>> president obama said gaddafi's rule is over. remarks aret's next. then we will hear from ban ki- situation with libya. then we will hear from syrian president paassad. >> watch more video of the

candidate, see what reporters are seeing, and track the latest contributions with c- span's website. it helps navigate the political landscape with twitter feeds and facebook updates bios, and the latest polling data,a. >> good afternoon, everybody. i completed a call with my national security council of the situation on libya, and today i talked to the prime minister of great britain about the events taking place there. the situation is very fluid. there remains a degree of uncertainty, and there are still regime elements that pose a threat.

the gaddafi regime is coming to the end and the future of libby is in the hands of its people. in six months, the 42-year rein of gaddafi has unraveled. the joyful longing for human freedom at the voices we had heard all across the region, from tunis to cairo. the face of these protests, the regime responded with a brutal crackdown. civilians were murdered in the streets, and a campaign of violence was launched against the libyan people. as his forces advanced, there existed the potential for wholesale massacres of innocent civilians. in the face of this aggression, the international community took action. the united states shake a

resolution that made it the that -- that mandated the protection of libyan civilians. a coalition was formed that included the united states, nato, and arab nations, and in march, the international committee launched a military operation to save lives. in the early days of this intervention the united states provided the bulk of the firepower. the transitional national council established itself as a credible representative of the libyan people. the united states with our allies across the region recognize the tnc as a legitimate representative of the people. from benghazi to the western mountains, the tide turned in their favor. over the last several days, this

is rationed in libya has reached a tipping point. the opposition increased its cord nation from east to west, took town after town, and a people of tripoli rose up the claim their freedom. for over four decades, but you people had lived under the rule of the tyrant that denied their human rights. now the celebrations that we have seen in the streets of libya shows that the pursuit of human dignity is far stronger than any dictator. i want emphasize that this is not over yet. as the regime collapses, there is still fierce fighting in areas, and we have reports of regime elements threatening to continue fighting. although it is clear that the rule is over, he still has the opportunity to increase blood shed -- decrease bloodshed and calling those who continue to fight to lay down their arms. as we move forward, from this

pivotal phase, the opposition should continue to take important steps to bring about a transition that is peaceful, inclusive, and just. the leadership has made clear that the rights of all libyans must be respected. true justice will not come from reprisals, and violence, but will come from reconciliation and a libya that allows its citizens to determine its own destiny. in that effort, united states will be a friend and partner. we will join with allies and partners to continue the work in safeguarding the people of libya ha. i directed my team to be in close contact with nato and united nations to determine what the steps we can take to deal with the humanitarian impact and we are working to ensure supplies reach those in need, particularly those who have been wounded.

secretary clinton spoke today with leading nations on these matters, and i have directed the u.n. ambassador to ask the secretary general to support this transition. for many months, the tnc has been working with the international community to prepare for a post-gaddafi libby. we will ensure that the institutions of the libyan state are protected, and we will provide them with support works with resources of the gaddifi regime that were earlier protected. we should also recognize the work that has been done. to the american people, these events have particular resonance. regime has murdered scores of american citizens in

the past. today we remember those lives of those who were taken and stand and tell their. and stand in solidarity. pilots have executed their missions with skill and bravery, all this was done without putting a single u.s. troop on the ground. to our friends and allies, the libyan intervention demonstrates what the international community can achieve when we stand together as one. although the efforts and libya are not yet over, nato has proven that it is the most capable alliance in the world and its strength comes from both its firepower and the power of our democratic ideals. the arab members of our coalition have stepped up and show what can be achieved when we act together as equal partners. their actions and a powerful message about the unity of our effort and our support for the future of libya.

finally, the libyan people. your courage and character had an unbridgeable in the face of the tyrants. we are joined in the basic human longing for freedom, justice, and for dignity. your revolution is yours, and sacrifices have been extraordinary. now the libby at that you deserve is within your reach. going forward we will stay in close coordination with the tnc to support that outcome. the extraordinary events in libya remind us that fear can give way to hope and the power of people striving for freedom can bring about a brighter day. thank you very much. defense now on today's

-- events in liby. from the u.n. headquarters in new york, this is 10 minutes. >> good morning, ladies and gentleman. it is a great pleasure to see you again. the dramatic scene we are witnessing in libya, in tripoli, are a testament to the courage and determination of the libyan people to save a free and democratic future. i welcome the assurances given by the chairman of the national transitional council, that extreme care would be taken to protect people and public

institutions and to maintain law and order. forces to gaddafi's cease violence and make way for a smooth transition. i have been in touch with the chair person of the african yen, the secretary general of the league of arab states, and world leaders.r later today, i will contact the president of the security council and members of the security council. i intend to hold an urgent meeting this week among the heads of regional and international organizations, including the league of arab

states, organization of islamic corp., and the air european union. my special envoy spend in close contact with the leadership of the tnc and will continue his efforts. he and my special adviser on post-conflict planning will travel to doha to meet with the leadership of the tnc. united nations stands ready to extend all possible assistance to the libyan people. for the past several months, we have been working to ensure that the united nations is ready to respond to any request that libya may make for post-conflict assistance. the united nations is prepared to assist in all vital areas, including security and the role all, cecile economic recovery,

constitution making, and the electoral process, human rights, and transitional justice, and coordination of support from libya's nabors and the international community. it will be crucial for the security council to be as responsive to the post-conflict planning as it has been throughout the crisis. we must also ensure that the delivery of humanitarian assistance to all those in need. this is a hopeful moment, but also there are risks ahead. now is the time for all libyans to focus on national unity, reconciliation, and inclusiveness, and i am determined to ensure that the united nations does everything it can to promote an orderly transition that response to the aspirations of the libyan people for peace, democracy, and opportunity. thank you very much. i will be happy to answer your

questions. >> you are calling on the security council to be responsive. when will you have this kind of meeting that you spoke about, and are you seeking guarantees from the national transitional council to turn over gaddafi and his sons. should they be turned over and when? >> you have asked three questions. [unintelligible] my plan to hold an urgent international meeting this week will have to be coordinated with the leaders of these organizations. i have already spoken with three organizations, and now i am

talking to do with either on thursday or friday, but i have to confirm it with the contingencies of all the people there. it is important that we get mandates from the security council. mr. martin and our team had been working very closely continuously during the last two or three months, as soon as i appointed him as my special adviser. there have been many comprehensive planning is. these planes, including the ideal for the presence of the peace monitors -- this has to be coordinated with the security

council members and in close consultation with the ntc. that is why i am trying to talk with the chairman of the ntc, and i am in the process of speaking to all the world leaders. i have already spoken with some, but i am not on to repeat the names before i finished all my -- for that matter, we will have to discuss. itc has indicted colonel gaddafi for crimes against humanity. therefore it is against the light is up to the international committee the has the duty of all members of the united nations, has a duty to fully comply with the decisions of the icc. that is the nature of the

court. >> would you call on colonel gaddafi to surrender, and have you talked to -- to see if there is a way out for gaddafi and his forcie? >> i have already called for to givegaddafi's foces way. and i have spoken over the weekend, and we had a very serious talk on this matter. and for the second part of your question, that will have to see how the situation will devolve. -- evolve. these are all important legal obligations of people who have been indicted. >> do to the situation in

tripoli, key you consider the military operation of nato over as of today? >> we will have to see how nato will assess the situation. nato has been instrumental in implementing this security council resolution 1973, and i recognize their efforts to avoid civilian casualties in the course of their military operations. this is up to nato, based on the assessment of the situation. >> the united states believes that colonel gaddafi is still in libya. does anybody from your side in touch with him who is he still in libya, and have you talked to him about giving up? >> i have no information on the

whereabouts of colonel gaddafi. i hope we will be able to find him out as soon as possible. [unintelligible] we have been trying to get in touch with him, and i also myself have been trying to speak with him recently, but as you may expect an understand, the situations, it has not been possible. let us see. >> in syria, he said of president assad had said that military operations had stopped. 39 people have been killed since then. what you believe now should be done? >> this is what he clearly told me when i had a telephone talk with him. he assured me that humanitarian assistance would be able to

visit the different places, and our team is already in syria. they are now assessing the situation. it is troubling that he has not kept his word. many world leaders have been speaking to him, to halt immediately military operations that are killing his on people, and he assured me he would do that, that operations have already stop. now he has heard all the serious calls to him, and i sincerely hope that he heeds all the international community's appea l. thank you very much. thank you.

>> bashar al assad dismissed u.s. and european calls for him to step down, saying he was chosen by the syrian people, not the west's. as the uprising continues, president of saab also said syria could withstand the mounting international sanctions. the comments were part of an interview with syrian state-run t.d. on sunday. here's a portion of the interview. >> we have been discussing these topics several times, and the

security choice was not the only one. we need to solve it politically. even those countries who have launched -- with their army are aiming to have a political situation. we need to keep the country safe. the situation in syria is a political solution, and we need to solve it politically, but when it comes to the security situation, we need to be against terrorism, we need to be tough, and we need to be able and aware of the situation. this is what i want to say. we need to solve it politically, and of the political solution was our first choice at the very beginning. we can solve it mayor charlie, but one week later we have made some reforms that show that we

are for the political solution. the solution -- 30 is the problem as well. >> your excellency, there was a meeting of the central committee, and their representatives in the country -- is the result of this meeting? what are the major issues discussed in this meeting? >> some expect these meetings to results in a big thing, but it is a meeting for the hierarchy of the ruling baath party, it is natural have all these meetings. it is not a meeting that is a normal one, but is related to the situation in the country.

we have not had such a meeting since the beginning. we expressed a lot of things 3 we have made so many points, explain to the hierarchy where we are now. on the other side, we talk about the reforms that we offered, and what i spoke about in my speech at damascus university, and later on, in the very near future we will discuss the constitution, which is a vital point. we have to listen to them and we have to meet them and to see how they express the point of views of the base. he another point come te baath party is the party that formulated the future of syria, so we --

>> your excellency, at the meeting where the forms were discussed, including the national dialogue -- where is the national dialogue now? >> i noticed there was a misunderstanding of the content of the national dialogue. at the very beginning, i went to my meetings with the citizens to have a dialogue. people are having some doubts. we decided to have a central dialogue, and these dialogues the just came before the reforms and before the constitution, because -- how do they think? models and

samples of the syrian people. we know that sample, but we need to make sure about how do they feel of so to be sure about how do we reached these reforms. we are on the way to implement them according to the time limit. we are in a temporary period. there will be elections cricket there will be a revision of the constitution, and he's set of reforms will be discussed. this period is a critical and very sensibtive . . we have decided to start the dialogue in the government, to attack the social things, the andal services as well --

the party has that have some time to implement these things. the dialogue is quite important -- >> you spoke about the constitution. some are asking if there is an amendment of item number 8 of the constitution. your speech a people understand that the constitution as a whole might be discussed. is this the situation now after the meeting of the central committee of the baath party? >> this is one of the most important points discussed by the central committee during that meeting. some of the attendants want to amend the item number 8, which is about the political regime and items that are related to each other. to change the item is not quite

logical. these items are quite related with the item number 8, and the political regime in syria. consequently, we need to look at the items within the framework of the whole items. it is important to look at the whole constitution, and this is the idea now that we have. >> your excellency, if you go back to the elections, what are the procedures that will be applied? do we have an apartment time limit to implement these on the ground? >> we have an accurate time

table within the few coming days until thursday, regarding the that willmmittee discuss the -- the committee is formed by the interior minister and three other independent personalities. we have the names and the decree will be issued within the next few days. regarding the party's -- it is related to the -- it is also related to the administration nationwide. this would be also done in the next few days, to have an executive decree. >> can we expect something new

for the syrian people? >> yes, definitely, we can say there will be something new. this is known. it depends on the voters. we are going to apply the same -- we are going to talk about a new political system, new ambitions, new mechanisms, and if we are applying this within past of the old mechanisms, the question is how to push the young people in our institutions, inside and outside the country, the and people, not just during my meetings with them, but sort of a feeling within the young people that they are isolated or marginalized, and this is not a good feeling. a young man or young woman needs energy, and if -- this is not

good. at least to think within a new way to inform those young men and young women, young people, which in the system, and they have to have a role and something to do. this despite the fact -- is the most important thing that we are developing. >> my question is about the next period. it will be politically motivated. what are the mechanisms of applying these decrees with enough time limit, and how will the elections be done? >> to the moment we have issued three decrees about elections

and the parties. and within a few days, we will be having another decree to nominate the committee of the parties, and anyone who wants that their party, or any group wants to have their own party, they will be able to form these parties, and next week practically we will be ready to accept applicants to form new parties in the country. the local administration also -- and within the next few days we will be having something new. the local administration, given the minimum of 45 days, for the next elections. we will be having this in 45

days for the next elections, and amendments were made on a local administration, which has to have some time, a similar. -- similar period to achieve this new criterion. the local elections might be three months from now. and we also have the media, which might be issued before the end of ramadan, and we can immediately start the application of this -- and a committee will be formed to discuss the constitution. this committee needs at least three months. i do not think it will need more than six months. this is the time limit that

should be put in place with the committee itself to be able to discuss it and to be able to say what does it need. then the parliamentary elections -- are some different points of view. from four months to eight months of issuing the executive instructions of the elections, to give all parties the opportunity to form. i think logically speaking, six months will be ok to have the elections in next february, 2012. these sets of regulations might

be the end of a period of reform, and then we will move to the application. >> within the reforms, your excellency, there's also some that about giving the nationality to the kurds. you think it is this because they might be part of the crisis? >> to be honest, the first time we had this idea, during 2000, and i met some of them, and we spoke about this, and then i said this is your right and this is a humanitarian case and we will deal with this. then we started the procedure s, the scenarios and the potential, and the shape and form of the -- and it was not very quick, but we said by the

end of 2004 we might have reached something, and some of the powers or some of the figures tried to make use of this issue, the issue of the citizenship, to start torift between arabs. we started another round of investigation and talks. the reality is, where we decided to issue this decree at the inginning of the events zurich, the decree was already there, because we issued the decree because it was already ready and i issue of my signature. we cannot deal with the kurds differently as if we were going to give them a sort of bribe for

them and turned them into -- because the a part of the syrian people. i have some years ago that the kurds part and parcel of the syrian -- and otherwise syria will never be syria. kurds are not immigrants. they are part of the syrian committee. people today are trying to politicize the issue, and if you go back, we would find something like this and say that some of the leaders during the french colonialism were kurds. this is not point, and we reject this, and we consider the national situation involving the kurds and arabs are the same.

>> regarding the decrees, some see reforms within these decrees, but some also say these reforms and these decrees are on the income on paper. to be honest, i cannot say that. >> we cannot say that all of the decrees are into on paper. -- ink on paper. we speak about resolutions antht did not achieve results on the ground. we need to see the formula of these -- we need to go into the to make the revolution week. we might have some executive

instructions that cannot achieve the results that we all hope for. that is what the revolution might be useless. a necessity that a balance between these crease. it is a series of decrees. [unintelligible] are helping each other, and we need to start with the priorities. we cannot start with number five and forget number one. i think that the main solution is to expand the dialogue with all categories. the one who issued the decrees, might discuss the -- with the

lower layers in this institution to get the benefit. we need to make sure that the people who benefit from these are quite known to everyone, and that is why we can have the results of these -- and we started that. we need to expand that dialogue in order to get less mistakes, and we can change the executive instructions in order that the good benefits. >> he spoke about some mistakes. do you think we will punish everyone who has committed a mistake? >> as a principle, let me tell you something. we have already questioned a few number of people who are related and we have evidence

that they are involved in some crimes. everyone who is related to a crime or involved in a crime will be question, if we have concrete evidence that he or she is involved. everyone who has committed a mistake is not a problem. there is a judicial committee who has the capacity to practice its procedures, and we will ask about these investigations, and we will make every detail clearer that everyone, even the media might take part in explaining some obstacles, the leas, if there are any. i am not the one who will start the investigation, and there is

the principle that is applied to every one/ it is the right of the country. the country as a country has that the right and has to get back its right. that is why it is important to follow this. >> your access excellency, if you talk about reforms, the west was negatively accepting these reforms. >> anything done, the traditional answer is not enough. sometimes they are trying to change the language because they say it is not enough. they do not want reforms. they want you not to reform. they want you to be way behind. they want you not to develop reforms regarding these colonial

states, and i am not talking about the west, i am talking about the colonial states, is to give them all the concessions had to tell them yes, i will give you everything, rival give up resistance, i will give up everything that we know about the colonial states in the west, and simply i could say it is their dreams. let them to rima. -- let them dream. >> obama and his secretary of state, asked you to step aside. what is your answer? >> in so many meetings with the syrian citizens the last few days, they ask me, why did you not reply? normally we should reply, and i said, we are dealing with the cases individually.

we clarify things if we know that these states adopted situations that cannot go with its agenda. we can talk to them, we can make things clear to them, and if they want to go, we are ready to go, or beyond. other people will try not to talk and not to commit about their policies in their words. i am talking now with the syrian tv which is precious to everyone in syria. i can say that i am not going to discuss these words. these words are not to be said to a president is not appointed by the west and america.

i am appointed by the syrian people. we cannot say this to a people who support its resistance and as a principal, one of its principal some this should not be said to some of its people. you can say this is made in america or you can say this to people who are ready to get instructions from -- [unintelligible] i said, what is the princilple they depend on? human rights? go to the history, go to the recent history.

who is responsible for the crimes for the thousands and millions of marchers and wounded people, many of whom know nothing about it, and widows, orphans. if we take these plans, and can we forget to support israel and the crimes of israel against the palestinians? who has to step aside and step down? >> how can we explain to the relations of syria with the western countries cove, syrian relations with the western countries is a conflict on sovereignty. syrian sovereignty. we are committed and we are abiding by our sovereignty. our sovereignty is not to be discussed in any circumstances.

a lot of people think it is a honeymoon, but it is not at all. in every occasion, they are affairs of syria smoothly and gradually that we need to get used to. on the other side, we need them to get used to syria that will allow everyone to interfere with its sovereignty and its internal affairs. this is the sort of relation. is nothing new, except that outside that atmosphere, they're making traps. >> the pressures on syria are going to the maximum amount to speaking about condemnation, a decree from the security council, or military intervention from nato.

are you scared? >> regarding the military action, they said this in 2003 after the fall of baghdad. there is no resistance, there is no big failure in afghanistan at the time. the international community was quite submissive to the american officials, and i talked to them, and spoke about the military action, because they used to say after iraq, syria is next the one who issued the decrees,% reject all ed.plower layers in this institn threatenit. we need to m+ theyat the people who ben to bese are qu everyone, and th c1s why we can have the

itarynd we these startthere. we need to expand that dialogue1 and we can change the executc1 - instructions in order hat the good benefits. . do you think we will puni we need to makeone who has comma mistake? >> as a principle, let me tell you somethi% we have already questioned a few number of people who are related and we have evidence that the% the same thing after6 c1 assassination everyone who i3 to a crime or involved in a crthe concrete evidence if we have

she p everyone who has committed a mistake is not a problem.6 c1 there is a judicial committeep3 pright, its procedures, and we will 6 c1 about these investigations, and we will make every detail c3 t everyone, even revolution willtake part in and the principles c1 leas, if e any. i am not the3 o3l start tion, and there iese the principle that a badplied to e

should1 it is the right of the country. the country as a countrzens concerned.ght and has to get back its right. that is why it is import c1 >> your access excellency, if

you talk about re 6 c1 waren'tively accepting these reforms.% >> anything done, the

traditional answer ,s not sometimes theyre trying to change the language because they sa s not enough.lc1 they do no reforms. they c1 way behind. they want you not to develop ofms regarding these colonial states, and i am not talking about the west, i am talkinge middle east.al states, is to give them all the concession had to tship 6 c1 give you everything, rival give

i will give upppt

the coof these statements. west, and simply i could say it

is their dreams. let them to s that sayc1 -- let them dre% a6 c1 >> obama and his secre ked you to step aside. is your answer?he >> in so etings with the syrian 3 he last few they ask me, why did you3 % not reply? norma+ caramels iny, and i are dealing with the

+ ify things if we the country 3 situations that cannot go with its agenda. we can talk to them, we cacorru. s clear to them, and if other people will try not toy to talk and not to c opinion. their policies in their words.3 it is talking now with that is why this will have a lot

of obstacles. at this time, the major will be the channel and the tool of every citizen and everyone in the government >> next on c- span, and report on the head start program. workin

. . . >> it is an exciting day for us

and i want to thank you for sharing this with a technical college. i am pleased that they decided to do this in atlanta, particularly the numbers -- after the numbers in unemployment. it is my pleasure to introduce the moderator's for this evening, joann read and jeff johnson. joanne read is the managing editor and also an msnbc contributor. jeff johnson is an msnbc contributor and chief correspondent for thereall.com.

please join me in welcoming them. >> thank you so much and good evening. [applause] one more time, good evening. >> [audience repeat] good evening. >> we want to make sure this is a discussion and a lively one, one full of family and concern and full of honest questions. with that, i want to be sure the energy level is up a little bit. one more time, good evening. >> good evening. >> that is fantastic. it is a pleasure for me to be one of your moderators' this evening. joanne read, who is directly behind me, will be rotating back and forth to this podium. she is an amazing journalist and i am happy to say, one of my bosses.

this is the continuation of what has been a long day of what has been a substantive to work. this tour has been to cleveland, ohio already, we saw over 6000 people come to a job fair. and in detroit michigan we saw a similar numbers. the over 200 companies in cleveland and 70 companies in detroit joined together to make sure that jobs were available. we are very encouraged by those who were in line as early as 6:00 a.m. to begin tuesday, i believe i can get a job. -- to begin to say, i believe i can get a job. and i heard from two young women in particular who said this was the most productive job fair that they have been to in a year

and two years since they have been unemployed. and both of them walked out with appointments to start work as early as next week. [applause] this was not just an opportunity to get first or second interviews. there were people who walked out today with jobs. i think that is meaningful. what i am pleased about as a journalist is, when you are able to think positively about an event not because you are positive, but because it is true. i think the black caucus should be commended even at a time when corporations will write checks for anything, it just to have you say something good about them, but they have been actually showing out with jobs -- showing up with jobs. while not everyone may walk with a job, with no jobs are

available. it is going to be our job to introduce you to this panel and move through this discussion. i would like to present the panel. many of you know who they are. some of you have been introduced for the first time. i will just start at the immediate roving left to a congressman that many of you know, congressman hank johnson. [applause] it is all right to applaud. to someone that i think, really needs no introduction anywhere in the world. he is truly one of the stalwarts of not only the congressional black congress, but of the congress neare. he truly understands what servitude is. please welcome congressman john lewis.

to his immediate left, sanford agip. to his immediate left, if you did not know who she was, if you watched the news today, you clearly knew who she was. please about a round of applause for congresswoman maxine waters. to her immediate left, congressman al green. to his immediate left, the vice chair of the congressional black caucus, congresswoman dandala christiansen -- donna christensen. to her left, congressman cedric richmond. and to his left, congresswoman laura richardson. as we begin to bring our first presenter, i think is important to mention that you have a panel

full of elected officials who could easily be in their own districts or be on vacation. i think it says a great deal that many of these representatives have, not to their own districts, but have been in districts that are not their own to create a level of solidarity on this caucus, to talk to people in different communities about how to create jobs, and even more importantly, the message they need to take back to washington from individuals like yourselves on what the mandate is from the people. it is my pleasure at this point to bring initial greeting from congressman hank johnson. [applause] >> thank you, ladies and gentlemen. welcome here today. it has been a long day. for those of you that have been 6ere all day, i want to say,

stay the course. we have been here to -- i want to say, stay the course. we are here to answer your questions. we have been here with you today. we are all in this together. we at the congressional black caucus are pledged to leave washington d.c. and come out into the areas that we represent, and since everyone is job hunting, we want to make those jobs available to you. that is what today was all about. i do not know what the headlines will be, whether the cbc and the president are at odds, or the cbc against the cfc members.

or, 20 people got sick today, or a prospective employer was overwhelmed by the outcome, or whatever. i do not know what the store will be. but what the truth is, that we had about 5000 or 6000 people come out today, many of whom stood in line for several hours -- [applause] and you know what, each and every one of them were here for a job. and it was not the recession -- excuse me. it was not the debt ceiling that they were concerned about. it was not the deficit that was on their minds. it was the american dream,

feeding their family, being a homeowner, having a job, having a car to get to work. they want to live that american dream and we owe it to them. we have worked hard. but the jobs flew out from under them going overseas. we have got to make a difference. we have got to change that. and that is why we all should work together and not be swayed by those headlines that are going to slice and dice and give you half the truth in a slanted stories. the real story is that people out here need help. they do not need tax breaks. they do not need a tax credit. they are not on wall street. if they are on main street. you are here today to ask some questions. i am just so happy, and i want

to acknowledge my colleagues from the congressional black caucus. there are 42 of us. and we have eight of us sitting right here with you today, from as far away as california all the way to the virgin islands. they care about you. i want to thank you all for coming. i have enjoyed working with congressman lewis to make this event possible. without any further ado, i want to bring forward one of my friends and colleagues -- we work together on the local level. that is where the action is, really, ladies and gentlemen. federal governments should be assisting state and local governments as they try to avoid layoffs. i want to introduce to you, my friend, fellow attorney and ceo,

mr. bert lewis. [applause] come up here if you will. >> greetings, everyone. i want to thank my friend and colleague, congressman hank johnson. and thank you congressman lewis and congressman bishop. and also, thank you for your service to georgia. thank you in the black caucus for your service not only to your local districts, but for your work for the united states and hard work that you are taking on. thank you for being here in georgia tonight. the key to economic recovery, i think we all know, lies in their creation of jobs. we have got to get americans

back to work. we have got to get america working if we're going to seriously say we are beyond this recession. in cabot county we have 7000 employees and a budget of $1.6 million -- $1.6 billion and i know a little bit about public policy. we cannot create a good public policy by cutting and slashing the budget. we have to stimulate by creating jobs. we have a multidimensional approach to doing that. in katia county, because we passed a water and sewer capital improvement program and we are going to be pumping $1.3 billion into capital improvements to upgrade our water system over the next eight years -- and we had to do that by raising rates,

but the silver lining is that we are going to create thousands of jobs in the process. local jobs with incentives to hire local residents, and minority and minority-owned businesses and put back -- people back to work. that is going to be our local job stimulus program in the county. we could not have got there just by cutting spending. it would cut 20% -- we cut 20% of our budget in the last few years. but we also adjusted our taxes. we raised taxes. we raised our water and sewer rates because we have to pump money back into the economy. government cannot do it alone. we have to institute smart public policy so that we can stimulate growth, get the private sector involved, and get them to be the major employers

and get our people hired and back to work. that is what is all about. that is what this discussion today is partly going to center on, creating smart public policy so we can put americans back to work. i want to thank you all for being here. i want to thank you for your participation. members of cbc, i want to thank you for your service to our nation. thank you for being in georgia. thank you for putting americans back to work, for putting georgians back to work, and putting atlantans back to work. god bless you all. [applause] >> i'm going to say good evening -- oh, you see, i got the same. i thought it was you, jeff. let's try that again, good evening. >> good evening. >> i want to thank jeff for the

great job that he does at the grio and on msnbc. thank you all for coming. i think civic engagement is the most important thing that people can do after actually voting and showing up. it is critical. i am proud of you for being here tonight. i think you deserve a round of applause for being here. you have stayed over past the job fair to do your part of our talking to the government. i want to remind ever when that we are taking questions from the audience. it is very important that you stay engaged by actually asking questions of our members. the people that are waiving, they have cards and pencils, so you can contribute your questions and some have already done. now we can get into the heart of the matter. i want to introduce to you your congressman for this district,

the hon. john lewis, who will make some opening remarks. [applause] >> thank you very much, joann. jeff, thank you very much. thanks, the two of you, for being here. let's give ththem one more hand. [applause] i want to thank the president of this wonderful institution, dr. thomas. for making the facilities available. we really appreciate it, and are more than grateful to you and your staff. thank you so much. [applause] we realize that we have sort of occupied your space today, and you did not kick us out. we want to say thank you.

i want to thank each of you for being here, for being so patient. and i have to tell you, you stood in long, and moving lines. to send the strongest possible message that people want to work. that we want jobs, full employment for all of our citizens. and i tell you, the members that you will see sitting here, members of the congressional black caucus, we will not be happy, we will not be satisfied, we will not be at peace until we have jobs for all of our citizens. it does not matter whether they are black or white, latino or asian american or native american, we all deserve to have a job. [applause]

and i want to speak for my fellow -- i do not want to speak for my fellow caucus members, but i do want to say this, i am convinced when we go back to washington next month, the people meeting in cleveland, detroit, here in atlanta, and in miami and los angeles, we will have a message for the congress and for the president of the united states of america, that people want to work, to create jobs. we will get it done. [applause] i want to recognize one of these wonderful city elected officials, and a dear friend of mine, the president of the event the city council, the hon. cesar mitchell. caesar, will you come up here

for a moment, sir? [applause] >> good evening. it is a pleasure to see all of you here today. it is also very heartening to have the members of the congressional black caucus, congressional leaders here spending time with us, dialoguing about what it means to put americans back to work. i want to give a special thanks to congressman lewis. it is a little known fact that i got my start in public service in his office in college at more house. it was as a volunteer in turn. in his office, i've learned about the importance of the political process. your presence here today _ your

understanding of how important is to get involved and engaged in the political process. congressmen and congresswomen, i do appreciate you being here today. you could be at home in your district, talking with your voters, where you actually get the most bang for your buck. but you come on the road and you dialogue here in georgia to help give us answers, to help us develop a partnership and help develop the ways in which we will engage in putting americans back to work, and it certainly those in atlanta, and georgians back to work. on behalf of myself and the city council and behalf of the citizens to call this tom, we thank you for being here. know that you have a friend in the city of atlanta.

thank you, again. [applause] >> again, i want to thank all those colleagues for being here. and i want to take a moment to recognize just one more of the local officials for a moment, stage representative -- state representative ralph long iv. [applause] >> thank you, congressman lewis and cbc members. for all of you out there, welcome to state house district

61. and most important, i have to thank the president of the college, dr. thomas, because he is always a generous to me and what ever ambitious a town hall i want to throw here. ony're doing great things his campus, atlanta technical college. we have some great offices in district 61. we have good schools and institutions that we can get our act together in. i want to tell you, thank you for getting out and getting involved in politics. we are here to serve you, not the other way around. i give out my cellphone number all the time. be my friend on facebook. coming to the for al district. i appreciate you guys. thank you, congressman lewis. i appreciate you. [applause] >> thank you very much. and now without further ado, we want to introduce the vice chair of the congressional black

caucus, the hon. donna christensen, who represents the united states virgin islands. give her a round of applause, please. [applause] >> thank you, joanne. good evening, everyone. i bring greetings on behalf of our chair, emmanuel cleaver and, who could not be here this evening. we have called this the jobs initiative for the people. we thank everyone of you that came out today. not only do we thank you from the cbc, but we thank you from all of the people across this country because today, you have sent a powerful message to washington, to wall street, and to corporations across this country. far more effectively than we ever could come on a matter how hard we try. if we stay on the floor of the house every day, all day. and you have sent it on behalf

of not only yourselves here in atlanta, but on behalf of all those across this country who are unemployed and are hurting and want and need decent jobs. yourself a round of applause. [applause] 90% and higher and african american chronic unemployment have always been cnbc's highest priorities. we have introduced over 40 pieces of legislation talking about the need for jobs and calling on republican leadership to bring legislation to the floor and get it passed. with no legislation in sight, aristide chair, emanuel cleaver , and the -- our esteemed chair, emanuel cleaver, and he is deemed to chair that you will hear from later, made a decision to get out to atlanta and other parts of the country to reach

out with jobs and come to some of the places that are the hardest hit. i want to say a little bit about health care before i leave. we wish we could go into every community, but we hope this will be an example and other people will take it up and it will catch on. and we need everybody in our country to be working. health care is the eighth largest employer. if we combine health care overall, i'm sure it is close to #one. we are particularly pleased to be here at atlanta technical college, where they are training people for that expanded workforce. this is one area where there has continued to be hiring throughout the recession. but we can only continue to create jobs if we protect medicaid and medicare.

that is in your hand, my friends. as you can see come elections matter -- as you can see, elections matter. medicare and medicaid are job creators and we need to help protect them. thank you for staying. we know it has been a long day for many of you. i want to thank dr. thomas, the president of this institution, all of her administration and staff that have made this such a good productive day. let's give them a round of applause as well. [applause] i want to thank our esteemed host, the great civil rights leader who continues to be a drum major for justice and peace, the great john lewis. you have one of the hardest working members who represent

his district tirelessly and effectively. we're glad to be here with you and we look forward to your questions and comments. i would like to turn this back over to our moderator's. [applause] bytes this is in the way of the cameras. so we want to move this as we go to our first question. poses to congressman lewis, congressman lewis, i was taught very early in my career to always acknowledge my elders -- [laughter] but no, i would like to go to you first because i think this is about atlanta in particular. we have seen numbers in the last day where the unemployment rate for the city of a plant has gone

up, and while it is slightly, it still has gone up. we begin to look at the sectors of the economy that have the best potential for job growth in the city of atlanta. what are those areas? and what are ways that those of the federal level as well as the local level can begin to push for a better environment for those industries? >> donna christensen mention the area of health care. in atlanta, you have grady, you have emery. you have more house med school. you have a whole range of health facilities in the metropolitan area. i think it is one of the fastest growing industries. the atlanta airport is the largest commercial airport in the world.

delta airlines is based here. coca-cola is based here. georgia-pacific, cnn, just to mention a few. and i know i left out some very visible ones. and we should be doing better. we have a long history of financial institutions. the banks should be doing more, much more. if we we bailed them out -- we bailed them out, we saved them. now is time for them to help out the people of metro atlanta and those who live in the state of georgia. we have all of the education institutions.

georgia state, one of the fastest-growing urban universities -- but i leave at any? did i get them all? i know this school here, atlanta tech, metropolitan college -- there are a lot of educational institutions here. part of the problem, jeff -- i will not say is a problem, but people think atlanta is a mecca. when i travel around america and around the world, everybody wants to come to atlanta. they say, atlanta, you may be living in europe or from washington or from california. there are moving from new york,

from philadelphia, from detroit. they are all moving back to the south. years ago we have a chicken bone special, where people were leaving the south going north. now we have people coming home back to georgia and other parts of the south. we must create jobs. >> thank you very much, congressman lewis. i want to direct my first question -- because i think i have lived in florida too long and we like to go right to the controversy and stuff where i live -- controversial stuff where i live. congressman maxine waters, you may just a little bit of news in detroit and saying you would like to ask african-americans who loved the president and voted for the president to unleash the congressional black caucus to have a conversation with barack obama about jobs.

i would like to know, what would that conversation entailed? >> first of all, let me just say that we are here in atlanta to support our colleagues john lewis and congressman johnson for the efforts that they have put forth to bring this job fair to the city. when we first talked about and decided in the congressional black caucus that we were going to get out of washington d.c., that we reported to hit the ground, that we were going to go in our districts and not only share with the people that we can feel their pain, but we were going to do some the about it. we are policy makers and we introduced bills. but we decided to -- but we want

to ask those companies that are asking us for the tax breaks, if you bring new jobs. that is why we are here. i have been to cleveland and detroit. i am here in atlanta appeared and i am going to miami and, of course, i will host a jobs fair. we feel good about in we feel in spite of the economy that is not performing the we have to do everything to bring opportunities were there are people hurting. not only is the unemployment rate unconscionably high, but we have been impacted by the foreclosures on homes and cannot

get loan modifications and we have lost wealth. now there is a 20% gap between white wealth and black wealth. white wealth is around 13,000 and black wealth -- i have come to some conclusions, and it is a difficult one. we have reached a point that may be a defining political moment for all of us. this moment in history may be a challenge to our political maturity. i believe the time has arrived when we must eliminate any fear and discomfort we may have about raising difficult questions and creating challenge, even when we feel an obligation to protect the first african-american president of the united states

of america. [applause] make no mistake about it, i support president barack obama. i would like to see the president reelected. [applause] however, my need to support the president does not trump might need to be a responsible united states representative. i must not, and the caucus must not, supplant the needs of our community in the interest of satisfying our emotional needs to support anybody. [applause] our responsibility must always be the exercise of our influence and our power for the benefit of the people. the facts are indisputable. unemployment in the african- american community is a beneficial 16%, the highest in the nation, the highest since the great depression.

and that does not rely calculate those who have been out of the employment market for over a year or more. in many communities is 35 to 40% -- 35% to 40%. let me just share with you that this discussion about whether or not you raise the question and you crave a challenge that you are being disloyal, it is not. the time has come for us to be politically mature enough to have great comfort in the fact that we can do this challenge if we have to. we cannot do this work in silence. we cannot represent you in silence. as a matter of fact, the reason the tea party is so strong is because they stepped up, they talked of, and they worked it. they are not nearly in the

numbers that we are. but look at the influence that they have been able to yield in this country. they have been forced the decision of the bill -- they have been forced the decision of the bill that literally decided whether or not we increase the debt ceiling. and we have had to suffer of these budget cuts. if we are silent, we cannot protect the people. if we are silent, we cannot protect the president. if we do not speak up, if we do not show up, and do everything that we can possibly do, our communities will be worse off. our children will graduate from college and not have any jobs. we will not be able to get the mortgages. we will not be able to create the wealth. we will not be able to force these banks who took our bailout, who are not giving money to our businesses to create businesses and expand businesses and opportunity -- we

will not be able to do any of that. ladies and gentlemen, i want you to feel comfortable. i do not want you to be embarrassed. i do not want you to sit back in your seat and say, whoa, if we are questioning the president that we are doing something bad. no, it is honorable to step up to the plate. it is honorable to do what needs to be done. [applause] and understand this, we can do both and do not let anybody tell you that you cannot. did that answer your question? [applause] >> yes, but i think there is more there. i think that was a brilliant introduction. but i think the president's announcement the morning prior to the detroit information breaking news was the fact that he was going to be making an announcement about jobs in september. what opportunity does that give the congressional black caucus to not just silently and

say, what are you talking about, all you are doing is complain about the president. what does that look like? and how does the caucus take advantage of it? >> there has been a lot of talk about reading and infrastructure bank. and when we when wewpa we are talking -- when we talk about wpa we are talking about public works, bridges and streets and water systems. i believe the president will have that in his package. we support that. we have been saying for a long time, and included in legislation one of the many pieces introduced by this black caucus that we want infrastructure jobs because jobs, of course, will help to strengthen this economy. people spend money when they have jobs. too much talk about green jobs. where are they?

we have not put the money into the training. we have not helped to support the investment in the factories that will produce the solar panels and other alternatives to the energy system that we have. i and others are focused on bringing the jobs offshore that have been set off shore to third world markets for cheap labor -- you call bank of america, the loan litigation department, you are talking to somebody in india. we want those jobs in those call centers and all of those jobs that have been exported back home. [applause] we want to make it too expensive for american businesses to keep exporting these jobs. there has to be a consequence. and the president has to have a tax holiday. he has got to do something to incentivize the businesses to say, if you get jobs, you get

tax breaks. that is all right with me. but i will never, ever again -- and i do not think the black caucus will -- make the mistake as we did in the bailout where we bailed out america's major institutions with no strings attached. we did not get anything for it. now they are courting the money. again, we want them to -- now they are hoarding the money. again, when to put it into small business. let's tie the incentives to real jobs. we want jobs to be a part of the package. we intend to put the face of everything that we have seen on that legislation. there were 7000, 8000 people out here today. the same thing in detroit and cleveland. no one can say that they do not know, they do not understand. we have put a face on this as we traveled around this country. now that we have done that, we

have to be part of the solution. we have to be consulted, and if we are not, we will give it to him anyway. we have to. [applause] >> i want to direct the next question to congressman laura -- congresswoman laura richardson. you serve on the transportation and infrastructure committee. i have a question from the audience about how congress can of jobs comethose types into the community. to what steps can be made in the house of representatives to crated bill that will actually pass to make what congress but -- congresswoman waters was talking about to make that next that? >> and glad to ask that because i just wrote down about five recommendations for the president regarding transportation and infrastructure. now that we are past the debt ceiling vote, the next big funding bill that you will see on the floor is the

reauthorization of the transportation bill. that bill, typically, we would rather it had been closer to $500 billion. it is going to be approximately half of that. it what are some things that the president can do and we can do to be included in transportation and legislation? number one, when you look at the $68 billion that was spent in the stimulus, we were told that a lot of jobs were created. where is the transparency to say, how many of those were new jobs? how many of those were jobs companies already had and they just kept working and no one else got any help? number one, we need to make sure there is transparency. if we're going to have money for contracts, we need to know what your people you are bringing in off the streets that are new people and are now employed. we have to have transparency. number two, we have to make sure that the legislation includes

money for training and apprentice ships. number three, we need to on bond of those contracts. to many of the developers are keeping the money for themselves. you have jobs being done in atlanta where you are bringing people from nevada to do the jobs, and that is wrong. we have to unbundle those contracts. fourth, many of our small businesses do not -- sure, they may be able to do a contract, but they may not be able to do an insurance bond of $10 million, $100 million. we have to include bonds. finally, we do not want contractors coming into our community and not giving local people an opportunity to do a job. those are five solid things i would like to see in a bill and for the president to insist upon.

[applause] >> there is a question i have here that speaks to national high-speed rail coming on-line and what the possibility of that is, but i think it speaks to a broader question. as we begin to think about transportation in this country, when will there be a substantive line between infrastructure for our current mode of transportation and real vision for the cries of transportation will be able to have in 20 years, and will also create jobs in places like atlanta? >> that is the exact problem. the president considers high- speed rail to be a part of his legacy, and he has dedicated a sufficient -- not a sufficient, but an initial start, $8 billion. unfortunately, one of the areas that they are expecting that to occur is the northeast corridor, which is the only corridor that has trains moving over 95 miles per hour.

what we have to ensure is that as high-speed rail is being considered, they are considering all corridors, not just the northeast corridor. what about the southeast corridor? if we're going to put those dollars there, we are allowing other people to come and work. and people should know about jobs for the high-speed rail and there should be training and a princess -- apprenticeships assisted with it. the problem is they came out and said, we need to spend $20 billion a year just to maintain our existing low. that is all we are collecting right now in our gas tax. if we do not increase the tax revenue, which is one of the biggest discussions of the house, you will see no new projects or very few. that is why tax revenue must be on the table. >> i have a show of hands,

questions from marvin on facebook. how many on the panel are small- business owners, or for more small-business owners? obviously, you have a different job now. the of a question from facebook -- the other question from facebook, when the tea party held the country hostage on the debt ceiling, why didn't the congressional black caucus hold out to for some action on jobs and minorities? and that is for anyone who would like to take it. [laughter] >> i will take an initial stab at it. actually, many of us did. i voted no for that bill, and i voted no for two key reasons, one, the potential defense cut excluding the wars in

afghanistan. we have got to stop funding those wars. if we cannot fund our own schools in the united states -- [applause] we certainly cannot find them in afghanistan. second, if the gang of 12 does not come to an agreement, there will be cuts on medicaid doctors'. it is tough enough now to get doctors to take medicaid patients. if there is another cut, you will not be defied a doctor who will take them. that is why i voted no. >> we simply did not have the votes. and the country was at a place where we do not have a debt ceiling, we are already not able to pay obligations that are our responsibility. even if we did pass the bill, standard and poor's passed --

lower the credit rating. many people did not understand the impact of having the rating lowered. fortunately, it was only one of the rating agencies that did that. that would affect all of the retirement pensions invested. it would affect all of the local communities, how they can borrow money to build the infrastructure that we are talking about building to put people to work. it means that you will not be able to create those jobs because the cost of doing it would be prohibitive. and it means that those people from whom our government borrows money and the people to whom we sell bonds would not be interested in investing. >> i see you are getting ready to grab the microphone, and i would like you to make the comment, but i'm concerned about something. as we travel to detroit for cleveland for here, but it is

talking of the congressional black caucus were the president, people in the committee in particular want to feel that someone is fighting for them. whether you are voting yes or no, do you believe the congressional black caucus was vocal enough in how they were voting so that the people at home knew who was fighting for them and was not? i know you can only speak for yourself. how can the congressional black caucus on these and other issues be even more vocal? even when you have to play politics, this -- so that even when you have to play politics, people at home know who was fighting for them. >> i have been in the congress for a while. never before in all of my years have we ever had this amount of discussion, this amount of debate and division about the debt ceiling. the debt ceiling used to pass

the house in maybe five minutes, maybe 10 minutes in the senate. sometimes it is one line, maybe one paragraph, one piece of paper. but it was the tea party and the people who hijack it in the republican party, they wanted to destroy this president. they made a decision to make him a one-termer. and that is what it was all about, politics. i voted against it. i could not vote for it because in the end i felt it would destroy the safety net, medicare, medicaid, social security, and all of these things that our people depend on. my sister from california is right. we have been fighting in afghanistan for 10 years, right?

>> yes. >> none of these wars -- not one of these wars were paid for. they're not even budgeted. i am going to write a letter to the president about what dr. king would say. it will take a few days, but it will be published. and i'm going to say, mr. president, the thing you need to do, and the war. [applause] bring our young men and women home and stop robbing our children and our seniors, those that have been left out and left behind. it is not right. it is not fair. and it is not just. and the same thing we are doing abroad, it will come back to haunt us in days and years to come. if we fail to be faithful to our own beliefs, to our own

principles, history will not be kind to us. and i do not think god almighty will be kind. you have to take a stand sometimes, and that is what the majority of the black caucus did. >> first of all, as i move forward from this question, one- third of the cbc voted for it. two-thirds did not vote for it. many of us felt that the president should have used the 14th amendment and use that position to stand firm against the tea party republicans and make a decision to just raise the debt ceiling. some of us went down and demonstrated on 14th and constitution for that. but going forward, as congresswoman richardson said, this committee is not going to come up with any agreement and if they were, it is not going to be one that the cbc is going to

support. we have already started talking among the men -- the executive leadership about having our own proposal for where the $1.5 trillion will come from. and we have had a cbc budget every year. this year, it would have cut more than $1.5 trillion over 10 years and still invested in education, still invest in job creation and, still invested in health care. we know we can do it and we're working hard to get that message got through any means possible. birther blogging enter facebook and we team and all of those things -- through blogging and through facebook and tweeting and all of those things because we are not going to take a

mandatory cuts across the board. [applause] >> to the question, what can we do to make it known that we are truly fighting for people, we can do exactly what we are doing right now. we have come to atlanta so that you are not -- so that you will not only here, but you can see that we will stand up. there are some fights that you must lose and that is where we are here, too sure you. and we are here to -- to show you. and we are here to say that if we can bail out aig, if we can be allowed to the auto industry, if we can be a lot of big banks, we can bail out the people of america. that is why we are in atlanta.

[applause] but we're also here to tell you something else. it is about jobs, but a lot more. it is about people who do not believe in the safety net that you have paid into. there are people that want to privatize social security, -- we stand in their way. we believe these safety net programs are not entitlements. they are investments. you pay 6.2% of your income. that is an investment for people who cannot invest on wall street. that is for social security. .45% for medicaid. that is an investment.

we want them to continue to be there. that is why we are here and we stand for you. but there is another question. the question is, where will you stand? this is a tough question for you. because we now have a group of folks that call themselves by many names, but they have hijacked the principles of the civil rights movement. and they do not just go into their neighborhoods and protest, but they come into the hood and protest. the question is, what will we do? will we allow the minority forces to speak for the majority? are we going to stand up for the things that we believe in and are we willing to go across town, are we willing to go into other places beyond our comfort zone and stand up for the cbc, stand with the cbc, and held the

cbc -- help the cbc make a difference? will we work together? that is what is going to take. [applause] >> one of the things this group of people, the tea party, is not too keen on its unions. we senate in wisconsin and ohio, florida and in michigan, and going -- we have seen it in wisconsin and ohio, florida and michigan, going after union benefits. with your strength and the numbers that you have, what can the cbc do to support unions across the country? and there is a report that specifically wants to know what the cbc will do for the postal service. i want to direct the one to congressman richardson because you served on several committees

that deal with that business. >> looking at the continuing resolution as we finish the budget year, there were numerous unions to go after. the we were able to defeat most of those. if you look at even what is going on with the faa and a number of pieces of legislation coming through, there is a movement directed at labor unions. part of it is a commitment from them to big business. part of it is their systematic war on the working class. what the caucus does and what the caucus will continue to do is advocate for brothers and

sisters that are part of the labor movement. the labor organizations represent working americans. as much as we talk about labour and about unions, we are talking about people who have to come together in order to get their fair share. those are the principles that we stand for and that is what we fight for. let me just build this in because i do not have many chances where i get to disagree with a guy whose shoulders i stand on, which is congressman john lewis when he says we are fighting three wars. we are fighting for wars. -- four wars. we are fighting the tea party, and they are willing to have as casualties, the 14th or 1 million americans who do not have a job. -- the 14.1 million americans who do not have jobs.

a part of the other question of what we talked about is what can we do? and what can you do? we can help to change the conversation. and congress -- congressman lewis is right, the discussion over the debt ceiling went on far too long. instead of talking about the debt ceiling we should have been talking about jobs. but we did not have the chance to. now we have to be sure that we are talking about jobs what we o make sure we understand what is really going on. and there is a republican majority that is sinful, and they are talking about our financial bankruptcy, and we are talking about moral bankruptcy, because we are supposed to help those who need help. we are supposed to love our brothers and sisters, and they are forgetting that so they can win the white house.

we have to make sure we do not let other people tell us what the issue is. we know what issue is. this is jobs. if anyone talks to you about anything else, you should ignore them. that is why congress man hank johnson brought us here. we need to get them back to work. that was a long answer to a short question, but all of that is what we are fighting right now, and that is a targeted war on an 98% of the american spirit -- of the targeted were 98% of americans. >> this question spoke to why,

when the democrats had control of the house and the senate, where jobs not first on the priority now there was an opportunity for democrats to push jobs then. >> i was not a member of the 111th congress. more important, the 111th congress will go down as one of the best ever. they pass health care reform. >> i want to make sure we get to as many questions as possible. hold tight for me for a second. let me make sure i am directly getting to this question, and let me get it to someone on the

congress, because i think you made a great point that you were not there, so i want to make sure this question is answered by somebody who was on that congress. >> when we were dealing with the stimulus package, the biggest question we had was whether it was going to be a jobs package with infrastructure that would create jobs and pump revenue into the you see economy or whether it was going to be -- into the economy or whether it was going to be a bailout. we have that struggle. in the house and we passed a good bill, but the senate has some strange rules. any require 60 votes in order to end debate, and the republicans have that number of votes to block the bill from coming to

the floor. they use that leverage to prevent us. the congressman was one of our key spokesman. he was in negotiations and with the president, with the senate leaders, with all of the parties putting that packaged together, and it was everything we could do to get the number of jobs earmarked based upon the need for us and our communities like , for them to be able to get the money from the stimulus for infrastructure projects they deserve. >> can i follow up as well? the stimulus passed by one vote. it was close in the senate, but

some of the obstruction did not come from republicans. you had democrats. you had a former democrat but stood in the way not just of the stimulus bill, but also in terms of the health care reform bill. that is why there is no public option, because the democrat joe lieberman blocked it. how has the caucus worked to try to influence democrats in the senate suzanne with the agenda that the president needs to be -- present on. h >> joe lieberman is no democrat. [applause] some of us worked to make sure he did not get back in the u.s. senate. he did, and he is there as an independent, and he is able to

use his power in whatever fashion he deems is in his interest, voting sometimes with republicans and sometimes with democrats. the question is why didn't we do more. we really did do a lot. if we made any mistakes, it was not be enough. -- big enough. if you are going to have a stimulus package, it cannot be the kind that goes through the regular process with response to proposals. it will never get to the communities, because the big boys, the contractors who have all of this monday, and not rip off all of that, and they do not hire into our communities. we have to do away with the way

money is disbursed. we cannot put it in the hands of some of these governors or mayors who rip it off and never give it to the community, so those are some things we have learned. meanwhile, we are always working four jobs and not -- for jobs and the creation of jobs. there were 10 of us. we literally held up the dodd- frank bill and the recovery bill in order to create some jobs. one thing we did is we created the neighborhood stimulus program. that is a program that puts money into the cities to rehab these houses that are boarded up that are creating so much strain on police and fire and messing neighborhood and all that. we discovered much of that money

did not get where it was supposed to go. you have the realtors, the contractors, painters, everybody who gets a piece of the action, and we have some cities who have not spent the money, and some of its is going to the same old bunch and never got to our people. when we created the office of women and minority inclusion in all of the offices. the occ, the treasurer-we are not even in the table -- at the table in these agencies. we have never had agencies were african americans have played a real hard. they really do not include us, so we created these opposite, and because some of us have seniority, we were able to get

on the conference committee of the dodd-frank bill, and we worked it so it is in theire. today when you went downstairs, you saw something that said the offices of women and minority inclusion. we created that. they had to have directors. we gave them six months to put that into play. they have to have staffing. they have to look at all contracts coming through so they can make a decision whether or not those contracts include diversity and turn them back, so we were constantly in many ways for job creation -- we work constantly in many ways for job creation, but we need to do a lot more because of what happened with this economy, and we have to focus on the financial institutions, on the

gangsters of wall street, on the folks who ripped us off, on the folks who came into our communities and got us to sign on the dotted line for mortgages they knew you could not afford, on exotic products. do not worry about it. this comes do with the interest rates have been quadrupled. i wanted to get them in the white house around the table and say, we are going to make it very tough on you unless you put some of the people's money back in the economy and help us create jobs, so we are always working in many ways to create jobs.

many people do not have access to opportunities. why am i talking about this political moment of maturity? first, we have to understand our power. we have to understand there is power in organizing. there is power in numbers. anyone who would suggest the civil rights days are gone, let me have you rethink that. if you show up at any day in america at noon and throw a ring around -- at any bank in america at noon and through a ring around its and say there is going to be a run, they will fix it. we are not doing our jobs to exercise our power. the tea party discovered something. they discovered if they organize, if they talk loud enough, if they threaten, is a

registered to vote and a lack a few people -- if they register to vote and elect a few people, they could take over the congress of the united states. they called our bluff, and we blinked. we should have said, you got this country to close down, and if it had closed down in one day, the reversal would have taken place just as it did when bill clinton challenged them, and they close down the country, and the people rose up and were glad to get in and get it going again, and that is what we should have done, but you cannot be intimidated. you have got to look the tea party and i and take them on. the people want us to fight. they want us to be strong, and they want us to not only create these jobs. they want something massive, something that is going to make

a tremendous difference, and i think we are at that point where we have learned, we have worked, we have taken a enough where we are going to be insistent that what comes out in september is going to reflect the experiences we have had. >> you are talking about jobs in general and the african american community, but what about -- in the african-american community, but what about specialized areas? we have people who deal with specialized segments of the community who are having a hard time finding jobs. one is people over 55. i know this job fair dealt with giving advice to people over 55. the second is people who have been out of work a long time. there are studies showing people who are jobless are less likely to get a job, and the third would be people with felonies

on their record. what is the cost to specifically include items that deal with those specific items in any job? i am going to go back to senator richmond furs. >> the thing i was going to say on the last one is congress did pass the small business jobs bill last year, which yesterday i had the chance to announce $37 million going to small banks to lend to small businesses, because they employ 60% of new jobs in this country. there is 100 million jobs hitting the streets, but when you talk about specific segments, that is something the caucus would like to talk about. we have to make sure we identify and we push to help very fragile communities, communities

of color. when you talk about second chance, the congress started the second chance program, and we have to make sure when we talk about a second offenders, there are two things we have to do. one, we have to change the community mindset about when they come home. if you continue to isolate them, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy, so we have to make sure we bring them home to a nurturing environment that will give them a second chance, so that is why the second chance act was important, and if you are talking about seniors and communities of color, that is the conversation we are pushing to have. we want to make sure if we are going to have targets and special cases for the gay community, the hispanic

community, but we also talk about ex-offenders. we are also talking about african american males dropping out of high school almost at 50%. we want to make sure we have targeted conversation. that is what we are pushing for, and that is the passion you are getting from us, because we know there are certain issues that are so important it is going to take a singular focus on that issue to fix, so i hope that answers your question about ex- offenders and second chance act. maybe somebody else can talk more about targeting our seniors, but we would like to target special populations. >> there is another segment many of you have forgotten about, and that is the hundreds of thousands of veterans coming back from iraq and afghanistan.

if you go down to a downtown atlanta writes now on piedmont, you will see people on the streets homeless. statistics show as 9% or 10% of those are veterans. it could be higher, so we have an obligation to those veterans who have come back with ptsd, who come back with behavioral problems, who end up homeless and jobless, and of course one of those efforts that millions of members of the congressional black caucus also congress has embraced is the hiring heroes act, which was sponsored by the -- in the senate by senator murray and me in the house, which really gives new meaning

to rehab and job training and job opportunities for veterans, a special effort to give extended transitional assistance to our veterans so they will not end up homeless and jobless, and it provides incentives for employers, extra training for veterans. it provides extended unemployment for their veterans, but it gives more and brings together all of the existing training programs under one bill with an additional resources. i think that bill will probably become law, but that is a targeted population that has suffered tremendously because of the unfunded wars, but who have paid the price that was necessary for our freedom and security in this country, and we

owe them that, and that segment i believe will be addressed in the hiring humans act. >> -- hiring heroes act. >> one is infringements -- of movement that says to employers, and when someone comes in for a job, do not start out with, have you ever -- you have been convicted, but rather, let's take a look of this person. who is this person? what experience do they have? to get a chance to see the whole person before you get to the question of whether or not you have been convicted, and we believe that gives you a better chance of getting that job. this is a difficult question for african americans in america because of the huge numbers of

formerly convicted and so-called fallen as we have, and we really do have to make sure we provide some tax incentives, and there are some where they do some tax incentives for employers to hire people, and i understand some states are doing bonding where you take a chance on the former elaine incarcerated, you can get of bonds to protect you -- on the formerly incarcerated, you can get a bond to protect you. for women over 50, the justice department needs to enforce discrimination laws. they need to make sure they know what is going on in society and that women and men have a place to go and that there is an effort of forward to learn what is happening in this workplace, why women over 50 are losing their jobs and being replaced

with younger people they pay less money to and they do not have to pay benefits for, and why even for those who have been on the job until the point where the pension is due, they are getting fired. we need the justice department to weigh in on this. >> i just want to say since we are in hank johnson cost district, part of the question is about the unemployed being discriminated against. hank did not file a bill that would amend title 7 when -- did file a bill that would amend title seven that already prevents discrimination based on race, sex, sexual orientation, and it would adnah status to that. that is something that is long overdue, and it will fight discriminatory practice. >> one other segments we should

not lose sight of is young adults, and we have heard a lot about the unemployment rate being 9% in the nation and 15% with african-americans. with our young adults, like unemployment is 23%. black and african-american is 39.2%. hispanic and latinos is 32%. now after our young people have gone to school, gotten their degree, they cannot get a job. they are competing with people already in the workforce, and what happens when they find themselves unemployed for five years? it may be impossible for them to ever catch up, so that is another thing we should keep in mind. >> thank you all for those recommendations, but i think another sector as we go to the next question is young people, whether we are talking about a summer jobs funding being cut

all over the country and juxtapose that to pour education systems that are not preparing young people to go into opportunities. there has been so much discussion of young people being connected to a lack of opportunity, so with that, there have been several questions asked about training, preparation, and opportunity, and those are different areas. what is congress doing, and where are the opportunities? as we are shifting in the economy, those who may have been part of the skilled labour force partars ago are no longer of the emerging labour force. as what to do whether it is young people or in the general marketplace.

>> i will start and yield to my colleagues. we are and have been for some time advocating job training for young people, job training for those who have been displaced, and also job training for persons who find themselves without a job because they have worked hard, done a good job, but they find themselves seeing their jobs go overseas to other places. a lot of jobs we used to have in manufacturing we do not have any more, and we have to find a way to make sure we do not continue to incentivize relocating jobs from this country to other

places. i want to take a moment and go back to something that was said earlier, and i want to say this to you. notwithstanding anything that has been said, president obama has been not just a good president -- he really has been a great president. he has been a great president. [applause] what we called a stimulus was not really a stimulus. it was a stabilization. this economy was losing 600 plus -- 600,000 jobs a month. this president turned that around, and we have been creating jobs, more than 2 million. maybe not enough. we would like to do more, but thank god he did what he did to save this country.

he has not save the world, but he did save the auto industry. he did not save the world, but he did save the financial structure of the country we all depend on. he has not save the world, but he has made it possible for those who do not have jobs to have unemployment insurance, and he has been fighting to keep that unemployment insurance in the pockets of people, so we all understand we have jobs to do, and we have to be vocal about things that impact our communities, but make no mistake about it. this president has done a great job, and this president, when you look at what we are confronting, and we must reelect president rob obama. -- president barack obama. [applause] here is something to consider.

if we do not reelect him, there are people who have already said in written as well as spoken words that they will do away with the department of education. they are going to eliminate it. they have said they will do away with minimum wage laws. there will be no minimum wage laws. they have said they will do away with early childhood development programs. they have said they will privatize social security. they have said they will voucher medicare, so we have a challenge that goes beyond jobs. we have got to put this president back in the white house to protect the gains we have made. >> thank you very much. do you have a comment spam of >> i just want to say to you and to

the audience that are raising questions. it is not just the president. it is not just members of the congressional black caucus. one of our problems in america right now, and we are too quiet. we have to make some noise. during another time in our history, we did not wait for the president to act, and the power of some movement is to get people to say, yes, and they may have a desire to say no. we have to create a power. lyndon johnson said in 1960, the

first time after martin luther king, jr., received a peace prize, dr. king went with a group of us, and we met with president lyndon johnson, and he said common-law -- and he says, you need to sign it. he said, make me. that is what we did. you need to get out there and push and pull. as in the congress, we have three major trade bills that are pending, and people want it. they call every single day trying to get the votes from the ways and means committee.

i say, no way. it means the transfer of jobs here, and the other side of congress, they do not have the will to vote for the trade adjustment act, and it is ok. if you lose your job, we are not going to help you. we are not going to make money available for training. we cannot stand for that. you need to help us fight. we never had a web site. we never heard of the internet. we did not have a facebook. we did not have done ipad. we did not even have a fax machine, but we use what we had, and you have got to use what you

have. do not be quiet. stand up. speak out. do it. >> we are coming very close to the and spirit of we are in our last 15 minutes, so we are going -- we are coming very close to the end. we are in our last 15 minutes, so we are going to have questions. i think the big issue is with companies emerging and becoming global, the skill set within a lot of african american communities is not adequate to meet the challenges of finding jobs, when you are competing with people in india and china who are going to school year round and getting the education which in some black communities they are not. given the fact you have high dropout rates in many communities, low graduation rates, and a lot of america and -- a lot of african-americans are not prepared. what marching orders are they

giving to protect and restore education funding, because even before you can get a job, you have to be qualified? what marching orders are they giving to protect education? what advice is he being given? what do you want to see out of that committee, if you think anything can? >> how do we answer this question? the education question is a bit complicated. you are absolutely right. the dropout rates are too high, and the investment in education in this country is not substantial for a country of this size and these resources. we have got to make up our minds about whether we want public education and whether we are going to support it, or we are going to keep giving away our schools and these so-called charter schools into different

interests, and we are all over the place on this. some directions are coming from washington, starting with leave no child behind. it is a mess of policy, -- a messed up policy, and what bothers me is a lack of involvement on local level where communities do not involve themselves in education. that is what bothers me. that is where the education policy is set. from the federal government level, we do title one and subsidize education, but we should not end cannot be making the rules for how all of these communities operate. that is what the boards of education are about, but you do not see us at the board meetings anymore. they do not even ask parents.

there is no parent involvement, and they did not want parent involvement, and if you come from a city like los angeles, they are giving away the schools to corporations and all these different people, and there is no indication or substantiation of the fact that they are doing better than public schools are doing. we need to pay the teachers. we need to put money in training and development of our teachers. we need to give support to foster parents sending these kids to school and managing large numbers of kids in one setting. there is a lot we need to do. am i giving any direction to education? i am not. not because i do not want to solve the problems of education. the problems in education are huge, and when parents and communities decide that they really want to educate the kids,

that they really want to stop the drop out, that they really want to have strong education systems, that is what is going to change this mess around. i fight against post-secondary schools who try to rip us off, the schools for computer learning that have no computers. i fight against those who track our people and tell them they can get a diploma and two and a half days. i fight against secondary schools and that a rip-off all of this government's pell grants money, and people come out of the training program with nothing, so i have center in my action on trying to get croakoks

out of education. i hope somebody on our panel is dealing with k through 12 -- k- 12. i am trying to get an office in the president's office for the excellence in education for african americans. there is one for latinos. we do not have one for african- americans. i am fighting for it. i always do something people do not want me to do. >> i want to make sure we get at least two more questions in before we have to close, and we have only 10 minutes. this question is from bill. he said earlier this year president obama talk about the importance of wireless networks to our country, particularly because of the ability to create a new electronic development an entrepreneurial opportunities. how can we ensure this technology gets out to americans and talk to them about how it affects and jobs?

anyone? congressman bishop? >> that was a substantial portion of the stimulus and will let was dedicated to -- stimulus bill that was dedicated to creating the infrastructure for technology networks, particularly for underserved areas-urban areas that were under served as well as rural areas. it was a tough fight, because the department of commerce wanted to control the whole thing, but we have at least 40% of this country that israel, and it is not economically rewarding -- that is cruel -- rural, and it is not economically rewarding to invest in internet in those areas, so the stimulus

and was designed, and thanks to the efforts of the congressman who was our person on the inside, he made sure that at least a substantial portion was allocated to us for rural communities and underserved areas. both contracts are in the process of being implemented not so that, for example, here in the state of georgia, and an 98% by the end of this year should be covered by internet access. that will help our young people who are in rural areas who need to have advanced placement courses in their local school boards and cannot afford it, to be able to get distance learning through the internet. those communities that have underserved health-care facilities, to be able to get

the internet so they can be connected to the hospital so that all of this, as well as small businesses. in my rural district, there is of great manufacturer who has been able to quadruple his business once he was able to get on the internet, so instead of selling his fish bait just in the counties around his southwest georgia location, he is now selling across the world to all of the bait shops where they have the fishing as a vocation. >> speaking of internet, i neglected to give a shout out to those of you watching this. this is being streams, so we want to give a shout out to

those watching via the internet. this is going to be our final question. martin would like to know what can be done by congress about companies that intentionally drive down wages, including nine by not buying american made products, -- including by not buying american-made products. outsourcing is a big problem. of what can be done if anything? >> we can remove the tax incentives they are currently using. if they are not going to bring jobs to the united states and they want to continue to ship jobs overseas, they should not have the tax incentives. the last thing i would like to say, the president's initial plan for his jobs bill is infrastructure investments, patent reform, free trade agreements. i would suggest he started to do companies mondey

things and incentivize them to do things for people who are on the employed. >> i need your assistance. there are seven more of you, and i am probably insane for asking this. if you can do this within one minute each as your colleague has set a precedent for, we can allow recommendations. i think there were two questions. one that said you are officially unleashed for atlanta, but what she followed up to say was how do we support you and the president in what it is to be done, so i would like you to enter one of two things how can people in this room

become advocates and be engaged in actions to be a will to support the congressional black caucus of local -- to be able to support congressional black caucus and local officials beyond voting? or no. 2, what are things get local community members can do to help better prepare people in their family to be ready for a job? one of two recommendations. what do you recommend folks do to help support you and the president? no. 2, on what can they do to assist you or a family member be better prepared for a job? >> aside from being a legislator, i am an organizer. i believe in organizing. our communities need to be organized. start something, get people together.

gets smart. educate yourself about how to challenge the elected officials, how to make things happen. the prepared -- be prepared. show up. you will get things done if you do that. >> less than a minute. why don't we start with congressman louis and work our way down? >> thank you very much. i want to use part of my minutes to recognize a young lady i have started working with as an organizer many years ago when she was only a teenybopper. she was born and bred in virginia, and she came into the deep south and organized and got arrested and went to jail and did a lot of other things, and

now she is a state senator here in georgia. i would say, and what you can do is stay engaged. get organized. help mobilize those that need to be mobilized. stay in contact with local, state, and federal officials. do not close go out and elect someone. when we have no telephone and electronic town hall meetings, you can use the new with -- when we have telephone and electronic town hall meetings, you can use technology. he is in power. use it for good. thank you very much. >> we need to utilize every

network we have. all of us have multiple networks. we got family. we have churches. we have fraternities, sororities. we need to utilize all of that. we need to tweet. we need to facebook. when we were dealing with the debt ceiling, the switchboard, and the service at the united states capitol was shut down. two or three days a crash because so many people were sending e-mail messages expressing themselves on the issues. we do not want our social security checks cut off. we do not want our medicare cuts. we do not want our medicaid stopped. it was an amazing demonstration of the power of what people do

when they are on message and on point and they are engaged. let's be engaged. >> we need to support teachers. we need to stand up for teachers. teachers did not create credit default swaps. they did not create derivatives. they did not create the reason we are in this condition, and we ought not to be cutting teachers' to save someone else. finally, there are 12 people who are going to make a decision concerning your lives. hayes street is about to spend $100 million lobbying 12 people. where will you be? make sure they know where you stand on social security, medicare, medicaid, and jobs. >> the cbc members are only a part of your representation. you have got to senators,

republicans, and other republicans we have to deal with every day. make sure when you organize you let them know what you stand for and what he wants them to vote for on your behalf. -- and you want them to vote for on your behalf. i am assuming georgia has a voter i.d. requirement. make sure you start to make sure everyone in this country, in the states that has a valid id so they can vote. 18% of seniors do not have of votes -- and do not have an id that qualifies them to vote, and 11% of african-americans and hispanics, but seniors. please start today to make sure everyone in our communities has an adequate id for voting. >> thank you very much.

>> i am going to move down my list in order, but i will tell you-- get engaged. you have to bring friends and family to vote. you have to bring information where you can get it, and the last thing is something we do not talk about much. we have to raise the level of expectations on our children. we have to do a better job of holding family members accountable, and i will tell you what an old lady said to me. she said, i am not worried about osama bin laden terrorizing our neighborhood. it has been us terrorizing our neighborhoods. we need to hold our friends and brothers accountable. we have to say enough is enough and set high expectations so we can make sure this generation coming up now has the opportunities i had when i was

coming up. >> the second part of your question is what specifically would we recommend they do in terms of getting a job. do not think you are above in a job. i worked at mcdonald's. i worked at ups, a 24-hour shifts. i worked two jobs for 10 years to get where i am today. do what you need to do to get your foot in the door, and then you will have the experience. >> she is the round of applause going for the members who came out today and -- give a round of applause for the members who came out today. this is there a -- this is very important. thank you all for coming out tonight, and i think that was an important point. be sure to vote and participate. have a good night.

but dr. martin luther king was not a president of the united states. at no time did he hold public office. he was not a euro of foreign wars. he never had -- not a hero of foreign wars. he never had much money. he was reviled at least as much as he was celebrated. by his own account, he was a man frequently wracked with doubt, a man not without flaws, a man who, like moses before him, more than once questioned why he had been chosen for so arduous a task, the task of leading a people to freedom, the task of healing festering wounds of a nation's original sin. >> watch this entire event, the groundbreaking of the martin luther king, jr., memorial.

now the memorial will be dedicated in washington, d.c., this sunday on c-span, and we will have coverage of other of fence surrounding the dedication on c-span networks. -- of the other of sense -- other events surrounding the dedication on c-span network. but later, a conversation on a program that gives immigration officials access to fingerprints of people who have been arrested. later, health-care analyst marcia gold will look at medicare advantage, which are privately run medicare insurance plans. each morning at 7 eastern on c- span. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> now a discussion of early

childhood education. we will hear from the headstart director at this event. this is an hour and 45 minutes. by i am a senior fellow, and i run a group called the center for children and families. i am amazed to see so many people here. we publicize this event for the first time five days ago. not to mention it is august in washington and we had 150 people signed up for the event. we publicize it so late, because part of the picture is set now stephen arnett published a nice

article in "science" magazine. many members used to be in the gestapo, and they completely control you. i did not realize this, so we planned this event and had arrangements under way, and they told us we could not tell anyone there was an article that was in any way involved in this event until wednesday at 2:00, and then they would not let us get the members of the panel of talk -- a copy of the article until friday morning. i spent part of this week and highly recommended the immediately send someone to "science" so they can learn to truly guard their secrets, because these guys are amazing.

they did help us with this. i need to make sure this gets coverage. the way to do this is to emphasize this is a positive story about a program that enrolls 900,000 preschoolers. good in washington, good stories do not sell. this is a great story. it shows headstart should be able to produce more lasting impact on development of children than it was doing. it is a story of a committee of professionals called "a committee on reid designation of head start. " it was appointed by a republican administration under a democratically controlled congress. it is a story that the

administration decided to cut the third rail of preschool programs and implement and actually improve the committee's recommendations for reforming headstart, and it is a story the head start program has responded positively to the criticism and to the reforms proposed by the obama administration and appears to fully support the plan for improvement, even though the plan will likely result in the closing of some headstart centers. here is how we are going to tell the story. first, a member of the research committee and steve and i did a thing called investing on children. we are just about out of copies, but it is available on our web site if you would like to have a copy. none of the papers exceed 300,000 words, which is three

good when it is also dollars. he is going to give an overview with special attention to headstart, and he concludes headstart is underperforming. the obama administration has proposed a provocative and well- thought-out reform and based on recommendations of the committee for read designation hryvna 4 re-designation, -- recommendations of the committee for re-resignation, and she will describe headstart reforms, and then after these presentations, we are going to have recommendations from a panel people. we have had a long history as practitioners. first, the head of the national association for education of young children, who was also a

member of the re-designation committee. our next guest is here from the university of chicago and is one of the most accomplished people who have defended head start on the basis of scientific evidence it does produce long- term impact, and then the executive director of the national head start association, a representative of all the people in head start, and i want to recognize her for what i think is a very positive response to this proposal, and as i understand it, they are working with this administration. as with an -- i was recently in las vegas and decided to take a visit to a head start program, and they were already preparing. it was really quite an impressive thing, and then we are going to have a discussion i am going to moderate, see if i

can cause a little trouble, and then we are going to turn it over to questions from audiences. with that, steve barnett. -- arnett. >> good morning. a pleasure to see you all here. knowing that ron and his game are ruthless timekeepers, i am going to start with my conclusions. i think the first one, and you will hear this over and over again, is set the reforms are vital and they should be fully supported, and we ought to recognize that early headstart is part of this and needs to be fully included in the reforms. second is reform should focus on

raising quality and effectiveness, not on increasing coverage. increasing coverage ought to come after we raise quality and effectiveness, and third, there is a serious need for the regulation region -- need for deregulation, and it ought to take place in the context of experimental research that will provide better information about what in fact is the most effective approach to providing early education for young children and working at the zero to three range with their families, not that is not imported from 3 until 5, but i think it is important from birth until 3. i got here by asking a question.

this is really the central question of my paper, which is "can large-scale public programs provide long-term gains for children of poverty?" if so, under what conditions? part of the evidence is in his sharp, -- in this chart. people often talk about the research, and then they and of hardship is to summarize what all of the research says and often that gives a different picture. gregg and his colleagues published in 2010 and analysis of the literature from 1960 up through 2002.

it summarizes the e fax any program that served 8325 your old. it could also have been a program that was just nine months. this chart summarizes the e fax of the cognitive domain. it was not the only domain that was looked at. but because of studies have focused on that to a lesser extent, you cannot really break those defects out in the same way and look at the influences on them in the same way that you can analyze the data on cognitive and pacs because there are so many more studies that measure this. one of the it things that makes a difference is the quality of the design. in studies that use more rigorous search designs. the e immediate impact or the impact at the end of treatment which was typically at age five was about 0.7.

seven tents of the standard deviation. to put that into perspective, head start children start about a standard deviation behind. if you want to think about the achievement gap for kids by headstart or other programs for children in poverty, what is the gap when they enter kindergarten? it is about a standard deviation. on average in the literature, 70% of that was close. does that persist? that is my key question. the answer is yes, but not at that magnitude. if you look at ages 5-10, they are about 3.35. so about half of the impacted at kindergarten entry persists later on. this is not just an average. if you look at studies, you see a kind of persistent picture of

that. i think it is a good rule of thumb that long-term impacts are likely to be about half of what are impacts are. so because there were so many studies of cognitive and packed, the researchers could actually look at what was associated with bigger or defects or smaller the facts. three other things stood out. one, if a direct instruction was used in a major way in the program, a fact sizes or longer. if there was individual is station, there were larger the fact sizes. now, at the paper i look at -- randomized trials to by far the largest trust we had? .

it is interesting to look at where these fit in. for head start it is the impact of one year. for early headstart, it is the impact of two and a half years. in the mena analysis, that could be anything from six months or nine months up to five years. it is not a one-year program estimate. so across both the head start and early headstart studies, we seen a modest initial gains across multiple domains. when you're a head start produces an effect of just under 0.2. no significant effect on the nine others. 2 and 1/2 years of enstar produce the effects of 0.1 to 0.15 over across a bunch of

measures, but not across all of them. these are substantive if small gains. they do not persist to kindergarten. they do not persist in first grade. there is a follow-up of early headstart. 45 measures, no significant effect on any of them. i think this is what you -- again going back, if you think about what initially facts are, divide those and have. it is not surprising we would not see those. it would be undetectable essentially later on. now, i think it is fortunate we just do not have research on head start, we have research on other programs. i talk about a bunch of that in the paper. only some of it is summarized in this chart, but this includes the appearance centers which i think are important

because they are relatively high quality. they are feasible. we have a very long-term call- up and a benefit cost analysis that shows pay off of 10-1. universal pre k in tulsa, oklahoma in a study done, studies by the national institute and others in oklahoma and new jersey using regression continuity designs which are relatively regulus and -- rigorous way of estimating impact and for comparison i put headstart impact on same measures on the chart. the numbers are adjusted to noncompliance. that is important.

in a randomized trial, people do not necessarily do what they are told to do. that is a good thing about people, but it makes it hard to do a perfect randomized trial. you can adjust to that. you can see they are smaller. these are the impacts of one year of the program at kindergarten entry. i think it is pretty clear, chicago chop parents centers, oklahoma, new jersey, the effects are very similar. would you get to literacy, they bounce around a little more. some of the literacy members are easier than others. they're easy to teach. depending on what exactly is in your literacy measure, you can produce carry large affects very quickly.

there is additional research and science would not let me put in the paper because it is not been in a peer review journal yet. there is a randomized trial of tennessee's creek a program, and the institute is actually -- our institute has actually done regression continuity studies in eight states. i wanted to show if you look at the broader literature and not just what i was able to present, the picture looks the same in terms of larger impacts from the state preschool programs mostly in the public schools where at least under the auspices of public education. for example in new jersey, that program include head start, a private preschool programs, operating to the public schools. i think is important to look beyond the kindergarten data. if we follow them a little bit longer, what would we see at

great to? what we are not seeing the detectable effects? chicago child parents center's one-year of the program in effect size of 0.2-0.3. come up 0.4-0.54 two years. and relatively inexpensive model. i would say in many ways it is comparable to the chicago child parents centers producing a fax that are very similar in size. if you want to know if today's programs do this, my answer is yes. we can replicate pretty much what was produced by the chicago chops centers which had a benefit cost ratio of 10-1. i think this raises some

questions about why this might be, how do headstart and early headstart differ from what appeared to be more effective programs. some of these are somewhat speculative. my thinking about this is that there is less explicit teaching and act -- academic emphasis on average. there are lower teacher qualifications, lower teacher compensation of about half what it is in the public school. a lack of connection to the public schools, and it more provision of a comprehensive services. now, we have a couple of things i regard as a demonstration proves of my speculation. in tulsa, you have universal preschool that provides a public teacher in all of the preschool programs including head start. so you can look at tulsa public schools, tulsa headstart, and

the national head start and the impact study and compare estimates at kindergarten entry. the difference between tulsa headstart and nationally is that tulsa headstart has public-school teachers paying public school salaries. we see a larger effects about the same size in these other studies. i do not know if this is because of the connection to the public schools and better academic focus. that is certainly possible. it is also possible that it has to do with peer learning. in tulsa public schools, you are in general public schools. new jersey's program was a resort -- result of a court order. we took the system we had a child care and at some programs and the public schools and in five years we had every teacher with a four year degree and early childhood certification, master teachers, maximum class size of 15, high standards and

accountability and an improvement system. the maroon color is what it looked like afterwards. you can see a dramatic shift in the quality of the preschool program after these reforms. a very important part of this is the standards that i talked about. it is also the continuous improvement cycle. it operates at the classroom level, at the district level, at the state level you develop standards. you analyze and plan. you implement the response to that. i think the same concept needs to be taken into headstart and state pre k and implemented from the top down. i see that happening as part of the state council, as part of the early learning challenge fund, and part of the administration's proposed reforms.

in conclusion, early education can be a -- all programs are not like the ones that i presented data for. that is the top of the distribution in terms of program quality. we need richer educational experiences, where resources in the classroom, parenting education needs to use more specific models. it has evidence of effectiveness. we need to develop new models beyond that. i made a bunch of recommendations, but it is not that strong. we need a program of research to inform this. thank you. [applause] >> today at what to take some

time to share with you what this administration is doing to ensure that head start programs are doing the very best that they can for the millions of children with serve every day. when also know that quality early education can help kids get ready for school and success. that means that our ability to ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential depends on us investing early on and that providing the high quality early education that can make a difference for a child's life. headstart is a critical part of that investment. nearly 1 million children attend head start programs

across this country every day. many of these programs are strong. there are setting an example in the field for evidence based high-quality early education programs. but we do know that some programs are not strong. there is a substantial room for improvement in many of those programs. over the last three years under the leadership of deputy assistant secretary joe lombardi, we have taken an aggressive reform agenda that will bring it the best evidence based practice into head start class and, will hold programs accountable for the quality of instruction that they provide, we will establish outcomes to ensure family engagement, and we are going to require low

performing programs to compete for funding. evidence indicates that head start helps get our most vulnerable children ready for kindergarten. but we can and we must use in these impacts. the children come from families and communities facing enormous economic and social challenges. head start serves the most accurate children including children in the welfare children, homeless children, english language burners, and children with disabilities. that is why this administration is committed to ensuring that every head start program provides high-quality care and education services. our reform agenda is bold, innovative, and it is built upon the best evidence available. our agenda is designed to that all ha children are ready for success in kindergarten and that all had start programs are high quality and well managed. so the reforms that have garnered the most public attention are those related to inquiring low performing programs to compete for continued funding. last fall the department of house and human services

received able to implement what the head start law calls a designation renewal system or what the community most often refers to as three competition. we will issue a final rule this year allowing us to begin the competitive process in 2012. for the first time in the history of headstart, these proposed regulations will require grantees that are not providing quality head start services to compete for continued funding. the proposed rule lays out seven specific performance conditions that will require programs to compete and it requires that at least 20% of all programs stand for competition. these seven specific program conditions fall under the quality, licensing operation, and fiscal and internal control. many have argued that the proposed rule is too tough. this administration believes

that no role is too tough or standard of excellence too high when it comes to the children that we are serving every day. under the proposed rule, one way that low performing programs would be identified would be based on the validated evidence based classroom assessment tool known as class. the proposed rule would take this sign based rule and put it to good rule identifying programs that are not making the grade and requiring them to compete for funding. while there will be modifications, i can assure you that it will feature a robust approach to competition. we are committed to the principle that if a program is not delivering high-quality educational experience, that our children deserve, we will through competition shift funding to a more capable organization and we will hold

those organizations accountable for providing a quality head start experience. while our plans for competition have garnered the most public attention, we received over 16,000 comments. i can tell you that that takes a little bit of time to get through. other pieces include creating a school readiness framework that head start programs must use to inform their curriculum, their approach to professional development, and a mechanism for evaluating teacher and child performance that produces the data needed to engage in continuous quality improvement.

we are taking concrete steps for on the ground practice. we are developing better linkages between headstart and the public schools that children enter after they leave head start. and we are improving our monitory system to ensure program integrity, quality efforts, and to identify poor performing programs. i want to talk a little bit about each of these. as we laid out in the road map to excellence, we design initiatives that use the latest evidence of promoting positive sustain the child outcomes. school readiness means that children are ready to succeed in school. have the cognitive knowledge necessary to understand literacy and math. the have critical thinking skills to solve problems and ask probing questions. they have the ability to solve regulate and demonstrates of control so that they can sit, listen, and focus. it also means that parents are

involved in order to ensure the long-term lifelong success of their child. one of the strengths of headstart is its focus on ensuring that families are receiving the necessary health, mental health, education, and other social services they needed to achieve. the head start readiness framework is not just words on a piece of paper. the framework lays out in clear terms what every headstart program needs to do to be effective and it provides a way to measure headstart program's performance against this framework. under the framework, all head start programs will have to implement and integrated curriculum that addresses the central domains of school readiness. they will have to collect data, analyze it, and review it regularly to attract children's progress. they will have to make early learning available to children

and 2 professional development strategies in order to improve services to children. they will have to have an individual wallace plan that promotes healthy development for each child. in addition, a process that promotes an understanding of their child's progress, ongoing communication schools to exchange information about kids and families and a learning community among staff to promote innovation, continuous improvement, and integrated services across education, family services, and health. headstart programs will be expected to adopt and a light it established goals. they will be expected to create and implement a plan of action for achieving these goals. they will expect progress on an ongoing basis, aggregate and

analyze data three times a year. they will examine data for patterns of progress for groups of children in order to develop and implement a plan for program improvement. the framework sets the stage for the rest of the agenda that is focused on improving classroom practice. that way readiness and a child development goals are met. we have made significant investments in improving classrooms with a focus on providing quality instruction and social emotional support. this includes a launch of a better coach initiative, a revamped training system, and the use of the classroom assessment scoring system. to inform program improvement and professional development. there is much that we already know. for example, research indicates that better child outcomes are associated with high quality, adult child interaction, or

specifically, children need teachers who can provide which stimulating environments and opportunities. we know that the connection between the quality of the implementation and the outcome are obtained through the professional development. one example of how we are doing this is class, which most of you are familiar with. you know that it measures how they promote thinking and problem solving and the developer, plaques language skills. since teacher child interaction are an important measure of quality, the department of health and human services have provided training for every program across the country, more than 2000 education specialists and other core debtors have been trained and are in utilizing it in their classrooms every day. many programs are following our lead and using it on an ongoing

basis. as noted earlier, classed as one of the seven indicators in competition. one example of this is the city of chicago. they have teamed up with the developers of clasped and it will be implementing it throughout their programming. the city of chicago is one of our biggest -- to use it to develop professional development that meets the need of kids every day. we are improving linkages between the public schools. strong linkages can accomplish several goals. they can ensure that head start educational goals are matched up to what the schools think are important. they can ease the transition for children by making sure

that schools have good information and are prepared for children coming from head start. they can improve current engagement at the critical point when the child is transitioning from head start to public school record at the office of headstart, we are focused on fostering collaboration between local programs and public schools to promote continuity between early education experiences and ensure that the gains it started in headstart are built upon an elementary school. head start programs are required to work with our local education agency partners to ensure the appropriate alignment of school readiness goals. finally, let me talk a little bit about our ongoing monitory. it is a huge part of what we do every day in head start. beginning in fiscal year 2012 just to run the corner, the office of headstart will begin implementing monitoring 360 to

ensure that every grantee is doing what it must do to prepare students for school. monitory 360 can nec's existing key oversight activities, multiple sources of data, and it risked dated to gathering analyzing and acting upon information about grantee performance on a continuous basis. monitoring 360 will increase our understanding of grantees ongoing efforts to ensure children are making progress, and parents are fully engaged in ways that are meaningful and effective. in addition to more rigorous reviews of grantees in turn of ongoing monitoring, data collection and analysis, and

self assessment, federal on- site reviews will include the use of class and randomly selected classrooms. this will allow us to intervene early and it to allow oversight when grantees are failing to provide quality services. just as importantly, the information gathered through this more expensive monitoring process will form the basis for decisions about real competition. in conclusion, ed always describe headstart not just as the program but as an evolving concept. two years since we released the head start roadmap to excellence, we continue on that rope that. we are working every day to intensify our impact, to ensure accountability so that every child in a head start program has the best opportunity to reach his full potential. head start children need and deserve the most effective early education program possible. every day we at the

administration are taking aggressive steps to meet our commitments to them. thank you. [applause] >> now, let us hear some -- >> let us hear some reactions from people who actually know

something about head start. let us start with jerlean daniel. she was also on the we designation committee that made the initial set of recommendations that the administration has taken up on. >> thank you for the microphone. i was wondering how i was going to do this. >> we have had a lot of experience with you. you do not need a microphone. >> do not tell all my secrets. thank you for this opportunity to talk about early education reform. while we seem to be focusing on head start, i think one of the things that is important to note

is that for a number of years head start has really been the most together model of early childhood, if you will, tried to build a system, looking at professional development, parental involvement. it really is -- steve talked about the chicago studies, in its own way head start really is that model trying to take it to scale. it is trying to take it to scale. taking something to scale is really difficult as steve has pointed out. it is particularly trying to take it to scale in a shifting terrain. the children who are served by

headstart are some of our most vulnerable children. even our definition of vulnerable children has shifted over time. at one time we were talking about primarily low income white and african-american children. demographics of our country have changed quite a bit. now we are talking about low income children for whom english is not the first language. the tides of change are happening at all times. when you talk about taking something to scale, you always have to think about what modifications need to take place for these particular children that are being served at this particular time. when we talk about early care and education and hats are specifically being the robust programs, part of being a robust is really knowing whom you are serving, why we are doing it, what the ultimate goal is.

i think you -- i thank you for really pointing out to was, what is the bottom line? we want all of the children of this country to try to reach their full potential. that is not a simple task. i was honored to be part of the we designation committee and it to serve currently on the headstart research and evaluation committee. what i would tell you about the we designation work is that it was a vibrant group of professionals who sat down together, there were researchers, practitioners -- it was a nice mix of individuals. they were asking each other all the hard questions. they were trying to make sure that what ever we landed, we had a research evidence to support it. whenever the research evidence

was a little thin, what we said was, ok. this is important. as soon as you have some research that will help us move in this direction. we try to give at the office leeway to move even beyond the life of the committee. i am it really pleased with the road map and the direction that the office has taken this program. i think it scoops up all of the pieces necessary. looking at classroom interaction, professional development of teachers, looking at who the children are being served and not losing that really important thread of each individual child homegrown advocate. that is their family, the parents. they have got to be part of what we are doing here. no child exists and floats

around the world without being connected to a family. far beyond preschool years, a child needs a family to be an advocate for them. yes, there is a lot of work to be done. i feel like the field and headstart are on their way to getting that were done. we have gone through some serious economic times are now. we have got -- we do not yet have a universal health care also we are trying to get there. we do not have it. we still have children and families who are vulnerable. states are having to do all kinds of -- make all kinds of cuts. what i would like to suggest is that even though we are on hard economic times, we should not lose sight of the lessons we have learned about how critical early care and education frame

is. i believe steve pointed out in the pregame report that some states are lowering their standards and terms of pre k. this is not the time to do that. i frankly would say it is never a good time to lower the standard lower than what we know to be good for young children and their families, to be good for early childhood programs. we learned so many lessons. we were told the importance of starting really young. we knew that all along from research that happened. neighborhood set it up for us to see more clearly. we were told it is important that the teaching of young children be highly intentional. that means -- and steve talking about direct instruction.

in the field, we talked about capital d i or yet small be accurate i will support with col. that means that a teacher is highly intentional. she has put together what she knows about childhood emotional development. she knows that emotional development is connected to cognitive development. she knows is to become literate, to become proficient in math and science. so what we are looking for here in high-quality programs across the spectrum whether you're talking about child care or head start are pre kick, what you are looking for is a highly skilled intentional teacher. you have to have a potential opportunities for that to happen.

steve mentioned oklahoma. sometimes you do not have all those people that you need and you have to grow them. headstart is one of the main field for growing teachers. i am delighted that at this point, a 53% of the teachers in head start now have bachelor's degrees and another 12% are enrolled in schools. we have a lot to do, but the kids are worth it. thank you. >> thanks for having me. there is a lot i agree with steve about in his science paper, but we also have some points of disagreement. i wanted to make four points

that i think will put the discussions that will come up about the headstart reform proposals in some larger context that we can refer back to. every educational institution that i know as room for improvement. my wife is a recovering preschool special ed teacher. she worked in fairfax county virginia, one of the finest public school systems. on a daily basis, we compared notes about all the things we saw that could be improved. i want to start off by saying i think it is great that h h s and the administration are thinking of ways to help the headstart program. there has been a lot of what i think of as very overheated rhetoric about the headstart program. most of the people in this room

are probably familiar with the recent essay in time magazine saying there is nothing good that can be said about the program and so on. the second thing i wanted to talk about for a minute is to consider the question of how much change actually is needed in head start and how much better we think we can actually do with a program like this. the headstart advocacy organizations are going to say that the problem people are focused on right now is when the federal government sponsored the study that randomizes kids, the problem people focused on in that experiment is that when you look at kids at the end of first grades you don't see any difference. what the advocacy groups are going to say is when you look at the kids, the head start program

actually looks pretty good. that is a very self-serving argument, but just because it is self-serving does not mean it is wrong. if you look at the graph of on the screen, i have plotted the grey lines there. it shows the treatment control difference. we have outcomes measured at different ages. the first datapoint their --

there are kids leaving head start. that is about a quarter of the black-white test score gap. the other point up there is the short-term impact of head start on kids who are in the program in the 1980's. the nice thing about looking ahead -- looking is that we can follow them out into adulthood to see what the program did over the long term. what they did find is that the initial impact about -- it translates into long-term benefits in terms of things like earnings and high school graduation rates that generate lasting improvements that produced dollar benefits to society that are large enough to justify the program's cost. it generates benefits in excess

of cost. what is new in the experiment is not that the program is getting less effective, but rather that the rate in which the benefits fadeout is decelerating. you can see that from the graph. that is key. i want to consider how concerned we should be that the difference and the experiment between the treatment and the control kids and has court impact is fading out so quickly. -- test score impact fading out so quickly. the initial impact is consistent with long-term and benefits. the rate of fadeout is accelerating over time. what should we think about what is going to happen for recent kids? let me see if i am smart enough to actually do this. i want to show you some

additional data that many of you might be less familiar with. this comes from a recent paper that looks at the class size experiment. what you can see -- the y-axis is test score gains. the x-axis is grades. what you can see is that there are sizable impact of being in a higher quality kindergarten. it fades out almost immediately. he took kids in this experiment and linked their data to irs earnings records when the kids

had reached adulthood. what you can see in the tennessee data is if you try to predict the effect of being in a high-quality kindergarten on adult earnings, using the test scores for the kids when they're leaving kindergarten, the benefits translates into increased earnings of $600 more per year over their entire adult time period despite the fact that the test score the game's fate out immediately. this does not guarantee that we will see the same sort of benefits in the experiment, but it does make you realize that very rapid fade out of test scores impact is not necessarily inconsistent with long-term improvements. ok, suppose that you were

concerned -- we do not know what this rapid test score fadeout means. say you want to do something about it. what should we be focusing on to try to lock in gains that head start makes? a lot of people focus on the possibility that low-quality elementary schools might squander the benefits that the program generates. i am skeptical of that hypothesis. we look at the long-term impact of head start on kids who were living in the 300 poorest public schools added united states in the 1960's. these are african-american kids in the mississippi delta. attending the lowest quality public school that you can imagine.

we see evidence of long-term head start benefits for those kids. more plausible is a hypothesis that steve mentioned in the paper is the possibility that elementary schools, over time, might be getting better at mediating skill deficits among kids who are not getting high- quality preschool experiences. kids who are not in head start, the teacher redirects time toward re mediating. it comes from scores of the national assessment of educational process that are in this picture. you can see from 1971 to 2008, test scores are going up for ninth graders in both reading

and math. if this is what is going on, it raises the hypothesis that one of the best ways to lock in the benefits is to expand access to the program. let me stop there. >> i will get myself in a little trouble here. i think it is important to know that the bush administration was intent on reforming head start and resulted in what i would describe as warfare between the head start and the bush administration. the obama administration is doing reforms and the national head start association appears to be fully cooperating. they are working hand and glove to try to improve the program. i think part of that must be due to the next speaker, thank

you for coming. >> [inaudible] thank you for including me. thank you to steve. earlier this year, when head start was in danger of having children cut out of it, that they signed this great letter to congress urging congress to maintain the current levels. you are in sync with the nobel laureate. two years ago, i came to the organization. i am in classrooms where i see

the power and the possibilities. i hear from alumni all the time. teachers, doctors, lawyers. prize-winning poets, public servants. she year's grammy winner, was there yesterday at the front of the magazine. instead of sharing all of their stories, i'm going to focus on three key points about reforming early childhood education. that is today's topic. first of all, research really matters. it matters because it shows over and over again ways that head start works. research matters to head start.

let me say to use some of the things that those 300 researchers work -- wrote to congress. head start raised test scores. it makes it less likely that children will repeat a grade. for those of you who live in montgomery county, i want to point out one of the studies. they found that the maryland public school paid $10,100 per child per year in special education costs for children who had been in head start.

head start graduates are more likely to graduate from high school and attend college. they are as much as 25% less likely to smoke as an adult. in here, many more benefits. my second point is that head start in 2011 is not your mother's head start. much change has taken place. the administration's a roadmap to excellence and all the reform efforts, and natural progress that is happening. what i see, and this is totally my experience, i see head start collaborates with schools in the community. just last week, i was in montana. head start programs are getting degreed teachers.

in rural areas, that is not an easy task. they are using data to individualize instruction. they are transforming parenting and i see enormous creativity and innovation on the ground. most of these reforms have not yet begun when the study was underway. remember, the early study was done when the program was brand new.

sometimes it seems that this study, begun at a very different time, with all the concerns, at this study is always being used to make sweeping generalizations and recommendations or even budget decisions. it brings me to my third point. this is a very tricky time for head start, and for all of early childhood education. most of us are really working toward once in a generation reform. this administration, we are all lined now around the reform agenda. because it is really about improving outcomes for the most vulnerable in this, -- youths, head start is really a cornerstone of that agenda. to be more effective, we do need bachelor degree level teachers. we need smaller classroom sizes. we'd better support for our

special-education families. we need better connections with schools. we need quite a bit. here's the tricky part. we must work very carefully together to get to that. otherwise, we will not have the resources. we must honor our differences, but we must set some of them aside. better system coordination, efforts to cut red tape and inspire innovation. reforms will acquire investment. time, people, money, no matter what the delivery system is. at the moment, we are staring down the barrel of a cannon loaded to end our programs. what to do? my proposal is very modest trade i would like to invite everybody to come and visit the new head start, see for

yourself. keep the things important conversations going so our collective wisdom can help us all through this tricky time. let us be aware of what had once we might prompt in this shift first, came later political environment. we all want the window of opportunity opened for future prize-winning poets. he grew up in a very violent neighborhood in portland, oregon. he recently wrote, my experience in head start help to guide me into the adult i have become.

i believe there is a direct line between my creative life, a sense of self-worth, and my early success as a poet in my experience at head start. thank you. [applause] >> i will pose a couple of questions to the panel. i want to emphasize something. the way this review is going to work is that in the next three years, a third of the programs will be reviewed every year. that review will result in a minimum of 25% of the review programs failing. that is not something that came from the read designation commission. we could've never got an agreement on that. that sent an enormous signal to

the country. this is real. 25% of your going to have to compete for your money. i want to talk about this. the kind of internal discussion, and i would like to hear your response how the center's hill about this. >> to clarify, that 25% currently is part of a proposal. as most of know, we are moving into writing and releasing a final proposal by the end of the gear. there is a three-year transition period. within that three-year transition period, we'll be looking at data coming after june 9 of 2009. we collect data on all the programs. with that, most of you probably know that we monitor about 525

programs a year. we will take those 525 programs in the first year, all of them based on the proposal will be compared to the seven conditions. from there, within the seven conditions, if you do not get to the 25%, we would have to kick in an a condition. it talks about -- we suggested two things. we got some comments on. the two things would be using noncompliances. for those of you who do not know, when we go out on monitoring reviews, we make decisions about whether programs are in compliance or not. the second possible option would be kicking in and not their instrument. one example -- to be very honest, the 16,000, is that we

receive, we probably say the majority of the comments were on the 25%. some of them were very much, this is not the right thing to do. believe it or not, the community realizes that it is time to hold our programs more accountable. programs would like to have more information about how does this really work. that is just a proposal. those are the pieces that you will see in the final period -- final. >> we had consultations daily. that inform our national response. people were saying, take 40, take 50.

25 felt like ok, we have a quota for traffic tickets. the that was the major objection. we are as good as our programs are. the field was very, you know, not aware that competition is going to be a fact of life. they did not say -- let's move forward.

>> ok. thank you for that. one other thing that i think is really important to emphasize is that -- the difference between this system that you have invented -- i think this is an important point. this is going to be based on actual observation in the classroom with this instrument that enjoys a very good reputation. actually going into the classroom and seeing what happens. logically -- >> randomly selected classrooms. >> the judgment is based on what transpires between teachers and students in the classroom. without that, in the evaluation is flawed. you have to know what actually happens in the classroom. how did you select the class? are you confident it is a good

instrument? are you satisfied? a lot of head start are already using it. are you confident? >> we absolutely are. as we continue to get a lot of feedback and talk with the developers and researchers, we feel confident and the data that we will get. it is research based. it is validated. we also like it because you can give programs their scores on the information right away. they can make decisions about how they're going to use that information in order to design professional development or change what is happening in the classroom where made decisions about the curriculum. how are you doing with the

implementation of your curriculum? >> what to the programs think? >> i just want to remind -- the classroom environment is higher than other settings. this is like a compliment. this is the teacher-child interaction adding to that. >> yes. >> it stems from this fundamental challenge that we have right now that we have no idea what the kids skills are that are carrying these long- term benefits. for these studies that looked -- we have reading and math scores when the kids are down. and we have data on the adult

outcomes. we see this course fadeout and the adult outcomes persist. most people assume that the thing that is generating these long-term benefits is some sort of early childhood impact on behavioral skills. we do not have any direct measures of what those things are. right now, we assume it is a matter of process of elimination. it has to be that because it is not the other stuff. >> there is a lot of that, by the way. [laughter] >> i am sympathetic to the administration. i do not know how to solve this problem. what it means is that we do not know exactly what the target is that we should be focusing on.

it is hard to see what a good head start program is it you do not know what the key to the skill sets is that generates these long-term benefits. >> i think we do know. the studies, to me, it is all like magic. >> dark matter is magic. >> the skilled woodcarver find a beautiful madonna in every log. and these are very skilled woodcarvers working on the studies. i think these are false positives. i think we know a lot from other studies about the things that you carry on -- carry long-term benefits. part of it is the cognitive effect, language effect, self regulation part of it are other social and emotional skills. you do not have to look at u.s. literature.

there is literature worldwide on this. i think we have a pretty good idea that it is not just one of these domains. it is all these domains. i do think the field needs measures on those. there is a need for the federal government to support the development of -- to go back to the drawing board on measures. right now, each state is faced with the job of trying to create measures. each program is faced with coming up with measures. that is not a great way for that to happen.

that is an opportunity for a lot of people to fail. everybody would be happy using more or less the same measures. some federal efforts to help develop those for the whole field, i think, would be hugely productive. to measure not just the cognitive stuff, but social skills, these other things. so that programs can adopt these with some confidence that they really a measure what they're supposed to. >> you know, the focus is based solely on cognitive achievements, which data shows is less than half of the equation for success. i am a consumer of research, not a producer. you guys probably know what he is referring to when he says the data shows that cognitive achievement is less than half of the equation. there must be something that he

is referring to. >> i would like to point to -- we do need more research around the social-emotional piece. if he were going to measure a child's progress, you need something that we can use. i am not surprised that we do not have those assessments because at the heart of much of that our cultural issues. what does a particular social behavior mean in which context? it is quite a thicket to get through. generally speaking, what does a child use of literacy for? they use it to maneuver their way for the world. they use it to negotiate, they use it to try to intercede with

their peers. they use to try to get what they need out of adults. it is a hazy box. we do see the results of a child you had self regulatory skills, who mastered some of that literacy area. and put it all together down the road. we do need some more measures. my caution would be that just as it really matters when you are talking about assessments, on whom the assessment was validated. you cannot just pick anything

out of a box somebody out here. this is very careful work that needs to be done in a systematic way. i would hope that as we pursue this work, we do not go back to a mentality of -- it is up or down, good or bad. it should not be this either or kind of dichotomy. what is it that we need to be doing to make all of early childhood meet the needs of children and families in a high-quality way? how do we keep progressing? that is what this conversation ought to be about. >> the congress of the united states and the president have focused their attention on one of the smallest parts of the federal budget to get all of this so far. appropriated money. that is where head start is.

it appears that they are about to do it again. if the committee is not successful, there will be automatic cuts. what are you doing to make sure that head start does not get a big cut? >> turn it over to the advocates. >> part of what our assessment is is that if people knew enough about its -- there is a very big grass-roots campaign to let people know about the impact. last week, we were in montana. the chairman of the subcommittee was a visiting a head start. if he was not impressed with that -- those are the kinds of

things that are part of the strategy. allow members of congress to see pieces of research, to see, in reality. he talked to the parents. he played in the sandbox. he listened to the community people. there was an elementary school principal who said, i see the difference in kids who are in head start. those are the kinds of people that the community board's members were talking about accountability of heads mark -- head start. we're trying to change minds one at a time.

>> they are about five times more impressed by one experience like this than 10 random studies. you're on the right path, i believe. ask a question that does not last longer than 45 seconds. right here in tehe back. >> a couple of direct questions. i worked for many years before unicef. my name is frank. i am an educational consultant. i worked in the field of preschool education for many years with unicef. promoting all this in the middle east, to some success. what amazes me is that it is still a struggle here when most of the rest of the world has accepted the linkage between

healthy productivity, how the education -- healthy education and achievement. talking all, we're about numbers. somebody mentioned that 1 million beneficiaries, what does that represent? why are we only getting to a million? collapsing families and economies would suggest that there are many millions of children that need this. where are we on this? we might windy political case -- win the political case. you talk about 360 assessments. i am a researcher as well.

that involves everybody. to what extent are parents involved in 360 assessments? that brings us to a number of issues raised about measurable or difficult to measure indicators. culture and behavior and so on. if we do not get to the families and we do not get to the reinforcements that is going 9, nothing really will stick. one of the reasons why it is not sticking is that we are not involving parents. >> lets us answer the question. >> currently, there are approximately a little over 960,000 children served and head start. we have head start and we have early head start. with our preschoolers, we are serving 40% of the eligible population.

in early head start, we are serving less than 5% of the eligible population. a lot of that is based on money. on average, our kids are about 7000 or 8000 a year. >> there are other programs. >> we also have to be careful. eligible population is defined in terms of population characteristics of a moment in time. for example, children below the poverty level. fortunately, children do not stay below the poverty level, many times. people are moving in and out of poverty. it is very hard to target at a given time the characteristics of the kids in head start.

the target population changes. i think the number of kids that we have to serve is much larger. we are not serving half the target population in head start. maybe a quarter. >> if you add state preschool, you are up to? >> half. >> half of kids -- >> right. >> the one thing that i want to add to the discussion on the issue of access is i go around talking about head start. i hear people saying that we should be focused on improving teacher pay and reducing class size and increasing a fraction of teachers with bachelor degrees.

it is also true is that we only have a subset of the kids enrolled and a program trade in a world in which the administration said we will spend $50 billion more on head start per year, this panel would have no trouble agreeing on how we would allocate the extra $50 billion. in a world of very constrained resources comic the question is whether it -- resources, whether we should focus on increasing program quality or expanding access. debra phillips and i wrote a paper -- >> it was the one we mentioned earlier. >> we argued that there was a fair amount of evidence to suggest that there are reducing returns for program quality. the highest bang for the buck

right now is to push on the access to mention rather to improve the program quality. both would generate benefits in excess -- both would be great things to do if we had the money. if we only had the money to do one, i would prioritize access over program quality. >> but may be very clear that some --let me be clear that the 360 is our effort to manage the data that we collect. the law does require for parent involvement in local programs. parents have a lot of leverage in terms of what kind of curriculum is being used. prue or the people being hired? how is the money being spent? at the local level, parents have to be very involved. >> [inaudible] >> we have performance standards.

there are very specific performance standards about the participation of parents as well as how do programs form relationships between -- with parents in order to help parents achieve individual goals. it is of the individual level and also at the program level where parents can get involved. >> next question. >> i have two questions for steve. the core of your presentation is comparing several other types of studies. i'm interested mother of those -- whether those studies are capturing information about -- if those other studies are capturing information about the disadvantaged kids. are we comparing apples to

apples? what is your point of view on the reform strategy that the administration is following? would you recommend anything different other than your call for more research on effective practice? >> thank you, tom. yes, we are comparing apples to apples. to the extent that there are differences in the populations, they are biased against studies that serve broader populations because the effects are bigger, the more disadvantaged kids are. people have adjusted. let's only looked at the kids who could get into head start. the differences are bigger if you do that. to the second in more important question, i applaud what the administration is doing, but i think there is a classic

management problem. i think there is a natural reaction that any administration of any program to increase regulation. i think head start the exactly opposite. head start and early head start has philosophical models that are not the most effective. what i do not see is a reconsideration of them and a willingness to basically take off a lot of the constraints, to move in the other direction of deregulating, allowing innovation, and moving away from this model. it is not as the programs i talked about. it has impacts -- at multiple sites around the country. when you have that kind of

evidence, i think you have to allow fundamental reconsideration of the basic model and allow people to use different approaches constrained by producing results in the classroom for kids. >> i just want to say one thing. an important part of steve signs -- steve's science paper is that we have a bunch of large scale state-sponsored pre-k programs ever during much better than head start. i do not want to open the door to a big research food fight. i did just want to go on record saying i am not convinced myself that these state pre-k programs are that much better than head start. >> this administration is absolutely in favor of innovation. one of the things that we have

to keep in mind is that head start is a local program. it is federal to local. we have not added any additional regulations. but i also want to be very clear about is that the pieces that are things that program should a bad -- should have been doing for many years. we're just increasing our efforts to ensure that these things really are happening so that we do see progress for kids and families in the program. >> let me take to questions. -- two questions. let's go over here to this side. >> i am the director of the nonprofit education and advocacy group strengthening young families. i have a research-related question. related to the use of the

randomized control group. it is really two closely related questions. as i understand it, you have to multiplied this by thousands of times. your basic setup is that you have two similarly situated children and you give one the services and the other you give the child those services. you compare which child does better and by how much over a period of time. a first of all, especially given the fact that families tend to be involved in many different service agencies. you have some gatekeeper that has concerns about both families. do you really have a situation where one kid gets head start and one kid gets nothing? or do you have the other child

in other services, or do you have say it -- or do you have somebody saying, put the neediest kid in the head start program. don't we have an ethical problem? question. we're going to answer both of them. >> i have a question regarding head start and special needs. we're finding some of the programs are not meeting the basic requirements. >> what are the controlled kids? >> the relevant question is what happens to these head start?

the fact that they get child care and other things is a good thing for the control group. that is the comparison you want, not the comparison of nothing. nothing is not the real world. the real world is getting these other things. there is also some crossover. there are ways of adjusting for that. those are state of the art in the report. the ethical issue was dealt with by a in rolling kids in programs or the capacity was not there to take all the kids. they could not take all of them if they had wanted to. what is the fairest way of deciding? make a lottery is one option. special needs kids? >> the majority of our programs, the law requires that 10% of the kids be children with

identified disabilities. it requires that a child be identified by a local education agency. one of the things we're working with is helping to build the relationship so that this can happen on a much quicker basis. we also know that -- >> you are saying that the local agencies do not do the evaluations and you cannot get the kids. >> it depends where you are acts. -- at. some of them are very good. some of them are strapped for funds. some of them take much longer than others. the summer is a tough month. it can vary from community to community. the majority of the programs figure out ways to provide services. we cannot actually count them.

>> figuring out how you have a stronger, better relationship between head start and the public schools is very important. public schools do not always refer them to head start. they may not want in there and that is a real problem. >> interesting. two more questions. let us start with lady right by you. >> good morning. i am a kindergarten teacher for the past 11 years. i am wondering if you could talk a little bit about the administration's efforts in terms of strengthening and enhancing the relationship between public schools and our local head start. >> all the way over on the outside. >> i am from the georgetown university law center. we hear a lot about the socio- economic integration in the schools.

it is politically powerful. it is not something that we have talked about at all today. i know head start is a totally different model. is this something that is discussed in academic literature? is this something that the advocacy groups talk about? if not, why not? >> ok. >> which question are you talking about? >> the first one, to our revised, we are establishing the sixth national centers with huge universities and other research groups. we're gonna focus more on working hand-in-hand with local programs. we have some really good examples right now that we are working on. last year, we had the city of chicago, and there are a couple of other models we're looking at in order to disseminate

information. >> the second question? >> you were talking about are we having conversations about mixing populations? ok. all right. i think one of the dilemmas we face as a country, do we expand the service or do we increase the quality? on the one hand, steve is saying, do not put more rules. if you do not have rules, how do people know how to move in that direction? things like universal pre-k, and there was some trepidation that this would -- i am trying to think of the word i want to use. less money was available for low income children. i think that somehow we have got to find the balance between

making sure we meet the needs of the most vulnerable children. also, doing what we know is good practice for all the children. i would point out that this is going back a ways. when we were looking at segregated schools many years ago, one of the important decisions, when you have the schools segregated, the more disadvantaged population was not getting the quality of education that they needed. the loss sent -- law said, put folks together. how do we make sure that everybody is really getting what they need? i would suggest that it is a combination of the strategies. a framework such as the monitoring system that head start has put into place.

you need a framework for people to work with. also, the collaboration among schools and community-based programs. we are in this together and it is not a race. when we have the sense that to we are a community, we will be at the best advantage. we have not quite figured out how to do that without an either-or mentality. >> in the currents head start program, up to 10% of the kids can be above the income requirements. there already is a provision for at least some integration. i do not know the extent to when that actually happens. it is allowed by the current rules. last question. >> hi.

i am a psychologist at the university of maryland in baltimore. i have the fortunate experience to be an education consultant in head start. the clinic i am working with now is helping to train the baltimore city head start. i know that one of the things we talked about today is how we access and a measure of the social-emotional impact. i know that it is happening pretty heavily throughout the state of maryland. i was wondering if someone wants to comment on those efforts. >> it is the national program right now. it is funded jointly to the office of child care. they really are out and about

around the country. they have worked with several states to develop separate models. we see that moving forward and will continue to be a huge part. >> please join me in thanking the members of the panel. [applause] i give you very short notice for this event. three years from this date, we will have an event on how this worked out. on september 13, in this very room, the census euro released its poverty numbers and income numbers. we will have an interesting event in this room. i hope as many of you as possible can come. thank you for coming this morning. [applause] [captioning performed by

national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> tonight, the latest on libya as rebel forces take hold of the capital of tripoli. president obama are said muammar gaddafi's room rule is over. the comments come after rebel forces took the city and took a least two of his sons. the whereabouts of the leader

whose regime has lasted 42 years is unknown. u.n. secretary general briefed reporters on the situation in libya calling the takeover a hopeful moment. he says the u.n. is planning a peacekeeping operation. syrian president bush are al- sadr was not worried about a similar upheaval in his country. the they called on the president to step down and has enacted sanctions, he will maintain his post. his comments were part of an interview with the state-run a tv on sunday. all of this tonight on c-span. >> in discussion on homeland's security challenges 10 years after 9/11. talking about terrorist attacks that have been foiled since 9/11. coverage from the heritage

foundation at 11 am eastern on c-span 2. a report on the health of u.s. banks. we will hear from the acting head of the fdic. live on c-span 3. with the news that rebels took over the capital city of tripoli, though both said the gadhafi's regime was coming to an end and the situation in the country had reached a tipping point. he spoke from martha's vineyard. 0úoçç#$#$éyéñéñéññçn+

>> could it afternoon. the situation is still very fluid. there is a degree of uncertainty. there are still elements that pose a threat. this much is clear, but gaddafi regime is coming to an end. the future of libya is in the hands of its people. in six months, the 42-year reign of muammar gaddafi has unraveled. we were inspired by the protests the broke across libya. this longing for human freedom added to the voices we had heard all across the region from tunis to cairo. the fact -- the gaddafi regime responded with a brutal crackdown street civilians were murdered in the streets. a campaign of violence was launched against the people. gaddafi to threaten to hunt them

down like rats. there existed the potential for wholesale massacres of innocent civilians. in the face of this aggression, the international community took action. united states helped to shape a resolution that mandated projects -- protection of civilians. a coalition was formed that included the united states, our nato partners and arab nations. the international community launched an operation to stop khaddafi's forces in their tracks. in the early days of this intervention, we provided the bulk of the firepower. our friends and allies stepped forward. the national council is a credible representative of the libyan people. the united states, together with our european allies, recognized the governing authority in libya. gaddafi was cut off from ours in

cash, his forces were degraded. from bang gauzy to the western mountains, the opposition confronted the regime and the tide turned in their favor. this situation in libya has restate tipping point. it took town after town and people of sharply rose up to claim their freedom. for over four decades, the people have lived under the rule of a tyrant to denied them their most basic human rights. now the celebrations we have seen shows at the pursuit of human dignity is stronger than any dictator. i want to emphasize this is not over yet. as the regime collapses, there is fierce fighting. we have reports of elements continuing to fight. gaddafi has the opportunity to

reduce further bloodshed by explicitly relinquishing power to the people of libya and calling for those people that continue to fight to laydown their arms for the sake of libya. as we move forward from this pivotal phase, the opposition should continue to take steps to bring around a transition that is peaceful, inclusive, and just. the leadership has made clear polish all libyans must be respected. justice will not come from reprisals and violence. it will come from reconciliation and libya that allows citizens to determine their own destiny. the united states will be a friend and partner. we will join with allies to continue to work to safeguard the people of libya as they menace parts of the country. we will be in close contact with nato and united nations to

determine other steps we can take to deal with the humanitarian impact. we are working to ensure that supplies reach those in need, especially those who have been wounded. secretary clinton spoke today with the coalition on these matters. i directed susan rice to use the general assembly to support this transition. we have been working with the community to provide -- prepare for a post-gadhafi's libya. our diplomats will work to ensure that the institutions of the libyan state are protected. we will support them with the assets of the dock the regime that were frozen earlier this year. we will call for an inclusive transition that leads to a democratic libya. as we move forward, we recognize the work that has already been

done. to the american people -- these events have resonance. gaddafi's regime has murdered scores of citizens. today we remember the lives of those who were taken and stand in solidarity with their families. we pay tribute to all of the men and women who have saved some money lives over the past several months, including our brave pilots. they have executed their mission with skill and bravery and all of this was done without putting a single u.s. troops on the ground. to our friends and allies, the intervention demonstrates what the community can achieve one we stand together as one. all of the efforts are not yet over, and nato has proven it is the most capable alliance in of the world. its strength comes from its firepower and the power of our democratic ideals.

members of our coalition have shown what can be achieved when we work together as equal partners. they send a message about the unity of our efforts and support for the future of libya. finally, the libyan people. your courage in character have been on breakable in the face of a tyrant. an ocean divides us but we are joined by the longing for freedom, justice, and for dignity. your revolution is your own. your sacrifices have been extraordinary. now the libya you deserve is within your reach. we will stay in close coordination to support that outcome. so there will be challenges ahead, the vance in libya remind us that fear can give way to hope and the power of people striving for freedom can bring about a brighter day.

thank you very much. >> more now on today's's events in libya. we will hear from the fighting in libya. from the headquarters in new york, this is 10 minutes. >> could morning ladies and gentlemen. it is a privilege to see you again. we are witnessing in tripoli in testament to the courage and determination of the libyan people to see a safe and democratic future. it is crucial for the country to end with no further loss of life.

the assurances given by the chairman that extreme chaos -- would be taken to protect institutions and to maintain law and order. i call on colonel gaddafi's forces to cease violence immediately and make way for a smooth transition. the international community will do its part to protect civilians from harm. i have been in touch with the chairperson of the african union and the european union for foreign affairs and security and other world leaders. later today, the president of the security council and members of p5.

i intend to hold an urgent meeting this week among the international groups including the arab states organization of islamic corp. and the european union. my special envoy has been in close contact with the leadership and you will continue his efforts. he and my special adviser on post-conflict planning will meet with the leadership of the ntc. the united states is ready to extend all assistance to the libyan people. for the past several months, we have been working to ensure the united nations is ready to respond to requests libya may make for assistance.

the detonations is prepared to assist in all vital areas including security and the rule of law, economic recovery, and the electoral process, justice, and coordination of support from the neighbors and international community. it will be crucial for the security council to be as responsive to planning as it has been throughout the crisis. we must also ensure the delivery of assistance to all of those in need. this is a hopeful moment. there are risks ahead. now was the time for all libyans to focus on unity and inclusiveness. determined to ensure that united nations does everything it can

to promote an orderly transition better response to the aspirations of the libyan people for peace, democracy, and opportunity. i would be happy to answer your questions. >> what to do you want from the security council tax your calling on them -- when we have a high-level meeting? are you seeking guarantees from the council to turn over gaddafi and his sons rather than trying them at home? >> you have last three questions. -- asked three questions. i plan to hold an urgent

meeting this week. will have to coordinate with the leaders of these organizations. i have already spoken with three organizations and now i am talking to do it either thursday or friday. i have to confirm that because of the contingencies of people there. it is important that we get mandates from the security council. mr. martin and our team have been working closely during the last two-three months, since i have appointed him as my special advisor. these planning's, including the

idea of certain peace monitors, this has to be consulted with the council members and in close coordination, consultation with the ntc. i'm trying to talk with the chairman of the ntc. i am in the process of speaking to all world leaders. i'm not going to detail the names before i finish. for that matter, we will have to discuss. colonel gaddafi has crimes against humanity. it is up to the international community, all the member states

of the united nations have the duty to fully comply with the decisions. way.is the natural >> would you call on gaddafi to surrender? whether you talk to -- about giving a way out for gaddafi. >> i have only the call to give away for a smoother transition. with the prime minister of libya over the weekend. we had serious talks on this matter. we will have to see how the

situation evolves. these are all very important on the part of those people who have been united. >> due to the situation in tripoli, and do you consider the military operations over as of today? >> we will have to see how nato will assess the situation. nato has been instrumental in implementing resolutions. i recognize their efforts to avoid civilian casualties in the course of military operations. this is up to nato based on the assessment of the situation. >> united states believes that colonel gaddafi is still in libya.

do they know, is he still in libya? have you talked to him about giving up? >> i have no information on the whereabouts of colonel gaddafi. i hope we will be able to find him as soon as possible. we have been trying to get in touch with him. i have also tried to speak with him recently as you may expectant understand, it has not been possible. >> on syria, he said that the president to saad said that police operations had stopped. since then, 39 people have been killed.

you believe that statements? what should be done? >> this is what he told me when i had the telephone talk with him. he assured me that humanitarian assistance, they will be able to visit different places. our team is already in syria. they are assessing the situation. it is troubling that he is not kept his word. many world leaders have been speaking to him to halt military operations, killing his own people. he assured me to do that. military operations have already stopped. now he has seen and heard all of these calls to him. i hope he heeds to this appeal.

thank you very much. >> on "washington journal," an update on the situation in libya. then a conversation on a federal program that gives immigration officials to the fingerprints of people who are arrested. with mark krikorian and sarahi u ribe. a look at medicare advantage, privately run insurance plans. each morning at 7 eastern here on c-span. syrian president assad dismissed

calls to step down saying he was chosen by the syrian people, not the west. as the uprising continues, he also said syria could withstand the mounting sanctions. the comments were part of an interview with state-run tv on sunday. here is a 40 minute portion of the interview. >> your excellency, you spoke about the constitution, your speech made people understand that the constitution might be discussed. is this the situation now? >> this is one of the most important points discussed by the central committee during that meeting. some of the attendance