however, there are no such requirements when schools take students off campus for field trips or for any other reason. phylicia's law will fix this phylicia's law will fix this dangerous phylicia's law will require school districts to develop a a safety policy for overnight school trips. however the bill as written still gives individual schools the leeway to determine their own plans and procedure which parents will then be able to review before the parents decide if the school district has the right security plan for their child, sufficient to allow a parent in good conscience to let their child take this off-campus school trip. given that schools already know thousand devise their plans for on-campus events, this new requirement for plans for off-campus events should not be overly burdensome. on the contrary, i think it should be welcome as a plan and set of procedures to to help protect everyone on the trip. with plans and procedures in place, there will be a blueprint for chaperons, fir trip leaders, for students and for parents. all of whom will want to know what individual rol

however, the committee voted unanimously last week to report out house resolution 520, which contains the four articles of impeachment against judge kent. this vote came after a thorough investigation and much work by the task force on judicial impeachment. specifically, the task force conducted an investigation of judge kent's conduct, which included working with the f.b.i., the department of justice and the fifth judicial circuit. the task force conducted a hearing on the matter, at which two court employees testified about the extent of their sexual abuse. at the same hearing, we heard from a constitutional scholar who testified that judge kent's misconduct rises to the level of impeachable offenses. judge kent was invited to testify and his attorney was also invited to testify and participate in the hearing. both declined to attend. as you have already heard in statements today and as you have already seen in the jish -- judiciary committee report, it merits the serious step of issuing articles of impeachment. the evidence shows he lied to the f.b.i. and department of justice abou

however the-- does not require faa records a failed flight checks. the board is recognized that additional data contained in faa records including records of flight check failures and rechecks would be very beneficial for a potential employer to review and evaluate. therefore in 2005 the ntsb issued another recommendation to the faa to require airlines considering an applicant for private physicians to perform a complete review of the airmen records, including any notices of this approval for flight checks. in response to the ntsb's recommendation the faa's stated notices of this approval for flight check certification and ratings are not among the records explicitly required by 1996 and therefore demand air carriers obtain such notices would require law making or change in itself. to the credit of the faa november 7 of 2007 and advisory circular was issued in forming carriers that they can ask pilots to sign a consent form giving the carrier access to any notices of this approval. the recommendation is currently classified open acceptable alternativ

the allocation that you have given us for this bill that has allowed us to do what we have to do, however short the allocation may be. i also would like to recognize the staff, the excellent work of the clerk, john and leadership he has provided to the rest of the staff and all of them have done excellent work, which i appreciate. adrian, dixon, diana, derek, tracy, scott, all with the subcommittee. mike and john on the minority staff. and then on my personal staff, sali and julie. it's a lot of work putting these appropriation bills if anyone who has been involved in it and they have worked long hours diligently with great competence to move this bill forward. and i most sincerely thank them for the efforts. we couldn't do it without them. mr. chairman, in brief summary, this bill totals $46.4 billion and increases $6.7 over last year, but it is $200 million below the president's request. $30.6 billion in science, technology and innovation, an increase of over $1 billion. within this level, the bill provides $6.9 billion for the national science foundation and $18.2 billion for nasa. for

it's imperative that resources are focused on high risk in a innovation and, however, this bill places undue burden on small businesses and they would be harmed by burdensome and expensive provisions that are found in this current draft legislation. the fda has provided no evidence that it has improved its internal processes in order to improve the review of the nation's food supply. this is something we have talked about endlessly in this committee and in hearing so we are looking for to having some questions on this. there seems to be and you haven't proven otherwise that there are established protocols and lines of communication between different jurisdictions. you have not shown that there are best practices in been about 13 months ago i asked for a list of best practices on its triagency communication and how you are sharing this information, how you are working with your affiliate's so that everyone can more easily pinpoint and get to the bottom of the problems and bad actors and issues that are coming forward. yesterday the fda announced they are studying ways to make agency mor

however, racial and ethnic minorities and women generally receive lower quality treatment. compared to their counterparts. all patience but especially patience of color and women need higher-quality care. and our short time together outlook is much discussion on the american heart association's innovative quality improvement program, get with the guidelines -- that are published by the american association and i as a result of critical analysis of studies on team is proven to be beneficial with patience. adherence to these improves patient outcomes. unfortunately the chairman of cramer's to a disease is complicated and achievement will must be it a team effort and a patient with heart failure as many as 15 class when stevenson or tests and this care must be organizing coordinated. in 2000 and the american heart association launched the program that currently focuses quality improvement for a free conditions, our failure and stroke. and it has multiple care provided to patients and health providers adhere to guidelines for treating and preventing these conditions. providers

however, both judge kent and his counsel declined our invitation.after this objective and definitive review of the facts, the weight of the evidence against judge kent was substantial enough that it became quite obvious he should not remain a federal judge. articles one and two of the articles of impeachment reflect the improper conduct made by judge kent toward two of his court employees. on numerous occasions, he sexually assaulted the two female court employees by touching their private areas and attempting to engage each woman in a sexual act with him. article 3 is an article that incorporates some of the false and misleading statements made by judge kent to investigators in the grand jury. it notice he -- notes he obstructed an official proceedings. our hearing in the record we have compiled produces clear and convincing evidence he lied to law enforcement authorities during the investigation as well as to the federal grand jury. article 4 alleged he made material false and misleading statements about the nature and extent of his nonconsensual

however, measures to prevent foreclosures are not working well. and redefault rates are very high with more loan losses to come. business investment has collapsed and the commercial real estate continues to be under stress. consumer spending is weak and exports are falling as many of our major trading partners are also experiencing recession. i continue to be concerned about the administration's unrealistic economic assumptions which were the basis for the president's proposal. the "economist" magazine called these dangerous because they understate the true cost of the administration's deficit spending and debt accumulation. unfortunately, according to the congressional budget office, administration policies will triple the national debt to a level of $17.3 trillion by 2019. this avalanche of government deficits and debt is one reason long-term interest rates including mortgage rates are on the rise. a central problem is that the administration assumed that its stimulus spending spree would significantly improve the economy. as this poster show as

for now, however, you await confirmation by the monarch. the house will know that having received royale approval, the longest speaker held this for 33 years. sir john pom upon was the shortest serving eelected. he might have been acceptable to his members, but he was not acceptable to the monarch. let us hope you serve the tradition of the longest serving speaker. the house is carrying out the most important responsibility. the public is looking to see whether we mean to change. and i believe it was clear in all the speeches by all the candidates today for the office of the new speaker that we have taken an important step in that process of change. so may i also pay tribute on behalf of all members of this house to all those members who

the approach to too-big-to-fail is one that we have to undertake carefully, however. i don't think that it makes sense to put some arbitrary limit on how big a firm can get, but i do think that with increased size should come increased scrutiny by the regulators and higher capital requirements. the tarp congressional oversight panel has adopted a similar position. as the panel has explained -- quote -- "we should not identify specific institutions in advance as too big to fail, but rather have a regulatory framework in which institutions have higher capital requirements and pay more on insurance funds on a percentage basis than smaller institutions which are less likely to be rescued as being too systemic to fail." second, madam president, i support the idea of requiring the lenders keep some skin in the game when dealing with the securities. one of the big problems with the current system is risk has become divorced from responsibility. the mortgage broker gets paid for finding the client, placing the loan with a financial institution and then has no further obligati

however, in the coalition that he has, it is one of those from them to the right. if he is more moderate now, the government he's heading is just as hard-core as the government he had in 1996. so there is not much of a change in that sense. most israelis believe that since the palestinian state isn't at arm's reach right now, it was in fact get into the reconciliation with the palestinians, the main focus now is iraq. one of the reasons why israelis voted for it. believe he's a tough guy to solve the palestinian issue. they seem to be on the back burner for most. host: is it expected the prime minister will make a significant reference to the election in iran? or is that seen as a distraction at this point? guest: according to the press reports, he will make a connection to those in iraq. in trying to -- to iran. in trying to see what is going on in iran. this country will not change. it is not a democracy. we don't know what went on. it is another time to be tough on iran. iran is a real threat. iran is not becoming more moderate. they're not reforming. this is wh

it's important to note however the state is significantly more meaningful as a result of the disclosureles. however the challenge the commission has always faced and promulgating administering executive compensation disclosure rules is compensation practices on all static. as a consequence the commission has revised the rules as necessary to keep the pace with new developments in compensation practices. most recently in 2006 the commission adopted comprehensive package of amendments to its rules intended to significantly improve the existing regime of executive director compensation disclosure. one of the adoption in the 2006 revision significantly expanded the extent and strengthened the caliber of compensation disclosure the commission is once again considering further possible enhancements. it has been suggested some company's executive compensation has become disconnected from long-term company performance because the interest of management in the form of incentive compensation arrangements in the interest of shareholders are not sufficiently aligned. critics have complained in some

it is important to note however that this debate is significantly more meaningful as a result of our disclosure rules. however, that challenge the commission has always faced and promulgating and administrating its executive disclosure rules is that compensation practices are not static. as a consequence, the commission has revised the disclosure rules as necessary to keep pace with new development and compensation practices. most recently in 2006, the commission adopted a copperheads a package of amendments to its rules that was intended to significantly improve the existing regime of executive and director compensation disclosure. while the adoption of the 2006 rule revision significantly expanded the extent and strengthen the caliber of compensation disclosure, the commission is once again considering further possible enhancements. it has been suggested that some companies executive compensation has become disconnected from long term company performance because of the interest of management in the form of incentive compensation arrangements and interest of shareholders are not suf

however, as is poster shows, the current level of unemployment rate is well above 9%. it is enough to show that the assumption about the positive impact of the stimulus was wrong. if the forecast for consistent, it would indicate that the gdp will be lower than projected. an economic upturn should occur by next year, if only due to the huge amounts of money and credit injected into the economy by the federal reserve. however, the economic recovery probably will be quite weak and not consistent with the white house's rosy scenario for 2010. so what will be the sources of economic growth next year? with many households forced to pay down debt, a surge in consumption is not likely. excessive levels of government spending and debt is already battling financial markets. so much more government spending is not a feasible option. u.s. exports may be constrained by weakness in other countries and by retaliation against our own trade policies. that leaves investment as a main source of growth. how many will undertake long- term investments when facing a tidal wave of new taxes,

however, chronic food shortages remain. and the u.n. estimated as of november of last year that there were still approximately 1.8 million metric ton food shortfall, which would leave 8.7 million of the most vulnerable without adequate food intake and nutrition. it's not famine conditions but it's chronic malnutrition. so the need remains is my second point. my third point that i'd like to highlight is a brief description of the usaid-supported food program that recently ended. this was a groundbreaking program that shows us is way of how we can constructively engage on meeting real humanitarian needs that we understand exist. in 2008, u.s. aid negotiated a protocol with the dprk government in which there would be provision from usaid, 500,000 metric tons of american food. of this 400,000 went through the world food program and 100,000 went to a consortium of five ngos. mercy corps was the lead. we were joinedi world vision, samaritans purse and christian children's fund, all five of us brought more than a decade of experience in workin

aidid zen interesting way, however gradual, nothing grant, to bring about change. finally it seems to me the heart of our problem is that despite all the talk about sanctions and military possibilities and all options remain on the table. the sad fact is that we lack leverage to force the north koreans to do what we want them to. the only way i know to get leverage is through engagement that gets them dependent over time on us, and then if they don't live up to their obligations, those things can be stopped or withdrawn. i know of no other way to get leverage. it is a terrible fact that we are at the mercy, to some extent, of the regime that is hateful, but we have to learn how to deal with it, and a diplomatic strategy seems to me the only one that has a realistic chance of getting anywhere. thank you. >> thank you very much. thanks for the summary. ms. lindborg, thank you very much. >> thank you chairman kerry, ranking member lugar, distinguished members of the committee. i am pleased to be here today. we are certainly gathering at a time of increased tension and

this doesn't mean however we can't make these commands. obviously one always engages in contingency planning but doing it overtly openly as has been talked about i think it is counterproductive so this is why i am skeptical about that approach and i suspect that it either involves misjudgment of the iranians or perhaps is advocated in the hope that it will contribute to a stalemate and then failure of the negotiations because i am not convinced everybody in the bureaucracy necessarily shares the same goals regarding the negotiations as the president has articulated. as far as democracy promotion is concerned or other activities, i think the distinction is precisely that between democracy promotion and other activities in the other activities are not explicitly discussed and their ekstrand is certainly not subject to very specific knowledge in the public domain. but there are some indications over the last several years that the promotion of democracy perhaps isn't limited to human rights advocacy, ngos, instruction, how to vote, how to org

however, south korea, we have always been very firm in our response and always prepared. and of course this is based firmly on the firm cooperation of partnership and alliance between the riot under korea and the united states. and north koreans when i look at the firm order should we have between our two countries they will think twice about taking any measures that they will regret. and again, this very firm alliance that we have between the united states and korea is going to prevent anything from happening. and of course, north korea may have -- may wish to do so but of course they will not be able to do so. >> a question going out to president lee. north korea recently said that they will not return to the six party talks. they have denounced the un security council resolution, and said they will not give up their nuclear weapons program. can you, sir, talk about whether you talk about how you plan to proceed forward, and did you talk about this with president obama? and of course, is there a continuing threat from north korea. a south korean worker is still detained

however, there are some key areas where they do fall short in their ability to meet the doctrine. iranian forces despite the exercises that are supposed to show denigration are not integrated in these are a set piece oftentimes in the exercises are. their readiness abyss suspect and logistics' really don't have the capability of supporting for example all major incursions' into neighboring countries because of their poor logistics system. support of foreign groups doesn't ring control which i think fred it will really go into in detail. the components that are passed to execute a lot of the so-called guerrilla warfare and asymmetric tactics are not necessarily seriously trained in net to. there is on the ideological front and a great deal of cynicism that we found including in the basij and the irgc especially among different generations. there is some ambivalence about the indoctrination that goes on there. and a key point, the force structure is very large and in his old and very difficult to modernize that especially given the last pliant which is is by this industry, this defe

we have to take into account what i think we already heard, however. that taking divergent approaches during a global recession matched by the kinds of things we know about across the atlantic and around the globe will actually lead to the wrong conclusions. we need to agree common approaches, common regulatory structures, but this doesn't mean we have to say exactly the same thing. in terms of systemic risk and the insurance industry, it is the management of that risk that is important for the european union. it's the chain of events which leads to systemic risks. it begins with the failure of management and the supervision of such risks. the eu's focus has been to try to eliminate any failure by predicting behavior, using reasonable models and testing against them. in fact, we've been having impact assessments which involve american companies inside the european union giving evidence as to that effect. in europe, a committee led by a former managing director of the international monetary firm proposed sweeping changes to the way the european financia

however, precious time was lost. luckily for robin, she was finally able to get the surgery. not through blue cross/blue shield, though, as i understand it. she's now undergoing chemotherapy because the cancer has spread to her lymph nodes. but she is still with us, thank god. and she's here today to tell us her personal story. her situation is what caused me to draft an amendment to the breast cancer bill last year to protect people like robin by prohibiting decisions of health insurance if nondisclosure information is not related to the claim. not related to the claim an inadvertent. there is no reason that somebody should have their health insurance revoked because of an inadvertent it mission that is not related to the claim that is submitted to the health insurance company. this bill passed the house last year but died in the senate. it is and we introduced and hopefully will be passed this year. i support the right of an applicant to request a third- party independent review of an insurance -- ensures decision prior to pending or deny payments of claims. i understand th

more importantly, however, these terminations are extremely significant to the tens of thousands of people who needed health care and couldn't get it during these five years because their policies were rescinded. in my opinion, of course, the solution to these problems is to ,,,, comprehensive health rbrb)) mr. chairman, i'm pleased that you're holding this hearing and i thank you for the time allotted me. >> mr. barton, for opening statement, please? >> thank you, mr. chairman. this is my month for witnesses from texas. last week we had the owner of carlisle chevrolet. today we have miss robin beaton, who is a citizen of walksahatchie. so i want to extend to her the very best wishes and let her and the other two panelists on this first panel know that there's nothing to be afraid of. you speak for tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of american citizens. and the country is very interested through the auspices of this hearing to hear your story. we appreciate all three of you being here. this is an important hearing. it addresses part of the need to reform our health care syste

however, its operational capabilities do fall short in a number of areas. and what's interesting is that despite this and despite the fact that they have a large and weaker conventional force, generally, they will continue to try to upgrade and improve it. and much of that may be because of bureaucratic inertia and vested interest in the maintenance of this large defense industry and the development of conventional capabilities like tanks, aircraft, large naval vessels, that kind of thing. and finally, as i said, iran does have some military operations and is likely they will get more and more capable in these areas in the next five years, five to 10 years. and it's something that the united states needs to take into account. as it is projecting power into the region. thank you. [applause] >> okay. we'll hear from fred now on how the region will respond. >> thank you. my talk today is not necessarily going to focus on chiron's power projection and regional influence in the middle east, but rather the diverse and varied regional responses to that power. and

this doesn't mean, however, we cannot make these plans. obviously, one always engages in contingency planning. but, doing it overtly, openly, as has been talked about i think is counterproductive. so, this is why i am skeptical about that approach. and i suspect that it either involves a misjudgment of the iranians, or perhaps, as even advocated in the hope that it will contribute to a stalemate and then, failure of the negotiations. because i'm not convinced that everybody in the bureaucracy, necessarily, shares the same goals, regarding the negotiations, as the president has articulated. now, as far as democracy promotion is concerned, over other activities, i think the distinction is precisely that, between democracy promotion, and other activities. the other activities are the not explicitly discussed, and their extent is certainly not subject to very specific knowledge, in the public domain. but, the -- there are some indications over the last several years, that the promotion of democracy, perhaps, is not limited to human rights advo

however, i wanted to outline some of the methodological problems with it. that study had an emphasis on the clinical encounter and concluded that there was bias among physicians towards minority patients. overtly as well as subtly. and i think that report really was almost a watershed point in the -- in the dynamic of this debate because it really catapulted from a health issue to a civil rights one as i said with the different kind of remedies applied of sensitivity training for doctors and affirmative action and title 6 challenges. the main problem with the institute of medicine report is that it sought to prove bias or discrimination. and i just -- i speak from the standpoint solely of methodology. this is an almost impossible phenomenon to prove using retrospective approaches and using large databases, it in a sense charging a bias is a diagnosis of exclusion. it's the kind of thing you arrive at which is not to say it doesn't exist. it could well but it's the kind of thing one arrives at after ruling out variables that we can measure and identify. the

however there are those who would rather avoid talking about that child. they prefer to talk of the dollars and cents of health care. those who worry only about the cost of reform, i would like to discuss the tremendous economic cost of doing nothing. we know the cost of doing nothing. without reform small businesses will pay $2.4 trillion in health care for their employers over the next decade. reforming the system and controlling costs could save those small businesses $800 billion by 2018, and save $168,000 jobs unless we do nothing. currently 46 million americans lack health insurance. we know the economic costs of that. in 2008 federal, state, and local governments paid $42.9 billion to reimburse the uncompensated cost for visits to health clinics and hospitals. by the uninsured. that place as tax burden on every american of $627 a year, madam speaker. if we continue doing nothing, the tax burden in inflation adjusted dollars will nearly triple by 2030. a health insurance cost continue to rise, and they l. and as more americans find themselves unable

the chair: the gentleman's time has expired, however. mr. skelton: i yield to the gentleman. mr. franks: i guess i'm asking the chairman of the committee that the hastings amendment would not include the definition of right-wing extremists would not be included in the amendment that's being offered by the hastings amendment under the en bloc. mr. skelton: we'll have to check just a moment. mr. franks: well, mr. chairman, maybe i could ask for your assurances that people dedicated to single issues in this country such as opposition to abortion or immigration would not be considered extremists and not be disallowed into the military under this -- at least that would not be your intent under this amendment. mr. skelton: that is correct. mr. franks: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from missouri. the gentleman from missouri has 3/4 minutes remaining. mr. skelton: i yield the balance of the time to the chairman of the transportation and infrastructure subcommittee on highways and transportation, the gentleman from oregon, mr. defazio. i yield one minute

however natural gas is not a world price. meaning that the price of natural gas varies from country to country. it is simply supply and demand. when we produce more natural gas, its cost also come down. having said that i believe that we should expand upon our natural gas production which could act as a bridge to get us into the future where renewables really will be the major energy source. we nubles such as wind, solar, and the like are all energy sources we would like to utilize, it's also important to bear in mind these sources make up only about 1% of what we consume. and the major reason for that is because they are not as inexpensive as coal, oil, and natural gas. however the majority party in washington would like to make renewables more viable by increasing the cost of fossil fuels through the proposed cap and trade bill. last fall the house republicans had an important and major victory in congress. they led t way in removing a long-standing moratorium on the outer continental shelf. i would like to see us move forw

however it might be. the point being is that not everyone is the name. in fact, we're all different. we're all unique. one of the things that medicine must recognize is our uniqueness as individuals and not get into the habit of saying, well, there's a sort of size that fits all year and we're going to say that if doctors will treat everybody with this particular medical device or drug or treatment, then we'll pay for it, but we're not going to pay for it if they do anything else. that would not be a good medicine. that inserts the government in between the patient and the physician. we're saying that can't be done by using the comparative effectiveness research. the bill also makes clear that nothing prohibits the f.d.a. commissioner from responding to drug safety concerns under his authority obviously if a drug is not safe, the f.d.a. needs to say the drug is not safe and the federal government isn't going to pay for it. that's obvious. but the point here is that this comparative effectiveness research should not be use bid the government to deny, dela

i am sure iran feels a great deal of pressure because of that, however, -- and please, do not mistake me that i think the speech has changed the world in iran. it is one of many factors. iraq, afghanistan is another factor. the new world of electronic media is another factor. there are many factors going into this. i do believe the iran has worked very hard to influence events in iraq over the last few years precisely for the reason you're talking about. they feel they need to control a lot of what is happening on the ground. it isa shiite majority country and the government is led by those clerics. and they believe, they have a huge interest in shaping the outcome in iraq so does not become a threat. host: this caller is from the democrats line caller:. yes, first of all, it is amazing to me how this whole thing is media-driven. where was the concern an outcry over what happens which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or on which the vote incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20. record votes will be postponed and votes will be taken later today. the house will come t

fiscal years, however. last year american taxpayers crbts contributed $5 billion to the united nations, making the united states the largest member donor to that institution. seeing the amount of american investment and the influence the united nations has on world opinion and world advance, it's important how manies -- americans know how their money is being spent and it's not subsidizing activities which hurt american security, values or our national interests. the amendment i'm sponsoring today would make this requirement for the president to submit to congress a report of u.s. cash in kind contributions or u.s. cash and in kind contributions to the united nations and u.n. affiliated agencies each fiscal year. the funding would be reported on u.s.a. spend -- usaspending.gov and this amendment would expire after two years. without the report, americans would be in the dark concerning the ways in which their money is being spent in funding the united nations. i urge the adoption of this amendment. i reserv

however, they are scoring a run less per game.ere's karl ravech and the, evye "baseball tonight" crew.ne. an >> well, the fly in the ointment an anth manny ramirez and paying t. go watch him for the 15,000 orne so people that he did is hene. doesn't do much of anything.ne. he showed up.. ankstill had the dreadlock, but he didn't hit. >> new york he didn't hit.eryo unfortunately for the people inv anevquerque, the ticket prices aren't nearly as much as they'd been in yankee stadium, but manny ramirez will have a couple more nights there. the key for him in this game was to see some pitch, get the timing down. you can take a whole lot of b.p. in the cage, on the field, but there is nothing like game speed. you see him take a couple pitches, trying to get the timing. there's a good swing he took, the best one of the night. he fouls it straight back. you'd rather see a guy get jammed than be out front. that one ran in under his hands. manny parra is trying to get back to the big leagues. he takes the second pitch at his an, ev at-bat,

however, the reprocessing plant itself is not cheap. and there are those who say that it is fairly heavily government subsidized in order to achieve that goal. can you give us something about the -- or any of you about the economics of the reprocessing that goes on where you take the spent fuel rods and put them back through, if you will, and get an enormous amount of energy on them the second time and then it ends up with small globules that you put in the green building, that's a very significant capital investment. my own calculations is that we're going to need, for we go the direction you're outlining, we're going to need several of those scattered across the united states. how do we get there? >> i think -- that's a very important question, and i think that there are many people who are pushing to get the reprocessing situation built and say, see, we've handled the waste problem and that's the most important thing. i don't think that's right. i think there's no question that we can do this. but for the reasons that you're talking

. >> they can go back and forth however they want. u.s. and israel are friends and allies. there is no need for a peace deal. the need is a peace deal between the israelis and palestinians. >> which is why the obama administration's priorities was to reing days at a very high level, and they present and the secretary appointing a special envoy -- involving the present and the secretary appointing a special envoy. it is central to a broader peace process, which is essential to peace in the least. >> netanyahu has succeeded in delaying -- >> i am not sure i necessarily agree there. >> there is an accommodation being worked out with the u.s.. is it the possibility is that the responsibility of the u.s. to facilitate an accommodation -- is it the responsibility of the u.s. to facilitate an accommodation? >> as george mitchell said, we want to get back into formal negotiations. we are working harder in a decree the conditions that will allow that to happen. we recognize that positions held today and those held by the palestinians today may be at odds. all we're asking israel to

however it's an area often overlooked. as evidenced by the fact there was only minor mention of transmission in the waxman climate bill. and that today we're having our first really big transmission hearing. we do have a long and distinguished panel today. i would like to thanks all the witnesses for joining us. special recognition to two michigan-based companies. dave and joe. i know we don't exactly see eye-to-eye on the issue but hoping we can all work together. this committee passed a sizable renewable electricity mandate without any question to getting the renewable electricity to population centers. the strongest sun exposure in low population areas as well. it's centered in areas of high population, and there are inadequate high voltage lines to the areas with the most abundant sources of renewable power. if we're going to be serious about renewable power, we have to revamp the grid. to properly do so we'll have to block lawsuits from environmental groups that have increased costs and block much needed transmission

however, mr. koh's own writing suggests otherwise. for example, in 2004 -- in a 2004 law review, an article titled "international law as part of our law," mr. koh states -- and i quote -- "u.s. domestic courts must play a key role in coordinating u.s. domestic constitutional rules with rules of foreign and international law. not simply to promote american aims, but to advance the broader development of a well-functioning international judicial system. in justice blackmun's words, u.s. courts must look beyond narrow u.s. interests to the mutual interests of all nations in a smoothly functioning international legal regime and whenever possible, should consider if there is a course of action that furthers rather than impedes the development of an ordered international system. certainly we want good relations to countries all over the world, and we're looking at making treaties of various kinds. but this idea of a smoothly functioning international legal regime when it subordinates the interest of the american legal regime should cause al

and the ninth circuit, however, has seen it differently. they concluded that the second amendment does have apply to the states and the cities and the counties. so there's a difference of opinion. i would just say, first of all, this is a very significant case. it will come before the supreme court. just earlier this year, she rendered an opinion that if it were to become law would eviscerate the second amendment in many parts of this country because i don't have cities are hostile to weapons and guns of any kind. and like the district of columbia are liable to evoke very certificate restrictions if not bans on the right to keep and bear arms. so i would say that's what we discussed today. the nominee i know will be willing to talk about that and talking about it, i'm sure, in individual meetings. i did not raise that with her. but i'm sure some senators have. i'm sure senator demint has. the senator is a fabulous senator, a constitutional scholar a man who has been through confirmations time and again. and i know he made a very eloquent sp

after a while, however, he had stopped. he was a good baby, we told people. we hadn't realized he had simply grown too weak to utter more than the smallest whimper. the pediatrician said she would allow us to take him home for one night, but 24 hours later when she put him on the scale, he had gained almost a full pound. i held him in the palms of my hands all night long watched his chest rise and fall. during those hours the membrane between life and death seemed so very thin. he was tiny, a weightless bundle of sticks wrapped in translucent skin. i felt his heart beating and the blood flowing through his veins. as soon as he opened his mouth, i or michael popped into a bottle. we kept feeding him long after he wanted to go back to sleep. we unwrapped him from his blankets, tickled the soles of his feet, anything to keep him awake. i gave myself no more than an hour and a quarter between pumping sessions. all of this i told the woman behind me at the bakery. [laughter] i showed her that the milk was colored a faint shade of purple from the ointment i'd been

however, those who purchase coverage on their own don't receive such a tax break. that's unfair and regressive. it hits those who need the tax break the most. the self-employed or working poor whose employer does not offer health insurance coverage. to offset the taxable treatment of this income, i believe americans should have funds returned to them to a-- assist with the cost of acquiring health insurance. this treats individuals equally in stark contrast to the system we currently have. key to any proposal is policy that allows people to have accessible, portable, and affordable health insurance coverage. policy should address what i hear from americans everywhere i go, choice. americans want choice. they want choices from their doctors, care, coverage, and employment freedom. freedom to seek employment that is not dependent on whether an employer provides insurance coverage or not. this is particularly important in today's difficult economic times when americans are uncertain about whether they'll have a job tomorrow. some, including the president, criticize th

we do, however, caution against the so-called federal tools approach to the regulatory reform as detailed in the written statement and the constitutional and practical limitations of this concept make it suited to dhifr the type of reform that would be in the best interest of the insurance industry and its customers. we again, thank you, mr. chairman for holding this hear and pledge to work with you and members of the sub committee to see that insurance regulatory reform becomes a reality and we'd be happy to answer questions. thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. baird. now we'll have mr. john t. hill, president and chief operating officer of magna carta companies on behalf of the national association of mutual insurance companies. mr. hill? >> thank you, mr. chairman. good morning, chairman kanjorski, ranking member garrett and members of the subcommittee. it is an honor to testify before you today on these important issues. my name is john hill and i am president and chief operating officer of magna carta companies. magna carta was founded in new york in 1925 as a mutual insurance car

however, let's talk about cost and what prevention and quality is. there are many things in here when you score the cost -- my father used to say, basrb, sometimes you have to spend money to make money. we have to save money to spend money. i didn't sit here while i was getting a manicure and wrote up five ideas on how to achieve quality. we had extensive hearings in terms of public experts in the area, number two the consensus in that area about what needed to be achieved, number three, estimated costs that it would be based on real life experiences. like the north carolina approach on medical homes. the management, the patient safety implementation, the checklist that was developed that saved michigan $200. we went and held extensive haegz and went to the public domain on the consensus of ideas to improve quality and got estimates about what it would be. we put a lot of stock into these agencies, gao and cbo and i have a lot of respect for say you wanted to go over the cost of your gasoline expenditure that your family -- and your family checkbook.

during that same period, african-americans have increased slightly from 11 to 12 percent, however, the proportion of hispanics has jumped from 5 percent to nearly 12-and-a-half percent, this makes our health care issues uniquely different from comparable nations around the world. the u.s. census bureau, in fact, had originally estimated that by the year 2050 nearly 1 in 2 americans will be a member of a racial ethnic group, however, now they indicate this could occur as early as 2037. currently we have four states who already

islamism, however, according to mr. jasser, is, quote, he says, a coercive governmental and political construct that seeks to impose shahrya, islamic injuries prudence over society. in the publication, family security matters he says, it is religion -- they use the discourse of politics when they want to push forth their islamist agenda with the presumption of speaking for all muslims. they will delve into the political only on their own terms in both foreign and domestic policy, but when they are on the receiving end of political criticism they run for cover under the guise of victimization. a look at care's public posture shows that mr. jasser's observations ring true. in 1998 i authored the legislation that created the national commission on terrorism. that same year in care's own words from a press release it, quote, asked muslims to contact leaders of the house-senate conference committee and asked them to amend new legislation that would create the national commission on terrorism. this was a misguided lobbying ef

so far does not have the political impact of the great depression which had the longer time run, however another year or two might bring a different and worse story. so, this area of the economic, the effects of the economic recession is one that we are watching in a new way. if there is a geographic region of the world that we are looking at most closely it is the area from turki down to the eastern border of pakistan. that seems to be were the most american and western security concerns like. as this administration has undertaken its initial round of policy refuse the interconnected issues of iraq and afghanistan and pakistan, israel, palestine at commanded most of the attention. transnational isu's extremism, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and trying to sort out the reality on the ground of all of these intersecting both national and transnational and multinational effects, identifying trends, trying to predict their effects. those have been a steady challenge for the intelligence community. as ellen mentioned i just returned from a trip to pakistan and afghanistan so let me re

however, i want to make clear that one bad apple could spoil the whole bunch here. the moment online consumers believe their personal information is at risk orf of corruption, misuse or theft will be the moment this approach we're discussing today will cease to work. i strongly believe it is in the interests of all parties to disclose to the consumers their advertising practices and intent and to ensure the consumer's personal information is strictly guarded against security breaches and exploitation. i look forward to these conversations today and to working with my colleagues on this issue as we move forward. i yield back my time. >> the chair thanks the gentleman. it is now my pleasure and honor to recognize for five minutes for the purposes of opening statements the ranking member of the full committee on enaur and commerce, mr. barton is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. champ. the look on the other side of the aisle i am glad to see none of the democrats who played on the democratic baseball team are actually in the room. [laughter] >> so i can co

because however you spin it it's basically a continuation of the republican's blank check policy towards pakistan. what has that gotten us after eight years of that policy? well, it's time to assess it. $12 billion of taxpayers' money has been spent and we have nearly half a million pakistani troops on the border with india, our ally. and one brigade fighting the taliban and al qaeda, our enemy. their principle defense priority is f-16's which is a combat aircraft. our enemy doesn't have combat aircraft. we don't want to be funding a nation to fight against another ally. we want them to fight with us against our enemy. what this bill does is to enable the children of pakistan to have a decent public education and not be forced to go into the madrasahs where they learn violent extremism against india. this enables the women of pakistan, particularly the young girls, to grow up to be women of influence and power and consequence. this enables pakistan to develop economically, not to use its resources and a military posture against india but use its resources to become a full fledged first w

however, some of the unintended consequences of our current u.s. export control system have contributed to a situation in which the u.s. is now among leaders in science and technology but we no longer dominate. as chair of the science and technologies committee subcommittee on space and aeronautics, i'm concerned about our future leadership in space, especially as more nations seek to increase their space activities this provision directs the president to take into account the views of the federal departments and provide a report to congress on plans of the agencies to streamline u.s. export controls and processes to better serve the needs of the united states. we can't afford to undercut our technological competitiveness. the chair: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from florida continues to reserve. the gentleman from california. mr. behrman: i'm pleased to yield to another excellent member of the committee, former colleague that the legislature of california, ms. watson, ambassador watson, one minute. the chair: the gentlewoman