. >> reporter: the summer recess is no holiday for mississippi congressman gene taylor, a conservative blue dog democrats. >> i think we need to keep the promises we already made. >> reporter: he is opposed to his party's health-care reform bill yet still taking a beating at home. >> i want to know what price tag is gene taylor sell out for. >> okay, let's start off. >> reporter: the town hall meeting that usually draws two dozen brought more than 200 this past week. some part of an organized grass-roots campaign against the president's health-care reform and his party in general. >> they're marxists, they're socialists and you will not abandon that party. >> reporter: in this part of mississippi where an electric blanket manufacturer and the logging industry are the big employers, the jobless rate is higher than the national average. nearly one in four people in wayne county, mississippi, is uninsured. even so, many here have serious concerns about a government solution. >> i don't see how they can put another government-funded health-care plan out there. >> reporter: lorrie mills wor

then gene taylor holds a town hall meeting in moss point, mississippi. and didn't reporter's question press secretary robert gibbs about health care. . >> this is 25 minutes. >> thank you all for joining us. the secretary of health and human services, kathleen sebelius, and janet napolitano and spent months on the forefront to combat the h1n1 swine flu virus. i am glad they joined us today to unveil this fall's guidance to help businesses and employers prepare for what many experts believe to be an active flu season. we're also joined by a doctor from the center for disease control, and the department of labour deputy secretary. they will be on hand to answer questions at the conclusion of our presentations. as all of you know, h1n1 is more than just a significant health issue. it has the potential to affect virtually every aspect of our lives, from our economy to national security, to our educational system. as such, it will take americans from every walk of life, all of us, pulling together and doing our part to mount an effective response. as i have t

linda so, abc 2 news. >> you just saw gene taylor in linda's story.'m imagining what your house looks like a fortress? >> my family said -- we wasn't at the time movies and my dad who is 7 years old said dad, the emergency exit's over there. >> so you trained him well. >> we try. >> you said earlier that your motto is always having a plan. >> yeah, whether it's at home or the national aquarium in baltimore. it takes a team effort. there's three bullet points to have. be prepared, have a plan, and stay informed. >> and that's always the case no matter what? >> exactly. that's why we're successful at the national aquarium in baltimore. y2k had the vision in '97 and '98 that we had to have a good plan and working with dave and our senior director, we put together a core team to focus on y2k but at the same time, laid the foundation for a good disaster plan. and this is just the foundation of the disaster plan. >> which i think is so funny because you would expect it to be this big, but it seems like it would be something that people would actually read.

gene taylor with the national aquarium remembers it well. >> september 19th, 2003. >> reporter: gene was in charge of protecting the aquarium and its treasured assets. it's the first time he had to put his emergency plan into action on such a large scale. >> waves literally rolling down through the pier 4 and pier 3. you could have body surfed or boogie board on the street at 4 in the morning. >> reporter: part of that emergency plan involved these floodgates. a total of 38 gates were put up to keep the water from isabel out. if we didn't have those floodgates, we probably would have sustained more damage. >> i'm in. >> reporter: since then, they haven't lad to use the gates again, but the crew at the aquarium performs a test run every year to make sure they're still in good working order. the aquarium has more than 16,000 animals. so it's crucial to have an emergency action plan in place. that way if disaster does strike, both the people and the animals will be safe. in the days following isabel, the aquarium, unlike their neighbors, was back up and running very quickly. having an e

. >>> we went up to capitol hill this week to talk to gene taylor, mississippi democrat. when it comes to ship building taylor is one of the most powerful men in washington who represents a shipyard. he advocates nuclear power and i asked him why he thinks that is a good idea. >> all a[inaudible] hubble's theory if not perfect is close to the fact that probably half of all of the -- half of all of the oil that is going to be found has been found. we did that in a short amount of time. now it will be a fight over the half that is left, that the price can only go up and the availability can only go down. one way around that is to where we can avoid petroleum-based fuels for our ships and we know we can do that with nuclear power. we've done it safely for decades with our nuclear aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. a cruiser will use about 10 million gallons per shipper year. so over the 30-year life of that ship you're talking about 300 million gallons of fuel that you're not going to be buying from hug joe chavez or the ayatollah. we have to refuel every three to fiv

congressman gene taylor holds a town hall meeting in mississippi. and later, a panel discussion with former white house domestic policy advisers from five presidential administrations. >> as the health care conversation continues, c-span pose a health care hub is a key resources. go on line and follow the latest tweets, video ads, and links. also keep up with town hall meetings, house and senate debates, and double your opinion with a citizen video. d.c.'s ban health care hub at c- span.org/healthcare. on tomorrow's washington journal, a look at town hall meetings with a usa today reporter. bing west previews tomorrow's presidential elections in afghanistan. washington journal begins at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. secretary kathleen sebilius said the government is expecting a swine flu outbreak later this year similar to the spring. she was at a briefing on the flip guidelines for employers and businesses. we will also hear from the commerce secretary gary locke and janet napolitano. this is 25 minutes. >> thank you all for joining us. the secretar

>>gene taylor hosts a town hall meeting to talk about veterans' issues and hurricane katrina. lawmakers are holding a similar meetings this month. because of technical difficulties, we join this meeting in progress from mississippi. it is one hour and 10 minutes. >> everyone is entitled to their own opinion but these are the facts. the fact of the matter is the debt has been growing allot in yours and mine lifetime. ok. [inaudible] ] -- >> [inaudible] >> shut up and listen. [applause] >> what i think everyone needs to remember is that a little over eight years ago we were running annual operating surpluses. they were small, we still had an accumulating debt, but when george bush took office we had a small surplus. bush took office, we had a small annual operating surplus. president it does not make sense to pay down the debt prematurely, therefore we have to pay a premium. we have calculated the amount of debt the nation can pay off over 10 years and that is $2 trillion. that is what could have happened, but the national debt doubled during those eight years because of katrina

mississippi congressman gene taylor holds a town hall meeting to discuss proposed health-care legislation, a veteran issues and hurricane katrina. shortly after his remarks, he takes questions from the audience. this last about one hour 10 minutes. >> everyone is entitled to their own opinions. the fact of the matter is that the debt has been growing a lot in our lifetimes and we have to get a handle on it. >> what i think that everyone needs to remember is that a little over eight years ago we were running annual operating surpluses. there were small, we still had an accumulated debt when george bush took office with a small annual operating surplus. president bush -- president bush, if you recall, when we had an opportunity to start paying the debt down president bush said, it does not make sense to print -- pay down the debt prematurity. that is what could have happened. what did happen, the national debt doubled during those eight years, because of katrina and the war in iraq. also, the first prison i know of to cut taxes during a war. most other generations said, let's pay our bills

captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> earlier this week, gene taylor held a town meeting. many of the questions were about health care. he was asked about veterans' issues and hurricane katrina cleanup. you can see the entire meeting tonight 830 eastern here on c- span. -- 8:30 eastern here on c-span. we will have robert frank, gretchen peters, and eduardo galeano. >> this fall, entered the home to the highest court. from the grand public court to those only accessible by the nine justices. "the supreme court," on c-span. >> now an event with the education secretary. he spoke at an event for administration, teachers, educators. >> i am pleased to have the opportunity to al represent him. he was nominated by barack obama and confirmed by the u.s. senate. as you listen to him talk about reforms, it will become apparent why the president selected arne duncan to lead this transformation. he served as the chief executive officer of the chicago public schools, becoming the longest serving big city education's superintendent in the nation. as ceo, his mandate

health care town halls, including representative brady, chuck grassley, senator from iowa, and gene tayloro name a few. we are back live now with the second day of hearings on wartime contracting oversight, just resuming coverage here on lifespan to. >> now we have an opportunity to listen to industry. and i think it strikes a balance, and we do want to listen to you. you have statements that we're going to ask you to try to keep them to the five minute. we will put your entire statement on the record. it's going to be open for another 10 days. so if after we are done you want to say i want to get this on the record also, send it in. we will work with you to do that. our panel is john houck, general manager. i would write? people are writing a president and general manager. what is your title? president and general manager. i saw president on and now i've got general manager on another. those are your folks i think i did that one. so i am okay. and then we have northrop grumman with greg schmidt, and i thank you, sir, representing an l-3, mr. miller, general counsel of l-3 communications s

captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> earlier this week, gene tayloreld a town hall meeting with constituents. many of the questions were on health care legislation. he was also asked about budget issues and hurricane katrina clean them -- clean up your you can see the entire meeting here on c-span. and tonight on booktv prime-time at 8:00 p.m. eastern, robert frank, author of the economic naturalist's field guide. gretchen peters on how heroin is bankrolling the taliban and al qaeda. >> how was c-span funded? >> the u.s. government. >> i do not know. i think some of it is government raised. >> it is not public funding. >> probably donations. >> i would say from my tax dollars. >> how is c-span funded? america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiative -- no government mandate, no government money. >> a house subcommittee has been looking into cyber security. they talk to experts about what they are finding and recommended solution. the hearing is about an hour- and-a-half. [inaudible] >> cybersecurity for our g

and not happy with obama, the way he is spending money, but i did support gene taylor. the last 25 years, he has cared about mississippi, and he listens about mississippi. there are a lot congressman up there that are shutting the doors. they are not listening to us. they are calling us mobs. we are not mobs in mississippi. we are not mobs in mississippi. but my question is, as a staff auditor, i have not seen the federal government made one attempt to clean up one messe. [applause] i have not seen them clean up the sec. in run should not have happened. people should not have lost their retirement. -- enron should not have happened. we have enough regulations to stop that, but it is not happening. there is too much going on that is not being checked. if you cannot clean up a little, how can you take away all our health care that we pay for? [applause] >> we will start in reverse order. number one, i would hope by now that everyone in this room is aware that i am not going to vote for the health-care plan. [applause] we will take them in reverse order. >> i did not mean