paulsen said it, mr. meeks said it, my colleague, i know in his talking points that i submitted for the record, mr. moran would have said it, mr. brady very much wanted to be part of our presentation this evening and he passionately believes that this is the way for us to most effectively deal with the very, very serious problems that we have on economic growth and on human rights violations. and so i hope, i hope that we will be able to see passage as soon as possible and again i know that this is the time of year as i said at the very outset, just weeks before the election, to be very partisan. but this is something that we can have a bipartisan victory on. and that's why, mr. speaker, i'd like to implore president obama to get engaged on it this. i know there are many issues, again, looking at north africa and the middle east, i know he's campaigning in his quest to be re-elected. but this is something that democrats and republicans in the house will pass with strong support if he will get engaged and work w

your president could be a real hero, mr. meeks, if he came back home for a few days an sat down with the lights of jeff hensarling and tried to work something out, obama could be a real hero. >> tell the -- if we were in session longer than two weeks, the president said -- as you said yesterday, when he was on the news circuit, he's ready to work something out that i think is a compromise. i think it's incumbent upon the house republicans then, let's stay in and let's see what we can get done. that's the reason i said -- i know you're a business channel. that's why i said, at the very least within the week we have here, if we're not trying to block what the president wants to move forward for the american people we should at least pass pntr for russia. we can't get that on the floor blocking many businesses love to have a session for the wto, love to make sure we're working and be able to expand business. we can't even agree on that and we have the votes here. >> with all due respect to the president, he's been awol, absent withou

now the gentleman from new york, mr. meeks, is recognized for five minutes. mr. meeks: thank you, mr. chairman. we thank you for the work you are doing. i have just a few questions of issue that really have come before my office from a number of constituents and i'd just like to get some of your viewpoint. one of the first is, of course, dealing with many of our service members. we had a number that come by the office and they have -- they are in very difficult financial challenges and seem to be prime victims from predatory lenders. one had told me about individuals being outside of the military base itself. and giving him what he thought was an offer that was too good to be true. and telling him sometimes when it's too good to be true it's because it is. i know that there is a new bureau dealing with service member affairs. so i was wondering what you can tell us in regard to how this office has been helping and what they can do and how maybe i can direct some of my constituents to the services of those in the military. >> sure. thank you, congressman, for askin

. >> the gentleman from new york, mr. meeks, is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. we thank you for the work that you do. i have just a few questions, an issue that has really come before my office from a number of constituents. i would like to get your viewpoint. the first is, of course, dealing with many of our service members. we have had a number that have come to the office and have been in very difficult financial challenges and seem to be prime victims for predatory lenders. one had told me about individuals being outside of the military base itself and giving him what he thought was an offer that was too good to be true. when it is too good to be true, it is because it is. of thethat they're part new bureau dealing with service members affairs. i'm wondering what you can tell us in regard to how this office has been helping you, how i could direct my constituents to the services of those individuals. >> thank you, congressman, for asking about that. that has been a great success, are off as a service member affairs. a lot of this is due to the fact

do you read the words today, really it's just scary soft and meek really. but mr. randolph --a philip randolph and others came to me. there were people in the administration are concerned about some of president kennedy and the beginning. they like the idea of a march on washington. he thought it would be violence and chaos and disorder and he told us we would never get us to the ranks for the congress. you could bring hundreds and thousands of people to washington. and mr. randolph spoke up and said mr. president, this would be an orderly, peaceful, nonviolent protests. and that some of us spoke. doc or king was last speaker. i spoke number six out of 10 people that spoke that day. but there were certain words, certain phrases that i used. i didn't think that the proposed civil rights bill was strong enough to protect people in the south than i thought the speech we had prepared was a reflection of the people we were working with in the deep south, in southwest georgia, in the black out of alabama. so mr. randolph came to me and said, john, for the unity we come t

meek, really. [laughter] but mr. raldolf, and martin luther king jr. and others came to me there were people in the administration concerned about some of the -- president kennedy didn't like the idea of a march in washington. he said it would be violence and chaos and disorder, and he sort of told us we would never get us to the right place. the congress bring hands ever thousand of people to washington. it mr. raldolf spoke up and said, mr. president, this will be an orderly, peaceful, nonviolent protest. and ten of us spoke, it became the last speaker. i spoke number six, there were ten people that spoke that day. i'm the one still around. but there was certain words, certain phrases that i use. i didn't think that the -- be strong enough to protect people in the south. i thought the speech that we had prepared was a reflection of the people that we're working with in the deep south and the delta mississippi and southwest georgia in the black bet of alabama. so mr. raldolf came to me and said, john, for [inaudible] can you make the changes. at one p

meek. [laughter] but mr. a. philip randolph and martin luther king jr. and others came to me and other people in the administration concerned -- president kennedy in the beginning didn't like the idea of a march on washington. he thought it would be violence and chaos and disorder and he told us we would never get a civil rights vehicle to congress. you should bring hundreds of thousands of people to washington and mr. randolph spoke and said mr. president and his baritone voice, this would be peaceful and nonviolent protest. ten of us spoke, dr. king was the last speaker and out of the ten people that spoke that day still around. there were certain words and certain phrases that i used. i thought the proposed civil rights bill was strong enough to protect people in the south and i felt the speech did. what we had prepared was a reflection of the people that we were working with in the deep south in the delta and mississippi and southwest georgia in the black velvet arizona. so he came to me and said john come we need to come together can make these chan

mrs. obama has been active in efforts to ensure that african-american voters turn out on election day. >>> congressman gregory meeksa democrat from new york is a member of the congressional black caucus. he joins me live now frommed with. congressman, good afternoon to you. >> good being with you, craig. >> a key issue in the presidential race, of course, unemployment. the national rate just over 8%. the unemployment rate, though, for african-americans is above 14%. yet the president is still overwhelmingly popular with black voters. earlier this week, your leader, congressman emanuel cleaveler, the chair of the cbc asked if the black community was giving president obama a pass. he said, quote, i'm supposed to say he doesn't get a pass, but i'm not going to say that. look, as the chair of the black caucus, i've got to tell you we're always hesitant to criticize the president. congressman, is the president getting a pass from black voters? >> no, i don't think he is getting a pass. i think black voters realize when they look at the record of president obama and the things that he has accomplished compared to what wo