>> on this labor day, we will have a number of town hall meetings with members of congress for you. we'll start congressman xavier becerra ramallah with constituents and his los angeles congressional district and after that, allen west of florida talk to voters in palm beach gardens. come up this afternoon, president obama addresses a labor day rally in detroit. he is expected to give a preview of his thursday speech before a joint session of congress where he is expected to outline his new job plant are we will have live coverage from the tory today starting at 1:15 eastern. we will bring the president's job speech thursday at 7:00 p.m. eastern.

next weekend, the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 on the cspan that works with live coverage from each of the memorial site, new york city, shenksvill;e, pennsylvania and the pentagon. saturday, a flight 93 national memorial dedication ceremony. sunday morning at 8:30, and the morals ceremony from the world trade center site with president obama and former president bush. on c-span 2 at 9:00, vice- president buy in from the pentagon. on c-span 3 at 9:30, honoring those who lost our lives of united flight 93. 9/11 remember, next weekend on the c-span network. since then has been covering a number of congressional town hall meetings around the country during the summer recess. up next, we'll go to los angeles where save your best arab met with community members last weekend to talk about the economy.

the congressman is serving on the new congressional debt commission. is even less about one hour, 15 minutes. pastry and some coffee. i hope. why don't i do this? as people are walking and, i want to save as much time as possible for folks to ask questions. why don't i go through some of the mechanical stuff i usually go through. many of you have been to my town halls before. you'll be bored by it. it is always good for those who are new to hear it and those to they have seen or heard before to be reminded. i like to give this information out. i am not always hear and it helps for you to know my staff members and to know the process and the way this works. ok? can i ask someone to grab my

jacket? ok. we begin by thanking our host, those to make it possible for us to be here. i think it is a treat to be here at this particular school. it is a cluster of schools. this is where the ambassador hotel used to be. it is now a landmark as a result -- it has been here for a long time. bobby kennedy was assassinated at the ambassador hotel. it is great that some of the kids have the opportunity to learn some history. her of -- we want to say to the thank you so much for letting us use this school and this facility. [applause]

i always try to make sure -- after we leave, she has to make sure this facility is ready for school. that means that folks are going to be working after we are done cleaning up. to all of the facility managers and staff, we said thank you very much for being available after hours to be able to clean this room and have it ready for the kids tomorrow. i also tried to introduce my staff because they are the first point of contact most of the time. hopefully, you can start the process of seeking my assistance or my services as quickly as possible. let me go down the list. i want to begin by mentioning

might field staff. she may be outside. she is one of my field deputies. brenda vargas is to my right, to your left. she is working with vespa she is finishing up her master's degree -- she is working with us as she is finishing up her master's degree. you see a lot more about these days. my district director is outside. she will be walking in. we still have a lot of folks outside. deal greenberg is outside. she is my field and constituent outreach supervisor. greg -- to my right, a deputy

press secretary and also in charge of my website. michael nelson is my case work supervisor and by a scheduler. michael is very important if you have a particular issue we need to address. amy lopez is one of might and turns. she is a student at the university of pennsylvania. she is here with us and you have to really applaud for amy because she is working for free. [applause] daniel ortiz is our translator. let me introduce to use some of the folks over here from los angeles to police department. lapd has always been gracious to attend these forums that i do.

if you have a question that relates to public safety, i am a member of congress and died deal -- and i deal with federal issues. if you have a question about safety in your neighborhood, drug dealing going on, i would not answer it as well as someone from the lapd. let me introduce to you the folks that are here. sergeant? we have our senior lead officer chong.far right, james joh sometimes we have representatives from some of the other elected offices. if you ask a question that

relates to the federal government, i am the guy that should be answering that. it is a city or county or a state issue, sometimes others can answer more directly. that is in their jurisdiction. thank you for being here. if you have any state issues, hopefully, he is available to answer them for us. i typically then proceed now to give you a quick glimpse of what is going on in washington, d.c. we only have an hour. what i would like to do is really just reduce the amount of time i take and give you a sense of what is going on in d.c.'s so i can leave as much time as possible for questions. as we move into this session, let's try to get as much done. let's hear from as many of you as possible. we do not have enough time to address all the questions that might cost -- that he might have. we will run out of time.

what we typically do is to ask -- is to write your name down on a piece of paper. i will randomly draw names. we will take those questions. as much time as we have, hopefully, we will get through as many of these as possible. i guarantee you that we will not get through all of these this evening. perhaps the reason you are here is because you may have heard that i was recently appointed to serve on this deficit reductions committee, the super committee, because of the 535 members of congress. 12 of us have been appointed, to this committee -- appointed on to this committee, which has a short life span. we are tasked with trying to achieve deficit savings of $1.20

trillion. it is open to us to explore every avenue, try to come up with ways to reduce the deficit. it is a tough task with a short amount of time. 12 last -- 12 of us have been charged with that responsibility. i hope you have a lot of good ideas and comments you would like to share. i hope to have opportunities as we move forward to talk to folks as often as possible about this particular assignment. i consider it a privilege. i did as much congratulations as condolence, so it works both ways. in the number of things we can talk about. we're going to go straight to questions. by the way, we have cameras. c-span requested an opportunity

to be here. they have been gracious to try to accommodate the way i typically do these. we're going to allow c-span to film. this is national cable station so we will be broadcast nationally. they are a public service station. we will try to go through as many questions as possible. i will draw them randomly. i will try to answer each question as succinctly as i can. i also ask you on behalf of everybody who is here to respect everybody, to try to ask your question as succinctly as you can.

limit yourself to one question, please. i love it when you applause, i hate it when you boot. we will do neither and we will spend all that time taking more questions or comments. when i call your name, but i will draw about four names. in the order that your name is drawn, please make sure you raise your hand. what we will ask you to do is go to the -- are we going to have folks on the outside of the aisle? inside. if you hear your name, raise your hand and walked to the center of the aisle. we will have a staffer with a microphone. that is -- that we everybody can hear it for comment. yet to hear your name, right away, just politely make your

way to the center of the aisle. i'm going to call for names. this but, you are ready to go. -- in this way, you are ready to go. hopefully, in an orderly fashion, we will get through as much of this as possible. i will go right to it. ok. stephanie taylor, are you here? i will call out three other names. patricia buenos? where are you?

it will move faster. eric ares? and then -- is it carol lichens? those are our four. why don't you begin, stephanie? thank you for coming. >> thank you for the opportunity. my name is stephanie taylor and i am representing thousands of members of the green la coliseum. we're here to speak to you about

the land-water conservation fund. we already know that you support it. we really need someone to make sure that the fund does not get decimated and devastated. it is a very small percentage of the federal budget. it is a very bipartisan issue. it need not be used to correct the budget deficit. it is very important, it saves and protect federal and state parks. thank you. >> stephanie, thank you very much. you know that i am a strong supporter of the program. i have been tasked with finding $1.20 trillion in savings. i believe that the 12 of us will be given this assignment, i do not believe we have the right to walk into this negotiation with preconditions. protecting any special interest or making special interest

pledges that i will protect whatever i think is very important. i also think that nothing is a sacred cow and everything should be considered. even things i have fought for all of my life. having said that, i believe i have a right to fight for things i believe then, to try to come up with a mix that is good for america. i have to be ready to put, whether it is conservation funds or whether it is a program for seniors or a program for children or something for companies or corporations, i have to be willing to put that on the table. take a look at my record. you know where i stand on these issues. you have a sense of what i will be fighting for. i cannot guarantee what will happen. it has to be part of the negotiation. hopefully, everybody goes into the negotiation putting their i hope the work of the 12

members are all public and transparent. thank you. who did i say was next? it will be patricia. i am going to draw out what other name before patricia begins. ann. come on down. >> thank you for having this town hall meeting. i am very happy to be here. politicians talk about shared sacrifice. the people in our community have done the sacrifice already. what do you plan to do on the deficit committee on making sure the taxation it really goes to the wealthy and not the working poor? in addition to that, i want to know your stance on the free- trade of columbia panama, we run the risk of losing jobs in california. interdistrict a loan, it is 5247.

i left at intermission with your staff. >> i love when you, with data. --i love when you come with data. i want to make it clear. i will not stand here and guaranteed that i will not let them touch -- you fill in the blank. let me give you a quick example. i and the ranking democrat in the house of representatives when it comes to social security. i and the highest-ranking democrat. i do not believe social security should be on the table for cuts. why? because of social security -- please. tbd favor. why? because the social security in its 70 + years of life has never contributed one penny to these deficits that we have in every year or the debt.

not one single cent in debt is due to social security. in fact, social security today has a surplus of over 200 trillion dollars. some people are saying, we should take money out of social security, raise the retirement age, all sorts of ideas to help with deficits. i do not think that is there. i have to hope that i can argue well enough and windy day in that debate that everyone would agree with me that of the 12 of us, we should not go after social security benefits to solve this deficit and debt crisis. i cannot tell you that because i have a socials -- i have a strong belief of social security that i would close the door. i would be doing a disservice to all the americans in this country who believe the 12 of us have a sincere obligation to try to find common ground.

if i see you cannot touch social security and somebody else says you cannot touch medicare or taxes for the rich or money for schools -- i think we have to be prepared to deal with what ever the majority in this committee comes up with. look at my voting record, he will see where i stand. i do not have a right to close the door on things that are my sacred cows. on the trade deals, it is time in this country where our biggest export was not a american jobs. our biggest import was not will. we have to come up with a trade policy that recognizes that we must grow jobs in america. in fact, i will tell you right now that my belief is the

biggest deficit in my country today is a jobs deficit. you put 15 billion americans to work and that they are paying taxes. they are paying taxes, the treasury has revenue. if the treasury has more revenue, the deficits go down. it is tough to imagine the government will balance their budget is 15 million americans are out of work and when they get home they have a hard time determining how to balance theirs. we have to have a trade policy that generates jobs in america. not one that just opened supporters and we have to move businesses abroad. those trade agreements, while they are making progress, i think there is issues with some of them. we have to make sure that if we are going to open our doors to columbia, columbia is treating not just its capital properly, but is treating its people

properly and not making it difficult for workers in colombia to be able to have rights. in colombia today, you are as likely to be assassinated for being a worker tried to help people organize as you are if you are a narco traffickers. there are some real issues there. we have to get these right. next was erick. before you go, let me pick in other name. richard spicer. are you here? come downtho the center aisle. >> a good evening. i am a lifelong resident of your district. i appreciate the opportunities for conversation and your sincere effort to get the opinions and thoughts of your residence. i will push back a little bit

because i know you have been put charged with a great task. i just want to make it clear to you and it to your staff that when you say things like special interests and sacred cows, i understand that. but the residents who are struggling are not sacred cows or special interests. they are everyday people who live off of social security, medicaid, and food stamps. the you understand that we are not sacred cows that the way other people are, we're trying to live our lives. please do not see us as another special interest or sacred cow. if that is not clear enough, we are having an event in los angeles to try to portray that livelihood that we are living on september 22 at city hall. in by somebody from your staff to come here some more stories of folks who are struggling and why we need you as a leader, somebody we do respect, to take that to the table as well and

make that a message. >> i appreciate your point. let me go right to it. let me say this. do me a favor. i can see that the cameraman behind you is trying to figure out how to fill a around your heads. why do we not all get to decide so they have a clear shot. and remember to smile. you are right, but caution. what i consider a special interest -- somebody else might say, no. that is not a special interests. let me give you an example. how many here own a home? all of us who own a home, we have a special interests. every time it is time to file our taxes, we get to do something that people who do not own a home get to do.

we get to write off the interest on our mortgage. if you grant, you get no such tax break. we also get a tax break because we pay property taxes on the home. we get to write down how much we have made and how much we will pay to the government because of the property taxes we pay on that home. somebody who rents, they do not get to do that. they are helping to pay the property taxes and mortgage on the property owned by the person who gets to write off expenses. our homeowners special interests? my point to eric is this. what you may think of as just the people, someone might say, are you talking about the people getting medicare? are you talking about people getting homeowners' mortgage deduction? tell me what you mean. that is why the best way to approach this, i believe, is to

say, "i will not come in protecting anything or anyone. but i will fight like the dickens for those things i believe in." i do not think i have to be coy about what i believe in. i have been in congress for 19 years. you can see what i believe in. that is why i say to folks, it is pretty transparent what i will fight for. i just have to believe that i have done more training and prep and someone else. at the end of the day i will prevail in convincing my colleagues at something like social security should not be cut so we can pay for deficits. but thank you for the question. next person, we have carol. francis. c.g.r rodriguez.

are you here? go ahead and make your way down there. we will go with stephen smith. are you here? right over here. go right ahead. >> i think special interests most people think of as the people who are making, you know, the billionaires, the millionaires and people who cause the economic crisis. i really appreciate the whole idea of you going into the committee -- the super committee without a set agenda and willing to be flexible and try to persuade. but that only works of both sides to it. when the republicans begin by saying --

>> to me a favor. i want to make sure everybody has a chance to hear what is being said. i do not what somebody walking away misunderstanding what is being said. the more you applaud, the more i am going to have to say please hold, stopped for a second. at some point, somebody is going to feel like, you clapped. i can do. before you know it, it will escalate. let us focus on the q and a on the commentary. >> what the republicans have said, we will make sure that nobody who believes in raising taxes on anybody, on the top 10% or the top 1% or anything that are going to be on the committee. if they already have that preconceived and you come in as saying -- it is only the democrats who want to be flexible and republican said,

no, we will go with this agenda. we know that we need to cut the war in libya and iraq and afghanistan. quit funding at israel for no matter what it does. we need to do these things. >> let me go ahead -- i need to keep going. i get your point. i am not stupid. i am not going to walk in saying, i have no preconditions. and by the way, i see you have 30 of them. let us continue to play in the sandbox. when i say i believe we should walk in with no preconditions making no special interest pledges that i sign on the dotted line i will not do this or i will do that, i am that if we saying th

want to be serious and honest with all of our constituents, i cannot have in my back pocket this "get out of jail free"pass for one constituency. everybody is going to look for those passes. i have to believe that if i walked and earnestly sank to my colleagues, "you just heard what i said about social security," but it is on the table. before we leave it on the table to find savings, prove to me why. i believe i can win that argument. but i have to test that theory. that is why i think it is important for this to be a transparent process. social security has never contributed a dime to these deficits or the national debt. if somebody votes to keep it

on, i want to see -- to me, social security is one of the greatest inventions america has ever given us. i understand your point. you may still have issues with my position. if i walk in sang, so when so, i know you have always taken this position and you will never do this and now you are on this committee. because i know you have always taken a particular position, i will take a particular position. this will break a part. i do not think failure is an option for us on this. if we do not do something, the 12th of us, the consequence is there will be an automatic trigger for the same amount of cuts. that is like having it all guillotine come down and decide where the cuts will be. it is better to have 12 americans who at least profess

to wanting to do the best for their country come up with a solution and it just take a guillotine with our eyes closed and say, we need to top off all this money and let it come down. that is not the way you legislate. i do not believe. i understand your point. please understand my predicament in trying to get this done. i hear what you are saying. do me a favor. we cannot proceed if anyone wants to interject. please, sir. we will just ask that you all try to cooperate. please be respectful. as i said, it will escalate. this is what i ask. please respect your neighbors who have taken the time to come.

please respect the rules. please respected the law. this is a public forum. if you break up this form and make it impossible for us to continue, you are committing a misdemeanor. we would ask that everybody respect your neighbors if nothing else. at least respect your neighbors who have taken the time to be here. they just announced that have no intention of ever operating a museum. cable not let the southwest

museum name be used again. they are ready to give the property to the city of los angeles, not the collection at the buildings and the land. do we have any options? >> anne, we have discussed this many times. never to a resolution. i do not know the answer to your question. it is not an issue that i deal with on a day to day basis in washington. this is a local issue having to deal with an important site over in the northeast area of l.a. that has been closed for many years. they have control of the site and the collection. it is the very precious collection of native american artifacts, one of the best collections in the united states. the concern of many local

residents is what will happen to what is a treasure in the community? a museum in an area not to void of a lot of treasures and historic sites and opportunities for people who want to come into the community. as i said as always, i understand the passion. it is a treasure we want to continue. at the same time, they will say it was a museum that was on the verge of closing, its attendance was very low. it was having financial difficulty. somebody had to come in and where it would close permanently. it is a city issue. i know city council members to have jurisdiction over the issue have been talking quite a bit a about it. i know the mayor has been involved as well. suffice to say this -- i agree with the residence who want to

keep the museum there. i do not know if i agree with the residents who say we must keep it there at all costs. somebody has to bear those costs. somehow you have to be able to prove to those who will run the museum and own at that they can bear the cost. museums are very expensive to operate. if you have to keep everything in our climate condition, and you have to make sure you have security. that is what makes it tough. i wish i could give you a better response, and the last time we spoke about this was a couple of years, i do not know what has transpired since then. i have not dealt with that at the federal level. i am always welcome to work with you to make sure that that site has every opportunity to remain the southwest museum. thank you. ok. who was next?

i think richard, you are next. then we have c.g. and stephen and one more. judy. you will be next -- fourth. >> thank you very much for having this forum. in your role on the committee, i would appreciate if you would share some of your ideas about how to make it work in the manner you have suggested -- either conduct, transparency, perhaps ways in which the members of the committee could share and education on some of these complicated subject matters, and to do with any matter that keeps everything on the table including revenue reform, increases as well as shared cuts across the board -- not across the board. smart choices on ways to make

cuts. >> i think you're going to the heart of this without asking me to comment on something. let me let you probe my brain a little bit more, which i think you have a right to. i am voting for you. you gave me that privilege. first, i said it earlier. i believe it has to be a transparent process. if not, it is too easy to gain the system. wink wink, not not, you come out with something like the smoke of the vatican north dakota try to figure out why was he chose an for the vote. transparency -- as open as possible. i think that is crucial. secondly, i think we have to have an initial opportunity to talk about how we are going to -- what can be put on the table?

what is really in the next? what i think is extremely critical -- i do not know if all of my colleagues would agree. the whodunit? what happened? just the facts. how did we go from 2001 when we had the largest federal budget surplus in our history and we were being told by the fiscal referee for these things, the cfo, that we would have budget surpluses so large that over the next 10 years we would likely see budget surpluses totaling 5.6 trillion dollars. surpluses. so much so that we were going to be able to wipe out all of our national debt within that 10 years and have extra. we would be free and clear of any debt.

that is what the congressional budget office was telling us. that is the most neutral referee that we use to determine costs, revenue, those kinds of things. in fact, we would use them for this committee. all of a sudden, 10 years later, we went from that projection of record surpluses to now, record deficits. a turnaround of 12.7 trillion dollars in 10 years. $12.7 trillion. go home, right out the number $ 12 trillion. breakdown. you are probably going back to before the caveman days in time. 12 trillion is an astronomical sum. what happened in 10 years? we all watched. i believe we have to answer the

"whodunit" question. otherwise, we are going to say chop this year, change medicare here, change taxes here. what caused us to get into this mess? now, we have a general sense of what did, but we need to probe further. the biggest contributor, i do not say this but the congressional budget office's numbers, the biggest man-made contributor -- the bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 which over the next 10 years will cost us over four trillion dollars. in the first 10 years, the cost about $three trillion. second largest contributor, likely, the wars and iraq and afghanistan. why?

we have never paid a single cent of the cost of the two boards. it is all borrowed money. over $one trillion dollars and growing. we never paid for that. you could start to add up these sounds and see where we went awry. if nobody says, we should do something about those bush tax cuts, which went mostly to very wealthy folks. nebraska there are some millionaires in this room. your tax break for this year was probably a about $120,000. if you are somebody making the average income of $45,000, you probably got enough of a tax break to give you to tanks of gas. we need to figure out what caused us to get there. once we do that, we can target better what we do to come up with 1.5 trillion dollars in savings. if we blindly say, we have to cut the schools because we have

no choice. i do not know any child who spent any of the money in iraq or afghanistan. i know no child who got that tax break. i think we have to go and figure out the sources, the drivers of the deficits. that way you can answer every american plainly what we have to do to get this right. the bottom line, my bottom line what we do, will it create a job or kill a job? i will not be any -- very favorable if it is going to kill a job. i believe the quickest way we get america back on track is to put america back to work. there are too many americans who are not working and paying their taxes and feeling good a outworking. maybe not great, could it not

paying taxes. long answer, i apologize. i have to keep them briefer. but as go to the next one. >> i want to thank you for your support of educational programs that you provided in the past. can you share ideas as to how you can promote those kinds of programs, protect those programs? i am very concerned that it is going to be on the chopping block and it will be a blind cut. >> what i love about these sessions is, you all tell me through your passion with you care about the most. invariably, it is something very important to the family and neighborhood. in this case, the program to help kids, a lot of children who are mostly disadvantage and

modest income families, it helps them make sure they catch up so they do not fall further behind and to drag some of their peers with them because the teacher has to teach to everyone. the program has been very successful getting a lot of these kids a lot closer to where we want to see them. can i guarantee that something like trio would be cut? nope. i cannot guarantee that. have i been a supporter? i have been more than a supporter. when i served on the education committee, i was one of the principal advocates for gear up and trio. i have fought to expand those programs because of the work they have done. i guarantee we get a lot of those resources for gear up and trio here because we have a lot of kids who come from modern income -- modest income families and they are trying to survive.

it is tough. you can talk to any principal in the unified los angeles school district and they will tell you how gut-wrenching it is to send out pink slips every spring and summer to teachers because they have to be sure they can meet their budget come september and hope they can pull back some of those pink slips by the time school will start. not a way to educate kids. that is the way things have gone. it is tough. we have to figure out where the sacrifice will come. as i said before, if you can find me a gear up kid who told us to go to war and i iraq border got $120,000 tax break, i am willing to talk to that kid and say there is something we have to do about that. thank you. let me give you two other names. next is too deep. after judy, we will have been. ben, are you here? go ahead and get in line over

there. after that will be donald. we will not have that march more time. richard, are you here? we may only get to these last four depending on how quickly they are. and i am sorry, steven is next and then judy. by the way, i hope you do not mind, steven, we are friends because we ran against each other when you're a go for congress. he was my worthy opponent last year for congress. >> we actually had a very interesting debate. >> we did. "i would like to make a comment on education since it is brought up. what is happening in los angeles is a tragedy. what i am looking at numbers that we on the have 50% of our

students graduating high school and in nebraska los angeles arkansas congressional district respect -- especially the hispanic community is running 30%, the fact that that is not front page headlines is very upsetting to me. i am very upset about that. you would not have your job on that tour person committee if congress, the senate, and the president had not failed putting together a budget. that is very sad. i hope we can be successful in that. i would like to comment in terms of taxation as well. if we were to take that $250,000 a year wage earner and above and take 100% of their income, my understanding is that would only cover about six months' worth of our current budget. the numbers are huge. just a huge in terms of how far we are behind. that is very disturbing to me.

the question or comment i have for you, you have a remarkable act -- opportunity right now. i hope you take advantage of this. that is to say, there are some areas where there are common ground. we know where of there will not be. you know republicans will be a little hard-nosed about taxing. we always see it as being wasted. there are areas in terms of savings, major tax reform that we can deal with. i just want to encourage you to let go of some of the things and start to build piece by piece and find areas of commonality that we all have. >> i agree with pretty much everything you say about the part of 250 and above -- the amount to collect and revenues. it is much more than what you have indicated. otherwise, i think are absolutely right on education. that goes to the point of gear up.

it is so important for our kids to have a chance to prosper. i say that because i in the first and my family to get a college degree. my wife and i, who also has a college degree, she is a doctor. her father and mother were carried little and education. we made it more in one year than my parents probably made in 20 years. nobody can ever take away my college education. i don't need to be a member of congress to be happy. i am a very proud that because i got myself educated, i had a chance to run and had a chance to serve. we need to make sure others have that opportunity. there is so much talent in this country. some people are saying, our best days are behind us. i do not believe that for a second. there is no country that has the vitality that we have. this diversity has helped us so much because there is always somebody coming in who can talk about the really tough story and

life, but all of a sudden in america, they are making it. it reinvigorate you to see that folks believe in this country. what a shame if you cannot give to a kid a chance to show their parents that they can just do some phenomenal things. my dad would tell me stories when as a young man he would walk on a street and he would see a sign outside a window that said no dogs or mexicans allowed. he could not go into a restaurant. guess what? my dad has met the president of the united states. only in america would a guy who could not walk to the doors of a restaurant get his kid a stanford education and introduce him to the president of the united states. our best days of -- our best days are ahead of us.

we just have to believe it. let us focus on giving everyone the opportunity. if you do not want the opportunity, which should not be helping you. if you are willing to work hard, that is what we ought to be about. these decisions i have been privileged to be cast to make, i understand that i was given something that so many kids did not have. i also know that it was hard work, parents went through to give me this chance. shame on me out if i fail in this committee, share on -- shame on me if i fill my parents to give me the chance to be on this committee. go right ahead. judy, you are next. and and and and donald. >> i am a mother of two boys who are going to the charter school across the street. we have been at the mercy of charter school lotteries for a lot of years. i will do a quick laundry list so please bear with me.

republican colleagues that signed the allegiance to go with norquist instead of the constitution of the bill of rights should be shamed at every moment. it is a shame to swear allegiance to some guy in a piece of paper. the waste they are talking about is over 750 bases all over the world. the military telling our young men without an education to go over 100 places around the world where they can serve. we need to get out of iraq and afghanistan immediately. we should not be advertising to see the world. where are the hundred bases? how would we feel if all of these other countries have military bases here? then we are paying these people $500 to have privatized the military. a bodyguard for a congressman fit -- visiting over there on

are getting budget why are we not paying our own military people that? where are we wasting on contractors -- the gd i am sorrg emotional. >> wind down. >> my friends and belgium and work for the eu to solve the issues of poverty. she had six months off, her kids in childhood care, they have all these things in europe without any more taxes than we pay here. something is really wrong. something is basically really wrong. spending all of this money on military and privatizing it should all be going to our schools, our children, our roads, and infrastructure. sorry i went on. >> thank you very much. i hear again the passion and i

appreciated very much. i will say one thing. first, i have seen a number of families who have lost their sons and daughters, sons and spouses over a number of years. you give me this right to vote for you. i take it very seriously -- especially when it comes to the military. at some point, i may put your son or your daughter in harm's way. when i had to go visit a mother or a wife and provide them with a flag of the united states has a token of appreciation for their husbands or sons of service, it is tough. what more do you say to somebody who has given their

all? i do not want to look back and say, i could have done more to make sure that soldier was better trained or equipped. i never want to have that kind of regret. i think we have an obligation -- and by the way, i am a very progressive democrat. i think we have an obligation to make sure somebody that puts on the uniform, the give them the utmost to make sure they can do their work. their work is as precious as it comes. they are defending us. however, i do not think that means that the pentagon has license with my vote to spend $32,000 for a refrigerator. that does not give the pentagon the right to say, well, you cannot audit us to say how the pentagon keeps our books because we are too big and of audible. pentagon, we could not audit

them, any firm could go in and give an idea of how dod spend their money because they are in such a shambles. they do too much importance stuff to not have their books in order. the more we get them in order, the more, i think, they will make sure those contract overruns into the hundreds of billions of dollars do not occur. as i said, i am not interested in cutting a program that makes sure our soldiers are the best equipped and prepared to fight with whatever they need. by god, i am not interested in telling them they need a $32,000 refrigerator to help fight this country. that is what we have to go after. you make some very good points, but again, without telling you i'm going to go after this or that or protected this or that, there are areas where we can make some changes and find

savings without having to go into the bone of what america cares about. letting the public sees so that the public knows why we did what we do. i have no doubt -- americans, i have no idea why. maybe it is the sense we can always do what can we go for the underdog, americans believe we can get this done. we just have to prove it. let it be open so that at the end of the day we come out with a product. kasich, i know how we got this because i watched this. i can see the record. thank you for your comment. please do not stop having that passion. a lot of folks talk about the bases. >> when i heard you were on the super committee, i was very grateful and if very relieved. whenever i checked your votes, you are always voting what is at

my heart. i am very proud to say you are my congressman. >> thank you. >> i will be a little specific into details, i do not know if this fits your radar, you know i care very deeply about arts and the endowment of arts. we have been operating on $161 million this year. the administration proposed $146 million. there were several motions to eliminate the endowment which you opposed and were joined by moderate republicans and all the democrats to defeat the elimination of the endowment and to defeat the defunding of the endowment. i am very grateful for that. we are going to need a champion in that committee. i know you are not making any promises, but the interior subcommittee approved a hundred $35 million. there was some very strong language in the appropriation to

support core programs of the endowment. we were hoping it would go to the senate and and reconciliation be boosted up. i do not know if there will be any reconciliation anymore or if you guys are doing that. that is one of my questions. if you are doing it, and there will not be a reconciliation with the senate, i would implore you to look inside and consider being our champion on that committee and at least supporting some sense of language with the preservation of core endowment programs with sufficient funding. you know the arts creates jobs, it inspires people, it enriches people's lives, and supports education. all of the things that make it worthwhile of being the american are supported through the arts and the endowment. >> thank you. again, my record will speak for itself on those issues about the arts.

i will to say for those who may not know, i think the arts are important not because of the adults and the talents that the show. i think the arts are important because of our children. i think the arts give our kids to expressfinancially, they do a lot of resources so they are of limited in what they can do, or perhaps there are of limited in their capacities because they never had an opportunity to open their minds and learn. to me, the arts are a very fine way for a child to really explore the mind. that is where you find the talents. all of us can do one plus one. it is the kid who can take it and it turned one plus one into something we've never what have thought about. the creativity that i think creates patents and copyrights that make us the country we are today. the country that builds google

and microsoft's of america. the more we give kids a chance to explore -- especially in ways that are affordable -- i think the more we will create an america that is strong because these kids will have used their mind from an early age. to me, it is very distressing when you hear that a school says, we have to teach the core curriculum. arts, music, pe, we have to sacrifice those things. it is hard to say to them, how dare you. do we want them to sacrifice mad and science? know. but those are the decisions we are making. those are the options we are being is given. teach a kid math or let them also the music. to me, that is the wrong set of values that you have to give up that intellectual capacity a

child would have if he or she had an opportunity to play that instrument or to do that art. because we want them to learn math or science or english or geography. i went to public schools when i was growing up. in fourth grade when we had a chance to get an instrument, i was in line. the parents could not buy one for may. i ended up a little late so i got a mellophone. there are some people who know what a mellophone is. i wanted a trumpet but i got a mellophone. it is a smaller french horn. can you imagine a fourth great kid having to carry a french home -- a french horn every day? but then i got my trumpet. it was not my normal appearance but the schools. i played in a band. i got some great opportunities and got to meet some girls. it was a great opportunity to feel good about myself and have

some esteem. my art is terrible, so i had to be able to play music. every kid should have that opportunity. then, when you talk about the arts, is indispensable. should we sacrifice some other core curriculum and our schools? no. but we should not be talking about sacrificing size to get our or sacrificing our to get science. that is where i think america has gone wrong when those are the options. the option to me is do we need that base in the foreign country or do we need the parts? to many debates, ok good. but do we have to spend more on the military than the 18 largest powers behind us combined? no, i'm sorry. i do not need responses. let us move on. reconciliation. this super committee will drive much what is going on with the budget because it sets up the

parameters of what we do over the next 10 years. that will give us the parameters. to some degree this law that created a super committee at christie's the automatic trigger is if a super committee does not come up with a solution will drive the budgets for the next 10 years and will see what kind of appropriation the arts will get. yes. so donald and then richard. that will close up. you have all been very patient. >> my is very simple. there is a program that is not being covered by the mainstream media. this is a program called the world global settlements. it has already funded in the tune of $47 trillion. that includes $10 trolling to refund the treasury to issue an asset backed currency to replace

our fiat currency that has put us in debt. i have not heard anything about this in the news. it has been reported that this is being blocked by the present administration. this particular program would solve most of the ills that your committee has been tasked to take care of. i am curious to know why it is being blocked. why is it being kept under the radar when it is already funded? >> donald, you're going to have to send me information on that. i cannot answer any of those questions because i do not know enough of what you're talking about to give you a straight answer. give me -- do me a favor. give us a citation or if you have anything with it, leave it with me. then we will have that conversation. if there is a solution that can be addressed or arrived at with the information and programs you're talking about. you keep have raised something that i cannot respond to well.

world of global settlement. you can always look at up. you are free to give us whatever information you have. deborah is right next to you. actually, do not talk to her because she has a microphone. brenda, liz, somebody will make sure they are talking to donald before he leaves. thank you. guess what, richard, you get to close us all. they get a good one. >> thank you for the opportunity, and it do not hate me for loving you. here it comes. >> you need to come to all of my town halls. >> sir, my questions are geared towards jobs and the financial situations were we are at right now. i have two career, and i have been without a job for 1.9 months. when it comes to jobs,

politicians, talk is easy. remember, you do not bite the hand that feeds you. when it comes to jobs, it is easy to say, "we need to create the jobs." but the companies that actually treat the jobs, they took it away from us and take it to the east. how going to basic binary logic can you create, i do not know, when hundred 50,000-200,000 jobs in california? you require these huge corporations, which by the way, all the time they keep on merging. when they merged these huge corporations, jobs need to be let go because of the double jobs that they get. on the other hand, as of today after 2.5 years with the debacle

on wall street, as today nobody has been sent to jail because of the crimes they committed with our money. that money that saved them came from the taxpayers. they are printing money, printing machines can only go so far. thank you. >> richard, you hit it out of the park. let me see if i can try to catch it. first, i think you are absolutely right. it is easy for this guy who has a job to talk about how we need to create jobs. let me give you some ideas about how the federal government can help america -- most of the private sector, create good jobs. there is a program here and los angeles called the 3010 transportation program were the transportation agency is trying to use the money we all voted for -- we have taxed ourselves

to these initiatives, to create a fund of money here in the county of los angeles to help us build transportation infrastructure. the city of los angeles has said to the federal government, we are going to build these things. typically, you help pay for part of this. what if we do this? what if we tell you, federal government, we will dedicate a larger portion of the money we have already taxed ourselves onto this particular project which you would typically support to a matching grants, you give us that money up front quickly. that way we can accelerate the completion of those transportation programs whether it is freeways, mass-transit. essentially, we leverage the money that we have committed to produce through our own taxes locally to guarantee the federal government that we will come

through with the money so that the federal government will have the confidence to give us more money up front. instead of giving us -- i am making up numbers -- $10 billion over 10 years, they will give this $10 billion in year one. we can then start moving on all of these projects right away. we have a ton of projects here locally that we can get moving on. nobody needs to be told an los angeles that we need to improve the ability for mobility. it is a great idea. we are essentially saying, you want confidence that we will come through. if you give us more money up front than you would give us but no more than you would give us over the long term, we will pomp and the money to show you how we are going to make this happen. $15 billion investment by the federal government -- which is a ton of money -- i am talking $1.5 trillion treaty know what

15 billion can give us? about 1 million american jobs. that transportation project cannot be done from somebody in another country. you have to build that road here. you have to put up the real system here. the federal government is going to give any help, you are doing it up front early. 2, there is a program some have proposed a called fast. fix america's schools today. this is a great group, but it also just opened. there are a lot of schools to it that are not looking like this. kids are having to learn with kids who are here and in a lot nicer schools. we are going to fix the schools at some point. at some point they will lead to the roof, then they will go in and fix the roof. why wait until the water starts damaging the roof more? if you know the roof is old and you will have to replace it, why

not replace it now? there are a whole lot of construction workers in l.a. and america who are out of work. you know what you get out of it? to get to feel better about going to school because they are going to school and a nice place instead of waiting until all the rain is a shining down on that because the bridge is leaking. that would also create good at paying it jobs for americans. he said to often american corporations are sending jobs abroad -- they are. by the way, the majority of americans who are put to work are not put to work by large corporations. three out of every four jobs are created by small businessmen and women. just sit -- just a you know, they are treated by small businessmen and women. not the big guys. in the whole scheme of things, out of the hundred 60 million americans that are working, most

of them are working for small firms. to your point, today if a corporation in a america decides to open a factory abroad or open 8 from abroad or a particular business abroad and therefore says i do not need you working here anymore and jane or joe, i will let you go, many of those firms are getting tax breaks for having treated the job somewhere else. why do we not get rid of the tax break that a company is getting to send a job overseas and instead give companies to say, it is tough. i am not sure to do. if your federal government is willing to partner with me and you say you will give me a little bit of a tax break for treating a job in america, let us do it. instead of giving tax breaks to companies that send jobs abroad, but this tell those companies will induce a in america, we will help you out a

bit. it will cost us money because it is a tax break and coming out of our pocket, i would rather give an incentive to a company to create a job here and be giving a tax break to a company sending a job overseas. there are ways we can do this, and i hope was this committee will explore and be smart, reduced deficit by trading more jobs so america will feel proud that they are working and will not feel bad that they have to do their volunteer part and pay taxes. richard, it was a great question. things have to be done. i appreciate you all have come. i have an important tax -- a task in front of me. ' please feel free to look at my website, please feel free to communicate with me. share your thoughts like the gentleman donald who mentioned this program. i will look into that.

please feel free to share your thoughts. we have t - three months to try to get something done. i hope you will participate with me. you are my constituents. i owe you the opportunity to speak to me and give you my thoughts. and for you to receive my feedback. i hope we stay in touch. thank you for being so corporative and courteous. i look forward to speaking with you again. have a good night. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> coming up next, allen west will speak with constituents in his district. he discusses deficit reduction. coming up this afternoon, president obama will address a labor day rally in detroit.

he is expected to give a preview of this thursday's speech where he will outline his new jobs plan. live coverage from detroit and we will bring you the president's job speech on thursday at 7:00 p.m. eastern. next weekend, the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. here's our live schedule. saturday, 12:30, the flight 93 memorial from shang ksville, pennsylvania. vice-president biden on c-span2.

9/11 remembered, next weekend on the c-span networks. >> henry clay ran for president of the united states and he lost. he is one of 14 men featured in the new series, "the contenders." friday, 8:00 p.m. eastern. >> allen west meets with constituents in palm beach gardens. he recently returned from the middle east. this is about one hour 45 minutes. [applause]

>> good evening. i would like to welcome you. we will have a presentation of the callers by the honor guard. we will of the pledge of allegiance. the mayor will make some opening remarks. the congressman will go to the washington, d.c. update. then we will have a q&a session. with that, we'll get started and present the colors. >> left, left. left, left.

left, right. detail, halt. left face. present arms. >> i pledge allegiance to the flight 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. can you see what so proudly we hail

last gleamingt's whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight watched rampartss we were so gallantly streaming glaree rockets' red the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there o say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ >> halt. detail, front face. forward march left, left. left. [applause]

>> good afternoon. welcome to palm beach gardens and thank you for coming out in this wonderful weather to see our congressman. one of the most important duties of an elected official is to meet with his constituents and discuss ideas and bring them back to the governing body. i would like to commend our for coming here and meeting with us today so that he can make our ideas back in washington and better represent us. congressman allen west serve the constituents encompassing parts

of fort pond beach county. born and raised in atlanta, the same never read were dr. martin luther king once preached. his father was a corporal in the u.s. army. his mother, the outspoken -- work in a military installation. before retiring as a colonel, colonel rest served as a field artillery officer in desert storm. in iraqi desert freedom, he was the battalion commander and in

afghanistan where he trained afghan officers. st retired from the military and brought his wife and their two daughters to south florida to be closer to his wife's family. congressman west taught high school. congressman west was honored to be able to continue his office when he was elected as a representative to the united states congress. i've traded in my camouflage uniform for a suit. his commitment to protect the people --

he is an avid long-distance runner and it tends church in florida. i like to introduce our congressman, allen west. >> thank you. thank you so much. thank you . twice a much, mayor -- thank you so much, mayor. the most important is you and your safety and your security. we saw what happened back in january with gabrielle giffords.

it was an honor to see her cast that vote. everybody sees the cameras. you all are being taped for c- span. you will be on c-span some time. sit up straight because the world is watching us down here. something happened while i was away in israel. they asked me if i was going to start charging people to come to town hall meetings. maybe i can pick up a couple of dollars here or there. it is so important that we come back and stand before you to let you know our perspectives and what we're seeing. i want to give you additional insight. i just got back from a trip in

israel, my wife and i. we were talking about earthquakes and hurricane irene. there are some serious things that are happening in israel that we need to pay close attention to. let me see. then the see if i can make this work -- let me see if i can make this work. we have two offices. one is on dixie highway. offher isn't brouwer county the 95 exit -- another is in brouwer county. ok. there we go.

month of august. when we have the s&p downgrade, we should have gone to washington and finding additional spending cuts so that we can restore our credit rating. here we are in august and we head back into session next week. i have some duties to do on the house floor on the sixth of september. august have been dedicated to members of congress to have these town hall meetings and make sure we keep you informed about what is going on. next slide. i told you i went to the university of tennessee. not the perfect plan. one thing i did not like was this super committee.

we should have gone back there as soon as possible. there is spending that has to be curtailed in washington, d.c. we have this nuclear option that hangs over our head. major cuts to our defense system. i do not want to see that happen. the first time that this debt ceiling was raised and we will have spending cuts involved. it was better than not having those spending cuts. it sets a precedent as we go forward. it avoided what could have been a bad situation as far as the default and the raising of our

interest rates. we have so many people that are struggling. unemployment rates that are high. foreclosure rates that are high. we must stay away from -- now is not the time for tax increases. now is the time we talk about reforming our tax code and we will talk specifically about that. the thing i want everybody to understand -- a year ago, everybody was upset about 8 $2 trillion health-care law. now everybody is upset that we are not cutting more spending. that is a change in the

conversation of washington, d.c. you have a culture that is a self-licking ice-cream cone. it perpetuates the problems that it has. it is hard to take it can be added the baby's mouth in washington, d.c. the conversation in washington, d.c., is how we can cut back on spending, and we have to do that. we have a 14.5 trillion dollar debt. a government that is spending about 24% while we bring in of revenues.t8% to 20%

that creates a deficit. we're about to have our third straight year of a $1 trillion deficit. $1.29 trillion. our gdp in this country in the first quarter is 0.3%. sorry, 0.4%. in the next quarter, our gdp only grew 1%. compare that with china. china is growing at 9.5%. that is the danger of where we are right now. we have to understand -- it is a culture that is not going to be

changed in five months. we're turning that will and starting back in motion. that is what we have to stay focused on. we have to take the incremental steps. there is no way that we will rectify almost 30 years of fiscally irresponsible policies that have, of washington, d.c., in eight months, and that's what we face. we have to do something about our medicare program. it does not touch anyone that is 55 years old or older. if we don't do something, it

will not be there for may and it will not be there for some of the people that are in medicare at this time. what are some of the viable solutions we can do? we have to move away from this fee for service. south florida is ground zero for medicare fraud, waste, and abuse. one of the things -- there are medicare senior patrols. people that are talking to each other about how we go out and share the things we're seeing. i had an opportunity to talk to a group of individuals that does the lab testing. they talked about the means that we can streamline this program.

so there are means by which we can improve the system. we have to do that or medicare will not be there for anyone. 73% -- when your debt to gdp ratio is 80% to 85%, you are about to destroy your economy. 47% of the debt is held by foreign nations. 27% of that debt is held by china. while i was in israel, there was a peculiar visitors to israel while i was there. the chief of the chinese

people's liberation army. very weird. 47% of wage desk earning households pay no federal income tax. that is a dangerous statistic when you understand that we have 53% that is pulling the wagon in this country. let's talk about that top one% of wage earners. they pay about 37% of taxes. the top 5% pay about 54% of the taxes in this country. the top 25% of wage earners pay 86% of the taxes in this country. it is not about shared sacrifice. we have to make more people shareholders. i believe a flat tax system is a

great system to go to. 16%.here from 13% to 60 we want families to have homes. very simple. tuition $40 billion -- $240 billion in two months. it is not a revenue problem. it is a spending problem. $3 billion to $4 billion a day is what the federal government is spending. it is a revenue problem. it is about expanding the tax

base so that we can get more revenues in. that is a historical proven thing. if you can lower those tax rates and curtail spending, and out of washington, d.c., it will increase the revenues that are being produced. it is about going out and spending. it is about goods and services. small businesses are growing. right now, that's not what is happening. the united states has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world. when combined that with the state level corporate -- you're talking about 41% for our corporations and businesses. they are up overseas, which is where people are going because

they have competitive tax rates. if we bring the tax rate down to 21% and eliminate loopholes and subsidies, then you will see trillion dollars of capital come back to the united states of america. growing go back to businesses and get back to manufacturing and producing. that is what we have to be able to do. here are some points that i think will be helpful as to go forward. we have to find additional spending cuts up a in washington, d.c. that's not difficult to do. i found three wasteful programs in the department of defense that resulted in a hundred million dollars in savings --

$800 million in savings. think what would happen with the debt and to the deficit and with spending in washington, d.c. that is what we have to be able to do. we don't have a budget. 855 days at the united states has not operated with a budget. can you run a business that way? nothing has come out of the senate as far as a budget. jobs bills have been passed and they are sitting in the senate. had $200ere we have billion to $300 billion and

nothing has been done. that is a great place to start. reform our regulatory system. 600 new regulations were set down from the federal government in july. there will cost $10 million in compliance. if we continue come will preclude our businesses from being able to grow. farmers and municipalities have to have run off water that is parts per billion pure or else they will be fined. these are the things that are frustrating businesses.

this is the symbol of the inaction we have had recently. these are the bills that been passed in the house. nothing is getting through to the senate. folks say you should run to the senate and i say i would rather do some work. i do not know what these guys are doing. [applause] this flow chart -- the president proposed his budget and it failed in the senate. the house upheld the budget. there 12 appropriations bills that have to be passed in order for the government to operate. so far in the house, we have passed six of those. we're working through the interior bill. the senate has only passed one

of those appropriations bills. what will happen when we get back up there on september 7? we will not be able to finish those of the bills. two words you're going to hear -- continuing resolution or on the best -- onmibus. we know what we're supposed to do it, but we are failing in doing that. that is what you will hear some time at the end of september because we will not be able to do the business of setting forth a budget for this country. now -- am i optimistic about it? yes, i am. when i stand in front of your

faces, i see americans. when we are pushed into a corner, we figure it out. americans will eventually do the right thing after they tried everything else. winston churchill said that and he is correct. this is how i see this battlefield. we have had several different fights. if you have read a book or saw the film "gettysburg," you can understand what i'm talking about. we're trying to fight a holding action. buford knew he could not defeat the entire army of northern virginia when he showed up in gettysburg. he knew he could delay and they

could possibly defeat the army of northern virginia, which had never lost a battle to the point. in those three days of gettysburg, things to joshua chamber, he held that far right flank, they were able to defeat the army of northern virginia because of an attack by george pickett. he lost 15,000 men in one day. this is how we have to stand and be able to fight this incrementally. we are not going to turn around 30 years of programs in eight months. if we can hold on, we can fight this action. ask yourselves, what made

america great? that battle that is coming in november of 2012, america will discover itself and we will set the course for a new and brighter future for our nation. is it going to be tough? absolutely right. alright. let's talk about my trip to israel. the trip was sponsored four delegations, democratic delegations and two republican deliberations. we were allowed to bring our spouses. it was my second trip to israel. the only place we don't get a place to go was southern israel because of the rockets and mortars that were being fired out of gaza at the time.

the people of israel are appreciative to the people of the united states. they can fire a rocket that will intercept a rocket or missile in flight. it has proven to be successful when it engages missile to missile. it has been wonder% accurate -- 100% accurate, and the people of israel thank you for that. why is there such an incredible bond between america and israel? it starts with the shared judy eo-christian heritage. that is one of the key parts. the shared values of liberty and freedom -- you see a pluralistic

society in society just as you do here. you see members of the knesset who are arab there. it is that commitment to those democratic principles -- america and israel do have a common enemy. those are the words from prime minister netanyahu. this militant islam or islamic totalitarianism that they are fighting against. if israel goes, then we are next. what this enemy sees is a smaller statement and a greater statement -- a smaller state and a greater state. we cannot allow that bond to be

broken. we were supposed to meet with president abbas. we met with their prime minister. the things that i question -- is the palestinian authority a credible piece part? i don't believe so. no one from the palestinian authority to denounce the attacks. it claimed the lives of eight israelis. three of the attackers were egyptian. it came out of egypt and traveled across the sinai desert. they went in in a well coordinated ambush to kill eight israelis.

afterwards, the rockets and mortars, you had no word from the palestinian authority denouncing those rockets and mortars. there was a statement that said that israel was going into gossip or firing back as a means to delegitimize -- he would not recognize that israel had been attacked. we need people to recognize the modern state of israel. people talk about it two-state solution. abbas has not been to gaza in about five years. they went into a reconciliation pact. fatah in the west bank has no

connection with gossip iaza. you're talking about it 3-state solution. gaza is not going to be talking to the folks in our molramallah. this is what looks like. you have turkey and you of somalia. afghanistan and pakistan. that is israel. that small little bastion freedom of democracy in a sea of despot's and autocrats. what is concerning israel right now -- you have to run in warships moving through the suez canal. the oil and gas pipeline into

israel has been attacked cosher times -- four times. the egyptian foreign minister met with the fmr. foreign minister of iran. in the gaza strip, you have southern lebanon where i stood. seven lamont is controlled by hizbollah. hezbollah has rearmed with 50,000 rockets and missiles in southern lebanon. there is an intervention force in southern lebanon. they are refusing to go into these different towns and

villages in southern villages because hezbollah is attacking them. israel has to have the golan heights. , youyou look across an can see the strategic importance of it. israel has to have a protected border. israel has to come to a realization -- we have to come to a realization that their security is so important when you look it is greater neighborhood in which they live. turkey is becoming more islamic and more anti-israeli. iran is the country that is fueling this onunrest. at the end of the year, american forces are supposed to leave iraq. the mighty army is strengthening

once again based on support come from iran. that is the neighbor that israel is living in. oh. strategic depth. there was a place i stood in israel and i could to the entire industrial base, 20 miles. one piece of high ground dominated the entire coastal plain of israel, tel aviv included. 1.5 million israelis. that was just inside "the green line." this is what we have to have. israel has to defend itself. this is so important. it has to be an undivided

jerusalem. i ran around the old city three times while i was there. it was an incredible experience. climbing the hill at mount zion almost killed me. the united nations will bring forth this declaration of the -- the united states must vote against it. the united states cannot continue to provide millions and millions of dollars to support the palestinian authority which will not recognize the modern- day state of israel. we have to dismantle the terrorist threat that threatens israel. probably the most emotional

thing was when a woman came up to brief us and she was down from southern israel and she talked about how her child spends most of his day in a bomb shelter. that is not a way to live. i don't think any of us your want our children to grow up living in that type of environment. that is the environment they are living in. with that being said, what are your questions? [applause] >> good afternoon.

e?n everyone here maar m i work in a non-partisan capacity for the palm beach county board of county commissioners. it is my honor to be here to will moderate your questions. have had over 50 questions that were submitted. some more redundant. eyespot that up into about eight different areas -- environmental, jobs, israel. i will rapid-fire as many as i can. care.start with health but will you be able to do to work with your friendin