caller: the morning, gentlemen. -- good morning, gentlemen. i am 81 years of age. i am x military. my father died at the age of 65. a massive stroke got him. he was never sick. he was of very good health. he was a very strong man. i was 10 years old when a fellow picked a fight with him, and he hit him so hard and he flew through the air. i asked him after he calms down, because he was a quiet fellow, and he said i gave him the punch, jesus took care of the rest. that was his explanation. one thing in my family, the males, most of them died of heart attacks at a certain age because of the personality, you now. things come to us in the blood.

the other thing i remember my father talking about, appendicitis. a lot of children died of appendicitis. a doctor in the san antonio, texas -- i don't remember the name, my father talked about him. they had a beard, the old- fashioned type, but these doctors or good. in our family, we were four brother is -- we have four brothers. my name is ernest, my mother and brothers name is -ephrim. what killed ephrim was agent orange. he was a vietnam veteran. the other thing was, this doctor treating, one day a ranger called him, the boy was sick, and he called the doctor and said, "dr., my son has a little stomach ache." "give him some castor oil."

the doctor said, "you crazy? you want to kill your boy?" it just came across real strong. host: thanks for the call, sharing your story. you brought the issue of a stroke, unless you want to respond to ernest's personal story. guest: the one thing about ernest's story that is very important is that when people think about these things, especially when ernest talked about his father and what took his father, there is tremendous value that is under-utilized by many of us on prevention of coming in and getting that test. there is nothing that says that they could have headed off that stroke for his father, but many of us seem a vigorous, we don't feel bad, but checking that blood pressure, checking that cholesterol, all those sorts of things, getting to the physician and just getting those tests done, even if they don't put you on medicine or anything else, can be very, very important in terms of extending your life. he also brought up -- --

guest: he also brought genetics. genetics is extremely important. these factors -- exercise, but pressure, cholesterol, genetic propensity to develop heart disease, they all interplay in a very complex way. it is very important for people to understand what their risk is an to factor into this their family risk as well. just doing it can release save lives. i would like to find out the secret to the punch as well. [laughter] host: you can see from this chart, 2005-2007, the greatest stroke rate, bright red, can be seen in the deep south, also, utah, new mexico, much

lower rate. also, new york, new england. guest: this geographic distribution has been known for some time to read this area we call the stroke belt -- host: this circle. guest: is likely due to the very height smoking rates. they have gone down, just as they have across the country during the peak of smoking years, 1970's, the rates were extremely tight there. we don't see the impact right away. this is what we continue to see. this as another indication. this is data from the national system of vital statistics. it is mortality data. we also get the data. with this kind of precision, it is really important for health officials and the public to understand what there this situation is, what the health

problems are, on a very detailed basis. it comes from this data source, which in turn comes from the state's. their collection of data, when it they register deaths and cause of deaths. talking about the foods we eat, car or a grea -- carbohydrate foods are cheaper. guest: is one of those no good turn goes unpunished. the farmer has done a fantastic job producing large amounts of food very expensively. it is one of the most efficient sectors of the economy. one farmer feeds 99 of us, etc. that also means that food prices have not grown anywhere near as fast, and you see these difficulties where you see that sort of corn-based, wheat-

based, and it comes through in our fast-food and snack food. i don't know necessarily what you are going to do to change that that is what are people's individual behavior needs to help them. you will see various progress by various groups to get healthier, grocery stores in the-income neighborhoods and those sorts of issues. it gets back to the southeast, heavy smoking. regional cuisine at there, a delicious, but i think we understand, that combination of smoking and that can of diet is going to lead it to these kinds of health effects. guest: these kinds of data, too, it should be a signal to physicians and other health personnel in those areas that there really is an extraordinary problem here, and they need to be up on this and how to treat this short-term as well as long

term. the long-term is particularly important. smoking in children, making for the rates are as low as they can begin -- they can be. host: stroke is caused by barbeque? guest: one of the main downside of the obesity problem is that it triggers type 2 diabetes. if you look at diabetes, type 1, tie 2, they can be a heart attack, stroke, blindness, agitation and kidney disease. if you get off the track of obesity into type 2 diabetes, and a person develops complications of the disease, yes, it will contribute to these sorts of the facts. host: new york, good morning. walk into the program. -- welcome to the program. caller: i am 71 years old and

very interested in a longer life. my question is, what role does alcohol -- i have not heard anything about alcohol in their bank. i know many people who have committed suicide, and i myself once retrieved 25 years ago and have been able to abstain from alcohol -- i myself went through treatment 25 years ago and have been able to abstain from alcohol. my liver was not functioning. i wonder what effect alcohol has on the national death rate. host: thank you for the pointer to would like to take that? -- thank you for the point. i would like to take that? guest: i don't know. [laughter] guest: he doesn't know, he turns to me. alcohol has many effects, and it is from these effects that you see can lead to increased morbidity and increased mortality. the actual identification of

alcohol as a direct cause of death is not that high. j that is not to say that it is not a significant problem. it would be interesting to look at the suicide figures and see if one could parse those out in terms of the role that alcohol had, or homicide figures, for that matter. question thatno there is a lot of concern about alcohol, a lot of research related to alcohol, but we also have a lot of mixed messages that come across to the public on this. some studies say, well, it is good to have a glass of wine occasionally, or some say once a day, for that matter. i think of the jury is complete -- is not fully in on that kind of recommendations -- on those kinds of recommendations brought again, it is something we need to do research on.

host: leading cause of death across the board for the african-american population and white population, heart disease and cancer. guest: yes. with heart disease, certainly we see the kinds of factors we've talked about before in terms of diet, exercise, access to care, some of these problems. cancer, again -- perhaps dr. sondik has the feel -- is there a differential smoking rate between black and white -- guest: there was a very differential smoking rate between black males and white males. but now the rate between black males, white males, black females, white females, all about the st.. even the rate for kids in high school is all about 20%. again, it does not show up in the chart -- for almost every cancer, the black death rate is

significantly higher than at the white death rate. i don't think the reasons for that are completely understood. smoking -- again, the effects of smoking take years. that may be a factor. but there are many other things that he bought when it to -- that people have pointed to -- diet, environmental causes. that is some of the starkest for me differentials we have, the race basis. host: good mon -- good one for preventive care -- are you're more likely as a white person to go for protective care -- guest: there are variables to

what you just said -- health insurance, are you worried about the financial, out of pocket, to see the doctor? you don't feel that, but you know you probably should stop by any way and get the blood test and sort of be checked out. it is not have to be the thousand dollar physical, but you should stop by. there is an economic incentive to do that. among males, black and white and hispanic, there is a notion of i don't want to be a cry baby and run off to the doctor every time. you want to be careful about that. he set up an environment, a culture of seeking care that we understand is just prevented it, preventative, just checking your blood pressure and cholesterol, keeping in the game. come on, i am not a crybaby, i am not going to run off to the doctor every two seconds. many of us are brought up in

those cultures where, especially among the men, at say, it don't do that. that could be shooting ourselves in foot. guest: on your point, one of the things that makes a difference for many cancers is early detection. early detection means that you have to visit the health-care system in some way, whether it is colonoscopy, breast exam, whether it is a cervical cancer test. these are important, and we know they can make a difference. , or did i put it o -- if people don't have access to health care, or they put it off, that can make a difference in outcomes. that may be one of the factors in this tremendous differential rate between blacks and whites. host: tennessee, good morning.

caller: back when i was a young we hadck in the 1960's, the power lines were we all were growing up at. they would spray them with some kind of spray. over a few years, i don't know if this spray got in the water system, we had hundreds of people who just got cancer and different things -- diabetes, heart problems. i have heart problems and diabetes. now what a is, but it just seems like people in the community in the last three years, 150 west died -- well,

not me, but anyway, we was just wondering if there was something in ithe spray acrobat 9 and a water system -- host: ok, thank you for the culprit could there be outside factors like that? -- thank you for the call. could there be outside factors like that? guest: there could be outside factors. at first i thought he was going to be radiation from -- he was going to be referring to radiation from the power lines. there is no conclusive evidence that that is the cause of disease. this is a significant role for the public health system, to investigate this and understand just what these causes are. it is one of the most difficult areas, i think, in epidemiology, to try to understand the role of these kinds of factors, because

the problems themselves, even though we all die, and a high percentage of us develop either heart disease or cancer, still, at younger ages, they are relatively rare. connecting these events with these environmental causes is a real challenge to the statistical sciences. but this is where public health comes in and research. host: one of the comments on the issue of public health is from our twitter followers on the issue of obesity. obviously, as we heard from the first lady, obesity is a huge and growing problem in the u.s. guest: the concern i have on that is there is many reasons people end up having obesity problems. genetics, other things.

underlying that is sort of a presumption that somehow, this is something that these folks control. some certainly do, but some don't. i would hesitate to use that kind of tool for this sort of situation. i think what i would not be surprised that we tended to see over time, especially as we know ithat health care spending continues to grow and things get tighter and tighter, is that there will be an emphasis on helping people through their entrance to lose weight. -- through their insurance to lose weight. the new health care reform bill had an option to differentiate things like premium costs. would you give non-obese people the " land of a good drivers discount on health insurance? -- the equivalent of a good drivers discount on health insurance? we might see things like that. if you don't smoke and keep your weight within a range or things

like that, he would get a break -- you would get a break? i think that is more and more feasible as time goes on. host: diane in california, good morning. caller: my god, it is like a marathon out here getting to a telephone line. host: you get your exercise that way. thanks for waiting. the forum is yours. caller: my comment references cancer, and i would like to see the president budget more towards cancer research. my son has metastatic melanoma, and has for years. he is 40 years old, he is educated by meet. -- by me. he is a lawyer, is working 12- 18-hour days, as great insurance. we have an oncologist in

california, and i'm to tell dr. ine marshhat two of my university of chicago graduate. -- are university of chicago graduate. you're welcome, sir. as i listen to you. -- it is great to listen to you. the and colleges to treating my son right now is on a new drug -- the oncologist treating my son right now is on a new drug which came out recently, which i believe the pharmaceutical company is urtext. this has not been clinically tested in numerous sightings, and my son currently is almost a dying of this drug. i know that, because it took care of my fiancee, a retired of capt., went to university of at california-san diego, died of liver cancer, but he lived

almost two years because of the treatment at the fantastic hospital and cancer center. host: let me use your experience and get a response from the doctors. it was at 40 years ago that president nixon declared war on cancer. from what you have seen with your own son and your peers, are we doing enough to battle the war on cancer? caller: the answer is now. we have lobbyists in washington, d.c., who are holding these companies in congress and these congressmen and women are voting for these and letting them come through, and these lobbyists are -- this particular drug will -- the companies will receive close to $1 billion, and it is $120,000 for four infusions over a three-month period. host: thanks for your call, thanks for sharing your story.

how do you respond to her point of view? guest: i used to be in the national cancer institute, more than 15 years ago. i used to look at the statistics. i kept wondering, with all the effort we're putting into it, when are we going to start to see some of these turnaround? in the last 15 years, many of these have started to turn around. there has been a lot benefit that clearly goes to science in general that comes from this. the chart that we showed on hiv -- the major benefits and treatment was started by the national cancer institute. there are lots of benefits that come from it. she really asked, though, a policy question, and really, i would turn to mike for a policy answer. host: in terms of the a number of things she brought up there, the funding and how that works, candidly, we talked earlier

before about the area of international comparisons. when you look at -- i cannot think of the last time i heard of a breakthrough that came out of the nih equivalent in germany, france, italy, spain, any of those. the americans are clearly making a significant investment. nih is sort of the tool in the crown in many ways of what goes on in federal government spending and development. there was a little bit in terms of the diane's question that gets to the cost of the drugs. i don't think anyone has ever accused fba of moving too quickly -- fda of moving too quickly and pushing something out due to political pressure. i have not heard it, i have not seen it. i think they are very cautious about how they do these things and very clear before they go forward. she has a good point about the

idea that you have a clinical trial and it has maybe 500 people in it and it does not have a significant number children or elderly or people with different things. you really don't find out some of these effects until you get to a broader population. host: let's conclude where we began with these figures, from the 1940's. the average age, living to 65. 60% of americans were approaching 85% of those 65 and older. guest: these figures are actually the key measures for the country of its health status. even though we are not getting into the great detail, these are the figures that are really used to compare the hell in this country versus canada, england, -- health in this country versus canada, england, france and so forth. we really have made tremendous progress, at no question about it. but when we cut it, we see that there are racial the retz's,

differences -- racial differences, and differences might economic status, some of that -- a significant challenges. even though we have made progress, there are still major concerns with a number of diseases, at a is a major challenge. host: dr. edgar sondik is the director of the national center for health statistics, and michael o'grady is at the university of chicago research center. thank you for being with us. before we take a short break, we want to let you know the latest on the unemployment rate. we talked about it in our first 45 minutes on "washington journal." no change. the unemployment rate for the month of august, 9.1%, a drop from 9.4% last december, but as we heard from the white house yesterday, the administration expects the rate to hover around and% through the next year. there has been some increase in jobs in the health-care

industry trade government employment continues to trend downward. no change in manufacturing and non-from a payroll. all this and more on c-span.org. we will have coverage of the president's speech as he addresses a joint session of congress. that will take place thursday, 7:00 eastern time, on c-span and c-span radio. coming up, the director of the national weather service as we look at factors in the aftermath of hurricane irene. why was the national weather service form and how does that impact your lives? we are back in a moment. >> this weekend, three-day holiday weekend on booktv. former new orleans mayor ray nagin's account of the store

after the storm. racial politics and the first african-american president could live on sunday, three hours "in depth." former editor and columnist for "newsweek" magazine, ellis cose. booktv.org -- weekend schedules in your in box. >> he is a partisan guy who wants to unite people. all the problems of the air wrote you get from the sky, and why we cannot elect him is the same reason we went to war. they cannot be resolved. >> he had the misfortune of running against a great military hero, dwight eisenhower. i don't think there was really any way that adlai stevenson could have won. >> you think of al smith in 1928, lost to herbert hoover,

but paved the way for franklin roosevelt. there are 14 at people in this series, many of them i guarantee he words may never heard of, and all of them, i can pretty much guarantee they will find interesting to fascinating, and certainly surprising. and history professor at jean baker, realclearpolitics editor carl cannon, an historian richard norton smith talked about the man who ran for president and lost. it is a preview of "the contenders," a series beginning friday, september 9. >> machiavelli -- i doubt that there are many in this town who would like to describe themselves as machiavellian.

yet many of them read "the prince" secretly at night at it, but not many at would call themselves machiavellian. >> sunday night, author miles j. unger argues that machiavelli's theories may have been a response to the corruption around him. sunday at 8:00 on "q&a." >> "washington journal" continues. host: today we conclude our week-long series on weather t. yesterday we learned about the role of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration did today, the national weather service. its director is jack hayes. some background on the service. it takes -- it dates back to 87, when ulysses grant

authorized the establishment of the national weather service. dr. hayes, that you for being with us. what is the mission at the national weather service? guest: every year, 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 11 tropical storms that become hurricanes, 5000 floods. our job is to detect these extreme weather events in time to alert americans so they can take action to protect life and property. host: how long have you been with the national weather service? guest: since the year 2000. i retired from the air force in 1998, did two years in the private sector, and then joined noaa in summer 2000. host: let's look at what happened with her caurricane ire

as it went up the east coast. as we see from these crabs, it is pretty much right on, because it affected the. you expected to hit. guest: our job is to other americans that as far in advance as we can. preparing for a hurricane is not something you do in an hour or two. our job is to to board up windows. with regard to a ring, we get the track pretty much stop on-- with regard to irene. it headed north into new york city. we made good progress in track forecasting over the past 10 to 15 years. it is not have the same effect on the intensity of the storm s. host: the weather channel uses

your information. we get some much from outside sources. guest: we work in partnership with private sector companies like the weather channel. national weather service collects the information with a fleet of geostationary and polar orbiting satellites, with airplanes that fly into a storms. we have sophisticated models on high performance computing. they help us and we do need the private sector in alerting americans. one thing the weather service does is to work with emergency management community to prepare communities to take necessary action. the private sector and public sector are required to better protect americans.

host: if you have a question about how you get your weather information, our guest is dr. jack hayes who is the director of the national weather service. our phone lines are open. out west, -- these of the phone numbers. nine national centers for environmental protection. host: break those numbers down. guest:122 forecast offices. these are well trained meteorologist who understand the local a fax that typography, the density, the population. they form populates --

partnerships. you have to have those partnerships and you have to have the understand to convert the knowledge that we have into s.tion or into forecastin so that would be our forecast officers. we have 13 forecast centers that are aligned with river basins across the united states. i do not think i am saying much to you or to the public about the threat that floods have had. having a river forecast center in your local region has helped us with the floods that we saw in north dakota, but the lower mississippi, the ohio river valley, and certainly last weekend with hurricane irene and the devastation it did in vermont. we have specialized, precise

science. our storm prediction center focuses on hurricanes and tropical cyclones. with a prediction center in boulder, colorado. many people may think that the sun does not affect us, but we're finding that the satellites and the disturbances on the sun can have a devastating effect on the lives of americans. we had a star back in the mid 1850's were a telegraph operators were shocked by currents that originated from the sun. host: we will get to your phone calls. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. the national weather service is in the top three with the cdc

and you become third. without the national weather service -- i was here during the hurricane. when you get the warning, a possible tornado, the weather channel and me and my family would not have been prepared. i want to thank you for that. with earthquakes in alaska and there was a tsunami. i do not see it on the news or anybody talking about it. could she give us some information -- could you give us some information? guest: thank you for the complement. it's good to get the kind of feedback. it's nice to get a measure of appreciation. with regard to the earthquake this morning, the geological survey detecting the seismic event, we had put out an alert

and warned americans along the coast of alaska, the pacific northwest. it did not take up much longer toth the array of bowuoys use our models to determine that the threat was not there of a tsunami, so we council that warning. within tens of minutes. we did have a warning out. my guess is you did not see it on the news because from the time the event occurred to the time we determined there was no threat, there wasn't enough time to get it to the news media. caller: good morning. i often wonder about the difficulty in predicting these storms. i am a scientist. i was wondering if there is enough information from the thermal energy that these storms

are picking up generally from the ocean and we're tracking these systems. i know there is a satellite tracking right now. how do you feel about that? guest: you know more about that than the average person because you were on the mark with your concerns. problems with intensity are related to what is going on at the ocean's surface and what is going on with the firewaeye wal cloud of the hurricane. what we have is a program within noaa today where we're using satellite data and we fly noaa airplanes into storms like irene with greater and sophisticated systems to collect information on the structure of

the eye wall. we drop these instruments that measure pressure, temperature, and wind down to the surface and in some cases we will drop a sample or measure the ocean temperature and other things that we use in our research programs. we want to understand what is going on and translate that into a model that our forecasters can use to better predict intensity. host: vista, california. good morning. caller: i think this is a great thing that we have all of this because you can pretty much plan your day by it. ever since i first saw this up in northern california, quite a few years back. i heard something about the air controllers were having trouble

because these windmills putting out false weather patterns. i don't think they are false. the more windmill's we get, i think you will see a big change in the weather. host: do windmills affect the forecast? guest: our ability to affect severe weather. a challenge we face -- we have a national network of radar. the energy reflects back off a storm. it can also reflect off a flock of birds and off of the turbine. we're working with communities and with the private sector that put these windmills out there to make sure they did not have a negative ability on our ability

to affect weather. i am sure the presence of a windmill may alter the immediate vicinity of the turbine itself. my sense is that is not a major threat to me. host: the website is nws.gov. to 1870.back caller: i have two >> questions for your guest. -- i of two quick questions. noaa has released a public list of programs in the western states, 66 of them on the current list. i was wondering why the national weather service was not letting people know that these whether modifications before rain and snow were ongoing in the western

states. a member of nasa has been noting that contrails from his studies are exacerbating global warming. i was wondering what the national weather service was not noting the aviation impact from the increased -- from aviation in the weather reports. guest: i guess i will talk to the second one first and maybe you could give me a refresher on your first question. let me go to the first question. we are an operational agency and our focus is taking the information we collect and translating into a forecast and warning that can better protect americans and their property. there are research entities within noaa and the federal

government. i know that the federal government has some interest in weather modification back in the 1960's. to my knowledge, we have not embarked on any weather modification programs. that is why you are not seeing things from our web site. is to protectast americans. in terms of contrails, your question is better post to a climate researcher. you hear different opinions. some say the presence of contrails will reflect more sunlight back to space and have a cooling effect. others say that these humidity will trap more kheat in the lower part. i tend to focus on the warnings and that is where our expertise is. host: can you find a historical

weather data on your site? guest: oh, yes. there is a storage place and the everov, mission goes back decades if not over 100 years. host: tracy is joining us with jack hayes, the director of the national weather service. caller: i wanted your personal opinion about those areas. how we've cut back things that would protect those areas. doesn't it seem foolish that we spend so much money redoing, correcting -- we've put so many people out of different homes. i am speaking about new orleans. it happens all the time. should those people be living in that area?

guest: i think as a citizen of the united states, anything that noaa or the federal government can do to better plan committees to avoid the impact that extreme weather bank we cannot prevent what have is a value added. host: as will listen to sandra, let's agree to the mission statement for the national weather service. host: sandra, thank you for waiting. caller: we just went through tropical storm irene, which was downgraded, of course. but devastated the whole east coast mostly. people in vermont, people in

rehoboth, right from my area have gone without and gone without and we were ill- prepared. the national grid, they turned around and they were not there when they should have been, and the agencies were not there when they should have been. do something about it. put your voices together and your actions in the right places. we cannot do it. you can. do your jobs, please. that is what we need. i have handicaps at my house. host: do you have a generator? caller: yes. it cost us $1 an hour for the gas. there was one service station

open. we were in total darkness towards the end. some people right now have to go until sunday or more without water. host: thank you for the call. 13 communities in vermont have been isolated. there are places in new jersey and maryland without power and some may not get until the weekend. what are the lessons we can take away from hurricane irene in terms of these local communities? guest: every time we have a high impact weather event that is the united states, we do our best to forecast so that people can prepare. i want to tell everyone in the audience that we're going to do a national search assessment on what we did. we'll do that in partnership with fema and the army corps of

engineers. there are things i know we can improve. our commitment when we have a high-impact weather event, we go through this. what did we do well? our effort is to improve. we would like to be able to tell americans seven days in advance that there is a threat. that gives the power companies time to put in place the materials that there would be to restore power quickly. it gives communities emergency managers time to position storage in partnership with fema. i will tell you that i don't feel good when i hear stories like this. your situation is not unique. we are here to do our best for you. host: hurricanes are relatively easy to predict.

what have we learned over last 20 or 30 years in forecasting deadly tornadoes? guest: i can remember a time when we were unable to provide a warning until virtually we saw the tornado. americans had seconds or maybe minutes to prepare. with the doppler radar system, investment in models and some additional science training, our forecasters -- our average lead time is now 14 minutes across the nine states for a tornado. still not enough time. we had 25 to 30 minutes' warning on some of the alabama tornadoes. i am thinking of mississippi where there were 2000 teachers and schoolchildren and we got a warning before a tornado and

basically tore the roof off the school. they were able to get the students into the basement. we feel good when we have those kinds of days. i was down in alabama and saw the devastation that those tornadoes didn't on still and birmingham and the surrounding areas. people lost their lives. i don't feel good unless we have s anad not have any lives lost. i would like to do that for every tornado outbreaks. we have an aggressive program to try to attack that. it is not unique to the weather service. people should understand the threat and understand the warnings and take the appropriate action. host: the website is

weather.gov. joe is joining us. caller: my first question would be to c-span. why does c-span have not aired a show on mount top removing money that is occurring in southern west virginia and eastern kentucky. because the climatology and the effect it has on the change on the climate. my question to the german is, we -- my question to the gentleman, nouns for moved up to 800 feet in height, and with the change in the way this affects the weather in the appalachian mountains, is there any opinion that you have that this creates a problem for the economy, and dislike the national weather service is to protect the economy? i would like to know your opinion and what could be done about this.

i would like to ask c-span to do a program on a mountaintop removal and let the people know what is happening in west virginia. i love c-span. thank you. thank you for the suggestion. guest: i think, joe, the changing the typography in west virginia does have an effect on local when flow patterns and has an impact on precipitation rate. in some cases i could give you an example of where that would reduce the impact and other cases where it would enhance or make worse the impact. that is a small scale of fact. -- that is a small scale in feffect.

we do best predict the weather and provide specific warnings. host: jan is joining us in a los angeles. good morning. caller: it has been known for some time that climate scientists have predicted an increase in storm intensity and or frequency. is it the increase in intensity of storms that is predicted or the increase in frequency or both? what is your role in predicting this increase and helping our nation to deal with this increase? guest: the nature question is a climate research question. our role in climate prediction -- we have a network where we collect temperature, pressure,

minute, and we provide that to climate researchers. they use is to predict climate trends. in terms of our role in predicting, we have in the weather service one of our national centers, whose mission is to predict seasonal and variations and this is where york hurricane outlook comes from, where the winter season outlook comes from, the summer season outlook. in general, the limits of skill that we say is in the seasonal range and it is statistical measures that go out 60 to 90 days. this is an area where climate research will equip us with tools that we can honus in the same fashion that we can hone our shorter range skills.

i look for that in the decade ahead. host: our guests spent nearly 30 years in the navy. he studied at the u.s. naval academy and now is the director of the national weather service. we have a twitter follower. we're talking about a changing jet stream here. is that a factor? guest: our focus on a prediction -- i cannot say i have seen that myself. that is a subtle question i would look to a researcher. every year we see a variation from the previous year where you have patterns where the jet stream will dip for the south bring colder weather into the southern part of the country. other times it will be further north. it is difficult to say that. my air force friends would give

me a hard time -- host: i misread that. u.s. air force. thank you for that correction. totally my fault. john in new york. 20 years in the u.s. air force. caller: thank you for the early warnings we did get by wednesday or thursday i knew enough to get my fuel for my generator. i always have a year's supply of food in the house. we have walk-in coolers in the cellar. is there any way they could put telephone numbers -- i don't have a computer. i'm a disabled navy veteran. i had to call the airlines to try and get some type of information on the intensity of the storm, we were supposed to receive in terms of rainfall.

there was no way to call everyone. everybody has a website. we need telephone numbers on the screen. we don't all have computers. guest: if you could let us know what part of the nation you're from -- i didn't catch that in your remarks. host: upstate new york. guest: i could reach out and have them work because that is a concern we have. a large number of americans have a cell phones. a significant part does not have a cell phone nor a computer. host: can anyone issue 8 weather warning? guest: it comes solely from the national weather service. you do not want to of various people putting out a warning and then you have conflicting information.

we make great effort to ensure that we accurate communicate. we commuter it by modern technology with immediate so they understand the true nature of the warning. we use with our technology we can't to ensure a consistent message goes out. the confusion can cost lives host:. kevin from wilmington, north carolina. good morning. caller: i have a quick comment for the show and a question for the director. you had a project earlier this week. i love you guys to revisit that but this time with a positive side. my question for the director -- i stumbled upon a program up in calgary where planes were going up into thunderclouds and

dropping some kind of pellet to change the physical makeup of the storm and downsize the hell. this was being funded by insurance companies. i was wondering if he had any knowledge about where that stands today. thank you. guest: with regard to the question, there have been theories that you can populate a thunderstorm with things like silver iodide and it will attract the moisture in the cloud and spread it out, reduce the ability to form the helail. the research result of whether modifications are next. from our perspective, and we do not engage in weather modification, there is a downside to that, as well.

i don't think research can prove convincingly that if we're not engaged that might potentially make a storm worse. i think that is a concern i would have as a meteorologist. host: newark, new jersey, charles. please go ahead. caller: how are you doing? doing,ire, how are you going mr. hayes? my question is about -- host: we are getting some feedback. how do you share information with other countries? guest: it is free and open sharing. that has been the policy. it is important that we push that. when you are forecasting weather

24 hours in advance, you're not concerned with what goes on in china or russia. when you tried to push that out to seven or 10 days, it could affect us. that can better predict to create longer lead times on our forecast. host: one quick twitter question. guest: the hurricane center develops the names. i'm not sure of the coordination process. host: jack hayes, thank you for being with us. a short session of the house. live coverage here on c-span. the clerk: speaker's room, washington, d.c.,, september 2, 2011, i appoint the honorable mike fitzpatrick to act as

speaker pro tempore on this day, signed john a boehner. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our guest chaplain. the chaplain: god our father, you guide everything in wisdom and love. you are good and forgiving, full of love to all who call upon you. we now praise you for that love. and rejoice in your abundant blessing. you call us to grow in the knowledge of that love and invite us to receive your blessings. accept the prayers we offer for our nation, protect it and keep it ever in your sight. fill this house of representatives with your wholly wisdom, strengthen these representatives and their staffs as they labor for what is good and just.

may true harmony and justice be secured for all and may there be lasting prospering and peace. we ask this in your most holy name, amen the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 5 of house resolution 375, the journal of the last day's proceedings is approved. the chair will lead the house in the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. pursuant to section 4 of house resolution 375, no legislative business will be conducted on this day. pursuant to sections 3 and 4 of house resolution 375, the house stands adjourned until 10:00 in

the morning on tuesday, september 6, 2011. >> the house holds the session to prevent the president from making recess appointments. next thursday, president obama will come to capitol hill and will be unveiling his jobs plant to a joint session of congress. live coverage begins at 7:15 eastern, here on c-span. earlier today the jobs numbers were released for the month of august. the unemployment rate remains unchanged at 9 per one%. the first time the government has reported no net job change.

president obama heads to camp david and of a sunday trip to patterson, new jersey come with a look at some of the damage done by hurricane irene. the president will be in detroit for a labor day celebration. live coverage of that gets underway at 1:15 eastern and we'll have that for you on c- span. yesterday, ray lahood joined business and labor representatives to discuss ideas for creating jobs through infrastructure investment. the meeting took place at southern methodist university in dallas. this is one of a series of sessions. it is about 2 hours 25 minutes. ood. this by pressing council on jobs was created by president

obama. >> i have no position on who should win the game tomorrow ght. i am honored to be here. we are holding what we call listening sessions on particular issues. the issue we're talking about today infrastructure and its role in creating jobs and a competitive economy in the future. there is strong labor and business support for this. we have t donahue and the chamber is a supporter it infrastructure spending. i would like to think about the support. economists disagree on a lot of

thg, but there is overwhelming support to the view that spending on infrastructure is a very efficient way to create jobs. and it also creates an infrastructure base for the competitiveness thfor the econoy going forward. we welcome you today and we are here to say something about what we're thinking about. but our ideas are in development. we are set up as a council to give the advice. as we develop our advice, we will hear from you about your ideas about how we should be basically addressing infrastructure. some of the issues we have talked about you will hear today. and what infrastructure investment we ould be making. how shall we finance it? 3, related to that, the role of public-private partnership we just came from a pretty bad

at love field, a wonderful example of partnership between government and the private sector. it was a fantastic example. we talk about how projects should be chosen, the selection process by which projects should be chosen. financing, we talk about how we can move forward to get projects that are financed and permitted and on their way. these are things you hear about today. without further ado, let me introduce the panel. i have a very nice introduction for the president of smu. we will start with secretary lahood. he did a fantastic discussion this morning at love field. >> thankou, laura. [applause]

my first visit to your lovely campus, i was delighted that you had taken the time to be with us and to host to this and think you for your very warm welcome and to all of you who have an intere in putting americans back to work. my message is that, yesterday, we started off in the rose garden where president obama talked about the importance of congress when they come back next week, next wednesday, after the august work period, to come backnd pass an extension of the transportation bill and then pass a long-term bill. there is no dispute anywhere about the fact that, if congress were to pass the transportation bill, it would create jobs. the most lustrous way to say that is that the $48 billion that congress allocated over the last two years under the so-

called economic stimulus program we to the department of transportation. in two years, we took $48 billion and we created 15,000 projects and 65,000 jobs -- in two years. last summer, we saw an uptick in employment in the construction industry and all of you were very frustrated as you drove around your communities to see the orange cones. every time you see an orange cones or an orange grove, you know that your friends and neighbors are working in good paying jobs. congress needs to pass an extension. the current bill will run out on september 30 i. and the taxeto pay for it will run out on september 30. if that runs out, that means $100 million a day will be lost, never to be recouped, srting on october 1. what a tragedy.

we just came from a project at love field. they have gone back to love field and invested millions of dollars along with strong leadership from the city and a little bit of federal dollars that are collected on airline tickets to redo love field and make it into a magnificent facility that will serve the people of this region. and it has created 400 to 500 jobs. we saw the workers out there today. if we really want to get america to work, there are politicians, congressmen and senators, over the last month, running around their districts and their state -- in the state talking about jobs. jobs is the party of president obama. jobs is the party of this

administration. the way to create jobs is to come back to washington and do with these two gentlemen have done in a bipartisan way, setting aside politics, setting aside their own personal agendas, andaying to the american people that we will extend the current transportation bill and we will pass a five-year transportation bill with significant dollars that will put america back to work and create 1 million jobs in a very short time. i can go into a lot more detail and i know we will about how to pay for it, how much debate, but the simple solution to lowering unemployment and putting americans back to work is passing a transportation bill. next thursday, the president will go before a joint session of congress because he feels strongly that that is the best venue to talk to the american people by talking to their elected representatives and

saying to them forget about the aisles, forget about the divisions, for get about political parties. let's do what is right for america. let's put our friends and neighbors back to work. how do we do it? extend the current surface transportation bill, extend the taxes, and then pass a fit vision for america. the way other congresses have passed a a vision for america -- i serve congress for 14 years. i served in transportion with my good friend bernice johnson. we served together in the committee. the one thing has always been bipartisan in washington is infrastructure. it has always been bipartin. i served on the committee when we passed two bills 380 ves in the house -- there were 80 votes in the senate what bernice said at love field is that there are no republican roads and there are no democratic roa.

there are no republican or democratic produce. these are american roads and american bridges built by american workers. that is what we have to get back to washington, d.c. i will get into the specifics of how much and how we will pay for it. but i wanted to leave you with the idea that congress -- but i to leave you with the idea that congress can get this done. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. >> now what i want to turn over to the president of the afl-cio. rich, to you.

>> thank you for the introduction i want to thank presidt turner and smu for hosting us today on this beautiful campus. i want to thank all of you for being here. it is good to see you again, mr. secretary. i would like to thank you on behalf of all amecans for the leadershiphat you feel and the tecity and determination you have shown in this issue. it is always good to see you again, tom. i think it is appropriate that you are on my far left today. [laughter] >> actually, from out there -- [laughter] >> for you, there probably is the right side. let me start off by saying two $0.20 trillion, that -- two $0.20 -- $2.2 trillion, that is

what we need for our infrastructure. that is what is needed to maintain, to keep our 20th- century inheritance from falling apart. not to get ahead. we need another $2 trillion to enter the 21st century and to build a modern, clean energy infrastructure. weeed to invest hundreds of billions of dollars a year every year for the foreseeable future in infrastructure. instead, the united states is investing a little more than $50 billion per year in transportation infrastructure. our trade partners like china have been pouring investments into infrastructure. we do about two 0.4% of our gdp for infrastructure europe does about 5% of their gdp for infrastructure. china does about 9% of their gdp for infrastructure.

we are funding hours right now at the same level that we did in 1968 when our economy was one- third the size that it isoday and we had 100 million fewer people than we have today. what we're talking about is america's ability to compete in the global marketplace. if we want jobs in america, we have to be moving ahead of our competitors globally in our transportation, energy, telecommunications systems, not falling behind. yet here we are, business, labor, and government -- we all agree that there's no dispute about the need for infrastructure. and about the danger that it poses to our country if we do not do it. all we want to see is investment made yet this is not happening. we have a jobs crisis. there is massive work to be done to restore our competitiveness.

and unemployment in the construction industry is at historic highs. congress has yet to pass any major infrastructure builbill. key congressional leaders have made it cle that they are opposed to funding infrastructure. there is no profound -- there's no greater profound logjam in america than this right now the idea that the focal process to address our nation's fundamental needs is not just about our future competitiveness or about the potentialor job creation. the failure to repair our roads and bridges, our most basic infrastructure needs, is about to cost this country 630,000 jobs next year. if the surface transportation bill is not done, we will lose 630,000 jobs.

that is how many hardworking americans will be unemployed if congress fails to reauthorize the surface transportation act at current levels of expenditure. that is 490,000 workers in highway infrastructure and 141,000 workers in public transportation. at the end of this month, congress has anpportunity to reauthorized the surface transportation act and the federal aviation administration. without these, whose work the airplanes will not fly. we have to stop nickel-and- diming your country's public assets. the surface transportation reauthorization should be multi- year and the funding levels that are relevant to a $2.20 trillion

infrastructure deficit that keeps growing. that is what the president has asked for and that is what the country needs. we appreciate very much the leadership, but it will not happen unless those of us in is room, business and labor, getting serious about overcoming the partisan political art obstacles -- political obstacles that are standing in the way. that is why the afl-cio is committed to working with our pension funds, with project sponsors in the financial sector and the clinton global initiative to a list $10 billion in our nation's public infrastructure over the next five years. that is money we will invest and hopefully leverage with public-

propriorships that we saw at love field. the private efforts, quite frankly, cannot take the place of public leadership in infrastructure. the solutions we propose really must be on the same scale as the problems that will ultimately face. we can start by raising america's infrastructure grade point average from its current d gray, whi i believe is a national -- d grade, which believe is a national embarrassment. [applause] >> our last speaker of this

panel is tom donahue, the president of the u.s. chamber of commerce. i want to emphasize something about the president's council on jobs and competitiveness. it is a council that represents business and labor. there is a large number of very important leaders in the u.s. industry and u.s. labor involved in making these decisions. it is really wonderful today to have an opening panel where we have rich and tom coming together to talk about this very important issue. tom donohue, please. >> thank you very much. i'm very pleased to join others on this beautiful campus. coming out of washington, it sort of soothes the savage beach for a short time. yesterday, the president, with a rich and the chief operating officer of the chamber, began his push for getting the highway bill reauthorized. at the same time, he announced

after a little bit of jockeying around, that on the eighth of this month, he will bring out his jobs plan. a number presidential candidates in the other party are bringing out their plans. people that are not even running for office are bringing out their plans. yesterday, the chamber sort of began to show that jobs plan that we will bring out on labor day. by the way, there are six things we can do that any feder increase in federal funds that will immediately start putting things to work. that is what we need. right now, if you connected some momentum on this, we are in real trouble. so all the people that have put out their comments and their suggestions and all that will have as a part of that infrastructure. and that is because, whenou look at the unemployment rate in this count, we know that it is higher than 9.1% because you

have as partially employed and those who have stopped looking. but the people who are really hurting in this country are people who were building houses, building infrastructure, and doing that. they are 30% unemployment. if we're going to do something, that is exactly where we have to start. the real qstion is whether the benits? the benefits are clear. we put people to work. we make ourselves and far more competitive. we have to be careful of comparing e numbers. we started this was dwight eisenhower. the chinese started only a couple of years ago. they're moving really quickly. but we need to fix what we he. e only difference we will have -- and i will make a point about this in a moment -- image -- where will we get the money. there are five things we ought to do. first, we need to pass the

surface transportation reauthorization. i am concerned about doing a short term and then doing a long term. if you look at what will happen between now and the first of the year, we will have this whole deficit and debt group out doing their thing. everybody will be involved in that process. it will be very hard to get air time in the congress. this will not happen. but the right thing to do next week is pass a long-term bill. we ought to just do it because that will send the message. whenou send a message to the states and to the local community that we just passed a three-month bill and we want 25% from the money from the states and 25% of the money from the cal communities, they're not sure they're putting up their money until they know the federal is in it for the long time. we also need to lock opportunities of global capital investment in this whole system. i think the secretary has

mentioned that. rich and i talk about it all the time. reduce support and infrastructure bank. but that is a year or two years in the making. by the time everybody figures out how they will fund and what the rules are, what we need to do is right now. if we ever had the courage to go out d do this immediately, -- i even get in trouble on this -- we have not increased the federal fuel tax 18.5 years. we're getting a little bit more miles to the gallon than we used to. we ought to do it because that will put incremental money into the set -- into the system. you went down to love field. that is a gre place. aviation is important. we put 88,000 people out of work when we could not get that bill taken care. and there are some issues in that bill which you and i would argue about. but we want to put those people back to work and get some more people to work and stop letting

that money go down the street because we failed to collect it. we're big on that. another place where there's a lot of money and there's all kinds of technology -- is there and it is cheaper -- we have to modernize the air traffic control system and that is more jobs. something the people do not talk about in the infrastructure system is water. we need to renew the water resources development act. it is unbelievably critical to this country. new york city, in some cases, not many, but it makes retelling, are still running on wooden pipes. we need to get under this water thing because it is a serious problem all run the country. although, now we have a lot more water than we did before following the events of last week. and we need to fully use our harbor manus trust fund and leverage private activity bonds water is a great thing for this country and will create a lot of

jobs. people talk about rearail. the freight rail system in this country is run by the private sector and they run it very, very well. they spend unbelievable amounts of capal every year keeping it up. there is an opportunity to get them -- in many places -- we have to build another railroad right ne to the one we have. there are some tax things we can do over time to get that don sooner. i would say one other thing. broadband, everything i have learned about it is that it is a ve important thi t do, but we ought to let the private sector do it. i am making all these comments so i can get to the real issue. for us to create jobs and do something critical in this country is to expand the electrical grid and to approve e keystone pipeline project. that will put two hundred 50,000

people to work right away. to move forward -- you probably do not know this -- rich and i do -- there are 351 stalled ener projects in this country that have been held up by permitting and "not in my yard" and "not in my town" and "not in my country. process ising insane. if you want to create a lot of things in this country, build the buildings, building the roads, you could spend six years to seven years permitting. for what? we're willing to give up the few jobs and get your permits to do less things but me and by saying that we have been working on a project athe chamber and it is a transportation performance index. it looks at all of these issues of infrastructure and

transportation, energy, and so on. it can calculate, based on the health of our system, what will happen to our gdp. woulwill it go up or down? if it goes up, we hire more people. if it goes down, we hire fewer people. thank you very much. i look forward to the discussion. [applause] >> let me say a few things before i opened it to discussion turned there are -- to discussion. there are many things in the subgroups. when the president was speaking, he also noticed the council engagement on this issue. the administration is now working on identifying priority projects that have already been financed. the financing is available but held up somewhere in the permitting process.

we will expedite -- the administration will be expediting the projects and also introducing a dashboard for interested individuals to actually follow the permitting process. e administration feels that the council has made a recommendation that can be actionable and have some of the emitted a fax that tom was talking about. so permitting is an important thing to discuss here. financing is an important thing to discuss here. public-private partnerships and how they were, how they can be formed is an important thing to discuss here. ani think i want to start with that set of ideas, opening it up for questions. remember that these are meant to be listeningessions. you have heard from us. you have listened to this group could the way, one other thing. infrastructure is more tn transportation. right now, we have the surface

transportation bill that is imminent. but broadband, energy, aviation, water, school construction, building and safety -- there are a lot of important areas in infrastructure. the next panel will be looking at more detail in some of these specific areas. let me open for questions. i will start right over here. this is becky mueller. >> i am the president of the texas afl-cio. welcome to our state, those of you who came from out of town. i would not be surprised to find that the field trip would be to love field. we have had a long time relationship with southwest airlines. i am not surprised the that is where we were this morning. t i pleased to see you three up there. business and the obama administration working together tha.

in texas, our unemployment tuation is not as good as you see on the national tv. we do have 30% folks out of work in some industries. we have some folks, as always, who have fallen off the road. our numbers sound good if you look, but when you look deeper, we have families that are hurting turn we have families -- that are hurting. we are families who have difficulty feeding and clothing their children going back to school. it makes my heart feel good that we're seriously talking about this bipartisanship. but i have one question. how do we do it quickly? we talk about these families were school is started and they cannot fight -- cannot buy food and clothing. how do we break the logjam in washington, d.c. how do we work together all up and down? you can come from b.c. and say that you three are walking, but

how do we get to bernice johnson talking to the other folks who do not care about infrastructure? how do we get that to happen? what is the magic answer? i would like to ask each of you? how can we help you make it happen? what can we do to help you? >> i happen to agree that we should separate the things we can do very quickly. we get some motion and some momentum and things will happen. i think we should take -- particularly on the infrastrture side -- the things that we can do and do the right now. i agree. i listen to the people in the affected committees on both sides of their talking about how soon they could move this and what they have to do. i did not hear a great sense of urgency. the plan that we will put out on labor day with a lot of ads around the cntry will suggest that the 3 million companies in america that can be reached my

want to call their congressman and tell them that may have noticed -- not noticed -- that this is very important. i think the hard thing for people is to separate what they can do in a big hurry and go do it. it is only a portion. if you put that on the blocks and start moving and bring everhing along behind it. >> thank you, tom. i appreciate that. i to -- i truly agree with that. the country has a 25 million people either unemployed or underemployed. those 25 million people need services. they are not contributing right now. they have to take right now. we have stagnant wages. we have a lot of people who have lost faith in washington, d.c. as a solution. we have one in five of our children living in poverty.

and that figure is growing. if you're in the african- american community, it is three times that level. if you're in the latino community, it is three times that level. so there is a crisis out there. for the last 20 some years, when it came to infrastructure, there has never been a bipartisan fight over it because it is a no-brainer. it is absolutely essential for the country. it is absolutely essential for us to remain competitive. and by not fixing it this year, you make it more difficult and more costly to fix it next year. and if you do not fix it xt year, it gets more costly the year after that. and the figures go up until they boggle the mind. i say $2.2 trillion and people

say, oh, my god, that is a lot of money. it is a lot of money. and if we do not tackle it next year, it will be even more expensive. and we will be less competitive. talk to your representatives. state, local, federal representatives, and tell them, for the good of the country, come together and create jobs. but the infrastructure. there is no business that can compete with infrastructure falling down. tom's members get further and further behind every year if we do not fix this stuff. so it is up to us to come together and say enough. let's attack the real problem that we have. it i a jobs crisis. if we do infrastructure, we do the faa, we do the stuff about water that tom talked about -- we lose hundreds of millions of gallons of clean water every day because the systems that

they're traveling over right now let them go. so taxpayers pay to clean the water and then it trysts back out and gets lost. if we do not something with infrastructure in the next 15 years, it will cost taxpayers about $3.10 trillion in increased cost. we can do better than this. talk to your representatives. tell them that the time is past talking. come back and do what has been done for the past 30 years. with surface transportation, with a a, with clean water, and others, -- with faa, with clean water, and others, we will be much better off. >> is there a chance of getting a long term bill right away? on the traportation side? >> i think that the president

will stick to what he was saying yesterday for the congress to pass a short-term extension. the current bill runs out and the taxes to pay for it run t on september 30. as was mentioned, senator boxer and another senator had a two- year bill. congressman mike the, the chairman of the transportation committee in the house, has a bill pending, which has not been considered by the house. given the fact that there is so little time in september when congress will be in session due to the number of days that they will be working, it will be more realistic to pass a short-term extension and work on the long term bill through the months

that the extension is going on. i would not add anything in answer to the question. thank you for the question. i really cannot add anything to what rich and tom said. >> i would add a point to what was sa before. working with a number -- working with the jobs council, the administration has really focused on the issue of expediting what is already there. i do think that we will make some real progress on taking some very important projects that have been judged as priority for creating jobs, creating competitiveness, and have financing in place and expediting them through the permitting process. i agree that we have to do everything as quickly as we can. it is the immediate issue and then there will be $2.2

trillion that we are under investing. we have to do two things of the me time. back there. >> i live here in dallas. mr. secretary, thank you for your leadership. mr. donahue, i agree with you could i think it is time to look at the gas tax. when people were voting, they have agreed to tax themselves for transportation. this is day 3000 company industry. it is about jobs. it is ironic. no, it is tragic. at a time when we have a lot of people unemployed, they need mass transit to get to work.

tax drives companies away from this industry. we have invested more toward growth outside the u.s. than in the u.s. simply because the unpredictability of the short- term funding mechanisms that we are working with. again, i would like to ask the question- i do not think washington hears us. i do not think washington is listening. use a talk to our elected representatives. what more can we do to get attention? >> i served in congress for 14 years. i do believe that your elected representatives have -- i do not believe they have all been back in their districts during the month of august. i know many of them have had town meetings and many have been listening to their constituents. i believe that most people are

concerned about jobs. i think it is uppermost in the minds of people all over america. everybody in america knows somebody that is out of work. everybody in america has a friend, a neighbor, or a relative that is out of work. that is why i is such a serious issue. that is why i do think that, when members of congress come back, they will be paying attention to the idea that they have the opportunity to help create jobs in america. that is why the president wanted to talk directly to the members of congress next thursday night, a week from tonight. about the issue of jobs and what his proposal is and what his vision is. and then let congress have the debate, as they he always done, and ss a bill that will put americans back to work. on the issue of the gas tax, i will tell you this.

the president has sai, from the first day i started this job, which was january 23, two days after the president was sworn in, there was a very bad economy and unemployment and 9%. it is very difficult for the president to be proposing an increase ithe gas tax when people are really hurting. that is what the president has taken the position that he is not in favor of raising the gas tax. but he is willing to work with congress on finding ways to fund the things that we need to do, the big things, the big projects. the president has proposed an infrastructure bank, which is a mechanism where you can have a pot of money that leverages a lot of oth money, doing what they are doing at love field, leveraging private money against public money. doing what they're doing in denver, where was yesterday at the inauguration of a $3 billion transit program with six lines

that connect six suburban areas into grand central station in denver and also >> people from the airport which is all the way at in kingman that -- in kingdom come all the way into denver. this is a classic example of a public-private partnership. again, public-private partnership. the idea that the president is in -- is against increasing the gas tax, which he h been very consistent about, is also coupled with the idea that he has put out some ideas about how we leverage some of our federal dollars against private dollars against state dollars and against municipal dollars. this is a very bad time to be talking to people, many of whom who have been unemployed for way too long, about raing the gas

tax. that is why the administrion has taken that position. >> we thought also that people in washington were not listening. so the afl-cio arranged over 500 events out in the field during the recess where our members and townsfolk came together, union and non-union people came together, and talked about jobs, jobs, jobs to our elected representatives. is there a town hall meetings o at other events that they were having -- either at town hall meetings or at other events that they were having, we met up and said, look, while you are fiddling around, people are turning. we ought to do better than this. this was at home while they were back at their constituents. we hope it will have some positive effect and have some small contribution and break in the logjam in getting some of these things done that will

benefit the country. and put people back to work very quickly. >> i just want to make one point. we're talking about jobs and infrastructure. many cities have been done on st effectiveness in spending a dollar per job created. it is a very cost-effective way of creating jobs. it is important for uto focus on jobs, no doubt. but we have to focus also on the efficien of the measures ar used to create them. this is a measure that economists have lots of lots of studies to support it. you get a big bang for your infrastructure balk. -- infrastructure buck. you heard about spending more on the onset of the u.s. than

inside. this leads to the desirability of creating an infrastructure bank. there are big pool of foreign money out there that would like an opportunity to invest in u.s. infrastructure. we do not have the modality to allow that right now. we are missing out on a great opportunity. you hear about that in the next session. >> my name is bernard weinstein. i am an economist with the mcgwire energy group. of all the things i have heard mentioned today, i want to endorse mr. don hughes idea about the keystone pipeline. this is a keep peace of mr. structure -- key piece of infrastructure. i do not believe it requires any taxpayer money. it will supply of oil from

alberta, a friendly nation, to refineries along the gulf coast. economic secury and energy security will be much better off buying our oil from alberta rather than buying it from venezuela. last week, one hurdle was jumped. i believe the state department approved it, but there are other permitting issues. i want to emphasize that is absolutely critical and needs to go forward as soon as possible. >> thank you. thank you for that. yes, right over there. he is bringing a microphone down. could you introduce yourself? >> my name is rob frank.

i am chair of the coalition. we have a 28-mile section that is part of the highway program. we have $192 million of locally generated money to fund this project -- no state money and no federal money. we are pursuing this as a public-private partnership. what is the policy and the perspective regarding low- interest loans to help close the gap in advance in projects like this that is five to 10 years of construction jobs? >> if this is a perfect project, -- this is a perfect project for the infrastructure bank. it really is. it is perfect when there is a surface transportation bill for bed and bernice to make it known. it is the kind of investment locally necessary. i have no doubt tt, if there

is a transportation bill, this project will become a high priority and you will be able to leverage federal dollars. right now, you cannot do it because we are operating on these short-term extensions. but once we have a bigger vision, a big plan, and other surface transportation program, a project like this will go forward. that is the reason we need them. i think there will be a number of ways for you to leverage federal dollars to make this project happen, which i know is very important. toiously, you do not need lobby your own congressman. she is once -- in such a great sition on the transportation committee and has worked so hard alread this year to persuade her chairman to move the bill. once the bill is passed, you will be in a good position. you will be well positioned to leverage some federal dollars.

>> yes, back there. >> my name is breadbox. -- my name is greg bachs. can you tell us what the chances are of high-speed rail in texas and would avert possible new positions that might create? >> high-speed rail is coming to america. there is no stopping it. we have made $10 billion plus worth of investments in high- speed intercity rail. all federal money. that is $10 billn plus more than has ever been invested in high-speed intercity rail ever in the history of our country. it is thank you to the vision of president obama pick this is something that he -- vision of president obama.

this is something that he feels very strongly about. the lion's share of the money, over $3 billion, has been invested in california, where they will really have high-speed rail. it will connect the state and the trains will go over 200 miles an hour. we have made investments in the midwest, a train from detroit to chicago to st. louis. those investments are fixing up tracks along an amtrak quarter. we have made huge investments in the northeast corridor. i am very happy that the state of tex recently accepted high- speed rail money. there was not a big announcement about it, which is fine with us. we are glad texas is in the ball game, one of the largest states in the country ought to get into the high-speed rail business, connecting houston and dallas. it is a greatroject. we could not have done what we have done in america without our friends in the freight rail business.

matt and others in e freight rail business have been great partners and will continue to be great partners. we do not have enough money i this country to build all new infrasucture. we need our friends in the freight rail business so we can make investmen to fix of tracks, to use those tracks, so that trains can go faster because we do not have the money. we are being out-compet by europe and asia and those of you who go to europe and asia and come back and ask why we do not have passenger trains in america. because we have never made the investment. this is the president's vision. it is a vision that has never been articulated in america before, except on the northeast corridor. people love to ride trains there. the day after the storm hit, you could not buy a seat on amtrak on the northeast corridor. people love to ride trains. texas is getting into the passenger rail business. that is thanks to rail

enthusiast in this state and i want to congratulate. we want to be your partners and passenger rail is coming to texas. >> the last question is over here. >> i am mike davis. i am on the faculty here. i appreciate your comments about bipartisan roads. but i have to observe that bipartisan roads need to be built in places like west virginia and other places where congressman are very powerful. this is not to make a starkey comment. i believe you all are very sincere in wanting infrastructure money to be spent wisely. but what assurances can you give us about what moneys will be spent and that they will be spent on projects that really need funding and not on projects that support a particular congressmen or sound really sexy like high-speed rail? >> because we are in the era of

earmarks in washington, d.c. we are. there are no more earmarks. when the next transportation bill is written, it will not have earmarks. the president is not for earmarks. congress -- most mbers of congress are not for your marks. senator byrd is no longer serving in the senate, in case you have not heard that. [laughter] and we are in a new era in america. note iraq's -- no earmarks in appropriations bills or infrastructure bills. they will be approved on their merit, not because they have a powerful congressman. >> if you look at the fures, texas got the laest share of the stimulus money. this state that more money than anybody else. i do not know if that is because of your present the tips or

because bobby is no longer with us. but i think that is a good thing. a large portion of t texas economy is pumped by federal dollars with defense and forts and all the mility bases that are here, pumping money from the to the government into the state economy, making it grow and allowing it to survive. i do tip my hat off to you for one very important thing. a number of years ago, you decided to do some very stringent regulation of mortgages for consumers, may be the strongest in the country. that helped you weather the storm. you did not take the hit from the bad mortgages that a lot of other states did because of the strong regulation you had. and i really take my hat off to you for that. >> let me just make one comment. i do think the secretary is right. i do not know what congress will

do without earmarks. they will call it something else. [laughter] >> spoken as true washington senate. [laughter] -- a true washington cynic. [laughter] >> we will see. but i think there is a real serious issue and i think rich and i agree on this. we have to make the right decisions on where we need to put infrastructure for a totally interconnected countrywide transportation system. at the same time, there are massive pockets of unemployment. the question is, as -- we all started our comments on jobs. if i have five things i can do with whatever money i have available and i have i'm for free, will i start in a place where the greatest number of jobs are needed?

in this industry. that will be a real challenge. >> i think we're about to shift to the next panel. we have time for continuing questions there. i ask everyone to give a round of applause for our panelists. [applause] and now i will invite up to moderate robert wolfe, my colleague on the president's counci he is president of the investment bank of u in the united states. i have worked with him for the past few years. he is no more passionate advocate for public-private partnerships. thank you so much for your time. [applause] >> we will keep moving right into the next panel. myame is donwhile robert i makiy

up to the lectern and as they get the stage prepared, i thought it would be useful for folks to understand what this jobs council is doing and why we're actually here. the jobs council was created because the president saw there was a need in this country. we have all seen where the economy has gone. he believes clearly that we need to focus all of our time and attention on job cation and get people back to work all across the country. the president has said this before and he is convinced and i think all of us who work in the administration are convinced that we will not be satisfied until every american that wants to work is able to get a job somewhere across the country. so the jobs council was created to provide direct guidance by some of the leaders from labor, from business, for macadamia on ideas that will -- from academia and ideas that will

help us continue to be the leader across the world. we have a wonderful group of folks who will be on the next panel led by robert wolfe, a good friend and leader in his own the bright -- in his own right. he is chairman of ubs americas. he is one of, if not the, for most leader in infrastructure investments and the financing of infrastructure in the country. we appreciate all that you have done and that ups has done to make sure that this is an issue that is in the forefront of everything we do. thank you, robert. [applause] maybe i could ask everyone to come up. obviously, we had quite a passionate panel.

if that group was set the smu game, there is no question who would win that. but i want to thankohr, who has en my colleague on this for many years. i want to thank you for opening of this great session could dr. turner, we want to actually thank you for hosting us at peaceful smu. and we also want to thank the staff from both bmsf and southwest airlines for doing the day-to-day work in putting this together. thank you all. over the past three years, the president's council on johnson competitiveness, as well as the president's -- on jobs and competitiveness, as well as the economic council, we have received a grading.

over $2 trillion in investment is needed over the next five years. that just begins to address this problem. as laura stated,conomic models indicate that a dollar spent on infrastructure actually boost spending of gdp by 1.6 times. it is one of the larger multipliers on gdp and unemployment than any of the kind of spending we do in this country. in fact, the milton institute estimates that, for every dollar spent, every billion dollars spent on infrastructure actually leads to approximately 25,000 jobs. it may not be -- there may not be an industry that surpasses that. we know that the recent market volatility and budgetary pressures we face today has forced us to seek alternatives in financing to address this problem. many believe, myself included,

that the creation of a national infrastructure bank or a financing authority would greatly improve our nation's ability to attract private- sector debt and equity capital to help raise these important private capital is willing to fill the infrastructure gap where other funding sources. the burdenannot be on federal funds. actually, many industry consultants predict there is almost $150 billion of equity capital targeted for infrastructure and over $100 -plus billion has been raised to date. it is important to align with long-term private investment that we have with workable, regulatory structure. the u.s. could take critical first steps towards attracting

this capital to rebuild our infrastructure. while the details of a national infrastructure bank or financing authority continue to be worked out and debated, i think we can all agree that we should have a broad approach and funding projects in areas such as transportation, energ electricity, water and wastewater and telecommunications and broadband. these would have national significance. decisions would have to be merit-based using a cost-benefit analysis conducted by experts in the industry, not by politicians. to achieve these goals, it's crucial that a national infrastructure bank be chartered with a clear mission, strict operational guidelines and frps via regulatory reporting. it would be complementary to

funding programs to infrastructure. we aren't looking to take anything away, but looking to alleviate the burdens we have today and add to this growth. it would have to be policy-driven and aims would be such as releaving congestion, improving mobility, improving transportation networks or increasing national and regional and national competitiveness and add to jobs. the aim of this panel discussion that we are about to start is really to hear from key decision makers and thirst about the state of our country's infrastructure and their views on how to address it. the first group will be the aviation sector and maybe i can -- [laughter]

>> i have a few quees for each panel and open it up afterwards. first with aviation, we have gary, gary serves as the chairman of the board, president and c.e.o. at southwest airlines. southwest airlines is celebrating 38 years of consecutive profitability. i may be off, maybe 39 and was named number one for customer satisfaction by the department of transportation. next to gary is the first chief federal tech nick call officer for the united states and promoting technical innovation to help our country meet its goals and make government more efficient, and transparent. a few questions. the u.s. aviation industry has struggled for several reasons, including an inefficient air

traffic control system and insufficient progress with modernization. gary, to start with you. could you give us background on next-generation air traffic control system and why is it so important? >> i would love to. [laughter] >> i have to chase down mr. secretary and tell him i can get him from dallas to houston in an hour. [laughter] >> first of all, it's a pleasure to be here and thanks for moderatingur session here. our council is on jobs and competitiveness. i would turn that around. i think if we, as americans and as business, if we want to generate jobs, we need to start with competiveness and every day that's what we do when we come to work. at southwest, we are competing to customers, what is our

competitive advantage and how are we going to make that happen. all this discussion, i think, is framed around that and that's the way we should be thinking about it. infrastructure, obviously, is worth while in generating jobs while we are building a new terminal at love field. if nobody flies out of love field, it is wasted. we need to be investing in infrastructure that will be used and generate a return. and in the case of the air traffic control system, i'm sure you all know the air traffic control system in the united states of america has fallen behind. we are using 1950's technologies and techniques to rte aircraft, aircraft zigzags through the sky. it wastes a tremendou amount of time.

it burns a tremmedous -- tremendous of jet fuel and modernization is long past. our best estimates are thate could improve the efficiency of the system by at least 15%. and over the last 15 years you have seen air travel decline in large part because energy prices have gone up, which, in turn, have caused air fares to go up and if there is a discretionary product or service, i can assure you it is travel. as costs have gone up, fewer people are flying than they were a decade ago. if we want to create jobs, our best idea to offer the jobs council is to modernize the air traffic control system because, number one be, it will reduce energy consumption, which is ceainly good. that is good for not only the

economy, but it's good for the environment and all of that will lead to better employment. so it's hard to find a reason why we should not modernize the air traffic control system. the other thing i would say is that while we need to do and make the investments for surface transportation that were being discussed previously, you're talking about a massive amount of money. hundreds of billions of dollars. you don't need that to modernize the air traffic control system. in fact, most commercial airliners are equipped today to take advantage of next generation air traffic control. the f.a.a. h what it needs in terms of gadgets and stware to take advantage of the next generation of air traffic control. we simply need to get it don so a focus, almost like the

pipeline discussion, except better, because you don't need to make much more investment, as we need to get through all of the roadblocks and all of the hurdles that exist in implenting new flight profiles and approaches into airports. safety is paramount. there are noise questions and there is the complexity of rewriting the highways in the sky, if you will. but it's something that needs to take place and something that would be extremely cost effective. travel and tourism probably contributes about $1.3 trillion a year in the united states of america. and aviation, of course, is a significant component of that. it is less than it was a decade ago. and it's time to lower those

costs by having a more efficient air traffic control system that makes more competitive. all the ideas on the jobs council to create jobs in other ways -- i thought lawyer aver made the point earlier -- laura made the point earlier, all businesses need infrastructure. travel is gng to be one of the enablers of growing jobs in every single industry that is out there. it needs to be one of the to 10 priorities of this country and especially if we want our country to be number one when it comes to competitiveness. >> i want to ask you, because i was very surprised by this, g.p.s., it's the only way i get around today. it's used in cars, used in all types of modes of transportation and used in all types of industries, why is it taking so long to transition from our

ground-based radar system to a satellite g.p.s. system? >> i thank you for the question and i echo all the comments that gary made. part of the reason that the president has asked us is that our infrastrture and other aspects of government are injected with information technologies as an important component of the work that it does. you'll hear about that in energy, with the smart grid and impact on broadband and affectin health care. next generation of air traffic controllers is an capital of this. it is not the problem of having a g.p.s. chip in the plane. the challenge is building the level of procedures that sit on top of that information so we can ensure we achieve the safety, the reliability and efficiencies of the routing. and what seems to be frustrating

looking whack backwards but going forward, where the airline industry has made significant investments in elements of this program that allows them to run these modernized procedures. as gary said, the air traffic control system has its capability. we have the socket and we have to stick them together and make them a priority. gary was one of our hosts. we had nearly every c.e.o. that said let's collaborate with the f.a.a. to make this the proirt the president has declared it a priority for american innovation and take advantage of the win-win-win. and glide airlines into the runways with less fuel and we can be much more reliable and in how we go about doing this. we made commitments to do this. we can do that because as gary

said, investments have been made, let's put them to use and that's the commitment and secretary lahood has made this as made a commitment. is this a bummer we haven't made g.p.s., of course and we will see a focus because we have the building blocks in place. >> going back to next gen, everybody talks about it and according to the f.a., something like $1.3 trillion of economic activity is driven off aviation. 5%, 6% of the total economy. so pretty big amot. how can us -- waste the case nor

next-gen for job creation? >> it's huge. i think aviation is a relatively interesting a small component of travel and tourism. the number you have there is more related to aviation specifically and includes all the aerospace manufacturing companies and those jobs. you look at airline jobs, airline jobs 10 years ago were around 800,000 jobs in the united states. and there are probably 500,000 today. so just the airline piece of this has the opportunity to restart its growth, get more -- yet more people need to travel. and it is very sensitive to price. so this is simply a matter of making travel more affordable. it is amazing to me how much travel is simply driven by the

price of the airline ticket. and people seem to focus less on the hotel, car, restaurants and other things i'm going to enjoy when i go, which is the consumer side. and consumers make up more than half of travel. business travel has actually wained. so we need to make it more affordable. there is a tremendous potential to grow that entire complex. but this is one of these investments you make for the future. it's not so much having a project to quote modernize air traffic control, it's not going to create one million jobs. that's not the point. you want to make an investment that creates economic growth and vitality and that's the opportunity that you have here. look at how many jobs we had 10 years ago. where did they go? we need to make the case more

forcefully to modernize air traffic control. and the focus needs to be on aviation we have a high-speed rail system. it's alrea in existence and be redirected overnight. you don't have to have physical tracks. sohere is a via strong case to be made that you don't need to make $10 billion worth of investments. you can take advantage of what has been invested. >> i'm going to have you put your government hat on. >> i am. >> and you just talked about yesterday's meeting and the future and the need to accelerate, modernize next-gen but given the lean budget environment, what can the federal government do to make this a priority? >> that's the beauty -- the government was about convening

and my colleagues call it a government is an am patient convener. when you say we have no new money and we have some limits on what we can do in terms of changing the legal environment we are in, engineers can optimize and i'm pretty confident that there is enough, already invested capital that can be put to work if you think about making the plug in the socketome together in a more effective way. so part of that is the haven't's commitment to more open and collaborative government which means as we make decisions about specific activities we become transparent so the american people canold us accountable. that happened yesterday. we are going to put up a project dashboard. you will see each and every one of them, click on them, get your input and see the progress, you can have that information at

your fingertips because you are going to hold us accountable. that doesn't cost us money to hold us accntable. we will do the work we can in the convening role and that needs to happen, to make sure that the questions are answered, do this in a safe way, be energy efficient. and the answers are yes and yes and it's about getting the job done and i'm pretty excited that we will get the leadership excited. >> you have how many jobs. there are about 14 million jobs according to the u.s. travel association in travel and tourism. travelid not keep pace with the rate of inflation over the past decade. it is probably below 30%. if you increase travel by 35 percent, it is a gigantic part

of the overall economy. >> last question, you brought up noise and i don't want to make this about the environment, but just -- will next-gen have an impact? >> it's hardo find something wrong with it. it will be different. and you have to rewrite the lanes in the sky where the planes are going to fly. one of the very fundamental aspects of next generation procedures, it's not necessarily technology as you put the aircraft in idle, which is the quietist mode and you gradually and descend to the airfield >> i'm feeling that right now. >> i get that. >> getting one of the

simulateors. it's cool. >> told to descend and go to 10,000 feet and hold, you have to power forward and maintain that same altitude, it is noise year. >> i was on vacation next to a glider airport base and you didn't hear anything. so you could hear that gliding. >> all the way around. energy, economy, environnt and employment. >> we are going to move on to surface transportation and there will be questions at the end. matt is the chairman and c.e.o. of burlington-northern railway. he held various positions in ucki and rail and member of the national surface transportation policy and revenue study cmission. to his left isichael walton, who is a professor of civil engineering and holds a chair in

enneering at the university of texas at austin and holds a joint academic appointment in public affairs for more than 35 years and has pursued a career in engineering analysis. we heard a lot from the first panel about surface transportation, so we are going to get into a little more detail with this group. matt, you have always accompanied any conversation about re-authorization about surface transportation programs with the discussion of reforms. and obvious wli the panel prior to us were cheerleaders for passing the re-authorization. what kind of reforms do you think are the most important? >> let me start withhen the commission i served on, we looked at the national infrastructure and broke it down to three r's, reform, rebuild

was the second and revenue was the third. the commission got it on the reform. the american public has become jaded in terms of how we are spending our money and we can look back at whether it's the bridge to knowwhere or the projects that were put across these entities for political reasons and there is a real reluctance for the americans to raise the gas tax. if i can reduce my commute time by 10 minutes, would i pay more for that, it polls very well. you have to reform the federal programs. in the transportation ll, there is 107 federal programs and i would tell you, you can't do anything well with 107 federal programs. i believe we are going to go into a period of time. i don't think there is going to be a lot of money that comes to

bear and the federal programs have to be specific in casting the federal vision and driving performance and identifying what the future economy looks like. our economyas changed so much from a domestic economy to a global economy. the president has an export goal to double exports by 2015. we don't have a transportation vision of how we're going to do that and do this with very limitedoney. so reform is going to be very important. permitting reform, a subject that i know a lot about. i visited the mayor of l.a., and we we have trying to permit a mode alpha silt for 10 years. it was not shovel ready in the stimulus monies because we don't have project reform. so my point is we are going to

have limited money. and you will hear people talking about the thing, the thing is to raise the gas tax, the thing is to toll everything. it's not going to be the thing. we are going to need money. we have a lot of projects and programs that are out there in terms of financing out there already that i always overlooked . private activity bonds. and i think we are going to have to get our heads around as a country how to lay this federal vision out to allow the states and local municipalities to do what they need to do and do it best. >> dr. walton, to follow on from matt's comments, you worked closely with a lot of states. how would you view his idea of reforms? >> well, first, let me say i appreciate being here and discussion began with the

president talking about football. i want everyone to know who cares. texas is emphasizing academics this year. [laughter] >> let me make that clear. having gotten that out of the way. matt is absolutely on target and i think the comments that were made by the earlieranel on infrastructure correct i do have the privilege and opportunity to work with 3plus states and they are all unique and very special, but you hear themes over and over again and one is just as we were talking about project delivery, how do you expedite the delivery of programs. and could we not set a time for example where these decisions on personaling or approval press mu be made, are there opportunities to push some of the decision process down to the

states and perhaps the local level, not giving up any of the responsibilities or the end results or outcome that we need to have, but couldome of those decisions be made more locally than not? so that's one area or a couple of areas. expanded funding options. you hear that a lot. just as you were talking about infrastructure and we can talk about that, too. but the fact is that more funding options are desperately needed and flexibility in the funding options that are there. and matt is swlull right. all the various categories, couldn't it be simplified. i was reminded when we talked about this, a statement almost 100 years ago, ladies and gentlemen we have run out of money and time to start thinking

and that's where we are. there are wonderful opportunities of how we structure opportunities. particularly in the funding areas. mentioned one, that is a good example. there are refinements that could be made there. and in build america bonds and so forth, and of course, the private activity. all of those offer opportunities and have been useful but the public-private partnerships are an example. certain states have been able to leverage that. we can discuss whether that's a major source or not. some would say it's been about 4.5%, 5%, could be up to 9%. perhaps we could squeeze it to 14%. it's not the answer, but it's pa of the menu that matt was talking about. and clearly, there is more that can be done with public-private partnerships and we have wonderful examples out there. if it takes an infrastructure to

leverage some of that off-shore equity, fine. but we are leveraging that now. that money is coming from off-shore for the most part and not domestically. more clearly defined goals and perfmance measures. we heard about that. and clearly, that will continue to be a theme. but strengthening those partnerships, expediting delivery, keeping our eye on the ball and getting the job done. those are the things that i routinely hear. >> n to sound defensive, but when we think of a national infrastructure bank or financing authority, it would obviously be complementary to that existing menu. build america bonds, we think should come back and there is a halt, but it's in addition to,

but take away the burden from the government. >> the devil is in the detail. we have a lot of detail for you. are you going to be in the audience asking questions? [laughter] >>att, if we listened to the first panel, the re-authorization bill, it was quite a cheerleading -- and i think c-an is going to have something great to go into the president's speech, but -- so we know the program needs to be re-authorized. we know additional funding is needed. but, the big if. there isn't any additional funding, whether re-authorization gets a mere extension. what next? >> i think a large part of the problem we have today, if you were to go into these classrooms or maybe ask these audience how

do we pay for our infrastructure, we have done a crumby job of explaining to the american public. and we have a great infrastructure system. every time you go to theas pump, you pay. and it has worked pretty well. but part of the problem has been our success. we have a dependency on foreign oil and clean up the standards. we are getting much better mileage. that hurts the receipts coming into the highway trust fund. think about electric cars. thri if you had 25% lick cars running down the highway, what it would do to the highway trust fund. this isn't going to work long-term. and we have to communicate that we aren't paying for it out of our federal income taxes like a lot of people think wer it's been a good system but has to be reformed and refined. if i was faced with no more fun,

i would stand up and say, i'm going to be more aggressive on tolling, something that everybody hates, but you have to have revenue coming in to fund it. i'm going to swoop up $100 million. if i was the president, i'm going to put it in and find $100 million and put it in private activity bonds and do a project streamlining until unemployment gets down ol all projects and relieve nepa -- i said it, until unemployment gets down to 6%. i would take this stuff and find every bit of leverage because that's what it's going to take. the money, you know -- nobody is going to agree to a tax increase. it's not there and we need to sperately. the highway trust fund -- it was

not indexed for inflation. so the 18.5 tax, because the cost of steel and concrete. we are going to have a longer term vision how we are going to replace this providing every ounce of leverage to get leverage for every dollar that goes into this thing is what i would do. >>an i just add a quick thing. there is something about the story that i haven't told very well. when you travel abroad and talk to administrators of other countries, they come around to the fact about how they fund their transportation system and how they envy us because we have a dedicated source of transportation improvements and

programs. and that stable dedicated source that has worked so well. so the trust fund has turned out to be a marvelous invention, pay-as-you-go works extremely well for us and other countries envy. it was never intended to be the last word. it was intended to be the mechanism to all us to get started and worked well because of the technology athat particular point in time. as you well know, with technology changing, it's not the right instrument to move forward. but user-fee policy is still a good policy and still holds. so, i think having the trust fund, having user pay and the fact that tolls are a form of direct user fees is also more -- >> that actually allows me to go

into the next question and topic. but very interesting that we have matt and jim talking about increasing the gas tax and the administration saying no to the tax. that's for a different debate. i think what you both talked about user fees and you both brought up tolls, but and matt, you have been in front of raising the gacks tax where it is versus where it started. what are your views how surface programs should be paid for. is it totaling are other ideas that come to the fofere front? >> it's a user-based system. and if we get away from that. i think we are going to be in real trouble and will be subto the political process. we need a long vw, transparent

stream of money and it has worked well. we just -- we haven't done a good job of educating the traveling public. >> i know you hav been one of the ideas is to move the money and move it into the account as a way to get more money. >> i find every available dollar unspent in washington, d.c., and put it into tifia. >> you brought up user fees as well. do you see it the same way >> i do. both of the congressional commissions came out with a whole host of ideas and opportities and i know they are being explored. some are relatively simple to do and others are more complex. we need to look at the short-term. we have a short-term need and continuing investment. but there are longer terms

options, we need to be looking now of how we transition of what we havin place now to the longer term and tknoling plays a hu role. there are a number of options out there on the table but aying close to the user pay option, it serves us well now and will serve us well in the future. >> i'm going to end this segment with you. although fraggete railroads pay for their own networks new york city -- networks, but why is it so poor to have a national freight strategy and in the idea of how railroads fit into this national strategy when they are private based? >> if you look at our economy in

the last 0 years, 40% of our economy is driven b trade. if you go out to the west coast, these ports, in 2006, when the economy was still moving forward, these ports were choking because of all the volumes and now we want to double exports. if we don't have national freight vision we won't connect the highwa to the ports and the railroads. if you look at the top 30 cities in our country, it equates for 70% of the commerce and if you look at the costs that are studied around the world, it's in these top cities. that's where the congestive costs are going to the economy and a lot of it is freight-driven. we did these listening sessions and what we have heard, we don't have a commuter problem but a freight issue in this country that is causing a commuter issue. we have to have a national vision that i think, lays out

what the economic future of how we are going to sell, who we are going to sell, those types of things. >> to stay with the idea that when we think of infrastructure for us, it's very broad-based, not just surface-related but aviation and transmission and broadband. we have lou who is the chairma and c.e.o. of a leading clean energy company with 2002 revenu of more than $15 llion, 43 mega what thes of generating capacity and 15,000 employees in 28 states as well as canada. next to matt -- lou is lora, senior adviser to the u.s. secretary of energy, secretary

chu. she regulated electricity, natural gas and water industries. thank you both for coming. lou, i'm going to start with you. we hear a lot about tramission and frarke. but i don't think we really understand the problemshat the infrastructure is facing today. >> i want to start by acknowledging what tom said in the earlier panel and pleased to hear it and one of the biggest opportunities for new jobs is in electric transmission and unlike everything we talked about today, one thing that is different, we don't need a penny of government money to make this happen. most people can relate to airlines and roads but don't think about electric transmission and our industry

has challenged a lot. we had a vertically-integrated system where electric utilities were all local and built their power plants close to where the electricity was consumed and we didn't need a lot of electricity transmission. there are two things that have changed. one is, many states, it has been opened up to competition and we don'have that vertically integrate the structure and if you owned a power plant, you could sell it anywhere you want. and the second thing is the advent of renewable energy and there has been renewable energy investments made over the years and renewable whether it's wind, solar or geothermal and you have to build it where the wind below zero or sun shines and not necessarily where the people live. we need to get that clean, economical power to our

customers. the transmission system hasn't kept up with tha and so we have a lot of constraints in the system. any time you have a constraint that is imposing a tax on consumers because it means the lowest cost electricity can't get to those markets and therefore, higher goss costs, less efficient end up running and there are a lot of benefits to transmiion investment in terms of reliket in the grid and also using the most efficient generation resources and all of that will save customers money. our industry wants to invest in new transmission. we have the means by which to do it. but the big challenge has been the way we sighted and paid for transmission. was all based on local community-typed structure. and it doesn't really work for

building longer transmission lines, particularly when you have to cross state lines. so it's a very slow, very burdensome process. and to give you an example, and that's about the same amount of generation that our entire coal fleet in america today has applied for and is waiting for transmission for access to the transmission system and we need more transmission built in order to support that. very fundamental issues that we are dealing with. one is planning, which is where do we put the transmission lines. there is financing. how does it get paid for. and not that the utilities aren't willing to get invested. even thee there is an economic investment and the third is how do you sighthese transmission

lines. and we at the jobs croum are working on proposalsor all three of those and the federal energy regulatory commission is working on these along with the department of energy. >> we are going to come back to questions on the smart grid. but lauren, the federal energy regulatory commission, ferc, i'm hearing about this order called 1,000, about transmission planning and cost allocation. why is this so important? why are we hearing about it? >> what is it and why is it so pour? >> it accomplishes three things. it helps with the regional planning aspect of transmission. and as lou just mentioned, history keafl with regards to the transmission, everyone was looking and we are the united states and essentially the states were looking only within their own state.

andrder 1,000 helps put united back into the united states to devep a system that is more integrated, to allow the kind of transfer of electrons that lou is talking about to transform our economy. so the regional planning aspect of it, it helpsut guidelines on that and to enforce to design the system and design it in a much more regional manner. it requires the same entities to figure out how to pay for it. so it doesn't mandate how the grid i going to be paid for but says look, guys, once you develop and pick lines that have to be built to reduce congestion and help power all of these gadgets that you have in your bags right now, you have to figure out how to pay for you and the person who built it pays

for it and gets paid back through the rates or anybody who benefits from a line that is being built with chip-in and they would get paid back, so there are a variety of ways to do it but ferc said you have to get it done. you have to figure out how to pay for it and match up with the lines that you have identified that need to be built. and it opens up the development of transmission by historically the guys that were building transmission were the incumbent utilities and what this does is allow and allow them to come in and build and prevents the incumbent utilities from blocking merchant transmission developers from coming in. >> we heard from two business

c.e.o.'s about permitting and regulatory hurdles. bedes the cost allocations that you mentioned, what are the other reforms that are needed to spark investment in this new transmission smart grid? what are the hurdles you are finding and what are we needing to do? >> the biggest hurdles we find today is sighting and permitting and finding where you are going to put those lines. nobody wants transmission lines in their back yards. any time you are talking about a new prospect, there are a lot of people to weigh in. and the system that we use today for sighting transmission lines was developed back in 1935. the world has changed a lot since then and especially as i mentioned forward-building lines that are longer, you start crossing the many state boundaries, so you have many municipalities involved, you

havehe states, if you cross any federal property, you also have federal government involved. so we need a lot more coordination. and we really need permitting reform. to give you an example of how burdensome the process is. a.e.p., was trying to build a 90-mile transmission line. that's not a longine. took them 13 years to get it sighted and permitted. another example is a.t.c. corporation trying to build a 220-mile line and took six ars. i want to contrast that with gas hype lines and i could give you examples, it took 11onths, eight months to build. we know how to do it. we have a great mechanism in place in terms of how we sight this kind of infrastructure. we need to apply the same

framework to electric transmission and away we go. we can generate efficiency for customers and follow that model. and there was legislation passed in 2005 as part of the energy poll sill act that really -- that the intent was to provide the federal government more of a role and without you supering the states and called it federal backstop fighting, that law was actually written, we believe we can really redesign the implementation of it and get a lot more transmission built very, very quickly without changes to the law, without federal money and that sort of thing. >> lauren, i hit it with your government hat on, not to be surprised there is a follow-up. we know the administration has

announced the formation of renewable response team. i guess we aren't going to use the acronym. but it's to improve federal coordination and ensure timely review and i meantimely review. how is this initiative going to work and intended to move the process forward? >> let me thank lou because i was one of the attorneys that represented them in sighting that line over the seven years it took. so i lived through that nightmare and secretary chu brought me on 75 days ago to comment on and figure out how to build things quickly. we actually have a rapid response team for transmission and that's the r.r.t.t. and how

that works is a couple of things. we are going to get all of the federal agencies that are dealing with a large transmission project together and we rg going to have number of projects we are focusing on. we take our federal agencies and sit them down and we get a coordinated schedule amongst all of the agencies and put that schedule up on a dashboard and so the public is going to be able to see when the deadlines are and the immedia milestones are. within each agency there is permitting and consulting. there will be specific designated staff that is going to be essentially held accountable for meeting those deadlines and milestones. that staff is going to be trained in transmission shugs specifically. and going to be trained in transmission technologies and transmission economics and

transmission development. from my perspective. having them understand is very important so when they are looking at a variety of solutions for a specific prosece problem, they'll understand the business impacts of picking a specific solution. they are going to have to comply wi the statutory requirements and doesn't mean every program is going to be approved but will help with the communication and get things done much more quickly. that is a snapshot and i know the president issued a memo yesterday with regards to streamlining and making sure we expedite the permitting processes among the agencies which will help a lot. >> lou, my advertisement fee is going to be my last question. we are in texas and next ter after is developing a transmission line in texas as

part of the initiative. you might as well tell us about it. >> i'm delighted to be here in texas and texas is a state that has been doing a lot of things right in terms of energy policy. there has been more wind generation built in texas in the last five years than anywhere else in the united states, just as one example. it's all being built in west texas. it is window and there is so much built and we have constraints going from west texas and northern parts of the state and you see price differentials and wind devepers would love to build wind generation and they can't. well, the state figured this out several years ago and they started a process called the competitive renewable energy process and made it a competitive pross.

my company happened to win a piece of thatusiness. we are building a 300-mile long line from west texas to the northeast part of texas. that's going to involve an investment of $800 million on our part. but the entire process represents investments of almost really over $5 billion in new transmission, not requiring any state money, no federal money. it will generate -- these assets will be paying hundreds of millions of taxes into the state. but most importantly, it's going to -- the state of texas is determined it's going to lower electricity prices for people who live in texas on average between $150 and $350 less per customer per year. the environment is going to benefit and the state of texas is going to create jobs in the

meantime. >> i'm not going to tell you i gave you that lay-up. [laughter] >> not a lay-up for me but for the state of texas. >> go s.m.u. >> broadband. before we open it to q and a, we want to talk about broadband which people would not necessarily define broadband as infrastructure. david cohen is the executive vice president of a corporation and serves as a senior council, the acquirer of nbc. his experience extends beyond the corporate suite. many of you are familiar with his tenure as chief of staff to then philadelphia mayor ed rendell he is one of the three,

alongside mayor bloomberg and governor schwarzenegger of building america. david, great to have you. and next to david is john donovan, chief technoly officer for at&t. thank you for coming, john. and his role, he oversees the global technology and product development, network and engineering operations, at&t labs and the security and intellectual property of the organization. so thank you both for coming. vid, i'm going to open up with you. i guess from a macro perspective, talk to us about the role of broadband and economic development in terms of investment in broadband infrastructure and what is your experience will be the most

effective in terms of stimulating economic growth? >> thanks, bob and great to be here and carrying through on the football theme, one of my other part-time jobs is i'm chair of the trustees of the university of pennsylvania and i wanted dr. walton to know we are also going to be focused on academics. [laughter] >> i have to finis as a guy who played football at the university of pennsylvania and only way i could get in -- [laughter] >> so, and i think that question really helps to tee up the question of why broad broadband is part of an infrastructure panel and it plays a unique role, because -- broadband is infrastructure. the broadband plant, wire line or wireless represents investment and jobs and real, physical plant that is layered

through the -- layered throughout the entire country. you have the direct impact from building broadband plant and there have been numerous studies done. you could pick your study done. within study which the f.c.c. cites is a national broadband plan, for every $10 billion that is invested in additional broadband infrastructure in the united states, you create or retain almost 500,000 jobs. real direct connection by investing in broadband. broadband has a longer term economic and jobs impact. that comes on the a doppings side and comes in empowering everything that we talked about today in the sense of if you went back and asked every person who you have talked to how they

would conduct their business, how you would run aviation and run an biness and surface transportation business, how you would run small businesses that are the vendors of all these businesses, without broadband, they would tell you it is impossible. you get a spinoff effect and there has been recent work done around that question and that work has concluded tt for every one percentage point increase in broadband adoption, you create or retain another 300,000 jobs. so these are investments that really do produce jobs and really do power the economy both directly and indirectly in terms of long-term investments in the country's future. >> great. john, i think something like 90% of this country, broadband reaches patrol 90%-plus of this

country and we are going on those who are declining to participate and getting that type of service, but in the rural areas, in the less populated areas, what role can wireless satellite technology play in lowering the cost of deployment to these currently unserved areas. >> let me underscore what most of the panel has talked about and that is direct connection between infrastructure, jobs and competitiveness. and before i jump into the wireless, i would transition by saying that like most of the infrastructure that has been represented at this table with air and ground and energy, roads and so on, broadband is just a little bit different, as david pointed out, because broadband has the added effect of not only the effective development but the wireless broadband is

becoming an engine in the economy that is allowing us to get aglobal advantage and one of the most important industries out there and i'll highlight that i don't need to reiterate the velocity of money that discussions most have talked about, but i'll only highlight the fact that nth alone that is spent $75 billion in capital in the last four years in this industry and the industry itself right through the recession continued to invest for the demand that was out there. wireless and satellite is economical and i think that there is a lot that is dependent upon the terrain and what is already installed out there, but it is more economical for us and one of the big benefits for the at&t t-mobile merger we stated,

it affords us the ability to extend our network from at&t% -% to 87%, so adding 55 million addition members of the population to adapt broadband. >> we currently have about 35% of our population that could be served not taking it up. it is mainly in the low income households, which is needed the most to further education, for the job opportunities. what can the private sector and the public sector do to

increase the user? >> i really appreciate being asked that question. we are a heavily urban cable company, so we have more than 99% of the household saddled for broadband, and this is really not a criticism. if you only spend time in washington, you would think of broadband problem wasll about building and constructing broadband. you hear very little about it, yet there are three times the four times as many who do not subscribe to broadband as there are who do not subscribe to brdband becse they have no access. i personally have a passion

about urban adoption of a broad band, which is income-based, and the good news ise have some very good research on what the broad jokes region was the projects are, and in preparing the plan, they actually did the country a great service by collecting that research and putting a spotlight on it, and we have identified three major barriers. the first and most impornt is of bucket of digital literacy issues. people do not understand what the internet is. they are afraid of it. people think the government will spy on them if they have broad band in their homes. they do not know how to use the computer. they do not knowow to use the internet. the second factor is the absence

of computer equipment. to researchers did a study, which is almost a quarter of the households in america do not own a computer. since i am not sure i know anyo who does not own a computer, i will guarantee in upper income communities, you are talking about 2% or 3% who not on a computer, and in low income you are talking about 60% or 70% who did not own a computer. if you do not own a computer, why would you sign up for broadband access the third is the cost of broadbent. it now costs $30 to $40 a month. you can gett cheaper in of promotion or a bundle, but it is an expensive service, so the way

the government and private sector has to attach this -- has to attack this is through a program that addresses each and every one of these barriers. almost all of them are public- private partnerships with local government, state government, and private sector to try to figure out a way to break down those barriers and toake affordable broadband with affordable equipment and digital literacy available. we are rolling out a program to recall internet a essentials, which within our footprint we will offer to eligible families of three-part program, broadband

service for $9.99 a month. we are going to give them a voucher that will entitle them to buy a computer for $149.95, and we will give them a suite of materials in print online and in person in the communities. we are rolling it out in 4000 school districts in 39 states and the district of columbia. >> that is great. >> we all get our softball. >> i am waiting for it. we just talked about infrastructure deployment common -- so clement, and how do we get there. can tax incentives broadband? what works best and is most

fair? tax credits, accelerated depreciation, other options? i know you do not want to put your current political hat on, but if you are putting on your current political hat, what can we do in this economic climate with avoiding this infrastructure? >> i do not own of political cap, but i think asking questions is always a dangerous place to start. tom donahue menoned earlier that the broadband is an area that can attract its own investment. i think it hashown a propensity to be an in festival area. henry j. tv and -- has shown a

propensity to be an investibal area. projects that are providing stability are much more important than those trying to manage the building of infrastructure, so i would highlight a uple of points. look for things that now gives service providers and no way to maximize. not be overly prescriptive. keep the requirements from being rigid, and focus on the demand and stimulating demand side of the equations, because we have a side of the segment that just needs a lightouch and consistency from the regulator environment that would allow it to continuto build. >> we are running of a little behind schedule.

the idea of repurchasing for broadband only services -- is that sufficient? is that something you would recommend. >> certain public policy more than thnology. the fcc has teamed up on universal service reform. at&t has played a leading role in putting a proposed restructuring, and i think there is widespread in reconstruction. number one, it should be repurchased, exclusively for broadband deployment purposes. no. 2, it should be limited to the building of our broadband in

underserved locations. no. 3, it should be expanded on a technology bases. there should be some form of cap to limit the consumer expansion to find it, and i am very optimistic that the commission is going to act on this this fall and we are going to create a real appropriate funding stream to be able to address the deployment side of the broadband issue. >> do not enter data. i have a better question to en with. -- do not answer that. how can funding for government- sponsored institutions demand infrastructure deployment and

basically -- you think there is a winning strategy to go forward? >> there are several longstanding programs, so today at&t serves several of those anchor institutions, and i think there have been some states that have some creative things, like where you aggregate demand and get something planning that allows you to get sustainable planning in place, so i think a lot of those programs are out there, and to continue those, about role of stimulating demand, adopting new svices, helps accelerate the deployment cycle, so i think continug those programs are in the barrel and can be executed much more quickly. >> we want to open it up to questions from the audience.

we are going to get you a microphone. >> i am the president and ceo. i have officers he -- i have offices here and in dallas. i am fortunate enough to work in the field. d i hear you correctly? did i say -- did i hear you say the high school is here? >> i am not trying to be fatious or cynical. i thought i heard you say that. >> i think matt mentioned, and matt and i agreed that we need a national transportation policy that sensibly lays out what roadways you need and has be answered for anything that

we do, and i thought that his leadership on that was outstanding. there is a place for rail, air, mara thurman, and -- their return region -- rail, air, maritime, and passenger trains. you already have 45 or 50 daily round-trips. what possible purpose could spending billions of dollars adding passenger trains that will only get you there slower -- what purpose does that serve? but as the question we have to ask ourselve thank you for dishing me the

soft ball, too. we are in business to win customers, and if we are lucky, and we have cents. -- fans. we are in the transportation business. if we thought people really wanted to travel between dallas and houston on a train, we would do that, but in taking a more holistic picture, you can put a train in, and what are you going to do? you are going to take people off airplanes -- not everybody and not very many peopl, but you are going to diminish one mode that is already built. new york to washington and is different. it plays a valuable role, and it is there. one reason you do not have high-

speed rail inany cities in the united states of america and now i would argue is because you have southwest airlines, and europe did not. lastly, there is no rail system in the world that makes a profit. not one, so if we want to change the user fee system we have with rows or air to a suidized system, i do not think that is the right direction, but we can vote on that >> in this corner. next question.

>> i am an american merchant mariner, and we have not heard a lot about maritime today, and i want to follow up on a comment that our courts are congested. i wanted to mention that texas has more maritime activity, and we are looking at that to expand in the near future, particularly with not the panama canal, and we are probably going toe dealing with a lot more infrastructure requirements. we think the term has come to build a marine highway network, and that would be to get some of the excess cargo of the railway is -- of the railway. this would be better for the

environment. it would be better for safety and relief where and tear on our bridges and roads. how do you see that plan working out? is that on the rar screen? we think it potentially could be a public-private partnerships, and i would like to hear your i eighth -- to hear your ideas. >> higher agree about traffic safety. i think the water system is not unlike the infrastructure. it is in real trouble. the trust fund is not working. there is a lot of money we cannot get spent, and we go through the same stuff. as far as european trade, it is going to come down to a permit issued.

you cannot permit a new and who water court in california. we are doing them in texas. we are expanding. it is an industrial oil refinery location. you go out there, and you go, this is notuts. u would never build the national transportation highway system we have today, because some of the views we have allowed to say stop. a lot of freight is going to go to canada, because they are welcoming it. they have a government initiative to build more support capacity. you are going to see more trade go to mexico, because they have a government initiative to build

more jobs. we are the only country i know of that we shun its, so at some point the american public now is going to say, a enough is enough. putting of court since the facility and spending half a billion dollars to green it ought not is a pretty good deal -- sue green it is a pretty good deal, but we are not there yet. >> any other questions? >> i am thinking about the job studs i ve seen by economists on the broadbent new issue, and a lot of the emphis is on the construction- on the constraint, so it seems to me if there is an issue of the money may be there, but there is a partially a scarce resources, so

i thought maybe david might want to say something about that. >> this is a technical question. >> we have a good division of responsibility. >> that is certainly paramount. as you looked at the assets necessary, it is dramatically different. there has been a challenge of a policy that has been 25 years and going on and on, but underneath that, the demand that exists today is causing a spectrum crisis in america, and one thing is that our focus on with-mobe is to find the

spectrum, and that continues to be a dark cloud on the jobs and innovation donohue that looms, maybe not for every market in the next six months but for some markets in the next six months, so for the next 12 months there are going to be some the start to run out, and that is going to be bad for jobs and bad for growth. not only is this about providing a service f users. it is also about providing a catalyst in an industry where we have a global leadership. >> another difference between a lot of infrastructure issues, and i do not say this to be an

ologist in any way for the administration, but the administration has laid out a series of specific plans to be able to address the broad band infrastructure needs and adoption needs of the country. they are not controversial. they do not cost the government money. they actuallmake money, so whether it is the broad band plan, the president's wireless initiatives, the national broadbent plans initiative on wireless, this has been laid out in a very clear way in this environment.

this tells me how to a boil all this is in a relatively short term. >> you forgot merger approval. >> i just wanted to say one thing for our texans. senator hutchison deserves credit for her leadership. she joined hands with rockefeller in a truly bipartisan piece of legislation. it passed 21 voice in favor. a majority of replicans and a majority of democrats. it does three things, and delivers $10 billion in deficit reduction, puts us on a path that opens the cacity for innovation we are seeing. our smart phones consume 25 times more than which than voice

phones. cabalists -- tablets consume more than phones, so this industry is incredibly dynamic, extremely enthusiastic, and it is going to run up against his capacity crunch if we do not get our long term plan. we are 10 years today from one of the biggest tradies in our nation's history. we have not given our first responders access to the tools our kids have. my fourth grader has a better schools than our first responders do. it is high time we give them the infrastructure and services they need. we can make this happen.

it is bipartisan. >> want to thank this panel. i s also going to thank senator hutchison, a she formed the energy financing bill, which is similar to what we have been talking about, and something are council has been looking at in a positive light and something we are going to continue to speak about. before we end, i would like to see if i can ask laura to come back top. >> i have been given the task of closing remarks.

my job is zero -- it is an enviable -- un-enviable because he is so wonderful. i would like to thank everyone for coming and the panel. [applause] thanking smu, and i just want to reiterate that the council is an ongoing process. it is dedicated to an ongoing discussion of issues. i thk you have heard clearly that the council does not always agree. i think the discussion of the railroad illustrates that a little bit, so i think what we are trying to do is get as much employment as weekend. we have common with recommendations from the prident.

an illustration that he is taking this seriously was his announcement yesterday. these are things that came off of the focus, of trying to say, let's get some things done we agree upon. we are discussing recommendations. the president is listening. following this, anyone listening on c-span, if anyone wants to send ideas, we suggest they go rights to don. he is our coordinator inside the treasury. you can tell we have a lot of technically sophisticated people who do things like pay attention to e-mail and stuff like that, sir your ideas will be heard. ank you forthcoming. thank you for being involved. we will do our best to make sure

good ideas get to the president and that the a administration act upon it. thank you for a much. [applause] ♪ ♪ >> president obama heads to camp david this morning for the labor day holiday. sunday the president will break his vacation to visit paterson, new jersey, that was hit by hurricane irene. the will travel to the

renaissance center in detroit for a labor celebration where he will be joined by the labor secretary. live coverage at around 1:15 p.m. eastern here on c-span. the associated press this afternoon reporting that the white house is giving in to congressional republicans and business leaders and withdrawing a proposed -- proposed epa small regulation that would have cost the economy billions. a spokesman for house speaker john davis says today's move is a good for step toward removing obstacles in the way of business growth. earlier today the labor department released jobs numbers for last month. the august unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.1%, the weak jobs report since september of 2010. nothing yet from president obama on the jobs numbers but it is expected to be the topic of the address to congress next week. next thursday he will speak to a joint session of congress to repeal this plan to create jobs. we will have live coverage of

the president's speech that will get underway at 7:15 p.m. eastern and our coverage will start at 7:00 p.m. here on c- span. tomorrow we will rely with a speech by former alaska gov. sarah palin who will be at the tea party of america rally in the iowa. live coverage at noon eastern. also available on c-span radio and our website c-span.org. >> he is a partisan guy who wants to unite people. i mean, all of the problems in the air right you could get from the sky. and why we couldn't elect him is the same reason we eventually went to war. they couldn't be resolved. >> he had the misfortune of running against a great military hero, dwight eisenhower. think therereally is any way adlai stevenson could have won. >> you think of thousand of

losing to herbert hoover in 1928 but paved the way for franklin roosevelt. >> there are 14 people in this series, many of whom i guaranty viewers may never heard of but all of them i pretty much guarantee they will find interesting to fascinating and certainly surprising. >> history professor gene baker, real clear politics editor carl cannon, and presidential historian richard norton smith talks about the 14 men who ran for president and lost, tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific, a preview of "the contenders," a 14-week series beginning september 9. >> machiavelli has become an adjective -- i doubt many people in this town would like to have themselves described as machiavelli.

i am sure secretly in the dark of night have at their bedside but not too many will call themselves machiavellian. >> is name is synonymous with sins -- cynical scheming and selfish pursuit of power. an author argues that machiavelli's berries may have been a response to the crips and around him. "q&a." p.m. on c-span's >> and look at the world war ii memorial here in washington where earlier today veterans of that were gathered to commemorate the 66th anniversary of vj day, the date on which japan surrendered to the u.s.. c-span cover that event and we will have later in the schedule. wednesday veterans affairs secretary eric shinseki talk about the administration's plans to give veterans and floyd, improve health care and clear out the backlog of claims. the secretary's remarks at the american legion convention in

minneapolis ran about 20 minutes. ♪ ♪ >> thank you very much. a generous welcome. thank you for that kind introduction, for your own service to the nation and your leadership of the american legion. let me acknowledge two members of congress with whom i work very closely and who have been most supportive of veterans, of the va and his secretary. they both served in the house veterans' affairs committee. first is representative tim walsh of minnesota, guardsmen, and committee chairman jeff miller of florida whose leadership has been crucial and will continue to be crucial to the va and its mission of serving veterans. mr. chairman, congressman, good to see both of you again. thanks for your leadership and support.

my greetings offers -- also two former chairman chet edwards 4 well-deserved recognition by all of you for its many years of service to veterans. let me also acknowledge members f the legion's leadership -- with whom i've worked most frequently in washington. the national president of your auxiliaries. two members from state directors conference, pete wheeler of georgia and terry from utah, with whom i worked very closely, my counterparts at the state level. and if there are other state directors here, i acknowledge you as well. members of the legion family, fellow veterans, of a distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, i am pleased to be here in minneapolis for the legion's 93rd annual national convention. last week at nearby fort

snelling, writing some of you know this, we have a cemetery there. two american warriors were laid to 31-year-old sheet special operator john -- and work for operator second slesnick speehar, both navy seals. in both paris when the helicopter went down in afghanistan earlier this month. 28 fellow operators, special operators, also perished with them. this is a particularly difficult time, as all of you know, for their families, and we pray for john and nick and their 28 mates and they're reaching out to all of their loved ones at this time. the sacrifices of our young and their families continue unabated. and the risks they face daily are undiminished. when incidents of tragic proportion strike, snapped back to the realities they live with every day.

they fight for us and they are making a difference. and risk and sacrifice should not be theirs alone. we owe them the best this country can offer while they are fighting and we owe them the best this country can offer when they come home to join the ranks of our veterans. that is our moral obligation. i think the president for giving me this our opportunity to serve veterans. i know he spoke here yesterday, and he is a tough act to follow. this is like a warm-up act coming after the main event. but thank you for the warm recession -- reception you provided him. it is sometimes said we honor the falling by -- fallen by how we care for the living, the ones who made it will bear that is what president obama and the va, and frankly, members of congress, have been about for the past two and a half years, and i can speak firsthand of the two members that i recognized --

the three members i recognize. president obama handed me two priorities when he offered me this appointment to and half years ago. pretty strategic, straightforward. first, make things better for veterans. then transform this great department of yours, the department of veterans affairs, so that it better service veterans throughout the 21st century. he provided not just strategic guidance. he also provided his personal support time and again. if you know anything about the budget process, it is an it erev process, time and time again we could have will let the right and the president sided with veterans and provided us resources. he not just provided personal support, he assured the availability of much needed and scarce resources to address -- address longstanding issues. and then he allowed me as secretary the freedom to make decisions and to act on behalf

of veterans. with congressional support, president obama increase the va's 2010 budget to $150 billion, a 16% increase over the congressional the enhanced budget that i inherited in 2009 when i arrived. the largest single year increase in over 30 years. this year the 2011 budget grew to $126.6 billion and the president's 2012 budget request for next year currently before the congress is for $132.2 billion. very few organizations -- public, private, nonprofit, military, or civilian, have had this kind of resources and support over the past three budget cycles, and every bit of it has been needed to fix longstanding issues in this department. so, thanks to the president we have a clear direction, we have predictability in resources and we have unwavering leadership

support, and now it is up for us to deliver. veterans remain a very high priority, and i know that firsthand and i can tell you it goes deep with him. that commitment will be reflected in the care and benefits of the v.a. continues to provide the men and women who safeguarded our nation in its darkest hours. these are tough economic times. that is especially true for veterans. as of june this year 1 million veterans remain unemployed. the jobless rates for post 9/11 veterans is 13.3%, an extremely hard hit generation. and as troops return from iraq and afghanistan, an additional 1 million youngsters are expected to leave the uniformed ranks over the next five years, between 2011 and 2016. a few weeks ago the president again under this -- demonstrated his unwavering support of

veterans and business by announcing new, aggressive initiatives to give veterans back to work. first, tax credits for any firm hiring unemployed veterans. short-term hires, long term hires, a maximum credit of $9,600 per veteran for firms that hire veterans with service connected disabilities who have been long-term unemployed. second, the department of defense and department of veterans affairs will spearhead a government-wide effort to reform the way members transition out of military service. every member will receive the training, education, and credentials needed to successfully transitioned to the civilian work force or to pursue our -- education. if we could spend nine weeks and boot camp getting youngsters ready to be operational, we can find the requisite time to fully and properly ensure they're successful transition back to their communities, either to go to work or to go to school. [applause]

finally, the president challenged the private sector to hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans or there's spice -- spouses by the end of 2013. my personal opinion, that is a chip shot. the va already employs over 100,000 in the workforce, and then make up about 30% of our work force. we are going to increase that to 40%. that is what we are working on. we are also working to expand opportunities for that run-owned businesses. two weeks ago in new orleans we had our veteran own small business exposition. there was a training conference providing an unprecedented opportunity for veteran-owned small businesses to build capacity, grow their businesses, and to have direct connection with the va's procurement decision makers. over 4100 people attended. 1600 of whom represented either

a veteran-owned or if a service disabled veteran-owned small business. additionally we recently awarded seven of our 15 major contracts in va -- major technology contracts, specifically to veteran-owned and service- disabled veteran-owned services. all 15 contract awardees to meet our subcontracting goals of having veteran-owned or service- disabled veteran-owned businesses on their teams. we know historically veterans hire veterans, so increasing the number of successful small business owners who are veterans increases our opportunity to assure that the veterans will have job opportunities. the va is also continuing its historic mission, thanks to the congress, of preparing the next generation of leaders by administering the education of over 518,000 veterans of -- and

family members under the new 9/11 gi bill. when you add the v.a.'s other educational assistance programs, that number of veterans and family members in school today is over 840,000 youngsters. this fall, thanks to the congress, we are going to expand that gi bill program to provide vocational training and other non-degree job skills for veterans who want to work, but who are not necessarily interested in sitting in a college seat for four years. this will be another tremendous opportunity for veterans to add value to their community. haveresident's budgets enabled us to attack three -- 3 priorities i set for us back two and a half years ago. what is extending an increasing veterans access. i was told it is hard to get into va, so we decided to do some the about it. the second priority was to end a

veteran homelessness. the third was to eliminate this thing called the claims backlog. on access, through our reenergize out of reach programs we increase the number of veterans enrolled in va health care by 800,000 in the last two and a half years. a 10% uptick. we qualified 89,000 veterans for benefits under new rules for resumption of service connection for conditions related to exposure to agent orange. we made it easier for combat veterans to receive care for post-traumatic stress disorder and hired an additional 3500 mental health professionals since 2008. we have built more than 30 new community-based outpatient clinics, and we are building five new va hospitals. we also invested heavily in telehealth, connecting all of these access points, so we have a constellation of care out there for veterans. we also improved outreach to women veterans with coordinators at each major medical center and

over 1200 care providers have received advanced training in women's health care. homelessness -- all progress in the fight against homelessness have been significant. since 2008, the va has helped house more than 29,000 homeless veterans and family members and another 30,000 have been assisted through the homeless call center. we tend -- intend to reduce the number to below 60,000 by june 2012, less than a year away, with the goal of lending -- ending this national embarrassment by 2015. the va is in this fight with all of our capabilities. we all talk about homelessness as though it is a one-convector discussion. we are in it across the board. primary, medical, dental care, mental health, substance abuse education, case management, housing, as well as jobs counseling.

we are also conducting justice out -- to support the creation of veterans courts which would demand veterans, those facing minor charges, petty crimes, substance abuse defenses -- the kind of thing you'd end up in jail for if you do often enough. remaned those to us for treatment in lieu of incarceration. [applause] we are working with state and that will prisons to afford veterans being released from prison and opportunity to break the cycle of incarceration, homelessness, incarceration, which plagues many of them. there are 1310 federal and state penitentiary's, and we are into 950 of them linking up with those veterans. we are committed to ending veteran homelessness by 2015 and we are after it, and ending veterans homelessness is not just rescuing the individual on

the street. our image usually is someone wrapped in blankets and clothes and sleeping on a heating grate. that is true. that is a very visible part of the homeless issue. but it is much broader than that. we are after it and will ended in 2015. claims backlog. in 2009 you asked me to fix the back -- backlog in disability claims and i have committed to ending it in 2015 by putting in place a system that processes all claims within 125 days. not an average 125 days but within 125 days. less would be better. [applause] and add a 90% accuracy level. that is the challenging -- 96% accuracy level. you can -- we are going to go fast and get its act 98%

accuracy. this one is the most challenging. it has taken us longer to get momentum. but we have a host of promising options being piloted today and we expect them to begin paying off in 2012 as we begin fully automating the disability claims process. the reason i am fairly confident we have a good handle on this is our success in automating the new gi bill program, as you know, we started it as a -- as we were getting the first 173,000 youngsters into college classrooms in the fall of 2009, we were doing a parallel effort to -- build the automation tools that we needed. we did not have, frankly. today we went from 173,000 in the fall of 2009 to over 518,000 going to school, automated processing, going to school today under that program. that gives us a measure of confidence. [applause]

attitude. two years ago many of you told me that some in the va had an attitude problem. [laughter] and i agreed with you. sometimes you guys are hard. ok. and i agreed with the. is since last december, with input and recommendations from a variety of panels, work planned -- were groups, senior leaders and other stakeholders we settled on five core values that we believe underscore the moral obligations that are inherent in the va's mission. these are integrity, commitment, agassi -- advocacy, respect, excellence. now, if you take the first letter of each of the words, it spells the acronym icare i know there is at least one person in the audience thinking that this is a key marketing device.

it did not happen that way. maybe 10 iterations of differing numbers from all levels within the va -- leaders, members of s, and theyrce, vso' wrestled hard and settled on these five words. started out maybe with 100 ideas. you know, 100 values did not make any sense. we got less than seven of those would be fruitful. so, how to get to the right 5, 6, or seven? we settled on five and a king of the process. a lot of tough argument, debate, heated opinions, but we agreed on these five. yes, once you get to 5, some bright person arranged this so it spelled the acronym i care. it is helpful for us to remember those values. it is an aid for memory. but also carries a promise. this is the way it works. integrity.

because i care. i will act with high moral principle, it here to the highest professional standards, and maintain the trust and confidence of all with whom i am engaged. commitment -- because i care i will work diligently to serve benefit -- veterans and other beneficiaries, driven by a belief in the mta's mission, and both fell my individual and organizational responsibilities. advocacy -- because i care, i will be slowly veteran-centric by identifying, fully considering, and appropriately advancing the interests of veterans and other beneficiaries. respect -- because i care, i would treat all of those i serve and with whom i work with dignity, showing respect to gain respect, to our respect. excellence -- because i care, i will strive for the highest quality and continued geed continuous improvement, be

thoughtful and the size of in leadership, be accountable for my actions, willing to admit my mistakes, and then be rigorous and correcting them. you will begin to see these core about his demonstrably at work. it is an education process, and we are, leadership to work force, having those education discussions now. it is not a one-day event, one- week initiative or a one-month priority award this week's big ideas -- this is a routine and continuous education process were members of the work force and leadership will revisit, apply these values, but once we settle on, and what it means. every employee will go to the same training program. you do have my assurance that the va has embraced these promises. that is what they are, promises -- with serious dispatch. with your help and support we have had two and have good years for veterans. there is much more to be done, but we do have momentum in key

areas and clear direction for the future. we will not fail to honor the dedication and selflessness of men and women, the men and women we serve. warriors like army ranger joe kopicezci was severely wounded when it enoki grenade shattered his leg, a extensively damaging the entire right side of his body, severing a nerve an artery in his right arm. doctors did not expect him to walk without support ever again. let alone fulfill his wish of returning to the ranger regiment as a squad leader. then again, most of us don't fully appreciate iron will. i the sergeant's words -- just don't like people telling me i can't do something. he had been serving up the rangers since may of 2002. when he was injured in 2005, three years later, he was on his fifth combat deployment.

after multiple surgeries, slowly regaining the use of his right arm and enduring unimaginable pain in that right leg that was so severely damaged, he made the call, courageous call, to have his right leg amputated below the knee, opting for greater mobility and faster recovery with a prosthetic leg. in march of 2007 the leg was removed. five months later, he was running. six months later he rejoined the ranger operations co. in fort benning, the transition unit where you have to go in and show the right step before you get an assignment to the regiments, if that is what is going to happen. 10 months after surgery he completed an army pt test, a five-mile run and 12-mile road march with a 40 pound ruck. one year after surgery he became the only apt ever to assume combat duties in the ranger regiment as a squad leader.

[applause] he would be a great recruit for the legion. he has since deployed four more times. he has been promoted to platoon sergeant. he received the bronze star for having saved a comrade who was severely wounded. he is a member of the 9/11 generation that the president spoke to you about yesterday. more than 5 million americans have served in the military during this past decade. 3 million of them joined after 9/11 knowing full well that they would probably be going to come back. their accomplishments are extraordinary. we all know that. unseating the taliban, pushing al qaeda from the sanctuaries, capturing saddam hussein, delivering justice to osama bin laden, and even today still, training iraqi and afghan forces to defend their own country so our kids can come home. the 9/11 generation includes more than 1 million spouses and

2 million children, many of foam have lived only in a country at war since their book -- birth. more military women have served in combat than ever before. hundreds of thousands of troops have deployed multiple times and they have all born a heavy burden on behalf of this nation. but despite the enormous strains of 10 years of continuous operations, our military remains as strong as it has ever been. and i reflect that as someone who used to sit in positions where i watched this quite closely. his 9/11 generation is the fine just as any before it. each generation of americans veterans has been defined by the virtues of selfless service, sacrifice, and devotion to duty. these men and women who serve and have served our the flesh and blood of american exceptional was in. -- exceptionalism.

you hear that term a lot. my definition is those who have served and have -- serve today. the living, breathing embodiment of our national values and our special place in the world reside with all of you. we are blessed to have them just as we were blessed to have you in your time. god bless our men and women in uniform, god bless all of our veterans, and may god continue to bless this wonderful country of ours. thank you all very much. ♪ ♪ [applause] >> at this time, i want to

present a diamond lapel pin to the secretary of the v.a. i called him general when i was in there, but that's ok. here is our newest member of the american legion. [applause] >> also speaking at this event, jeff miller, who says veterans benefits will not be affected by deficit reduction in congress. he's the author of the bill to help veterans with unemployment. >> thank you very much, commander foster. it's an honor for me to be here. it is a pleasure to spend some time with you last night at dinner. i enjoyed it. i enjoy all the entertainment.

thank you for your service to the american legion auxiliary. it is a group that i know the legion depends on a lot. secretary, thank you for your leadership over the last two and a half years. it has been an honor to work with you. it's an honor to call you a friend. i am honored to be here amongst you for the 93rd annual convention of the american legion. i appreciate the invitation. thank you very much for the warm welcome this morning. two weeks ago, two days after one of our chinook helicopters had been shot down in afghanistan, i stood on the tarmac at the airforce base in

afghanistan for a battlefield memorial. i witnessed what is perhaps one of the most solemn ceremonies in the military. it was a ramp ceremony. 40 souls were honored that night, all died fighting a hero's fight. i stood shoulder to shoulder with members of our armed forces to pay our final respects to the shoulders, the navy seals, and the airman -- to our soldiers, the navy seals, and the hairmen. we stood united in our grief, our pain, and our anger over loss oforrific life. i reflected on one truth we must

always remember. these heroes died for a nation they loved doing a job that they loved, knowing that their sacrifice would advance the cause of liberty. none of us should ever lose sight of that dedication to duty and to country. later that night, our military, with infinite resolved, continued the mission on behalf of their fallen comrades. this is what they do. they in, day out, year in, year out, as servicemen and women have done since those early days in lexington and concord. our military and you, our veterans, are truly america's

heroes. as we honor and remember each and every life that we have lost, we recommit ourselves in shared gratitude to serve those who have served us. it is impossible to put a price tag on freedom, but we all know the cost of war is all too apparent. our men and women returned home, some carrying with them the lasting effects of war, wounds that are both visible and invisible. some return having difficulty adjusting to civilian life. some come back and cannot find employment in today's tough economic climate, but just as on the battlefield, these men and women continue to put others before themselves to ensure

lives are made better and that the ideals that they fought for in lands far away are still cherished here at home. it is that simple and often forgotten concept which is at the heart of the american legion. it is what you, its members, stand for. more important, what you fight for on behalf of your fellow veterans. thankfully america realized long ago that those who have borne the cost of our nation are owed not only a debt of gratitude, but tools to help support them when they return. after each war and conflict, we reevaluate the programs and services that are offered by v.a. to ensure that they are not only meeting the needs of today's veterans, but that we

are keeping the promise for past and future generations of veterans, a promise that has not always been kept. today we find ourselves in a new era. washington has a spending problem. it is not something that happened overnight. it is not news. it does not surprise anybody. we need to cut up the credit cards and put america back on the path to fiscal sanity. [applause] this summer, there has been much debate on just how to accomplish that. we've taken the first set, the difficult step, i believe, toward fiscal responsibility.

elected representatives across the country need to recommit themselves to the job that we were elected to do. those of us in washington need to recommit ourselves to the job that we were elected to do and that is to serve the american people. that is exactly the message that i and my colleagues intend to bring back to the capital when we return next week. look, our constitution is pretty clear. it's pretty clear on how we can tax and how we are supposed to spend our money. this is not a new revolution -- this is not a new revelation. the constitution, first and foremost, provides for spending for the common defense and providing for the welfare of our citizens. funding for american veteran programs, i believe, is a critical element to the common defense of this nation. i believe you will see that

reflected in the spending priorities in this congress. while we tighten our belts, let us not remember that we are still engaged in two wars and that we are in conflicts around the globe. in the budget control act of 2011, veteran benefits and services were not affected. every veteran should still be receiving their check and v.a. hospitals are operating as normal. the new select committee that ork willady begun its we have to trim a minimum of $1.2 trillion out of our budget, and we are out of options. let me, again, state very clearly -- funding for our military and our veterans is and will remain one of this nation's

highest priorities. [applause] this is a joint select committee established for a particular purpose for a particular amount of time. the deficit reduction committee is similar in structure to the intelligence committee that i serve on, or a conference committee, which is actually a temporary committee of members of the house and senate that are brought together to reconcile differences in legislation that is passed both chambers. this committee has received more press than probably any other special committee. has no special powers that any other select committee has. in fact, the joint committee is comprised of 12 members of congress, all members of congress both in the house and senate, and yes, the american people will still have an opportunity to play a role in the communities and that

committee's process. all recommendations from that committee will have to pass both the house and the senate and be signed by the president before becoming law. coming to an agreement is not going to be easy. you are going to hear a lot of rhetoric from the media, from other special-interest groups, but as chairman of the house veterans affairs committee, again, i promise you that i will not only fight for america's veterans, i will stand steadfast in ensuring that america's veterans are not used as political pawns in this process. [applause] we intend to be proactive, keeping our veterans informed with the facts in the coming months, and will provide information on the progress of the select committee as it goes about its work.

just as important as getting our fiscal house in order is putting our american veterans back to work. every veteran and in every state across this country deserves better than to stand in unemployment lines. to that end, i have pledged to help reduce unemployment in our veteran communities by half, lowering the unemployment in the next two years a rate we have not seen since 2007. to do this, i have introduced a comprehensive veterans jobs legislation bill back in july called the veterans opportunity to work act of 2011, or the vow

act. it will ensure that we have the most trains, the most skilled, work force since world war ii. our soldiers, marines, sailors, coast guard returning from afghanistan and iraq face higher unemployment than the national average. our older veterans, who make up 2/3 of the unemployed veteran community are faced with a changing job market. in total, nearly 1 million veterans are out of work. i'm sure you will agree with me that number is unacceptable. our committee has focused on this issue for much of this year and i would like to commend the president for joining us in this fight in making veteran employment a priority. the vow act has five pillars. first, we must enhance the

transition assistance program which provides career counseling. it will be mandatory for all separating service members. we will also make sure that it is meeting the needs of our veterans for the 21st century. second, we all know education is one of the keys to success. right now, 48% of veterans using the montgomery and post 9/11 gi bill benefits are enrolled in four-year colleges and universities, but we need to make sure our vietnam, cold war, persian gulf era veterans also have opportunities to advance in the workplace. therefore, under the vow act, up to 100,000 veterans of past eras can receive up to one year of montgomery gi benefits to retrain for careers in this new

and ever changing marketplace. third, members of the national guard and reserve were called to duty. their employer must keep their position open until they return and must not discriminate against them based on their guard and reserve status. too often, this has not been the case. we will strengthen the protection provided by the reemployment rights act. we must be willing to defend veterans' rights, even when others are unwilling to do so. fourth, despite america's military having the best trained professionals in the world, the inability to be credentialed or licensed in their equivalent civilian killed when they return home -- civilian field when they return home prevents them from

gaining meaningful employment in the areas of expertise. medics, truck drivers, and aircraft technicians to name a few. our states hold the key to breaking down this barrier. i have been working with several governors and governors associations, as well as the department of labor to create uniform standards to ease this transition from active duty to civilian life. a combat medic who has seen the worst of war in iraq or afghanistan is surely qualified to be an emt here at home. [applause] lastly, i introduced a bill providing meaningful tax incentives for small businesses that hire unemployed veterans. it will not only provide capital for the business which spurs

growth, but also protect the veteran from being a mere tax break higher, a trick that we often see. as important as its other features, the vow act does not increase the deficit one penny. i would like to thank the legion for their support of this legislation. many of these proposals were supported by the american legion's national economic division. we would not be where we are today without having their help. as you know, and as i know, and as the president knows, the role of the government is not to create jobs. what the government can do is create the right environment for the jobs market itself to flourish.

we do this by reducing the burdens of overreaching regulations that in cumber america's small businesses, the engine of our economy. in other words, your government, your government needs to get the hell out of the way of the economy. get the boot off the back of small businesses and let the engine roar! [applause] look, the time to talk is over. we have got to act. we have got to do it quickly. i encourage each of you to take an opportunity to read the bill available on our committees .govite at veterans.house and let your elected officials andknow what you think. while we get our veterans back

to work, we cannot and we must not forget those who are suffering with the invisible wounds of war. posttraumatic stress and traumatic brain industry. these can be some of the hardest wounds to treat. we can and we will help these men and women get on a path to recovery. that was and still is the mission of the v.a., to heal our veterans and provide them with the support necessary to lead full and productive lives. today we face a choice. either we take action to address the deficiencies in the current system, which many opt out of before even receiving treatment, or we maintain the status quo. the status quo with a rising suicide rate is not an option.

it is unacceptable to me. this summer, a veteran of the marine corps testified before the full committee. he told us he took the money from the v.a. that he was receiving for pts and his treatment and spent it on alcohol and other vices. it was not until this young man hit absolute rock bottom that he reached out to somebody for help. instead of going to the v.a., he turned to a private organization right here in minnesota. in 15 months, he had his life back. he courageously fought his demons and came back a stronger marine. we have got to find a way to reach these men and women and provide them with the support that they need.

we need to transform the culture of v.a. so that all veterans feel welcome. again, it is not an easy task. i believe it can and it must be done. it is incumbent upon all of us to reach out to those who are in pain. we have also got to help them get as well as possible and to stop just masking the symptoms with drugs. each of us has the ability to help, especially in our own communities. legislation is about partnerships. the american legion's washington team is one of the finest. you should be very proud of the work they do on your behalf in the nation's capital. next month we will welcome the legion to washington for its annual legislative hearing before the house and senate veteran affairs committees.

this year, our committee intends to continue its aggressive oversight of v.a. to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not only spent wisely, but spent on veterans's needs, not on bureaucracy. we must also turn the corner on the shameful disability compensation claims backlog but i heard the secretary talking about that. we have heard for too many years to many promises. this congress will turn the corner and make v.a. accountable to ensure accuracy for the first time a claim is submitted. we also want to hear from veterans just like you all over this country to help us find solutions to problems within the system. therefore, we want to hear from each of you, whether it is visiting our offices personally, calling us on the phone, sending

us an e-mail, or reaching out to us on facebook. the issues are not partisan issues. they are veteran issues and that is exactly the way it should be. a quote from general bradley, former v.a. secretary, stated quite bluntly in 1947, "we are dealing with veterans, not procedures, with their problems, not ours." i promise to each one of you here today that i will not let bureaucracy, red tape, or political brinksmanship stand in the way of caring for america's veterans during my tenure as chairman. you are my priority. this country's commitment to our veterans will never waver and nor will mind. i applaud each of you and your families for your service to our country and to the american legion. i thank you for the invitation.

god bless you and may god bless the united states of america. [applause] >> also at the american legion, house minority leader nancy pelosi said veterans benefits will not be shortchanged in the deficit reduction policy. she also talked about the administration's plans to help veterans with unemployment. >> good morning. thank you, national commander jimmy foster could it's my honor to join some of my colleagues who have already spoken to bring greetings and thanks of the congress of the united states. to you, commander foster, and to all of the legionnaires. everytime i get this invitation to come here, it's a special privilege. i am especially honored to be

with you as we approach the 10- year anniversary of 9/11. thank you, commander foster, for your introduction, for your leadership, and for your service to our country as a marine, and to your fellow veterans and legionnaires. congress works with you to pass the omnibus veterans benefits last year, to provide support to veterans and care givers. the american legion said that the bill offers a bold solutions to major challenges facing service members, veterans, and their families. the same could be said of commander foster's tenure and the work of all legionnaires. bold leaders for your community. committed to helping your fellow men and women in uniform face every challenge, overcome any obstacle, and succeed.

as a californian i would like to take this opportunity to recognize the american legion's california department and its commander, mark fox were the. any californians in the house? as a proud daughter of baltimore, i also want to abolish the work of the department of baltimore. let's hear it for michael. [applause] my family took great pride that four of my brothers were the army's uniform. [applause] on behalf of my colleagues, i want to thank you. everyone who served with ted edwards in congress knew of his

leadership. we want to thank you for awarding the distinguished medal, the legion's highest honor, to ted edwards, who is here with us today. [applause] when he was in the house, he served admirably as chairman of the veterans affairs appropriations subcommittee, leading the charge to provide the v.a. with advanced appropriations. thank god for ted edwards. authorizing the largest ever increase in veterans health care. before he was chairman, he played a key role in crafting and passing the landmark post 9/11 gi bill. you know how important that what did he was not just intent on passing it to say thank you to our veterans and send them to

college. he wanted to make sure it would be transferable to other family members, should that be the wish of the family. in addition to that, when it became obvious that we needed to do even more, he brought to the forefront the sergeant john david frye legislation. many of you know what that does. for those of you who do not come and i do think it bears repeating, if our soldier was lost in battle -- the benefit survived them. their children for another family member could use the benefit. it is hard to believe that the benefit was transferable if you lived, but if you died, it

disappeared. thank you, ted edwards, for making that possible for so many families in our country. [applause] thank you for recognizing -- i name a few, but his many achievements. we're all proud to colin macaulay. his work and commitment to our veterans continues. for the men and women of the american legion, service is not simply a lofty goal, but a way of life. sacrifice is what binds you together. heroism is what sets you apart. from the first legionnaires, the veterans of world war i, and those from iraq and afghanistan, un body the call to service. on the battlefield, your mission is to ensure the safety and security of our nation, our first responsibility, to protect and defend.

at home, your task is to uphold our moral responsibility to serve all of our soldiers with deeds as well as words. legionnaires' go beyond the call of duty, making a difference i n local communities. consider what they have given back. stunning. nearly four million hours of community service. more than $2.3 million for emergency aid. almost 14,000 college scholarships granted by local posts. these figures represent only a fraction of the extraordinary work you do to strengthen our nation every day. thank you, legionnaires, for all lease staying true to your mission of mutual helpfulness -- for all lease staying true to your mission of mutual helpfulness, abroad and at home. [applause] the spirit of the american legion and of so many veterans

was captured in the recent story of a marine. in the heat of combat in iraq, he protected his unit while surrounded by enemy forces and coming under heavy fire. he saved the lives of his fellow marines. upon his return home,. won a silver star for his heroism and courage. some in his unit were lost that day on the battlefield and would never see their native soil again. when back in the united states, the captain knew he had to find a way to honor the memory and the sacrifice of the fallen heroes, of his fallen brothers in arms. in his words, "i lost friends who will never have the opportunity i have. i live every day for them," he

said. living every day for them meant starting hire heroes, an organization. it applies skills learned in the military to civilian life. it's a big boost for them. at the we in this work, -- e choing this work, congressman bishop offered the hiring heroes act. in our regular meetings of our veterans service organizations, which meet on a quarterly basis with a large array of veterans service organizations and blue star, a gold star -- hearing

from every aspect of your service to our country. at our most recent meetings, the emphasis has been on jobs. one of the suggestions made forcefully by all of you at that time is that the federal government should use its contract in power and honor its commitment to veterans preference is in contracts. it's a wonderful thing to create jobs, to be a model to the country, and as businesses to do so, and we support all of those initiatives. ownership and equity and exploiting the leadership qualities of our men and women in uniform by having them own their own businesses, to be job creators, that is really one of the priorities you have brought to us. it is one that we will fight

for. it is contained in the legislation, which also helps veterans obtain good jobs by strengthening training initiatives and encouraging businesses and government contractors to hire the men and women of our armed forces. if we, as a nation, as a people, as a community of americans are to live every day for our soldiers, sailors, marines, we cannot expect -- we cannot accept a lack of opportunity for those who served. we must make sure it's a priority for our veterans and our country. congressman tim walsh, the highest ranking enlisted soldier to ever serve in congress, introduced a bill to cut bureaucratic red tape and offer employers a tax credit for hiring unemployed veterans discharged from the military in the last five years, the veterans of iraq and afghanistan. we have a make it an american

initiative to create jobs and strengthen our manufacturing, industrial, and technological base. it's a national security issue that we stop the erosion of our manufacturing base in our country. we must be self-reliant. [applause] we cannot defend our country if we are depending on other countries to supply us with the means to produce what we need to defend. when we make it in america, when we make it in america, the american people can make it in america. [applause] it has a special emphasis on good paying, clean energy jobs for our veterans. veterans supporting is a bipartisan cause. that's the beautiful portrait

it's a place we can all come together. i know you heard from the chairman this morning, jeff miller. we must work together, democrats and republicans, with the american legion by our side to pass these critical measures to invest in the economic well- being of all of our service members and their families. yesterday, you heard from president obama about his comprehensive agenda to expand job opportunities for america's veterans and to ensure they have the support they need and deserve to enter the civilian work force. following the american legion's lead, many of these initiatives the president talked about yesterday -- you were in the lead on and now it is better public policy to improve the lives of our veterans. we need more and the president's plan a tax credit to hire unemployed veterans and

wounded warriors, that's on your agenda. it challenges the private sector to do their part and to hire and train veterans and their spouses and push federal agencies to update the way they transition soldiers to civilian life and to improve how they hire and retain veterans. these steps are critical to our community of veterans and to the strength of our economy. because ensuring veterans are given a chance to succeed as a small-business owner, a small- business owner, it encourages growth. to that end, the american legion has urged -- is pushing small business administration to boost out reach to veteran- owned businesses, encourage, and a their growth, and ensure they can access the capital they need to expand, hire, and right. in the weeks ahead, as you know,

as you been hearing about all over, congress will take up the budget at a table of 12. 12 people sitting around that table. i want the american legion and all of america to know that the values of america's veterans will have a strong presence at that congressional table. [applause] i want to assure you that as we reduce the deficit, and we must reduce the deficit, america's veterans will not be shortchanged. the job of creation and economic growth must prevail. [applause] and meeting the needs of our veterans is not an issue for us at that table. it's a value of the american people that we will protec andt negotiations. our work will not be complete until every american who has

fought for our country abroad can find a job when they come home. we must build a future where the of our veterans' sacrifice is free we must build an economy that welcomes home service members with an opportunity, a paycheck, and a fair shot to succeed. working with the secretary and the american legion, we can continue to make progress for the health and, stability, and security for our veterans. we can meet today's challenges, putting veterans to work, and in doing so, strengthening the economy for all americans in every way. in every way, and all that you do, you are a source of strength to america. america's veterans have earned our respect by their actions, their bravery, their willingness to step forward to serve on our behalf. in the words of one former marine, "i do believe that we have something to contribute.

we know how to lead." in this spirit, the willingness to contribute, the desire to lead, the urge to give back -- that characterized as millions of service members. it certainly characterizes the american legion. you believe in the potential of our country. you live by the values that make our military the finest fighting force and the world, and that will make our economy a bastion of prosperity. we must make sure our nation lives up to the ideals protected and preserved by those who serve -- by those who serve as a beacon of opportunity for all, as the land of the free and the home of the brave. as the captain said, we must live every day for them. for the men and women who volunteer, who put their lives on the line, who fight on distant shores so that we can no safety, security, and freedom at home.

together, with the american legion, we will continue to uphold our solemn pledge. as the military says, "on the battlefield, we will leave no soldier behind." and when they come home, we say, we will leave no veteran behind. [applause] god bless our veterans, our troops, and our families. god bless the american legion. may god always bless the united states of america. thank you with the opportunity to be with you today. [applause] ♪

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> earlier today, veterans of gathered at the world war ii memorial to mark the 66th anniversary since japanese surrendered in sincewar. we covered the commemoration earlier today to we will have it later for you on the c-span networks. president obama and his daughter sasha earlier today headed off to camp david. on sunday, the president will break his vacation for a visit to paterson, new jersey, which was hit by hurricane irene. monday, the president will travel to the renaissance center in detroit. he will be joined by the

labor secretary. live coverage at 1:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. sarah palin at the tea party rally at noon on c-span and on our web site, c-span.org. this holiday weekend, on american history tv on c-span3, the name conjures elegance and grandeur, but during world war ii, the queen mary was commissioned as a troop ship. the professor on the integration of baseball by african- americans, women, and asians. and remembering 9/11, covering september 11. look for the complete weekend schedule at c-span.org/history.

this weekend, a three day tv onay weekend on booke c-span 2. harvard law professor randall kennedy looks at the influence of racial politics on the first african-american president. sunday, three hours in depth. former editor and columnist andelliellis cose. weekend schedules in your in box. >> this morning fred barnes joined us on "washington journal" to talk about vice president dick cheney's recently released memoir. we spoke with him for about 30 minutes. executive editor of th weekly

standard, a contributor to the fox news channel. cheap shot, condoleezza rice says the dick cheney book is an attack of her integrity. this is just one of the latest responses, which you've read. guest: one of the closing chapters in the book, he disagrees with her. she's secretary of state. he is vice president, on the policy of north korea. he thinks she was extremely l n lenient and wanted president bush to sign the agreement with the north koreans. cheney said it wasn't that at all but as a result of conversations her assistant had had. obviously cheney disagreed

heartily. it is strenously written. at the end of the day, president bush agreed with her. host: she says she never writed in front of him. >> crying was over the 16 words. the word that's said the british intelligence. there were great ramifications of that. she thought it was something that they had to basically apologize for back then in 2003 or 2004, whatever it was. cheney did. he claims later that she came him and said she was wrong.

parts of the book, he writes. in every administration, there is often an incli indication to make concessionso bad actors inhe his administration and what's happeng right now in the obama administration. guest: what i tend to agree with. overall the years, the deputy chief of staff in theford administration and was a member of congress and chief of staff in the ford administration. a member of congress. look, he was a favorite. much tougher, more hawkish

policy than the state department normally does under any president. >> dik cheney sat down with matt lauer on the today show. he asked if the americans were asked to use these torture techniques. >> i think we would object. we wouldn't expect an american to be acting that way. dealing with the alleged master mind of 9/11, killed 3,000 americans. at the time when we had very little knowledge of al qaeda and after we had gone through other procedures and efforts, at the end of that process, he was subjected to the program. it was carefully super viced. none of the techniques used were

things we haven't already used. the vast majority of peopl would say water boarding is torture. >> i would ask you don't get caught up in the methods of interrogation. the fact is it worked. we learned valuable information from that process and kept the country safe for seven years. >> he said if water boarding were being done, he uld explain. yet, he defends it being done against the other high-valued detainees. you can see it's a bit couldn't

directory. that's one of the reasons his book is good. it's so candid all through it. you may not remember but there used to be people that would leave the administration. it would be sweetness and light and got along with everybody. now we are seeing books. when they are going into the disagreements they had and recounting them in very self serving or strong lang language. he points out that his interest was not in pomp and circumstance but power, nevertheless the unusually influence al role he took, he writes wasn't just

host: was it the arrangement that stayed the same for eight years? guest: it pretty much did. look 9/11 happened early. it was after 9/11 that cheney and the issue cheney was the most interested in which were foreign policy and national security issues. that's become more important. one of the things we find in the cheney book is the number of times cheney disagreed with the president and actually didn't get his way. he didn't in his dispute with condoleezza rice over north korea. he talks about complaining about a leak from the white house about softening his position to

iraq. he even explains to the president and taken aside and tell is him that leak kament from the president himself. there were a number of disagreements by cheney against the president. it did not seem to diminish from over the years. it didn't diminish cheney's influence. >> he talked about his health. one thing i learned, during the four years, he smoked three packs a day. guest: i don't remember him smoking that much but i guess he did. he really was a boy wonder taking over as white house chief of staff in 1995.

he was a very good white house chief of staff. you know what makes the people in washington the most effective, where they understand policy and they are pretty deeply involved in it but also understand politicpolitics. . . guest: his first big job was the war on poverty program.

he got a job there and then it was the cost of living council. then it was the white house, and they have -- cheney might have gone back to wyoming early on. : you can join us by giving us a phone call, sending us a tweeet or an e-mail. carl joins us from west virginia. caller: i have a lot of respect for collen powell, but i have lost -- i lost respect when he knew who leaked the name, and would not say so. every night you heard people

like chris matthews accusing george bush, dick cheney, all of these people of committing a crime, and i do not understand why chris matthews could not have been sued for defamation of character. the prosecutor also new from the beginning who leaked the name to the media, yet he kept on with this charade -i called it a charade investigation. i think he should be disbarred. that is all i have to say. thank you. host: fred barnes, your response? guest: of course, colin powell told everybody not to tell anybody that it was his aide.

i do not think cheney thickset is a good excuse. there have been other things written about that that have said that the state department did not want -- that he did not want that to get out because it would be embarrassing for the state department. my question is did he privately tell the president -- remember, the president was hot on the trail of scooter libby and karl rove about whether they leaked information. they did not do that. it was ultimately scooter libby, who was the only person convicted. host: was the president wrong in not pardoning him? guest: i think so. host: why? guest: because i think it is questionable about whether they

had lied, and memory could be tricky, and whether his recollection of a conversation with tim russert, host of "meet the press,"they differed, and that could happen. the older you get, you realize your memory can be very faulty, and you can be so short that something had happened. over that, should libby have been convicted? i do not think so. the president cleared him of going to jail, but would not give him a pardon. i think that created a rift between the president and cheney. cheney felt this was a political battle that was going on, and we should not leave our will bid on the field. host: why did the president not

pardon him? guest: i think the president that libby had lied, that he was guilty, and did not want to pardon him. host: one of our viewers -- what is your relationship with dick cheney? guest: i met him when he was first the deputy white house chief of staff under gerald ford in 1974. i knew him when he was a member of congress and secretary of defense, and certainly when he was vice president, and i would say he is someone that i know quite well. i generally agree with his views. he is a conservative. i am a conservative. friend? all you what he wrote in the book. he ss for fred barnes, a man with firsthand knowledge of many of the events in this book.

it does not say fred barnes, one of my closest and dearest friends, because that would not be the case. host: july joins us from california. good morning. caller: i do agree with mr. barnes said dick cheney was in the driver's seat when it came to foreign policy. i am not one to sugarcoat things here. i think dick cheney is a war criminal, and a mass murderer. i am 52 years old. i have lived through some presidencies. i just very much dislike dick cheney. i think it costs a lot of havoc. host: we have heard that argument. guest: i did not think he was in the driver's seat. there have been stories

written, and i think they were ridiculous that dick cheney was really the guy running things. he was not. it did not work that way and cannot work that way. he was very influential. the president sought out his views on national security issues in particular. they met a lot. he hadn extremely influential role, but in the driver's seat? i would say no. st: he says he, george w. bush, made some decisions i did not agree with . guest: is true no other vice- president has had the access. 9/11 had a lot to do with that. that may national security the