gary locke came to washington, d.c. just a year ago, after decades as a county executive, lawyer, and the first chinese- american state governor in u.s. history. his responsibilities ranged from trade to overseeing the 2010 census to warning against blizzards and hurricanes. please welcome to the national press club secretary of commerce gary locke. [applause] >> thank you for the introduction. i assure you the blizzard is not happening today, or at least not right now. enjoy your lunch and coffee and desserts. i want to thank you all for coming today. thank the press club for hosting us and recognizing some of our guests. i want to indicate that a senator was here earlier who had to leave for a vote on the hill. she left her father here who is going to report all we say and do here. the senator is a great proponent of helping the economy export around the world. in the state of the union, president obama announced a series of proposals that will put americans back to work and our nation on the path of sustainable econo

gary locke came to washington, d.c. chinese- american state governor in u.s. history. his responsibilities ranged from trade to overseeing the 2010 census to warning against blizzards and hurricanes. please welcome to the national press club secretary of commerce gary locke. [applause] >> thank you for the introduction. i assure you the blizzard is not happening today, or at least not right now. enjoy your lunch and coffee and desserts. i want to thank you all for coming today. thank the press club for hosting us and recognizing some of our guests. i want to indicate that a senator was here earlier who had to leave for a vote on the hill. she left her father here who is going to report all we say and do here. the senator is a great proponent of helping the economy export around the world. in the state of the union, president obama announced a series of proposals that will put americans back to work and our nation on the path of sustainable economic growth. a key element in helping to meet that goal is a new national exp

gary locke came to washington, d.c. just a year ago, after de

please welcome to the national press club secretary of commerce gary locke. [applause] >> thank you for the introduction. i assure you the blizzard is not happening today, or at least not right now. enjoy your lunch and coffee and desserts. coming today. thank the press club for hosting us and recognizing some of our guests. i want to indicate that a to leave for a vote on the hill.@ she left her father here who is going to report all we say and do here. the senator is a great proponent of helping the economy export around the world. in the state of the union, president obama announced a series of proposals that will put americans back to work and our nation on the path of sustainable economic growth. . . work and our nation on the path of sustainable economic growth. a key element in helping to meet that goal is a new national export initiative. that aims to double american exports over the next five years and support 2 million jobs here at home. there have been previous endeavors by the government to elevate the importance of exports. what sets this effort

and the secretary of commerce, gary locke, made the announcement with me last week and it has a need to thank him for his various tax support and encouragement for doing this. we organizations i never easy and the folks at noaa has been really spectacular in trying to work as a team to find what is going to work best for the science, for the services, for coupling them. and we're really excited about the new directions. i should emphasize that what we have announced is the intent to create this new noaa climate service because it still has to go through a process of approval for, you know, that is very specific, dollar amounts, people, and approval process that goes to the department of commerce, to office of management and budget and then to congress. as you also know, there is keen interest in that kind of service by many members of congress that have included this in legislation. and now that we have been able to announce this intent to create this reorganized office, we very much look forward to working with members of congress on both the appropriations as well as authorization

gary locke is giving a speech right now at the national press club.c reference to a time for approving the pending south korean, colombian, or panama trade agreements. for those nations who are now perhaps enthusiastic the president is talking about trade, what can you tell them about when the president and this white house is going to push those agreements and get them through congress? when i talked to the president about south korea in beijing he said, "i want that done in 2010," either -- >> well, there you go. what are you asking me for? >> well, but nothing has happened. you can't find any -- >> well, it's only february, major. >> i know. but he said it was going to happen either early or late, which i interpreted meaning early in 2010 or after the midterm elections. >> well -- >> so for those three deals -- >> let me say, it would not be good for my job security to go out right now and contradict the three answers you've just given me on behalf of your question that the president gave you in november. >> even better for bill's. [laughter] >> i

coming up on c-span3 this afternoon at 1 p.m., secretary gary locke associate press reporting this morningg five years. and that secretary locke was outlined today how that's going to happen. the ap writes the president's national export initiative will target three key areas, expanding trade advocacy, and improving access to credit, especially for small and medium-sized businesses, and rigorously enforcing international trade laws. the governmentwide strategy will be coordinate at the cabinet level, and again, secretary locke is set to tell that to the national press club today. watch that live, 1 p.m. eastern on c-span3. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> it's sad but true, too many americans will lie awake tonight because they're worried about losing their jobs. they have lost their job, or maybe their spouse has, their son, their daughter. they are tossing and turning about. can they pay the power bill, the next house payment. someone will repossess the car. people are concerned about havi