. >> i have been interested in americorps and other related programs. from what i can tell, you do not support it or talk about it very much. the tea party is advocating limiting national service. president obama campaigned to expand to 250,000. senator kennedy helped to pass the expansion. i was wondering what role "the nation" can play in helping to support the program. >> we've done a lot of work around expanding doctors into rural community centers. americorps is a good program. all of those should be supported. we have not done as much. there has been controversy at the magazine. i am more of a supporter of teach for america than my colleagues. they are good programs. >> what could we do collectively as the next up for occupy wall street? -- next step for occupy wall street? >> what is your main interest in the issues raised by occupy wall street? if it is money and politics, you should join with those who are occupying the supreme court, fighting in states for clean money reform, and fighting for an amendment strategy to overturn the citizens unit

peace corps, americorps that are highly applied for programs. when i was direct or, we had 10,000 applications a 3500. i don't know that the 6500 others were handpicked in the atp peace corps volunteers, the wind gods name are we saying now? the americans want to go to the most desperate places on the planet to serve. the peace corps is 1% of 1% of the federal budget. military marching bands, which i'm a fan of a bigger part of the budget. so there is an imperative, americorps, the state each and every year have challenges. so i think your point of incentivizing what we see is a burgeoning interest of young american and those not so young wanted to get back in these ways out that if the military, that we are not responding to the fortified increase that governor granholm suggested. individual colleges and these providing ideas to provide incentives. there's programs and federal incentives that could be tight to that for either loan purposes are incentivizing on the front end with the americorps grants. >> so we really have time for one more ques

>> it has eliminated our new york city vista americorps program. americorps is a domestic peace corps that allows low income and middle-class kids to serve their nation and get a small educational award in exchange. we had 11 people placed in soup kitchens and food pantries in new york city and that has been eliminated by the sequestration. also the sequestration cut $5 million out of the fema emergency food and shelter program. the main source of federal cash for soup kitchens, food pantry, food banks and homelessness prevention organizations around the country. that program was already slashed over the last three years and is is now 60% lets than in 2009. >> of course the weather's getting a little better. it's not as bad in the shelter as in the harshness of winter. anybody who watches homeless people in the winter can only feel for them when they get under the cardboard boxes and stuff. how many people have you had to turn people back for lunch or dinner, that kind of thing? >> the national cuts are going to take away at least a few million mea

very strong chance that we're going to see young people put in mandatory service to go into americorps? a real concern we're going to have re-education camps, obviously refers to cambodia. they're going to be forced in those. trained in philosophy the government puts forward. then they have to work in some politically correct forums. she puts it all together. an entire life of being controlled by the government like your maggots or something. it's unbelievable. if anybody thought she was telling the truth, you'd be scared to death. >> let's take a step back. chris, she -- not only is she a member of congress, she was the head of the tea party caucus. so the tea party people in congress thought she had something going here. and john boehner -- >> let's get the quote from boehner. you are so funny. here's the boehner quote. thanks, michele bachmann, for your years of service. fine. her comes the best part. a courageous voice for freedom in the people's house. >> yes. she was on the intelligence committee. >> no. what were the requirements to getting in there? >> i think you have to ask.

our entire new york city based vista americorps program was ended due to the sequestration. we have other projects around the country but entire components of our program was ended entirely. the wic money has been put back a little but still not nearly enough. i point out to my conservative pro-life friends, the wic program has prevented half a million children from dying at birth. so if you're really pro-life, you should be really pro--wic. there is funding for food banks has been decreased. funding for head start has been decreased. occasionally the sky does fall and occasionally chicken little was right. that's the case now. >> john: we mentioned the only way congress has rallied so far is to prevent flight delays. how does this conflict end? could congress come up with a deal on spending that doesn't rely on harming the most vulnerable of americans? >> i doubt congress will do it on its own. the president has to show some leadership. >> john: what could he do? >> first, he could admit that his idea was the sequestration in the first place and he said it would never happe

peace corp, americorp, vista, that are highly applied for programs.edger of the peace corp, we had 10,000 applications, and 3500 positions. now, i don't know that the 6500 others were hand fit ready to be volunteers, but why in god's name do we say no? americans who want to go to some of the most desperate places on the planet to serve; right? peace corp. is 1% of 1% of the federal budget. military marching bands, a big fan of, are a bigger part of the budget so there is an imperative. americop, vista, every year, they have challenges hearing that. it's not to the point of incentivizing. what we see is a burgeoning interest of young americans and those not so young wanting to give back in these ways outside the military, but we're not responding to the four to five fold increase that governor suggested. in addition, individual colleges and universities providing ideas to provide incentives, loans, programs, federal incentives, i think, tied to that for either loan purposes or invent vising on the front end. we have to get here in the back on the right

itove americorps, the nationald still means a lot to me. i still have people come up to me and tell me they worked their way from welfare into a good, solid job, and they raised their children to have a better life. that is still the most important thing to me. it has gotten surprisingly little notice and surprisingly little academic analysis. how come the economic path we chose and the paths chosen by my predecessors in both had --trations, they recessions, so poverty increased. i do not count that. we had 100 times as many people moved to poverty in the middle class. we gave them a chance to make their own stories. >> if you were to become an international economics professor at georgetown, would that be your research? your path of research contribution to academia? [laughter] >> no, because i know the story and i know i would not be trusted. i would rather have somebody else do it than have somebody else do it and does agree with them. them. disagree with i should not be too self- serving for me to do it. if i were here, i would be focus

the former americorp inspector general, commission dismissed from his job because he blew the whistleo cronies of obama, goes on and on of the this is how these thugs roll and it's about time the american people stand by the people telling the truth. e'll ever get the answers to these three questions? who authorized changing the talking points? who told the military to stand down? and who told susan rice to say it was the videotape? will we hear actual names? >> well, darrell issa closed that hearing yesterday by noting that although the hearing was closed, the investigation was quote, unquote, far from over. >> steve: good. we got a lot of questions. she joins us once a week from the springs of colorado. michelle, thank you very much. >> gretchen: we will have cat smith, the mother of sean smith. she'll join us moments away with her thoughts on those hearings. now your other headlines. 11 story sweater factory exploded. the victims suffocated as they tried escaping. two weeks after another fire destroyed a building home to five different factories. the death toll in that fire now mor

i love americorps, the national service program, and i think it should be bigger and more people should have a chance to do it. but i think that before the recession, health care reform did weigh more good than harm. there were things that congress insisted on that i thought were not good. the problem with the welfare reform law is we capped payments they were gaining in february of 1994. when they dropped 60% when i was president, states had a lot of money, which they were supposed to put into education and training and other things. what happened is, after i left office, a lot of them were permitted to stop spending that money on poor people, which i think was a terrible mistake. i am still very proud we did it. i am most proud of the economic policy that we began with the passage of one vote by both houses of my economic plan in 1993 because that drove down interest rates and drove up investment, and accelerated new jobs and new technology. most importantly, we had 30% more jobs in my year, 30% more than in president reagan's term, but we had 100 times as many people move from povert

americorps is a team based national and community service program for ages 18-24. femacorps is solely focused on disaster recovery and really. we are part of the disaster survivor assistance service. we register people in the field. we commit the next 10 months of our lives to responding to >> present -- president obama will travel to oklahoma tomorrow to speak with families affected by the tornado. we will have coverage here on c- span. i had at the 10th anniversary of the medicare prescription drug program, a special agent committee held a hearing on the ont, savings, and impact seniors. this is one hour and 15 minutes. >> good afternoon. a the interest of time since vote will be called at 3:40 p.m., senator collins and i are going to forgo the opening we will getnd right in with your testimony. we will insert our statement in or record lex let me introduce you -->> let me introduce you we're going to hear from margaret warner. is a medicare beneficiary herself. she is volunteered at the medicare rights center in new york city for the past eight years. this capac