the majority supported the still packed -- stupak amendment which would have prevented that. this presented a huge problem for the president and the democrat leadership, because it was not being driven by the will of the people but by the will of special interest. radical special interesttto believe that the destruction of unborn human life is health care. ultimately it became apparent to the white house and democratic leaders that they could not find the votes to kill the pro-life stupak a minute. so instead of heeding the will of the people and the bipartisan majority in the house, they crafted that disingenuous last- minute executive order that they claimed eliminateddthe need for pro-life protections in the bill. the president issued the order, the white house said that it -- it's enforcement would be a priority. that was good enough for a handful of legislators, including representative stupak himself, who up to that point had mounted a courageous fight. republicans doubt that the president sincerity and with+ good reason. within three months, and as far as anyone can te

the stupak amendment was a moment. while anyone can say they are pro-life, actions speak louder than words. [applause] thank you. the lesson is to get involved, speak out, find out where your legislators and would be legislators stand. is your member of congress to mid -- committed to the defense of life or is a negotiable? is your member of congress truly dedicated to protecting the unborn or can he or she be swayed by a pork barrel project or a new government program or maybe some plum committee assignments? this is the time to know the answers to those questions. this is when it matters. you invited me here to give me an award and i gratefully accepted. let's be clear. the true leaders of this moment -- of this movement are sitting in the audience this morning. what i do matters in whole lot less than what you do. i mentioned henry hyde and i want to close by mentioning him again for a few reasons. first, he was my friend and probably the cali i have admired most. -- probably the colleague i admired most. second, th

caller: bart stupak. host: how do you see the election playing out? caller: i believe that the democrat will get in. this is a completely democratic area. i think that a republican has no chance right here. host: in "the philadelphia inquirer," this morning, at "a gloomy picture. leaders of the national debt commission discussed the struggle to get spending under control. alan simpson and erskine bowles said at a meeting of the national governors association that everything needed to be considered, including curtailing popular tax breaks, and a trigger mechanism for gaining medicare advantages." caller: 90% of our nations that can be contributed to three presidencies. reagan, the first bush, and the second bush. these other fiscal conservatives. the people that said that deficits do not matter. now they do matter? i will be surprised if republicans take over the house again. i truly believe that americans that are foolish enough to go down that road get what they deserve. host: from kentucky we have this e-mail, "the american electorate now realizes t

. >> chairman markey, chairman stupak, thank you for holding this hearing today regarding the deepwater horizon incident. i will, secretary salazar to this hearing, as well as two -- i welcome secretary salazar to this hearing, as well as two former secretaries, to kempthorne and gale norton. i believe that we must do everything in our power to find out what caused this explosion and to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. unfortunately, the administration is prematurely acting on this tragedy from a regulatory ankle while the investigation to this disaster is not complete. it is why i am furious at the department of interior issuing a new build-advised moratorium on responsible offshore drilling -- i knew elegized more time on responsible offshore drilling. -- a new ill-advised moratorium on responsible offshore drilling. this risk killing between 20,000 and 50,000 jobs and will increase our reliance on foreign oil at a time when our nation's economy can least afford it. during this hearing and it's doing investigation, it is important that we not lose sight of the fact th

chairman stupak and markie, thank you for holding the hearing. and i hope we can learn the extra part of our investigation as to what the regulators were doing during this 10-year period. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. barton for opening statement, please. >> i thank you both chairmens and the full committee chairman waxman, for this hearing. i welcome our two former cabinet secretaries who are both friends of mine. we appreciate you all voluntarily coming today. three months ago today, an explosion tore through the ship. it killed 11 men. it has filled great swaths of the gulf of mexico with crude oil. as the spreading spill has focused the nation's attention on what we need to do to stop it and prevent it in the future, our job here in this committee has to conduct a bipartisan investigation to identify what went wrong and try to figure out if there's a way that we can help prevent it in the future. last thursday, the full committee put together some of the results of the fruits of our investigation to pass out the blowout prevention act of 20

during the stupak campaign, one organization gathered 35,000 signatures in one day, mostly through twitter and facebook and online organizing, which we know is supervised mostly by our organization, so i will shut up now. >> i do want to touch base on a little of that. what have you seen to be most effective when you are working -- just briefly -- we only have five minutes left before we open up to audience q&a, but what kinds of things have invective in terms of either fighting against anti-choice legislation or, in your case, working to advocate for proactive? >> i think language is a big thing. it is interesting because shelby was talking about the use of the word "reproductive justice." our campaign was originally called the campaign for reproductive health and justice. the focus group and talking about the bill, and it turned out that a lot of the folks who live in illinois who are not part of communities of color and who are not part of organizing communities, so that is a big chunk of illinois -- the idea of reproductive just this just does not appeal to them. they are more connecte

bart stew pack -- bart stupak announced his retirement today, another moderate democrat, a pro-life democrat. he has been much in the news in the health-care debate. the center is diminishing. but our parties can do is to harness the forces of the tea parties, the michael more's, the wings that want to fly in different directions and tear this country apart. they need to be harnessed to come back to a more reasonable thoughtful middle ground. the extremes are really winning. depends the numbers you look at, with 39% of the country is it considering themselves independent. why are we letting the wings tear us apart. there has to be a way to bring us back home. i think the parties are the best way to do it. do not ask me how when we get to the question and answers section, because i do not know. it has to happen. now coming to the extent that the parties are a little light in the seed in appealing to the masses and exerting as much power as they used to an electoral politics, i think it has been mentioned that they have never been more powerful in the process of legislating and the governing.

and of course, there was the stupak amendment, which had -- which would have effectively banned coverageortions, although a slightly lesser version of the amendment was still attached to health care legislation. many activists still on not happy with the results. much of the attention has been focused on the national level, but states have been testing all kinds of legislation that limits or discourages women from taking full advantage of their reproductive rights. i have invited four amazing and expert panelists here to discuss this today. so let me just go ahead and start by introducing our panelists. so the knox, sitting to my right, is nationally known as the subject of financial award winning film, a 2005 documentary chronicling her teenage activism in comprehensive sex education and gay rights in a southern baptist community. she has appeared on several tv shows to discuss sex education and activism. elizabeth nash is a public policy ssc it at a nonprofit -- public policy associate. she cordons the efforts of the state team which monitors and analyzes legislative, regulatory and ju