the rights and liberties of the united states.

these experiences remind us of that the security of the homeland stretches from afghanistan, pakistan, and all of the far off places all the way back to the main streets of our home towns. it reminds us why the hard work must be done, who we are doing it for, and how we must conduct ourselves while we are doing it. it reminds us that securing, and means of upholding the very values that -- securing the homeland means upholding the very values on which our country was founded. honoring of the civilians passing through ellis island and others coming to the country today seeking the promise and blessings of america. so what then is the state of our homeland security? i can report that our young department has matured. building on the work of my two predecessors, i can also report that our homeland is more secure

than it was 10 years ago, and indeed, more secure than it was two years ago. if these were ordinary times, that might suffice. but these are not ordinary times. the kinds of threats we now face demonstrate that our homeland security is a shared responsibility. only a holiday in nation approach will bring us -- only a whole-nation approach will bring us to the level of security required. all over the last two years, our approach has the knowledge that the department of homeland security, indeed the entire federal government and the military cannot, by themselves, deliver a complete security. instead, real security requires the engagement of our entire society, government, law enforcement, the private sector, and the public of playing their respective roles. now, from day one, the obama

administration has operated on is aremise that security shared responsibility, that no matter who you are, from students, to professors, to first responders, to everyday citizens, we all play a part. because of the trust we all have in americans to share in our security, today i would like to announce the end of the old system of color-coded alerts. in their place, we will implement a new system that is built on a clear and simple premise. when a threat it develops that could impact you, the public, we will tell eelpouyou. we will provide whatever information we can so that he will know how to protect yourself, your family and your community. under the new, a two-tiered

system, dhs will coordinate a formal, detailed alerts regarding reformation about a specific or credible terrorist threat. these alerts will include a clear statement that and an amending -- that an imminent threat or an elevated threat is present. the alert will also provide a concise and summary of the potential threat, information about action being taken to ensure public safety, and recommended steps that individuals and communities can take. the new system reflects the reality that we must always be on alert and be ready. when we have intimation about a specific, credible threat, we will issue a formal alert, providing as much in relation as the can. now, depending on the nature of the threat of the alert may be limited to a particular audience, like law enforcement, or a segment of the private

sector, like shopping malls, or hotels. or, the alert may be issued more broadly to the american people, distributed through a statement from the department of, and security through the news media and social media channels. the alert will be specific to the threat posed. it may recognize certain actions or suggest looking for specific suspicious behavior. it will have a specified end date. you can apply on that. that is all right. -- you can clap on that. that is all right. [applause] today we are beginning a process by which we will officially a transition to the new system, from a practice that has evolved over the past two years. this means the days are numbered

for those automated recordings at airports and announcements about a color-code level that were too often accompanied by far too little practical information. as i said, the new national terrorism advisory system is built on the common-sense believe that we are all in this together, and that we all have a role to play. the system has actually developed in the same collaborative spirit. it was largely the work of a bipartisan task force that included law enforcement, former mayors and governors, and members of the previous administration. some of the members of the task force are year in the audience today, and i want to thank them and -- are here in the audience today, and i want to thank them for the work that they did to bring us to this place. [applause]

now a continuing to evolve -- now, continuing to evolve our approach to defending the homeland remains capitalcritica, because the threats we face today are real, persistent, and evolving rapidly. we know that al qaeda and other groups sharing their terrorist ideologies continue to target does. increasingly, this is done -- to target us. increasingly, this is done through affiliates in places like cnn and the arabian peninsula. we are also aware -- places like yemen and the arabian peninsula. we are also aware that these groups are using social media to find new recruits. historically, we have believed the we face the greatest risks

from attacks planned and carried out by individuals abroad. but the increasing number of arrests of u.s. persons on terra-related charges in the last two years, means that we must move -- terror-related charges in the last two years, means that we must move beyond that paradigm. this includes the man who attempted to attack the new york city subway system, the men who attempted to explode a car bomb near times square, and the recent arrests in portland, dallas, and right here in the washington area. today, we operate under the premise that individuals prepared to carry out terrorist acts might already be in of the country, and could carry out such acts of violence with little or no warning. we must all work together to

gain a better understanding of the behavior's, the tactics, and other indicators that could point to terrorist activity. at the same time, we face the possibility of sophisticated attacks, ranging from chemical, biological and nuclear, to a tattacks in cyberspace. indeed, in just the last year, we have seen a full spectrum of cyber attacks come into effect. finally, we know that our borders and ports of entry represent potential avenues, not just for terrorist problems, but also for threats in the form of smuggling, human trafficking, and transnational crime. so, what is our approach to handling these threats? as i said earlier, our approach to confronting these threats has been to build and strengthen

partnerships, and to build a shared sense of responsibility for our security by working with state, local, tribal law enforcement, our international allies, partners in the private sector, and of course, the american people. despite our title, the department of homeland security does not possess sole responsibility for is securing the homeland within the federal government. forces ares thousands of miles from shore, living in operating bases away from their loved ones, but they are every bit on the front lines of homeland security. they help to degrade al-qaeda's capabilities in this here and throughout the world. the director of national intelligence, the cia, and the entire intelligence community, of which dhs is a member, is

producing more and better streams of intelligence than at any time in the past. the national terrorism -- the national counter-terrorism center has made continuous improvements to our counter- terrorism efforts. and of course, the federal homeland security enterprise includes our strong partners at the department of justice and the fbi, whose work has led to the rest of more than two dozen americans on terrorism-related charges in the past two years. at the department of homeland security, we have seen extraordinary progress and hard work pay off. but that could not have happened without a dedicated professional men and women of this department, like the nearly 50,000 transportation security officers who work tirelessly, often before endlessly, often over time and over the holidays -- often thanklessly, often over time and

over the holidays to protect our airplanes, the more than 10,000 officers and investigators to enforce our immigration laws and bring to justice those who seek to traffic drugs, arms and people. the more than 40,000 men and women who served in the united states coast guard, protecting our maritime borders, and the falcons of scientists and engineers working on the next generation dig thousands of scientists and engineers working on the next generation of -- thousands of scientists and engineers working on the next generation of technology. but the homeland security enterprise extends far beyond these individuals, and as i said, it requires not just the whole of government, but the whole of the nation approach. in some respects, local law

enforcement, community groups, citizens and the private sector play as much of a role in homeland security as the department itself. that is why i like to say that homeland security begins in hometowns. for example, we know the communities can play a vital role when they form strong partnerships with local law enforcement, and that this is something that is part and parcel of our nation's history. americans have long helped secure their own home towns as well as their homeland. from our tradition of civil defense to more recent efforts in neighborhood watches and community oriented policing initiatives. a study just last year founded between 1999 and 2009, more than 80% of a foiled terrorist acts in the united states were

thwarted because of observations from local law-enforcement ohrid the general public. -- or the general public. at dhs, we also work closely with a diverse array of ethnic and religious community leaders. members of this community have been critical in porting of violence. like all americans -- in exporting violence. -- thwarting violence. like all americans, they play a critical role in enhancing our lives. every day, we are trying to get more resources out of washington, d.c., and into the hands of men and women on the front lines. that is why, this year, we launched the "say something" campaign. this is to raise the potential of terrorist tactics and emphasized the importance of

reporting suspicious activity to law enforcement. it have no doubt heard of this campaign if you have read and -- you have no doubt heard of this campaign if you have wridden on public transportation. we have also implemented in this sports arenas, shopping centers and retailers. we see this effort as a partnership between citizens and local police. therefore, we of work more closely with the department of justice to expand what is known as the nationwide suspicious activity reporting, or " sar" initiative. this initiative creates a standard process for law enforcement to identify it and report suspicious activity so it

can be shared nationally and analyzed for broader trends. i want to pause here and make it particularly important point. both of these initiatives emphasized the shared responsibility of security, but they both also have been designed and tested with civil liberties and privacy in mind, because both are aimed at identifying suspicious behavior and increasing our shared ability to protect the country. so today, we are a premier in several additional resources to better connect citizens of communities with the kinds of a information and tools that dhs offers. now, i urge you to visit our home town security resources page on dhs.gov. stay connected with the

department's new facebook data as well. -- facebook page as well. to borrow a sports metaphor, to tell you how we are building a better team, i would like to focus on four areas for us in the coming year. let me pause to say that these are not all of the areas, but they are four central areas that we are going to be focusing on. we begin with counter-terrorism. our most fundamental responsibility remains preventing terrorist attacks on the homeland. to support this critical mission, we have worked very hard to strengthen and build our domestic information sharing architecture by increasing the capacity of states and major area fusion centers to serve as centers of analytic excellence. we have made historic strides

in aviation security, accelerating the deployment of new security equipment at our domestic airports, and launching an international initiative that this past october produced a first of its kind global agreement among 190 nations to increase aviation security standards worldwide. during the coming year, we will continue, and hopefully complete, negotiations with the european union on strengthening information sharing in the aviation environment, and extend such intimation sharing to other continents as well. we will build on these efforts leading international effort to strengthen the security of the global supply chain, which brings goods and commodities to our shores and across our borders. this includes an initiative called "project global shield,"

that we have lodged with a world customs organization and 60 preventnal countries intto or divert chemicals that can be used to make explosive devices. we have also partnered with several international partners to identify and protect the most critical elements of our supply chain from attack or destruction, including key transportation hubs. together with other federal departments and agencies we are seeking to bolster as well the resiliency of the global supply chain, so that if the terrorist attack or natural disaster does occur, the supply chain can recover quickly, and any disruption can be minimized. as tom ridge like to say when he was secretary, the physical borders of the united states

should be the last line of defense cannot the first. our goal, quite simply -- last line of defense, not the first. our goal, quite simply, is to protect ourselves across the globe. the second issue involves border security and immigration enforcement. on these two fronts, the department has been a relentless and effective over the last two years. 2010 was an historic year when it comes to securing and managing our borders and in forcing our immigration laws. there are now more resources on the southwest border in terms of personnel, technology and infrastructure than ever before in american history. we continue to see progress on every metric. the numbers that are supposed to go up are going up and the numbers that are supposed to go down have gone down. the number of illegal crosses, the best indicator of illegal

traffic, is now less than one- half of its all-time high. at the same time, in the past two years, we have seized more contraband, including cash, weapons, and drugs, then we have seized in any other two-year time. we will not stop there. our priority continues to be the removal of criminal elements that pose a danger to public safety and national security. because of the dedicated work of our i s personnel -- our ice personnel, in the past year, more illegals with criminal records have been deported than ever before. it is a 70% increase from two years ago. in a community that uses biometrics to identify and remove criminal aliens from state prisons and local jails, has expanded from 14

jurisdictions in 2008 to more than 01 thousand by the end of this month. it will be in every jail and prison by the end of 2013. now, i recognize that illegal immigration is driven in large part by the demand for illegal labor, and as our economy rebounds, that demand may grow as well. that is why we are working to make e- to verify all that it can be to help businesses -- e- verify all that it can be to help businesses employ a alito work force. we will continue to conduct -- employ of legal work force. we will continue to conduct audits to ensure that businesses are following the law. we will also grant citizenship

to record numbers of military service members. we are developing an automated of vetting capability that will enable us to immediately address national security risks at the outset, and we will roll out the e-verify self check, which will enable workers to check their own employment authorization status. finally, we're beginning a transition from a paper-based system to an electronic case management system for immigration, which will enable us to reap a plethora of benefits we have not had before. now, while border enforcement and counter-terrorism have been long standing challenges to our security, we also face some new and emerging ones. let me move onto cyber security

and science and technology. over the past two years, we have increased our capacity to fight cyber crimes and cyber terrorism, opening a new 24/7 watch and warning center, and testing our first cyber level incident response command, while increasing our level of cyber experts by some 500%. we have entered into an historic agreement with the department of sense and the national security agency to divide labor among our organizations. we have worked closely with the private sector is to protect our nation's critical infrastructure, including new funding for airport security and information systems as well as standards for building in securing federal facilities. this year, we will complete the deployment of the einstein ii threat protection system across the federal space, and we will continue to develop and begin deployment of einstein iii,

which will provide dhs with the ability to automatically detect and disrupt militias cyber activity. cyber -- militias cyber activity. cider is an area -- malicious cyber activity. cyber is an area where we have done much work, and much work is yet to be done. we are developing a secure and efficient airport checkpoint of the future. what will look like? what will it entail? we are designing the materials that will make our infrastructure more resilient to an attack or natural disaster. we are dividing screening and protection capabilities -- devising screening and protection capabilities to keep us ahead of the threats. finally, through the hard work of fema, our national protection

programs directorate and other departments, working again with many local, state, tribal and territorial partners, we have increased our disaster preparedness of all kinds, and strength and the resilience of our most vulnerable, critical infrastructure. as the president suggested in his state of the union address, the communications spectrum will have a block set aside for public safety, and we will work with public -- with first responders to provide vital equipment in times of crisis. we will continue to improve and expand a disaster exercises. this year, fema will leave the largest exercise ever of its kind, testing our ability to respond to a major earthquake along the new fault line that runs through the midsection of

the country. to augment our global supply chain security effort, we will work with the private sector and international partners to expand and integrate trusted traveler and trusted shipper programs to facilitate legitimate travel and trade while enhancing security. we will launch the chemical facility security program, requiring high risk chemical facilities to set individuals with special access against a terrorist training database, and we will expand the program to ensure that only authorized maritime workers can access areas of regulated vessels. now, let me say something to the students in this room, because part of why i wanted to give this first annual state of homeland security address here, was because i wanted to make a

special appeal to you. i know that you are not old enough to remember it. -- i am not old enough to remember, but i bet you have seen images of the iconic poster of all sam with his finger pointing out and a caption that read -- of an uncle sam with his finger pointing out and a caption that read, "i want you." that was used to recruit a generation of americans into the army. as governor of arizona, i ran the arizona national guard. the coast guard is part of the department of homeland security. i have also talked with wounded warriors here at walter reed hospital. my department today employs over 48,000 veterans, and through partnerships with the department of defense and

organizations like the american legion, we will be employing over 50,000 by the end of next year. but it today, and with the greatest respect for the military, i say, the time for a new recruitment poster is now. today, dhs wants you. we want a new generation of americans to join the fight against a new generation of threats to the homeland. we offer exciting careers in law enforcement, intelligence and counter terrorism. we have positions for intelligence analysts, policy experts and international affairs specialist who helped us negotiate global agreement. secret service agents and investigators who protect our leaders or thwart terror plot gonna fight international crime and break up drug trafficking rings. rejection terror plot, fight

international crime, and break up drug-trafficking rings. positions come with the opportunity not only to do great work in this exciting and new field, but to serve your nation as well. now, i am often asked what i lose sleep about as the secretary of homeland security. common sense would dictate that i not sleep very much at all. [laughter] common sense would say that in an open society with 8,000 miles of land borders and 90,000 miles of coast land, at terrorist can get through. a homegrown one can succeed. a novel weapon could be deployed. community could be temporarily overwhelmed. i am concerned about all of

those things. but what i want you to know about, is what i do not lose sleep over. i do not lose sleep, or worry about the core values that have guided our country for more than two centuries, the same values that the new citizens in naturalized are seeking to uphold, freedom, hard work, shared responsibility. because even if our enemies were to succeed in pulling off an attack on the homeland, they will never succeed in undermining those enduring values. in afghanistan, there is a plaque that hangs in the residence of the american ambassador. and on that plaque there is a quote from president woodrow wilson. "let us set for ourselves a standard so high that it will be

of glory to live up to it, and then let us live up to it and add a let us strive for a greater willingness for citizens to share responsibility for collective security. let us then meet that standard and add a new laurell to the crown of our country. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you so much for joining us today, not only to kick off your first inaugural state of homeland security but also to speak specifically to students. it is a privilege and i

personally thank you for those kind words. my role has always been a small one but hopefully to help unable everyone to do the hard work we are trying to do. your very kind also to be able to provide time for questions and answers. one of the things i want to touch on is universities can and should play a role in arming the next generation with the knowledge to help better understand our adversaries, weber al qaeda, cyber threats coming over the horizon, natural disasters, but also how to help defeat those adversaries, something that obviously you all are seeking. i would like to let students ask the first question and then we will open it up to a broader question and answer period. please identify yourself, your name, an organization. i have a lot of questions. i have never had an unspoken

thought, but i promise i won't ask the first question. >> i am a graduate student here as well as an army veteran from iraq. in light of the upcoming budget cuts and our deficit, how are you making your priorities as to what you can afford to research and fund and continue to protect, and what are you going to have to delay in the future budget cycle that may be critical but unaffordable at this time? >> a couple of things. one is, our department was created from 22 different agencies and departments. one of the major things we have done over the last couple of years is to really focus, counter-terrorism, securing air, land, and sea borders, immigration enforcement, cyber, and then what i call resilience, the ability to have quick response to terrorists or

other disasters. part of being able to budget intelligently is having focus. within each of those categories, we have set priorities and things we want to get accomplished this next year. last year for example, we wanted to finish an international agreement on aviation security. burrell able to do that this year and move that same urgency to the global supply chain. as we saw with the cartridge bombs in october, that is another avenue of attack. part of it is focusing. part of it is setting priorities, and then there are some things that might be nice that we are going to have to delay or face an over longer periods of time. the president has not announced his budget yet so i can not only say -- i can only say that there are few things we have said in

light of all our responsibilities needs to be slower moved. they are not as urgent. that is how we have gone about the issue. both president obama and the congress recognize that our department faces a unique and array of challenges, and i think they view of our budget and through the prism of the perspective as well. >> any other students with a question, please? please stand up when you get the mikc. >> i am a student here and i am focusing with a degree in homeland security. my question goes toward the sea something, say something program. a couple of months after 9/11 i

had a chance to intern with our transit system. we had a more localized program. the citizens were active in the approach, but the problem with the program is that the people in charge did not respond when citizens did that, and it created a level of apathy with regard to citizens in this area. what is dhs doing to interface with the transit authority and things of that sort to ensure there is proper follow up after citizens do their part? >> you are absolutely right. follow-up is the key. we did not just to a blanket announcement of see something, say something. for all the locale's we are in,

there has been training, there has been connectivity. most local law enforcement has some sort of tip line or something of that sort that see something, say something can marry with. if someone reports something in there is no appropriate follow up, you can lose the sense of public shared responsibility. that is why we are doing it carefully and over time. we will be making another announcement in dallas on monday. the other thing is, and here is the architecture are would like to see. at the individual level, the see something, say something. then you have a very carefully directed program for law enforcement on suspicious activity reporting, but

carefully defined activity that helps us at the national level behavior, trends, of tactics we ought to be looking for. for example, is there a particular type of i e d that is being deployed? so that we can get information about that. when you married see something, say something with sar, now you are reading that system -- creating that system across the country that is homeland security focused but in barry trained in careful ways designed to maximize our ability to respond. that is really what we are building here and how they fit together. >> one of the challenges is also building up the analytical capacity between federal, state,

and local to be able to identify terrorists. one more student back here, please. >> you said dhs is working to make [unintelligible] can you describe in little more detail what changes will have an effect on the system that we can expect to be mandatory in the near future? >> first of all, on e-verify, it is a way for employers to check the legal residents of employees, potential employees.

when i was the governor of arizona, i may have been the first governor in the country to actually require that. now the federal government uses it. when i talk about e-verify, i mean expanding the ease, and also there are some improvements that we can make to prevent identity fraud, identity theft, and even though it has an extraordinarily high accuracy rate, some of the stories you hear about that or from earlier iterations of the system. we are always to -- working to make sure it works as well as possible.

>> i am a senior fellow here at george washington. a quick question with regard to information sharing. what kind of information we are getting, too much, too low, etc. i am curious about wikileaks more you have had an enormous amount of information gathered by someone who is -- state local authorities are asking for as much information as they can get their hands on. but the problem with wikileaks is that was unauthorized information sharing. he had access to the state department dod interface, and that has been rectified and he's being court-martialed, is my understanding. information sharing, i could

speak for hours about information sharing, and i will not. here is the deal. what i perceive when i moved here was that there was way too much information that circulated amongst intel analysts here. did not get out to the country at large, and even when it was kept in the federal family, was not adequately connected to the operational needs that we have. for example, you may have a piece of intel that we need to get to somebody who is checking boarding passes in madrid, but it was not getting out there. so you have lots of information sharing in lots of different ways. we are really focused on that as follows. first of all, we center that within the intel and analytic director of the department, because -- what i said was,

there are lots of people gather intel, but our real value added to this whole enterprise is making sure that intel is analyzed and turned around and disseminated to operational needs and state and local as well. we have been working very hard with the fbi in particular to improve our ability to turn around products and get things out in a timely fashion. that is somewhat new. one of the things i lose sleep over is whether what we send out that the state and local levels is actually usable and used. one of the things we are going to do this year is follow up and say we are now sending you all of this stuff at 1:00 a.m. and turning stuff around as quickly as we can. what are you doing with it?

how is it actually being utilized, so we can deal with that issue. the other value-added we bring this to take folks like tsa, the folks that actually help to the security at the airports and land ports and so forth and really make sure that there operational needs are being accommodated in the information sharing environment. information sharing is an art, not a science. someone is absolutely necessary information is someone else's why are they sending me this? somewhere in the middle there is the right answer. that is how we look at it and the underlying philosophy about what we are doing.

>> first call i want to thank you and president obama. we always wonder how you get someone out of a state -- you have done real good so far. to piggyback on the other question, there are more churches than wal-mart's and a lot of organizations. yet no religious organizations have gotten any response from your department regarding being it and say it.eei what part of the minority community are you reaching out to, because they are saying the same thing.

how do we become part of helping you keep our communities safe? i travel whole lot. can we say something to the tsa officers about being courteous as well as respectful? >> you can also say thank you to them, because they have hard jobs, but we do really emphasize among rts zero ranks, and i think they do a remarkable job under sometimes very stressful circumstances, but we will continue to emphasize that and deal with complaints when appropriate, because our motto is very professional service. we want to move people through as effectively and securely as possible. if you see something say something, we do a lot of outreach with religious, civic,

and nonprofit organizations. we have not ruled it out to those yet, because as i said to the previous questioner, we are going in a phasing approach. i would think at some point during the coming year we will begin phasing in other not-for- profit and churches and religious organizations as well. we will probably did -- do it by reaching out to associations that they have. we need to make sure we can guarantee that there is an avenue for follow-up, so that if somebody says they see a suspicious behavior or what have you, there is appropriate follow-up. >> [unintelligible] >> i will ask the dhs folks to come and meet with you right

after this. >> if we have a very quick question -- there will be hearings on extremism in the muslim communities. i am wondering what your assessment is of that issue of extremism in the muslim community, and how you respond to concerns that u.s. muslims are being singled out? >> i have not spoken with the chairman about those hearings in particular. we have had some very good exchanges over the last couple of years when he was the ranking member about different issues involving the terrorism threat to the united states. here is the way i looked at it, which is to say that there are

al qaeda and al qaeda related groups that have the u.s. as a target. there are u.s. persons who are ascribing to their philosophy. that is just part and parcel of the reality with which we have to deal. but we also face security threats from other areas as well. when i look at the whole tapestry of evolving threats that indicate homeland security, we are not able and do not solely focus on one group or one set of beliefs. what i really focused on our behavior is, tactics, techniques, developments that indicate somebody is plotting are attempting to plot and carry out a violent attack. that is where the the part of homeland security is going to be

intervening. >> madam secretary, thank you so much. [applause] before i let you go, as promised on time, clearly there is no calling greater than want wherein people can play a role in protecting our country and protecting our values and preserving those values and freedoms. i hope our students are up to the task. i am confident they are. let me also leave you here with a token of our appreciation, both figuratively and literally. thank you for everything. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> we go now to the algerian network where there are reports of continuing chaos on the streets. jazeera network.eral the president repeated his call for universal rights but he did not comment on the choice of omar suleiman who was appointed today. he is the country's former head of intelligence and a longtime confidant of president mubarak. meanwhile british prime minister david cameron issued a joint statement with leaders from france and germany. they are urging president mubarak to take bold steps toward political reform and democratic legitimacy. the three western nations added that the egyptian president has played a moderating role in the middle east and in their statement, they urge him to show the same moderation in the current situation. that from sky news. we will continue to track events

in egypt on line. you can follow updates on our website comic-con c-span.org, including continuing live coverage from al jazeera. >> anti-abortion activist came from around the country to the nation's capital for the annual march for life rally. each january they gather to protest the anniversary of the 1973 landmark roe vs. wade supreme court ruling that legalized abortion in the united states. speakers at this event include house majority leader eric cantor and more than 40 members of congress. this is a little over two hours.

[singing the national anthem] ♪

>> welcome to march for life. >> ladies and gentlemen, i want to introduce to you nownellie gray, president of march for life. >> welcome to the march for life, everyone. look at this beautiful weather we have today. we had a very short time for a program. we wanted to put a lot of people on, but we had some restraints on how much time could have. so we are going to get right into the work that we came to do on this day, the 23rd annual

march for life. here is why we are here and march for life today. we are reminding our officials that an estimated 3000 innocent pre born children being killed every day in america, and that adds up to 50 million or estimated more than 50 million innocent pre born children have been killed in our country. this is an evil in the same country which has in our declaration of independence that we have an inalienable right to life in doubt by our creator. we learn from the nuremberg trials that the genocide of

crimes such as this is a crime against humanity and cannot be made legal. we ask our government, we come to our government in washington d.c., we ask our government to overturn roe vs. wade now. the strategy has gone on for 38 years, 50 million preboard children have been killed. it would be evil if there were only one shot killed, and therefore would come to protect all innocent pre born and unborn human beings, a right to life,

no exceptions and no compromise. we stop the genocide now. and so to begin our program today, we want to introduce the roman catholic bishops for comment. the opening prayer, the archbishop. we have several bishops here, and they will be introduced by the cardinal.

[cheering] >> thanks very much, and welcome all to the march for life. i am the archbishop of kansas city and kansas. you are no longer in kansas. i am also a member of the u.s. bishops pro-life committee. it is my honor to open this rally in prayer on behalf of the catholic bishops in the united states. this year, rather than have a big group on stage, the large number of bishops attending the march are out there with you. the bishops wanted to be able to march with their parishioners and with you to go to their elected representatives. most are not up on stage with us today, but in a crowd this vast, it is quite a challenge to find

our groups. so we ask to be put on at the beginning, but we do have a few bishops with us alongside. we have the archbishop of hartford, connecticut, bishop of fargo, north dakota, bishop george murray of youngstown, ohio, and the bishop of venice, florida. i am representing in the cardinal today who was a celebrant of one of the use masses. the chairman of our committee could not be here for this event because he is with the young people. let us pray. lord, creator of life, you have blessed us with the privilege of

bringing new life into the world. open our hearts and minds to recognize your special gift of children and your great love for each of us created in your image and likeness. help expected parents to welcome the priceless gift of their child's life. consult parents who have lost that gift through abortion. the them to forgive this and healing through your divine mercy. teach us to cherish and to care for family and friends until god calls them home. help us never to see others as burdens. awake in the hearts of judges and justices. may they never used their authority to deprive the people of this country our right in protecting innocent human life. by our elected officials to defend each and every human life through just lost. inspire us all to bring our face

into public life and to speak for those who have no voice. bless us all as we marched this date. guide us as we encourage and challenge our leaders and their responsibilities to build a culture of life in our country. may our efforts be a prophetic witness that will open minds, change hearts, and bringing to our land so wounded by the tragedy of abortion. inspire the many thousands of young people here today to become great leaders in proclaiming the gospel of life. with the intercession of blessed john paul ii, champion of life, and through your son our lord and savior jesus christ, we offer this prayer to you, are heavily father, the god of isaac, abraham, and jacob. amen. banks and god bless.

-- thanks and god bless. [cheering] >> look at the large numbers that we have here. we come from almost every state because we love our home and our country. our country has been known to have to fight for its existence les.its principal in doing this, all the people who come or supporting every place with all sorts of energies and activities. one of those supreme supporters of the march for life has been and is now the knights of

columbus. they are indeed the ones who are helping spiritually and so forth by putting this all together. it is because we are thinking about not only our homes and our religion, but in addition, we are thinking of ourselves as americans and we are thinking of ourselves as loving our country and giving allegiance. here to leave as in the pledge of allegiance is the supreme advocate, knights of columbus. he will lead us in the pledge. >> thank you,nellie. thanks for all you have done for the pro-life cause of the past 38 years.

it is really an honor for the ninth of columbus to participate in this and stand in solidarity with all of you from all of the country and even from other countries, to stand in support of life. before said the pledge, i would like to reflect on two very important words in the pledge of allegiance, under god. it was the knights of columbus that organized a nationwide effort in the early 1950's to insert the words under got into the pledge, an effort that came to a successful conclusion in 1954 when congress passed, and president eisenhower signed, a bill formally changing the pledge to include these words. the knights of columbus, along with millions of other americans, recognized then as now that the words under god in the pledge of allegiance carry enormous meaning. these words are not a prayer, nor are they an establishment of religion. rather, they reflect the ideas held by our founding fathers and understood by most americans

that just governments must conform their laws and policies to natural law and objective truth. the words represent an accurate summary of this country's political philosophy and an understanding of our historical, national identity that has been reaffirmed thousands of times by courts, legislators, and presidents, that our rights come from god, not from the state, and that governments are accountable to nature and nature's god, and our founding fathers expressed it. 50 years ago this month, right behind us the newly elected president, john f. kennedy, in his inaugural address summarize our common belief as follows. the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of god. that was an unremarkable and uncontroversial statement 50 years ago in 1961.

today we have to fight to defend that principle, but we are fighting and in many cases we are winning. we are winning because what we believe is true, and truth still matters. by coming to washington today, all of you are bearing witness to the truth about the dignity of the human person and each person's god-given right to life. now we please join me in saying the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and it republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. thank you. >> you know, the reason that we are trying to overturn roe vs.

wade is because it is a wrong decision by our supreme court. it provides evil, and fortune activities in our country, the intentional killing of human beings. our theme this year is to protect the equal right to live up innocent born and pre born human beings in existence at fertilization, no exceptions and no compromise. because we have row vs. wade, we have victims of roe vs. wade. standing behind me now, as you will see, are a group of people who have unfortunately participated somewhere along the way in abortion and recognize that abortion is indeed evil, and they are a victim of

abortion for the pri born children, but also for themselves. the silent no more group is here to tell you that road versus wade is not assistance for everyone, it is evil. >> i am executive director and co-founder of the silent no more awareness campaign. of bring you greetings from the pastoral director help for women stealing. since co-founder and -- for women's appealing. healing.s we want you to take these stories, go to our website, and

spread these testimonies. let's convert more people to know that abortion is not good for women. it is not good for the baby, but it is also bad for the women. listen to the voices of women. here is mike co-founder -- here is my co-founder. >> we are so honored to stand on this stage. these women and these men stand here because they understand that the abortions that they chose did not solve a problem for them, it created more problems. we are here standing courageously with our sciencsigs because we have received forgiveness. jesus christ's death, cross has given us freedom from the guilt

and pain. our message from the campaign is to say to anybody out there, if you have had an abortion, you can join us. you do not need to live in the pain and the shame that you have lived with. we are not trying to build anybody into feeling something that they don't feel. but if your feeling that, if deep in your heart when you hear those words, it feels like a knife turning in your stomach, like it did for me, then we want you to know help is available. forgiveness is available. code to our website -- go to our web site and find the help, and then you can join us in being silent no more. if you or a woman that is pregnant and thinking that abortion is your only choice, please know that we will help you. we don't want you to go down the same road that we did. we understand that abortion is evil from firsthand experience. take our experience and save

yourself the trouble. it is not a good solution. we are the consumers of the product, and now we are here to tell you the product is not good. so listen to us. we will be up at the supreme court after the march is over. over 60 of these men and women are going to tell their testimony. we have 1200 more testimonies on our website and hundreds of videos. help us spread the message. together, being silent no more will in the abortion. god bless you. -- will into abortioend abortio. >> is very appropriate that we have people from silent no more with us today. within the past few days we have had situations throughout the united states which called for our attention and our prayers.

even now when i tell you what the reason for our being here is, to bring alive principles to our government, and it is appropriate to have that now. unfortunately, our president has apparently issued a statement talking about his consideration that roe vs. wade is a proper interpretation of our constitution. we are here to tell the president of the united states that intentionally killing innocent pre born children or anyone is not appropriate interpretation of our constitution. we are bringing the message to you, mr. president, and we will be glad to work with you. we bring this message to you

with love. we are taught to come to our enemies or come to our neighbors with love, and therefore of the love that we have for you, mr. president, as the president of all of the people, including the pre born children is that roe vs. wade shall be overturned. another victim of the whole issue of someone making decisions about who shall live and who shall die is here. brother paul will introduce him. >> good afternoon. we want to thank nellie gray for

giving us this opportunity to speak to you today. euthanasia follows abortion just as night follows day. our current administration is going to actively try to promote the killing of our sick and elderly disabled brothers and sisters. we need to let them know america does not want death panels. they can call it by any name they want, but the result is the same. it kills people. only god should have the right to take a life, not doctors, not nurses, only god. america does not want debt.

please join us in our efforts with equal zeal and determination to fight against euthanasia as we do against abortion. i am here with a family of terry schiavo. bobby schindler has a message for you today. >> thank you. good afternoon. i am here to tell you that we are all at risk because there is a deadly prejudice growing in our nation. just like the countless number of unborn children that are being killed every day, those with profound brain injuries, the elderly, and the chronically sick are all being killed right now as we speak. every single one of us need to understand that the same people and the same organizations that are behind the abortion agenda are also responsible for untold number of persons being killed

by euthanasia in our nation every single day. we need to fight against euthanasia with the same determination as we do to protect the unborn child. that is why my sister was court ordered to be stark and dehydrated to death in march 2005. my family established the terry schiavo network to defend the rights of our brothers and sisters and fight against euthanasia occurring here in the united states and abroad. please join us. we need your help now more than ever. please go to our website and learn more about this issue that will affect every single one of us. thank you, nellie gray, for giving us this opportunity to speak to you today and thank you to all of our pro-life friends. may god bless you.

>> we have wonderful support from the clergy and we are so thankful for all the support we have. to introduce the or that are church of america, father john -- to introduce the orthodox church of america. >> thank you, nellie gray. hello, pro-life america. it gives me great joy to introduce the hundreds of orthodox christians for live that have joined and become a permanent part of the march for life, the seminarians and there'd been, father alexander.

the bishops from the orthodox church in america who have gathered today to show their support for the march for life. i presented to his grace, the bishop of philadelphia and the diocese of eastern pennsylvania. bishop michael of new york and the diocese of new jersey and new york. the bishop of pittsburg and western pennsylvania. the diocese of chicago and the diocese of the midwest. it is my joy to present to the -- the archbishop of washington d.c. who will say a few words of

greeting to pro-life america. >> hello, pro-life america. we are gathered here at this time in a time of great moral decay, and part of the support of that decadence, of that mold the clay it -- decay is the plague of abortion, which creates a culture of despair, which condemns a generation of women to self hatred, to decades of guilt, to decades of despair. what can that produce but darkness?

there is so much that is linked with this, whether it's that licentiousness of sexual morality that has fallen by the wayside, whether it is the advocacy for euthanasia, all of this is the culture of death which leads to despair, which we must fight against. we can call it whatever we want to. we can use whatever euphemisms we want, but the murder of persons, whether those who are children in the womb, whether they are our sick and elderly, it is the same thing, it is murder. we have to stand against it for the sake of our country and the sake of our nation, for the sake of our integrity. as christians, we have the

solution for this country. as christians, we provide a way out of that cultural death and despair. to repentance, to the message of forgiveness, that there is a way out of that brief, a way out of the self hatred and despair, but we have to be able to communicate that message to a culture that is intoxicated with its own pleasure. brothers and sisters, let us fight against that hedonism, that selfishness which is at the very core of the destruction of our people and our nation. it is at the very core of the self-destructive behaviors which come out of the culture of death and abortion.

there is forgiveness for those who have sent. there is forgiveness and healing for those who have fallen. we stand for that as well. let us give thanks to god that he has given us this message of forgiveness because it is that message that our culture so desperately needs to hear. may god bless you as you continue your resistance in this fight for this very life of our people, the very life of our nation. may god bless you abundantly. glory to jesus christ. >> as i said at the beginning,

we came here to bring the life principles to washington officials. i have already made a statement to the president of the united states, that is our executive branch. we are also appeared to communicate with congress. we have much to be appreciative of today because there are -- they are helping us a bit. the most important thing is, what can we do, and we can enact legislation to try to stop the evil, all of it and some of it. here to introduce our member of the house of representatives from new jersey. >> thank you for your

extraordinary leadership all these many years and for the march for life. my wife marie and i are so grateful to be here and join tens of thousands of people marching for life. ladies and gentlemen, america got another wake-up call last week with the rest of an abortionist in philadelphia who was charged in the killing of a woman and seven babies who were aborted replete survived and then kill them by severing their spinal cords with a pair of scissors. the tens of thousands of young people here today bravely defending the youngest people in america know that the killings in philadelphia and all abortion is violence against women and children. they know that the only thing the multibillion-dollar abortion industry produces is victims, and that women deserve better than abortions. they know that the pro-life movement deeply respects and

welcomes post abortive women who are silent no more. our young people no child abuse when they see it, and they and all of us demand that abortion ends. in order to sanitize the violence of abortion, the multibillion-dollar abortion industry systematically dehumanizes and weakens the most vulnerable among us. this acceptable bigotry, this prejudice against a child in the womb has been promoted for a decade, despite breathtaking advances including microsurgery and the keep -- disease mitigation, underscoring the fact that an unborn child is often a patient in need of care just like anyone else, and despite the amazing window to the womb ultrasound imaging.

when public funding is unavailable, the number of abortions dropped impact, by about 25%. last week, with the full and unequivocal support of speaker john boehner, eric cantor, and the rest of our leadership team, all of whom are here, more than 135 members in all, including a democrat, we introduced the note taxpayer funding for abortion, a government white prohibition on taxpayer -- of government why wide prohibition of taxpayer funding for abortions. let us commit today with

persevering prayer, with fasting and hard work, to ensure the human rights of all, regardless of age, race, religion, sex, or condition of dependency. god bless you all. >> it's an honor for me to be here on behalf of the pro-life members of the united states senate. in a few moments, you will need a bipartisan group of pro-life house members. we are here today to say we are honored to be here at this march for life. we are honored to stand with you. the crowd keeps pouring in and people continue to get off

buses. this is a great outpouring from all over the united states of america. thank you for in during the cold for the unborn today. to many of the pundits, to many observers in the press, we are a curiosity to them. they wonder why we are here and why we come out every year, year after year and enter the cold. i will tell you why we are here. we are here because roe vs. wade is bad law. we are here because we believed it was wrongly decided. we believe roe vs. wade has led to a three and a half decades long holocaust in the united states of america, that it amounts to a stain on our national conscience, and it is time for it to end.

the fight is sometimes hard and sometimes lonely, but we are here today to say we are not going to abandon the fight. sometimes it is defensive in nature, and we have had a lot to defend against the last two or three years, including abortion in the health care act. taxpayer funding for abortion, we always have to defend against that. last year we successfully defended against an effort to expand abortion to err military clinics and we were able to do that on a bipartisan basis and to stop that provision from being included in the defense authorization bill. tomorrow we take an offensive. i like that a lot better. tamara i will be introducing the

life and conception act along with the number of pro-life members of the united states senate. we are going to say life begins at conception, and it is time for the 14th amendment protections to be afforded to the unborn. thanks for standing with us. god bless you all. >> the afternoon. i am the majority leader of the u.s. house, eric kanter. -- cantor. i stand here with my colleagues from both sides of the aisle. i'm joined by other members of our house leadership, the majority whip, kevin mccarthy of california, the chairman of the republican conference from

texas, a policy committee chairman from georgia, and many others we stand with you for life. [applause] all want to thank all of you who have made the trip here today. i want to salute you for coming out in this bitter cold and demonstrating how strongly you feel about this cause. i want to thank and recognize the eight buses that made their way up from 95 from my hometown of richmond. thank you from virginia. for the past two years, the life community has suffered the consequences of being completely out of power in this town. did buy it, we have seen,

unfortunately, -- that by bit, we had seen this affecting the moral fabric of our country. against the will of the majority of americans, the agenda was forced through congress that forces taxpayers to fund abortion and embryonic stem cell research and attempted to take away conscious prevention for health-care providers. now the tide has turned. this is thanks to your support last november. there is a new majority in town. [applause] are majority has been at reenergize to write a strong crop of pro-life advocates with leaders like chris smith at the

head of the key committees and subcommittees. we also had the biggest and pro- lifers freshman class in the memory. [applause] our majority has pledged to institute a permanent government-wide prohibition on taxpayer funding of abortion. this is a bill at the top of our agenda and in the house. we know we have an uphill battle in the senate and in the white house, but i can promise you one thing. the people's house will stand unapologetically for life. [applause] we will do everything in our power to make sure that our values, your values are reflected in the lot of the land.

think you all again and god bless. >> i am kevin mccarthy, the majority whip of. everyone's heart is warm because we celebrate the sanctity of life. pahang i may be a member of congress, but one of my proudest moments is to be a parent. we can think of a more special moment in the first moment you see that sonogram of your child. you watched that newborn begin to coo or take their first steps. we want everyone to have that opportunity. when you look in the eyes of a newborn, you know the power and grace of car maker is reflected in psalm 64, verse 9.

then everyone shall stand and confessed the greatness of the miracles of god. he will realize what an amazing thing he does. as you heard from our leader, erich kantor -- eric cantor, the ultimate objective is a society in which there are no abortions. i pledge to you that our republican team in the house of representatives will stand hand in hand with you and we will work to ensure that not one penny of taxpayer dollars is spent funding abortion or abortion coverage. [cheers and applause] as we leave this place today, i would encourage each of you to never forget the words of the gate -- the great congressman henry half. he said, "but the innocent and the unborn have the last word.

let their innocence to appeal to what president lincoln called the better angels of our nature. make it clear once again that there is justice for all, even for the tiniest most defenseless in this, our land." god bless. [cheers and applause] >> i am a republican conference chairman from dallas, texas. there is a place in dallas called the dallas pregnancy resource center. great ladies counseling on wed mothers. they put little footprints on the bulletin board every time they save a life. the last time i was there, there were 40 or 50 footprints on the bulletin board and they said, " congressman, we are going to buy some more bulletin boards."

in small ways making a big difference in saving small human lives, let us all resolve here in a big way to change the hearts and minds of our countrymen. let them know that life is a gift of the creator and that as a matter of constitutional law, as a matter of science, as a matter of a faith that there is no more fundamental right than the right to life. [cheers and applause] god bless you for what you do today and every day. >> i anton price from georgia. i chair the republican policy committee and a -- i am, at price. today we honor the most precious gift of life. we give a voice to those who have no voice. we challenge our society to

protect and defend the those the most innocent, mass. nearly four decades since roe v wade, our fight indoors because our cause is just for the cause of liberty and life is timeless. there is nothing more fundamental than to defend our humanity, than to defend life. today, we rededicate ourselves to protect the sanctity of life in the hall of the activities that the dedication and tails. god bless you and god bless america. [cheers and applause] >> can afternoon. i am a democrat from illinois. [cheers and applause] i see a democrat for life sign out there. if we're going to change this

country's laws, we need to have pro-life members of both parties. it is not easy being a pro-lifer democrat. i tell you, i have said that i will never back down. [cheers and applause] i ask: you to do the same and i thank you for being here today. thank you for bringing your voice is here to washington to help all of us. we need your help. only by all of us staying together can we change the heart, mind, and laws of this land to protect those most vulnerable -- the unborn. as ronald reagan said, if you diminish one category of life, the unborn, you diminish all human life. thank you for being here today. it is great to see the new pro life generation here.

[cheers and applause] we will keep on working, keep fighting for the unborn until our mission is accomplished. thank you and god bless. >> a good afternoon, everybody. i am from wisconsin. when i was the chairman of the house judiciary committee, we rode and passed a ban on partial birth abortions that was held unconstitutional by the u.s. supreme court. that is the only time since roe v wade that the supreme court has our tralee restricted -- has actually restricted abortion. the rest of the stuff has been on the periphery. we tried to prevent obamacare

from including abortion coverage. we lost at the last minute because of some switches of members, some of whom are not with us anymore because they sold out life. [cheers and applause] this year, we ask of you to back h.r. 3 which will shut the door permanently once and for all to having your tax dollars being used to fund elective abortions. abortion is wrong, but it is just as wrong to force people who morally object to abortion to pay taxes for this insidious procedure. [cheers and applause] that is our job in the next two years. the house will pass h.r. 3.

let's get to work on the senate. thank you again. [cheers and applause] >> welcome, warriors for life. sean duffy, northern wisconsin, of the freshman class. i am married to a beautiful pro- life woman. we have six children. i am pro-life not because i read it in a book but because i live and i went for an unplanned pregnancy and experience to the unplanned the joy that comes from a new baby girl. children are our nation's greatest resource regardless of the circumstances in which they are conceived. you guys are out here bearing the cold weather. you may be ignored by the media. you know what? you are speaking truth. keep up the fight. game on. [cheers and applause]

>> good morning. i am from the great state of new jersey. my wife mary ellen and their two daughters are a pro-life family. this is the day that the lord has made. let us rejoice and be glad in it. we know from hebrew is that it was said through persistence and perseverance that we join the race set before us. and so i say to all of you out there who may be cold and weary, i encourage you that we have the right and history on our side. as we begin this new year, now as we begin this new congress, be encouraged as well that we have a new freshman class in the converse who will join us in this march, join us in this race, and will get us over the finish line of life. god bless you. [cheers and applause] >> i am louis gomert from the

state of common sense that some call texas. that may borrow from abraham lincoln. >> fervently do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of abortion may speedily pass away, yet if god wills that america suffers until all of the wealth piled by the abortionists shall be lost as was said 3000 years ago so it still must be said that the judgments of the lord our true and righteous altogether. with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, and god gives us all to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work clean up theto nation's wounds of abortion, to care for those who have undergone an abortion, and to

all of those suffering from those losses to do all that we may achieve and cherish, a just and lasting into to the abortion death in our communities. may god heal our land and bless america." thank you very much. >> i am from the fifth district of ohio. i want to thank all of you for being here today. your voices are going to be heard just like they were last year when the american people spoke. look what happened after that. we have a great freshman class. i tell you what. your voices need to be heard at home. call us. even if you know that we are pro-life, call us. the around you. if everyone here cold 10 people, look at what you could do. we are counting on you.

the unborn are counting on you. can i count on you? thank you very much. we look forward to seeing you on the hill. >> good afternoon. i am from the fifth district of pennsylvania. how many of you are from pennsylvania? all right. it is called here today, but you warm my heart. this is my second term and third straight year at the march. i represent the middle part of pennsylvania. yes, i am pro-life. i believe pennsylvania is true- life. i vote pro-life. i am proud to be a co-sponsor of the bills we already have preventing the pre-board and young born. congress hears you. thank you for being here today and god bless you. >> you on the of the old story

-- you know the old story when the israelites recant against the philistines. they would issue the challenge. who would fight goliath? he was so big, we could never defeat him. david's response was, "he is so big, i cannot miss." that is the editor that characterizes all of you. we have troops on our side. god bless. [cheers and applause] >> i and john fleming from the great state of louisiana. great to see you here today. as a father and grandfather, it is indeed a privilege to be a part of marine life into this world. you hear it said that a woman should have their right to choose. what about the right to life, love, and the pursuit of happiness? god bless you are lan thank you for being here today. >> i am from michigan's seventh

district. they sent me home in 2008, but they came back in 2010. talk about a new life. i want to stand with you because i know you stand with the ongoing. you stand with the old people. you stand with my grandchildren and my children. most importantly, we need to remember that we stand with the one who said, "the thieves, but to rob, steal, and to kill but i come to give your life and life abundantly. stand up for that. we are on god's side and we cannot mess. -- cannot miss. >> howdy. i am a pro-life congressman from texas. there was a sign back there that said, "life is god's greatest

gifts. america's no. 1 goal should be to protect it. god bless you and god bless america. >> maryland, where are you? yeah. maryland is a really blew state. we really are on the march for life. thank you for coming. i am roscoe bartlett. i am glad to tell you that this year is the 19th year our delegation has doubled. dr. andy harris has joined us. >> thank you very much. i want to say hello to my two sons and my daughter. i want to thank all of the students for life. you are the future of the movement. >> i am from the great but i state of ohio. thank you for being here are.

buffalo, cincinnati, cleveland, and all over ohio, thank you. let me recognize my mother dressed 27 grandkids. if that is not pro-life, i do not know what is. think you for standing up to pretend the sanctity of life. we need your help and we will make it happen. god bless all of you. >> i am bill johnson. i hail from the great state of ohio. how're you doing? i am so proud to stand with you today the case across the sea of humanity here in the faces of the young people. it tells me that you get it. i do not know if you have heard this or not, but what you are hearing today is not a political statement but it is a passionate statement. you're a statement that says that we stand in favor of life. we are going to stand and proclaim the sanctity of life.

you were going to be able to count on me in the rest of these that are speaking. if you keep doing what you are doing, because what you do is as important as what we do. god bless you. let's protect the unborn. >> todd aiken from the state of missouri. i have six children and this is the march 11th have seen in probably the best one yet. tonight, if you were to fly over correa -- korea, you would see a sharp contrast. in the south of there is light and in the north, darkness. our early founders dreamed of a shining city on a hill.

in light around the world. it robbia according to that dream, and nation of life, or will we be a nation of darkness? our founders asserted that there is a creator who grants all of his children and a legal rights, the first of which is the right to life. it is the purpose of government to protect life. if government fails to protect the life, government is a failure. [cheers and applause] today, the abortionist some of us still snuff out life. the little lights that are extinguished the best darker. we will not cease in our enterprise until every tiny, little white can shrine in the safety and until we restore the dream that we should be a

shining city on a hill. god bless you all. >> i am from the great state of mississippi. welcome. you look great. let me tell you that under the leadership of our governor, hailey barbour, mississippi has been designated the safest place in the united states for non born child. we have gone from seven abortion clinics to one that is now part time. let's stay in the fight. [cheers and applause] >> i may freshman from the great state of tennessee. thank you for coming out in the cold. look around you and your friends and neighbors from all 50 states from the united states of america. we are the greatest nation the world has ever seen. he we are one nation under guard

and we will stay that way. -- under god and we will stay that way. i will stay this. something mars are great conscience and that is roe v. wade. it was bad law then. it is bad law now. we will get rid of it in our lifetime. [cheers and applause] i will ask each and everyone of you to go back to your town is coming your cities coming your villages, and do not give up the fight. look around at our friends and neighbors. we are on the right side of this issue. the right of man is unable. they come from god and that is what the u.s. is here to protect. god bless you and god bless the united states of america. >> good afternoon. i am one of the freshmen and i am from florida. how is everybody doing today? it is great to see. you warm my heart and make me feel good inside.

three years ago, we found out that my sister in law carol, my brother shayne going to expect a baby. we were thrilled to add to our numbers. when we found out that he was going to be born with down syndrome, it did not stop our excitement. [cheers and applause] we began to pray and that god would prepare our hearts, that we would be everything that he needed just to be coming to be a family so blessed, so lucky, so fortunate to be the one that michael would come to live with. when he was born, we prayed to god for his blessings because we know, we knew, we believe in the world -- in the word when it said, "i knew you before i have formed you in your mother's womb," in jeremiah. according to someone 35, "you

were wonderfully and spiritually made." i believe that with all of my heart. i believe that we heard and we experience pain because of our disregard for precious life. life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. we can address liberty and pursuit of happiness. only once life is secured. god bless you and me god continue to bless this great nation. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> good afternoon. and i am representing alabama's second congressional district. i am unapologetically pro-life. i, too, believe that we are fearfully and wonderfully made and that each of us were knit together in our mother's womb by our awesome god. i want to say thank you to my sweet family member who is here

today, rebecca. i would tell each of you think is a much for making the journey here today. keep up the good fight for the unborn. god bless each of you. >> i am mike pompeia from the great state of kansas. [cheers and applause] yeah. kansas has been, for so many years, a battleground on the issue of life. kansas has been a place where it is a central focus. the right of life cannot be given to you by a member of congress and it cannot be taken away by nine people on the supreme court. we know that life comes because

he gave us life and made us in his image. thank you for coming out here today. god bless you all and let's keep up the fight. thank you all. [cheers and applause] >> i am from the great state of indiana and i bought -- i brought my pro-wife team of. my wife, our son, our youngest son, and i went to get a big shot to the people from india and especially the allen county right to life group that has traveled out here to be here today. i am a freshman congressman and this is an amazing sight to see. i want your picture from the pier, ok? i believe that this generation -- [cheers and applause] i believe that this is the generation that will see the overturning of roe v wade

because we are winning in the hearts and minds of americans. we may not be winning all the time in washington, d.c., but across this country we are winning. keep up the fight. god bless you. >> hello, everyone. i am from the fighting 17th in illinois. this is my wife of 24 years. together we have 10 children. [cheers and applause] the day after the election, my daughters came and asked who won. when they left the room i said to my wife, "we have to do something. here i am."

with our friends from the other side tell us they want the right to choose, please add sentence -- finish the sentence for them. the right to choose to kill their unborn child. we have to stay focused, keep the faith. there is a planned parenthood in our area. it?e's also a -- what is a woman's choice center. i always need my better half with me. when i visited there, the lady said that what they do is they bring women in your looking to have an abortion and they were doing the sonogram and the baby was just laying there. all of a sudden, right before they were getting down and the baby but on a show for its mother. that baby was born today and is 18 years old. keep the faith. let's stay focused. god bless you and god bless america.

>> good afternoon. i am also from kansas. it is an honor to be here today with our wife -- my wife and our four children. how about a shout out for adoption? [cheers and applause] as you can see, my children do not look like us, but these of the children that planned parenthood does not want. can we stop planned parenthood? yes, we can. yes, we can. the state of kansas in 1850 was called "bloody kansas." today we are at the heart of the struggle for life. in 1850, the supreme court

decided that black people were not human. they decided that young people were not human. we are here to change the station and we will change our country. yes, we can. thank you. >> i am from nebraska and i am pro-life. i am sorry my own five children could not be here with me. as i look out at you, you are the new generation of per-life leadership. you're the new generation of civil rights leaders. you know that women deserve better than abortion. you know that abortion is not healthy. you know that abortion takes lives and distorts the genius of womanhood. not too long ago, right here on capitol hill, being pro-life was just being accommodating. now is a mission. stay with us and help us.

thank you for coming in thank you for being pro-life. god bless. >> howdy. i am from taxes. today reminds me of a story about a woman from my hometown of bryan, texas. she was the director of two years in planned parenthood. she was watching an ultrasound one day and decided she had to leave. later on she should netted her resignation, walked across the street, and went to st. for the coalition for life in bryan, texas. like abby, we are each faced with the decision. and should be the decision to protect, defend innocent lives of all americans including those of the unborn. thank you and god bless you.

represent the great state of new hampshire -- >> are represent the great state of new hampshire. i am a member of the freshman class to calls himself proudly pro-life. we do have the biggest freshman class that is pro-life. the other thing we get to do from new hampshire is make sure that every candidate who runs for president assures us that they will protect life and defend life. help me in the new hampshire elect a president who will overturn roe v. wade. thank you all very much. [cheers and applause] >> my name is jeff landry from louisiana. thank you for coming to the streets and marching for the right to life. thank you for making your voice is heard and praying for the unborn. thank you for your inspiration. always remember that on human

beings are created equal and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. among which is the basic right to life. thank you. thank you. >> hello. i'm from the great state of tennessee in the mountains. until two years ago, i was practicing medicine as an ob/gyn and have delivered almost 5000 pro-life babies. i found out that it worked out really well to deliver your own voters. it worked out really well. [laughter] the great tragedy of two weeks ago in tucson, the first scheduled the event by had following that was a pro-life marched in pigeon forge, tennessee. we prayed for those injured, those who had died, and we prayed for the unborn. i will make you the solemn

promise from this ob/gyn -- with every breath left in my body, i will fight for life. will you join me? [cheers and applause] god bless you and thank you so much for being here. >> thank you very much. i am from the mexico, one of the freshmen here to defend life. it is said the best that the most courageous act of a single individual is not to participate in the life. thank you for not participating. my friend, i do not think it is just a coincidence. 40 years and counting. it is time for us to get out of the wilderness. with the and men and women in front of me today, god will lead

us across the jordan river and we will turn away from not just funding abortion but the practice itself. god bless you. i just loaded you guys on my facebook. thank you. >> good afternoon. i am from illinois. it is great to be with you today. i am one of almost 100 new freshmen that have been sent here on a mission. almost 90% of us are pro-life. that is exciting. i am here to follow in the great footsteps of my mentor from illinois, henry hyde. i will fight for him and fight for life. we will come back here one day and celebrate victory. god bless you all. i am steve cain from iowa. we are pro-like america.

[cheers and applause] for 38 years, america's come here to pray and march for life. thomas jefferson said a generation of 19 years, that is the two generations of americans and millions of americans come here, make friends, march, and pray for life and deployed across america to do the same. we will see the end of roe v wade in our lifetime. you have elected a pro-life congress. now we need to elect a per-life president and we need a pro-live supreme court. we are coming back here to celebrate the end of roe v wade and the respect for the sanctity of life. god bless you. >> good afternoon, everyone. i'm from the great state of illinois. proudly, i am one of four pro- life elected from obama's home

state. i am here to deliver one simple message. this loud, rambunctious, excited, committed freshman class is here to fight the fight with you. we will not be timid. we will not be quiet. keep growing. keep marching. things will come our way. god bless. >> hello. i am from the great state of missouri. i am proud to represent the fourth district but also proud to represent the vast majority of american women who are pro- life. we are the mothers of this country and we respect the value

of life. we have one message for a certain woman who was speaker of the house last year. she does not represent us. [cheers and applause] we will prevail in this fight and as long as we do not get weary and keep up, we shall reap the harvest. thank you for coming. let's keep on keeping on. we can do this. >> good afternoon. i am from the great state of new york. after spending the 30 years in the pro-life movement, i am so proud to stand here and money. you are the heart and soul of the pro-life movement. did not give up. keep fighting.

understand the difference that you make in this country. we are blessed to have you here today. thank you for making the trip down. thank you for your commitment to the right to life, the most fundamental right that we have. god bless you and god bless the united states of america. >> i am a freshman member from the second district in michigan. yes, michigan loves life. not only in my proud freshman member of this congress and i am the proud father of five great kids back in michigan. i to give picture and i am putting it up on my facebook. i want to make sure i local

media does that asked, "how many were there, five, 10,000 people?" we have proof. it is a little cold, but there are a lot of us. that is a good problem to have. that is right. it is not about young and old, rich and poor, catholic and protestant, christian or drew. this is about -- christian or jew. this is right versus wrong. keep up your fight. >> good afternoon. i am from nebraska. the big red state. i just want to thank you for being here. when i see you here, i see that the values of america are represented. we all know that the greatest civilizations have a moral code

that recognizes humanity and a community is recognizing life from conception to natural end. that is what we need and we also want to thank you to fight the fight. we know you have our backs when we are up here and we have yours when you are at home. thank you. >> i am james langord from oklahoma -- lankford. i may freshman and i did not come here for the title. i will represent an -- i will be representing you and say that we are pro-life. we need to show that it really is. the next major thing is we need to communicate to a generation that is so careful that is so willing to throw away an infant,

to be willing to say to them that we should have common sense in the way that we look into the well and say that is not a chicken embryo. that is not just a fetus. but it is a baby. we need to say that is life. stand with us. we are honored to stand with you. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> good afternoon. i am from ohio. what i want to know from everyone else out here is, how do we get these noisy people from kansas up front? that is what i want to know. [cheers and applause] [laughter] ok. ok. i am a freshman sort of. i have been here from -- for 14 years, went home for two, and now i am back. one thing i am particularly proud of of the 14 years i was here was to be the author in the principal sponsor of the ban on partial birth abortion.

it is now the law of the land. chris smith, one of the first speakers appear, talked about the horrendous case, the doctor in philadelphia who destroyed these innocent human lives and he is being brought up on charges. in the newspaper article i saw quoted it as "a house of horrors." what happens in these abortion mills around the country is that they are all houses of horrors. every one of them. i will conclude with this. last saturday, two days ago, january 22nd was roe v. wade day. it is important to me because it was the day that i was born. it was my birthday. every year, i cannot help but think that on that day how many

innocent unborn lives have been snuffed out because of that iran this decision. -- horrendous decision. we will reverse roe v wade and it will start right here. thank you for being a part of this. and is so important. never give up. we will prevail. god bless each and every one of the. god bless your families. god bless the united states of america. thank you. >> i am from the great and sunny state of florida. before i made it to congress, i served in the state legislature. there was a reporter during an in-depth study of the pro-life movement. at the end she asked me one last question.

given all of these things we have spoken about come when is it that you became pro-life? i told her "at conception." [cheers and applause] thank you for coming today and for honoring life. keep up the working and god bless all of you. >> i am trend francs from arizona. -- trent franks. the president said we should do what we can to make sure this country lives up to the expectation of our people. i believe that to be true, but mr. president we cannot do that while we stand by and watch 4000 of them be killed every day. mr. president, there is nothing liberating about killing her children. mr. president, america has not yet forsaken her on board. in two more years, we will have another election. by the grace of god, we will

see roe v wade fall in the ashes of history. god bless you all. >> i am from southern ohio. where is southern ohio? you know, ladies and gentlemen, this fight did just not start 38 years ago. they said everyone has the right to life including the unborn. this fight actually began well over 150 years ago. people like elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, victoria what all, sir norton, alice paul, yes, those people who fought for women's rights, the right to vote, the right to own property, the right to run for public office, and the right of the unborn to have life.

elections have consequences. you have given me girl power. we have eight new republican pro-life women. thank you. keep up the fight. two years from now, we have another election. let's continue the pro-life trend and make this whole town pro-life. god bless you and the usa. >> i am mike pence from indiana and i am pro-life. we gather to mark the 30th anniversary of the worst supreme court decision since threads got -- dredd scott. we gather in the hope of a new pro-life majority on capitol hill.

these are trying times in the life of our nation. our economy is struggling in their national government is awash in a sea of debt. amidst these struggles, some have us focus our energy on jobs and spending. as you test today by your presence, you know that we must not remain silent when great moral battles are being waged. those who have us ignore the battle being fought over life would have us forget the lesson of history as the days of a house divided, america's darkest moments have come when economic principles. a nation that will not stand for life will not stand for long. you know there can be no lasting prosperity without a moral foundation in law. as the focus is on spending the let me agree.

let us stop by ending off federal funding for abortion at home and abroad. one more item on spending, the largest abortion provider in america should not be the largest recipient of federal funding. the time has come to deny any and all funding to planned parenthood of america. [cheers and applause] thank you for braving the cold one more time. we will fight on for life. we will fight on for the unborn and broken hearted. we will fight on because we know as thomas jefferson said, "god, who gave us life, give us the birdie, and god is it just. justice -- gave us liberty and god is just." we will win this fight because the deepest desire of every

mother and father is to protect their child at any cost even at the cost of their life. the american people will make this right. we will restore the sanctity of life to the center of american wall because every american knows in their heart that this, the pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and the in in the ball right to life. god bless you. >> i am from the great lakes state of michigan. i am an alumnus of detroit catholic central high school. coming from michigan, i truly have to say i am enjoying the warm weather here in washington. [laughter]

and, on a more serious note, we understand that the right-to- life is not a republican or a democratic issue. it is a human issue. today, before you, and to my constituents in michigan's 11th district, i reaffirm my commitment to defending innocent human life and to creating a culture of life here in the united states. thank you all for what you do. god bless you. [applause] >> good afternoon. i am a congressman from alabama's fourth congressional district. it is great to see some many pro-live congressmen here. we are up for a new day in converse with the newly elected members of congress to value

life and want to protect life. thank you for standing up for life and being out here today. there are rallies held across the country and i had the privilege to be in alabama over the weekend. there are march is being held, but most of all, thank you for the prayers that you pray for the unborn. it makes a difference. thank you for praying for this congress and for legislators across the country who make the decision in the protection of the unborn. may god bless each and every one of the and may god bless america. thank you. >> the afternoon, per-life america. i am mike kelly from northwest pennsylvania, part of the steeler nation. with me today is my grandson, george, my granddaughter, vivian, and my wife, vicki.

in 1776, thomas jefferson said, "we hold these truths that all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights -- life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. if we knew in 1776 how important life was, we certainly know in 2011 that the same thing holds true. now while the temperature may be called, our hearts run warm and our passion runs white hot. god bless you and god bless america. >> the greatest moral issue that we face in this nation is the killing of 4000 babies every day o. god cannot and will not bless this land while it is going on. we have to stop it. we have to stop it now.

i am paul broun from georgia representing the 10th congressional district. when i was elected, i promise the first bill i would introduce was a sanctity of human life act. it was and it will be until we stop this tragedy, this war going on in america. the greatest political force in america today is embodied in the first three tests -- the first three words -- "we the people." you will stop abortion. talk to your senator, talk to your congressman. get your friends. everyone in your sphere of influence to demand that we've passed a bill so that those pressures unborn children will have the right to life and be protected as you and i are. that will be the key. it is up to you. will you join me in fighting to

give the rights of personhood to those unborn children? we have to do it. god bless you. >> i am cris smith again. briefly to make an introduction. the fight to protect unborn children is global, as you know. lawmakers everywhere are engaging in the fight. we have many here today and we are privileged to hear from a doctor who is the chairwoman of the european parliament women's rights and gender equality committee, a great defender of life. doctor? [cheers and applause] >> the friends -- i came here with my husband and

our grandson oliver to bring you greetings from pro-life organizations in some lockean -- in slovakia in a similar countries from the european union. i came from europe to tell you all so that europe is dying out. our population has outranked and our government -- has shrank and our government is not doing anything about that. there are many people in europe who believe that a career is a clear choice. dacey pregnancy as an illness and motherhood as a disability. this is an example of how society has failed to meet the needs of women and children.

if we do not care about our most vulnerable members of society, our society would not be here today -- our society will not be here tomorrow. this is true about europe as much as it is about the united states of america, our governments spend billions of dollars to stop climate change. how much do we spend to help mothers and fathers earn a living wage, study while taking care of a baby? we have to care more about people. with every woman who chooses abortion, we have to ask why and we have to address the issue. i invite all of those from the so-called pro-choice group, we need to work together because if you feel abortion is the way

out there must be a way to stay in the. women deserve a real choice here. this is the real revolution of our time. this is a revolution. god bless america and god bless your families. thank you. >> of this is such a great day with the sun out again. how you feel about the speakers we have from the congress of the united states? i pledge now to the members of congress who have come to be with us today and give us support that we will give them support, too. i am interested

>> i am interested in all of us coming together and producing one bill that overturns roe vs. wade and then i pledge the support of all of you in getting your members of congress to sign on to that bill to overturn roe vs. wade. where do you stand on this? also someone who is giving support to our march for life is a pastor from frederick, maryland. >> god bless america. the people of god say we will overcome, and we will overcome very soon. there must be no retreat, no truce, and no going backwards.

we must move forward and we must do it now. the word of god says if my people who were called by my name pray and seek my face and turn away from their wicked ways, i will forgive your sins and heal your land. that is the promise from god. in the recent november 2010 elections, the american people resoundingly stated that they were pro-life. we voted in record numbers and at every level to replace those who supported the killing of innocent reborn children by the terrible procedure called abortion. we must not retreat now. we must move forward. we must an hour ground. there is no ground whatsoever for retreat or a truce.

we must hold our elected officials' feet to the fire. even these young freshmen congressmen who are saying that they are pro-life, we will give nobody a passport because life is too valuable. we will hold them to the fire. whether they be republican, democrat, or whosoever. there are those like governor haley barbour of mississippi and governor mitch daniels of indiana who are saying that there ought to be a truce. we say to them, we are going to truce you, all right. there are calling for the retreat on social issues like the issue of life of the pri born. these republicans have an

aspiration to become president of the united states. they must be stopped before they get to the gate. they must not be given the slightest opportunity to extend the killing of the unborn at any cost. the killing of children by democrats, republicans, the party members, or anyone else is totally unacceptable. we do not need another president who is insensitive and blind to the moral and social issues. president obama in the last two years in office has -- we will still be there working to destroy this mission. we must find someone who is in love with the culture of life

and hates the culture of death. human life is made in the image of almighty god, and it must be protected. at every level of government, there must be no exceptions, and there must be no compromise. the call has been made for us to keep silent, to be quiet on this issue of abortion. the question must be asked, how can we be silence when this month's statistics on abortion from new york city tells us that we are headed for destruction in this nation. as a people, we have lost our way. how can we be silent? when the ungodly fax from new york city shows that 41% of all

pregnancies in new york city ended in death. how can we turn back when there are 60% of all african- americans in new york city ended in abortion? how can we be silent when 40% of the pregnancies in the hispanic community in new york city were aborted? how can we do something else when 72% of the pregnancies of 17-year-old girls ended in the death of a child? when it comes to the african- american community in new york city, out of every 100 pregnancies, 60 children died. that is a tragedy. mr. president, that is a

tragedy. where is the president of change and hope? where is al sharpton? where is the naacp? where is the black congressional caucus, and where is the voice of the african-american church and the pastor? abortion is killing our nation. its impact on women of all races is devastating. women are depressed and suicidal, just to mention a few problems. a few weeks ago, a young woman called me and said she was depressed. she said she has a psychologist

and a psychiatrist. she said that she has been diagnosed as being manic depressive and bipolar. after talking with her for a while, i asked her if she ever had an abortion. she responded yes i have, but i don't like to talk about it. she said i am under the impression that the child may not have gone to heaven. i said is there any other region you might be upset about having the abortion? >> she said yes, i cannot have children now. abortion is not a friend to america, not a friend to women or to anyone. we must not in its tracks. no exceptions. this is not an isolated case for this young moment. there are millions of women out there who are suffering from the allies that abortion is not a

powerful procedure. we must not lie about how wonderful abortion is for women and stop the killing process. i told that one and there is healing, but you have to know that -- i told that lawmen there is healing. we must stand up and there is no retreat. there is a mighty crowd of folks out there that needs the truth. we cannot stop until they are healed. we must see to it that no others are added to these terrible statistics. we will not keep silent, and there'll be no truce until this ugly and on godly scourged is removed from our land. those that keep the records said that we have killed over 53 million children in america since roe vs. wade supreme court decision of 1973. the blood of the innocent ones

is crying to god, asking the question, how long before justice will be rendered? how long will we fund the killing of human rights organizations like planned parenthood? when will justice roll down like a mighty river? made this congress -- made this congress have the guts to defund planned parenthood. we must not let them go. we must keep the fire on them. made this country -- may this congress make abortion illegal

once again in this country. >> is our government listening to us today? the president is right there. the congress has been here. the supreme court, listen to us. now i welcome the young people who are helping us in pulling ourselves together from generation to generation. here are still in contest winners. young people are here with us. >> i am a member of the board.

it is my pleasure to introduce the contest winners. meaghan darcy. our polling winner -- poem winner. our poster winner. let's have around applause for them. they represent you out there. thank you. >> a dear friend and a great supporter is here with us and you know him also. >> god bless you and god bless

nellie gray. 32 years ago michael brought me here to speak for my march 1 for life. this is a natural continuum of those to devalue unborn life through partial birth abortions which the late senator moynihan called murder. don't connect the dots. ultimately -- got tax measure for measure and this evil abortion supporters are often

signing their own adult death sentences. that is the lesson of kevorkian and the culture of death. for 2000 years, millions of jews sit on the ground once a year morning the destruction of temples and the loss of life. we read the book of lamentations which includes the phrase of compassion and mothers to slaughter their own children. i urge at this moment all those who can to join me in sitting on the ground for 15 seconds in silence, prayer, and contemplation to commemorate the hundreds of unborn, murdered babies. i ask c-span to show america the crowd mourning, and when we cry out later, 10 seconds. out later, 10 seconds.