the white house and the ap often know what that question will be. host: how do they know this? guest: because what is going on in the news that particular day. iran on that given day was a top agenda item. the one thing that is getting lost here is that nico asked a difficult question. he did not give a response as to whether -- under what conditions he would accept a ahmadinejad. he was able to ask the question that the regular press was and a position to ask because of the type of work that he has been doing. it was not as soft-ball question. host: will we see more of this? guest: i don't think so. host: our republican from michigan is next kerik calle. caller: this says -- congress has done nothing -- the passing of the bill the ramification on corporations. all on something that is not proven yet. it is like the old fable, you tell a lie enough times and it becomes true. we are ready to hand over responsibility of our health care to the government. host: your thoughts? guest: the president said he is expecting unemployment race to -- and employment rates to rise to 11%. if

and draws pictures from it and shows his brother evolving from apes. darwin's species came out in 1858. and by the time that roosevelt went to harvard in 1878, majoring in natural studies, darwin was the rage. and i argue in this book that darwin is the center figure in roosevelt's intellectual life. and what some don't agree with in roosevelt's life, and the biggest power in the world. that's one side, and he erroneously ventured into darwinism a bit. and he had his understanding of natural resource management and how you save species and entire environments. he was a great lover of the prairie. and theodore roosevelt felt more comfortable in kansas or nebraska. he would get sea sick, he would go to panama and puerto rico, he is writing about birds. field notes of birds. and he saved the forest in these areas. and he is president and controlled the properties and had a huge concern of saving the ecosystem. >> why the white gloves? >> they make you wear it here. they do in a lot of archival places. and this document you can call the bird of fish and wi

we will show you some of the photographs from afp and ap. the day to begin the troop withdrawal from that country. sue is on the phone from grand rapids, mich.. caller: i am upset with the diane feinstein comments to the left. the comments she made reported on line does not move me one bit. i am very concerned with democrats like sheet and lieberman that are getting so much money. her husband was going to be investigated. it cost the inspector general to investigate her. she apparently has a husband who has a lot of folks up contractually with the war efforts. thank you. host: thank you. congress is in recess this weekend back next monday, focusing on health care. one week from monday, the start of the confirmation hearings for sonia sotomayor to replace justice david souter, who spent his last day on the bench yesterday. he read some poetry. chief justice john roberts read from robert frost as a said farewell to justice souter. the front page of "the wall street journal" marketplace section -- car sales rebound seen for june. also, "usa tod

. >> hi, pam with ap. how are you? i have two questions for you and the first one everybody in this room should did because it is an insider question. you seem to be exercising or flexing their muscles as dni, perhaps more than their predecessors using the powers given to your office and i'm wondering if you think that is what you are trying to do and what you are hoping to accomplish by that? there are some acquisition authority that you are looking four, some reprogramming you are looking for that is more muscular and the fight with the cia over your personal representatives. so he could talk about your approach and what you are the key to accomplish that would be interested. the second question is, if he could elaborate a little on why he said the warrantless wiretapping program was not illegal because it is not getting a -day in court so far, so people will have to take you and your board and would be good to hear a little bit more about why it wasn't. >> right. [laughter] on the second question, you are just going

and i can't thank you enough or tell you how proud i am to be on then journalp@ap@a@ thank you for being here tonight, i hope that you're having a great time. i am excited about our opportunities in 2010. we have a great opportunity to win back republican seats in the house of representatives and the united states senate. and our chances are better because of your strong support. i want to talk about the contributions and the presence of my colleagues, every republican senator who has been reaching out to support us all across this great land, i would ask them to participate in this cycle. i want to thank the 33 republican senators who are here tonight, and i want to thank sentiment, -- senator mcconnell. he is a great tactician on the floor of the senate, and he has put in the time and energy to make certain that the 2010 efforts are successful. i want to thank you for your great support. i want to talk about john ensign. we are trying to build on what you did in 2008, thank you for your leadership. and then to pete sessions. some people may wonder why two texans are leading this. you w

hentoff is not intended to substitute for the aps markets as they existed before the crisis. -- a b.s. markets as they existed before the crisis. we want to get the markets back to life by mitigating some of the stresses they are experiencing. it should allow them to reach their purpose has in a less dis. the top program has been working. some investors are re-entering the market without the support which is a good sign. the third precept relates to size. until recently, monetary policy had changed in small steps. it was a behavior that some have labeled. our response to the present crisis has moved beyond gradualism. our cats were one indication and the size of our untraditional policies is another. last march, we announced a considerable increase in the size of another program, our large-scale asset purchases where we by agency debt and treasury securities. these actions taken together represent an escalation of our non-traditional policies and will probably increase the size of our balance sheet will above what it was until a year ago. i think this aggressive move was a proper it c

and i can't thank you enough or tell you how proud i am to be on then journalp@ap@a@ ♪ \ >> thank youight. thank you very much for your strong support. [applause] i want to a knowledge the contributions of my colleagues and the presence of them here tonight. every republican senator was encouraged to reach out to people across the land. i want to thank the 33 republican senators that are here tonight. i want to thank our leader for setting a great example for all of us. [applause] as the actor said, he is not only a great tactician on the senate floor, he has put in the time and energy to help make sure our

the ap confirms the death of four u.s. soldiers in combat- related injuries. this is on the eve of the withdrawal of troops. it is our subject this first half-hour. we will check in in a couple of minutes jane arraf wit who was with -- we will check in with jane arraf from the christian science monitor. caller: i think we should be out of iraq and should never have been there. but obama is missing around over there just like bush did and he will begin world war iii. host: from inside "the new york post close " he writes that the cradle of civilization is rising from the grave again. here is another twitter message asking why the mainstream media keep talking to dick cheney. michigan, good morning. here are some associated press photograph from the last 24 hours. caller: good morning. i hope it is not premature. to those wonderful patriots who keep criticizing dick cheney and others, i spent four years in the military and never have we lost 3000 people. we went through a second world war and never lost 3000 people. you had nearly half a million americans killed

it is an ap story which says that on wednesday iran accused the u.s. of intolerable meddling. it has fuelled a bitter post- election dispute. the iranian government summoned the swiss ambassador who represents the u.s. interests and iran to complain about american interference. guest: this has been a tactic of the iranian regime to pretend that the desire for choice of freedom is of foreign imports. you remember success of the arrests and trials of iranians within the country like a philosopher who was accused of fomenting the velvet revolution. that shows the degree of the fear that they try to say the desire for freedom is not iran. the way the protesters have acted demonstrates that you do not need any instructions from america to want to have a better life. host: we're spending an hour this morning with azar who is currently a visiting professor at johns hopkins school. she is executive director of the cultural conversations at their foreign policy institute. what is the program? guest: it started when i first came to the u.s. in 1997 and i wanted to create an alternative

taking the weekend off, roger federer will face aps continar opponent as he continues his quest for h ♪ (guy) you know, the beer you choose says a lot about you. you want friendly, but not pretentious. classic, never trendy. you want a real american beauty. (woman) are you talking about the budweiser? or me? yes. ♪ >> williams' sister takes the court in what many believe is an invisible collision in a ladies final a week from saturday. friday was serena's turn against vinci. >> she served beautifully. had 10 aces in all, including ending the match with a very big ace. i just think she looks good, chris. in the beginning of the tournament, i thought it was venus' to win, but the way serena is playing, especially since they lost in the final last year, did not play well, i think she's hoping that next saturday she will be playing her sister again in the final. >> it's like serena wants to send a message to venus. and when it's venus' turn she wants to send a message back. >> venus also hasn't dropped a set. she's back on-court on saturday. nothing approaching a challenge at this point f

borne catches it, that would be ap top play -- oh, yeah, wrong show. >> all right, lee off hawkins. that would tie the game. >> bottom of 13. two outs. two men on for blum. rips it down the right field line. here comes hunter pens. he's fast, too fast. >> for blum, his second straight game with a walk-off hit. russ ortiz, longest outing of the season. 5 and 1/3. i don't know that that's good or bad. derrek lee, the solo home run extended his hit streak to ten games. >> still to come, albert pujols is admired in a slump. when he busts out, he busts out real. and also, phil mickelson, back on the course for the first time since his wife's cancer diagnosis. john daley there as well. we update things in t ♪ ah, that hits the spot. it's drinkability. it means bud light is good where ever you are. if you're at a party. or, playing golf. like those guys. or, in a bar. [ old timey western bar music ] draw another door. don't say draw. never filling, always refreshing. bud light. the difference is drinkability. seven aces. ♪ who's watching? ♪ tell me who's watching. (muffled music) ♪ who's w

thank you for listening host: a store this morning from the ap about president obama. part of the announcement he will make today. he promised to deliver more than six under the jobs -- 600,000 jobs through his stimulus plan this summer with federal agencies pumping billions into public works projects, schools, and summer youth programs. he is ramping up his tennis program this week even as advisers are ramping down expectations -- his ramping up his spending program this week. many of the stimulus plans that obama announced were already in the works, including hundreds of maintenance projects at military bases, 1600 state road and airport improvements, and money for schools. louisiana, on our independent line. caller: thank you. i want to say that i am a cancer survivor at 49 years old. i have fought cancer for nearly five years. they removed my bladder and prostate last year. i do not believe the government are the people to take control of my health care. i wanted to be between me, my doctors, and my health care coverage. host: who is your health insurer? caller: i

the ap is reporting, wrapping up the session with several decisions expected today in three final cases, including a closely-watched discrimination lawsuit by white firefighters who said they have been denied promotions and fro. an appeals court ruled that officials in new haven act improperly in turnout exams because of racially skewed results. one of the other cases involves campaign finance law. the court is considering whether a movie that was critical of hillary clinton during her presidential campaign should be subject to the same regulations as campaign ads. finally, a third case concerns state's ability to investigate alleged discrimination in lending by national banks. two weeks from today the judiciary committee begins in the u.s. senate. to mount carmel on at the democrat's lead. what are your thoughts? caller: yes, i favor probably fdr's policy. i watched a bush. he invoked the power of the unitary executive and basically he had a lot of trouble with the commissions to set up. and also not giving the prisoners lots of rights, on the other hand i would not like to go all the

guest: the white house and the ap often know what their questions are in advance. host: how did they know this? guest: because of the news that particular day. the press just gravitates to the daily news coverage and will ask the president on a particular item in the news. that -- i ran -- iran was the top news item that day. neko did not ask a softball question. host: the iranian who posted as to the tough question. guest: that's right. he asked a very difficult question. he asked a unique kind of question that much of the mainstream journalism was not in a position to ask. host: do you think we will see more of that? guest: no, i think the white house learned a lesson from this. host: frederick, michigan, good morning. caller: i am calling to point out how fragile our economy is. this congress, this administration has done nothing to better it. the passing of this bill and the ramifications of what it will have on corporations, we will see a terrible economy until this goes for. this is something that is not proven yet. it is like the old fable where if you tell

ap. -- we have a map. host: back to texas with a twitter. what is the story with taxes now? guest: that is probably one of the best examples that you can use about why it redistricting can really hurt estate. at the time that the 2003 redistricting took place there control the house but not by much will bested by the then minority leader was to knock off certain democrats. this it was half 110% a partisan effort. they knocked out three people. there were all democrats. those world ranking members of the rules committee, agriculture committee, and homeland security committee. all of those three people got redistricting peoplea point are there now out of congress. then the democrats to control the house. all three of those people would be committee chairs. think about how powerful the committee is, especially for the state of texas -- rules, agriculture, home and security. yet those german ships are held by someone from new york in rules, minnesota in agriculture, and mississippi in homeland security. it has real consequences. host: good morning on the republican line. caller:

the unnamed official told the ap that at least two people heard the slur. car is owned by rusty wallace, who is also an analyst at espn. >> brian abarry, my crew chief went up to the window net of mark davis and confronted him. i don't think mark heard anything he said whatsoever, because he had his helmet on. but it was alleged that bryan used a racial slur. i've talked to bryan about this. he denies that. he does not deny that he was cursing pretty heavy. he was very upset and very mad and it happened. but i apologized to the mark davis family of even having to go through this. mark's a cool kid. i like him a whole lot. i really think he's going to be successful in the nationwide series. >> ahead, why the 131 million dollars transfer offer for the world's best soccer player is even more crazy than you think. this is kate. last year, kate went on the bud light port paradise cruise. i had a very nice time. kate "had a very nice time." for four days and three nights. she left the work world behind. way, way behind. for obvious reasons, we're protecting kate'

i am with the ap. >> obviously, we lost four soldiers last night in baghdad. it is always tough when we lose soldiers here. actually, this attack did not happen in the city. it was outside of the city, but what i would say is that is one of the signatures we have to look at. if we have less movement, will they target specifically u.s. soldiers? we have not seen that yet but we worked very closely with iraqi security force pertinence in order to make sure and limit the risks. -- work closely with iraqi security forces in order to make sure and limit the risks. we will have to work with the government of iraq to insure we are able to adequately protect our soldiers and marines. we will do everything we can to protect them. >> how would you do that? would you pick up the phone and call and i iraqi counterpart and say look at what happened last night -- and call an iraqi counterpart? are we talking about something more formal than >> -- are we talking about something more formal? >> the brigade commanders will be working the problem locally. if we think it needs s

he has ap(ñ good sense of what been exhausted. in particular the coup.if this is an issue that can be exploited by the regime, they're looking for something like that, there might be more bloodshed. finally, the ultimate concern of this administration still is regardless of who is in charge, there is still some very serious issues particularly reported in iran that needs to be discussed. they don't feel they want to put themselves in any kind of position to put themselves in a handcuff when it comes to that. host: frank on our line for independents is calling in from palmdale, california. caller: thanks to c-span. to the iranian people, stay strong, be safe and do it in a nonviolent way. you will win. it is your right to have the kind of government you want. i hope that your guests on here today will get the word out to his brethren that are in the middle east, the american people are not againstia -- against iran. or the iranians. we're only against the brutality done against the people. thank you. guest: i think the caller has a great point. first and

reneed new ap-- on steroids. mr. president, they are pw-rt approaches. we have a bill proposed by senators burr and coburn on our side of the aisle. several members on the finance committee, including myself, are working on a proposal that will empower patients and consumers, and not the government. it will not get between doctors and patients. it will not rely on denying or delaying access to care in order to keep costs down. we believe that innovation is one of the things that's made health care in america among the greatest in the world, and that's why we believe that we need to retain and protect and nurture that innovation and that quality health care and to empower patients to use a market that plays by the rules to help lower their costs. i've seen that as recently as a few weeks ago in austin, texas, when i visited with a number of employees of the whole foods company that's headquartered in austin, a grocery company, where these workers have health savings accounts, or high deductible insurance. they actually call them wellness accounts. i was t

the ap reports that retail sales rose by the largest amount in four months in may. rebound in demand helped to offset weakness in department stores. jobless claims had dropped more than expected. the tally of the newly-laid off americans fell for the third -- the third time in six weeks. let's go to the republican line from california. caller: good morning. this is my first time in and the election. host: first-time voter? caller: yes, my parents were republicans, but we all voted for obama. i am kind of confused. i believe healthcare is a ride. i think just watching -- i believe healthcare is a right. just watching the with the republicans and democrats have been fighting -- let me back up. i saw the hearing yesterday on single-payer and it changed my mind. i think single-payer is the way we should go. we should stop fighting about whether it is a government plan. someone mentioned it 3the% of everyone's income. if they did that across the board and for everyone -- 3%, and went to digital, electronic medical records so people would not be double-dipping -- host: do

i'm trying to give you ap opportunity to explain this to us. if you don't want us, that's up to you. >> if you ask, i will do my best. i don't know what else i can say other than we were influenced by the strong nature of the wording from the federal reserve and the treasury in the sense that they obviously felt very strongly that we did not have a mac. i also looked -- still thought we had a strategic reason to do merrill lynch despite the fact it had a financial issue. and the third i thought the downside of calling a mac and not winning was severe. all of those factors were factors in me making that decision. if i had thought that it was a mac i would have called a mac. >> i see my time is up, mr. chairman. >> thank you, gentleman from maryland. as we come to the conclusion of this hearing. it's important to remember that we have heard only one side of the story today. the committee needs to hear from mr. paulson and mr. bernanke before we draw any hard and fast conclusions. i do believe in fairness. however, i do think it is fair to observe

and keep letting contracts and hiring workers and ap will hold tight until after the vote, we will pull the panel into recess and i believe german oberstar will come back. we will stand in recess for about 10 minutes following the vote. [inaudible conversations] >> the subcommittee, i am sorry the committee bill resume the hearing. the chair apologizes to the members and especially to the minuses, the members are all gone actually. to the witnesses for the long absence due to recorded votes on the house floor. to pass the defense authorization bill which is substantially greater for one year than we are proposing for six years for the service transportation program. hi took the testimony home with me last night and even though we did not finish until it 11:00, i sped read through the witness testimony statements. i am very impressed with your presentations. the question i have mr. brown, there have been some questions are criticisms i think not well informed criticisms that have that obstacles to moving ahead with projects. i would just like to know if you have any specific paperwork or

i told my wife who is the anesthesiologist daughter and she has a merck manual and ap d.r. and she said what? and no. you do not want to do that. there is no hypocrisy bill was very bold and urgings that our drug laws that i think have many men of old papers aspects be changed with reform whether it be a law against marijuana, or laws against medications that are being given to the intractably ill. he campaigned about that for many years. so this is not something he would have been ashamed of a on a policy level. but with the old man, it is a small matter but it is an aspect of him. but it was an aspect i am living my life and i have one zillion things to do and how do i do? one way i do it is with the help of priscilla and all of my co-workers another way i do it is with bronson and my discipline another way is writing columns in my car driven by jerry garvey, there were many, many ways and this seemed two him to be another way. and i guess part of the point* is that when a man is fighting off so much and to bring so much and getting so much right, it is not strange that t

the president's budget, nottle on the stimulus money but the other $5 billion in the next five annual ap)k rragirgrr''rr$% such as ridership and project kansases submitted by applicants and what oversight will occur and how will it be carried out to ensure that projects come in on budget and on time. i hope congress will monitor how this program is implemented and i hope the program succeeds. and that when we look back five years from now and after spending as much as $13 billion as is envisioned by the president, that we'll see great progress. to me, it means trains that serve real needs that are constructed on budget and on schedule, filled with passengers making the routes economically viable. i want to thank our panelists for appearing today and sharing their testimony. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. the chairman of the committee, senator rockefeller. i want to make him a general, but -- >> thank you, chairman lautenberg. first of all, i want to apologize. i'm not on the judiciary committee. the white house is anxious to have all senators meet with judge sotomayor before rece

my name is mark hamerik of ap broadcast. i'm a membership secretary at the national press club. we are the world's leading professional organization for journalists and we are committed to the future of journalism by providing journalism programming and education and fostering free press around the globe. for more information please visit the web site at www.nationalpress.org. i'd like to welcome our speaker and those in the audience today and those who are watching live on c-span. we also provide our broadcasts over itunes for podcasting. we look forward to today's speech. and afterwards we'll ask as many questions from the audience as time permits. i would ask kindly you please withhold your applause from the speech so that we have time for as many questions as possible. for our broadcast audience i would like to explain if you do hear applause it is from guests and members of the general public who attend our luncheons not necessarily from always neutral working journalists. >> i would like to introduce sam husseini for the institute for public accuracy. andrew snyder, associ

he shows his brother evolving from apes. darwin's "origins of species" came out in 1958. by the time theodore roosevelt goes to harvard and majoring that naturalist studies, darwin was the rage. and it was a revolution. people talk about something being markist idiolog, people became darwin idiologs. he's the central figure in roosevelt's intellectual life. what some people don't like about roosevelt's foreign policy, the survival of the fittest, the biggest navy, we are going to be the biggest power in the world, that's one side of it. he also erroneously ventured into social darwinism quite a bit. on the other flip side of it, domestically, he was spot-on right on his understanding of natural resource management and thousand make sure you save species, entire environments intact. he was a great lover of the prairie. people don't realize theodore roosevelt felt most at home on a horse in kansas and nebraska than at sea. he would get terribly seasick. he was our first president to go abroad as president. he went to panama and puerto rico. you know what he's writing about

this is the grid proposed by ap for the 765 kv system that would link resources. it was originally overlayed with wind resources, but, in fact, the correspond with coal resources is actually higher when you actually go and see wheres to lines are laid out. that's one of the causes of concern that, in fact, what would you be doing by doing a transmission loaded set of incentives is, in fact, encouraging greater transmission of coal fired generation than, in fact, of renewables. the reason for that is that nowhere in the legislation do we recommend a change in the economic dispatch rules that govern which generation is brought online first. of all the renewables goals not with standing we dispatch energy by price. the auctions are by price and we've heard lots of calls for competitive pricing. the potential that will, in fact, increase the amount of transmission that is carrying coal fired emissions and, in fact, from the dirtiest and oldest plants is very real. unless this committee can also ensure that before that transmission is made available, we are, in fact, p

you know, the famous scene in planet of the apes and the final episode where, you know, you see the torchf the statue of liberty rising above the sand, so there were a lot of caricatures of the city and representations of new york in which the city ceases to exist and i love new york, i heart new york really responded to what was an anxiety about that, i think, for new yorkers. you know, many new yorkers wore i heart new york and embraced the campaign and identifying with i love new york with the idea that there was something kind of in the urbanity and, you know, the cosmopolitan nature, glaser i write about this was really playing around with the font of the campaign, the kind of gritty newspaper-style font and the softness of the heart and that juxtaposition and the early newspaper -- sorry, print and television campaign featured prominently broadway stars and broadway shows from cats, from chorus line, from some of what remained to be some of the great -- the great musicals and productions that were -- many of which originated in the '70s and early '80s and annie and other things and

>> the transmission map biz ap. we overlaid it on wind and cold sores maps. >> if that transmission plan was implemented it would bring transmission line in from the midwest very close to the east coast. what impact might that have on your planning for renewable electricity off the coastline or other parts of new jersey? >> we would stop. >> why would you stop? >> we would not be able to be competitive with the cost of the wind if it is not burdened by the cost of transmission, said the wind from the midwest, if it does not face the transmission charge would be cheaper in that case. >> you are up in the great lakes, mr. joos. could you talk about that in potential with the great lakes and what impact that could have for michigan and what could happen if instead power is brought in from other parts of the country, through that grow preemption, federal eminent domain takings? >> it is a bit similar but maybe two aspects to what mr. izzo has said. first of all it is clearly windier in the dakotas for example bennett is

that would be babd, because we wouldn't do a good job at it ap we wouldn't have the type of adversary presentation on each issue that i think is very important. the one thing about school administrators, the flip side of the decision that came out is that the administrators have qualified a unity because of our decision. they department have clear guidance. that was largely our fault in trying to put together our decision, so we laid down the rule about what they can and can't do. we said they would have to fork over damages from their own personal funds if they guessed wrong. >> i thank you for your question. other questions? >> chief justice, a number of observers have noted that the current court is drawn from the court of appeals and that the court would again fit by having members from other walks of public life. i would be interested in your views on that subject. >> first of all, where are you? raise your hand. >> no wonder. it's hard to see out there from here. you know, i speculated in the past what's behind that. it is an unusual thing t is the first time in the court's hist

50% more per person in areas with low unemployment than areas with highest unemployment, to quote the ap the trend in the analysis runs counter to expectations raised by the president that road infrastructure money from the historic $787 billion stimulus plan with trade jobs in the areas most devastated by layoffs. does your analysis show high on employment states, the ones that are struggling most, that there has been an impact from these stimulus dollars? is their anything, again, going back to your numbers is their anything here that confirms or denies this type of analysis? >> we wouldn't be able to tell. >> the reason i ask and i do think it's important to go to the numbers is people back home really are struggling. texas has a better economy than most but we are feeling it as well and if you talk to the retailers the arnold seeing increase in spending. there are activity and the infrastructure dollars which we should have done far greater investment than we did in squandering some of the money and stimulus. our folks back home just want to know the truth. you know, they hear the pr

i would like to draw your attention to an ap article that was all over the place around the beginning of may, many of you probably read it. and i subsequent wrote a letter to the chairman and the ranking member pointing out, and the articles that stimulus watch, early age leads out. and i like to think of myself at looking at things, but as a full traffic you cannot believe how bad things are in the state of michigan. so i'm going to be a little parochial in my questioning here because we do have the dubious extension of having the highest unemployment month after month after month. and there is no end in sight for us. so i just want to make sure we're getting some attention there. in fact, this article mentioned, it said 50% more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment than areas with the highest. they actually mention one of my counties, ifi can't i represent. one is a county of lapeer that has about almost 20% unemployment now. they weren't getting anything. so i guess i would just like to ask you, i think you made some corrections, i don't know exactly where michigan is r

another is the high-speed service that's developed incrementally on ap existing railroad.to do this track and upgrades -- are upgrading to an existing line. depending on the route this could entail some smoothing out of curve and perhaps grades as well as some improvements to grade crossings and signaling systems. this began on the northeast corridor after 1976 when amtrak gained control of it. and over the years we've gradually raised speeds from -- to 125 and then places to 135 and 150 miles an hour. there is, however, a natural sweet spot at 110 miles an hour that offers some significant advantages. you don't need to close or separate grade crossings. you can operate diesel powered services with existing equipment. most importantly, you don't necessarily need a dedicated track or right of way. although in some circumstances they might be desirable. those are fore middable cost advantages and 110-mile-an-hour service allows less trip times that makes it more competitive in certain markets. thirdly, reducing the portions of your journey that trains cover at a very low or

caspar -- for the european union delegation and finally myron belking former ap bureau chief in london and secretary of the national press club. ask anyone in this room who sir richard branson is and he will be defined different ways: a flamboyant en43 pren newer with an appetite for starting new buses, a magnet for controversy, such as his recent stint as a glass xo cleaning worker in a tv ad for his virgin trains. or a billion dollar philanthropist attempting to save mother earth. no matter, he is a gift for making people pause and take notice. his high profile adventures cloud developing personal space flight and in 1986, crossing the atlantic in his plane offshore racing boat in racing time. a year later, he set another record crossing the atlantic in his virgin atlantic flier, not only the first hot air balance lon to cross the atlantic but also the largest ever at 2.3 million cubic feet. clearly, this is a man who likes a challenge. whether it's in business or in sport. and while many would be satisfied after being knighted by the queen of england for services to entrepreneurship

and finally my rent, former ap bureau chief in london and the secretary of the national press club. ask anyone in this room who served richard branson is and he will be defined many different ways. a flamboyant rish on to partner with a seemingly insatiable appetite for starting new businesses. a magnet for controversy such as his region stant as a glasco train cleaning worker in a tv ad for his virgin train or $8 billion philanthropist attempting to save mother earth. no matter, he has a gift for making people pause and take notice. his high profile adventures include developing personal spaceflight, and in 1986 crossing the atlantic in his virgin atlantic to offshore racing boat in record time. a year later he set another record crossing the atlantic in his virgin atlantic flyer. not only the first hot air balloon to cross the atlantic, but also the largest ever at 2.3 million cubic feet. clearly, this is a man who likes challenge, whether it's in business or in sport. and while many would be satisfied after being knighted by the queen of england for services to entrepreneurship,

outbreaks demonstrate the huge challenges and opportunities for piven in the nation's food supply this ap infrastructure. laws and policies to be frank philosophies developed decades ago no longer suffice. two successfully meet the new demands. the legislation we're discussing is there for a critical step in reviving the food safety capacities of the fda. i work in a state health department as an epidemiologist responsible for investigating foodborne diseases and in effect cleaning up the mess left when things go awry in the food safety chain. i'm excited to see this proposed legislation addresses many of the problems i experience firsthand. in my role of investigating and helping prevent foodborne disease. improving the traceability of food called for in this legislation is fundamental to successfully achieving many of the other tasks described herein and traced back information have been more broadly available in shared pastor at the many other problems associated with the reason to made a jalapeno incidents could have been mitigated and likewise tracing peanut butter from one plant to

before issuing a visa to an ap i will caint. when a security advisor finance has been requested. national security is a primary function of the government under the constitution. and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks our nation has had to take a closer look at our policies and create a more layered approach to security, including visas. however, as tourism has once again increased so have waiting times for some visas. earlier this year the department of homeland security initiated a review of the visa approval process. applications in particular. the committee staff was finally briefed last week on changes that had already been implemented. according to details supplied during the briefing, d.h.s. determined that the waiting period for man is was too long. the primary -- manis was too long. the primary reason was lack of staff. instead of increasing staff as needed they recommended several policy changes. a small window for certain intelligence agencies to respond before the state could clear the visa. this is insane. let me be clear. what we're talking about is allowing some fore