dr. gaskins, and dr. spriggs have been wonderful. we are now ready for our next panel. 35th congressional district in the greater los angeles area. and i'd like to thank all of you for joining me on this panel today. this panel is entitled "surviving the recession and accelerating the recovery." before i begin my remarks, however, i want to thank the chair of the congressional black caucus. mr. cleaver, mr. emanuel cleaver, who you heard from earlier today, i don't know if you know it, but this perhaps wraps up a weekend, a very productive weekend, that we've been involved in. mr. cleaver organized a retreat where we had the opportunity to explore the many issues that confront us to set some priorities and develop a plan of action. so i would like you not only to join with me in giving a round of applause to our chair, congressman emanuel cleaver, but also to all of the members of the congressional black caucus. thank you. thank you very much. [applause] >> now allow me to take a moment to introduce our distinguished panelist who are

dr. gaskins, and dr. spriggs have been wonderful. we are now ready for our next panel. we will be getting ready for our next panel. thank you. [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. i'm maxine waters, member of congress, representing the 35th congressional district in the greater los angeles area. and i'd like to thank all of you for joining me on this panel today. this panel is entitled "surviving the recession and accelerating the recovery." before i begin my remarks, however, i want to thank the chair of the congressional black caucus. mr. cleaver, mr. emanuel cleaver, who you heard from earlier today, i don't know if you know it, but this perhaps wraps up a weekend, a very productive weekend, that we've been involved in. mr. cleaver organized a retreat where we had the opportunity to explore the many issues that confront us to set some priorities and develop a plan of action. so i would like you not only to join with me in giving a round of applause to our chair, congressman emanuel cleaver, but also to all of the members of the congressi

dr. darrell gaskin. he is an associate professor of health economics at the johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health, and is also the deputy director. her -- his primary interest our health-care disparities, safety net providers, and access to health care for minority, uninsured, and other vulnerable populations. he earned his ph.d. at the johns hopkins university. he earned a b.a. degree in economics from brandeis university. dr. william spriggs was the chair of the department of economics at howard university, but is now the assistant chair for policy in the u.s. department of labour. in his role, dr. sprague's brinks -- dr. spriggs brings a unique sensitivity. in the spring of 2008, dr. sprague's co-authored -- dr. iggs code-authored. i have to say, he was also the director of the national urban league think tank here, in washington, d.c., and my former boss, when i worked there. was that, we will go in order that i introduced them, and i ask you to hold your applause until the very end. thank