chairman mica. >> well, thank you, and good afternoon. as you mentioned, senator boxer, the house and senate alternate on chairing the conference, and the last bill and conference safety was chaired by congressman don young, sits with us as a conferee. back, you also mentioned in june of 2005. some seven years ago. so this is a historic gathering and occasion. and now it's the turn for the senate to chair this conference, in keeping with that, bipartisan, and bicameral tradition, it's my honor to nominate senator barbara boxer as the chairman of the conference for the surface transportation bill. is there a second? >> yes. first of all, let me say that we have worked tirelessly on this thing for a long period of time, and while barbara boxer and i, senator boxer and i, don't agree on a whole lot of things, but on this, we agree on infrastructure. we think -- and i say to all of my conservative friends here that i've had that ranking for a long time of being the, of always one of the first or second most conservative member, but i also say

mica and joe, you're really doing us a service. it's a great match for the bipartisan compelling work we try to do in the national transatlantic and global interest. we have a great line up for you this evening and truly global. so what do you get when you take a british royal soldier and philanthropist, a dutch visionary, and a south korean global leader? you get the 2012 transatlantic dinner. we're also here to recognize the 1.5 million active men and women of the u.s. formed forces for their sacrifices, dedication and service. [ applause ] >> we have about four dozen enlisted men and women joining us this evening. i won't name them all, but sitting among the others we have the coast guard. i would like them to stand. the enlisted person of the year petty officer dean johnston, the air force's wing airman of the year sergeant stacey settles, the marine corps joint staff noncommissioned officer of the year jessica davila, all members of the navy ceremonial guard drill team and five members of the army's third infantry and the seni

it's an honor to turn to vice chairman mica.he met well, thank you so much, senator boxer in thank you for your leadership at this conference and also for working with me as they've tried to come down this long road is getting us to a conference today. as some of you may recall we start on the house side with mr. rahal and went across the country to hear from the american people and a lot of the stakeholders of people who don't have jobs and communities that are waiting for the congress to make a decision on infrastructure. we conducted a bipartisan, bicameral hearing, probably the first i recall in los angeles together. i think there's a strong commitment not only from our committee, but everyone who has gathered here. under the other side there were six extensions on the transportation. there was a shutdown would make that mr. oberstar and i were going for a six-year bill. that was not to be. i regret that. mr. oberstar was a wonderful individual who did all he could to move this process forward and i was saddened when the adm

thank you, madame chair, and chairman mica. evercore to working with my colleagues to get the job done, and the yield back. >> thank you. the next to the wall are senator shelby followed by -- the next two or senator shelby fall -- followed by senator waxman get the people who i call on are not here, we will continue to go down the list. senator shelby? >> thank you. in the banking committee, chairman johnson and i have worked together to produce a bipartisan legislation that eliminates the outdated, ineffective programs, and promotes greater efficiency and effectiveness in public transportation systems across america. senate bill 1813 maintains funding for public transportation programs at $10.5 billion a year. unlike previous authorization bills, we were not able to provide an increase in the baseline funding. we were able to provide a substantial increase to existing programs by eliminating the bus discretionary program that previously contained earmarks totaling $984 billion. we did not just eliminate one account, we elimin

mica, can we go to a private security as rand paul is suggesting?the kudlow position, i'm sick to death of the whole thing. it's destroying american morale. we're being held hostage by a bunch of serpents and snakes that i think we've conquered. >> well, i share rand paul, senator paul's, your frustration, and millions of americans frustrations. i think we can and we must do better. and what we need to do is look at keeping government where it should be. and that's in charge of security and not trying to manage a huge bureaucracy and workforce of screeners. get them out of the personal business and into the security business. >> loretta sanchez, seriously, seriously i do a lot of traveling now to washington, d.c. it is disgusting. i have to take my shoes off, i've got to walk around, i've got to stop, i've got to do this. i've got to do that. they're frisking the grannies and the kids. this has gone to an extreme. and i want to know, is this one of these culture of corruption bureaucratic nightmares of the u.s. government that's out of control, lore

mica's five year bill will be a four year bill. i am tired of that. the country is tired of that and i look forward to working with you all. >> associated general contractors very strong behind the senate bill. i would like to call on representative southerland. we welcome you. >> i would like to commend you and chairman michael for your leadership and it is a great privilege to serve in my first conference so welcome and thank you for the opportunity. my comments will be brief. so many people having left. very simple. >> the american people are listening. >> if the american people could speak here today they would say they want the transportation bill that adds value. they understand value means quicker, more efficient. and i understand we need to do things differently to create value. when i 35 collapse in minnesota the bridge was rebuilt in 437 days. the american people would recognize that is value. the average project, there is very little value. the transportation bill, whatever we work with and produce must first have value. secondly the americ

that's what congressman john mica says the gsa is doing right now. how are they doing it? griff jenkins caught up with the congressman. >> reporter: the federal government is the nation's largest asset hold wer nearly 900,000 properties, over 3 billion square feet and over 40 million acres of lan. but many of the properties are under utilized, mismag managed or sitting empty, costing billions of dollars. you don't have to look hard. in fact, we are a few blocks from the u.s. capitol, where this building, owned by the gsa, has been sitting empty over five years. congressman john mica of the transportation and infrastructure committee wants something done about t. where are we? >> we are in an empty federal building that has been vacant for five years, costing the taxpayers a lot of money. as you can see, there is nobody here. >> reporter: and in this particular building, you said it's empty for five years. whose building is it? why is it empty? >> it's the people's building. it's under the control of gsa. it's costing, not just this building, but across the country, we are

mica crrig was shoppiig at this clarkston, washington walmart verrthe weeekend when he as bitten by ato check the stick against the sign. s a - turns out t as a very angry westerr diamondback, a common venomous snake in the area. 3 "i went to sling ii off and it stayed on. i jjst hand to sling it off twice and whhn it hit the ground it currld up." "i had a hero here who kkew exactly what to do." p theehero was a fellow shopper wwo saw ccaig fling the snake across thh store. she rushed him to store. he hospittl. they go there in usstenough time to the anti-venom. craig says he owes his hand and life to her. heights is finalll ready for the city held an open ouse renovated under he "vacants rid of bandooed buildings. this property on violet avenuu has been trrnsformed into a nee home for a howard county homeownerrwho's moving to the city. the mayor said its proof that her six-point plan to revamp baltimore neighborhoods... is workingg srb:"its wonderful, you see this block and its cleerly in transition, and you have this new investment with more on the way- yyu have aahomeowner who's cu

a special thank you to mica and joe and thank you senator hagel for hosting us this evening.to be such an incredibly-distinguished audience. an audience of leaders who have imagined different possibilities for our world in so many different fields and in particular in different ways to make our country safe and secure. it is in that setting that it's my distinct honor to introduce a friend of mine, paul poleman. it's unfortunate that just this evening, more than 900 million people around our planet will go to bed hungry. and it's unfortunate that more than 500 million of them are young children. and many of them because of their chronic hunger will not have the stroept fight the next illness and will succumb when they should persevere. many will not have the strength for their brains to develop so can grow and contribute to make their world more productive. it's in that world where we're able to honor tonight a business leader, paul poleman, who runs a massive consumer goods company and has a very impressive background at nestle and other firms. and he brings an absolute and

>> well, chairman mica may have a lot of things and i can't know that.can say is my investigators found an organization in need of improvement with an extremely important job. one we believe could be done with less federal workers, better organized with better morale, paid well, trained well with good equipment. and that's the goal unless congress and the president change their mind that we're working toward is an organization that instead of being ninth from the bottom in morale and training, in fact starts to look where it needs to be if we're going to keep america safe and people flying efficiently. >> this obviously comes right on the heels of the discovery of a terrorist plot to blow up an airplane. should americans have faith that the tsa is capable of doing what's necessary to keep them safe? >> anderson, i think in the case of that failed bombing attempt, we should be proud that the restructured cia that has been rebuilt in the last decade in fact proactively had agent involved, found this and uncovered it before we ever had to ask the question o

tonight john mica says mr. neely is no longer on the taxpayer's tab. i plan to introduce legislation that will allow the immediate termination of senior level officials that violate their oets of office. right now it's un-- oaths of office. right now it's unclear if neely is one that we reported on tuesday. what we do know is there is a move in gsa to oust nine people altogether. i'm russ ptacek, 9news now. >>> he's a little boy whose disappearance made headlines 33 years ago nearly to the day. now police in new york city have artsed a man who claims -- arrested a man who claims he killed the 6-year-old and disposed of his body. he was arrested at his home in camden, new jersey. he was one of the first missing children to appear on the side of a milk carton. now, tomorrow is national missing children's day. that is because may 25th is the day he disappeared. >>> a u.s. senate candidate killed by a hit-and-run driver from prince george's county. matt jablow has the verdict in the high profile case. >> reporter: the victim's mother to bear. details too m

comment about omb's role in inspector general reports in response to your questions and congress mica's. we take ig findings and their reports extremely seriously. particularly those that affect financial management. part of our role is to bring chief financial officers and other members of the community together to understand what is going on in ig reports across government. what we can learn from them. the gsa report is no different. we need to understand better what happened so we can prevent it from happening again, and we need to explore with the broader community what steps we can take to fix the issue and make government better going forward. that's the basic role that omb has with respect to ig reports and i think it's a very critical one and one we have fostered a very strong relationship with ms. fong and other igs around that shared mission of better government. >> thank you very much, and mr. chairman, i thank you for the time. >> well, thank you, and i do want to try to conclude the hearing today, but i did, again, have this information that was provided on our witness, tha

i want to thank chairman mica for his leadership in this conference and commitment to ensuring a hard-working taxpayer dollars are used more efficiently. i think it is crucial transportation research programs be focused on enhancing safety, reducing congestion, and improving quality. i introduced legislation to achieve these goals for surface transportation research programs. we must provide better coordination to avoid -- provide for more competition in their reviews to insure the strongest programs are carried out with greater flexibility to give the programs focused on the most pressing national needs. i will be supporting chairman micah's efforts to make sure the funding is used for intended purposes. we need to move forward with repairing and rebuilding the nation's infrastructure. it has been two years since the deepwater tragedy. the people of the gulf coast are still suffering the consequences. the steps were taken washington to determine the success and rate of recovery of the gulf coast. it is vital we make sure resources are made available and efficiently directed to those areas an

he is saying -- john mica, a republican. he is saying mr. neely is no longer on the taxpayers' tab and will introduce legislation calling for immediate termination of senior officials who violate their oath of office. they're gathering more details and will have it as it becomes available. >> obviously all this information just coming in. >>> for the second time in three days top aides to d.c. mayor vincent gray's 2010 campaign have pled guilty in court. this time it's part of a federal probe into illegal donations. our ken molestina is live at u.s. district court with more on howard brooks. ken? >> reporter: simply put, this is yet another black eye on local government here in the district, specifically on the vincent gray administration. today in court howard brooks admitted to a laundry list of wrongdoings, but what he admitted and pled guilty to was lying to fbi investigators and making false statement to them. under the scream outlined by the u.s. attorney -- the scheme outlined by the u.s. attorney's office this all began back if 2010

senator boxer and chairman mica, i look forward to working with you and all members of this conference. i hope you make quick progress. thank you. >> thank you so much. representative? >> thank you, madam chair. i do appreciate the opportunity to give a statement and to be part of this very important conference committee. infrastructure is so important to jobs. it's important to national security and it's real opportunity for us to get something done. back in january, president obama said his new year's resolution was to do whatever it takes to move the economy forward. i believe that this conference san opportunity for us to do just that. to be successful, we need real reforms to our highway programs that will make the most efficient and effective use of the taxpayer's dollar, and we need to seize the opportunity to do something good for our energy security, which is so essential for economic growth. as a negotiator from the energy and commerce committee, provisions with our purview include the congestion mitigation and air quality program under the clean air act and the vehicle safet

mica: so the clerk has that. in closing again i think this is a very significant piece of legislation that does authorize the first addition to -- that i know of, to the kennedy center. not only does it do that, it does it with the whole expansion being done with private funds, but we do have to authorize that, again, the federal government is the custodian and trustee of the center. also i think this bill is brought forward in a fiscally responsible approach for maintaining the facility and we authorized the capital repair and -- capitol repair and maintenance program at the requested level and also in a reduction from current spending levels. so whether it's the cultural center of the nation, the kennedy center, and all other government programs, either partially funded like this or publicly funded, week of got to do more with less tax pair --pair money -- taxpayer money in a responsible fashion. this legislation does that and i'm pleased to offer it for consideration of the house. i yield back the balance of m

won't be able to take that vote into the conference, but a number of high-ranking members, like john mica, who chairs the house infrastructure committee, going back to hr-7, that they weren't able to pass, and look for kind of a goal post

. >> yes, they is -- she was a student in mica. she is currently in korea. but she illustrated all of my books, very vivid, very bright. >> you use rhyming in your books. very nice to meet you. good advice for parents. and for little fran crifment oti. s -- and for little franciottis. >> up next "sunday gardener". >> plenty of flowers. >> almost looks like a daisy, but it is not. >> not a daisy. >> kind of in the family. we'll talk about shade today in your garden on your "sunday >> good morning. welcome to your "sunday gardener." i'm john collins along with carrie engel. welcome to valley view farms. shade is not something desirable in a garden, but it is not impossible to deal with. there are more options than you think of. >> i enjoy the woods. it is somehow more serene. i especially like it in the summertime when you have hundreds and hundreds of choices. >> maybe a little extra work. actually, i find del are fewer weeds. >> fewer weeds. >> here are some great choices. some old-fag fashioned that have been around forever. >> and that smells wonderful. >>

chairman mica of the committee in the house has been talking about privatizing it for years.r, pre-9/11 the security system checkpoint was prosecute privatized. the airlines ran the checkpoints. so there is a question. i think we're going to find a hybrid system in place somewhere in the coming years in which the federal government will play a significant role but the private sector will step up. >> shep: san francisco is place like that right now? >> that's right. they have a number both large and small airports where you do have private terrify operations running -- sector running it and they are working fine. >> shep: family can communicate with her now only after they learned to read lips. she has lost parts of her body and may resolution more. we'll get the latest on this young woman and the community that is rallying around her. her friend speaks with fox news next. [ male announcer ] they were born to climb... born to leap, born to stalk, and born to pounce. to understand why, we journeyed to africa, where their wild ancestor was born. there we discovered that cats, no

managing partner, mom -- mica mental sports can -- monumental sports. bloomberg news and vice president of the national press club, a 12-year girl scout interco-liter. executive vice president and speaker committee member who organized the event. she participate in crosscut camp ceo -- girl scout camp ceo. she is hosting the largest gathering of crosscut that the washington monument. crosscuts rock the mall on june the ninth. she is a guest of our speaker. -- girl scouts rocked the mall on june the ninth. she is a guest of our speaker. girl scout, press secretary for leave to sit affairs, national resources defense council. girl scout, executive producer and host of green's connections radio. also joining us today in spirit, girl scout founder, juliette gordon low. she recently made her debut at the wax museum in washington, d.c. [applause] when people hear the word girl scout, they think of cookies, thin mints, and somaos. for our speaker, grow scout cookies mean goal setting, money management, and people skills. training that help young girls think ab

. >> congressman john mica joins us. congressman, frankly, i just don't noah to say.n this is like night after night after night and now this tsa. >> well, again, it is an outrage. and here we have been after them for the past year to find out where some of this equipment was. we had a whistle blower come forward and tell us that not only it did they have a few hundred but they had thousands of pieces of equipment sitting idle. some of it that could be used to detect explosives and the kind of threats we heard about just in the last 48 hours sitting collecting dust in warehouses -- in a warehouse in texas. >> greta: according to one report, 5,700 pieces of equipment are in that texas thing and it is worth $184 million just sitting there. and meanwhile i think a lot of travelers while they are appreciative of what the tsa does to keep us safe, i tell you the tsa could use a lot of improvement. a lot. >> greta, we told them we were sending our investigators down there when we got a tip that the equipment had been there for sometimes years. and they tried to put us off.

i was inside the house transportation committee offices where republican chairman john mica issued a statement calling what you're about to see offensive. you may remember the payroll database released last week. even if you scrutinized that, analyzed it from here to sunday, you wouldn't know the bonuses you're about to see and you wouldn't know about the link to that controversial las vegas spending spree. long before this now infamous video mocked gsa cash bonuses and lampooned loose spending even before the 2010 gsa nearly $823,000 vegas convention, agency bonuses we tracked through freedom was information act requests revealed big payouts that never showed up on a public database. looking at fiscal year 2011 bonuses awarded in december, 2010, we identified a bonus of 15,500 reported as only 3,200, a bonus of 10,000 reported as only 1,900 a bonus of $9,800 reported as only 900. don't look for a bonus answer here at the white house. the original bonus information was obtained by our sister publication through a freedom of information act with the office of personnel management. whe

i look forward to working with chairman mica and all those in the senate to update our transportation systems and provide the best infrastructure and a small bowel you for the taxpayer and insurer transportation projects yield long-term benefits. i would like to thank chairman hall for his leadership. i would like to think speaker bayer for the opportunity -- speaker john boehner for the opportunity. >> the house just started a vote. chairman michael will make it one minute close. then we will go on our way. i have enjoyed listening to you all. i would like to give you a minute's worth of a feedback. >> i am very pleased that everybody has had an opportunity to approve -- participate. we have had an open conference here. everybody has contributed and everyone has a little bit of different ideas. i think the important thing is we blend them and maintain our principles. everyone continue to be a part of trying to get this concluded. finally, let me say thank you to the staff. i was a senate staffer for five years and worked also for a member of congress before that. i know their hard wo

but now congressman john mica says he has an idea to keep future jeopr jeff neelys from cashing in. >> good to be with you. >> are you happy it see that jeff neely is gone? do you think it should have been sooner? do you think others should leave as a result? >> when jeff nearly refused to testify before our committee and the day before he took the fifth amendment, i thought he should have dismissed immediately without pay. this is not, you know, some low-level civil servant... that has civil service protection. this is a senior executive service, administrative official who -- who, you know, has a horrible record of waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars. and he's been paid up until this week. and now it looks like some kind of a retirement deal has been struck. we will look at the terms of his so-called deal. and why he was paid and then, if this -- this is allowed, we need to stop it in the future. >> we know that you are working on legislation to that end. can you tell us what it would do in a situation to make a difference? >> well, first of all, again, if a senior executive service

for example when congressman mica came out to los angeles, he and i sat next to each other and we heard about the notion of boosting up the -- program. the transportation infrastructure finance and innovation act and what it does is it funds money to the community that decides they want to have a sales tax measure that they will pay it back and they come in and the government fronts the money and it enables communities to do these projects quickly. we have a whole section in the bell called america fast-forward, very very popular. the conference of mayors is behind it. we have so much support and i also wanted to mention in my up day that yesterday i spoke to about 50 of the groups on a conference call and i continue to do this every few days. they are continuing to work together. labor, the chamber, national association of manufacturers. you have heard me list these over and over again. they are very involved in speaking to members one-on-one and writing to members and going to their states and so on. so the conferees are fully engaged. we will have our conference report ready to circu

, we scrambled to get the body scanners out there knowing full well, according to congressman john mica who oversees the t.s.a., among other things, that they weren't really -- they aren't sure if they're even effective in picking up a would-be underwear bomber and the cost is tremendous. >> no kidding. right after, brian, after the underwear bomber landed in detroit in 2009, we bought 500 of these scanners at $122 million and then we bought 378 more and now, i think there are 1,000 more on order. hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars and yet, they don't work so you got the scanners that will not -- >> we think they don't work. >> they will not pick up if you have a nonmetallic device which, apparently, the new bombs are, it's not going to work. >> body scanners can't pick up a bulge? >> that's big question. >> i'm serious. what's good with the body scanner? why are people so offended if it doesn't pick up anything? >> that's the worry. then you've got that worry that we're wasting all this money on the scanners that won't pick up this new bomb and then you've got -- here's, bria

the findings back up congressman john mica, a republican of florida's believes that the t.s.a.llions of our dollars and that the t.s.a. could go on a diet and scale back. >> first, republicans. now house democrats calling for contempt of congress charges against attorney general eric holder? you remember the house oversight committee moved ahead with the subpoena last month after holder refused to hand over all the documents about fast & furious. holder denies he's been uncooperative. fast & furious, the botched gunrunning program that put hundreds of weapons in the hands of mexican criminals. two of those guns used in a shootout which killed the u.s. border patrol agent brian terry. >> all right. babe ruth did not do it. ted williams did not do it. not able to do it. but the rangers josh hamilton joining the record books last night. hamilton going on a tear against the baltimore orioles. he smashed four home runs. by the way, two of them were two run homers. just the 16th player in major league history to hit four home runs in a major league game. that's an american league rec

>> mica blackberry -- my blackberry was by my legal team. it contained a think about six weeks of e-mails and about a month of text messages. but we had to relish them and we had some problems with that request approximately when was a blackberry returned? >> i think about three weeks later. maybe longer. >> can you give us a month? >> in july, 2011. >> so we have as you explain e- mails and texts which come mark -- cover a limited period. you see the 17th of july or the 15th. >> i think it was the 17th. >> you also confirm there is nothing of relevance to the inquiry in your private account. is that right? >> that is correct. >> in e-mails he might have had with politicians were three-year work e-mail account? what's that is correct. >> text message contact with politicians would have been on your work blackberry? no other mobile phone? okay. i have been asked to put to this question -- whether any e-mails or texts to mr. cameron on a blackberry at the time you left news international? >> no. although one will make up the image back. there

john mica from florida fired up about this and spoke to greta last night "on the record" which happens >> these are, again, high level officials. and then they are paid and then, you know, they slip out by cutting a deal on their retirement. that shouldn't be allowed. you know, taxpayers, no pun intend ited, already took a bath with this guy. >> we heard about this kind of stuff before, right? there was a lot of outrage about anthony weiner he left disgraced from the house of representatives. it turns it out is he going to get a nice pension for the rest of his life. >> sure. >> let's also remember this jeff neeley not only did very all of these, you know, reckless spending and abuses of power. he also didn't cooperate with the congressional committee that was trying to investigate what went wrong here to make sure it never happened again. he employed the fifth. he protected himself. didn't help the taxpayers. now $100,000 a year. the number is staggering. many of you driving this memorial day weekend. some of you flying. imagine if you are flying with your family of four. you show up

doÑa angelina y que ahora la estÁ pasando a su hijdc >> asÍ que gracias por comparti feliz dÍa de la mica, aquÍ en "despierta amÉrica" >> la mejor manera de empezar sus maÑanas >> maÑana hay que levantarision pies porque corre sangre >> (♪) >> rta ama ision@@ierta ica ivisn n n ya estamos aquÍ seÑores con nuest nuestra... querida socorro ay! >> quÉ bÁrbara socorro! >> (aplausos) >> auxilio socorro! quÉ hermosa socorro ¿cÓmo te sientes? >> mira no mÁs quÉ belleza >> fenomenal a ision >> y te ves asÍ >> me siento como una reina >> es una reina >> y donde se respira una elegancia >> una dama distinguida, mira la postura de la mano cÓmo estÁ sentada, mira su brillo, sus aretes todo >> todo lo escogiÓ el hijo >> ay! muy bien >> diego fue escondido de ella le comprÓ el vestido, los aretes, el cdelar los zapatos >> ha sido el hijo que quiere que la madre se vea bella >> pues estÁ estud@@iando eso ¿verdad? diego >>ierta america univision@@desÍ "despierta amÉrica" se contactÓ con la producciÓn, llego a sorprender a su mamÁ y le cumpliÓ ese sueÑo de transformarla y yo veo estas de verdad que veo a

house transportation committee chairman john mica is concerned that the tsa grown to top heavy unmanageable agency and evidenced by 400% increase in workforce since founding. to affirm his concerns it now come to light in an abc report millions of dollars worth of explosive detection equipment going unused sitting in a warehouse in grapevine, texas. among the security equipment uncovered by investigators, 473 baggage scanners and 54 explosive detection systems. $184 million worth of equipment sat idle more than nine months even as nearly 300 airports across the country lack the newest and best bomb-scanning technology. in a written statement the tsa responded overwhelming majority of all screening equipment in storage, nearly 80% has been warehoused less than a year. and it added that the temporary storage of equipment is necessary while new agents are trained, jenna. jenna: a lot of questions on that, doug. talk a little bit about this congressman who is calling for the resignation of the tsa administrator. who is doing that? >> reporter: yeah. it is congressman paul bruin, a republican fr

. >> anyone else besides trimming mica -- >> everybody is included for the briefing and yes, i have several meetings set up for this week. i don't think it is necessary to say with whom but i have several meetings and i will continue as the days go by. okay. thank you very much. appreciate it. the george w. bush institute held in the event that held a celebration of human freedom in washington today to read it includes a video conference interview with activists and nobel peace prize winner the eighth. begins with the executive director james glassman. [applause] >> good morning president and mrs. bush, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to a celebration of human freedom. volume jim glassman the founding executive director of the churchill you bush institute. the bush institute is part of the george w. bush presidential center now in the final stages of construction on the campus of southern methodist university in dallas. it's a great building designed by robert stern tweed platinum specifications to the highest environmental standards. we hope to see you at the dedication less than a year f