the pbc, social security, unemployment insurance plus older worker unemployment issues. next we'll be hearing from joe carbone, president and ceo of the work place in bridgeport, connecticut. mr. carbone has developed the platform to employment, a public/private partnership that provides participants with placements at local companies. his program has been featured on "60 minutes" in a segment titled "trapped in unemployment." next we will be hearing from diana furchtgott-roth. she's a senior fellow at manhattan institute for policy res research, formally mrs. furchtgott-roth served as chief economist of the u.s. department of labor as well as chief of staff for president george bush. finally we'll be hearing from christine owens, she's executive director of the national employment law project. miss owens previously served as director of public policy for the afl-cio and founded and ran the workers options resource center which fought for an increase in the federal minimum wage. before we hear from our first witness, we'd like to turn to senator corker for whatever comme