asked to amend the item number eight which is about the political regime together with other items related to each other. item #8 is not there either. these items are not related to item no. 8. consequently, we need to tackle every item within the framework of the whole item, to review the whole constitution, either item 8 or the other items in the constitution. this is the idea we have. if you go back to elections, what other procedure should be

applied? do we have a firm limit to implement these low in the ground? the concerned committee that will discuss the applicants -- whether the committee is formed by the interior minister and three other independent personages, we have these names in front of us. this is related to the local administration nationwide.

this would also be during the next few days. to implement this relies on the voters. are we going to apply the same old way? are we going to talk about any political system, new mechanisms? of the push young people in political institutions come inside and outside the country -- in the last month, there is

sort of a feeling among the young people that they are isolated. this is not a good feeling. a young man or young woman needs energy. if they are depressed so much of their life, that is good. they have to have a role, something to do. this is the most important thing, that we can do something. my question is about the next period. it will be politically more debated.

what about the changes in the constitution? up to the moment, we have issued three decrees about the elections and the parties. within a few days, we will have another decree to eliminate the parties. anybody who wants to have his own party, in the group, will try to -- practically, we will be ready to accept applicants to form a new party in the country. the local administration also has come to this conclusion. within the next few days, the election is natural.

there is a minimum of 45 days for the next elections. the local administration has to have some time, a similar time to be able to achieve this new criteria. months from the issuance of this. this will be issued hopefully before the end of ramadan. we can start the application of these flows. a committee will be formed to

study the constitution. this committee needs at least three months. i think -- i do not think it will mean more than six months. this is the limit that should be put in the committee. they will be able to discuss it and be able to discuss what does it need. the parliamentary elections -- there are some different points of view. from four months to eight months after issuing the executive elections -- the aim is to let all parties be formed and be able to compete.

hopefully, we can have elections in 2012. the set of rules and regulations will be the end of the time of default. we will move to the application and have something to say. >> within the reforms, there is also something about the kurds. is this because they might be part of the crisis? >> the last time this happened, we met the kurds and spoke about this. case and we will do with it. then we started the procedures.

we saw the potential and the shape and form. it was not very quick. we said at the end of 2002 that some of the powers, some of the figures have tried to make use of this issue, the issue of the citizenship, and the kurds -- we postponed everything and started another round of investigation and hawks. -- and talks. the decree was there. we issued that degree because it was almost ready. it just needs my own signature. this is the way.

we cannot accuse the kurds of not being part of the country. we cannot deal with the kurds as if we're going to give them a bribe and turn them into mercenaries. they are part of the people. i have said years ago that the kurds are part of the syrian context. otherwise, syria would never be syria. the curd is not an immigrant. the kurdish are part of the community. some are trying to politicize this issue. if we go back to our history, we would find some spots like this. we can say some of the leaders -- some of the leaders were

kurds. the history says that. this is not the point. we consider the national situation, in kurdistan,, arabs, it is the same. basically, some see reforms, but some also say these reforms, these decrees, are only ink on paper. to be honest, i cannot say that. we cannot say that all the decrees are achievements and all the decrees are ink and paper. let us talk about those people who said in a on paper. we speak about resolutions. this has achieved results on the ground. we need to go into this and we need to see the formula of this.

we need to even go into the linguistic aspect, not to make the revolution week. we might have some instruction. that achieve the result we all hoped. that is why it might be useless. there is a necessity to have a sort of balance between these and those decrees. it is a series. we cannot say that this law will achieve this result. laws are helping each other. a set is there. we need to start with the priorities. we cannot start with number five and neglect priority number one. the main solution is to expand the dialogue in all categories.

the one who issued the decree, the one who issued the law, might discuss the lower layers in the institution in order to get the most out of the law. we need to make sure the people who perform the law are known to everyone. that is why we can have the good results of these laws. we need to expand that dialogue regarding these laws in order to get less mistakes. we are flexible and we can change the instructions. we can change the law the same day in order to have good benefits. >> you spoke, your excellency, about some mistakes. will you punish everyone who made a mistake in the last time? >> let me tell you something.

we have already questioned a number of people who are related and who we have some evidence that says they are involved in some crimes. everyone who is related to a crime will be questioned, will be questioned. if we have concrete evidence that shows he or she is quite involved, -- there is a judicial committee that has all the capacity -- we will ask about these investigations and will make the details clear to everyone, even explaining, if

there are any. i can talk about this. i am not the one who does the investigation. but there is the principle that they have applied to everyone. it is not the right of the family. it is the right of the country, even if the family says i am fine. the country has to have the right and has to get that case right. that is why it is important to follow this. >> your excellency, if you go to the reforms, would they accept these reforms? >> and the answer is not enough. sometimes, they are trying to make the change of the language. they do not aim for reform.

they do not want reform. they want you not to reform. they want you to be way behind. they want you not to develop reforms regarding these colonial states. i am not talking about the west. i am talking about the colonial state. it is about telling them yes, i will give you everything. i will give up the resistance. i will give up everything that we know about the colonial states in the west. simply i could say it is their dream. obama and the other states, france as well, britain and germany, they are due to step aside. what is your -- that argued you should step aside. what is your answer?

>> people ask me why you did not reply. normally, you should reply. i said we are dealing with cases individually. sometimes, we make things clear. it adopts a certain situation that does not go with the agenda. we can make things clear to him. if we want to go, we're going to go more beyond this.

i am not to discuss these words. these words are not to be said to our president, who is not appointed by the west. he is appointed by the syrian people. we cannot say this to a people who support resistance. this was enough to be said. we could get instructions from abroad. the real principle is one of the western powers in the country.

go to the recent history. we go to who is responsible for the crimes, for the thousands and millions of wounded people. the millions of handicapped and wounded and widows, orphans. if we took -- if we take these, can we forget the supporter as the palestinians? who has to step down? this is a conflict on sovereignty, even the -- we are

committed. we are abiding by our sovereignty. our sovereignty is not to be discussed under any circumstances. a lot of people thought that it is a honeymoon. but it is not at all. in every stage, in every occasion. we need them to get used to syria. we will never allow anyone to interfere with its sovereignty and its internal affairs. there is nothing new except the outside atmosphere. they are talking nicely. >> your excellency, the western pressures on syria have gone to

the maximum of a decree from the security council or intervention from nato. are you scared? >> regarding military actions, they did it in 2003 after the fall of baghdad. -- there is no resistance, no big failure in afghanistan at that time. the international community was quite submissive to the americans. i talked to them. we talked about the military action in a direct way. that is it. and he answered we reject all of these. later on, tune extent they gave

us some military spots. this is a sort of scenario that happens from time to time. the threat of military action is there. the security council is there. any action against syria will have huge consequences we could never tolerate. with in the syrian capabilities, we cannot tolerate their results. we need to make sure there is an effect on the ground without neglecting that aspect. we do not have to feel scared, or even to be concerned. in 2005, when they tried to do the same thing,, they made use

of the security council to threaten us. i said in that speech that the sovereign of syria, the national atmosphere is the most important thing. we have not to abide by this. if we abide by our rights, we need not fear any concern. the national revolution will be felt by the people. the principles are there. we have not to feel any

concerns. these countries are in a bad situation, economically, socially, and even politically. we should not submit it. -- we should not submit. >> in syria, economically, the west is still pressuring syria. the citizens are a little concerned. >> no doubt that the crisis has had some economic effect. but the economic situation during the last few months started to be stronger and to be more vital internally. this is a positive thing.

it would have a good effect on the economy. we could move to another state with in different circumstances, even if we have a difference on the surface between us and them. despite the fact that we depend on our relationships with europe, in our world, we have alternatives. in 2005, we adopted a resolution to go toward a peace -- to go toward the east. we moved toward the east. we're continuing to move toward the east. the international scene is not closed any more. the alternatives are there. the high-tech is there.

the alternatives are there. we have self-sufficiency. syria is vital in the economic domain. anything against syria will affect other countries and have bad effects on the country. the crisis is there. we need to do our best and live in normal life, buy and sell. we should resume relations with friendly countries. with respect to the syrian neighborhood, turkey recently has the sort of escalation with syria. some say that turkey is now a

tool used by washington in the middle east. how do you see the turkish situation and the relations between turkey and syria? >> with the general atmosphere, we generally met professionals from different countries. we do not feel any shame to talk with them about everything. sometimes, we take advice. need to learn our lesson, if they have experience. we will talk about their experience. they are our neighbors. when it comes to the decision, nobody is allowed in the world to interfere in the citizen decision. mutually common during the last

time period, we have had relations with turkey. we cannot believe it negative aspect during the last century, but we succeeded in a more regulation between the negative and positive aspects. who knows what is inside you. it might be a sort of be careful. if they need to be careful. if they need to be careful, we might feel a concern, regarding what is happening, to be reflected. we can respect it. they might be willing to play a role in the region on the experience of our country. then it is a big stop here i do not know what is behind them or

will be at the ground of the statements. >> we need to go back to the reforms. you said that syria after the reforms will be followed in the region. what about the national media, and the freedom of the syrian media to tackle the hard issues? >> i do not think there is a ceiling. the ceiling is the law that governs any institution. the ceiling is the objective media. within the syrian media, this is

the ceiling. we want the media to participate positively. we need to expand the installation, and practically speaking the channel should be open. we need to fight corruption. need to discuss the citizens through the role of the media. we had media that help the public opinion.

this is a transition. we will witness a lot of obstacles. after this, the media will be the challenge for everyone in the government to have a dialogue with the citizens. >> up next, a discussion on jobs and the economy from the congressional black caucus. then a report on u.s. early childhood education and the head start program. tomorrow, a discussion on homeland security challenges and years after 9/11. the panel will examine counter- terrorism tools and talk about terrorist attacks that have been

foiled since 9/11. live coverage from the heritage foundation at 11:00 a.m. eastern on c-span to. at 10:30 a.m. eastern, a report on the health of the banks by the federal deposit insurance corporation. we will hear from the acting head of the fdic, live on c-span 3. the congressional black caucus met last week in atlanta to discuss jobs in the economy. seth johnson of msnbc is the moderator of this event, which was held at atlanta technical college. >> i want to welcome you to the atlanta technical college. that is something to clap for.

[applause] >> 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. we had a lot of people who came here to hire people. and we have atlantic technical college, an agent in this growing community. it is my pleasure to introduce the moderator's for this evening, joann read and jeff johnson. 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

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> do you have a situation where one kid gets head start and the other kid gets nothing. or do you have the other child sent to other services? or do you have somebody saying that we need to put the neediest kids into the head start program? that eludes your comparison. if not, it really you have one head start getes services and one that does not get it, do we have an ethical

problem? quote next question. on the altered aisle. >> i have a question regarding head start and special needs. dhs is doing it more stringent requirements. i find some of the programs do not meet basic requirements. >> what happens to these kids without head start? and so the fact that they get child care and other sorts of things is a good thing from the control group. but 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 are also some crossovers. some kids get into head start anyway. those are closed state of the

art in the report. the ethical issue was dealt with by enrolling kids in programs where the capacity was not there to take all the kids. what is the fairest way of deciding? make it a lottery is one option. special needs kids. >> what we know is that the majority of our programs of the law requires that 10% of children enrolled in head start the children with identifiable disabilities. the last reauthorization require that a child be identified by a local education agency. one of the things we are working with with our programs is helping to build that relationships so that this can happen on a much quicker basis. but we also know that they are strapped. >> what you are saying is that local education agencies do a value or to do not do evaluations, so you cannot get the kids?

>> they do. some of them are very good. some of them are strapped for funds. particularly for migrant programs, because many are shut down. it can vary from community to community. the majority of programs and all those kids, and they figure out ways to provide services. but we cannot actually count them. >> figuring out how to have a stronger, better relationship between head start and the public schools is important. public schools and do not always refers -- they identify them. they do not always refer them to head start. they may not want them there. that is a real problem. >> to your questions. all the way over there -- two more questions. let's start with the lady right by you. right there. thank you . >> good morning. i am a kindergarten teacher in boston.

can you talk about the administration efforts in terms of strengthening the relationship between public schools and our local head start? >> and all were over on the upside? -- all the way over on the outside. >> in the k-12, we hear about socio-economic integration in the schools. because it is politically powerful to link the fate of wealthier children and poor children. it is not something we have talked about. head start is a different model. is this something discussed in academic literature in early education? if it is something the advocacy groups talk about and if not, why not? >> ok, pam? >> which question are you talking about? >> for the first one, let me say that we have a revised system where we are establishing six

financial centers with universities and other research groups. we are going to focus more on working hand-in-hand with local programs in order to help them better establish relationships with the public schools. we have some really good examples right now that we are working through. one of them is dcps instituted a different model inside the public schools last year. we also have the city of chicago and a couple of other models we will look at to disseminate information. >> and the second question? >> may new hampshire your i understand? you were talking about, are we having conversation about mixing populations, low-income, middle income and so forth? that is what i thought i heard you say. one of the dilemmas we face as a country is we have been talking about, do we expand the service or do we increase the quality? on the one hand, they are saying did not put more roles.

he did not have rules, how the people know what quality is and to move in that direction? things like universal pre-k, there was some trepidation that this would mean less money was available for low income children. i think that somehow, we have to find the balance between making sure we meet the needs of the most vulnerable children but also doing what we know is good practice for all of the children. i would point out that this is going back a ways. we were looking at a segregated schools many, many years ago, one of the very important decisions was that when you have the schools segregated that the more disadvantaged population

was not getting the quality of education they needed. so the law said, put folks together. and so, how we make sure when we put people together that everybody is really getting what they need? and i would suggest that it is a combination of the strategies we had out here, offering works such as the monitoring system that head start has put into place in trying to put programs in place. we need to create a framework. and then, also, the collaboration's among schools and community-based programs. it's the point at which we realize we are in this together. it is not a race that i will beat you or you will be me. when we have a sense that we are community that's got to scoop everybody up, i think we will be

at the best advantage, but we have not figured out how to do that without an either/or mentality. >> in the current program, up to 10% in any program can be above the income requirements. so there already is a provision for some increase in. i do not know the extent to which that happens, but it is allowed by the current rules. last question? you.nd yes. the'm a a psychologist at university of maryland in baltimore. i have a fortunate experience before getting my ph.d. to be an educational consultant in head start, so i've had some experience. the clinic i am working with no is helping to train the baltimore city head starts to incrasease the social-

emotional skills. one of the things talking about today is how we excessive been measured those impacts. i note it is happening pretty heavily throughout the state of maryland. i was wondering if somebody wanted to comment on those efforts and those programs nationwide. >> i will stay quickly that this is a national program -- i will state quickly that this is a national program. several folks are out and about around the country. they have worked with several states to develop state models. it will continue to be a huge part of our revamped system. >> please join me in thanking the members of the panel. [applause] notice for short this event. i want to announce that three years from this date, we will

have an event. if they are still in a good mood, and then on september 13 in this room we will -- the census will release its poverty numbers for 2010. we will have an interesting event in this room. i hope as many as possible can come. thank you for coming this morning. [applause]

>> up next, a british house of commons hearing on the london riots. then dr. louis sullivan talks about health care disparities. and on "washington journal", we will get the latest on the situation in libya and we will look at the medicare advantage program. today, a discussion on homeland security challenges 10 years after 9/11. the panel will examine current car terrorism tools and talk about terrorist attacks that have been foiled since 9/11. live coverage from the heritage foundation at 11:00 a.m. eastern on c-span-2. at 10:30 eastern, our report on the help of u.s. banks. that is hosted by the federal deposit insurance corporation.

we will hear from the head of the fdic. that is live on c-span-3. the british home affairs committee last week held a hearing to investigate the police response to the riots in london. witnesses included london's acting police commissioner and the association of chief police officers chairman. this portion of the hearing is 50 minutes. >> the committee will have follow-up questions, but we would like to keep our detailed examination of you to our first oral session which is to take place on september 6. i refer to the acting

commissioner for the series of detailed questions. we do not expect the answers today, but if you have any of them, we would be keen to know the facts. can i begin by placing on record the committee's appreciation for the very hard work and dedication of officers, not just in the metropolitan commission area, but throughout the country over the last few days? we have met officers that have been working very hard during that period. i was in tottenham and birmingham and lester. icester. of course, the senior management. sometimes we forget that you are in the same position, under a huge amount of pressure. i am most grateful for what they have done. perhaps i should start with you,, sir hugh. could you tell me precisely where acpo fits into the overall

strategy? we have seen that these disorders have been in it cities all over the united kingdom. >> it is a pretty precise one. we have a structure. we have the eight forces in scotland that played a relevant part. the role of acpo is to receive resort -- to make sure that the officers receive the resources they require. i will do my level best to get the resources. what we saw on this occasion was a pretty seamless working of the system, and we managed to deliver all of the request. it was tied on a couple of occasions, and without scotland, we would be struggling to get the volume of resources into the key forces that were dealing with the bulk of the disorder.

what is important to remember is that vast tracts of this country were entirely peaceful. le a number of occasions, whoe regions of the country were not engaged in this. as long as we have a 44 forced model, we will have to have something to make sure we coordinate. you're negotiating with less people. the reality is that we are where we are and that will not change. in my judgment, i am sure we can do things better. i think the detailed review will give us some clues. i am very cautious of the nature of the briefing, but until we have the real facts -- >> give us the full title for the record, of the unit you described. >> the police and national information center. it's my office at the building

where several members of your committee have visited. of course, the commissioner is present to deal with the london issues and brief the prime minister of what was going on. >> is it the case that you represent all the others at the cobra meetings? and before you went to the meetings, you would be ringing up chief officers and getting information? >> i would do my level best to represent what chief officers are experiencing across the country and giving it back to government what the key issues are. one of the key strengths of cobra is it is the right people are on the table. some of the issues that they were facing around the criminal justice side were dealt with ste effectively. that was hugely important. that was a great success story, was the criminal justice system

kicking in. the prosecution was seeking information and where things were not working. it worked very well. >> the timing. was this on a saturday or sunday? where did you realize this was not going to happen in just tottenham? >> we were preparing a detailed timeline our for our of what went on. as you know, many forces were in their own regions. they'd ring up the neighboring forces to mobilize. when it started to kick in was on the monday where substantial resources were requested by the commissioner and by the late and after an evening of the monday. i got back into london 3 am tuesday morning, by which time it was sourced. but it built again.

and it continues to build to this day. we're looking into the future. >> would there be london calling? >> the initial start was london calling. other forces were looking after each other. that first stage is when it gets two and national, a global issue. then we need to get a grip on it. >> and finally, for me, on the overall level of violence, you served in northern ireland with great distinction. if you look at what happened over the last 7 days, is this the worst disorder you have seen in your policing career? or has there been another occasion where has been worse than this? >> i think they are different, frankly. 2005, three days of rioting in

september left 105 officers injured. it went on continuously for six hours on one occasion. fundamentally different heard what we saw here was almost a site attacks -- was multi- site attacks. sadly, in ireland, we'd get and build on the intelligence. and so we build and plan and the negotiate. what we saw today was a non existent intelligence. this was spontaneous. there was much work to do and much work going on to analyze what happened. these were spontaneous events. it's entirely predictable but

when these things suddenly flash up time.a bill the tiuild i spent much of my time sharing experiences with my american colleagues. chuck ramsay, in particular. suddenly, twitter generated flash riots in philadelphia. they are experiencing curfews in philadelphia. we are open to learning from other cities in the world. he came to ireland. i went to los angeles. my sense was this was a different sort of riot. >> we will come back to different aspects. now, on strategy. >> i want to find out a bit more about the negotiation process. just to be clear, acpo has no

role in a particular region. how much intra-region transfer was there, as opposed to things that were worked out by the chief officers? detail.n't have the we showed a map. that was global. you had scotland and west midlands, for example. there was a difference between the big leagues -- very expensive. we negotiated with the 44 forces. we had scotland and individual achieves that made their own assessments. some are bigger forces. they would have been net receivers instead of contributors. 390 support units in total deployed.

only about 24% of those would have been inter-force. the met is a large organization, but we were trying to fill the gaps. without the coordination, we would have been in trouble. >> how to these organizations work? is it a question that they are likely to go a certain distance but no further? are they just trying to find the best place? how hopeful are they? >> one of the great strengths of the british model of leadership is that we all know each other and come together at least five times a year for national policy issues. so we know them. that is a key starting point. there is no reticence at all. forces were willing to offer more on some occasions. scotland -- i spoke to the president there.

they did their level best to maximize resources. they started out with 10 and build to 25. i cannot remember the exact number. it works very well. there were no attention is required -- requiring negotiations at all. >> i am not sure if he will be aware that they are currently reporting riots -- guidelines. could you confirm that this keeping the peace manual 2010 is the current lines? >> yes, i probably can. there is another one quite recently. hmi. there is the police and public order one. manual. i find a fair amount on human rights considerations. but very little of anything at

all -- is it really appropriate guidance for the met? >> i will talk about guidons nationally, and i will leave the commission to talk about guidance for the met. the right tactics. if you build resources up, and let the criminal justice kick in. in terms of tactics, it is the public order men . anual. the rapid response, the use of army vehicles deployed in london. it is almost identical to the tactics we would use. >> you would not expect the actor commissioner --acting commissioner to have that guidance? >> the guidance is to keep the peace. as protests go on, we need to look at the guidance and see if we need to review it.

would havee that it changed diddly-squat. >> the problem was that the met was treating it too much as a public order situation. ifldn't it have been better from the beginning you have been assessing the situation at your discretion in deciding the correct response, rather than having regard to acpo guidance? >> commmissioner? >> we get lots and lots of guides. there are men also guidance about everything, but the reality is that when you are confronted with a series of situations that are operational, you have to make decisions and that guidance is purely guidance. you have to empower your commanders to take those necessary actions. much has been said about treating this as public order.

that has been taken out of context. what we did it and the assistant commissioner owens was the night time assistant commissioner in command of the operations. one of the things we had to do was to say to officers who may be confused, is a public order or crime? was that we are burrough-based policing that had public order assets to respond and report if it degenerated to confrontation. that is what we did throughout. based policing. where there was resistance, we dealt with the disorder. crime and disorder are often the same thing. so i'm not sure it's a helpful

definition saying criminality versus public order. >> on strategy. >> sir hugh, as far as continuing on the strategy a team is concerned, do we know, can you tell us how many officers were deployed from other force areas? but also can you tell us specifically were they trained officers and public order incidents? were they specialist, riot officers? >> yes. the mobilization is to mobilize those that are trained and operate in the exact same way in london as they operate in west midlands. that is why sometimes there is a need for standards. yes, the officers are trained. i will not give you the full detail, we had 390 psu's

deployed. looking forward, we are still planning to provide substantial numbers . the public support -- >> police support is 25 people. give us those figures again? >> 390 were deployed. it showed you the scale of mobilization of forces capable of. -- the force is capable of. if your hugh, i wonder can return to the issue of moving resources around the country. because initially most of the riots occurred in greater london, a lot of resources were moved into greater london, which left areas like manchester and

dorsett exposed and that it was difficult to scale up the response in those areas as might have been desirable. could you talk a little bit about that, and whether that is your assessment? is we delivered all that was requested. my focus was to get the commissioner what he needed. on one day, i think it was tuesday evening, a kicked off quite late. so we moved resources to manchester, which she could have used himself -- he could have used himself. that is the nature of the beast. it shows the huge complex of the oevents. with no advance intelligence. that was fundamentally different to so many things talked about before. where you have knowledge, you

can plan and build. notting hill happens the same weekend every year. if we knew it was coming. this was a different sort of event that required a flexible response. it may have well been a case that on the occasion, some forces may have needed more. >> in your discussions on moving resources from manchester to greater london, there was not anticipation that rioting might break out in those areas? >> in some parts of the country. >> was there any intelligence available but there was perhaps a threat or there was discussion on social networking sites that why do we not get on and do some looting and manchester? >> i am sure will be inviting chiefs to give evidence. >> were you aware of any? >> i were.

but things were moving very quickly. there was a lack of preintelligence. spontaneous events, multi-site. it takes time to mobilize resources across the 44 ports. crs, that's all they do. we do not have standing armies. we had thearugegue, maximum amount of police officers -- 20% maximum. front linefined as in some cases. >> i am trying to understand better exactly what acpo's role was on the first night of the rioting in tottenham? >> on sunday?

>> the night of the riots. >> i get confused. the first day was mainly met contained. acpo was asked to start operating on monday. i think the first clinical came inn fro from the met. if any chief officer wanted to be mobilized, they have a single ponint of contact. we then mobilized. they all carry laptops. >> nonoperational, decision making powers for the saturday night. did the chief constable come to you as a go-between to ask for assistance elsewhere?

did you negotiate resources for him? >> we had no direction and control at all over. the chiefs make decisions. i do my level best to provide them with the people that they need to face the threats. >> am i correct in saying that you're making, that you are helping give responsibility to the national response to these riots on behalf of the police? >> i am sorry. i do not think i understand. >> are you making a national response? >> if we are asked to do so. irman got the cha as reference. >> so you have not been asked to do that so far? >> not to my knowledge. >> thank you. do you have views on whether the

changes to the structures may have an impact on the ability to get the resources around the country in future? >> i think, at the risk of being repetitive and boring, we have made our concerns known. there is tension between local and national. around the national crime agency. that is why we have asked for the need for more clarity. the strategic police a requirement, which remains in draft form, becomes even more critical than it did when we raised the issues to the home secretary. chiefs will have to be able to call for assistance and be supplied that assistance unfettered, if you like, from

concerns that they may be causing issues and tensions between them and the police commissioner. provided we have that clarity, i do not think it is an issue. it suggests to me that it may need to be a police -- pretty detailed documents so there is absolute clarity. so that in extremis, the chief could operate without damoclese over his head. that is not to say that --on occasion sometimes, we have to find out what happened in building and rebuilding relationships. we need absolute clarity about supporting national. >> what is the progress on the protocol that was being agreed? >> there was a draft in the house and work goes on. i think generally, there's a

short protocol, which describes the receptor roles. -- the separate roles. >> there will be members that will come back and ask sir hugh questions. on saturday evening in tottenham, when we first aware of the disorder? >> personally, i was made aware about 9:00, 9:30. i made my way into g.t., our controller on saturday night. the circumstances. following the conversations we had been having, going to police operations as we speak. service. to police as a result the debriefing is

still going on. >> the letter i wrote. we are happy to get a response at a letter date -- a later date. what we had was a local protest on saturday night which was in tottenham. that matter is being investigated by the independent police. there is a lot of committee contact between the borough and the protesters and local people. that spontaneous peaceful protest turned into violent disorder . as a result, many in tottenham were attacked. the command structure was said et up. the command center was established. it was supported by the

assistant commissioner and myself and the acting deputy commissioner. we mobilized somewhere in the region of 800 officers to tottenham. one of the issues that we had was to protect life. there were a number of fires that had been started. as a result of that, we had to put the fires out. can i add to your comment about the brave men and women that are the metropolitan police, and the firefighters, who put themselves at risk in terms of responding to a violent situation? following that, we were calling for mutual aid, we saw the looting and disorder and criminality that took place after that. on saturday, we had other forces the joining us. we increase our strength.

to see what other disorder occurred on sunday. on that sunday, we saw a number of girls experience similar disorder and -- we saw a number of boroughs experience similar disorder. we doubled the amount of resources we had on sunday night. that is when we saw the unprecedented event. on sunday night, we had made a significant number of rest. on monday night, 22-32 boroughs were experiencing disorder. during that 24 hour period, we were getting one piece of intelligence. the fire brigade received 1700 reports of fires burning. that was unprecedented across 22 boroughs. the men and women of the met were stretched. we were in contact -- at

that point. we called in mutual aid threat that night and into the following morning. we took the decision overnight that we would more than double the assets for tuesday that we had on monday. we surged our capability. >> on tuesday? >> on tuesday. we were searching through monday night and calling in assets from all over. we had a helpful response from tim hollis. in terms of our response on the tuesday, we had also had lots of strong support from communities. i want to pay tribute to londoners, because much as been said about the people that went out and committed a crime, of which there were a large number, but we're talking about thousands. there were many millions of

people in london who did not commit crime. and those many millions, including hundreds and hundreds of thousands of young people, have been turning out to assistance in restoring order and cleaning up communities. the support we have from communities meant that tuesday was under control quickly. we maintained our commitment in terms of numbers since then. we are trying to give some people some time off. there are some people would not had a rest day, but have been working it greater than 18 hours or 20 hours. we are making sure they get some rest. our plan was to respond and restore order. then we had a significant investigation phase, which we committed to immediately. we have somewhere in the region of 300 officers engaged in the

process. we have 660 crime scenes. 700 people.ested 1u70 we have charged a significant number. we're working with the crown prosecution service to speed up the process of justice. e have great supporte by the coordination of cobra. the most important is how quickly communities recover and how they have confidence in their police. again, i pay tribute to my officers and the people of london that that has been restored significantly a very, very quickly. many of the mutual aid officers are commenting on the relationship that the metropolitan police have with its citizens. >> are you saying that it is because of the engagement? engagement,sn't that

there would have been more criminality? >> i know that will come out in the debrief. rioting went on for 20 days and other places. -- in other places. the relationships of the police -- whereas, that is not the case in london. policing programs have been implemented in london with the support of the mayor and the government, which has allowed that relationship and connectivity. >> thank you. if we can turn to the issue of tactics. the decision to make the surge on tuesday, this was yours and yours alone? you've gone public on this. those who thought this was being made by cobra or

politicians. this was an operational decision, and you made that decision? >> in answer to your question, yes, we made that decision on monday night. we were negotiating throughout the night. i can tell you that it was not just the officers on the street that were all light. was most of my commanders, also. primeas dubriefed to the minister and the deputy prime minister on tuesday morning. the prime minister did say in his statement to parliament, he made it -- i will not make a comment a what the parliament did her did not say. the parliament did say that. some of the comments made about the fragmentation between ourselves and senior politicians -- >> would you like to deal with that now? there appears to have been a

spat. >> the relationship between myself and i'm sure -- in terms of our relationship with the prime minister and the home secretary is very supportive in terms of sharing information, and cobra has been very effective in coordinating responses across a number of ministers. sometimes the position that -- perception that we are at loggerheads is not helpful. >> does it concern you that the both the prime minister and the home secretary in a speech this morning talk about mistakes having been made? do you except those mistakes? >> i think my position on that is that the police service -- we always learn. we are not afraid of being held accountable. and we are not afraid of facing

criticism and getting advice, as we did after g-20. it led to the manual that was commented on. we will go through a lot of process, explain what we did and why we did it. sometimes, things that are forgotten in the heat of the moment, the benefit of hindsight and foresight is something i would definitely wish to have. >> we all wish that. the surge that happened on sunday night. >> we did. we double the numbers. i do not think there was anybody out there that would have imagined that 22 boroughs would experience the disorder that they did. that was the issue for a of phenomena about social media is something to look at. we need to be ready for it. i think the most important thing about the strategy for us and all of the debate -- our

intelligence efforts, our community context. the most important thing for the metropolitan police to do is pursuing relentlessly anyone involved. the use of fingerprints', dna has been superb. as a result of that, we are working through lots of people that will face the courts and pushing the justice system into a moment that they should work at all occasions swiftly. that is something we will make sure occurs. >> if you'd waited more before the surge, do you understand that politicians would have to acquire different tactics? >> when you are confronted with

what we were confronted with, you take advice from any quarter you can get it. we had a process of independent advisers from community leaders. numerous conversations with the mayor and the prime minister and the home secretary. it's clear that the operational decision making is mined in my officers. and every person i spoke to it except that it understands that. sometimes it is overplayed. >> back to 1964, the police are operation independent in who they decide to arrest. it's what you and sir hugh forward.n putting in the general policy, you seem to resist the people's representatives coming in and

saying what the public need. >> i personally am not resisting. i don't that hugh is. we believe in democratic government. we believe in being held accountable. we believe in policies set by parliament. that is the process. there are lots of policies established by the home office that we adhere to. i think that the debate about independence get confused in that. >> we will come on that later. >> that comment. sir hugh has said that politicians are irrelevant when it comes to riots. is the decision to surge, it showed that the previous tactics did not work. do take the credit or the blame for both or none? >> i am held accountable,

together with my team. i responsible for those decisions, whether it is success or failure. the issue for me was to resolve to deal with the criminality and arrest the offenders and quickly regain the community support on the streets of london, which we have. >> can i -- so you do think the decision to surge shows that previous tactics on previous night's have not worked? >> we were surprised by the level and scale across the 22 boroughs. we did not have sufficient police officers . that's part of the debrief process. for me, it's unprecedented and could not have been foreseen. is not for me to make judgments on that. >> you probably want to say the answer. do you want to follow that up? >> i was surprised that you went

from 3000 officers to 6000 officers to 16,000 officers. you could not have not known that the previous night's tactics have not worked. do you take the credit or the blame for both are now on? >> i take the credit or blame for whatever people want to attribute to the decisions taken by the met. that is for others to decide whether there is credit or blame. >> restoring order was the key issue. that only happened seven days later. >> it happened from monday morning on wordards. >> it is a corporate are respond to the issue of the relevance of politicians. the point i made was narrow. >> would you like to clarify. >> it doesn't need clarification. and operational decision making, those decisions are made by

chief officers. we bear the responsibility. i have to say this with experience, because decisions i had to make could have led to life and death situations and put people at risk. it is a simple and as stark as that. nobody has said that politicians are irrelevant. we are in danger of creating a problem that does not exist. we listen and take advice because it shapes our decision making and thinking. for example, the taser. it is a very important point. it is important to make that the tactical -- the tactical decisions. >> you did say that. you have been -- i asked you earlier, what operational decisions did you have it, and you said none.

you had operational control over life and death decisions. you don't. seriousa very suggestion. havei've described was i no role. when i did have a role. it's called northern ireland. i've been explicit. my role is to pull things together and respond to requests and resources. we provide the resources to the leaders to make the operational decisions. if you wish to close that down tomorrow, you lose the facility. at.we'll come on to th

said.peept what you've she's put her question. >> i want to respond on a comment about seven days later. the actual spontaneous riots occurered on saturday, august 6. if we go through all of the messages -- but tuesday morning was the time that order was restored. the surge that had been started on the monday night that led into the tuesday, it was not seven days. e thenrrest phasse took place. in terms of operational responsibility, altman response ability for police operations rest in london with me. we received great support from a

acpo and other chiefs. it's 30 forces we had. we don't wish to duck any of that responsibility. we need to understand all the factors and get the timelines. there has been lots of documentation. i would not what anybody here to think anything other than those decisions, success or failure, will be dressed differently by different people, but they were mine and my command's? >> commissioner, this has been alluded to. there were thousands of fires reported, unprecedented this. order as you've indicated the number of 999 calls was up 400%. can i take this opportunity to congratulate you personally and officers under your command for the work that has been done and is continuing to be done in the metropolitan police?

the reality is that, although we saw some of the risks of the country, the behavioral things and nake criminality, we also saw some of the best from londonders. and from the fine work of our police, and fire, and medical services. i am pleased to have heard you record that in contrast to some media outlets, there has been something of an overplaying of the spat. in fact, you indicated that the politicians you have been dealing with have been supportive. you can confirm that? >> absolutely. in terms of the request made in relation to courts, cps, support, support of victims, it's been very supportive. >> i come on to that aspect of things.

there is the crown prosecution service, the court service who can you confirm that they've also been functioning extremely competent way? >> we have had lawyers coming and working round-the-clock. we had court service, the presiding judge. it has been a significant team effort that we're grateful for. my comment was about the perception was that the officers had been described in a way i did not recognize. because i saw a lot of a very brave officers working long hours. >> in terms of the -- before the trouble started. on an average day, there is something like 3000 police officers on duty on the day of the first indication of trouble. is that right? >> we are still going through the numbers.

it would have been 2,500. >> between 2000 and 3000 officers on an average day when no trouble is forecasted. which sir hugh indicated was spontaneous. but the metropolitan police has 42,000 officers. do you think there is something to look at in terms of the number of police officers available and visible to the public at any one time? >> it goes to the heart of what the home secretary was saying. we had surveillance and intelligence units and a range of other assets in the met. in terms of maximizing the number of operational hours, that is something we saw -- i ddo support.

we are running live link. it's an initiative for officers -- it'll save me 1,000 police days per week. >> we need to move on. >> i have a question for the commissioner or acting commissioner. the protesters made great use of social media, twitter. to provide the reassurance. did the met police do that at all? >> yes. we used twitter a lot and other social media. it is something that aco started following the student protests. i wish we had made more of twitter media. i'm not a twitter star. >> it was also t