ask dan balz, senior political reporter for the "washington post." thank you both for being back with us. a lot to cover. dan, i'm going to start with you. any overriding message out of what happened yesterday? >> well, i think in some ways the overriding message is that the overriding message that we've been following all year isn't necessarily going to prevail in every election. and i think that was certainly the case in arkansas, where blanche lincoln, who was said to be the potential victim of anti-incumbent sentiment, managed to survive by kind of turning the tables on her opponent. and we see that in a variety of places. i think there's no question, as we've said many times, this is aory that sets up much better for republicans than democrats, but there are underlying factors that make some of those races more difficult to predict and certainly the fall is going to be very competitive, and at some point, somewhat unpredictable. >> woodruff: hard to predict. >> well, it is, and i want to build on dan's point, which is sometimes it's getting hard

amy and dan, amy let's start with you.we're going try to run through five raises-- races, let's start with arkansas. with you had-- you have this runoff in the senate primary, incumbent blanche lincoln being challenged by bill halter and she's run into some trouble. >> she's run into a lot of trouble. the fact that she got into a runoff in the first place was a sign of trouble. and usually when an incumbent is held under 50% of the vote in the first round it's very hard for them to get any of those votes back in the second round which is this runoff that we have against bill halter. the interesting thing is this is for all the talk about the insider versus outsider dynamic going on, clearly blanche lincoln as the incumbent is the insider, it's really hard though to call bill halter the clear outsider. when first of all, he is the lieu trant governor, so it is not as if he didn't come from some establishment background. but the fact is, outside groups are really a big key to his campaign. they've funded him through the inte

but like dan mcneil said, what is the situation on the ground in afghanistan? who have you got to replace him? i mean there are a number of practical questions that would that might come between you and actually firing the guy even though... it's a firing offense. >> lehrer: general mcneil, is it your view that it is a firing offense but you shouldn't be fired for the very reasons that general mcpeak said? >> well, the article is unfortunate. but that's not to say that i'm... that i would say it's insubordinate. what the issue will boil down to is do you construe this to be insubordinate to the way that it ranks with other dimensions of u.s. history in the past. i understand it's a violation of u.s. code against office holders and whatnot. but my read on what i was provided is there's not a whole lot there put to mcchrystal in quotes. there's a lot of iny end owe. there's a lot of generalizations about what some of the members of his staff said. maybe the issue here is that we take a look at the team. they've been together for a long time. i know most of them.

dan, stand-up. [applause] navistar is a company that sometimes does business with k. neal international. for months, there indiana manufacturing plant has been working on an electric delive truck that is filled entirely by plugging in power. facts, i visited thelants before it had reduced its very first uck. my understanding then is that we are ready to go. thanks to the investments we made in the recovery act, it just deliveredts first truck a few weeks ago. this is a plant that gave jobs to unemployed factory workers, and they are now part of a cutting edge industry that will create even more jobs and businesses in the mohs and years ahead. that is what the future can look like. if we keep on making investments in research and development in technology and clean energy, products, and industries thawe have not even imagined y, can find a home run. the united states of america. if we provide our citizens with the education and traini they need to do these jobs,e are going to see rising incomes and a growing middle class. . . [applause] it helped him keep fol >> it hel

it is the act but dan -- is the afghan government's job to create room for all political persuasions. one mistake was made, which was probably by default, that the northern lowlands avail itself to the u.s. forces, and when the u.s. came to afghanistan, they saw everything through the northern alliance lens. that created the recipe for disaster is we are experiencing now. we sell everything for their lens, through their interpretation and their support system that existed. that triggered a political imbalance in the country, and that was one factor for many afghans defecting or at least going to the sidelines and becominindifferent about the process. otherwise, to be -- and recognize that in time and given them a sense of ownership in the process and the new government, i don't thinke would see what we have seen today. i think we have to create room very carefully and very cleverly and maneuver a process where those who are identifying with the taliban and who are not taliban can come back with greater legitimacy in the government' where the ranks of the taliban will shrink back to wh

that he held up a few minutes ago and figure out if there is a way your organization could participate dan partner in this coalition procesand i think it's a fair statement that we know our work will never be done a. >> , to say i was looking over my notes and i totally forgot whh i had scribbled in a margin to mention a whole issue of voting reform. and i think that's importt because having told the joke about massachusetts i want to say the's something strange that we are far more worried about fraud of which happens quite rarely than we are two all the obstacles we put in t way of voting. my colleague might may be the only people who believe in compulsory voting like in australia, we have a lot of barriers but the notion that our government does all kinds of things to keep track of us can't manage to help us get registered to vote is a problem and am sorry to slip by that in my notes. >> thank you. if your last comments here the most unborn is to thank you for coming today. [applause] and just to let you know that the coalition's next conference will begin an international conference is

. >> where do you find things like that clip of karl rove or dan roorabacher? >> oh, man, we just dig and dig and dig. our eyes when we saw those things. that's one of the fun things3 you start looking and you start believing that stuff is out there that hasn't been seen something. you usually find >> how do you find it? if i were sitting in your shoes, who would you call to find something like that? >> well, the first place you start is you go to the networks and you say, you know, send me all your material that has stuff about either jack abramof3 sometimes you get stuff. but then someeimes there's certain incidents you're interested in, and there's another incident in the film about this famous sort of right-wing woodstock that jack abramoff held in ngola. we knew about it, the networks had a tiny clip, but we kept asking people who had been there if they knew of anybody who was shooting it. and lo and behold, we got a name, we tracked that name down, we found a person in london. we asked him if he still had footage. lo and behold, he had 20 hours of it. it'

host: dan, you're the last caller. go ahead. caller: yes, sir. i wanted to make a couple of quick comments. your guest had mentioned that government or congress had a lot to do with encouraging loans that were, you know, low income and i wanted to flush out more detail on that. the - if you go look at the laws passed the last couple of details. specifically the code of regulations. title 12 you find congress passed lo laws that made 50% of their loans low income. banks tried to comply with that. in the end of 202008 when we had a tremendous failure that occured the fall of that year, we had 54 million mortgages throughout the u.s. and at that time, 26 million of those, had been made to low income families and 11 million of the 26 million were held by fannie mae and freddie mac. now, those banks tried to comply with those 50% requirements in the title 12 code of regulations and the reason they did is congress ppt in there tremendous requirements on the banks. they currency had the authority to look at the activities to of the bank and to be able t

then, -- dan? >> thank you, mr. president. to follow on jackie's question, you talked about providing assistance in afghanistan for some time to come. given the challenges and the history in afghanistan, what makes you think that after declaring victory in afghanistan that it will not slide back into becoming a haven for terrorists? >> well, i do not have a crystal ball. i think that -- right now, the debate surrounding afghanistan is presented as either we get up and leave immediately because there is no chance of a positive welcome or we stay indefinitely and do whatever it takes for as long as it takes. what i said last year, i will repeat. we have a vital national interest in making sure that afghanistan is not used as a base to launch terrorist attacks. it is true that al qaeda is in pakistan. you ask why we are in afghanistan if the terrorists are in pakistan. they have been weakened because they do not have the run of the territory. we would be less secure if you return to a situation that existed prior to 9/11, in whic

forhe first time, about a year and a half ago, more money started going out of cial security dan actually coming in. it depleted faster than they thoughit would. that is a place where people are going to have to come together, not make it a partisan issue, because it does not matter who get social secury, republicans andemocrats have to have an honest debate and find a real solution. thank you for that. yes. >> i would like to ask you a question. whe do you stand on arizona's le -- arizona's a lot? do you supported -- arizona's law? do you support it? >> i do support it, because it is not much different than what the federal government has on the books. the kidnap capital of the country is arizona. drug cartels have a final -- have a funnel coming through. a rancher who would help the people coming across at the mortar -- come across the border got murdered. they cannot sit back and ignore a problem that the are having. they may need to have a debate, but thecannot sit back when they have a murder capital,nd if it is only enforcing the laws that are already on the federal books, and the f

dan, from cnn. >> thank you, mr. president. just to follow up on jackie's question, you talked about being in afghanistan for some time to come, but given the challenge is there and the history in afghanistan, what makes you think that after declaring victory in afghanistan, it will not slide back into becoming a haven for terrorists? >> well, i do not have a crystal ball. right now, the debate surrounding afghanistan is that either we get up and leave, immediately, because there is no chance of a positive outcome, or we stay basically indefinitely and do quote unquote whatever it takes for as long as it takes. and what i said last year, i will repeat, which is we have a vital national interest in making sure that afghanistan is not used as a base to launch terrorist attacks. it is true that al qaeda right now is in pakistan, and you often hear, "why are we in afghanistan when the terrorists are in pakistan?" well, al qaeda has been weakened in part because they do not have the run of the territory. we would be less secure if y

host: dan, you're the last caller. go ahead. caller: yes, sir. i wanted to make a couple of quick comments. your guest had mentioned that government or congress had a lot to do with encouraging loans that were, you know, low income and i wanted to flush out more detail on that. the - if you go look at the laws passed the last couple of details. specifically the code of regulations. title 12 you find congress passed lo laws that made 50% of their loans low income. banks tried to comply with that. in the end of 202008 when we had a tremendous failure that occured the fall of that year, we had 54 million mortgages throughout the u.s. and at that time, 26 million of those, had been made to low income families and 11 million of the 26 million were held by fannie mae and freddie mac. now, those banks tried to comply with those 50% requirements in the title 12 code of regulations and the reason they did is congress put in there tremendous requirements on the banks. they currency had the authority to look at the activities to of the bank and to be able t

host: dan, you're the last caller. go ahead. caller: yes, sir.nted to make a couple of quick comments. your guest had mentioned that government or congress had a lot to do with encouraging loans that were, you know, low income and i wanted to flush out more detail on that. the - if you go look at the laws passed the last couple of details. specifically the code of regulations. title 12 you find congress passed lo laws that made 50% of their loans low income. banks tried to comply with that. in the end of 202008 when we had a tremendous failure that occured the fall of that year, we had 54 million mortgages throughout the u.s. and at that time, 26 million of those, had been made to low income families and 11 million of the 26 million were held by fannie mae and freddie mac. now, those banks tried to comply with those 50% requirements in the title 12 code of regulations and the reason they did is congress put in there tremendous requirements on the banks. they currency had the authority to look at the activities to of the bank and to be able to ref

for the first time, about a year and a half ago, more money started going out of social security dan actually coming in. it depleted faster than they thought it would. that is a place where people are going to have to come together, not make it a partisan issue, because it does not matter who get social security, republicans and democrats have to have an honest debate and find a real solution. thank you for that. yes. >> i would like to ask you a question. where do you stand on arizona's le -- arizona's a lot? do you supported -- arizona's law? do you support it? >> i do support it, because it is not much different than what the federal government has on the books. the kidnap capital of the country is arizona. drug cartels have a final -- have a funnel coming through. a rancher who would help the people coming across at the mortar -- come across the border got murdered. they cannot sit back and ignore a problem that they are having. they may need to have a debate, but they cannot sit back when they have a murder capital, and if it is only enforcing the laws that are already on the fe

host: dan, you're the last caller. go ahead. caller: yes, sir. i wanted to make a couple of quick comments. your guest had mentioned that government or congress had a lot to do with encouraging loans that were, you know, low income and i wanted to flush out me detail on that. the - if you go look at the laws passed the last couple of details. specifically the code of regulations. title 12 you find congress passed lo laws that made 50% of their loans low income. banks tried to comply with that. in the end of202008 when we had a tremendous failure that occured the fall of that year, we had 54 million mortgages throughout the u.s. and at that time, 26 million of those, had been made to low income families and 11 million of the 26 million were held by fannie mae and freddie mac. now, those banks tried to comply with those 50% requirements in the title 12 code of regulations and the reason they did is congress put in there tremendous requirements on the banks. they currency had the authority to look at the activities to of the bank and to be able to r

dan, stand-up. [applause] navistar is a company that sometimes does business with k. neal international. for months, there indiana manufacturing plant has been working on an electric delivery truck that is filled entirely by plugging in power. facts, i visited the plants before it had reduced its very first truck. my understanding then is that we are ready to go. thanks to the investments we made in the recovery act, it just delivered its first truck a few weeks ago. this is a plant that gave jobs to unemployed factory workers, and they are now part of a cutting edge industry that will create even more jobs and businesses in the months and years ahead. that is what the future can look like. if we keep on making investments in research and development in technology and clean energy, products, and industries that we have not even imagined yet, can find a home run. the united states of america. if we provide our citizens with the education and training they need to do these jobs, we are going to see rising incomes and a growing middle class. . . [applause] it helped him

>> we'll go over to this side over here. >> dan litman, freelance writer.or taghreed, if say hamas was treated like any government entity in the world equally and gaza was given all the freedoms, open borders just like any country, can you make a little prediction of what politically, economically and spiritually also that gaza would look like in a few years? in other words, would it be a stable, growing company or would it still be racked with dissension and violence? >> in the back. yeah. >> yes, hi. joyce with the newspaper. my question for the gentleman who was speaking on turkey. i'm wondering why you're framing this as a u.s.-turkey sort of crisis. i mean, the turkish foreign minister yesterday was clear in his remarks on cnn. he sort of welcomed the u.s. response and made it clear that this is an issue between, you know, israel and turkey. also, can the u.s. deal with this like it deals with other allies. saudi and qatar doesn't get along but u.s. is friends with both of them. >> why don't we go in reverse order. these questions were more on the pale

students, stonewall riots, ralph nader of van and elizabeth warrenton now, environmental activists of danckraking journalists and blotters now. ordinary people with -- are the wind of change. not all lobbyists on k street, not the politicians up on the hill, it is people, it is us that are the winds of change. that is what we learned in the battle for health care reform. when will it lead and stand up to whomever it may be, we can win. our futures is not a matter of chance. it is a matter of choice. let's have the courage to stand up and hold accountable the big insurance companies, the big banks, senators from arkansas, ttat congressman from new york and north carolina. let's have higher expectations for our leaders whether they are in the state house or the white house. margaret mead once said, "never in doubt -- never doubt that small group of committed people contains the world." that is the only thing that ever happens. on my desk is a plaque that says," the best way to predict the world is to help create a." let's lift our boys and use our leadership and let us be the winds of chang

last year i stole dan rooney to serve as my ambassador to ireland. [laughter] to make it up, i invited both the steelers and the penguins to the white house to celebrate their championships. [applause] seeing how the blackhawks are headed to philly tonight with a 2-0 lead in the stanley cup final, i am just glad that we're on this side of the state. [laughter] i noticed a couple of people said they were rooting for the blackhawks which tell me something about the rivalry between pittsburgh and philly. we meet here at an incredibly difficult time for america. among other times, is a time when the worst environmental disaster of its kind in our nation's history is threatening the gulf coast and the people who live there. right now, stopping this oil spill and containing its damage is necessarily the top priority not just of my administration, but i think of the entire country. and we are waging this battle every minute of every day. but at the same time, we are continuing our efforts to recover and rebuild from an economic disaster that has touched the

host: this is dan come on the independent line, from massachusetts. caller: thanks for having me on. i am with a lot of colors this morning -- with a lot of callers. this is not a news story. it has been going on for quite some time. we are paying the enemy to get our supplies in there, and the same enemy is fighting us. it is crazy. i think in our country what has happened, generally, taking a broad look at it is we have put a premium on faith and a discount on facts. we think we know people in office, or who have been in office, and would not think it would do such bad things, so all these conspiracy things people business. people who have faith in these people -- it is blind faith and then they discount the facts of reporting about things that have actually happened where the person is not telling us the truth. but all these people who have this mysterious thing called faith --no one is accountable. if everyone just has faith in things, then there is no accountability. that is where we are as a country. we put a premium on faith, and a discount on

. >> yes, dan. >> thank you. denmark is, teaching at american university's law school. -- dan marcus. i want to ask about the intersection of your talk today with the problem of closing guantanamo. if i am -- if my memory serves me right, none of the people have been prosecuted successfully in u.s. courts that are guantanamo detainees. and obviously a major setback that the administration has so far, perhaps not a permanent one, is the inability to close guantanamo and transfer the detainees to the united states. how much of the problem for using the law enforcement model where we should use it is that creating for you and the justice department? and how much of that problem has been exacerbated by the reaction to the plans to try caius them or the other high level detainees in new york -- to drive ksm or other high level detainees in new york? >> there was one in the southern district that was in east africa bomber from the original indictment. no, gitmo is a vexing problem and has been for the last administrati

dan, go ahead. caller: i am a veteran. the main thing i want to talk about is mccaskill.e went on 60 minutes a while back and talked about the troops. in my opinion that was a big mistake. the main thing about a war is a surprise and the secrecy. that man is a traitor and he needs to be picked up. host: thanks for the phone call. from the "financial times" the u.s. arresting 10 russian agents, including two in the new york city area and four in the d.c. area. next call is paul, on the independent line. caller: i was just calling about the cake in the hearings -- the elena kagan hearings and i just want to get to your thoughts on, generally, is it just going to be a resuscitation of her political accomplishments and what she has done in the white house and in academia? or are they really going to go into high form of the accord -- the form of the court? i think it was senator jack and off on the committee. anyway, are the republican -- in-line host: i'm going to stop you there and take you to the house floor. 2010. i hereby appoint the honorable donna f. edwards to act as

reagan and chairman dan rostenkowski agreed on tax reform. in 1990, the first president bush agreed with congressional -pdemocrats on a compromise to raise thh top marginal tax rate and cut spending. three years later, brennan clinton enacted a similar spending and revenue agreement, even though republicans unanimously said no. spending fell from 22% of gdp to 18%, revenues rose from 17% to 21%, and the reagan-bush deficits were eliminated. president clinton and speaker gingrich also took our country in a more fiscally responsible direction by agreeing on the reauthorization of paygo. so let's not pretend that what i am proposing cannot be done. it was done within a lifetime of every member of congress. now? there two political factors we ought to worry about. one is superficiality -- the eagerness of so many to blast spending in the abstract without offering solutions that come close to measuring up to the size of our challenge. consider it the republican you cut program. they have an attractive new website on which thee solicit votes for id

for the first time since two tawes three we have more troops in afghanistan dan and i tracked reed of where we remain on pace to draw down to roughly 50,000 troops by the end of august. the bulk of the 30,000 additional forces the president authorized for afghanistan are in country and the remainder, less than 10,000 will arrive in next two months. these forces are now and will continue to be focused on operations in the central helmand valley. in marjah and kandahar specifically. we're keeping abreast what we are trying to achieve. but i think it's important here to just summarize. kandahar is the birthplace of the taliban insurgency. it is from there that they have tried to spread their influence across afghanistan. and it is from there that the desire to fool once again. i think that it is safe to say that they still believe in their cause. in and around kandahar the train, equip, plan and intimidate. just the other day in the village not far away these people went to a small boy claiming he was a spy for the coalition. .. you saw president karzai down there just this past weekend,

host: this is dan come on the line, from massachusetts. caller: thanks for having me on. i am with a lot of colors this morning -- with a lot of callers. this is not a news story. it has been going on for quite some time. we are paying the enemy to get our supplies in there, and the same enemy is fighting us. it is crazy. i think in our country wat has happened, generally, taking a broad look at it is we have put premium on faith and a discount on facts. we think we know people in or who have been in office, and would not think it would do such bad things, so all these conspiracy things people business. pople who have faith in these people -- it is blind faith and then they discount the facts of reporting about things that have actually happened where the us theisot telling truth. but all these peopl who have this mysteous thing called faith --no one is accountable. if everyone just has faith in things, then there is no accountability. is where we are as a country. we put a premium on faith,nd a on flooking at this -- tentatte limit debit card fees. the house and senate d

dan brewer did the right thing and made it a crime. we have a lot that -- a lot that punishes employers. -- a law that punishes employee. i expect to get a constitutional amendment passed. i am the only one here in the business of enforcing laws and we will get them in 43 >> i think it arizona did what they had to do because the federal government failed to react. i applaud arizona for doing that. i'm a co-sponsor of the arizona- style legislation. i will push for it to be that way. the immigration law that they pass two years ago, there was not the first dollar put in the prosecution fund. one more example of how the government passes things and never make sure that they can do what they are supposed to. it's about holding government accountable. had those prosecution dollars been in there, we would not have to worry about an immigration law being proper not. >> the next is for the congressman. >> what bills did you get past to the congress that haae helped create jobs to bring economic development to south carolina? >> part of the bi

both for long-term security and stability of that tennis dan and to our ability to transitions security responsibility and brought down our forces as conditions allow. while we're still short about 450 institutional traders, we have instructed the ratio for about one to 82 now one to 30. the afghan international are mesons it'll to meet our goal of 134,000 troops for fiscal year 2010. and nearly 85% is now fully partnered with icef forces. the police is on its goal, 109,000 police by the end of the year. we have increased the capacity to conduct a training by four hundred% over last 12 months. and follow on training has been provided to both afghan uniformed police in key districts as well as the afghan border police. recent salary and benefits in addition to have addressed pay disparities, and these initiatives appear to be improving retention and attrition. literacy programs of also proven to be the positive incentive. further, we believe that rising numbers a newly instituted location schedules will further recruits -- reduce attrition. consequently, we believe ansf calls for 2011 ar

dan on the democrats line. caller: i had some comments about the economy. we have enough natural gas tapped and capped in the country to convert every vehicle to natural gas, get away from foreign oil, and employ 9 million people immediately. i just wanted to know why we are not attempting to do something like that? host: connect that to china, if you can, at all. caller: they are picking up their production. all we are trying to do is get our feet back on the ground, as far as natural gas. host: thank you. in energy connection. caller: both countries are similar in a couple of respects. both have large natural gas reserves. both of our countries, over time, certainly have the potential to reduce our dependence on imported oil by developing domestic resources. that would certainly improve both of our economies. host: charles, republican, good morning. caller: thank you for having me. about natural gas, i would also like to point out it has half a carbon footprint of oil. i have a real economics question for you. if the united states tied our corporate tax r

other than congratulating it jim and dan for their well earned trophies, and waiting with great interest to see what our solicitor general has to say, by thank you very much for your attendance and for your warm welcome. [applause] >> may i have a moment. your honor, we knew you were a cubs fan. now that you are retiring, you will have more time to go to cubs games. this is for you. [applause] [applause] >> elena kagan is a less of a chicago figure than the justice stevens and was not at the 1932 chicago world series. -- elaine and kagan is less of a chicago fixture then justice stevens and was not of the 1932 world series. but she too served on the seventh circuit. she began her academic career at the university of chicago, joining its faculty in 1991. i got to know her on strolls between the law school and the quadrangle club, where the faculty exchange ideas around a round table. she specialized in a labor law and administrative law. the administrative side mmst have one out, for in 1995 she joined the administration as one of president clinton's policy wonks. she was sucked even furt

even dad would admit that a lot of the rules in -- dan would admit that a lot the rules go against the free market. what these agreements do is set rules. it is not anything aboutreeing the market. it is just a different set of rules to benefit a different set of interests. host: charlotte, north carolina, is where the next caller comes from. caller: thank you. mr. tucker, thank you for defending our manufacturing bs. mr. griswold, i am a republican. i graduated from the university of massachusetts. we don't have no more manufacturing jobs. for example, you just said shoes. nike has an initiative that produces on average for $50. if you are on this television station defending nafta, you are defending the wrong stuff, sir. they are affecting master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, and low-wage folks. [unielgible] we are losing our jobs by the thousands and millions. and we are not producing nothing. guest: again i just politely disagree. we are producing lots of stuff. we remain number one in manufacturg in terms of the value added, which is the best measure but let's not be nostalgic ab

even dad would admit that a lot of the rules in -- dan would admit that a lot the rules go against the free market. what these agreements do is set rules. it is not anything about freeing the market. it is just a different set of rules to benefit a different set of interests. host: charlotte, north carolina, is where the next caller comes from. caller: thank you. mr. tucker, thank you for defending our manufacturing jobs. mr. griswold, i am a republican. i graduated from the university of massachusetts. we don't have no more manufacturing jobs. for example, you just said shoes. nike has an initiative that produces on average for $50. if you are on this television station defending nafta, you are defending the wrong stuff, sir. they are affecting master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, and low-wage folks. [unintelligible] we are losing our jobs by the thousands and millions. and we are not producing nothing. guest: again, i just politely disagree. we are producing lots of stuff. we remain number one in manufacturing in terms of the value added, which is the best measure but let's not be n

bp dan not blame mother nature, or equipment failure or even other subcontractors. their actions have put at risk the livelihoods of communities and businesses that depend on the fwuffle not only for seefed -- seafood and tourism, but other things this area relis own. i mentioned m.m.s. earlier, and the m.m.s. officials approved nad kuwait spill response plans, and -- nad kuwait spill response plans. but what is the most damaging is that the president and senior officials knew on day one that the blowout preventer was not working and knew of the potential spillage. while bp shoulders of -- much of the responsibility for this spill, the lack of effort by the administration to contain the spill has doomed the wildlife and gulf coast from oil an spill which could have been contained. now drilling moratoriums will furt devastate america's energy production. thank you. i yield the a balance of my time. hairman, i yield the balance of my time. >> thank you. i next turn to vice chairmanf the subcommittee, opening three minutes sir. >> mr. hayward, you're not going to get a

it is the act but dan -- is the afghan government's job to create room for all political persuasions. one mistake was made, which was probably by default, that the northern lowlands avail itself to the u.s. forces, and when the u.s. came to afghanistan, they saw everything through the northern alliance lens. that created the recipe for disaster is we are experiencing now. we sell everything for their lens, through their interpretation and their support system that existed. that triggered a political imbalance in the country, and that was one factor for many afghans defecting or at least going to the sidelines and becoming indifferent about the process. otherwise, to be -- and recognize that in time and given them a sense of ownership in the process and the new government, i don't think we would see what we have seen today. i think we have to create room very carefully and very cleverly and maneuver a process where those who are identifying with the taliban and who are not taliban can come back with greater legitimacy in the government' where the ranks of the taliban will shrink back t

they raised their concernsith us >> dan?ator sch, i don't have much to add to what secretary feltid. have been hearing the same things youave heard. i amoing to be in israel nt ek and look forward to discussingxactly these issues with the isis. it is clearly a situation of significant tension andf great concern to us. d we haves secrery feltsaid, been warning everyone in the region. was i damass in march. we have been warning everyone about the dangers of miscalculation and the dangerous associated with the transfer of phisticated technogie and weaponry. and i would be happyo report back to you whe i'm ck. >> thank u. i want to thank both of you for those -- for that analysis. mr. chairman, thank you. >> thank you senator risch. senator sheehan. >> thank you,senator. thank you for holding ts hearing. i think it'simely and appreciate bh of your being ambassador feltman, you talked about the experience over the last several yea that the lebanese people rejecting ollah on a number of ocsions when they were efforts to really gra

i just heard from chairman jor dan that many of your loan modifications are not under h.a.m.p..any of them you would have tried to work out under your own private modifications. i have never heard of a program that is doing less and working in a worse way. i am wondering if any of you would dispute what mr. pinto said when he estimated that h.a.m.p. would only meet 6% to 8% of its or original goal. do any of you dispute that estimate that he has presented here today? would any of you to speed his description of any of your requirements as being numbing in complexity? >> i am not sure i would use the phrase to describe h.a.m.p. we all stood behind h.a.m.p. in creating it with the treasury department. we are focused on scale. it is important for us to understand that we all collectively that behind this program and focused on scale. last year, that was not the case. more importantly, we got to the gse's to come behind the program. our loss litigators have one program they have to deal with. this problem is moving forward. i believe we now need to focus on the fault -- defaults. h.

last year i stole dan rooney. to make it up, i invented -- invited the penguins and the steelers to celebrate their championships. aseeiig how the black ha/k;%ujp@ headed to philadelphia tonight, i am just glad we're on this side of the state. [laughter] i noticed a couple of people said they were rooting for the blackhawks, which tells the about the rivalry between pittsburgh and philadelphia. of course, we meet here at an incredibly difficult time for america. among other things, it is a time when the worst environmental disaster of its kind in nation's history is threatening the gulf coast and the people who live there. right now stopping this oil spill in containing its damage is necessarily the top priority of not just my administration, but i think the entire country. we're waging this battle every minute of every day. at the same time, we're continuing our efforts to recover and rebuild from an economic disaster that has touched the lives of nearly every american. that is what i want to talk about today. th

it is the act but dan -- is the afghan government's job to create room for all political persuasions.one mistake was made, which was probably by default, that the northern lowlands avail itself to the u.s. forces, and when the u.s. came to afghanistan, they saw everything through the northern alliance lens. that created the recipe for disaster is we are experiencing now. we sell everything for their lens, through their interpretation and their support system that existed. that triggered a political imbalance in the country, and that was one factor for many afghans defecting or at least going to the sidelines and becoming indifferent about the process. otherwise, to be -- and recognize that in time and given them a sense of ownership in the process and the new government, i don't think we would see what we have seen today. i think we have to create room very carefully and very cleverly and maneuver a process where those who are identifying with the taliban and who are not taliban can come back with greater legitimacy in the government' where the ranks of the taliban will shrink back to