chief mitchell, we're always interested in leveraging r&d in different agencies. there is ongoing research at dhs and this fire safety looking at fire retardant materials to protect firefighters. how does the usfa coordinate its research along with other fire safety research going on at the department of homeland security and defense? >> we meet with them regularly both dhs snt we are talking now with the underwriter laboratories, talking or recently with oak ridge laboratories about new smoke detector technologies. essentially, we continually have communications through our team that works on technology and research at the usfa we gather input from our firefighters stakeholders and the other nongovernmental organizations across the country and in the fire service as to needs. we communicate those with the technology agencies and laboratories and partners and try to see that our needs are being met by the research community. >> have you experienced any sort of problems with actually getting the level of cooperation between the different agencies? sometimes we hear

nfpa salutes chief ernie mitchell and latest in a distinguished line of leaders. we look forward to working with him. to sum up, nfpa urges you to provide requested funding, its research program, the academy's training program, grants program and infers. all in keeping with an agency that will provide a national focus on fire. thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you and i will be happen p pi to answer your questions. >> i now recognize chief critchley for five minutes. >> good morning. i am chief critchley of the tucson fire department and the president of the western fire chief's associationuation. i am also a member of the international association of fire chiefs. that have taken place since the usf a was created. in 1978, 172 firefighters died in the line of duty. in 2011, we had 83 firefighters. in 1978, we have seen a number of civilian fire deaths also drop over 50% to a little ov ovover 3,000. through fire service training, public education and research. i would like to emphasize the national fire training academy to train more than half a

mitchell played it off brown and down. no icing here. zidlicky with 4:20 gone in the first sudden overtime period. >> eddie: robinson is absolutely apoplectic on the bench. they waved one off. he was just screaming at the linesman. >> mike: 20 consecutive years in the playoffs. 20 consecutive years in the nhl. 18 with montreal, two with los angeles. >> eddie: one of the top seven defensemen at all time. would you agree? >> mike: and the outstanding plus/minus player in history. no one close. no one probably going to get close. scuderi cancelled out by gionta. ponikarovsky. kovalchuk holding. firing one. that was directed wide. moving in is salvador. to the corner. ponikarovsky back to him. salvador around behind. kovalchuk with it there. run into by kopitar. kopitar led it off a. if you have the puck you could be hit. it's what's been happening all night long between the two teams and in every playoff game. the nature of the sport. controlled now by dustin brown and led across for doughty to bring on. the canadian olympian brought it bac

my name is ernest mitchell, jr. of the emergency management agency and the united states fire administrator in charge of the united states fire administration at the department of homeland security. it is indeed an honor to appear before you today to discuss the u.s. fire had fenestration. the fire administration is committed to providing national leadership to foster a solid foundation for the fire and emergency stakeholders and prevention preparedness and response, and my testimony today i will share an overview of the administration's core functions,

we look forward to working with chief mitchell and his role offismenting this program. i thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today. >> thank you. i want to thank all of the witnesses for their testimony and also for being right at the five minutes button. that is rarity on capitol hill. and i thank you for your punk chality. now i want to remind members the committee rules limiting question to five minutes. the chair at this point will open the round of question and recognize myself for five minutes. chief mitchell, as we're examining the usfa we're interested in what changes should be made to the usfa's authorities. currently it serves as a support agency of the u.s. forest service and the federal emergency management agency. emergency support function number four. these responsibilities are are signed at the discretion of homeland security. some in the fire service community have recommended that the usfa should be elevated to co-leader with the u.s. forest service to ensure a more effective state and local response. would the usfa be able to handle this

my name is betsy mitchell. my brother, my brother-in-law and four other men are sentenced to the electric chair and are in the death house. maybe you heard or read of the horner murder case or better known as the case of the trenton six in trenton, new jersey. these men are innocent, and their records show that. since the time my brother was arrested, i have been fighting for him and the other men. i beg thed the police to -- i begged the police to let me see my brother, and they would not let me. then i went to several organizations, newspapers, veterans' administration and even to the fbi. i also wrote to governor driscoll, supreme court and many rich people. they refused me in a nice way. then i lost faith in the united states of america. i had always believed before that the people found justice here when they couldn't anywhere else in the world. then i learned about the civil rights congress. i begged them to help me. first, they start to restore my faith in the american people, then they gave me courage t

mitchell played it off brown and down. no icing here. zidlicky with 4:20 gone in the first sudden overtime period. >> eddie: robinson is absolutely apoplectic on the bench. they waved one off. he was just screaming at the linesman. >> mike: 20 consecutive years in the playoffs. 20 consecutive years in the nhl. 18 with montreal, two with los angeles. >> eddie: one of the top seven defensemen at all time. would you agree? >> mike: and the outstanding plus/minus player in history. no one close. no one probably going to get close. scuderi cancelled out by gionta. ponikarovsky. kovalchuk holding. firing one. that was directed wide. moving in is salvador. to the corner. ponikarovsky back to him. salvador around behind. kovalchuk with it there. run into by kopitar. kopitar led it off a. if you have the puck you could be hit. it's what's been happening all night long between the two teams and in every playoff game. the nature of the sport. controlled now by dustin brown and led across for doughty to bring on. the canadian olympian brought it bac

mitchell was an irish-born american preacher that lincoln knew from illinois. he brought him to washington specifically for this role to administer the programs. and mitchell knew of menard through his abolitionist activities and thought of him as a potential ally who could bridge the gap between the colonization movement in white community and immigration movement in the black community. so mitchell hires menard on as a clerk in 1863, which makes him one of the first african-americans to obtain a white collar job in the united states government. he was given an equal salary to the white administrative workers in the interior department, which caused quite a bit of controversy. the other workers rebelled, against this, complained to the secretary of interior and within three months had pressured them to discontinue menard's salary and urged the secretary of the interior to demote him to a messenger because they couldn't countenance standing there in the same office with an who was obtaining an equal salary, even though he was probably better educated, more qual

our first witness is chief ernest mitchell jr. from the federal emergency management agency in charge of the united states fire administration at the department of homeland security. next, dr. john paul jr., division director of fire analysis at the national par friction association. the doctor has been active in fire analysis and research for nearly 35 years. our third witness is chief jim critchley, chief critchley represents the tucson fire kept in my home state of arizona and currently serves as the president of the western chir chief's oh. sour final witness mr. kevin o'connor, assistant to the general president for the international association of firefighters. thank you again for, to our witnesses for being here today. as our witnesses should know, spoken testimony is limited to five minutes each, after all witnesses have spoken, members of the committee lieutenawill h minutes each to ask questions. i now recognize chief ernest mitchell. >> good morning, chairman quayle and distinguished members of the committee. i'm at the

>>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," where's the defenses? john edwards' lawyers close their case without calling the former senator, his daughter or his one time mistress to the stands. we'll have the latest from north carolina. .summer sequel. the debt ceiling showdown and the partisan blame game heating up again. president obama calls on congress to act. >> even though it's election season, even though there's gridlock, even though there's partisanship, take some actions right now that would make a difference. >> where is the president's plan to tackle our looming debt crisis? it's time for us to deal with the big issues that are affecting our country and our society. we've spent enough time playing small ball. >> joe biden blasts mitt romney in the critical swing state of ohio. >> my mother and father dreamed as much as any rich guy dreams. they don't get us. they don't get who we are. >> populism revisited. plus, remember the alamo? the general services administration is hoping their annual conference will be much more forgettable than t

my name is ernest mitchell, jr. of the emergency management agency and the united states fire administrator in charge of the united states fire administration at the department of homeland security. it is indeed an honor to appear before you today to discuss the u.s. fire had fenestration. the fire administration is committed to providing national leadership to foster a solid foundation for the fire and emergency stakeholders and prevention preparedness and response, and my testimony today i will share an overview of the administration's core functions, major priorities and present activities and goals. this might making progress over time, the united states has been higher than in most of the industrialized world. this has held true in both fire deaths and loss rates. thousands of americans die each year and thousands more are injured. property losses reach millions of dollars. average annual fire loss in the united states exceed those from floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and other natural disasters comb

my name is bessie mitchell. my brother, my brother-in-law and four other men are sentenced to the electric chair and are in the death house. maybe you have heard or read of the murder case for better known as the case of the trenton six in trenton and new jersey. these men are innocent, and the record shows that. since the time my brother was arrested life in fighting for him and the other men. i did the police to let me see my brother and they wouldn't let me. i went to several organizations, newspapers, federal and administration and even the fbi. i also wrote to the governor come supreme court and many other rich people. if they refuse to me in a nice way of them i lost faith in the united states of america. i have always believed before that the people from the justice when they couldn't anywhere else in the world. she then learned about the civil rights conference and begged them to help me. then they gave me courage to keep funding to win. i remember you when i was a girl how interested you were in negro p

chief mitchell was talking about how wildfires are a more significant threat. arizona is currently battling four wildfires in the central and eastern part of the state. we had a wallow fire last year and we continue to see this. can you give me some insight on why are wildfires becoming a more significant threat? is it forest management policy such as ensuring that we are keeping fuel low and trees thinned to a healthy level or patterns of development because people are moving closer to forests or a combination of both? >> thank you. i would say it's a combination of both. i'm not as well versed on the fuels management program that they have, but i can promise you that as we grow as a community, we're reaching out into areas that were never designed for fire trucks to get into and take care of. as we expand the size of our cities or the movement out into the urban interface area we just increase the number of buildings that are going to be hurt during the wild land fires. i believe it's both, but primarily the way that we're managing our growth. >> okay. thanks

and chief mitchell, do you have any thoughts on why they are becoming more significant? >> again, i'm not as familiar with the fuel management part of it. although there is -- we are engaged with other agencies now, and studying fuel management and how fuel management versus fire response and prevention all interact. but coming up in the fire service in the southern california, i know a large part of the problem was based upon more building and living in the interphase zones. the lack of fire resistive construction in those areas, and some of the other preventative and mitigation measures that could and should be enacted to prevent loss. >> okay. thank you. and dr. hall, it's been described that one of usfa's training challenges is reaching out to all firefighters across the country and increasing online classes and distance trains. has the nfpa performed any research to try to quantify the impact of training programs? and has the nfpa specifically measured the effectiveness of remote training? >> thank you, mr. chairman. the analysis that we have conducted is not at tha

i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. it's deja vu all over again. congressional republicans promising to block nel increase in the debt ceiling unless it is offset by spending cuts. the leadership of both parties is meeting at the white house for the first time since february at a d.c. sandwich shop today, the president previewed the hoagie summit. >> my message to congress and i'm going to have a chance to see the congressional leadership when i get back to the white house, i'm going to offer them hogies while they're there is let's go ahead and act to the help build and sustain momentum for our economy. there will be more than enough time for us to campaign and politic but make sure we don't lose steam at a time when a lot of folks like these are feeling optimistic. >> what about speaker boehner this morning about the debt? >> thank you, everybody. thank you, guys. >> not worried about another showdown. >> thank you very much. >> nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director chuck todd and the host of the daily rundown" is here.

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wood, major mitchell. how has learning a different language and about a different culture shaped your perspective about the world we live in? >> well, i feel that learning a language and learning about the culture is critical to language learning in general, because it gives you a basis for understanding. and you can really connect more to the language and have a reason for continuing to learn the language. and i believe that that's growingly important in this day and age when the world needs language speakers and needs people to be able to communicate cross-culturally. thank you. >> thank you. mr. wood? >> i think that it allows me to think outside of like my own stereotypes that i had prior to going. i think learning a new language and about their culture allows me to learn about the language and the people that are wind the culture as the people and what they do and how they interact with each other. and it allows me to see them as -- i guess to explain this -- it allows me to interact with them in a wa

i'm andrea mitchell live in chicago where the president is now hosting his first nato summit, the firstver held outside of washington and only the third held in the united states since the alliance was founded more than a half century ago. president obama today announced that nato is going to hand over lead security responsibilitieses to afghan forces by next summer, a full year before nato is scheduled to withdraw most troops. but the meeting has been marred by tension between the u.s. and pakistan. and violent protests here in the president's hometown. nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director chuck todd and host of the daily rundown". chuck, this has been really a mixed bag. this was supposed to be a victory lap for the president bringing nato to chicago. they don't meet outside of washington. and yet the protests they had to anticipate that but it's been intense. >> secretary pa net at that time announce this had news that the president announced today it was accidental. three months ago when he talked about this idea of the lead. so it really a lot of the air

mitchell played it off brown and down. no icing here. zidlicky with 4:20 gone in the first sudden overtime period. >> eddie: robinson is absolutely apoplectic on the bench. they waved one off. he was just screaming at the linesman. >> mike: 20 consecutive years in the playoffs. 20 consecutive years in the nhl. 18 with montreal, two with los angeles. >> eddie: one of the top seven defensemen at all time. would you agree? >> mike: and the outstanding plus/minus player in history. no one close. no one probably going to get close. scuderi cancelled out by gionta. ponikarovsky. kovalchuk holding. firing one. that was directed wide. moving in is salvador. to the corner. ponikarovsky back to him. salvador around behind. kovalchuk with it there. run into by kopitar. kopitar led it off a. if you have the puck you could be hit. it's what's been happening all night long between the two teams and in every playoff game. the nature of the sport. controlled now by dustin brown and led across for doughty to bring on. the canadian olympian brought it bac

you can see 69-year-old derrick mitchell driving this car the wrong way. police say that mitchell had had a brandy binge all day, was in a pub, got into it with somebody in the club. somebody that works in the pub tried to get him not to drive but look what happened. now this is the u.k. so he's driving on the wrong side of the road. >> oh, boy, right into oncoming traffic. >> he brushes up against another car but he doesn't stop. that is basically a hit and run. >> and that guy got out of his car like what the heck just happened? >> derrick has a 50-year history of having issues with the legal system when it comes to drunk driving. in the last two decades, he's had six drunk driving offenses and two daerous driving offenses. when th cgh t him athis alcoh level was twice the legal limit. >> are their laws anything like they are here? >> the judge in this case said this goes to show there needs to be tighter restrictions on people convicted of drunk driving because he's only spending 18 months in prison for all of this and six months of that sentence is for

and literally within 4 24 mitchell palmer changed from being a mod resist to cracking down. he decided then and there, and he the backing of congress, he had the backing of the public, the newspaperrers, and even though wood row -- 0 to go do something to stop the violence. he put a team together, they connected the dots as best as they could. they did not know who the radicals were. they did not know who planted the bombs. they felt they had to act before any more violence occurred. they decided on a massive crack down to get as many reds after the street as they could. to return the operation, palmer decided to tap the best young man to lead it. that brings us back to, i hope, our friend mr. hoover. so who is j. edgar hoover in 1919? he was a young lawyer. he was two years out of law school. living at home with his parents, who had gotten his first job through a political friend. however, during the time that he had been in president palmer's office and at the justice department, he had been promoted repeatedly. he had been given pay raises. difficult assignments and was v

andrea mitchell reports weekdays at 1:00 here on msnbc.rea, i know you've had an incredible day from covering in chicago and traveling and being here tonight. thanks for being with us tonight. >> you had the enter vurks mint. well done. >> ben jealous is coming up to talk about the major shift in politics on a major issue in our country right now. he is making major news and he will be here in just a couple minutes. i told you it was a big show. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. sven's home security gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day! woo-hoo!!! so that's ten security gators, right? put them on my spark card! why settle for less? testing hot tar... great businesses deserve the most rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with double miles or 2% cash back

i'm andrea mitchell live in new york. an exclusive interview with mark halperin, mitt romney responded directly to his attacks on bain capital. mark has just returned from conducting that interview which will be part of the magazine's newest issue and is up online. he's also, of course, an msnbc political editor. thank you very much for joining us as a contributor. very interesting in that you tried to pin him down on bain and he pivoted in a sort of classic game changing way. let's take a look. >> the president says he wants to focus a lot of the election debate on your career at bain capital. do you welcome that? >> well, of course, i'd like to also focus on his record. what is it that he's done as the president of the united states over the last four years? has he established the revitalization he promised he would bring to us? did he hold unemployment below 8%? it's been what, 39 months now. that hasn't happened. he promised it would happen by virtue of his stimulus. gasoline prices, home prices, are they happy with t

our first witness is chief earnest mitchell jr. an substantiate administrator at the -- in charge of the united states fire administration at the department of homeland security. next, from dr. john hall jr. dr. hall has been ak neviaeh fire analysis and research for nearly 35 years. our third witness is chief jim critchley. chief critchley represents the tucson fire department in arizona and serves as the president of the western fire chiefs association. our final witness is mr. kevin o'connor. thank you again for to our witnesses for being here today. as our witness, no spoken testimony is limited to five minutes each. after witnesses have spoken. members will have five minutes to answer questions. i now recognize earnest mitchell. >> good morning, chairman quyale, ranking members. it is indeed an honor to appear before you today to discuss the u.s. fire administration. the fire administration is committed to providing national leadership to fostering a solid -- stakeholders in prevention, prepardness and response. in my testimon

chief mitchell was talking about how wildfires are becoming more significant threat. agenda, arizona is currently battling for wildfires in the central and eastern part of the state and we had the wallow fire last year, and we continue to see this. can you kind of give me some insight on why our wildfires becoming a more significant threat? is a forest management policies such as ensuring where keeping fuel loads low and trees and to a healthy level? or patterns of development because people moving closer to for us, or is it a combination of both? >> thank you. i would say it's a combination of both. i'm not, as well-versed on the fuels management program that they have but i can promise you that as we grow as a community, we are reaching out into areas that were never designed for fire trucks to get into to take care. so as we expand the size of our cities, or the movement out into the urban interface area, we just increase the number of buildings that are going to be hurt during a wild land fire. so i believe it is both, but primarily it's the way we are managing ou

this is andrea mitchell reports only on msnbc. if you're one of those folks who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... well, shoot, that's like checking on your burgers after they're burnt! [ male announcer ] treat your frequent heartburn by blocking the acid with prilosec otc. and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. you can't argue with nutrition you can see. great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i know is better nutrition. mmmm. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself. delicious gourmet gravy. and she agrees. with fancy feast gravy lovers, your cat can enjoy the delicious, satisfying taste of gourmet gravy every day. fancy feast. the best ingredient is love. throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day men's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell

wjz is live at the mitchell courthouse. derek valcourt is there, and has the final arguments from both sides. derek? >> reporter: in closing arguments today, prosecutors called that robocall, quote, blatantly fraudulent. the state saying this is a bunch of bull. right now, 12 jurors are deliberating to decide who is right. >> the political consultant jewelius -- julius henson, there is nothing to do but wait. while the jury looks at the robocal you -- robocall he wrote. >> we're talling to let everyone know that governor o'malley and president obama have been successful. we're okay. relax. everything is fine. the only thing left is to watch it on tv tonight. >> reporter: in closing arguments, the state prosecutor said that was election fraud, a scheme by henson and ehrlich's campaign manager, paul schurick, to suppress the african american vote. >> this type of behavior is

in today for andrea mitchell.aily fix, in early march, barnard college, the new york university

. >> good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. on this the first anniversary of the death of bin laden, mitt romney now says, any thinking american would have ordered the operation. chris cillizza is an msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com. that begs the question, even jimmy carter would have ordered this operation and what he said initially at least in 20007, which is that he would not have moved heaven and earth, he created that a month later but he never came to the point where he said he would authorize raids

. >> good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. in our daily fix today, who is better equipped to fix the economy? that is the battle ground and this week both sides are jockeying for advantage. susan is the washington bureau cheap for usa today and you have a new poll which has interesting data on both sides. each side can claim some victory here. >> one things we americans agree with is the economy at the moment is bad but americans are increasingly optimistic that it's getting better and they think their own financial circumstance is going to be better a year from now than it is today, which is good news for barack obama because we know the economy is the biggest single factor in president's winning re-election but also good news for mitt romney because americans have more faith in handling the economy and making it better than they do with president obama. >> now, on "the view," elisabeth asked the president how he would fix himself. this is the president obama on obama. >> so how do you grade yourself on, honestly, in terms of

i'm very pleased to welcome chief mitchell so we can hear more about his vision for the administration, particularly pleased to welcome my good friend, kevin o'connor, as well as our other witnesses. and i want to thank you for taking the time out of your schedules to be with us. the fired a manager was created in 1974 with the goal of reducing the number of fire-related deaths by half from a staggering 12,000 per year. through the good work of the fired a manager and our first respond beers, we met this goal in 1988. the number of fire-related deaths continues to decline, but unfortunately our country's fire-related death rate is still one of the highest in the industrialized world, and it's estimated that in 2009 fire cost the united states over $331 billion in economic and human losses. chairman quayle just spoke about the loss in his own state. the fired fired a manager contio play a central role in making our communities safer.

i'm andrea mitchell live in washington.n a political bombshell "the new york times" broke the news that a republican super pac was considering a $10 million willy horton style ad campaign linking president obama to jafr maya wright. the proposal called the defeat of barack hussein obama, the plan to end his spending for good. but moments ago the super pac released a statement on behalf of the funder joe rikts, rejecting the approach and saying it's all a big mistake. the proposal was just, quote, a suggestion for a direction to take. mitt romney has also now repudiated it. this is a trial balloon? this is not just some side show, this came from fred davis, well known, did the big celebrity ad against barack obama for john mccain's campaign. the firm had spent a lot of money, the proposal included a tv ad, print ad, so now we're told never mind? >> well, i think what this was, andrea, was something that was not meant if fred davis and excuse me, joe rick ets had their way would have seen the light of day and not in the new y

that does it for this special edition of "andrea mitchell reports."day with the nato summit. among our guests white house senior adviser david axelrod and political strategist ian bremer and remember to follow the show on tw on twitter. >>> up next, mitt romney slamming president obama in his first general election tv ad as he tries to turn away from the rev reynolds wright debacle. the news nation, political panel will weigh in on the romney strategy. >>> also, the public gets a look at police photos of george zimmerman just hours after he shot and killed trayvon martin. we're going to see surveillance video of some of what happened that night. all that and more straight ahead. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you. the teacher that comes to mind for me is my high school math teacher, dr. gilmore. i mean he could teach. h

. >> good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. on this the first anniversary of the death of bin laden, mitt romney now says, any thinking american would have ordered the operation. chris cillizza is an msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com. that begs the question, even jimmy carter would have ordered this operation and what he said initially at least in 20007, which is that he would not have moved heaven and earth, he created that a month later but he never came to the point where he said he would authorize raids into pakistan which then-candidate barack obama said throughout. >> andrea, the a fascinating dynamic here, which is, typically republican presidential nominees and republicans in general are seen at least as stronger on foreign policy, weeker on domestic policy, democrats the reverse. foreign policy, particularly terrorisms a place where barack obama is strong, properly as it relates to the death of bin latin. i would say productly, take three big steps back. the longer a conversation goes on about h

i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. in our daily fix, the president placed a call to mitt romney at 11:30 this morning congratulating him on securing the republican nomination. texas did put romney over the top. at this hour, he now has 1191 dels in his column. and we can call him the projected republican nominee. it's official. but from the moment romney stepped off the plane in las vegas with donald trump's giant plane in the background, romney was overshadowed by the donald. chris cillizza is managing editor of post politics.com. donald trump has just tweeted again, again racing the birth issue and wanting to see how the president listed his birth country on his college records or his college applications. why won't he give this up? >> well, he won't give it up, andrea, because remember trump is not a politician. he's an entertainer/celebrity. you know, i tweeted earlier this morning yesterday was a great day for donald trump, not as good for mitt romney. why was it a great day for trump? because he was all over the

nfpa salutes chief ernie mitchell and latest in a distinguished line of leaders. we look forward to working with him. to sum up, nfpa urges you to reauthorize the usfa. we urge you to provide requested funding for the usfa, its research program, the academy's training program, grants program and infers. the usfa does great work. they have made a great difference and they can and will do more, all in keeping with the original vision of an agency that will provide a national focus on fire to a federal role. thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you with you on behalf of usfa. and i will be happy to answer your questions. >> i now recognize chief critchley for five minutes. >> good morning, chairman quayle. i am chief critchley of the tucson fire department and the president of the western fire chiefs association. i am also a member of the international association of fire chiefs. i thank the committee for being able to testify for the work the fire administration does for america's fire and emergency medical service. it is important to recognize the

malin mitchell says you are simply a rubber stamp of the governor. now, i suppose you have a response to that? what's your response? >> well, i don't know that we need to spend much time on it to be frank with you. i think when you have a good partnership, a good team, in the executive branch, you want to have a governor and lieutenant governor who are working well together. i want a governor who entrusts me with big responsibles. you know that jobs and the economy, creating jobs in this state and making sure that we have a trained workforce in order to take those jobs, the two biggest priorities that we have, not just in the administration, but also among taxpayers and job creators and among the hard-working families that we listen to every single day. that is where i spend my time. the governor has appointed me his jobs ambassador. i travel the state, meeting with small business owners and asking them how we can best help them to create jobs. how we can be their partners in job creation and work together on it. i spend my time, developing plans in

in today for andrea mitchell. if you're daily fix, in early march, barnard college, the new york university affiliated with columbia announced that the president rather than jill aim ram son would deliver the address after a call came from the white house asking to be put on the program. his speech today is not 9 only commencement speech that has political overtones. mitt romney i sought to downplay his mormonism and amp up conservative social values. white house correspondent and political director chuck todd joins me now. and the tale of two commencement speeches, president obama with women, this decision to speak at barnard came at the height of sandra fluke. mitt romney at the evangelical liberty university. i want to play the a clip about him and the mormon issue at liberty. >> people of different faiths like yours and mine sometimes wonder where we can meet in common purpose when there are so many differences in creed and theology. surely the answer is that we can meet in service in shared moral convictions

weir mitchell. he is older. he is examining a civil war veteran at the clinic of the orthopedic hospital. this is what he had to say. and he is talking about himself and fellow physicians. we have served faithfully as greater causes earth has known. we have built novel hospitals. organized ambulance service that had never before been seen. contributed numberless essays on diseases and wounds. what has been our reward? countless statues commemorate in washington and elsewhere the popular heroes. statues of generals are in every town. some of them memorials of men who we were wiser to forget. there is a not a state or national monument to a physician. at gettysburg, every battle site is marked with a recording tablet. every general that fell is remembered in bronze and marble. what of the physician that died? nothing. that is medicine during the civil war. i appreciate the fact that you came out on this cold night. i look forward to your questions. thank you. [ applause ] >> if you have questions, please come up h