federal officials will brief us in a couple of moments. we will go to them live. this is a look at the press conference that should begin any minute now. here is what we have learned so far. state and federal regulators have ranked the gas line that ruptured as high risk because it ran through a highly populated area we already knew one of the people who died in that blast was 44-year-old jacquelin greg who worked for the california public utilities commission. at the time of her death she was working on plans to upgrade another risky section of that same gas line 2 1/2 miles away. this new information raises several new questions of pg&e and federal regulators. we are working to get answers to those questions. we have new information tonight on the victims. investigators uncovered two more bodies in the rubble this afternoon. that brings the total number of people killed to six. nearly 60 others were injured and four are in critical condition tonight. the president sent his condolences today to the governor and we are waiting for this press conference to begin wi

not ever as a federal judge. putting aside the fact that his conduct as a state judge is irrelevant to his conduct as a federal judge, article two ignores that judges are not barred from receiving meals and gifts from lawyers or others. while the house cannot produce any receipts for the gifts or meals, i just told you it could be hundreds of meals, and by that if that is our evidentiary standard, it could be millions. the fact is that we do not have the receipts on record, but we did not deny that judge porteous often had lunges bought for them. they are suggesting that this is "corruption" even if it did not violate judicial ethics. you will hear from all four of the star witnesses that all judges in the small town where regularly bought a lunch and given gifts by lawyers, a bail bondsman, and others. we are not saying that this was a debt of corruption. we are saying that this was lawful. if you go to a lot of small towns, you will see the same thing. you want to restrict the rules, you can change them. to put

federal reserve was started in 1913. from 1913 until president roosevelt took us off the gold standard, the federal reserve notes had to compete side by side with u.s. treasury notes. so if you can read it at the top there, the top left, it says redeemable in gold on demand by the united states treasury or lawful any federal reserve bank. so this had the american people started to accept, federal reserve note is as good as u.s. treasury note. is redeemable in gold until results took us off the gold standard in 1933. then what happened? years in 1934 federal reserve note -- this is legal tender for does public and private and redeemable in lawful money of the u.s. treasury or federal reserve bank. interesting thing happened here. fellow went to a bank, he had one of these $20 bills, federal reserve note 1934 and plastic on the table and asked the teller if you could have some lawful money. the girl said, do you want to tens or 45? he said, no, if you give me those it's says on them -- i was like some lawful money please a

born at the federal reserve. [laughter] >> excuse me, the federal reserve notes. mr. corston, i understand that you were born at the fdic in 1987 and had been there ever since. >> that is correct. >> mr. steele, you were at the treasury for domestic affairs from 2006 to 2008, but moved from 2000 08 -- but moved in 2008 to wachovia. you would be part of this string of decisions and results. so i will play walter cronkite, "and you are there." i am asking these questions as the chairman of the federal means and ways committee. all three of you gentlemen, when you were in government, are in article 2, the executive branch on the execution of the loss of the united states. when we talk about that -- and you were there, mr. corston, i understand on that meeting of the board of directors on september 29 -- when you were looking at a potential decision to deal with wachovia, mr. alvarez, on page 10 of your testimony -- excuse me, on page 6 of your testimony, you emphasized in the observance of the behavior of the fdic m

but it's everywhere that it says federal contractors, it should also say federal employees. this is a simple, this should be bipartisan. everybody should unite behind this because, unfortunately, there are too many people that are on the federal -- on the payroll, they are taking taxpayer dollars, but they are not paying their fair share. they have good quality high-paying jobs. please, support this measure as it comes up today and let's do the right thing. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. just a couple things. i'll remind the gentlelady from north carolina, what dug us into this ditch were tax cuts for the rich that weren't paid for. two wars that weren't paid for. and a medicare prescription drug bill that was like five times the cost we were told it was and it wasn't paid for. so let's get the record straight on that. and i got to say, mr. speaker, the hypocrisy of the republican party just

as well as the federal government attempting to regulate inactivity. unprecedented it has never been done. they are trying to tell our state by being alive and breathing we have to purchase a good and if we don't purchase that good, we are going to be fined or penalized. >> greta: i don't know how much you and attorney general mccollum have talked. you are both republicans. have you been working together in the event you win in november so there will be a smooth transition? how close have you been working? >> if i'm blessed to win, i'm not taking anything for granted. i want to hit ground running that is what is so important to me and i know the lawsuit is important to so many floridians and our country. that's why i'm here. general mccollum has been wonderful. i plan on wholeheartedly continuing with this lawsuit. >> greta: going around campaigning, you are at a primary, did you get a sense -- what were floridians saying? i imagine some people like this health care law. >> not many, believe it or not. they realize how much it is going to cost the stat

we have only 2 million federal employees. that's if you subtract out the third that are citizen soldier, department of defense, you are left with one in 230 americans have a government job. healthcare workers, 1 in 3,000. chance to get healthcare job is lower than catching a rare disease. if you copy something from cuba, get the 7-hour fiery presidential speech and good cigars. >> david: i'll go for the cigars but i could do without the speeches. rish, what do you think -- rich, what do you think? >> we could freeze jobs right away to start. then we have to look department by department to see where we can cut. most people don't realize the federal reserve has 18,000 employees. if you had a gold standard or taylor rule for interest rates, maybe you'd need 2,000 or 5,000 federal reserve employees. >> david: clinton, don't we need to pare down the size of government? >> we need to pare down the size of government but we're talking about the federal government. what neil is doing with that new workers versus absolute workers isn

i think a little smaller than all of the federal spending. it's much larger than all spending on deal. much larger as you can see on the box next to it. all spending a part from the handful of the largest programs. >> and a big part of the reason for those deficits is because, in that year, that 1.4 trillion deficit, at that point, how much of that is interest on the debt? >> interest is large. over 900 billion, isn't that correct? that's because we're together it every year right now at such huge numbers and what senator greg talked about spending being the largest part of the problem. that's why at the federal level we need to get it under control and weert an a critical point. this is unsustainable the numbers here is unsustainable. this country is going to become greased but we don't have the union to bail us out if we have these debt numbers in the future it is unsustainable and that's why this congress needs to heed the warning that we have to get our spending habits under control. it's critical for the future of this country. >> thank

a federal reserve system." this highlighted the best practices for addressing foreclosures in both strong and weak market cities. as part of a larger initiative to integrate federal reserve research and outrage resources and addressing the foreclosure crisis. this improved our ability to identify problems and highlight potential solutions, an effort that continues today with this summit and its accompanying publication. most recently, we worked with the other federal financial regulatory agencies to implement regulations for the community investment -- community reinvestment act. we focus on areas eligible for funds under the neighborhood stabilization program. i would like to take a few minutes to introduce the types of issues faced by communities with high rates of foreclosure and discussed the gravity of the problem. i will also highlight some lessons we have learned in the last few years about affected neighborhood stabilization strategies, lessons that will be discussed in much greater detail throughout th

as a federal judge. you heard the house managers, they want to change that. i think you should seriously consider whether you want to change that. and we would like to be heard in full senate to that effect. second, whether it is a lunch or a gift, none of these acts actually violated state ethic rules in louisiana and in many other states. what the congress has impeached this judge for is an appearance of improprietary. they expressly objected that the circuit had only found and submitted appearance violences and not impeachable conduct. i commend that decision to you. it's one of the best written opinions i have read in a long time. judge porteous has already accepted punishment for any lapse in judgment despite what the house manager has just told you. he has been sanctioned by the fifth circuit for those appearances of improprietary and he will retire next year from the federal judge. such appearance controversies are routine and they are used as the basis for removal would wipe away centuries of pre

plus it's not federally allowed? >> it's still against federal law. marijuana is illegal.ge problem. you're right. there are 478 cities and counties, if they choose to opt in have different regulations. it's difficult enough to regulate it. it's been 15 years since it's been the law for compassionate use. oakland still doesn't have it down and it's taken a long time to regulate. not everybody wants to be regulated that grows marijuana. >> if you legalize it throughout the state and then also transporting it from state to state you've got a bunch of different issues there. >> you have a lot of different issues. the bottom line is, this is not a good idea because different people can do different things in different counties and cities if the federal government could come in and say it's all bad. it's very confusing. >> can you see if you had this legalized in california around you take it to another state, what happens? >> technically that would be a violation of federal law and violation of laws of other states. so the idea that people can keep it at california and grow it

when i went to federal prison, i did time in eight different states in nine different federal prisons, including four penitentiaries -- that is a maximum security. including the united states penitentiary at marion, the first super federal max. that is on a marijuana convention. -- conviction. i spent most of my time in solitary confinement. you do not know this, but if you plead not duty and you get a jury trial and then you have an appellate case, you go directly to solitary confinement. were you do not have access to the law library. you do not have access to your attorneys. i spent most of my time in federal prison in solitary confinement because i had an appellate case. if you do not know this. when i came out of federal prison, i went to graduate school, directly into graduate school. my first semester in grad school as a master student, i remember the chair of the department asked me if i could teach criminology. i said, "sure." [laughter] the first day i taught class at the university of wisconsin, i had 500 students and an entire front row were milwaukee police officers. i to

the federal reserve is also involved in federal negotiations to raise the capital of liquidity that banks are required to hold. however, the problem of "too big to fail" can only be eliminated when market participants do not intervene to prevent failures. if the president believes that the government will not rescue firms with their desk of that, did the creditors will have more appropriate incentive to limit their risk taking in those firms to which they land. the best way to achieve such credibility is to create institutional arrangements under which a failure would be allowed to occur without collateral damage. the failure can take place more saly. the authorities will no longer have an incentive to try to a boil them. -- to avoid them. we took an important step by creating a resolution under which large financial firms can be placed into receivership. it also gives the government the flexibility to take the actions needed to safeguard the stability of the financial system. this new rime should help restore market discipline by putting a greater burden on creditors and counterparties t

there was visual arts, federal theater, federal musics and federal writers. they employed many people. this is excellent to show the work. the visual arts project. it was especially important in san francisco because of dieggo rivera and radicalizing it. this is the coit towers. this was done under cw a. 1934. the wpa wasn't in existence. this is the very first of the relieve projects. harry hopkins said, they have to eat too. the artists should dig ditches like everybody else. this is antonio brinko. millions of americans got to hear live music for the first time. this is the federal theater project. this is maxine albroro. it's been destroyed and one of my favorites done by helen bruten. it's to remind us, while i was looking at these projects, they employed 42 percent women. it's very unusual in the art world. and then of course, in san francisco, benny lafono. we had the first and the last of the new deal. coit tower is the first. it is i think, one of the best in the country. it shows san francisco's history and that of human civilization shown through t

i give the federal reserve enormous credit for doing that. i think the jury is less favorable to the recent stimulus proposals we've seen. a far better thing would be to clear up the uncertainty that's facing business people. >> susie: you also call forgetting tougher with the chinese on their protectionist trade practices. will that really boost our exports and cut our deficit or could it backfire? >> it's very important to promote free trade. the u.s. has to take a strong affirmative free trade stance but we have to call out violations where we see them. china is operating as a mercantileist and protectionist economy. it's bad for the u.s. and it's surely bad for china. i think we need to be honest that. >> susie: revitalizing manufacturing is another suggestion for creating jobs. is it too late for us to jump- start u.s. manufacturing? >> i don't think it is. i think it's very important to do so. a lot of innovation is what i would call innovation on the shop floor. it matters that you're exposed to the actual manufacturing to learn how to

ball federal building. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from texas, ms. johnson, -- jackson, and -- excuse me, ms. johnson, the gentlewoman from texas, ms. johnson, and the gentleman from florida, mr. diaz-balart, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from texas. ms. johnson: thank you, madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on h.r. 5773. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentlewoman from texas. ms. johnson: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. ms. johnson: madam speaker, i rise in strong support of h.r. 5773 as amended, which designates the social security operations building located at 6401 security boulevard in baltimore, maryland, as the robert m. ball federal building. commissioner ball was often described i

we jumped early into this program on the heels of the federal stimulus act in february.he act allowed for 100% federal reimbursement of wages to employers who hire individuals through this program. the idea in san francisco was threefold. first would be to get people back to work, which this program has done with a wild success. the second is to help businesses small and large to either maintain or grow during this time of economic recession, and last is to stimulate the local economy, which we have done through the wages. $55 million in wages are projected to be reimbursed through the end of september of this year, and that is money going right back into the local economy. arguably one of the biggest successes of the federal stimulus act is this program nationally. today, what we want to announce, and the mayor will take the lead on this, is a new campaign or a final push to get the federal government to act to extend this program. $2.5 million will extend it for another year. we will keep the 3000 people who have been employed in san francisco through this program on t

presidential library system paid for by -- funded bit federal -- byked federal government in cooperation with -- for preceding presidents this preceding program began under ly which opened a few weeks ago. >> that is privately manage and funded? >> funded by the state and by private money. and there are other libraries for 19th century presidents but they're funded privately by various commission and states. >> would you like to see the national archives gradually take over those other presidential libraries and where necessary create one so that all of the presidents can be so memorialized? >> is that wonderful phrase in the film show me the money, it take as lot of money to run the places and -- we struggle every find to year the found to deal with what -- >> can you imagine how much the appeal would be if there were washington, precedence library? >> well,le. >> there are washington collections all over that -- you are asking whether i wanted to build a presidential library empire, the sanes no. >> you -- >> what we're doing, john, is bringing the various library directors and foundat

it means that the federal government has to make good on those. and they do not have anything to do except to print the money. or raise taxes -- in the way you can pay off that $1 trillion. my question, this is off the wall and the last question, according to the social security and medicare board of trustees, the most recent report, social security is projected to begin permanently facing deficits in 2015 -- permanently. and medicare will become insolvent in 2029. however, if this was not bad enough, the report indicates the social security will begin operating with a cash flow deficit this very year. should we not be concerned about the impact compared to the large budget deficits that this administration has rejected on my grandchildren and future generations? >> yes, concerned effects of mounted -- mounting debt will be felt by future generations. ofisn't that a transferring what we cannot pay for and what our excesses' are presently to my children and grandchildren? isn't that kind of a wealth transfer or a debt transfer? >> the issue about h

are you aware of any collateral analysis that was do by the federal government, by the federal reserve board of new york, by other federal entities in terms of the inadequacy of your collateral? were you ever in a sense, presented with their assessment of your collateral and insufficiency thereof? >> not scifically other our collateral but we did have three meetings with the federal reserve bank of new york that reviewed our funding capabilitis. whether that involved collateral i assume -- >> these are stress tests you're talking about? >> the stress tests were in fact after our filing. these were, were funding reviews. i actually participated in all three of them. there were different other people that participated. our cfo, our treasurer, our chief lal oicer. but we had three of those. i forget the days offhand, telling you the truth. but it was june, july, maybe earlier. never did i get any feedback on those, and certainly no negative feedback. >> all right. earlier today we entered into the record a chronology prepared by our staff and it had supporting documents. let me just quick

there's also big concern about federal spending. a blue dog democrat so he is considered conservative in spending, i expect todd spend a lot of time talking about the federal budget. >> there are just so few races in the country where the districts are actually competitive. there are really only a few dozen. those are the places we watch and this happens to be one of them. so this is a big race. plus, you've got a democrat here who did vote for some of the major things president obama is seeking but also somewhat conservative. so i think you can see a test of how voters are feeling about incumbent bentz and the democratic national security this race. >> c-span's local content vehicles are traveling the country visiting communities and congressionalal districts as we look at some of the most closely-contested house races leading up to this november's midterm elections. for more information, go to c-span.org/lcv. >> you're watching public affairs programming on c-span. up next a senate hearing on federal funding for stem cell research

rick are you aware of any collateral analysis that was done by the federal government or the federal reserve board of new york or by other federal entities in terms of the inadequacy of your collateral? were you ever presented with their assessment of your collateral? in the in -- and the insufficient heat thereof? >> not our collateral, is physically. we did have three meetings with the federal reserve bank of new york now reviewed -- not reviewed our funding capabilities -- not -- backed -- that reviewed our funding capabilities. these were funding reduced. i actually participated in all three of them. there were different other people who participated. r c f zero, art treasurer, our senior officers -- our cfo, our treasurer, our senior officers. i never got any feedback, certainly no negative feedback. >> earlier into the day we entered into record a chronology from our staff based on supporting documents. i have a couple questions i would ask you and mr. baxter about. if you look at this chronology -- you live so that you do not have to every of -- have to review -- it starts wit

that distribution was decided from their standpoint, the federal government. it was not decided on hours. we just figured out the fixed price combined, and move forward from there. to tell you what one pays 70% or whatever it might be, that would be a question for the national park service or presidio trust. chairperson avalos: but the total combined fees on an annual basis is what you were trying to achieve and was provided by the federal government. >> that is correct. chairperson avalos: thank you. we can open this item for public comment. any members of the public that would like to comment on these three items, 8 to 10, please come forward. >> my name is jeff dice. i am the chief operating officer at the presidio trust. we look forward to the day when the san francisco fire department can provide service to us in the presidio. the last 18 months we have dealt with the sentences of our department. we have developed a strong relationship and look forward to continuing that. -- we have dealt with the san francisco fire department. chairperson avalos: great t

. >> federal judge has done a 180. he reversed his own ruling that would have given california the go-ahead to execute albert brown. now his execution is on hold until of least early next year. nine page ruling he says the ninth circuit court has ordered him to take a closer look at california's new execution policies and he cannot do that in today's. the judge says he did not have the full story when he made his last ruling. the state knew but never disclosed to the court that its loss few doses of sodium expire this friday that a nationwide shortage means it can get more of the drug until early next year. without soak p.m. it is impossible to do lawful lethal injection. he notes that with just seven and a half grams of the drug left it doesn't even have enough for training. another fact they never disclosed to the court. the drug shortage is hardly a reason to rush the execution and ordered it halted until he or an appeals court decides otherwise. as albert brown has not proven he will suffer extreme pain. but he has

it's a fourth of the federal budget. and the fastest growing expense in the household, fastest growing expense at the state level. so your question was affordability. and the technical answer in the reform bill is as a percent of income. that's not the way people think about affordability. they think about it in the moment, when they're presented with a bill or a co-payment or lack of, and then they have to seek some other option. and that's probably the problem. we don't make what anything costs in this system very transparent or even understandable. >> let's talk about that. because if i were to buy a car, new or used, i can go online and buy a blue book value so i know what the dealer paid what's a reasonable amount of profit for that dealer to make. why is it impossible to know what it really costs for a cat scan or a round of chemotherapy or anything? even based on what the insurance company might reimburse the provider for as opposed to an individual who doesn't have coverage. >> you have to understand the system i

the federal government will say no.ear arguments from both sides and the judge will decide. >> this is going to be largely a legal question. whether the commerce clause and tax and spending clause reaches the outer limits that the federal government is arguing. we'll tee that up with the motion for summary judgment and hopefully be successful there. >> greta: did you know it is not just states suing feds over the health care law? this is the federal courthouse where the hearing is today, there are 20 states attorney general plus your organization is argue . how do you work for? >> national federation of independent businesses, we represent small businesses and self-employed across the country. >> greta: there's the issue about standing mean who can participate and who can't who has a cause of action and been harmed. how does your organization claim its harm so you can be here? >> over 30,000 self-employed small business owners plus the hundreds of thousands that we have of small business owners. for the self-employed in

franklin: we would love to have something like 75% federal money. we do get some federal aid and we are thankful, but on the other hand, we're paying for this primarily with new rates. we have increased our rates to among the highest in america. but not nearly as much as if we hadn't passed a one-cent sales tax dedicated to water and sewer infrastructure. hunter: that sales tax counts for about a third of the revenue of the department right now. franklin: we got 75% of the voters to agree to tax themselves so that their children and their children's children could have clean water because we're investing in it now. hunter: there were no alternatives. the infrastructure was in dire straits. a lot of people didn't want to believe it had to be done, but it had to be done. what came out of those lawsuits by the upper chattahoochee river keeper were two consent decrees, focused on overflows. the intent is, city of atlanta, you need to keep the flows in the pipe. narrator: with the help of the funding the city raised, atlanta has been implementing an asse

the closest thing to eternal life on earth should not be a federal program. we will reform the budget process, one that actually focuses on the long term, one that focuses on the next generation, not the next election. the practice of borrowing almost 40 cents on the dollar, much of it from the chinese, sending the bill to our children and grandchildren is not just unsustainable, it is unconscionable with this pledge, republicans will save the american dream as a drowns in a sea of red ink. we will make a bigger and brighter for the next generation. we will not allow the torch of liberty to be mortgaged. it will be handed off to the next generation. >> i am here to help clean up the mess in washington even though i did not help credit. we have to change the status quo we have to change the way we do business in washington. i think everybody understands that. we cannot perpetuate the status quo. in order to get the right results, process is paramount. we are taking a pledge today to do a number of things. it starts with requiring that all pieces of legislation

>> item 7, state and federal legislative update. this is an information action. >> a couple quick things i want to cover for you. the state budget has commenced with the conference on friday. they went transportation to a number went items yesterday. none of them directly affect san francisco or any of the programs we're watching at this time. it dealt with more caltrans issues. i want to highlight five bills. one is a new one for support. ab 1871 deals with cars year program insurance. this allows or clarifies a private individuals vehicle could be used by an official car share program without negatively affecting their insurance on the personal side. in other words, it will be covered by the professional program. this facilitates car sharing. it expands the base of vehicles available for car sharing. it comes with a recommendation of support. sb 1061 that adds pedestrian facilities on the bay bridge has cleared the senate and has been sent to the assembly transportation committee. it just got over there last week. a bill we are wa