All Things Considered

Michael Sullivan has covered foreign affairs for NPR, including earthquakes in India, Pakistan and Japan, volcanoes in Indonesia, and has been kidnapped by Somalis, Afghans, Haitians and the Tajik KGB.

On Sept. 11, I was in Islamabad. At the Marriott. Eating dinner in my hotel room while watching the news on CNN.

Zach Condon says he was half-joking when he named his band Beirut: "I was kind of poking fun at myself," he says with a chuckle, "and some of my more exotic tastes in music at the time."

Contagion is about a flu epidemic that causes millions of deaths, Warrior about sibling rivalry in a working-class family. The former is a disaster epic writ surprisingly small, the latter a domestic drama writ larger than you'd think. Both prove effective, both have intriguing structures; it's a good week for movie nuts.

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ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Joining us now is a Democrat, Jan Schakowsky, Democrat of Illinois, a member of the House Progressive Caucus, someone who's proposed her own jobs bill. Well, how did the president do?

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ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Big question, of course, is how do Republicans in the House, where they are the majority, how did they react to the president's speech this evening. We're going to find out from one member of the House leadership right now. Congressman Tom Price of Georgia is chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, and a member of the Budget Committee and the Ways and Means Committee. Welcome to the program once again.

Representative TOM PRICE: Thank you so much, Robert. Good to be with you.