on february 18, 2010, a west virginia army national guard h. hh-60 blackhawk helicopter, skillfully piloted by a native of virginia, located the downed aircraft in extremely difficult circumstances. the snow and ice of the line at the time was treacherous and the valor of him should be commended by all. i'd like to thank specialist dunfy, flight medics. sergeant hopkins and dunfy were lowered to the site to provide medical care throughout the night as rescue workers labored their way to the survivors. thanks are also deserved to the pilot of the 130th airlift wing of the west virginia national guard who assisted by orbiting the crash site in a c-130 hercules aircraft in order to facilitate vital communication. volunteer, civilian service men and women alike all gave their hand to rescue the survivors. the snowshoe mountain ski resort provided invaluable machinery and staff to help. local people donated snowmobiles. the fire and rescue unit were instrumental in using special equipment and snowmobiles to clear a path to the location of the crash.

, west virginia. democrat. please go ahead with your comments. caller: i serve on the west virginia state democratic executive committee. and i feel today it is a very sad day for the people of west virginia. we just came back, just got back last night from charleston, our state capital, where we had our executive committee meeting. and we had banquets and luncheons and we are honored senator byrd with a film at a banquet on saturday night. he was our friend, and he made sure that the people of west virginia knew it. he was always there for us and for the country. he so regreted bush sending the troops and he said at the time that he weeps for his country. and today i personally weep for our state and the people of west virginia who have lost their beloved senator robert byrd. host: margaret, did you know last night that this was coming? were you pretty suspicious about that? caller: yes, yes. we received word that he was gravely ill. it and we were expecting it. but even when you expected, it is such

byrd, west virginia.madam president, i yield >> c-span is now available in 100 million homes, bringing you washington your way, a public service of america's cable companies. >> in a few moments, kenneth feinberg on the role of executive pay and the cult of mexico will spill compensation fund. and a little less than an hour, the head of the economic council lawrence summers on plans to expand wireless devices. and later, we will be air some of the tributes to the late senator robert byrd who died monday morning at the age of 92. on "washington journal" tomorrow morning, we will look at the oil industry from of representative american patrol institute -- with a representative from the american petroleum institute. "washington journal" is live every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. general david petreaus was nominated to the u.s. commander of armed forces in afghanistan. he testifies at 9:30 eastern. >> c-span -- our public affairs content is available on television, radio, and online. you can also connect with us

nothing but west virginia history. i am hoping that someone will pick up the torch as far as some of his bills. there is a center being built in morgantown that is still like a couple million dollars shy of being built. i hope someone will pick up the torch on that as well. i would like to see how gov. manchin either put himself in office now or congressman mollahan. he lost the election in west virginia and his term will be out in november. i want to see someone from west virginia that has been in politics for a while in that spot. he was a fantastic man. he was just unbelievable. i don't think anybody could ever fill his shoes, because they certainly couldn't. host: thanks to everybody who called in about senator byrd this morning. as the funeral arrangements are announced, whether or not he lies in state under the capitol dome, c-span will be covering and you will learn about it here on "washington journal" as well. right now we will show you something from 2005. senator byrd wrote his autobiography in 2005, "ent --

byrd of west virginia.as i said to his family, to his sphastaff, and tophic of urse te people of west virginia for whom he has been such a champion throughout his public life, robert byrd loved three things above everything else. in the 30 years that i spent with him in this chamber, he loved his wife erma, he loved the state of west virginia, and he loved deeply the united states senate. and would say that each in turn loved him back. our sadness at his passing is tempered by our joy that he now joins his beloved erma. what a love story it was. they met in grade school. married in 1937, well before i was even born. they spent nearly 70 years on an incredible journey together. and even-her -- and even after her passing, his love for her was apparent in everything he did. when i first ran for office, west virginia ranked near the bottom in nearly every economic indicator you could think of. the bleak landscape marked by mining, the people struggling to make ends mtt and then a grocer, a young grocer from the

host: another call on west virginia on our west virginia line. jeff, a democrat from parkersburg.caller: i am a first-time caller. host: welcome. caller: i felt strongly about calling c-span before but never like this morning. i went to bed last night expecting the sad news unfortunately. i w lucky enough to meet senator byrd in 2006 while he was on the campaign trail in west virginia. and anyone who was ever lucky enough to see him speak live, he would we've wonderful stories, ann quite frankly, at the start of the story i wondered, where is he going with this, but he kept my attention and he would pull it all together about his humble upbringing and wonderful wife and his experiences and wrapped it up with a one of the most brilliant political speeches i have ever heard. host: thank you for calling in. we appreciate it. 202-628-0184 is our west virginia line. again, from wikipedia -- just to point out, he did oppose cameras in the senate for a couple of years prior to that until he wanted to make sure the senate did not become the invisible branch. william, tallahassee, florida.

the west virginia held its 2010 primary almost two months ago. some think there will be a legal challenge here to whether there should be a senate fight on the ballot in november. >> if anybody would know about senate rules it would be robert byrd unfortunately. i have to say, larry, people on the right literally will say kkk with robert byrd's name as if it was yesterday. 40 years ago. i remember saying to one of my republican friends about my dad's friend he was liberal. pro-gay rights. like the second half of his life didn't count because he didn't agree with them specifically on every issue. >> he used an inflammatory slur on air just a couple years ago. >> who? robert byrd? >> yeah. in 2001 he did. >> about what? >> he used the n word on television. >> he used the n word on television on fox news in 2001. with the word white before it. but i'm glad it wasn't me. >> i hadn't seen that. maybe the day he died is not the appropriate time -- >> i don't think so. i was just giving information. >> i think there was -- there was context. he had a vo

west virginia governor joe manchin. >> there will never be another robert byrd. there's no one we can fill his shoes with. we can just hope that we can carry on some of the beliefs and the hard work that he gave to all of us. >> ifill: utah republican orrin hatch. >> in the end, i gained such tremendous respect for him and love and even though we differed on so many issues. >>. >> ifill: as fierce guardian of the senate's rules and prerogatives as he was an advocate for the mountain state, senator byrd left his mark almost everywhere. frank and kyley lewis live in charleston. >> i think he's had his hand in everything that happened here. the interstate system. the federal building down to the charles town. he's brought in so much money or pork as they call it. but he's been good to us. >> ifill: born in north carolina in 1917, byrd's career tracked the complicated history of a region and a nation. once an active member of the ku klux klan he led a 14-hour 13-minute filibuster against what became the 1964 civil rights act. he later apologized, writing in his 2005

rahall of west virginia is recognized. mr. rahall: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. holt a member of the committee on natural resources. the speaker pro tempore: mr. holt is recognized for two minutes. mr. holt: i thank the chair of our committee and i rise in support of h.r. 5481, which mrs. capps has brought before us to grant subpoena powerr on the deepwaterer horizon oil spill. our nation is in the midst of a great environmental disaster of historic scale. tens of thousands of barrels gushing into the gulf, hundreds of miles of coastline contaminated, thousands of people suffering from the economic impact. with today's news that the cap has been removed, this environmental catastrophe continues only to get worse. b.p. has not been forthcoming over the past months, not forth coming in what they were doing or how it was done or how much oil was gushing out and on and on and on. we owe it to the american people that they have an answer for what has happened, why it has happened, how it will be brought

he was born and raised in west virginia. he wants to start a clean energy company in west virginia.i think he will be governor of that stake and perhaps serve in many capacities beyond. also here is ms. evans, a long time mountaintop removal coal mining activist. chooses her talents as an artist. she is made a powerful documentary called "coal country," which she generously allow us to be shown without cost. her producer is also here. i understand there are university of kentucky alumni represented. i want to say thank you. no one does any of this work alone. although i stand at the podium ostensibly by myself, i am surrounded by an extra regroup. i am surrounded by people doing work to help the environment. everyone was panicked because i do not have a hard copy of my speech. . . >> being and eastern kentucky and is the simple fact that brings me the most honored and greatest sense of self. i love and am proud of being a hillbilly. [applause] i trace my family in the mountains of eastern kentucky back at least eight generations. in kentucky we talk about counties, so mind include a

a friend in west virginia called it creeping permititis. what few restrictions therr were on the permit process could easily be waived by merely applying for a permit variation. often, however, a coal company did not even bother to apply for a permit. that sounded more convenient to mine without any permits and simply leave. others were good enough to sell the report, and state often -- self-report, and the state often showed them leniency for having done so. access roads are made. the timber on those mountains, one of the most rich and bio diverse habitats in the entire world, which shares species with places like china, are not even harvested. the old growth trees, hardwood forests, and in some places 30 -pspecies can be found standing together, they are simply razed. explosive so volatile the must be carried on separate vehicles, small hills are drilled into the rock in the mountains and every single day, in kentucky and west virginia, around-the-clock, seven days a week, 2,500 tons of explosives are detonated. blast 1000 times greater t

and the gentlewoman from west virginia voted against it as did most of the republicans. so we had a bill. we had a general compensation restriction and we had one for -- i take it back it was any recipient, including the g.s.e.'s, and the tarp recipient. and the republican party voted no. so they are now opposed to raises which they refused to vote. that's the pattern. i stress again, fannie and freddie have already been drastically reformed. they are in conservativeship. that is a very significant form of limitation. they are not being run remotely the way they were in the past when the bush administration d others pushed them into buying too many loans, and we do believe they need to be replaced. but a way that does doesn't further destabilize the house markets. those concerned about the deficit oppose this republican plan simply to alish them without replacing housi finance mechanisms. they are currently being run into conservativeship. again i repeat as secretary donovan said unchallenged by the republicans when he was testifying, it's not -- they are not now losing

glad to see the gentleman from in new jerseythe gentleman from gegia praise the gentlewoman from west virginia for a bill which they aprently found severely lacking. do note the the gentlewoman from virginia voted against the prior amendment of the gentlan from new jersey. and for very good reason, 10% cap is arbitry. the gentman sa it's going to crd out e market. but the leadi participants in the housing market opposes the endment includinll the consumer groups. beyond that the reon the f.h.a. went down so far from 2001 to7, interesting gup of year guess what was waat there w a ristance to the regulation of the subprime market. they were ignoring legislation congressave it in 1994 to regulaubprime lending. the bush administration in 2004 ordered fannie mae andreddie mac to increase the subprime loans they bought, whh is one reas i changed my position on the need to be tougher in the regulatory field. and the f.h.a. lost out because a proved mortgages would be without regulation. the f.h.a. don't do the kind of mortgages that l t problems. beyond that, towards the end of the bush administratio

west virginia, danny, democratic line. what do you think this morning? caller: good morning. it is not only that we are going into a double-dip recession, but a permanent lower level of economic activity. we shipped 25 million jobs off to asia and other countries. basically republicans and their corporate bosses have been undermining the whole demand side of the economy. they keep saying they changed the laws and got rid of regulation and lower corporate taxes and the supply side would invest more money and create more jobs. the fact is, there is no reason to create jobs if there is no demand. there is simply no demands. i am travelling and everywhere i look people are not spending money. they are only spending what they absolutely have to. we cut our whole economy by 25%. host: bob, are you there? what are your thoughts. caller: what are my thoughts? host: on the double-dip recession. caller: you have gone to a screening -- it used to be not so heavily screened before when i collin. host: we tried to make sure you are on topic. caller: what i think about a double-dip recessi

byrd, a senator from the state of west virginia. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the last day's proceedings and announced to the house her approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approved. >> madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition? >> i request the request be put on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the yice have it. the -- the ayes have it. the journal stands approved. >> madam speaker, i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on aapproval of the journal will b followed by a five-minute vote on suspen

stream in utah, and in the last few weeks, there been to blowouts and natural gas wells, one in west virginia and one in my home state of pennsylvania. in pennsylvania, the blowout preventer failed, allowing natural gas to spew from the gushing well for over 50 hours while the crew with the skill to cap that had to be flown in from texas. it only took them an hour to cap the well. in west virginii, the gas explosion caused seven workers to be injured and the planes burned for days until was brought under control. our growing energy demand requires that we continue you -- we continue to use natural resources. third there reason to extract our national resources in this style. the oil resources in the gulf of mexico are not going anywhere. i think it is time we take a step that and explore how to do this better and safer and more efficiently. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back my tiie. chatha>> mr. chairman, just a if we waive opening statements, will we get the additional minute? holloway my opening statement. >> the chair recognizes the chairman from arizona. >> i semele wave my opening st

the chair: the gentlewoman from west virginia is recognized. mrs. capitoi reiterate that this bill has my support. it passed out of the committee by voice vote, it was carefull i think we did a good job meeting each other halfway on ceain issues we might have had disagreement on and i look forward to the passage of this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. waters: thank you very much, madachair. i would simply like to close by thanks mrs. capito for all of the work she put into this legislation and the cooperation that she gave to me and her staff to my staff. this is a good bill. the differences have been worked out between both sides of the aisle. we worked hard to make sure that we maintained f.h.a. but we keep a close watch on it that in fact we give it flexibility but at the same time, ensure the continuity and the consistency of f.h.a. that should be there to provide the guarantees for our citizens that so desperately need them. with that, madam

west virginia, the gulf, big banks on wall street.ve seen the cronyism, the score for government, the world that of regulation, the corruption of regulatory agencies. in the case of mineral management services, in bed with the companies that were supposed to police. conservatives had their way and they got it wrong. and americans are paying the price. but the drill baby drill crowd is unapologetic. the right seeks to return to power with the same ideas and the same policies that threw us off the cliff. there is no chance of that. -- we will have to fight. they can succeed only if we step aside. we have to provide an independent movement, the energy and activism that forced the majority in the first place. that means we have to stop waiting for obama. we have to stop taking the president's temperature. we have to stop being critics and analysts and start being an -- actors once more. it means taking the battle of ideas to the right. taking on conservatives in both parties and reminding them of the temper of this act of this space. thos

we recognize his honor in being a call minor in west virginia.recognize the need of a coal miner and a black woman witching -- working at chevron's richmond have the same agenda and we need to focus their needs. that is who we are. i come out of the labor a moment so i am used to people yelling at me. [laughter] members, politicians, it does not hurt my feelings. glenn that started talking about me and i was asked if i was angry. i told him we have a plot to take over this country. absolutely, we do. [applause] it is not a hidden agenda. it is and ed agenda that says all people deserve high quality and white call miners in west virginia and black women in richmond, calif. want the same thing. what they want is for us to divide ourselves. they want us to say that one is better than another. we say it is immigration vs column writing. we say no because our vision of america has all of us, not some of us, when we think about what green is, it is green for all and not for some. that is the difference. i thought about how we make this happen. we have

their first visit in the west virginia cole mine where 20 men decide in april.oxic and explosive gases have kept state investigators out of the massey energy's upper big branch mine for two months and no one has entered the mine sense rescuers removed final victims in april. israel has started to return thal activist detaped during the raid on the from tilla bound for the -- those in -- they branded the raid quote a massacre. in afghanistan taliban swroid attackers struck at the national peace conference as it opened in kabul. three attackers were killed but no delegates were hurt. it began after president karzai opened his address when some 16 -- he is asking for taliban fighters to stop fighting for the sake of the country. >> and defense secretary robert gates hoped to make improved military ties with beijing. but secretary gates leaves today for an around-the-world trip to countries that will take him to asia and europe. bay jink did not elaborate but -- beijing did not elaborate but are upset with the u.s.'s decision to provide other nations with things. >>

i'm from west virginia. obviously natural gas, coal is huge here.when the miners died, god bless them, i watched mr. bois obama d vice president biden and joe consumption. but yet i see the administration wanting to cut out coal, which doesn't make any sense. that's an ironly. .. . guest: then you have the case of china which doesn't tax their gasoline or oil at all. they're desperate to get oil. that's what they're trying to fuel their economy on. so you get a lot of extremes in the world. the greatest thing that we could do is bring up the price of gasoline, turn on -- and the price of oil, turn on these alternatives and become an exporter. an energy exporter not importer. host: you're saying explore the natural gas that is in the west virginia area, in the shail part? -- shale part what what you're saying? >> this is precious stuff it comes at a great cost to develop. you're displacing people. there's environmental damages. these are risky ventures. very, very risky ventures. we should have alternatives for ourselves. then if we want to use this

here in west virginia we are being destroyed by coal. southern west virginia in particular, our waterways are completely polluted with heavy metals. our people are dying from health issues. our water contains 100 pounds more coal waste and all of the oil leaked into the gulf. host: you have called this program a number of times about mountaintop removal. since the deep branch explosion have your local officials responded to your concerns? guest: i have raised a lot of cain, written a lot of letters. the biggest issue is with the big branch. this is criminal negligence. in 2006 the u.s. attorney charles miller failed to indict massey energy for criminal negligence. host: i will let you go and we will hear from david. guest: on one side we have a concern for the environmental dangers. on the other side we worry what we will do without it. as the gentleman from texas made clear, it is obvious. everything that we use in terms of transportation revolves around oil. you cannot turn off the spigot tomorrow and expect to be able to get to work.

guest: west virginia. independent line. see, i have been reading lately -- caller: i have been reading lately about labor unrest in china. how do you think that will effect the economy here, long- term? guest: it could be a great thing for a lot of reasons. it could lead to higher pay for people in china. i think i have been reading some of the same things. people are talking about the younger chinese who do not have as much experience with the poverty the country has had in the past. they are requiring more. it will probably play out over time. you are seeing small indications of companies bringing production back over here. at the same time, you are same companies that might simply move to another country, perhaps the vietnam, or some places where manufacturing is trying to open up. the real results could be that they could buy more, including buying more from the united states. china has spent on the boosting exports, if they increase their own consumption, they could buy more from us. host: we heard about the impact of

submitted the following names for evaluation it -- herschel friday, mildred -- and robert byrd of west virginia although it was the first serious consideration of a female candidate, nixon told his attorney general that women should not serve in government because they were erratic and emotional. thank god we do not have any in the cabinet, he exclaimed. riday and lilly fell from obscurity. chief justice warren burger fired off a confidential letter to the attorney general repeating a previous recommendation that distinguished attorney of lewis powell should be the next nominee. the 64-year-old had asked his consideration. he was no more interested in the position it then he was two years before. president nixon called them and told paul that as his duty to accept the nomination -- powellt the nomination. then the chief justice of telephoned powell. powell found the chief reassuring. when he announced the possibility of going to the high court to his partners in richmond, he was disappointed that no one expressed regret that he might be leaving. in fact, it occurred to him, that they might be r

his office saying the 92-year-old west virginia democrat admitted last week initially believed to beand severe dehydration. doctors say now other condition have developed, and he is described as "seriously ill." byrd elected to the senate in 1958, after serving six years in the house. >>> the president's skourtd nominee, elena kagan, goes before the senate judiciary committee monday. the ranking republican, jeff sessions, says kagan has serious deficiencies citing her liberal leanings and the fact that she's never been a judge. he's not ruling out a republican filibuster. others say she's brilliant, qualified and mainstream. >>> a judge in peru has upheld the murder convention of joran van der sloot which means he will stay in jail pending his trial. the 22-year-old is charged with killing a young peruvian woman. he has said authorities violated his rights during his confession. van der sloot also a suspect in the natalee holloway case, but he hasn't been charged. she is the alabama teen who disappeared in aruba five years ago. >>> those are the headlines. i'm drew griffin. ♪ you tou

at this time i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from west virginia, mrs. capito. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from west virginia is recognized for two minutes. mrs. capito: thank you, madam speaker. i'd like to thank mr. sessions for yielding me time. i'd like to thank our ranking member, spencer bachus, for his dedication to this issue. i'd like to thank the chairman of our financial services committee for his dedication as well. this is a missed opportunity. from the start of the debate, it was apparent there was little or no interest from our democrat colleagues in working towards a consensus bill on regulatory reform. now they're using budgetary smoke and mirrors and i think it will be apparent to americans as this bill unfolds. as my constituents say to us all the time, work together. unfortunately, the bill before us was drafted without our significant input. we are now faced with a bill that will give us institutionalized government bailouts, limits consumer choices and raises the costs for businesses, our job creators across this nation. my col

program back in place, because we would provide a little bit of seed money, and i won't forget west virginia. it was a small county that leo and i went to, and when we got there, they had this really bad flooding problem, and there was five ladies, because they had bake sales, they had pie suppers, they had car washes, they did everything they could do to raise money to help fix the flooding problem in their counties. so they just were declared a project impact community with their partnership, had a big signing ceremony. and these ladies were just amazing. they collected all their recipes, put it into a cookbook, and they sold cookbooks just to raise money to fix that flooding problem. well, what was interesting is they we want to the governor, they got a little bit of seed money from us, about $300,000, they went to the governor, got a million dollars from governor, and they fixed the flooding problem in that county that had been there for years and years and years for $750,000. so our first project impact summit, she won the citizens of the year award. her name was katie. katie was 84 yea

and he represented the people west virginia with great class and dignity. and i also am add saddened to heart the passing of the husband of justice ruth bader ginsburg and i offer my condolences to justice ginsburg and her family. and i wish to congratulate miss kagan on her nomination. it is an honor to introduce her today. i had the pleasure of meeting her last month and found her to be an impressive and pleasant individual. %%indicated then and i look forward tore attending this committee's hearings to learn more about her record, her philosophy, and her qualifications. as an attorney myself, i recognize an impressive legal resume when i see one, and there's no doubt that miss kagan has gone far since graduating from harvard law school magna cum laude in 1986 and following her law school days in cambridge, she clerked for appellate court judge and u.s. supreme court justice thurgood marshall and entered the private legal practice at the prestigious washington, d.c. law firm. before joining the faculty of the university chicago school where sheer anded te

the bill lost the democratic vote with the death of west virginia senator robert byrd. president obama voiced confidence today after meeting with federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. >> senators hopefully on both sides of the aisle recognize it's time we put in place rules that prevent tax payer bailouts and make sure that we don't have a financial crisis that can tank the economy. i think there's going to be enough interest in moving reform forward that we're going to get this done. >> sreenivasan: on another front the top economic officials at the united nations called today for less dependence on the u.s. dollar. they said the global financial crisis exposed the danger of relying entirely on u.s. monetary policy. the u.s. supreme court has reaffirmed a ban on unlimited giving to political parties. the ban against so-called soft money was a key part of the 2002 overhaul of federal campaign finance law. last january the court allowed corporations, unions and other groups to fund federal elections. the republican national committee unsuccessfully argued political part

and we join the people in west virginia in mourning the loss of their senator our colleague robert byrd. senator byrd cared deeply about the senate and the constitution. and we cannot help but think of him as we begi this process today. i want to thank chairman leahy, compliment him and his staff on your efforts to make this confirmation process so open and transparent. nearly 200,000 pages of documents about the nominee have been made publicly available online. i'm particularly pleased you joined with the ranking member to request a complete and timely search of presidential archives so as much about the nominee's past work could be reviewed as possible. and i think that former president clinton deserves our thanks, as well, for his agreement to release to the committee a significant amount of material that he was entitled to block under the presidential records act. the supreme court plays a unique and central role in our nation. justices have extraordinary power over some of the most important and most basic aspects of the lives of american citizens. the nine men and women who sit on

. >> the gentlewoman from west virginia. >> thank you. i like to make two brief points. one is on the fdic increase in the percentage. having found this out, i do not think any of us have had a hard to argue their community banks and other banks in our region to find out what this really means to them. i do not think we a had time to have a reaction because they have not had time to share this information chairman dodd says he has existed out community banks. tim million dollars and below will not be affected. over the life of the bill, maybe you are not affected by it today but you could be if you grow and do the right thing. you are going to be affected by its not maybe two or three years or four years. more financial institutions if we are not disincentive growth are going to fall into this. more of our community bankers and local job producers are going to be falling into this. i have had several meetings in my office where community bankers have come to my office over the last three years and are straining under the fdic fees. it has been a difficult thing in diffic

. >> west virginia senator robert byrd served more than -- watch a 1988 profile of the senator and his book notes interview on the history of the senate on line in the c-span video library. it is washington, your way. >> now, an event with a treasury department official overseeing executive pay. kenneth feinberg has been in that job for about a year. hosted by american university, this is about an hour. >> let me get started and welcome everybody. i am the director of the summer institute on law and government at the american university washington college of law or the are doing a couple of weeks of exciting and timely programming on law and government related issues. as part of that program, we have had a number of different lectures and speakers on a variety of subjects. in line with that, it is a great privilege and honor to have ken feinberg with us today. i have known him for longer than 30 years. i was a boston globe reporter in the washington bureau and ken was working for senator edward kennedy and his legislative staff in the 1970's. can is here for a very different reason. hi

shortly after arriving in paris and a friend of mine from west virginia who had just finished basic and military police training, we headed down to see the eiffel tower. while walking around the city, we pulled over to the side of the road and a young woman, young lady stepped out of the biggest car i of ever seen in my life and approached my friend and me. she wanted to take a picture with us. two young sold -- -- soldiers fresh out of basic training, but it wasn't until six months later that we discovered that this woman was one of the most popular movie stars in france. but all she wanted was a picture with two young soldiers wearing the american uniform. while in france, i became interested in learning more about police duties and investigations. the army saw that maybe i could learn some of the stuff that they were teaching, and i was reassigned to the army criminal investigation division. i took the lessons, learned the skills that i learned back in south texas where i became constable later after my retirement of the army and became sheriff in my county. the army has changed my l

host: let's go to west virginia where john is on the independent line.aller: i would like to say first thing, thankkc-span for giving us this forum. and i think for giving me an opportunity to say something today. henry ford said don't find fault, find a cure. i stood before a local community and told them that i had designed something that would cure the problem in the gulf. it's an auguster system that would cure the problem. it would seal that hole. and i have i would like to say i'm from west virginia and my phone number is 304 -- host: committee stay focused on this idea of presidents in + crisis. we're going to talk about the gulf spill later show. caller: that's what i'm trying to say. the problem is we want everybody blaming, everybody wants to say what's wrong and blame and blame and blame, but the president doesn't have access to the little guy like me who can point at the problem and say this will cure it. guest: i have a friend working for the corte guard in the gulf and he says a few people have had their cell phone numbers released and gett

i rise in support of the gentle lady from west virginia's amendment. i have lived in the world of real bankruptcy and a real risk. i know the difference between money that you get and trust and money that is infested, either by stockholders or by vendors. i think one of the challenges we have here today is we are continually muddying what is a bank and what is a financial institution. after all, not in the years i've visited chrysler factories around the world, i never saw them as a bank, not once. in the years that i was a vendor for general motors and their quality-control people came in to inspect me, i never once had a banking conversation with general motors and specter. they wanted to know about product. they never offered to finance me as they took 60-90 days to pay. the fact is we have a muddied it the difference. the fdic exist for good reason. confidence by people of our trusted members of the bank. they provide their money as depositors, not stockholders. we, if we go forward with this amendment, are simply creating a situation and where lit

.+ if there is nothing left to lose, that will change policy for the worst host: kimberly, west virginia, on our independent line. go ahead. hello? caller: i thinn the oil spill is a cover-up just like 9/11. host: describe that further. what do you mean by a cover-up? what is being covered up? caller: i think this happened to destroy ouu waters and a lot of work for everybody else. i think 9/11 was a cover-up because when the building came down it was like a demolition the way it was set up. i have seen fell on it and i have also seen -- i have seen film of that and reporters said the building had already gone down and had not gone down yet. host: you don't believe the 9/11 commission and all the reports that have come out about 9/11? caller: no, i do not. host: let's go to the houston, texas, capadia, go ahead with your thoughts. caller: i have not heard anybody clearly delineate the problem in the gulf. what i mean is that on the one side you have been out of control oil well that is still flowing. on the other side you have the oil coming ashore. the two things have to be dealt with.

caller: i am from west virginia. natural gas and coal are huge year. when the miners died, i watched president obama and vice president biden talk about electricity running our homes based on coal consumption. then i see the administration wanting to cut it out. that does not make sense. it is kind of an irony. i watch the stock market and oil prices daily out of curiosity more than anything else. one day, it will go up two dollars. one week, it may become a total of $5. i never see prices at the pump down more than a few pennies in a week. if it went up $2 today, the prices would go up a nickel tomorrow. that has always baffled me how that works. guest: there is a relationship between oil prices and the price at the pump. the problem is so evident with what is happening in the gulf right now. the price of gasoline and oil have not changed. the oil market is very dysfunctional. i think it is the reason new policy is needed. we do not control the price of oil at all. the price of oil is barely controlled by opec any longer. it is controlled by a handful

. + >> with the miners in west virginia, the president went to the memorial service. there was a memorial service last month for the victims of the bp disaster. why didn't the president go? >> [inaudible] >> was it considered? >> let me look at the schedule. if i don't know the answer to the first is likely at one of the answer to the three follow- ups. >> was there an attempt to meet with the families in the gulf of he was there? >> not that i know of. >> is the white house trying to arrange a meeting between the white house and the chairman of the board? >> there are concerns we number of things. i would not rule out. >> [inaudible] the families is a drilling is our economic lifeline. what are you going to allow now and is there a danger of you cutting off our livelihhod? >> i don't think senator landrieu was there. i know that governor jindal and senator vitter were there. he is and have to wait six months for them to come to him. as they look to these issues, it is looking at them sequentially to figure out a regulatory structure that works for deepwater drilling.

. >> west virginia senator robert byrd served more than 50 years in the u.s.enate, longer than anyone in history. watch our 1988 profile with the center, among other things, all online at the video library. >> sunday, your questions for the syndicated talk show radio host, a life. the former education secretary and first drug czar is the author of more than 20 books for both adults and children. three hours, part of the three- day holiday weekend on c-span2. "washington journal quality continues. host: we want to welcome rayola dougher. she is the senior advisor at the petroleum institute. we want to talk about the future of the industry, but also what is happening on the gulf coast. going back to april 20, when the rig explosion, what caused it? guest: we're still trying to figure that out and the president has a commission looking into this for the next several months. everyone is focused on exactly what happened. was it a technology failure? of human failure? a combination? we will have to wait until we get the report of commission, and in order to address

if you include the party switcher in alabama and in west virginia, he becomes the third incumbent to lose. he was defeated because people did not think he was conservative enough in this district. this is another anti-incumbency storr. the conservative base of the party did not think he was living up to the standards and values they wanted. host: david, thank you for the update this morning. we will go on to college park, ga., where ronald joins us on the line for democrats. we're talking about whether or not president obama should fire general mcchrystal. go ahead. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: first of all, has anybody consider the possibility that general mcchrystal wants to be fired? anybody with any common sense knows when they go against the policies of their superiors, they are subject to some type of disciplinary aation, including dismissal. host: you think he did this on purpose? caller: yes, i think he did this on purpose because i think he wants to be fired. host: larry on the line for independents, good morning. caller: i'm amazed by the guy from ggorg

this is sommersville, west virginia. john, go ahead on our independent line.ller: i have one very simple question. when they did a freeze on the price of what insurance is as of january 1 of this year, turn around and took a 25% deduction. everybody else has to take a loss. why didn't the insurance company? that's the only question i have. >> thomas is with us from florida. looks like you're calling on our republican line. caller: hudson, florida. i keep seeing and reading in the paper and the internet that the president is going to cut trie care and medicare -- tricare and medicare payments by 2010. being a disabled veteran, that could probably cut down on the choices of disabled veterans to doctors. >> yes. caller: and how many tests are necessary when the doctor can't figure out what's wrong with you or you end up in the hospital? how many tests are necessary to figure out what exactly is going wrong with you? i mean, you say some tests are unnecessary, well, who decides what unnecessary those tests are? >> thanks for that call, thomas. and i'm reminded by

. >> the woman from west virginia. >> thank you for holding this meeting. this is a very critical point for every individual american and to every american business and to our economy and economic recovery. it is my hope that all proceedings of this conference will be in open and not behind closed doors. we are embarking on the final step of the largest bill all of the financial system that this body has done. if police weekend was that the american people can follow our actions -- the least that we can do is ensure that the american people can follow our actions. our goal for our constituents was to end the culture of bailouts that has pervaded in washington for the last two years. the time has come to put wall street and main street on a level playing field. all participants will kkow the rules of the game. that is what an enhanced bankruptcy will accomplish. this makes sense because it will build a barrier of court objectivity on these issues and complicated issues that need to be resolved. i will remind them that the panic was caused by the failed expec

byrd, a senator from the state of west virginia. the speaker pro tempore: is in objection to the consideration of the concurrent resolution? without objection, the concurrent resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, proceedings will resume on motions to suspend the rules previously postponed. votes will be taken in the following order -- house concurrent resolution 284, house resolution 5395, house resolution 1446 and house resolution 4307 each by the yeas and nays. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute votes. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion by the gentlelady from hawaii, mizz hirono, to suspend the rules -- ms. hire oweno, to suspend the rules and agree -- ms. hirono, to suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 284. the clerk will report the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 284, recognizing the work and importance of

months, is almost as if the narrative has taken on more salience among most americans living in west virginia or in london. what do we make of this, and how could on the one hand the narrative become less popular in the arab muslim world, and on the other, become more popular in some of our own communities? >> some of this is a measure time. -- a measure of time. the narrative reach the shores of bit late. this is a 30-year proposition and we are 10 years in. it took awhile to get here. 320 million americans and i wondered about going to the university of maryland and asking a statistician, if you saw going from 3-12 plots, or whatever we had over the past year, and i country of 320 millions, how statistically significant effect? i still do not see this as an epidemic threat in the united states. and talking to my european colleagues across what they to sit on. i would say easily, 10/1, in terms of -- so we shall -- still should consider ourselves lucky, considering that we are the head of the snake. and the places that we face in our network, from l.a. to new york, that does not mean that yo

host: next call is from west virginia, hello, steve. caller: i have a hard time with people sitting in front of this man that the only way they face issues about economics is they borrow more money from china. that man that is sitting in front of these people, he has to make a business work. he has to make decisions and he cannot go over his budget and say, hey, i need more money from china. and i think the people in front of him, it is just ridiculous. this is just another feather in obama's hat to try to push his agenda. i am really disturbed. he does not want this leak. this is bad for bp. this is bad for everybody. but to sit there and browbeat him for procedures that they should have detected -- and i come from the coal industry. you cannot do anything. if you monday a creek -- if you levy equity -- if you sort muddy a creek and iraa rock rolls dow, they're on you. steve host:, what kind of -- host: steve, what kind of work did you do in the coal industry? i would caller: a service operator at a -- hostcaller: i a surface operator

host: tonya from martinsburg, west virginia independent line. caller: there are a couple of things that seems suspicious to me in arkansas. the democrats, they told the voters to go out and vote early saturday, and when the people showed up, the polls were closed. one county where there were 40 locations open to in the first primary between blanche lincoln and the challenger, there were only two polling places opened yesterday. i find that very suspicious. and before -- the $10 million that labor cent, the white house spent $10 million on parties in the white house and the last 10 years. if just because the black people came out in arkansas and voted against the their interest, i would not be giving no parade if i was washington. host: any word about whether or not president obama to do you will be campaigning for blanche lincoln in the general election? guest: he has endorsed her of the primary. i doubt given the levels of popularity which are very low in arkansas, that you will see him campaign for blanche lincoln, not even appearing in televi