in your view, that is not a concern. kugels search product is not why google maps is more popular than map quest? that is right. david, if you were around 10 years ago with the antitrust case. there is no greater comparison between that and myself and matt damon. microsoft charged consumers excessive amounts of money. i have never gotten a bill from google. microsoft locks consumers in. if you wanted to switch from their system, you had to buy another operating system. you have to try to install it. microsoft created incompatibility so it was difficult to install. microsoft puts chains around manufacturers to make it difficult for them to offer other kinds of operating systems. to paraphrase lloyd bentsen, i no monopolists and google is not one. they went too far. the development was fine. in denying consumers choices and being able to switch to something else, that is where they went wrong. google is not doing anything that is nice denies consumers the ability to switch from one search engine to another. you have talked about how google is not charging customers. the revenue model is different from microsoft. they make their money from advertising. in the media, firms make money on advertising. there are laws restricting the relationships between paid advertisements and disclosures of editorial or sponsored content. would something like that be appropriate in terms of google? the message of the hearing yesterday was one of transparency. disclosed so that consumers know. you can readily switch to other forms of search to figure out if you are getting the fairest search from google. i do not think that kind of regulation would be necessary. you have been working with google if you were working with google, how would you judge his performance in front of the committee? both the committee and mr. schmidt deserve a tremendous amount of credit for highlighting an issue consumers care a lot about and helping to clarify what is going on in the market. david balto former director of the bureau of competition during the clinton administration and a longtime antitrust attorney, thank you for being on the communicators. gautham nagesh has been our guest reporter. thank you, gentlemen. spent this weekend in charlotte, north carolina. throughout the weekend, the history and the literary life from the site of the 2012 democratic national commission. the charlotte banking industry and how the south was created in american popular culture. also, a visit to learn about the relationship between independent bookstores and publishers. on american history tv, tour the birthplace of james polk. a discussion with the charlotte civil rights leader on his experiences during the 1960 s went counter sit-ins. visit the gold mine where gold was first discovered in america. that is this weekend on c-span2 adnd 3. this form and outlines the way for for the joint debt reduction committee and urges congress to seek reductions of $4 trillion or more compared to the proposed $1.5 trillion. speakers include the former co- chairman of president obama s that commission. this event is hosted by the new american foundation and the committee for responsible federal budget. it is one hour and 15 minutes. [unintelligible] the long run budget projections come in. those are truly terrifying. the national debt is an enormous threat. it calls into credibility the full faith and credit of the united states. that means we are a third-world country. country s decline because they lose wars or buried under their own debt. the consequences of failing to deal with it are catastrophic. it is a bigger threat to the health of our economy than most people recognize or have been told. we cannot allow the deficit and debt to continue as they are. they will crowd out almost all other spending in terms of the interest on the debt. that is not an acceptable alternative for our country. it is not an acceptable alternative for our children and grandchildren. erskine bowles cause of the most serious threat our country has ever had, the most difficult thing to resolve, and the most predictable as to what will happen. i do not think you can overstate the threat to the u.s. it is a threat to the foundation of our economy. the joint chiefs of staff have identified it as our greatest national security threat. it would give the country and consumers more confidence to see a longer-term plan on reform the restores fiscal sustainability. it threatens the idea of self-government. it threatens the notion that free people, acting freely together, can discipline themselves to put the future before the present and their children s interests ahead of their own. this debt issue is not a singular issue of concern to us to our country. it is a concern to people who look to america for leadership. you have to think the debt is our single biggest problem. we have a very large long- term deficit problem. we have to fix it. there is no option. we have to reduce the future debt. people in business and government have come out and ask the committee to think about going beyond the cut mandates. a day after the letter was sent saying i supported that objective. i believe it is critical if we re going to get to where we need to be in any country on sound fiscal footing. the joint committee needs to go big. policymakers need to be looking ahead. we have to have a go big approach to this problem. i believe this committee ought to go big. we absolutely need to go big because the problems we re facing are big. del year is not an option on deficit reduction. failure is not an option on deficit reduction. thank you so much. welcome to the urging the super committee to go big event that we are hosting today. thank you to our audience on c- span. please turn the lights on. i am the president of the committee for responsible federal budget. it is our first foray into using video technology in our events. there are a lot of voices out there are urging the new super committee of 12 men and women tasked with finding savings over the next decade to go big. early last week, there was a letter released by 60 leaders from business, former treasury officials, cbo, omb, and outside voices all urging the super committee to go big. said it is important to go beyond their mission. there was a group of senators, 36 senators standing on the stage together pushing to do something hard, come up with a savings package in the trillions of dollars that included entitlements, revenue, all areas of the budget. today we have gathered the leading voices in the budget area, right and left, all different backgrounds, to come together and talk about why they believe the super committee needs to go beyond the mandate of finding dollars and 1.5 trillion to find more in savings. a finding $1.5 trillion to find more in savings. what they are tasked with is very difficult. these are things policymakers have been ducking for the past decade of real spending cuts and increases in revenue. if you are going to go through all of that work and compromise, you want to fix the problem. we re going to need something bigger than thwhat they are looking at to stabilize the debt and put it on a downward trajectory. we have been saying it is important golan. is not just a short-term problem. in the short term, the biggest problem is making sure the economic recovery stays on track. this is a medium and long-term problem. it is critical that the members of the super committee look at it and are supported in looking at the long term drivers of the problem. those are areas of the budget growing faster than is sustainable. we re making the point they have to go smart grid there are ways to cut the budget. you can mindlessly put in caps and push things down. but do not begin choose which programs are working or outdated. if you go smart, you end up looking of the budget and saying you need a budget that focuses more on public investment and less on consumption. if you go smart on revenue, you look it over at overhauling the tax system. our tax code is so crummy to begin with, that we can reform it in so many ways that will improve it, simplify it, make it more efficient, and raise revenue. at least there are a lot of opportunities there. the big come along, go smart needs to be what go big, go long, those smart needs to be what people are pushing. that is the point of what we re pushing today. we have a list of phenomenal people coming to speak today. and like to invite my co-host steve bell and bob bixby to come up and say a few words before we get started with our first panel. thank you. you have been toiling in these fields for a long time. you have done good work. we appreciate it. i want to make three points. we re very glad to co-sponsor this today. dr. rivlin will speak in the first panel. i would like to say all the work done to date has not changed the debt trajectory over the next 30 years at all. all of the fighting that you saw did not make much difference. that brings me to the third point that maya made. the joint select committee has an opportunity to go big. it is written into the law. they can do similar things if they wish to bring about a really big changes in taxes and spending. it is their choice. i think only external pressure will make them make that choice. maya, thank you very much for everything. i have three things to say on behalf of the concord coalition. a thoroughly endorse dole big and go long. go smart was not on my list, but i endorse that. what i was going to say was do not go it alone. some of the work the concord coalition does is give political advice to all members of congress. because of the political difficulties of these choices, do not go alone. do things like senator warner and senator chambliss did and go to explain things. do not go it alone also means to bring the public along with you. the last thing we want to happen is that the super committee go and make some deal where nobody knows what is going on or understands the choices. then something comes out on the eve of thanksgiving and everyone spends december trying to figure out what is and arguing about it rather than having a good debate and going towards a vote that might get consensus. big, go smart, but do not go along. following my own advice, i have to hit the road. thank you. can we turn to the video before we start the panel? we re already at high levels of debt to gdp. those are historically high and dangerous numbers. we are quickly going to pass 100% debt to gdp and accelerate from there. that is unsustainable and will lead to a debt crisis without question. we re almost at 100% of our economy in total debt to gdp. we have tens of trillions of dollars of unfunded obligations better off of the balance sheet. we need to deal with these issues before we have a debt crisis in the united states. 30 years from now, we re looking at deficits of 16% or more of gdp every year. that is unsustainable. no country has ever run deficits like that and managed to stay solvent. economists agree on very few things. most of them agreed that debt to gdp above 60% is not prudent. debt to gdp at 90% has a very negative effect on growth. if the committee fails, we are in serious trouble. we will go into a tailspin almost immediately. we almost went into one this last time around. i think everyone was waiting for something that would come in and save everybody at the last minute. most people recognize that cannot happen anymore. the consequences are so dramatic that the failure to come up with something now will have enormous consequences for this country. our standard of living will go down immediately. the first step in a growth and jobs strategy is to show to ourselves and the markets of the world that the united states does not intend to go bust. we need to begin scaling down the terrifying debt and deficit levels. we need to put in place long- term measures that show we re going to deal with the unfunded obligations that are not even being counted in the numbers. the joint committee needs to go big if they want to provide assurance to the capital markets and foreign investors that we re serious about putting our financial house in order. i believe the super committee needs to achieve at least $3 trillion in additional deficit reduction over the last 10 years next 10 years. we have high unemployment. more than 14 million americans are unemployed. we have a terrible long-term budget problem. we simply have to make progress on both of those things. that is why i feel so strongly that the right policy is to programaggressive jobs requires more spending and tax cuts, pair that with a much more serious reduction in our long- term deficit. that is the right economic policy for the united states. timing is the element. it is not an either or situation. it is when you start making the cuts. doing it in a phased approach positions us for a berth in the long term positions us for growth in the long term. there are things you can do to help the economy but will not affect the long-term debt issue. if we correct the long-term deficit and put in place proposals that will lead to a fiscally responsible nation where we can afford our debt and our debt to gdp ratio falls below 60%, we will dramatically help the short term recovery because people will have confidence in our country and currency and our ability to finance our government. if we do not do that, they will not have confidence. they will not make investments. the short-term economy will slow. the long-term economy will be disastrous. we need to give the economy and business sector confidence to give the international community confidence. we need to balance our budget and bring our debt load down. we need to invest in growing jobs and giving business enterprises the opportunity and encouragement to do so. if this super committee came up with a big solution that put us on a path towards solving the long-term fiscal insolvency of this country, there would be a huge burst of enthusiasm and energy from the american people and entrepreneurs phillip causing major economic expansion and create lots of jobs. it would make people feel good about the nation again. failure is not an option. we have to deal with our long run deficit. we have put a lot of weight on the shoulders of this super committee. they simply have to step up. thank you. if we could have our first panel, and join us. if we could have our first panel join us. erskine bowles was the first chairman of the fiscal commission senator mike crapo was also on the fiscal commission. alice rivlin, vice chair of the fed, on the fiscal commission, and co-chair of the commission. we have a remarkably experienced group of people that work together on putting together a bipartisan deals that could go big. hopefully they will inform the work of the super committee. i will be joined by peter cook from bloomberg tv. i will turn this over to you for the first question. i appreciate the invitation to participate in this all-star panel to talk about the super committee. this is an important topic for our audience at bloomberg. it is important for audiences around the country to find out why you believe going big is the right thing. we have heard from other voices that perhaps going small is better. erskine bowles, you had the benefit of being the chairman of the deficit commission along with alan simpson. you came up with a package that did exceed the $4 trillion figure. give us a sense of why going big makes sense for the country and is feasible. it was a great honor to serve on the commission and do some of the biggest work in my life. this super committee has to go big and bold. they had better be smart. if they do not go big in a rumpled and smart, we face the most predictable economic crisis in history. it is clear the fiscal path of our country is on is not sustainable. if we do nothing, if we just stick our heads in the ground, the future of our country is not very bright. what worries me is people who go around saying we can simply grow our way out of the problem or tax our way out or cut our way out of the problem. this problem is too big to be solved by anyone of those solutions any one of those solutions. we have to grow revenue and cut spending. we have to cut spending wherever we find it. the reason it has got to be at least $4 trillion is that is the minimum amount you have to reduce the deficit over 10 years by in order to stabilize the debt and put it on a declining basis as a percent of gdp. that has got to be the bogey. this is not just an arithmetic game. it would be crazy if we did this and did not take into account the very fragile and economic recovery we have today. in the recommendations we made, we made sure we did not have big cuts this year or next year but we did eventually get back to pre-crisis levels of spending. we have to make sure we do not disrupt the fragile economic recovery. we also have a responsibility to take care of the truly disadvantaged. we did not want to cut food stamps, ssi, or workers compensation. we ve got to invest if we re going to succeed in a global economy. we have to invest in education, infrastructure, and research. we have to do it in a responsible manner. the tax code we have, you could not dream of a more anti- competitive, and effective, efficient tax code inefficient tax code. if we eliminate most of the tax expenditures, we can reduce rates and applied a significant portion of the money we save to bring down the deficit but a significant amount. that is the kind of thing that makes sense. it would generate a dynamic growth. it would create jobs. i think it would put america back on the road to prosperity. po, there areaig vo questions about whether congress can go big at anything. you sat on the deficit commission. why is going big feasible and the right choice? let me say that i agree with everything my good friend erskine bowles has just said. we re all on the fiscal commission together. we did reach the conclusions that he just mentioned. $4 trillion is literally the minimum that we can do. it is not the ideal. i am one of those who was more aggressive. i think we need to do if twice or three times over the next decade to truly get ourselves into a posture we should be in fiscally. your question is, can we go big, does congress have the ability to go big? the short answer is that gridlock is no longer an option. my answer is yes. one of the reasons i say that it s back to the fiscal commission and the gang of cents i worked on. three democrats and republicans were able to come together on a big option. that group represented both sides of the philosophical spectrum in the united states. we were able to come together because the crisis is so real and imminent. we have had these debates in congress forever over whether we should tax the rich or not, who is the rich, how much do they pay in relation to everything else, what programs are critical, and what the safety net should be. the bottom line is that we need to have at least a $4 trillion solution. we need to keep everything on the table. that does not mean there are not ways to protect the safety net. that does not mean there are not ways to make sure that we have fairness and reform. it means we have to put aside our partisanship and get down to the business of doing it. it can be done. people from broad perspectives can come together. i have to say it is a tough order now with the political climate in washington. it is nothing short of toxic right now in terms of the nature of the political battles taking place. i believe out of that comes an opportunity, perhaps one of the greatest opportunities we have had in the recent past to truly reform our fiscal policy and tax policy in a way that will put us on the path we to controlling our spending and developing a pro-growth package for the country that will create the kinds of jobs and economic explosion we are capable of if we will just create the proper climate. there are a lot of skeptics that they can get anything done. $4 trillion is a tall order. from the christmas perspective, what is right from the business perspective, what is right? let me give some overview on this. honeywell is a $37 billion company. more than half of our sales and employees are outside the u.s. and over 100 countries. beyond making a commercial for honeywell, the point is that i travel a lot. i get to see a lot of other countries and what they are doing. it is important for us to realize as a country that 20 years ago, there were 1 million participants in the global economy. today there are about 4 billion participants in the global economy. china, india, eastern europe a lot of southeast asians were not participants before. yet we still act like we did 20 years ago. we brag about winning the olympics 20 years ago as opposed to focusing on what we need to do to win today. we need an american competitiveness agenda. we need to get our competitive mojo back the way it was when our parents and grandparents got us in the position we are in today. there are a number of things to address. debt, energy policy, math and science education, infrastructure. these are all things we need to do to be globally competitive. the part that scares me is we re takeing it difficult to d care of the glaringly obvious problem. with simpson-bowles, i thought we had a glaringly obvious solution. $4 trillion is the minimum. if you look at the baseline used, we ended up at $20 trillion in debt in 10 years if we did not do anything. that assumed the reduction in the war spending. % gdp growth.6 it assumed medicare growth with moderate from 10% to 6% would moderate from 10% to 6%. using a $20 trillion basin, you need $4 trillion just to get to the point that they were talking about before. if you say it could be worse than that because some assumptions will not happen, then we may have to do this again. if we do this in small bites, it is better than nothing. but you have to assume there is a good chance you will have to do it six more times. when you think about the ridiculousness of our situation, i read if you are trying to explain to a family what we re doing as a government, it is difficult to understand when you talk about trillions. if you tell an american family that we are making $21,000 a year and spending $35,000 a year and will do it for a long time, how long do you think that will go? most american families would say at some point i would have to declare bankruptcy and that is not a good thing. we all know this program problem will be resolved one of two ways. we can do it now thoughtfully and proactively the way grown- ups do things. the other way is to wait until it gets to a point where the bond market decides they do not trust you any more. with much of our debt held outside of the u.s., there is a point at which they will say i will not give you any more money unless you give me a higher interest-rate. if interest rates go up on government debt, there is a tendency to think it is just a wall street problem. but the fact is, home loans could go to 10%. carlos could be 13%. what happens to the economy and main street in? that is why we need to do this now. we have to have a least $4 trillion to have a chance. i can assure you if we do fallers trillion that we will not have to do it again because the issue is that big. alice rivlin, you have won just about every hat here. for college training, how hard is it? $4 trillion, how hard is it? how much time do we have? hining]rophone windi [inaudible] if we do not solve this problem and show the world we are on track [microphone whining] we may get our comeuppance fairly soon. it may damage our chances of recovery. we do need to spend more or texas in the near term to get the recovery back on track. it is worse than we thought it was a few months ago. if we do not solve the deficit fast, the world will look at us and we will look at ourselves and say we re not competent. this country we have had so much faith in all of these years is not facing up to ordinary problems and the government does not work. that is very damaging to confidence around the world, including here. it is damaging to the ability of our own companies to make decisions that will help them invest in for individuals to spend again. it makes the world very uncertain. this super committee has extraordinary powers. you cannot have written this into the constitution. nobody would have wanted to give anyone that much power. but here we are with the committee of 12 people that can write laws which change entitlement programs, tax codes. get it to the floor and voted on. no amendments or filibusters or anything. that is a huge opportunity. it is an opportunity to do both things to solve the double problem of revving up the recovery in the near term but folding that into a reform of entitlement and taxes that brings our debt onto a more stable path. that will take compromise. it will take courage. i thought we saw that on the simpson-bowles group. i became a big fan of senator crapo and his equally conservative republican colleague senator coburn. they worked through the arithmetic and realized it would take revenue. i have always been a fan of senator durbin. he also came to the difficult conclusion that this is going to take training in the entitlements. reining in the entitlements. it was a display of courage and compromise that i hope will spread to the rest of the congress and especially to the select committee. [microphone whining] you have made the point of $4 trillion is a minimum instead of the maximum we should be thinking about. if you get to $4 trillion, you stabilize the debt. it is still well above our historical averages. they were below 40% of gdp. we would still be at 60% and moving down. you do not want debt levels to be high because you need fiscal flexibility. you need to borrow if you are hit with emergencies or other wars. those are the things you need to be able to borrow four. it is important that people understand as much as we wish you could balance the budget in a couple of years, it is critically important that at least the debt not be growing faster than the economy. one of the problems with the $50 trillion is that it is not enough to reassure markets and avoid a downgrade. it is lose-lose for a lot of work. the economic news is getting worse. we see people falling into one bucket of reducing the deficit or having more stimulus. many of you have weighed in on thinking about doing both simultaneously. reducing the debt in a gradual and thoughtful way is part of an economic growth strategy. talk about how the debt reduction affects economic growth. senator crapo, you may want to weigh in on tax reform as well. let me take the first side of that. you hit the nail on the head. we need to remember that this special committee was created as a result of the debt ceiling battle we had in congress. it was a battle over extending the debt ceiling by about $2 trillion. that is how the $2 trillion figure was achieved. it was not to solve our debt crisis. it was to counterbalance the increase in the debt ceiling. it is important to realize that. i am concerned that we may think the $2 trillion target was the solution to our debt crisis. one of the main reasons we re here today is to point out that is not the case. we have to move further. a couple days ago, the subcommittee had five prominent economic figures in the united states before us. we would all recognize them. one question i asked them once that given the differences of opinion on how we should attack the problem, what do you think the minimum step should be? two of them said a minimum of $4. two of them set a minimum of $6 trillion. that is to put in this is on the fact we have a tremendous task ahead of us. all five agreed and said that one of the problems we have is that the assumptions we are making about the performance of the economy and the impact of the demands from entitlements are unrealistic. we re not even addressing the full picture of the problem in our analyses. we have to recognize that. your question focused on where we need to head in terms of the balance between the austerity that we need to control spending and a growth package for our country. there is a huge impact on growth simply by controlling our spending and the growth of our deficit. cbo has put out numbers that shows there are hundreds of billions of dollars of growth that can and will occur simply as a result of the control of our deficit. it is because of the drug the deficit places on the economy. tax reform, energy policy reform, regulatory reform, litigation reform, and a number of other areas where we know what we need to do. we could create a climate where we have a powerful pro-growth, pro-competition agenda accompanied by an austerity program with congress controlling its spending. we could put the united states in a position where the economic impact would be the most phenomenally powerful part of the entire plan. when we say $4 trillion would stabilize the debt, that assumes the 4.6% a year of nominal gdp growth for 10 years. we re already missing that. it assumes medicare and medicaid growth moderates to 6% a year. you can easily get yourself to where it just slows the growth of it. you can do the short-term stimulus and the long term intelligent plan at the same time. when i read things in the press or statements that people may, it seems those two are mutually exclusive. they are not. you can do both. the long-term plan needs to address medicare and medicaid. and get the feeling that no politician really wants to discuss it. the american public needs to have an honest discussion about the impact of medicare and medicaid. it is a demographic time bomb. the baby boomers are retiring at a higher rate. we re going to crash the system. there s not enough money going in to support it. the longer we wait for my generation to retire, the worse it gets. it is extremely difficult to take a benefit away from somebody already getting it. if you can reduce the program before people enter it, i think you stand a chance. this problem is coming. it has been coming for decades. people have known it. it is just that now is facing us. in the next 10 years, medicare and medicaid growth grows from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion a year. we cannot do that. it is not only feasible. it is necessary to do the two things at once. the timing is actually good. one of the big things that has to be done to stabilize the debt is reduced the rate of growth of entitlement programs. they are retirement programs. you cannot fix them quickly. not much you do on entitlement reforms is going to affect the budget for quite a long time. it may be 10 years or more. then you get the benefits of further into the future. that has nothing to do with right now. if you are going to have a comprehensive reform of the tax code that is riddled lot of loopholes including popular ones like converting the home mortgage deduction to its credit, you cannot do it really fast. you have to phase it in over time. the long-term debt stabilization reform we re talking about that ought to come out of the committee is not going to damage the economy in the short term. in the short run, we do need more job creation and things that will widen the deficit a bit to help is on track to stronger growth. i agree. it would be repetitive. christina romer makes a number of the same points about focusing on a long-term debt reduction for each of the fiscal space in the short run to do more on growth and jobs. these videos will be posted in the long, full version so everyone will be able to see them on the crfb web site. peter? the elephant in the room is the debate in washington. to go big, you have to put revenue and entitlements on the table. it is going to be tough choice for your republican colleagues, those on the super committee. how do you sell the republicans on revenue as a component? are you talking about the same revenue president obama is talking about? you have put your finger on the biggest issue that has to be handled between the two parties. i think it can be resolved in a number of ways. to me the easiest way to address it is to deal with the way that congress scores various proposals. as the bowles-simpson committee recommended, allow us to become more accurate in scoring the impact of various policies. and talking regularizing dynamic scoring rather than static scoring i am talking about regularizing dynamic scoring rather than static scoring. it can give you the revenue piece of the equation without raising taxes. the bowles-simpson commission literally reduced tax rates, flat and the code flat tened the code. we were then able to debate if any of that should be allocated to debt retirement as opposed to rate reduction. that is an area where we can get the most progress. we cannot get past that if we assume it is just ecstatic response of the economy to any decisions made. one of the key things that needs to be done is that we need to accept the notion of analyzing the impact of various tax proposals with a dynamic model. from that point, we can analyze the revenue impacts we need to generate for the economy coming from different proposals. that is not a conversation most people are having right now. it is a conversation i have had a number of times in the last several weeks with almost all the members of the super committee. i am relatively hopeful. i would not say optimistic, but i am hopeful. since we came out with our plan in december of last year, the politics have changed quite a bit. most people in town have understood the economics and the need to do $4 trillion over 10 years. politics got in the way because it was tough. it is politically tough for either side to make these decisions. the whole debt default fiasco that we just went through brought the pain associated with doing nothing to the forefront of the minds of the american people. they got educated on what can happen if we do have a default in the country. the politics changed. the majority of republicans, democrats, and independents want to see a responsible deal done to move the country forward. for something to pass this committee, instead of having to get a super majority as we did, they only have to get a simple majority. that is a lot easier. we got a simple majority. we got 60% of our members to vote for it. we had six senators on our committee. five of those voted yes. i think getting a simple majority is possible. in this case doing nothing involves a lot of pain. you are going to have across- the-board cuts. you will have six of her knowledge 6 $0 billion additional cuts to the military $600 billion additional cuts to the military. doing nothing is not without its own pain. we can do it smarter. our experience was the more comprehensive we made it, the more support we got. people did not want to do it if only their own ox was to be gored, but if everyone was going to have skin in the game, everyone was going to get on board. we have the majority of democrats and republicans vote yes. you have seen the congressional progress process. there is a limited amount of time between now and thanksgiving. you are asking them to double down. we really are. i think the $1.5 trillion or the sequester either way. if they only do that, they really will have failed. they will not have stabilized the debt or shown that we can solve the long run problem. there will not have done anything about the short-run problem either. the only way to do that is to go big. i want to come back to tax reform. the potential is for a real win- win. you mentioned the president s plan. the president emphasized higher contributions from upper income people. when you look at a tax reform like in simpson-bowles, liberals often look at it and say they do not like it because it is lowering the tax rate and that is easier on rich people. it is not. you have to look at what happens to the deductions, extensions, and exclusions. those benefit the upper income people disproportionately. you could do is tax reform that i believe will be very pro- growth and move us no less progressive. do you have an idea of the breakdown of revenue and spending? there is no right mix. the big point is we have to do some of each. that is where our task force and everybody who has studied this problem says you cannot get there on spending cuts alone or on the revenue side alone. i think we got it right on simpson-bowles also. i voted for it for that reason. it affected everybody. we tried to think about things differently. we tried to do it thoughtfully. there was additional revenue. we wanted to take the time to rethink the tax code so that everybody wins. even if you are paying more, there is a way to win because you end up with a better economy and simpler system that everybody understands. i am a big advocate of continuing that path. i have been asked a number of times about some observations. i have a couple that i will share. i say that every conversation here is ruled by the three h s. hysteria, histrionics, and hyperbole. [laughter] i do not know how you get your job s done. i cannot believe the ridiculousness of the conversations. there were meetings where i would look of someone and say that you cannot possibly believe we just said. it is totally illogical. i look at the spending reductions and you hear words like draconian and destroying different groups. i did some math. if you did nothing, the average annual growth rate in spending was 5%. the difference is 5 and 4, yet it is drastic, draconian, you are destroying things. i have never seen such ridiculousness of language put around something i do as an american competitiveness issue. nothing something happen? do i think something can happen? i am not a political savant, so i cannot predict that. one of the things that has struck me, growing up in new hampshire and running companies, one of the things i ve always learned is what i thought, what i said, where i did all had to be the same thing, whereas here, that is three different things. [laughter] so what people are saying is not necessarily what they are thinking or willing to do. if everyone can understand the magnitude of the problem we are dealing with, recognizing the whole system is supposed to be geared up for compromise, then we can accomplish what will be an important fundamental for the country s growth. i would like to give members of the audience a chance to ask questions. all of your hand and we will get your microphone, otherwise i have plenty of questions i can ask. and there is not enough detail, so when you say you want to cut something, what are you talking about? what does the new tax plan look like? you want us to just emotionally lead to a new space, and i would like to be not only in words, but more importantly, in pictures, because it is so complex, you cannot see it otherwise. make it easier for all of us to find it. i would say that is a fair criticism. we had a paid staff of exactly two for our commissioner, which i consider to be one of the most important endeavors of my life. i think from a marketing viewpoint we probably did a poor job. however, the information is there. i always hate when i watched these sunday shows and you ask people, you are talking about cutting the defense budget. what would you cut? they say they do not have any specifics. we detail every single cut. we get more cuts than we actually had to use in order to meet our recommendations, and we are very specific whether it was for defense or non defense or entitlement programs. that is available on our website. [unintelligible] the one thing i learned from mike mullen, if it takes more than five minutes for him to look at it and understand it, he will not look at it. i think it is a lesson you all need to learn. the narrative really matters. i have not been able to understand your narrative beyond the first layer, actually care, but i don t have the time to do the digging you are proposing we do. is like doing research reports that these think tanks. they are nicely written and they go on a bookshelf. this is a little bit different. i think that is not a fair criticism. i think you would actually go and read our report, it is not like a 700-page report. the report is 67 pages and is written in very plain english, and i guarantee you can understand it. i have noticed recently that for years when people talk about this issue, they were either talking about things would make it worse, or they were just talking about principles. one of the things about the fiscal commission is that even when they said it is a framework for how something could work, they then proceeded to put illustrated examples of how you would fill in all those savings. so you do have to dig somewhat, but there are actually so many policies out there that have been fully developed and fleshed out. it is one of the event is the super committee has, the work has been done. they have these wonderful starting point in these comprehensive reports with details of reform that in most cases have been supported in a bipartisan way. now is how to work out the details and come up with a compromise. is give some comfort that they can actually do this by november 23. the base work has been done. there is too much agreement here. i would like to cause some dissension. it is obvious when you are spending 24% in taking in 15%, in a massive new source of revenue. we have a 30-year referendum on spending. we will cut a little bit, but not much. that should either be a consumption tax or a tax on wall street. they are not doing anything that is very important or interesting for the economy right now. what we hear instead is the great white hope of tax reform. i like to suggest to this group and see your reaction that tax reform at the end of tax reform is a massive swamp that will lead to massive political conflict and result in even worse polarization than we have today. there is supposedly a trillion of tax expenditures. $200 billion of that is for capital gains and dividends. $180 billion of that is for retirement, employer plans, etc. $120 billion this homeowners in all its different pieces. debated together it is $700 billion. in which part of that are you going to blast away? how much revenue are you going to get in trade-off? i think it is the wrong direction. it will not solve the revenue problem it will immersed the system in conflict for a long period of time. meanwhile, the bonds will continue to be issued and we will be tempting fate. fill that out, because there is too much consensus about tax reform. it is a great idea, but i don t see it as a productive route to go, even though it sounds great. let me take the first at that. i will have to disagree with you. you have your conflict now. you certainly are right that reforming the tax code is an incredibly difficult task, and getting into the weeds of doing that is a complicated and difficult thing. but just to use these bold simpson b owles-simpson, we had a number of tax proposals that had been very well thought out by a number of prominent analyst, different kinds, reigning ranging from a consumption tax income tax, but were mixtures of the two. they did not get down into the weeds to a kind of detail that you several calls political stripe, but the bulls that simpson bowles-simpson committee dead. they are able to show on those specific tax expenditures how you could then compensate are reducing the rates. many people say to me, this special committee cannot deal with tax reform because it is just to complicate to get it done by december. it may be true that it is too complicated to do it by december, but not too complicated to put in place the parameters of the tax reform package and then ask congress to do it. i think they can do it,. one thing i will agree with you on, because everyone on the panel has experienced it. once you propose it, the knives come out. every single special interest group in america, i think, was activated when we put our proposal on the table. i felt it from the front and back, and still am. i will admit to you that it is a ferocious fight out there, but i will tell you at the same time, i got an equal number if not even more comments from people saying we have got to do this. it is time for america to take this opportunity and move forward. david, we did look at a consumption tax, as i think you probably know. we spent a lot of time talking about it, and many of us on the commission prefer a consumption tax to a tax on work as a better way to finance the operations of the country, and you can do a consumption tax but is not as progressive if you did not take that into account. i thought there were two reasons we did not do it. there was a i thought it was a clear signal that will work making progress on the consumption tax. more importantly, i thought the republican members of our commission made a very good argument. unless you are going to eliminate the income tax, if you have an income tax and a consumption tax, then what you have created is two engines of revenue, and over time, they were barrelhead and you ll end up taking too much revenue out of the economy. therefore we set it aside. we then looked at other alternatives, and i was personally amazed to see that we have about one trillion dollars worth of revenue that comes into the country incorporate njn and corporate and individual income tax. that is after the tax expenditures. all the tax expenditures are is spending in the tax code. it is just getting by another name. we use our zero option as an example. what if we just eliminated all of these tax expenditures? what could we do with rates? what if we used 90% of to reduce rates and 8% of its to bring down the deficit? under that approach, we could reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars over 10 years and we could take income-tax rates to 8%, 14% up to $210,000, and a massive bomb maximum of 23%. we take the corporate rate to 26% and we could pay for putting in a territorial system so that trowing dollars that is now going overseas could be brought back to this country to create jobs over here. it would bring down the deficit and it could be done in a very progressive manner. we did distribution analysis on our work, and it was just as progressive as our current tax code. i think the short answer is, there is a potential bipartisan coalition for simplifying the tax code and broadening the base and bringing down the rates. it appeals to both democrats and republicans. there is no such coalition in favor of a consumption tax. we did have a broad base consumption tax in the rivlin act, but we came to think that was not really feasible, because everybody is against it. the democrats are against it because they think it is regressive and the republicans are against it because it is new tax that might raise too much money. so you have a negative coalition air. wasn t at the same as the larry summers stayinthing? i would have to say i went into this thinking i should be open-minded about it and take a look at it. i read a book about it and talk to a number of people. this was one of the other earnings. when erskine explained the concern about two engines of growth, where were having a conversation one day in one of the committee meetings, and i had immersed myself in the budget details, but they started talking about capps, triggers, sequesters, and i was having a difficult time following all this stuff. i finally turned to someone in said, this sounds to me like congress is trying to protect itself against congress. they said that is exactly right. when you throw in this new dynamic, it made me nervous and caused me to start thinking the other way. terms of the conflict, the conflict is going to be there anyway. you are talking about $8 trillion over the next 10 or 50 years. the conflict is going to be there. i was at a meeting with senator blunt this morning and he gave us an interesting american history lesson, going through the last 230 years, the various points in time where there were major times of controversy followed by big decisions that put the country on the right path or developed the path for the next 20 or 30 years picture pointed out jackson, lincoln, lyndon johnson, teddy roosevelt. given what we are facing right now, we are at another one of those times. when you put it in the context of the 1 billion participants, and now we have 4 billion participants in the global economy, that really brought that, at home. this is one of those times will we need to have this discussion. we cannot avoid it. you want to be the kind of global economic power that we are today it and we want to have that same kind of position for our kids and grandkids, we need to be having these conversations now. mr. codey says this is the time some suggest the time was back in december when you all came out with your plan. now we are to close to a presidential election. there is no way to get a big deal now. first of all, the closely get to an election, the harder it gets. that is just a political fact of life. but i refuse to accept the so- called political wisdom that we just have to wait until after the next election. as pretty much everyone on the panel has said, we do not have that long to wait. if we wait another 18 months, we lose critical time, both in terms of being able to create the adequate solutions and in terms of being able to get the political momentum. secondly, the detail work has been done, not only by the commission s we talked about here, but by many others. it is not a problem of trying to figure out how to do the different solutions in the discretionary or entitlement budget or in tax reform. it is problem of building a political consensus. i personally believe that now is the time, and it is doable if we will not tell ourselves that we cannot do it. we have the capacity to do it. the reason we are all here today is to tell the congress and to tell the american people that we have an incredible opportunity out of this crisis that we face, as dave said, to put america on the kind of path that we all know we want to be on. the american people are far better educated today than they were back in december. nobody believed back in december that we could get a majority of the vote yes for our plan, and we got a super majority. i want to close with an observation and one more question for erskine. so much of this panel ended up focusing on tax reform. taxes are one of the biggest hot spots in this whole thing. there are ways to get around that, which is pro-growth tax reform. there is a bipartisan consensus about how that is good for the economy and it can generate and raise revenues to close the deficit. the other piece of that is, it only goes hand-in-hand with fundamental entitlement reform. that is another reason people have been hesitant to put in a new revenue stream. you really want to make sure the drivers of the problem actually are reform in a way that is sustainable and you want that to be paired with the tax reform. one of the things when you talk about this with your experience on the commission is that the more you brought all those pieces to the table, instead of losing people, you kept getting more people coming on. if you would not mind just closing with that observation. put simply, the more comprehensive we made it, the more scan that everybody had in the game, the more people were willing to support it. the answer to this whole question is, the problems the nation faces are real. the solutions or all going to be painful. there are things in this plan that he hated more than the devil hates holy water, but he voted yes because he did not believe the nation had any other choice. the problems are real, the solutions are painful, and there is no easy way out. we simply have to face up to it and either go big or go home. i would like to thank this panel while the second panel comes up. tonight, live on c-span, president obama s remarks at the congressional black caucus annual phoenix awards banquet. the president is expected to talk about unemployment, deficit reduction, and his jobs plan. live coverage at 8:30 5:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. sunday on newsmakers, center lamar alexander on his decision to step down as chairman of the republican conference and how congress is changed over his four years of leadership. that is at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. the c-span networks. we provide coverage of politics, public affairs, non- fiction books, and american history. this month, look for congress to contender riddick continue federal spending in november, including funding for recent natural disasters. all the presidential candidates as they continue to campaign across the country. it is all available to on television, radio, online, and on social media sites. we are on the road with our c- span digital bus and local content vehicles, bringing our resources to local communities and showing events from around the country. it is washington, your way. the c-span networks, created by cable, provided as a public service. next to my remarks from republican presidential candidate and former utah governor jon huntsman. he talks about illegal immigration and the balanced budget amendment. his remarks are part of the conservative political action conference in orlando, florida. this is about 15 minutes. [applause] thank you. i am honored and delighted to be with you here today, particularly with my wife, mary kay, who is seated right here. then i mention that she is from orlando, florida? [applause] and that i mentioned to you that my son-in-law, jeff livingston, is from tampa? that should suggest to you how we are going to lock up the court and then when the state ultimately. lock up the corridor. i am honored to be here. nothing survives long without advocates, including those rights written by thomas jefferson, upon which our great nation was founded. life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. i would like to speak today just for a moment about life and liberty. without which there can be no pursuit of happiness. let me begin by telling you about the life of my daughter. she is 12 years old. in 1999, gracie was abandoned among the mushrooms, carrots, and bamboo shoots of vegetable market in china. i sometimes call her my little bean curd. our path toward gracie began when my wife, mary kay, volunteered at a catholic church or to an or bridge when we live together in taiwan in 1987. in an orphanage. 12 years later, on the evening of may 19, 1999, and i wanted to remember that date, we decided to adopt a little girl from china. several months later, while attending a christmas tree in a fit for adopted kids around the world, our family bought a tree, and when the vendor asked what name we wanted on its, mary kay said without hesitation, racemates huntsman gracie may huntsman. with a tear in her eye, my wife told the vendor that name at 8:15 p.m.. when we return home after the event, there was a message received at our home 8:15 p.m. from the adoption agency. notifying us they had found a child for our family. you guessed it, gracie may, and the date of birth was may 19, 1999. [applause] this could not have been a coincidence, ladies and gentlemen. greyson love to tell this story, and when asked who found her in the vegetable market, she simply replies jesus. [applause] now, why do i mention this? because in today s frenetic political climate, we sometimes forget there is something more essential than politics, and that is like. i cannot imagine our world without gracie and her younger sister who was adopted from india. everyday we look in their eyes and thank the good lord their mothers chose life and did not throw it away. [applause] thank you. as governor of utah, i supported and signed landmark legislation to protect life, including parental consent and real pain laws. that is the orientation i would bring to the presidency. from life, let me move to liberty. specifically, the ever growing encroachment on our liberty, and it begins with obamacare s and constitutional mandate which must and will be repealed on day one of my presidency. [applause] but this is just the centerpiece of an administration that has overseen an unacceptable growth of government regulation and debt. i am one of the only candidate to unequivocally supports the rights and plan to cut spending and reform entitlements. [applause] thank you. the ultimate safeguard against overspending, however, and what i will submit to congress is a balanced budget amendment. it is immoral to squander our nation s wealth and it should be unconstitutional as well. we can get there, folks. just requires a little leadership. the pursuit of happiness is in peril, not just by infringements on life and liberty, but by the inability today to find a job. nearly 50 million of our fellow americans are unemployed. millions more are so dispirited they have given up looking. these are not just numbers. they are human tragedies. families torn apart, relationships pushed to the brink, men and women struggling to maintain the pride that comes from self-sufficiency. our most urgent priority must be putting american people back to work and restoring america s prosperity. president obama believes we can tax and spend and regulate our way to prosperity. we cannot. we must compete our way to prosperity, the way we have always done in this country, the greatest nation that ever was. i have lived overseas for times, ladies and gentlemen. most recently as u.s. ambassador to china. i know our nation s big is competitors and what it takes to compete in the 21st century all economy. i have also been governor of a state, under my leadership, led the nation in job creation and whose economy grew at triple the national rate, even faster than texas under my good friend rick perry, but don t tell him. but i would never describe what happened in utah as a miracle, because that is something unexplained, and we know exactly what lead our nation to prosperity. we passed in our state largest tax cut in the state of the history. be streamlined regulations. we honestly balanced the budget, tripled our rainy day fund, created certainty in an environment for growth. i am here to tell you, we must do those same things for the united states of america. thank you. [applause] my jobs and economic plan is the only one endorsed by the wall street journal and described by one conservative economist as the most pro-growth proposal ever offered by a presidential candidate. i want you to take a look at it. the centerpiece is bold tax reform. our tax code has devolved into a maze of daschle interest car routes and loopholes would cost taxpayers half a trillion dollars a year just to comply with. i say rather than tinker around the edges, let s clean house. let s get rid of the car out, get rid of the loopholes and deductions and get rid of the corporate welfare. use that to lower the rates across the board for businesses and individuals. we will create a tax code that is flatter, fairer, simpler, and more conducive to growth, just as i did as governor. i am not giving an academic sermon on what i think my work. i am telling you what does work, based upon my own experience as governor. [applause] thank you. let s also get the regulatory monkey off the back of our job creators. we are taking to the washington convention center for remarks by president obama at the congressional black caucus. it is wonderful to be with all of you tonight, with the conscience of the congress. thank you, chairman cleaver and brother pain for all that you do each and every day. thank you to all of you for all of you with your outstanding work for the intern program that has done so much for so many young people. i had a chance to meet some of the young people backstage, and unbelievably impressive group. being here with all of you, with all the outstanding members of the congressional black caucus reminds me of a story that one of our friends, a giant of the civil rights movement, rev. dr. joseph lowery, told one day. he-bewery, i don t think telling that he turns 90 in a couple of weeks. [applause] he has been causing a raucous for about 89 of those years. a few years back, dr. lowery and i were together at brown chapel a m e church in selma. we have some selma folks in the house. dr. lowery stood up in the pulpit and told accommodation the story of shadrach, meshach, and abednego in the fiery furnace. you know the story, it is about three gunmen bold enough to stand up for god, even if it meant being thrown in a furnace. and they survived because of their fate, and because god showed up in the furnace with them. now, dr. lowery said that those three young men were a little bit crazy, but there is a difference, he said. between good crazy and bad crazy. those boys were good crazy. at the time, i was running for president. it was early in the campaign and nobody gave me much of a chance. he turned to me from the pulpit and indicated that someone like me was running for president. that was crazy. but he supposed it was good crazy. he was talking about faith. the belief in things not seen. the belief that if you persevere, a better day lies ahead. i suppose the reason i enjoy coming to the c b c, what this weekend is all about is, you and me, we are all little bit crazy, but hopefully a good kind of crazy. [applause] we are a good kind of crazy, because no matter how hard things get, we keep the faith. we keep fighting, we keep moving forward. we have needed faith over these last couple of years. times have been hard. it has been three years since we faced down a crisis that began on wall street and then spread to main street and hammer working families and hammered the already hard hit black community. the unemployment rate for black folks went up to nearly 17%, the highest it has been in almost three decades. 40% almost of african-american children are living in poverty. pure that have are convinced they can achieve dr. king s dream. you have to be a little crazy to have faith during such hard times. it is heartbreaking and frustrating, and i ran for president and the members of the cbc ran for congress to help more americans reach that dream. [applause] we ran to give every child a chance, whether born in chicago or a little town in the desert. this crisis made that job of giving everybody opportunities a little bit harder. we knew at the outset of my presidency that the economic calamity we face was not caused overnight and was not going to be solved overnight. we knew that long before the recession hit, the middle class in this country had been falling behind. wages and incomes had been stagnant. since the financial security had been slipping away, and since these problems were not caused overnight, we knew we were going to have to climb a steep hill, but we got to work, with your help. we started fighting our way back from the brink, and at every step of the way, we faced fierce opposition based on an old idea, the idea that the only way to restore prosperity cannot just be to let every corporation write its own rules and give out tax breaks to the wealthiest and most fortunate and to tell everybody you are on your own. there has to be a different concept. of what america is all about. it has to be based on the idea that i am my brother s keeper and my sister s keeper and we are in this together. we are in this thing together. [applause] we had a different vision. so we did what was right, and we fought to extend unemployment insurance and to extend the organ, credit and to expand the child tax credit which benefited nearly half of all african- american children in this country, and millions of americans are better off because of that fight. [applause] ask the family struggling to make ends meet if that extra few hundred dollars in their mother s paycheck or the payroll tax cut we passed made a difference. they will tell you. ask them how much that earned income tax credit or that child tax credit makes a difference in paying the bills at the end of the month. when an army of lobbyists and special interests spent millions to crush wall street reforms, we stood up for what was right. we said the time has come to protect homeowners from predatory lenders. we signed the strongest consumer financial protection in history. that is what we did together. remember how many years we tried to stop big banks from collecting taxpayer subsidies for student loans while the cost for college kept slipping out of reach? together we put a stop to that once and for all. we used savings to make college more affordable. we invested in community college and early childhood education. ask the engineering student who thought he might have to be a school if that eckstrom pelgrin assistance matters. that extra pell grant assistance. not just by pouring money into a broken system but by building on what works. with neighborhoods modeled after the good work up in harlem. joyce neighborhoods, rebuilding crumbling public housing in the neighborhoods of hope and opportunity. strong cities, strong communities or partnered with cities like cleveland and detroit. we overcame years of inaction to win justice for black farmers because of the leadership of the cbc, and because we had an administration that was committed to doing the right thing. against all sorts of setbacks, when the opposition far as with everything they had, we finally made clear that in the united states of america, nobody should go broke because they get sick. we are better than that. today, insurance companies can no longer drop or deny your coverage for no good reason. in just a year and a half, about 1 million more young adults have health insurance because of this law. 1 million young people that is an incredible achievement, and we did it with your help and the help of the cbc. in these hard years, we have won a lot of fights that needed fighting. we have done a lot of good, but we have more work to do. so many people are still hurting. so many people are still barely hanging on, and too many people in this city are still fighting us every step of the way. so i need your help. we have to do more to put people to work right now. we have to make sure that everyone in this country gets a fair shake and a fair shot and a chance to get ahead. [applause] i know we won t get where we need to go if we don t travel down this road together. i need you with me. that starts with getting this congress to pass the american jobs act. you heard me talk about this plan when i visited congress a few weeks ago and sent the bill to congress a few days later. now i want that bill back, pas sed. i am ready to sign it, and i need your help to make it happen. right now, we have millions of construction workers out of a job. this bill says, let s put those men and women back to work in their own communities, rebuilding our roads and bridges. let s give them jobs rebuilding our schools. let s put them to work rehabilitating foreclosed homes in the heart of neighborhoods in atlanta and washington. this is a no-brainer. why should we let china build in u.s. airports, the fast as railroads? tell me why our children should be allowed to study and a school that is falling apart. i don t want that for my kids or your kids or for any kids. you tell me how it makes sense. when we know that education is the most important thing for success in the 21st century. let s put our people back to work doing the work america needs done. let s pass this jobs bill. [applause] we ve got millions of unemployed americans and young people looking for worked but running out of options. so this jobs bill says let s give them a pathway, a new pathway back to work. let s extend unemployment insurance so more than 6 million americans don t do that lose that live line lose that lifeline. that s our kids with the skills they need for life. tell me why we don t want the unemployed back in the work force as soon as possible. that s pass this jobs bill, put these folks back to work. [applause] why are we shortchanging our children when we could be putting teachers back in the classroom right now where they belong? [applause] laying off teachers, police officers, firefighters all across the country because of state and local budgets. what are we not helping? we did the first two years, then this other crowd came into congress and now they want to stop. tell me why we should not give companies tax credits for hiring the men women who risked their lives for this country, our veterans. there is no good answer for that. they should not be fighting to find a job when they come home. [applause] these republicans in congress like to talk about job creators. how about doing something real for job creators, passed this jobs bill, and every small business owner in america, including 100,000 black owned businesses, will get a tax cut. as this jobs bill, and every worker in america, including nearly 20 million african american workers, will get a tax cut. passed this jobs bill and prove you will fight just as hard for a tax cut for urgent for ordinary folks as you do for all your contributors. [applause] these are questions that opponents of this jobs plant will have to answer. the kinds of ideas in this plan in the past have been supported by both parties. suddenly obama is proposing it what happens? you used to like to build roads. right? reverend, do you know what happened? i don t know. they used to love to build some roads. [laughter] now, i know some of our friends across i will not support any new spending that is not paid for. last week i laid out a plan to pay for the american jobs act and to bring down our debt over time. here we go, i am ready to go. a plan that says if we want to create jobs and close this deficit, we have to ask the folks who have benefited most, the wealthiest americans, the biggest, most profitable corporations, to pay their fair share. we are not asking them to do anything extraordinary. the reform we are proposing is based on a simple principle. middle-class folks should not pay higher tax rates than millionaires and billionaires. [applause] that is not crazy. or it is good crazy. warren buffett s secretary should not pay a higher tax rate than warren buffett. a teacher or a nurse or construction worker making $50,000 a year should not pay higher tax rates and someone making $50 million. that is just common sense. we are not doing this to punish success. this is the land of opportunity. i want you to go out and start a business, get rich, build something. our country is based on the belief that anybody can make it if they put in enough sweat and effort. that is wonderful, god bless you. but part of the american idea is also that once we have done well, we should pay our fair share. to make sure that those schools that we were learning in canteens the next generation, that those roads we benefit from, that they are not crumbling for the next bunch of folks that are coming behind us. to keep up the nation s that made our success possible, and most well treated most wealthy americans would agree with that. but republicans are already dusting off their old pocketbooks. that is class warfare, they said. in the next breath, they will complain that people living in poverty, people who suffered the most over the past decade, don t pay enough in taxes. that is bad crazy. when you start saying at a time when the top one-tenth of 1% have seen their incomes go up four or five times over the last 20 years, and folks at the bottom have seen their incomes decline, and your response is that you want for folks to pay more? livni ray. if asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a janitor makes me a warrior for the working class, i wear that with a badge of honor. i have no problem with that. it is about time. [applause] they say it kills jobs. we are not proposing anything other than returning to the tax rates for the wealthiest americans that existed under bill clinton. i played golf with bill clinton a and i was asking him, how did that go? it turns out, we have a lot of jobs. the well-to-do did even better. so did the middle-class. we lifted millions out of poverty, and then we cut taxes for folks like me and we went through a decade of zero jobs growth. so this is not speculation. we have tested this out. we tried their theory. did not work. we tried our theory and it worked. we should not be confused about this. this debate is about priorities. the want to create new jobs and close the deficit and invest in our future, the money has to come from somewhere. should we keep tax loopholes for big oil companies, or should we put construction workers and teachers back on the job? [applause] should we keep tax breaks for millionaires or should we invest in our children s education? should we ask seniors to be paying thousands of dollars more for medicare, as the house republicans proposed? or take young folks health care away, or should we ask that everybody pay their fair share? this is about fairness, and this is about who we are as a country. this is about our commitment to future generations. when michelle and i think about where we came from, a little girl on the south side of chicago, son of a single mom in hawaii mother had to go to school on scholarships. michele s parents never owned their own home until she had already graduated, living upstairs above the aunt who actually owned the house. we are here today only because our parents and grandparents broke their backs to support us, but they also understood that they would get a little bit of help from their country because they met their responsibilities. this country would also be responsible, would also provide good public schools, would also provide recreation, parks that were safe, making sure they could take the bus without being beaten over the head, making sure that their kids would be able to go to college, even if they were not rich. we are only here because past generations struggled and sacrificed for this incredible, exceptional idea that it does not matter where you come from, it does not matter where you are born, it does not matter what you look like. if your willing to put in the effort, you should get a shot at the american dream, and each night when we talk in our girls and a white house, i think about keeping that dream alive for them and for all our children. that is now up to us. and that is hard. this is harder than it has been in a long, long time. we are reuter something we have not seen in our lifetimes. we are going through something we have not seen in our lifetimes. i know at times that gets folks discouraged. i know, i listened to some of you. i understand that. nobody feels that burn more than i do nobody feels that burden more than i do, because i know how much we have invested in making sure that we are able to move this country forward. but you know, more than a lot of other folks in this country, we know about hard. the people in this room know about hard, and we don t give in to discouragement. throughout our history, change has often come slowly. progress often takes time. we take a step forward and sometimes we take two steps back. sometimes we get two steps forward and one step back, but it is never a straight line. it is never easy. and i never promised easy. easy has never been promised to us. but we have had faith. we have had faith. we have had that good kind of crazy that says you cannot stop marching, even when folks have hit you over the head, you cannot stop marching. even when they are turning the hoses on you, you cannot stop. even when somebody fires you for speaking out, you cannot stop. [applause] even when it looks like there is no way, you find a way. you cannot stop. through the mud and the driving rain, we do not stop. because we know the rightness of our cause. widening the circle of opportunity, standing up for everybody s opportunities, increase in each other s prosperity. we know our cause is just. it is a righteous cause. in the face of troopers and tear-gas, folks stood unafraid. let somebody like john lewis wake up after getting it be within an inch of his life on sunday, he wakes up on monday, we are going to go march. [applause] dr. king once said before we reach the majestic shores of the promised land, there is a frustrating and bewildering wilderness ahead. we must still face prodigious hilltops and opposition and judge it gigantic amount of resistance, but with patience and firm determination, we will press on. so i don t know about you, cbc, but the future rewards those who press on with patient and firm determination. i am going to press on for jobs. i am going to press on for equality. i am going to press on for the sake of our children. i am going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. i don t have time to feel sorry for myself. i don t have time to complain. i am going to press on. i expect all of you to press on. take off your bedroom slippers. put on your marching shoes. shake it off. stop complaining. stop grumbling. stop crying. we are going to press on. we ve got work to do, cbc. god bless you, and god bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] president obama leaves washington tomorrow morning to attend two fund-raisers in seattle with war to follow in the san francisco area. on monday, he will hold a town hall meeting at the california headquarters of lincoln, the business networking site, before going on to san diego and los angeles. tuesday, the president visited denver area high school to highlight the school renovation plan in his jobs package. it can watch the president s speech from the cbc awards ceremony again tonight at about 11:20 eastern time here on c- span. form theemakr frommarks acting prime minister of the libyan transitional council. his remarks were part of the un general assembly meeting. this is 25 minutes. in the name of god, the compassionate, the merciful, thank you, mr. president. at the outset, allow me to express my sincerest thanks to the ambassador upon his election to the presidency of this session of the general assembly of the united nations. i also would like to express my thanks for this excellency ban ki moon for his re-election as secretary-general. i stand today before you, excellencies, feeling sadness for the loss of more than 30,000 martryrs. they sacrificed their lives in my country. their sacred blood was shed to y for a new histor for th the new libya. by the same token, i bow to the mothers, who today know that their sons sacrifice was just and rightful. had events been repeated, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters would have done the very same to write the same history. from this rostrum, let is a moot, all those martyrs whose blood was shed, all mothers and fathers and john kasich. i salute the wounded in hospitals inside and outside libya. mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, two years ago. in this very hall, in this very spot, moammar gaddafi stood before you tearing the charter of the united nations. in a pathetic, theatrical move, one that flouts international values as if those rules that govern the work of international organizations can be judged in such a manner or treated in such a theatrical way, which is harmful to the people of libya, to the united nations, to the president of the general assembly, the entire organization. today, i stand before you, excellencies, to show the world that a new libya is coming to life. libya that looks forward. libya that has a view to redevelop itself. libya that wants to heal its wounds. overcomet wants to its pain, to reach out to the entire world. it was to rebuild itself, to reform its history. the vision of new libya, s democracy world by a clear, unambiguous constitution setting forth rights and obligations that does not discriminate between male or female, one community or another, one political beliefs or another, east or west, whether by racial or ethnic justifications, all libyans are sons of this nation. a nation that now is determined to heal its wounds and move on, following 42 years of from the international community, as a party that can help in building a human civilization. we do not claim that we have a magic wand as gaddafi claimed, when he looked at himself in the mirror and suddenly discovered that he is an almight prophet, with a solution to every problem on earth, except for libya s problems. for 42 years, libya now hwaas 15 of its people under poverty, an educational system that is the worst in the region, health services which are the very worst in the region. the infrastructure is falling to pieces. unemployment is over 30% among youth. these are the solutions handed us by moammar gaddafi. libya itself is witness to that. the new libya that i am speaking of, mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, did not come from of the ca vacuum. it has been watered by the bloodshed since the 17th of february, when libyan youth decided to open a new page and libyan history. the entire libyan people, young and old, women and children paid the ultimate price. all the sons and daughters of libya have written this page. nobody can claim to lead this revolution or own it, only the libyan people can. in the very first week of march this year, a parallel activity was launched, parallel to the backs of all revolutionary youth in libya. a group was acting day and night to provide political support to explain the actions of our libyan youth on libyan land, to explain the libyan vision, to explain the deprivation of any development for the past 42 years. friendlies sister states responded to that call. they responded to our plea. they reached out to the hands reaching out to them. the world did help us to shed injustice. on my own behalf, on behalf of the libyan people from this rostrum, i thank all friendly states, all sister states, all regional organizations. the united nations for revolution resolutions 1970 and 1973. they were a determining factor in protecting civilians and preventing any further massacres by gaddafi. this continuing diplomatic effort i can say that today that victory was achieved. and now we have a neww mission. let us make another attempt. let us reach out to those who want technical assistance now. let all funds be unfreezed so that the libyan people can rebuild, having got rid of the attorney. tyranny. mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, libya today is before expectations and a rifl ghtful dues. the facts can be summarized briefly. a land not fully liberated yet. there are get some friends to be vanquished. it is our right inside libya to re-conquer our land. soon, god willing. there is an infrastructure many wounded orders imartrys iny cities. schools destroyed in my country, now number more than 63. there are more than 50,000 injured. amputees number more than 1700. they await help and succor so that they can once again contribute effectively to rebuilding their own country. the social fabric is in need of healing, having been torn by gaddafi. he tried to turn some tribes against others and some regions against others. the economy is treading water. oil waits pumping and exporting. we believe production is being resumed. however, we do require more assistance in that regard. funds and assets are frozen. the announced the lifting of the freeze certainly does not rise to what is required in order to shore reconstructionist rehabilitation of the country. state institutions require rebuilding. they need to be reestablished and rebuilt. particularly in a country that has been deprived of any real institutions for over 42 years. a state that had no law or institutions. there are social and political demands, not just for participation, but also for setting priorities. we first and foremost must agree on the rules of participation. let me add to this fact, as you know, ladies and gentlemen, that there are many expectations on us from our people with in an from you, members of the international community, without. as you caonsider how the transitional period is going to end, how the transitional government is going to be created. you re calling for respect of human rights. you are calling for respect of foreign workers and dealing with them in accordance with international norm. you are calling for us to include oil. you are calling for us to build institutions at the required speed. you require us to achieve national reconciliation, to end the militarization of our streets and towns. you re asking us to maintain the unity of the homeland, and you want to join us in rebuilding. this is a lot by any standard. nevertheless, i do believe that our people, a people that all bet would not been able to bring its regime down, but people the faced political initiatives from all sides, believing that the situation was at a standstill, let me tell you, the transitional national council has always rejected a compromise solution. the libyan people proved that those calculations were wrong by its will. that people proved that it can. and i have every conviction that it can, when the battle and the win the battle and the war, despite all of the doubts and problems i just listed before you. national unity . on national unity with the united land, without national reconciliation is a dream. achieving security and achieving national reconciliation is an important, urgent demand on any government, whether an inch from or are transitional government an i transitional government. no participation is possible with our rules for the participation. therefore, a draft constitution to be put to referendum among the libyan people is of utmost importance. so we want the rules of participation to be just, to govern the dialogue, to give rights to all without discrimination to any individual or group. the assets freeze on our funds must be lifted as urgently as possible. let me appeal to you from this rostrum. let the security council soon take the historic resolution to lift the freeze. the regime has fallen, even though we have not liberated it the entire homeland yet. we want the help of the united nations, the help of friends without condition. legitimateit s a right of all states to enjoy sovereignty. it is an undeniable right, whatever the nature or size of assistance that we seek. the libya we want, mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, is a state of law an, an oasis for human development and the middle east. and we believe that libya, through geography, history, and its geostrategic importance, is a link between north-south, east-west. libya must resume that role once again. their role has been denied know for 40 years. i believe that development solutions that libya can propose in future may help find unprecedented solutions to the phenomenon of migration from the african continent to southern europe. we believe that the 21st century will be ruled by geography to a large extent. we believe that africa geographically and on human resources has the most capacity. and we believe that hundreds of millions of young africans will seek to move northward. libya can be the gate to development and instead of being the obstacle of migration from south to north. african labor, the skills and competency is that satisfy the needs of the european economies i and many with me believe that african labor may contribute to european economic growth, particularly that in the next 30 years, europe will be facing a much smaller population. in 2050, the population will go down by 27%. the afghan population will be over 2 billion. we believe that africa can contribute to economic well-being through an agreement between the libyan capital and european regulations . on the political front, libya must be a civilian state of democracy, giving full opportunities to its sons and daughters. women must have a major role in this state. women in libya, about 50% libyan society, women in libya enjoy the highest level of education. they continue their education for the longest time following high school. we believe women have a genuine role that they must play in rebuilding and developing libya. as for foreign policy, we need a vision that radically reduce the foreign policy of moammar al-gaddafi, a policy of terrorizing, of sowing fear, of black male in many regions. blackmail in many regions. rare if the region of the world that escapes suffering from the practices and plots of moammar al-gaddafi in destabilization and terrorism. the new foreign policy must be based on mutual respect. must be based on mutual interest. it must be based on non- intervention in the internal affairs of others just as we do not expect that expect others to intervene in hours. ours. international instruments, conventions and treaties, values must be respected. these are the terms of reference for all relations in our modern times. the rebuilding of libya, a state of democracy, is an important matter, not just for libya. it is, mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, it is of importance to the entire region. libya is able and has the opportunity of becoming a model of democracy and successful development. separating politics from the economy has shown many negative examples in our region. the time has come for a vision of diplomacy that puts the youth and women at the very top of its priorities, not just because they make up 67% of the population of the arab world. it is because the future belongs to them. it is in them that began and will lead this revolution and other revolutions in the arab spring. therefore, a new vision that responds to the dreams of youth. the international community must support this edition. otherwise, the region will only be subjected to successive waves of instability. supporting libya in this development paradigm is no less important than protecting innocent civilians. the international community, and we thank you, did so in implementation of resolution 1973. in this context, we have a clear initiative that may be called the building of the new libya, where brothers and friends contribute. however, the united nations must have a leading, pivotal role specialized agencies can provide expertise and assistance. we want those agencies to have a pivotal role in order to avoid any possibility of corruption or lack of transparency. mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, we believe that roads are paved by the feet that walk them. the libyan people have begun their march to rewrite their history. we have the greatest hope that this international organization, that went hand in hand with us, there was a trust for the friend, the entire international community to put an end to an imminent massacre in my country by intervening at the correct time to save civilians in the calln nalizing from the arab league. and we thank the arab league for that. we believe the international organization, just as it was a faithful friend then, can now be a trustworthy partner in rebuilding of my country. this is the major battle where we appeal for your help and assistance political, economic, financial, and technical. thank you very much for your kind attention. our coverage of the united nations general assembly meeting continues with each at s new foreign minister. he mentions his support for the palestinian bid for statehood and calls for a just peace based on the two state solution. this is about 20 minutes. mr. president, i hope that you will extend to his excellency mr. ban ki-moon our congratulations to the state of qatar for assuming the presidency of the general assembly, and himself for his reelection for a second term, and i am confident that the wise leadership of qatar or our proceedings will contribute to the attainment of the aspirations we seek. and i m confident that the election of mr. ban ki-moon enjoys your support. mr. president, i proudly stand before you today presenting egypt and in new era. grypypt as it heads to an area that is emerging. as it embarks on a new face at regarded by all egyptians as auspicious. the egyptians came out in masses on the 25th of january, calling for democratic reforms and respect of human rights, fundamental freedoms and social justice. the egyptians wanted to implant the seeds of a brighter future, lands fore airrid their sake. the masses obtained what they sought and were able to impose their words and their well. there were backed by the understanding and support of the egyptian armed forces, who truly exemplified it genuine patriotism. the stands of our armed forces will be remembered by history. it is consistent with our doctrine as the guardians of the nation, not with the political regime. and in line with an institution that is first and foremost loyal to the people, who rallied around their armed forces and expressed their appreciation. an ideal situation was made possible by circumstances that could rarely be repeated. the circumstances enabled egyptians to alter the face of their country in an historic and wonderful way. egyptians wanted to rapidly catch up with other countries that had already made great strides in achieving political pluralism and the alternation of power and upholding and applying the rule of law and fighting corruption and in providing equal opportunities to its youth, to allow them to realize their aspirations of a decent life. i am addressing you today why egypt news for it, determined to complete the transition phase that are rose from their transformed of change. it is witnessing over the past internal dynamics and a wide national debate involving all segments of society and covering all issues of the national agenda. on top of which are those related to the drafting of the new constitution and the organization of the upcoming legislative and presidential elections. to increase the prospects of success of the transitional phase and initiate a solid political process. their response to the aspirations of the people in cement with a unique standing worldwide. a process that will culminate in the handing of power to an elected civilian. mr. preston, egypt is honored to assume the chairmanship of the nine alignment movement since july, 2009. the start of this session of the general assembly coincides with the commemoration it held to mark 50 years since the first summit of the movement took place and to celebrate it significant contributions to the enforcement of our international efforts to preserve international peace and security and achieve development to the people of the world. it happens in a changing international environment and in the face of multiples challenges. this commemoration comes after a series of important events organized by the movement to promote greater involvement of developing countries in the governance of international institutions and to ensure a fair produce a patient in the process of international decision making in the political, economic, and social field. to that end, the egyptian chairmanship of the movement has undertaken numerous activities to strengthen of the movement s capacity to respond to the new and continuous international changes. the movement has played a vital role in coordinating the positions of its member states regarding the various issues comprising the international agenda, including those related to disarmament, collective security, the reform of the un, and the promotion of international ideas of democracy and the respect of human rights. fearing his chairmanship, each of six to reinforce during its chairman to, egypt seeks to reinforce in china. we put back the issue of development with its various dimensions as the top priority of the united nations. and together, we adopted a number of important initiatives in the field of food security, the empowerment of women, and the fight against human trafficking. we will pursue these efforts theil we hand over chairmanship in the summer 2012. today, the support of the non- aligned movement to the historic struggle of the brotherly palestinian people to regain their legitimate rights as well as the movement s support to the efforts exerted it towards declaring the establishment of the independent state of palestine with east jerusalem as capital and its admission as a full member of the united nations. i must call upon the countries that have not yet recognize the state of palestine to do so. as a contribution to the efforts in achieving a just, lasting, and comprehensive settlement of the conflict in the middle east based on the two-state solution. mr. president, the nine-aligned movement believes that there is a pressing need for a comprehensive and substantial reform of the united nations so as to strengthen its ability to positively respond to the international changes to live up to the aspirations of the people and to cope with the radical changes that have altered the shape and composition of the international community. so that the united nations can become a true reflection of the realities of today s world. such reform will not be achieved unless the security council is reformed and is made more representative, more transparent, and more reflective of the democratic nature of multilateralism. major steps must be taken to end the monopoly by permanent members over the decision making process in the council. and to put an end to the historical injustice inflicted upon africa as a result of its non representation in the permanent membership category as well as its inadequate representation in the nonmember representation. in this in context, the members of the movement to man the continuation of efforts aiming at revitalizing the role of the general assembly and strengthening the role of economic and social council. the state s member of the non- aligned movement of firm also the need for the international community to support the efforts exerted by developing countries to implement their development plans at achieving the millennium development goals through an enabling international environment that bolsters the efforts for realizing the comprehensive economic and social development and the fulfillment by it all developed countries of their financing for development commitment, as well as achieving more balance, international economic relations, and establishing a more just international trade system that takes into account the development needs of the countries of the developing world. mr. president, we can only see deep sorrow every time we realize historical injustice has been for decades inflicted upon the people while the world has failed to lift it. just a question of palestine still remains after two decades of fruitless negotiations without a desired settlement. and the palestinian people remains to this day deprived of acquiring their lead to the myth, fundamental rights, on top of which is their right to their freedom and establish their own independent state on the basis of the 1967 borders with east jerusalem as its capital this is the very state for which the palestinian president presented yesterday our request for membership in the united nations after just efforts towards a final just a final settlement has stalled. especially since the other party insists on keeping the negotiating process forever open. we witnessed yesterday another failure to come up with a balanced addition to achieve the goal we all know and approve of it, yet differ on differ on how to realize it. israel continues with complete this regard to the objections of the countries of the world and constructing settlements on palestinian territories and the west bank, altering the features of the occupied east jerusalem, using violence against civilians and its blockade of gaza in violation of international legitimacy. regrettably, anyone with a sense of fairness following the situation would see in israel s actions the embodiment of this continuing invasion of admitting that the only way to achieving security is to reaching a just settlement with the palestinians to serious negotiations based on a clear parameters and specific time frame, which is urgently required no. w. we must intensify all of our efforts. egypt was and will remain committed to the goal in achieving a just and comprehensive peace that it initiated in the middle east and will continue to actively support it. egypt will carry on its efforts to end israeli occupation of the occupied palestinian territory and to reach a solution to all the final status issues in a specific, agreed upon, and international guaranteed time frame. egypt will also sustain its efforts to capitalize on the successes realized in cairo after the signing of the palestinian reconciliation agreement, thereby strengthening the union of the palestinians and consolidating efforts to achieve peace. mr. president, egypt welcomes the presence of the republic of southern sudan as a member state of the united nations. we hope that this nation-state will play a tangible role in preserving regional stability steady progresse on the road to development an institution building. the same time, we commend sudan for its commitment to implement the peace agreement and accept the will of the people of the south to have an independent state. but even though last year, witnessed a significant cooperation between the two sides, outstanding issues remain unsettled. they should be resolved within the framework of cooperation and good will, which requires the formation of a genuine partnership to examine how to deal with these issues. the sudan and south sudan are still expecting an looking forward to the support of the international community for their development and reconstruction efforts so that they can achieve stability and development through us. and within the context of this unity and territorial integrity, and so that south sudan can build it states. i reiterate egypt s resolve to continue supporting both countries at all levels. i would also like on behalf of egypt to pay a deserved tribute to the revolution of the sister the state of to nietzsch of la which participated in the arab spring. i express our solidarity and congratulate the tradition it transitional council and salute its efforts to restore stability and internal peace. i would like to express our readiness to provide any support that may contribute to the reconstruction efforts of the country and pass this critical period, and i salute the city state of tunisia. as for the brotherly state of yemen, egypt supports all efforts to ship feet achieved stability. if the status quo remains unchanged, this will have great implications on the stability of the region. many egyptians follow apprehensively the series development taking place in a brotherly state of syria and a loss of life in door by our brothers and sisters there. i would like to reiterate today the position previously expressed by egypt that the only solution to the crisis lies in putting an end to violence and engaging in a serious dialogue amongst all parties in a climate of openness. on the other hand, i cannot overlook today referring to the arab gulf region. the security of people arab region are highly placed on the foreigny of egypt s policy on the basis of the deep historical, societal, cultural, political, and security ties that bind us with our brothers and sisters in these countries. egypt will always strive to achieve the stability of this vital region of the world. mr. president, the issue of disarmament and nonproliferation remains of great importance to egypt. we will continue cooperation with our international partners to push for nuclear states to carry out their responsibilities as stipulated in the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in order to safeguard the credibility of this instrument and its ensuing, in devisable principles. furthermore, egypt will not spare any effort in pursuing the goal of realizing the universality of the non- proliferation treaty, especially in the middle east, where all countries have succeeded to the treaty with the exception of israel. thereby delaying the creation of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the region. that is why egypt advances attaches great importance to the implementation of the action plan adopted by the 2010 non- proliferation treaty review conference, especially the one relating to the middle east which endorsed the holding of the conference next year. in reality, we are concerned by the fact that a facility that has not yet been nominated and - country has not been selected. in that context, i reiterate egypt s position that the peaceful use of nuclear energy must be linked to full compliance with international commitments under the treaty. this entails the full cooperation of all member- states, with the international atomic energy agency, and avoiding any escalation in order to promote nonproliferation efforts in the region. mr. president, africa has always held a privileged position and a unique status of the party agenda of the egyptian foreign policy. egypt was always an effective partner in the struggle of the peoples of this continent to gain their independence of the 1950 s of the last century. this partnership continued during the reconstruction period that followed independence. egypt will increase in the work towards a deepening and activating its various cooperation mechanisms with other african countries and strive to propel them toward a new dawn, thereby contributing to the realization of the hopes and aspirations of all people for more development and increase prosperity. the tips expects the united nations to maintain egypt expects the united nations to continue to support and build the institutional capacity of the continent in the areas of conflict resolution, peacekeeping, and reconstruction, in addition to supporting the development aspirations of the african countries and assisting their efforts to chief given the interlink is between peace, security, and development challenges and africa. egypt follows the ongoing deteriorating situation in somalia and calls for efforts to put an end to this ee sufferings endured by somalia. extern thenvites parties effort to refrain from intervening in the internal affairs. in this regard, egypt has contributed to the international efforts to tackle the problem of drought in the horn of africa and provide food to the affected population. egypt continues to that contributes to the fight to put an end to this phenomenon given the strategic importance of the region and the arabian sea, especially in relation to national security and the safety of navigation and the suez canal. the ability of the united nations to undertake responsibilities depends on our collective will, one that is based on the robust determination to strengthen our joint international efforts to enable the organization to deal more effectively with various international and regional issues and problems we face. this requires at that we work together to reinforce the principles of democracy within multilateralism and promote dialogue and understanding as the only means to achieve our goals. thereby advancing the ideas of humanity and achieving the ambitions of our people for freedom, justice, peace, and security, and thank you, mr. president. tonight on c-span, new york rep charles rangel honored with a official portrait in the house ways and means committee room. also, remarks from republican presidential candidate jon huntsman. after that, the presence remarked at the congressional black caucus annual phoenix awards. later, u.n. general assembly speeches from the acting prime minister of libya s if transitional council and egypt new foreign minister. sunday on newsmakers, senator lamar alexander on his decision to step down as chairman of the republican conference and how congress has changed its operations over his four years in leadership. that is at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. in my opinion, i think the balance of at a bout of academic fr the bounds of freedom. she suggested that 10 year and job for life mentality has to go. there are professors of cooking, nutritional studies to have tenure. when pressed, someone at the aut, will say, well, we need someone that has tenure in security studies so they can talk about immigration, and someone in nutritional studies these to say something controversial about a busy. that and other reasons why you like a college education you paid for, sunday night on c- span s q&a . charles rangel was honored by his congressional colleagues with an official portrait in the house ways and means committee room. presiding over the ceremony was david cameron. you will hear remarks from john boehner, nancy pelosi and other lawmakers. representative rangel is currently serving his 21st term. this is an hour. i think it is safe to say he is chairman of the oldest and the most powerful committee in congress, the wayans and means committee. the ways and means committee. charlie was a close friend of a former member of this committee. there is a few moments in every person s life that define who he or she is and most people talk about charles rangel battling back the chinese army in career, a feat that not only saved american lives but earned him the purple heart and the bronze star. others will talk about his early hard work, including helping establish the congressional black caucus. for me, it is more personal. what charlie did for his wife and his family symbolizes at all. charles rangel opened up this beautiful room for his funeral service. it was at that moment that i saw the decency and graciousness that charles rangel has shown throughout his tenure and congress. no matter who you were or how long he served, and no matter what party were from, or if he were from a different party, charlie has always been charlie open, receptive, kind, but a fierce pragmatists in search of solutions that not only help his district but would help the nation. as a new member of the committee, one of the first bills i worked on that has a chance of getting to the president s desk was the adoption families act. i will never forget a meeting where we were in the basement of the capital around midnight, and the senate was not going to move on this bill. that charles rangel s help, bill became a reality, it was signed by the president, and many children have been placed in loving and save homes because of that. thank you for that. [applause] and i want to say when i was a new member, i was in the minority, that i was the majority, now i am in the minority, but through all the charles rangel was the same, with fairness and you to respect. i want to thank you for your leadership in this congress and i want to thank you for asking me to emceed this event. without further ado, let s get this program started. i would like to welcome the reverend, a prominent community leader from the chairman s hometown of harlem who will lead us in an invocation today. reverend? we are very pleased to be able to share in this great ceremony, and we acknowledge the tremendous leadership of our congress and the distinguished gentleman charles rangel. i do not think we gave him a big enough applause at the beginning of this. [applause] now let us bow our heads in prayer. eternal god, we are grateful for this day, for the privilege of life and for the opportunity to witness the enshrining of a great man in this great hall. as we read his brief biography, we see that is noted that he follows the mathean concern for the least of these. but we also know like solomon he has been granted a wise and understanding heart. we thank you for his wife stands by his side, and we thank you for his family who surrounds him with love and encouragement. and what a wonderful day is to see all of these friends gather in this place to cheer on our beloved charles rangel. thank you for the grace and all thankand most of you for and power in his hands and mind to do the great work that has benefited us all. now belsless this occasion. give charles and alva good years, long life, great health, and prospering affairs. may we continue to work together not only for the building of a greater harlem, but for the building of the greater nation. it is only because it is in you that we trust that we have been able to come this far. truly, we have come this far by faith, leaning on the lord, trusting in god holy name. and with charles rangel, and with the rest of us, our god has never failed us get. now made the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, o god, our strengthen our redeemer. let us all say amen. and now i have the honor of introducing someone that came to congress with me 20 years and who has served with charles rangel all these years. i have the honor of introducing the speaker of the house john boehner of ohio. thank you. thank you. [applause] let me start by congratulating charlie and alma and all of you that are involved in this great project. some of you know that charlie and i have considered each other friends from literally the first days i was here. i knew jack kemp before i got here, before i got here he told me, you have to get to know charles rangel because i think that two of you would get along just fine. and while charlie and i always do not see eye to eye, we [laughter] over the years, we have talked to virtually almost every day on the floor. and some things were cut were cut from the same cloth. charlie and i are both particular about our appearance. i can t wait to see what outfit you ve got on, charlie. secondly, we both enjoy what we do. and whether we agree or disagree, we tried to remain as happy a warrior as we can. listen, but we both love the people s house. and here you meet people that you never would have met, work with people you never dreamed he would work with. and you begin to find out what people from different parts of the country are like. all i can tell you is that on most occasions charlie and i have always understood each other real well. but one thing that we also understand is that he and i being here, just like all the other members, we are just temporary occupants of this institution. our time will come to an end and others will come along and take our place. his portrait will be held as a permanent tribute to charlie and a long and highly decorated record of service is provided to this institution. so on behalf of all those in the house, know that we are proud of you, proud of your accomplishments, and hope that you have a very enjoyable evening. thank you. [applause] thank you. now i d like to introduce a person who has always, i have always found to be a person of great civility and personal grace, the democratic leader and an historical figure in her own right as the first female speaker of the house nancy pelosi. [applause] thank you very much, mr. chairman, for bringing us all together. is an attribute that so many people are gathered here today to pay their respects to him, the speaker of the house, the leadership on both sides of the aisle, the distinguished lead er of the congressional black caucus, the senators that will be here i know there will find their way to this side of the building. and some members of congress passed and present, democrats and republicans. charles rangel said this four years ago while delivering the commencement address at langley college. he told graduates you knew that at the end of that rainbow of hard work and sacrifice there would be an opportunity for you and your family to say, yes, notwithstanding the odds in this country, i can make it. i will make it. that has been the story of charles rangel s life, a story of patriotism, of service in korea. he still has the shrapnel to prove it. i read that in the paper. i know that. as a public servant in new york, a member of the assembly, and as a member of congress. his love of alma and their family is very clear and it brings a smile to his face. but i think what brings a passion to his work is the fact that charles rangel is a deeply religious man. how many times has he said to us, the gospel of matthew made me do it. when the gospel talked about the least of our brethren, when they were hungry, needed shelter or clothing, even christ said, when i was in prison you visited me. very, very important. and inso in his list of accomplishments which are too many to list, they were about the gospel of the amount you. it or about liberty and justice for all. they were about to being a grandfather in making the future better for the next generation. this painting is not just about today, this is so that generations of children when they come to the capital and they come to this ways and means room will see the painting of the man there who might have had beginnings similar to there, who may have had obstacles to overcome, was a pioneer in representing the diversity of our country and the diversity of the congress. in addition to that, he opened the door for so many others to follow as a leader in the congressional black caucus and the leader in this house of representatives and in the country. congratulations for your tremendous leadership. thank you for sharing this man with us. thank you to his family for being an inspiration to charlie so that he can be an inspiration to the rest of us. [applause] and now i would like to have a big welcome to a big friend of mine, the democratic whip of the house. welcome. [applause] thank you very much, david. my fellow new yorkers. [cheers] i was born in charles rangel s district. [applause] i lives in manhattan until i was nine years of age. so i am a brother yorker. of my friend charlie rangel, an historic figure in the history of the house and of this nation. charlie rangel, a hero. who was called by his country to serve to defend freedom in a far off place that he met never have thought of that was being overrun to be subjected. charlie rangel answered the call and became a hero. not in his mind but in the minds of all of us. charlie rangel came home from korea having served his country and came home to new york to serve his country again. to serve as insuring proper law enforcement as an assistant prosecutor. charlie rangel answered the call of his country. and then his district to ask him to come to washington to serve once again four decades ago. so for 20 times his district has asked him to continue to serve. in that capacity, he has not only been a hero but a humanitarian as well. a person who cares to deeply about those who are disadvantaged, about those who have been left out. who cares deeply about his fate that admonishes him to lift up those who have fallen, the naked, house the homeless, feed the hungry. charlie rangel, a hero, humanitarian. he was sent here by new yorkers because they knew he was a leader. he came here and he has led and what he has shown all of us is that he is a leader and an extraordinary legislator. who acts and not for himself but for his people. not for his people constricted solely by a district or a city or a state but for a nation. indeed, the global community. we have all been privileged to have the honor to serve as colleagues of charlie rangel. i consider myself, alma, even more honored to be his friend. to respect to that which he has done, the service he has given, the courage he has shown. even at times of extraordinary stress, charlie rangel has stood very high. he has at least three beautiful grandchildren here. is that accurate to? you can be so proud. what do your grandchildren scalia? call you? pop pop. eat you can be very proud of your pop pop. this portrait which will be unveiled, i presume the artist is here. i presume the artist is extraordinarily talented. but to to capture the essence of charlie rangel must have been an extraordinary challenge. god bless you for trying. we look forward to the results. thank you, charles rangel, our friend and colleague. [applause] bravo! we all know the new york delegation is a close family. senator schumer is an integral part of that family. please welcome chuck schumer. [applause] thank you, my man. it is great to be here for my friend charlie rangel. i want you to send our great leader and a guy of indomitable spirit. he is the greatest. you all read the biography. everyone knows the things he has done. i want to say when you look at charlie s history, how he worked so hard and went through so much to get where he got, it gives you faith that all of the trouble we have, it gives you faith in the country of the future so long as charlie rangel can rise up, our country has a great future. thank you. [applause] i want to mention two things. i see so many of my friends who came down here. new york is in the house. anyone here from brooklyn? or is it just harlem and manhattan? a great borough i might add. i get a higher percentage than i usually get in brooklyn. anyway i want to mention two things. you learn a lot about a person when you see him work behind the scenes. i was speaking to speaker pelosi and we were looking at the picture of a former chair of the ways and means committee. charlie was a stalwart on the committee. the way it used to work, they would have to pass these tax bills. something we do not do any more. [laughter] and, um, those were hard. it was heavy lifting. the chairman of the committee would go to the members of the committee and say, what do you need to help you get most members said, i would like a tax break. i would like a tax break for this friend of mine. i would like this, i would like that. every year on every tax bill this man asked for one thing only he said expand the low income housing tax credit. [applause] it did not benefit him politically but he knew what was the right thing to do for so many people who could not afford housing and would not have housing without that tax credit. because of charlie doing that, it is one of 100 great things he did. because of charlie doing that there are hundreds of thousands of americans who have a roof over their heads today. it speaks to the generosity and the courage of this man. and the other thing i would like to mention that it deserves a lot of applause. this other thing is this as you all know, life and the good lord gives us our ups and our downs. everybody has their good times, everybody has their bad times. we all know that. it happens to every single one of us in so many different ways. no matter what the times were like, this man, this great, wonderful man who i am lucky to have been a mentor and friend to me, always had that big smile on his face. his spirit is so strong and so good. he is so grounded in his belief in who he is and what he is that nothing, nothing, can ever break or stop the great charlie rangel. we love you. we are proud to see your picture there. we hope you have many more years with us in the united states congress representing a harlem and new york state. thank you. [applause] thank you, senator. our next speaker is the current chairman of the congressional black caucus. he and charlie have contributed to the african-american community and the entire nation. please join me in welcoming a manual immanuel cleaver ii. [applause] just so the charlie rangel family we know we are here, some of whom are behind me, if you would just stand for a moment so people can see you. thank you. [applause] i mean no disrespect, i m going to speak out of my religious tradition. and that of the religious tradition of charlie rangel and hope that those of you who are out from other traditions will be able to relate at least to a part of the symbolism of what i will do which is to talk about the single most well-known scripture in that decalogue. it is called the parable of the samaritan. you probably call it the good samaritan which i am hoping to clear up in my book that will come out about easter, not that i am shamelessly plugging it. [laughter] but the ? says nothing about the good samaritan. it says the s american. it would have been a put a stamp. samaritans were despised, despised. many people used this text to talk about bigotry. this americans or half-breeds. they had been thus americans the samaritans were half- breeds. they were despised thing, confined to a small area called samaria. everyday people never went through some area. it was like the ghetto. as it goes, the 10th chapter of luke, it says, on one occasion an expert of the law, an attorney, [applause] [laughter] race to the question, what must i do to inherit eternal life? what is written in the law, he replied. he answered, love the lord your god with all your heart and soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. you have answered correctly, jesus replied, to this and you will live. he wanted to justify himself so he asked to jesus, who is my neighbor? as american a samaritan was going down the road. it was the most dangerous 19 miles in the nation of israel. a dangerous 19 miles. he had been off the road side. a samaritan comes along. the suggestion the contemporary folk put on a, most americans are bad, this was a good one. uh-huh. the bible does not fit into that. this was a samaritan. you know the story. he takes care of the wounded man. as jesus tells a parable and ends it, he says, the man says to jesus, who is my neighbor? jesus explains it and says, go and do likewise. go and do likewise. be like the samaritan. when the unborn and generations step into this room and look at this portrait of charles rangel, the hope is that some of them will say, who is this man? when the question is asked, my hope is that those who provide information will say this was a man who helped his country so much he was willing to die and live for it. go and do likewise. this was a man who got up every day every day of his life and tried to do the right thing. go and do likewise. who was this man? this was a man who scratched, claude, crawled, and it did everything he could to stand up for the poor, the hurt, and the wounded. go and do likewise. this was a man who had the personality of a basketball. any time he hit the floor, he bounced up. [laughter] go and do likewise. [applause] now i would like to welcome the junior senator from new york. we are happy when former house members who are gone to the senate come back and visit. [applause] it is such an honor to be here today to recognize an extraordinary leader in our nation s capital. i want to recognize or former speaker. thank you for the service you do. i want to recognize chalk for being such a wonderful partner with me. i want to recognize that delegation behind me. so many members of the cbc. thank you for which you do to be a voice for hard-working americans. everyone here has talked about his distinguished career, his public service, the fact that he is a war hero, he pulled himself up from nothing and created a career that has been extraordinary. what i want to talk about is what a friend you have been to me. as a young congresswoman when i came to washington, as the dean of our delegation, charlie took me under his wings, and gave me guidance, gave me the most heartfelt advice every time i needed it. he also was the first one to stand when i was appointed to the u.s. senate. p.m. guided me to the he invited me to the cbc dinner. it was nice to have such a gracious host to introduce me to everybody and stood by me as encouragement and friend. thank you for always being there for me. i want to talk about some of the work he has done in the house of representatives. not only has he been a champion for working families, he reaches out to those who need it the most. one of the bills we are working out is on fate based leaders faith-based leaders to help those most at risk. they have no better friend than charlie in the entire capital. you are a champion for those who needed it the most. those who need a voice here in washington. you are an extraordinary public servant and someone i feel blessed to count as a friend. thank you, charlie. [applause] we have a number of special guests and one extra special guest. this is alma ra bring go who t at a dance floor in harlem. while i am not a scene at charlie dance in person, i have heard rumors his grace is not just a personality trait. it is an honor to have you today. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. [cheers and applause] charlie! charlie! charlie! [applause] i think we can agree this is a remarkable piece of art. we will now hear from the artists. he is a distinguished portrait artist whose subjects include thurgood marshall, william jefferson clinton and hillary rodham clinton. good afternoon to everyone. let me begin by expressing my pleasure given the privilege an opportunity to participate in this celebration and honor of congressman rangel. he has been a continuous source of inspiration for many of us. commissioned portraits are our way of saying those in our midst that we celebrate you and we would like to keep your image around for years to come. [applause] it is the responsibility of a portrait painter to create a true likeness of his subjects. i have included in this portrait some items that may speak to his loyalty to his country, to his community, and to himself. i think the way thank the ways and means committee for giving me this opportunity to paint his portrait of an american who has given so much to so many for so many years. thank you to his staff for their support and a special thank you for his vigilance. [applause] now it is time to hear from the man of the hour. chairman charlie rangel. [applause] charlie! charlie! i am moved. [laughter] i want the people to know that something happens to me this is no substitute for a funeral. [laughter] i do not were no where to start. i know that the people here today have a busy schedule. they have come a long way. i wanted to thank my wife. alma, come up here. [applause] i brought you appear so when you start next weekend telling me what to do around the house, maybe i can get a better start. thank you. [applause] my best friend was my brother. he was my brother, my friend, everything. i lost him when he was only 52 years old and he had a three wonderful kids. patrice, thank you for being with us. most of you who are grandfathers no that sometimes you can look at your teenaged daughter and you just stare at each other. i just to say as an experienced grandfather, i could have treated you a lot better if i knew you re going to give me three grandchildren like that. thank you so much. my grand kids,, the come on up here. howard, joshua, and shelley. thank you so much, gang. there are some many people here that i could not possibly name all of you. i do need not even have a card. david made certain this happen. thank you for that. the leadership, it is true we have had some rough times with the other side but this wonderful committee has done so much bipartisan work in the past. i hope we will be able to do it again. the ways and means committee, let me thank all of you. will you please stand. [applause] the conscience of the congress when it whether i was chairman or wherever i was doing, they keep driving for the people so much so this country can be all that she can be. will the congressional black caucus people put their hand? [applause] i do not know whether this is true or not but they say those from the city and state of new york have a far more than they need but i wish they would stand. joe, jerry, where are we? [applause] what makes my life is so much easier politically while summoning members are prepared to see and hear what their congressional allies look like, like county chairman is here today and i do not remember the last time i said anything nice about him. there has never been a county chair like him. [applause] in the new york state assembly, my long and dear friend, thank you so much for being here. and of course back at home i do not have to worry about the city council issues that some of my colleagues do. the leader that really michael leader, my co-leader. i just want to tell my chairman of the cbc that back, by pastors to not wait for people to die that good things can happen. the pastor is the president of a senior development corporation. he is a professor at a state college. he succeeded clayton powell at senior baptist church. i just try to be his partner because his shoes were too big for both of us. thank you for coming down here. and on the democratic side, and nancy pelosi. it has been exciting. i see gretchen morton. i know i am missing a lot of people. i hope you give me an opportunity to make up for this. this goes beyond the trade bill s some 60 years ago. our ambassador for the united states of america. thank you for being here. and my staff. where is george henry? put up your hand. jeff, anna. wave. without you, ok. [applause] it is all a big team. i hope that i am here to thank all of you and that you recognize i have been so blessed. marty, there he is. told you i would make it to st. john s law. you did not believe me. i m not answering questions about the ethics committee. [laughter] i can wait to see how the in your post new york post handles it. it was like when i was assigned to a young district assistant attorney. if you talk about any illegal things, he agrees the constitution. [applause] all i can tell you that this hasted be the greatest country in the world. it is absolutely fantastic how people can leave their culture and the beauty of their country just to come to a place that most of them have no idea what is in store for them. they take a gamble. almost all of them, it is a far better life no matter what degree of success they have here. i am always reminded that nobody is trying to leave the united states of america. everybody, they can complain, but they re trying to get in and stay in. when you bring the best of all of the country s whether from asia or europe, i often think of the congressional black caucus member is that on like to the irish unlike the irish or my jewish friends, we do not have the history. as soon as we got to the united states they started shredding all of the african songs and the hands and the language. it is difficult to allow children to be able to dream because they have nothing that has been taught to them to dream. as a way of saying thank you to america is to make sure that you break down the barriers. so many people believe that they should make it in this country that provided some much hope. we know there is a lot of hypocrisy. we know there is a lot of racism. but we also know there is no country in the world that has been as good to all people like the united states of america. [applause] i think that means we have a great responsibility. nancy pelosi talks about me and saint matthew. i was not that close to the bible when i should have been. but i tell you one thing, dedicating my whole life to politics, i conducted something and it has to have a biblical value. when i think about medicaid and medicare and social security and adoption, and education, you know what i think? the man who said that when i needed help, you were not there for me. you did not visit to me in the jails. you did not feed me and give me comfort. don t all of us have an obligation to make certain that those who follow us do not have to go through what we are going through? it is up to us in the congress. if we cannot do what the people have to do it to make certain that it is not just due process but a compassionate understanding for our brothers and sisters. it is not just for this country. it is for every country that believes we, the citizens of liberty, that we take care of our own. it is sometimes embarrassing to see people that want to get elected, those who have been elected know that when we are running, reason has no place in our challenge to get reelected. it is unfortunate. no matter who goes under the bus, no matter what has to happen, you made to some degree of bad feelings but when you re ready to go, nothing stops a candidate. we cannot have a right now when the country finds that some of the people are jobless and homeless and hopeless. we have to get our americans back to work to be able to have the self-esteem and that american dream come true. my life is a story that anyone can make a gift. make it. from a high school dropout to being the chair of this committee. [applause] thank you for coming today. i hope that you see and think of other people that try hard to do the right thing. i hope because you are here it is symbolic that you associate with the things i have tried to do. the most important thing is that the end of the day, you can say it is not just what you have done, it is what did you try to do for the lesser of our brothers and sisters. thank you. put that in a new book. [applause] thank you, charlie, for your service to your country, your friends, your family, and this committee. this portrait will be a reminder every day of that service. i look forward to your continued service and i want to thank everyone for serving. we will close with a rabbi who will read a letter. then a benediction in honor of this occasion. shalom. i share the following remarks, deere shares charlie, thank you for giving me the honor to offer a benediction on the unveiling of your portrait. i feel privileged to have the opportunity to express my high regard for you. i am disappointed i will not be able to do it in person. upon your insistence, i will accept the officers cross of the republic of poland at the time of year ceremony. my colleagues will read my prayer. charlie, you have my best wishes for health, strength, and a long life to continue your devoted service to our nation. your friendship, warns, compassion and commitment to human rights have touched many lives for could. made aboard bless you the lord bless you. in that spirit, let us pray. merciful god, we invoke your blessings today upon a deer and longtime friend charlie rangel, a man of faith, a man who has devoted his life to our nation as a word veteran and committed to building a better world and quality of life for all americans. we remember his contribution and legacy as chairman of the ways and means committee and his commitment to human rights, freedom, equal opportunity, and tolerance. the great architect received his mission to build a tabernacle because he possessed the divine petraeus. charlie rangel has used to these qualities you have given him, o lord, to serve his constituency, n.y. city and state as well as our great nation for more than 40 years. we in broken the prepared invoked in all synagogues on invoked inhe praryer all synagogues. we bless him with strength and fulfillment. bless him and his family. bless the president, the vice president, the speaker and all members of the united states congress. give them wisdom and guide them in their deliberations for the benefit of the american people. god bless america, a land of freedom and opportunity. stand beside her and guide her. let us say, amen. amen. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] tomorrow on washington journal, a discussion on ballot access and third-party candidates with a c e zero of the americans alike 2012 group. then a look at the impact on the u.s. economy with stella dawson. that is live at 7:00 a.m. the stand eastern here on c-span. the season and networks. we provide coverage of politics, books, and american history. look for congress to continue federal spending into november including greece and natural disasters. keep tabs on the deficit committee and follow the presidential candidates as they continue to campaign. it is all available on television, radio, and online. search, watch, and share all of our programs with the video library. we are on the road with airbus and local content vehicles bringing resources to a local communities. provided as a public service. next, remarks from former utah governor jon huntsman. he talks about illegal immigration, his support for traditional marriage, and the balanced budget amendment. his remarks a part of the political action conference in orlando, florida. this is about 15 minutes. [applause] thank you. i am honored and delighted to be with you here today, particularly with my wife, mary kay, who is seated right here. then i mention that she is from orlando, florida? [applause] and that i mentioned to you that my son-in-law, jeff livingston, is from tampa? that should suggest to you how we are going to lock up the corridor and then when the state ultimately. i am honored to be here. nothing survives long without advocates, including those rights written by thomas jefferson, upon which our great nation was founded. life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. i would like to speak today just for a moment about life and liberty. without which there can be no pursuit of happiness. let me begin by telling you about the life of my daughter. she is 12 years old. in 1999, gracie was abandoned among the mushrooms, carrots, and bamboo shoots of vegetable market in china. i sometimes call her my little bean curd. our path toward gracie began when my wife, mary kay, volunteered at a catholic church orphanage when we live together in taiwan in 1987. 12 years later, on the evening of may 19, 1999, and i want you to remember that date, we decided to adopt a little girl from china. several months later, while attending a christmas tree in a fit for adopted kids around the world, our family bought a tree, and when the vendor asked what name we wanted on its, mary kay said without hesitation, gracie may huntsman. after a girl we didn t know yet. with a tear in her eye, my wife told the vendor that name at 8:15 p.m.. when we return home after the event, there was a message received at our home 8:15 p.m. from the adoption agency. notifying us they had found a child for our family. you guessed it, gracie may, and the date of birth was may 19, 1999. [applause] this could not have been a coincidence, ladies and gentlemen. greyson love to tell this story, and when asked who found her in the vegetable market, she simply replies jesus. [applause] now, why do i mention this? because in today s frenetic political climate, we sometimes forget there is something more essential than politics, and that is like. life. i cannot imagine our world without gracie and her younger sister who was adopted from india. everyday we look in their eyes and thank the good lord their mothers chose life and did not throw it away. [applause] thank you. as governor of utah, i supported and signed landmark legislation to protect life, including parental consent and real pain laws. that is the orientation i would bring to the presidency. from life, let me move to liberty. specifically, the ever growing encroachment on our liberty, and it begins with obamacare s and constitutional mandate which must and will be repealed on day one of my presidency. [applause] but this is just the centerpiece of an administration that has overseen an unacceptable growth of government regulation and debt. i am one of the only candidate to unequivocally supports the rights and plan to cut spending and reform entitlements. [applause] thank you. the ultimate safeguard against overspending, however, and what i will submit to congress is a balanced budget amendment. it is immoral to squander our nation s wealth and it should be unconstitutional as well. we can get there, folks. just requires a little leadership. the pursuit of happiness is in peril, not just by infringements on life and liberty, but by the inability today to find a job. nearly 50 million of our fellow americans are unemployed. millions more are so dispirited they have given up looking. these are not just numbers. they are human tragedies. families torn apart, relationships pushed to the brink, men and women struggling to maintain the pride that comes from self-sufficiency. our most urgent priority must be putting american people back to work and restoring america s prosperity. president obama believes we can tax and spend and regulate our way to prosperity. we cannot. we must compete our way to prosperity, the way we have always done in this country, the greatest nation that ever was. i have lived overseas for times, ladies and gentlemen. most recently as u.s. ambassador to china. is our nation s big biggest competitors and what it takes to compete in the 21st century all economy. i have also been governor of a state, under my leadership, led the nation in job creation and whose economy grew at triple the national rate, even faster than texas under my good friend rick perry, but don t tell him. but i would never describe what happened in utah as a miracle, because that is something unexplained, and we know exactly what lead our nation to prosperity. we passed in our state largest tax cut in the state of the history. be streamlined regulations. we honestly balanced the budget, tripled our rainy day fund, created certainty in an environment for growth. i am here to tell you, we must do those same things for the united states of america. thank you. [applause] my jobs and economic plan is the only one endorsed by the wall street journal and described by one conservative economist as the most pro-growth proposal ever offered by a presidential candidate. i want you to take a look at it. the centerpiece is bold tax reform. our tax code has devolved into a maze of daschle interest car routes and loopholes would cost taxpayers half a trillion dollars a year just to comply with. i say rather than tinker around the edges, let s clean house. s get rid of the car out, carveouts, get rid of the loopholes and deductions and get rid of the corporate welfare. use that to lower the rates across the board for businesses and individuals. we will create a tax code that is flatter, fairer, simpler, and more conducive to growth, just as i did as governor. i am not giving an academic sermon on what i think my work. i am telling you what does work, based upon my own experience as governor. [applause] thank you. let s also get the regulatory monkey off the back of our job creators. starting with the repeal of obamacare. let s free ourselves from opec by ending our heroin-like addiction to foreign oil. [applause] free trade and open more markets for american products and exports. let s equiped the american worker with the tools to compete. ladies and gentlemen, if we do that, i would not bet against the united states of america. we will rise again and we will proudly proclaim that made in america means something to our people and those we compete against. let me share what else would guide my actions as president. i believe in the second amendment, with a name like mine, you have no choice. [applause] i believe in improving health care through markets and not mandates. i believe that after 10 years, 1800 lives lost, and half a trillion lives spent, it is time to bring our men and women home from afghanistan. [applause] of course we will need something to gather intelligence left behind and training. but we do not need 100,000 troops nation-building when this nation needs to be built its self. itself. we will not rest until we build our economy. we risk of being unable to aid our allies in times of crisis such as israel staring down a nuclear iran. i cannot live with a nuclear- armed iran. if there was every reason to use american force, it would be that. [applause] thank you. i also hold some believes that i know some in this remain not share. i believe in science. including as relates to evolution and climate change. i believe in the spirit of george bush, dick cheney, and william f. buckley in civil unions though i also support traditional marriage. i have seven kids to prove the point. i realize we may disagree on some of this. in our party, we can disagree in some areas and still the united by our core beliefs, life, liberty, low taxes, balanced budgets, free markets, and limited government to win in 2012 and beyond. we must appeal to the tea party and to conservative republicans but we must also bring into the tent moderate republicans, independents, and conservative democrats. [applause] it was ronald reagan who reminded us that a person who agrees with you 80% of the time is an 80% friend, not a 20% enemy. [applause] this does not mean we must abandon our core principles. just the opposite. we made a need a party that can sell those principles to the broadest possible audience. president obama s only hope for reelection is if we fail to broaden our appeal and make the sale. we cannot let that happen. i am running to be the nominee on my record. the largest tax cut in the history of the state, and balanced budgets, first in the nation in job growth, free- market health care reform, pro- lifers and pro second amendment and support for civil unions. i am not pretending to be someone i am not. i am not going to pander. i will not sign pledges. [applause] i am not standing over a history of being pro-choice, raising taxes and in acting heavy-handed mandate. before believing a type, all i ask is you take a look at my record and make your judgments and decisions based on the record. ladies and gentlemen, this is the most important collection of our lifetime. we must defeat president obama and reverse the disastrous course this country is on. as we gather here today, many are wondering if america s best days are behind her. let me be clear. i do not. i have seen the resilience and character of our people. i see it in the courage of our veterans who i have met across this nation. and those who served today so proudly and nation s uniform. i see it in our entrepreneurs who continued to better the world. i saw it in china, 10,000 miles away, meeting with dissidents who had been tortured and beaten, but to draw strength from our nation s values. our openness, our freedoms half a world away, they could see america s like. that, my friends, is the power this country still projects an represents. and represents. thank you. america s best days are yet to come. all we need is leadership to get us there. this is our election to lose and we have the economics on our side. we have the solutions on our side. we have the vision on our side. now we just need to get the people on our side. i look forward to working with all of you in this room to make this happen. president obama won in 2008 by offering false hope. we re going to win in 2012 by offering real solutions. thank you, god bless you, and god bless the united states of america. it is an honor to be with all of you. thank you so much. going through all the changes oh, yes i am. watch more video of the candidates, with the political reporters are saying, and track the latest campaign turned traditions with our campaign site for 2012. it helps you navigate the political landscape with quarters feeds and facebook updates and the latest polling data appeared close links to c- span media partners. all add c-span.org/campaign2012. sunday on news makers, lamar alexander on his decision to step down as chairman of the republican conference and how congress has changed its operations over his four years in leadership for that is at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. [guitar music continues] spend this weekend in charlotte, north carolina with book tv and american history tv. throughout the weekend, the history and literary life from the site of the 2012 democratic convention. on book tv on c-span2, charlotte s banking industry. karen cox on dreaming of dixie how the south was created in the american popular culture. we also visit the park road bookstore to learn about the relationship with the independent bookstores and publishers. and on american history tv on c-span3, tour 11th president james polk s birthplace, a discussion with charles jones, the civil rights leader on his part in the 1960 s lunch counter sit-ins, and visit the reed gold mine where gold was first discovered in america. book tv and american history tv in charlotte, north carolina this weekend on c-span to in c- span 3. in his weekly address, president obama talks about education as an important part of his economic agenda. it calls for the raisings of standards in the nation s classrooms. he is followed by susan collins it discusses how business owners are reluctant to hire new employees because the cost of federal regulations. over the last few weeks, i ve been making the case that we need to act now on the american jobs act, so we can put folks back to work and start building an economy that lasts into the future. education is an essential part of this economic agenda. it is an undeniable fact that countries who out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow. businesses will hire wherever the highly-skilled, highly- trained workers are located. but today, our students are sliding against their peers around the globe. today, our kids trail too many other countries in math, science, and reading. as many as a quarter of our students aren t even finishing high school. and we ve fallen to 16th in the proportion of our young people with a college degree, even though we know that sixty percent of new jobs in the coming decade will require more than a high school diploma. what this means is that if we re serious about building an economy that lasts an economy in which hard work pays off with the opportunity for solid middle class jobs we had better be serious about education. we have to pick up our game and raise our standards. as a nation, we have an obligation to make sure that all children have the resources they need to learn quality schools, good teachers, the latest textbooks and the right technology. that s why the jobs bill i sent to congress would put tens of thousands of teachers back to work across the country, and modernize at least 35,000 schools. and congress should pass that bill right now. but money alone won t solve our education problems. we also need reform. we need to make sure that every classroom is a place of high expectations and high performance. that s been our vision since taking office. and that s why instead of just pouring money into a system that s not working, we launched a competition called race to the top. to all fifty states, we said, if you show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement, we ll show you the money. for less than one percent of what we spend on education each year, race to the top has led states across the country to raise their standards for teaching and learning. these standards were developed, not by washington, but by republican and democratic governors throughout the country. and since then, we have seen what s possible when reform isn t just a top-down mandate, but the work of local teachers and principals; school boards and communities. that s why in my state of the union address this year, i said that congress should reform the no child left behind law based on the same principles that have guided race to the top. while the goals behind no child left behind were admirable, experience has taught us that the law has some serious flaws that are hurting our children instead of helping them. teachers are being forced to teach to a test, while subjects like history and science are being squeezed out. and in order to avoid having their schools labeled as failures, some states lowered their standards in a race to the bottom. these problems have been obvious to parents and educators all over this country for years. but for years, congress has failed to fix them. so now, i will. our kids only get one shot at a decent education. and they can t afford to wait any longer. yesterday, i announced that we ll be giving states more flexibility to meet high standards for teaching and learning. it s time for us to let states, schools and teachers come up with innovative ways to give our children the skills they need to compete for the jobs of the future. this will make a huge difference in the lives of students all across the country. yesterday, i was with ricky hall, the principal of a school in worcester, massachusetts. every single student who graduated from ricci s school in the last three years went on to college. but because they didn t meet the standards of no child left behind, ricci s school was labeled as failing last year. that will change because of what we did yesterday. from now on, we ll be able to encourage the progress at schools like ricci s. from now on, people like john becker, who teaches at one of the highest-performing middle schools in d.c., will be able to focus on teaching his 4th graders math in a way that improves their performance instead of just teaching to a test. superintendents like david estrop from ohio will be able to focus on improving teaching and learning in his district instead of spending all his time on bureaucratic mandates from washington that don t get results. this isn t just the right thing to do for our kids it s the right thing to do for our country, and our future. it is time to put our teachers back on the job. it is time to rebuild and modernize our schools. and it is time to raise our standards, up our game, and do everything it takes to prepare our children succeed in the global economy. now is the time to once again make our education system the envy of the world. thanks for listening. i am senator susan collins from the great state of maine. last month our nation produced no net new jobs. more than 14 million americans could not find work. i have asked employers what it would take that out them add more jobs. no matter the size of their business or the size of their workforce, they tell me that washington must stop imposing crushing new regulations. some regulations are just plain silly. last year the federal government issued a warning to a company that sells packaged walnuts. washington claim that the walnuts were being marketed as a drug. so the government ordered the company to stop telling consumers about the health benefits of not. nuts. others have far more serious consequences. the epa has proposed a new role on emissions from boilers that would cost of private sector billions of dollars and thousands of jobs. no wonder employers dread what is coming next out of washington. overregulation is hurting our economy. unfortunately, the problem is only growing worse. right now federal agencies are at work on more than 4200 new rules, 845 of which affect small businesses, the endgame of job creation. more than 100 have an economic impact of more than $100 million each. no business owner i know questions the legitimate role of limited government in helping our health and safety. too often, however, our small businesses are buried under a mountain of paperwork. business owners are reluctant to create jobs today if they are going to need to pay more tomorrow to comply with under this new regulations. onerous new regulations. uncertainty generated by washington is a wet blanket on our economy. we republicans say that enough is enough. american needs a timeout from the regulations that discourage job creation and hurt our economy. republicans have many good ideas about how to tame the regulatory we wanted agencies to poorly considered their costs and benefits. many have called for a one-year moratorium on certain kinds of new roles. if a rule would have an adverse impact on jobs, the economy, or america s international competitiveness, it should not go into effect. that epa rule on boilers is a good example of why we need a regulatory timeout. if it went into effect as written, a recent study estimates that this rule all along with other pending regulation could cause 36 pulp and paper mills across the country to close. that would put more than 20,000 americans out of work. 18% of that industry s work force. that s just for starters. once these mills closed, their suppliers would also be forced to lay off workers. estimates are that nearly 90,000 americans would lose their jobs. even that is not the end of the store. people and businesses would still need paper. where do you think we would get it? we would be strengthening the economies of countries like china, india, and brazil while america s economy grows weaker. american businesses need pro- growth policies that will end the uncertainty and kickstart hiring and investment. american workers need policies that will get them off the sidelines and back on the job. the american economy needs to time out from excessive and costly regulations. in sports, a timeout gives athletes a chance to catch their breath and make better decisions. american workers and businesses are the athletes and global competition that we must win. we need a timeout from excessive regulation so that americans can get back to work. tomorrow on washington journal, the discussion on securing ballot access and third-party candidates with elliot ackerman, ceo of the americans elect 2012. after that, look at europe s fiscal troubles and the impact and the u.s. economy with critics economy with studentcam of reuters. and then a discussion on what employees can do to help secure their pensions with rick rodgers, a retirement counselor. that is live at 7:00 a.m. here on c-span. you do not play politics at time of national crisis. if you do not play politics with the economy, and you never ever play politics with people s jobs. with the british house of commons in recess, annual party conferences are under way. watch this keynote from the liberal democrat conference this sunday at 9:00 on c-span. in the weeks ahead, ed miliband and david cameron. present obama spoke tonight at the closing ceremony an awards dinner of the congressional black caucus foundation. in his address, he talked about the efforts of his administration to help those in need and urged congress to pass his jobs plan during this 30- minute event was held in the nation s capital. [applause] hello cbc. thank you so much, thank you. please, everybody have a seat. it is wonderful to be with it is wonderful to be with all of you tonight, with the conscience of the congress. thank you, chairman cleaver and brother pain for all that you do each and every day. thank you to all of you for all of you with your outstanding work for the intern program that has done so much for so many young people. i had a chance to meet some of the young people backstage, and unbelievably impressive group. being here with all of you, with all the outstanding members of the congressional black caucus reminds me of a story that one of our friends, a giant of the civil rights movement, rev. dr. joseph lowery, told one day. he lowery, i don t think would be telling that he turns 90 in a couple of weeks. [applause] he has been causing a raucous ruckus for about 89 of those years. [laughter] a few years back, dr. lowery and i were together at brown chapel a m e church in selma. [applause] we have some selma folks in the house. dr. lowery stood up in the pulpit and told accommodation the congregation the story of shadrach, meshach, and abednego in the fiery furnace. you know the story, it is about three gunmen bold enough to three young man bold enough to stand up for god, even if it meant being thrown in a furnace. and they survived because of their fate, and because god faith, and because god showed up in the furnace with them. now, dr. lowery said that those three young men were a little bit crazy, but there is a difference, he said. between good crazy and bad crazy. those boys were good crazy. at the time, i was running for president. it was early in the campaign and nobody gave me much of a chance. he turned to me from the pulpit and indicated that someone like me was running for president. that was crazy. but he supposed it was good crazy. he was talking about faith. the belief in things not seen. the belief that if you persevere, a better day lies ahead. i suppose the reason i enjoy coming to the c b c, what this weekend is all about is, you and me, we are all little bit crazy, but hopefully a good kind of crazy. [applause] we are a good kind of crazy, because no matter how hard things get, we keep the faith. we keep fighting, we keep moving forward. we have needed faith over these last couple of years. times have been hard. it has been three years since we faced down a crisis that began on wall street and then spread to main street and hammered working families and hammered the already hard hit black community. the unemployment rate for black folks went up to nearly 17%, the highest it has been in almost three decades. 40% almost of african-american children are living in poverty. pure that have are convinced fewer than half are convinced they can achieve dr. king s dream. you have to be a little crazy to have faith during such hard times. it is heartbreaking and frustrating, and i ran for president and the members of the cbc ran for congress to help more americans reach that dream. [applause] we ran to give every child a chance, whether born in chicago or a little town in the desert. this crisis made that job of giving everybody opportunities a little bit harder. we knew at the outset of my presidency that the economic calamity we face was not caused overnight and was not going to be solved overnight. we knew that long before the recession hit, the middle class in this country had been falling behind. wages and incomes had been stagnant. since the financial security had been slipping away, and since these problems were not caused overnight, we knew we were going to have to climb a steep hill, but we got to work, with your help. we started fighting our way back from the brink, and at every step of the way, we faced fierce opposition based on an old idea, the idea that the only way to restore prosperity cannot just be to let every corporation write its own rules and give out tax breaks to the wealthiest and most fortunate and to tell everybody you are on your own. there has to be a different concept. of what america is all about. it has to be based on the idea that i am my brother s keeper and my sister s keeper and we are in this together. we are in this thing together. [applause] we had a different vision. so we did what was right, and we fought to extend unemployment insurance and to extend the organ, credit and to expand the child tax credit which benefited nearly half of all african-american children in this country, and millions of americans are better off because of that fight. [applause] ask the family struggling to make ends meet if that extra few hundred dollars in their mother s paycheck or the payroll tax cut we passed made a difference. they will tell you. ask them how much that earned income tax credit or that child tax credit makes a difference in paying the bills at the end of the month. when an army of lobbyists and special interests spent millions to crush wall street reforms, we stood up for what was right. we said the time has come to protect homeowners from predatory lenders. we signed the strongest consumer financial protection in history. that is what we did together. remember how many years we tried to stop big banks from collecting taxpayer subsidies for student loans while the cost for college kept slipping out of reach? together we put a stop to that once and for all. we used savings to make college more affordable. we invested in community college and early childhood education. ask the engineering student who thought he might have to give up school without that extra pell grant assistance. not just by pouring money into a broken system but by building on what works. with neighborhoods modeled after the good work up in harlem. joyce neighborhoods, rebuilding crumbling public housing in the neighborhoods of hope and opportunity. strong cities, strong communities or partnered with cities like cleveland and detroit. we overcame years of inaction to win justice for black farmers because of the leadership of the cbc, and because we had an administration that was committed to doing the right thing. against all sorts of setbacks, when the opposition far as with everything they had, we finally made clear that in the united states of america, nobody should go broke because they get sick. we are better than that. today, insurance companies can no longer drop or deny your coverage for no good reason. in just a year and a half, about 1 million more young adults have health insurance because of this law. 1 million young people that is an incredible achievement, and we did it with your help and the help of the cbc. in these hard years, we have won a lot of fights that needed fighting. we have done a lot of good, but we have more work to do. so many people are still hurting. so many people are still barely hanging on, and too many people in this city are still fighting us every step of the way. so i need your help. we have to do more to put people to work right now. we have to make sure that everyone in this country gets a fair shake and a fair shot and a chance to get ahead. [applause] i know we won t get where we need to go if we don t travel down this road together. i need you with me. that starts with getting this congress to pass the american jobs act. you heard me talk about this plan when i visited congress a few weeks ago and sent the bill to congress a few days later. now i want that bill back, passed. i am ready to sign it, and i need your help to make it happen. right now, we have millions of construction workers out of a job. this bill says, let s put those men and women back to work in their own communities, rebuilding our roads and bridges. let s give them jobs rebuilding our schools. let s put them to work rehabilitating foreclosed homes in the heart of neighborhoods in atlanta and washington. this is a no-brainer. why should we let china build in u.s. airports, the fast as railroads? tell me why our children should be allowed to study and a school that is falling apart. i don t want that for my kids or your kids or for any kids. you tell me how it makes sense. when we know that education is the most important thing for success in the 21st century. let s put our people back to work doing the work america needs done. let s pass this jobs bill. [applause] we ve got millions of unemployed americans and young people looking for worked but running out of options. so this jobs bill says let s give them a pathway, a new pathway back to work. let s extend unemployment insurance so more than 6 million americans don t lose that lifeline. that s our kids with the skills they need for life. tell me why we don t want the unemployed back in the work force as soon as possible. that s pass this jobs bill, put these folks back to work. [applause] why are we shortchanging our children when we could be putting teachers back in the classroom right now where they belong? [applause] laying off teachers, police officers, firefighters all across the country because of state and local budgets. what are we not helping? we did the first two years, then this other crowd came into congress and now they want to stop. tell me why we should not give companies tax credits for hiring the men women who risked their lives for this country, our veterans. there is no good answer for that. they should not be fighting to find a job when they come home. [applause] these republicans in congress like to talk about job creators. how about doing something real for job creators, passed this jobs bill, and every small business owner in america, including 100,000 black owned businesses, will get a tax cut. as this jobs bill, and every worker in america, including nearly 20 million african american workers, will get a tax cut. passed this jobs bill and prove you will fight just as hard for a tax cut for ordinary folks as you do for all your contributors. [applause] these are questions that opponents of this jobs plant will have to answer. the kinds of ideas in this plan in the past have been supported by both parties. suddenly obama is proposing it what happens? what happens? you used to like to build roads. [laughter] [applause] right? reverend, do you know what happened? i don t know. they used to love to build some roads. [laughter] now, i know some of our friends across i will not support any new spending that is not paid for. i agree that is important. last week i laid out a plan to pay for the american jobs act and to bring down our debt over time. you say that deficit is important? here we go, i am ready to go. a plan that says if we want to create jobs and close this deficit, we have to ask the folks who have benefited most, the wealthiest americans, the biggest, most profitable corporations, to pay their fair share. we are not asking them to do anything extraordinary. the reform we are proposing is based on a simple principle. middle-class folks should not pay higher tax rates than millionaires and billionaires. [applause] that is not crazy. or it is good crazy. secretaryfett s should not pay a higher tax rate than warren buffett. a teacher or a nurse or construction worker making $50,000 a year should not pay higher tax rates and someone making $50 million. that is just common sense. we are not doing this to punish success. this is the land of opportunity. i want you to go out and start a business, get rich, build something. our country is based on the belief that anybody can make it if they put in enough sweat and effort. that is wonderful, god bless you. but part of the american idea is also that once we have done well, we should pay our fair share. to make sure that those schools that we were learning in canteens the next generation, can teach the next generation, that those roads we benefit from, that they are not crumbling for the next bunch of folks that are coming behind us. to keep up the nation s that made our success possible, and most well treated most wealthy americans would agree with that. but republicans are already dusting off their old pocketbooks. talking points. that is class warfare, they said. in the next breath, they will complain that people living in poverty, people who suffered the most over the past decade, don t pay enough in taxes. that is bad crazy. when you start saying at a time when the top one-tenth of 1% have seen their incomes go up four or five times over the last 20 years, and folks at the bottom have seen their incomes decline, and your response is that you want for folks to pay folks to pay more? give me a break. if asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a janitor makes me a warrior for the working class, i wear that with a badge of honor. i have no problem with that. it is about time. [applause] they say it kills jobs. we are not proposing anything other than returning to the tax rates for the wealthiest americans that existed under bill clinton. i played golf with bill clinton a and i was asking him, how did that go? it turns out, we have a lot of jobs. the well-to-do did even better. so did the middle-class. we lifted millions out of poverty, and then we cut taxes for folks like me and we went through a decade of zero jobs growth. so this is not speculation. we have tested this out. we tried their theory. did not work. we tried our theory and it worked. we should not be confused about this. this debate is about priorities. the want to create new jobs and close the deficit and invest in our future, the money has to come from somewhere. should we keep tax loopholes for big oil companies, or should we put construction workers and teachers back on the job? [applause] should we keep tax breaks for millionaires or should we invest in our children s education? should we ask seniors to be paying thousands of dollars more for medicare, as the house republicans proposed? or take young folks health care away, or should we ask that everybody pay their fair share? this is about fairness, and this is about who we are as a country. this is about our commitment to future generations. when michelle and i think about where we came from, a little girl on the south side of chicago, son of a single mom in hawaii mother had to go to school on scholarships. sometimes got food stamps. michele s parents never owned their own home until she had already graduated, living upstairs above the aunt who actually owned the house. we are here today only because our parents and grandparents broke their backs to support us, but they also understood that they would get a little bit of help from their country because they met their responsibilities. this country would also be responsible, would also provide good public schools, would also provide recreation, parks that were safe, making sure they could take the bus without being beaten over the head, making sure that their kids would be able to go to college, even if they were not rich. we are only here because past generations struggled and sacrificed for this incredible, exceptional idea that it does not matter where you come from, it does not matter where you are born, it does not matter what you look like. if your willing to put in the effort, you should get a shot at the american dream, and each night when we talk in our girls and a white house, i think about keeping that dream alive for them and for all our children. that is now up to us. and that is hard. this is harder than it has been in a long, long time. we are going through something we have not seen in our lifetimes. i know at times that gets folks discouraged. i know, i listened to some of you. [laughter] i understand that. nobody feels that burden more than i do, because i know how much we have invested in making sure that we are able to move this country forward. but you know, more than a lot of other folks in this country, we know about hard. the people in this room know about hard, and we don t give in to discouragement. throughout our history, change has often come slowly. progress often takes time. we take a step forward and sometimes we take two steps back. sometimes we get two steps forward and one step back, but it is never a straight line. it is never easy. and i never promised easy. easy has never been promised to us. but we have had faith. we have had faith. we have had that good kind of crazy that says you cannot stop marching, even when folks have hit you over the head, you cannot stop marching. even when they are turning the hoses on you, you cannot stop. even when somebody fires you for speaking out, you cannot stop. [applause] even when it looks like there is no way, you find a way. you cannot stop. through the mud and the driving rain, we do not stop. because we know the rightness of our cause. widening the circle of opportunity, standing up for everybody s opportunities, increase in each other s prosperity. we know our cause is just. it is a righteous cause. in the face of troopers and tear-gas, folks stood unafraid. let somebody like john lewis wake up after getting it be getting beat within an inch of his life on sunday, he wakes up on monday, we are going to go march. [applause] dr. king once said before we reach the majestic shores of the promised land, there is a frustrating and bewildering wilderness ahead. we must still face prodigious hilltops and opposition and a gigantic amount of resistance, but with patience and firm determination, we will press on. cbc,don t know about you, but the future rewards those who press on with patient and firm determination. i am going to press on for jobs. i am going to press on for equality. i am going to press on for the sake of our children. i am going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. i don t have time to feel sorry for myself. i don t have time to complain. i am going to press on. i expect all of you to press on. take off your bedroom slippers. put on your marching shoes. shake it off. stop complaining. stop grumbling. stop crying. we are going to press on. we ve got work to do, cbc. god bless you, and god bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] tomorrow on washington journal, a discussion on securing ballot access with elliot ackerman, ceo of the americans elect 2012. then a discussion of the european fiscal troubles with studentcam of reuters. with stella dawson of reuters. that is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. tennessee senator lamar alexander, republican conference chairman, discusses his decision to step down from republican leadership and about how congress has changed its operations over his four years of leadership in the key issues in congress including appropriations and dealing with the debt and spending and revenue issues. today at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c- span. in my opinion, the bounds of academic freedom have just been pushed too far. in this book, she suggests that tenured, the job for life mentality needs to go. their professors of cooking, professors of nutritional studies, who have tenure now. when pressed, someone at the union or someone telling the party line will say that we need someone who has tenures so that they can talk about immigration, even though it is controversial, someone in nutritional studies need to say something controversial about obesity. that and other reasons why you will not get the college education you paid for on c-span is q&a. [guitar music continues] spend this weekend in charlotte, north carolina with book tv and american history tv. throughout the weekend, the history and literary life from the site of the 2012 democratic convention. on book tv on c-span2, charlotte s banking industry. karen cox on dreaming of dixie how the south was created in the american popular culture. we also visit the park road bookstore to learn about the relationship with the independent bookstores and publishers. and on american history tv on c-span3, tour 11th president james polk s birthplace, a discussion with charles jones, the civil rights leader on his part in the 1960 s lunch counter sit-ins, and visit the reed gold mine where gold was first discovered in america. book tv and american history tv in charlotte, north carolina this weekend on c-span to in c- span 3. next remarks from the acting leader of libya as transitional council. he called on the international community to help rebuild libya. his remarks are part of the annual meeting. this is about 25 minutes. next weekend on c-span2 and c- in the name of god, the compassionate, the merciful, thank you, mr. president. at the outset, allow me to express my sincerest thanks to the ambassador upon his election to the presidency of this session of the general assembly of the united nations. election to the presidency of this session of the general assembly of the united nations. i also would like to express my thanks for this excellency ban ki moon for his re-election as secretary-general. stand todayefore you, excellencies, feeling sadness for the loss of more than 30,000 martryrs. they sacrificed their lives in my country. their sacred blood was shed to y for a new histor for th the new libya. by the same token, i bow to the mothers, who today know that their sons sacrifice was just and rightful. had events been repeated, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters would have done the very same to write the same history. from this rostrum, let is a moot, all those martyrs whose blood was shed,ll mothers and fathers and john kasich. i salute the wounded in hospitals inside and outside libya. mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, two years ago. in this very hall, in this very spot, moammar gaddafi stood before you tearing the charter of the united nations. in a pathetic, theatrical move, one that flouts international values as if those rules that govern the work of international organizations can be judged in such a manner or treated in such a theatrical way, which is harmful to the people of libya, to the united nations, to the president of the general assembly, the entire organization. today, i stand before you, excellencies, to show the world that a new libyas coming to life. libya that looks forward. libya that has a view to redevelop itself. libya that wants to heal its wounds. oveomehat wants to its pain, to reach out to the entire world. it was to rebuild itself, to reform its history. the vision of new libya, s democracy world by a clear, unambiguous constitution setti forth rights a obligations that does not discriminate between male or female, one community or another, one political beliefs or another, east or west, whether by racial or ethnic justifications, all libyans are sons of this nation. a nation that now is determined to heal its wnds and move on, following 42 years of from the international community, as a party that can help in building a human civilization. we do not claim that we have a magic wand as gaddafi claimed, when he looked at himself in the mirror and suddenly discovered that he is an almight prophet, with a solution to every problem on earth, except for libya s problems. for 42 years, libya now hwaas 15 of its people under poverty, an educational system that is the worst in the region, health services which are the very worst in the region. the infrastructure is falling to pieces. unemployment is over 30% among youth. these are the solutions handed us by moammar gaddafi. libya itself is witness to that. the new libya that i ampeaking of, mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, did not come from of the ca vacuum. it has been watered by the bloodshed since the 17th of february, when libyan youth decided to open a n page and libyan history. the entire libyan people, young and old, women and children paid the ultimate price. all the sons and daughters of libya have written this page. nobody can claim to lead this revolution or own it, only the libyan people can. in the very first week of march this year, a parallel activity was launched, parallel to the backs of all revolutionary youth in libya. a group was acting day and night to provide political support to explain the actions of our libyan youth on libyan land, to explain the libyan vision, to explain the deprivation of any development for the past 42 years. friendlies sister states responded to that call. they responded to our plea. they reached out to the hands reaching out to them. the world did help us to shed injustice. on my own behalf, on behalf of the libyan people from this rostrum, i thank all friendly states, all sister states, all regional organizations. the united nations for revolution resolutions 1970 and 1973. they were a determining factor in protecting civilians and preventing any further massacres by gaddafi. this continuing diplomatic effort i can say that today that victory was achieved. and now we have a neww mission. let us make another attempt. let us reach out to those who want technical assistance now. let all funds be unfreezed so that the libyan people can build, having got rid of the attorney. tyranny. mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, libya today is before expectations and a rifl ghtful dues. the facts can be summarized briefly. a land not fully liberated yet. there are get some friends to be vanquished. it is our right inside libya to re-conquer our land. soon, god willing. there is an infrastructure many wounded orders imartrys iny cities. schools destroyed in my count, now number more than 63. there are more than 50,000 injured. amputees number more than 1700. they await help and succor so that they can once again contribute effectily to rebuilding their own country. the social fabric is in need of healing, having been torn by gaddafi. he tried to turn some tribes against others and some regions against others. the economy is treading water. oil waits pumping and exporting. we believe production is being resumed. however, we doequire more assistance in that regard. funds and assets are frozen. the announced the lifting of the freeze certainly does not rise to what is required in order to shore reconstructionist rehabilitation of the country. state institutions require rebuilding. they need to be reestablished and rebuilt. particularly in a countryhat has been deprived of any al institutions for over 42 years. a state that had no law or initutions. there are social and political demands, not just for participatn, but also for setting prioties. we first and foremost must agree on the rules of participation. let me add to this fact, as you know, ladies and gentlemen, that there are many expectations on us from o people with in an from you, members of the international community, without. as you caonsider how e transitional period is going to end, how the transitional government is going to be created. you re calling for respect of human rights. you are calling for respect of foreign workers and dealing with them in accordance with international norm. you are calling for us to include oil. you are calling for us to build institutions at the required speed. you reqre us to achieve national reconciliation, to end the militarization of our streets antowns. you re asking us to maintain the unity of the homeland, and you want to join us in rebuilding. this is a lot by any standard. neverthelessi do believe that our people, a people that all bet would not been able to bring its regime down, but people the faced political initiatives from all sides, believing that the situation was at a standstill, let me tell you, the transitional national council has always rejected a compromise solution. the libyan people proved that those calculations were wrong by its will. that people proved that it can. and i have every conviction that it can, when the battle and the win the battle and the war, despite all of the doubts and problems i just listed before you. national unity . on national unity with the united land, without national reconciliation is a dream. achieving security and achieving national reconciliation is an important, urgent demand on any government, whether an inch from or are transitional government an i transitional government. no participation is possible with our rules for the participation. therefore, a draft constitution to be put to referendum among the libyan people is of utmost importance. so we want the rules of participation to be just, to govern the dialogue, to give rights to all without discrimination to any individual or group. the assets freeze on our funds must be lifted as urgently as possible. let me appeal to you from this rostrum. let the security council soon take the historic resolution to lift the freeze. the regime has fallen, even though we have not liberated it the entire homand yet. we want the help of the united nations, the help of friends without condition. legitimateit s a right of all states to enjoy sovereignty. it is an undeniable right, whatever the nature or size of assistance that we seek. the libya we want, mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, is a state of law an, an oasis for human development and the middle east. and we believe that libya, through geography, history, and its geostrategic importance, is a link between north-south, east-west. libya must resume that role once again. their role has been denied know r 40 years. i believe that development solutions that libya can propose in future may help find unprecedented solutions to the phenomenon of migration from the african continent to southern europe. we believe that the 21st century will be ruled by geography to a large extent. we believe that africa geographically and on human resources has the most capacity. anwe believe that hundreds of millions of young africans will seek to move northward. libya can be the gate to development and instead of being the obstacle of migration from south to north. african labor, the skills and competency is that satisfy the needs of the european economies i and many with me believe that african labor may contribute to european economic growt particularly that in the next 30 years, europe will be facing a much smaller population. in 2050, the population will go down by 27%. the afghan population will be over 2 billion. we believe that africa can contribute to economic well-being through an agreement between the libyan capital and european regulations . on the political front, libya mu be a civilian state of democracy, giving full opportunities to its sons and daughters. women must have a major role in this state. women in libya, about 50% libyan society, women in libya enjoy the highest level of education. they continue their education for the longt time following high school. we believe women have a genuine role that they must play in rebuilding and developing libya. as for foreign policy, w need a vision that radically reduce the foreign policy of moammar al-gaddafi, a policy of terrorizing, of sowing fear, of black male in many regions. blackmail in many regions. rare if the region of the world that escapes suffering from the practices and plots of moammar al-gaddafi in destabilization and terrorism. the new foreign policy must be based on mutual respect. must be based on mutual interest. it must be based on non- intervention in the internal affairs of others just as we do not expect that expect others to intervene in hours. ours. international instruments, conventions and treaties, values must be respected. these are the terms of reference for all relations in our modern times. the rebuilding of libya, a state of democracy, is an important matter, not just for libya. it is, mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, it is of importance to the entire region. libya is able and has the opportunity of becoming a model of democracy and successful development. separating politics from the economy has shown many negative examples in our region. the time has come for a vision of diplomacy that puts the youth and women at the very top of its priorities, not just because they make up 67% of the population of the arab world. it is because the future belongs to them. it is in them that began and will lead this revolution and other revolutions in the arab spring. therefore, a new vision that responds to the dreams of youth. the international community must support this edition. otherwise, the region will only be subjected to successive was of insbility. supporting lib in this development paradigm is no less important than protecting innocent civilians. the international community, and we thank you, did so in implementation of resolution 1973. in this context, we have a clear initiative that may be called the building of the new libya, where brothers and friends contribute. however, the united nations must have a leading, pivotal role specialized agencies can provide expertise and assistance. we want those agencies to have a pivotal role in order to avoid any possibility of corrupti or lack of transparency. mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, we belie that roads are paved by the feet that walk them. the libyan people have begun their march to rewrite their history. we have the greatest hope that this international organization, that went hand in hand with us, there was a trust for the friend, the entire international community to put an end to an immine massacre in myountry by intervening at the correct time to save civilians in the calln nalizing from the arab league. and we thank the arab league for that. we believe the international organization, just as it was a faithful friend then, can now be a trustworthy partne in rebuilding of my country. this is the major battle where we appeal for your help and assistance political, economic, financial, and technical. thank you very much for your kind think you very much for your kind attention. in charlotte carolina, with a tv and american history tv, throughout the weekend, the history of literary blood from the 2012 democratic national convention. a visit to park wrote books, to look at the relationship between independent bookstores and publishers. american history tv, tore the birthplace of the 11th president james polk. and visit the read gold mine, where gold was first discovered in america. the tv and american history tv in charlotte, north carolina this weekend on c-span 2 and c- span 3. our coverage of the united nations general assembly meeting continues with egypt s new foreign minister. he mentions his support for the palestinian bid for statehood and calls for a just peace based on the two state solution. this is about 20 minutes. mr. president, i hope that you will extend to his excellency mr. ban ki-moonur congratulations to the state of qatar for assuming the presidency of the general assembly, and himself for his reelection for a second term, and i am confident that the wise leadership of qatar or our proceedings will contribute to the attainment of the aspirations we seek. and i m confident that the election of mr. ban ki-moon enjoys your support. mr. president, i proudly stand before you today presenting egypt and in new era. grypypt as it heads to an area that is emerging. as it embarks on new face at regarded by all egyptians as auspicious. the egyptians came out in masses on the 25th of january, calling for democratic reforms and respect of human rights, fundamental freedoms and social justice. the egyptians wanted to implant the seeds of a brighter future, lands fore airrid their sake. the masses obtained what they sought and were able to impose their words and their well. there were backed by the understanding and support of the egyptian armed forces, who truly exemplified it genuine patriotism. the stands of our armed forces will be remembered b history. it is consistent with our doctrine as the guarans of the nation, not with the political regime. and in line with an instition that is first and foremost loyal to the people, who rallied around their armed forces and expressetheir appreciation. an ideal situation was made possible by circumstances that could rarely be repeated. the circumstances enabled egyptians to alter the face of their countrin an historic and wonderful way. egyptians wanted to rapidly catch up with other counies that had already made great strides in achieving political pluralism and the alternation of power and upholding and applying the rule of law and fighting corruption and in providing equal opportunities to its youth, to allow them to realize their aspirations of a decent life. i am addressing you today why egypt news for it, determined to complete the transition phase that are rose from thr transformed of change. it is witnessing over the past internal dynamics and a wide nationalebate involving all segments of society and covering all issues of the national agenda. on top of which are those related to the drafting of the new constitution and the organization of the upcoming legislative and presidential elections. to increase the prospects of success of the transitional phase and initiate a solid political process. their response to the aspirations of the people in cement with a unique standing worldwide. a process that will culminate in the handing of power to an elected civilian. mr. preston, egypt is honored to assume the chairmanship of the nine alignment movement since july, 2009. the start of this session of the general assembly coincides with the commemoration it held to mark 50 years since the first summit of the movement took place and to celebrate it significant contributions to the enforcement of our international efforts to preserve international peace and security and aceve development to the people of the world. it happens in a changing international environment and in the face of multiples challenges this commemoration comes after a series of important events organized by the movement to promote greater involvement of developing countries in the governance of international institutions and to ensure a fair produce a patient in the process of inrnational decision making in the political, enomic, and social field. to that end, the egyptian chairmanship of the movement has undertaken numerous activities to strengthen of the movement s capacity to respond to the new and continuous international changes. the movement has played a vital role in coordinating the positions of its member states regarding the various issues comprising the international agenda, including those related to disarmament, collective security, the reform of the un, and the promotion of international ideas of democracy and the respect of human rights. fearing his chairmanship, each of six to reinforce during its chairman to, egypt seeks to reinforce in china. we put back the issue of development with its various dimensions as the top priority of the united nations. and together, we adopted a number of important initiatives in t field of food security, the empowerment of women, and the fight against human trafficking. we will pursue these efforts theil we hand over chairmanship in the summer 2012. today, the support of the non- aligned movement to the historic struggle of the brotherly palestinian people to regain their legitimate rights as well as the movement s support to the efforts exerted it towards declaring the establishment of the independent state of palestine with east jerusalem as capital and its admission as a full member of the united nations. i must call upon the countries that have not yet recognize the state of palestine to do so. as a contribution to the efforts in achieving a just, lasting, and comprehensive settlement of the conflict in the middle east based on the two-state solution. mr. president, the nine-aligned movement believes that there is a pressing need for a comprehensive and substantial reform of the united nations so as to strengthen its ability to positively respond to the international changes to live up to the aspirations of the people and to cope with the radical changes thatave altered the shapend composition of the international community. so that the united nations can become a true reflection of the realities of today s world. such reform will not be achieved unless the security council is reformed and is made more representative, more transparent, and more reflective of the democratic nature of multilateralism. major steps must be taken to end the monopoly by permanent members over the decision making process in the council. and to put an end to the historical injustice inflicted upon africa as a result of its non representation in the permanent membership category as well as its idequate representation in the nonmember representation. in this in context, the members of the movement to man the continuation of efforts aiming at revitalizing the re of the general assembly and strengthening th role of economic and social council. the state s member of the non- aligned movement of firm also the need for the international community to support the efforts exerted by developing countries to implement their development plans at achieving the millennium development goals through an enabling international environment that bolsters the efforts for realizing the comprehensive economic and social development and the fulfillment by it all developed countries of their financing for development commitment, as well as achieving more balance, international economic relations, and establishing a more just international trade system that takes into account the development needs of the countries of the developing world. mr. president, we can only see deep sorrow every time we realize historical injustice has been for decades inflicted upon the people while the world has failed to lift it. just a question of palestine still remains after two decades of fruitless negotiations without a desired settlement. and the palestinian people remains to this day deprived of acquiring their lead to the myth, fundamental rights, on top of which is their right to their freedom and establish their own independent state on the basis of the 1967 borders with east jerusalem as its capital this is the very state for whi the palestinian president presented yesterday our request for membership in the united nations after just efforts towards a final just a final settlement has stalled. especially since the other party insists on keeping the negotiating process forever open. we witnessed yesterday another failure to come up with a balanced addition to achieve the goal we all know and approve of it, yet differ on differ on how to realize it. israel continues with complete this regard to the objections of the countries of the world and constructing settlements on palestinian territories and the west bank, altering the features of the occupied east jerusalem, using violence against civilians and its blockade of gaza in violation of international legitimacy. regrettably, anyone with a sense of fairness following the situation would see in israel s actions the embodiment of this continuing invasion of admitting that the only way to achieving security is to reaching a just settlement with the palestinians to serious negotiations based on a clear parameters and specific time frame, which is urgently required no. w. we must intensify all of our efforts. egypt was and will remain committed to the goal in achieving a just and comprehensive peace that it initiated in the middle east and will continue to actively support it. egypt will carry on its efforts to end israeli occupation of the occupied palestinianerritory and to reach a solution to all the final status issues in a specific, agreed un, and international guaranteed time frame. egypt will also sustain its efforts to capitalize on the successes realized in cairo after the signing of the palestinian reconciliation agreement, thereby strengthening the union of the palestinians and consolidating eorts to achieve peace. mr. president, egypt welcomes the presence of the republic of southern sudan as a membestate of the united nations. we hope that this nation-state will play a tangible role in preserving regional stability steady progresse on the road to development an institution building. the same time, we commend sudan for its commitment to implement the peace agreement and accept the will of the people of the south to have an independent state. but even though last year, witnessed a significant cooperation between the two sides, outstanding issues remain unsettled. they should be resolved within the framework of cooperation and good will, which requires the formation of a genuine partnership to examine how to deal with these issues. the sudan and south sudan are still expecting an looking forward tthe support of the international community for their development and reconstruction efforts so that they can achieve stability and development through us. and within the context of this unity and territorial integrity, and so that south sudan can build it states. i reiterate egypt s resolve to continue supporting both countries atll levels. i would alsoike on behalf of egypt to pay a deserved trite to the revolution of the sister the state of to nietzsch of la which participated in the arab spring. i express our solidarity and congratulate the tradition it transitional council and salute its efforts to reste stability and internal peace. i would like to express our readiness to provide any support that may contribute to the reconstruction efforts of the country and pass this critical period, and i salute the city state of tunisia. as for the brotherly state of yemen, egypt supports all efforts to ship feet achieved stability. if the status quo remains unchanged, this will have great implications on the stability of the region. many egyptians follow apprehensively the series development taking place in a brotherly state of syria and a lossf life in door by our brothers and sisters there. i would like to reiterate today the position previously expressed by egypt that the only solution to the crisis lies in putting an end to violence and engaging in a serious dialogue amongst all parties in a climate of openness. on the other hand, i cannot overlook today referring to the arab gulf region. the security of people arab region are highly placed on the foreigny of egypt s policy on the basis of the deep historical, societal, cultural, political, and security ties that bind us with our brothers and sisters in these countries. egypt will always strive to achieve the stability of this vital region of the world. mr. president, the issue of disarmament and nonproliferation remains of great importance to egt. we will continue cooperation with our international partners to push for nuclear states to carry out their responsibilities as stipulated in the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in order to safeguard the credibility of this instrument and its ensui, in devisable principles. furthermore, egypt will not spare any effort in pursuing the goal of realizing the univsality of the non- proliferation treaty, especially in the middle east, where all countries have succeeded to the treaty wh the exception of israel. thereby delaying the creation of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the region. that is why egypt advances attaches great importance to the implementation of the action plan adopted by the 2010 non- proliferation treaty review conference, especially the one relating to the middle east which endorsed the holding of the conference next year. in reality, we are concerned by the fact that a facility that has not yet been nominated and - country has not been selected. in that context, i reiterate egypt s position that the peacef use of nuclear energy must be linked to full compliance with international commitment under the treaty. this entails the full cooperation of all member- states, with the international atomic energy agency, and avoidi any escalation in order to promote nonproliferation efforts in the region. mr. president, africa has always held a privileged position and a unique status of the party agenda of the egyptian foreign policy. egypt was always an effective partner in the struggle of the peoples of this continent to gain their independence of the 1950 s of the last century. this partnership continued during the reconstruction period that followed independence. egypt will inease in the work towards a deepening and activating itsarious cooperation mechanisms with other african countries and strive to propel themoward a new dn, thereby contributing to the realization of the hopes and aspirations of all people for more development and increase prosperity. the tips expects the united nations to maintain egypt expects the united nations to continue to support and build the institutional capacity of the continent in the areas of conflict resolution, peacekeeping, and reconstruction, in addition to supporting the development aspirations of the african countries and assisting their efforts to chief given the interlink is between peace, security, and development challenges and africa. egypt follows the ongoing deteriorating situation in somalia and calls for efforts to put an end to this ee sufferings endured by somalia. extern thenvites parties effort to refrain from intervening in the internal affairs. in this regard, egypt has contributed to the international efforts to tackle the problem of drought in the horn of africa and provide food to the affected population. egypt continues to that contributes to the fight to put an end to this phenomenon given the strategic importance of the region and the arabian sea, especially in relation to national security and the safety of navigation and the suez canal. the ability of the united nations to undertake responsibilities depends on our collective wl, one that is based on the robust determination to strengthen our joint international efforts to enable the organization to deal more effectively with various internationaand regional issues and problems we face. this requires at that we work together to reinforce the principles of democracy within multilateralism and promote dialogue and understanding as the only means to achieve our goals. thereby advancing the ideas of humanity and achieving the humanity and achieving the ambitions of our a look at europe s fiscal troubles and the impact on the u.s. economy. later, a discussion on what employees can do to help secure their employee pensions. that is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. s sunday, on c-span i newsmakers, how congress has changed its operation over his four years in leadership. that is at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. in my opinion, i think that the bounds of academic freedom have just been pushed to 4. in the faculty lounges, 10 years job for life in thailand mentality needs to go. professors of nutritional studies have tenure now. when pressed, they will say, we need someone to have tenure in security studies so they can talk about immigration. and we need someone who can talk about obesity. and the reasons why you will not get the college education you paid for. spend this weekend in charlotte, north carolina with the tv and american history tv. the history and literary life on the side of the 2012 democratic national convention. on the tv on c-span 2, the banking industry and karen cops on and dreaming of dixie. on american history on c-span 3, a discussion with charles jones on his experiences turn the 1960 s lunch counter sit- in s. and visit. gold mine where gold was first discovered in america. the tv and american history tv in charlotte, north carolina. now we will look at the role of north carolina in the 2012 presidential election from saturday s washington journal. this is 17 minutes. his approval ratings are good. we can see it in the polling. it is still early. we have no idea who the president will be challenged by. but from the polling that we see in north carolina, we see him in very good shape. if we do not know who the republican will be and you say it will be closed, why are those two things happening? hostguest: people are frustrated. they want this economy to hustle up. they want people who are out of work or who are underemployed to be better. congress has some room for two years and done absolutely nothing. he has asked congress to pass his proposal right away. and congress is mostly fiddle faddle in around instead of putting americans back to work. i think he will gain continued attraction. all of our polling indicates that he beats the republican front runners in north carolina. they went for obama in 2008. it has been a long time since north carolina had gone for democrats. host: how many kivas is do you get in north carolina? guest: i did not quite hear you. host: how many will be visiting north carolina? guest: i do not know the travel schedules, but i am sure there are coming in to look. one of the reasons north carolina got the convention is because it is an example of what can happen in this country when you have a strong dynamic state and a strong dynamic city like charlotte. it is taking the elements of this economy and added water and sugar and tried to come up with something paddle something palatable. host: do the president and vice president talk about difficult to win the state? guest: of course, it is the south. you have jesse helms-style republicans influenced by the conservative thinking of the front runners and their minions, such as the heritage foundation. that has had impact on the votes that have not had a clear democratic message. the president will do what he did in 2008 was simply to bring the message to north carolinian is. democrats firmly believe that we re all connected. but the wealthy in this country make more money when the middle class is empowered by having jobs. one of the colors in the last segment talked about how demand drives his one of the callers in the last segment talk about how the man drives his business. the wealthy do well if the middle class is empowered. that is what the jobs at is all about. it will put 13,000 educators, firefighters, and cops back to work that have been fired by this general assembly. something like 19,000 - construction workers back to work. in addition to that, is a $1,300 per person average family savings on taxes because of where our average income is. nation one, it s about $59. this is meaningful. people go out and spend that money. charlotte, north carolina is the site of the democratic national convention. if you want to ask to questions, here is how you do so we have set aside a line for north carolina residents to give your perspective and ask questions as well. you can send a sunnyvale. also send us something of a quarter as well. mr. parker has an ad targeting charlotte and raleigh. the next election is 14 months away. and the people who sent us here, the people who hired as to work for them, they do not have the luxury of waiting 14 months. some of them are living week to week, paycheck to paycheck, even did today. they need help and they need it now. members of congress, it is time for us to meet our responsibilities. [applause] the democratic national committee is responsible for the content of this at. what is in the reaction, mr. parker? guest: he is absolutely right, we cannot wait 14 months. we need jobs now. we need middle-class tax relief now. many folks out there believing in this economy, believing in this country. one of the biggest problems that we face in business and have and i am a businessman i have a small business. i have a partner in several other businesses. consumer confidence is critically important. a small middle-class tax cut may seem small to the wealthy folks, but will have a meaningful impact. host: how does that affect you as a business person? the question is how quickly will there be demand for product? the quicker there is demand for product, then they can ramp up and tried to hire folks. it is pretty simple. it is the chicken and a thing, however. feeling as though the economy will combat it is the chicken and the egg thing, however. feeling as though the economy will come back, it will ramp up. of course, we look at housing starts very carefully. but we re very hopeful that this middle-class tax cut will have an impact. of course, you get credit for being able to hire people as well. >host: the first call for use from winston-salem. caller: good morning. we have a democratic governor in office. we really turned out the vote for him here. but i feel really let down, the lower income people of the state. there are no jobs being created. i recently bought a camera and then have some pictures of low- income people standing on the streets during work hours with nothing to do. what is his plan to help north carolina get back to work? host: mr. parker. guest: that is a good question. number one, how would like to see some of those pictures. you can go to our website, send me any mail. i would like to see those. we are always looking for good content. in terms of a jobs plan here in north carolina, the republican jobs plan, of course, the republicans control the general assembly, the house and the state senate. the republicans spent a lot of time this last session, which by the way cost north carolina citizens $150,000 for a ballot that will not create any jobs. you have people standing on the streets of winston salem hoping to find work and probably feeling increasing despair. i look at the jobs that from this president. he runs into the same problem with a recalcitrant republican house, in particular, and rules in the senate without any meaningful legislation going anywhere. i see the jobs at that the president has asked to be passed right away. what we re hearing from the heritage foundation is that they do not like the tax reform. they do not want people making more than $250,000 paying the same tax rates that they paid under the clinton administration. but if we increase low-cost demand if we increase middle- class demand, if we increase the ability of working-class and middle-class people to spend with a reduction in taxes, that will stimulate the man and that will filter throughout the entire economy. the people in the streets were trying to find work are members of families that have somebody who is underemployed that can take advantage of that tax cut. we are all connected. i am as connected to warm the fed as to the man who is standing on the street ims connected to warren buffett i am as connected to warren buffett as to the man who is standing on the street. host: what is the unemployment there? guest: it went up. they let so many employees go in order to save money sales tax. people were willing to pay a dollar and 8 cents instead of $1.70 in order to have teachers in the classrooms and firefighters fighting fires and cops on the streets. a lot of the education cuts that came from the north carolina general assembly, i think we can report pretty easily as far as employment is concerned. would you do not see is a decrease in employment in our county. at a state schools are looking at layoffs as well because of a reduction in funding for their overall programs. this ripple effect of the general assembly in north carolina cutting public education, really to the bone, cutting community colleges, cutting state universities, it has been devastating. these are folks that are middle- class people, as the president would define them, which is anybody making less than two and $50,000, which is not very much. less than $250,000 which is not very much. host: barbara, from florida, you re on with david parker. caller: no. 1, he said that the president wants this jobs bill passed right away. he took a listening tour on his bus before he could come up with this jobs bill. then he went to massachusetts to vacation before he could come up with this jobs bill. and the last i heard, it had not been given to the house representatives to vote on. it is still on his desk as of last wednesday or thursday. host: what is your question for our desk? caller: that is. he does not seem to be in one. does mr. public as mr. parker think that the republicans need to be in a big hurry? guest: i think of the administration and congress need to be in a big hurry. the republican strategy seems to be to keep this country in the economic doldrums so people are panicked and worried and making personal accusations against the the president. that is in order to keep him as a one-term president. the fact of the matter is that we need to pass this jobs bill right away. it will take votes in congress from republicans. if this job bill fails, it will be because republicans stopped it. if this jobs bill passes, it will be because republicans decided that the economy was more important than politics. we looked better lot of things happening in the state of particularly the real estate industry. we need to look at what was happening in florida because, unfortunately, it was a bellwether for what was happening in the country. there is a lot of subdivision housing that has not been completed. we need to get back to the serious business of getting all those workers back to work. the need to pass this right away and i do not want to go into personal tax. the president takes vacations periodically, nothing like his predecessor. but this is not the type this is not the time for personal attacks. this is time for the truth and the jobs bill needs to be passed right away. we have congress in this state who are opposed to the jobs that. that results in the inner plymouth of some 13,000 teachers that the republicans sold out in the general assembly. 10 years ago, with 9/11, the republicans bless firefighters and police when wholeheartedly. now, they get the short end of the state. the reality is that teachers and firefighters and policeman need to be back to work. construction workers need to go back to work. people who make more than two hundred $50,000, a quarter million dollars, that is a lot of money. people that make more than that amount of money offset their share just what they did during the clinton administration. if they do so, this economy will perk back up. folks will make more money, just like they did under the clinton administration. i appreciate all those questions. the president is another try to build support. he will pitch until the republican party finally wakes up and puts the economy above petty politics and gets on with the business of this country. host: you re on, and. caller: i was calling because i watched president obama this week. hello? host: keep going. caller: i also wanted to say that i agree with the president. gov. perdue is doing a very great job. she vetoed some of the things that republicans wanted to put through. it is time that not only the people in north carolina, but in the united states wake-up and understand that the republican party has been taken over. host: let s hear from another north carolinian. caller: i have a question about this. host: caller, go ahead. you re on the air. go ahead. caller: what i would like to know, this jobs deal that he has going right now, there is a clause in there that says everybody has to be paid according to the wages macon. it is common sense that you can hire two people for $15 an hour instead of hiring one person for $30 an hour. you could hire more people. you see, this is what the democrats put in there. host: mr. parker, how would you react? guest: