u.s. chamber of commerce's started filing briefs with the supreme court it just started three decades ago thirty years ago and you can see here the burger court forty three percent of time the u.s. chamber of commerce big business interests won their cases from eighty one eighty six when they went to rank was the court became more conservative fifty six percent of the time from ninety four to two thousand and five now here with the roberts court with sixty four percent of the time the u.s. chamber of commerce as they did today from two thousand and six to two thousand and one are winning their cases exactly the way they were on this is judicial activism on steroids john roberts and sam alito both in their hearings said roberts famously said he's not going to be an end. activist he's not going to make the why he's going to be like an umpire he's going to call balls and strikes nonsense these guys with citizens united and now this case making it basically impossible for there to be class action lawsuits are completely rewriting the law of the land and doing so in a way that only benefits cor

u.s. chamber of commerce big business interests won their cases from eighty one eighty six when they went to rank was the core became more concerned fifty six percent of the time from ninety four to two thousand and five now here with the roberts court were at sixty four percent of the time the u.s. chamber of commerce as they did today from two thousand and six to two thousand and one are winning their cases exactly the way that this is judith judicial activism on steroids john roberts and sam alito both in their hearings said roberts famously said he's not going to be an at. activist he's not going to make the wife going to be like an umpire he's going to call balls and strikes nonsense these guys with citizens united and now this case making it basically impossible for there to be cries of action lawsuits are completely rewriting the lawful land and doing so in a way that only benefits corporations theory rich people and the republican party. president obama gave into the bertha's today and released his long form birth certificate you know the one the donald trump and fox news been tryi

being discovered in the ongoing chamber leaks scandal earlier this week investigative reporter with think progress leapfrogging broke the story of the u.s. chamber of commerce and tracking with private data security for firms to launch cyber attacks against threaten family members oh and discredit members of progressive organizations like the u.s. chamber watch sci you and robot or not to mention center for american progress of liam's health the latest why does a power point presentation listing dozens of organizations and individuals with the chambers these are their words discredit confuse shame combat infiltrate fracture. in addition the u.s. congress is currently looking into the matter as well as whether or not these private data security firms are also contracting with the us government last week in an armed services subcommittee hearing. and johnson pressed kerry aki acting assistant secretary for the department of defense office of networks and information integration about current government contracts with the firms involved in the chamber leaks scandal you know what. we would like to request copies of been you know contracts between a department o

u.s. chamber of commerce or systems. even more than the koch brothers these guys are the mt everest of climate that are out there they provide they represent all the big old oil corporations they claim to represent all of american business. fifty five percent of their funding came from sixteen big companies they don't have to tell anybody who they are but it's pretty easy to figure out because they spend their time essentially trying to make the planet heat up as fast as they possibly can and they filed a brief with the e.p.a. last year saying they should not regulate carbon because in the event that the planet warmed humans would be able to adapt their physiology in order to deal with this. the oceans come up we just grow gills as that but if someone you know just on the sidewalk told us their plan for dealing with climate change was you would change your anatomy you would cut a wide swath around them on the sidewalk but if they had two hundred three hundred million in the back pocket to hand out in campaign contribution

u.s. chamber of commerce and national automobile association went to court to try to overturn the law.y argue the law hurts car sales. 14 other states have adopted similar standards modeled after california's law. >>> a federal appeals court ruling today allows expanded stem cell research. researchers home stem cell research will help patients. those opposed are not likely to succeed in stopping funding of stem cell research. >>> social security is about to phase out paper checks starting next week anyone who applies for social security or other federal benefits must sign up for direct deposit. the government plans to phase out paper checks entirely by 2013. about 85% of social security beneficiaries receive payments through direct deposit. even though the treasury deposit issues 125 million checks a year. >>> if you have an old prescription drugs at home tomorrow is the cay to get rid -- day to get rid of them. it's national prescription drug take back day. the effort is under way to get rid of prescription pills. there are a lot of drop off sites in the bay area. each location is ope

u.s. court of appeals in washington, d.c. rejected a lawsuit by the u.s. chamber of commerce and car manufacturers.they claimed the epa had no right to allow california to set stricter emissions standards on cars sold on that state. 13 other states then adopted the emissions standards in 2009. effectively forcing auto makers to produce more efficient lower emission vehicles. >>> the federal judge today gave the go ahead to hundreds of lawsuits filed against toyota. the suits grew out of toyota lawsuits last year out of break defects on its prius hybrid. the toyota has asked the judge twice to are dismiss the suits and she has twice said no. >>> kia motors is recalling 200 of its spectra cars. the straps holding the car's gas tanks can corrode when exposed to salt used on icy roads. the recall does not affect cars originally registered here in california. >>> a man was electrocuted today in southern california apparently while trying to steal metal from a transformer box. it happened in san san bernardino county. they then found a body near by that had been electrocuted. a police sergeant says it ap

u.s. chamber of commerce and national automobile association went to court to try to overturn the law.y argue the law hurts car sales. 14 other states have adopted similar standards modeled after california's law. >>> a federal appeals court ruling today allows expanded stem cell research. researchers home stem cell research will help patients. those opposed are not likely to succeed in stopping funding of stem cell research. >>> social security is about to phase out paper checks starting next week anyone who applies for social security or other federal benefits must sign up for direct deposit. the government plans to phase out paper checks entirely by 2013. about 85% of social security beneficiaries receive payments through direct deposit. even though the treasury deposit issues 125 million checks a year. >>> if you have an old prescription drugs at home tomorrow is the cay to get rid -- day to get rid of them. it's national prescription drug take back day. the effort is under way to get rid of prescription pills. there are a lot of drop off sites in the bay area. each location is ope

u.s. chamber of commerce called for more drilling. >> but americans have an opportunity to be more efficientconserve more, no doubt. but you can't conserve you way out of this. we need more supply. >> reporter: we're not sure right now if prices are skyrocketing because of energy speculation. unless congress puts back funding for the trading commission or cftc, the group says we're on a crash course for $6 gas. >> if we don't put proper regulation, you'll be at $6 a gallon gasoline. >> we know people are hurting. and the one thing that we need to do is rely on our own resources. in our own country. >> reporter: while the president is relying more on renewable sourcesover energy. house republicans say we need more oil. this week they introduced three bills to speed up drilling in the gulf of mexico and to open up more land for oil exploration. in washington, carol han. >>> remember we told you about the restaurants that sued yelp over bad reviews. up next find out how a judge responded to those claims. >>> tea party activists marched on the u.s. capital today, what they are pushing for when i

u.s. chamber of commerce ceo tom donohue says the federal government needs to regulate less, spend more on infrastructure, produce more oil, and stay out of labor disputes in order to help the nation's aviation industry. later, we will hear about nextgen, an faa program to reorganize u.s. aerospace. this is just over an hour. -- u.s. air space. >> being well known is not as important as knowing what you are well known for. thank you, carole. everyone has taken time out of busy schedules to join us here today. i want to particularly thank carol and the national chamber foundation team for putting together another outstanding conference. i understand, as she said, this is the best-attended we had. in this town and in this room i find that is generally created from an equation that the level of problems have gone up and, therefore, the level of attendance is more significant looking for solutions. i think the high level of interest is being driven by one overriding question, what is next in the aviation industry? the industry has weathered a decade of storms since we first started posting thi

u.s. chamber of commerce this morning. this day they are hosting an all-day conference on the aviation industry featuring the head of the federal aviation administration and senior executives from southwest airways and other airlines. this event comes in the midst over the debate air traffic controller fatigue problems and investigations of recent incidents where southwest airline planes ripped off in midflight. this is live coverage. again, from the u.s. chamber of commerce here in washington, d.c. >> we're ready to get this on the road, everyone. [inaudible conversations] >> oh, my goodness, listen how quiet it has become so quickly. well, we're 4 minutes late for our pushoff, but we will consider it an on-time pushoff because there's lots going on this morning. good morning to all of you and even those who are sitting in the room next door. this is a very special welcome because this is our tenth annual aviation summit. it has surpassed all numbers ever in the past. and it's because all of you, we thank you. we are most

u.s. chamber of commerce's annual aviation conference. this afternoon, a panel on the challenges and possibilities of commercial air travel with the heads of jetblue, u.s. airways, fedex express, cessna and airbus. this is live coverage on c-span2. >> and we had to have the right moderator, someone who has a great sense of humor, someone who really knows this business, and someone who has the respect of everyone. and we came up -- let's see, what's his name? oh, it was allen mccarter. and there just could not be a better person for this than allen. and while i've said that i'm going to do brief introductions, this is brief. allen is, i think, most all of you know the chairman of airbus americas, and he is responsible for airbus activity in the u.s., canada and latin america. but there's so much more to his resume because while that is a full-time job, in his past he was the founder and chairman and ceo of legendary airlines he has been an faa administrator and he wants me to shut him up before i really get him in trouble. but i will tell y

u.s. chamber of commerce event with the secretary lot, dean sperling, the president's adviser on the economylski there's a big group of people that we had there to talk about the national strategy for trusted identity into cyberspace and that even you was probably one of the best ones going. but also, the fact that it's in the department of commerce and led by some of the work with the national institute of standards and technology is once again a true indicator of how important this is to the economy, to businesses as well as the national security as well. when we convene that the u.s. chamber with our private sector partners in attendance, it also showed very clearly this is not a government led the effort, this is a private sector effort, and working with the private sector to create this ecosystem as we call at is key to its success. so, many of you in this room participate in some form or fashion with like consider to be an open process as we went through with the idea of creating some kind of trusted identity into cyberspace, creating a draft last summer, getting feedback from many peo

u.s. chamber of commerce to attack politics who they pretended to admire and support, or undermine environmental causes they said they support. they can to that now. there's not the man power in the media institutions to keep an effective watchdog eye on them. there's still people trying to do it. i salute them. not only is it harder to do it, it's harder to be heard. that's crisis number one. crisis number two is that we have the new beef in our media universe, or media planet system. that's the same thing. i was listening to brian green today. he got me confused with all of the new concepts of universes. i don't know what is universe is anymore. but anyway, and that -- and the most obvious manifestation is fox news. fox news is not a news organization. it is a political organization. and it's a political organization that massacre -- massacre aids. if the lie is effective, and if it furthers the policy that you supports the lie, then it's the truth. franklin roosevelt lied an awful lot. in a good cause in terms of getting the united states into the second world war. lyndon johnson lied a lot i

u.s. chamber of commerce. >> we'll take an airplane anywhere in the world. that is our industry. it's a great one. it's great to introduce the administrators of the f.a.a. while he needs to introduction, i would say in 1995, that was the year that randy became, after a long flying career, ending his career as captain at eastern airlines, he then came and in 1995, he and i both became presidents at the same time he became president of alpfa and i wame president of a.t.a. we worked together and it was a great working relationship. we had many successes because we were able to work together on issues in which we all had agreement. he is the kind of person who is able to bring people together. he's had a great career, as i say, as a pilot, a businessman, as a leader, so he was the perfect choice to become the administrator of the f.a.a. and i give you randy babbitt, administrator. [applause] >> thank you very much, carol. that was a very kind introduction. i appreciate that. good morning to ed, good morning to all the distinguished guests here. this is a great gathering. i'm happy to

u.s. chamber of commerce to attack politicians who they pretended to admire and support or to undermine environmental causes, they can do that now because there is not the manpower in the media institutions to keep an effective watchdog -- watchdog eye on them. their people trying to do it and i salute them but not only is it harder to do, is much harsher to be hurt. that is crisis number one. crisis number two is two copies that we have this new beast in our media universe or media planet system. i guess it is the same thing. i was listening to brian green on terry gross today and he got me confused with all these new concepts of universe. i don't know what he the universe is anymore but anyway, and the most obvious manifestation of it is "fox news." "fox news" is not a news organization. it is a political organization. and it is a political organization that masquerades as a news organization. politicians lie. it is no shame for a politician to lie. i wrote a history of presidential lying, and it is not like anything that anybody ever felt the need to apologize for. if it furthers the policy that y

u.s. chamber of commerce is stepping up, encouraging its millions of members to hire military veterans. to mind mentors for military wives and veterans. and they're going to host job fairs across the country for these individuals. technology leaders like aol, cisco and others will help connect military families with new technology. believe me, the list goes on and on because every business can do something. we're joining forces with nonprofits, with -- they're reaching to communities across the country. the u.s.o. is going to expand its efforts to help americans support military families right here on the home front. jill said the military child education coalition is teaming up with the national p.t.a. and with more than 100 teaching colleges to help educators and communities better serve our military kids. the national math and science initiative will be bringing advanced placement courses to tens of thousands of students, including military kids. the sierra club and the ymca are partnering with the national military family association to get 15,000 military kids and families to camp

u.s. chamber of commerce is stepping up, is encouraging its millions of members to hire military spouses and veterans, to find mentors for military wives and women veterans, and that chamber will host more than 100 job fears across the country for these individuals. technology leaders like aol, indeed.com, cisco, will help connect military spouses of veterans with employers that are hiring. companies like hewlett-packard and microsoft will train military spouses in new technologies so they can start their own businesses. believe me, the list goes on and on, because every business can do something. we are joining forces with nonprofits with their reach into communities all across the country. the uso is going to expand its efforts to help americans support military families. the military child education coalition is joining up with the national pta and with more than 100 teaching colleges to help educators and communities better serve our military kids. the national math and science initiative will be bringing advanced placement courses to tens of thousands of students. the sierra club and ym

u.s. chamber of commerce and the national chamber foundation hosted an aviation summit on global partnerships over the next 10 years. it is an all-day event starting live at 9:00 p.m. eastern. the federal reserve chairman ben bernanke posts a conference on the economic outlook. potential interest-rate changes in the first of what is expected to be yearly briefings on the federal reserve's view of the current economic situation. we will have the comments here on c-span. >> remarks from facebook chief operating officer on the evolution of the social network and its impact of the 500 million worldwide users. she also discusses policies preserving -- concerning content. this is 50 minutes. >> is this on? thank you for joining us. it is kind of the state of our industry these days. i was looking at the newspaper numbers since 1940. the u.s. has about 40 million [unintelligible] in a much shorter time, facebook has attracted so many millions of people. >> it matters for us as citizens and people. facebook has grown very quickly. and we feel like this is better -- bigger than one company. the inform

u.s. chamber of commerce is stepping up, and encouraging its millions of members to hire military spouses veterans, to find mentors for military wives and veterans. and the chamber will hosed job fears across the country for these individuals. technology leaders like aol, in the.com will help with hiring. companies like hewlett-packard and microsoft will train military families so they can begin their own bills of businesses. the list goes on and on. we are joining forces with nonprofits whose reach into communities all across the country -- the uso will expand its efforts to help americans support military families right here on the home front. and jill said the military's abolition organization is joining with the national pta and colleges to help educators better serve our military kids. the national math and science initiative will be bringing advanced placement courses to tens of thousands of students, including military kids. the sierra club and the ymca are partnering with the national military family association to give 15,000 military kids and families a chance to go to camp this

u.s. chamber of commerce estimates that trade deals with colombia, panama and south korea could provide up to 380,000 u.s. jobs, and we know that this deal alone would create tens of thousands of new jobs here in this country. at a time when millions of americans are out of work and businesses are looking for opportunities to hire, there was no excuse to slow walk these deals. so we hope today's meeting marks a real step forward in concluding this trade agreement with colombia. we expect this announcement means the president will be submitting all three trade agreements, all three -- korea, colombia, and panama -- in the very near future, and we look forward to working with them to clear them through the congress. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. with the first hour equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with republicans controll

u.s. chamber of commerce. on january 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake hit haiti where over 300,000 people died. the total on the economic is estimated of $30 billion. my focus as i promised during my campaign is to revise haitis economics, and provide education, moving people out of tents by jumpstarting construction, and focusing on the agricultural sector. in short, it is a new day for haiti. we are very thankful for the financial institution which raised money that, unfortunate unfortunately, unfortunate was never well spent in the first place, and the lack of infrastructure and basic services, evidently. even is a daunting task, jumpstarted the economy is a priority. by doing so we will create jobs and passion which leads to sustainable development. in order to a comish of this reform and free up the economic stimulus necessary to offer opportunities to the haitian people, the country needs to have access to loans. no country can build or rebuild infrastructure based on grants alone. we were very pleased by the f

u.s. chamber of commerce released a study identifying 351 stalled energy programs nationwide that are costing the american economy $1.1 trillion in lost economic impact and, more importantly, nearly 2 million jobs annually. by impeding our energy industry, we are imeegh impeding one of tt potent areas of prospective job growth. yet congress has not passed a comprehensive energy policy in our country in years. and, frankly, i don't know that we can wait any longer for that single, sweeping master plan that will do it all at once. we need to build it as expeditiously as we can. in north dakota, we built empower north dakota over a decade piece by piece and saw firsthand the power of energy development to boost our economy. by embracing empower north dakota, our state alone has realized $12 billion in new energy-related investments since 2005. with the right kind of energy policy, imagine what the impact would be for our nation. to expedite the process of building that energy policy on a national level, i'm working with leader mcconnell and entirety republican conference to create the kind of le

u.s. chamber of commerce to attack politicians who they pretended to admire and support or to undermine environmental causes, they can do that now because there is not the manpower in the media institutions to keep an effective watchdog -- watchdog eye on them. their people trying to do it and i salute them but not only is it harder to do, is much harsher to be hurt. that is crisis number one. crisis number two is two copies that we have this new beast in our media universe or media planet system. i guess it is the same thing. i was listening to brian green on terry gross today and he got me confused with all these new concepts of universe. i don't know what he the universe is anymore but anyway, and the most obvious manifestation of it is "fox news." "fox news" is not a news organization. it is a political organization. and it is a political organization that masquerades as a news organization. politicians lie. it is no shame for a politician to lie. i wrote a history of presidential lying, and it is not like anything that anybody ever felt the need to apologize for. if it furthers the policy that y

u.s. chamber of commerce. topics include ways to improve the aviation industry, security issues, and the future of aviation. live coverage at 9:00 eastern here on c-span2. now, the book "wild bill donovan," the spymaster who created the zero ss and modern american espionage. the book's author is a former time and newsweek correspondent douglas waller his book at the international by museum in february. >> i am glad that they have the photo of donovan happier. this is really kind of an iconic portrait shot. you see that when you get to the oss society meetings. this is the one most commonly identified. there is a funny story behind it. you will notice that he has his hair cut very short. actually a crewcut. he was out in the field most of the time when he was running the oss. he liked to go in on allied landings. very often he would have the ships barber or the military barber give him a crewcut before he went out. of course when he got back to headquarters he would get teased by the headquarters staff. in fact,

u.s. chamber of commerce. january 12, 2010, the 7.0 earthquake hit haiti where over 300,000 people died. lost homes and the toll on the economic is estimated upwards of $30 billion. my focus as i promised during my campaign is to revive and modernize pt's economic and provide free access to education, moving people out by just starting to reconstruction and focusing on the agricultural sector. in short it is a new day for haiti. we are very thankful for the financial institution, which raised money that was unfortunately never spent in the first place and the lack of infrastructure and service is evident of this. given this daunting task, john starting the economy is a priority. by doing so, we will create jobs and stir up economic activity which leads to sustainable development. in order to accomplish these reforms and create economic stimulus necessary to offer opportunities to the haitian people, the country needs to have access to loans. no country can build an infrastructure, on grants alone. we were very pleased by the fact that the financial institutions are open and flexible to ne

u.s. chamber of commerce of that, for the adviser to the president on the economy, there was a bigger put people there we have to talk about the national strategy for trusting and entities in cyberspace. this may be one of the best ones going. and the fact that this was led by some of the works that the national institute of standards and technology -- this is a true indicator of how important that this is to the economy and businesses as well as national security. but when we convened at the u.s. chamber, with the private sector in attendance, it showed very clearly that this is not a government-led effort. working with the private sector creates the system -- this is the key to its success. many of you participate in some form or fashion with what considered to be an open process, as we went through with the idea of creating some trusted identity in cyberspace, last summer. getting feedback from many people in civil liberties and day to day citizens, to look at , what is it that we need to put together as a strategy, and once we create this, who do we hand this off to to execute? what d

u.s. chamber of commerce, and as i said before, i've got other letters here and -- from the major farm organizations, including the american farm bureau, spue n. support of the inhofe-mcconnell amendment and offing the other political cover amendments that are being offered by our democrat colleagues. mr. president, let's get this done right. let's send a message to the e.p.a. and to the administration that this is the job for the congress to deal with. this is something the people's representatives should be dealing with, not unelected bureaucrats in federal agencies who have -- clearly have an agenda but an agenda that is clearly contrary to capital formation, to competitiveness, to job creation, and to economic growth. that is what this congress should be focused on, and that's why a vote in support of the inhofe-mcconnell amendment is so important. mr. president, i yeefl. -- i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, we've heard a lot of rhetoric on the floor of this chamber today defending why air pollution is just fi

u.s. chamber of commerce. this is about an hour. >> i want that he wants particularly thank carol and the national chamber foundation team for putting together another outstanding conference. i understand, as she said, this is the best attended we ever had. in this town and in this room i find that that is generally created from an equation that the level of problems have gone up and therefore the level of attendance is more significant looking for solutions. i think the high level of i want rest is being driven by one overriding question. what's next in the aviation industry? the industry has weathered a decade of storms since we first started hosting this annual summit ten years ago. that was 9/11 and the war on terror. there was -- there were two recessions, the last one the most severe since the great depression. the silver lining in these storm clouds was the suppressed demand that took the pressure off the system that was reaching its limits not only in aviation but let me say also in ports and on roads

u.s. chamber of commerce said this about the 1099 reporting requirement, and i quote -- "state when they canfford it, entities will have to institute new complex recordkeeping, data collection and reporting requirements to track every purchase by vendor and payment method." this provision, they said, will dramatically increase accounting costs and could expose businesses to costly and unjustified audits by the i.r.s. mr. president, even the i.r.s. information reporting program advisory committee has ruled against this, deeming this mandate burdensome with no measurable purpose. forcing businesses to spend time in the back room to fill out all these forms and do all this recordkeeping, and particularly those small businesses that don't have the back room, where the owner and the proprietor of the business is the one that has to fill out these forms instead of being out there to sell his services or run his business. those are particularly burdened by this -- by this unnecessary regulation. clearly, if we want to promote our businesses and hire more people and get more people back to work, we

u.s. chamber of commerce, just to follow up on the issue of fiscal profligacy. i think the point was that before the crisis struck, spain and ireland were running fiscal surpluses, and it was germany that broke the budget deficit limit. the point is, how much of a fiscal anger will really sect year growth in europe -- and gore will release secure growth in europe -- anchor will really secure growth in europe and create jobs? >> dennis, do you want to respond to that? >> yes, i think we need to take two things into account. your point is absolutely fair. there are several ways to be fiscally profligate. one is to stand in the way of running deficits. the other is making certain promises, which is what ireland has done. the way forward is to ensure that you have fiscal responsibility and the simplest way would be to find a world in which a government formulates fiscal rules. that would sort that out. once you are fiscally responsible, what insures bet you would continue to of prosperous growth? for that you would need to restructure the economy. one thing that has

u.s. chamber of commerce ceo tom donahue says the government needs to produce more oil and stay out of labor disputes. it was the first speaker at the annual aviation industry conference this week in washington. this portion of a meeting is about half an hour. >> well, being well known is not an as important as knowing what you are well known for. carol, thank you, good morning. we appreciate everyone that's taken time out of very busy schedules to join us here today. i want to particularly thank carol and the national chamber of foundation team for putting together another outstanding conference. i understand as she said, this is the best attended we ever had. in this town and in this room, i find that that is generally created from an equation that the level of problems have gone up. therefore, the level of attendance is more significant, looking for solutions. i think the high level of interest is being driven by one over riding question. what's next in the aviation industry? the industry is weathered a decade of storms since we first staged -- started hosting the annual summit ten years

u.s. geological society so they can explain to you about the seismic conditions. thank you very much. >> good afternoon. jim lazarus, san francisco chamber of commerce. a lot of projects have been around for a long time. there was the library and playground expansion voted on 10 years ago. the executive park planning process started six years ago. this is the tops -- 18 years ago, when the navy announced there were going to leave treasure island. there has been a process of developing a plan to rebuild this island and make it a home to thousands of people, to make a commercial hub of employment again. this is not follow land. since the world's fair in 1929 and the navy moving in in 1941, thousands of people have lived and worked on this island safely every year. thousands of vehicles a day on or off treasure island. we have an opportunity now to remake the island into a very positive experience environmentally, sustainability, and safely for people who work there, through transit improvements, congestion pricing, parking limitations, and the seismic rebuilding of the island infrastructure. this time has come. we have a great opportunity. last year, t

u.s. companies that do business abroad. mayor jean quan says it's all about the networking. >> i think we as regional government need to market our products together. we need to work on developing export venues. >> the chamber of commerce made it crystal clear. igniting the retail economy through exports. live here at the port of oakland, mike mibach. >>> one of the last crucial pieces of the new bay bridge suspension tower is being put into place at this hour. today's work began after dawn as workers lifted the piece. it is called the grillage and it's supposed to keep the bridge together. the structure's final height will be 525 feet. the new span is scheduled to be finished in the year 2013. >>> all right. time for the weekend, it's friday. a lot of people want to know what the weather is going to be like. let's check in now with bill martin for the weekend forecast. >> highs today got into the 70s. there's the rain, and it's not that far away is it. if you take a look you can see it is just a bit, well we'll measure it out if we can find our ruler here. you can see that from about this area, from the rain bound south. we're talking about 180-mile, 150 miles, so showers to the north of us. they could shift south as

of, and we would like to, in my meetings here with the chamber of commerce, with the american business groups, i see a lot of interest within the u.s. and some of the companies who we are talking to so this is an area i think of prime focus for us. >> mr. minister, i think we could go on all day. unfortunately, you have other obligations so i think we have to free you at this time. we wish you very good luck with the balance of your stay herement i think you'll find a keen interest to work with you and your colleagues on what after all many of us believe is a joint enterprise. we wish you good luck. we thank you for joining us today, and we -- if you join me in expressing our appreciation to our minister. [applause] we are now adjourned. >> thank you mr. hathaway. i have one request of all of you, please come and visit us. [laughter] >> i'm coming in two weeks. >> oh, good. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] it was right there written, sent around to the members. sent to the president. w

of, and we would like to, in my meetings here with the chamber of commerce, with the american business groups, i see a lot of interest within the u.sand some of the companies who we are talking to so this is an area i think of prime focus for us. >> mr. minister, i think we could go on all day. unfortunately, you have other obligations so i think we have to free you at this time. we wish you very good luck with the balance of your stay herement i think you'll find a keen interest to work with you and your colleagues on what after all many of us believe is a joint enterprise. we wish you good luck. we thank you for joining us today, and we -- if you join me in expressing our appreciation to our minister. [applause] we are now adjourned. >> thank you mr. hathaway. i have one request of all of you, please come and visit us. [laughter] >> i'm coming in two weeks. >> oh, good. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> coming up, a couple of international programs startin

available, and we would like in my meetings here with the chamber of commerce and the american business groups i see a lot of interest within the u.s. and some other companies who we are talking to. so this is an area i think of prime focus. >> mr. minister, i think we could go on all day. unfortunately, you have other obligations, so i think we have to free you at this time three we wish you very good luck in the balance of your stay here. i think you'll find a keen interest to work with you and your colleagues on what after all many of us believe is a joint enterprise. we wish you good luck. we thank you for joining us today, and if he will join me in expressing our appreciation to our minister. [applause] we are now adjourned. >> thank you mr. hathaway. i have one request to all of you, please come and visit. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >>> even at the cost of for wrecking the economy and a disabling democracy has reached epidemic proportions. i would say and correct me if i'm wrong that brown v. board was to protect the peace and prosperity of the people, and if that's the federal government overstepping

chamber of commerce in germany. i live in frankfurt with my wife. i read an article in the german newspaper and it said something like the u.s. federal taxes only support through programs -- medicare, medicaid, and social services. everything else is done on borrowing. is that true? >> in a broad sense, yes. >> is there any consensus or fought about the federal vat? >> no, no enthusiasm anywhere for that. let me take the positive side about that. you can close the gap and start to reduce the overall debt burden on the economy without a revolution in tax policy or what we do for insurance and pension benefits for the elderly. it does not require radical restructuring of basic things. it is difficult to do. it is tougher than in other countries because the challenge is so great. with consequential changes, you can get yourself to sustainability. >> we're running close on time. we're going to take heed of questions at once. jim? >> jim hope from the council on foreign relations. councilman ryan finally broke through the avoidance of talking about entitlement programs with a proposal that we shift the cost to the individual. the

u.s. chamber of commerce by the favors, the concrete people, the construction unions, local government. across the board that would have us increase our investment in infrastructure, even if that meant raising user fees. my friend from oklahoma who in 1982 put through a nickel a gallon increase in the gas tax user fee. well, i am not certain that we are going to be doing that any time soon. we can start indicating that we are listening to our contractors, our local government, our citizens who are stuck in traffic whose count to five children could not get to school safely. we are seeing cutbacks in transit at precisely the time more people are relying on it. just as important as what we would invested and in terms of transportation options is where the resources would come from. i have worked with some members on this committee in the past because of the outrageous ethanol subsidies, some $40 billion that we have invested since 1980. more than 40, mike? 40 billion? you and i were not working on that one. it is other members. corn-based ethanol is going to cost us in the neighborhood of