mr. blair -- on march 18, 2003. that they were the link between terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, which constituted what he said a fundamental assault on our way of life and that -- regimes the w.m.d. extreme terrorist groups with the possibility of the two coming together rented what he called a real -- represented a real and present danger. he made similar points in january to the inquiry. did you see a real and present danger of this kind coming from iraq in 2003? >> i think we're dealing with this post cold war world. after the end of the cold war, and the expectation that we would have peace and that the instabilities that existed because of the cold war were over, we found that there were a number of states and then we found that there were a number of non-state terrorists that were preparing to cause huge instability around the world. we will be seen as a post cold war era where you had terrorism like iraq and the relation to iran and kuwait. in my view, the world community is j

mr. blair- on march 18, 2003. that they were the link between terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, which constituted what he said a fundamental assault on our way of life and that -- regimes the w.m.d. extreme terrorist groups with the possibility of the two coming together rented what he called a real -- represented a real and present danger. he made similar points in january to the inquiry. did you see a real and present danger of this kind coming from iraq in 2003? >> i think we're dealing with this post cold war world. after the end of the cold war, and the expectation that we would have peace and that the instabilities that existed because of the cold war were over, we found that there were a number of states and then we found that there were a number of non-state terrorists that were preparing to cause huge instability around the world. we will be seen as a post cold war era where you had terrorism like iraq and the relation to iran and kuwait. in my view, the world community is jus

mr. blair discussed iraq frequently with you in private conversations; is that correct? >> yes. we had a formal meetings at the cabinet and i think it's true to say that in 2002 iraq was -- >> i will come to that -- >> i'm sorry. >> i'm talking about private conversations with mr. blair. >> i was going to say in addition to these formal meetings of the cabinet i talked to mr. bel air regularly. we talked about all these sorts of issues of course because we were dealing with the economic issues, we were dealing with the reforms of the health service, we were dealing with a whole series of issues including dealing with the euro, an inquiry into how we would approach the hero, but i would talk to him about iraq and about the process of diplomatic negotiations. >> city would say you were absolutely in the loop from early 2002 and on words? >> i think we've got to understand that the foreign affairs and the conduct of foreign affairs as i have discovered since i became prime minister is quite differ

mr. blair perhaps in contrast to that told in his speech in texas in 2002, talking not just of iraq but in more general terms, if necessary, the actions should be military and if necessary, unjustified, there should be an involvement of regime change. he said to this inquiry that saddam had threatened the region and the world and in the circumstances it was better to deal with the threat, to remove him from office. does that imply that the british government ended up by allying with the american interpretation of international rules, and revival argument that the attorney general presented to the cabinet and the american objective of regime change, which had always been their position under the previous administration, under pressure of an american deadline? >> opposition was to support actions so that the will of the international community let saddam dispose of weapons be in force. in the back of my mind was a sense that if international community did back, >> i got back to the argument about

mr. speaker, under blair's britain several first-class state-of-the-art mental health have opened in or near my constituency. under brown's britain one of them has just closed. we are promised a shared dashboard of shared quality indicators. >> i know you will want to be fair also. the world health organization says that we have the best prevention of mental health care. obviously every time you want to do better since 2001 there has been a 50% increase in real terms investment in the of. it is wrong to say we are underfunding mental health. we are trying to do what we can and will continue to do what we can. he should be fair in recognizing that. >> mr. speaker, main house in birmingham has been providing a much value of residential therapeutic service for people with a personality disorder since nationally commissioned over ten years ago. that service has just closed because when a national oppression in ended minister's intentions that commissioning should be picked up was not undertaken by the strategic house authority. when you look into what went wrong we should reopen the service as s

i'm going to let you know that mr. blair to derive from russia. before that, he was in belgium. will be on a flight to turn up. he came to the united states to speak at the policy conference. [applause] please join me in welcoming a colleague and friend, the right hon. tony blair. >> thank you. wow. [applause] i have got a new suggestion. just get everyone else out of the middle east, and put him in there. up [applause] my job is to get an agreement between the u.s., e.u., and russia. i thought i should try something easy. israel is a democracy, for people and politicians. citizens are governed other rule law. men and women have recourse before the law. [applause] in israel, you can worship in the way you want or not as you choose. there is freedom of thought and speech. israeli society is vibrant, its heart is electrifying, its culture open. in many respects, the middle east should regard israel not as an enemy, but as a model. [applause] i admire the thought of the people. i met a young man. five of his family had been killed in a terror attack. he'd been blinded. there he was

now, while many of us here have had a busy week, i want to let you know that mr. blairefore that he was in belgium and as soon as he leads here he will be on a flight to china. he came to the united states for one reason to read to speak at the aipac policy conference. [applause] we are deeply appreciative of his presence today. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in getting a welcome to an ally, partner and friend, the honorable tony blair. [applause] [cheering] ♪ ♪ [applause] ♪ [applause] thank you very much indeed. it's amazing how nice to you people are when you stop being prime minister. it is a tremendous pleasure to be here, and i was just backstage listening to pastor dee dee and while wow. [applause] i have a suggestion, we just get everybody out of the middle east and put pastore dee dee. i don't think they would do anything but make peace. [applause] so anyway, it is a great pleasure to be with you. and lonny kaplan, thank you. my job is to try to get agreement between israelis and palestinians for the quartet which tries to get agreement between the united

mr. speaker, under blair's britain several first-class state-of-the-art mental health have opened in or near my constituency. under brown's britain one of them has just closed. we are promised a shared dashboard of shared quality indicators. >> i know you will want to be fair also. the world health organization says that we have the best prevention of mental health care. obviously every time you want to do better since 2001 there has been a 50% increase in real terms investment in the of. it is wrong to say we are underfunding mental health. we are trying to do what we can and will continue to do what we can. he should be fair in recognizing that. >> mr. speaker, main house in birmingham has been providing a much value of residential therapeutic service for people with a personality disorder since nationally commissioned over ten years ago. that service has just closed because when a national oppression in ended minister's intentions that commissioning should be picked up was not undertaken by the strategic house authority. when you look into what went wrong we should reopen the service as s

mr. penn has-- secretary of state hillary clinton during a run for the presidency as well as former british prime minister tony blair mr. penn spoke at the clinton school of public service in little rock arkansas last month. this is about 50 minutes. >> thank you for that very kind, very kind introduction, and underscoring that the voters are not numbers but they are people with habits, thoughts, beliefs and i find so often that the real intelligence of the american voter is really underappreciated. in fact i got into the business of polling pretty much after reading a book one day by a fellow called theo key and the book said, the simple fact of this book is that the voters are not fools. the voters in fact have real perspectives, real issues, real changes in their lifestyle. so i hope early as this class really as this class that these the election of 2010, two may to maybe provide a little insight into what is happening right now and what has happened in 2009 in before, what and before, what are the conditions that have been set up to make this perhaps one of the most hotly contested midterm elections probably in

mr. mccain: you know, could i ask my colleague, he recalls that over at blair house when our colleague from tennessee began the discussion with the president and our democratic colleagues, he said at that time that the congressional budget office said premiums would increase from 10% to 13% for individuals purchasing health insurance. that comes out to $2,100 more for a typical family. the president challenged that, as you may recall, and said, well, we're going to settle this before the end of this -- what later turned out to be over seven hours of fun. but -- so what was the answer to that, i would ask, dr. barrasso? what was the answer? was senator alexander correct when he quoted the congressional budget office that premiums would increase by 10% to 13% for individuals purchasing health insurance? or was the president correct by saying that that was not true? mr. barrasso: well, and senator ensee who's joined us on the floor, was also sitting with us on that day-on-at blair house. and my recollection and from doing the research afterward, the press reported that senator alexander was co

mr. speaker, if i may. sending investigators disguised as patients to undercover fraud, waste and abuse -- and i understand, i know that was brought up at the blair house by a republican. but quite honestly, if we don't already, mr. speaker, have enough inspector generals within c.m.s. and other government programs, health care, tricare, the veterans' program, chip program across the country, i think we can do a better job with combating waste, fraud and abuse than sending undercover patients into doctors' offices. i can imagine -- i haven't practices practiced in a while but i spent 31 years as a medical practitioner. it has only been seven or eight years since i practiced. but i worried all the time, i worried all the time about making sure that i didn't make a mistake, that i ordered the sufficient number of tests and the fact that we practiced, probably dr. roe as well, what we call defensive medicine and getting a blood test, x-ray or ct scan or m.r.i., something i knew wasn't necessary. i would hope it wouldn't be harmful to the patient. if you draw too much blood, you could turn them into an anemic patient. we had a hearing last week in th

but i would very much like to have been at the blair house last thursday. in fact, mr.aker, the president knows -- some of his staff knows, i don't know if he got to read my letter, when i requested to come and speak on behalf of the doctors' caucus from the house on the republican side. i didn't get to go, but dr. boustany, our colleague from louisiana, was there and did a great job. i'm proud of dr. boustany. had i had that opportunity to give my five minutes of fame or whatever, i would have said to the president, you know, one thing that you have done that i think is probably one of he most impon regard to health care reform, and that is money that was allocated, $19 billion, in fact, to try to get electronic medical records in the hands of every practicing physician in this country, all 750,000 of them in every hospital in this country so that we could clearly reduce medical errors. we could ultimately save lives. and in the long run, long run, save money. so this is an idea that i think that at least from this republican viewpoint, mr. speaker, is bipartisan. and

. >> host: blair levin is the executive directer of the broadband initiative for the federal communications commission, and with the release of the 350-plus pages of the broadband plan, mr. levin, the opposition to the broadband plan has been rather muted. are you surprised by that? >> guest: actually we've been very, very happy with the response to the plan. it's a comprehensive document, and i think what you saw was a lot of people even though they disagree with, really, elements of it have, number one, great appreciation for the work that went into it, number two, a great appreciation for the professionalism. it's a serious document. it goes through the data, it's very data-driven, its analytic, it doesn't react to things that don't exist in the real world, it tries to lay out a visionary and practical approach. and third, i think there was an understanding and appreciation that it is being very transparent about what the goth agenda -- government agenda should be. obviously, there are lots of details that are not appropriate for the planning process, but rather, appropriate for the government as it starts to implement those things. so we were very, very pleased that

mr. sessions, we have submitted the republican minority we talked about it when we went to the blair houseor the six and a half hour session with the president democratic majority of build alternative ways of dealing with this and allowing people to purchase individuals and small businesses to pull together and formed associations with health plans, individuals to not go across the state lines but to get on and purchase across state lines on individual base is a policy that the need that fits the needs of them or their family but not something that is prescribed that this is a policy that you have to have and we the federal bureaucrats can decide which mandates are important and which ones you will pay for that you don't want and you don't need. >> thank you bea dividing quinby the white house six and half hour summit. thank you. i appreciate you being here. mr. more i think was next. -- before, mr. sherman. i want to thank this distinguished panel. i'm sorry -- >> again i want to think this distinguished panel for reseeding and hitting me this evening. i am pleased to be here on this occa

mr. michael waring, who did a great job, to head up our basra development effort and through the beginning of 2007 as i visited iraq and as tony blair made his new statement, in the house of commons, we were planning what we called overwatch and would move from tactical overwatch as we were there as the forces but iraqis were involved in the maintenance of stability and law and order, and then we'd move to what we called operational overwatch, which gave the iraqis far more control themselves, of their own affairs, and we moved then to strategic overwatch which what is we eventually did and stood back, the iraqis had the control of their own security and we had a reintervention capability if it was necessary. so at one and the same time we followed through this political and military security, if you like, economic strategy, at the same time, our troops were positioning themselves so that iraqis could take more responsibility for their own affairs and it went into deeper commitment to all of these things, during the course of 2007 and 2008. >> in terms of timetable, your visit to the u.s., in july, 2007, what did you know of america

with that, blair i turn it over to you and your team. >> thank you, mr. chairman and commissioners. let me just echo what you said about commissioner copps who so graciously started this process and invited me and all of us to this. in every era america must confront the challenge of connecting the nation of new above all else this plan is a call to action to meet that challenge for this year. if we needed we will have networks, devices and applications that create new solutions to seemingly intractable problems. if successful, we will transform our country and as america does when it transforms itself, transform the world. though that is a bold claim it is consistent with meeting the challenge congress gave. the congressional mandate was unique in this institution or perhaps any institution of the federal government. congress was visionary in asking for a holistic plan that asks us not just to consider how we can act but also what we do with the connections to get congress understood broadband is a profound enabling technology whose impact will ripple throughout every aspect of our

blair house meeting. again, it's rather disturbing, madam speaker, that the 72-hour rule has now been completely cast aside -- mr. hoyer: will my friend yield? mr. cantor: i yield. mr. hoyer: i thank my friend for yielding. first of all, the 72-hour rule, i didn't say that we were casting aside any rule. nor did i say that we may not have more than 72 hours' notice. you may well have more than 72 hours' notice. what i said was i am not going to commit myself and then have a 70 hours as opposed to 72 hours and think i violated some representation i made. we want to give as much notice as we possibly can. this has been a very difficult discussion, as you well know, members on your side of the aisle in the other body have indicated they're going to do everything in their power to stop passage of this legislation. so we need to get about this business and engage, if you will. mr. cantor: well, i thank the gentleman. i guess the gentleman may begin to understand why it is that some on our side of the aisle, including yours truly, depicted this ramming the bill through. i mean, if we can't even get a commitment that h

mr. gingrey: madam speaker, one day after the health care summit at the blair house, peggy noonan wrote in the "wall street journal," and i quote, what the meeting made clear is what the democrats are going to do. not step back and save the moderates of their party but attempt to bully a bill through the congress. this is boorish of them and they will suffer for it. indeed, madam speaker, i think the democrats will get slaughtered for it. but unfortunately the collateral damage is to the health of the american people. i ask all my colleagues join with me and my constituents in the 11th congressional district of georgia and vote no on this rule and this so-called deeming legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. tierney: thank you very much. a few would cut out of the herd and pass it. that's not the case this. year-long debate in the bipartisan health care meeting show dms and

that, blair, i turn it over to you and your team. >> thank you, very much, mr. chairman, commissioners and let me echo what you just said about interim chair "cops" who, so graciously started this america must confront the challenge ever connecting the nation anew, above all else, this plan is a call to action to meet that challenge for your era. if we need it networks and devices and applications that create new solutions to seeming trackable problems. if successful, it will transform our country into. as america does when it transforms itself, transforms the world that is a bold claim, this consistent with meeting challenge that congress gave us. the congressional mandate was unique in the annals of this institution or perhaps any institution of the federal government. congress was visionary in asking for holistic plan that asked us not to consider how we connect but what we do with the connections. congress understood that broadband is a profound, enabling technology whose impact goes through every aspect of our economy and society. congress asked us to assur

mr. speaker, as you know, and my colleagues know, when he invited both republicans and democrats two weeks ago to come over to the blair house and meet with him. i don't know they realized it would be 6 1/2 hours, much of it filibustering, a lot of air in that room, a lot of oxygen sucked out of the room. but the president controlled it and he recognized speakers when he wanted to and he made them yield back when he wanted to. but we had so many good ideas presented. and as we go forward and when we do regain the majority, we're not going to strike down every single provision of h.r. 3590. there are things in that bill that i, as a physician member, and many of my colleagues on this side of the aisle, agree with. and we think that they are good. the gentlelady from california mentioned the expansion of community health centers. that's a good thing. that's a good thing. someone else in the majority party mentioned allowing our children to stay on a family policy until they're 26 years old. many of them, of course, are still in college or graduate school. and heretoforeinsurance companies have required that these childre

blair house said nobody cares about process. i got to tell you, i have never seen this. this is my 16th year in the united states congress. mr. etheridge made his motion, mr. etheridge of north carolina moves that the house concur -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. nunes: an additional two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two additional minutes. mr. latourette: i appreciate it. mr. etheridge of north carolina moves that the house concur in the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment with an amendment. that is really a procedural mouthful. you know what it means? it's a procedural way to screw the minority, the republican party in this house, not only can't we amend your bill, not only did we get it at 9:30 this, we can't offer a motion to recommit. you know what mr. hoyer would be saying if we pulled that on him when we take the majority back next year? he would be screaming bloody murder and he would be right. madam speaker, as a result of that i would like to offer an amendment to this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from no

blair house meeting. again, it's rather disturbing, madam speaker, that the 72-hour rule has now been completely cast aside -- mr. hoyer: will my friend yield? mr. cantor: i yield. mr. hoyer: i thank my friend for yielding. first of all, the 72-hour rule, i didn't say that we were casting aside any rule. nor did i say that we may not have more than 72 hours' notice. you may well have more than 72 hours' notice. what i said was i am not going to commit myself and then have a 70 hours as opposed to 72 hours and think i violated some representation i made. we want to give as much notice as we possibly can. this has been a very difficult discussion, as you well know, members on your side of the aisle in the other body have indicated they're going to do everything in their power to stop passage of this legislation. so we need to get about this business and engage, if you will. mr. cantor: well, i thank the gentleman. i guess the gentleman may begin to understand why it is that some on our side of the aisle, including yours truly, depicted this ramming the bill through. i mean, if we can't even get a commitment that h

blair house said nobody cares about process. i got to tell you, i have never seen this. this is my 16th year in the united states congress. mr. etheridge made his motion, mr. etheridge of north carolina moves that the house concur -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. nunes: an additional two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two additional minutes. mr. latourette: i appreciate it. mr. etheridge of north carolina moves that the house concur in the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment with an amendment. that is really a procedural mouthful. you know what it means? it's a procedural way to screw the minority, the republican party in this house, not only can't we amend your bill, not only did we get it at 9:30 this, we can't offer a motion to recommit. you know what mr. hoyer would be saying if we pulled that on him when we take the majority back next year? he would be screaming bloody murder and he would be right. madam speaker, as a result of that i would like to offer an amendment to this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from no