and i look forward to director elmendorf's thoughts. >> welcome back, director elmendorf. please proceed with your testimony and then we will go to questions. >> my comments will summarize our lengthy written statement. although the recession ended officially more than a year ago, the economy has not bounced back quickly. employment now stands roughly 10 million below the level it would have reached if the recession had not occurred. measured unemployment would be even higher today had there not been a considerable fall off in the rate of participation in the labor force, as lack of available jobs cause people to stop looking for one. cbo expects as do most private forecasters that the economic recovery will proceed at a modest pace in the next two years. international experience shows that recovers from recession that began with financial crises tend to be slower than average. following such a crisis, it takes time for equity and other asset markets to recover, for households to replenish their resources and boost their spending, for financial institutions to restore thei

jeremy is actually stationed here, as one of our airmen in elmendorf, so congratulations to them. >> that's nice of you. probably the first time "today's" wedding couple made it into the first half hour. senator murkowski, thanks. >>> let's get a check of the rest of the top stories if tamron hall who's filling in for ann at the news desk. >> a new book by bob woodard is outlining deep divisions in the white house over the war in afghanistan, with advisers arguing over the war and some doubti ining if the president's strategy will work. chuck todd joins us. so, chuck, reportedly some big disagreements we're talking about. >> reporter: that's right, tamron. we're hearing about disagreements, particularly from the diplomatic side and the military side of the presidential -- of the president's advisers. now, the white house is already reacting to the book this morning. senior administration official putting out a fairly lengthy memo about the book saying, look, these policy divisions were well known at the time. this is the way the president operates. he wants different point of views.

i'm looking forward to director elmendorf's thoughts. >> welcome back, director elmendorf.please proceed with your testimony and then we'll go to questions. >> thank you, senator conrad and senator greg and members to have committee. i appreciate the opportunity to discuss the outlook and the potential impact on the economy and policy actions. my comments will smares my lengthy written statement. although the recession ended more than a year ago, the economy has not bounced back quickly. unemployment stands 10 million below the level it would have reached had the recession not occurred. unemployment would be higher had there not been a falloff in the rate of participation in the labor force as the lack of available jobs caused people to stop looking for one. international experience shows that recoveries from recessions that began with financial crisis tend to be slower than average. following such a crisis, it takes time for equity and other asset markets to recover. for house holds to replenish and boost their spending and to restore capital basis and for businesses to re