. >> now the head of the red cross gail mcgovern is facing. this is over an hour. >> good afternoon. welcome to the national press club. my name is donna leinwand. i'm a reporter for "usa today" and i'm president of the national press club. we're the world's leading professional organization for journalists and we're committed to a future of journalism by providing informative programming and journalism education and fostering a free press worldwide. for more information, please visit our website at www.press.org. on behalf our 3,500 members worldwide, i'd like to welcome our speaker and our guests in the audience today. i'd also like to welcome those of you who are watching us on c-span. we're looking forward to today's speech and afterwards i will ask as many questions from the audience as time permits. please hold your applause during the speech so we have time for as many questions as possible. for our broadcast audience, i would like to explain if you do hear applause it may be guests and members from the general public who attend our lun

10th, the founder and counsel for the southern poverty law center will join us and on july 21st, gail mcgovern, president and ceo of the american red cross will address a luncheon. let me present our guest with these traditional mugs. as a our last question will you tell us about the suit in these months blessing. -- sudanese blessing. >> it was a wonderful experience. we arrived when the folk festival was in full swing. lots of fun. each year a country is featured. it is a wonderful country between india and pakistan. it has the life of people. they brought over a number of months. monks who have never left the monastery, the first time on an airplane. when they came here it was a delightful contrast. the nasa people had their moon boots. the nassau folks had robots roaming around on the mall. these folks had never seen a robot before. they thought it was a real thing. they created a temple on the mall and considered it a holy site. jim and i were delighted to be invited into a small group that were recognized, and we were blessed. >> i would like to thank you for coming today. i would like t

. >> next, remarks from the ceo of the red cross, gail mcgovern.s the organization faces during the recession. it from the national press club, this is about an hour. >> i was hoping a little over a year ago when i joined the red cross, i was hoping to join an organization that would present a challenge. and let me tell you, i have been challenged. [laughter] 8 hurricanes and tropical storms right after i joined. a record tornado season, the worst wildfires in california's history, the worst flooding in the midwest in 15 years. we also had an operating deficit of two under $9 million and a mandate from the board of governors that we would have eliminated in just two years. last but not least, i join the red cross to travel before our country went into a major recession, which is causing more and more people to seek help for nonprofits at a time when it is more and more difficult to raise funds. please do not get me wrong, i am not complaining. [laughter] olli i have the best job in the world and i am humbled by it. i pinch myself every day because

tomorrow, gail mcgovern, president and ceo of the american red cross will address the yen -- luncheon. on july 24th, representative john conyers, a democrat from michigan will address the press club at luncheon. also, i would like to give you our national press club mud. the last -- the last 10 years the cbo scoring for direct war was -- are you worried with the cost of the war? why are you expecting those concerns yet? >> the cost of the war like the cost of everything else is of great concern to the american people, as i am sure it is to the administration. in a real sense, the cost of health care is something that is up close and right here, something that people touch and have to deal with in a real way when they go to get their medicines, health services. they are either paying for seeing what the cost is in every way. it doesn't take away from the fact that engaging militarily is a cost like all other cost. when you are looking at the entire cost of health care, as a proportion of our gdp, i know in the state of maryland health care was 40% of our budget. 30% of the budget which