indeed, to have richard rodriguez here is a great honor. it's really a long-awaited. he claims to have visited here quite often, but he has been very selective with who he has visited. so we can judge ourselves lucky to have time with him today. rich's work has been an extraordinary testimony to the complexity of american identity, from the beginning of his career as a writer with "hunger only memories," "brown," and "day's obligation," and now "darling." connected an american understanding coming out of a mexican-american experience and engaged with a broad historical, literary, philosophical and theological reflection. challenges us always in his writing and his work to expand the scope of our imagination to expand the send of our understanding. so, it's a great honor to introduce richard rodriguez. [applause] >> thank you very much. i'm going to -- i was talking to you in new york after september 11th and he said to me, when i proposed -- i wanted to write about religion in this very dangerous age. he said that if you write too style issuely about religion the pieo

memoir from richard rodriguez and the poetry of kevin powers. we now pick up our coverage with bill wyatt on the history of federal debt limit. >> delights new book, america's fiscal constitution has just been published. a former three term mayor, he is chairman of the houston banking. .. then bush and his view of debt but let's talk about the current president and why you think this president has not had the right relationship to debt. >> right now we have national income at an all-time high. we recovered national income, total national income, we have surpassed what it was in 2007. there is no reason to pay for routine operating expenses. the president had a really tough and, we traditionally borrow in the united states to plug holes during severe recessions. we borrowed, we borrowed traditionally to wage war and those wars continue through his first term. those are things he inherited. but now there needs to be more emphasis on getting our fiscal house in order and that needs to be a top priority of the white house. i described in the book th

[laughter] >> thanks very much richard rugg rugg -- richard rodriguez. we will be signing books upstairs. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> iraq war veterans kevin powers is next on booktv. from the 2014 san antonio book festival treat you presents second book of poetry, "letter composed during a lull in the fighting". [inaudible conversations] >> all right. i think we are ready to begin here. the doors are closed. the mic seems to be on. can everybody hear me? there we go. that sounds good. i'm jake silverstein the editor-in-chief of texas monthly and i'm going to be your moderator here today for what i think will be a very interesting interesting -- hello? interesting and memorable afternoons with kevin powers who was the gentleman here to my left. kevin, and i will give you brief introduction to kevin but before he do that went on a makeup couple of reef announcements and one is to please remember to turn off your cell phones. i see some people doing that. two is we will have time for questions and answers, questions from the audience and answer

the federal debt, cesar chavez, local san antonio history, cracking, the nsa, a memoir from richard rodriguez and the poetry of kevin powers. we now pick up our coverage with bill wyatt on the history of federal debt limit. >> delights new book, america's fiscal constitution has just been published. a former three term mayor, he is chairman of the houston banking. ..

gonzalez, anthony astucho, mike mccombs, richard light, thomas lainer, ronald blaine, gerald eggers, albeano martinez, lloyd marker jr., charles milton, hector rodriguez and mel overmyer. thank you and i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you so much, mr. speaker. along with my colleagues, lois capps and ted deutch, i introduced the truth in advertising act, a bill that could help reduce the negative impact of photoshopped images in advertising. photoshop ads can promote unrealistic ectspectations of the human body, leading to tragic emotional, physical and health problems. academic evidence has already shown the connection between very thin models in advertising and body image issues, one of the major contributing factors to eating disorders. the truth in advertising act does not impose new regulations but simply asks the federal trade commission to work with stakeholders to investigate how to confront this important public heal