i'm al pell in for john phipps. in this first half hour of the program we're going to focus on crop conditions. now while many fields in the heart of the corn belt continue to play catch up following trade planting other areas are right on or ahead of schedule. the big question. where will yields end up once harvest time is here. we'll get expert analysis in a moment from our team of insiders but first, first-hand reports from in the field. >>> as mentioned the second annual corn college was held this week outside of bloomington, illinois. hundreds of consumers showed up for agrimommic training in the classroom and in the field. now the sessions covered everything from the basics of soil to knowing a good stand when you see it. the event also gave us an opportunity to ask growers how their crops are faring so far this year. >> this year we got off 0 a 6 to a great start as opposed to last career. planting corn on the 20th of april. we're just about pollinated right now, we're looking strong, 225, 250-bushel corn, co

let's begin with the news with al pell. >>> the usda released prices. the 2009-2010 carry over was raised 40 billion-bushels to 250 million. thanks to extra records beginning next week. that's a slight increase from the june report. now the june 30th acreage report brought surprises from market traders when the usda brought nearly 3 million acres of corn were planted this week. part of that surprise were part -- the ag department says 87 million acres of corn were planted this spring. that's a second highest amount since 1946 trailing in 2007. noted ag economist daryl good says those extra acres brought in reports of tighter ending stocks. >> what we would expect now if corn prices are permenantly lower here for the foreseeable future. that this should really slow, perhaps bring to a halt the liquidation and stock numbers which means that consumption can get back to a little higher plain. this should also improve the mar margins for ethanol producers. >>> the u.s. average shield is near the adjusted trend of 153- bushels per acre. now on the soybean sid

, allowing us to raise the maximum pell grant award to $5,550. and with regard to my colleagues -- my colleagues' comments on direct loans, yes, essentially what we're doing there is taking bank profit out of that equation and allowing for families to be able to get the kinds of loans that they need for their children without having to pay additional money to add to the covers and -- coffers and the profits of banks. in the bill of medical research, the bill provides life-saving resources at the national institute of health. the bill ensures that 7.5 million low-income households will continue to receive energy assistance. it allows states to expand critical services such as housing, home weatherization, parenting education, adult literacy classes, and emergency food assistance. mr. speaker, this bill not only reflects a commitment to our long-standing responsibilities, but this congress continues its commitment to fiscal responsibility. in addition to the investments which are made, the program includes terminations, reductions and other savings

>> with pell,ith condoleezza ce. and so there was repeated speculation througho hiss six years at various points that rumsld would t last. the ar though, of his time as secretary does have kind of up-andown upnd-down quality. becae just when it was being speculated in le summe of 2001 that he might he to go, 9/11 happened d the afghan war happened and rumsfeld's popularity suddenly surged. he was the star of the news conferences. he became the ce of the war. bush nicamed h rumstud. d it lood lake he was going to be cure. but, of course, the iraq r came and his fortunes began falling. rose: okay, there are two things about tt. number one, did he want to after 9/11invade iraq? and did he mak that clear to the preside? >> heooked at the optn of attacking aq in some w. itasn't clear thait would ha ever evolved at that early stage to an invasion. t he was very quick, within hourafterhe attack, t focus on some kind of milary action against iraq. and even while the plaing proceeded to go into afghanistan rumsfeld continued

e seeing abo 3/ in glenwood a lot less an that in owgs mill just trace or ere abou moncn and pell, andwareas to e soh ar al seeing ain just be aware of that. you d eingme shows and thderstorms ndthrohout the enin hour it's certy rm enough. high temperatur y across the region, 87 baltimore. 86ineaston. indover, delare. mperesnow ve dropped. e wn intomile to lor 70s. co, easton stilseeing erurese middle 80s. so the erir at iscong in out of the nohwest ju hast reached that far yet. ileing things a ttle eamy there onthe eastern ore. telle radar compitow mostlyloskthroughout thy day. had piece of energy moving thugh. thathas eated the stormsand showers roughout e ternoon the earleveng hours. now weill still sechan of that ppening, because you castill see energy bubbli up thwe of the. is acoldro that willbe coming thrgh the region toght. thathas not happened yet that willppen later . it's still back here inthe iole ashat coins to push rougwebe seeing settled athe agn, the chances fabl for a coup of shers and merms. sof the stms cobe ry strong, maeven a w th the ci a tegoes on the lookt r tha

. >> it's why sotomayor felt come pelled to state -- >> in each case i have heard, i have applied the law to the facts at hand. the process of judging is enhanced when the arguments and concerns of the parties to the litigation are understood and acknowledged. >> thank you -- >> the dividing lines were clear and the real questions start tomorrow. i'm john donvan for "nightline" in washington. >> so as the week goes on, we'll see if and when the gloves come off. thanks to john for that. >>> when we come back, from bailout to billion dollar profits. it's the subject of tonight's "closing argument."

. >> it's why sotomayor felt come pelled to state -- >> in each case i have heard, i have applied the to the facts at hand. the process of judging is enhanced when the arguments and concerns of the parties to the litigation are understood and acknowledged. >> thank you -- >> the dividing lines were clear and the real questions start tomorrow. i'm john donvan for "nightline" in washington. >> so as the week goes on, we'll see if and when the gloves come off. thanks to john for that. >>> when we come back, from bailout to billion dollar profits. it's the subject of tonight's "closing argument." wow, is this... fiber one honey clusters? yes. it's delicious. delicious. i know. but it can't have... can't have about half a day's worth of fiber? i assure you it does. i was expecting... expecting sawdust and cardboard? i know. i can only taste... only taste the crunchy clusters, honey, and brown sugar. no madam, i don't have esp. ok. i'll take a box, but you probably already knew that. (announcer) fiber one. cardboard no. delicious yes.

well, pell grants are -- are terrific grants. there are 5 million of.propriate them every year for 14 million students. $9 billion was appropriated for that purpose last year. the congress is always enormously generous with that. we appropriate a certain amount. it's almost automatic but it's not automatic. in other words, we appropriate what we think we can afford and then we spend it on the students who need it. this says it doesn't matter what we can afford, we're just going to do it. again, it's the kind of thing, exactly the kind of thing that most economists, most americans and the president himself has said we need to stop doing, yet in the full light of day we're saying and announcing we're going to create a community college program and later a pell grant program and we're going to pay for it with mandatory automatic entitlement spending. and while the president says it's $94 billion that could be saved over ten years, the congressional budget office says it's $293 billion over ten -- nearly $300 billion in automatic spending over ten years tha

and he waved at me to come and set on an empty pell owe next to him, which i did.meeting, over a half a century ago, we learned that we both had boats and loved sailing. walter was a better sailor than i was, but i had my sailboat and the wind got to a half a knot or a knot, i'd always turn the engine on and get going. not walter. he would wait for the breeze. we sailed together from maine to the virgin islands. in the yachting language, walter cronkite would be called a within-off. he was absolutely an original. whatever place he was or in any room, it always was more fun. he was truly a life enhancer. just a few days ago, with kathy cronkite and marlene adler at his bedside, i took his hand and whispered, "walter, let's go sailing." his eyes lit up, and he smiled. i recited a positive women only slight modification because i wanted to make it more personal . and kathy asked me to share it with you. so with apologies to john maysfield, i looked at walter and said, you must go out to the sea again, to the lonely sea and sky, and all you ask of the tall ship and a s

a stock price is the present -- the future earnings in a mull pell. could i have it now but what will be the multiple of those earnings, earnings in the future? what is going on in washington with the tinkering of taxes, health care, of stimulus, of massive deficits -- >> okay where would you put -- if you can't be bullish, how are you protect your portfolio? where are you allocating cash or reallocating a portfolio? >> where we are, still in the private mortgages and the credit sectors because they are a better form of return in our opinion than stocks are. the discount rates on those are still extraordinarily high. we expect those to come down. when they come down, then i become maybe more bullish on stocks but still up too high. >> okay. >> nothing wrong with cash. nothing wrong with cash. >> on that note, thank you very much, gentlemen, appreciate it. steve? >> interest rate's kind of low. >> at least you're -- it's a return on your money and a return of your money. >> right. capital preservation. so where are we in the economy perma bear will joi

already we've increased pell grants by $500. we've created a $2,500 tax credit for four years of college tuition. we've simplified student aid applications and ensured that aid is not based on the income of a job that you just lost. a new gi bill of rights for the 21st century is beginning to help soldiers coming home from iraq and afghanistan to begin a new life in a new economy, and the recovery plan has helped close state budget shortfalls which put enormous pressure on public universities and community colleges. >> we are watching president obama in warren, michigan. he's at mccomb community college talking about the economy. i'm here with my co-worker, colleague, and friend david shuster. david, we're listening to the president say, you know, many critics call this the obama economy or the obama problem, but he again reminded the audience in michigan hit very hard by this recession and unemployment numbers that this is something he inherited. >> that's right and the constant refrain of the white house trying to say they inh

. >> pell lois si -- pelosi -- >> all this will be worked out through the democratic process. >> democrats see no reason to hold back federal dollars. >> this logic will be to require anybody seeking these services to walk to the clinic lest they use federal highway funds. >> congressman pitts says if abortion is included in the minimum benefits package that they have to meet, then the way the legislation is written now, employers who do not want to buy or offer a plan that includes abortion services will have to pay a tax between 2 and 8%. in washington, molly hennenberg, fox news. bret: the defense awghtsization bill has become a key battleground for two distinct issues, one having to do with the nation's defense, and one having nothing to do with t national correspondent steve centanni explains. >> all of a sudden we're not talking about defense. we're not talking about our troops. we're not talking about the national security of the united states. we're talking about hate crimes. >> like senator chambliss, you may not see much between hate crimes and the pentagon budget but the issues

>>ut i'mure that you f you got colin pell on sodium peathol, the truth serum he would ackwledge that his argumentgot diluted i the process and he probably should have been more aggreive in going to the esident and sayi "we reall haven't thought about the consequens this and the dn side and the planning. aree absolutely sure when present bushold colin powell that he decided on war wh the it was 12 minute meeting. >> rose: 12 mites? >> 12 minutes, head to head. and the president askedowell "will you be with me and powell kind of... i tnk paused and then said "i'lle withou, mr. presint." >> rose: you have said on a program that y think george bush of all the pple writing memoirs will write the most interesting. >> yes, i think it may tually be a memoir that goes right to the heart of some of the questions we have abo the bush adnistration and bush. cause i know he's working on it, i've talked to people who are workg withhim and, you know, that's hope. i thk it's really importan that presints write go memoirs. we've had lots of predentsho have not written good memoirs. reagan's memoirwas

a skesperson for the gernor tellin the anchorage daly news staffers om malt pell state agen, not just state lawyers, put asideuties against the compints against pal check we joet no. staff hours? ye governor palin's parall claim she had been victorio in every one of the 15 andounting ethics complain against her also not te. take troopergate. u'll recall with the he of hehusband todd accused of using her persol office to carry out a personal vendetta sheired the public safety coissioner because he rfused to fire the brother-in-law trooper michael wooten in october three weeksefore the general election, the council, alaska sta legislature, found goveor palin abused the power of her office according tohe ethics act. turnw toaaret carlson washington editor and columnist. margaret, good evening. >> good evening,keith. >> for the bridge tonowhere, then ast it. lied t stephen schmidt, t campaign maner in e-mail. denied her husba was a part of an independence party. ed when she said firing the publ safety commissioner hadn't got ahing to do wi his refusa to re her ex-brother-in-law. should we

join your pell low pervs for twisted found.his is exactly where i wanted my hard-earned dollars going. it's great. here is the thing i would like to do i would like to show you something. i'm doing this for charity. i'm doing a series in paintings that will just really -- just because i want to -- well, here is what i want to do, really. really, art is just about exploring things, making people think, pushing the edges, you know, all of of the bull crap you heard when they put crucifixes in urine, so i think how could i paint something that would really hack people off, so this is my first one in the series. it's going to be a long series and it only goes downhill from here. this is george washington, of course. gilbert stewart. it was unfinished. when i think of george washington, i think of truth. now, who is the opposite of truth? gee, i saw this as kind of the shroud of turin, the unfinished -- can you pull in on this, the unfinished part as the negative as i see it, and i may change this. ok. i put roosevelt here, and -- o

house speaker pell lows pelosi was talking about a briefing in 2002 and these 7 democrats were talkingnt to be precise and separate the two. they come together at some point but you need to separate them to start with. what i find most fascinating about this looking at the allegations of the briefing that took place on june 24, director panetta in front of a closed session of the house intelligence committee, is that it is now the position of the chairman of the house intelligence committee, 7 democrats on the house intelligence committee and the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, that the c.i.a. lies to congress as a matter of policy, as a matter of practice. that is their claim now at this point. they went back to director panetta and asked him to retract his comment before relating to the first matter, the nancy pelosi matter. bret: in which she said she wasn't told about waterboarding? >> in which she said she wasn't told about waterboarding and accused the c.i.a. of misleading her. panetta sent a letter and said no, we don't mislead. now it is the position of the house democrats

. >>> pell dwi cooper is known very well in our community. digital correspondent, they have more about the woman and her home. re: eresrtthe e re: era caught by o magazine of what her ma the looked like before fire. >> it was like an art museum. >> reporter: it's called power to the people in honor of the civil room, a . nidi llroom, a hanging made ro re . ps her house reflected e ar. of here, she is standing entry entry way. said, itor of o ma ganeziga "peggy didn't just collect those pieces, she loved every one of them." >> she's a wonderful activist, starting the school for the arts, and so ironic and horrible that something like this would happen to such a wonderful woman. >> reporter: the love of the arts dominates her resume. the dc arts commission, the kennedy center, board of trustees, local television, and then in 2002, she was elected as chair of the d.c. school board. >> it is just kind of sad to see something like this haen idto such a wonderful woman. >> in northwest washington, nine news now and wusa.com. >> as they just mention

stimulus, the problem is you're not talking to people who are friends, close personal friends of nancy pell pelosi, chris dodd, chuck schumer, you know, wall street bigwigs. they're getting their stimulus money. and cap and trade is yet another way to -- eric: ann, when you reference the stimulus package, don't refer to it as my little piece. i'm sorry, go ahead. >> and the cap and trade or as some call it, cap and tax, is more of the same, massive new taxes on the middle class, and even if you buy into the crazy religious beliefs of liberals on man-made global warming, even if you buy into that, it's not going to do anything unless china and india impose the same taxes on energy on their citizens, and they don't seem inclined to do that, so it's really just a way of punishing americans and once again rewarding enemies. eric: let's take the confirmation hearing of supreme court justice nominee sonia sotomayor. on monday it starts. is this in the books already? >> i don't know. i hate talking about it that way. whether it is or whether it isn't, i think racial quotas have to be tied around t

shall house speaker pell yost osi is playing down speculation that there might be a second stimulus bill. she says that the first is just starting to kick in. on capitol hill, brian mooar, news4. >> on a global scale, world leaders of the g-8 said stimulus plans are still necessary. >> retail sales continue their slump. new reports out today find that mall-based stores have been hit especially hard as families look for bargains. the sluggish sales may mean retailers will keep deep discounts in places back-to-school shopping season gets under way. that may be good news for shoppers but the news has stocks struggling stay in the green. dow ended up on the day five points at 1883. nasdaq also gained five points today. meanwhile, the s&p was up three points. >>> the path out of bankruptcy protection for general motors appears to be clear. a judge's order a plan to sell most of the assets to a new company wants to take effect at noon today, a last-minute appeal was filed. but it is not expected to block the sale. >>> once the deal goes through, gm will become a new government controlled compa

and nancy pell os syright hen she said let's see wt the senate is going too. the reity is this, the president - nobody questions that this manhas an exceptional intelle. he has a public voic that is compelling. he has aery presidenal appropriate temperment. the question is doese have steel in his spine. does very a voice where can sit down one-on-on and negotiate an let people know that i they cross him there is a puni to pay and if they stand with him tre is a reward there a prize. but negotie what, what is the crux of the issue that needs to be resolved to get this thing done? >> well, it is t cost. the first thing is the tenure, the tenure cost of the bl. >> lehrer: okay. >> and what the president -- hat most experts would say, you need to remove th emption on employee health-carebenefits. that will raise awe l of money it wl get money from the rightlaces and reduce inflation but this then there is the secretar thing which is aye longer-term problem is we now are allowed to have all the tests wwant. all the technology we want. >> hrer: are you talking about

they a the exam pell we need to foll. t the information otherwise is st not out there. and just beuse it's an outcome study by someone didn't doesn'tean it really tells ius what we need to kn. so my woulbe let's take is to appropriate levels and look a it closely. >> chris jnings, how do youespond to that when you can'tven get agreement on wther there is waste and what it is if it's thee. >> wel ictually think there is agreemt. that there are services that are unnessary. and you want to focus and work with the physician community, the nurs community toddress what those are. and you know this aissue of bringing consensus amongst the counities there really iso doubt that there is aotf money being spent on health care thatoes not improve outcomes. and in the end the day, we don't want to have peop having incentives to contue to go into surgery tha isn't working and then be rehospitaled and rehostalized. we wanto get done right the very first time. >> want to come to yo, profess altman on that because anotherhing the preside said last night, he sd he wants a planhat is also

the president has modestly expanded the federal pell grant to date.ngside congress has enacted major legislation to try to prevent those loan sharks and to try to prevent the misuse and abuse of companies. at the same time, if you go to college campuses today you will still find it tables and displace, a myriad of them, with credit-card companies, all kinds of institutions willing to sell young people of junk and promoted it as something other than john. there is still a growing debate about what to do. of thejunk. you saw it in new york with the attorney general's situation where there has been an incestuous relationship with the executive officers at some of these major higher educational institutions and the leadership of loan companies. a lot of our reporting demonstrates that this has not been fully uncovered. it was a tremendous problem and still might be. . . host: the article goes on to say it debt their ship was stopped when they try to pass through the stockade. the group was taken into custody and the ship was seized. israeli officials prom

ber rivment they could get heavy downpours as i said and flash flooding will be more than just see pell county. and we've been talking about southwest flow and the cold front behind it that will sloom into all this moist tear. not that much. here we go. a cold front moving into that warm moist air. the result is the chance of thunderstorms on the strong side. future scan will show you when you can expect the showers this morning for the western counties and look for those showers to increase through the afternoon. we may get showers here in the central county later this morning. the afternoon beings more vigorous with more energy and you can see the yellow there in the central part of state by 6:00 p.m. thunderstorms that may be strong. and hail maybe a possibility with damage winds. not a pretty picture for later in the day. it moves out over night and we look better for saturday as high pressure moves n. but then the next cold front comes here on sunday and that brings a chance of some showers and maybe thunderstorms once again. 77 at the harbor right now. just reporting cloudy skies

the president has modestly expanded the federal pell grant to date.ongside congress has enacted major legislation to try to prevent those loan sharks and to try to prevent the misuse and abuse of companies. at the same time, if you go to college campuses today you will still find it tables and displace, a myriad of them, with credit-card companies, all kinds of institutions willing to sell young people of junk and promoted it as something other than john. there is still a growing debate about what to do. of thejunk. you saw it in new york with the attorney general's situation where there has been an incestuous relationship with the executive officers at some of these major higher educational institutions and the leadership of loan companies. a lot of our reporting demonstrates that this has not been fully uncovered. it was a tremendous problem and still might be. . . host: the article goes on to say it debt their ship was stopped when they try to pass through the stockade. the group was taken into custody and the ship was seized. israeli officials pro

accused ring leader, leonard patrick gonzalez jr., told police he actually knew the victims, byrd and pell apparently knew him well enough to give him money. a lot of new developments to talk about. talk of a new motive, possibly. people being questioned. possibly more arrests on the way. who's going to step in and take care of the couple's 13-plus kids? we'll take your calls. 1-877-tell-hln. joining us again to talk about it, hln law enforcement analyst mike brooks. also with us, morning radio talk show host rob williams from news radio 1620 in pensacola. he's followed this since day one. as has mike. mike, let's talk about this possible connection here of a business dealing between the alleged mastermind, leonard gonzalez jr., and byrd and melanie billings about possibly giving him money. what do you make of that? and does that feed in to you as possibly one of these new motives we're talking about here? >> it could, mike. we know byrd billings had an automobile dealership, he sold used cars and he had a financial arm, he'd go ahead and give loans. you know, now, what exactly -- what kin

a lot of members of the house want higher pell grant scholarships and less expensive student loans, and so we passed a bill yesterday that does that, but we paid for the bill by reducing spending that i believe is corporate welfare to the banking system. so here's what we did. we reduce that corporate welfare, increase pell grant scholarships, lower the cost of student loans and did some other things in education and had $10 billion left over to reduce the deficit. that's what pay-as-you-go yields. rather than reducing taxes, it forces us to do what the sensible and rational thing to do and that is pay as you go. this is not a democratic or republican idea but a commonsense idea and all members should vote yes. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i yield to the the gentleman from texas, vice ranking member of the committee, the rest of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for 6 3/4 minutes. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, it is a sad, sad day yet again on t

pell tell us about race and 401(k). >> this is a big study. we joined with hewitt associations.of us are doing a really good job saving for our retirement. but when you look at the data by race, it was even more disturbing. specifically, we looked at, for example, participation rates. if you look at the 401(k) plans at the big companies, white americans on average, 77% of workers participated in the plan. only 66% of african-americans were actually participating. when we do participate, how much do we contribute? the typical white american, was putting away about 8% of their pay. the typical black american, putting away about 6%. that's a big difference. >> ideas for closing the gap here. i'm looking at those numbers. >> yes. there are three ideas that were pretty powerful. one, we think many companies don't even know this problem exists. so, one thing they could do is look at their own 401(k) plan by race and ethnicity, which is the number one predictor of participation. secondly, loans and early withdraws from 401(k) plan. an african-american is 67-times more likely to have a

a lot of members of the house want higher pell grant scholarships and less expensive student loans, and so we passed a bill yesterday that does that, but we paid for the bill by reducing spending that i believe is corporate welfare to the banking system. so here's what we did. we reduce that corporate welfare, increase pell grant scholarships, lower the cost of student loans and did some other things in education and had $10 billion left over to reduce the deficit. that's what pay-as-you-go yields. rather than reducing taxes, it forces us to do what the sensible and rational thing to do and that is pay as you go. this is not a democratic or republican idea but a commonsense idea and all members should vote yes. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i yield to the the gentleman from texas, vice ranking member of the committee, the rest of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for 6 3/4 minutes. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, it is a sad, sad day yet again on t

you can also check out educationgrant.com where you can find out about government grants like the pell grant or other needs-based grants and if you have any other questions, send them to me and we answer those questions right here every friday. >> all right, gerri, we appreciate it. thank you so much. we want to turn now quickly. go to pensacola, florida. news conference going on right now. this is having to do with the couple and all the kids that were murdered down there. let's take a listen. i believe it is a brother, the funeral is today. family members giving a press conference. let's go ahead and listen in. today is a day to challenge ourselves, to embrace the differences among us and to find the kindness in our hearts. by example, byrd and melanie taught us to overlook disability and be color blind and be patient with others and to give up ourselves. their lives centered around children. their family and each other. they loved deeply and unconditionally. they embraced the complexity of raising children with special needs. and they were their advocates. they gave these children a

those two big prince p pells over and over again are reiterated in the 17 boxes of amendments sitting in the commerce committee waiting to be offered if they will ever have a hearing. you can't offer your ideas if there is not a legislative forum to offer your ideas. you also can't combat your ideas if they change by 100 pages every time you walk into the room. we're eager to have this discussion. we have been right up to the edge of pounding on the door for six months. now, our pounding on the door has been calling the white house chief of staff, talking to the president, sending letters saying we want to work with you on this. we want to make the current system better and no one is responding to that an obviously they're not responding because they don't have an idea that meets any standard or goals that we ought to be working on toward healthcare. our committee, the member that over the last decade has been engaged in this day in and day out has been an important part of the integral solutions part as well. >> thank you. i'm nathan neil from georgia. let me put our circumstances in

an early proposal to develop the project pell apart after community opposition.new contracts will go out this fall. >>> changes are coming to national harbor as well. the prince george's county planning board has approved a plan to build a convenience store, gas station and fast food straupt at the harbor. some objected to the idea, saying having a fast food place on the property will diminish the upscale nature of the place and detract from historic sites near the property. as a compromise, the store, gas station and fast food restaurant will be built away from ose historic sites. >>> now 5:38. coming up, looking for a washington landmark, when the famous watergate hotel will go up on the auction block. >> forget about the sharks. find out which beaches are being invaded by squid. g@ (announcer) fact: the soft places we love but lysol disinfectant spray can help protect your family. because it can also be used on soft surfaces. it kills 99.9% of illness-causing bacteria... won't stain... ...and leaves your soft surfaces with a light fresh scent. lysol. the #1 pe

applied to pell grant, 7.6 million students could see the grants reduced and the maximum pell award cut by approximately $135. apply to liheap, it would reduce the number of households served by over 900,000. applied to senior nutrition, it would eliminate nearly 240 million meals to 2.5 million vulnerable americans. aflide head start, over 50,000 low income children would apried to comprehensive -- would be denied service. applied to the block grant, over 17,000 families would be eliminated, aflide job corps, it would apply a 50% cut to job corps centers. i don't think anybody on this side of the aisle needs to hear a lecture about deficits. i have opposed the bush policies both economic and war policies, which led to the unraveling of the budget, which led to a huge mount of debt and which led to the collapse of the economy. i don't think we need more of that kind of medicine. i urge a no vote on this amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from virginia. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opin

already we've increased pell grants by $500. [applause] >> we've created a $2500 tax credit for four years of college tuition. [applause] >> we've simplified student aid applications and ensured that aid is not based on income of a job that you just lost. [applause] >> a new g.i. bill of rights for the 21st century is beginning to help soldiers coming home from iraq and afghanistan to begin a new life in a new economy. and the recovery plan has helped close stated budget shortfalls, which put enormous pressure on public universities and community colleges. at the same time, making historic investments in school libraries and classrooms and facilities all across america. so we've already taken some steps that are building the foundation for a 21st century education system here in america, one that will allow us to compete with china and india and everybody else all around the world. but today i'm announcing the most significant down payment yet, on reaching the goal of having the highest college graduation rate of any nation in t

his support for strengthening the pell grant program demonstrated his belief that the benefits of higher education should be available to everyone with the determination and the desire to pursue more education. in fact, madam president, the only quibble that i have with norm's public service dates back to his tenure as mayor of st. paul. his success in bringing professional hockey back to minnesota was certainly commentable. -- commendable. but it was based, as i understand it, that minnesota is the hockey capital of the united states. now the people of maine know better, of course. but this was typical of norm's pride in his state. madam president, the past election brought great disappointment, but it also revealed character. norm ran a vigorous, honorable campaign under very difficult circumstances. he never betrayed his constituents nor compromised his principles. and when the final court decision went against him, he graciously conceded defeat. in fact, madam president, i had the opportunity to talk with norm right after the supreme court in minnesota ruled against him. and i was st

we're have to issue them to the student aid commission in lieu of pell grants that go out to college their tuition and books. >> basically, thousands of people left out in the cold. the state needs to issue ious to some to serve -- to conserve cash to pay others. like it has to pay for education, debt payments and payroll but most state employees are being forced to take off a third unpaid day a month. according to the l.a. times, the governor is open to the idea of televising closed door budget negotiations like a reality show so voters can see what really goes on. can those officials be voted off the island? by the way, guys, i know private contractors who supply state prisons and hes the prisons he works most closely with say their credit cards have been yanked and they don't know how they'll buy supplies. >> yikes. >> this is just unbelievable. the idea of these ious going out. what happened thection? >> well, they did issue ious for two months in 1992. this isn't the first time it's happened. who knows -- they say they're close but the longer this goes on, the more ious will hav

identity from people who have access to the same equipment as me and potentially less moral scriewp pellsscrew screw scriewp pulls. if people are looking this morning and they want to protect themselves, what do they do? >> that's a very good question, actually. there is not a lot of information on what you can do because if you take it into your own hands and you decide to disable the tag in your passport or your credit card, in the passport particularly you could potentially end up in prison for tampering with a federal identity document. home land security hasn't actually said what will happen if you try to cross a border and your passport has had the tag disabled. nobody really knows what the policy is it's very unclear what people can actually do to protect themselves. steve: to protect against hackers, feds and state officials recommend americans keep their e passports tightly shut and store them in enhanced driver's licenses in radio opaque sleeves. so folks look forever your radio opaque sleeves if you want to protect yourself. thank you for joining us and giving us results of you

already we have increased pell grants by $500.ave created a $2,500 tax credit for four years of college tuition we have simplified applications and make sure aid is not based on an income of a dog you just lost. -- of a job that you just lost. it is beginning to help soldiers coming home from i iraq and afghanistan to begin a new life. the recovery plan has helped close state budget shortfalls which put enormous pressure on public universities and community colleges. it makes historic investments in clusters and facilities all across america. -- in classrooms and facilities all across america. with taken steps of your building the foundation for a 21st education century. it allows to debut china and india and everybody else around the world. today i'm announcing the most significant thing on reaching the goal of having the highest college graduation rate of any nation in the world. we are going to achieve this in the next 10-years. it is called the american graduation initiative. it will reform and strengthen community colleges li

have to spend our way out of it also, i think it's important to point out his budget will quad drew pell gawd deuteronomy the -- quadruple the deficit. steve: the mess that he finds himself in, although that is not completely accurate. he has done this in the past and we have 31 seconds to prove just that. >> we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and as dire as any since the great depression. this financial crisis that we have had is the largest since the great depression. >> i didn't draw up these a.i.g. contracts. my white house didn't. it's my responsibility to fix the system. on our first day in office we found challenges of unprecedented size and scope. our economy was in the midst of the most serious downturn since the great depression. >> the economy remains in the midst of a historic recession. the worst we have seen since the great depression. brian: and right now, the american people are starting to say i'm thinking six months in it's pretty much your economy. his approval rating is now at 55% and george bush's six months, in after all that controversy with the election

the stock hasn't come down that much but down in the 70s at this point pell we'll come back glo we willck and get insight. >>> our focus has been health care reform. this new nbc/wall street journal poll suggests support for the president's plan is slipping, especially among those that have insurance. that's the split between those that think it's a good idea and a bad idea. it's even higher on the bad side for those who already have private insurance. our next guest, our guest host for the next hour, former health and human services secretary tommy thompson, served in the bur bush administration, good to have you on the show. >> my honor. "squawk box" is really picking up a lot of steam. where exxon is losing, "squawk box" is picking up. >> we would agree. i think you're going to introduce another guest well. >> you want me to? >> yes. >> some of the most influential business leaders joining us for the "squawk" summit, former representative billy tauzin, pharma president and ceo. one of the founders of the blue dogs, a conservative group in the house which just cleared the way yesterda

these programs are the low-income home energy assistance program, head start program, pell grapts, the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children and housing assistance. pay-go will establish an enforcement mechanism at the end of the year if congress has not already paid for the cost of all legislation enacted during that given year. mr. speaker, this legislation is a priority for the president. he understands as we do that we must balance short-term deficit spending for economic recovery with a commitment to restoring fiscal discipline. the large deficits that we inherited as a result of the reckless borrow and spend policies of the previous administration have put pressure on funding for important priorities such as health care, education and as clean energy jobs. we must ensure that regardless of who was in power, pay-go will be a powerful impediment to reckless tax cuts financed by debt. mr. speaker, the people of our country elect us to come to washington to represent them in the best way that he we can. after years of unrestrained spending, and ram pa

this bill also boosts pell grants, which help approximately 7.6 million low and middle-income studentsor college each year. further, it provides $653 million to historically black colleges and universities, hispanic-serving institutions and other developing institutions, and nearly triples new loan guarantees for hbcu's. as we prepare for our youth for tomorrow, we must also protect and develop our current work force. this bill restores the department of labor's capacity to enforce laws that protect the wages, safety and benefits of workers. it also helps those who lost their jobs during the course of this recession by providing $1.4 billion for training and supportive services. $50 million of these funds will be used to prepare workers in green industries, not only helping to provide americans with decent good-paying jobs but also helping the american economy be more competitive. this bill recognizing the incredible burden that this economic crisis has placed on countless americans also provides much-needed assistance to our vulnerable populations. it will help families stay warm thro

i want to add, the answer that our friends on the other side have given when we said increase the pell grant, no. increase minimum wage, no. change the energy policy, no. change health care policy, no. add a stimulus bill that will keep people working, no. that is not leadership. and this is bold stuff we're trying to do and we're trying to lead the country and that's at the end of the day is going to pay off for everyone. and i yield back. mr. boccieri: you're exactly right. we'll be judged by two measures in this congress, by action or inaction. and i am so happy we had this opportunity to speak tonight on clean energy and our national security. i'll yield back, mr. per. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time is expired. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the chair now recognizes the gentleman from iowa, mr. king, for 60 minutes. mr. king: thank you, mr. speaker. i appreciate the privilege to be recognized here. here on the floor of the house. i would remark that the common courtesy is to yield and i am happy to yield to the gentleman that are here if we

it is many more young people getting pell grants and just making higher education more affordable. nothing brings more money to the treasury as well as goes the economy more than the education of the american people. we have heard the commission, the specifics, the ira of legislation that we are very proud of to take the country in the right direction. they honor the principles of our budget -- education, health care, energy policy to create new jobs for the american people, to turn the economy around in a fiscal responsible way that lowers the deficit, creates jobs, and gives tax cuts to 95% of the american people. in that spirit of celebration, i would be pleased to take any questions that you may have. >> [inaudible] given the hard work that you have done, [inaudible] >> we have worked very hard to get the appropriations bills on time. we have accomplished that objective. we have been working with senator read it and the chairman of the appropriations committee. they passed four bills now. we will work on trying to get an agreement on conferences for those four bills. i talked t

in the early morning hours, speaker pell lowcy and her deputies were pushing the largest tax increasemerican history. in the dead of night with no one watching they engaged in full-scale arm twisting, backroom dealing to garner support for a massive bill few, if any, had actually read or understood. you have to keep in mind, there are about 400 pages to this bill that weren't printed until 3:00 in the morning -- of the morning that the bill was voted. and when america woke, they found that they were talking about green jobs and new clean, green energy economy. they spoke about energy independence. all of it sounded so appealing. yet none of it was true. that's because waxman-markey is full of bureaucracy and big government programs. waxman-mark economy is to quote john dingell, a tax and a great big one, on small businesses, families, and consumers. i don't blame the democrats for selling cap and trade as something it's not. this is a political imperative for them because the american people now know what cap and trade is, and they don't like it. i -- according to independent politica

but that presumption can be overcome if other dom pelling factors make it more appropriate to prosecute in the commission. there are three main gruchs factors identified many the protocol that resemble the fk tors that govern foreign selection by doj prosecutors every day, whether the choice is between federal and state court, u.s. courts and foreign courts or civilian courts and traditional military courts-martial. perhaps the most important point about the protocol is that it avoids too many abstract bright line rules. it recognizes the existence of two prosecution fora, both effective, both legitimate, and provides that the choice between them needs to be made by professionals looking closely at the facts of each case, using flexible criteria established by policy makers. that flexibility, we submit, is the most effective way to defeat the adversary consistent with our core values. and i would be pleased to answer your questions. thank you. >> thank you very much. mr. johnson? >> thank you. you have my prepared written statement. i would like to make consistent with that statement a