congressman matt cartwright of pennsylvania joins me now. congressman, thanks for your time tonight. where were you? how close were you? describe what you saw and what happened. ed, it was about quarter after 2:00. we had finished the first vote series for the afternoon, and when you look on the inside of the house of representatives at the speaker, right behind where the speaker is, the next chamber behind that is the speaker s lobby, as you know, and as you proceed further south along the building, the southernmost edge of the building is a balcony where members can go and relax. that s exactly what i was doing. i was having a chat with congressman jerry connelly from northern virginia. two of us were chatting quietly for about five minutes when the shots rang out. and i have to tell you, at first it sounded it put me in mind of the first salvo of a 21-gun salute.
district categorically that the washington region is parasitic region feeding off taxing from people in the hinterlands. here is congressman connelly. the relationship between the government and its need to procure technical services and goods is uniquely met in northern virginia which has spurred a very vibrant information technology, high technology sector. that the government benefits from many harnessing the power of the private sector throughout sourcing as a source of direct employment and direct investment created the modern economy in northern virginia. reporter: one thing could change the wealth of this region pretty dramatically, that is the daunting i should say prospect of see question operation if it occurs. washington will see a dramatic decline in its wealth. it will affect all the tesh think aremember industry we see here. washington for first time will experience same level of recession that the rest
extensively by this phenomena. you remember when ross perot talked about a free trade from mexico and giant sucking jobs going down to mexico. i think d.c. is vortex and giant sucking sound of american wealth and jobs coming. reporter: feeding at the trough of federal government is army of lawyers, lobbyists,cut ants and businesses who all gravitate here to be closer to the seat of government. among the fortune 500 companies that moved their headquarters to the washington suburbs in recent years, northrop grumman, hilton, volkswagen, saic. here is tim carney again. why are they doing that? because businesses are finding out that d.c., that the federal government controls their prosperity and their wealth much more than the rest of the economy does. reporter: congressman jerry connelly, represents fairfax county, probably greatest accumulation of wealth in any congressional