glenn: conyers was on to something.knew something was wrong, going on within acorn and within his own chamber. he should have stuck to his gut, but he didn't. a month and a half later on may 4, when asked if he still would push for an investigation, the committee chair told another news network, quote "based on my review of the information regarding the complaints against acorn, i have concluded that a hearing on this matter appears unwarranted at this time." "unwarranted"? hours before that statement came out, acorn as an organization, along with two staffers were charged in nevada with 26 counts of voter edge voter registration fraud along with 13 counts for using acorn van vazzers using -- acorn canvassers using a fraudulent system. acorn may have been pressured by nadler to back off after that hearing march 19. nadler is a huge acorn supporter. he is one of the worker families parties. o nadler represents a district in brooklyn, new york, where both the working families party and acorn at their headquarters and thos

conyers: that's a relationship. that's what makes it so can i have -- difficult for us to come to a conclusion and to do something about this. notwithstanding the great intellect of the president and his determination to correct this situation. they are people that put profits before health care. i'm sorry that's the case, but that's what it comes down to. mr. ellison: if the gentleman would yield back. i just want to say in this last five minutes that we are here tonight, with this progressive hour, that the goal and the purpose and the sole of our efforts to -- soul of our efforts to reform health care should focus on the word care. health care. we should act like we care. in the beginning of this hour, mr. speaker, congressman conyers, i shared stories about people from my district. i know you could have done the same thing. you get letters. the president gets letters. we all get letters. care should be be what drives us. i believe that you, mr. conyers, have worked so hard and done so much to get -- to start wit

you just heard representative conyers. this is more time than we had to talk about the cap and trade bill, which was amended 3:00 in the morning the day they brought that national energy tax to the floor of the congress, the same thing with the stimulus bill, rust through congress. there is some talk on capitol hill that we may have a reprieve be a and there are rumors that the democratic majority actually delay consideration of this bill until after the august recess -- that we may have a reprieve. there are rumors that the democratic majority may actually delay consideration of this bill. this would be on behalf of the american taxpayers, but the american people deserve time to read this. every member of congress should sign that let freedom ring pledge, commit to read this bill before they sign it, given the magnitude of what this would mean to our health-care economy and to every american. greta: i do not know about other americans, but i feel a little bit had hit somebody does not want to read something so important a

congressman conyers is the second longest serving house member. before winning his seat he served as an aide to the longest serving congressman, john dingell, also of michigan. that means, by the way, he has been reelected 22 times. [applause] along the wear, there have been great achievements an great controversies. among this claims to fame, he is a founding member of the congressional black caucus, an original enemy on president nixon's enemies list. [applause] and he introduced a bill in congress to make tar martin luther king, jr. day a national holiday. [applause] congressman conyers now chairs the powerful house judiciary committee where he has been an outspoken critic of president bush's policies regarding interrogation of terrorism suspects an warrantless wiretapping. he hasn't hesitated to use his committee's power to pursue investigations into those policies. he is also front and center in the national health insurance debate as a long-time advocate of the single payer system in which the government would provide healthcare to every ame

. >> now, an event with john conyers. he discusses health reform and the incident with henry louis gates. >> for more information, please visit our web site. on behalf of our 3500 members worldwide, i would like to welcome our speaker and our guests and those of you who are watching on c-span. the of looking forward to today's speech and afterwards we will ask questions. please hold your applause so we have time for as many questions as possible. for our broadcast audience, if you hear applause, it might be from the guests and members of the general public and not necessarily from the working press. i like to introduce our guest and ask them to stand briefly . larry distanbevins, dr. patricia burg, dick bryan, dale digail dixon, parry applebaum, angela keene. we have bob wiener. marcy ia dyson, barbara reynolds, deb price, irv chap man. [applause] jack anderson once called our guest today a junkyard dog investigator watching out for taxpayer wallace by rooting out fraud, waste and abuse. surely, there has been a shortage

we need representative john conyers to tell us why. he makes sense of it all. now. action. we have got a sound bite of john conyers. >> i love these members that get up and say read the bill what good is reading the bill if it's a thousand pages and you don't have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you have read the bill. steve: do you have two lawyers. brian: two lawyers and two days, whatever you need. steve: take two days. take all week. and get your lawyers, your staff lawyers and go through it line by line so everybody knows what is in the bill. we had carol browner on this program. she came on the show live from the white house. to talk about how cap and trade would work. i asked her a very simple question about it. after all, she was the lead pitch person. listen. steve: carol, before you go, i know the bill is over 1,000 pages long. have you read it? >> oh, i'm very familiar with this bill. we have. steve: you have read it? >> we have been watching this for a very long time. steve: i'm sure you have an idea of it but have you read it? >

conyers that if mr. conyers would be open to a little colloquy i would make the point to mr. conyers that today, today the government reform committee released a report on acorn. and i have read the executive report on acorn and from my perspective, if the 82 pages of report that's released support the statements made in that executive summary, it has -- it is earthshaking for me to read all the implications of that. so i know that you've had some real interest in looking into acorn to examine the propriety of the operations they have, the very breadth of all the corporations that are affiliated and i would just inquire if the gentleman's had an opportunity to read the executive summary of the government reform report at this point? mr. conyers: if the gentleman will yield, i haven't read it yet. but i will be reviewing it tomorrow and i'll be prepared to discuss this with him next week. mr. king: and reclaiming my time, i thank the gentleman for that commitment and i look forward to having that dialogue. it's something, you know, i've been very concerned about for many month

sean: congressman john conyers isn't doing his homework. and a soldier demands an apology from one democratic senator. anti-obama protesters take to the streets in israel. all that plus the great "great american panel." we are three days from the house's august recess abandon eight days from the senate's summer break so the clock is ticking and democrats have yet to produce the health care bill the president has demanded so they are doing what all responsible adults would do, making excuses. shifting the blame. nancy pelosi is blaming insurance companies for her failure to get a health care bill through the house. apparently house majority whip clikeurn didn't get the memorandum om because he's blaming it all on republicans. according to clyburn, republicans have perfected "just say no." that's interesting because democrats enjoy such a powerful majority in congress right now that they don't need the republicans to pass this bill. the truth is, it's democrats themselves who are holding up this mess of a bill. they are the seven blue dog dem

monica conyers' plea of guilty raises questions about what representative conyers knew.resentative john conyers, currently the chairman of the house judiciary committee. matt lewis, your response. guest: i think there is no attempt to cover up any of this. but what is happening is unbelievable amounts of news coming out we have health care, cap and trade, mark sanford, his career. sara palin. this has been quite an interesting time. so i do hope that the callers  recognize the incredible amount of news taking place. and now we have president obama traveling abroad. so some of the stuff may not be on page 1. host: is this the situation where the readers and the consumers of news are going to determine what they believe to be the lead stories as opposed to the editors and producers of mainstream news who put out the newspapers and television? guest: increasingly. and you're seeing broadcast and print channels now tapping into the huffington post and reporting increasingly. a decade ago it was less influential. but today, they're determining how the traditional press oper

>> let's listen to congressman john conyers. >> i love these memories. they get up and say, read the bill. >> what good is reading the bill if it's a thousand pages and you don't have two days, and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill. >> i mean, that's quite a statement to come from any one of our elected officials, but the chairman of the judiciary committee, my god. i mean, as you raised what he said, there, senator. the statistics in the senate are just about 95% of legislation there goes unread. and the american people are supposed to have confidence in a thousand pages as you just demonstrated, that, you know, i mean this is just a peculiar time to move forward legislation that apparently no one has read, many of the top congressional leaders both in the senate and house have no intention of reading. that's befuddling. >> look what happened with the stimulus package. a lot of extra amendments that came in late. capping tax bill. 300 pages dropped in at 3:00 in the morning. they had to vote that day. i'm interested to see wh

is john conyers overwhelmed with what is going on when he says "what difference does it make? can't read it in two days, so why don't i just sign it?" isn't that a a sign that the system is overwhelmed and doesn't work? well, why would you want to overwhelm the system? why would wade rathke say hey, there's a lot of benefits out here, and we just got to get everybody onboard for these benefits? why would you do that? it is called the chow ard and piven strategy. it is the cloward and piven strategy. this is important you understand what it is. here it is in a nutshell. >> the cloward and piven strategy, richard cloward and frances piven advance their strategy to end poverty in a may 2, 1966 article. chow ard piven starts with the idea that there is a wide gap between the entitlements that poor people are eligible for, and the entitlements that they are actually collecting. they say getting everybody on to the welfare rolls will wipe out poverty, and the only way to accomplish that is through a massive multi-city education campaign making heavy use of the media. so once aboard,

now democratic congressman john conyers from michigan, a state that is doing really well. made great selections in your politicians in michigan. anyway, he is the chairman of the house judiciary committee. he is not only admitting, but he is also making fun of those silly people who want them to read the bills. >> to get up and say read the bill! what good is reading the bill if it's a thousand pages and you don't have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill? glenn: am i being punk'd? i mean, these crazy people want to you do your job. i know, i wouldn't want to hang out with lawyers, but aren't you a lawyer? i'm pretty sure you are. i may be talking about congressman conyers right now, but let me tell you, i've got a message for all politicians for both parties, soon, the only thing you will be read something the want ads after you're all voted out of office. some of you might be reading the paper from prison. congressman con quers, however, isn't the only one complaining about the length and complexity of these bills, oh, what are we go

we are talking about the wife of michigan congressman john conyers. the paper's general manager is with us. i saw an article about this big, this wide in one of the major newspaper. no pictures or big headlines but this is an important story but what did she do? >> she is the wife of one of the most powerful congressmen on captiol hill. she pled guilty to bribery for accepting $6,000 for her vote on a contract on a sludge contract an she sold her vote. the evidence was so overwhelming she agreed to plead guilty and do a plea deal and now she is facing up to five years of prison time. in fact, again, the wife of a senior congressman in congress been there 40-plus years, chair of the judiciary committee and some folks sort of glance it by and let it pass by. not good. >> reporter: what we have been seeing this summer is the wife stoically standing beside her husband who's caught up in a scandal. did we have any pictures of john conyers standing bimy monica's side. >> he has been mute on the subject. we in fact tried to contact his office and get a comme

>> i hope i's the former, but i ar it's the latter committeemen -- the chrman john conyers h shown an admirable fidelity to truthnd accountability a ihinke's been pursuing th sort of quietly t zealously in a way that i hope bears some fruit. but the fact of theatter is, we're going to actually open up the books and open u the chatters in e last eight years of what happened in this cotry, particularly around secrecy, around the sorof masance, the department of stice, what happened to the national securitstate, intelligence, all that needs to be - there has to be broad politil constituency forthat. and th not what i see right now. particularly not in washington and certainlnot among democratic leadersh. >> and that goes to the point of what we began this ns hour with, with the beaking news about the cia report. d there's a back and forth he about what le panetta said in a private brfing about which no one will tll us wha it's about. anthe six membersf this committee y they were told that, yes,why, we at the cia, we misled you and panetta says, no, i didn't saymisled, i said, we just smp

and john conyers deserveall the credit in the world, bute isind of a lone warrior in this enterprise. and unlesshere's a broader nsensus politically, i don't thwe're going to get a whole lot out of this. >> and if you studied the history of the cia, yocan see that at least frank church's forts brought the country ten years, maybe 15 years worth of relativeonesty out of an organization that had never be asked to provide a of that. back to ve here. cast ourories back there, e real motivation, the dn the road payoff for th republicans, if thwhole plan would have worked, if rove's plan would have worked was wt? >> well, the most dip taupic vision would have been one tha the inndence of the partment of justice would have beenomplety compromised, in which the mechanism of the adnistration of the prosecutoriafunction of the american government uld be brought holey within the purview of theresident of the united states andis staff and they would decide on a wh who to property and when. and th would be utterly, utterly un-american and corrosive to our entire system of justice. at a more sort o

many apologies for congressman conyers. thank you very much. >> can we just take a couple more questions? >> no. >> really, really? >> no. really. [applause] >> so what? i got to go. cheer clear. >> narchg you all very much. forgive me for doing. this maybe i'll come on again and have more time. [applause] . >> my apologies. we are rending early. i will make a few announcements about our future speakers on july 27, which is monday, congressman barney frank, a democrat from massachusetts an chairman of the house financial services committee will join us^ . on july 29, senator john kerry of massachusetts, an chairman of the senate committee on foreign relations will join us, and coming up in the fall on september 29, ken burns, the documentary filmmaker will be here to talk about his newest documentary. also on september 12, the national press club will host the 12th annual 5k run and auction benefitting the national press club scholarship fund for diversity in journalism. for more information, go to our website at www.press.

congressman conyers is the second longest serving house member. he served as an aide to the longest serving congressman john dingell, also of michigan. that means he has spent we elected 22 times. [applause] along the way, there have been great achievements and some great controversies. among his claims of fame he is a founding member of the congressional black caucus. he is an original enemy on president nixon's enemies list and he introduced the first bill in congress to make martin luther king day a national holiday. congressman conyers now chairs the powerful house judiciary committee where he has been an outspoken critic including terrorism, and has not hesitated to use the committee's power to pursue investigations. he is also frost and -- front and center in the health insurance debate, as a long-time advocate of the single payer system. we look forward to hearing his take on the health care bill. please join me in welcoming to the national press club congressman john conyers. [applause] >> thank you for a well-prepared introduction. you de

committeemen -- the chrman john conyers has shown an admirable fility to truth and accountability and ihink he's beenursuing this sort of quietly but zealsly in a way that i hope bears someruit. but the fact othe matter is, we're going to actually open up the books and opeup the chatters in the stight years of what happened in this country, particularly arnd secrecy, arounthe sort of malfeasance, the department of justice, what happened to e national securitstate, inlligen, all that needs to be -- there has to be a broad political constituen f that. anthat's not what i see right now. particularly not in waington and certainly not among democratic leadership. >> and that goeso the point of what we began this news ho with, with the baking news about e cia report. and ere's a back and forth here about what leon panet said in a private briefingbo whicno one will tell us what it's about. and the six members of ts committee say theyere told that, yes, why, we at thcia, we misled yoand panetta says, no, i didn't say misd, i said, we just simply didn't brief u suffiently. anin exaly that nuan

fans at this theater and conyers, georgia, lined up early to get a seat. >> i didn't want to miss the the big screen. if i had a way to get there, believe me i would be there with michael jackson. >> reporter: the king of pop was also remembered in detroit. the home of motown. >> he is a kid. he is like a legend. >> reporter: nearly two weeks after jackson's death, his fans continued paying homage. >> absolutely unreal. the last thing like this was princess diana. >> reporter: to jackson's fans, the massive scale of this good-bye is just right. >> he was a super icon, you know. you cap get too big. he did everything big. i think that why not. why wouldn't his sendoff be big? >> we will have more on people here in the d.c. are are remembering michael jackson. coming up in our next half hour. >>> we have breaking news now. a southwest airlines flight from baltimore to providence has had to make an emergency landing. shortly after takeoff. this happened an hour ago. the authorities say the plane struck as many as 40 birds and as it was taking off from bwi. there were 137 passengers on th

monica conyers' plea of guilty raises questions about what representative conyers knew.resentative john conyers, currently the chairman of the house judiciary committee. matt lewis, your response. guest: i think there is no attempt to cover up any of this. but what is happening is unbelievable amounts of news coming out we have health care, cap and trade, mark sanford, his career. sara palin. this has been quite an interesting time. so i do hope that the callers  recognize the incredible amount of news taking place. and now we have president obama traveling abroad. so some of the stuff may not be on page 1. host: is this the situation where the readers and the consumers of news are going to determine what they believe to be the lead stories as opposed to the editors and producers of mainstream news who put out the newspapers and television? guest: increasingly. and you're seeing broadcast and print channels now tapping into the huffington post and reporting increasingly. a decade ago it was less influential. but today, they're determining how the traditional press oper

but we suggest you read it because, like senator conyers said, this thousand-page bill, it's hard to get through unless you have two lawyers to help. but you should really read this. we have it up on our blog. and it talks all about what will be covered in end-of-life coverage and what the government's involvement would be in making sure that your wishes are granted for end-of-life coverage. and various other specifics relating to the level of treatment. and that has a lot of people scared about the government's being involved in this kind of stuff. by the way, the bill has the backing of the aarp and the consumers' union, among others. >> say to people, i've got health care. this is not for me. here in north carolina, you know this isn't about politics. this is about people's lives. >> and speaking of health care, he is speaking about it everywhere he can, the president sounding more like he's in a stump speech than a town hall on health care reform. that's in north carolina. more on that in a moment. so what do you think? i think i'll go with the basic package. good choice. only me

. >> when john conyers says that they cannot understand the bill, then you have a problem. greta: thank you. here it is a look at what's coming up on the o'reilly factor. >>bill: we will analyze the beer fest. greta: next up, president obama, he served beer but will he now have to order up some coffee for have to order up some coffee for his next summit i drove my first car from my parent's home in the north of england to my new job at the refinery in the south. i'll never forget. it used one tank of petrol 5% lower emissions than in 1970. exxonmobil is working to improve cars, liners of tires, plastics which are lighter and advanced hydrogen technologies that could increase fuel efficiency by up to 80%. you all want to run your businesses more efficiently, so we've brought in a team of experts to help. one suggestion is to make your shipping more efficient with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. call or go online for a free supply and up to $160 in offers from authorized postage vendors. shipping's a hassle! weighing every box... actually, with flat rat

. >> when john conyers says that they cannot understand the bill, then you have a problem.ta: thank you. here it is a look at what's coming up on the o'reilly factor. >>bill: we will analyze the beer fest. greta: next up, president obama, he served beer but will he now have to order up some coffee for his next summit? you will see why coming up. i drove my first car from my parent's home in the north of england to my new job at the refinery in the south. i'll never forget. it used one tank of petrol and i had to refill it twice with oil. a new car today has 95% lower emissions than in 1970. exxonmobil is working to improve cars, liners of tires, plastics which are lighter and advanced hydrogen technologies that could increase fuel efficiency by up to 80%. finally, good news for people with type 2 diabetes or at risk for diabetes. introducing new nutrisystem d, the clinically tested program for losing weight and reducing blood sugar. hi i'm mike, and i lost 100 pounds on nutrisystem d when i was first diagnosed with diabetes, that first step was more like a giant leap. till

michael steele is next. cp greta: congressman conyers, are you listening to the president? complained the bill was too long and too complicated. >> i love those that get up and say, "read the bill." what good is rebuilt if it is 1000 pages, and you do not have two days and two more years to find out what it means after you have read the bill? greta: but now, president obama is saying no. reassuring people that there is time to rebuild. >> this a bill, even in the best-case scenario, it will not be signed. we will not even vote on it probably until the end of september or the middle of october. we are just trying to get all of these different bills out of committee, so that means that anyone of the senators, if they want to take this bill, with them during august recess, they would have more than enough time to read it. i just got everyone to know that congress will have time to read the bill. they will have time to debate the bill. they will have all of august to review the various legislative proposals. when we come back in september, i will be available to answer any ques

what good reading the bill, conyers said recently, if it is 1,000 pages and you don't have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means? in washington, james rosen, fox news. bret: another nagging issue that won't go away for the president is the belief by some that hes was not born in the u.s. and is not eligible to be commander in chief. it is become an internet movement of people who believe the certification of live birth document posted on the internet by the obama campaign is either a fraud or not a valid confirmation that barack obama was born in hawaii. the white house points to obama birth announcements from hawaiian newspapers in 1961. well, the issue came up again today in the daily briefing. >> if i had some d.n.a. it wouldn't assuage those who didn't believe he was born here. i have news for them and all of us. the president was born in honolulu, hawaii, the 50th state of the greatest country on the face of the earth. he is a citizen. >> the former president of honduras says he is at the border and not going anywhere. the pentagon's top man is going p plenty ofew tric

wolf has also called on john conyers to hold a hearing on the matter wrietsding that inaction by the justice dmenting merits congressional attention but a justice department spokeswoman says career officials do not require an explanation. >> and harry reid's son is announcing his run for governorship in nevada in the coming weeks, and one county democratic chairman says, quote, it is a very unfortunate thing for rory, that his father is running for re-election at the same time that he is running for governor. senator reid's popularity in the state has really taken a hit. rory is going to be painted with the same brush. in a may poll by the las vegas review journal, 35% of neff neff people said they would reelect senator reid and 17% would consider another candidate while 45% said they would vote to replace him. homeless alcoholics are said to be costing new york taxpayers millions of dollars every year. "the new york post" reports that dozens of homeless people fake illnesses and call 911 on a regular basis to get free food and shelter. one chronic caller says he pulls the stunt 45 t

doubt if the you are a great american and there is not a lot of men in the congress like you and john conyers you can really expand and speetwo issues in a clear voice. my question, i think said democratic platform for the new century is obviously healthcare, we have to reduce the cost of energy for green jobs, but i wonder if you can clearly for all republican listeners out there you are one of the few men, i can you please explain how healthcare, energy, education is the right formula to bring this economy around and position america much better for the future? thank you. >> guest: people say where redoing these big things when we're faced with a historical recession or depression and our economy? shouldn't we wait? one obama has said and i agree completely this is the time we need legislation and these areas. people are losing their jobs in record numbers. and as they lose their jobs they lose health care coverage. while we have 46 million uninsured we're probably closer at 50 million. there is a real problem when we have healthcare tied to employment and a lot of people work hard and don'

john conyers, as chairman of the judiciary committee, saying that he couldn't understand why anyone would bother. we're delighted that you did and compliment and commend you. >> thank you. >> but let me ask you this. the issue of -- and you raised this, congressman nadler, the lies and distortion here. definitively, what will the bill cost and what will it actually save? we've heard the president's numbers. we've heard the congressional budget office represent quite a different perspective. >> first of all, the congressional budget office was commenting on an earlier version of the bill. the comment on the later version of the bill with the public option was much better. the bill is entirely paid for, with the exception that in the bill is a postponement or -- not a postponement, a cancellation of a reduction in fees to physicians, which we will do with or without the bill. that will cost about $245 billion over ten years with or without the bill. the bill itself is entirely -- >> gentleman, i'll have to say, congressman nadler, thank you so much. congressman shadegg, thank you so much. a

let me say on that only you are a great american cannot many men in congress like you and john conyers who can really speak to issues in a clear voice. my question, congressman, is that i think the democratic platform for the new century is obviously health care. we have to reduce the cost of energy -- grain jobs and education. i'm wondering if you can clearly for all of the republican listeners, you are one of the very few men who can do this very well, please explain how health care, energy, and education is the right formula to bring this economy around and position america much better for the future. thank you, congressman. guest: a lot of people are saying why are we doing this -- these big things when we are faced with historical recession, maybe depression, in the economy. shouldn't we wait? and what president obama has said -- and i agree completely -- this is the time we need legislation in both of those areas. people are losing their jobs and record numbers. as they lose their jobs, they lose their health care coverage. so, while we have 46 million uninsured, we are probably

>> if he would listen, the chairman of the hearings, and john conyerjohn conyers.e has said, however, that there would not be an investigation. if the pressure gets turned up, the american people will have to demand that their tax dollars are not used for corruption or fraud. this undermines the constitution. if we lose credibility of our collection process, we turn into a banana republic. they are using funds to corrupt the election process. they have admitted to a fraudulent election forms, but they say that it did not necessarily transformed into votees. s. what else when they say it? megyn: they say this is a recycled, repackaged attack drug on their group. most of -- attack on their group. most of these figures are from 1994. thank you for being our guest. >> by the way, non-partisan committee report. non-partisan committee report. bill: ups says second quarter profits plunged 49%. the company making $445 million compared to last year of $833 million. the global downturn is taking its toll. this is also a bellwether of u.s. commerce and trade, a strong measure

gretchen: i can't believe there has been been a call against conyers for saying that comment.e he said look, what's the big deal? i'm not going to read that thousand page thing. isn't that your job? hopefully he will get a lot of phone calls and all the other members of congress who have not read this bill will get a lot of calls from congress on recess. steve: none of them read this stuff. brian: no writes it? steve: exactly right. does any one person know from start to finish what's in it. probably not. this stuff is all glom together made like sausage by the staff. one pager. hey, boss, here is the very latest. public option, out. also, the health care requirement for small business no longer 250. now at a half a million. that means this. so they brief them on their own bill. gretchen: something of this magnitude. they should maybe take a long weekend and go through the thousand pages. let us knows know what you think about that this is what some democratic members of congress think about the blue dog proposed bill. >> what i see is bad for the country, it's going to add to

on july 24th, congressman john conyers, democrat from michigan and chair of the house judiciary committeepeak during a luncheon. on july 27th, congressman barney frank, a democrat from massachusetts and chairman of the house financial services committee, will be here, and on july 29th, senator john kerry, democrat from massachusetts and chairman of the senate committee on foreign relations, will speak at a luncheon. i would like to present our guests with the coveted and pc mug. [applause] and we have time for two questions. give us a little bit of a day in the life of a disaster volunteers since you experience that last year. the you have to be retired or unemployed to be able to travel on a moment's notice? does this sort of thing? >> today in the life, first of all, is remarkably physically demanding. i will describe my particular day. we first went to a very large, empty parking lot where there were occasions that capable of making 45,000 meals a day, if you can believe that. these were industrial grade kitchens and people were standing there cooking in absolute blistering heat, takin

hoping congress was going to dive into that the chairman of the house judiciary committee chairman conyersgoing to do it then came back and said the powers that be decided they weren't going to do that >> who is that? >> i don't know. you had michelle book man insert an amendment into a bill saying if they wouldn't be able to get certain funding. then barney frank said we made a mistake now we have to take it out. congress not looking at it on the republican side of the aisle the government oversight and reform will continue to dive into this and we'll continue to call upon justice and the census department to do the right thing. >> congressman i have to go, thanks for talking to us about it today. worth telling people -- we are telling people too to take a look and we'll check back with you to see if anything is done in terms of an investigation, thanks so much. >>> this next story, a lot of people save their wedding cake to eat on their one year anniversary. but this cake is 40-years-old. we'll explain why one man saved it for so long, next. summerville and you didn't think the day could

and on july 24, representative john conyers and democrat from michigan will address also the press club at luncheon, at a luncheon. also at a luncheon. and also, i would like to give you our national press club mug. but you're not quite off the hook, so here we go. the last 10 years -- we like to make sure you don't run. the last 10 years cbo scoring for the iraq war was to .4 billion, twice the initial ten-year scoring for health care reform. argue similarly worried with the costs of the war? if so, why aren't you expressing those concerns now? >> well, the cost of the war like the cost of everything else certainly is of great concern to the american people as it is i'm sure to the administration. but i think in a real sense the costs of health care is something that is up close and right here, something that people touch. it's something people have to deal with in a real way. when they go to get their medicines, when they go to get health services. they are either paying or they are seeing what that cost is in a real way. i think that it doesn't, doesn't take away from the fact that t

on july 24th, representative john conyers, a democrat from michigan will address the press club at luncheon. also, i would like to give you our national press club mud. the last -- the last 10 years the cbo scoring for direct war was -- are you worried with the cost of the war? why are you expecting those concerns yet? >> the cost of the war like the cost of everything else is of great concern to the american people, as i am sure it is to the administration. in a real sense, the cost of health care is something that is up close and right here, something that people touch and have to deal with in a real way when they go to get their medicines, health services. they are either paying for seeing what the cost is in every way. it doesn't take away from the fact that engaging militarily is a cost like all other cost. when you are looking at the entire cost of health care, as a proportion of our gdp, i know in the state of maryland health care was 40% of our budget. 30% of the budget which education. 78% of our budget was tied up into two things. with your talking at a micro level or a macro leve

on july 24, congressman john conyers, democrat from michigan and chair of the house judiciary committee will speak during a luncheon. on july 27, congressman barney frank, democrat from massachusetts and chairman of the house financial services committee will be here. and on july 29, senator john kerry democrat from massachusetts and chairman of the senate committee on foreign relations will speak at a luncheon. second, i like to present our guest with the coveted npc mug. >> this is coveted, donna, thank you so much. [applause] >> we have time for two questions. first of all, give us a little bit of a day in the life of the disaster volunteers. do you have to be retired or unemployed to travel on a moment's notice? who does this sort of thing? >> a day in the life, first of all, is remarkably physically demanding. i will describe my particular day. we first went to a very large, empty parking lot where there were kitchens capable of making 45,000 meals per day, if you can believe that. these were industrial-grade kitchens, and people were standing there cooking in blistering heat, taki

according to john conyers, this was part of their probe into the firing of nine u.s.rneys during the bush administration. finally, "the hill" reports that the district may and a bike sharing program. the chief administrative office spent $23,000 to lease and maintain 30 bicycles beginning last july. eight months later, they had been used by less than 3% of the house staff. host: senator ben cardin, democrat of maryland, is a member of the judiciary committee, and will be questioning sonia sotomayor when they begin the confirmation hearings. you wrote about your meeting with the judge. tell us about the meeting, and what did you ask her specifically? guest: i was impressed with her frankness, telling me about her background, how she reaches decisions. she is an impressive nominee with a strong background as a prosecutor, trial court, appellate court judge. i asked her about her passions about the constitution, her impression of the constitution as it relates to women's issues, consumer issues, and then i asked her about pro bono issues. making sure that we have acces

on july 24, congressman john conyers, chair of the house judiciary committee will be here.nd, i would like to present our guest with the national press club mud. -- mug. >> thank you. [applause] >> i would like to thank you all for coming today and i would also like to thank the press club staff members for organizing today's lunch and also, thank you to the library for its research. the video archive for today's luncheon is provided by the national press club of broadcast operations center. our events are available for free look down load on itunes as well as our website. non-members may purchase transcript by calling 202-662- 7598 or by e-mail and archives@ press.org. and for our last question, what is your feeling about the prospects of america and the next three years regarding resolutions and problems by you have discussed today -- in the next 30 years regarding resolutions and problems to have discussed today? >> i am hopeful and positive that we will continue attending that arc of justice -- bending that are of justice to the pot of gold that is in. i am positive tha

john conyers and has a bill and michael moore has pushed it with just high of 100 sponsors but not the votes to pass. it could cost some votes, because some in congress will accept a compromise bill, but some on the left will not and vote against it. one of the more vulnerable in congress is congressman eric masek, who was elected last cycle. he has been a big proponent of single-payer and is making indications that he may now vote for the final bill. host: from sacramento, california. caller: good morning. my question for your guest is -- first of all, i think republicans and democrats have shown time and time again that they will sell out the american people for campaign contributions. they will do the same thing for the health care industry. the question i have for your guest is, is the position being taken by senators and congressmen in terms of the disapproval with elements of the plan -- isn't that more of a ruse, more closely tied to how much money they get from this industry with regard to the campaign funds? . . they need to get some support whether the a.m.a., aarp. if you do

and on july 24, representative john conyers and democrat from michigan will address also the press club at luncheon, at a luncheon. also at a luncheon. and also, i would like to give you our national press club mug. but you're not quite off the hook, so here we go. the last 10 years -- we like to make sure you don't run. the last 10 years cbo scoring for the iraq war was to .4 billion, twice the initial ten-year scoring for health care reform. argue similarly worried with the costs of the war? if so, why aren't you expressing those concerns now? >> well, the cost of the war like the cost of everything else certainly is of great concern to the american people as it is i'm sure to the administration. but i think in a real sense the costs of health care is something that is up close and right here, something that people touch. it's something people have to deal with in a real way. when they go to get their medicines, when they go to get health services. they are either paying or they are seeing what that cost is in a real way. i think that it doesn't, doesn't take away from the fact that t

let me say on that only you are a great american cannot many men in congress like you and john conyersho can really speak to issues in a clear voice. my question, congressman, is that i think the democratic platform for the new century is obviously health care. we have to reduce the cost of energy -- grain jobs and education. i'm wondering if you can clearly for all of the republican listeners, you are one of the very few men who can do this very well, please explain how health care, energy, and education is the right formula to bring this economy around and position america much better for the future. thank you, congressman. guest: a lot of people are saying why are we doing this -- these big things when we are faced with historical recession, maybe depression, in the economy. shouldn't we wait? and what president obama has said -- and i agree completely -- this is the time we need legislation in both of those areas. people are losing their jobs and record numbers. as they lose their jobs, they lose their health care coverage. so, while we have 46 million uninsured, we are probably cl

let me say on that only you are a great american cannot many men in congress like you and john conyerslly speak to issues in a clear voice. my question, congressman, is that i think the democratic platform for the new century is obviously health care. we have to reduce the cost of energy -- grain jobs and education. i'm wondering if you can clearly for all of the republican listeners, you are one of the very few men who can do this very well, please explain how health care, energy, and education is the right formula to bring this economy around and position economy around and position america guest: a lot of people say, why are we doing these big things when are -- we are faced with the historical recession and may be depression in the economy? should we not wait? president obama has said that this is the time we need legislation in these areas. people are losing their jobs and record numbers. as they lose their jobs, they lose their health care coverage. we have 46 million uninsured, we are probably closer to 50 million. it is a real problem where we have health care tied to employmen

i heard conyers say he will not read this 1100-page bill. why should he? i also want to say that in this plan someone dug at the facts. my medicare premiums will go up between $200 -- i mean between $2,000.4000 hours per year. plus, it will be rationed. -- between $2,000 and $4,000 per year. guest: first of all, how will we pay for this plan? most estimates will be that there will be and $800 billion of new taxes. that translates into loss of jobs. it will be about 4.7 million jobs lost. higher taxes and the loss of jobs are things we do not want to see in this economy. but you are correct. this is a bill that is very broad in scope. we deserve the opportunity to examine all the details. it does not appear that it will be finalized and the house before the august recess. the august recess period will be a time for people like you and members of congress who are working on this will be able to examine what is in the legislation in greater detail. the conclusions that will be reached is that there should be serious changes in legislation before a final vote