since then the national governors' association has partnered with madame lee of the chinese people'se a forum in which the buyers could discuss issues of mutual concern as trade and investment, educational exchanges and cooperation on energy and the environment. those efforts have culminated in to this meeting today. a truly historic meeting. an opportunity for us to hear from her one another and exchange ideas as governors. leaders tasked with finding new opportunities and developing meaningful partnerships for the future. we will hear brief presentations on each of these topics by both the u.s. and chinese gunners, then we will open the floor to discussion and now i would like to turn the program over to madame lee. >> thank you. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: governors from the united states and the chinese provinces, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. first of all, on behalf of the chinese people's association of friendship with foreign countries to welcome you to the first time a u.s. governors forum, u.s. nga, state department, ut government

with a good morning to you, madam governor, we have been all over your state here at nbc. we've had leeantic beach, nags head, kill devil hills. you have the dubious honor of having taken aboard the landfall nearly an hour ago. how are things going right now in your estimation? >>. >> well, we're in the full onslaught of the storm, as you know, and our state is known as hurricane alley, so we are very respectful of irene. she's hitting us with 70, 90 miles an hour wind, and we are most concerned after the eye moved on out. the eye is still over cape lookout. we have a couple hundred plus folks without electricity right now. north carolina has had hurricanes so consistently that we have stood up a terrifically robust system that starts with locally elected officials and moves to fema in washington and the state is the coordinator. our system is fairly seamless. we've had no problems. the planning and execution has been terrific. we are right now in the throws of the storm, and sometime in the late afternoon we'll begin our asessionment, recovery, and response. that's how it works. we fee

madam chair. meeting adjourned. >> that is right. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> it's seems like we have plenty of people to the back of the room. you may notice that i am not -- mayor lee. i have been filling in for him a lot this year. i have been filling in for his former position. my name is amy brown. the mayor since his regrets. he has a very busy schedule, as i am sure that you understand. welcome, everyone. mostly i want to just express to you that we do know in city government how important this industry is. we know it is important for our tourism visitors and our economy, the jobs that it directly and indirectly creates. most of all it is important because it is part of what makes san francisco san francisco. a vibrant nightlife is part of why tourists come here. the kinds of people that are creative and entrepreneurial, that come here and live here, creating jobs in high-tech industries, it is part of why they want to be here. becauf

lee. >> thank you for your testimony and thank you madam chair. i really want to make sure we understand fully the job implications. i have heard the estimates ranging from 700,000 to 500,000 jobs. can a couple of you feel they have a handle on these numbers help us understand what happens if we do not get this acquisition and we have this roughly 35% drop? >> i can speak from my company -- for my company, my customers companies, and our suppliers companies. we are staffed at a level today that is in anticipation of maintaining the current level of funding. if, for some reason that declines further we unfortunately as well as our customers and suppliers, will have to make reductions to remain economically viable. that is our only option. this is not a theoretical job loss issue. this is real. these are human beings. these are members of mr. o'sullivan's union and others who we will not have work for if this program is not maintained. >> the number i mentioned earlier with a 36% cut was about a 630,000 jobs lost to our agency alone. -- the job loss

madam chair. and it is my pleasure to introduce professor timothy jost. professor jost teaches at the washington and leeity school of law. he is co-author of a case book "health law" used widely throughout the united states in teaching health law. professor jost is the author of numerous articles on health care regulation and comparative health law and policy. he's also consumer representative to the national association of insurance commissioners. professor jost earned his j.d. from the university of chicago school of law cum laude. welcome, professor jost. >> thank you very much. and thank you, ranking member ellmers and congressman altmire and congressman kingston. the title of today's hearing is small business. if they like their coverage can they keep it? this is a variation of one of the commitments made by the affordable care act realized in section 1251 that if you like your plan, you can keep it. but notice, the aca's commitment is to individuals, not to employers. it is not if you are currently have insurance through your job, you're stuck with that insurance no matter how it changes. it is if