as mr. meeks said, the community is opposed to the direction they have v. samplet taking. would join with my friend, mr. bishop, we strongly support the v.a. looking to the private sector to partner with the private sector to find innovative, cost-effective ways of providing better services to our veterans by partnering with the private sector and certainly the committee does not want to discourage in any way the v.a.'s expansion of private partnerships to give better service to veterans. we encourage it. we want the v.a. to look for ways to save money, to provide better service to our veteran, to use the expertise of the hospitals like the texas medical center which i represent, the work mr. bishop is doing with fort benning and the v. namplet his district created a marvelous partnership with private physicians to give better service. we want them to continue that effort. but it is essential the v.a. understand they have to earn the support and approval of the community, that means they have to earn the support and approval of the representative of that district and in thi

mrs. mary meeks. the honorable tom corbett, governor of pennsylvania. ms. jeannette weaver ruish. mr.m burns. mr. james taylor and his wife, mrs. caroline taylor. >> have you performed at the white house before? >> no. >> we have, i think, five or six songs, no real surprises, sort of greatest hits. i'm just excited to be in this company and just to perform at the white house is a privilege. >> have you ever been here before? >> yes, we have. i received the national medal of the arts. that's when we met. we met during the campaign. they actually suggested "you have a friend" for the theme of the evening. >> how is your german? [speaking german] learned it in school. >> boarding school, new england boarding school. >> my father. >> what are you wearing tonight? ♪. >> the president, chancellor merkel and their spouses later appeared in the white house grand foyer for a traditional official photograph. just before the state dinner, president obama and chancellor merkel delivered comments on the relationship between the u.s. and germany and the president presented chancellor merkel with t

mr. meeks: thank you, mr. speaker. today i say that we have an opportunity. the camera of history is rolling. it's watching what we do today. we can authorize the president to continue the limited use of the united states' services working in conjunction with nato today. today, we can show that we're united with our allies. think about what history will have 50 years from now. we have an individual who was going to massacre his individuals, and by us stepping in, working in conjunction with our nato allies, we are saving thousands of lives. what would have taken place? historically if we allowed the annihilation of the libyan people? let's stick together on this. let's look at how this -- how we're together. from its inception this has been an international initiative to enforce u.n. resolution 1973 and the response of the request of libya's transitional national council, the gulf cooperation council and the arab league. president obama deployed u.s. assets early, said he will continue just what we have our special asset and then have no troops on the ground.

mr. meeks: thank you, mr. speaker. today i say that we have an opportunity.istory is rolling. it's watching what we do today. we can authori the president to continue the limited use of the united states' services working in conjunction with nato today. today, we can show that we're united with our allies. think about what history will have 50 years from now. we have an individual who was going to massacre his individuals, and by us stepping in, working in conjunction with our nato allies, we are saving thousands of lives. what would have taken place? historically if we allowed the annihilation of the libyan people? let's stick together on this. let's look at how this -- how we're together. from its inception this has been an international initiative to enforce u.n. resolution 1973 and the response of the request of libya's transitional national council, the gulf cooperation council and the arab league. president obama deployed u.s. assets early, said he will continue just what we have our special asset and then he no troops on the ground. it is transitional

mr. meeks: thank you, mr. speaker. today i say that we have an opportunity. the camera of history is rolling. it's watching what we do today. we can authorize the president to continue the limited use of the united states' services working in conjunction with nato today. today, we can show that we're united with our allies. think about what history will have 50 years from now. we have an individual who was going to massacre his individuals, and by us stepping in, working in conjunction with our nato allies, we are saving thousands of lives. what would have taken place? historically if we allowed the annihilation of the libyan people? let's stick together on this. let's look at ho this -- how we're together. from its inception this has been an international initiative to enforce u.n. resolution 1973 and the response of the request of libya's transitional national council, the gulf cooperation council and the arab leae. president obama deployed u.s. assets early, said he will continue just what we have our special asset and then have no troops on the ground. is

mr. meeks: thank you, mr. speaker. today i say that we have an opportunity. history is rolling. it's watching what we do today. we can authorize the president to continue the limited use of the united states' services working in conjunction with nato today. today, we can show that we're united with our allies. think about what history will have 50 years from now. we have an individual who was going to massacre his individuals, and by us stepping in, working in conjunction with our nato allies, we are saving thousands of lives. what would have taken place? historically if we allowed the annihilation of the libyan people? let's stick together on this. let's look at how this -- how we're together. from its inception this has been an international initiative to enforce u.n. resolution 1973 and the response of the request of libya's transitional national council, the gulf cooperation council and the arab league. president obama deployed u.s. assets early, said he will continue just what we have our special asset and then have no troops on the ground. it is transit

the next member, i want to acknowledge in the audience, the father of one of our staff members, mr. meek. he's doing a good job and after many years as a reporter, he's finally earning an honest living. i recognize the gentleman from virginia for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i thank all our panel of members for being here today. i first want to comment, i was a bit surprised and frankly a bit disappointed as well when some members of our committee are questioning why we're having this and it seems to me that we almost diverged into a discussion about prisons generally and i don't believe that that is the focus of our committee. our committee is homeland security and i think it's entirely appropriate that we're here today and i will go where the risk is and i believe other members of the committee will as well. if we need to look at other areas, other groups, i'm happy to do that. but i believe that radical islamists present a real threat and it's appropriate that we examine that today. now i'd like to direct the first question to mr. downing. sir, on maye 19, the committee s

mr. meeks: unfortunately this bill takes a hack saw to the city's counterterrorism and security efforts. according to mayor bloomberg, this bill would jeopardize the continuing -- the continuity and operations of counterterrorism programs in new york city that new york city has under way. cutting more than $100 million in homeland security funding for new york is not only nonsensical, it is dangerous. as my friend, peter king, has said, this bill puts new york at risk. these cuts place an unconscionable burden on new york and i will therefore vote against the bill in a few minutes and i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kansas rise? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to discuss yet another negative impact the dodd-frank act is having on the job growth. as agencies hear the united states are scrambling to meet the deadlines and community banks struggle under a mountain o

mr. gingrich was spotted among the guests aboard a luxury cruise ship sailing between greece and turkey with stops on islands like meek knows and rhodes. after the tiffany's thing he never quite could answer does the newt gingrich for president campaign want to spend a whole new campaign day talking about their luxury cruise through the greek islands? no, they do not. and now they don't have to thanks to congressman anthony wiener. the exciting thing about expecting a thank you gift from newt gingrich is that there's always the possibility that it will come in a really fabulous famous light blue box. joining us now is howard fineman. howard, it's great to see you. thanks for being here tonight. >> hi, rachel. >> in terms of the overall republican presidential politics right now, the thing that is still the most important thing is the fate of mitt romney. mitt room knee standing along as the only major candidate who has not committed himself on the paul ryan medicare plan and standing alone as the one candidate or potential candidate who all the other candidates are running against. is that how you understand the prima

mr. president, let me just briefly read this list of corporate freeloaders. one, number one, exxonmobil, the the largest oil company in the mad world. in 2009 exxonmobil meek 19 billion in profits, and not only did exxonmobil avoid paying ay federal income taxes that year, they actually receivede 166 million-dollar rebate from the irs treated you think maybe we want to ask exxonmobil to pai a little in taxes so we don'th have to throw children of their gealth insurance? lar mabey. i last year bank of america,ama largest bank in america, a received a $1.9 billion tax $9 o refund fromn the irs even thougn it made 4.4 billion of profits i and just a couple of years ago a received a bailout from thesury civil reserve and the treasuryf department of nearlynow $1 trillion. what do you know about that? bailing out the largest banks is this country whose greed, the recession and get a rebate from the irs rather than pay anyand o taxes and republican friends sol think the deficit reduction is t not to ask bank of america but iceir fair share at the end of medicare as we know it and forcy low-income seniors to paytheir e substantially more for theiral health care to