shibley telhami will join us to talk about the elections in lebanon and what is next in the middle east following president obama's speech in cairo last week, and the elections in iran, and the dynamics in the middle east. later in the program, the w ill turn areour focus to the two american journalists in north korea. >> "the wall street journal" says treasury officials expect nine of the biggest banks are free to repay their funds with an initial payback of $50 billion in government bailout funds. congress approved the $700 billion troubled assets relief program eight months ago. the joint economic committee will meet today to secure from the chairman of the tarp congressional president obama program president will announce new rules requiring lawmakers to pay for new initiatives, including an overhaul of the health system, or face automatic spending cuts. the announcement will come from the east room of the white house. more on chrysler today. fiat says it will not walk away from its deal to buy chrysler despite a supreme court justice ruth painter ginsburg putting the deal on hold w

then, university of maryland professor shibley telhami. then, and guest on north korea from the american enterprise. that begins a 7:00 a.m. eastern with your calls and the day's news. later, the troubled assets relief program, also known as "tarp." elizabeth warren will be there. we will show a portion of the joint economic committee hearing which begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern until the house gavels in at 10:30. >> how is c-span funded? >> private donations? >> i do not really know. >> from public television? >> donations. >> i do not really know where the money comes from. >> federally? >> how is c-span funded? 30 years ago, america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private initiative, no government mandates, no government money. >> president obama and vice- president biden laid out plans for stimulus of funds over the summer with a goal of creating or saving about 600,000 jobs in the u.s. economy. they made remarks just before a cabinet meeting in the white house. this is about 15 minutes. >> it seems strange to tha

attention to foreign policy, the situation in the middle east, the elections in lebanon, and also shibley telhami will join us from the year sever city of maryland -- from the university of maryland. it is tuesday morning. "washington journal" continues in just a moment. >> harvard law professor elizabeth warren heads to the congressional oversight panel which monitors the spending of the $700 billion troubled asset relief program. she will testify this morning before the joint economic committee on the recent bank stress tests. we will have live coverage right after "washington journal" at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. and treasury secretary timothy geithner and the irs commissioner today before a senate appropriations subcommittee talking about their 2010 budget. at 2:30, health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius. you can also find them online at c-span.org. >> how is c-span funded? >> private donations? >> taxpayers? >> i do not really know. >> from public television? >> donations. >> i do not know where the money comes from? >> contributions from donors? >> 30 years ago, america's

host: our guest, shibley telhami.joe son the phone from los angeles -- is on the phone from los angeles. good morning. caller: there's always been a historical allegiance between the christians -- the israelis back up the christians in the civil war. are the christians comfortable dealing with the muslims? where do the christians side? do they see israel as an alli or more of a problem -- an ally or more of a problem? to the israelis think the christians in lebanon could possibly help them out in case there's a war with syria? or, you know with any other arab country? s what -- what's the politics of the christians as it relates to israel's national security? guest: that's a really interesting question. we go back, certainly the civil war wasn't merely christian-muslim divide but it was largely the extent of that. there were people who were taking sides on this in the interinternational community. but the fascinating thing about the 1975 civil war in lebanon, which is the major civil war, was that actually the syrians