i'm quite grateful to norm augustine for pointing that out. i guess the best hope i would have now is that the congress would fix that problem rather than creating new problems. >> ifill: bretton alexander, as you look at what the president's decision has done or might do to human space flight especially what's your first reaction? >> well, i think this is a long overdue change for nasa. it's a paradigm shift away from government being the only ones that can do human space flight, that it's so special that it has to be government. we don't let the government do our health care. we don't let the government fly our airlines. so, the government isn't the only ones that can do human space flight. with all due respect to administrator griffin, the orion program, the aries program that he referenced, both of those got all the funding that they had expected and more under the previous administration. in the end, their costs were billions of dollars over cost and many years behind schedule. the augustine committee pointed out that they would require a

the augustine committee also said there is little doubt that the u.s.pace industry from historical builders to the new entrance has the technical capability to build and operate new equipment. they believe that they have the capability to do this by as early as 2016. nasa itself has been mulling this idea for some time, believe it or not. in fact, i was personally involved in working the concept of commercial operation of our space transportation system as far back as my early days as a fledgling passed on in the early 1980's. it is not a new idea but rather an idea whose time has come. the future is unfolding before us now. it could not be more exciting. with low-cost and safe transport to space, more people will be able to have the transformative experience with which i have been blessed. kids will be able to realistically envision a career that involves space either going there were using it. as more of us travel into space, more will look back on our home planet with a special perspective that only space travel can provide. we'll expend the global b

the augustine committee also said there is little doubt that the u.s.rospace industry from historic for historical builders to the new engines has the technical capability to build and operate a crew taxing and they believe us to be that they have the capability to do this by as early as 2016. nasa itself has been mulling this idea for some time, believe it or not. in fact, i was personally involved in work in the concept of commercial operation of our space transportation system as far back as my early days as a pledging astronaut in the early 80's. so it's not a new idea, but rather an idea whose time has come. the future is unfolding before us now and it couldn't be more exciting. with low-cost and safe safe transport to space, more people will be able to have a transformative experience with which i've been blessed. kids will be able to realistically envision a career that involves space, either going there or using it. as more of us travel into space, more will look back on our home planet with a special perspective that only space travel can provi

the augustine committee also said there's little doubt that the u.s. aerospace industry, from historic -- from historical builders to the new entrants, has the technical capability to build and operate a crew taxi to low earth orbit. and they believe, as do we, that they have the capability to do this by as early as 2016. nasa itself has been mulling this idea for some time, believe it or not. in fact, i was personally involved in working the concept of commercial operation of our space transportation system as far back as my early days as an astronaut in the early '80s. so it's not a new idea, but rather, an idea whose time has come. the future is unfolding before us now. and it couldn't be more exciting. with low-cost and safe transport to space, more people will be able to have a transformative experience with which i have been blessed. kids will be able to realistically envision a career that involves space, either going there, or using it. as more of us travel into space, more will look back on our home planet with a special perspective that only

the augustine committee also said there's little doubt that the u.s.

i'm an undergraduate student at saint augustine's college in raleigh north kaleida. good as you, congresswoman clayton. my question was inspired by something that congressman derrick said early. do you still feel that currently a lot of white politicians are still afraid or still are frightened that something will be said or done to their political career if they step outside of their comfort zone? and work with african-american leaders are just minority leaders in the community? >> yes, i do. but not near as much as they did 20, 30, 40 years ago. and i think that has been the bottom line of the great contribution of stealth politics has made. and of course, they have created situations themselves because it takes a great talent to balance these things. but the basic answer to your question is, yes, i think so. but not near what it was. >> thank you. >> i think that's what keeps -- anyway. >> good hitting. i'm also an undergraduate at memphis university. and i have a question and a comment as well. ms. eva, you talk about inclusiveness. i guess we all know what affec

ron augustine should know.and his colleagues at the maintenance shed spend the evening preparing their plows for another wave of winter and another night of work. >> it's pretty much sometimes you get 10, 12-hour shifts, never get behind the wheel. we have to keep the interstate open. >> reporter: preparation was also under way for what another storm might mean. >> it's good for me, i get an extra day off, three days in a row. >> live and in hd. this is abc 7 news at 11:00. on your side. >> the snow has arrived and it's getting heavier. and the winds are kicking up too big-time. this is 395 near washington boulevard around 27th. you see there it looks like police are going to close off part of that road there. >> we want to get with john gonzales in the area expected to receive the most snow, and that is maryland. >> reporter: caroline, there was so much residue on the ground before the snow even started tonight, this snow is sticking quicker and earlier than it did last week. the third major storm this winter

augustine college in raleigh north carolina. good to see you, congressman clafin. my question is inspired by something that congressman derrick said earlier. do you still feel that currently a lot of white politicians are still afraid or still are frightened that something will be said or done to their political career if they stood outside of the comfort zone and work with african-american leaders largest minority leaders in the community? >> yes i do but not nearly as much as they did 20, 30, 40 years ago, and i think that has been the bottom line as the great contribution of stealth politics has made and of course they've created the situation themselves because it takes a great talent to balance these things. the basic answer to your question is yes i think so, but not to mirror what it was. thank you. >> good morning. i'm also an undergraduate at memphis the university of memphis. and i have a question and comment as well. miss eva clayton, you talked about inclusiveness. i guess we all know this would affect one affects the other indirectly so having these ty

the study panel's co-chairman, norm augustine, former c.e.o.f lockheed martin, voiced a similar warning he said in a technology driven economy in which we live, americans have come to accept leadership as the natural and enduring state of affairs but leadership is highly perishable. it must be constantly reearned. in the 16th century, citizens of spain thought they would remain the world leader. in the 17th century, it was france. in the 19th century grearkt britain. in the 20th century, it was the united states. unless we do something dramatically different in our research and investments in education, the 21st century will belong to china and india. george wills' column in "the washington post" echos the theme of china's ascent. we sites a nobel prize winning economist who predicts china's g.d.p. will be three times the entire world economic output of 2000. china's share will almost triple that of the united states, 14%. despite these alarm bells, the senate failed to approve the amendment. the vote was close. a majority was onboard but the f

the president pointed out the country was once again suffering economically and he quoted saint augustine -- pray as if everything depended on god and work as if everything depended on you. the president, after his address, comes back to washington to the white house and gets back to work on the economy with a meeting with house and senate leaders, democratic house and senate leaders. they'll focus on the 2010 legislative agenda. the focus of which is jobs. it is, in fact, the first meeting with democratic leaders here in the white house in this new year that has been focused on health care reform. >> gretchen: and as we said, we will wait for the president to speak and bring that to you live. >> gretchen: might be interesting to see what tim tebow has to say. 26 minutes before the top of the hour. another fox news alert. the pandas are on the move. he's leaving the national zoo on his own. he's escaped. >> steve: he has not escaped. he's in a box and going back home. >> brian: you're looking live at a picture where he's been loaded onto a truck. he'll go back to where he belongs. the pan

norm augustine said the area is not punished by success and i think he could talk specifically about fixed-price development as the poster child. finally, if we understand that we had a workforce of a land acquisition system that can support how the department by its goods and services and we are using the right techniques to do that then we have to look at a set of potentially conflicting policies and priorities that have been addressed and jeff mentioned some of them and bring it mentioned some of them but i think the department, the qdr doesn't really talk about how to balance some very significant challenging priorities and policies from competition to the role of organizational conflict. how do we handle job retention and predation particularly the technology level with issues about by america particularly in the contingency contract is a there is a whole list of policy issues that i think are touched upon because of the strategies in the qdr but certainly not resolved i think that gives brett and his colleagues in the department plenty of opportunity for more work. i am hopeful

amount is only half what was recommended by the obama-appointed blue ribbon panel called the norman augustine commission looking on the future of human space flight, only half. but it is substantial, and so we should note that, that that is a step in the right direction. the obama administration has also recommended substantial increase in research and development and particularly with regard to a heavy lift vehicle that will change nasa's mission from just going to and from low earth orbit where we have done all our work in the last three decades with the space shuttle to and from low earth orbit, either to the space station or certain projects such as the hubble space telescope which has been miraculous and the refurbishing missions that have kept that space telescope alive and has just opened up our understanding and knowledge of the heavens and is peering back into the beginning of time. that has been extraordinary, but the president has said let's get out of low earth orbit and let's go out and explore the heavens. now, that's all a good thing, but here's where the president in his rollo