jenny beth martin and joseph schatz are the authors. thank you.re going to return to our opening topic. too big to bash. that is the topic will be discussing after this news update from c-span radio. >> is 9:18 eastern. jobs show that first-time claims for unemployment benefits dropping for the first time in years. that is the fourth drop in five weeks. the consistent decline indicates that companies are laying off your workers and hiring is picking up. as for wholesale prices, the labor department says the move up slightly last month but were held back by cheaper energy and food costs. gas prices didn't rise but were offset by a steep drops in home heating oil, natural gas, and electricity which fell by the most in seven years. construction of single-family homes was off slightly in january after rising in the final month of last year. a rebound in apartment construction kept workers working. the commerce department says that workers broke ground on annual rate of homes in january. that is the latest headline from c-span radio. >> hi, there. i he

/china relations and the chinese visit to washington with joseph schatz. >>> there's been honest contentionspirited disagreement, and i believe considerable heart arguments. but don't let anybody be misled by that. you have given here in this hall a moving and dramatic proof of how americans who honestly differ close ranks and move forward for the nation's well being shoulder to shoulder. >> as candidates campaign for president this year, we look back at 14 men who ran for the office and lost. go to our website c-span.org/thecontenders to see who had a lasting impact on politics. >> what about you? are you now out of debt? do you have a comfortable backlog in the bank? are you paying less for the things that you buy? or more? do you really think things can't be better? of course they can. working together we can and will make them better. >> c-span.org/thecontenders. >>> treasury secretary tim geithner was before the senate finance committee on tuesday taking questions about the administration's 2013 budget request. he told members that the president's plan would over time reduce deficits.

host: joseph schatz has been our guest. here is his cover story. "too big to bash." thank you for being on the washington journal. house of representatives is coming into session. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c. february 16, 2012. i hereby appoint the honorable daniel webster to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 17, 2012, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to five minutes each but in no event shall the debate continue b