mr. alanross is in jail, and he was tried, and i have a legal background, and i've never seen appeal or trial go so fast. we're very conscious of it. we follow it. you know, we don't talk about it all the time because we're not propgan propaganda. we give news, we're aware of it, and we try to obtain as much facts as we can on the case. >> guest: okay. the broader question of the bbg and radio tv marti along with the other bbg components, al hora, the voa, that thing. we have a difficult budget situation coming up, no agency is likely to escape. i presume that you would argue that the bbg -- that the radio and television marti are worth the investment. how will you -- how can you demonstrate that to members of congress outside of the anti-castro, the fervent anti-castro lawmakers who support anything that's designed to subvert the regime? how do you convince them that your service is necessary and is good for u.s. foreign policy or good for the cuban people? >> guest: that's a very good questi

mr. berlusconi can take italy through the reforms it needs to take it out of its crisis. this report from alan johnson. >> everywhere, silvio berlusconi's message is the same. no surrender. i go on. but in the corridors of power, all the talk is whether mr. bruce bowie -- berlusconi can survive the days ahead. out in the streets of rome, they worry about the way the country is going. more and more, berlusconi himself is seen as a big part of the problem. >> i think this time his moment has come. i have two kids and i am an employee. i want him to go. >> the gathering crisis in italy is rooted in the money markets. isly's $1.90 trillion debt 120% of its gdp, bigger than that of greece, spain, ireland, and portugal combined. now all borrowing costs have risen again. the prime minister is still full of fight. he says he has enough support in parliament to continue to govern italy. but if the vote in a few hours goes badly, it will almost certainly be followed by a confidence motion. then, ford silvio berlusconi, the ends may be near. veteran observers believe the berlusconi over really is drawing

[applause] >> thank you, alan. mr. karl rove. ... to the regents for having me back. every person on this podium today is here under false pretenses. not a single one of them as a titan, accept me. [laughter] all of this high school, titans, class of 1951. -- columbus high school, titans, class of 1951. 14 million fellow americans are out of work today. september, unemployment 9.1%, the 32nd month and a row in which unemployment was 8% or more, the long sustained time of high unemployment since the great depression. it happened despite the fact we tried the 2 1/2 year experience of spending our way to prosperity. it has not worked. i country faces fundamental issues regarding how to get ourselves on the right track. we have lost 1.5 million jobs net since the stimulus bill was passed. we have had spending the size of the government relative to the gross domestic product of the united states, 20% in 2008. today it is near 25%. in 2015 it will be 23%, and then marched upward after that. by the middle of the century, if left unchecked, using the president's own projectio

alan simpson. he joins me now. thank you, mr. norquist, for coming on the show. >> sure, delighted to be with you. >> your tax pledge was singled out by the president yesterday. you've deferred speculation that you may, in fact, control the universe saying the real power behind your pledge lies with the american public. that said, recent polls from cnn, bloomberg, the washington post and gallup find that 7 in 10 americans oppose hiring taxes. >> well, the taxpayer protection pledge is signed -- it's a written commitment by a candidate for office, house or senate. also at the governor level and state legislature level. two, they're voters, if you elect them, they won't raise your taxes, they will not do anything to raise net tax revenue. you can have a tax reform, but not a tax increase. it's a public commitment to voters. and i think it's a good idea that people keep their public commitments. if somebody wants their taxes raised, then you should vote for the candidate who's in favor of tax increases, not for the candidate who won

alan johnson has more about the significance of the visit. >> we can see mr. monty's mission to brussels and strasburg for talks as marking the beginning of a fresh start for italy in its regions was europe and neighbors though it got pretty ragged under the previous prime minister sylvie yo berlusconi. the french and germans were almost openly exasperated by him and he was very rude in private about them. it is under new management. mario monty is the kind of leader the french and germans and europeans would like to see in charge of italy. he is very pro european and the euro and talked of italy needing to provide solutions to the european problems rather than being the weak length in the euro -- we can link. >> will there be much of substance discussed or just showing the markets that they are getting on well? >> i think that we don't know a great deal about exactly what mr. mont-- monti will be talkin about. his ministers were saying knock as he filed out of his first cabinet meeting but they are desperate to find ways out of this very grave eurozone crisis

mr. norquist, don't times change? isn't that what alan simpson is saying? i think his conservative bona fides are pretty well established. and he's saying, look, times change. they're required a balanced approach, and in this kind of economy, after a financial crisis, revenues have to be part of the picture. >> no. raising taxes slows the economy. raising taxes kills jobs. government spending does not create jobs. the idea that if you take a dollar out of the economy and then -- from somebody who earned it, either through debt, or through taxes, and give it to somebody that's politically connected, that there are more dollars around, but if you stand on one side of the lake and put a bucket into the lake and walk around to the other side in front of the tv cameras, pour the bucket back into the lake and announce you're stimulating the lake to great depth, we just wasted $800 billion on stimulus spending that added to debt, that killed jobs. >> but the notion that tax cuts or tax increases somehow impact economic growth, we know historically that's simply no

alan simpson, here's what he said about mr. grover norquist. >> former. >> if this guy is the most powerful guy in america, elect him president. he's got them. he can't murder you, he can't burn your house. the only thing he can do for you is beat you for re-election. if that means for to you than your country and extremity, you shouldn't be in congress. >> what say you? >> alan simpson is old enough to have been in congress and voted for the '82 budget deal which was supposed to give $3 of spending cuts for every dollar of tax increase. spending increased more rapidly after that deal. tax increases real, spending cuts weren't. eight years later having learned nothing in 1982, he did it again. $2 promised of spending cuts for every dollar of tax increase. tax increase was real. spending cuts weren't. the rest of the modern republican party watched alan simpson vote in '82 and '90 for a budget deal which led to tax increases and spending increases. no spending restraint at all. and learned, don't do that. alan simpson is old eno

of 2011 a repressive regime like is the one there in cuba and the one that continues to hold alan gross. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: without my losing the floor, i would yield three minutes to the senator from florida, senator rubio. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. rubio: i want to thank the majority leader for that. i'll be brief. i think my colleagues touched upon it and the public policy behind it. in all the things that are happening around the world that are very important, i think we remind ourselves a few miles off the united states, the most repressive government in the western hemisphere conducts its business and is able to fund it through a lot of interaction as we -- interaction as we is speak between the united states and cuba. i know these are folks that are in business and not doing it with bad intentions but the practical implications is hard currency. at a time when we seem -- have seen more repression this year than in recent years as the castro government continues to fear it is losing its grip on powe

alan the book. where are there. he is mr. health care, and obama's right-hand.he doesn't get the big job, but he still an adviser. i can't get a call in for two months. it's a black : there. he is losing in march and april and in to make the most important two months in 15 years on health care after he steps up saying this is my priority with all of his promethean power, obama, nothing happens. and he forfeits that. he gives it to max baucus in the senate, that the party is picking up in the summer. obama's is a need to give a speech, big one, a joint session , september 2009, but his speech of his first year. he says no, you have to wait until the end. you only have one shot. he says, no, going to do it. make the decision. it does make a lot of these, but this is what he makes. calls in the brilliant speech writer. he met both the guess 14 to 15 years old, of little. how that happened? but he's brilliant. and then of a bond. they have this bond, you know, because he's kind of the fusion, the use sort of movement that followed obama. he gives them the letter. ob

mr. monti has pulled together the sort of people he believes have the expertise to pull italy out of the mire. alan johnston is our correspondent in rome. alan, it's technocrats and more technocrats, is it? >> that's right, david. we're watching the reshaping here of italian politics, and it's happening pretty quickly. hardly a moment's been wasted since prime minister silvio berlusconi stepped down dramatically on saturday night. intense negotiations across the political spectrum, and now i had a moment ago that mr. monti left the hotel and he's on his way there to the presidential palace, where he'll set out this cabinet lineup, and there will be a huge amount of interest in who actually made the team. there are not many secrets in italian politics, most things get leaked and spread across the media, but this lineup has stayed pretty tightly locked away in mr. monti's head. >> and it's not been easy, has it? one might have thought that with the passing of berlusconi and the arrival of the new man, he'd be given carte blanche to get on with it, but it hasn't been that straightforward, has it? >> w

alan johnston. we have been saying all morning that mario monti's unveiling of his cabinet has not happened yet. do you read anything into this delay? >> still we wait. mr. monti has had more than two hours of talks now with the head of state, president giorgio napolitano. giving us the rundown on the team he has chosen for his cabinet. there is going to be a lot of interest in whether that entire team will made it -- will be made up of technocrats, economists, judges, and so on, where men whether there will be one or two figures in senior positions. we can only wait. >> we are looking at pictures of the presidential palace, where we expect to see mario monti, while i am talking to you. as far as we know, mario monti has been assured the support, so can i take it we will not be getting any huge surprises? >> absolutely. after discussed days of intense talks with every party in the italian parliament, and with union representatives and business leaders and so on, he is confident that he has a cross-party support. almost all parties say they will behind the -- they will be behind the monti government. the question is, how long will they stay behind him, i

alan, and she worked at that dress store and my grandmother said she always beside her checks "mrs. leo m. frank." that is why i put in the play that she is a georgia girl. she never left. she stayed mrs. frank. i think she was a remarkable woman. she was only 22, 23 when this happened. from the time she was 23 to 25 -- and she was a very sheltered southern girl -- she was exposed to this mad media thing. i think she handled herself with remarkable dignity. >> it is a prominent name in atlanta and you would hear of the seligs here and there. she was thought very highly of. as you play her, make sure you play her as someone who is thought very highly of. >> thank you. >> in your book, there was a point you mentioned that when he was in the senate, he was offered a seat on the supreme court. this would have been the first time a jew would have been -- way, way before brandeis. >> the famous killer of millard fillmore was stuck with the same problem today, he could not get his nominee through unless the nominee was in the senate. benjamin would have taken his seat. he would have been t

. >> my constituents alan and linda eastwood have a son who has been serving in our nation's armed forces in afghanistan. in common with the royal british legion, mrd mrs. eastwood regard the prime minister's decision to abolish the post of chief coroner as a betrayal. will the prime minister tell us why he thinks he is right on this issue and the royal british legion is wrong? >> this is a very important issue, and i have had discussions with the royal british legion about it, as has my right honorable and learned friend the lord chancellor. the point about it is that the current proposal for the office of chief coroner to be established would involve something like £10 million of spending, and we think the money would be better spent on improving all coroners' services across the country. we are listening very carefully to the concerns expressed in both houses of parliament about this issue, but what really matters is -- are we going to improve the performance of our coroners? that is what service families want, that is what i want, and that is what we will deliver. >> public sector workers in my constituency work extremely hard to deliver essen

mr. nichols, i was just wondering if you could tell some stories about working with alan arkin on set. >> arkin was always unhappy. [laughter] he was an actor. i could have just said that. [laughter] but we had a very difficult schedule because we depended entirely on back light. we had a genius dp, director of photography, david watkins, and he decided that we would always only shoot into the light which meant, basically, that we could shoot from 2 to 4:30 every day. we could get ready, but if we were going to have our signature look, we couldn't shoot anytime except 2:to 4:30. this was in the days, of course, it was a very, very expensive movie, it cost $11 million. >> how much? >> 11 million. that's what was expensive in those days. but which meant that we were in mexico for what seemed like years. and no actor could go away because we didn't know when the weather would be just right to do his or her scene. so some people stayed there for months waiting for their scene, and arkin always stayed this because he was -- stayed there because he was in every scene. and he did nothing but bit

alan grayson, democrat from florida, now running again. congressman, thanks for being here. where's the urgency for main street bailout, mr. grayson?e hasn't been in. and that's the sad part of it. it's been three years since the banks got bailed out to the tune of $16 trillion directly from the fed and another $10 trillion lent to foreign central banks and then from there to foreign institutions. so a total of $26 trillion and that doesn't even count the bailouts to fannie mae, freddie mac, aig and all the rest that went individually. that's huge amounts of money. we're talking about almost $100,000 per person in america for every man, woman and child in america. >> $100,000 per person? >> that's right. and nothing for the middle class. >> i want to walk through this slowly so people understand this. these banks were getting these huge bailouts, according to this bloomberg report, first payment like $1.2 trillion, while they were still fighting regulations. so they were having it both ways. getting bailed out while they were keeping their levels down in terms of deregulation? >> they call them loans but they took the worst assets,

mrs. petrie. you know, one time she filed my fingernails for me. wait, hold on. why didn't she ever play? did you ever see mom play that piano? alan: well, she had to make a choice between the law and music. and when she made the choice, then... music was a closed issue. except that it wasn't. these-these compositions are dated through the '80s, through the '90s-- i mean, i think she was writing music up until... you know? no, i didn't know. hey, hey! doug, careful with the tv! your grandkids are gonna be working for me for free! come on! gino mcginty. this guy's rap sheet's just about as old as he is. mostly receiving and possession of stolen property, major ties to about a dozen foreign black markets. doug windham's phone dump had a bunch of calls back and forth with mcginty before the burglary. there were about a half a dozen after, too, including one 15 minutes after we talked to him. for a guy not in the burglary business anymore, he sure does keep some shady company. i want to put together a raid team, but don doesn't want to risk spooking anybody yet. last thing we need is that synthesizer leaving the country before we can

mr. speaker. it was a simple request. why not all alanyce and ask him not to ground the fleet. >> the prime minister has the call. prime minister? >> thank you very much, and i know the facts are always very inconvenient for the leaders of the opposition, but these are the facts. friday, qantas was indicating publicly that-still involved in negotiating disputes. saturday at two o'clock qantas advised government agencies particularly that qantas was grounding the planes at 5 p.m. -- [inaudible conversations] >> order! dixon is warned. [inaudible conversations] the member is warned. >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. the qantas advised particularly the minister of transport around two o'clock that planes would be grounded at 5 in preparation of a lockout. the ceo of qantas made it clear to the minister that he was not requesting that the government do anything, that he was not -- >> order! order! >> that the decision had been made by the qantas board, and the decision would be implemented so in the face of that advice when i received it f

first up, florida republican congressman alan west. utes. mr. west: thank you, mr. speaker, and i want to thank my colleague from virginia and i want to rise and support h.j.res. 2 which is the balanced budget amendment. the united states of america has just topped $15 trillion in debt. $4.4 trillion of nedebt has been added. in greece we see a debt to g.d.p. ratio of 128%. mr. speaker, in italy it's 120% debt to g.d.p. ratio. the united states of america is now at 101% debt to g.d.p. ratio. it's about time we start to take a decision. are we going to be fiscally discipline? are we going to have fiscal responsibility? are we going to continue to bankrupt the future of our children and grandchildren because we were sent herto be elected officials, sent here to be leaders and we were afraid to make tough decisions? historically we won't make tough decisions. i have been here 11 months but i have to tell you we have to do something different. it has to start now or else what d i say, mr. speaker, to my two daughters, 18 and 14? am i going to say that i didn't have the

mr. speaker, it was a pretty simple question. why didn't she call alanyce and asked not to ground the fleet? 's! i minister. >> thank you very much. i know the facts off inconvenient for the leader of the opposition. friday, qantas indicated publicly he was still involved in the dispute. saturday around 2:00 qantas advice government ministers particularly the minister for for a qantas was grounded the planes at 5:00 p.m. >> order. the member is warned. >> is not a prediction is warned. >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. the ceo of qantas advice pretty really the minister for transport around 2:00 or planes would be grounded at 5:00 in preparation of a lockout. the qantas made it perfectly clear to the minister he was not requesting the government do anything. he was not seeking to discuss the measure, that the decision had been made by the qantas board and the decision would be implemented. so when the face of that advice when i received it from relevant ministers, but i did was rather than talk, i act did so the leader of the opposition, dido spent at

alan readily accepted that. this member came up and said, mr. speaker, i hear you are to chair the debate in the uk parliament.et me tell you, it will be an unmitigated disaster. i said to him, i do not accept that. i do not accept that at all. i have been here 30 years or more and i know what i'm talking about. my point is what is your argument. after some coaxing, i managed to persuade the honorable gentleman to give me his argument. his argument was this. at the very least, you mark my words, mr. speaker, chilling them -- chew will theing gum for. in pen knives will be used to leave damage to the seeds. i said to him, if that is your honest opinion, you are welcome to it, but you are profoundly in grievously mistaken. and in my view is you are absolutely should not stereotyped, character culture, and misrepresent young people -- caricature, and misrepresent young people like that. [applause] i said to him, if these young people come to our house of commons as they will, they will be proud and pleased and privilege to come here. and i made simply two predictions. they will speak well and they will be a bette

alan, and she worked at that dress store and my grandmother said she always beside her checks "mrs. leo m. frank." that is why i put in the play that she is a georgia girl. she never left. she stayed mrs. frank. i think she was a remarkable woman. she was only 22, 23 when this happened. from the time she was 23 to 25 -- and she was a very sheltered southern girl. she was exposed to this mad media thing. i think she handled herself with remarkable dignity. >> it is a prominent name in atlanta and you would hear of the civic here and there. -- the seligs here and there. she was thought very highly of. as you play her, make sure you play her as someone howho is thought very highly of. >> thank you. >> in your book, there was a point you mentioned that when he was in the senate, he was offered a seat on the supreme court. this would have been the first time a jew would have been -- way, way before brandeis. >> the famous killer of milk -- millard fillmore was stuck with the same problem today, he could not get his nominee through unless the nominee was in the senate. benjamin would have

alan simpson says you shouldn't be in congress. the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: we're going to see two very different approaches to infrastructure and job creation today. the american people can decide for themselves which one makes more sense. the republican proposal extends the current highway bill for another two years, giving states and contractors the certainty they need to start new infrastructure projects and to create jobs. the legislation senator hatch is proposing today puts an end to the uncertainty for the next two years. this proposal also gives states the authority to decide how this money is spent. if folks in ohio or kentucky want to build a bridge, washington can't force them to build a bike path. the republican proposal accelerates the review period and clears away the bureaucratic red tape. the president admitted a few months ago that the shovel-ready projects in his first stimulus bill didn't turn out to be as shovel-ready as he thought. our proposal helps make sure they are. our bill prohibits the e.p.a. from imposing burdensome an

mr. chairman, director elmendorf. we respect the work you do and we rely on it. i am not aware that just reading -- 3 reading alan greenspan's testimony before this committee quoting cbo numbers projecting in 2001 projecting a 30 years of service and we would pay down the entire debt of the united states of america. and anyone knowing what to do with it. we have been wrong before. you predicted 3.1% growth this year. coming and probably half that. dr. zandy predicted 3.9% growth. known moody's analytics to 1.6. i don't agree that there's no contradiction between borrowing and taxing to spend today and problems that have gotten this country into the fix we are in as i see it. we are in a long term financial difficulty as a result of debt. we have extensive debt for route this system. the government has assumed huge amounts of private debt and i agree we have a ten year or more the leveraging process to go through and we are not going to see the growth we like to see until that is through. i would oppose adding more debt. i think nothing could be more simple. nothing could be more basic. under the plan the presiden

jones, james christopher son, alan cutler, goodlo sutton, heidi savment mariti, carl barriyc, and mike clark. they are the ones who should be receiving the medal this evening. mr. president, this conference report is a combination of a process that includes countless hours of hearings, markups, debate, and negotiations and posting online -- and i underline this -- all of the hearing testimony and legislative text for any citizen to review. and finally, mr. president, it represents the one essential ingredient to a functioning democracy that has been in short supply in recent months: compromise. so, mr. president, i urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this measure and send it to the president for his signature. i yield the floor. mr. cochran: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. cochran: mr. president, this conference report contains agreements between the house and senate on three appropriations bills. these bills support a wide range of important federal government activities. it also includes an extension of the continuing resolution that expires on friday. the conference report is the product of negotiations that have t

mr. chairman. thank you, director elmendorf. we respect the work that you do. and we rely on it. i am not unaware that -- alan greenspan's testimony before this testimony, quoting cbo numbers, projecting 30 years of surpluses and that we would pay down the entire debt of united states of america and he wanted it know what to do with a surplus. we have been wrong before. he predicted 3.1% growth this year and it will probably come in under that. dr. zandi predicted 3.9% growth this year. isdy's and alex has said it 1.6%. i do not agree that there is no contradiction between borrowing and taxing to spend today and the problems that have gotten this country into the fix we are in as i see it. we are in a long-term financial difficulty as a result of debt. we have extensive debt throughout the system, the government has assumed huge amounts of private debt, and i agree, we have a 10-year or more deleveraging process to go through. and we're not going to see the growth that we would like to say until that is through. so i would oppose adding more debt. i think nothing could be more simpler. nothing could be more b

mr. chairman. thank you, director elmendorf. we respect the work you do and rely on it, but not aware, it just reading recently alan greenspan was a testimony before this committee, quoting cbo numbers projecting in 200130 years of surpluses and that we would pay down the entire debt of the united states of america, and he wondered what to do with the surplus. we have been wrong before. you predicted 3.1% growth this year. it will probably come in half that. dr. zandy to 3.9% growth. they revised that to 1.6%. i do not agree that there are no contradictions between borrowing and taxing to spend today and the problems that have gotten this country into the fix we are in as i see it. we are in a long-term financial difficulty as a result of debt. the government assumed a huge amount of private debt. we had a much bigger deleveraging process to go through, and we are not going to see the growth week -- we would like to see, so i would oppose adding more debt. i think nothing could be simpler. nothing could be more basic. and under the plan the president has proposed -- $450 billion in borrowing and spending in the near term, plus a

mr. chairman. i'm delighted to be here in the company of these three great americans. and i want to thank you for inviting me to come. both alan and i thought long and hard about what we wanted to say today. we have submitted something in writing to you, but instead i would like to just read to you from a few notes i've made. i know most of you. i have worked closely with almost all of you on both sides of the aisle. i have great respect for each of you individually, but collect the idea worried you're going to fail. fail the country. when alan and i first got into this, we thought we were doing it for 15 grandkids. i have nine and he has six. but the closer we got to the numbers, the more we realized we weren't doing it for granted kid. we weren't even doing it for kids. we were doing it for us. that is how dire the situation is today. i think that we face the most predictable economic crisis in history. i know that the fiscal path we're on here in washington is not sustainable and i know that each of you know it when you see it because it is as clear as day. when alan and i travel around the country and we talked to people a