our guest is alan martin, president of george mason university. >> host: the president of george mason university of virginia is our guest on the communicators. and jill toro is here to participate in the questioning. gm used consistently described as one of the most wired universities and america. practically, what does that mean? >> guest: it has been involved in information technology. this begins by supporting the information technology community, also making sure we have plenty of technology on campus to support our students, faculty and staff. we take information technology very seriously. it probably doesn't hurt that i, as the president, and a computer scientist. we view these technologies for our students and faculty, like the council of old, you have got to have them, it is fascinating

host: alan martin, training information technology professionals, on "newsmakers." >> "washington journalcontinues. host: james horney is here to talk to us about the budget deficit for 2009 and looking 10 years out as new projections emerge this week. the headline from bloomberg, white house lowering the deficit estimate to $1.58 trillion. is that good news? guest: people talk about the deficit being lower or higher than before, one of the things that is difficult is that there have been in number of estimates this year from the office of management and budget. there are differences in those numbers depending on a couple of things. first of all, which agency makes the estimate. two, which policy do they assume? or do they assume that there are new policies, like those proposed by the president, will they be adopted? we have numbers starting back in january, ranging from $1.20 trillion, assuming no change in current policies, assuming that economic conditions remain how i thought it would be. up to $8 trillion, which both of the office of the president and the management and budget office

. >> george mason university president alan martin on a roll of higher education, training information technology professionals tonight on the communicators on c-span2. go inside the supreme court to see the public places and those rarely seen spaces, hear from the justices as they provide insight about the court and the building. the supreme court, home to america's highest court. the first sunday and october on c-span. >> a live picture from the hudson institute for discussion on the future of the russian military that will resume at 11:00 eastern. the budget deficit in the u.s. talk to the person who keeps watch on the federal deficit. [no audio] [no audio] [inaudible conversations] >> having some technical difficulty with washington journal segment this morning on the budget deficit, we are live once again from the hudson institute for just a couple minutes. we will resume the discussion on the future of the russian military. from the associated press this morning, the garage door comes down on a cash for clunkers program tonight with the finish line coming two we fairly. many deal

. >> george mason university president alan martin on the role of higher education and training informationnicators on c-span2. >> now look at the process of how a bill becomes a law. michael white, managing editor of the publication called "federal register" talks about it at the forum friday at the national archives. >> i would like to introduce you, michael white, the managing editor of the federal register and he is here to talk to about how a bill becomes a public law. [applause] >> thank you. i am all wired up. i hope i am getting a good sound level. it is my pleasure to speak to you all this afternoon. as a washington d.c. native, glad we can provide you with an authentic summer experience in our nation's capital -- sweltering heat and plenty of humanity. -- humidity. i was very pleased to be asked to present a program for the national archives and 75th anniversary. i am over at the federal register, which is a component of the national archives and has been since our inception. i was asked to talk on how the bill becomes law, which is an old chestnut, i guess, but i will look at it

alan sued land, and brew baker. it guess going 12:30. the next day al will talk policy and production with sue martin and chip floor re. that begins 2:00 at the versatile tractor exhibit area. the first 100 visitors for our wednesday program will receive a free cap from versatile. >>> that's it for the news. time now for the forecast from meteorologist mike hoffman. >>> boy, a chilly shot of air this weekend for august, for the great lakes and the northeast. and by the time we head into the first part of the week the trough will still be over the eastern great lakes in the northeast, lingering rain in parts of maine, again the remnants of bill, will be scooting off quickly into the north atlantic. but it will have affected parts of the northeast, no question about that, by that time frame. here is conditions over the center of the country. sunny and warm this that area. sunny and stormy along the central rockies, along the gulf coast. checking out wednesday. still a little bit of a trough in the northeast. another ripple coming through the northern plains states, cool again over the northern parts of the great lakes. t

alan sinai is chief global economists with the decision economics. david speaka, vice president and investment strategist at wht fund. our own senior economic reporter steve liesman joined by martin barns, economist and managing editor at pca research. we have a full cast of characters here. let's start with mr. speaka, what's going on in this economy? are we turning the corner, is this recession over? >> well, i think this data today, mark, clearly shows that the economy isn't improving. we had other data leading up to this that is supportive of an improvement in the economy. it's all very good da a. >> wait a minute. i mean, not to be a wet blanket. but isn't what's really going on is the economy continues to worsen, but at a slower pace? >> oh, i think we're seeing improvement, mark. i mean, obviously job losses at 247,000 is not good news, but it is much better than 400,000 or 500,000. the trend sim proving. that's what we need to see. this has been an extremely difficult recession. >> again, not to be a wet blanket. but the reality is that we're still losing jobs, just at a slower pace. >> i agree with you there. ultimately we need to see job gain to drive economic growth, t