thank you for the inside be the only get from this commander burda thank you. we look forward to doing this sometime down the road. >> thank you. >> the heritage foundation previews the trip to russia and looks at the state of u.s.- russia relations. later, we will bring you the president appearing at a town hall meeting in virginia where he will talk about his health care plan. you can watch live coverage beginning at 1:15 p.m. eastern. >> how is c-span funded? >> publicly funded. >> donations. >> the government. >> taxes. >> public funding, maybe, i don't know. >> how is c-span funded? >> 30 years ago, it was created as a public service by your cable companies. >> on tuesday, the state supreme court ruled al franken the winner against incumbent norm coleman. >> al franken onwon. the lower court decision from earlier this spring was correct. he had a 312 flow lead out of nearly 3 million cast. as a result, the ruling was decisive and it up held the sweeping ruling. coleman had little recourse but to concede. >> al franken spoke shortly after mr. kohl man conce

thank you for the inside be the only get from this commander burda thank you. we look forward to doing this sometime down the road. >> thank you. >> how c-span funded? >> donations? i have no idea. >> government? >> it gets its funding through the taxes. >> federal funding? >> policies been funded? 30 years ago, america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiative, no government mandates, no government money. >> the minnesota supreme court today unanimously ruled that democrat al franken won that state senate race. his opponent, and norm coleman, made a statement from his home in st. paul. we will follow his comments with senator elect frank and speaking to reporters in minneapolis. this is 30 minutes. >> my wife is in rome. she joined up with a group of folks from the cathedral of st. paul in february when we thought that this was long it decided. she is there praying. i am sure she is at peace with the decision. i decided conversation with al franken, congratulating him on his victory. i told him it is the best job that

to concerns about protecting individuals privacy as well as the state's inability to the element in burda some -- eight burdensome program. i want to share the information with every department. this effectively would create a national debt of base containing massive -- data base containing massive amounts of personal information. it became clear that it was simply not workable. some of the data systems do not yet exist, because so many states have balked at the high costs and privacy implications of creating such a system. if a real i.d. is implemented, these databases the provide one- stop shopping for identity peace. it becomes the back. for identity theives. we must act to fix real i .d. states cannot afford the $4 billion it would take to implement this for their over a dozen states have already reduced to comply and several more are behind them. there will only be a system for edification security, which means no real security at all. the bill i am proposing is 1261, providing for additional security in state edification act of 2009 -- state identification act of 2009. i worked clos

positive changes that we will succeed in our efforts to reduce the power of the smuggling cartels burda first, it teaches provides to give them a better resource capabilities to confront security issues it also has a unified chain of command overseeing and inspection responsibility. secondly, i have been impressed by the cooperation. it is embodied in a relationship that the director and assistant attorney general have forged in short order. this is particularly true on the initiative, the long-term vehicle for cooperation between u.s./mexican law enforcement agencies. it has been said that the challenge of our time is that the future is not what it used to be. when it comes to u.s./mexican relationships and the prospect for building on that cooperation, to deal with mexican criminal organizations, that is a good thing, a very good thing indeed. i did forward to exploring this matter further with you. thank you. >> thank you for your testimony. we now will move to the question and answer period. i have a broad question for you. are we winning the war against the mexican cartels? >the me

positive changes that we will succeed in our efforts to reduce the power of the smuggling cartels burda first, it teaches provides to give them a better resource capabilities to confront security issues it also has a unified chain of command overseeing and inspection responsibility. secondly, i have been impressed by the cooperation. it is embodied in a relationship that the director and assistant attorney general have forged in short order. this is particularly true on the initiative, the long-term vehicle for cooperation between u.s./mexican law enforcement agencies. it has been said that the challenge of our time is that the future is not what it used to be. when it comes to u.s./mexican relationships and the prospect for building on that cooperation, to deal with mexican criminal organizations, that is a good thing, a very good thing indeed. i did forward to exploring this matter further with you. thank you. >> thank you for your testimony. we now will move to the question and answer period. i have a broad question for you. are we winning the war against the mexican cartels? >the me

you may disagree with that, but i think is the right way to target a strong enforcement status burda in the overall law, i agree with you. i believe we ought to look at the full package. i cannot do that by myself. congress has to do that. when the president met with congressional leaders he said he would like to move something through by the end of this year or beginning of next year. i am heavily involved with those efforts as is your senator. we need to work together to really look at why bills have been passed in the past. we need many other things as well. i would very much respect your ideas in that regard. >> are right here, please. >> you began speaking about a developing rules against terrorism and fighting terrorism that are consistent with bodies. is there any problems with developing citizens to of the collective responsibility to report on one another? where is the balance between accepting people in your community and being a private attorney general? >> that is what i was saying earlier about being sensitive. that is where application can come in. what is something tha

both bills we have seen would do just that burda under -- would do just that. some would rise as high as roughly 45%. this means that in order to pay for health care reform, democrats would increase the tax rate on some small businesses to about 30% higher than the rate for big corporations. taxes would go up so much that the average combined federal and state tax rate for individuals would be about 52%. 52%, mr. president. let's consider that figure for a moment. in order to pay for health care proposal would not even address of the concerns americans have about access and cost, which might increase overall health- care costs, democrats in the house would raise the average top tax rate in the united states to about 52 is arm. -- 52%. the charge behind me was created by the heritage foundation and appeared last week in the of a " wall street journal, " it shows the bill would raise the top u.s. rate of but even france. of the 30 countries that it measures, only belgium, sweden, and denmark have higher rates. five u.s. states would have tax rates even higher tha

we have an agreement on the need to burda and insurance companies from denying coverage to americansa pre-existing medical conditions. we have an agreement on the health insurance exchange, a market place for people can compare prices and quality and choose the plan that best suits their needs. this is what health insurance reform will mean for the average american. it to me norcross, more choices, -- will mean lower crosses, more choices, and more accountability. you will not have the word bopping priced out of the market. you not have to worry about one illness leaving your family into financial ruin. americans will have coverage that finally has stability and security. american said do not have health insurance will finally have affordable options. the city areas where we agree right now. -- these are the areas where we agree right now. now we need to get over the finish line. part of this is figuring out how to pay for it. health insurance reform cannot add to our deficit over the next decade. i mean it. but me repeat, health insurance reform cannot add to our deficit over the ne