wages have been stagnant. and so now if you're sitting in ohio, and you're a member of the building and construction trade, or you're -- you know, plumbers and pipe fitters or cement masons or electrical workers, now in ohio, they're trying to pass a right-to-work for less legislation too. which which means the average worker in a state that has right to work for less laws, makes about $1,500 a year less than a state that doesn't have it. their health insurance is 2.6 percentage points lower than right to -- in right to work states. so imagine you're this person trying to make ends meet in ohio and your wages have been stagnant for 30 years and now they're going to say, the republican party is pushing, we'll do right to work system of you'll see lower rages,

lower health care benefits and worse pensions and then the republicans in congress, in the house, are passing a bill saying, oh, by the way, you're only going to make $1,500 a year less but if you have a student loan that you signed on to for your son or daughter, you're going to have to pay double that interest rate. or if you get a student loan, you'll have to pay double the interest rate that it is now. and if you have health care and maybe your kid was going to stay on it because he's under 26 or she's under 26 years old, republicans want to repeal that . so now your kid's got to go out and get health care and pay more on a student loan where you're making $1,500 a year less and your pension's going to be less and your health care's going to be less. what are we doing? this is not the kind of america that we all believe in. and the student loan issue i

think cuts right to the heart of it and then you have this compounding assault on the american worker, whether it's right to work for less or whether it's destroy collective bargaining as they tried to do in ohio last year and now it's the student loans and now we can't even ask warren buffett to help out. i think it's time for us to wake up as americans and say, wait a minute, where's the balance, where's the fairness, where's the investment into our future? and many of us are either sons and daughters or grandsons or grandsons or great grandsons or great granddaughters of immigrants. and the value placed upon education in those families -- on those families because that was the way out, that was the way to have success in america. and what scares me about this is that this is not the kind of america many of us believe in. this is not the kind of america many of us want and this is the kind of america that is very,

very shortsighted and where we're going to end up. and let me just say lastly, and i'll yield back to the gentlelady, do we really think with 300 million to 400 million people in america, do we really think that we're going to be competitive with 1.3 billion or 1.4 billion, 1.2 billion, 1.5 billion people in india if we are not making adequate investments in education so those that have to deal with right to work, student loans, less pension, less health care, less this, less that at the same time the tax burden is going to be pushed on to them, they'll be forced to vote on a local property tax for police and fire, they will be forced to vote on a local property tax for their local school levies, mental health, the whole nine yards and it's getting continued squeeze for the middle class.

and this student loan issue and what's happening with the rates here and the cuts that are being made here are a major part of that and i yield back to the gentlelady. ms. edwards: i'd like to thank the gentleman. i'm reminded as he's speaking there are middle-class families in ohio and all across this country for whom this isn't just about feeling good about making sure that young people can go to college. it's go -- about making certain our middle-class families aren't struggling but they're really surviving in this economy and in the economy going forward. i was reminded again that in ohio, 379,000 students would see an increase of about $294 million if this -- if this increase in student loans is allowed to go forward. and i think about those students at ohio state university, at overland college, at xavier. i can name a lot of them. i remember as a second grader living on wright-patterson air

force base in deyton, ohio, and there was not a moment in second grade that my parents would impress on me that i would go to college. my mom and dad didn't know how to go to college but they knew i had to go. and at the time i was such a fan of all those great ohio universities. but i also know that in addition to our savings and to academic scholarships and maybe even to pell grants i would also need to take out student loans. and that's the situation that students in ohio and across this country face in realizing that on july 1, without action by this congress, republicans and democrats, who owe it to middle-class families, to make sure that those student loans don't increase. everything else is increasing. let's not increase the interest rate on student loans. and i thank the gentleman. mr. ryan: you're welcome. i think when you're looking at a state like ohio and like many states. like maryland, like

pennsylvania, where you're retooling your economy so you've got to grow scientists, engineers, you know, people involved in technology and math and you got to grow that field so that we can generate the new generation of jobs necessary and you've also got to educate the work force. so no more high school diplomas, not even a year, but get in these apprenticeship programs that the unions have, go to the community college, we have to start lifting them up. if we want to sell products to the global world, solar, wind, renewables, whatever the case may be, batteries, whatever, those people on the factory floor have to have skills that they're not going to get in high school. and this is all part of that program. so i want to thank the gentlelady for taking the time to do this special order and look forward to continuing to support her and the democrats as we try to bring some sanity to this place. i yield back. ms. edwards: i thank the

gentleman. you know, yet again, here we are we're talking about a situation where since january, the president and congressional democrats, since january of this year, have been urging republicans to please act so that we don't see an increase in student loan interest, from 3.4%, a doubling to 6.8%. and here we are in april and april is a time when many families, young people have received their notifications that they've been accepted into college, they've received maybe notification of a scholarship opportunity, they also know that their families may have to dig into their savings or they'll have to get a job and then they begin to think, too, about applying for and receiving that student loan so that it puts together the full package of what's needed to go to college. those are the decisions that

here in april families all across this country are making. and they're making those decisions not knowing whether this congress is going to fail to act, that would result in an increase in a doubling of student a lot interest. that would cost students not just the $23,000 in debt that they're likely to graduate -- to graduate college holding onto and needing to repay, but an additional $11,000 over the course of that loan, over the history of that loan and the repayment. i think it's really shameful, and i know that there are some in this country who didn't have to worry about how to pay for college. i know that there are some in this country who didn't have to wake up and know that they had to get into a work study program or do like i did, wait tables in addition to going to class, in addition to receiving

loans, in addition to receiving scholarships to pay to go to school. but that's the exception in this country. it's not the rule. the overwhelming majority of students across this country who go to college, who want to do better because their parents want them to do better than they did have to do a combination of things in order to afford college. whether it's a four-year institution or community college and getting those skills to put you into the work force or an apprenticeship program, this is the situation that our students and their families are facing. and with that i'd like to yield time to my good friend from rhode island, mr. cicilline. mr. cicilline: i thank the gentlelady from maryland for having this conversation this evening and i say how important it is for me and for residents of my state, the state of rhode island, addressing this issue

in a responsible way. rhode island is, of course, the home of the great senator pell after whom the pell grants were named for his great work and making sure there was access to affordable higher education. there was a recent report done that said from the year 2008 to 2018 it's estimated that there will be 47 million job openings created and more than 30 million of these jobs will require at least some level of postsecondary education. so this is really about thinking about our future, the economy of our country and our ability to meet the demands of the new economy of the 21st century and it's an economic imperative for families that they have the ability to access higher education and to do it in an affordable way. in my state, this is particularly important where we have very high unemployment. young adults in 2010, young adults from the ages of 16 to 24, there's an unemployment rate in rhode island of nearly 27%.

2011, 22% for that same age group. that's between 16,000 and 17,000 young adults without the ability to find work in those two years. and this is a very important issue. i talked to so many of my constituents, both students and families who are worried about their ability to continue to access education, that are making decisions as they're getting their letters in the mail where they're going to go to school and thinking about what those costs will be. what's disappointing, what we saw today in this chamber, we've seen this movie before. we've seen it during the extension of the payroll tax cut. we saw it in the transportation bill. this idea of very urgent need that we have to address, working in a bipartisan way and at the very final hours some poison pill is thrown into the bill that is obstructing progress on this issue. today it was women's health and children's health and cutting $12 billion or nearly $12

billion from an important wellness and prevention fund to do this. look, we have got to do this for the sake of young people in this country who are in school, who have school loans, who are thinking about new opportunities. we have got to prevent this increase in interest rates. it's important to families who are struggling in a really difficult economy, but it's also important to the future of our country. we have got to be in position to ensure the best talent has the ability to access education in this country and, you know, there are so many young people who without school loans will never have the opportunity to pursue higher education and to pursue their dream or to make a life for themselves and their family. and we have a responsibility to be sure that we keep these rates low, as low as we possibly can, so that young people and families are not having to struggle with this additional burden at a time when we ought to be encouraging as many as young people as possible to be pursuing higher education and the opportunities

and careers that come with it. i come from a state that understands that investing in education is critical to families and critical to economic opportunity. education still is the best tool to bring people from poverty into the middle class and beyond and we have got to make sure that it's available to every single american. and i'm very disappointed today that the measure was undertaken in the way that it was and the president has already indicated an intention to veto this proposal. we have -- there are other proposals we have in this house. i am a co-sponsor that will do this in a responsible way, that has bipartisan support in the senate. we have to do this for the sake of young people in this country and we owe it to families to make sure the interest rate does not double on july 1. i thank the gentlelady for her leadership on this, and i am proud to continue to be part of this important fight for the sake of the future of our young people and for the sake of the future of our country and i thank the gentlelady for yielding. ms. edwards: i thank the

gentleman from rhode island, and just want to point out to him as i've pointed out to others of mine colleagues here -- and thank you so much for your eloquence. not just about what those loans mean to individual families but what they mean as an economic imperative for the 21st century . as democrats we recognize that. i mean, i would note that in the great state of rhode island, we have an opportunity for 43,000 students in your state, mr. cicilline, to make sure that students aren't facing an additional $34 million in increase because of what might happen on july 1. as republicans and as democrats, we can do something about this. we don't have to get to a point where we're saying to students for the future that we really don't care about you. we don't care about the fact that we helped you do and be all that you can through high

school but now we're going to dump you when it comes to going to college. and so i thank the gentleman for his leadership. you know, up until today, the republican majority simply refused to acknowledge that this hike would affect millions of students and families. perhaps today after a reverse albie the assumed republican presidential nominee, we voted on a bill that would finally address the issue. but it's so sad that they did that at the expense of health care for working families. and no one understands that more than the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, my friend and my neighbor, i'd like to take a moment to recognize her and her leadership and if i recall, she taught at a law school and understands those students who really struggle to get through and make sure

they're doing what they need to do academically but that they're able to pay for a quality education and i'd like to recognize the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. norton. ms. norton: i want to thank my very good friend from maryland, congresswoman edwards, it's so typical of her to come to the floor on an urgent issue like this and i have to chuckle because when you say about my -- i having been a tenure of professor at law business, the professor from rhode island was one of my students and the gentleman from detroit was another. it makes me feel pretty ancient but it makes me feel very good to see that young people got to come to the congress while i was still here. you know, i can't imagine what the gentleman from rhode island went through because i never experienced it, but he probably

had college loans coming out of college, don't even let me talk about going to georgetown law school. very good law school, but one of the most expensive in the country. as a matter of fact, i'm still a professor of georgetown because under the rules of the house you can teach and still be a measure and so i teach -- member and so i teach one course there every year, come to the end of the school year, go over every other monday, just to keep my brain in tact. sometimes this is a place that gets your brain out of order. and it's certainly out of order when it comes to student loans. the notion that we have to come to the floor today to plead for students, during a great recession when these young people get out of school, they are not likely to get a job. the very least you would think this congress could do effortlessly would be to say, look, you had to take loans, you have to pay interest, we know

that means that you're going to be delayed years from doing what all of us did, which was to get to buy a house pretty early in our careers. these students will not have the credit to buy a house. first of all, they'll have to pay off their loans. they can't liquidate them in bankruptcy, no, we don't let you do that. like other debts. and now they face the possibility of a doubling of their interest, right after democrats, when we were in power, adjusted those interest rates. what a cruel hoax. particularly since we just are coming out of a recovery. college students are now beginning to get jobs for the first time, the leftover bunches who started out their careers without any jobs and faced with humongous loans. i don't know how people go to

graduate school like my good friend from rhode island. of course if you go to certain kinds of graduate schools, there are stipends for people in graduate education. even some of that doesn't take care of the undergraduate loans but if go to law school and medical school, you're on your own. and you're going with huge amount of debt. in my own district, which, remember, is only one city, the borrowers in this year were $60,000, almost $65,000 and if the interest rates increased it will bring them to something over $13 billion. i don't even want to tell my constituents that. they're depending upon me to do something about it. and here on the floor we hear nonsense about how you're going to pay for it. are you going to pay for it by

stripping from health care for women, children, for your parents, in order to keep your interest rates from going up? are you going to pay for it by leaving alone big oil in order to keep your interest rates from going off? our values are way off, way off kilter when we can't have reached a solution by now, that we're this close to drop dead day and that's what it will mean for many students them. won't be able. and we haven't come to an understanding. first that we'll raise it, got -- the president had to go all around the country making it clear that this issue was on the front burner, because it certainly wasn't there until he did so. and now people come forward, for example, mr. romney said, oh, he's for making sure these rates don't go up. does he have an idea about how to make sure they don't go up?

why doesn't he tell our colleagues here in the house? so they don't hurt one group of citizens in order to help another group of citizens. so, we come to the floor today, the gentlelady from maryland, the gentleman from rhode island, because we don't intend to let this issue go until we in fact find the way to pay for the loans we have told the young people to take. we told them, go to college, yeah, have a little debt, go to college, then you're made. we've already broken that promise. because they come out of college now and they don't have the work force opportunities that we ourselves had. let's not break another promise, the promise that they will not be stuck with a debt which is much greater than the debt they already paid, the debt they already paid will delay their coming to the same kind of

amenities that their parents have become used to. yes, they're going home to live with their parents. because if you got this student debt, you're hardly able to go out and rent an apartment in washington or in maryland or rhode island. yes, they're going home. and if we want to make sure that they're able to strike out on their own, one thing we want -- don't want to do is to burden them with a greater debt than they already have and they have on the average $25,000 debt. i cannot imagine, even when i got out of school, you know, that was some time in the 18th century, i can't imagine what i would have done with a $25,000 debt, even in real terms today, that's a lot of money, friends. if we care at all about our kids, we will find a way that does not rob peter to pay paul in order to relieve them of this debt. and i thank the gentlelady for yielding me time.

ms. edwards: i want to thank the gentlewoman and especially for her leadership. as you were speaking i was doing a little calculating. i went to undergraduate school at wake forest university, had academic scholarships and some student loans and i also waited tables in order to pay for my expenses. had i not been able to get those student loans, with only the combination of academic scholarships and waiting tables, i would not have been able to afford to go to school. i came out with student loan debt from undergraduate school and then i worked for a time, saved a bit and went to law school. but even out of law school i still couldn't pay all of my living expenses and all of my tuition without also taking out student loans. when i finished law school, the

combination of my loans from undergraduate school and my loans from law school totaled about $75,000-plus and over the period of time that i paid that back, i paid back a total of about $100,000 because of the combination of interest rate over the period of time. i paid my last student loan payment almost one monthed to day that i was elected in my primary election coming in to congress. and my parents, my mother raised, you know, six children. we knew almost from the time that we could speak a word that we would go to college. my father was in the united states air force, served for nearly 30 years, we lived all over the country and around the world. they worked really hard but with

six children on a military income and retirement they knew that they wouldn't be able to fully pay out of savings, what savings with all those mouths to feed, in order to go to college but they wanted their children to go to college. they wanted their children to have the kind of opportunity for the future that they did not have for themselves. my story, though it happens -- happened some time ago, is the story of american families today. whose young people are preparing to graduate from high school, they're preparing for high school graduations over these next couple of months, and they want to go to college. and many of those students right now today, having received those april notices of college admissions, and financial aid determinations, know that through some combination of

savings and loans and pell grants and work and work study, that they will put together the puzzle pieces of a college education so that they can afford it. patients and students all across the -- parents and students all across the i country -- all across the country are making this decision. for those students coming out of high school in this season, july 1 is our deadline. july 1 is our deadline to ensure that interest rates will not double from 3.4% to 6.8%. because by august 1 and late in august, those students will have to pack their trunks and their bags in order to go away to college. and we owe them the commitment to know what their obligation is going to be for the repayment of those student loans and to know that they will not be faced with

a doubling of interest rates over the course of their period of time in college. and let's think what this means to them. what it means is that we're saying to our students, we want you to study engineering and science and magget and technology -- math and technology, we want you to come out and to be out of school and to be teachers and to be inventors and innovators and entrepreneurs. but we are unwilling to make sure that you're able to do that because you get the tools that you need for success. and one of those things for some students, for many students, for seven million students across this country, is the ability to get a student loan that's affordable and to have some sense that over the period of time that you're in college and you graduate college and the economy is better and you get a

job, that you will be able to repay that loan so that some other generation of students can also go to school and do the same thing. and so why am i passionate about this? i'm passionate about it because it's my story and it's the story of middle class families all across this country. who know that they want to do better, who struggle to do better and who experienceed the rug being ripped out from under them because we want to ask our middle class families to either double your interest rates or sacrifice your health care. those are the choices we're asking our middle class families to make. and in today's economy there's not a greater predictor of individual success than a good education. this is a fact. but if it's a fact, then we need to make the investment that makes that fact a reality for our students across this

country. right now, as many have pointed out on this floor, the unemployment rate for americans with a college degree or more is about half of the national average. that means that when you graduate, even if you have student loans that are affordable and can be repaid, you have some opportunity to do that because you will have done better and you will have the opportunity to do better than the student who only gets a high school education. the incomes for those who graduate from college are twice as high as those who don't have a high school diplomat. higher education -- diploma. higher education, whether we're talking about a four-year institution or a two-year institution at a community college, is the clearest path that we have to middle class success. if we are going to build a ladder of opportunity for the american people, then one of

those rungs has to be student loans and another rung is a pell grant. another rung is job training. another rung is to make sure that our families are eating and that our children are immunized. there are many rungs. and this congress has an obligation to make sure that those rungs of that ladder are available to the american people. democrats and republicans both say they want to build a competitive work force. but really let's be clear. it's the democrats, my colleagues here in the congress, who time and time again actually stand up for the students with the skills that it will need to comprise that competitive work force. and so i look at the things that democrats have done over this period of time, we've increased the maximum pell grant from $4,050 in 2006 to $5,550 in 2010.

we created the american opportunity tax credit that provides a maximum of $2,500 in a tuition tax credit to eligible families and students. we created income-based repayment to ensure that graduates can manage their loan repayment during stressful economic times. i remember when i came out of undergraduate school and i really wanted to work in law school and really wanted to work in the public interest sector and i did. but i wasn't paid as much as some of my colleagues who were going into law firms and other kinds of practice. would that i could have paid my student loans back based on my income, well, that's the kind of opportunity that we've provided for students for the future. we provided loan forgiveness for graduates who actually go into public interest careers, who go into teaching careers.

after 10 years of loan payments. and we've required schools to have an online calculator so that students and families can estimate their costs based on their families' -- their family's financial situation. we've supported historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions. this is the way that democrats have supported middle-class families and poor families and their ability to achieve the american dream. and i would only ask my colleagues that on the republican side of the aisle we do the same. and with that we have about five minutes left to continue our conversation with the american people and so i'll yield just a moment to the congresswoman from the district of columbia. ms. norton: i want to thank my friend from maryland, and i wanted to -- i wanted to add to her list because importantly when our party, the democrats,

took control, the interest rates were where they will go in july. they were at 6.8%. we felt the pain, and we insisted and lowered those rates to the present 3.4% -- whatever it is now. but the way they were phased in, they would go up again at 6.8%. you see what we were trying to do in 2007. we recognized this was a major issue and took those down which i'm sure encouraged many people go to school in the first place. now we have young people having an unemployment rate of about 14%. if you're between 20 and 24. it's terrible when you consider that nationally it's about 8%. and i am very distressed that already there is an almost 15% delinquency rate in student loans and that's just going to add to the interest rates you were talking about.

and the interest rates trying to keep at least level. so i want to thank you again for leading this special order so that america knows before the too late. ms. edwards: i thank the gentlewoman. now i will recognize for a moment the gentleman from rhode island. mr. cicilline: i thank the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentlelady from district of columbia is right. georgetown law school is expensive. i worked two jobs, also as waiter, to do that. i don't know anyone that didn't have some loan, either they or their parents wrote a check for tuition. that's the expense of millions and millions of families all across this country. i was listening to the gentlelady recount all of the work that the democrats did in investing in education. it's not about us. it's about the future of our country. these are investments in young people who are going to be the

leaders of this country and access to education is so central to the american dream. and i really just want to included by thanking the gentlelady for leading this conversation. i hope it will help be a call to action. on tuesday i'm having a call to action in my district, encouraging young people demand that congress do the responsible thing. prevent this drive in interest rates. but also continue to make the investments we need to make in education for their sake and for our sake. i yield back and i thank the gentlelady for the time. ms. edwards: i thank the gentleman and i thank all of the participants today in calling attention to the fact that sdats are pros posing to ending tax subsidies for oil and gas companies so we can use those savings and actually help to pay for need-based college loans where they are and help pay down the deficits. republicans are cutting taxes for the wealthiest americans and they are throwing that debt onto students and families.

and to be clear, this is not a partisan issue. it's a student issue. it's a family issue. it's an american issue. it's about our competitiveness in the economy, and i want to call all young people across this nation of all political persuasions call their member of congress and say stop the increase of student loans from double from 3.4% to 6.8%, costing thousands of dollars, millions of dollars to students across this country. and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, for 30 minutes. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. it's an honor to be able to speak here in the house of

representatives. it has been a good day because here in the house, despite what some may think, we voted overwhelmingly to leave student loan rates at the same rate they are right now. 3.4%. if the government had had to subsidize a rate, if interest rates were higher, it would be more difficult to justify because of how much overspending this administration has had as dictated during the time when speaker pells and harry reid had full control -- pelosi and harry reid had full control over spending. but while the president was very busy running around the country condemning republicans for not caring about student

loan rates and the plight of students, we were busy here at work making sure that student loan rates did not increase. and while the president was out there telling students that republicans don't care about you, that they're going to double the -- your interest rates of your student loans, he didn't bother to come check and find out what was happening in washington. because if he had, he would have found out, we felt the same way about the student loans. and let's see. let's see which democrats were as concerned as we were today about the student loan rates going up. this was bill h.r. 4628, and it

basically -- two pages. not 2,500, 2,800. two pages. keeps the rates at the same rate so they don't go. so we can see one of our clerks just brought the printout of the democrats that voted with the republicans to extend the current interest rates. and there were 13 democrats who voted with republicans to keep the interest rates where they are. and all that's on the printout are the last names. barrow, bishop of new york, boren from oklahoma, donnelly, higgins, hochul, kissell, lipinski, mcintyre, owens, peterson and walz. those are the democrats that voted today with republicans to

keep the student loan interest rates the same. so, mr. speaker, it's my great hope that while the president's running around the country condemning republicans for not caring about the plight of students who have to pay student loans, and about the fact that he says republicans are going to double the student interest rates, i hope that somebody who's not out campaigning, like the president, down the street that way on pennsylvania avenue will get something into the president's teleprompter that advises him, hey, you may want to back off of that. the republicans with only 13 democrats voting with them actually voted to extend the same interest rates. now, i feel like the democrats would agree with the fact that we believe that in order to

keep from having expenses continue to go out of sight as they did during the two years that congress was completely controlled by democrats and they had the white house, they did whatever they want, they passed a rule, pay as you go. and actually i broke ranks and voted with them. others told me they don't really mean this pay as you go thing. yes, they're going to pass it but they don't mean it. i say, i do believe in pay as you go. i do believe things should be paid for. and i found out from those who had been here longer than i had that they were right in their cynicism because over and over big bills that our friends across the aisle brought when they were in control of things, they would make an exception. so this bill and that bill and

this bill and that bill weren't paid for. so the pay as you go didn't mean much. but some of us believe that when we create a law we ought to either abide by the law or change it. so this needed to be covered. and in looking for ways to come up with funds to cover these current interest rates, some of us were reminded of the fact that obamacare that most of the country didn't want, most of the country begged congress under speaker pelosi and harry reid not to pass and that americans, even in massachusetts and other places normally controlled by democrats, expressed their will by electing a democrat, this time elected republicans so they could stop obamacare.

and it took a procedural twist that was quite unseemly in order to get it passed, but the american people didn't want it. and i realize that since president obama sees obamacare as his defining issue, his biggest issue that he would not ever sign a bill that repealed obamacare in its entirety. i can get that. i understand that. i respect that. but it seemed to some of us that surely as the president in every speech talks about being financially responsible surely he would see that we shouldn't spend the $105 billion implementing obamacare until we find out if it's constitutional, because to use $105 billion to implement a

bill -- actually a takeover of people's rights -- to implement that only to have it struck down would mean we had wasted tens of billions of dollars. so my thought was, surely, surely president obama would be willing to meet us at that point. surely he won't agree to a complete repeal, but let's just suspend the spending until we find out whether the supreme court says it's constitutional or not. how could you be against that? well, he was because as the bill was shoved down the throats of americans, it became very evident that they didn't care what americans thought, don't really care what the supreme court thinks. apparently many don't even know what the supreme court thinks or says because the president

himself says it would just be such a fundamental change from what the supreme court ever done before, so obviously he was not aware of recent cases like marbury vs. madison. i think that was around 1803. not all schools have cases like that. but anyway, it's not fundamentally different than what the supreme court has done in the past. what's fundamentally different is to have a congress push through a bill like obamacare that's about one thing, the g.r.e., the government running everything, with a majority, a big majority of americans saying, please don't do this. so, it was done. so in looking for ways to pay for this bill today, it seemed to many of us that a good and

appropriate course would be to say, let's take some of that money, a tiny, tiny bit of that money from obamacare that many of us think will be struck down, that shouldn't be spent until we find out if it's going to be struck down, and let's use that to pay for the $6 billion for this program. made sense to some of us. but as i've already read, there were 13 democrats that stood up and said, ok, we can go along with that, let's wait and see if obamacare is struck down or not before we spend any more of that money on obamacare, and in the meantime, we will use it to pay for the student loan rates that we're out there blasting republicans for not caring about. this was a way to be bipartisan and 13 democrats were bipartisan and we appreciate them reaching across the aisle to pass this

bill with us, with a big majority. the president on the other hand apparently did get word that despite all his rhetoric, that we don't care about the student loan rates on our side of the aisle, we don't care about students, he runs around the country condemning us, somebody at the white house got some word because there was the issue of a veto threat if we passed this bill that keeps student interest rates where they are. now, when i first heard that we were going to potentially pass a student loan bill that would affect interest rates, i considered that i may have to vote present because my wife and i have student loans for our children that we are paying back

. well, it turns out this bill will not help me one bit. my interest rates are still way above this. my children's and my wife's and i student loan that we took out for our children, they're way above this. this doesn't affect our loans that we have and therefore i was able to vote for this bill to help those students that are getting loans in the present. and the reason i feel compelled, my wife and i felt compelled, to start taking out student loans and to take responsibility for paying those loans was because before i ever ran for office, as a judge, my wife and i had set aside money in accounts that would pay for our kids' college when they got there. would increase in value,

increase in value, by the time they got ready for college, the money would be there to pay for it. when we took, we believed it was a calling for me to run for judge, badly needed a new judge, we knew it would be a big hit financially, and just as when i ran for congress, we had to really feel compelled that this was the course for our lives. and once we felt that, we cashed out every asset except our home, our retirement accounts, everything. now, it was scarier to some than others. i knew i could make a lot more money because i did before, i made a number of times more in private sector, a couple years before i started running, practice was going good. i doesn't want my children -- i didn't want my children to have

to be -- have to have massive college debt because i felt called to be a public servant so we've taken on those student loans. so it doesn't go over too well with the person like me who has sacrificed all our assets except our home to come be a part of congress and to try to get things on track. it doesn't make me feel too pleasant when people say i don't care about students and student loans and their rates. we get it. we understand. we want students to do well. but more than that, we want them to have a vibrant economy and a job waiting for them when they get out of college. and it should be an exciting time of renaissance and economic boom in america except for this president. if he would simply get out of

the way. we have found that we can be energy independent and we don't have to send billions and billions of dollars, 42 cents out of every $1 of which we're borrowing, we don't have to send those -- all that money to the solyndras and all the cronies of this administration. we could just get out of the way and allow the market to work and collect the revenue that comes pouring in from the income tax, from the businesses, including the oil companies and the independent oil and gas companies, as they start producing more of our own energy. it should be a new day in america, it should be time of renaissance here. and instead people are struggling to figure out how much food can i afford for my family when i'm paying $70 and

$80 to fill up my gas tank when it shouldn't be more than $40? because this administration has given every indication by its actions, not its words, but by its actions that it will do nothing to help us become energy independent. we talk about natural gas, this administration, natural gas can really help out. i'm for all-of-the-above -- i'm for all of the above. well, apparently that means the president is for all of the above up in the sky somewhere because he's doing everything he can to keep us from drilling and producing the energy we've got. we we should be thanking god every day -- we should be thanking god every day for blessing this country with more energy than any other country in the world and people like the chinese are wondering, what is going on with these people? they got more energy than anybody in the world. we're having to run to south

america and africa and other places to buy their energy because we just don't have enough. they got all they could ever need. but they're putting it off limits and won't produce it. kind of strange to thinking people. that we're not utilizing the blessings that are found in this country. well, it's time we started. and if we do that, the students will have jobs and they can pay them back more quickly. we do care and this bill today shows that. now, i want to take up another topic right quickly here. something called the united states post office. now, there are some who think we ought to just get the government out of the post office business altogether and normally i'm a guy that believes if a private entity can do a better job than the government, then let's let the private entity do it.

but there's a problem here. it's called the u.s. constitution. article 1, section 8, the congress shall have power to, you go through the listed empowerments, establish post offices and post roads. and if you go through our history, you find out that actually they were quite concerned about the king being able to prevent them from sending newspapers and news and messages around that could inform people of what was really going on. they thought it was so important that there be a government post office and i do too. but we can't be stupid about the way it's running and we have

people in management positions in the united states post office who have been worse than stupid, incompetent doesn't begin to touch what some in management of u.s. post office have been doing. it's as if they want to kill it off. now, there are a lot of issues but i think the biggest issue is in the middle and upper management of the post office. because i've seen on more than one occasion an announcement by the united states post office that we are going to close this post office, we're going to close this facility and that was followed with a statement that, and therefore we're going to pay for an independent study to show that we should close these facilities. well, duh. you go pay somebody to do a study to justify the decision you've already made, you got no

business being in a management position. because you're not using the facts and information at hand to make your decisions. you make your decisions willy-nilly regardless of what the facts dictate should occur. and we got a good indication of that recently in east texas. we got a map sent out by these brilliant managers of the u.s. post office explaining a decision they had made. i'm going to get this up here. because it's important that the management that sent this out understands how silly, howry dick louisly in-- howry dick louisly incompetent they are -- how ridiculously incompetent they are.

they were making a decision in regard to a postal office facility near tyler, texas. tyler, texas, is located in smith county. now, in texas, though, we do have a tyler county and in tyler county you find towns like woodville, chester, warren, places like that. but you don't find tyler, texas, or the tyler, texas, processing facility in tyler county. it's in smith county. yet we had a determination by the management of the u.s. post office that it would be more effective to shut down the tyler processing facility and they sent out this map to show this. this is an exact enlargement of the map the u.s. posal tangment sent out to justify -- postal management sent out to justify they're closing the facility in

tyler, texas. in the center of this circle is tyler county. it's not near tyler, texas. it's not near the processing facility. now, you might say, surely they went out and talked to the people at the processing facility, looked to see if there were decisions that could be made to make it more efficient, more economically viable, those kind of things. and the answer would clearly be, how can they go out and talk to them when they don't even know where tyler, texas, is? they think it's in tyler county. we got some morons, maybe they're just incompetent, who knows? but when we look to see, ok, how is the post office adjusting? we figure, well, as any business would know, you don't want to hurt the retail business, you don't want to make it more difficult for people to use the

retail end of your business. that would be the local post offices. so what have these middle giants done? they've said, we're going to close lots of post offices and make it much more difficult for you to use our services. and not only that, we're going to close processing facilities that make the mail move many times more quickly, more efficiently, save tremendous amounts of gasoline, because we do the processing close to where it occurs. they're talking about closing a processing facility, in lubkin, i'm sure they don't know where that one is either. but when you look at what they've done, it makes no sense. now, this is the map they sent out with tyler county as the center. this tells you, here down here is tyler county, here up here is

tyler, texas. they're not even close. they don't cover the same areas. and yet they were using information down here by tyler county to justify closing the facility up here and surely they found their error but they don't care. because they're in middle management. what difference does it make? they're not accountable. they don't have to show a profit, they don't have to show efficiency. so what do they do? here's part of what's going on with the post office. well, times are tough, so let's create more senior management staff, how about that. percent management change from 1997 to 2012, up 41.25%. wow. that's some smart folks.

gee, we need more retail, we need people using our services more, let's close retail facilities, make it more difficult to use them, let's get some more senior management in there, and gee, that will make a lot of difference. we've gone up 1,006% on inspector generals and local management losses have been rather dramatic. that's not the way to become more efficient. not only that, they could take a clue from what america is doing. used to be that you pull intod a service station and you got service -- into a service station and you got service. now you pull into a service station, the only service you get is when you get out of the car and do it yourself. i prefer to do that anyway. i don't want anybody else pumping my gas. when i finish and the thing

clicks off, i raise the hose up and get every bit of the gas i've got in that hose. let's look at the routes. right now if you mail a let for the tyler, texas, to go to lufkin, texas, it'll travel 4 miles. you mail one from tyler to palestine and it is palestine in east texas, 47 miles. mail it from tyler to long view, it's 38 -- to longview, it's 38 miles. under the new plan, that's certainly not going to save any gasoline, our brilliant postal management will have -- you mail a letter to tyler -- from tyler going to longview, the 38 miles, now it will go to dallas area, then over to shreveport, then back to longview. we're not going to process it

here. we're going to go from 38 miles to 389 miles to deliver a letter. if you're going to send a letter down here, let's see, can't tell where that is, down 35, so maybe that's towaco or austin, so you want to send it there -- maybe that's to waco or austin. you want to mail from tyler to palestine, that's 50-something mile, it'll go tyler to dallas, down here to austin, then back to pal steyn. -- to palestine. you want to mail a letter the short distance to lufkin, we're going to make it go 10 times further. go to dallas, then clear down to houston and then back up to lufkin. we're going to go about 10 times as far to deliver a letter as we did before. this is nuts. what we've seen in america is,

as times got tough, service stations said, we're going to let you do your own pumping, that'll help us be more efficient. as time has gone on, they said, let's put other services in this gas station. so you see banks and other things. in some post offices they were beginning to do that, have agreements with the state, let's let the state lease, or pay us to do some of the state services here. let's allow them to come in and get passports here. and they were starting, there were some people thinking and thinking right. you combine other services, this post office will be the center of the community, it'll be efficient, it'll be local, it'll bring people to our retail outlet and they'll have more people using our services at the post office. not the way these mental giants figure it. oh, no, we'll close post offices, we're going to close processing facilities, and make it cost a tremendous amount more, we're going to make these decisions and then we're going

to go out and we're going to hire people to do a study to come to the conclusion we tell them, all in the name of making the post office more efficient. that is nuts. it's time to clean out the management of the united states post office, i dealt with postal employees all my adult life, those are hardworking folks. people that deliver the mail, people that stand there behind the counter, take abuse all day, lines getting longer because we're not replacing the people when they leave. they're good people. they're hardworking people. there are some issues with pensions, we can deal with those. but for heaven's sake, it's time to get rid of top-heavy management, making ridiculous decisions and we can improve our lot here. one other thing. last night i was on a telephone town hall with rusty humphreys and a lot of tea party folks and a question was asked, they

slipped in a ringer in there, democrat, who said, gee, you know you say you're a christian, how could you vote to take money away from helping seniors with their health care and how could you help the major oil companies by giving money to them? quickly, let me just say. a subsidy is a gift or grant of money. look it up. no oil company is getting a gift or grant of money. they're getting deductions. and if you forget what the president said, he said he's going after major oil and declaring war on them, ridiculous. we have in the president's jobs bill exactly what he's doing. he's eliminating the deductions that will bankrupt the independent oil and gas companies in america, won't affect the major oil companies. he says he's declaring war on the major oil, big, evil oil, but the truth is he's going to bankrupt the independent oil and gas producers that produce and drill, maintain, 95% of the wells in america. so what will be the effect of

this president's so-called war on major oil? it'll put the independents out of business, 95% of the wells will not be drilled and maintained and that will mean more profit than any time in the history of the world for the major oil companies. it's time to get that under control and to the gentleman that we got cut off with last night because we were out of time let me just say, son, dumb, dependent and democrat is no way to go through life. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will remind members to direct their warks to the -- their remarks to the chair. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. gohmert: mr. speaker, pursuant to senate concurrent resolution 43, 112th congress, i move that the house do now adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to

squad journ. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. pursuant to senate concurrent resolution 43, 112th congress, the house stands adjourned until 2:00 p.m. on monday, may >> to learn more, the congressional directory as a

complete guide. you'll find members of the house and senate including committee assignments. you can pick up a copy for $12.95. the state of arizona defended its own immigration lobby for the nation's highest court this week. the supreme court is considering whether the state has the authority to impose its own immigration law. here the oral argument tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> where is the national public radio table? [applause] >> you guys are still here. [laughter] >> that is good. i could not remember where we land on that. >> this weekend, the 90th annual white house correspondents' dinner, but president obama and jimmy kimmel headlining the

event. coverage starts with red carpet arrival at 6:30 p.m.. watch the entire dinner only on c-span. you can also find the celebrity guest list, highlights of past dinners, and social media posts at c-span.org/whcd. >> this year's studentcam competition asked students across the country what part of the constitution was important to them and why. here's the grand prize winning video on the fifth amendment untitled "the constitution and the camps pickup -- is entitled to call the constitution and the camps."

>> neither the army nor the relocation authority relished the idea from taking -- of taking men from their homes, shops and farms. the civilian agency determined to do the job as a democracy should, with real consideration for the people involved. >> i knew if i did not tell my story, then my four nieces and my three children would really not here what actually happened to us. we were shocked to see covered army trucks, and soldiers with bayonets on their rifles. i could not get over the notion that we were going to be taken away and shot. when i got off, i cannot believe what i saw. soldiers with machine guns stood in towers, situated at strategic points along the perimeter of a huge camp. the area was encased in steel-

wire fencing, top with three rows of barbed wire. barracks were laid out in regimented form. they did not call us citizens, because it is illegal to imprison citizens without due process >> but they did -- process. >> but they did in prison u.s. citizens without due process. over 110,000 of them that happen to be a of japanese ancestry. they were uprooted from their home, taken away from their businesses, and sent to places like this. one of these citizens was my great uncle. uncle john was a dental student in california at the beginning of world war two. he was wrong the up along with all other japanese americans and

sent to an internment camp far away from his home in california. i've traveled to the camp to learn more about my uncle's experience. this camp is over two hundred miles away from los angeles. there were 10 camps in remote locations where japanese americans were confined. to do all months s to the attack on pearl harbor, president roosevelt in the two months after the attack, president of -- president roosevelt issued an executive order that authorize the removal of the abs -- of japanese americans from their homes. more than two-thirds were american-born u.s. citizens. over 10,000 men, women and children spent several years of their lives here. they brought with them only what they could carry from their homes. i wanted to understand how this happened and i wanted to learn

what the texas from this happening again. experts have tried to say why this took place. >> after the attack on pearl harbor, to not let anyone tell you there was not a lot of fear on the west coast. -- west coast. a japanese submarine was sighted off of santa barbara. there was fear that the japanese would also attack the west coast. the urging for the detention of the japanese came from the civilians, saying we do not have time to find out whether any of these people individually are big -- any of these individuals are disloyal. >> by 1944, one of the most interesting things was there had never been a basis for holding these people, and at the time, the man in charge knew there was no basis.

he had been told that by j. edgar hoover. he told them the fbi does not want these people moved, we know who the spies are, and they are not it. >> the due process clause of the fifth amendment is supposed to balance the right of the people. substantive due process requires that the government lives up to high standards if it tries to take away fundamental rights like life, liberty, or property. procedural due process means the government cannot take away your rights without an adequate notice and a hearing before a neutral judge. the government took people to court who resisted, but those trials did not provide procedural due process because the company did not present its

evidence fairly. -- the government did not present this fairly. one example is a citizen who is about my uncle's age when he was arrested. imprisoned him in the camps. >> in 1942, fred boldly opposed the forced internment of japanese-americans during world war two. after being convicted for failing to report for relocation, he took his case all the way to the supreme court. the high court ruled against him. 39 years later, he had his conviction overturned in federal court, and powering thousands of americans, and gave him what he wanted most of all, the chance to feel like an american once again.

>> he fought back and stood up for his constitutional rights. his daughter has educated. -- has dedicated her life to educating people about her father's legacy. >> the japanese americans had to be put into internment camps without any due process. there was no hearings. there were no trials. >> my father would want students to now it was a horrible experience. he thought it was in on just act, and his question was am i an american, or am i not? >> i finished my trip by visiting the memorial site that committed the lives of the liberties that were lost their. the japanese characters say this is a monument to console the souls of the dead.

for the living, it is a reminder that the constitution -- we all need to be protected of our civil liberties for the time the government decides to set them aside. after two years in the camps, my uncle served in the army and became a successful dentist. fred korematsu receive the medal of freedom for his lifelong commitment to constitutional rights. these stories remind us how vital due process is for protecting our freedom. >> go to studentcam.org to watch all of the winning videos, and continue the conversation on facebook and twitter. >> members of congress played a tribute to the representative

daniel pang. he passed away from colon cancer. he represented the 10th district of new jersey for more than two decades. he was described as a man who served others without wanting anything back. this tribute last about one hour. -- lasted about one hour. >> basin gentleman, please rise for the presentation -- ladies and gentlemen, please write for -- rise for the presentation of colors.

>> over, march. ♪ oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we held

at the twilight's last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight ore to the ramparts we watched or so gallantly streaming and the rockets' red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh, say does that star spangled banner yet wave or the land of the free

and all home -- the home of the brave ♪

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. good morning, and welcome to the old hall of the house. i want to thank all of you for joining us to celebrate the life of the hon. donald payne, representative for the state of new jersey. members of his family as many -- as well as many colleagues and friends are with us, gathered steps from the chamber where he served with great distinction just as the house is the body that is closest to the people, it is the body of people that are close-knit, and the loss of one is felt by all. this is true in the case of this

distinguished gentleman from new jersey. this morning, we will hear of a man they grew up in humble circumstances, and devoted himself to lifting up others, whether they lived down the block in the north ward, or thousands of miles away in africa. we will hear of a believer who rewrote the book on what it means to be a public servant. donald payne never settles for being a helping hand. he immersed himself in the plight of those he saw to help, and gave it through it all. we will hear of a teacher who passed on his passion with such commitment, that john lewis would say his heart was big enough to serve all of mankind. through his story, we see how

much we are capable of, and how ch we have left to do. we are again drawn to the line "to whom much is given, much is expected." each of us must be representative -- expected to respect his example with service and sacrifice. god bless his family and all of you for being with us today. the invitation will be given by the rev. patrick conroy, the chaplain of the house of representatives. >> let us pray. god of heaven and earth, the work of your hands is made known in your bountiful creation, and in the lives of those who faithfully lived their lives in

service, and in your grace. today, we especially remember the life and work of our departed brother donald payne, trusting your promise of eternal and ever-lasting life and love. we remember his 30 years of service in elected office, and in his 12th term of congress you called him to yourself. his voice on behalf of the millions that suffer on the continent of africa, and for so many here at home, will be sorely missed. may his example give courage to those of us who continue on to similarly dedicate our lives and our energies for the service of so many in need of a champion. comfort to those who mourn, most

especially his family, but also his lifelong friends and many people remember donald payne as a man of stature and position, who never lost sight of his call to service of others. his bethlehem baptist congregation of newer, and his roman catholic all modern, seton hall university, can all be proud of his -- this faithful son who answered the call of his master to serve others and now intercedes for us all in god's presence. eternal rest grant on to him, lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. amen. >> our first series of tributes

-- we will hear from some of donald payne's colleagues in the house, starting with the delegate from the virgin islands, who will be followed by representative emmanuel cleaver of the misery, representative chris smith, the dean of the new jersey delegation. >> good morning. it is hard to getting used to donald payne not being around. we never get used to it, and i hope we do not. no more "hey, girl, where have you been, what have you been up to" as only donald could ask. what will be with us will be what he taught us through service. his teaching was his first love and he never left it, from his

work on the education workforce, to the many young people that he mentored in and outside of his office, on street corners or in classrooms. to his commitment to the interns and fellows training the next generation of leaders as he led to understand this core mission. as much as he was involved in the life of africa, its struggles, and victories, trusted councils to rebels as well as presidents, his efforts on caribbean development, peace in ireland, he was never far from his district, to which he also gave his all and where he was so much loved. his commitment to global house had begins in local events he held in dork. it was always wonderful to see donald in his element, and to be part of helping him bring health care information and services to the thousands of came.

he believed in and respected this institution andtraditions o serve with him to do the same. he was a loyal and loving friend who was always there when he called and when you did not. he did not mindippi r and keep you to keep on the straight and narrow. i was privileged, but burden, but gladly so, to be one of the few that donald told of his illness. he did so well that we world into thinking that he would beat that illness, and he did for a long time. through the ups and downs, therapies and adverse reactions, he kept going like an energizer bunny, here, at home, at the foundation, across the country, and abroad. i do not know how he did it. what did donald payne teach us? that you can have an obligation to do it all, that we must serve all of humanity, even beyond the

best of our ability and it with, and we must to meedo humility. to never let anyone or anything stand in the way of living life. donald payne will all wispy in our thoughts and prayers. the continent of africa, the caribbean, and the world, and he will always beat us in that special part of himself that he shared with us. we can each say as we get here today for this memorial, thank you, donald payne. my colleague, my teacher, and my friend. [applause]

>> it falls to me as chair as the congressional black caucus to speak a few words about our friend and colleague donald payne. he was indulgent with his family, and intolerance toward in justice, invisible during credit-taking time, incorruptible, and in distinguishable as a human spirit who is much love . i am compelled to utter something that is perhaps counter intuitive. washington, d.c., is a city of heroes. yes, i challenge the late-night comedians and commentators,

washington, d.c., is a city at heroes. this is the city of washington, lincoln, jefferson, roosevelt, roosevelt, kennedy, reagan. this is a city where leaders have gathered since 79 need to create the most democratic republic and the history of the planet. this is the city that attracted courageous leaders who slammed slavery into the stockpile of days gone by. the leaders of washington suffered from and eventually stabilize the serious economic downturn in world history, 1929. from this city, it was from the -- it was in this city, with civil rights leaders in the lead that jim crow laws were liquidated. donald payne enjoyed a bountiful

harvest of good will from all sides. this is the city where in 1983 ronald reagan and tip o'neill came together and added two decades to the solvency of social security. the forceful but civil words of double paint spoke in the hallowed halls of congress, but the echoes are and less. heroes in washington, dc., placed their names on ballots in the people's house. paul paine was a hero. he defeated a hero to get here, and once here he remained true to his ideals and beliefs. donald payne was a hero because he never landed on the evening news because of some caustic

comment. he is a hero because he forced congressional dissentient on africa. he became a hero because in a town filled with hot air heat taught us to say nothing often. he is a hero because he won or washington battles with his ears and his mouth. he is a hero because his life is measured not by its duration, but by its the nation. i am united methodist, and john wesley said our people die well. dull pain is a hero because -- donald payne is a hero because he died well. blessed are the dead who died in the board. the rest from their labour and their works to follow them.

but me conclude by telling you that i was impressed when i saw the funeral of breznev, a former soviet leader. his widow, without the leaders of the party, stood by the casket after all were seated, just before they pulled the lid down, she did the unthinkable. she put her hand in the casket on her husband's chest, and she laid a sign of the cross. in the citadel of the war on religion, as she made the side of the cross-border husband's chest. i know we are not supposed to do religious stuff in congress, but taking a cue from this is

brezhnev -- from mrs. brezhnev, donald is in the right place right now. >> i am truly honored to be here today to pay tribute to a man i loved and respected, our friend for life and a mentor. to his family, i say, we say, thank you for sharing your father, your father in law, your dad, your brother, your grandpa, and your great-grand pa.

he was a busy legislator, in d.c., his district, or around the world, but nobody meant more to donald payne and his family. he was so proud of all of you. some have said that donald payne was greeted in heaven, by martin luther king jr., but i believe he was greeted by his sweet mother and his beautiful wife, two women who left him far too early in his life. now i believe donald paint is in a better place. when i came to congress i could not have asked for a better mental, a public schoolteacher, someone kind and smart. served on committees together where i benefited from his wisdom and experience, because he was a man who knew what public service is.

he described himself as a mild- mannered man, but we know he was also a tenacious and dedicated. no one -- and i mean no one -- work harder to bring peace and democracy around the world. he knew however that he could not have been successful without the great support he got from his staff and his family. and he knew his staff was the best. r could he have it seized the reputation of a statesman and humanitarian without the energizer bunny determination that stayed with him through the diagnosis of his illness and until the very end. nobody has fought harder with an iron will and physical strength not to give in, because he believed so much more to do.

in his absence, it is up to us to do it for him, to follow his lead, to continue the work that matters so much to him. that is our promise to you, donald, because we love you, we miss you, and we thank you for making this world a better place just by being in it. thank you. [applause] >> in the ensuing weeks since his untimely passing, i keep expecting to hear his gentle voice admonishing us to care more and to do more for those trapped in poverty or suffering from a devastating disease. donald payne was an extraordinary man who dedicated his entire life to public service, a man who made a significant difference in the

world in his constituency in new jersey. many people who he touched remember his legacy as a great treasure. he worked across party lines to battle the hiv aids pandemic and to mitigate the loss of life from kippur closest and malaria in africa. he co-sponsored the sudan piece back and work tirelessly to end the genocide in both south sudan and are darfu. i know how hard you work for peace and reckless -- reconciliation. i served as a ranking member of the committee when he chaired it, and recently he served as mine. he never shied away from asking the tough questions, but always did so in a way that

demonstrated his earnest desire to find durable solutions to vexing and seemingly insurmountable problems. he was a joy to work with. at his funeral, dozens of family members and leaders extolled his innate goodness and the consequence. the outpouring was in a word overwhelming. president clinton was there and talk about donald payne as a peacemaker and said, "better to resent."e the band to presen his niece said i can get to any part of the world and he would be known there. i think it is wonderful, just amazing. his son reminded everyone, is think of all the things he did for us without ever asking for

anything back. donald payne possibility to care and do for others while expecting nothing whatsoever in return is in deep record and it is a precious burch hsu. his example of life that inspires us to be doers of good deeds without any thought of recognition. the house has lost a distinguished friend and a distinguished colleague, the gentleman from new jersey. on behalf of our delegation, i say to the family, which deeply miss him. we deeply miss him. on behalf of the entire congress, he is missed. [applause] >> for our musical selection, we

are fortunate to have us with this the soloist anthony harrington. he will be performing "the wind beneath my wings." ♪ >> ♪ it must have been cold there in my shadow to never have sunlight on your face you were content to let me shine

you always wanted us to be -- now, i am one with all the glory and you were the one with all the strengh a beautiful face without a name for so long i never -- whoa did you ever know that you were my hero? you ever think i'd like to be?

i can fly higher than an eagle you are the wind beneath my wings if i appear to go unnoticed right in my it all heart i wanted to know another truth yes, i know it

i would be nothing without you whoa did you ever know that you were my hero? you are everything i'd like to be i can fly higher than an eagle you are the wind beneath my wings did you ever know that you were my hero? everything i'd like to be

i caxn fly higher than an eagle you are the wind beneath my wings you are the wind beneath my wings you are teh wind beneath my wings ♪ congressman payne, today the world -- [unintelligible]

[applause] >> members of representative family will now share some of their recollections. >> thank you, and good morning. to the assembled guests, the vice-president and the speaker, senator lautenberg, ms. pelosi,

there is joy and pain today. the assembled number of people in this call to pay respects for my father for his work around the world. the pain is that he is not here for us to tell him how much we appreciated in. there has been an overwhelming -- it has been an overwhelming month or so. at his passing, i was in a very good place and reflecting on what he had done for me and my family over the course of my life.

but as time has gone on and i have had time to stop and think, it has become very hard not to be emotional anytime i think of it either calling his name, either at the congressman, donald payne, daddy, what ever. it has been a very emotional time. but as was stated and i stated, he never asked for anything. he did things. he told me and he used to refer to me as chuck, i do the things i do because i can. people need help all of round the world, and wherever there is in justice, he felt it was important to step in. africa was his passion, but people, finding themselves in

situations where their civil and human rights were being violated, became his fight. the one thing i want to leave you with is that he never asked for anything, but he would really, really appreciate what you have done here to honor his memory today. thank you very much. [applause] >> new testament reading, john. let not your heart be troubled. in my father's house, there are many mansions. i could to prepare a place free. i will come again and receive you to myself.

to many who are here today, you knew my grandfather as the congressman donald payne. some of you knew him as don. we knew him as pebow. pebow, we love you and you rest in peace. [applause] >> good afternoon. he walked with kings. i say it because it was true. i was lucky to be within when we

were in bahrain when we discussed the arab spring. we traveled dusty roads in the condo and visited people. he talked about their health care. i was with him as he lifted children in refugee camps. my brother was the one who cared about the world. there are those who knew we were very close. it is the story about the brothers, twins who were very close to each other. they felt the feelings of each other, the matter where they were. there was a nice guy, and there was another one. you can guess which one was which. he was great.

he was concerned about his health. when he went to egypt and he checked on secretary lahood's son, my brother was sick. i said -- he said when i get there i will rest. he passed on march 6, which is the same day my father passed, at the same age. there is a great union up there where my brother and my father and my mother and his wife are together. someone wrote me a letter and talked about greatness. you do not recognize greatness when you walked with him. you recognize greatness -- mold

was a great man. everyone would agree with that. -- donald was a great man. it still hurts. [applause] >> our next set of attributes will be delivered by the democratic leader of the united house, ms. nancy pelose, and frank lautenberg. >> thank you, mr. speaker, for bringing us together in such a beautiful way. to donald's family, i hope it is a comfort to you that so many people share your grief and are

praying for you at this sad time and that donald is being honored in so many different ways. he was in life and now with his passing -- the president of the united states, bill clinton, was at his funeral. the fact that we are in the capitol dome of the allied states -- of the united states to sing the praises of donald kapayne. i hope that is a comfort to you. i want to share attributes that may not be known to many of you here. on march 19, when we observed st. patrick's day, there was a , a huge dinner.,

the prime minister of ireland was there. when our representative spoke, as did also peter king, the entire comments were about donald payne. there was a huge picture of donald payne, and the crowd cheered wildly as mr. king spoke about what he did to help the people of northern ireland. it was a beautiful tribute. [applause] that was a couple of weeks after his passing. i want to tell you about one event that happened a few years ago. we were on a delegation that fur ld help lead in dar

and africa. it was very emotional. you were better prepared when you went, better receipt when you got there, and better able to help when you left, whether it was the eradication of disease protect, in human rights, you name it. this trip we were going to darfu and other countries in africa, and donald helped arrange everything, and when we were to go to khartoum, he said i am not going. he said they are not going to tell you the truth. i am not one to give you the opportunity. you are brought to have to find out for yourselves. it was not just about visiting heads of state and parliamentarians. it was about visiting people in hiv-aids clinics, visiting

women working in sweatshops, learned about the country. i want to tell you about this because i am reminded of it today when so many people are seeing the praises of donald payne. we were in liberia. mr. cliburn remembers this very well. we were in a library. i'm telling you, it was very hot. they gave us minutes to wear, and every person who spoke, and the leadership of the world turned out. [unintelligible] all the focus is always on donald. we go to this library dedication at a college in monrovia.

ever person -- every person who spoke said what an honor it was to be on the program who spoke with everybody before. ke 90 or 20igh speakers. one of distinguished gentleman gets up and says, to all the speakers who spoke before me and will come next, honors granted. it brought out the biggest smile on donald's face. they wanted to outdo each other in praising him. he was so wonderful and there is

so much to be said about him. it is a personal loss to so many of us. when a colleague passes away, it is a sad and a loss in that it is very personal with many members. i want to recall the idea that we can speak religiously to take up a prayer that is posted on the wall by a bishop in africa. it applies to donald very well. in the prayer, the bishops says, "when at long last i will happily go to meet my maker, he show me yourme, ' wounds.' if i had no wounds, i will say i have no wounds.

he will say, 'is there nothing for?'"ighting a work for people all over the world. this whole hemisphere. it was hard to make that fight. he was status -- challenging the status quo. that is why it was my honor to name him to be the representative to the united nations general assembly. for donald, it was two times because is contribution was so valuable. we say from time to time, but it is never truer than today, god truly blessed america out with a life, leadership, and service of our blessed donald payne. thank you.

[applause] >> thank you, everybody. for joining together, and in an extended example of and hold it, there is so much turbulence in washington and across the country. the equilibrium that donald payne always had is yet another fitting remmemory of his good will, his good nature, and his honesty. it is an honest your -- honor for me to represent the senate. don payne a humble man, conscience and conviction, and i was always struck by donald's spoke in soft demeanor, and i

think many women here will agree this made him a rarity in politics. don payne did not need to raise his voice. his ideals were powerful enough. for more than two decades, congressman payne search new jersey and congress with --stinguish donald was an expert on foreign relations. he led efforts to restore democracy and human rights in countries, from northern ireland to sudan. don payne worked around the globe to end famine, disease, genocide. he was a trail blazer at home. don and i used to have at our

principal new jersey offices in newark, and i would see almost their reverence people would hold in their view when they were able to shake hands with him. was love, affection, and respect. in 1988, don, during his first campaign for the house, he told a reporter, " i want to be a world model for the kids i talked to on the street corners. i want them to see there are no barriers to achievement." without doubt, donald payne achieved his goal. he inspired young people into public service, and if you look at his product family members who are here today, many of whom followed him in careers in public service, it is a wonderful example for all of you

to follow. we're very proud of you, young man, for standing up and talking about your grandfather. onaldss congressman da payne. he is gone, but his legacy will not be forgotten. septimus, decency, honor, and courage. thank you. [applause] >> join me in welcoming the vice president of united states, the honorable joe biden. >> mr. speaker, thank you so very much. the payne family, many of us

have been through what you are going through. there's not a darn thing that any of us can say. as the former speaker said, i hope you take some solace from knowing that everyone else knows what you knew, what you felt, what your father, your grandfather, your brother, what he was made of it. i hope that gives you some solace. so, i hope that solace is something that will bring that healing quicker. it has already brought it. i actually envy my colleagues who spoke.

i envied them because they obviously got to work with bottled every day and got to know him better than i did. they got more direct benefit working with a gentle, honorable man, a man who in my experience -- and i spent a lot of time on trains with him, on the foreign relations committee -- a guy who, as the old saying goes, he is what the doctor ordered that we need badly here in washington. it is not just what he did. it is just not how deeply he felt about the causes he fought for. a lot of you feel as deeply. a lot of the, democrats and republicans, feel the same way. but the thing i admire most

about him was i was reading the quotation that said, when i was a young man i came across a book of poetry from my father. i'd never forgot the quotation from the book. the father once the sun to be better than he. my dad used to say you know you are right success with you can look at your son and daughter and note that they turned out better than you. your dad had the privilege of being able to note, but there is a reason why the distinguishing characteristic for me, someone who knew him well, but not as well as you, is that he had another trait that my dad dealt with the single most viable thing beyond courage

that you could possess. that was that donald comported himself with dignity, but more importantly, he accorded dignity to everybody else. everybody else. a job as a lot more than a paycheck, it is about your place in the committee, it is not about who you are. i do not forget, calling me about some malia -- somalia, recalling me say that, and i went back and ask my staff to look up what i thought i had remembered donald talking about.

the ability of donald to comport himself the way he did in a pretty increasingly rough environment for both parties, donald said i think there is a lot of dignity in being able to achieve things without having to create ruptured. you know, sometimes in our town, a lot of great heroes -- we go through phases where we sometimes confuse dignity with weakness. we sometimes confuse dignity with a lack of resolve.

the magic of donald, the magic of your brother, father, grandfather, which no one ever confused it with him. it is pretty remarkable. i served in the senate for 36 years. i at the pleasure of knowing a lot of great women and men, as was pointed out after i was being selected for the seventh time. the point of the fact is that very few people can pull off what don pulled it off. i do not know what it is. i do not know what that thing was that he had. a lot of people have this passion. i know a lot of you need for your constituency and have done incredible things. he was someone special.

there was a place where there is a salpsalm that says to be operate, -- says to be upright, he is righteous. donald was up rigright. he was always gracious, whether talking to the conductor on amtrak or being in his chair district, which i was on several occasions. or whether it was in godforsaken places in africa, where i might add and no one has mentioned, it took some courage to go. he put his life in jeopardy on some of those trips. it was not automatic. it was not always donald being

greeted with open arms. i can think of to occasions when his aircraft was greeted with weapons fire at his aircraft. you know, the interesting thing right, onald, to be up righ there arises light in darkness. it not only liked him, it was amazing how much light he brought to the darkest recesses of his district and of the world. you know, has been mentioned here a number of times, and i apologize for repeating it, but it is important. donald was always a teacher. was the kind of teacher a lot of

us wished we had when we were in school. the teacher never lectured of you, they demanded a lot of you, and knew what you need it and knew how to help you when they could, but expected you to act. everything about him -- there is a great phrase about being a teacher, and whether it was donald going out increasing pell grants or cutting low interest rates or all the things he did in his district, there is a great expression, by henry adams. he said a teacher affects paternity. he can never tell where his influence stops. a teacher affects the eternity.

he can never tell where his influence stops. we can say all we know about donald to his family, but we do not know where his influence stops. i will close by reaching to my heart, because donald helped, he worked so hard. his compassion was not tempered by race, color, or ethnicity. he was a good man.

donald payne was a good man. [applause] >> mr. vice president, let me thank you for your kind remarks and all those who spoke. i will present a flag that was flown over the capitol on the day he passed.

we're honored to be joined today by the reverend dr. david jefferson senior who will deliver the benediction.

>> let us all stand. out of respect for this great man, if you would please bout your heads with me. -- bow your heads with me. father, as we come to the close of this memorial service, a service to celebrate and a service to commemorate the life and the legacy of the honorable donald m. payne. we are blessed with this super life, as we gather in this great

hall, which is populated by those who have shown courage and greatness in error nation. it is befitting we're here to celebrate this great man. one who chose power over pain, one who chose courage and dignity over fear. one who chose faith in the face of doubt, one who chose peace in one who brought knowledge where there was no knowledge, and one who brought light where there was darkness. and all of us stand today in solidarity to say thank you for blessing us with such a great

life. and now in the words of that old baptist preacher, we're not sure what state he was from. his hair was gray, his back was bent over, but at the close of his service he lifted his hands over the heads of his parishioners and said, my hand is on the plow, my faltering hands, and all before us now is to till the land. sometimes the handles of our plow get wet, and yet we do not believe he brought our great nation this far to lead us now, and we welcome and we thank you for the life, the contribution,

and all that this great man has done, for his spirit and his life to a live on in the hearts of those he touched ground this nation and around the world. it is it your name that we humbly submit and we say thank you, amen. >> amen. >> is and gentlemen, this concludes our memorial service, and i thank you for joining us. i know don's family will be receiving guests in the rayburn room, and may god bless his soul. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> the state of arizona defended its own immigration law before the supreme court this week. here the oral argument tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. >> we are at the national public radio table. that is good. i could not remember where we landed on that. >> this weekend, the 98th annual white house correspondents dinner. coverage starts at the red

carpet arrival like at 6:30, and watched the entire dinner only on c-span. he can also psynch up at c- .pan.org/whcd the white house correspondents' dinner live saturday, 6:30 p.m., on c-span. >> this man is the only one to escape from cap 14. >> first memory at the age of 4 : with his mom to a place where he grew up in the camp to watch somebody get shot. public executions in the camp were held every few weeks. and they were a way of punishing people who violated camp rules

that terrorizing the 20,000to 40,000 people who lived in the camp to obeyed the rules. -- sunday greater thanchin's sunday, chin'. >> paul bryan says the president's economic policies have made america poorer. he was at georgetown yesterday. is comments are about an hour.

>> good morning. this event honors our friend dr. leslie whittington. leslie, a professor and a nationally recognized expert on the marriage tax, was a member of our community, known for high spirits and engaging lectures. while we are fortunate to have many great professors, it is not every day you come across a teacher who generally inspired her students. leslie was one of them. each year will board a scholarship in her name to a student who has demonstrated a

commitment to smart public policy. i want to recognize this year plus winner, joseph cox. joe, will you stand up? [applause] this annual lecture is dedicated to leslie's memory. this year we are fortunate to have with us congressman paul ryan. he is serving his seventh term representing wisconsin. he is a graduate of miami of ohio. he is the chairman of the budget committee in the house. you cannot turn on the tv or log onto facebook without hearing about the looming fiscal crisis our country faces in the coming

decades. a year ago, our nation nearly defaulted on its debt for the first time in its history. while we have stepped back from that, the challenge is far from over. utly members fact served with paul ryan. alice rivlin devised a second plan that addressed the problem. no consensus appears to be on door rise in. government leaders continue to appear to be deadlocked. congressman ryan is at the center of efforts to resolve these issues. he has presented a roadmap. his plan proposes a tahis plan e

long-term budget deficits by cutting taxes to promote growth and cutting government spending. republicans led his vision for the future. the young age of 42, he is often mentioned as a potential vice presidential nominee. if you want to break some news today, feel free. this plan is not without controversy. in some ways, he is at the center of a debate that our colleague has written is as old as our nation, that quintessential tension between our struggle of the rugged individualist and our strong sense of communal obligation. many democrats and republicans see very different visions for future in the country as they struggle for imbalances between these competing instincts. please join me in welcoming congressman paul ryan. [applause]

>> thank you so much. what a beautiful place, by the way. this is gorgeous. the need for well-informed public discourse has never been greater. i think that is why this lecture series is such a moving tribute to the memory of leslie whittington. i was voting on the house for a couple of days ago and one of the senior leadership staffers pulled me aside and said leslie whittington was the best professor i ever had. she was a student here at georgetown. she spoke so adoring the of the impact he had on her lap. it is just like to see that her memory is still being honored by this, and i am honored to be here as part of this lecture series. georgetown is america's first catholic universities. the jesuits have done a great job of educating our nation for generations. i appreciate the dialogue.

our copy of my budget with me so we could have a fact based conversation on the facts as they are, not as some have reinterpreted. did you ever hear the story about the methodist who went to heaven and at st. peter at the pearly gates? let me get into it, then. this methodist goes to heaven and meets st. peter at the pearly gates. saint peter takes him on a tour like he does for everybody. they go down this beautiful building and this long haul and they come to the first door. they hear laughter and music and singing and the methodists ask st. peter, what is behind that door? he said that is the presbyterians. they keep going down the hallway and come to another door. the year praising and music. he said that is the baptists. they turned a corner and go down a long hall, but before they get to the next door, peter says be very, very quiet. that is the catholics, and they

think they are the only people up here. [laughter] that takes a minute to sink in, doesn't it? i suppose there are some catholics who, for a long time, thought they had a monopoly of sorts, not exactly in heaven, but on the social teaching of our church. of course there can be differences among the faithful catholics on this. the work i do as a catholic holding office conforms to the social doctrine as best i can make of it. what i have to say about the social doctrine of the church is from the viewpoint of a catholic in politics applying my understanding to the problems of the day. serious problems like those we face today require terrible conversation. civil public dialogue goes to the heart of solidarity. the virtue that does not divide society into classes but builds up the common good of all. the overarching brett to our whole society today is the exploding federal debt.

the holy father himself, pope benedict, has charged governments, communities, and individuals running up high debt levels are "living at the expense of future generations and living an untruth." we in this country have a window of time before it gets to economic crisis becomes inevitable. we need to take control before our own needy suffer the same fate of greece. how we do this is a question for provincial judgment about which people of good will can differ. if there was every time for serious but respectful discussion among catholics as well as those who do not share our faith, that time is now. as the dollar around southern wisconsin and visit with

americans across the country, explaining that our debt is on track to cripple the economy, showing people charts and graphs to back it all up, they often ask me, is it too late to save america from a diminished future? is the american experiment over? it is difficult question. it is one that gives me a little pause. the honest answer is the one i am about to give you. nobody ever got rich betting against the united states of america, and i'm not about to start. time and again, when america has been put to the test, when it looked like the era of american exceptional is and was coming to a close, we got back up and got back to work, advancing our community, advancing our society, and leaving the boundaries of opportunity ever for. churchill put it best.

the americans can be counted upon to do the right thing, but only after they have exhausted all the other possibilities. look, we have exhausted the other possibilities. after four straight trillion dollar deficits and very little economic progress to show for it, i think we know what doesn't work. we also have a growing consensus around the ideas that will work. but will not willing partners at the highest levels to lead us, to unite us, and to address our defining talent. the president did not cause the crisis we face. years of empty promises from both political parties brought us to this moment. but regrettably, the president is unwilling to advance credible solutions to the problem. he has broken a promise he made during his last campaign, to help us "rediscover our bonds to each other and get out of this constant, petty bickering that has come to characterize

our politics." it does not seem to understand and cannot promote the common good by setting class against class or group against group. the device of politics e.g. the divisive politics of the last few years have not only undermined social solidarity, they have brought progress and reform to a standstill, at a very time when america is desperate for solutions to this coming crisis. today, we face a fundamental challenge to the american way of life. a gathering storm whose primary manifestation is the shadow of our ever-growing national debt, and whose most troubling consequence is ever shrinking opportunities for americans, young and old, and the shadow hangs over young people to face a struggling economy and rising probability of greater turmoil ahead. more than half of recent college graduates are unemployed or underemployed in this economy. the shadow hangs over our

seniors who have been lied to about their retirement security. it hangs over our parents. we wonder if we will be the first generation in american history to leave our children with fewer opportunities and less prosperous nation than the one we inherited. this storm has already hit europe, where millions are enduring the painful consequences of empty promises turning into broken promises. for too many in washington, instead of learning from europe's mistakes, we are repeating them. our descent down this path was accelerated four years ago when poor decisions and bad policies from wall street to washington resulted in the crisis that squandered the nation's savings and crippled our economy. what we needed then for policies to strengthen the foundations of our free enterprise economy. what we got was the opposite.

we needed single-minded focus on restoring economic growth. after the immediate panic in 2008 that saw, we need to restore real accountability in the financial sector and just clean up the mess. we needed to restore the principle that those who seek to reap the gains in our economy also bear the full risk of the losses. we need policies to control our debt trajectory so that families and businesses were not threatened the the shadow of an ever rising debt. instead, the white house in the last congress enacted an agenda that made matters worse. they miss spent hundreds of billions of dollars on politically connected boondoggles. then when the country's number- one priority remained in getting the economy back on track, the white house in the last congress made their number one priority a massive, and one expansion in the government's role in health care. they even tried to impose a costly increase in energy prices in the middle of a recession. their idea of wall street

reform -- a blank check for fannie mae and freddie mac, and a new law that provided more protection and preferential treatment for the big banks and gave more power to the same regulators who failed to see the last crisis coming. their reliance on government of the heavy hand with more borrowing, more spending, and unprecedented interventions into the private sector were not just bad policy. they created a tremendous uncertainty for businesses and families as job losses continued to mount. we needed solutions to restore the american idea, an opportunity society in which the government's role is not to read the rules and and for equal outcomes, but in the words of abraham lincoln, to clear the past of laudable pursuit for all so that all may have an opportunity to rise and free

pursue their happiness. instead, the white house in the last congress exports to the crisis to advance a government center society, a massively expanded role in the federal government in our lives, higher spending to support this expanded role, and higher taxes to support dyer spending. higher borrowing, too. its report five years, the debt held by the public has grown by $4.5 trillion. that is a 70% increase. our debt is projected to get much worse, spiraling out of control in the years ahead. this bleak outlook is what is paralyzing economic growth today. investors, businesses, and families look at the size of the debt and help back, for fear that america is heading for a diminished future. should that future arrive, it would mean real pain for all americans. but higher interest rates would

make it harder for families to buy homes. for students to go to college, and for businesses to expand and create jobs. it would mean more than economic pain to you and me. if we remain on this path, and bond markets in the state of panic will turn on us, threatening to end the american idea itself. forced to austerity, broken promises and sacrifices from abroad but in into that most fundamental of american aspirations, that in this land, we are responsible for our own destiny. analysts continent will not forever be free from foreign powers to impose their limits on our dreams for ourselves and for children. if our generation fails to meet its defining challenge, we would see america surrender her independence to an army of foreign creditors who now owns roughly half of our public debt. it pains me to say this, but the president of the policies guarantee that outcome if we

don't turn this around soon. the good news is there is a better approach. a budget passed by the house of representatives that would lift the debt and free the nation from the constraints of ever expanding government. if enacted, this budget would promote economic growth and opportunity starting today appeared with bold reforms to the tax code and a credible plan to prevent a debt crisis from ever happening. the president is clearly threatened by this alternative vision. he is hoping to win the next election by attacking our good faith effort to secure opportunity for the next generation. the president is not only wrong on the policy, but he is wrong on the politics as well. americans resent being told what kind of car to drive or what kind of libel to use. they certainly do not think

bureaucrats in washington should be empowered to dictate their personal health care decisions. the hallmarks of the president of the government centered agenda is is that policy after policy takes from hard working americans and give to politically connected companies and privileged special interests. our budget calls this what it is, corporate welfare, and we propose to end it. as we end welfare for those who do not eat, we strengthen welfare programs for those who do. government safety net programs have been stretched to the breaking point in recent years, failing the very citizens who need help most. these are not just practical questions. these questions have moral implications as well. since we meet here today, and america's first catholic university, i feel it is important to discuss how as a catholic in public life, my own personal thinking on these

issues has been guided by my understanding of the church's social teaching. simply put, i don't believe that the preferential option for the poor means at preferential option for big government. just look at the results of the government centered approach to the war on poverty. one in six americans are in poverty today. that is the highest rate in a generation. in this war on poverty, poverty is winning. we need a better approach. to me, this should be based on the twin virtues of solidarity and subsidiarity. government is one more for things we do together. but it is not the only word. we are a nation that prides itself on looking out for one another. the government has an important role to play in that. but relying on distant government bureaucracies to lead this effort just has not

worked. instead, our budget built in historic welfare reforms in the 1990's. we and to empower state and local governments, communities and individuals, those closest to the problem, and we aim to promote opportunity and a probability by strengthening job training programs to help those who have fallen on hard times. my mentor, jack kemp, used to say you cannot help america's poor by making america poor. the mountain of new debt the president has helped create, much of that barred from china or simply printed at the federal reserve, has made america poor. those unwilling to lift the debt our complicity in our acceleration toward a debt crisis in which the poor would

be hurt the first and the worst. our budget lists the debt, fosters a growing economy, and ensures that a government program makes good on their important promises. instead of letting our critical health retirement programs go bankrupt, our budget saves and strengthens them the that they can fulfill their missions in the 21st century. the president likes to talk about medicare. we welcome the debate. we need this debate. but the president will not tell you that he has already changed medicare forever. his new health care law puts a board of 15 unelected bureaucrats in charge of cutting medicare. we should never turn the fate of our parents and grandparents over to an unaccountable board and let them make decisions that could deny them access to their care. my mom relies on medicare. we all are and all our seniors a better program, one can actually count on. our budget keeps the protections that make medicare a guarantee promised seniors throughout the years.

it makes no changes for people in or near retirement. in order to save medicare for future generations, we propose to put 50 million seniors, not 15 unaccountable bureaucrats, in charge of their personal health care decisions. our budget and our seniors to choose from a list of coverage that works best for them, that is required to offer at least the same benefits as traditional medicare. it says that if a senior months to choose traditional medicare plan, then she should have the right. our idea is to force insurance companies to compete against each other in order to better service the -- server -- in order to better serve seniors. we disagree with that characterization. our plan offers the best way to guarantee quality, affordable health care for all of our nation's seniors for generations to come.

the president also likes to talk about taxes. we welcome this debate. we need this debate. the president remains committed to working americans. it is to chase ever higher government spending. we believe there is a better way forward. the tax code should be fair, simple and competitive. we propose a total overhaul. we lower rates across the board. revenue goes up every year under our budget. the economy grows. we propose to close the special interest loopholes that primarily go to the well- connected and well up here we in washington did not need to micromanage people's decisions

to the tax code. this passed the house earlier this spring. they have gone another year of the budget. the president has hunkered down. people are right to look at how polarized it has become. havere wondering if we ever fix this mess. the political class needs the pessimism. they have given up on american renewal. they say america's time for leading the world as post. the task is to manage the nation's decline. i reject such defeatism. america has been here before. we did not give of then and we won't give up now. maybe the senate to not remember 1980. so many of washington had given

up on the american people. they expect you to tell your children that the american people no longer have the will to cope with their problems. the future will be one of sacrifice and few opportunities. america did something that we as a people are famous for. we refuse to listen to our betters. we voted for a man, more than that an idea. the idea that if we took power from bureaucrats and return it to the people, americans working together to restore the principles of american exception ellison and build a future that they can be proud of. these principles are not exclusive to one political party. the patient centered medicare programs has a long history of bipartisan support. medicare reform is based on choice and competition. in recent years, i have worked for democrats to advance the

same kind of reforms. tax reform space on lowering rates goes back to the reagan administration. the democrats served as a co- sponsor. more recently, this is the best means to simplify the tax code. it makes sense that these ideas have attracted leaders of both parties. patient centered medicare offers the only guarantee that medicare can keep its promise to seniors for generations to come. progress tax reform of going great wall closing loopholes that primarily benefit the well off can eliminate fairness and ensure a level playing field.

this coalition must attract americans from all walks of life. progress will require the removal of certain partisan roadblocks. a far health care law -- a flawed health care law that must be replaced. only with the right leadership in place can we move forward with ideas that renewed the american promise of leaving our children with a stronger nation than what our parents left us. look. it is rare in american politics to arrive at a moment in which the debate revolves around the fundamental nature of american democracy and social contract. that is exactly where we are today. one approach gives more power to unelected bureaucrats, it takes more from hard-working taxpayers to fuel the expansion of government and commit our

nation to a feature of debt and decline. this approach is proving unworkable. congress and this path fails to do justice to either subsidiary or solidarity. our budget offers a better path. it is consistent with how i understand my catholic faith. we put trust in people. they are returning to power families. this is the belief that all people are born with a god- given right to human flourishing.

protecting this equal rights of all persons is required for solidarity. trusting citizens to determine what is in their best interests. and to make the right choices about the future of our country. the choice before us cannot be more clear. continuing down the path we're on would mean becoming the first generation to break faith with the american generation. but there's one thing you hear me said, this will not be our destiny. americans will not stand for a shrug condition of our future. we will get back on a path to prosperity. it is not too late to get this right. thank you very much. [applause]

>> i like to think the audience members and students to submit it. if you still have questions, and their people from the lecture he will take these questions. where to start off with a couple of questions we ask from students to the congressman. if you have additional questions, please pass into the end of the aisles. you spoke a bit during your

speech about the letter from the faculty. they are clearly concerned about the moral dimension. and whether the tax cut will this for torsion lay the to those who are wealthy. there is a generational issue as well. can you say a few more words? >> to cannot let people out of poverty do not have a growing economy. we have to put the policies to maximize economic growth. we also need to have upward mobility. we want to make sure that our safety net is required to get people from this. you have to have programs that work to do that. iat we saw in the 1990's, have to tell you, in wisconsin and worked really well. we did this to meet the unique

needs of the county and city. we got involved. this work so much better than i think you're having before. -- than we were having before. these are levels that are quite unsustainable. food stamps went up. our budget if you just take the top comic it is proposed to grow spending at about 3% a year. hardly draconian i would argue. more to the point, want to get to a system that is fair that makes the same kind of income. when we raise the individual tax rates, we are hitting such small businesses really hard. eight out of 10 businesses pay their taxes as individuals. in wisconsin, nine of the 10 filed in taxes as individuals.

because the partnerships. their top effective tax rate is 48.4% in january. overseas, which in wisconsin and let superior, the canadiens just lower their tax rate. 65% of net new jobs come from the successes of businesses. the driver of wisconsin and look at the industrial park. the odds are it is successful with maybe two and a 15 employees who are paying that. when we think we're hitting the guy in the yacht, where getting a successful small business. we do not want to have revenue problems.

we're saying get rid of the loopholes. every person who them park money in a tax shelter, that its hero. takes away the tax shelter and it is 25%. what we're saying is that there are better policies that make us competitive to help us grow our economy. will we take a look at our poverty fighting strategy is, of what is the objective facts but it to treat the symptoms of poverty to make it easier to live with that or is it to the region to live with that bill -- will we take a look at our party fighting strategies, what is left of the objective? but we treat the symptoms of poverty to make it easier to live with? we are not saying you're stuck in your station in life. this is antithetical to our american idea. >> the house is dealing with

the education funding. there are cuts to the bell program. our students are very concerned about the impact of what it will do to close off access to higher education. what do you have to say? >> this is washington. we keep this at $5,500 but do not have the increase, we keep the award at $5,500. the progress has increased tremendously. we need to look at tuition inflation. when you get the spending on these programs, you will see a direct correlation with this. rather than have taxpayers subsidize the situation, of let's look at why tuition is

growing at such a fast pace relative to anything else we buy. let's not keep paying for a fast increase. buyingook at why it is up faster. that is a big deal. we keep this. that is the way washington works. if he did not sign up for the proposed increase in to increase it at a slower rate, that is a big cut. that is that the way it works and families and businesses. it seems to be the way it works around here >> we are facing a dollar trillion deficit. the thing is to be done. you were a member of that committee. you did not vote for the plan.

what part of the plan did you vote for? >> i have a great respect for allen. they are great people. it did not fix the problem. i did not want to tell them i just voted for a plan to fix the problem when i know it did not fix the problem. you cannot prevent a debt crisis if you do not deal with the health care entitlement problems. we offered an amended some symbols which was rejected. it tended to deal with medicare reform and medicaid reform. those ideas were rejected. we pass a plan that leave the country to fall into complacency. only to know that we're going to have a debt crisis. affair going to fix the problem, let's fix the problem.

>> this is close to your home. how did these statistics play a role in your vision for the budget? >> we had this issue. >> i was in racine a couple of days ago. it is a manufacturing town. and manufacturers have the greatest skills. look at what they're looking at. they're looking at our energy prices. they are looking at debt hangover.

they're looking at a system that will blow up in their face in january the first. they are holding back. if these increases kick in in january and bring their tax rates up as such tirades that they're paying twice the rate of their competitors, it makes a really hard to compete. when we taxed our competitors hire, they win and we lose. the best things for kenosha and for all of us is to have a system that is really competitiveness. you and i were talking off line. we have the gm plant. this industry just that decimated where we live. a lot of people do not have the career anymore. one of my friends for has all but they get a job just like their folks did.

they had this real awakening. this is what is behind as job- training reforms. we have 49 different job training programs. we did not even measure if they work. how do we get skills to our population so that we can stay out of the curve? right now we have these programs that have all the bureaucracies and red tape from washington. let's clear that out and have a system that is responsive so when a person is down on their but, they have a shot to getting back on their feet to make something of themselves and be proud. most people believe in the american dream.

make yourself what you want to be. make your kids better off. because of the debt crisis, this is where we are. both parties made a budget in the promises that the government cannot keep. the sooner we are honest about that, the better we can have economic policies that make our companies more competitive. these are the things that matter the most. they raise their individual tax rates. i think this is the number. there back in the debt crisis. these businesses what to know that they stick in wisconsin.

the are really sensitive on these things. you have to make sure that you are competitive on your taxes and. that is a key source done -- keycorp son to get this back on pat. >> -- he cornerstone to get this back on track. >> why are spending cuts required? >> i think i get the gist of that. deficits are deficits. we have a big one. what people like me are worried about is we do not want to chase ever higher spending with ever

higher taxes. this is a spending he driven crisis. on the current base line, they are going above the 40 year average rate. spending is projected to literally explode. for the last 60 years, we have taken 20 cents out of every dollar to spend on a federal government. by the time kids are my age, we will take 40 cents out of every dollar. at the end of the time it is 80 cents. we have a spending debt crisis coming. there is no way you can tax your way out of this. the system crashes in the 20 30's. what we want to do is get the spending under control. we have to restructure its so it makes good on the promises. you want to have tax policies

that keep it for the international economies. camera revenues come in? of course they can. -- can new revenues come in? of course they can. >> you mentioned your plan is to raise trillions of dollars by closing loopholes and ending tax breaks. it is a serious and courageous politicians. >> we do not want to do this with a health-care law was written. in a back room where we cut a deal, it is from here. we want to have hearings and the ways and means committee to go through all of the corners of the tax code. we want to put everything on the table. we want to find out what makes

the most sense. there is fiscal space left for tax expenditures. we want to have hearings to decide which ones are the best ones to keep. this is not just what loopholes of the tax code but who gets them. the people in the top two brackets get almost all the tax shelters. that is where you should start right away. this means more of their income is where revenue comes in here. it gives you the ability to bring your rate down. it is not just what but to as well. if we do not have some plan that we're going to hoist, that is the wrong way. we want to tell everyone who cares to make your case. let's have openings basin equity and fairness. -- based on equity and fairness.

>> we navigated for fiscal consolidation. are you concerned what that is going to do to the economy? >> since ron paul started subsiding, i used to get a lot of from paul questions. timmy the foundation -- the foundation is money. i worry about what we are building up with their monetary policy. i believe we should get more toward a monetize policy. that is not a crazy things to say. i think our monetary policy should be focused on a single mandate and price stability. we should stand as necessary signals, because if we do that, i think that will help us keep interest rates from blowing up

in getting away from us. we want to have a monetary policy that is clear and transparent and focus on a single mandate of price stability. i do not think he can help employment if you have a schizophrenic dole mandate. -- dual mandate. if push comes to shove, our fiscal policy is on a collision course, and it can in really ugly. this is why i think the sooner we can have a sound monetary policy focus on price stability, the better we can stabilize the horizons to show that the dollar will be good in stable. there are currency will maintain itself as a reliable thing of value.

one of the most insidious things a government can do is change is currency. it is spanish the purchasing power of people who live on a fixed income. that is what we want to sock from happening. i'm worried that this of the last option if we keep going down the path we're on. >> technology plays a large role in our economy. low-skilled workers have been falling farther and farther behind. do you have a proposal to help those tax hikes you have to get the basics right. as a federal representative, i try not to get deep into micromanaging education reforms. i think we should break those special interest arrears and making it harder to reform our schools.

we can make sure that kids get the best possible education. that is really important. that is the seed of upward mobility. i think the better government has a very good role to play in the job training aspects for a person who is older and life. this is really important. this is where technology comes into play. we need technology to flourish. but got to stop kicking out the really smart people. people get these ph.d. is. there be set and and they leave. what we want to do that tax and what to have more human capital. immigration policy on this

along with better tax policy. if we get those basics right, it to make sure that we can still dominate the world economy like we have in the past. >> somebody said if he could recapture fiscal commission vote, would you change your mind? greece has deteriorated quite rapidly. how close do you seize the u.s. being to the greek situation? >> no. you think i'm going to give you some data on that? we talked to a lot of experts. the story i get from the folks that we consult on this, everyone wants to know when it

is coming to america. the consensus i get is the reserve currency. that buys as time. that baez's a unique opportunity. year passes issues. -- europe has -- that buy us a unique opportunity. europe has its issues. these are not working in a keep redoing them. we do not have this. we have this divided government. i think they're watching to see what happens. they see, i want the market snow that fell least one half of the political equation is putting serious ideas on the table on how we will prevent this debt crisis.

we would drive the debt to prevented from happening. we're going to wait and see what happens. in 2013, they will look to see if you get this under control. it will not take much for them to start turning on us if they believe our political system will continue collapsing. s&p downgraded not because of our data but because of a political observation. if we had this gridlock, i believe there is a bipartisan consensus to be had. it is not willing to be this. havingas they're broadened the base. there are democrats and republicans to have historically seen eye to eye. that is the basis for a bipartisan consensus.

if rates start leaving us, it will be scary. we will lose control of our own fiscal policy if we have an interest-rate spike. we want to prevent that from happening. >> with an increasingly central government, what possibilities do you see for the realization of subsidiary and america? >> number one, this is a principle that often gets overlooked. it is something that is to be connected with solidarity. it's simply means much more distant government. subsidiary without solidarity

means much more individualism. these things are in harmony with one another. people of good will can disagree on where the need to be between the two. if you go through all of these things, people of good will can disagree about how you balance the two. subsidiary, it is related to the concept of the application of that social idea. that means government and institutions closest to the people govern and served best. it keeps the human interaction and place. it is not some cold, distant bureaucrats sitting in washington that sees you as a decimal point on a spreadsheet. it knows you and knows your problems and sees the suffering

you are experiencing that has the resources to help you. that to me is the key to all of this. i worry with the debt we have been having and we have been spending our power out to the federal government, we are doing damage to the principal subsidiary the. so we can better serve the common good. if you have too much government, you displace the civil mediating institutions that we call civil society. the churches, those civic groups, the ways we interact with each other and our communities. you make it harder for the space to be filled and that does damage. to me i think we have gone too far in one direction. the cultural problems, relic his son and the rest has been

manifested by these policies. while at intended as they are the results are not very good. let's go back our roots and see what made the country great. local involvement and control. let's try to reapply the so we can get back to the idea of america. our rights come from nature and got, not before government. the role of government until now is to promote equal opportunity so we can make the most of our lives and pursue happiness however we define that for ourselves as long as we're not infringing on others' rights to do the same. the role of government should not be moved to were trying to equalize the results of our lives. if you believe in equal outcomes -- versus equal opportunity you have to have a larger

government. the problem is you run out of other people close the money to spend did you have a debt crisis. that is what we have to avoid. >> it looks like we are running out of time so i have one last question for you. what about the characteristics of an idea. i do not even want to get into a hypothetical situation. >> i have an important job where i am right now. i feel america is in a unique moment and we have to get it right. do not underestimate the importance of all this. has about these things. quite frankly we have important work to do in the house and i take that very seriously. >> i would hope everybody will join me in thanking you for joining me. [applause]

>> the state of arizona defended its own immigration law before the nation's highest court this week. they are considering whether a state has the ability to enforce its own law or whether that is the job of the government. >> yesterday vice-president joe biden questioned mitt romney's foreign-policy experience. this is in a series of campaign speeches the vice-president delivered held at you -- new york university's law school. this is 50 minutes. >> good morning. it is a privilege to be here with you this morning.

i am the campus coordinator of the new york university students for barack obama. [applause] i am also a senior fellow with a campaign in new york. i began volunteering with organizing for america last summer as part of the organizer program in new hampshire. i thought it would be another internship but i was totally wrong. at the fallen -- the opportunity to work with volunteers and began building the neighborhood teams that would be the true heart of the grass-roots campaign. i was so engaged by the work i did i really could not imagine having to stop when i returned to school. i connected with people here in new york and was tasked with organizing a team of students. i got together with my friends to reach that to their friends

to continue to reject your others and glasses and other clubs on campus and we all work together to create a team of motivated students. this year we have made thousands of all calls, registered hundreds of new voters and its several trips to the important battleground state of pennsylvania. we know how important this is not only for our generation but for the entire country. when president obama and vice- president joe biden took office in 2009 the united states was tangled and two boards in the middle east and the animes saw our nation as week after eight years of bad decisions overseas. -- two wars in the middle east and our enimies saw our nation as weak. 142,000 troops were stationed and iraq. the president and vice president fulfilled their present -- their promise to bring all of the troops home. [applause]

osama bin laden was brought to justice almost one year ago. both the president and the vice president have worked tirelessly over the last three and a half years to strengthen our alliances abroad. national-security and foreign- policy are near and dear to vice president's heart. as a senator from delaware he served as the chairman of the foreign relations committee and has continued to display his commitment to the success of our foreign relations as vice- president. i hope you are excited as i get to hear from the vice president himself today. it is without further ado i am honored to say to you the president of the united states, mr. joe biden. [applause] >> you did a great job. >> thank you. >> hello, how are you? great to be with you. [applause] what a great introduction.

i hope to she remembers me when she is president. it is great to be before such a distinguished audience at a great university. i were to start off by doing what they say you should never do, apologizing. now, it is not something you peak -- you students know that the chief of staff was a president here at nyu. that is the only reason he got the job as chief of staff. he figured he can deal with this great university he can deal with the country. it is great to see one of the great, great patriots, one of the finest general said had ever in my 39 years of working in foreign policy ever met, general clark. [applause] i want to stay parenthetically, i ran for the united states senate when i was 28 years old.

nobody in my family or my dad had never been involved in public life. as one of my colleagues said, i am the first united states senator i ever knew. i ran at the time because i thought the policy that we had in vietnam, i thought it did doubt makes sense, the notion of dominoes and so forth. i came to washington as a 29- year-old kid. i was elected before i was eligible to serve. i had to wait until i was sworn in because i was not eligible under the constitution. my image of the military commanders at the time was, if you ever saw the old movie -- if you ever rented it, slim pickens is on the back of an atom bomb dropping out of a airplane yelling yippie kai yea. dr. strangelove was the movie.

if you ask me to is the most impressive man and woman i have met in government, six of them would be men, women wearing the uniform. it is a different military. this guy was not only a great warrior, this guy is a diplomat discuss -- described as an incredibly bright man. he understands the role of the military within our system. he understands the constitution. he understands the constitution. thank god there are others like him around today. wes was one of the people who changed my perspective.

over the past months i have given a series of pieces -- speeches on issues sliding down the marker is from our perspective, the president and mind. the differences between the president and us on a series of issues. issues that we believe affect the middle class and our country's feature. i have spoken about the rescue of the automobile industry. i have spoken about retirement security in florida and leading the world again in manufacturing and about the tax system and the unfairness of it and how to make a pair up in new hampshire today, this is the fifth in a series of those speeches and i want to talk about an american president was the single most import responsibility. that is keeping our fellow citizens safe in our nation secure. in a time of such extraordinary challenge and change. he said all is changed. changed utterly.

the terrible beauty has been born. the world has utterly changed during your young life and your early adulthood. it is not the world was. the question is, how are we going to deal with this beautiful -- this beautiful. this change that also has with it some of the potential difficulties. i miss fundaments -- on this fundamental issue, the contrast between president obama, his record and gov. romney and his rhetoric cannot be greater. 3.5 years ago when president obama and i took office, our nation had been engaged in two boards for the better part of a decade al qaeda was resurgent. osama bin laden was at large. the our alliances were dangerously frayed in our

economy, the foundation of our national security was in the press a piece of a new depression. president obama began to act immediately. he set in motion a policy to end the war in iraq responsibly. he said a clear strategy and an end date for the war in afghanistan has been going on for less than a decade. he cut in half the number of americans who are serving in harm's way. he decimated al qaeda's senior leadership. he repaired our alliances and restored our standing in the world. he saved our economy. he saved our economy from collapse with some unpopular but bold decisions that have turned out to be right including the rescue of the automobile

industry. all of which has made us much stronger not only at home but abroad. if you are looking for a bumper sticker to sum up how president obama has handled what we have inherited, it is pretty simple. osama bin laden is dead and general motors is alive. [applause] nationalmitt romney's security policy in our view would return us to a past we have worked so hard to move beyond. in this regard there is no difference between what gov. mitt romney says and what he has proposed for our economy than he has done in foreign policy. and every instance of our view he texas back to the failed policies that got us into the miss that president obama has dug us out of and the mass that we have got ourselves into in the first place.

gov. romney is counting on collective amnesia of the american people. americans know -- americans know we cannot go back to the future. back to a foreign policy that would have america go it alone. shout to the world are either a -- you are either with us or against us. lash out first and answer the hard questions later. waste hundreds of billions of dollars and risk thousands of lives on a war that is unnecessary. see the world in a cold war prism as out of touch in the 21st century. on this and everything else president obama has demonstrated he is in touch with our times. he has acted boldly strengthening the ability to contend with new forces facing

this century and to attend the challenges around the world have been neglected over the past or previous eight years. under president obama's leadership our alliances have never been stronger. he returned to europe to its natural place as a partner of first resort in dealing with global threats while reclining america's place in asia as an asian pacific power. a region where exports are producing new jobs and driving our economic recovery. we forge a new relationship based on emerging interests with china, russia, brazil, turkey, south africa, all of which are helping advance american security. we reduced our reliance on nuclear weapons, achieved agreements with russia and brought the world together to secure nuclear materials from getting in the hands of terrorists.

we have isolated countries like iran and north korea. we have taken far more terrorists of the battlefield and the last three years than the previous eight, putting al qaeda on a path to defeat. at the same time the president has said shut down secret prisons overseas, and torture, and in doing so demonstrated that we do not have to choose between protecting our country and living our values. as a consequence of those decisions, enhance the security of our own soldiers abroad and the power of our persuasion around the world. we plan for conflicts in the future with a new defense strategy, supported by the entire defense department senior leadership. our military will be more agile, flexible, better able to confront aggressors and have

strong partnerships to share the burden in smart investments in cutting edge capabilities. we proposed a budget that will fund the strategy and keep faith with our wounded warriors. led the fight to free libya and the libyan people from the -- from gaddafi using our military assets to clear the way for our allies to step up -- stepped up to meet their own responsibility. the result was something of a general and others before him saw time and time again but rarely achieved. general burden sharing and in and to the gaddafi regime. we are now ratcheting up the pressure on other brutalizes, people are brutalized like assad and syria.

putting america firmly on this side of freedom around the world. we made the g-20 a new forum recognizing the realities of the 21st century. we refocused our development policy on developing the capacity of our -- other nations and steadily combating climate change. that is the essence of our record. the question is, where does gov. romney stand? how would he keep our citizens safe in our nation secure? in the face of the challenges that we now understand are ahead of us, what with gov. mitt romney do? the truth is, we do not know for certain. we know where the governor

starts. he starts with a profound -- a profound misunderstanding of the responsibilities of a president and the commander in chief. here is what he says. if we want somebody who has a lot of experience in foreign policy, we can simply go to the state department. but, that is not how we choose a president. a president is not a foreign policy expert. in my view, the last thing we need is a president who believes he can subcontract our foreign policy to experts at the state department, or for that matter any other department or agency. here is how it works. i have been around for eight presidents of the united states. i hate to admit. i know i did not look that old. eight presidents. that is not how it works. president obama has built a

great national security team from hillary clinton to leon panetta to dempsey. no matter how experienced the team. no matter how wide the advice of counsel. the buck literally stops on the oval office. one of the toughest decisions land on the desk. as often as not, his of baez's are in disagreement. disagreement among themselves. they are all smart people but they disagree. the seldom are completely unified. as another general said -- i cannot think of any consequential decision where the president had more than 75%

of the facts. it never works that way. almost every significant case it falls -- calls for a final judgment call to be made by the president. a call of the vice president can make, the secretary of defense cannot make. only the president can make. i literally get to be the last guy in the room with the president. that is our arrangement. i can give him all the advice that i have and make my case, but when i walked out of the room, he sits there by himself. the president sits there by himself and has to make the decision. often reconciling conflicting judgments that are made by very smart, honorable, informed and experienced people.

the president is all alone at that moment. it is his judgment that will determine the destiny of this country. he must make the hard calls. i suggest president obama has made hard calls with strength and steadiness. he had clear goals and a clear strategy of how to achieve the goal. he has a clear vision for america's place in the world. ultimately he makes the decision. it seems to me governor mitt romney's fundamental thinking of the foreign-policy is fundamentally wrong. that may work -- that kind of thinking may work for a ceo.

i assure you, it will not and cannot work for a president. it will not work for a commander-in-chief. thus far, gov. mitt romney has not made many foreign-policy focus decisions are pronouncements, foreign policy has not been a focus of his campaign. now, if you are -- will excuse me a point of privilege, i can understand why the president -- what governor mitt romney does not want to make it a focus of his campaign. but it is. these are critical issues. how do we fairly assess the use of governor mitt romney on foreign policy? what are they? a think a fair way to this -- others may disagree on whether or not i am being objective as possible rejecting the fair way to do this is look at the few things we do know about governor mitt romney. we know governor mitt romney

criticizes the president was the policy. he never offers and a specific alternative. we know when the governor goes and does venture a position, it is a safe bet that he previously to a core is about to take an exactly opposite position. he will end up landing in the wrong place. we know that when he agrees with the president of the united states says he has done, he then goes on to miss characterize our record to create what is a nonexistent contrast. most importantly, we know that the extent that gov. mitt romney has shown any policy vision, it is through the loss of a rear view mirror. in my view, he would take us

back to a dangerous and discredited policies that would make america less self -- less safe and less secure. to make the points i believe are honest to make is to illustrate propositions and compare president obama's record and governor mitt romney's rhetoric. let's start with iraq. when president obama ran four years ago he promised to end the war responsibly. he kept his commitment. he brought home all 150,000 of our troops and developed a strong relationship with the sovereign iraq. last december governor mitt romney initially applauded to withdraw -- he went on to say that the credit should go to president bush.

three months later he said it was an enormous error. i can act this up. in saying he would have left tens of thousands of u.s. troops behind in iraq. in afghanistan obama developed a clear strategy to end the war in 2014 while building the capacity of the people. he said a withdrawal date was the best way for afghans to take up responsibility for their country. it does not happen if we are doing it all, why step up? we know unless you set a date the likelihood of taking on

responsibility is unlikely to occur. as i have said, we cannot want peace and security in afghanistan war than the afghans want it. our nato partners, some 50 countries, embraced the president's strategy. and so did governor romney embraced the strategy, at least at first. he endorsed the president's plan to transition afghan and responsibility in 2014. he said, that is the right time line. two months later, he was against the president's plan, calling it one of the biggest mistakes. and now, and i want to be completely straight about this, he seems to want keep american

forces in afghanistan in definitely. " it is my desire and my political party's desire not to lead." i am not sure the exact context. i am not sure exactly what he meant, but i am sure he is going to have a responsibility to explain this to the american people what he meant by that. he may have a reasonable explanation but the american people deserve an explanation. governor romney has been stuck in the past, and in my view, i might add wrongly. when we came to office, president obama reset our relationship with russia to state the obvious. we had important disagreements with moscow.

in the wake of the reset, when i was asked to make that first speech on behalf of the administration, in the wake of that recessed, we have negotiated a major nuclear arms reduction treaty that has made us safer and sex and example for the rest of the world for the possibility we could continue to reduce nuclear arms. president obama convince russia to cancel the sale of russia's very sophisticated s-300 cutting-age radar defense system to iran. right -- russia and gave us permission to transit russian territory and airspace which supplies for american troops in afghanistan.

the only other source and now the sole source, and hopefully only temporarily. just a month ago, governor romney called -- and i quote -- the question our number one geopolitical foe is russia. as my brother would say, go figure. sometimes he even refers to the russians as the soviets come out which i think reveals a mindset. everybody sometimes slips. i never do, but i know other people do. [laughter] look, it is fair to say when it comes to russia, based on only but the know he said so far, governor romney is mired in the

cold war mindset. similarly, the governor aggressively attack new start, the nuclear arms control treaty that president obama negotiated with moscow. he attacked it. the treaty reduces the number of arms in russia's arsenal without constraints on any u.s. missile defense and our conventional capabilities. governor romney was part of a small group of cold-war holdovers who never knew an arms treaty that he liked. but me tell you virtually the entire republican foreign policy establishment disagreed with him, starting the secretary henry kissinger, secretary: powell, senator richard lugar,

stephen hadley, secretary of state jim baker, george, brent scowcroft, and president george h all strongly supported and helped us get past some recalcitrant republican senators this critically important treaty. unfortunately, governor romney's apparent determination to take u.s. relations back to the 1950's also causes him to facts.e the past sprin he said obama has been applied on missile at the set -- missile defense.

here again, he is either willfully misinformed or totally misunderstands as it happens president obama asked me to secure allied support for a more effective missile defense system the first visit i made was to poland. and who did we asked to host these new components for this more sophisticated system that is right, poland, along with turkey, romania, germany, and spain, who all said yes. these countries and all of nato embraced our new approach because they understand it will protect them more quickly and more effectively than the missile defense program run make wanted to stick with.

and i would add parenthetically it also provides better if protection for the united states of america. as robert gates served in republican and democratic administrations, he said we are strengthening, not scrapping missile defense in europe. i think nothing speaks more powerful lead to the differences between president obama and governor romney than one of the defining moments in the past four years. the hunt for osama bin laden. in 2008, while campaigning for the nomination, governor romney was asked what he would do about bin laden. let me tell you exactly what he said. and i quote, he said, "there would be very 8 insignificant increases in safety."

then he went on to say if bin laden was brought to justice. he then went on to say it is not worth moving heaven and earth, spending billions of dollars just to catch one person. here is how candidate obama answered that question. he said, "if i have bin laden in my sights, i will take him out. i will kill bin laden. this has to be our biggest national security priority." i said we followed the sob to the gates of. hell, if we have to. [applause] here is the deal.

president obama always means what he says. he said it as the candidates. he kept that commitment. just a few months into office, sitting in the oval office, i spent 46 hours a day with this president. that is why i've got to know so well. he turned to leon panetta who is headed the cia. he made it clear what his priority was. on june 2, 2009, he ordered leon panetta "in order to ensure that we have expended every effort, i direct you to provide to me within 30 days a detailed operational plan for locating in bringing to justice osama bin laden." it was the president's highest priority. then he made what it the most

courageous decisions i have seen the president make in a long time. he authorized a very high-risk mission to capture and kill osama bin laden. even though, and i was one of six people who for four months or so was the only one who knew about the possibility of this location, even though at the end of the day there was no better than a 50/50 chance that osama bin laden was present in the compound. despite the reservation, was the only full throated throw from moving when we did. myself included. president obama said afterward

when he made the decision that this is a very difficult decision. it included an enormous risk. add so much confidence of them to carry out the mission that of the risks were outweighed by the potential benefits -- benefit of us by our man. does anybody doubts had the mission failed it would have written the beginning of the end of the president's term in office? this guy has a backbone like a ramrod. for real. on this debt issue, we know what president obama did. we cannot say for certain what governor romney would have done. we can say that unlike governor romney comment they felt like it was worth moving heaven and

earth to get been lavin. -- osama bin laden. i said before osama bin laden is dead. you have to ask yourself why governor romney them present, could he have used the same slogan? -- in reverse? people of going to make that judgment. it is a legitimate thing. look. on a few core issues, there's no real difference between governor romney in president obama. in my view, governor romney misrepresents the president's approach. let me give you some examples. iran pose a nuclear program is

the clearest example. president obama is determined to protect it. he has been clear and concise promising that containment is not our policy. when he took office, the effort to pressure iran was second nature. his influence was spreading in the region. american leadership was in doubt. i would argue we are not much respected by our friends and not really feared by enemies. president obama understood that by seeking to engage them, by going the extra diplomatic mile, we would demonstrate that iran was the problem. the president smart diplomacy turn the tables on pteron and

secured the strong is unilateral and international sanctions and history. all the major powers, including russia and china, participated. now iran is more isolated. international community is more united in their effort to prevent iran from acquiring nuclear weapons than ever before. they have deep difficulties acquiring equipment for the nuclear missile program. it is increasingly cut off. there and able to do the most basic business transactions. the economy has been grievously wounded. of the worst is still to come. in june, a european embargo on imports of oil kicks in. as a result of this unprecedented pressure, iran is back to the negotiating table. you cannot protect what the end result will be. they're back to the table.

the governor romney has called for a "very different policy" on iran. for the life of me, it is hard to understand what the governor means by a very different policy. here is what he says. he says we need "crippling sanctions." apparently unaware that through president obama's leadership we achieved just that. he emphasizes his need for a credible military option. apparently, ignorant of the fact that is exactly what our policy is. the only step we could take that we are not already taking is to launch a war against iran. that is what governor romney

means by a very different policy. he should tell the american people. he should say so. otherwise, the governor's tough talk about military action is just that, talk. it is counterproductive talk. folks, talk about a war has consequences. let me tell you why. it unsettles world market. it drives up oil prices. when oil prices go up, the coffers filled up. it undermines the impact of the sanctions as are in existence. this kind of romney talk is just not smart. president obama has said "now is the time to let our increase pressure sink in and to sustain the international coalition we have built. now is the time to keep the

timeless advice from teddy roosevelt, speaks softly and carry a big stick." i promise you the president has that big stick. i promise you. president obama understands what governor romney apparently does not. it is necessary for america to be strong and smart at the same time. no country is more concerned about a nuclear iran than israel. rightfully so. no president since harry truman has done more for israel's security than barack obama. our administration provided a record level of security assistance. it recently intercepted the

rockets coming out of gaza. they saved homes, schools, hospitals, and the men, women and children who inhabit them. we're collaborating right now on longer-range missile defense systems like heroes. in time israel into our radar system. the u.s. is engaged in the most consisting comprehensive consultations ever. you know this better than anybody. we're conducting the largest joint military operation in the history of their relationship. president obama said that to the gravest threat. the effort of the rest of the world to delegitimize it as a state.

often stood up alone. israel leaders have called president obama's supports and cooperation unprecedented. governor romney said relations in 29 states and israel but "hit below." he went on to accuse president obama of "rolling israel under the bus." that is just one list of untruths. it is repeatedly debunked by reporters. it is most of bunt by israeli leaders.

it is more unlikely that the governor is falling back on one of the favorite tricks. distort them as characterize your opponents mission. keep repeating the distortions over and over again. even when every objective observer says you are wrong. keep repeating in the hope that it will eventually stick. president obama has reshaped american foreign policy. to contend with the challenges of the president and also to face the threats of the future. i believe he has done a with strength and wisdom. the governor romney was to take us back to a world that no longer exists with policies that are dangerously divorced from reality. it is more misguided because of all the peril of our time, america's promise and has never been greater.

in the 20th century, the wealth of a nation was judged by the size of the population. to the strength of its army. the abundance of the raw materials in the land-. these measures still matter. america still prevails. more than ever before, you know better than any of us the true wealth of a nation is to be found at human-resources. and there ability to build and compete. by that measure, america is also uniquely blessed. we believe our job is to help provide our people and environment in which they can cisco the incredible potential.

if we do our job, i believe our nation will be more secure. america's strength depends ultimately on the strength of the american dream here at home. it means that advanced research and development will catch up to the rest of the world. all of these help increase the ability of american businesses to invest in energy and cutting edge manufacturing. no one is better positioned.

no nation is better positioned than the united states. it also means welcoming people from around the world which is always been a source of new blood. it means hard work. it treats of urgency for all the citizens. these are the investments that will grow our economy. to keep america strong at home. it is needed for america's future.

like many of you who have traveled, students and incidents, we all have the same kind of feeling when you get home. the same intuitive feeling. there's no country like america. there is no potential like america. i was asked earlier how i would testify in america with a group of high school students. i said one word "possibilities." i am absolutely convinced i am more certain after serving 40 years in government and i was when i was the idealistic young senator. i am more confident that there

is no country better position then to leave the country in the united states of america. only a free state in the course of iran. looking forward and not in the rearview mirror. thank you ladies and gentlemen. they got protect our children. -- may god protect our children. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

[applause] >> arizona defended its immigration law this week. the supreme court is considering whether a state has the authority to enforce its own immigration law. here the oral argument tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span. at the national public radio table. you guys are still here. that is good. i cannot remember where we landed on that. >> this weekend the 98th annual white house correspondents' dinner. president obama and jimmy kimmel had lined the event.

coverage starts live at 6:30, and watch the entire dinner only on c-span. find highlights of past dinners, plus log and social media posts at c-span.org/whcd. this year's studentcam competition. we will hear more of those camps and how they came to be. from "washington journal," this is 20 minutes.

host: our guest is an instructor, working on his ph.d., to talk about this time in history. is this just a snapshot in time of an unfortunate. in american history, or are there things in our society that we should draw from it? guest: are things we should draw from the time period, especially with the marked notice of arab-americans, and you see some movies and peter king trials, and we understand this happened previously. we took this ethnic group and placed them in these camps with

no regard for any type of discrimination, to take a look at of this. as you heard, the fbi was against this process. it happened by the u.s. government. that is what we need to realize, that this happened, and there is a possibility that it could happen again. host: you can call us. members are on the screen. intent? fdr's guest: when you read the executive order, there is no mention of internment, no mention of resettlement. no mention of evaporation, or of the word "japanese." it was bureaucratic jargon. host: were only japanese and american selected?

japanese guest: -americans or the ethnic group targeted. with regard to german-americans and italian-americans, they were sparsely in turn, and this was done more so by the federal government through a process of trying to see who could possibly be a spy. understand during the committee hearings, there were people that were actually saying we cannot intern people like joe the maggio -- dimaggio. it would have created a national crisis. host: getting lots of comments on twitter. we will show as many as we can. let's take some calls. caller: good morning. i would like to know about the

due process that was given to the people that died in the surprise attack of december 7, and my comment is if the roles were reversed and we had attacked tokyo, i believe the japanese would have killed american citizens that were over there at that time. you all have a good game. host: thank you very much. guest: an interesting point, and what we have to think about is what we do as a democracy and how we treat our individual citizens. 2/3 of people placed in these kids were american citizens. they did not have any due process. host: a comment. i know all about pearl harbor and why they were put in camps. what number of people were

placed into caps? guest: 120,000 people of japanese descent placed in camps. there were 1500 placed in internment in hawaii. because of the people -- backed in these camps. you have 1800 people who never saw outside barbwire after that. host: how many are like today? -- are alive today? guest: i do not know. host: a comment on twitter. let me ask about how the story is told in american history.

how is it taught in american schools? guest: this comes up often, and it is whether or not it is told in the high-school level. when you get to the college level there are courses that teach this. there are a good number of courses at american univers ity. host: good morning to an independent. you are on. caller: the government is supposed to be a constitutional republic, but since the last one had a 20 years, they had been putting in the word that we are a democracy where 51% can and formed what the other 49% can do. that is a very dangerous thing. we're supposed to be a constitutional republic with a loss that are checks and balances.

host: why did you make that comment during this discussion? caller: how c-span has been putting about parts of the constitution with the first amendment being one of the most important. people are getting to saying the constitution will protect us. there are executive orders that can suspend martial law, which is totally a li.e host: fdr used a set of orders to treat these camps. where their legal challenges? guest: there were three or four court cases.

what happened is the government hid documentation that they could have shared with regard to the fact that the fbi said we do not need to intern these individuals. by doing so they did not receive a fair trial at the time. host: the finding by the supreme court? guest: he was in violation when he did not report to the can. to the camp. another filed under habeas corpus and sided with her. but happened, you can click anywhere except in the west coast. host: the fifth amendment is the

basis of this documentary, and our discussion is -- in the case of the creation of these camps, was any aspect of due process followed? guest: no. there were three parts that make this possible. part one was a definite form of racism brought on by war hysteria. also, the federal government issuing the executive order which led to actions.

[unintelligible] making distinctions between a good german and a nazi, they could not do that for the japanese. host: another comment on twitter. were the caps on federal property? guest: they were on federal property. the incarceration centers were formerly barracks. they were on federal grounds. the fully understand the camps in arizona, they became the second and third largest cities in that state overnight when this happened. host: next, it comes from texas. caller: i wanted to comment. i grew up in alaska, and alaska

tends to be left out the discussion, it was the only state invaded by the japanese. they moved a lot of alaskan natives, not for the same reasons. they did move almost a thousand natives of the aleutian chain when the japanese invaded. it was not a very nice part of our history. they did it supposedly for safety reasons, but they were treated very poorly. the camps they were related to work miserable, disease ridden, and they were not allowed to leave, so they were essentially prisoners. i wanted to give a shout-out for alaska, because people tend to forget about us. host: thank you. on that same thing, a librarian

tweets -- picked up on that in terms of your own safety thing. guest: this is a euphemism created by the government during the time. there was a memo released in 1942 that talks about whether or not -- talking about the terms, not to use the term in turn meant -- internment. evacuees were under the protection of u.s. government. if that government had backed the japanese in the way that george bush did for the arab- american community, i do not think you would have had much of that. host: max on twitter rights this -- writes this --

how much coverage of it was there when there were no television networks, radio, or national news? guest: these were covered by national newspapers, but there was a lot of censorship with regard to this as well as people going into the camps. dorothea lange, when they took pictures in the camps as part of government documentation, they were told the not take pictures of any guard towers, guards, barbed wire fence. the government tried to treat this mythology when they knew it was wrong to incarcerate these individuals. host: next question, lancaster, pennsylvania. caller: thank you for taking my call. i had a comment. i studied about internment camps when i was in school. it was a situation where there

were a lot of women. these politicians, and they love to point to the constitution as the bedrock of american, but whenever they want to, they sized up the constitution. the killed a person with a drone attack. he was an american citizen. he was not given due process. now they have the national defense authorization act which allows incarceration of people indefinitely without a charge. no charge. if you could imagine that no charge and no trial -- if somebody came anywhere and kill everybody in there, i do not care who they were, they would not get a truck -- they would get a tryout. they can do that to whoever they say, we can incarcerate this

person, no charge, no trial. hold them indefinitely forever. that is how these politicians, whenever they want to size up the constitution, which is so terrible because they always want to hold up the constitution as what they represent and are sore to represent and protect and defend, and then they sidestep around the same way they do with the japanese- americans. host: from lancaster, pennsylvania. anything? guest: it is our awareness as citizens that we make sure there is liberty and justice for all. we can look at the executive and legislative branch, as well as the judicial branch. in constitutional crises, we have to make sure we understand what the constitution means for us, and be able to voice our

opinions. host: react to this tweet. guest: this is the idea of the war without mercy. when you start walking down this path, where violence begets violence, what is our responsibility as individuals and as people, and as a government? should we walked down the same path? host: next is a call from houston. good morning. caller: a man in one of the internment camps in california, when he got out, he came to austin, texas, worked hard, made a lot of money, and bought a few acres in the middle of austin. he made a fantastically beautiful japanese garden, and

donated it to austin. it has a plaque saying he donated because america had been such a wonderful country to live in. we need a whole lot more people like that. host: thank you. let me go on to another call. this is from seattle. mike is a democrat there. caller: good morning. i have a comment and a question, if you can answer. being that we are in a time of war, i know that a lot of people disagree with the camps, but just for the protection of our country, i can see why we would, you know, put certain people in these camps. but at the same time, there should be a way to distinguish who are american citizens and who are actually over here under false pretenses. the other question is for your guests.

i am a lion. -- hawaiian. nobody talks about the affect pearl harbor had on the hawaiian people. i just want to know if you could comment on that, or answer anything. the only thing i have ever heard is an apology by the clinton administration, i believe. my family talks about the pain and the loss of our family members in pearl harbor. if you can comment on that. host: thank you. guest: what i would say is that hawaii had a very different experience during world war two. part of the reason is 35% of the population was japanese at that time. there were actually plans to incarcerate the japanese on hawaii, but they did not do so, because they realized it would be fiscally irresponsible and

destroy the economy of hawaii. that was a major reason they did not do so in hawaii, where pearl harbor took place, but they did on the mainland, where the represented less than 2% of the population. host: we have another tweet. were the young people who were in the camps able to continue going to school? guest: this is one of the major issues. the camps created their own schools. what happened was somewhere in the middle, the younger generation started asking questions. if we are democratic, why are we in these camps? it became a contended arena for japanese schoolteachers, as well as caucasian schoolteachers. it was a really difficult time for education for the japanese. later on, they were actually released to go into american

colleges, those that would accept them. host: in 1945, when the executive order was rescinded, how many were able to go home to where they had been? guest: it is one of those things where -- what the executive order really wanted to do, and fdr's approach, was to disperse the japanese population more toward the east, and crit pockets rather than japanese- american towns and communities. there were a good number that went back out to the west coast. but there was not as strong or as vibrant a community. host: they had tended to cluster. japan town, it was called, in certain cities. the federal government wanted more dispersal? guest: that is right. that created west coast tensions from the beginning. they had 250,000 acres of land they were forming and telling.

it brought in a $17 million per year, before being incarcerated. host: and after? guest: the community lost $400 million in collective properties. host: thank you for having some history. congratulations to matthew shimura, and all the other student cam competitors. >> the state of arizona defended its own immigration law before the supreme court this week. the court is considering whether a state has the authority to enforce its own immigration law, or whether that is the exclusive role of the federal government. here the oral argument at 8:00 eastern, here on c-span. >> born in a north korean war camp, it is the only world shinn had known. he is the only person who escaped from camp 14.

>> his first memory, at age 4, was going with his mom to a place near where he grew up in the camp to watch somebody get shot. shootings, public executions in the camp, were held every few weeks. there were a way of punishing people who violated camp rules. it was a way of terrorizing the 20,000 to 40,000 people who lived in the camp to obey the rules from then on. >> sunday, an author on a journey out of north korea, and learning about society and civilization. at 8:00. in may 6, look for our interview with robert caro. it coincides with the release of "the passage of power," the fourth volume of a multi-volume biography of lyndon johnson. >> next, white house reporters

share their thoughts on how to get information for their stories, and how the obama administration has paired with its promise of more transparency. we will also hear remarks from the press secretary on his life as a reporter before becoming press spokesman for the white house. this is close to an hour. >> quiet, please we are about to start. thank you all for coming. we have a really interesting mix of people. we have scholarship winners and a lot of editors and journalists that all of us have worked alongside for a long time. we are privileged to have jay carney giving marks at the beginning of this. this is one of my favorite events of the work house correspondents' 00 white house -- white house correspondents'

association weekend. the students have interesting things to say about journalism, how they use media, and how they read news. a little while ago, they talked about twitter and how they get their news. that is interesting to all of us, who are trying to stay on top of changing technology. another reason that i enjoy this event is that it is a time to talk about journalism. i think sometimes people get caught up in the red carpet and the movie stars, and all of the glamour associated with the dinner. the dinner is wonderful. but at the core of it is journalism and what we do. we are especially privileged today, because we have a panel of journalists who are really the best of the best. i cannot wait to hear what they have to say about what they do. moderating this panel is julie

mason. julie and i have worked together since the bush administration. as we were talking with the students about multimedia, and how we are all having to be multimedia now, julie is someone who, covering the white house for "the houston chronicle," had a unique print voice, and then created a very popular blog. now, she uses that voice in radio. she has got a really interesting program where she interviews a lot of us. another multitask your is jay carney, who has been on both sides of the fence. as a longtime reporter and correspondent covering campaigns and covering the white house. we are privileged to have him here to make some remarks.

[applause] >> thank you. let us get some water. thank you. it is my pleasure to be here. i am very glad to be here. i chose not to travel with the president today, who is with the first lady in georgia, at fort stewart, not so i could be with you, although it is a side benefit. my son is 10 and a half and is in a baseball league. i try whenever i can come in during the spring, with the permission of the president, who understands being a father himself, to not travel on friday, if at all possible, so i can catch a baseball game, as i will do later today. but i am here to talk with all of you, both young journalists to be, and grizzled veterans up

here with me. as karen said, and i appreciate the introduction, i spent most of my life after college as a reporter. i graduated and went right to work for "the miami herald is all i did the kind of things that cub reporters used to do. i listened to the police radio and chased stories down that way. i wrote a lot of pieces for "the miami herald." because i had the accidental good fortune of studying russian in college and graduating at the right time, i was the russian speaker in the late 1980's. "time magazine" hired me with the idea of sending me to moscow, because the soviet union was becoming interesting with gorbachev. i ended up in moscow during the collapse of the soviet union. i came here after that, and covered the first term of bill clinton fifth presidency.

a covered congress, which was enormously entertaining. it was the gingrich conduct. you probably read it now in the history books. or more recently, because newt gingrich was running for president. and the first term of george bush picked presidency, covering the white house again. i then moved into management at "time." after the election in 2008, to serendipity, i came to work for the vice president, initially. i was bureau chief for "time magazine." it was a terrific job. i did not leave journalism because i was looking to leave journalism. i left because my personal feelings about 2008 and the election may be somewhat accidental opportunity to go work for this white house is something i could not say no to. it has been an incredible experience. four years ago, if he said i would work in the white house, i would have laughed.

i would not expect to do what i do now. i work for joe biden as communications director. then the president asked me to be his press secretary. mike mccurry called me -- mccreary called me. there have been 49 presidents, but only 29 press, -- press secretaries, so it is an even more rarified field. i am not the first reporter turned press secretary. i think i might be the one who has had the most direct experience covering white house's. -- houses. i think i bring to that, and my former colleagues and now people i work with, and i do my job as press secretary can give their

opinions of this -- i understand what they are doing. i have been there. i know the pressure and the intensity of the competition. while i think everyone of here, almost, understands that i get frustrated sometimes with the coverage, i tend to start from a place of some empathy, which is that i think in politics, sometimes, if you have only worked on campaigns, and you end up working for somebody in congress, or somebody in administration, your view of the media, through understandable experience, can sometimes be of total -- a completely adversarial view, a completely adversarial relationship. for republicans, it is often a sacred true for them that the media is the enemy. for democrats, it is a little more nuanced, but they get to that point eventually. if not the enemy, then an entity

you should be very wary of, and is a challenge that must be managed. that is all true. i think what i bring, having been on the other side, is an understanding of motivations. when a story is wrong or off or just annoying, for the serious professionals, who do their jobs covering the white house, it is not agenda-driven. it is not a bad story because they are out to get you. you make your case and explain why you think is wrong, why they should see it the way you see it. but i do appreciate that, certainly, the people here, and a good portion of, if not all of, the folks to cover the white house come to it with a professional focus, and not an advocacy focus. i respect that a lot, not least because that is the way i tried to do it when i was a reporter.

there is a comment saying, within a very rarified world, that it is not an accident that the press secretary's office in the west wing is on a try and go about halfway between the oval office and the briefing -- is on a triangle about halfway between the oval office and the briefing room. my office is perhaps 15 paces from the oval office and 20 from the briefing room. that symbolizes what a press secretary's job is. i am the principal spokesman for the president. i defend him. i explain him. i explain the administration. i do not only do that. in doing that, i and everybody who works in the communications shop at the press conference tries to help the journalists who cover the white house do what is a very difficult job. it is a title that is

glamorous, white house correspondent, but a job that can be done -- that can be pretty unpleasant. it is highly competitive. you sit in a booth without sunshine. terrible food. sometimes, the basement floods, where they sit adjacent to the briefing room. they spend a lot of time in motorcades, sitting and waiting, and then fighting to get the story and get it right. i know what it is like, and i appreciate it. some people ask me, now that i know what goes on on the inside, having spent some years trying to find out, what do i have moments of crisis about. are there things i would want to know if i were a reporter? i do know a lot of things i would want to know if i were a reporter. a boss told me, "understand you

only know 10% of what is going on puzzle partly because there is so much going on at the white house. partly because obviously you can only be affected in governing if you are able to make decisions with some degree of privacy in the process. that allows for open debate. 10%, maybe now that i am on this side, maybe a bit of an understatement of how much reporters know. it is probably more than that. but it is probable short of 50%. the best reporters take that and filter it through everything they have experienced and know. they run it through their sources. they think about it. they work through it and make judgments about what the remaining 90% or 50% of the truth is. that is why i think experience is really important in this job. no matter how smart you are, how

good you are, how excellent your prose is, if you are a print reporter, if you do not have experience, if you do not build experience covering washington and developing sources, having an institutional, not just an intellectual, understanding of how the place works, you are bound to get it wrong every once in a while. everyone gets in on occasionally. i do not have these moments of crisis very much. credibility is enormously important for a press secretary. i spoke with all my living predecessors before i took this job. i knew all of them already. whether they served a republican president or a democratic one, they all talked about the need to maintain your credibility, which means when i go and stand up at the podium in front of the white house press corps, i never lied.

i never say something that i know is not true. that means when i do not know the answer to something, i say i do not know. i often no more than i can say. -- know more than i can say. i answer in a way that is truthful, without saying things i cannot say for national security or other reasons. it is a fundamental principle of doing the job that for the folks who cover a president, they have to have some faith, substantial faith, that, while they know i cannot say everything, and others who speak for the president cannot say everything, that what we are saying is true. that is key. that is, in a nutshell, the way i look at my work, and the work i used to do. with that, if we wanted to -- i am not sure the next stage in

this. to my right, she has already been introduced in great detail, but julie, if you want to come up and take over, i would appreciate it. thank you all for listening. if you want to ask questions, i am here. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. we are all grateful to jay carney for being here. appreciate it. i want to introduce the panel before we get started. i meant that. i thought i heard some snickers. that was entirely sincere. we never get to talk to you about your thoughts about your job. it was great insight. our panel is about access and transparency and the president. we will also talk about campaign stuff. i am truly mason from sirius xm. jackie kucini is coveringch the

mitt romney campaign. -- jackie kucinich is covering the mitt romney campaign. then -- ben feller is the bureau chief for the associated press. we also have carol lee and jake tapper. we want to make sure scholarship students ask questions. participate. do not be shy. we ask questions for a living. often, the question you think is stupid or uninformed elisa it's the best answer. the smartest killed question -- the smartest, most detailed question will get you a yes or no. ask away. president obama promised a new era of government transparency. this was a big priority he wanted to highlight. among his first acts as

president were orders pledging a new level of unprecedented openness. for us, the question becomes how has he performed on this promise. has he lived up to this record? one promise not kept was a planned to post and allow public comment for five days on non- emergency legislation the president planned to sign. also, the health care deliberations never made it onto c-span, for which i was grateful, because i did not want to watch it. are these trivial matters, or are these promises he should have followed? >> i think there are two answers. any promises is important, whether it is posting legislation, access to the health-care debate at the time it happened -- people want to note that whatever party the president is from, there is a broader issue about access. jay carney articulated it well from his part of view.

it accumulates. we see access and transparency not as how many times you post the visitor log and how many names are on it. it is a collective sense of our access to the president. >> how do you feel? >> i am present now, so i am feeling -- >> you are a grizzled veteran. >> we get frustrated. it depends on the day, is the honest answer. there are times when we have news conferences or the president takes questions and makes this story, because we have insight into how he feels. i feel there are many more times when we could have access to the president. if you were too fast forward a day, he took a question and we now have more information on the issue. we try to get the question, or say why is he not getting questions. the white house has their own thinking about when it is a good day to put it out. they are focused on one thing and we are asking about another. it would be inappropriate, with

a foreign dignitary there. it is a constant battle, i guess. >> the white house likes to say this is the most transparent of ministration in history, and that might be the case. but that also sets a fairly low bar, because previous ad ministrations were not very transparent. i generally agree -- it is not inconsistent to think it is the most transparent administration in history and it is not very transparent. it is not inconsistent to say that, because the previous administrations have often opaque. i think there is a difference between posting all the names in the visitor logs and being willing to answer questions about the people on those logs. >> does that happen? they did not answer questions about it? >> yes, or the answer it in interesting ways that do not really address who the people

are. i think that there are lots of meetings. the health care deliberations being broadcast on c-span, which president obama did promise -- that obviously did not happen. he himself, i think, has acknowledged that was a mistake that raised some incorrect or correct impressions about the deliberations about how the legislation was formed. it ultimately did not help him sell the legislation as effectively as he could have. that is an area where not only did he break a promise, but it may have hurt him. i am generally of the mind, like any reporter, that i just want to know everything that is going on. reporters are tremendous losses and share information all the time. -- tremendous gossips, whether

it is about our kids, colleague's personal lives, or matters of national importance. i would like to see more of a meeting of promises. i think i am the only one on the panel who covered obama as a candidate. is that correct? there were a lot of lofty promises out there. you were covering it as a "time magazine" director. i am sure he has fulfilled at all. i will answer for him. there were a lot of lofty promises. i would say that has been one of the stories of his administration, is the rhetoric and the reality of government. >> did you want to add to that? >> i think it is just a way -- reporters are never going to be entirely happy with the amount of access they are getting. i think it is a bit of a give-

and-take, and a daily struggle in terms of how much access to are going to get, not just to the president, but two senior staff and people who know things. there are not many people who actually know things. it is a very small group. the one thing i find very interesting and strange about the white house beat is that it is unlike any other beat that you cover, in the sense that you really are covering an image and not necessarily a person, because you do not really know the person. you do not have the access to the person you might have to a governor, in a way you have access to senators and members of congress. it is a strange place to be, from a reporter perspective, because you rely on people who are round him, who all have an agenda, which is to put forward the image they want this president to have.

>> i have a pretty good sense of both of them. one thing that i am struck by listening to this debate is that every time i had an interaction with the president, something informal, something organic. we see him in this spontaneous environment, or just a conversation, it went well. we got a better understanding. talking to the press because they know they run the conversation and they have more information. i always think, ok, if that went well, everybody came added that

happy, let's do it more. i had that conversation with a top bush official once. that is where it breaks down. >> that is an interesting contrast. president obama does not like to take questions in the oval office. president bush did. president obama seems to let the formality. would you like better? -- which do you like better? or is that if false choice? >> its is a false choice. >> in the setting will do? >> -- any setting will do?

>> we are covering the president, we are covering the president as a leader, as a family man. that affects your coverage because you can write with subtleties, a richer flavor of the person. we do want all of that. you do get that a better and more settings and in more informal settings. they call a news conference, we are all going. >> one thing about the news conferences, i find that when there is this drought -- because there is no small exchange of questions in between these big formal press conferences, they can be like a fire hose and 10 stories coming out of it as opposed to this more consistent kidding your questions answered option.

i did -- getting your questions answered option. >> i think george w. bush had more press conferences then president obama has done. exponentially more interviews. is that right, jay? >> [inaudible] [laughter] >> i completely accept what everybody has said. more is better. i've understand that. -- i understand that. it was an interesting comment that carol made about the image rather than the person. if you were not on the campaign, you did not spend time with the candidate. that is often the case that in the early stages, if you are one of the regulars, you spend more time off the record with a

candidate and you get to know that person in a way that you would not coming into the white house and the person is already the president of the united states. i am helping to address that, to allow for more exposure and to get a feel for him. i think that is important. that does informs the way you cover a president. i obviously think this president is pretty good. he comes off well in any kind of encounter. i would point out that jake is right. having covered the first term of george w. bush and bill clinton, i have some perspective on this. by year 7 and 8, it was lighting himself on fire just to get on the front page. i am talking about the bush administration. there was so much attention on

the emerging campaign. from having covered the first term of george w. bush, we provided a great deal more access to our officials and the president then george bush did. president bush came back once on your force one. it was a 30-minute flight, and that was it. he did give -- he did more of this brief press encounter. they would do one or two questions. we have given more than twice as many solo press conferences were there are a series of questions. it does give the press the opportunity to follow up. you can rally force the president to take a number of questions on the same subject -- really force the president to take a number of questions on the same subject.

we have to rationalize his time. we have to make a judgment about when it makes sense to have been taking questions on the subject, or not. having him out there when it makes sense as often as possible is a good thing. i am trying to work to make that happen. >> thank you. feel free to jump up. do you guys have any questions? anything? jackie, you have heard this discussion on the white house. how does it compare on the romney campaign? >> i came from covering congress to covering the campaign. this is my first presidential campaign. i have been learning and listening to the lot of my colleagues. i feel that is the best way to

do it. one of the interesting things, the campaign has always been different than the other contenders. you could have ended up on the rick santorum campaign early on. the romney, it is a pretty open secret that the avails are very few and far between. they are announced -- in this kind of like a pop quiz. like this week, there was the press conference with marco rubio. they could be a month between each other. there is not as much -- it is not as frequent, i think, as we would like. the advisers have gotten a lot better.

there has been a lot more response and a lot more engagement with the press from the advisor standpoint. but i think the candidate, not as much. there are interviews with a certain people, certain networks, but not as much with the normal. i do not travel with him, and a lot of my colleagues do. i think there has been the occasional, and he will come back on the plane and say hi to everybody. i travel tim -- i traveled with him from iowa to new hampshire, and there was a little bit of interaction there. there was a birthday cake at one point. the interaction is a very limited. it has been a professional campaign from the get go. >> all right, this is the first real campaign that has played out on twitter and other new media.

the pictures are great, but some say no substitute for news photography. do politicians -- does this enhance our coverage? >> i cannot wait to hear tapper answer this. now.he is tweeting right >> [inaudible] [laughter] >> it goes to this point is more is better. if more information is getting out to more people, through twitter and facebook, then that is a good thing. i do not agree with the premise that there is ever a going around the national media because we are still covering

the president. we are still there every day. even when the president does our regional interviews, and we have seen this several times. part of the strategy is to call correspondence from different region said that that message gets out to that regions. the index asking him about trayvon martin, and it always comes back to a national story. he is a national figure. one of the first times the white house put out an announcement about a press conference was through twitter. that is when i thought, ok, i have to get on this thing. it is a news making vehicle. that was not very long ago, and now it is incredibly commonplace. as long as you get used to following it for news, you are ok. there is a whole separate category about whether the white house and reporters should be

sharing opinions and bantering. that is more of a personal choice, i think. either way, we end up covering all of it. >> all rights, we have heard that on the romney campaign, they monitor the twitter feeds of the reporters. what is your experience with new media covering the 2012 race? >> i love twitter. it is a lot of fun on the campaign because you can chronicle everything that is going on. whatever of bend your going to, it is pretty -- whatever event you are going to come at it is pretty cool. -- going to, it is pretty cool. there were complaints about certain things that reporters were tweeting.

occasionally, there will be some back and forth. you need to forget that -- there is still a level of professionalism that could be there. >> did the campaign's use it? >> definitely. i think it was newt gingrich tried to launch his campaign on twitter. bless their hearts. a lot of campaigns have used that to circulate messages, to circulate new initiatives that are launching that week. the hashtag wars/ . to circumvent an effort to from another camp. there is a story in the post today that this is just the beginning. >> i think it is a little bit

of both, meaning that in some ways, the things like that flickr photos, as long as it is not a substitute for getting access, it can give you a little bit of a window that you otherwise might get. obviously, it is very controlled. you can get a little bit of a sense of who is in various meetings. sometimes, i think internal white house covering itself goes a little far. after the president and nominated elena kagan, they posted a video that said, we caught up with elena kagan. reporters can not can you read it cannot get anywhere near the colony. -- reporters cannot get anywhere

near the colony. it was amusing in a sense that only they could have gotten that video. it was not the exclusive -- >> anything you could use for your story? >> new mexico doug reporting -- and then you wind up reporting. >> i know you have some thoughts on this matter, jake. >> when the white house use this to bypass the media, it is dangerous. it can be pernicious. it can be a way of avoiding accountability. there are things the white house does that are complementary that we would not have access to any way. when they pose to videos from their videographer or the white house photographer, those are things we would never get access to. here is a picture of the

president and this world leader or whatever. that is great, that is nice. the problem is when it becomes a substitute. when the president signs the bill and they do not lead white house camera people in there. they have their photographer take a picture and send it out. it is an evolution of accountability. that, -- illusion of accountability. that, i think, can be dangerous. twitter has become a way for the campaigns to attack each other without being too aggressive. it is just a tweet. it was the way for axelrod to introduce the seamus the dog story. that gave all of us an excuse to

talk about what we knew. the romney campaign, when it became clear that president obama had sampled the meat of dog when he was a child, make that point on twitter. there is a way to do without launching a 30-second negative ad. we're all there like a rabid dogs ourselves waiting to jump on the bone and wrong with that. -- run with it. it is a way the obama campaign distance itself from thhillary rosen. the recording industry line. when she made her comments

about ann romney. it was the way that axelrod took to twitter to denounce the comments. michelle obama, the first lady, the next morning, that had been out there. it can be an effective tool as a way of using us. we are reading all of their tweets. >> i was going to add to the photo comment. there was one example when i was traveling with the president to the gulf coast, during the oil spill, it was his first trip down there.

the photographer was here, i thought his head was going to spin off. the take away, the money shot of that trip was one the president got into the water. we were sitting in a basement with no internet access and waiting to be called out to sea when the president was going to go take this swim in the gulf. we received word that the white house photographer took the photo of the president and that was a was on the front page of every newspaper in the country. the photographers were livid. there was a big fight about that at the time. obviously, you get into -- it is a substitute for what we do on a daily basis. >> ok, what about the scholarship students? do you follow the white house on twitter? have you liked them on facebook?

do you follow the president on twitter? or vice president joe biden? it is one way to keep up with what the white house is doing. sometimes it can be an end run around the press. something else that is buying on these days are fund-raisers. there is very limited press coverage. it has gotten a little bit better. the white house allowed a tv pool -- >> [inaudible] >> recently, it expanded. the justification for sometimes not allowing press is the example of the bush administration. we are doing it the way they did it before. i understand this was also the practice on the present campaign is now. of course, mitt romney had his own hot mike moment recently.

are we derelict in our duty to not push for more access? >> in the cases of mitt romney, the incident, two reporters from the wall street journal and nbc news are standing on a sidewalk outside and heard him start talking about how he is going to pay for some of this tax cuts. that was information that he had not put out there yet. the zero verdicts. -- they overheard eight. mitt romney tend to be more relaxed when the press is not there. the campaign just said they will -- again, i imagine the

event to be scripted. when you do have these candid moments, it is a big deal. >> our colleagues at the remark or a thought or a question. >> [inaudible] as somebody who has covered this stuff for a long time, including periods when the white house briefing was not televised, when a little bit of it was televised, and now it is all televised. i would be interested in everybody's perspective, a lot of what goes on in the briefing now is repetitive, a waste of time, performance art, whatever -- [laughter] whether or not you guys think expanding that 10%, whether it serves the purpose to have the white house briefing televised.

>> prior to the clinton administration, the briefing was not televised. except on special occasions. they started televising the top 10 or 15 minutes of it. i would love to hear what the panel had to say about it. the difference between when i give a briefing on the air force one, it is on the record and recorded, the temperature is reduced. it is less adversarial and combative. it is less repetition. people from different news organizations will ask the same question that has been asked already. i understand why that happens because of the televised nature of it. i would be curious what you all

think about it. i know mike, started the practice, said it was the biggest mistake he ever made. >> i will take that. >> ok, ben. >> my perspective is from a guy who spent -- that shapes might answer in that if jay's answer is newsworthy and useful, it does not matter to me if the senate on or off camera. i work for a multimedia company and we do video and multimedia everyday. my primary concern is not about the exchange or having footage. it is just about the information. having said that, i have only covered it with televised briefings. i think this issue can be overrated because i think the

biggest problem is repetition. if you vet the transcript of any briefing, and i did not ask you to do that, what did we actually learn? what did we learn today? it goes to the reporters and the press secretary. if i could change it, it would be ok, let's just stipulate that we all know what happened yesterday. ok? we know the president inherited -- what is it, jay? [laughter] >> [inaudible] [laughter] >> [inaudible] >> it would not shocking to say that i have heard that before. we have nothing more on that, i have already answered that, move

on. you know what we have already said, and here is the new information. that goes to any topic. i would love to have -- you could shorten the things. it would be more efficient and we could all say ok, we're getting somewhere, or not. the televising of it, sometimes becomes -- everybody is trying to make their point and get on camera. everybody has to say the same things. i would love to see the briefings be, more efficient and transparent and never been knows what the situation is. here is what we're going to answer, here is what we will not answer. let's have this thing along. i think everybody would be better served by that. >> what do you think about that? >> i understand all the complaints about the briefings. i do not disagree with any of them. i do not know if there is any

solution. it is what it is. he is not going to give us a list of things that he will answer and not answer. i would not want a list like that anyway. jay thinks of the television people are planning to the cameras. i have to say that -- he sometimes thinks i am planning to the camera. -- playing to the camera. i do not think it is true. i think i ask questions phar- mor, leon camera than i do when i'm off camera. -- far more calmly on camera than i do when i am off-camera. >> [inaudible] [laughter] >> that is true, and you know that is true. it does have a sedative effect because it's a question and the

cancer are what is important -- and i learned this early with kids. -- if the question and the answer are what is important, and i learned this early with gibbs. we had a couple of runs that made as both take it down a notch. >> it made news, actually. >> which i did not want. for that reason, i ask my questions a lot more calmly. so i disagree with this premise. >> [inaudible] there is also a purpose for putting an official on the grill and asking the same questions in different ways.

the frustration that ben has may be greater than mine. i do not mind it. it is part of the job. i get it. part of my job is to handle that. there is some theatrics that come along with televising the briefings, but there is an aspect of the briefing and the repetitiveness that is part of the journalistic responsibility. >> one of the few opportunities that we as journalists who are proxies for the public have an opportunity challenge people in power. it is one of the few opportunities that exist. i know a lot of times, you think that we are just being dramatic. i had other words in mind.

i think a lot of times, we feel that we are speaking truth to power. i do not want to speak for anybody, but that is part of what motivates a lot of our questions. when i asked about libya, how many people have to die before the united states is going to get involved? some any administration thought that was an overly dramatic question. but it was a serious question. you guys are proud of what you did in libya. >> we change our policy. >> i am afraid that is all we have time for. we have a scholarship student, if you want to ask questions. i want to thank jackie kucinich, carol lee, and jake tapper. i hope you enjoyed the panel. i am julie mason.

[applause] >> the state of arizona defendant its own immigration

law before the nation's highest court this week. the supreme court is considering whether a state has the authority to enforce its own immigration law or whether that is the role the federal government. here the oral argument tonight at 8:00 on c-span. [applause] >> earlier today, president obama signed an executive order in georgia. it is intended to help military personnel and families. cutting down on aggressive marketing that targets those using military education benefits. this is half an hour. >> good afternoon. thank you, major general.

i am honored year to date -- here today. i was born and raised in monroe, louisiana. i have a wonderful wife of seven years and four beautiful children. i joined the army in 2001. i'm assigned to the second brigade, third infantry division. in 2010, a friend of mine told me about and online university. i could earn a degree quickly. i told him i was interested. thereafter, i was contacted by

this for profit university and decided to enroll. this was an awful experience. i did not feel like i was learning. furthermore, i was not being challenged in class. i never wanted to be given grades. i wanted to burn them. it did not -- i wanted to earn them. i called the school because i was having trouble logging and to an online course. after several weeks, i received a phone call. it turns out they were not calling me to solve my problem. they were calling to recruit my wife. they were not looking out for my education. i felt the focus was all financial. are reported to my chain of command in search of ideas. to resolve this situation.

i intended -- i attended an educational fare in the fall of 2011. i enrolled in central texas college. i am pleased to report that i am taking glasses and had everything i need. books, necessary classis, and sincere academic advisers. i am able to attend class around my training schedule. i am thankful to the president -- the president and first lady are here to address this issue. i am glad they are taking action. ♪

please join me in welcoming our first lady and the commander in chief, president barack obama. [applause] ♪ [applause]

[applause] >> hello, fort stewart. we are beyond thrilled -- beyond thrilled -- to be with all of you today. and before i get started, there's just one thing i want to say, and that is, hooah. >> hooah. >> did i do that right? >> hooah. >> all right, good. phew. i want to start by thanking sergeant marshall for that very kind introduction and for sharing his story with us today. and i want to thank all of you -- our men and women in uniform, our veterans and your extraordinary families. absolutely. for the families, yes.

[applause] one of my greatest privileges as first lady has been meeting folks like you on bases and communities all across this country. and i always say this, but i can never say it enough -- i am in awe of you. youin awe of how many of signed up to defend our country in a time of war, serving heroically through deployment after deployment. i'm in awe of your families -- the spouses who run their households all alone, the kids who step up at home and succeed at school and stay strong through all the challenges they face. with their service, they make your service possible.

and i'm also in awe of our veterans because i know that your service doesn't end when you hang up your uniform. for so many of you, your whole life is a tour of duty, and as you become leaders in our communities and continue to give back to our country, you keep serving. and like so many americans, the more i've learned about the sacrifices you all make, the more i wanted to find a way to express my gratitude, and that's -- not just with words, but with action. and that's why last year jill biden and i started joining forces. it's a nationwide campaign to recognize, honor and support our veterans, our troops and our military families. and i have to tell you, we had barely even finished announcing this campaign when we were inundated with offers to help. i mean, so many people wanted to step up and show their appreciation that we hardly knew where to begin. in our first year alone, more

than 1,600 businesses hired more than 60,000 veterans, and they pledged to hire at least 170,000 more in the coming years. national associations of doctors and nurses representing millions of health professionals are working to improve treatment for post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries. we've had tv shows like "extreme makeover: home edition," "sesame street," organizations like nascar and disney, they're working to share the stories of our military families with the rest of the country. and these are just a few examples out of thousands all across the country. so if i can leave you with just one message today, i want you all to know that america does have your backs. and we are just getting started. we are going to keep at this. workinging to keep on

every day to serve all of you as well as you have served this country. and the man who has been leading the way is standing right next to me. [applause] and ladies, i think he's kind of cute. [applause] he was fighting for all of you long before he ever became president. he's made veteran's employment a national priority, with tax breaks for businesses that hire veterans and wounded warriors. he's working to end the outrage of veteran's homelessness once and for all.

he championed the post-9/11 gi bill, which has helped more than half a million veterans and military families go to college. and today, with this new effort to ensure that you all get the education you've earned, that story continues. so please join me in welcoming your strongest advocate -- your commander-in-chief and our president, my husband, barack obama. [applause] >> thank you. hello, fort stewart. it is good to be here at fort stewart. first of all, how about the first lady, michelle obama? [applause] hooah. she is a tough act to follow.

for the gentlemen out there who are not yet married, let me just explain to you, your goal is to improve your gene pool by marrying somebody who is superior to you. isn't that right, general? listen, and as you just heard, when it comes to all of you -- when it comes to our military, our veterans, your families -- michelle obama and jill biden have your back. they are working tirelessly to make sure that our military families are treated with the honor and respect and support that they deserve. and i could not be prouder of all the efforts that they've been making on their behalf. [applause] it's a privilege to hang out with some of america's finest.

>> hooah. >> the dog face soldiers of the third infantry division. rock of the marne. we've got a lot of folks in the house. we've got the raider brigade. we've got the spartan brigade. we've got the vanguard brigade. we've got the provider brigade. and we've got the falcon brigade. let me thank major general abrams and his beautiful wife, connie, for welcoming us. abe is doing an incredible job carrying on his family's incredible tradition of service to our country. so we are grateful for him. give him a big round of applause. [applause] i want to thank command sergeant major edd watson and his beautiful wife, sharon.

i want to thank someone who's made it her life's mission to stand up for the financial security of you and your families, somebody who knows a little bit about military families and military service. and actually, this is a homecoming for her because she spent over three years when they were posted down here -- holly petraeus is in the house. i want you guys to give her a big round of applause. [applause] but most importantly, i want to thank all of you. i want to thank you for your service. i want to thank you for your sacrifice. i want to thank you for your unshakeable commitment to our country. you have worn the uniform with honor. you've performed heroically in some of the most dangerous places on earth. you have done everything that

has been asked of you, and more. and you have earned a special place in our nation's history. future generations will speak of your achievements. they'll speak of how the third infantry division's thunder run into baghdad signaled the end of a dictatorship, and how you brought iraq back from the brink of civil war. they'll speak of you and your service in afghanistan and in the fight against al qaeda, which you have put on the path to defeat. and to the members of the special operations forces community, while the american people may never know the full extent of your service, they will surely speak of how you kept our country safe and strong, and how you delivered justice to our enemies. so history will remember what you did, and so will we.

we will remember the profound sacrifices that you've made in these wars. michelle and i just had a few moments at the warriors walk, paying tribute to 441 of your fallen comrades -- men and women who gave their last full measure of devotion to keep our nation safe. and we will remember them. we will honor them -- always. and our thoughts and prayers also go out to the troops from fort stewart who are serving so bravely right now as we speak in afghanistan. [applause] and i know many of you will be deploying there, too, so you know you're going to be in our thoughts and prayers. your generation -- the 9/11 generation -- has written one of the greatest chapters of

military service that america has ever seen. but i know that for many of you, a new chapter is unfolding. the war in iraq is over. the transition in afghanistan is underway. many of our troops are coming home, back to civilian life. and as you return, i know that you're looking for new jobs and new opportunities and new ways to serve this great country of ours. and three years ago, i made your generation a promise. i said that when your tour comes to an end -- when you see our flag, when you touch down on our soil -- you'll be coming home to an america that will forever fight for you, just as you fought for us. for me, as president, it's been a top priority.

it's something i worked on as a senator when i served on the veterans affairs committee. it's something i continue to this day. since i took office, we've hired over 200,000 veterans to serve in the federal government. [applause] we've made it easier for veterans to access all sorts of employment services. you just heard how michelle and jill have worked with businesses to secure tens of thousands of jobs for veterans and their families. and with support from democrats and republicans, we've put in place new tax credits for companies that hire veterans. we want every veteran who wants a job to get a job. that's the goal. [applause]

and those of you who want to pursue a higher education and earn new skills, you deserve that opportunity as well. like general abrams' dad, my grandfather -- the man who helped raise me -- served in patton's army. and when he came home, he went to school on the gi bill, because america decided that every returning veteran of world war ii should be able to afford it. and we owe that same commitment to all of you. so as president, i've made sure to champion the post-9/11 gi bill. and with that bill -- and the tuition assistance program -- last year we supported more than 550,000 veterans and 325,000 servicemembers who are pursuing a higher education. [applause]

because a higher education is the clearest path to the middle class. that's progress. but we've got more to do. we can't be satisfied with what we've already done, we've got more to do. we've got to make sure you've got every tool you need to make an informed decision when it comes to picking a school. and that's why michelle and i are here today. right now, it's not that easy. i've heard the stories. some of you guys can relate, you may have experienced it yourselves. you go online to try and find the best school for military members, or your spouses, or other family members. you end up on a website that looks official. they ask you for your email, they ask you for your phone number. they promise to link you up with a program that fits your goals. almost immediately after you've typed in all that information, your phone starts ringing. your inbox starts filling up. you've never been more popular

in your life. all of these schools want you to enroll with them. and it sounds good. every school and every business should be out there competing for your skills and your talent and your leadership -- everything that you've shown in uniform. but as some of your comrades have discovered, sometimes you're dealing with folks who aren't interested in helping you. they're not interested in helping you find the best program. they are interested in getting the money. theydon't care about you, care about the cash. so they harass you into making a quick decision with all those calls and emails. and if they can't get you online, they show up on post. one of the worst examples of this is a college recruiter who had the nerve to visit a barracks at camp lejeune and enroll marines with brain

injuries -- just for the money. these marines had injuries so severe some of them couldn't recall what courses the recruiter had signed them up for. that's appalling. that's disgraceful. it should never happen in america. i'm not talking about all schools. many of them -- for-profit and non-profit -- provide quality education to our servicemembers and our veterans and their families. but there are some bad actors out there. they'll say you don't have to pay a dime for your degree but once you register, they'll suddenly make you sign up for a high interest student loan. they'll say that if you transfer schools, you can transfer credits. but when you try to actually do that, you suddenly find out that you can't. they'll say they've got a job placement program when, in fact, they don't. it's not right. they're trying to swindle and hoodwink you. and today, here at fort stewart, we're going to put an

end to it. we're putting an end to it. [applause] the executive order i'm about to sign will make life a whole lot more secure for you and your families and our veterans -- and a whole lot tougher for those who try to prey on you. here's what we're going to do. first, we're going to require colleges that want to enroll members of our military or veterans or your families to provide clear information about their qualifications and available financial aid. simplebe able to get a fact sheet called "know before you owe." know before you owe. [applause] and it will lay out all the information that you need to make your own choices about how best to pay for college. second, we're going to require those schools to step up their support for our students. they need to provide a lot more counseling. if you've got to move because of

a deployment or a reassignment, they've got to help you come up with a plan so that you can still get your degree. [applause] number three, we're going to bring an end to the aggressive -- and sometimes dishonest -- recruiting that takes place. we're going to up our oversight of improper recruitment practices. we're going to strengthen the rules about who can come on post and talk to servicemembers. and we're going to make it a lot easier for all of you to file complaints and for us to take action when somebody is not acting right. this is about making sure you succeed -- because when you

succeed, our country succeeds. it's that simple. after all, at the end of world war ii, so many americans like my grandfather came home to new opportunities. because of the original gi bill, by 1947, half of all americans who enrolled in college were veterans. and you know what, they did pretty well. they rose to become presidents and supreme court justices and nobel prize winners. they went on to become scientists and engineers, and doctors and nurses. eight million americans were educated under the original gi bill. and together, they forged the backbone of what would become the largest middle class that the world had ever seen. they built this country. they turned us into that economic superpower. and we can do it again. we face some tough times. we've gone through the worst recession since the great depression, two wars. but you know what, we've faced tough times before.

and all of you know something that america should never forget -- just as you rise or fall as one unit, we rise or fall as one nation. just as you have each other's backs, what has always made america great is that we have each other's backs. each of us is only here because somebody looked out for us. not just our parents, but our neighbors and our communities and our houses of worship and our vfw halls. each of us is here because we had a country that was willing to invest in things like community colleges and universities, and scientific research and medicine, and caring for our veterans. each of us is only here because somebody, somewhere, had our backs. this country exists because generations of americans worked together and looked out for one

other. out of many, we are one. those are the values we've got to return to. if we do, there's nothing this country cannot achieve. there's no challenge that's too great for us. there's no destiny beyond our reach. as long as we're joined in common purpose and common resolve, better days will always lie ahead, and we will remind everybody why the united states of america is the greatest country on earth. and as i look out at this sea of incredible men and women, it gives me confidence that our best days are still ahead. god bless you. god bless our armed services. god bless the third division. god bless the united states of america. thank you very much. [applause]

and now i'm going to sign this executive order. [applause] [applause]

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