this is ronald cummings' attorney, terry shoemaker. a very well respected in that region of the country. terry, thank you for being with us. terry, you know, since the first time i met and spoke with ronald cummings i've believed him. it was a gut instinct. no, i never believed he hasn't done drugs. i never believed he had not sold drugs in his past, but his grief over his daughter missing, to me, was genuine. and after trying all those cases for all those years, believe me, i have not hung around with nuns and priests and virgins. all right? so somebody that did drugs, that's not my first time at the rodeo with being with a drug user or seller. >> yes. >> how is he responding to being behind bars? not just because the drug sales but because misty croslin won't talk about the night haleigh went missing? >> well, he's very confused right now as to what's going on with haleigh's case. you know, because he is behind bars, as you stated, you know, law enforcement isn't keeping him up to date on anything that's going on and he keeps wonderi

i remember when ronald cummings -- could you take down the fonts and the banners and all that? i want to see haleigh. i remember ronald cummings sitting watching this with tears in his eyes. weigh in, art harris. where do we go? >> well, nancy, you know, he has been so distraught publicly that, you know, he has been also ruled out. so you have to come back, it always comes back to misty. where they go from here, they're frustrated. >> everyone, it's time now for "cnn heroes." >> cnn hero ann malum. >> through decent humanity, kindness, and encouragement and giving people a second chance. >> two years ago ann malum was honored as a cnn hero for helping those who might otherwise be forgotten. the homeless. >> so we're going to go over there and fit you for shorts and fit you for a shirt. >> her back on my feet program inspires homeless men and women to change their own lives, sharing the benefits of running as well as providing job training skills. what started off as a small running club of 300 has expanded to more than 1,500 members with 17 teams running three times a week. spr

little haleigh's own father, ronald cummings, and babysitter turned stepmother misty croslin both handcuffed, arrested, booked. charges? drug trafficking. bombshell tonight. reports from behind bars croslin writes a letter detailing what she claims happened the night haleigh disappears. but who has the letter? and will it solve what happened to haleigh? this as croslin's brother and fellow inmate, tommy croslin, says he wants a polygraph. but he wants the test done privately, not by police. why? and tonight breaking news on sitter and stepmother misty croslin. >> i'm telling you, everybody in here is, like, famous. i woke up and she was gone. >> i come home from work and my child was not there. >> [ bleep ]. how could you let my daughter get stolen? >> meeting with the investigators has had an effect on her. and right now they are investigating a letter she has sent to a family member telling what she says she knows about that night with haleigh. >> bottom line you don't know where haleigh is? >> bottom line. they think i'm going to break. there's nothing to break me on. >> a letter has gone

joining us congressman elijah cummings. >> big deal in washington last week. what does the passage of this legislation say about the leadership of president obama and where he goes from here? >> it says that this is a true visionary leader and one that can get things done and get major things done. he was a man who was able to pull this health care reform bill off in 15 months. this has been something people have been trying to do for 100 years. that says a lot. >> what about pelosi and the partners in this? >> i've said it over and over again. without nancy pelosi, this could not have been done, without a question. she has probably a more difficult job in the sense of pulling people together in terms of the president. she is the one that has to get the most conservative members of our caucus together with the most liberal and then the ones in the senate. that is not an easy task. i applaud her. there is something else that she brings, and that is she brings passion, and she is probably one of the main movers and shakers behind this. i can't think of anybody m

. >> maryland congressman elijah cummings in an event to promote reading pledges tuesday to examine the spending habits of the census bureau in baltimore he would not comment on camera but he would follow-up on a crime and justice investigation into what appears to be excessive rental property in and around baltimore. >> no reason for the census bureau, or any federal government agency, to be in the most exclusive neighborhood and most expensive neighborhood in any city, especially baltimore. >> documents obtained through a freedom of information request revealed the census bureau is spending 460000 or $38,000 a month to rent office space at 250 president street, in the midst of the glitz and glamor of harbor east. >> does it appear taxpayers got a good deal? >> i would say that it does not look that way. >> the census bureau is paying three times the average asking rental rate in baltimore's business district. more expensive than the average rental rate in mid town manhattan. >> paying more than manhattan which has the most expensive office space in the world? you have to question the

. >>> it was about a year ago that ronald cummings and his ex-wife mystery croslin cummings made headlines over the disappearance of his little girl. she's still missing. today the couple had a court date on drug charges that are unrelated to the case of his missing daughter. but "in session's" jean casarez of our sister network trutv is all over this. >> misty croslin was in court today. she's been taken back to her jail cell now. this is so serious. misty croslin is facing eight different charges of drug trafficking. one is a 25-year mandatory minimum. but the real reason we all believe that police are so concerned about this case is that misty croslin was the last person to ever see little 5-year-old hailey cummings. it was undercover officers that in january videotaped alleged drug deals between misty croslin and ronald cummings. that's hailey's father. it's that video evidence that culminated in these felony counts but they are very serious. she remains behind bars. what we've learned from that hearing is that her attorney says that they are not yet ready for trial. so a pretrial hear

he graduated suma cum laude and went over to harvard, where he graduated magna cum laude. he clerked at the circuit court level and then for justice rehnquist before he became chief justice. from there to the administration of president reagan, where he was associate justice to the president, he was then deputy solicitor general to president george h. w. bush. he went into private practice with the firm of hogan and hartman in d.c., and practice their where he argued 39 cases before the supreme court of the united states. he specialized in that. president george

congressman cummings will examine in the spending habit of the bureau in the city.ouldn't comment on camera but did say he would follow-up into our investigation that shows the bureau paying three times the going rate for renting offices in baltimore city. >> there is no reason for the census bureau or any federal government agency to be in the most exclusive neighborhood, neighborhood, most expensive neighborhood in any city especially baltimore. the census bureau paying to rent office space in baltimore city than what is charged in mid town manhattan. we want you to join our watch and if you have a story about government waste and there is lots of it. call our hotline at this number on the screen. >>> in the age of e-mail and cell phones, people just aren't sending the old mail any more. head of the u.s. postal service says big changes are needed to cut costs. postal service needs 10 billion dollars in debt. post master general says cutting down to 5 day a week delivery could cut that number almost in half. >> i'm old school. i like the way they used to do it and

cummings, thank spearman >> thank you, mr. chairman.ciate being able to receive the wastewater infrastructure products under the american recovery and reinvestment act. under your leadership, mr. chairman, this committee has kept meticulous records of how recovery act funding has been extended. i applaud the diligence of our staff and compiling the data that's available to us today. you've ensure that we have remained focused on the goal of getting this money out of the door and flowing into the economy as quickly as possible, while also ensuring that funding recipients are fully accountable for every single dollar they expand. today's report shows that more than $48 billion of the more than $64 billion provided for transportation infrastructure under the e.u. recovery act is now obligated more than 18,500 projects. further, the $38 billion for the highway transit and wastewater projects that are the focus of today's hearing, eda% of the available funding has been put out to bid your work has begun on more than 12,500 projects, totaling

. >>> coming up at 1:00 p.m., james clyburn and e elijah cummings join andrea mitchell. >>> presidentma will meet with benjamin netanyahu at the white house tomorrow as the tension moupt mounts over the construction of the settlements. today, the european union con determined the attempt to keep building in the area. >>> some interesting stories to report. with lawmakers focusing on health care, demonstrators rallied in washington, hoping to draw attention to immigration overhaul. tens of thousands packed the national mall yesterday and president obama appeared in a video message. >>> a 16-year-old boy has been released to the custody of his parents after being arrested and charged for making racist comments over a speaker in a walmart in new jersey. he got on the pa system and announced quote, all black peop people, leave the store now, unquote. the manager apologized immediately. >>> the red river reached a crest of 19 feet over the flood stage. the level was not as high as anticipated. thousands of volunteers set up more than a million sandbags to help hold back the water. the mayo

congressman cummings engine african-americans. i am not sure any of us asked about hispanics. with regard to african-american unemployment, that rate is 15.8, so substantially higher than the overall number. for hispanics, 12.4%? >> yes. >> i think the percentages are always helpful, but sometimes the numbers are more telling. i forgot to ask about veterans number, the total number -- for those who served post 2001, do you have that number? >> the number of unemployed are 212,000 veterans overall. >> you do not know how many of those -- >> those are post 2001. >> 212,000 unemployed veterans in those who have served since 2001. >> correct. >> and in terms of the african- americans, we have talked about the african-american total and the hispanic total as opposed to just the percentage of unemployed. >> for african-americans, 2.8 million are unemployed. it is the same number for hispanic or a latino, 2.8 million. >> i think that is all i have for this round. >> i think we are looking for hopeful signs in these numbers. what we are not looking for is false hope, especially one th

little haleigh's own father, ronald cummings, and baby-sitter turned step mom, misty croslin, both handcuffed, arrested, booked. charges? drug trafficking. bombshell tonight. we obtain even more of those secretly recorded jailhouse tapes. hours of croslin yakking to mommy, daddy, granddaddy, grandma, to brother. it's all caught on video. >> the world just wants to know. >> i know. >> hell, i want to know. >> i know. >> when did you last see her? >> we just like you know, it was about 10:00. we were, she was sleeping. >> we knew all along misty was the last one to see haleigh, allegedly the last one to see her alive. she knows more than what she's been telling. so hopefully, hopefully this will put a little bit more pressure on her to say, okay. >> they don't believe you what you're telling them, huh? >> i don't know what they believe and what they don't. they don't tell me anything. when i get out of here i'll tell you what they think, okay? >> what, your lawyer don't want them to give you a lie detector test? >> no, we were going to do it, but i just didn't have enough sleep and the lady tha

cummings: thank you very much, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to commend to this house the memory of one of my constituents, the reverend david joshua crumb, who at the age of 42 died suddenly on february 20 of this year. reverend crumb was a young man of strong personal faith coming from a long line of leaders in america's faith community, including bishop alexander waymonday. his parents, reverends izsel and elaine crumb are ministers in my home town of baltimore. so many of america's young people are struggling to come of age without strong and loving fathers in their lives, reverend david crumb's commitment to their upbringing was a beacon of personal and social responsibility for us all. i had the occasion to attend the funeral of the late reverend david crumb and his foster children, a number of them, came forward and talked about how he had touched their lives and how he had opened so many doors for them. and what a wonderful parent he was. not only that, david crump compelled in his mastery of -- excelled in that ma

we will begin with congressman elijah cummings. >> the most important thing is that many marylanders will be a part of the 31 million people who will now be able to get health insurance. >> i listened to what the concerns of my constituents are every day and they don't care about making history or not making history. they just want to know that their lives are going to get a little bit easier. >> well, the debate continues tonight on the house floor. you can find reaction to the passage of the historic health care reform legislation on our website, wbaltv.com. >>> other news tonight, two police officers are recovering at shock trauma after they were shot in the line of duty this morning. according to police, it happened during a traffic stop in southeast baltimore. the attack brought out the police commissioner and the mayor. >> i'm very proud of our officers. they performed well and they're very brave, very brave. >> police say three plain-clothesed officers working in the 100 block in southwest baltimore stopped a car around 12:30 sunday morning. the officers say they found marijua

. >> and our guest next week will be congressman elijah cummings. send your questions to wbaltv.com. >> two baltimore city police officers at shock trauma at this hour after they were shot. it happened early this morning after a traffic stop. kerry cavanaugh has the latest on this. kerry? >> a routine traffic stop turned bad around 12:30 this morning in the southeastern part of the city. police say two officers were on patrol when they pulled oifer a vehicle. things appeared to be normal, but as they approached the car, police say the driver pulled a gun and opened fire. we're told he hit one officer in the right hand and hit the other in the face. despite their injuries police say those officers were able to return fire and killing the suspect on the scene there at mcelderly street. those officers remain in stable condition. both officers are scheduled to be operated on by an orthopedic surgeon. both officers scheduled to undergo surgery at shock trauma. the police commissioner is expected to come out and give us information on why the officers wer

elijah cummings. jason jacobs from utah worried about big government getting bigger. 6:00 p.m. we continue on "fox business," which you are not getting. >> demand it. >> on this moment in our nation's history, 10:00 a.m. eastern, republican governor of nevada, jim gibbons. jerry falwell, jr. and star parker. so many more surprises too. big weekend with big doings in d.c. >> healthcare in, jobs out. that's not coming from republicans. it's coming from america's top companies. does the donald agree? he's next. [ advisor 1 ] i have clients say it's really hard to save for the future and they've come to a point where it's overwhelming. [ advisor 2 ] oh gee, i'm scared to tell you i've got this amount of credit card debt or i've got a 15-year-old and we never got around to saving for their college. that's when i go to work. we talk, we start planning. we can fix this. i know we can do it. when clients walk out of my office they feel confident about their retirement. [ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach. the world was faced with a c

cummings spoke about it. 22 states get nothing. the other 28 states gets -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. oberstar: and we need to -- we're correcting that in this bill. will the gentleman yield an additional snin minute? -- minute? mr. costello: i yield one minute to mr. oberstar. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. oberstar: so we're sending it over to the other body. majority leader reid sent it back with the appropriate members of the senate, to committee leadership and the senate floor leadership, but somehow it -- this correction has gotten bogged down. i also urge the other body to act on h.r. 476, which we passed march 10, to correct an additional problem created by the filibuster in the senate that caused highway authorization to lapse and 1,922 federal highway administration career employees to lose their salaries. they through no fault of their own get a 20% cut in their biweekly paycheck. that's unreasonable. now, we sent over a bill to the other body with the very

reporter jeanne cummings looks ahead to president obama's speech tomorrow and the next steps for reform legislation. you can ask paul solman questions about the financial crisis and the state of the economy on his "making sense" page. and "art beat" gets all shook up at an exhibit paying homage to elvis presley at the national portrait gallery. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. jeff. >> brown: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm jeffrey brown. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. we'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> what the world needs now is energy. the energy to get the economy humming again. the energy to tackle challenges like climate change. what if that energy came from an energy company? everyday, chevron invests in people, in ideas-- seeking, teaching, building. fueling growth around the world to move us all ahead. this is the power of human energy. chevron. bnsf railway. intel. and monsanto. and the national science foundation. supporting education and r

elijah cummings is from the baltimore area. >> the pain is still there. people have been thrown out of their houses. so i'm just trying to figure out, how do you deal with that? >> this is a vast program. we're reaching out to millions of people. there are cases and fortunately the complaints are declining these days, we monitor that very closely, but we still get complaints, there are still problems. i fully agree with that. >> reporter: allison also announced new protections by the government to make sure lenders do not foreclose on borrowers while they were still in the process of being evaluated for help. and he said a new program by bank of america to reduce the size of some borrowers' principal is in the lender's best interest. for the record, bank of america is an underwriter of the "newshour." >> there's nothing that prevents a bank right now from writing down the value of a mortgage that's on its books and helping that person stay in their home because in most cases we're finding there's a higher present value for keeping that person in the home

peter cummings said were talking about 200,000 global employees, a budget of $80 billion. it seems to be within the u. could probably carve out the small pieces that are manageable enough to actually get a handle around some of these terrorism problems and actually create a somewhat nimble and flexible organization, which members are exactly what terrorist organizations are. the government is still a bureaucracy and is operating as one vertically and i think you need to think more about what are the strong assets and pieces that you can kind of pull out and start there and stop trying to sort of swallow the whole apple at once. >> thank you rematch. i'd be happy to sign books in the back if you'd like to buy one. [applause] >> mr. speaker, on this historic day the house of representatives opens is proceeding for the first time to televised coverage. >> thirty-one years ago america's cable companies created c-span as a public service. today we've expanded your access to politics and public affairs, nonfiction books in american history through multiple platforms, television,

congressman cummings engine african-americans. i am not sure any of us asked about hispanics. with regard to african-american unemployment, that rate is 15.8, so substantially higher than the overall number. for hispanics, 12.4%? >> yes. >> i think the percentages are always helpful, but sometimes the numbers are more telling. i forgot to ask about veterans number, the total number -- for those who served post 2001, do you have that number? >> the number of unemployed are 212,000 veterans overall. >> you do not know how many of those -- >> those are post 2001. >> 212,000 unemployed veterans in those who have served since 2001. >> correct. >> and in terms of the african- americans, we have talked about the african-american total and the hispanic total as opposed to just the percentage of unemployed. >> for african-americans, 2.8 million are unemployed. it is the same number for hispanic or a latino, 2.8 million. >> i think that is all i have for this round. >> i think we are looking for hopeful signs in these numbers. what we are not looking for is false hope, especially one th

the managing editor of the review and graduated magna cum laude. he then went on to clerk the circuit court level for judge friendly and then justice rehnquist before he became chief justice. from there to the administration of president reagan where he was assisted justice to the president, he was then deputy solicitor general to president george h. w. bush. he then went to private practice where he had been two or three years earlier than back out but he went back into the private practice in b.c. and practiced there where he argued 39 cases before the supreme court of the united states. he specialized in that. president george w. bush appointed him first to the d.c. circuit's and then to the supreme court. chief justice roberts was the youngest chief justice to assume that position since chief justice marshall over 200 years before. and when he was confirmed, he received the most votes, affirmative votes to confirm him of any chief justice in the history of the united states. he is married, his wife is a lawyer, he has two children and some of u

elijah cummings mentioned african-americans. i'm not sure that any of us asked about hispanics.icture i have the record right. with regard to african-american unemployment, it is 15.8? >> substantially higher than the overall number. >> for hispanics, 12.8%? >> yes. >> i think the percentages are helpful, but the numbers are more telling. the veterans unemployment rate -- maybe, if you could just look at the post-2001 service members. >> the number of unemployed are two hundred 12,000. >> veterans overall? >> yes paris >> -- yes. >> those are post two thousand one -- those are post-2001. >> correct. >> in terms of the african american, we've talked about the african-american total and a hispanic total as opposed to the percentage. >> sure. for african-americans, two 0.8 million are unemployed. -- 2.8 million are unemployed. x, it is the same number for hispanics or latinos. 2.8 million. >> i think that is all i have. congressman brady. >> we are looking for a woeful numbers, but not false hope. -- we are looking for a hopeful numbers, but not false hope. it is not the government

congressman cummings engine african-americans. i am not sure any of us asked about hispanics. with regard to african-american unemployment, that rate is 15.8, so substantially higher than the overall number. for hispanics, 12.4%? >> yes. >> i think the percentages are always helpful, but sometimes the numbers are more telling. i forgot to ask about veterans number, the total number -- for those who served post 2001, do you have that number? >> the number of unemployed are 212,000 veterans overall. >> you do not know how many of those -- >> those are post 2001. >> 212,000 unemployed veterans in those who have served since 2001. >> correct. >> and in terms of the african- americans, we have talked about the african-american total and the hispanic total as opposed to just the percentage of unemployed. >> for african-americans, 2.8 million are unemployed. it is the same number for hispanic or a latino, 2.8 million. >> i think that is all i have for this round. >> i think we are looking for hopeful signs in these numbers. what we are not looking for is false hope, especially one th

summa cum laude at princeton in his master's and ph.d. at harvard. first met him when he was a graduate student working on his dissertation. his decision committee included larry summers. all top rate economists and good friends. it is a distinct pleasure to present him to you. the topic today is fiscal policy changes. the timing is prodigious -- propitious. under the president's budget, that would grow from $7.50 trillion at the end of 2009 to $20.30 trillion by the end of 2020. difficult choices lie ahead. there is no one better to navigate as through this then douglas elmendorf. -- ban douglas elmendorf -- than douglas elmendorf. [applause] >> thank you very much. it is great to be here. i appreciate the invitation to talk with all of you. i am going to talk about fiscal policy choices. i will try to go to the beginning. as you know, the cbo does not make policy recommendations. we do not make political predictions. i will not tell you what policy choices i would make personally, nor will i predict what policy choices i think the policy makers wil

. >> congressmen in elijah cummings. >> thank you, mr. chairman.ankly, no matter how many hearings we hold it will not be enough. because there are 14.9 million unemployed americans and the damage done to them, their families, and their community is on ending. as we know, the unemployment crisis we face right now was preceded by the collapse of a nation-wide housing bubble. falling home values are left borrowers under water. all of this furthers a twist where unemployment leads to more foreclosures which drives down demand and leads to more unemployment. last thursday, we heard about the havoc brought by foreclosure. this time it was officials from north east ohio discussing the destruction foreclosures have done to the city and the and -- an outlying suburbs. we sell pictures of vacant homes in cleveland side-by-side with homes in new orleans. you cannot tell the difference between the two. i do not need to attend the hearings to learn this. i just had to go home to my baltimore neighborhood and i could see the same things. thus, i have made forec

and elijah cummings, took the higher road and said look, there are differences, but said this, my voteill not be dominated by anger or fear, i will march into the house tomorrow to cost my vote. despite being spat upon and hurled with racist remarks. >> no charges were filed against the man who spit on a congressman, but let's hope that the tea party members stand up and say, we don't need that. we don't want that. they don't stand for us. i hope they take a stand out against this because it's not representing the whole of that movement we hope. >> right, what stood out so much about the tea party movement in the past is their thoughtful approach to speaking out and protesting and so the bad apples are hopefully not representative of the people fired up about this yesterday. >> in the meantime we have distachd rick reichmuth to the scene where there's extreme weather and the red river is set to crest today. he's in minnesota on the banks of the river, how is it looking there, rick. >> people are maybe a little optimistic at this point. the forecast for the river cresting has come down

cummings asked you the question, what happens when the authority to use capital account moneys for operatingexpense. in our legislation we provide authority for up to 10% of your capital account for smaller systems to use in their operating account and only 5% for the larger systems. there's considerable tension within the transit community over that provision. what do you -- what thoughts do you have, not necessarily percentage, but what is the -- what is the balance -- what is the proper balance here between operating account and capital account? >> well, mr. oberstar, it's certainly a challenging question for transit because, as you know, most of this smaller systems who have the ability to use all of their federal funds for operations, at least all of -- most of the smaller systems in iowa under 200,000, do use all of their money to offset local funding. des moines is an area over 200,000 so we can not use our regular funds for operations. only capital. we are saving jobs. with the great ability to use 10% of our stimulus dollars. again, like the other folks who have testified, there's a

he went on to the law school at u.w., graduating cum laude and order of the coithe. following law school, he clerked in the seventh circuit court of appeals for judge fairchild. bill conley's career has prepared him well to be a federal judge. he has practiced law for 25 years at the venerable madison firm of foley and lardner. throughout his career, he has earned a reputation as a skillful lawyer and top-notch litigator. he has represented a variety of national and international companies before state and federal courts and has served as a mediator and arbitrator to help parties resolve their disputes outside of court. one of bill conley's greatest strengths is his frequent representation of clients before the court to which he has been nominated. from this experience, he has gained a keen understanding of the court, as well as the fairness and impartiality that the administration of justice requires. while managing a busy legal practice, bill conley has remained committed to using his legal talent for the benefit of the local community. he has devoted hundreds of

cummings said the chairman's help come allocated additional bonding authority but only five applications $50,000 out of 20 million, what are we doing to make sure people even know that authority is available to disadvantaged businesses can take advantage of the bonding authority and then again how are we meeting the 10% aspirational gold because those are huge companies that have come out of my district and within the state. >> i think those are excellent questions, and we have heard some of the same questions. one of the advantages of using the existing mechanisms and relationships and policies with the states in their recovery act is that the states and grant recipients know what they have to do including with disadvantaged business enterprises. and they should have in place established programs to promote and get into the goal and beyond. it's clear that we have a lot of work to do on this. it is clear that some states have done a better job than others. i will tell you it is particularly frustrating that the bonding assistance program, which we are very appreciative of because it tac

she's a calm laud -- cum laude graduate and serves as an adjunct professor at the american universityplease welcome amy walters. amy, talk to us about washington politics. >> all right. thank you. [applause] >> so riveted. at 7:38 a.m. that's usually -- thank you for that task. also though, i notice you guys probably been riveted already this week. i don't know if i can upshell so much on that. this point that i didn't have any horses greeting me when i came in this morning. it's kind of quiet outside today. >> we can talk, we can be currant i just wanted to give sort of a overview of where things are in the political environment, what it could mean for the 2010 election and beyond and then of course open it up to the floor, to again, since we're so intimate here to be able to engage on this. of course, you know, as was mentioned very nicely, thank you, in my introduction, i'm just going to lay it out for everybody here and you know, my job is just to call it as i see it. and, you know, look, we have an electorate right now. you might have noticed this, that is very angry. right? that

cummings. >> thank you for very much, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, i am very glad that you called this hearing. i am looking forward to hearing from today's witnesses, not only because it is an issue of foreclosure that affects every one of our districts, but also because we have an impressive group of witnesses before us each of whom could occupy a hearing and to themselves. we want to thank president and ceo of the national community reinvestment coalition, ncrc. not only bringing dedicated and passionate people together to ensure that public policy functions for the public, but also both an extremely talented group of policy professionals who provide this congress with invaluable assistance. i will briefly address the annual conference earlier this month. as always said came away inspired by the dedication to a cause greater than themselves. president obama arrived at the white house last january facing an economic climate on like that inherited by almost any other president before him. as the administration has aggressively worked to no