congress around energy legislation that was set up for the first time in the united states a cap and trade system. that process is moving forward in ways that i think if you have asked political experts two or three months ago would have seemed impossible. i am actually more optimistic than i was about america being able to take leadership on this issue. joining europe, which over the last several years has been ahead of us over this issue. as i told chancellor merkel, unless the united states and europe with our large carbon footprints, are willing to take some decisive steps it will be very difficult for us to persuade countries on a per- capita basis are still much

less wealthy, like china or india, to take the steps that they will need to take in controlling carbon emissions. so we are very committed to working together and hopeful that we can arrive in copenhagen having displayed that commitment in concrete ways. >> allow me to say as to the visit to the concentration camp that this is deeply moving for me to see an american president, in this case president barack obama , as a visitor. he talked about his personal background as regards to the question. look at a concentration camp. it is one example of these horrible camps liberated by american troops. later on it was turned during the soviet period again.

at the time when germany was divided. it again became symbolic. people in that part of the country and not able to enjoy freedom. now we go there after germany has been reunited, after europe has been reunited. now that we also enjoy freedom and democracy as the united states, that is very moving. it shows you that history makes things possible if sufficient number of people believe in the dream of freedom. >> thank you. the couple of questions. what are some of the gestures of good faith you would like to see from israelis and palestinians? and regarding your visit to the camp. since the holocaust, a constant phrase in the united states is never again. many presidents have let

genocides happen over and over. whether cambodia or rwanda. what does never again mean to you as a u.s. president, especially given the fact that genocide is going on right now in our four. there are accusations of going on right now in darfur and in sri lanka. does germany have an extra obligation to take action to prevent genocide in other parts of the world? >> with respect to the confidence-building measures or next steps, again, i will be bringing george mitchell back into the region. he will meet with the parties involved. i think i have said publicly and repeated in the speech some things that are going to have to be done. a lot of the tension has been given to my statement that the

israelis need to stop settlement construction. i recognize that it has received a lot of attention in israel as well. keep in mind that all i have done there is reaffirming commitments that the israelis themselves have already made. i recognize the very difficult politics within israel of getting that done. i am very sympathetic to how hard it will be, but as israel's friend the united states has an obligation to just be honest with that friend about how important it is to achieve a two-state solution for israel's national security interests as well as ours and

the palestinian's. that is an area where steps can be taken. they're not the only steps that israel can take and will need to take in order to advance movement towards peace. i mentioned some of the other issues that i discussed with prime minister netanyahu. for example, increasing freedom of movement within the west bank. dealing with the humanitarian crisis in the gaza and allowing reconstruction to proceed more aggressively. what has been interesting is that less attention has been focused on the insistence on my part that the palestinians and arab states have to take a very concrete actions. when it comes to the palestinians, we know what they are supposed to be doing.

they have to continue to make progress on security in the west bank. they have to deal with incitement issues. there is still a tendency, even within palestinians who say they are interested in peace with israel, to engage in statements that in sight a hatred of israel or are not constructive to the pri's process. to his credit, president -- or are not constructed to the peace process. president abbas has made progress but not enough. we still have not seen a firm commitment from the palestinian

authority that they can control some of the border areas that israel will be very concerned about if there were to being a two-state solution. there are still problems of corruption and mismanagement within the authority that has to be addressed. there will be a whole set of things having to do with the palestinians' ability to govern effectively. and maintain security. if they are not solved, israelis are going to have trouble moving forward. and the arab states, what i would like to see is indicators that they are willing, if israel makes tough commitments, to also make some hard choices that will allow for an opening of commerce, diplomatic

exchanges between israel and its neighbors. now, all these things will take time. they will not happen immediately, but i am confident that if we stick with its, having started early, that we can make some serious progress this year. on the issue of genocide, i think never again means that the international community has an obligation, even when it is inconvenient, to act when genocide is occurring. on the issue of darfur, i did not simply mention in a speech yesterday before a muslim audience talking about genocide taking place within a majority muslim country, but i also raised it in discussions with president mubarak of egypt, who

has strong diplomatic relations with the country of sudan. i have assigned one of my closest national security advisers, general scott, as a special envoy who has been traveling throughout the region trying to not only solve the immediate humanitarian crisis that exists and that was made worse when president bashir kicked out the government organizations that had been providing assistance. we are working diligently to solve that problem and get assistance back on the ground. but what we have also been doing is trying to reactivate the possibilities of a peace settlement between khartoum and

some of the rebels in darfur that would allow the internally displaced people from darfur to start returning to their homes. we have been very active on this issue. we have worked to make sure we have progress and the people of darfur are able to return to their homes and live in peace. >> part of our past experience in germany is obviously the [unintelligible] out of that comes and everlasting responsibility for the safety and security of israel.

[unintelligible] of every german government. it will always be the case. as regards to genocide all over the world, we have an international responsibility that we need to shoulder. we work very closely together. all of us have made the experience along the way that is quite often takes much longer to resolve than one would like it to be and can be satisfied about. military intervention alone without any political framework that we put on these issues is also not always successful. we had good experience as well. this is why the european union during a summit, they established close links with the african union. i am also trying to win over african countries to shoulder their responsibility or helping them shoulder their responsibility. by providing them with the

necessary equipment, but also through political discussions. i think due to the experience we have made over the years as european union members, we were able after the second world war to live together peacefully. we have an obligation not only to create peace within europe because we have been able to do that, but to actually shared with others in knowledge of how we managed to get back to happen. dignity of man is invaluable. this goes not only for the germans, not only the europeans, but for every human being all over the world. it means we can solve problems. we as germans have made an experience that was certainly not a matter of cause. the allies extended a helping hand to us and to our neighbor france. the united kingdom and france and the united states. we need to share this experience in order to prevent further cases of tragedy occurring.

we will always be at your side. thank you very much. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> president obama's european trip continues saturday as he travels to paris and to norway for a ceremony marking the anniversary of the d-day invasion. >> coming up next, the joint economic committee examines the

results of the latest government unemployment report. "new york times" columnist david brooks talks about the obama administration, and president obama holds a press conference with german chancellor angela merkle. you are watching public affairs on c-span. >> how is c-span funded? the taxpayers. >> i do not really know. >> from public television. >> donations. >> i do not nor the money comes from. >> contributions from donors. >> how c-span funded? 30 years ago, america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiatives, no government mandate, no government money. >> today, the labor department reported a 9.4% unemployment rate for last month. that is .5% higher than april.

the commissioner of the bureau of labor statistics testified. it is an hour and 15 minutes. i welcome commissioner hall and his colleagues from the bureau of labor statistics to brief us on the latest employment data. this morning's release reported may job losses totaling 345,000. almost half of the loss of recent months, but an unemployment rate of 9.4%, a jump of half a percent from the previous month. adding of discouraged workers and part-time workers who cannot find full-time employment, the unemployment rate jumped to 16.4%, the highest rate since the government started

collecting this information in 1994. it was also announced recently that the initial jobless claims fell. the european central bank held interest rates steady yesterday , signaling expectations that the global economy may just have bottomed out. i am encouraged by the marginal improvements in consumer providence -- confidence, but this is accompanied by a sobering counterpoint. increased consumer spending has yet to translate into actual spending by consumers or businesses. rather, families are saving, and i do not blame them. they see that more than one in four unemployed workers has been

unemployed for over six months and that the median duration of unemployment is now 14.9 weeks, a record high since the series started in 1967. the cumulative effects of a recession, totaling 6 million jobs, have let these ordinary, hard-working americans on precarious footing. when a worker is laid off, economists say that person experiences income shot. this is a vast understatement. now, unemployed families must work there any savings they have to pay bills and continue to feed their children. as home values fall and mortgages go unpaid, there suddenly looking for -- looking for closure in the face. while the foreclosure crisis started with homes that fell victim to plunging values, and

then moved to the subprime sector, those facing interest rate hikes have been affected as well. "the new york times" wrote in may that "this first -- third wave of foreclosures can be attributed in large part to the rising tide of unemployment." for many homeowners, some degree of help is available. there are strong mortgage modification programs in place that allow homeowners to decrease their payment and work out solutions to stay in their homes. for the unemployed, however, when home values fall, a mortgage modification will take them only so far. what a modification cannot do is bring back an income or health insurance so without new and

creative ways to help the unemployed, these americans may still lose their homes. we also know that a job lost does not just affect the individual employee and his or her home. surrounding home values fall with each foreclosure, and some cities have seen more than 100 foreclosures every day. further, our safety nets are stretched thin, and that is all some folks have. i read yesterday in "usa today will go up that one in every six american dollars is in employment, social security, or public benefits. 14 states have already gone through available unemployment reserve funds, so the effects of unemployment are being felt in so many places by all of us.

accordingly, this congress and president obama have taken decisive action against the recession through the american recovery and reinvestment act, as well as legislation addressing credit for mortgage lending and unfair credit card practices. we are also helping people at the local level. tomorrow in baltimore, we are putting over 500 borrowers together with over 19 lenders to try to work out mortgage solutions. i hope everyone who shows up and save his or her home, but i suspect that will not be the case, as the unemployed still may not qualify for modifications. it will be almost impossible -- almost impossible to modify long you do not have a job. knowing this, i look forward to the testimony of dr. hall, as we must understand exactly where we are in this crisis and just how far we have to go. with that, i will yield to mr. brady.

>> i join you in logan commissioner hall before the committee this morning. the increase in the unemployment rate is disturbing for several reasons. first, the higher unemployment rate reflects greater hardship for american workers and families. second, along with other economic data, it reflects the continuing weakness in the economy. third, higher unemployment rate underscores the unrealistic nature of the administration's economic assumptions, based on the idea that the stimulus spending would cap rising unemployment. the payroll employment decline reported today shows that the economy continues to contract. that three and 45,000 job drop in may payroll employment is a significant monthly job loss and is broadly based in many industries. although the pace of job loss was not as terrible as recent months, manufacturing continues

to suffer large employment declines. there are efforts suggesting the economy may bottom out in coming months. financial market conditions have improved. some measures of manic factoring activity have stabilized, and some data related to housing construction are less negative. however, measures to prevent foreclosures are not working well, and redefault rates are very high, with more loan-loss is to come. business investment has collapsed, and the commercial real estate continues to be under stress. consumer spending is weak. exports are falling, as many of our major trading partners are also experiencing recession. i continue to be concerned about the administration's unrealistic economic assumptions which were the basis for the president's budget proposal. "the economist" magazine called these assumptions dangerous because they understate the true cost of the administration's deficit spending and debt accumulation.

unfortunately, according to the congressional budget office, administration policies will triple the national debt to a level of 17.3 trillion dollars by 2019. this avalanche of government deficits and debt is one reason long-term interest rates, including mortgage rates, are on the rise. a central problem is that the administration assumed that a stimulus spending spree would significantly improve the economy. as this poster shows, as we compare projections by the white house versus the real economy, just in january, two top administration economists predicted that the unemployment rate would not exceed 8% this year or next if the stimulus was enacted. the administration followed up by forecasting an average unemployment rate of 8.1% of all of 2009. however, as is poster shows, the current level of unemployment rate is well above 9%.

it is enough to show that the assumption about the positive impact of the stimulus was wrong. if the forecast for consistent, it would indicate that the gdp will be lower than projected. an economic upturn should occur by next year, if only due to the huge amounts of money and credit injected into the economy by the federal reserve. however, the economic recovery probably will be quite weak and not consistent with the white house's rosy scenario for 2010. so what will be the sources of economic growth next year? with many households forced to pay down debt, a surge in consumption is not likely. excessive levels of government spending and debt is already battling financial markets. so much more government spending is not a feasible option. u.s. exports may be constrained by weakness in other countries and by retaliation against our own trade policies.

that leaves investment as a main source of growth. how many will undertake long- term investments when facing a tidal wave of new taxes, entitlement spending, and inflation? future economic growth will rely heavily on investment, but more taxes, government borrowing, regulation, and inflation all will hit investors very hard. government is not evil, and provides more benefits than costs. beyond this point it becomes counter-productive. policymakers should understand that excessive government does have the potential to choke off healthy economic and employment growth. it's a long-term rate of economic growth is reduced from 3% to 2% or below, the result will be much slower job growth and higher levels of unemployment. congress should wake up to the damage that it has inflicted and stop enacting legislation that only increases the burden of government on the economy. with that i will yield back.

>> thank you very much, mr. brady. we are pleased -- mr. burgess, do you have an opening statement? a yield for five minutes. >> thank you for the indulgence. each month's this committee receives the release of bureau of labor statistics, and each month we continue to fill the need for what president clinton used to call the laser light focus on the economy. this month we have seen significant job losses without any focus on economic priorities. perhaps congress needs to appoint someone solely responsible for focusing the efforts on domestic economic issues. we could use someone in the room who will say how exactly will this new initiative, this new

czar, or a bill that will have causal relationships, how will this create new jobs? two years -- two weeks ago we heard a lot about cap and trade. the report released on tuesday by the council on economic advisers claims that the president's concept of health care reform will create 500,000 jobs a year. well, we can all look forward to those potential jobs in 2012, 2014, 2016 when they take effect, but where is the plan to build job growth this month or even this year? looking at the numbers released this morning, the only industry that is on a hiring spree is us, the federal government. it only makes sense that at the rapid pace, the size and scope of the federal government has increased over the last four months. the federal government would need more employees to keep up. government spending is a boon for people living here, but

government hiring is not an effective method for aggregate job growth or all state employment gains. we can look at the home foreclosure numbers. nationally, the foreclosure stated rate is 1.4% compared to just 1% a year earlier. the foreclosure inventory stands at 3.9% compared to 2.5% a year earlier, while 7.2% of mortgages or seriously delinquent, compared to 4% the year earlier. in texas, the inventory of foreclosed mortgages is 1.7% compared to 1.5% the prior quarter. needless to say, these trends are troubling. what is most troubling is the fact that these are not for closures due to an unexpected uptick on the adjustable rate mortgage or the result of some

subprime mortgage swindle. these problems have been purged from the financial system. these foreclosure numbers represent homes in trouble or lost due to loss of family income related to loss of jobs. we can take away the bank's ability to force -- to foreclose, but these actions ignore the source of the problem. they need to be addressed before major social initiatives like an purnell form through cap and trade legislation and before congress undertakes to name an additional 50 post offices. i call for all hands on deck and all efforts to focus on improving the domestic economy. i would like to point out that where we will continue to see job losses is if the government is allowed to close 789 chrysler dealerships, 1100 gm dealerships, as part of the auto industry restructuring plan. it is interesting