if those not so fema does not have good judgment. it's a just and you should institutionalize the arbitration more broadly. >> this is already in process, so we wanted to see how it worked out. we went back to look of the first one with charity, and he said, why are we are doing this? we found with some of these projects, we have really gotten away from what we thought we should be doing in the first place, so we are coming back and looking at, why did we end up with that decision, and recognizing in the case of charity if you have the professional engineers on either side, the fact that they are professional engineer should have a lot of weight on the decisions made about what is the impact and what should be the obligation of the federal government. we should look and say a federal engineer -- professional engineer is signing off on this. we should give it more weight. the professional engineer with a credible source of information. >> fema should have challenged the credibility along the way. >> a licensed professional engineer is

guest: we have done a lot to improved fema's standing in new orleans. of the things going on is an effort to we have -- rewrite the stafford act. the mayor which called for the right, and one of the things they talked about was creating something so the rules are different and you could expedite the money and make the availability quicker. do you think regrading the stafford act is a good idea -- rewriting the stafford act is a good idea. guest: is it the act that is at fault or is it the way we implemented it? with the administration coming in it, looking back at all that, we were able to move over $2 billion already in funds that had been held up. it was nothing about the stafford act. it was looking at, applying more common sense to the production -- the project. we have a responsibility to be accountable for the tax dollars. and we found ourselves at loggerheads over a process with local and state officials. maybe not the stafford act as much as the process we were using to get the job done. host: following up, the biggest ticket item was the charit

it's not fema but h.u.d. other states have received their disaster funds but continues to hold texas hostage. both parties have written to h.u.d. on this issue. we requested meetings and called and our letters go unanswered. the state worked with our communities to put together a strong recovery plan and we know because we just recovered from a hurricane and are recovering from hurricane rita as well. but h.u.d. keeps moving goalposts and says washington knows best and if washington gets its way, the impact won't even be eligible for help. it has been 541 days since congress acted to provide help for disaster victims, yet h.u.d. continues to say, your recovery doesn't matter. there's no rush. tell our communities, tell our families, tell our region that there's no rush, 541 days. h.u.d. needs to act now to prove the texas plan and simply help our communities rebuild. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. obey: i yield three

act, these are all responsibilities of fema. there's just no getting around it. already this year there have been 18 disasters and three emergency funds in seven states, and the disaster relief fund is about to be exhausted. given the domestic and international efforts fema has undertaken this year, the disaster relief fund will be exhausted within the next month. so this bill replenishes the disaster relief fund with $5 billion. this funding can only be used for disaster relief. it cannot be shifted into other accounts. if it is not spent this year, will be retained for the fund next year. because relief also requires the federal government to assist affected small businesses to resume operations, the bill also provides for $60 million to be funded to the small business administration and finally the bill invests $600 million into job training and employment services. this is a vital investment to build upon the progress we have made in the past year to put america back to work. because this investment is not an emergency, it i

. >> fema is unfairly considered a answer to everything, and he has to explain they are not the first responders. when i tried to figure out how to read it when he tried to figure out about being personally responsible, -- when he tried to figure out about

fema is not quite the epithet it once was in new orleans. host: how was he perceived on capitol hill? guest: he has received with respect and credibility. one thing that happened after katrina, is that congress required that any administrator have an emergency management experience. he has the background of local emergency management experience in florida in order to take over fema. the big thing about fino and cut -- -- about fema is the budgeting and how to account for the money. about $30 billion has been doled out across the country since 9/11. there is no way to measure the success of how that money is being spent and what we are buying for it. he mentioned today, he is going to go back and create a new system to bring in people from state and local governments to measure the effectiveness of the spending. host: both of you pressed him on the issue of the stafford act. why is that important? what were you looking for? guest: the question becomes, are they going to write legislative changes in order to change the definition of disasters

la agencia federal de coordinacion de emergencias fema dijo que mas fondos pueden estar disponibles enproximos meses... la reserva federalemitio nuevas reglas para proteger al publico de restricciones y pagos inesperados en las tarjetas regalo la popularidad de esas tarjetas ha aumentado considerablemente, dijo dicha agencia federal y el uso haaumenas quejas delegado republicano patrick l. mcdonough esta impulsando una propuesta de ley para que un selecto grupo de policias estatales reciban entrenamiento para arrestar a presuntos indocumdos... las legislativa ya esta en la fase final de su periodo regular de sesiones... un hombre que disparo en contran mientras ambos conducian sobre la interestatal 95 en el condado de prince william, enfrenta serios cargos... segun la policia estatal de virginia, gabriel poventud quien conducia un vehiculo al vehiculo y ambos terminaron entonces cuando poventud saco un arma y disparo 13 veces contra el camion que huia del sitio... su hija de dos años se encontraba el vehiculo, por lo que el tambien enfrenta cargos por ponerla en peligro.. "lo que t

plus they had plenty of time to prepare and fema, in addition, is sending quite a crew out here to getngs set up and authorities at fema are saying that last year they had to respond while they planned. this year they have planned ahead. in morehead, minnesota, fox news. >>> from flooding in the midwest to snow in the rockies. spring starts tomorrow, you know that, but old man winter is not giving up in the mile high city. people in denver are getting one more blast of winter weather. they have an advisory until midnight. >> our snow is a distant memory but it's replaced by spring fever. >> temperatures will be like mid-april than mid-march. gary mcgrady has more on that. >> how about that. some 15, maybe 20degrees warmer than where we should be. the good news, it will last through the weekend. we can't always say that but it looks like we will have a pleasant weekend. here is why. you look at true view, you can't find clouds out there. it will remain mostly clear overnight tonight and for the better part of the weekend there will be clouds coming in sunday. believit or not associated

>> i think he is sort of saying a more rational and reasonable fema can answer those questions. i think people worry if you do not have a particular individual you trust. how do you write laws so the flexibility is not only apparent but mandated? >> you responded in one of your questions talking about the state allow local posts he has brought on board with him to the agency. has five of the perception in new orleans and capitol hill -- has that health the perception in new orleans and capitol hill? >> he brought people thiin. i think the problem is of the personal. he brought in good people. they were not necessarily a local, but they were handed to resolve the crisis triggered threats he had an interesting answer to your question about family perth -- to resolve the crisis. >> he had an interesting answer to your question about vulnerable citizens. what do you say in response to that. >> fema is unfairly considered a answer to everything, and he has to explain they are not the first responders. when i tried to figure out how to read it when he tried to figure out about being p

and fema plans to do the same today. >>> and from the dakotas to the upper midwest, they're still bracing for some of the worst flooding in years. volunteers are piling up sandbags along the mississippi river. and they're building dikes in fargo, where the red river is expected to crest over the weekend. >>> and now, for this morning's weather around the nation. other than flooding, it's a nice, sunny day in the midwest and northeast. showers in the south from raleigh, myrtle beach, atlanta and miami. a mix of rain and snow in south dakota, nebraska and utah. >>> 50s in salt lake city today. boise and seattle, as well. 73 in sacramento. 83 in phoenix. 60s across much of the northwest. the northeast is warmer than parts of florida today, with boston, new york and baltimore just shy of 70 degrees. >>> when we come back, the fed chairman stands his ground when it comes to regulating the nation's banks. >>> and keeping your family pet safer. that's the idea behind some new safer. that's the idea behind some new pest control product labelood. >>> welcome back. it is time, now, for a check of m

so we -- >> we will have an administration -- >> we haven't been able to get fema's attention.ven't got anybody's attention and adds $1,000 to the cost of a house payment a year. and it just about everywhere. and it's a very serious matter to those of us, especially in the lower mississippi valley. >> okay. >> and you hadn't got any comment about shutting the dam project down? >> as you know, we have had discussions on this. and let me just say this. the corps of engineers process as a whole -- let me sort of step back and say the corps of engineer process as a whole from an administration prospect, we have two key objectives. one is to remain focused on the three areas it's historically focused on and the second is to use consistent cost benefit analysis as we were talking about earlier on regulations to make sure that the best projects are funded. those are the two key guiding principles the administration uses with corps of engineer funding. [ inaudible ] i appreciate that. >> a project half paid for. and it's going cost you half of what's left to shut it down. and it's a hy

it means fema will help foot the bill for snow removal and recovery. the federal government closed for four days in february because of those blizzards. >>> those plows may have been a godsend a few weeks ago, but they caused property dage. >> reporter: after the snow, a muddy, grassy, ugly mess is what lines some roads. >> a lot of this was vehicle traffic, snowplows moving mounds of snow. as they move, they will often pick up the sod and dirt and push it off to the side of the road. >> reporter: among the muck, inmates from the sheriff's office was looking for displaced dirt and trash on state roads. >> was substantial divots on the side of the road. we are replacing those. tamping them down. >> reporter: v-d.o.t.'s operations manager showed us where a backhoe fouled up a section of kingstown road. >> when you have snow this deep, you couldn't see where the curb is. that's probably what happened here. >> reporter: plows tore up sewer drains, concrete curbs in addition to sod damage. for v-d.o.t., it's about priorities. >> right now, this is not a saf

we had two hearings last year from the tsa and fema on solutions to improve the timeliness. 93% of the006 monies remained unspent and 90% from 2007. it took 285 peace -- days for the projects to be approved in 2008. and aspirin, tsa and fema announced that all to your -- all tier i would be funded as soon as they were announced. this was a significant change. and despite this non-incremental change, it appears in the process for this funding come up at the disbursement of these funds has improved dramatically. the 67% of the 2007 grants on spent compared to 90% a year ago. they are marginal improvements at best for 2007 with 93% of grants unspent compared to 99%. these changes, certainly on paper they cheered to be major changes to exit by -- expedite these grants, why have they not produce the results that we anticipated? we have intense interest in this. we had a second hearing and asked you to report on the progress by august 2009. we know you worked hard trying to solve this problem, and we saw some improvement but we have not seen a report yet. it's over six months late. the main

restoring agencies as diverse as fema, the u.s. geological survey and national institute of science and technology have continuing appropriation authorizations to research the causes and forecasting the natural disasters as well as ways to limit their negative impact. the recent earthquakes in haiti and chile have demonstrated the improved methods of predicting and mitigating natural disasters. the contrast and outcomes have also demonstrated the clear benefit of preparedness and scientifically based building codes in containing casualties from major disaster if not the economic losses. nearly every part of the united states is susceptible to natural disasters in some form or another and re-authorizing the programs in h.r. 3820 will ensure we remain at the forefront of this important research. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: freight -- pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or on which the vot

. >> fema crews are now in place to espond to flooding threats across the upper midwest. mississippi is expected to crest on wedsday. >> gas prices are on the rise and it is a noticeable spike. >>> plus, frustrated metro riders sound off about a proposed fare hike. how you can weigh in. >>> and the inner city high school where every senior got accepted to college. find outheir secret. that's still ahead. it's the first time you're letting your daughter shop on her own. so here's your moment of truth, mom. which 3g network would you trust to run apps like family locator, when it matters most ? when you want your 3g network to work, you want verizon. upgrade your family now and get an lg env touch. or get this samsung alias for just $29.99. plus add a linfor just 9.99. families can connect for less at verizon. >>> if you filled up at the pump this weekend, you probably noticed a rise in gas prices. it went up an average of 8 cents across the country in the last couple of weeks. that's up 8 on cents from a year ago. the average regular is now $2.81. in our area a gallon of r

in fact, fema announced plans to congratulate them in about two weeks. [ laughter ] that's nice of them. people in new orleans, they wanted this win badly. in fact, i heard they actually sent a boy in louisiana home from school, because he was wearing an indianapolis colts jersey. yeah, afterwards, the boy said, "look, i love the saints. i just hate school." [ laughter ] it was perfect. he was psyched. you guys hear about this? on saturday, sarah palin looked at notes written on her hand during a speech at the tea party convention in tennessee. isn't that wild? oddly enough, she was reading, "hi, i'm sarah -- palin." [ laughter ] some big tiger woods news. i heard that tiger is planning to play in the masters this april. [ scattered cheers ] tiger said, yeah -- he's just focused on winning another green jacket, while his wife is focused on receiving half of a green jacket. [ light laughter ] this could be big, there are rumors swirling "the new york times" is planning a bombshell story about governor david paterson. it could ruin his election chances. paterson couldn't believe it. he wa

it means fema will help foot the bill for the snow removal and recovery. the federal government closed for four consecutive days in february because of the blizzard. >>> and now we'll ask tom how long is that rain going to stay away, tom? we going to be able to get out and see the blossoms without a downpour? >> i think so. certainly by friday afternoon, quite a bit of wind but those blossoms are really tough when they first come out so probably not many blow off. that will be tomorrow afternoon. the winds diminish for the weekend. right now, we've had increasing clouds, and at this hour we're into the 50s. 58 in washington. it's in the 60s in our eastern and southern suburbs and northern neck, lower eastern shore now in the low 60s in prince george's county and montgomery, arlington, fairfax countys in the mid and upper 50s as well as throughout much of the rest of the region except southern virginia, southeastern virginia, eastern shore where they've had more sun this morning. they are in upper 60s right now. there is some rain now just coming into south

in fema will be the main distributor on that account. as for getting the electricity back on.irst the water has got to recede. then the electrical folks have to turn around and make sure it's safe. don't want to start any electrical fires doing that sewage plants overrun with water. that will be a big mess to clean up as well. i-95 was shut down. the governor really wants to get that up and running again. he has sandbags headed in that direction. they will pump the water off the highway and try to get that open as quickly as possible. a big mess to clean up here, shep. >> shepard: i will say. molly line on the edge of the flooding in rhode island tonight. remember the republican cries of drill baby drill during the presidential campaign? well, president obama took a step to make something like that happen, but the move is underfire from both republicans and democrats. >> this is not a decision that i have made lightly. >> we're announcing the expansion of offshore oig exploration. >> shepard: you can guess environmentalists are not thrilled. some republicans are not happy eith

fema -- the director --fema -- here's an excerpt from a program that was taped on friday. >> the administration put ford of $5 billion supplement for the disaster relief fund and it is pending now. the house approved yesterday. what is that funding needed for? why is the $5 billion necessary? >> in our disasters we have had going back to hurricane katrina, you have various bodies coming on line for the rebuilding process. we do reimbursements, not necessarily putting money up front. two big issues -- one was arbitration findings for charity, another was an agreement we reached on the recovery school district which we consider a model way to approach larger issues. instead of going school by school they do one project for all schools impactive. that is coming true. that includes new disasters occurring. the austin requirement is about $5 billion for existing disasters and finance. what we expect to be paid out between now and the end of the year, that includes floods. >> the additional supplemental is something that recurs every year. it is sent to the hill for the disaster relief fund. members

we had two hearings lester with tsa and fema and what solutions could be implemented for 2006 through08. 99% was on span from 2007. for the 2006 grants, it took too wondered 86 days after the awards were announced to be approved. -- it's up 286 days. last spring, all tier one project would be approved at the time the awards were announced. this would allow the entities to access these funds faster. one year later, it appears in the process for approving this funding, the disbursement of funding has not improved dramatically. 67% of the 2006 grant remain unspent. there have been marginal improvements at best for 2007 with 93% of the koran's remained unspent. why have these changes which are major changes to expedite the disbursement of these grants not produced the results we anticipated? we had intense interest in the spirit we had a second hearing. we asked you to report on your progress. we know you worked hard trying to solve this problem. we have not seen the report. it is over six months late. the main concern is the underlying problem. it is hard to get a handle on the problem.

right now, congress needs to appropriate supplemental funding for fema's disaster relief fund. fema said that they are reserving their remaining disaster relief funds for immediate needs until we appropriate this supplemental funding, yet the longer we wait, the longer communities in the red river valley have to wait on important flood mitigation efforts, like removing the remaining homes from the floodplain. i have contacted the fema administrator urging him to exhaust all available options while congress approves the president's request of $5.1 billion in supplemental funding for the disaster relief fund. i stand ready to support chairman inouye in any of his efforts on this or any other bill on the floor to approve these $5.1 billion in supplemental funding. once again, i commend the communities in minnesota's red river valley for their flood mitigation preparations for this year. as the ice melts and the water rises, i will continue to fight to get federal funding out to these communities, make sure we're doing all that we can to support them in their flood preparations and

is fema's role changing? >> what is changing is that the stafford act is not the only program that the federal government has in a natural disaster. oftentimes, state and local governments are not aware of these programs. how you build a system that brings all the federal resources together where there are lot of aspects that congress has told us to do temporary housing or shelter but we do -- don't you permanent. if you lose a lot of homes, who has these programs? hud has a piece of that and various programs. if you do not tie those together, we put people into temporary housing solutions but we are not lurk -- looking at the long term solutions. you end up with people who will be in temporary housing units will pass the point we would like to have those programs run. in a recovery, we have to work as a team and the stafford act is one of the tools. that is not the only tool. we need to bring the federal government together so when state and local governments are facing the problems of disaster as they do no

they are also connected to the federal agencies like fema. this is a bit of work in progress.e all the secretary a concept brief at the end of this month. i think we will have identified the issues you mentioned. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator collins. >> good morning, generals. general renuart, did you for taking the time to visit with me yesterday to talk about your plans to retire. i was struck by the old colorado @ etch that a statesman is a dead politician -- the old colorado adage that a statesman is a dead politician. i do not know what your long- term plans are, but we are looking forward to the benefit of your advice. you do not look senior to me. you are fit. we welcome you as a permanent resident of colorado. >> thank you. >> i am going to lean on you for further insights and advice. would you talk about the national guard commission recommendations, specifically how you have increased guardsmen at the headquarters and how they have been incorporated? we have talked about the opportunity to further enhance the role of the guard, to bett

there have been about a -- has been about $4 billion under fema for local brands. grants. that is part of its justification. but overall, the grants would stay pretty flat, as far as they were in fiscal 2010. host: more on this budget, walter on the democratic line, what is your question? caller: i would like to ask mr. mccarter about a homeland security. my opinion is that we should be focusing more on our country. i think when you looked at a tense -- attempts to monitor flights from other countries, we are depending on foreign countries to do that and i think it is very inefficient. and that no flightless, the last time i remember hearing about it was something like 2 million names. who can manage that? another thing on the body scan, i do not understand the necessity for this visual but you have. but you have a system that can accurately detect explosives and give you an alarm, what is the advantage to the bodies can? you have the information, you pull the subject to the side and you do a body search. guest: first to my want to talk about the overseas question.

monopoly of government-run health care will have the efficiency of the post office, the competence of fema and the compassion of the good old i.r.s. and that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? mr. sires: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. sires: mr. speaker, we must now let this historic -- we must not let this historic opportunity slip away. if we do not act, continuing health care costs will force families to choose between health care and jobs. if we do nothing in 30 years one out of $3 in our economy will be tied up in the health care system. if we fail to pass reform, premiums for both single and family policies could more than double by 2020. if we can pass health reform, consumers will be able to select their insurance plans, doctors and no longer be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions and they can change coverage when -- they can keep their coverage when they change jobs. mr. speaker, how long are 46 million

. >> representatives from fema are set to tour new jersey towns still underwater later today. >>> and now here is a look at your weather. other than flooding it is a sunny, beautiful day in the northeast. showers in florida, georgia and the carolinas. the heaviest downpours from myrtle beach to wilmington. snow in the northern rockies. a mix of rain and snow in south dakota, nebraska and utah. >> 54 in salt lake city. 68 in albuquerque. 83 in phoenix today. mostly 60s across the midwest. highs near 70 from boston to baltimore. and uppe60s from atlanta to dallas. >>> supreme court just advertises have long been depicted as serious and intelligent. now someone has turned them into child's play. >> the entertaining law journal givenback.org has been churning out bobbleheads of justices past and present. rehnquist, sandra day o'connor and others. >> up to 2,000 of each one is made. greenbag says there are not just toys and they are not for sale, they are given away. >> i'd like some of those, those are cool. >> they are cool. wouldn't it be funny to bach into one of their offices, a supre

. >> i know that fema is coordinating relief efforts, and the president has authorized an emergency ee dollaration for your state. are you getting what you need? >> absolutely. right now, we've been coordinating with the state, emergency management as well as the federal government. in fact, yesterday touring with me was one of our senators, senator sheldon whitehouse. so we are getting a lot of the resources from all levels, from the state, to the federal government. but it's still just not enough because we're facing unprecedented levels of flooding. we certainly are in uncharted territories right now, in our city and our state. >> mayor allan fung our thoughts are with you and the people of cranston this morning. thank you so much. >> thank you, maggie. >> now here's jeff. >> all right, now to a scare in the air over northern california. a jumbojet loaded with passengers and a small plane almost collided in midair this weekend. cbs' nancy cordes covers transportation for us. she joins us this morning from washington. nancy, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, jeff. this was a r

they also have to be connected to the federal agencies like fema. this is a work in progress. we owe the secretary a brief at the end of this month. >> thank you. >> senator collins, thank you. senator udall. >> thank you for taking the time to visit with me yesterday. i was struck by the old adage that a statesman is a dead politician. some say that we need more states msmen. we're looking for it to the benefit of your advice. although, you do not look senior to me. you are fit. >> thank you, senator. >> i will lean on you for further insights and advice. would you talk about the national guard commission recommendations, specifically how you have increased the guardsmen at the headquarters? we have talked about how this is a great opportunity to enhance the role of the guard and increase how we deploy them. i want to tip my hat to you for how you have worked with them. >> we work with 50 full-time guardsmen at the headquarters. across my headquarters, a substantial percentage of the military -- of the active military have served in a position where they have been associated

the leaders from across my administration, the department of state, usaid, homeland security, fema, transportation of defense, and the great folks at southern command. i want to thank all of them for leading a swift and coordinated response during one of the most complex humanitarian efforts ever attended. we are joined by the ambassador, the heroic embassy staff at work around the clock. we are joined by the disaster response teams that were on the scene within 24 hours. our military personnel that quickly reopen the airport making way for a massive humanitarian effort. our search and rescue teams pull survivors out to safety. the volunteer physicians that treated tens of thousands of patients with life-threatening injuries. and all the men and women in uniform that have distributed food, water, medicine, to millions of people. i just want to personally say how extraordinarily proud i am of each and everyone of you that. -- of you. because he represents what is best in america. i could not be prouder of the response that all of you were engaged in during this humanitarian crisis. no relief effort

snowstorm is the only storm where fema requires you to meet a precipitation measurements. the category, they base it on a damage assessment. governor o'malley has written president obama and look at the consequences based on how much snow fell. and we are hoping that that and the restriction of recovering 48 hours worth of snow removal and expanding that for a longer period of time. >> you would think that if these blizzards didn't get tout throughout this win -- through ththroughout this winter, nothig is going to get it. >> if this kind of weather will hit the rockies or buffalo they're not going to get it. in maryland and d.c. area, this is a killer for us. this nooked us out for a week. >> it's work that has to be done so the governments dipped into their money but now it has to be replaced. >> all of the public works folks said, we will take care of the snow removal and we will worry about the reimbursement later. >> if we don't get the money that could impact on services. >> that's for sure. >>> american idol contestants sing music biggest hits. >> when you believe ♪

we need look no further than the fema national predisaster mitigation program, it was a competitive grant program designed to quote, save lives and reduce property damage by providing for hazard mitigation planning, acquisition and structures on the floodplain. this was going to be a competitive grant program. the fiscal 2010 homeland security appropriation bill appropriated $100 million for this program, almost $25 million was earmarked for projects in mebs' home districts, leaving fewer funds available for localities that wished to apply for funding. a grant program to establish the emergency operation center established by congress in the 2008 homeland security appropriation bill, 60% of the funds in that grant program were earmarked. again, these are grant programs typically set up to be competitively bid on for people -- or for the agencies to assess on a merit-based basis, yet their earmark. this amendment would say none of the funds available or authorized by this legislation would be available to be earmarked and with that,ry reserve the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempor

fugate, administrator of the federal emergency management agency, discusses the budget and oversight of femaw the agency has changed since katrina. "newsmakers" sunday at 10:00 a.m. isikofeastern and pacific - span. >> students have a submitted winning videos on one of the country's strength or challenges. at a 30 a.m. during the program, meet the students who made them. before a preview of all the winners, visit studentcam.org. >> at the open -- opening session of the arab league summit in libya, secretary of -- the secretary told attendees and that's peace talks between israel and palestine could end in failure. this 30-minute the event is courtesy of a 24 hour news network based in dubai. >> mr. chairman of the summit, your majesty, your excellencies the mind your arab citizens, ladies and gentleman, this summit is held in may. critical moments and as we extend our -- this summit is held in a very critical moment and as we extend our gratitude for the chairmanship of this summit, it gives great responsibilities. i would like to express gratitude and respect for the state of qatar, which h

there have been about a -- has been about $4 billion under fema for local brands. stay pretty flat, as far as they were in fiscal 2010. host: more on this budget, walter on the democratic line, what is your question? caller: i would like to ask mr. mccarter about a homeland security. my opinion is that we should be focusing more on our country. i think when you looked at a tense -- attempts to monitor flights from other countries, we are depending on foreign countries to do that and i think it is very inefficient. and that no flightless, the last time i remember hearing about it was something like 2 million names. who can manage that? another thing on the body scan, i do not understand the necessity for this visual but you have. but you have a system that can accurately detect explosives and give you an alarm, what is the advantage to the bodies can? you have the information, you pull the subject to the side and you do a body search. guest: first to my want to talk about the overseas question. we cannot dictate, basically, what airports overseas do. and that is obv

congress and president bush allocated $110 billion, and then they give them another $18 billion for fema and the state of louisiana got another $11.9 billion, $140 billion that they received so far in total funding for disaster relief. and now they are talking about giving them another $300 million. i just looked up on the fbi page, and they are saying that 1300 people were indicted already and they wasted $1.4 billion with people taking money out of this illegally, sheriffs, councilmen. now we want to give them another $300 billion, up one at a wasted $1.4 billion. -- when they wasted $1.4 billion. host: janet, democratic color, asheville, north carolina. caller: i want to read from this week's "newsweek" in response to senator burr wracking about what carroll and education. -- bragging about a north carolina education. "classrooms are now dividing along racial lines. the naacp has filed a complaint alleging apartheid education. 'i think it is intentional discrimination,' says an attorney at the center for civil rights. i also want to say in regard to -- what else did you talk about thi

fema has redrawn the maps it uses to set insurance rates and homeowners may discover the new maps place flood plain, forced to pay $200 more a month even though the next next door maybe wouldn't have to. people have complained about the revised flood zones saying they are being forced to buy unnecessary flood insurance and what flood insurance covers or does not cover. analysts say many policies wont pay for finished basements. >>> he is the face of terror, the world's most wanted terrorist. the obama administration predict he will be brought to justice in a body bag not a u.s. court. eric holder made the surprising remark during a hearing about trying terror suspects in civilian courts. >> talk about a hypothetical that never will occur. the reality is we'll be reading miranda rights to the corpse of osama bin laden. they have the same rights that a charles man son would have. any other kind of mass murderer. >> my constituents and i have deep seated philosophical dlifrns with the obama administration. >> he will never appear in a courtroom. that's a reality. >> jean ma serve is live i

suggest that this was primarily about social issues that put george bush, and therefore, brownie in femaleap. >> i will now finish my point. and i wish the republican party would be as open and democratic as a little "d," as the democrats and we could elect people that have never had any connections, like al gore. who also ran against george w. bush in 2000. but great point taken. anyway, the problem is, we elect people based, again, on checking off the ideological boxes. again, we don't get to whether they're good leaders or not until we're four or five or six points down. and i'm just saying on these social issues, i know it's important to the right, i know it's important to the left, but as harold ford said, and this is a critical -- this is what washington doesn't understand and we've been saying it for a year, mika, it's about jobs. it's about, can i take care of my family? it's about, who is going to lead america into the 21st century? and can they do without being overly ideological? it's back to burke. it's back to what we were -- it's about what works. not checking off the ideol

usaid contractor embedded with the chilean national emergency response office, the equivalent of our femanty-one satellite phones have been distributed along with plastic sheeting, two mobile water treatment units, with six more units scheduled to arrive within the next week. $1 million has been disbursed to the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies. we've deployed a field hospital and two c-130 aircraft to assist with moving supplies around the country. deputy secretary steinberg is on his way back to the united states. he met earlier today with foreign minister okada and other senior officials to discuss a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues. and finally, before taking your questions, voting for iraqi citizens living abroad has started today in the united states and 15 other countries and will continue through sunday. there has been strong voter turnout in several countries. here in the united states, iraqi citizens are voting at locations in or near eight cities which include washington, chicago, dallas, detroit, nashville, phoenix, san diego, and

this time the chair will deal to the distinguished chair subcommittee on economic development and femaost of other issues has been diligent in holding hearings on the subcommittees' portion of the stimulus. ms. wharton. >> thank you, mr. chairman, you take accountability to a new level. this chairman is sitting accountability hearings on the stimulus when most members of congress have long since gone having passed a historic health care bill they felt they were entitled. well, chairman oberstar was entitled, too, but in keeping with the way he always approaches his work, here we sit. and and accountability hearing and one that i think is important. because occasionally you hear people say well, if you've gotten stimulus funds, i'm not sure that i myself have personally felt it. well, that certainly is true and chairman oberstar and many office would have preferred to have seen a larger stimulus package but what these account of the hearings have done mr. sherman is to show that the money has hit the ground and it's hit the ground in los small part -- no small part because the accountab

the president's declaration authorizes fema to coordinate all disaster relief efforts with the purposend property as well as the public's health and safety. the city of providence has received nearly 9 inches of new rain since monday. more flooding expected today. those are live pictures right now of new jersey, where that state also hit hard. the rain hasn't stopped yet either. >> when the sun eventually comes out, i want all of you to come over. i have a new swimming pool. >> in your basement? >> called my cellar. >> yes, do you. >> is it bad? >> i have one called our school, which appears to be flooding. thought they fixed that. anyhow. we will get you that a little later. let's go to sport with willie. >> it's always beautiful in augusta, georgia, where tiger woods will find himself next week. he's holding a press conference on monday, the first time he'll face the full media since this all went down on thanksgiving night. stevie williams, tiger woods' caddy,s he's not expecting any problems at augusta when they return to golf after that four-month break. which is why tiger chose a

to train international search-and-rescue teams but also for five other teams that were stood up by fema so that we had at any one time more than 500 american search-and-rescue professionals with heavy equipment and specialized training at work for an extended period of time. we made significant investments in the health space spending resources to take disaster assistance team from the department of health and human services and put them in place, supporting the treatment of more than 30,000 haitians in that context and then food and water were immediate priorities that accounted for a large bulk of that spending. we successfully supported the discretion of food to more than 3 million people who are at risk and had some have some immediate and aggressive procurements to make sure people had as much access to water in the camps as possible. we think we successfully met the needs around water and that was a big concern in the early moments of those up in the big areas of disaster assistance spending and in addition to that the department of defense with its personnel and its other resourc

to train international search-and-rescue teams but also for five other teams that were stood up by femaso that we had at any one time more than 500 american search-and-rescue professionals with heavy equipment and specialized training at work for an extended period of time. we made significant investments in the health space spending resources to take disaster assistance team from the department of health and human services and put them in place, supporting the treatment of more than 30,000 haitians in that context and then food and water were immediate priorities that accounted for a large bulk of that spending. we successfully supported the discretion of food to more than 3 million people who are at risk and had some have some immediate and aggressive procurements to make sure people had as much access to water in the camps as possible. we think we successfully met the needs around water and that was a big concern in the early moments of those up in the big areas of disaster assistance spending and in addition to that the department of defense with its personnel and its other resource

in fact, fema estimates that the federal government saves between $3 and $4 for every dollar spent on flood mitigation in advance of a problem. the flood insurance program also provides building standards which when followed leads to 80% less damage annually than those structures not built according to these standards. but this isn't the only program that is being threatened by this stalemate. because of senator bunning's objections, yesterday roughly 2,000 department of transportation staff were furloughed largely at the federal highway administration which is responsible for highway, bridge, and road construction projects across our nation. i know a little bit about those projects, mr. president, bass i live six blocks from the bridge that fell down in the mississippi river in the middle of a beautiful summer day. eight-lane highway down in the middle of the mississippi river. we know how important these projects are, rebuilding safety. can you just have one member of the united states senate decides to stop these types of projects in their tracks. highway projects are financed by s

you can find many left wing blog saying even michelle malkin is criticizing michael brown at fema, alot of dhs nepotism, which i desiccated and covered and uncovered myself. and also, you know, you can take a look at my files and see even most recently all of the work that i've done criticizing the pork, don young and ted stevens. i think -- i think that my critics suffer from a moral equivalency when they can't take a look at the book that i've written in their in the response is where were you? without it for themselves of exactly what was. guess what? bush is not in office anymore. barack obama is and that's why i wrote the book. >> host: let me ask you specifically about a couple of the photographs that are inside the book. first of this with the former governor of illinois. the mayor of chicago and president obama. >> guest: i think was very important to set the stage for a the atmosphere, culture, the political machine that barack obama grew out of. and there is a section in the book specifically on the episode involving barack obama, battery jared and his senior white house ad