Transcripts For CSPAN Tonight From Washington 20090813

. we are administering the oath this morning simply so she can begin work as an associate justice without delay. i would like to invite mrs. sotomayor and her family to come forward. judge sotomayor, are you prepared to take the oath? >> i am. >> please raise your right hand and repeat after me. i, sonia maria sotomayor, do solemnly swear that i will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that i will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as supreme court justice under the constitution and laws of the united states. so help me god. >> congratulations and welcome to the court. [applause] [unintelligible] >> a reception was held this morning for supreme court associate justice sonia sotomayor. she was sworn in this past weekend after the senate voted to confirm her on a vote of 68- 31. this is about 20 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, senator pat leahy when he and first lady michelle obama. ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states and associate justice sotomayor of the supreme court of the united states. [cheers and applause] >> a good thing. [cheers and applause] >> good morning, everyone. and welcome to the white house. i am glad all of you could be with us today as we honor the newest member of our highest court, who i am proud to address for the very first time as the justice sonia sotomayor. [cheers and applause] we are also honored to be joined by justice sotomayor's new colleagues. we have justice ginsberg who is here, as well as justice stevens. and so i just want to thank both justice stevens and justice ginsburg not only for being here today but for your extraordinary service on the court. i know you that you will be getting just a sotomayor some good tips. -- justice sotomayor some good tips. [laughter] i want to thank everyone who brought us to this day. i want to thank our judiciary committee chairman, senator pat leahy. as well as are senate majority large -- majority leader, harry reid, for their outstanding work -- [applause] for their outstanding work to complete this process before the august recess. i want to thank senator schumer, senator joe brent, but the boom are justice sotomayor's home centers, for their work. i want to thank all the members of congress who have joined us at this white house again. i want to thank all the advocates and groups who mobilized and supported these average from the very beginning. your work was absolutely critical to our success and i every create -- i appreciate all the work that you have done. so pat yourselves on the back. congratulations. [applause] to who members of congress -- members of congress that i especially want to acknowledge, senator mendenez the work so hard on the senate side, and congresswoman -- its share of a spanish caucus. -- the chair of the spanish caucus. we want to take a moment to recognize the woman who in some any waste truly made this day possible, justice sotomayor's mother. selena sotomayor. [applause] -- celina sotomayor. mrs. sotomayor is here with her husband omar, and her brother juan, and other members of the family. we're thrilled that they could join us here today. and by the way, i do not normally do this but let me thank my extraordinary white house staff who helped to usher this step through. we are very proud of them. thank you very much. [applause] of course, we are here not just to celebrate our extraordinary new extremes -- supreme court justice and all those who been a part of her journey to this day. we are here as well to celebrate an extraordinary moment for our nation. we celebrate the impact justice sotomayor has already had on people across america who have been inspired by her exceptional life story. we celebrate the greatness of the country in which such a story is possible. and we celebrate how with their overwhelming vote to confirm justice sotomayor the united states senate, republicans and democrats, tore down yet one more barrier to affirm our belief that in america the doors of opportunity must be open to all. and what that what, the senate look beyond the old division and they embraced excellence. they recognized justice sotomayor's intellect, ability, and presence of mind. a response -- her responsibility to each role in government. her fidelity to the law in each case that she hears, and her dedication to protecting our core constitutional rights and liberties. justice william brennan said that in order to ensure all these rights for all sentence, we must be attentive to the concrete reality is at stake in the decision before then. they must understand the pulse of life beneath the official version of events. justice sotomayor understands those realities because she has witnessed them firsthand. as a prosecutor, a litigator, and the judge, to keep our communities safe and yet people the chance to live out their dreams. work that she has done with the motion, with distinction, and with an unyielding commitment to getting back to this country that has given her so much. and she understands these things because she has lived these things. her life is one of those only in america stories. raised by a single mom in the south bronx, determined to give her every opportunity to succeed, propelled by the talent and hard work that would earn her scholarships and honors at the best schools in the country, and driven always by a belief that it does not matter where you come from or what you look like or what challenges like frozen your way, no dream is beyond reach in the united states of america. with her death of experience, justice sotomayor brings to the court but the mastery of a letter of a lot and the understanding of how ball off upholds in our daily life, its impact on how we work and worship and raise our families, and whether we have the opportunities that we need to live the lives that we imagine. that understanding is vital for the work of a supreme court justice, as justice stevens and justice ginsburg will testify. though worth -- the work of applying the principles set forth to the controversies of our time. as a visionary of our founders work, they did not presume to know how times will change, what new questions fate and history was set before us. they sought to articulate principles that would be timeless, that would contemplate the changing situation of our life, and preserve for each new generation and our sacred rights and freedom. when justice sotomayor put her hand on that bible and took that oath, we took another step toward realizing there is ideas. we came closer to the more perfect union that we all seek. while this is justice sotomayor 's achievement, the result of her ability and determination, this moment is not just about her. it is about every job that will grow what thinking that it sonia sotomayor -- that if sonia sotomayor can make it, maybe i can to. [applause] it is about every mother or father that looks at the sacrifices justice sotomayor's mother made and the successes she and her brothers had, and think, i may not have had much in my life but if i work hard enough, maybe my kids can have more. it is about everyone in this nascent facing challenges and struggles to hear her story and things to themselves, if she can overcome some much in go so far, then why can i? nearly 80 years ago, as the cornerstone was laid for the building that became our supreme court, chief justice charles evans hughes declared that the republic and yours and this is the symbol of its faith. justice sotomayor's rise from humble beginnings to a height of achievement is another symbol of that faith, faith that the american dream still and yours, that equal justice under the lot is not just an inscription in marble but an animating idea of our democracy, that in this nation all things are still possible for all people. this is a great day for america and i know that all of us are here are proud to have been a part of it. and so with that, i would like to introduce the newest member of the united states supreme court, justice sonia sotomayor. [applause] >> no words can adequately express what i am feeling. no speech can fully capture mind joy in this moment. nothing can convey the debt of gratitude i feel to the countless family members, starting with mom and my brother, and in many friends and colleagues, so many of you who are with me here today, and the ones who are not, who had helped me to reach this moment. none of this would have happened without all of you. mr. president, i have the most heartfelt appreciation for the trust that you placed in me by nominating me. and i want to convey my thanks to the judiciary committee, led by chair person lay heahy, and r all members of the senate for approving the president's election. i am so grateful to all of you for this extraordinary opportunity. i am most grateful to this country. i stand here today, knowing that my confirmation as an associate justice of the supreme court would never have been possible without the opportunities presented to me by this nation. more than two centuries ago, and a constitution that contain fewer than 5000 words, our founders set forth their vision for this new land. there self-proclaimed the task was to form of a more perfect union, to establish justice, and to secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity. over the years, the ideals of the heart of that document had been fjord as subsequent generations had expanded those blessings, these rights and freedoms, to more and more americans. our constitution has survived domestic and international tumult, including a civil war, two world wars, and the catastrophe of september 11. it draws together people of all races, faiths, and backgrounds, from all across this country, who carry its words and values in our hearts. it is this nation's faith in a more perfect union does allow a reporter rican girl from the bronx to stand here now -- that allows a border region -- puerto rican girl from the bronx to stand here now. [cheers and applause] i am struck again today by the wonder of my own life, and a life week in america are so privileged to lead. in reflecting on my life experiences, i am thinking also today of the judicial oath of office that i first it almost two decades ago, and that -- in which i reiterated this past weekend. to judge without respect to what a person looks like, where they come from, or whether they are rich or poor, and to treat all persons as equal under the law. that is what our system of justice requires, and it is the foundation of the american people's faith in the rule of law, and it is why i am so passionate about the law. i am deeply humbled by the sacred responsibility of all holding our laws and safeguarding the rights and freedoms set forth in our constitution. i asked not just my family and friends but all americans to wish me divine guidance and wisdom in administering my new laws. i think you all again for the love and support you ever shown me, and i think president obama and the united states senate for the tremendous honor and privilege they have granted me. thank you. [applause] >> every job. -- great job. best of luck. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] [applause] [inaudible] [applause] >> coming up on c-span, congressman kevin brady holds a town hall on health care in livingston, texas. after that, a chance to express your thoughts on harrick -- on health care as we take your calls, live. and then we terror -- returned to the white house for a ceremony honoring the recipient of the presidential medal of freedom. >> this fall, enter the home to america's highest court, from the grand public places to those only accessible by the nine justices, the supreme court, coming up a first sunday in october on c-span. >> how is c-span funded? >> donations. >> federal funds. >> private contributions. >> i do not now. >> commercials. >> something from the government. >> how is c-span funded? 30 years ago character -- america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiative -- no government mandate, no government money. >> now texas representative kevin brady held a town hall to discuss health care and take questions from recipients. lawmakers across the country are holding similar meetings this month. from the memorial center in livingston, texas, this is an hour. >> good afternoon, everybody. good afternoon. i want that thank all of you for coming out here. we really appreciate this. i want to thank you for bearing with us. this is the largest room we have in a hospital so it is as good as we can do. please bear with us for the space requirements. out of respect for everyone's time, i want to get started with this health care discussion today with congressman kevin brady. kevin brady was elected to his seventh term representing the eighth district of texas in congress. it runs from montgomery county up the by-45 corridor to trinity county, and these east to the louisiana border and down to orange county. he is a member of the house ways and means committee which writes many of the tax policies impacting health care in america. he also has the jurisdiction over much of the medicare program and service -- and serves as deputy whip. congressman brady has become very active on health-care issues during his last three years, having launched a grass- roots effort called "50 ideas to improve health care." this is an ongoing conversation between representative brady and doctors, nurses, hospitals, and every day texans throughout southeast texas to find out how they would improve health care in america. cavan lives in the woodlands with his wife kathy and their two sons will, 10, and sean, 7. please join me in welcoming our eighth district congressman, kevin brady. [applause] >> david, thank you for hosting us here today for another town hall meeting on health care. i think i have done about 11 of them. last weekend this week we will do 40 over the august, and we keep adding them. there has never been a more critical time for the american people to weigh in on an important issue down on health care today. there is a lot about this bill we do not know as americans and is time you are able to talk to your lawmakers about it and asked those questions. here is the bill, 1018 pages. it was given to us on the ways in committee at three minutes before midnight, and we were asked to vote on a and 9:00 the next morning. 1000 pages. no price tag to it. the members do not know what was hidden in that bill. what really brought it home to me was that two weeks ago, we met with leaders of the texas medical center of houston. the largest medical center in the world, it sees 160,000 patients a day. some of the brightest minds in our country, and their message to us was, we have no idea what is in this bill. we do not know how it will affect our patients. and no one has even ask our opinion how to make health care better. so you have to wonder -- some of the best minds in the country, delivering health care, and they do not know what is in this bill. who is writing this bill and what about it do we need to know? we're going to talk about this bill and answer questions. let me just say something. we are hearing and reading a lot today about all the mobs at the town hall meeting. >> here we are. >> yes, here you are. and you are a fine looking mob, let me just say. the last time we had a mob here, we were talking health care. and we were talking three years ago about how to make health care better. and we came up with it ideas to improve health care. how're you doing? and we're using this in town halls all the time. we incorporated some of our ideas in those reforms way back then. i read an editorial that said that a speaker house said it was un-american to challenge your lawmakers about this bill and what is in it. i tell you, what i think is an american is to encourage people to spy on their neighbors and report to the white house. people who actually disagree with parts of this bill. it seems to me that washington is getting very arrogant these days. it is almost as that, how dare you challenge our bills? how dare you ask to read this legislation? but the truth of the matter is, we all have loved ones who fought in wars to make sure we have the freedom to be here today in livingston, texas to ask questions about this health care bill. i am thrilled that you were here. no one in america knows what this bill does. we asked by the joint economic committee, and i am the lead republican on that committee, i asked them to go through this bill provision by provision and show us how it works. tell the american people how this health care bill works. and this is how it works. [laughter] this is a flood chart of the democratic health care plan in the house. every color box, everything colored on this chart, is a new federal agency, commission, or mandate. 31 new federal commissions and mandates in between you and your doctor. what patient in their right mind would let -- let control of their health care decisions go to this bureaucracy? and this is not in place of health care today, this is on top of health care regulations today. it is going to drive it even higher costs and more regulatory. it really starts here in this blue box. we got some people standing. if they want to sit down and need to sit down, and join us on his back bench. as long as you do not make faces, i am glad about you being back here. [laughter] this helped choice administration, the health c zar, we have a lot of them in washington today. this is the health czar, and they are mentioned almost 200 times in this health care bill. this person will ultimately decide -- and we do not know who it is. they will ultimately decide which dr. you get to choose, which treatments you get the desert, and which medicines you will receive. this person on the side here. mainly because so much of this chart will flow down into this health czar. they manage without a choice is you have. that basically said that this is a shopping mall for health care. just a shopping mall. but when you dig deep into this bill, it is much different. the first thing they do is create a new government-run health care plan, modeled after england and canada, modeled after the national health care plan, to compete against private health-care plans. i do not know about you, but the number -- but the government never competes fairly with private business. when you can print money, when you do not have to pay taxes, and they said they will not subsidize -- how many of you here believe that? yes. well, this tax increase is just temporary. how many of you believe that? this republic -- this health- care plan will do damage to the health care plans that you have in america today. it will not play by the same rules. it will not reimburse doctors as private plans do because they can just print money and it doesn't even have to break even. it will end up squeezing out a lot of people who have private plans today. in fact of the best estimate that we have from independent groups that look at this bill, was that over half, 56%, how those with plans today that they have from work or individual plants will end up being pushed into the government-run health care plan. for example, we have 18 million americans who get their health care not at work but they buy at themselves as individuals. under this plan, they strangle those plans. they go away because none of those people can enroll in the period when that happens, that group gets older and more costly. pretty soon it will go away. the medicare and manage, the no. 1 choice -- advantage, the no. 1 choice for seniors in rural areas, it goes away under this bill. in texas, 1 million seniors will have to choose a different health care plan from the choice that they really want. and those of you who have helped savings accounts, some of you may, 50 million americans have those. basically they will start restricting does. it starts in this bill saying that you cannot use your help savings accounts to buy over- the-counter medicines. some bureaucrat decided that you were not smart enough so we will just tell you how you can use your health care dollars. when the president says, if you like your health care plan you can keep it, period? that is not true, period. we're going to lose a lot of coverage and a lot of good people in this plan. as i go through it, you will see more reasons why that is the case. see these boxes here, these baby blue boxes and the red triangle there? that is what i call the bureaucracy. comparative effectiveness research commission, that will ultimately grow to ration health care in america. we know this because that is exactly what happened in other countries that have tried to do that, that have done a national health care. the premise is a pretty fair one. it says, let's look at health care today and compare with treatments that work the best, the medicines that work the best, let's compare surgery's and outcomes in certain circumstances, let's do that research -- which we need to do. that makes sense. the problem is, everyone of these commissions, with that than group in england or the canadian group, ultimately they end up weighing cost effectiveness. what is cost effective to the government about her health care? and they make decisions to limit care mainly for seniors. you see this longer waiting line in england and canada, 4.5 months to see a physician in canada? in england, people actually die waiting for basic care. in canada, in ontario, one in eight people do not even have a physician who can see them on their health care plan. cancer care -- i had our professional staff from the joint economic committee go through the world and look at government-run plans and other countries and compare them to america when it comes to cancer care. the reason i did that is that, i think, that three scary as words any english dictionary are "you have cancer." there is probably no one in this room that has not been touched by it, a loved one, a family member, or a co-worker. but the survival rates in america are so much better than under these government-run plans, when you compare apples to apples. england, the british system -- your 50% more likely to not survive the first five years under their government-run plan than you do in america today. women have a lesser chance of surviving breast cancer. men on a pay attention to this. if you are a man with prostate cancer, to work twice as likely to die under the english system than you are in america today. i offered amendments in the ways and means committee that said that if this rationing comes down, it is always time for people in that plan, if cancer care is second-class care for them, you time out. you suspend those plans and you let people get into a plan that can actually help them. they voted those amendments down. they said it was too inconvenient to keep track of wait times and cancer care in that provision. i tell you what, if it is you or your loved one that needs care for cancer, that is what is inconvenient, when you're waiting to get that help. and i should say, what worries me so much about the rationing and how fennecs down to us in real america, is that under this health insurance exchange, after five years, all plans and america have to look like the government-month plan. you have have the government's seal of approval and meet those federal standards. so instead of having more choices, you will actually have fewer choices, and we will done down our health-care system that looks the same no matter what. these decisions in rationing come down to affect us. you hear any notes all the time, but this past week i was out rhetoric club on he tell me about his uncle brian, who was raised in sussex in england. his uncle brian was 72 years old and needed a hip replacement because he had polio when he was a child. he was denied. it was not cost-effective to get him one at the advanced age of 72. they fought and fought, and seven years later they did get surgery. they botched it, by the way. they finally got it right the second time. by then his uncle had alzheimer's. his point was, michael could have had his last few years of life as quality years. instead he spent the men pain and fighting a system he could not win, and ultimately did not win. that is the type of health care system, i do not think we want for america today. at the end of the day, under this program, when you and i get sick, today we ask ourselves basic questions. housley am i? how long will it take to get well? can i afford the treatment? under this plan you will have to ask yourself another question, which is when the government starts picking winners and losers, which will i be? that is what we do not want in this government plan for health care. but across this whole board right here. all of this is new regulation on our health care system. you will have more regulation. that's part of the problem today. three out of every -- $3 out of $10 we spend an american is siphoned off into red tape and overhead and regulations. one of the reasons we pay more and get less for our health care than a lot of countries do. so adding a whole new level of regulation is not going to give us quality care. as well as taking away control of our health care decisions, it will not make health care better. we will talk about parts of this. this is all new taxes and mandates. new taxes on small businesses, new taxes on professionals, some new ones on the health insurance plans themselves, and new mandates, like an up to an 8% payroll mandate on businesses which would be damaging to small businesses. and in the end, you will push health care away from the workers and into the government planned. this is with a small -- i visited with a small business owner wednesday. that cat three small businesses. if this goes through, he said that he would drop his health care. he pushes workers to the government run plant because of a mandate -- it is cheaper to do that. we will keep pushing people that direction. with a small business increases -- tax increases, you will see job losses well. i know you hear from washington that we're just going to tax the wealthy. tax the wealthy. but half of all small business income -- small businesses, our job creation machine for america -- half that and will be taxed, it is in the tax areas that they are focusing on. the people to create jobs for our economies will be the ones targeted. the best estimate we have is that we will lose all over 4.5 million small business jobs if this mandate in tax increase goes through. 4.5 million jobs. maybe we should have ended job counseling in this bill because it is going to hurt our economy. i also worry about the taxes. again, this targets professionals, people who stayed in school all little longer to get that master's degree and started that engineering firm, who are medical professionals. small business people. that took out a second mortgage, ran the credit card cus up to te hilt, spent all their time risking to build a business 70 years, they will bear the brunt of these new taxes. and i will make one point on this. in washington, one of the things that i am always looking at up their part in points. -- tipping points. i got this from paul ryan who is so very astute on this. the number of americans who do not pay any federal income tax whatsoever, over 40% and growing. at some point you will actually have, if things keep going, you will have more people who get money from the government ban who actually pay into it. under this tax increase, in most states in america, 39 of them, people in this tax brackets -- more than 50% of their income will go to uncle sam into their state income tax. think about that for a minute. for those people, the tipping point is that the federal government will have a better claim over their earnings than they do. that is they tipping 0.3 for every dollar that you may, the government will have a greater claim of real wages and earnings than you do. that is a tipping point that we cannot go to in my view. on this chart, let me just say that if you look at the bottom line of this health-care plan, simple questions. will get lower health-care costs? that is one of the biggest concerns that we have in america today. and the answer is no. the independent group that takes a look at our plans, they're not republican or democrat, they say no, it will increase health-care costs. just as it did in massachusetts. it drove health care costs of. will it break even and save money for the government or will that add to the deficit? their answer is -- this will add tons of money to our growing and scary and dangerous deficits today. they say that 250 million -- $250 billion. not too much happens in the first few years is at the tax increases. that is how the government works. let us tax you purse and services later. and then it should straight up. when they say over the first 10 years that we will on the run as far into the deficit, they are being misleading. what that looks like it's an adjustable-rate mortgage. one of those credit cards, 0% interest for so long for it how much does this cost america at the beginning and how much it cost when it's fully into gear? at that point, those estimates are so low that it is going to create another medicare, where you have over promised, it is nearly bankrupt -- 2016, up the health care our seniors depend on right now is an unfunded liability stretching out generations that will never be able to be paid for. we're looking at adding another entitlement health care plan that we cannot afford either. that should worry us, especially since -- look at all the money we have gone into debt the last few months. it is scary. we are heading toward a doubling and tripling of our national debt. just before july, you may not have noticed that. it got 2 inches of attention. but the congressional budget office is required to take america spending habit, our government, and projected out of the years to see where we are headed. it is like shooting for the moon. if you get off course at the beginning, it can go wild in a big way. they took our spending and deficits and budgets and looked out into the future, until 2018. they literally could not find the scenario where we balance the budget during that period. think about that. someone's child born today could live nearly their whole life and never see a balanced budget in america again. and yet we will add another plan on that we cannot afford. it ought to make us notice. i offered one and another congressman offered another amendment in committee you might be interested in. i offered an amendment that said that members of congress would have to certify that they have read the bill before they vote on it. they told us that that was a bad idea, or lawmakers have to read the bill. [laughter] you can watch it on c-span that night. there was another an amendment that said, this public health care plan is so good, then members of congress should have to enroll in it. they and their families. [applause] what i got defeated. they said that it was important that members of congress have choices when it comes to health care. i offered an amendment to strike all those small business taxes, because i think that is the wrong way to go, and they said that we needed to tax the small businesses more because they have had it so easy all these years. that is what they said. they have had it so easy. the question is not do we need health care reform? we do. we need to make things a lot better in a lot of areas. there are good ideas about at make -- how to make health care better. but the question is, is this the right plan for america? i do not think so. here is what i would do. republicans, and those of us who have worked on health care for a number of years, have put together some proposals. there are five of them all. what is offered by the head of our ways and means on the republican side. representative paul ryan has a plan. others had planned. easy step-by-step improvements to real bold reform, mild the spicy on reform. i don't know what we will ever get a chance to offer them. as you know from your civics classes, when one party at the white house, and margins in the house and senate, every republican to vote against this plan and it still would not stop it. but if we get a chance, if the american public speaks out in august and says we want to hear other ideas on health care, then we would get a chance offer. rather than going back to the 1950's and 1960's, why don't we come up with the 21st century health care plan for america. let's put care back into the health care. coverage is key. we have a lot of people without insurance, some already qualifying for government plans, some here illegally, some with college kids and could get coverage if they did not think that they were invincible, but let's focus on the truly uninsured. a small person who cannot afford the health care. they are changing jobs, in between jobs. sometimes because of the recession and because americans do not work for the same companies 40 years in a row anymore. they move from town to town and job to job. and in those with pre-existing illnesses, those with cancer, stroke, chronic diseases, and they cannot get coverage. that is to we should focus on, the truly uninsured. let's create incentives for businesses. let's help those who want to be mobile and america. let's give them the option of a worker backpack, an option where they can choose a health care plan that is right for their family, taking get the same type of benefits and support as businesses get, and they can put it into the backpack and take it with him for their lifetime, from job to job, and my wife would be going back to work so we can afford college. everywhere you go through life, let's create backpacks and option said that people can take their health care with them. and for pre-existing, you could expand the state pools to cover those with those illnesses. i think a better way to do it would be, rather than take those who health care costs we know are going to be high and isolate them together where that' gets more costly, why don't we insist insurance companies cover those with pre-existing conditions, and then like in other countries, let's have an independent board that watches over them and let the insurance companies what dollars to cover that care. what you change his insurance companies do not profit by who they exclude but how well they cover those who they have. everyone that they have. there are some great ideas for coverage. affordability -- you ask everyone in a more about what concerns them most. is that health care is too expensive. the squeeze dollars that should not be in there. frivolous lawsuits, a lawyer to sue our doctors and our hospitals and everyone at the drop of a dime, to drive up the cost of health care. $200 billion of our health care gets siphoned off into either defensive medicine or frivolous lawsuits. let's do lawsuit reform at the federal level, like we have done in texas. the legislature did it in 2001 because we saw these doctors fleeing our state. they put into it -- that put in some common sense limitation. now we have a backlog of doctors' waiting to come in the texas, and not into wealthy areas, but into rural texas. a great example is -- i was tracking in the texas medical center in houston, before tort reform. they had one pediatric neurosurgeon, one baby brain doctor. one for 5 million people in this region. after the reforms on lawsuits, we have almost just six. and they don't just cover houston, they are out and rural areas. lawsuits have to be stopped if we get the -- for us to get the most affordable health care. we can keep diverting $3 out of every $10 into a bureaucratic system. let's focus on affordability. i worry that other countries are starting to figure out how to get ahead of us when it comes to creating those life-saving breakthroughs, those new medicines and treatments and surgery. we have got to make permanent our research and development tax credit. and as i have gone through these town hall meetings, i realize that r ought to stand for responsibility as well. i am sure that we cannot reform health care until we tie people's behavior to their health care costs. what is the copayment and what is my deductible? but for us to get quality care, we will have as much more than that. i want to be able to give people incentives that go along with their lifestyle, the choices that they made. there is one down here, a paper mill in the steel workers' union came together to make up a plan that is so basic and remarkable. it ties your dollars -- safeway as a great example. they decided, our health care costs are going through the roof. we will tackle diabetes and chronic care. they created incentives for their workers and dramatically lowered obesity and chronic illnesses. they have lowered their health care costs, they gave incentives. they rewarded workers with dollars for exercising and for taking their doctor's orders in between that time that they see you. they had a stake in it. but safeway cannot do more of that because federal law prevents them and state law prevents them from doing that, from offering more incentives. research and responsibility have got to be a key. and part of that, and some of the medical community may not like this, but if we want to inform consumers, we will have to pull back the curtain of mystery on medical pricing. why can we go online -- why can we not go online and compare that drugs of every pharmacy in our community? when the best cost in your clinic? when the infection rates? it's hard to track and hospitals. why can you be more engaged in our health care? we're going have to transition to that. and then efficiency. that is getting more bang for your buck. there are a number of boys to do that. the main one is that government created a fractured health-care system. we paid physicians and others to do this and get paid. doctors who want to keep the care going in between doctor visits really focus on the patient and it is hard for them to do. why do we not change the way that we did things in health care, so that we reward doctors and hospitals and other providers for working with the patient? why don't we align all of them toward the patient? reward quality health care. on the help of that patient, not what boxes get checked. there is some is that we can do on efficiency that is not in that bill today. i am hopeful that we get a chance to sit down up in washington to be able to come up with a better idea. a lot of that depends on all of you and how you speak out as americans. let's just start taking questions and comments. yes, sir? >> you opened up a can of worms. >> i did. >> pharmacy prescription prices. one of the things -- i am curious. all of my friends who are against it are surprised that i don't take the position of being so much again this is that we need to clean up the act in the first place. as an example, in 2001 and new zealand began a campaign to make direct consumer pharmaceutical advertising illegal. everybody in this room every night is dilution -- isdeluged $4 million campaign by the pharmaceutical industry. new zealand outlawed it. as it stands now, the united states is the only country in the world that permits direct consumer advertising of pharmaceutical products. according to what i see on the internet, 80% of doctors or more are against it. why do we have it? . >> last year, walgreen's, according to a statement i have, they paid almost $12,000 to the pharmaceutical companies on me, my behalf. multiplied that times everyone you see standing in line at walgreen's. and now you have a big as miss -- big business background, but why do we have to continue to sustain $4 billion in overhead pricing for pharmaceutical products? if you want to stop a lower cost, let's do that first. what we have to see hospitals, m.d. anderson, methodist, every night on the houston news, what do hospitals advertise? the hunts will paper -- huntsville paper, i saw a full- page advertisement of the hospital administrator sitting at her desk. who pays for that, and why? i further ask the question, last thanksgiving my son was visiting from out of state and got bitten thanksgiving afternoon. we went to the emergency after recruit -- went to the emergency room after a dog bite. they soaked his hand in a betadine solution. it costs $1,500. i do not know with this hospital here charges for emergency room care. my next-door neighbor is an attorney. >> we have so many questions. can we sort of focus on the first one? there is a lot of advertising for prescription drugs. i do not get to stay home very often, but after a night of watching tv, i am convinced i have six new illnesses, just from watching advertising that goes on. really, it is so vague. do not get us going on that. i do think we spend too much on advertising. given the choice between less information to consumers and more information, i just always choose more information. i wish they would do less. i would like every dollar they can pump into research and development for the next breakthrough drug. i think are the problem we have is that america bears the cost of research for all these breakthrough drugs. some is done in other countries, the but the bulk of it here in the united states. when we sell, they have price controls and other things that limit that. i think that needs to be addressed. i really worry about this plan, from the standpoint -- the goal is a national health-care plan, a single payer health care system. as people often say, let's get the profits out of it. a love the best parts of health care, including all the new innovation -- a lot of the best parts of health care comes from people knowing they actually can have a profit if they come up with a new drug or that new medicine, or they stay letter to treat patients or come up with a better way of doing that. i want to limit the cost of medicines. i want to capet, because the increases are dramatic. we need to use more generics. we need to be able to buy medicines from around the world, if we can do it safely. i also want to be real careful. i want to be real careful they do not go overboard and shut down that research and development that ends up with the next lifesaving rector. there is a balance with lower costs and keeping those coming in the pipeline. >> i have a printout, page by page or a few things i think in that. i passed one of to the press secretary. i think there is a manifesto in this thing for the overcoming of freedom in america. we have some things listed in here that say we are going to have to give up some of our private, financial information. we will be told some things we can or cannot do is far as our businesses are concerned. we are going to have to pay to put people in health care. they are willing to take control, the people that are pushing this thing are not looking at health care alone. i believe we are looking at a manifesto for the overcoming of america, a k a hugo job as an fidel castro. -- you go chavez and fidel castro. >> i think the goal of this plan is very simple, a government run health care plan, one pair, for everyone in america. the president has been very clear about that in the past. >> i am sorry, he lies a lot. >> on this point, he wants that. congressman barney frank said the other day -- he said whether you call it a public option or a co-op, at the end of the day, both will lead to a single payer system. what seems so odd is that here in the country where we are looking for an american model, not an english or canadian model, one or rethinking of those 1900's examples of health care instead of creating a 21st century model for us? it does not make sense at all. [applause] >> a comment about the pharmaceuticals. if you look and how they develop drugs, research and development is less than 25% of the cost of a drug. a good deal more than that is spent on the marketing of the drug. the rest of the cost of the bill that you pay for it is what their board of directors decide they want to make on it. there is nothing wrong with profit. is profiteering that is bad. that is what you want to eliminate. you can cut back to profit the great deal and still have a healthy bottom line and allow for research and development. we are subsidizing all the drugs everywhere else. that is the reason we can pay half the cost of the bill in canada for the same drug here. it is coming off the same conveyor belt. it is made here and shipped to canada, and yet we cannot go there and buy medicines there. if i give a prescription to someone in my practice and ask them to go to canada to get it filled, i am guilty of a federal drug crime. i can be put in jail with the same consequences as if i were selling cocaine in the office. there is something wrong with that basic concept. >> what is your thought overall of the plan? >> medicare and most insurance companies are bureaucratic to the point that we almost cannot use the now. this will make medicare look like child's play. this is so inefficient by its very concept as it will not be workable. like to say, what are going to base our future health care of plans that we know did not work very well? in britain, they are offering tax incentives for people to get out of the national health system and go buy private insurance, because it is bankrupting their country. the only way they can control costs is to deny access, so that above a certain age, you do not get a coronary bypass or renal transplant. it is not that high. we are talking about 865. we are not talking about the extreme elderly. not all rationing is that, if it is based on -- we do not have those numbers for most things. that is not available anywhere in the world. i am a neurologist. every couple of months, i have a new practice parameter based on what is the best available evidence for a given treatment of a given disease. we have not gone through 5% of the neurological diagnoses yet. spread that throughout the other specialties. we do not have the information to make those kind of rationing decisions at this point. not an irrational and correct in it. we will just make decisions based on what costs what. they are good cost-benefit ratios in some of this stuff. it may save you money to do things that are not allowed right now. i am asleep doctor, and i can tell you the reasons that insurance companies and medicare have now decided to pay for sleep apnea diagnoses and treatment is that medical costs actually go down by 50%. i am certain there are the treatments out there that do the same thing. if you want to make these kind of rationing decisions, that is the information you need, but it is not there yet. >> i want my family to make those decisions about those treatments. i do not want the government making those decisions for me. i don't lose control of that, and most people i talked to, that is what worries them the most. >> since i work with kids, i am very simple. if i had a child who tried three times to do something right and came up with the new plan, i would say go back and fix the one you are already working on. there are a lot of things that could be corrected. this is very complicated. this will make me get out of the business. this makes me question why gave up my life, my family, for years to achieve my goals, so i can only pay more taxes than i made as a nurse. there is no incentive for me to work. i would rather quit now, take my unemployment and said, and watch tv. i am tired. >> we cannot afford to have you do that. a lot of doctors say, if you want to make improvements, a fix medicare. >> you cannot fix the veterans. the veteran health care is in horrible shape. that is a peek at what socialized medicine will be. they do not want to pay or be a participant. they want everything given to them, and yet they want me to work and pay my taxes for that. they wanted this incense someone to get off their butt and go to work. it is going to flip, just like you said. a small minority will be making money to support everybody else. if that is the way is going to be, i am going to quit and get on the other side. >> realistically, what are the odds of defeating this monstrosity? >> she is monstrosity, but i am trying to be fair. the answer is, it all depends on you. i say that because there has been such a headlong rush to get this bill to the president's desk. we are fighting hard just to get you a chance to see this bill before it got voted on. but now in august, i can tell you in the time i have been in congress, this is the first time i have seen the american public actually get a chance to change the course and direction of a bill. i think if americans speak out on this legislation before lawmakers go back at labor day, we have a chance to stop this and to say wait a minute, but back to the drawing board, both parties go back and come up with some real reforms that this country can support, because there are some great ideas out there. it depends upon town hall meetings like this in texas and every country court every state and community across the nation. >> what do i do? if i call my congressman, he says amen, brother. [laughter] we know where you stand. had we change the minds of the other guy? >> in america, there are no shortcuts and democracy. those who believe the most and those who believe the longest prevail. in august, i think three things. speak out in your own district, not just to make it to our senators as well. i know they feel the same way. secondly, reach out to your friends and family and co- workers who are in other congressional districts encourage them to get to a town hall meeting themselves. pick up the phone, e-mail, whatever. show up and ask them to question their lawmakers about the bill. finally, don't quit. don't quit speaking out and reaching out until this is done and a new opportunity is made available. >> should we go out of washington en masse? >> it would be better to drive over with a neighbor who is in another district or friends and family in another district and talk to another member congress. at the end of the day, members of congress represent their communities, their neighborhoods. that is to they want to hear from. the white house thinks all these town hall meetings are organized. i am a republican, we cannot organize anything these days. the truth is, what motivates people is not party these days. it is their beliefs, and there are beliefs that there is a better answer than this. that is what they are underestimating in a big way. it may seem basic, like you tell your children, but it is really up to you guys. we are going to keep fighting on this bill. that is how you can magnify yourselves. >> you say that, yet i was on the internet, and there are democrat reps they go to their town hall meetings and their own constituents are telling them to vote know. they have the arrogance to say they are still going to vote yes, despite what their constituents say. one raab told and that he had leave because of the powers that be, and they asked him who was his superior. he said he could not name his superior, but he was told to leave the town hall meeting, and he was still going to vote yes. you have all these democrat constituents who are asking their rep to vote no, and yet there rep was going to go back and vote yes. if they are going to go back and the line with obama and the democrat congress, they will vote yes, despite what their constituents they. >> that is my point. do not give up until they represent their districts. there is a long time between now and after labor day, and beyond when we will have a vote on this bill. in the last weeks, you have changed the tone of this debate in america in a dramatic way. do not underestimate your own power as voters. it is not just about a year-and- a-half from now. it is their representation every day. stay after it. that is my point. in every district, in every state. >> who wants to go to washington? i will go with you. >> as far as the government- funded health care system, the tribe, other indian health service does have a government funded health service. it is underfunded. we are working on a 50% budget shortfall every year. with that, we do have catastrophic coverage that actually causes are funds to deplete. we have to go through what is called priority one, where we can only go to a doctor if it is a life-and-death situation. that is a government-funded health care system that we live through right now. when you are talking about waiting for people to go to the doctor in canada, it is happening here in the united states. right now, our healthcare costs are so high because we do have dipped to% diabetes rates among tribal dealt -- 50% diabetes rates among tribal adult members. $1,100 per month brinkley. -- per month per employee. are catastrophic illnesses have put us into the range for we cannot get insurance. >> you are not thinking this is the answer, but we have to find an answer. >> when use a government-funded health care system, you are talking of having to raise the cost of the affordability of health care. we provide insurance for employees, but because we do have severe cases, one or two employees causes our rates to go through the roof. we asked for 10 private companies to look at our whole portfolio, and only one was able to respond. >> i have been to your clinic. you do good work. >> we are proud of it, because before then, we had people not going to the doctor. it has been a change, but it is still underfunded. that is what we have to live with every day. >> i understand that the rationing of medicare was going to be immediately upon passage of the bill. where is it listed, what rationing they are talking about? >> i don't see that happening under this, but i do see in the long run, rationed health care across the country, for everyone who is in this public plant and others include the government- run plan. we already have this in america today in the medicare system. we ration our doctors' services through the reimbursements. we have this government commission that is supposed to decide how much we reimburse doctors for being in medicare. they did not reimburse them by saying dr. spector, how much more this year are you paying for staff, how much more is your rent and expenses, so we can do your cost of living? they estimate how much money should be spent on doctors' services, and if it is above that, they just lower reimbursements. this year it was supposed to be cut 21%, even though there is no way they can seat seniors at a 20% cut. rationing is called when a government entity picks a budget number. we already have rationing in healthcare today in medicare. that is one of the reasons it is hard to find doctors to see seniors all the time. most people did not want to see that replicated across the rest of the country as well. >> are there any people in washington that have an original thought in their head that don't does regurgitate the party line? is there any chance of getting nancy pelosi at a speakership? -- and out of speakership? >> >> it was the ways and means committee at wanted us to vote. -- that wanted us to vote. >> most of the families in my subdivision are retired. what kind of advice would you give me to tell them not to be so afraid of this plan? >> i heard a gentleman from england saturday. we had a town hall meeting, and he had been health care system over there and came to america and was applying for all his pieces and all that. he would not go back there to that health care system if his life depended on it. he reminded us in that audience here in texas of a comment, a statement from thomas jefferson from long ago, who said, a people afraid of its government is tyranny, a government afraid of its people is democracy. i am not talking about physically fearful, but respectful of what americans want for health care. tell your neighbors there is no question we can do a lot of good things with group health care, but this plan, the more you look at it, this really is not the plan for us going forward. encourage them to speak out and to reach out. i really think there is no more important time. the reason people are at town hall meetings, this is health care, and this is our families' lives that are online. we have to get it right the first time, not rush it through and say we will get around to fixing it some day. we know it will not work that way. what worries me, the things we keep discovering in this bill -- for example, there is a provision that shuts down position on hospitals that are under construction. -- shutdown physician-owned hospitals. too much of this country is like this. we are going to stay here and answer questions. it on my newsletter. we have more town hall meetings. we need to hear from you. [applause] >> thank you all for coming. we do appreciate your patience. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> congressman ready is a member of the house ways and means committee, one of several committees in congress working on health care legislation. we want to hear from you now. how would you improve health care, if at all? as we wait for you to call in, a couple of ads about health care airing nationally on cable television, paid for by the republican and democratic national committees. >> trillions for rushed government bailouts and takeovers, the biggest spending spree in our nation's history. the next big ticket item, a risky experiment with our health care. barack obama's massive spending experiment has not healed our economy. his new experiment rests their future and our help. the republican national committee is responsible for the content of this advertising. >> what is the cost of not reforming our health care system? premiums rising faster than your paycheck. insurance companies dictating more and more medical decisions. the cost of doing nothing means rising copays and out-of-pocket expenses. families faced with paying the mortgage or pay for health care. some leading republicans playing politics have vowed to kill reform. tell republicans the cost of doing nothing on health care is too high. the democratic national committee is responsible for the content of this advertising. >> our first call is from ralph in illinois. >> we could save one trillion dollars a year off of health care by covering natural alternative therapies like nutrition, homeopathy, acupuncture, etc., which on average or 1/100th the cost of radiation and chemotherapy. why had give the patient what they want? they are more likely to get better if they think they are going to get well. half the time, before surgery, cover some natural therapies for them instead of education. we could also save a half trillion dollars a year and in the war on drugs, according to the hew secretary. probably another one trillion dollars on the public sector. these are overlooked in discussing health care economics, but we could gain lots of ground i think the outside the pharmaceutical box. >> mike, how would you improve health care? >> i work for an accounting firm. we have done some extensive study on this problem, [unintelligible] >> we are having difficulty hearing your call, so please call back again. next, a democrat from texas, margaret. >> we were just talking about that this afternoon. one way of improving health care, it would help if the government stepped in, because to me, those that cannot afford health care are the ones that are suffering the most now. without an intervention from them, i don't see how that would otherwise get health care. the pharmaceutical companies are causing health care to skyrocket. i think addressing that issue some what would help. also, the doctors have some type of cap on the charges through hospitals, and just the whole general thing. i think the government stepping in would help, instead of leaving it as is. it is obvious something has to be done. >> what you are seeing on your screen is from a health care town hall meeting earlier this week. that happened in pennsylvania. next, walter from north carolina. what do you think? >> the biggest thing they can do to save money around here in north carolina is to get the illegal aliens out of our system. they have absolutely swamped our emergency rooms, and we are having to pay the bills for all of those people. if you pass the united healthcare and of for everybody, they will come flooding up here like you have never seen before. >> you mentioned immigration and illegal immigrants. at a town hall meeting in iowa, republican senator charles grassley said only people who are in the country legally should be covered by a government-funded health care program. the associated press writes that he also said he is opposed to any plan that, in his words, determines when you are going to pull the plug on grandma. you can see the entire town hall tomorrow night here on c-span. our next caller's from rose in indiana. what is your comment tonight? >> my comment was, i think they should get control of the democrats also, number one. number two, i would like to know why, as far as medicare is concerned, they could not remove the cap on medicare so that you paid medicare taxes on everything you learned. that would just almost 6 medicare. >> judy from alabama. we are having trouble hearing you because your television set is up. what do you have to say about healthcare today? >> i really think we should move on with at least a health care system, because we are in need of it. i know we are talking about it, but there are a lot of people without insurance, and something has to be done right now. >> paul from kansas, you are a republican? >> i am judy from alabama. something does need to be done about it. one thing is the need to stop the insurance companies from giving such high deductibles. i just finished with a colonoscopy and a sigmoidoscopy, and i have to pay $3,300 before write insurance starts 100%. it took me awhile to decide to do that, because of the pain, but i knew i would have to make payments, it we know that doctors and hospitals do not like that. a lot of people will let it go if they cannot pay $3,300 or whatever it is. then they are going to have cancer, and they will have to have chemo and surgery and may be a colostomy bag. that will cost the insurance a lot of money. why are they putting these caps on it? if they would stop that, it would help a lot. >> a couple of things. i think tort reform, i am a disabled veteran. if you want to see a microcosm of what government health care would be, get in the va system. it is horrendous. you talk about bureaucrats sitting in front of their it telling you you are disability does not warrant a claim when you sit across the table. it is terrible. only 5% of the population does not have health care. the liberals keep throwing out that there are so many people that do not have health care. that is not true. talk to people in england and scotland, and they will tell you that six-eight months for a simple surgery -- you have to look at tort reform. look at the population that does not have health care. it is not that big a number like they are making it out to be. weather is amtrak, the post office, the va, that is what is coming down. >> you mentioned the obama health care plan. on your screen now is a website created by the white house at a town hall in new hampshire earlier this week. president obama asked americans to ignore those who tried to scare and mislead them about the health care proposal. the white house kirk has created this website to talk about the issue and answer your questions. moving on to edna from north carolina. >> i almost did not know where to start. the first thing i want to say yes, i am on medicare. i do have right now the best coverage i have ever had in my life. for the shape i am in, i am quite healthy. i am 72. i am in good health. in february i had my second replacement surgery. i have one daughter% mobility now in both knees -- i have 100% mobility in both knees. i have been active on the computer with this. i have been reading books. i would recommend dick morris's "catastrophe," which is his newest book. i am registered as unaffiliated right now. i had been a lifelong democrat, but i decide to change my affiliation. i am looking at the fact that when you go to dr. or a hospital, you need to shop and ask questions. ask questions of the doctor and hospital. read all you can read. i am paying attention to the town hall meetings. my represented does not have the courage to have a town hall meeting in this area. -- my representative does not have the courage to have a town hall meeting. it sounds wonderful for everybody to be covered. today i had a checkup with my doctor, and we discussed this. >> how would you change the proposal? >> i would like to see them throw out the whole thing and start over, looking at ways that you can benefit americans. people are talking about drugs costing so much. almost every one of the pharmaceutical companies, if you qualify and apply, you can get help with your drugs from the pharmaceutical companies. it has been interesting to listen to all comments here. forget about your party affiliation. our representatives need to vote for the issues and what they mean to the people, instead of looking out for special interests. our last call is from allison from texas. >> this is don from kentucky. my comment is, i am not for this health care. i have excellent health care insurance as it is, and i do not want to see any change to that. what i would like to say is that with everything that is going on, all the money being spent and wasted, if obama wants to do something, why not, all these people out of work, just go ahead and issue medical cards to everybody. we are going to have to pay increased taxes, so let's do it. just give it to them without all this hoopla and making everybody upset. what is so hard about that? >> that was our last call for the evening. we will continue to show you healthcare town halls being held across country over the next couple of weeks. tomorrow night, a town hall held by republican senator chuck grassley in iowa. that will be here on c-span tomorrow night. we want to continue to hear from you about a town hall happening in your community or a proposal being debated in washington. send us your video. >> this fall, into the home to america's highest court. from the grand public places to those only accessible by the nine justices. the supreme court, coming the first sunday in october on c- span. >> at the white house today, president obama honored 16 individuals with the presidential medal of freedom, america's highest civilian award. recipients this year include massachusetts senator ted kennedy and former supreme court justice sandra day o'connor. this is about 35 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states and the first lady, michelle obama. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. please be seated. there are many honors and privileges bestowed on the occupant of this house. few mean as much to me as the chance to award america's highest civilian medal to the recipients that are here today. this is a chance for me and for the united states to say thank you to some of the finest citizens of this country and of all countries. the men and women we honor today have led very different lives and pursue very different careers. they are pioneers in science and medicine. they are gifted artists and athletes. they have made their mark in the courtroom, in the community, and in congress. what unites them is a belief that most -- forgive me to those of you that are not americans -- what we consider to be the most american of police. that our lives are what we make of them. no barriers of race, gender, or physical infirmity can restrain the human spirit. the truest test of a person's life is what we do for one another. the recipients of the medal of freedom did not set out to win this or any other awards. they did not set out in pursuit of glory, fame, or riches. they set out guided by passion, committed to hard work, aided by persistence, often with few advantages. so let them stand as an example here in the united states and around the world of what we can achieve in our own lives. let them stand as an example of the difference we can make in the lives of others. let each of their stories stand as an example of a life well lived. one of the last things susie and did before she died was made her sister a promise. she promised she would prevent other families from hurting the same way evers did. what began with two hundred dollars and a list of friends has become a global race for the care. it has saved the lives of millions around the world. nancy lay awake at night thinking about the promise she had made and wondering whether one person could really make a difference. nancy's life is the answer. an intern at the jackson memorial, dr. greer came across a patient in a coma without a name or address. the doctors searched for clues about the patient's life. deciding that the homeless of miami deserved better, he founded a clinic that now offers care to over 4000 poor and homeless patients. it is a life that might be distilled into a question he asked all of us, if we do not fight injustice, who will? professor stephen hawkins was a brilliant man and a mediocre student when he lost his balance and tumbled down a flight of stairs. diagnosed with a rare disease and told he had just a few years to live, he chose to live with a new purpose. happily in the four decades since, he has become one of the world's leading scientists. his work in theoretical physics, which i will not attempt to explain further, has advanced our understanding of the universe. from his wheelchair, he has led us on a journey to the farthest and strangest reaches of the cosmos. he has toured our imagination and showed us the power of the human spirit on earth. told he was too small to play college football, jack kemp became a pro quarterback. he led the buffalo bills to two championships. he once said football give him a good sense of perspective about politics. it makes me feel better. a conservative thinker, a republican leader, and a defender of civil rights, he was the rare patriot who put country over party, never forgetting what he learned on the gridiron. it takes each of us doing our part and all of us working together to achieve a common goal. it is a lie from which we can all draw lessons -- is a life we can all draw lessons. after purchasing an $8 tennis racket, billie jean declared the goal to be the no. 1 tennis player in the world. what we honor are not simply her 12th grand slam titles, 101 doubles titles, and 67 singles titles -- pretty good, billie jean. [laughter] we honor what she calls all of the off the court staff. what she did to broaden the reach of the game, to change how women athletes and women everywhere view themselves. and to give everyone, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, including my two daughters, a chance to compete both on the court and a life. as she once said, we should never, ever underestimate the human spirit, nor should we underestimate billie jean king's spirit. born and raised in jim-crow alabama, the rev. joseph lowery is a giant of the moses generation of civil rights leader. it was just a few people huddled in montgomery that laid the ground work for the bus boycott and the movement that was to follow. the founder of the southern christian leadership conference, he was later asked to serve as president. he agreed to serve for one year, but wound up serving, as he puts it, for 20 1-year terms. [laughter] some have called him crazy. one of my favorite sermons that i heard dr. lowery once delivered, he said there is good crazy and there's bad crazy. [laughter] sometimes you need a little bit of that good crazy to make the world a better place. born just a generation past the battle of little bighorn, a grandson of a scout for general custer himself, dr. joseph medicine crow was the first member of his tribe to attend college. he completed the four battlefield scenes that made him the last pro were chief. historian, educator, and painter. a good man. his life reflects not only the warrior spirit of the crow people, but america's highest ideals. his name was harvey milk and he was here to recruit all of us to join a movement and changing nation. for much of his early life, he had silenced himself. in the prime of his life, he was silenced by the acts of another. and the brief time in which he spoke and led the, his voice for the aspiration of millions of people. he would become one of the first openly gay americans elected to public office. his message of hope -- hope unashamed could never be silenced. he said it best. you have got to give them hope. when sandra day o'connor graduated from law school near the top of her class in two years instead of the usual three, she was offered just one job in the private sector. her prospective employer as to how well she typed. and told her there might be work for her as a legal secretary. i cannot know how she would have dared as a legal secretary, but she made a mighty fine justice of the united states supreme court. [applause] a judge and arizona legislature, a cancer survivor, a child of the texas plains, sandra day o'connor is like a pilgrim in the poem she sometimes quotes that has forced a neutral and build a bridge behind her four young women to follow. it has been said that sydney does not make movies, but he makes milestones. onscreen and behind the camera on films such as "uptown saturday night" and "lilies of the field" for which he became the first african-american to win an academy award for best actor. the child of a tomato farmer, he once called his driving purpose to make himself a better person. he did. he made us all a little bit better along the way. delores knows the difficulty that comes with a difficult game. i can relate. [laughter] known to the world by the name that has lit up broadway marquise, she impressed the choreographer jerome roberts, who would make her famous as anita in "west side story." chita rivera revealed the ability to overcome when she recovered from a car accident that shattered her leg. she won a tony award. she has shown that life can be bright in america. the only girl in a family of four brothers, mary robinson learned what it takes to make sure all voices are heard. she was the first woman elected president of ireland before being appointed u.n. high commissioner for human rights. when she travelled abroad as president, she would place a light in her window that draw people of irish descent to pass by. mary robinson has not only shown a light on human suffering, but eliminated a better future for our world. after graduating from the university chicago school of medicine in 1948, janet got married and gave birth to four sons, making medicine a hobby and making family her job. a decade later, she discovered hunched over her dining room table that leukemia cells are notable for changes in their genetics. it showed cancer is genetic and transformed how we fight the disease. all of us have been touched in some way by cancer, including my family. we can all be thankful that what began as a hobby became a life's work for janet. it is familiar to us all, but the signature quality of archbishop desmond tutu is a readiness to take unpopular stance without fear. perhaps that explains what led the arch to preach amid teargas and police dogs. and later when they freed south africa needed a hard enough to forgive its sins, archbishop desmond tutu was called to serve once more. a trip to the downtrodden voice of the oppressed, kantor of our conscience, he possesses the sense of generosity, that spirit of unity, the essence of humanity that south africans know simply as. 35 years ago, a young economics professor at university in bangladesh was struck by the disconnect between the theories he was teaching in class and the reality of the famine outside. determined to help, muhammad yunus left the classroom for a village and discover that just $27 with free dozens of partisans, offenders from that -- dozens of vendors from debt. he founded a bank that has dispersed over $8 billion, lifting billions of people from poverty with micro loans. muhammad yunus was just trying to help the village. he somehow managed to change the world. there's a story ted kennedy sometimes tells. it is about a boy who sees an old man tossing starfish, stranded by a receding tide, back into the sea. what difference can your efforts possibly make? there are so many to the old man studies the starfish and tosses it to safety. he says, it makes a difference to that one. for nearly half a century, ted kennedy has been walking that beach, making a difference for the soldier fighting for freedom, that to refugee looking for a way home, the senior searching for dignity, the workers driving for opportunity, the students aspiring to college, the family reaching for the american dream. the life of senator edward kennedy has made a difference for us all. these are the 2009 recipients of the medal of freedom. at a moment when cynicism and doubt too often prevail, when our obligations to one another far too often forgotten, and the road ahead can seem too long or hard to tread, these extraordinary men and women, these agents of change, remind us that excellence is not beyond our abilities. and that justice can still be one in the forgotten corners of this world. they remind us that we each have it within our powers to fulfill dreams, to advance the dreams of others, and to remake the world for our children to is my distinct and extraordinary honor to ask each of them to come forward and receive their awards as a military aide reads their citation. [applause] >> drawing strength from tragedy, nancy goodman brinker. when her sister was diagnosed, most knew very little about the disease. nancy promised to challenge these norms. she founded susan g. komen for the cure in honor of her sister. her unique passion and determination have been a blessing to all those whose lives have been touched by breast cancer. [applause] >> pedro jose greer, jr. he has devoted his career to improving medical services for the uninsured. a native of miami, he followed his passion for helping others to medical school and found it the camilla's health concern. today, it treats thousands of homeless patients per year, serving as a model clinic for the poor, and inspiring physicians everywhere. his tremendous contributions to the south florida community and our nation as a whole stand as a shining example of the difference one person can make in the lives of many. [applause] stephen hawking. persistent in his pursuit of knowledge, stephen hawking has unlocked new pathways of discovery and inspired people around the world. he has dedicated his life to exploit the fundamental laws that govern the universe and he has contributed to some of the greatest scientific discoveries of our time. . [applause] >> joanne, excepting on behalf of her husband. -- accepting on behalf of her husband. he acted with intellectual honesty and integrity. he earned the respect and admiration of his teammates for judgment and leadership. he places ideas before ideology. he saw bridges were others all division. his legacy serves as a shining example of people staying true to themselves and bettering our nation. [applause] excepting on behalf of her father, edward kennedy. for more than four decades, senator edward kennedy has boldly fought for equal opportunity, fairness, and justice for all americans in his quest for a more perfect union, he has reformed our schools, strengthens our civil rights, help seniors and working families, and work to ensure that every american has access to quality and affordable health care for them. the united states proudly recognizes this righteous system, the dow public servant, and giant among men. -- devout public servant, and giant among men. billie jean moffitt king. through her example and efficacy, she has advanced the struggle for greater gender equality around the world. in an age of male-dominated sports, her pioneering journey checker from long beach california to the lawn to the international tennis hall of fame. her athleticism is matched only by her defense of equal rights. the road ahead will be smoother, the future will be brighter, and our nation's commitment for equality will be stronger for all. rev. joseph e. lowery. he has marched through life with a and purpose, carrying with him the legacy of a movement that touch america's conscience and change its history. it at the forefront of the major civil rights events of our time, from the bus boycott, he has served as a tyrant is a beacon for nonviolent and social justice. as a poet -- he co-founded the southern christian leadership conference in championed peace and freedom around the world. the united states proudly honors this outstanding leader. joseph madison crow. -- joseph medicine crow. history flows through him. born on a reservation and raised by traditional grandparents, he became the first member of this try to earn a master's degree. from his valiant service in world war ii, he was awarded the status approach war chief -- renowned toward cheap. -- renowned war cheif. he is a example of strength and survival. >> [unintelligible] >> stewart melke, accepting on behalf of his ankle harvey milk. harvey milk dedicated his life to shattering boundaries and assumptions as one of the first openly gay elected officials in this country, he changed the landscape for opportunity for the nation's gay community. throughout his life he fought discrimination with courage and conviction. before his tragic death in 1970, he widely noted "hope will never be silent." harvey milk's boys will forever echo and the hearts of people with his timeless message. sandra day o'connor. sandra day o'connor has paved the way for millions of women to achieve their dreams, completing law school in just two years. she graduated third in her class at a time when women rarely enter the legal profession. with great humor and intelligence, she rose to become the first woman on the united states supreme court. her historic 25 term tenure on the court was defined by her integrity and independence. she has earned the gratitude for her inviable contributions to history and the law. -- invaluable contributions to history and the law. sidney poitier. ambassador an actor, he has left an indelible mark on american culture. rising from it to manage farms of the bahamas, his talent led into broadway and global acclaim. in front of black and white audiences struggle to write the nation's moral compass, he brought us the common tragedy of racism, reconciliation, and the joys of everyday life. the man would near the character and would advance the nation's dialogue on race and respect. chita rivera. from stage to screen, she has captured america's imagination with their magnetic presence and radiant voice. over a career that has spanned a half century, she has received numerous accolades for her performances including two tony awards, six nominations, and the kennedy center honors award. as perilous as any to an open would west side story" -- she is broken traditions and inspired women to follow in her footsteps. we honor her for her lifetime of achievement as one of america's great artists. mary robinson. for mary robinson, the fight to end discrimination and suffering is an urgent moral imperative. she has been a trail blazing crusader for women's rights in ireland and an advocate for equality and human rights around the world. whether courageously visiting poverty stricken regions were working to put right into business, she continues this important work today, urging citizens and nations to have a common cause for justice. janet rowley. she was the first scientists to identify the cause of leukemia and other cancers. is considered one of the most important medical breakthroughs of the past century. after enrolling at the university chicago at age 15, she challenged medical wisdom about the cause of cancer in the 1970's, which plays little of this is on chromosomal abnormalities. -- which placed little emphasis on chromosomal abnormalities. she is revolutionize crandall care. it united states honors this distinguished scientist. archbishop tutu. with unflagging devotion to justice and optimism and an unmistakable sense of humor, he has stirred the world's conscience for decades. as a man of the cloth, he respected the first congregational. he helped salt erika at a turning point in modern -- south africa at a turning point in modern history. he helped heal wounds and lay the foundation for a new nation. he continues to give voice to the voiceless and bring hope to those who search for freedom. mohammed yunus. with his belief in self-reliance of all people, professor mohammed yunus is altered the face of finance. he struggled with economic theories and their effect on the people of his native bangladesh. during for a new way of letting people out of poverty, he revolutionized banking to allow borrowers access to credit. he is unable thyssen's to create -- citizens of the world to create sustainable communities. he has unleashed new avenues of creativity and inspired millions worldwide to imagine their own potential. >> before we break up, why do not we all an extraordinary round of applause? [applause] thank you very much for joining as everyone. thank you very much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> up next on c-span, ambassador richard holbrooke the discussion on u.s. policy in afghanistan am pakistan. then a report on this year's spending bill. the white house hold a reception for the newest member of the supreme court, justice sonia sotomayor. >> of bill clinton kicks off the 2009 lagers convention. -- bloggers convention. it the stars thursday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. -- it starts thursday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. every morning this month, we talk live with nonfiction authors about the new summer releases. our guests include mark anderson, ronald kesller, and hanes johnson. >> and now special residence for afghanistan and pakistan, richard wilbur. he is at the center for american progress to discuss u.s. strategy in the region. this is 1.5 hours. >> good morning. i am the president of the center for american progress. thank you for joining us. we are honored to have richard holbrooke in this spectacular team. we have more members in the front row. this region of the world is of security concern for the night it stays. it was reaffirmed by the president in march when he made the case for a stronger, smarter, commitment to the conflict there. the center has made this a primary focus to the ongoing work of human policy analysts, particularly one who is here today. ambassador holbrooke has assembled an impressive team. there is the multidisciplinary interagency nature of secretary clinton and investor who were's approach to afghanistan and pakistan which tendons on the -- which hinges on military assets. to the best of my knowledge, this is a first. drawing all these resources under together under one roof and umbrella and insuring that it will be discussed, the why as well as the how. the need for a coordinated approach is the cornerstone of the center for american progress. the ambassadors team faces a multitude of interlocking challenges. in less than a week, afghans will vote in council elections for the second time since the fall of the television -- tal iban in 2001. concerned about corruption and violence, reports of electoral fraud, and the ability for the government to provide to them for into a version of this moment. beyond elections, sharp increases in roadside bombs made july the deadliest month for international coalition forces since 2001. increasing concern at home about the cost of winning in afghanistan and to what end goals we should aspire. in pakistan, the government grapples with instability and a strengthening insurgency, and economic crisis, refugee crisis, and persistent challenges. the situation is complex enough to challenge even this exceptional group we have assembled on stage and in the front row today. perhaps given his multitude of experiences, no one is more capable than my friend richard holbrooke to lead this team. after he gives a few brief introductory remarks, he is going to introduce his team and the people on stage will have a few minutes with a comment. we will then shift to a discussion format we can discuss some of the larger question surrounding our policies. i hope to focus on the implications of the upcoming election in afghanistan for our efforts there, our objectives, and how we measure progress. most critically, the threat of both countries in the context of broader national security prior to. thank you all for coming today. as a foreword to protect a conversation. let me turn it over to ambassador dick holbrooke. >> thank you, john. i think the center for this opportunity. when we first talked about an event, i suggested that rather than another speech by me that we bring the entire team. we actually did that have the entire team here. several people are men smissing. i've been privileged to work with a lot of terrific people in my career, including some people in this room who are recognized. i think this is the best team i have ever been able to work with. i am so pleased to be here today. we want to focus today on the civilian efforts. you can ask any questions you want. we are here as the civilian side of the integrated military operation. the background is simple. they stated they wanted to have a counterpart to integrate the civilian efforts. hillary, who was been instrumental in this process, legally we are attached to the office of state, she approves every member of this team. she knows everybody on this podium personally. it is not the great anonymous bureaucracy. she has approved everyone. she agreed immediately and encourages to reach out to other agencies. what you see here are some of the nine agencies represented on our team. the ones that were missing today, to clarify, are general field is out on personal leave. our cia rivers is it told me that he cannot be surfaced. he he is not here. our department of homeland security river is is it is not here. they are not in place. we are looking closely, because homeland security has a vital role in all of this. the fbi representative is in town. he is on another urgent assignment. this is not our fault him. -- full team. the mandate is clear. now i want to introduce the team. for those of you who want to discuss the elections and did not stay up late enough to see the discussion on steven cole bear -- colbert, we will discuss the. if he did not see it, you can watch it on you too. -- watch it on you to go. -- youtube. i'm going to introduce the people one by one. we will start off with barnett rubin which is an nyu professor. he is the leading american expert on afghanistan for the last three -- 30 years. i think all of you know who he is. he is a tremendous asset to have him on the inside telling us why everything we do is wrong is it on the outside telling us everything we do is wrong. he will give you a quick overview. each person will talk for two minutes. but everyone knows we are engaged in a difficult war. we are in the middle of presidential and provincial council elections under difficult circumstances. you will hear more about this later on. what i'm going to do is talk very briefly about what we might call setting the conditions for success in afghanistan. i know that is something on the mind of the american people. there will be a point we will no longer be so engage in combat as we must be right now. there are too vested -- two six elements. one is enabling the afghan government to control its territory. the sec isn't is a portion and creating -- the second is reporting in creating an environment where people have a stake in the environment of afghanistan. on the side of civilian governments, we are continuing efforts to build national governments. the election is part of that. we have an important focus on some national government in cooperation with the afghan government and other donors. rather than pouring money into building the government, we are focusing on rebuilding the relationship between the seven national authorities and local communities. our security strategy is aimed at creating an environment that the supportive of competent officials rebuilding relationships with those companies. in order to do this, we have to eliminate or diminish some of the obstacles at the local level, including the presence of armed groups that have grown up in the course of this war. to make those efforts supportive, we have changed our counter narcotics policy so we are phasing out crop eradication and focusing on assisting rather than threatening the communities there. afghanistan cannot be stable of its members do not want it to be stable. we have a wide ranging diplomatic effort including a network of special riddances who are ambassador holbrooke's counterpart. their policy toward pockets son -- we have a policy toward pakistan and the relationship between those two countries. we are engaged in regular consultations to all the major powers. >> thank you. he mentioned my counterpart. this is a good example of the way i think the united states should lead. when president obama and secretary clinton offered me this job, there were no counterparts. within four months, there were 25, some of which are countries would not expect of wanted to show their involvement but the gains in the swedes -- danes and the swede in the spanish. there are three want to draw your tension to, saudi arabia, egypt, and the arab emirates. we can get the full list to anyone who wanted. on march 27, the president announced -that-is the kind of thing we do. that is the kind of international coalition building. when i began i did not properly acknowledge the center for american progress. i was honored to be part of your inaugural event in 2003. i was never invited back. [laughter] i think you are doing an extraordinary job of becoming a critical center for our effort. when we talk about where we should do our unveiling, we want to collething this of the . i know for a fact based on extensive discussions with people at the white house, that the role he played in the number three trip last week with president clinton was " indispensable and invaluable." it was low-key until showed up wearing that shirt oliver las vegas. that troubled me a bit. other than that, i congratulate you. >> our next speaker is another enormous manager of see on television many times. we are so proud that he has also joined the government full time. contrary to much stuff reported, he does not work in iran even though he is probably nation's leading expert on she is somiii. he worked primarily on pakistan. he is helping shape our strategic attitude. he will give you an overview and then we will plunge right into the operational experts. >> thank you. good morning. i think it goes without saying that the state of pakistan and afghanistan are linked together. we can see that the fight against the televisiotaliban now stretches across the board. the objective is to create a regional framework to bring into alignment american, afghan, and pakistani interest. equally important for our success is pakistan's stability. it is difficult to imagine a country of such vital importance and a vital key ally in that region that basis in more daunting set up. pakistani is still struggling to consolidate its transition to democracy. it has been facing a major taliban extensive. it has set up a major refugee crisis and pakistan. equally as important, pakistan's economy in the past year has been tempered by the major financial crisis and a severe electricity shortage that impact of businesses, people, and people measures. we have been directly in continuously engaged with pakistan. my colleague has been working very closely with pakistani officials and all the relevant agencies in washington to put together energy package is. we are also engaged in international diplomacy. you want to create a much more broad base international support for pakistan. going forward, we will continue to be very focused on pakistan poco stability. we will be working to bring pakistan into our framework for bringing peace. new >> when the refugee crisis hit, we had all the agencies involved and that in our offices. we were able to assemble them immediately that day in and come up with a plan. hillary clinton was in new york and giving a speech at nyu. she called and said water you doing about this. we said we were meeting right now. she said i want to meet with you as soon as i land. by the time she landed and finished a meeting, we have come up with the first hundred and $10 million. she then announced that at the white house. that probably accelerated the response by a week or 10 days. that is the value of this concept. each person here ties into their agency. mary beth good meman was in the front row as an economic expert. an example of that is auto gonzales. we try not to talk about which agency is their home agency, he is from the department of agriculture. he served in afghanistan. he is part of a totally integrated team. it works for us in agriculture. >> thank you. as many of you know, afghanistan has eight out of some people involved in agriculture. it is a sector that was devastated by a quarter century of war. we cannot succeed in afghanistan if the afghani people are not successful and agriculture. we have to fight that as a government. we spend more on trying to eradicate poppy than we did try to promote agriculture. agricultural -- revenue strategy that is new and that is in line with the programs of the afghan government and is truly with the u.s. government. all of the main actors from our government, the u.s. military on the reconstruction team, the army national guard, and the ministry of agriculture, were all involved in developing a strategy that aims to do two things. one is to increase in come. the other is to increase afghans confidence in their government. i mention this is something new. it is. incoherency to our program that we did not have before. -- it is bringing coherence to our program that we did not have before. we aim to increase productivity. we aim to regenerate business. we want to rehabilitate watershed in improved irrigation and a structure. our fourth objective is to improve the ministry of our culture's capacity to deliver services and to promote the agricultural sector. we do this in line with the afghan government. we also do it with the support of our secretary of agriculture, tom vilsack, who has launched trilateral efforts. they are focusing on three main areas, strength, to come and security -- strain, security, and trade. what we have is a strategy that is integrated, restores -- resources, and agriculture in the forefront. >> we have found so far that of all the programs we have done, this program in conjunction with the phasing out of poppy eradication, afghans may continue to do some. we are out of the business. we are not at war with the poppy farmers. general petraeus and i -- the combination of phasing out poppy crop eradication, upgrading agriculture, and upgrading interdiction, the military is taking down drug dealers, setting off bonfires with opium. this is the most successful thing we have done so far. we have increasing evidence that it is really disrupting the taliban internally. we are very pleased at the direction that is going. from the aid, we have to people. -- two people. >> good morning. picking up on what otto has discussed, we are changing the way we do business in providing development in both countries. we are focusing on capacity building and moving toward increased country leasing. [unintelligible] we want to improve governance, and justice, and rule of law. under the direction of the ambassadors in afghanistan, we are increasing the number of civilian staff. that is allowing us to move away from the large contracts and moving more toward local planters and improved accountability for the way we do our program. our increased capacity building efforts are allowing us to channel more of our plans directly to the government and allowing us to do our programs more efficiently. otto mentioned the programs that we do with the agriculture ministry. we have already channeled some of our funds directly. we are planning on doing more of that in the next several months as the ministries argo through more capacity building. we are working increasingly through multi lottery trust funds -- multi logroll -- multilateral trust funds. we are increasing our efforts in that efforarea. all of this is trying to improve donor coronation. >> our next speaker is from the treasury department. you on of the subject is going to talk about. it is luces. it is complicated. and all of this -- a lot of the we cannot discuss in public. it is important. >> this war is being fought on two fronts. [unintelligible] these and other terrorist raise funds externally and internally. and surely they come from kidnapping and drug trade. externally, but these groups receive funds from donors in the gulf. secretary geithner have raised these issues both domestically and abroad. we have formed the listed finance task force to coordinate u.s. government initiatives that threaten our efforts in the region. some of the key initiatives include counter threat finance acid building in coordination with the government's to further develop their ability to identify and deter other activities like al qaeda and the taliban. [unintelligible] another is the joint u.s. and russian federation [unintelligible] we are working with the central bank to extend the reach of banking in afghanistan. we will use it to pay the afghan national army and increase salaries very moving cash and the battlefield. we are also exploring ways to do business with the u.s. government and other donor countries and organizations. thank you. >> the next two presentations where when to do together. i will introduce both people. my longtime assistant and chief of staff in your, ashlandey bl balmer, and secretary gate. a preferred to call it what it really is, communications and counterpropaganda. >> information is as strong as a weapon as a gun they have emerged militants to gain power tears strategically timed radio broadcasts, videos, and cds. their public executions, throwing acid on girls in school, and publicizing the names of the people they want to kill every single night given the archaic values of al qaeda, we must abide policies that expose the true nature of the militants. we must ship the paradigms' of the debate is not between the united states in the militants, both between the people. we are going to use 21st century technology including mobil and radioed to empower the people. there are only for legal fm radio stations. -- four legal fm radio stations there. there are over 150 illegal fm low wattage stations. they are conducting a daily campaign of terror. cellphone is the fastest growing technology. the taliban are ordering cell phone companies to power down it every night. with the lack of the information, the links between poverty in terror ring card entry. mobil banking, 97% of the country is unbanked. we are pursuing an expansion immobile banking, mobile payments, insurance companies to protect the power. initiatives like these and others are critical to supporting a communications and counterpropaganda strategy that protect and empowers the people. >> thank you. what ashley just discussed is central to the strategic thinking of our adversaries. they fight information wars supported by military effort on both sides. we need to think more like our adversaries. we are extending the reach of communication and information to populations the religion not have other than what they have locally, which is often violent messages or intimidation from our adversaries. it is not developing content that is competitive beckham provide people a message that counters what they hear from insurgents. it is about tying the population to the government in areas where they historically have not been tied. critically, a lot of this is on making sure our actions support our messages. none of this is new. getting our focus on it is going to require a number of significant changes. early on, most of it might be general mid crystal's rapid and tireless effort to reduce the number of civilian casualties in afghanistan. [unintelligible] our focus is on resources, resources that have been stamped but are not flowing and insuring those resources can support this kind of strategic view of how the night states uses information. it is an entirely new level of effort to get this right. it is critical. >> thank you. he mentioned averell -- admiral smith. we are in the process of recruiting civilian counterparts for that job. we are going to change the structure to reflect this central priority. it all depends on communications. let's now turn to the elections. we have here two tremendous resources in addition to the rest of the team. i will ask them to talk sequentially. rema is just back last night from afghanistan. she worked for the osi. she worked for the united nations during the last set of elections. she is well known in afghanistan. she recently joined the state department and her colleague in this will speak with a rather funny accent. that is because she is not an american engine is not an employee. jane mary it is on loan from the british government. -- marriott is on loan from the british government. we are proud to have her here. i had the experience of sitting in a meeting at the white house and we spend 30 minutes debating a paper she had written. i said to my colleagues, i have to tell you, we are reading a paper written by british to lament. ira mention that because it underscores how we have other countries -- i mention that because it underscores how we have other countries such work with us. she is invaluable. we will turn it over to rema and jane and then i'll make closing remarks. >> thank you. president obama has to third to the elections -- has referred to the legend that the most important event of the year. i was born in afghanistan. i have been a part of every political process. i have seen it turned out over and over again. they believe this process -- in this process. these events also historic in that there the first afghanistan lead direction in afghanistan. the elections are quite historical. the most candidates that have competed in an election anywhere in the world. i think they are going in the guinness book of world records. there are 41 candidates, including two women. they are being contested by 3324 people. 70 million people have registered to vote. it just came back from afghanistan. the campaign season is not very different from what we see in the united states. there are campaign paraphernalia all over the country, a checkered of people's houses, cars. there are political rallies taking place all over the country. the candidates are being interviewed on radio and television stations. there are pungent -- pundits. the polls show that there are four serious contenders. the former minister of affairs, the former minister of finance, and the former minister of parliament terry. [unintelligible] the elections will go into a second round in early october. what is the u.s.'s position on these elections any candidates? i'm going to turn to my colleague for that. >> thank you. >> we want to see to things coming out of these elections. we want to see them capitalize on the momentum of the policy debate that has been generated. both by the candidates and in the public is itself. we want to see that. it will be supported by an international community. the second thing we want to see is these elections continue to build up a tour of institutions and mechanisms with and afghanistan. -- within afghanistan. a statement earlier really set the stage. the u.s. actively impartial in these elections. we want elections that are credible, pure, and closer. i want them to be seen legerdemain by the afghans and the rest of the world. -- legitimate by the afghans and the rest of the world. we will continue to reach out to the candidates to encourage them to debate the issues and what their policy platforms are. we will hold into account the key electoral institutions. thirdly, pressing the principles of access to the media on transportation for the candidates said they can get around on the commentary in campaign properly. the international community may have a very subtle role to play after polling day. these elections are the first afghan held since 1970. they are being held in very difficult security conditions. they will not be perfect. we expect everything possible to be done to minimize fraud and insure the integrity of the ballots and the process to ensure these elections are seen as legitimate by the afghan people and the world. >> thank you. and sure most of you know dan feldman. -- i am sure most of you know dan feldman. he will be available for questions. that is our team. i'm sorry others are not able to be here. on the elections,

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