throughout the budget process, the health or estimate is reviewed and weighed against other va and omb priorities. and ancient we reported that va's budget estimate using the model for 2012-2013 change as it moves throughout the budget formulation process. in general at the end of the process va's estimate for the president's request to congress could be higher or lower than the models estimate as va and omb way to estimate against other parties or initiatives. along the way, va has a voice in the process. for example, if omb estimate for nonrecurring maintenance is lower than the amount that the model projects, va determined the impact on health care services and decide what action, if any, it will take up with omb. va could also propose a lower estimate for nonrecurring maintenance in the model projected based on other va priorities. for example, compared to the models estimate nonrecurring maintenance was $904 million lower for 2012, and $1.27 billion lower for 2013. but before that, one has to recognize the model is based on imperfect data and assumptions that change. also, project

omb re al omb re. he just finished a film called latie on youth. he is a father and his 2 children are here. daniel and elma and his daughter in law and megan m burns and suggested we contact him. we are so happy to have you here and look forward to hearing your address. >> good morning ladies and gentlemen. you know i got to share this with you. i know how to drive a tractor. don't forget what you come from. culture cures. it's like coming back to our mom. i want to first and formost jeff adachi, thank you for the opportunity. patty lee. and sury to all the students. can i see the hands of the high school students? you know what i like about that? mihose means my children. look where you are sitting. in the front. i did a presentation for 2 thousand students and they were 25 hundred chairs. where do you think they sat? it breaks my heart. they sat in the back. i had all the ushers remove the first 5 hundred chairs and we started getting closer. how does it feel to be in the front? if you see yourself at second best, how do you think people are goi

these leases require additional reviews within the gsa and omb along with perspective of approval by gsa's congressional authorizing committees. this process ensures any growth in cost from staffing or space increases are supported in the president's budget and are transparent of congress and the public. since real property was identified as a high-risk area by gao in 2003, gsa has worked closely with federal agencies to maximize the utilization of the space. at the end of fy 2010, the vacancy rate in gsa's lease inventory was less than 1%. gsa and the administration have also made it a priority to reduce the cost of leasing by minimizing the need for build to suit projects, adjusting requirements to maximize competition for existing space, purchasing leased assets to create federal ownership and converting costly leased proposals and a federal building renovations or new construction projects. for instance, in 2010 gsa exercise a purchase option for columbia plaza, a long-term lease here in washington, d.c.. the fy 2010 budget also provided funding for the yield office in miami. thi

leon, as the chair of the budget committee, director of omb in the 90 bus was part of a process that got us to a balanced budget. this is not ancient history. we're not talking about sometime so far back we cannot remember. "tough decisions were made in the 1990's to cut spending, yes, deal with entitlement issues, and yes, increase revenues. this is so that we have the kind of approach that got us on a trajectory had we stayed on it where we would not be facing a lot of these issues. i will end restart it -- -- i will end where you started -- i know how difficult this was for our country domestically over the last month. it is always hard seeing the sausage being made. i was in hong kong a few weeks ago. vice said confidently that we would resolve this. we were not going to default. we would make some kind of political compromise. i have to tell you that it does cast a pall over our ability to project the kind of security interest are in america's interest. this is not about the defense department or the state department or u.s. aid. this is about the united states of america. we ne

omb agreed to the strategy but has not yet implemented one. agency operation requirements are among the reasons why leasing is often preferred by agencies. for example, officials said more than 200 gsa owned and leased buildings were damaged by hurricane katrina, and assisting the relocation of 2600 federal employees on 20 federal agencies, many of which were gsa tenant agencies. and meet this need gsa expand its use of leases vast agencies in temporary space to fill a short-term need. in may 2011 the administration proposed cipra which may provide an opportunity to -- does not expose way to address this issue one of its purpose is to relying civilian real property by consolidating, co-locating and reconfiguring space to increase its efficiency could help to reduce the government's reliance on leasing. cipra provide for the potential code location of federal civilian offices and postal properties many of which are already owned. we're currently examined the potential for consulting leased facilities in the federally own site for the subcommitt

these leases require additional reviews within the gsa and omb along with perspective of approval by gsa's congressional authorizing committees. this process ensures any growth in cost from staffing or increase our support in the presence budget and are transparent to congress and the public. since real property was identified as a high-risk area by gao in 2003, gsa has worked closely with federal agencies to maximize the utilization of the space. at the end of fy 2010, the vacancy rate in gsa's lease inventory was less than 1%. gsa and the administration have also made it a priority to reduce the cost of leasing by minimizing the need for build to suit projects, adjusting requirements to maximize competition for existing space, purchasing leased assets to great federal ownership, and converting costly leased proposal into the federal building renovations or new construction projects. for instance, in 2010 gsa exercise a purchase option for columbia plateau, a long-term lease here in washington, d.c.. the fy. the fy 2010 provided funding for the field office in miami. this project ha

reports that the pentagon's budget for 2012 includes $2.3 billion for protecting against cyberattacks and omb estimates that total government spending on information security this year will be about $12 billion. jennifer martinez we have time for one more question. >> guest: okay. well since you are the vice-chairman of the armed services committee, wanted to ask you about the pentagon's recent release of its first cyberstrategy. in that, they did not give a very clear-cut definition for what -- in the digital age and what type of a cyberattack would warrant a physical or kinetic response. were you disappointed that they left that question unanswered and how important do you think it is for the pentagon to be spelling out what an act of war is in the digital age? >> guest: i was similarly disappointed at the that the vagueness of the strategy. i don't know that any of us should expect the pentagon or anybody else to come up with definitive answers to some of these very hard questions because they are difficult. in our first hearing in our armed services subcommittee this year, tried to pose t

can make the right kind of decision of whether to lease or to build, and we've really believed that omb is the key player that needs to address this score keeping issue, otherwise the reliance on leasing as we noted in our testimony is likely to persist. >> all right. let me turn to others on the panel. same question, same question. what i'd like for you to do is give senator brown and me and others in the committee, our colleagues in the senate, give us a to-do list, something we ought to be doing to change this -- it's really to change the culture. anybody have an idea? a good idea, a good idea. >> mr. chairman? >> go ahead. >> mr. chairman, i'll swim up river here. va's position is different than other federal agencies. 11% of our portfolio is leasing. out of 165 million square feet, we lease 12 million square feet. the rest we do ourselves. our problem is existing infrastructure, not leases. what do we do to consolidate, what do we do to get rid of old infrastructure that's not fixed easily, and some places we don't need it. right now we have an estimate to fix our current portfolio

omb estimates that total government spending this year will be about $12 billion. jennifer martinez, we have time for one more question. >> okay. well, since you are the vice chairman of the armed services committee, i wanted to ask you about the pentagon's recent release of its first foremost cybersecurity. and in that, they did not give a very clear cut definition for what an act of war is in the digital age. and what type of cyberattack would warrant a physical or kinetic response. were you disappointed they left that question unanswered? how important to you think it is for the pentagon to be spelling out what an act of war is in the digital age? >> i was somewhat disappointed at the vagueness of the strategy. i don't know that we -- any of us should expect the pentagon or anybody else to come up with thedy definitive answers to the questions because they are difficult. in the first hearing in the armed services subcommittee, i tried to pose the question this way. we know what we expect the department of defense to do if a bunch of planes come to bomb a refiner

example, one of my candidates and maybe i should not say it, one of my candidates would be former head of omb, a sober, knowledgeable person. those will be the people on this committee and i don't thing they want their reputations, we met, and we had a meeting and reported out nothing but they will have fundamental principles they will not violate. >>neil: do you thing we just got a temporary reprieve from the rating agencies? and necessity will come back with an update at the end of august, and given what was agreed to, while appreciable it was not the $4 trillion that we wanted? >>guest: if i had my way it would be $10 trillion. but the rating agencies are the same ones that told us that everything in the housing market was fine. >>neil: fair enough. >>guest: i think they were going to downgrade us no matter what unless we enacted one of the huge spending cuts and it was clear we were not going to get more spending cuts unless you added tax increases. >>neil: that is what mcconnell said. if you got up to $4 trillion, it--. >>guest: we have disagreed from time to time but one thing we agree

. >> bret: as you look at the ratio and the stats where we are currently according to the omb, the obamand the treasuredy department, the current debt is 97.2%, debt to gdp ratio. end to bush administration, 69.4. end of the clinton administration, 57.3. it's a concern, but what juan, listen to the questions, or some of them from the white house briefing today. >> what is the president doing? we know he went to the fundraisers last night. what is he doing today? what is he doing? he's off to chicago. what is he. >> the president is having meetings with his senior staff. the president has called on congress to move quickly on things with bipartisan support. he is focused. >> calling on congress to pass, he has been calling on congress to pass for months. >> he is working very closely with his senior economic advisors to come up with new proposals. >> bret: what is he doing today to create jobs? a question that is continuing. >> it's dogging the president because it's not evident what he is doing to change the rhythm we have seen with the job loss in the country. he can rightly claim that

area that is not in our purview but as we have discussed or noted we have made recommendations to the omb the need to come up with a strategy to rationalize the process and so agencies can make the right kind of decision of whether to lease or build and we have really believed omb is the key player to address the scorekeeping issue of the rest of reliance on leasing as we noted in the testimony is likely to persist. >> all right. let me turn to others on the panel. same question. but i would like you to do is get to senator brown and others in the committee will, colleagues in the senate. give us a to do list, something on our to do list we ought to be doing to change this culture, the culture does anybody have an idea? a good idea? >> the va position as a builder from another federal agencies. part of our portfolio about 11% is leasing. as of 165 million square feet will lease about 12 million square feet, three if it gsa does and the rest we do for ourselves. our problem is our existing infrastructure. what do we do to consolidate, to get rid of the old infrastructure that can't be fixe

e in revenue from what omb said since 1965. how do those figures -- >> it is a very convenient slice of the figure when we absolutely no about the time in which these tax cuts were instituted. it was the slowest period of economic expansion, middle-class income stagnated, the wealthiest americans got wealthier, and overall in the eight-year period, there was substantial anemic job creation. in the 1990's under the tax breaks that pre existed, we saw the largest expansion and 22 million jobs created. i would take issue with that analysis. i would take issue of taking that slice and suggesting that somehow, a, the massive tax somehow, a, the massive tax cuts did not contribute to our deficit because they unequivocally did, and that unequivocally did, and that those tax cuts were responsible for what any measure was a period of anemic economic growth. >> given the severity of the economic problem, i think many of us are asking is should the president do anything extraordinary? for example, short his vacation, call congress back to

with everything going on in washington right now with the cuts being made in the budget omb estimates about $12 billion to spend is spent government lied on cybersecurity prevention efforts. do you see this as a problem in the future, getting enough money to protect from cybersecurity and treasons, tax ephedra? >> as we know in tight budget times we have to be smart about where we spend our dollars and that is why that strong collaboration and coordination is so important. i believe if we had a director in the white house security office that is that -- senate confirmed that has budget authority we can compel compliance across the range of agencies and government to make sure that they are doing what they need to do and cybersecurity whether they are duplicating efforts or putting in place hardware that is duplicative or isn't the best that we could get. the best bang for buck. right now we don't have that. we do have very good court nader at the white house and i give him high marks for the things that he is accomplished with the limited authority that he has. most of it has been kin

but it is at least my sense, at least the sense of democrats in the senate who were yelling at the omb director the other week behind closed doors that this white house and president in particular don't enjoy diving into the dynamics of congress. not all presidents do. barack obama who didn't have that much legislative experience really, he had a cup of coffee in the senate, wasn't that involved in the illinois legislature. i think the fact he doesn't have a granular feel for congress, at least according to fellow democrats, a problem for him and it showed this time because i think mitch mcconnell essentially took him to the cleaners cleaners. >> first some human interest. your pal came back tonight. gabrielle giffords. >> it was an incredible experience to see her triumphantly return to the chamber. little less than eight months ago, we predicted she would. she has the determination and heart of a lion, has been working so hard. she knew it was important for her district to have her voice on probably the most pivotal vote that we will have this congress. incredibly important to her. >

let's bring him back in, former omb director and constitutional conventionist, david stockman.e amendment right here jimmy williams and, of course, karen and susan to make sure we haven't all lost our minds. this guy here, howard schultz, is saying the same thing we're saying. right? >> yeah. >> is it a good idea? i mean, is he at least wushing in the right direction? >> he is pushing in the right direction, particularly though, part of our discussion from last week. nobody should be off the hook. it's not just about the president. it's not just about the congress. it's about all of them. no one should be off the çhook >> us. >> we shouldn't let ourselves off the hook. >> a constitutional amendment from them. >> i always go to, until there's political consequences there's not going to be change. part of the political consequences is we vote differently. we call them and say we're not going to vote for you. that's one. if the big donors say we're not going to give you money until you people show you can sit in a room and get something done, that's another. >> what if again, tho

when i was at omb in the mid 1990s, when we were confronting $200 billion deficits, we cut federal employment by $200,000, we worked to make the agency more efficient, cut nondefense, and none of it made much of an impact on the deficit. today we're in the trouble into some extent for the first time in history during the 2000s, we tried to run a couple of wars without paying for them for the first time. as the wars wind down, the expense will shrink. there's no easy fix. the simpson-bowles in december was an artful and balanced approach to the tough issues that no one wanted to touch. unfortunately when it came out, no one wanted to touch the report here. there are only six or eight things to do to deal with the deficits. you have to do them all. social security and medicare account for 33% of our government expenditures. defense is 20%, medicare is 8%. the short answer to the debate is that if you set aside social security, medicare, medicaid, and defense, and sell the rest of the government, you still have a deficit. and if you decide not to sell the rest of the government and only deal wit

those numbers are within the ballpark that we were discussing with both the president, as well as with omb. and we have the opportunity to make those decisions based on sound and balanced strategy and policy. and with the best advice that we can get from our service chiefs and from the service secretaries on how to proceed to build a strong defense not only now but in the future. thankfully so far this is a very different process than has so often been used in the past when there have been defense drawdowns. the defense cuts were applied across the board, and the force as a result was hollowed out. it was left under-sized, under- funded relative to the missions and responsibilities that this country must fulfill. and that approach would be particularly harmful because we are a nation at war. we face a broad and growing range of security threats and challenges that our military must be prepared to confront from terrorist networks to rogue nations that are making efforts to obtain a nuclear capability to dealing with rising powers that always look at us to determine whether or not we will, i

when i was on the budget committee and director of omb, my view is you have to look at everything. you cannot approach to deficit the size we are dealing with and expect that you're only going to be dealing with it at the margins. >> secretary clinton, back on the budget and then to the audience. you and your predecessor talked a lot, secretary panetta's predecessor talked about development and how development is cheaper than war. what do you say to secretary panetta about your budget and your needs and your lobbying for more in terms of what he has and what you need to accomplish? >> well, obviously, the dod budget far outweighs the combined budget of the state department and u.s.a.i.d., 10-12 to one. i know that we will have to put everything on the table. we are going to a very difficult budget process. >> that includes development, which you hope to grow. >> it includes everything. i'm not saying we should be exempt, and education or health care at home should bear the costs. i am just saying that, as we look at everything that is on the table, we have to try to do a reasonable

i remember when i took over for the director of omb, so i said to mel we will have some arguments over the way but we need to get one thing clear. mel, with the, not once, the common pot gets, okay? -- what the commandant wants, the commandant gets, ok? gen. mattis has centcom, afghanistan, our record, and practically everything in between including the pirates that plague our activities. is a huge responsibility. you have seen in the program the sensational career that he has had, one career after another. he was in the leadership going into iraq. he was in the original mission into afghanistan. both of those rare executed, in my opinion, with brilliance. it is a huge set of responsibilities that he has had and now continues to have. he will talk to us about them. there is a good old marine setting, "no worse enemy, no better friend." there is a way of providing security but also making friends and making things better for everybody. general, i have looked into your background a little bit, and i understand that you are a general that likes the unorthodox. you say you like the guys in

omb agreed the strategy was needed but not implemented one.cy operational requirements are among the reasons why leasing is often referred by agencies. for example, officials said more than 200 gsa owned and leased buildings were damaged by hurricane katrina mississippi and relocation of 2600 federal employees from 20 federal agents used by many which were gsa agencies. to meet the emergency, gsa extended use of the system has agencies in temporary space to fulfill the short-term need. in may 2011 the administration proposed cipra. while some of the sonics is fully address the issue, one that cipra's purpose is to realign property by consolidating, co-locating space to increase efficiency could help reduce the governments reliance on leasing. someone provides for the co-location of federal civilian office is in coastal properties come in many which are already on. we've had eggs and the potential for consolidating these facilities and federally owned sites for the subcommittee. congress has authorized many agencies independent statutory leasin

leon, as the chair of the budget committee, director of omb in the 90 bus was part of a process thatot us to a balanced budget. this is not ancient history. we're not talking about sometime so far back we cannot remember. "tough decisions were made in yes,990's to cut spending, deal with entitlement issues, and yes, increase revenues. this is so that we have the kind of approach that got us on a trajectory had we stayed on it where we would not be facing a lot of these issues. i will end restart it -- -- i will end where you started -- i know how difficult this was for our country domestically over the last month. it is always hard seeing the sausage being made. i was in hong kong a few weeks ago. vice said confidently that we would resolve this. we were not going to default. we would make some kind of political compromise. i have to tell you that it does cast a pall over our ability to project the kind of security interest are in america's interest. this is not about the defense department or the state department or u.s. aid. this is about the united states of america. we need to ha

in my view, when i was on the budget committee, when i was the director of omb, you have to look at everything. you have to put everything on the table. you cannot approach a deficit the size we're dealing with and expect you will only deal with it at the margins. >> you and bob gates talked a lot about your budget and the need for the development budget and how development is cheaper than war. we of that conversation at george washington university. what do you say, secretary panetta, about your budget, your needs, and you're lobbying for more in terms of what he has got and what you need to accomplish? >> obviously, the defense budget far outweighs the state budget, a 10-1. we know the we also are going to have to put the coin everything on the table -- put everything on the table. >> that includes development. >> i'm not saying that we should be exempt and that education and health care here at home should bear all the cost. i am saying that as we look at everything that is on the table, we have to try to do a reasonable analysis of what our real needs and interests are. it is easy in a pol

those numbers are within the ballpark we were discussing with the president and omb. we have the opportunity to make those decisions based on sound and balanced strategy and policy. we can do that with the best device intended from the service chiefs and secretaries on how to proceed to build a strong defense mel and in the future -- now and in the future. thankfully so far this is a very different process than has been used in the past when there have been defense drawdowns. where defense cuts were applied across the board, the force as a result was hollowed out. it was left undersized, underfunded relative to the missions and responsibilities that this country must fulfil. that approach would be particularly harmful because we are a nation at war. we face a broad and growing range of security threats and challenges that our military must be prepared to confront. from terrorist networks to rogue nations that are making efforts to obtain nuclear capability. we need to deal with rising powers that always looking at us to determine whether or not we will maintain a stro

there is no enforcement unless the omb director has a report.of the president and the president says, issue a report. there is no enforcement mechanism. alisyn: that is interesting and it is interesting hear you speak as though you are cramming for the exam and you have been up since 2:00 a.m. poring over the details... >> this is more important than any exam i took. alisyn: do you think your fellow republicans in the house will vote for it and do you think they'll have had a chance to read it by the time they are asked to vote for it? >> we have a conference at 12:30 and just got notice, shortly ago, and i hope that we can educate people, and, have questions answered, because this doesn't look good. it really doesn't look good and there are a lot of problems in here, and, another thing, that i find, if you want to get around all of the cuts, then you just call it emergency legislation. now, i'm not sure somebody said we declared the census money as emergency legislation, even though we have known it was coming for 200 years. so, it's not that h

wolf, i think it's quite extraordinary to see a defense secretary even though he's a former omb directorhairman of the house committee from his perch here at the pentagon, extraordinary to see him wait into this tax debate on capitol hill. wolf? >> going back way back when he was a member of congress, good to see him at news conferences because when he was the director, he didn't have a lot of news conferences in the cia. thanks for that. jack cafferty is here with the cafferty file. >> free cell phones for the poor. another example of where our government is getting involved. the pittsburgh tribune reports that programs that provide free cell phones and 250 monthly minutes to people receiving government support like medicaid or food stamps. these programs which exist in most states are paid for by the federal universal service fund. federal law requires the telecom providers contribute to the fund. an industry spokes woman told them all cell phone carriers charge consumers a fee to recover the cost of their contribution to the fund. translation? people who pay cell phone bills are also

she's been speaking with the head of the omb, also the president about securing more aid. heaven forbid something else happens in your state or other state. you saw the debt ceiling fight. we're talking about a very different situation, natural disasters here. how confident are you that congress will give you what you need? >> let me say this. you hear a lot of people complaining about fema. fema did everything that i asked them to do. the only thing that they were not able to do was to extend the 90/10 match towards the end there. but other than that, they did everything that i asked them to do because i took charge in alabama and they -- because of that, i told them that i was in charge of the disaster. they were very cooperative. they've done everything i've asked them to do. i appreciate thatment. >> governor bentley, i have to ask. the federal judge temporarily blocked your state's immigration law which you touted as the toughest law in the land essentially. if people aren't familiar, alabama ans can't give illegal immigrants a ride, can't hire them. can't check on ki

we're already talking with the head of omb and with the president. we don't know what the damages from irene are going to be. those assessments are just now beginning. we were just able to get up in the air in north carolina a day or two ago because the wind speed was over 35 miles per hour. it was unsafe for aircraft to get up to do the low flying necessary. but they're up there, doing the damage assessments. we're working with the governors and the other states. we're still in response in a number of states. as you've noted, the record flooding we're seeing in places like new jersey, in new england, that's still ongoing. some of those won't crest for a day or two. right now, with the size of the storm, we have -- as well as now recovery and damage assessments for places where the hurricane hit first. >> i know i have you for a limited time. let me get one more question in. fema admits that yes, it's been victimized by fraud and waste. my question is how is the government getting a handle on those problems? how and when will the government begin to

those numbers are within the ballpark that we were discussing with both the president as well as with omb make those decisions based on sound and balanced strategy and policy. and within -- and with the best advice that we can get from our service chiefs and from the service secretaries on how to proceed to build a strong defense, not only now, but in the future. thankfully so far this is a very different process than has so often been used in the past when there have been defense draw downs. where defense cuts were applied across the board, and the force as a result was israel owed out. it was left undersized. it was underfunded relative to the missions and responsibilities that this country must fulfill, and that approach would be particularly harmful because we are a nation at war. we face a broad and growing range of security threats and challenges that our military must be prepared to confront, from terrorist networks, to rogue nations that are making efforts to attain a nuclear capability, to dealing with rising powers that always look at us to determine whether or not we will in fa

in 2010, the president issued two memorandum that instructed omb and agencies to make it a priority not only to find improper payments but to recapture the money that was paid. the administration announced last year that the center for medicaid and medicare services would cut the fee-for-service plan and improper payment rates in half by 2012. i would certainly like to hear nore about the cms progress i this matter. this is one of the watchdog agency's to recommend improvements in proper payments. the gao is the other watchdog. between these two and independent innovations, i am looking forward to hearing about how and when we can eliminate improper payments. i am encouraged that the progress the administration has made in the last two years in reducing improper payments. whatever it is that this committee needs to do to assist in terms of the reduction, we stand ready to do just that. thank you very much for being here and i look forward to your testimony. thank you. i yield back. >> the members will have seven days to submit opening statements and extraneous materials for the record.

agreement, which is very much within the ballpark number that we worked out with the president and omb. i feel confident that number is manageable and we can achieve it in a way that will protect our national defense. i am not even beginning to consider what would happen with regards to sequestration. all i know is that from the review we have been doing and what we have to deal with in these numbers that anything that doubles that would be disastrous. i am going to give congress the opportunity to have this committee work. i think that is what we are all looking toward. i think the president and everyone who was part of the debt ceiling agreement really believe and hope this committee will exercise their responsibility to look at other areas of the budget other than just discretionary to come up with the kind of numbers that have to be part of a deficit reduction agreement. reduction agreement. >> i understand the debate is ongoing. but you have inherited a military which has grown significantly in terms of budget and manpower since the start of the wars. the think you need a military

he was my boss for 18 months at omb, and then when he moved over to become chief of staff, he was still my boss because half of our business was being done out of his office. he is a guy that those national security issues, defense budgeting issues, has the ear of the president and congress, where he is respected. if you need somebody in charge of the bill down, he is a good one. host: another e-mail -- guest: r&d is the level of effort. you do what you can do with the money. once you're in the hardware program, you have to buy it, so you get what you wanted to buy. research and development is one of those areas where less effort means less research being done. but at the level of $85 billion a year, our r&d budget alone in the pentagon is larger than the entire defense budget than any other country in the world, except china. host: colleen. independent, chapel hill, tennessee. caller: my husband was an infantryman in vietnam. he recently lost a friend to to agent orange poisoning. there were two books that i had seen on c-span. this is my question. why can there be a ruling of some sor

in 2010 the president also issued two memorandums that instructed omb and agencies to make it a priorityot only to find improper payments, but to recapture the money that was paid. additionally, the administration announced last year that the centers for medicaid and medicare services will cut the fee-for-service plan improper payments rate in half by 2012. i certainly would like to hear more about cms' progress in this matter. mr. levinson of the inspector general's office is one of the watchdog agencies that is responsible for identifying problems and be recommending solutions for improper payments in medicare. gao is the other watchdog. between these two and independent innovations by cms, i am looking forward to hearing about how and when we can eliminate improper payments. i'm encouraged at the progress that the the administration has made in the last two years in reducing improper payments. wherever it is that this committee -- whatever it is that this committee needs to do to assist in the terms of the reduction, i'll let you know that we stand ready to do just that. thank you ver

he was my boss for 18 months at omb, and then when he moved over to become chief of staff, he was still my boss because half of our business was being done out of his office. he is a guy that those national security issues, defense budgeting issues, has the ear of the president and congress, where he is respected. if you need somebody in charge of the bill down, he is a good one. host: another e-mail -- guest: r&d is the level of effort. you do what you can do with the money. once you're in the hardware program, you have to buy it, so you get what you wanted to buy. research and development is one of those areas where less effort means less research being done. but at the level of $85 billion a year, our r&d budget alone in the pentagon is larger than the entire defense budget than any other country in the world, except china. host: colleen. independent, chapel hill, tennessee. caller: my husband was an infantryman in vietnam. he recently lost a friend to to agent orange poisoning. there were two books that i had seen on c-span. this is my question. why can there be a ruling of some sor

when i was at omb in the mid 1990s, when we were confronting $200 billion deficits, we cut federal employment by $200,000, we worked to make the gency more efficient, cut nondefense, and none of it made much of an impact on the deficit. today we're in the trouble into some extent for the fir time in history during the 2000s, we trid to run a couple of wars without paying for them for the first time. as the wars wind down, the expense will shrink. there's no easy fix. the simpson-bowles in december was an artful and balanced approach to the tough issues that no onewanted to touch. unfortunately when it came out, no one wanted to touch the report here. there are only six or eight things to do to deal with the deficits. you have to do them all. social security and medicare account for 33% of our government expenditures. defense is 20%, medicare is 8%. the short answer to the debate is that if you set aside social security, medicare, medicaid, and defense, and sell the rest of the government, you still have a deficit. and if you decide not to sell the rest of the government and only deal with ent

when i was at omb in the mid 1990s, when we were confronting $200 billion deficits, we cut federal employment by $200,000, we worked to make the agency more efficient, cut nondefense, and none of it made much of an impact on the deficit. today we're in the trouble into some extent for the first time in history during the 2000s, we tried to run a couple of wars without paying for them for the first time. as the wars wind down, the expense will shrink. there's no easy fix. the simpson-bowles in december was an artful and balanced approach to the tough issues that no one wanted to touch. unfortunately when it came out, no one wanted to touch the report here. there are only six or eight things to do to deal with the deficits. you have to do them all. social security and medicare account for 33% of our government expenditures. defense is 20%, medicare is 8%. the short answer to the debate is that if you set aside social security, medicare, medicaid, and defense, and sell the rest of the government, you still have a deficit. and if you decide not to sell the rest of the government and only deal wit

8, establish a new dual -- excuse me -- establish a new dual-hatted office of management and budget omb and the national security council, the nsc staff to provide oversight and strategic direction. recommendation 9, create a permanent office of inspector general for inspections office. recommendation 15, congress should enact legislation requiring regular assessment and reporting of agencies' progress in implementing reform recommendations. this last recommendation must not be overlooked. the commission sunsets on september 30th but the problems in contingency contracting do not. there is still time to make a difference in iraq and afghanistan and there will be no contingencies. congress has a vital role to make sure that we are better prepared for new contingencies, overseas or domestic, than we were for iraq and afghanistan. and it is a -- it has also a vital role to avoid unnecessary new strains on the federal budget. now, unfortunately, the current stress on the budget may discourage members of congress from supporting the investments that some of our recommendations would require.

omb came out with a reasonable response -- please develop how your handling information, supervision,our employees, and your management of employees, your reviews -- ok. this all seems like a reasonable response, until you look at the checklist the attached which said "hey, agencies, do you ask your employees if they are grumpy? do you evaluate their pre and post-employment and visits to web sites like wikileaks?" alarm bells go off, and we sent a letter to some of our partners and said are you really asking agencies? is this the guidance you are giving? we have civil liberties concerns, employee rights concerns, whistleblower rights concerns, and we think this message is off. the meeting resulted from that letter, and we were told a call right.e rig"you are we messed up. these are just things that were in some agencies, and that list that you are concerned about came from the intelligence community. -- community." now, those are legitimate in terms of the intelligence community. that is really different. they said we also agree, there are concerns. they said we would like to put into

with everything going on in washington right now, omb estimates that about $12 billion is spent government wide on cybersecurity, prevention efforts. do you see this as a problem in the future, getting enough money to protect from cybersecurity, substance abuses, attacks -- intrusions, attacks, etc. .. >> guest: most of it's been kind of encouraging and collaboration across the departments and agencies. but he doesn't really have the authority for the sake of going to olympians same this isn't doing what it needs to. we need to take some measures to make sure they are held accountable. >> host: and also i would ask congressman thornberry about the house gop freshman have been very outspoken about how they are against anything that will increase spending. you were saying the budget will impact the type of legislation that is moving through the house. do you see this as a possible issue that democrats are going to have to tackle later on down the line? >> guest: clearly come if we don't address threats to her own cyber networks,.gov, or encouraging the private sector, that would be penny-wis

omb put together what we thought was a reasonable response.ncies, please evaluate how you are managing information. look at the handling of classified information. look at your management of employees and your reviews of employees. this seems like a reasonable response. until you look at the check list that they attached to the memo. it said, do you ask employees if the aregr grumpy. do you ask about their visits to websites like wikileaks. we said, is this the guidance you are giving? we have civil liberties concerns. we have employee rights concerns. we think this message is off. the meeting resulted from that letter. we were told, you are rights. we did not intend for the agency to use a check list. these are things that were in some agencies. behavioral issues are legitimate in terms of employee review in the intelligence community. that is different from being a civilian employee. that is different. there are some concerns. we would like to put in to balance the civil liberties and whistleblower protections that you are concerned with wit

o m d said they would support and the -- omb said they would support a new budget focused on the border. president clinton set a law and order agenda, an agenda that was a centrist democrat kind of priority that was intended to take the law and order issue away from the republican party, and border enforcement fit into that broader frame. so, i went to the border control and said, you are the professionals. you know what is needed. if we really had resources to do border enforcement, how would we do it? they came up with a plan and a strategy that led to changing the budget between november and december when it actually goes up to the hill in january, and i then spent a lot of time on the hill trying to convince members of congress to accept the strategy that we wanted to put into place to change the dynamics on the border. i remember in particular meeting with senator feinstein, who was a central, of course, because she was from california, and our effort was to persuade her that whereas there would of been enough money in the budget for 600 new border control agents, could we please h