duty-free access to our markets while still protecting american industries. importantly, it's key concept to the plan of g.s.p. was that if a product is made in america that type of good would not be allowed g.s.p. preference -- preferences, would not allowed to be imported duty-free if we have an ongoing market. but in some instances we did not have ongoing production and so we allowed poorer countries to import duty free because it did not lay off american jobs. importers are not allowed a preference -- the lower rate under those circumstances. unfortunately, the united states trade representative has concluded a number of years ago

otherwise and made an exception straying from this original fundamental principle. and it threatens the sleeping bag american textile industry and those industries that support it. in 1992 the u.s. trade representative added sleeping bags to the list of g.s.p. eligible products a special effort to support, it appears at that time the textile industry in the -- in czechoslovakia. but apparently czechoslovakia never produced textiles and that case went by, never produced a sleeping bag. it apparently was a political deal wanted to help check check -- czechoslovakia after the fall of the wall. we can understand that. but you see what's happening some political part of the government worrying about foreign policy decides that we

don't care too much about american sleeping bags or whatever we want to make friends 0 our country so we forgo american jobs for foreign jobs in a way to win favor with those companies -- those countries. i'm not saying that's never good. i'm just saying that when you do that time and time again you begin to concede too much of american wealth and jobs. so g.s.p. was in effect in 1974 and it was to help those countries. and i don't think it should have been changed. the company began but a few years ago a chinese company began to produce sleeping bags and import them into the united states. they are not eligible to be a g.s.p. low-cost, duty-free

shipper because they're not a poorer nation that qualifies under the g.s.p. and they began to import into the united states. so when it became clear that we got a good american company that can compete effectively against them they realized there was a loophole out there that bangladesh could qualify for this loophole so they moved their plant over to bangladesh, at least in name 1993 moved it --, they moved it, continued to supply the materials to bangladesh where the sleeping bags are produced and they are imported duty-free upped this loophole that should never have been created. it's put americans out of work. so with regard to china i just have to note that it's not a

principled free trade country. they're out aggressively to advance their interest and the interest of their companies. and to sell everything they can sell abroad for it. to advance their interests. and regardless of how many americans are placed out of work. so i think our leaders have got to begin to be sensitive to these practices. when will we start tough negotiations on behalf of our workers instead of resisting efforts to help our workers be competitive instead of standing up and tough to jeff sessions, the united states senator from alabama they need to be standing up tough to people in beijing it seems to me. so i believe in free trade. my voting record proves this. virtually every free trade agreement we've had i've supported. but free trade is not free if we allow ourselves to be

exploited, if we hand unfair advantage to other nations. haleyville is a small town. it's in the county of winston known as the free state of winston. winston county claims, and i think in effect did secede from alabama when alabama seceded from the united union. there are there named ewe little cease right now after grant. it's a remarkable county. an hour and a half from birmingham the closest center very rural 15,000, 25,000 people, also marion county in the same area. they have high unemployment, about 14% unemployment in that area. these 100 or so jobs are important. i just would tell you i went there a few months ago. had the local high school band play and they welcomed me, all the employees were there and

they pleaded with me to do what i could to help them save their jobs. and i promised to do so. and i'm afraid we are in the mood of this country, the bill is moving, and we'll just move it through and people will forget those people back home in haleyville but i'm not forgetting them. i believe they have a legitimate request to make to their government that the true principles of g.s.p., that you don't get the import ex tiles into the united states if there is a domestic manufacturer who would be adversely affected. you can import them but you pay the 9% tariff that other countries pay on the textiles. so i'm afraid what's happening in haleyville, sadly is a symbol of our broken system. this trade loophole contradicts

g.s.p. principles. i believe it's indefensible. it is a benefit to china paid for directly by american workers. it just is. this company in alabama pays taxes, obeys the regulations they play by the rules and ask for nothing more than a fair shake. and how do our laws reward them? out of the blue, they find they have competition now from a foreign import. so we give bangladesh the ability to skip all the taxes other importers pay and really on behalf and primary to the benefit of a chinese company so they can undersell the plant in alabama. so what happened to the president's pledge from just last week? he said, you know, it was to make sure more products, he said are stamped with three words, quote "made in america."

the g.s.p. is supposed to exclude benefits to american-made textiles and import-sensitive products. yet through a loophole and a ruling by the ustr, sleeping bags are not even considered a textile. if sleeping bags are not a textile, what are they? they're not food. they're not a water pump. they're not a piece of machinery. they're not a wrench. they're made of fabric and fibers they're clearly a textile. for this reason, some sections of the united states code including the barry amendment designates sleeping bags as textiles explicitly. it makes no sense for the government to recognize sleeping bags as textiles under some sections but not others. all i'm proposing is to bring uniformity to the law and follow the intent of the g.s.p. initially -- as initially passed.

exports from bangladesh are threatening sleeping bags from throughout the united states. it's an industry that's grown throughout the united states. excel outdoors, really a california company employs nearly a hundred people in the county but already excel has seen a 20% decrease in its sales. if the appropriate changes are not made, then this factory will close and a hundred american workers in alabama will lose their jobs. others around the country will lose their jobs. let me tell you a little more about excel. they came under new ownership in 2005 the new owner had planned to close the factory and send the jobs to mexico to try to build a plant in mexico. instead, he realized the competitiveness of being in

alabama at this plant, he met the people, he liked the people in haleyville. they surprised him. he thought he could try it. he would give it a shot. he brought jobs back from mexico and china and since then they've prospered. creating quality sleeping bags right here in the united states. excel uses suppliers in new york state, new jersey, north carolina tennessee and mississippi. this is how a manufacturing system works in a country like the united states. it has ripple effects far beyond what some people might think. i met one of the great industrialists in germany recently investing in alabama and he told me we've got to have a renaissance in manufacturing in the industrialized first world.

and he was very sincere about this. highly intelligent accomplished man. so as you can see from this map, this little plant here in alabama is supporting people in mississippi, atlanta georgia, volunteer thread in nashville, wiggly's in tennessee, they make sleeping bags. i've got a letter from them saying their business will be threatened there too. consolidated fibers in charlotte, royal slide in new jersey polartek in massachusetts, pennsylvania, new york, new york, vermont colorado california. so these things have ramifications. indeed i was talking to a person with deep experience by chance recently in the textile industry and he told me they're becoming more competitive.

he says i think we're actually gaining back and winning back jobs from abroad. that's exactly what was happening here. this man made a gamble. he bet on the united states. he didn't know they would figure out a way to go to bangladesh and undercut him. so this carveout created for czechoslovakia discovered and used by chinese company is creating jobs abroad and not in the united states. so the proposed fix that i have suggested is not some sort of corporate welfare it would not lower taxes for any business. indeed it would ensure that we collect a little tariff duty on products coming in from bangladesh. they could ship them in but they'd have to play -- pay the normal tariff of 9% on imported

textiles and it would not add one cent to the deficit of the united states, and give no loan guarantees no subsidies no handouts. the fix stli declares that sleeping bags are what they are, textiles. and subject to the rules of textiles on the g.s.p. really it would ensure that excel and the other companies in the united states have the same competitive position they had before this plant was moved to bangladesh. so some are calling this an earmark. i don't believe that's true or fair thing to say. earmarks give direct financial benefit to an entity through tax benefits or government grants. this is not a grant does not eliminate tariffs so exil will pay less taxes it doesn't give a burden -- direct benefit to

excel. it does not cost the united states one cent. what it does is eliminate an unfair earmark that already allows a chinese-run company to purchase raw materials worldwide, tax-free, manufacture sleeping bags at a bangladeshi factory and then import them into the united states duty-free. so i repeat. i'm not trying to strip an earmark. i'm trying to actually strip an earmark from china from the bill that's before us. mr. president i'm asking that we uphold the values and rules and that we have put into law i don't know how this thing was changed after congress passed it

in 1974, that said if you import textiles, you have to pay a tariff unless there's no domestic manufacturer of that textile against whom you're competing. how that got changed i'm not sure. i ask that we eliminate the special benefit that's been provided to this country and this one textile. ex excel is just one company that's currently being hammered by this unfair loophole. they are indeed in financial threat. they were supplying 30% of the sleeping bags in the united states. they've seen a decline of 20% already in their products. and, mr. president, i would offer into the record a letter for a number -- from a number of companies that support my

efforts here. stein fibers of charlotte says -- quote -- "excel has been a solid customer of stein fibers for many years. we supply synthetic fiber fill for sleeping bags made at their plant in haleyville." wrigley inc., they say that bangladesh has alsoly entered the u.s. market and supplied over 700,000 spleepg bags last year." and they make sleeping bags, wigly's does in grand junction, colorado. they've copied their senators and they've asked that we support my effort here. ruskin corrugated containers in coleman, alabama supplies the shipping packages for these packages as they're shipped. dunlap industries in chattanooga, tennessee also say

they are one of the largest suppliers of thread in the united states, and they are -- excel is a customer of theirs. murfit stone container corporation, tupelo, mississippi, is also a supplier of excel. royal slide sales company inc., of garfield, new york, says -- quote -- "royal slide provides sleeping bag cases for the factory resulting in -- the resulting decrease in their business from this surge of duty-free imported synthetic-filled sleeping bags is leading to a reduction in our business." they support reform. martex fibers say "we are a major supplier of fiber fill to

excel outdoors. we have been proud to watch one of the last" -- thereon this. "we have been proud to watch one of the last remaining american sleeping bag factories keep going steadily even as virtually all of its competitors move their facilities to other countries." close quote. and they go on to say excel is entitled to relief leave. consolidated fibers of charlotte, north carolina, says the impact on our company will be great if excel outdoors factory is forced out of business by these foreign imports without duty. we supply a great deal of fiber fill direct sale on an ongoing basis. so i'd submit for the record, mr. president -- i ask unanimous consent these letters be made a part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. alabama companies, as i said in north carolina, new jersey,

tennessee, colorado, mississippi are asking for help on this matter. so i support the g.s.p. mr. sessions: i believe in trade. i'll continue to support it but only ask that when we have a problem, either the ustr or the congress listen to somebody and fix it every now and then, not just consider we've got a big train here and we're not going to stop to listen to anybody for the suggestions of improvement. a small change will prevent an unfair benefit from accruing to a chinese company and prevent more americans from losing their jobs. this will ensure that trade is free and principled and plentiful. i thank the chair mr. president. i know senator baucus and i have talked about this, and he's looked at me sadly and listened patiently. but we're down at the licklog and no relief has been obtained and that's why i'm here today. i thank the chair and would yield the floor.

i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. sessions: mr. president, i would ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: i would like to share a few thoughts on the passing of senator chuck percy. among other things, he did in his remarkable life, successful in business and politics, he had a connection to mobile, alabama my hometown. i believe he was born in pensacola, florida and was connected to thomas horde

heroindon, who was a congressman from alabama and resided in mobile and was well-known and i'll a distant decendant of congressman herndon and i can always remember as a young person -- particularly my great-aunts talking about him and they followed his career. and i began to follow his career. maybe he was a factor factor of my become a republican. he was successful and young and vibrant and created a great image for public service and it filtered down to this young guy in rural alabama in a positive way. so i just say, senator rockefeller, we've lost a great american. he had a tremendously successful

career. a man of integrity and drive and commitment and good spirit. and i just think that we are wise in this body to pause a moment and to be appreciative and to remember people who serve their common that fashion and -- who serve their country in that fashion and my sympathies are with the percy family and the rockefeller family. i thank the chair and would yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: i ask consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. read the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the

standing rules of the senate the debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 166 h.r. 2832 an act to extend the generalized system of preferences, and for other purposes. signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is: is it the sense of the senate the debate on the motion to proceed to h.r. 2832, an act to extend the generalized system of preferences and for other purposes, shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? on this vote, the yeas are 84, the nays viii. three-fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to. the presiding officer: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: i ask that proceedings under the quorum call be vitiated. officer without objection. mr. coons: mr. president i rise today to honor a hero. i rise to remember the sacrifice of a man whom i am proud to have known. i rise to remember sergeant joe zerba of the new castle county police who was killed in the line of duty just this past thursday night. sergeant zerba and several other officers responded to a disorderly conduct call in new

calls, delaware, just before midnight. the officers arrived on the scene, set up a perimeter sergeant zerba spotted the subject and gave chase. a seasoned officer the sergeant attempted to subyou subdue the man and he was stabbed. the suspect continued to resist arrest although seriously wounded, sergeant zerba took the person into custody. only then did he acknowledge his injury. they performed c.p.r. but it wasn't enough. sergeant zerba didn't do it. after a particularly long or difficult day as i was heading home, i would flip on the police scanner in my car and i would listen to the chatter, to the calls from dispatch to the officers responding. i was always mindful in those hours that here i was heading

home to my family and to safety, and here were our officers heading out on patrol into a dark and uncertain night. my phone rang at 5:00 a.m. this past friday morning and it was my friend, chief mike mcgallin, the county's police chief, his voice weighted down with grief. it was the worst news i've ever received in public life. in castle county has only lost one previous officer in a line-of-duty death when corporal paul sweeney was in a traffic accident in 1972 but never before had an officer been murdered in the line of duty. each year when we would attend our annual police memorial, we would quietly pray we would never know this day. just roughly two weeks earlier delaware marked the second anniversary of the killing in the line of duty of another brave and decorated local police officer, patrolman chad spicer of georgetown.

it was just too soon for this to have happened again. we all know that there's risk, grave risk in policing, but this couldn't have happened again. delaware is a state of neighbors, and we are still as a state mourning chad's death and we could not possibly have lost another brave police officer. but we did. and this friday he will be laid to rest. i my state mr. president is grieving. in the days that have past i grappled with two questions. i've asked myself over and over how is it people continue to do these dangerous things, how is it senseless violence continues to claim the lives of the innocent? as i spoke at the graduation ceremony this past friday for the delaware state police and the municipal police academy and looked at the young men and women arrayed in front of me about to take their oath and put on their badge and take on willingly this most dangerous and honored profession, another question emerged to me: why is

it that we continue to have men and women who volunteer who step forward and who take on this most important and difficult task of preserving the peace, of protecting our communities? and what more can we do to support them to protect them, and to honor them? these are the questions i challenge all of us to consider, mr. president. sergeant joe szczerba was on the new castle police force for 18 years, greatly respected by his colleagues in the force and in the community he served. his wife, kagt had i; -- kathy his brothers, his sister and a host of nieces and nephews survive him. heaven today mr. president is a safer place because joe szczerba is on patrol. he was a good man and a great cop, and he died a hero. he died doing what he was called

to do. he died doing what he loved to do. and for that, all of delaware is grateful. we will treasure his memory and honor his sacrifice. mr. president, thank you. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

mr. reid: i ask that we proceed to a period of morning business and senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask that the senate proceed to s. res. 271. the clerk: s. res. 271 honoring the life and legacy of the honorable charles h. percy former senator for the state of illinois. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate proceeds to the measure. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate and any statements relating to this resolution be placed in the record as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask consent that the appointments at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning tuesday september 20. following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be

approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following any leader remarks the senate be in a period of morning business for an hour. senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees with republicans controlling the first half, the majority controlling the final half. following morning business, the senate adopt the motion to proceed to h.r. 2832. further, that the senate recess from 12:30 until 2:15 p.m. for our weekly caucus meetings. finally, i ask unanimous consent that senator heller be recognized at 2:30 p.m. for up to 20 minutes as if in morning business to deliver his maiden speech as a united states senator. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: so tomorrow we begin consideration of g.s.p. and the trade adjustment assistance bill. we'll notify senators when votes are scheduled. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the privileges of s. res. 271 as a further mark of respect to the

memory of the late senator charles percy of illinois. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, tuesday september 20, 2011, and it does so as a further mark of respect to the memory of the late senator charles percy of

and medical research or which have to reform the tax code so that the most profitable corporations have to give up the tax loopholes other companies don't get. we can't afford to do both. this is and class warfare. it's matt.

but he changed political history. he's one of the 14 men featured in c-span's new weekly series the contenders wife from fairview in lincoln nebraska friday at eight eastern. to learn more about the series and the upcoming program at c-span.org/the contenders. next tributes to the late senator charles percy who served for 18 years including four as the chairman of the foreign relations committee. he was a critic of the vietnam war and a proponent of low-income housing and was

defeated for reelection in 1985. senator percy pass we over the weekend in washington, d.c. at the age of 91 and this afternoon several senators came to the floor to pay tribute >> mr. president, i rise todaysense with a deep sense of honor and t sadness to speak about the late senator charles percy of pa illinois who passed away this past saturday with his family completely surrounding him.wo before i begin i want to speaklosses t about two other losses to the on family which grieve me greatly. one of course is kennedy thef

beloved daughter of senator ted also kennedy, and also along lawndale belov the beloved daughter of the vice and president and senator mondale.wo each of these two wonderful o people died at the age of 51 and it's incomprehensible it's terrible, they are far too young from to be taken from us the percyke fell and rockefeller family love close to their family. t senator chuck percy was blessed to live a long and accomplished be 91. life and live to be 91 many of my colleagues know that senator t percy was a distinguished senator for 18 years that beingr from 1967 to 1984 which is the only reason i came in to the chamb, as p senate.now, the he was chairman as people know forgn of the senate foreign relations committee, a man with an --

absolutely vast talent that he poured into every aspect of hisalso. public service and his private business career also and he was extraordinary in that way. he had brains she had a vision,, he she had the stamina he had energy incredibly athletic.ti he could do anything for any amou amount of timent and under all of built thi this was built this incredible do discipline that made him do it the all. s most important to the senator that i'm speaking chuck percy th was my father-in-law for more than four decades since i was lucky enough to marry his unique and beautiful daughter sharon percy, who i might say at this point has many of theand characteristics and majors and habits of senator percy that i'm to ta going to talk about. out it just worked out that way.

she has those characteristics.very he extended to me in every wayhat the great gift of showing thatnd family that he nurtured and watched over and cared for andand for protect all of his life and for that, obviously i am forever grateful.nces o all i will sfhare a few of remembrances with my colleagues d because many of our colleagues here didn't know, a few did what most did not.he people also were the people ofe t illinois, the two sides from illinois will have more to say who on that to put their trust innd him and with all the family andting friends hurting from the news of uck his loss he was absolutely unshakable in his belief in the future. he believed in our country, and makehis he believed in our ability tohance, make this a better chance if we would only put our minds and

will and discipline to it. he was a believer. thro and he always sold through the glass class thought darkly but was his brightly. it was nature. his nature. he was guided more by what was right than by the party label. in a press interview interestingly in 2008, then senator barack obama noted thatrepublican his opus more republicans would c ur look at the curerrent members of for the party for inspiration and then compare them to abraham lincoln and chuck percy.ic what made him so successful is w his determination to share his s optimism to share his sense of promise promise with everyone around him even the very young age.an chuck percy began his business

career with the fact the age of 29 he became the youngest ceo and president of any major company in america. but in fact he did in years of earlier at the age of four. his family was empoverished and grea devastated by the greattankruptcy. depression. from they were bankruptcy, they were shifted from place to place andarts some of the most difficult parts of chicago. so chuck percy at the age of four wanted to help and he knew t o how to help the entrepreneurial h instinct and so he took cookiest baked presumably at home and very le sold them to chicago for a little amount of money but he made money from that which he then turned over to the family.ished he helped his impoverisheddepresnd

family whether the great b depression and pushedfo himself by force of will to get an education all the way through the university of chicago on a scholarship. before his business career took off like many men of his off generation, chuck percy went off to the war serving count hryis country for three years as a naval officer during world war ii. upon returning home she comny rejoined and lead that company from 1949 to 1964 through an astounding 32 fold increase in in the expansion of sales in what were then cutting edge filmny en. products. it was a very famous company c then. he launched his political career in large part to get back to misse public service because one couldt

have bn argue that business might have been his real calling and ifto interested in everything heso he had hance wanted to do so he had a chance. to get back into public service but he had no grand ambition. he simply wanted to find ways to challenge himself and help make country the country better. chuck percy had a purpose as a young man he resolved to read all of the great books. professor he had a professor that i caner remember watching him do that, listening to somlie of thediscussion- wher discussions where he read thegreat bo ok great books of generations of prece his generations and generations w that pursued the master works as well as the constitution, the bill of rights, the federalistem but h papers and he and only read them but he discussed them all with his professor, and it was a

stunning again emphasis to drive the himself to increase his le. knowledge to the highest level possible. but he also had a sense of fun and sports and he liked to be oth active among other things and he was skiing in idaho and then president eisenhower called him in 1959 to see if he could be oject persuaded to work on the project to reinvigorate the party by leading a commission on nationalitious goals. it was an ambitious task and right with political risk butelped pave chuck didn't hesitate to get his work paved the way for thato election in fact 1966 not by an design but because of its excellence and the depth of his ustand wanting to understand we have toready for be ready for it we will have 200 more

birthday in 1976. even more than that served as a template that i mentioned for the reflection from on in soul-searching that went out of the country ahead of that 1976 ced bicentennial. 20 he really cared about the 200th d anniversary of america. d h everybody did but he really did. and he wanted to know what we can do better, but we can do more of and that's what he usedssio n that commission for. nati he wanted america to be a better chuck nation. as a senator, chuck percy took aconomy strong interest in the economy and international affairs. he was the chairman of the foreign relations co mmittee and traveled the globe going to the countries whose names are still hardly known in the time veryra few or even traveling all.o that.

he wanted to do that and he was an good at itd and he would get into the tiniest cracks in a little and small village to try to meet people maybe even breakingg to shake cultural habits by trying to allowed shake hands with people who werehey not allowed to shake handsoo because they were considered toonothing impoverished.couraged nothing discouraged him, and heon and wanted to make himself a better person and a better senator.pect he was on a tripth to inspect theeven tho battlefield of the vietnam even though he was skeptical of thatn his he was on a helicopter when the aircraft took fire from vietcong about 90 miles north of saigon. the helicopter lifted off for safety but left shot with four other men and just to guns the g between them to huddle against the ground as mortar shellst

exploded 15 feet away and the small farm size raised overhead.hey they came back and rescued themry and the story went on. he was fearless. when he came to the senate he the really took on the culture of the senate. he didn't like a lot of what hespeak saw. no and by looking as i speak now at reason pages. he thought there was no reason why girls could not be senate pages just as easily as boys butgi rl that was the custom than girls were not deemed to be able to do herin that. there was an attitude here in opport un the senate thenit that the opportunity of being a page was suited for the boy is and then in the debate interestingly, not some worried about the girls not to being able to carry copies of the th congressional record to the

senate desks. he co-sponsored the equal rightspart amendment and spent the better part of his career honoring that women should have the same opportunities as men.en. t but he knew firsthand and his own life his own family, and remarkable in his office that women can do anything that man can do and perhaps better. furiou in facts senator percy was furious when he found out the de ra textbooks paid for the federal "gir sho government included sentencesul and like, quote girls should bes should be nurses and secretaries while blease should be doctors and businessmen, end of quote. chuckch percy also cared deeply less about helping less fortunate americans . him please remember to give him asing been very always having been very rich. he was poor and his family washis even poorer. even that's where he came from.uggled.

he struggled a long long time and he is rightfully credited for a for offering and pushing thetiesm he w first-ever legislation to create the first opportunities for homeownershipome amer ic for low-income americans. he focused on older americans. he wrote a book back in 1974 about the process of growing old in in america. this is back in '74 just nine years after medicare and the shameful living conditions and hospital conditions that the elder poor had to face.o his book was a call to action, and the moral of the characters to restore the dignity to aging.t he opened the government and the was sunshine law by the time it wasn't popular. he felt strongly thdeamotcr a democracy in a democracy theheld military establishment should be held accountable and answeriv

specifically for leaders.or he also opposed the war and tookt many positions and undoubtably his hurt him within his party.ar but in fact he defined the partyesident, a labels mr. president describing himself as quote,ggressiv fervently moderate to seek out evenhandedness known by thosehis who know him at the dinner parties at his house in which he had the five weeks i guess not during the session they were always equally divided between democrats and republicansans, specilly, o specifically, one republican one democrat and a different parts of the government and business and everything. she wanted to share in all sides that he was president when he made up his mind. one of the things the was most washe captivating was the fervor with which he held his beliefs.

so his desire to be president he percy's came to be well-known and he buhe read about it publicly that the timing was never quite right and so that didn't happen.m he lost his race for the senate4, just term in 1994 just when the senator was coming into the senate and was onese of several h difficult times chuck percy faced in his life with couragen and grace. early in his life, number one his family was literally los t perilous when his father lost their his job all their savings and then leader at midpoint in his career he lost a beloved daughter sharon's transistor and valerie, in an unspeakable and that lethal crime but still tears of

the souls our family, and then in his final years, he was struck down by alzheimer's for a r decade or more. there is no cure for alzheimer's n he was never downcast until he to never could trying to readng play what, do something, play tennis,teve house mealsr. outdoors, what ever. but it was through the hall of the dynamic and through life that chuck percy suddenly became the great man who live been been privileged to know admire and love deeply.he leaned he leaned into life in every way ins in assisting for himself, his bes children and his grand children that the best partf of living consists of learning and

improving and trying to do better better e each day. on his energy and focus on this by process fuelled in part by christian science was amazing unmat unmatched as far as i am to concerned he was a father to sharon and her siblings, he lived what he believed. very simple. never wavered in his unconditional support and love and created truth.lifend america benefited greatly from his life and from his service per and tocy the entire family have been incredibly and indelibly h is shaped by his legacy and by his loved. mr. president, i yield the floor and i ask unanimous consent a statement from the percy and the rockefeller family be submitted to the congressional record and my

placed just after my statement as if read. >> mr. president?in: >> senator from illinois.n: first >> let me extend my sympathy toy to my colleague, jay rockefeller from west virginia and the late virginia,on-in- senator chuck percy of course his wife and cementer percy'scy's daughter sharon. g they are great friends, and i know that this loss is from a ound inevitable and still brings painll to their lives. liv. i hope the reflections of so s many people on the greatness of chuck percy and the contribution to illinois and america will to help to in some ways moderate the pain they are going through. i i join my colleague senator kirk our today in paying tribute to our colleague and friend senator chuck percy who died onur saturday. for 18 he served illinois and the nation for 18 years here in thealthou unitedgh states senate although he

wermy ran against the two men who are my greatest public expense paul operations, senator paul douglas and senator paul simon. regarde i always regarded the cementer percy as a friend and as anur state honest honorable representatives of our state o of illinois. about it's a little-known fact about chuck percy that he wasn one nearsighted in one of a new andision farsighted and the other. that unusual vision was a goods a metaphor for his politics as well. he described himself as fervently moderate, a was progressive republican. he said he was, quote, a conservative on many issues but a liberal on people issues, anddayshen yo of quote. he used the word liberal in the days he could get away with it. charles percy was born in pensacola florida and his family moved to chicago when he was a was baby.y. hi his father worked as a clerk and his mother taught violin for 25 cents a lesson.k at the bank his father worked failed in the depression and thwoeion percy family was forced into d

bankruptcy and on to relief.cyot chuck percy got his first job at the age five selling magazines to help his family. he sold his mother's homemade cookies door to door and was at 3:30 in 3:30 to deliver papers andpapers and pked parked cars and worked as a janitor all while he was in highor while school. high he worked his way through the university of chicago on the hauition half tuition scholarship and along the way the head of s economics professor dr. paul douglas.n in 1936 while chuck percy was in sc college his sunday school teacher encouraged him to enter a a program training program at the beell, company co ame a very small manufacturing at the time. economi he the economics he went to workwell. at full-time. at 23 he was elected to the d board of directors. at the age of 29 he was named the president and chiefoungest executive officer, the youngest person to head the major american corporation at that chu

time. percy in 14 years under his the leadership they extended the region the consumer electronics market and the number of12 f employees increased twelvefold and the annual sales climbed13 from 14 to 160 million.k in 1964, chuck percy was a degate t delegate to the republican national convention and ranlly successfully for governor of illinois. the university of chicagogl professor paul douglas for the seat in the united states senateit was i knew all about that campaign it was my first. i was a college student at and d then turn to senator douglas and on went back to work on hisis campaign in illinois when chuck him percy.inal on the following weeks of the campaign it was with senator douglas in my home town ofis illinois. he was staying at the holidayhe was inn faugh can he received word early in the morning that chuck

percy's daughter valerie had been murdered in t their home. d senator douglas i remember to s this days of the church across the street from the holiday inn c at st. henry's catholic church, and though douglas was leaderaid'm unitarian we saw him going to he wen in that church to pray. the he went in and prayed for the saidn percy family. he walked out the door and said unhuck his campaign was over until resum chuck percye. announces a will resume and we will say nothing about this tragedy of it and too express our sympathy to the i family. ame what a different day of americanalt politics.he both candidates declared a halt to the campaign.th. it it lost to the collected nearly one month in the month ofumanity september. the decision showed a humanity and respect which is in too many occasions from today's politics. tha t chuck percy went on to win the campaign and in the senate heon and backed consumer protection and ef environmental efforts support of suprted i international nuclearwhen you

nonproliferation. of when we listen to his agenda of e it priorities, you find it hard to place it in today's verya. a n conservativeav republican agenda. a navy veteran he was an outspoken opponent of the war in courage vietnam. a it's an act of political courage that earned him a place ons richard nixon's infamous enemies list. he was the first senator to call for an independent prosecutor to investigate watergate pureed 1970 he joined the foreignlater whe relations committee to read a chairhat decade later when he lost the ex chair of that committee explain f his news on the foreign policy this way and i quote i don'torei want foreign policy by just onend party and over the other party. i would much more value of the bill that has bipartisanat 's support. that's whats this committee ofi, chieftain will war two and achieved in theev marshall plan. w chuck percy was reelected in 1972 by more than 1 millionllion vote votes.argest the largest plurality of any senate candidate in the nation y that year. he won a third term in 1978.nning foourth running for the fourth term in challenge

1984 he was challenged in a by bitter primary by an arch money conservative a man whose moneyas came fro m our state and was never really traced although heon won that primary, he would go on to lose the general election to w my friend senator paul simon who won with 50.1% of the vote.our but senior senator percy'sockefell son-in-law and senator jay from we rockefeller was elected for the s west virginia. after leaving the senate,t senator percy said his brother's for accomplishments in office had been pushing for more of mop opportunity for thfee womenderal in the way federal government. his lasting legacy goes way beyond that. in 1970 senator chuck percyf persuaded richard nixon to clamates nominate one of senator percy's former classmates for a stop on the court of appeals to the circuit. fiveun years later the former jo university chnhicago classmate john paul stevens was elevatedhere to the supreme court where he hi s served with distinction until y ea his retirement last year to the dvorkin recall when a senator his

percy was in office and i had backed his opponent senator douglas whom he defeated in 1976nt and i contacted his office i was georgetn a student at georgetown law school we had a group ofi take a f democrats and i felt i will take offic a flier ehere let me call his office and see if heif h will meet he with us.next thing of course he said yes at the next thing you know john the in democrats were sitting in chuckffic e. percy's office. had she knew it and we had a good exce. time from a good exchange. that's the kind of personwas. hee was the kind of politics he what practiced and that is thewas reminder of what life was likeaf not that long ago. after leaving office, cementer percy began an internationalhairma trade consultant for then ot chairman of the organization that administers education and cultural exchange programs. two years ago his daughter her sharon percy rockefeller announced that her father hador tha alzheimer's. senator percy had been struggling with the disease more than a devecenade. out o me fr time even out of office he would callst me time to time cash usuallywashingt with a request about washington l

ov d.c.. illinois was his love and the his chicago area was always his homend love town but he had a passion andetter love for washington, too, and he offer worked hard to ma mke this a ndol en better city. i want to offer my deepest of mo tha condolences to senator percy's wife of more than 60 years.ercy to sharon and all of the percy children grandchildren and hon great-grandchildren. i feel honored to have been schooled in politics and the hav illinois during this era, to have known such extraordinary a men when i was just a youngster, college student starting out. knowing allth of them and watchingan them in public service gives me an impression and the idea of jobhould what the job should be all about. when's i heard of senator percy's state on news of his family had mies of anticipated it but it brought back many memories of the fine ilnois contribution he made to illinois l and the to the nation.uccess we are luckyfu to have men likevoting him successful in so many ways p devoting a major part of theirvice. lives to public service. we are also fortunate that andspon

si they did it with a feeling ofion, responsibility not only to their state and nation but also to thense of public servants in the besth sense of the word of working with everyone to try to finds. solutions to problems.elearn it's a lesson we need to learn today. mr. president i yield the iinois. floor.k: i a >> the senatorsk u nafrniommo usillinois to suspe the estimate i would ask consentndime to suspend with the time limitation and continue for eight minutes. eulogizeenator >> without objection to anithout estimate of what is the three my colleague from illinois, the senior senator durbin and of course senator rockefeller related to the percy family. to eulogize senator percy who we lost on saturday. agreed and one of the most percy successful alliance senators. lif senator percy dedicated much of his life to serving the nation. first in the u.s. navy and then the unite for 18 years here in thest u.s. th senat

senate.e who a i think i'm the one member of the senate who actually voted campaign for senator percy and a w volunteer go along with my mom when i was only 12-years-old to percy read senator percy we knew was aed focus and discipline the leader m who succeeded that nearly everything he put his mind to. he gradually it from my allnd modern and lived in her illinois, my home town. my she leader after graduating went to the university of chicago andnomics got a bachelor's degree in on economics and he joined a camera company called bell and howell. he then led bell and howell led b starting at the age of only 29ge moving the company into making mi military cameras and movie projectors and said a new oduct product called microfilm as theas leader he was one of the great engines

engines of a lie and employmentoyment gw 12 grew 12 times under his 3 leadership and earnings 32 times. but as we heard at the request h of president eisenhower, heions helped write better decisionsof for america as part of the0. republican platform of 1960. chuck percy ran for governor if 1964 but he lost that election. in the not so proud tradition of a lie - governor then went toercy jail, and percy became seen as a fig i corruption fighter in our state. just three years after thatfeatharles defeat, chuck percy was elected by the people of illinois toenate, represent them in the united states senate defeating paul now, durin douglas. now during that campaign his daughter valerie was murdered in my hometown and his hometown of canned worth. one of our town's only murdersth,

on e and it was through this tragedy that we saw so clearly chuck percy's quiet dignity. in the senate, percy was first known as a proponent of aip foundation to back homeownership for low-income families. she was the host of this town in the 1960's described by "the new york times" as quote the hottest political article in the public republican party. he even let polls at 1968 for the republican nomination for ind president senator percy was at heart an independent who took onwn state corruption in his own state and especially his own party. he moved to the first resolutionnt calling for an independent prosecutor on the watergate scl. scandal. "xon fum "the new york times" report to the, quote nixon fumes to hisuld to cabinet he would do all he could to make sure mr. percy who t

already is against the knicks and nominees for the supreme court would never becomesenator pcy f president.or he foughtruption corruption wherever he saw and in 1977 he took on the b white house budget director for l backdating checks to gain tax tax deductions and a leader who sena resigned. senator percy was best known fesor his work as the chair of the senate foreign relations relatio committee during historic times when the united states recovered it its nerve it stare-down the down the soviet union and won the cold war out right.tle he was a gentle man disciplineday and swimming every day and a devout christian scientist whole each read the bible each evening.trong, senator percy was a strongrinted honest and principled man whose in nea integrity remained uncompromising and nearly 20 years of the u.s. senate. he believed that accountability checks and balances and

transparency should be thet. driving force of government. we will miss his moderate fiscally conservative brand of po. politics. his legacy is a genteelght agast c thoughtful leadership and his i fight against corruption in thessed state of illinois is misseddolences to today. i sent my se condolences to senator and percy's wife, lorraine, and his gail a children, roger, sharon, gail landmark and their spouses and putting our colleague, senatorller. rockefeller. andto to the grandchildren and friend great-grandchildren and manymark h friends and family that will mark his passing at the funeral on wednesday. senator percy was one of thers. best remembered ally centers and represents a tradition in some and sense by me and as a former f volunteer foror his campaign and voter for him we markets lostwiwiwiwi today and with that mr. president, i yield back

from today's washington journal this runs about half an hour. >> host: joining us now is the medical program but to get the two health groups here to talkcoell to us and say a little bit about foreign major drugs but more specifically, the ingredients in those drugs that are made in thethere is a u.s.. there is a senator what is that? guest: this may surprise a lot of people. you are used to going to the store and buying a t-shirt made in china. when you get a prescription drug or over-the-counter product, it does not tell you where it is made. manufacturing has shifted dramatically offshore in recent

years. about 40% of what we call finished drugs come from overseas. about 80% of the active ingredients originates overseas. increasingly that is in developing countries. the fda was created seven years ago by congress to deal with quality after a tragic poisoning in the u.s.. it has been a domestically focused agency. they do a lot of inspections in the u.s. and have oversight of u.s. manufacturing. they have little footprint outside of the u.s. where a lot of drugs now originate. host: talk about the actual footprint. is there anything being done about it? guest: it has been talked about a lot since 2008. heparin was contaminated during manufacturing in china.

its second -- it sickened a lot of patience. since then, there has been a lot of concern about manufacturing to make sure that the products are safe. host: let's put the phone numbers on the screen for our guest, allan coukell. we're talking about prescription drugs. 80% of the components are foreign-made. there are lines for republicans democrats, and independents. we welcome your phone calls. our guest is the health and science reporter for various tv stations and other outfits around the country. he is currently medical programs director of pew health groups. how many countries are we talking about? who are they? guest: we're talking about

dozens of countries. a lot of the drug supply is coming from canada and europe. an increasing share of the growth is coming from india and china where so much manufacturing now occurs. host: explain to us the fda's pursuit of this. what resources does the fda have? guest: the short answer is not enough. the fda has to respect domestic manufacturing facilities every two beers. they do it pretty well. the fda will come in and expect the premises every two to three years. if you are manufacturing in china for the u.s. market, the fda on average will get there every nine years, is thought. -- if that. host: what are china and india

doing to make sure the ingredients are safe? guest: both countries have been increasing their quality standards. there regulators have been getting more serious about the issue. in china they take the position that the manufacturing in china for china is the principal focus of their regulator. if the u.s. is buying from manufacturers not accredited by them that is not their concern. host: how has congress addressed this particular part of the drug issue? guest: there is bipartisan recognition of the problem in the house and senate. we have had a house democratic bills -- house democratic bills. in the senate, the chair of the

health committee and the republican ranking member of both focused on this issue. they are signaling this may be something they take up next year with a big piece of fda regulation. host: recalling up on the gao report about prescription drugs in this region we are following up on the gao report about prescription drugs in this country. the first call is from richard an independent. caller: i am familiar with the drug situation because my childrens foundation deals with it. there are restrictions about buying drugs from overseas where i can ship them out. luckily, i fell into a foundation in amsterdam called iba where i bought all of my drugs now. they're like 20 cents on the dollar. the expiration days are long.

you cannot go into most countries unless you have a 01- year expiration date. about half of the drugs that hit the stores here come from overseas. they do not come from china. they come from amsterdam. i am not real familiar with how the drugs are made there. but they have been in business for 30 years. i would like to hear a comment on why our drugs are so cotton picking high here. guest: richard makes two points worth clarifying. one is whether you are talking about the u.s. drug supply we get here locally in our pharmacies or you are sourcing it somewhere else in the world. the actual manufacturing is done in india and china. it does not matter where in the world you go now. i take it the caller is purchasing drugs that will be used outside the u.s. in other

countries. i think that was the implication of what he was saying. the focus is on the u.s. supply and the drugs we get an hour pharmacies and stores. the vast majority of them are based on what they should be. we do need to be aware of the risk of rare but potentially serious problems if you have a quality problem or deliberate contamination. host: ray is on the line for democrats. caller: i am a first-time caller. i buy my drugs overseas. i have been doing that for the last six years. the cost of those drugs is 4400% cheaper than you can buy them here. host: the purchase them over the internet? caller: i purchased them over

the telephone with a credit card. it takes two weeks to get them. i get a lot of my drugs from india. they are all packaged with serial numbers and everything. the federal government needs to leave that alone. it is none of their business what i do about them. host: do you have any concerns about those? caller: none at all. the american drug companies are cronies. the prices are ridiculous. you are forced to join a drug coverage program. if you do not have a program after you turn 65, a fine you each month. host: he is speaking to prices. he orders his drugs from overseas. get to the components of the drugs made here. does it make prices cheaper than they would be to have some of

the ingredients come from around the world? guest: part of what is driving the shift of offshore production is reduced cost. when you buy a high-price brands pharmaceutical, the biggest part of the cost is probably not the cost of manufacturing. it is the r and d that goes into discovering the drug and doing the clinical trials and so on. >> let's hear from the gao talking about fda hurdles to inspecting foreign factories. >> inspections are an important element of oversight. the fda is far from achieving foreign inspection rates comparable to domestic inspection rates where the agency is required to conduct inspections every two beers. in 2008, we reported it would take fda about 13 years to inspect the foreign establishments on its inventory.

since that time, fda has been increasing the number of foreign inspections reducing the estimated time to inspect all establishments to about nine years. however, while the agency is trying to face -- catch up, is facing an increasing number of foreign facilities. fda has been working to develop risc information to help prioritize before inspections. the risks of the products being manufactured have not been the real drivers of which facilities are inspected. rather a foreign establishments have generally only been inspected when they have been named an application for a new drug. host: you mentioned congress will make this more of a priority. what are you looking for from them? guest: we just heard her talk about the disparity in inspections between domestic and international.

we need to do more international inspections. we also have to do them in a smart way given that resources are limited and the fda budget will not increase infinitely. we need fda to be doing risc- based inspection is going to the highest risk facilities -- to be doing risk-based inspections going to the highest risk facilities. we do not want to use our resources during the same inspections the europeans are. that would be one piece, fixing the inspection regime. we also have to rely on manufacturers for safety, and the supply chain is only as strong as its weakest link. we have to have standards that make sure that every manufacturer is auditing suppliers and knows where the drugs are coming from and the quality standards there.

host: question via twitter. guest: good question, and in most other countries, that is the case. it may be that congress will move in that direction. there may be an agreement with the generic drug industry and the active ingredient members to for the first time and inspection speak out of the fda a lot of resources to inspect the facilities. host: james on the line from damascus, virginia. you are on with allan coukell. caller: i am here. host: you are on the error. caller: i wonder if the fda inspects every individual kind of medicine. and -- i'm sorry --

host: let me stop you there, and gather your thoughts for the second question. let's hear from our guest first. -- from our guest first. guest: they don't inspect every medicine. they do in most cases operate- approval inspection. the fda will do the inspection. they will go back every -- if it is made in the u.s., they will go back every couple of years. if it is made overseas, there is -- the fda will not be back. you can go into the business of making over-the-counter drugs and importing them into the u.s. without ever having an fda inspection. host: james, second thought? caller: i got it, man. appreciate it. host: donald is on the line for independents.

caller: from january 1, 1997 through the end of june 2005 there were deaths from 17 fba- approved drugs. there are still over 500000 years of youths and zero deaths in canada. why does the fda continued to lie to us? host: a bank where are you getting your information and statistics -- caller where are you getting your information and statistics from? host:caller: procon.org. guest: cannot speak to the specific data. it is worth making one distinction, which is that people develop side effects aren't drugs and die from time to time. that is part of the risk benefit with any drug. what we are talking about is not

the side effects that happen as a result of the pharmacology of the drug and the way it acts in the body, but a potentially serious risks of what happened if the drug is contaminated or adulterated by the manufacturer. host: kelly democrat. good morning. caller: 90% or more of our businesses, including prescription drug coverage -- they cannot get mad at us -- as far as the stock being checked every nine years -- as this stuff being checked every nine years. guest: we are in a global world where, as you say, we have extensive trade. it is in everybody's economic interest to keep that going. nevertheless, there are people

who take the national security approach to this issue and said if we don't have the right quality systems in place, there is the potential for a deliberate acts, not of government but some went to a bill to raise the drug supply. -- of someone to alter the drug supply. >> globalization has fundamentally altered manufacturing and supply, greatly increasing risk to consumers. it demands a major change in the way fda fulfills its mission to promote and protect the health of the american people. based on almost 20 years of professional experience, i have witnessed the expanding gap between the globalization of a pharmaceutical manufacturing and fda's antiquated domestically focused statute. this gap represents an immediate and ever-growing risk to the safety of the american drug supply. it provides an opportunity for

criminals to introduce dangerous, adulterated, counter for insulin products into the supply chain at great risk to patients and at great cost to pharmaceutical companies. host: our guest in the background of that particular, speaking to the issue of globalization. guest: one of the things she mentioned is the incredible increase in foreign facilities we have seen in recent years. a few years ago, we surpassed the number of international facilities -- surpassing the number of domestic facilities fda is responsible for trade that is a challenge. fda has begun to respond within the limits of the current resources, but it will take legislation to release update the food and drug law for today's world. host: are again -- oregon, republican tide thank you for waiting. >>-- oregon, republican.

thank you for waiting. caller: i was watching a few months ago when you hadealth porter, an ..d is with cancer drugs a very short supply in america. i call white senators and congressmen as saying -- i called my senators and congressmen saying i will not give you a pass on this, because this is life and you are playing russian roulette with a bid they say, "no, we are having this inspected." i said, but not according to this reporter -- "not according to this reporter to read what happened to the tainted dog food?" we're not calling -- i said, sir, you made yourself to be the political guru here in oregon for the senior citizen and you threw us under the bus, sir, i won't give you a pass on this either and i found out from one

of his staff member and i'll quote him and he said "yes, greg waldon is very concerned because people in his district and his district starts at hood river on to ontario, oregon, is calling him and saying they cannot get their medicines they need this his district." now, sir i won't give anybody a pass. you are not representing the american people and doing the job that you said you were there to protect when you cannot go in and tell us that our medicines are perfect and will not make us sick and we can get them when we need them. >> host: thank you. speak to her comment, if you could. >> guest: she mentions drug shortages which is a related issue, an extremely important health issue now. we have shortages of a number of essential medicines. some of the drugs, more than 100 essential medicines some of the drug shortages seem to be related to quality problems where there are particles of

glass or molds in the vile, and they are pulled off the market, and that creates a shortage. some of the other part of the shortage problem that appears to be economic where you have one manufacturer making a product and often an older off-patent product and for whatever reason, they stop making it. the shortage is a real issue, something congress is looking at and something people are trying to understand what's going on an what the solutions are. it's partly related to the quality issues but not solely. she talks about dog food also. that's an example where someone in china took what looked like protein, was not at all, put it in dog food for an economic motive. there was a similar thing with the drug supply three years ago taking a substance called oscs, and to the standard test it looks like heparin but it was not, and that caused adverse events in american patients.

>> host: one viewer speaks by spitter here more about the structure of the process. they scw how can the fda do effective oversight of the supply chain absent data bases and valid and current information? >> -- >> guest: that's a big problem and challenge. one of many things wrong with heparin is that the fda stopped, they didn't inspect the facility but the data bases confused two different facilities. we need data bases that are current, up-to-date, accurate have longitude and latitude in there so that the names of the facilities don't get confused, but we also need martyr technology so that the fda has better risk based systems to know when to intervene, so building in things like market knowledge and the history of the product and that sort of thing. >> host: macon georgia,

jerry, independent caller. good morning. >> caller: i have a question about -- i can't remember actually how long ago this was, but it's only been within a few years, but on the news i heard a lot about counterfeit drugs in this country, and i could have been watching c-span, in fact, i can't remember but that -- even the veterans of the administration or the va hospital had bought counterfeit medication and they say it's like as much as 50% of the drugs that are on the market today are, you know, counter fit -- 50% of them are counterfeit. can he comment on that, please? >> host: thanks, jerry. >> guest: jerry that's a very

important point. until now we've been talking mostly about the manufacturing and the upstream supply chain with the risk of contamination but there's also clearly the risk that somebody will make a deliberate counterfeit of a product and sell it into the distribution system. in some country the level of counterfeiting is very high, 20%-30%. luckily it's not nearly that high in the u.s. and it's certainly not 50% but there has beenó is not that high in the u.s., certainly not 50%. but there have been incidents of people selling counterfeit products into the drug supply and ending up in pharmacies and so on. rare, but it has happened. in some cases they are originate outside the country in some cases domestically. we don't have a national system to authenticate drugs or track and trace them. there is a vulnerability in the system.

host: couple more calls. tom in texas. good morning. caller: i would like to point out that a lot of manufacturers , drug manufacturers only understand what the fda wants and that pertains to the active and inactive ingredients of each prescription drugor drug. active ingredient means, according to the fda, that it gets into the bloodstream at the same rate as the brand name versus the generic brand. the problem is with the active ingredient. the active ingredient can be 15 to the plus or minus, if you are chemically inclined, as far as composite makeups of all

medications and versus the nts regular prescriptions, brand name, and those compared with generic brands. these sources are well known as fact to the 15-plus and 15 to the minus generic brands, they are well-documented through the may yo clinics harvard studies ucla and other places all throughout the internet. >> host: tom having pointed that out question for our guest? >> caller: well, the article that you just ran on tv showing the administration itself is trying to catch up, are we still connected? >> host: we are. let's get a response from the guest. >> guest: let me speak to the difference of the active and inactive ingredient the the active is the drug. when you have a vile or a tablet there's filler ingriewnts which are also

important. just a few years ago, there was a case in panama where the company made could have syrup using something called glycerin a sweetener used in pharmaceutical manufacturing. they'd purchased it from a broker in panama who brought it from spain who purchased it from china who purchased it from a manufacturer in china. it was not glycerin, but something else that was toxic and dozens of hundreds of people died in that case because every time it was in new hands, there was a new label on it without any testing. we have to look at all ingredients in the drugs. >> host: oklahoma city, christian democrat, last call. >> caller: hey, i think it's pretty disingenuous or being a hypocrite. any of these older republicans that call in and complain about what might be put in their

medicines. remember this is why president obama wants regulations, but these tea baggers and old republicans that take old medicines like myself, you guys complain and complain and complain about regulations. oh, man, it's doing this and that, but now when it comes to this, oh, now you want regulations. this is why the republican party are hypocrites. republicans, do some information, do work for yourself. find out what's really going on instead of listening to tabloids frox fox, and news. do your own research. you complain about regulations, but now it might interfere with #kwr-r life, -- your life now you don't want to pay for it. >> host: time for one last comment and what might be happening here in congress. >> guest: well, i think we are fortunate in this case that both

parties want to see a vibrant, innovative sector. we also all want to see safe drugs and ensure that consumers and patients are not at risk, and there is a lot of agreement now in this space about what are the steps we should take and the fact that we do need to update a 70-year-old law. congress is looking at that now. >> host: our guest, allana coukel we appreciate your time this morning.

>> announced a plan to help unemployed veterans including a network of small businesses focused on high o hiring -- hiring veterans and a council made up of wal-mart, fedex and other large companies. he announced the american legion for 20 minutes. >> good morning. i'm humbled to be in all of your presence. i have to admit i was a little bit nervous when i read the agenda and found out i was speaking the day after the president. i was involved at a forum similar to this a couple months ago, and as i spoke after the president, the audience was much thinner than what's before me today, so i appreciate you all

staying around to listen to me and to hear what we're doing across the country to help our nation's veterans. i hope i don't disappoint you. two years ago i retired from the marine core after 20 years active in the service. i have to admit -- [applause] thank you. [applause] thanks. i have to admit not a day goes by that i don't miss the men and women i served with as a marine. it's special for me to be here today to be surrounded with people like you who served our country and the community like minneapolis that truly appreciates the value and the sacrifices our military families make every day to defend our freedoms. this morning, i hope you hear something different in my presentation. i'm not here to describe what could be done or what should be done or what would be done if we had more funding if laws were changed. i'm here today to talk about a

program that is focused on doing things every day to help our nation's heros. next slide, please. in march of this year, the u.s. chamber of commerce launched a program called retiring our heros, a year long program to help veterans find jobs in 100 communities across the country. we started in collaboration with the department of labor vets and the guard and reserve and as part of the white house's joining forces initiative because we understood that the government and the private sector needed to work more closely together to do a better job of matching veteran talent with opportunities that exist in the private sector. we also started the program with the understanding that the key

to success for this initiative is the local community. i can have discussions every day in washington with politicians about what we need to do but it is the local communities and small business owners that are going to make a difference in this effort. it's also organizations like the american legion that can play a significant role in helping veterans finding mean ling employment after their serve our country. my own transition from the military was filled full of good fortune. i was lucky to have a mentor like general jim jones come daunt of the marine corp.. he took a very special interest in my transition from the military to the private sector. i was lucky to be at the right place at the right time, and i was lucky to go into an organization like the u.s. chamber of commerce that understands and appreciates the value of hiring a veteran.

not every veteran is that lucky. next slide. this map captures many of the reasons why i'm here today. of the 12 million veterans in the civilian work force, there are nearly 1 million unemployed veterans 234 america. -- in america. in my minute, that's simply not acceptable. on top of that, we have over 160 ,000 service members getting ready to leave active service duty year after year. on top of that, we have 100,000 guard and reserves that are demobilizing this year. many people have asked me why is this such a big issue if veterans' unemployment nearly mirrors the national average. the fact is if we don't do something about this now, right now, the situation will get

dramatically worse. why do i say that? i say it for three reasons. if you look at iraq and afghanistan veterans their unemployment rate is 13.3%. among iraq and afghanistan veterans if you look at 18-24-year-olds their unemployment is at 30%. secondly, and i talked a little bit about the guard and reserve is the 100,000 demobilizing this year they are syverring from 14 -- suffering from 14% unemployment. in some rural communities they have 20%-30% unemployment after coming back after serving their country for a year in places like afghanistan and iraq. thirdly, the president announced a couple months ago we have to bring 33,000 additional troops back to afghanistan, and we all know that there are plans in the works now to significantly draw down the armed forces. well, if you take all those things together and look at the populations we just talked

about, the number is going to grow to 1.1 to 1.2 million and that is not acceptable. why else did the chamber get involved? first of all, many of our members want to hire veterans small companies, medium sized companies, big companies want to hire veterans. before i took this job, i was the chief of staff at the chamber when i retired at the marine corp.. i traveled all over the country hearing fortune 500 ceos saying, "how do i get a hold of veterans?" how much sense does that make? even with high unemployment, there's a significant skilled gap in america. we have something called "structural unemployment." there are over 3 million jobs in america that can't be filled right now because we have a lack of a trained work force. veterans can fill that gap because they have unique leadership experience.

they have advanced technical skills. they are reliable, problem solvers, and if they don't have the skills, they are hirely trainable. how much sense again, does it make there's 3 million jobs that can't be filled because we don't have the skills to fill them, but you have the ready work force just waiting to do it, and 90% of all military occupations are directly transferable to jobs in the private sector. how many people know that? how many people take the time to learn that? just because a kids' resumé has no college degree, we gave them hundreds of thousands of dollars to be technicians and machinist, and there's jobs to be filled right away if we just take the time to match the talented young men and women with the opportunities that already exist in the private sector, and timely, as the world's largest business fed cation, we, the chamber have a civic responsibility to make sure that verett rains get a special place in the private sector work

force. there's 1700 state and local chambers, 600 trade associations member of the chamber. there's 3 million businesses affiliated with the u.s. chamber of commerce. with that size scale and scope, we have a responsibility to do something about it. next side. what did we decide to do? on april 1th as part of the joining forces initiative, we committed to conduct 100 hiring fairs over a 12 month period connecting military spouses with employers in local communities across the country. the results thus far have been pal pble. since the launch of hiring heros five months ago we conducted 1-9d hiring fairs connected 20,000 veterans and military spouses with over 1,000 employers in 15 different states. our 19th hiring fair was held in in very building on saturday in close coordination with the

american legion who put together this wonderful convention. we had the help of every government agency you could think of in the state of minnesota. in addition we had seven state and local chambers from the state of minnesota that came together to put on a hiring fair with small medium, and large businesses with job opportunities for over 400 veterans and military spouses that attended that hiring fair. that's significant in a state where veterans suffer from an unemployment rate that's two and a half times for non-veterans in a state. we'll be in minnesota again and again and again until the difference is made. we'll be in 81 other cities before the end of march, so many 6 you are asking, so, what about the jobs? how many veterans and how many military spouses have you placed? i'll answer that question in two ways. first of all, we're tracking measures, and it's not easy. we send surveys to every veteran

who attends the fair and every employer with a 20% response rate. they're part of the problem. we're pushing every day to make sure we get better measures but there's success stories. 234 -- in chicago, there was 1200 veterans, and over 200 of them got jobs. again so what; right? we'll do 100 hiring fairs, place 15,000-20,000 veterans. okay. i get that. i'll be the first person to say that doesn't even scratch the surface, but this is not just about numbers. this is about creating a movement in local communities. this is about connecting the public and private sector in a meaningful way so that when we shut down the tables and pull the chairs away from the hiring fair we've created a team of leaders in that community that will seccombe take ownership of this issue. it's not about the one-day hiring fair. it's about what they do the day before and the day after because veterans and their families return to those communities

every day not just on the day we're doing the hiring fair. it's a means to an end. we are on the verge of creating such a movement. i can tell you that because in the 15 states we've done hiring fairs those core groups of leaders have done more hiring fairs in three or four more cities. over the course of the last four weeks, we've received calls from 13 state and local chambers who said we know there's 100 fairs planned we're not on the list, we're going to do one anyway. that is about creating a movement. that is a campaign. in the next three monthings alone, there's 56 hiring fairs in 56 states. the momentum is building and building and building. some of the successes 1 because of the media. listen, i know there's a pr aspect to this, but my only concern, my only measure of success is jobs for the 1 million unemployed veterans in

america. 100 different media outlets covered our events in new york and l.a. alone. 300 million people, 300 million people viewed or listened to those leadups to the hiring fair. nbc who agreed to cover all 100 fairs they're also announced the broadcast of a national show by brian williams called "making a difference on the home front." it didn't hurt when we forged that relationship with nbc, their vice president happened to be legion. our intent to significantly expand this movement to several hundred cities in 2012 so what can be done to achieve this vision? next slide please. first, we have to have a call of

action of our own members. this mab shows 1700 state and local chambers that we have across the country, but we can't do it alone. the chambers can't do it without the help of organizations just like the american legion that have the grass roots infrastructure to mare up with what the local chambers of commerce are trying to do across the country. i, looking across the room, am confident we can go from 100 to 500 hiring fairs in local communities in rural areas in suburban cities with help of men and women like you because you understand, you understand the sacrifices young men and women have made, and you have done it yourself. imagine if you took a map of every legion post across the country, and overlaid it with the map i just showed you. imagine the potential of what we can do and the movement that we can create together by just --

by just taking a legion post and a local chamber of four or five employees and saying hey, let's get a lunch. let's throw a lunch, five or six employers with jobs for veterans, and we'll get 20-30 unployed veterans and bring them together for a couple hours 20 talk about job opportunities. we've already started this with a pilot program in new jersey. we're working with bob and rich and paul in ocean and burg -- bushelington county. will there be fanfare? no 100 media outlets? no. nbc will be there. as this model seems simple to most people 24 is the way to create a movement. for all the post that is are represented here today, we look forward to working with you on the issue that impacts veterans and their families the most

which is job. i'm not here to talk about tax credits or tool kits for kids or think of those things that other people are talking about the i'm here to talk about jobs because none of the other things matter unless someone puts food on the table and roof over their heads for their family and the same satisfaction of wearing the uniform. think of the potential, too, with all 6 you and the mentoring roles you can play to the young men and women who served in iraq and afghanistan and can benefit from your leadership and insights, and i guarantee you if i did a survey of the room some of you probably still own businesses and may hire a veteran. we are going to do three other things and we'll announce them on veterans day, but you're getting a sneak peek. there's a private sector launch, national employments advisory council comprised of 25 biggest companies in america wal-mart

fedex and others agreed to do it. we are having discussions with companies that are industry leaders because if we put 25 industry leaders together representing millions of jobs think about the voice in washington, and think about the their change, the pair dime shift if they think about, okay someone just retired. i'm going to hire a verett first. think about the imfact we can have. it's not going to be done -- it's not going to be done with big business alone which brings me to the second point. we're going to exercise our network of state and local chambers to get as many of the 3 million small businesses part of that network involved with veteran hirings to commit to hire one veterans when the conditions are right. if you tie that with the 3.5 million veteran small owned businesses, and we can just get 10% of them, 10% to hire one veteran by 2013, just one we will cut veterans and up

employment in half. that's a movement. third you can't just do these high touch events everywhere, so there's an i.t. architectture that veterans and employers go to 24 hours a day seven days a week with the tools they need, veterans have the tools they need to transition by getting advice on resumé building, but getting advise on getting a mentor. there's a network of millions of mentors, men and women just like you willing to help veterans. it's a cradle 20 grave system. it's not about the hiring fair, but about the day before and the day after. next slide. as i conclude, i want to stress one thing. this is not about charity. it's not about good pr. this is about connecting talented verett veterans and military spouses with job opportunities we know exist in the private sector. next slide.

veterans are the most resilient, strong, adaptive team players who will rise to any challenge and never recognize failure. we all know that. we all know that because we see it every day on our televisions when we look at places like iraq and afghanistan. i'm often asked why we do this for veterans when the rest of the nation is suffering from high unemployment. as a veteran myself, i want to say, are you kidding me? we have men and women putting themselves in harm's way every day and serving their country, and you asked that question? really? we have men and women in uniform leave their family and loved ones behind for 12 months and we shouldn't make a special effort to help them find jobs? instead i leave those personal feelings aside, and i make the business case for why we should hire veterans and military spouses. i talk about the increase