however, we have nearly exhausted all the fed's tools to nurture our economy back to health. i don't think needs to step up to the plate. clearly, our actions back in 2009 and 2010 turned things around, but more needs to be done. more needs to be done effectively and strongly. we can't allow the european austerity model and allow growth to just continue to fail and have it fail on us. the american jobs act is a prime example, unfortunately, of stalled legislation in the house that would inject nearly $450 billion worth of tax cuts, jobs, business opportunities, all of those things into our economy very, very positive and very, very strong, if it were put into place. i think it has been a major mistake to sit on this legislation when it could be helping so many people. so do you think congress has carried its fair share of the burden with regards to stimulating economic activity? and do you think legislation such as the american jobs act is important to help the fed stimulate job growth and economic activity? >> well, i certainly agree, as i've said before, that monetary policy

however, we have nearly exhausted all the fed's tools to nurture our economy back to health. congress needs to step up to the plate. clearly, our actions back in 2009 and 2010 turned things around. but more needs to be done. more needs to be done effectively and strongly. we can't allow the european austerity model and allow growth just tonight to fail and have it fail on us. the american jobs act is a prime example unfortunately of stalled legislation in the house that would inject nearly $450 billion worth of tax cuts, jobs, business opportunities, all of those things into our economy very, very positive and very, very strong if it were put into place. i think it has been a major mistake to sit on legislation when it could be helping so many people. so do you think congress as has carried its fair share of the burden with regards to stimulating economic activity? and do you think legislation such as the american jobs act is important to help the fed stimulate job growth and economic activity? >> well, i certainly agree, as i've said before, that monetary policy cannot carry

the jobs report -- just like at this time last year, our economy is still facing serious head winds. but we have high gas prices. and they are still hitting people's wallets pretty hard. most recently, we have had a crisis in your path economy. we first took action to prevent another depression. we knew the road to recovery would not be easy. we knew it would take time. we also knew that, as if we were willing to act wisely and boldly and taylor, if we were willing to keep at it, we could roll up our sleeves and never quit. we would not just come back, but come back stronger than ever. that was our belief. i place my bets on american workers and american businesses on any day of the week. [applause] you have been fighting through the stock economy with courage and breath and innovation. i want to it launched dave cody who has been working on my job counseling and doing a lot of great work. that is why our auto industry has come roaring back. that is why innovation has been creating chomps since the 1990's. all that is happening because of you. everybody here plays by the rules. you wo

from our earliest origins to today, whether we look at our culture, our identity, our economy, our heritage, our demographics, our national identity and our daily lives are shaped by the ocean, we are in sum, one nation shaped by the sea. and we posed the question, how will we define the future of america's relationship with our ocean? we will explore this relationship and answer this question over the next three days here in this building and the fourth day friday at the capitol visitor center. starting with john bryson and closing with your leadership round table on thursday. national sanctuary foundation is proud to host capitol hill oceans week. chow is one of the ways we do it. one of the individuals who does it better than anybody else is mr. fred keilly. mr. keily is one of the newest trustees of the foundation, but he's a long-time champion of the ocean, he hails from california where he currently serves as treasurer for the county of santa cruz. he pioneered the marine life management act which the associated press at the time called the most significant advancement in ocean policy

, there is a direct relationship between not only the thriving economy of america but our relationship with economies around the world and our strength in keeping security for our country. >> another question? yes, ma'am? >> helen, resources of the feature. >> if you flatly reject revenue increases, what kinds of increases do you have in mind that you would be happy to talk about? >> here is what i flatly reject. i think we have a broken tax code. i don't think there is no question that on a bipartisan basis we have to do a large fiscal agreement for the country that would not only include a tax reform. i think there is bipartisan support for simplifying our code and also eliminating loop holes, deductions and making it a simpler fairer code. i think in the context of that, we can look and -- the super committee in fact did some examination of aivreas of reven that aren't adding our tax rates, but whether it is eliminating loop holes but don't further hurt our conneconomy. what we aren't willing to talk about is to take our broken tax code and increase tax rates on individ

from our earliest origins, to today, whether we look at our culture, our identity, our economy, our heritage, our demographics, our national identity in our daily lives, they're shaped by the ocean. we are in some, one nation, shaped by the sea. and through this year's trial, we pose the question, how will we define the future of america's relationship with our ocean. we will explore this relationship and answer this question over the next three days here in this building, and on the fourth day friday at the capital visitor's center. beginning with our opening key note presentation by secretary john bryson, and closing with our roundtable on thursday. and then continuing at the capital visitors center on friday. national marine sanctuary foundation is proud to host the ocean week. it's to connect people to the underwater places. one of the individuals who does it better than anybody else is mr. fred keeley. mr. keeley is one of the newest trustees of the foundation, but he's a longtime champion of the ocean. he hails from california where he currently serves as treasurer for the county of sa

summer over the debt limit has very significant adverse effects for financial markets and for our economy. it's knocked down consumer confidence quite noticeably. that's a somewhat issue, but i urge congress to come into agreement on that well in advance, not to push us to the 12th hour. but, again, i think that trying to put our fiscal situation on a sustainable basis is perhaps one of the most important things congress can be working on. >> when you look at the fed's last action since late 2008, short-term interest rates have been held to zero, mortgages securities naefrtd to support our economy, do the past actions inform you as you go forward in the current economic situation as you make your decision? >> yes. obviously, when we began these nonstandard actions we didn't have the benefit of very much experience except looking, say, at japan. but we now have more actual data, more experience. we've been able to observe the effects of these actions on financial market crisis. we have some model-based analysis of the effects on the broader economy. so there's stale lot of uncertainty abou

i believe we can ensure that our oceans are healthy, while also leveraging their ability to drive the economy. and specifically, they could help increase u.s. exports. so even with air cargo and high-speed trains, it's important to remember that shipping remains a corner stone of our export infrastructure. in fact, and this is to me a stunning fact. nearly 90% of our foreign goods trade as measured by volume, is transported by ship. so in 2011, over half a trillion dollars in u.s. goods were delivered all around the world because of shipping. there's no surprise i think that our water ways are a key part of president obama's national export initiative. it seeks to double u.s. exports by 2014, a very am beneficiary shus goal. but we're making progress toward that ambitious goal. last year we hit and all-time u.s. record of $2.1 trillion in exports. and our folks at places like noaa are working harder than ever to build on that. for example, noaa's navigational services division uses high-tech positional tools combined with the latest weather data to ensure that our airports can live safely and

our economy has been struggling and small businesses have been struggling. we have seen fees increase over and over again on small businesses, getting nickeled and dined by our budget. this is a weekend build flexibility into our budget, to make sure we can have continued support for small businesses over all. we see a demand on city services to help fuel the economy increasing. as we are seeing greater work force development in our downtown area, we need to make sure muni is also going to be funded at an adequate level to meet that demand. it is a widening problem in the city. it is sidewalks and pedestrian safety. it is public safety efforts that need to get greater funding. i am proud of the work our city has done, putting together this measure. i am relief of -- looking forward to a process that is transparent, that has a lot of give and take. i would like to see that we have a measure that goes forward that the city can sign off on, from the mayor's office to the board of supervisors, that is going to build the flexibility in our budget that can support

we've got a couple of sectors in our economy that are still work. overall, the private sector has been doing a good job creating -- creating jobs. we've seen record profits in the corporate sector. the big challenge we have in our economy right now is state and local government hiring has been going in the wrong direction. we've seen teacher layoffs, police officers, cops, firefighters being laid off. and the other sector that's been weak has been the construction industry. those two areas we've directly addressed with our jobs plan. the problem is that it requires congress to take action, and we're going to keep pushing them to see if they can move the that direction. okay? jack jackie. there she is. >> thank you, mr. president. i'd like to ask you abwhat a couple other people said about europe. one is i'd like to know if you agree with former president bill clinton who said in the past week that the europeans' policy that you describe here today are much like those of the republicans in this country, politics of austerity that would take us in the

our city and that we must make sure that we do things in a very solid financial way, we made investments in job creation and we made commitments to reform with that guidance. now san francisco's economy is recovering and reserves are going. in fact, during the last nine months the controller has reported that our revenues were $172 million more than projected. this is good news. this is good news, but it did not come without commitments, without sacrifice by everybody and all the groups represented in this room. i would like to again thank owe employee unions for working with us to find a common goal, saving more than $28 million in your contract negotiations with us. i'm happy to report that i'm presenting a responsible and balanced two-year budget. while we spare the city the deep cuts we've experienced over the last several years and one that i present to you in a san francisco economy that's recovering, in this budget you will see investments. investments that ensure that people who live, work and visit our city feel safe, investments that protect our social safety net that supports seniors and youth, low-income and working-class families, investments that support our neighborhoo

is that will impact our economy? >> if additional stimulus is needed, could the actions of the federal reserve achieve additional financial accommodation? putting aside potential bad side effects that might be associated with that, i recognize that rates are quite low so that clearly is a consideration. i think we do have methods and tools that will allow us to get further accommodation and the economy and provide some support. it is not quite the same thing to say that the problem of the u.s. economy is not lack of financial accommodation. or to say that if the main problems are coming from elsewhere that the federal reserve might provide support from using the tools it has. i have said this before that monetary policy is not a panacea. it would be better to have a broad base policy effort addressing a whole variety of issues. congress has considered many of these issues. i would be much more comfortable if congress would take some of this burden from us and address those issues. >> that is the point i would like to

i believe our critical markets are a critical driver of our economy and technology is the most advanced in the world. today we are facing constant threat of cyber crime. it's costing us billions of dollars each and every year and threatening our power grids and our national security. that is why it's critical to focus on this issue and protect ourselves from cyber threats. hundreds of thousands of cyber threats hit the financial stituti institutions every day. in that regard, i'm confident that my colleagues and i share several bipartisan goals, first we must main and improve our cybersecurity infrastructure and share information to have a fast and effective response. and do it in a way that does not infringe on privacy rights, consumer rights or the integrity of business contracts. third, the private sector and the public sector must work together in leveraging existing institutions to deal with the cyber attack complexity. and the businesses must be able to work with enforcement officials to make sure information is used appropriately. to maintain the public trust, the financial secto

but the reality is that sequestration hurts our economy and it could fundamentally tear our defense industrial base. and that is of deep concern. not only to my membership on the senate armed services committee, but as a member of the small business committee. it's not just the large defense contractors that will be impacted by the sequestration cuts. but theyrily many times on very small contractors. and in some areas there's one contractor, a small company who's producing the component where you have a sole supplier. when these businesses go out of business or they decide to do something else because they cannot deal with the uncertainty of where we are right now, or they cannot address or keep their bottom line in a sustainable way because of the cuts that are coming, they go out of business and they don't come back. it's not easy for us to recreate that capacity so quickly if we suddenly find ourselves in a situation where we need that type of equipment. when we need that part. and that just doesn't happen overnight. that's a deep concern not only for our large defense contractors, but for

he put obamacare as a higher priority than our economy. we have had 40 straight months with unemployment above 8%. the economy is not working. this president has not been working for the american people. each is time for that to change. -- it is time for that to change. [applause] he is in a tight spot. he said when he was running he would turn the economy around. you may recall that he said if he could not, he would be a one- term president. [applause] he did a speech the other night trying to convince people he did turn the economy around. he said the private sector was doing fine. your voice is like the voice of 23 million people who said, we are not so happy. the private sector is not doing so fine. when people who were promised if they let the government borrows $787 billion, on a point would stay below 8%, they said unemployment has never been bowl oelow that. people recognize the economy is not doing just fine. the president had to change his tune. he said buy programs are working. they just take a long time to be affected. give me f

growing our economy and getting jobs for our people. i know that there was opposition tohat reduction when it was originally on the floor in 2007. and i know there was some opposition to it earlier this year, but i also know that i think both you and the speaker have indicated now that they support that. we passed legislation on this floor which brought that down. and there's obviously very substantial disagreement and controversy with reference to the funding source given the preventive health fund used to fund the student aid. can the gentleman tell me whether or not he believes there is a possibility for us to reach agreement on how to do this? i know the speaker said this was a, quote, phony fight. but it is a real fight and it will have real consequence it is we don't resolve our diffences. can the gentleman comment on what he believes to be the possibility of reaching agreement with the senate on the student loan bill? i yield to my friend. mr. cantor: i thank the gentleman, mr. speaker. i would say to the gentleman that the speak

do you think that is holding back our economy? >> well, the question is, again, could -- again, if additional stimulus is -- could the actions of the federal reserve might take achieve additional financial accommodation, putting aside potential bad side effects or costs that might be associated with that. i recognize that rates are quite low, so that clearly is consideration. i do think that we do have methods, we do have tools that would allow us to get further accommodation in the economy and provide some support. it's one thing -- it's not the same thing to say that the problem of the u.s. economy is not low -- is not lack of financial accommodation. it's a different thing -- it's not the same thing to say that and say that you know, even if the main problems are coming from elsewhere, that the federal reserve might provide some support from using the tools that it has. but i do want to say and i said this before, that monetary policy is not a panacea, it will be much better to have a broad based policy effort addressing a vari

however, we have nearly exhausted on the fed's tools to nurture our economy back to health. congress needs to step up to the plate. clearly, our actions back in 2009 and 2010 turn things around. but, more needs to be done. one is to be done effectively and strongly. we cannot allow the european austerity model and allow growth to just continue to fail and how to show en masse. see american jobs act as a prime example, unfortunately, i've stalled legislation in the house that would inject nearly $450 million for the tax cut, john, business opportunities, all of those things into our opportunity very, very positive and very strong if it were into place. it has been a major mistake to sit on this legislation what it could be helping so many people. so, do you think congress has carried its fair share of the burden with regard to stimulating economic activity? india think legislation such as the american jobs act is important to help decide stimulate job growth and economic activity? >> welcome i certainly agree as i said before the monetary policy cannot carry the burden by itse

what makes our economy weak is when fewer and fewer people can afford to buy the goods and services our businesses sell. [applause] businesses don't have customers if folks are having such a hard time. what drags us all down is an economy in which there's an ever-widening gap between a few folks who are doing extraordinarily well and a growing number of people who, no matter how hard they work, can barely make ends meet. [applause] so, governor romney disagrees with my vision. his allies in congress disagree with my vision. neither of them will endorse any policy that asks the wealthiest americans to pay even a nickel more in taxes. it's the reason we haven't reached a grand bargain to bring down our deficit -- not with my plan, not with the bowles-simpson plan, not with the so-called gang of six plan. despite the fact that taxes are lower than they've been in decades, they won't work with us on any plan that would increase taxes on our wealthiest americans. it's the reason a jobs bill that would put 1 million people back to work has been voted down time and time again. it's the biggest

i come to the floor about the uncertainties surrounding sequestration and the threat to our economy. the congressional budget office is forecasting the pending fiscal cliff facing our countries, that is the across the board spending cuts that will result from the expiration of current tax policy and the enactment of sequestration could lead to recession. if they occur, there would be a 1.3% economic contraction during the first quarter of 2013. now, madam president, that would argue, i believe, for extending the existing tax rates. i think the uncertainty associated with the tax rates perhaps expiring at the end of the year, or at least businesses not knowing what's going to happen, is creating a real problem and a real cloud out there in the economy. i think it's really important that there be economic certainty for people in this country, particularly for investors, for our small businesses. so it seems to me at least that getting those tax rates extended would be a really important part of the solution. having said that, i also believe that we need tax reform for this country. we n

the money they spend will benefit our local economy and our local businesses. this project will be more public transit accessible than almost any other are rena in the nation. it is accessible to bark, and unique, the ferries, and our new transbay terminal that will be up and running in the next three years, making it easier for people from all over the bay area to come to games without driving. this project will also be a responsible development. we're talking about taking a pier that has been the home and host of our ships coming from the military, and international cruise ships from all over the world, canada, and europe, but it needs a lot of work. it needs major work. it needs cleaning up and strengthening the site and making it usable. we are not developing on any existing green spaces. we will be adding new ones and bringing thousands of people to the waterfront. this project means enormous economic growth for our city. thank you for being here. i'm looking forward to a dedicated five-year joe and peter and all the warriors team. the new revenue we seek

it will help our economy, it will help bring down health care costs. it will save medicare from being cut by $500 billion, and instead we can put in place common sense steps that really will help the american people have better access to the quality care that they want. thanks, everybody. >>> just before the house republicans' news conference, democratic leader nancy pelosi spoke to reporters in the house and radio tv studio. she called the supreme court ruling a victory for american families. she also answered a question about the house vote to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress. that vote expected to happen in half an hour or so. you can see it live on c-span. >> pretty exciting day. the decision that was announced by the supreme court is a victory for america's families. it was a victory for america's families when we passed the affordable care act and the president signed it into law. since then, tens of millions of people in our country are already benefitting from the legislation. as you know, as the president said so eloqu

however, we have nearly exhausted all of the feds' tools to nurture our economy back to health. step up to the plate. clearly our actions back in 2009 and 2010 turned things around, but more needs to be done. more needs to be done effectively and strongly. we can't allow the model and allow growth to just continue to fail and have it fail on us. the american jobs act is a prime example, unfortunately, of stalled legislation in the house that would inject nearly $450 billion worth of tax cuts, jobs, business opportunities, all of those things into our economy very, very positive and very, very strong if it were put into place. i think it lab a major mistake to sit on this legislation when it could be helping so many people. so do you think congress has carried its fair share of the burden with regards to stimulating economic activity and do you think legislation such as the american jobs act is important to help the fed stimulate job growth and economic activity? >> well, i certainly agree as i have said before that monetary policy cannot carry the burden by itself. we need good p

. >> our economy was losing an avaverage of at 750,000 jobs a month. >> mitt romney has aifferent take. >> 23 million americans out of work, or sp working for work -- looking for work, or can only get part-te employment. >> the uproar over leaks of information. >> these leaks have to stop. >> if bill clinton is on barack obama's team, why ihe praising mitt romney? >> i don't have to say anything bad about governor romney personally to disagree with him politically. captioned by the national captioning initute --www.ncicaprg-- >> in november of 2008, barack obama 1 va paid a year later bob mcdonnelell became -- barack obama 1 va. year later, bob mcdononnell republican became governor over virgia. in november 2010, republicans won back control of the u.s. house. this week, republican gov. scott walker survived efforts to kick him out of office. he cut benefits for teachers and government workers, but he also turned a $3.6 billion deficit into a $90 million surplus. does his win a spell trouble for president obama in november? is this a scott brown moment for democrats, evan? >i don't thi

the president, frankly, has made it harder for our economy to reboot. i'd strengthen the basis of america's economic might, hopefully-- >> schieffer: how would do you that? >> a number of things. the top three, for instance, one is to take advantage of our energy resources. we have an extraordinary gift, which is massive natural gas reserves, as well as coal-- >> schieffer: but i mean, would that work right now? i mean, that's going to take a while to get that going. i mean, i'm talking about what-- what if this whole thing falls in, in europe? what should we be doing here? should we become involved? what do we do? >> well, we're not going to send checks to europe. we're not going to bail out european banks. we're going to be poised here to support our economy, but i'm very much in favor of the fundamental things one does to strengthen the economic footings of a nation. and as to what's going to happen in europe and what kind of impact that will have here, time will tell. but our banks are on a much stronger basis than they were at the time of the last e

what makes our economy weak is that fewer and fewer people can afford to buy the goods and services our businesses sell. businesses don't have customers if folks are having such a hard time. it drags us all down is an economy where there is an ever-widening gap with folks who are doing extraordinarily well and a growing number of people who no matter how hard they work can barely make ends meet. so governor romney disagrees with my vision. his allies in congress disagree with my vision. neither of them will endorse any policy that asks the wealthiest americans to pay even a nickel more in taxes. if the reason why we haven't reached a grand bargain to bring down our deficit, not with my plan, not with the bowles-simpson plan and not with the so-called gang of six plan. despite the fact that taxes are lower than they've been in decades, they won't work with us on any plan that would increase taxes on our wealthiest americans. it's the reason the jobs bill that would put 1 million people back to work has been voted down time and time again. it's the biggest source of gridlock in washington

our efforts. with the government in its proper limited role, there is no reason that we can't reinvigorate this economy, create jobs for millions and millions of americans and reassert our innovative leadership in the world. at our very core, we are a nation of dreamers and doers. fueled by a free enterprise, a system that allows failure and rewards success. we have a dynamic workforce, the vast majority of the world's top universities, open markets and a cultural and quality of might that draws talent from around the world, we're in a global race, ladies and gentlemen, and we're up against rising competitors who are growing stronger, smarter, and more aggressive. we are competing for the world's talent, for its customers and it's capital and we're competing for industrial might in a global marketplace and intellectual strength in a knowledge based economy. we can never afford to rest on our advantages. torl that is not our nature. we reject complacency, and we crave achievement and advancement. when facinged with an on stack kwl, we -- when we have a need, we fill it. when we have an idea he invent it

our economy, i think, still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong. >> the truth of the

however, we have nearly exhausted all the feds' tools to nurture our economy back to health. congress needs to step up to the plate. clearly our actions in 2009 and 2010, turned things around. but more needs to be done. more needs to be done effectively and strongly. we can't allow the european austerity model and allow growth to continue to fail and have it fail on us. the american jobs act is a prime example, unfortunately, of stalled legislation in the house that would inject nearly $450 billion worth of tax cuts, jobs, business opportunities, all of those things, into our economy, very, very positive and very, very strong, if it were put into place. i think it has been major mistake to sit on this legislation when it could be helping so many people. do you think congress has carried its fair share of the burden with regards to stimulating economic activity? and do you think legislation such as the american jobs act, is important to help the fed stimulate job growth and economic activity? >> well, i certainly agree, as i've said before, that monetary policy cannot carry the

although we cannot expect our economy to grow its way out of federal imbalances without significant adjustment in fiscal policies, a more productive economy will ease the trade-offs that are faced by fiscal policymakers. thank you. i'd be glad to take your questions. >> thank you, chairman bernanke. i'll start with the first round of questions. and i'll set forth the predicate for the question before i ask. based upon three news items i'll call them. first of all we know that china announced just today i guess, that it's cut its bench mark lending rate for the first time in nearly four years. in order to reverse an economic slowdown. secondly, the european central bank hinted at least, that it would take no further action to aid the faltering european economy. third, two federal board reserve governors and vice chair yellen have hinted at additional action by the federal reserve. so based upon those three items and based upon your testimony, the basic question i have for you, is the federal reserve planning to take any additional action in the short-term to spur economic growth and create jobs

it didn't jump start our economy. so i ask the voters to contrast the performance of mitt romney's massachusetts with the state's record under our current governor and under the national leadership of obama. thanks to the governor and president obama, their pragmatic investment in the kinds of cost-effective programs that grow the economy, investments in education and infrastructure, and money for sustainable economic projects, massachusetts under obama and patrick has had the kind of economic performance that bush and romney tried to performance but never delivered. and today, today even after a national recession provoked by the same kind of irresponsible and radical fiscal policies, governor romney now says he supports massachusetts has been able to work its way out of the hole he left us in. our unemployment level in massachusetts stands at 5.9%. well below the national average. and my city of summerville, unemployment stands just at 3.9%. and why? why are those big reasons for us? we are fortunate to have receive