and also thank you, secretary vilsack. in my community, one of the things that is becoming more of a topic is the concept of local food and partly as a sustainability initiative. the idea that when you have food that is moving for thousands of miles to get to the plate, it has an impact on the environment and on energy consumption. i'm wondering whether there are initiatives through usda to promote local food and to help connect urban areas to some of the food sources that are closer. >> mayor, there are a couple of things i would say in response to that. first, we have a program referred to as know your farmer, know your food. it's not actually a program. it's sort of an ovinfrastructur that allows cold storage, warehousing, mobile storage units and the like to help critical mass of locally produced food so that can do exactly what you've suggested. we've increased to farmers' markets because that's another opportunity. we now have over 7,200 farmers' markets. we've seen an increase as well in winter of farmers' markets.

i can tell you that secretary vilsack has been very aggressive in managing administrative costs. these out there very strong position in terms of consolidating administrative costs. closing -- proposing to close offices. >> because originally -- >> it can be incredibly efficient with his use of administrate i've. >> the reason i ask is because you've proposed in 2011, enacted where salaries at 1208. >> what page are you working off of? >> i'm working off of -- i actually have this -- the usda budget summary. >> right. >> and you are working off of what line? >> it's page 16. it would be discretionary under farm service agency, fsa salaries and expenses. so i guess my comment and my question is, why would you eliminate an entire program but not adjust federal government salaries to to show that this i program that's not going to be in existence, so we're going to continue to be paying government employees for a program that doesn't exist. >> we need to get to the bottom of it. because as i said, secretary vilsack has shown tremendous leadership in cutting expenses and ensuring tha

among the speakers, agriculture secretary tom vilsack and new jersey representative frank pallone. this is an hour, ten minutes. i just want to tell you that i think we're very, very honored today to have the secretary of agriculture. i was speaking to him a few moments ago, and he was mayor for five years of pleasant, iowa, i believe it was -- mount pleasant, iowa. i think once you're mayor, you're always a mayor. you know, you kind of go around cities and you're looking at streets and you're looking at stores and residential neighborhoods and all that. but so he is now secretary of agriculture. and they gave me a little bit of literature. i just want to read one thing. i want to turn it over to him so he can make remarks. and then i want this to be a dialogue to where we have a little bit of a question and answer and talk to him about some of the things that we're doing. but one thing in particular is that he entered into a partnership with the department of energy and the u.s. navy to invest up to $510 million during the next three years to produce advanced drop in aviation mari

secretary vilsack was able to attend that event as was mentioned. before i talk about the no kid hundred campaign in virginia, let me give you a quick background we serve about six million customers in 14 states. one thing we've learned is we need to have that strong connection in our communities where we have customers. just as important where our

secretary vilsack was able to attend that event as was mentioned. before i talk about the no kid hundred campaign in virginia, let me give you a quick background on the philanthropic added -- activities that dominion resources is involved with. we serve about 6 million customers in 14 states. we need to have that strong connection in our communities will be have customers and where our employees live and work. we recognize we are part of that commitment and would come back and say we have a corporate responsibility in each of those communities. how our philanthropic activities are through the dominion foundation, but we approach it from a decentralized approach, even though we are headquartered in richmond, virginia and have those operations in many states, we give the ability to donate and get involved in each state through employee-led groups which we call community investment boards. they decide where the dollars are spent. they have a better purview of where it is spent and we give them as much spectrum to say what is important. they come back a

among the guests were tom vilsack and representatives from walmart.about an hour and 10 minutes. >> all right, the meeting of the national governors' association education and early childhood development and work force is called to order. we will see some more filter in has the original meetings conclude which has been going on. i am the governor of arkansas and chairman of this committee and honored to be joined by our vice chairman, governor bill has learned from tennessee. together, i think we have enjoyed this committee over the last several months. a bit of housekeeping -- those of you who have yourself owns on, please put them on vibrate or silent or something else. we have one of our own weapons, the secretary of agriculture is a governor, too, or used to be a governor. he can appreciate what is going on with most of us better perhaps than most folks involved in the federal government and we are grateful that he is here. briefing books for this meeting were sent to governors in advance and can be found and a blue binder in front of you. they ha

it was a tremendous kick off with the guests were mcdonnell, vilsack and jeff bridges.we are not the source of the press conference i might add. but he was terrific. and a great kickoff of course in virginia and i appreciate the ongoing support in this area. so i present to you dan weekley. >> julie, i think we will take you first. and if you don't mind, we will take your presentation and then dan, yours and they will opened up for questions or comments. >> thank you, governor beebe, for your kind introduction and your leadership on this issue. we're really proud to partner with you in our no kid left hungry campaign. we're thankful for this committee. over the last three years, wal-mart has seen jobs and becoming come to the forefront of our customers minds, and really of all americans. in the time we seen sharp upticks in a people rely on government assistance, and we've seen a pronounced paycheck cycle where our stores are busy as paychecks are released for government, release. these our customers and we see them struggling, and we want to help. that's why in may 201

among the guests, the agriculture secretary tom vilsack. at 2:30, the special commission on homeland security and public safety explore the changing role of the national guard. joining the governors will be the chief of the national guard bureau. watch live coverage beginning at 9:30 eastern, sunday on c- span. sunday morning on "washington journal," the editorial page editor of the detroit news. he will discuss his paper's endorsement of mitt romney for president. into the senate, they endorsed john mccain. then we will speak with bob mcdonnell, participating in this weekend's in g a winter meetings. he recently changed his position regarding a bill and his state requiring women to get an ultrasound before having an abortion. at 8:40, celinda lake on on the history of women voters and how women are trending and 2012. "washington journal," live sunday at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. in his weekly address, president obama calls for the development of the new energy sources in addition to increase oil production in the united states. then, ka

. >> jay, you took a question yesterday about secretary vilsack's comment about getting the oil companiesis words, "to help ensure that the recovery that we're now seeing is not jeopardized by energy costs that get out of control." what did you find out about that? >> you know what, i would refer you to the department of agriculture. i think what our approach has been is to, through the policies that i've been describing several times now, to work with domestic oil and gas companies to ensure that more -- millions and millions of more acres are available -- millions of acres are available for exploration in the gulf and in alaska and other places. we work with manufacturers in a variety of ways to ensure the smooth operation of a system here that provides oil and gas products to american consumers, but i don't think it was anything more specific than that. >> do you know of any specific concern -- >> no -- >> -- a new effort to get them to try to put a lid on prices? >> no, no, no, no. and i think that should not be interpreted that way. i think this was more about the fact that we have a

we have the honor today of being joined by our secretary and former iowa governor pierre tom vilsack will offer his unique perspective on the role that governors would peg in addressing childhood hunger as well as opportunities for state and the federal government to parker as a look at the new child nutrition laws. we'll hear from representatives from two major companies who are leading efforts to partner with governors to solve childhood under issues. one of the opportunities we have today is to understand better how we can create and leverage public's-private partnerships or maybe it is as simple as part 9 with wal-mart or dominion to address child under issues. with that, i will introduce our very first honored guest. he seems to be on a downward trending career path. he is now the secretary of agriculture but at one time he was a governor and before that he was a mayor. you're definitely heading the wrong way career-wise. he is the 30 as secretary of agriculture and was appointed by the president in january of 2009. one of the things he is working on as revitalizing our rural co

caller: i recently watched tom vilsack meet with the governors of all the different states. one thing they were talking about was growing vegetables at the schools and also using vegetables from local vendors. as a parent, what can parents do in terms of encouraging or influencing regulation in terms of school vending machines and encouraging local participation? that ai think it's great lot more schools are doing things like trying to get the local produce and growing some of it on campus to get kids involved. i think the more kids are involved in understanding the menu, the more you buy into it and more likely to be less waste. there are things parents can do in terms of getting their concerns heard, saying we would really like to see this done, making suggestions. i know schools have been working in many cases with parents to make changes. a number of schools have already made changes to the competitive foods and snacks that are sold because of the feedback from parents. new york, i believe, as of 5% reduction in obesity and overweight among their children after their ado

secretary vilsack talked about barriers like equipment. it has been things like working with the district, identifying the equipment shortage, identifying the model, whether grab and go carts that go in the hallway or rolling coolers delivered to the classroom to serve a hot breakfast, then identifying the infrastructure so they can do it for themselves as part of their model each day. so, it is a philanthropic investment but it is building the capacity of the district to do it long term. >> thank you very much. i'm tkpwg going to pay some tec attention to this when i get home. i simply wasn't familiar. i had one last point. we are participating in the wick and snap and so on. one thing that we have some difficult and it has partially to do with our fault at this stage because our software and hardware communications, our capacity literally to talk to one another is at a very primitive stage. it is one of the big initiatives i'm trying to get under which it modernize our capacity to talk department to department and especially with nonprof

. >> took a question yesterday about secretary vilsack's comments about getting the oil companies to help insure that the recovery that we are now seeing is not jeopardized by energy costs. what did you find out? >> i would refer you to the department of agriculture. i think what our approach has been is to come through the policies i have been describing several times, to work with domestic oil and gas companies to ensure that millions of acres are available for exploration in the gulf and in alaska and in other places. we work with manufacturers in a variety of ways to insure the smooth operation of a system that provides oil and gas products to american consumers. i do not think we have done anything more specific than that -- i do not know anything more specific than that. this was more about the fact that we have a lot of dialogue to ensure that the overall system that produces supplies is operating smoothly. >> in a speech tomorrow, is he going to specifically address the current price situation? is there going to be reassurance for people in this speech which is going to focus

we have the honor today of being joined by our secretary and former iowa governor pierre tom vilsack who will offer his unique perspective on the role that governors would peg in addressing childhood hunger as well as opportunities for state and the federal government to parker as a look at the new child nutrition laws. we'll hear from representatives from two major companies who are leading efforts to partner with governors to solve childhood under issues. one of the opportunities we have today is to understand better how we can create and leverage public-private partnerships or maybe it is as simple as part 9 with wal-mart or dominion to address child hungerissues. with that, i will introduce our very first honored guest. he seems to be on a downward trending career path. he is now the secretary of agriculture but at one time he was a governor and before that he was a mayor. you're definitely heading the wrong way career-wise. he is the secretary of agriculture and was appointed by the president in january of 2009. one of the things he is working on as revitalizing our rural commun

among the guests, education secretary tom vilsack. later, the special committee on homeland security will exemployer the changing role of the national guard. joining the group will be fema administrator craig fugate. watch live coverage sunday here on c-span. >> bobby jindall was scheduled to reveal his budget. a budget $900 billion in the red. in shreveport it is mostly cloudy at the airport. 38 in memphis. are you listening to shreveport news and weather station. >> next weekend book tv and american history tv explore the history and lit rarey culture of shreveport, louisiana, saturday starting at noon eastern on book tv on c-span2. "one damn blunder from beginning to end." there will be over 200,000 books of the john bell collection. then a walking tour of shreveport with neal johnson. and in american history tv subpoenaed at 5:00 p.m. eastern from foxdale air force base, a look at the base's role on 9/11 and the building of the b-2 bomber. >> also visit the founding father's photograph collection. >> and medicine treatment and med