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bill. this the measure house lawmakers were promised last weekend would be passed by the senate and it was. once she signs the legislation, it goes to the president for his signature. the democrats' victory prompted vandalism and threats of violence around the country. plus today john mccain and sarah palin are joining forces again on the campaign trail. can palin help mccain beat back a tough senate primary challenger? check out these spectacular views of earth from above our atmosphere. they must have been taken by nasa with help of a multi-million dollar satellite, right? wrong. a private citizen got these pictures for less than $1,000 bucks. the details are amazing. we're going to start on capitol hill. in just moments house speaker nancy pelosi -- in fact, you can see some of the families lined up there -- house speaker nancy pelosi celebrating her 70th birthday today will put her sit on the companion health care bill approved by the house last

night. >> the yeas are 220, the nays are 207. the motion is adopted. >> the measure removes controversial things in the original bill like the cornhusker kickback and gator aid measure for florida and adds improved benefits for families across the board. the voting in congress done, political debate may continue until the midterm elections in november. so president obama hit the road and traveled to iowa where he spoke about the immediate benefits of the reform package and he dared republicans to run on a platform of repeal. >> my attitude is, go for it. if they want to have that fight, we can have it, because i don't believe that the american people are going to put the insurance industry back in the driver's seat. we've already been there. we're not going back. this country is moving forward.

>> and washington bureau chief of chicago sun times and politics daily.com. we see house speaker nancy pelosi there. while we wait for her to talk, real quickly, your thoughts. >> it is her 70th birthday today. she wanted a pool table. we'll see if sheets it. this is the final piece of the health care package. it's done, and the final thought is it is up now for the administration to make it clear to people what they get up front. if they want the democrats to be able to parlay it into november elections. >> there's steny hoyer. she's waiting for a few members to come out. she's talking now, let's listen. >> great pride and more humility we come together today to enroll this important legislation. in doing so, congress will act as others before us did to do something very important for the american people, very significant to their daily

lives. others before us brought forth social security, medicare, the civil rights act. some of the landmark legislation in our country's history. and today, we have the opportunity in the house to sign this legislation to enroll this important legislation to send to the president of the united states for his signature. we calmly review the events of the last week or so, which brought us to victory in passing the base bill, the senate bill. essential to its passage was the passage of a second bill which would make signature improvements on the senate bill. only then would we be able to pass the senate bill. a matter of trust between the house and the senate, we were able to pass the senate bill here knowing that the senate would pass the house

improvements. senator reid did a remarkable job keeping everyone together. we were thrilled yesterday to see a very substantial victory for these improvements. what happens now is the result of the work of many people. you've heard me sing the praises of our leadership over and over again. and of course the president of the united states. but the victory that we have is largely attributed to our newest members of congress. we've had generations of working on this legislation. mr. dingell, what an honor it is to serve with you. you have been our inspiration. [ applause ] and his father before him. my father served with mr. dingell's father. his father before him

introducing every term in congress the universal health care for all americans. and that legacy, that tradition was reinforced with our election in 2006 and then in 2008 to increase our ranks, to strengthen the democratic majority to pass this legislation. not only was it about the numbers. more important than that, it was about the significant improvement in the legislation. because of some of the members here and their colleagues in the class of '06 and the class of '08, the legislation that we enrolled here today makes this health care reform more affordable for the middle class. it makes it more accessible to many more people. it has more equity for the states by removing the nebraska arran arrangement. state equity.

it makes it hold insurance companies more accountable by improving the reforms that were in the original legislation. it changes, because of the work of '06 and '08 classes. it changes the pay for, making it fair to the middle class. >> as nancy pelosi goes through some of the improvements in the bill, lynn sweet, it was so interesting just a moment ago she was talking about -- even though she talked about people working a long time -- she essentially mentioned the newer numbers of congress in 2006. really feel they may be in danger because of this vote? >> they may feel that. they are the ones who made the democrats the majority party in the house. and that's -- so it is two things to look at. if they weren't there, she wouldn't be speaker and she recognizes it. she's giving them the respect they are due, the props,

shoutout, saying they did a lot more heavy lifting than those in safe districts. >> as we watch speaker pelosi continue, we'll stay with this. do give you a sense of how divided, even though it's a clear victory, here are some republicans on the house floor continuing their opposition to this. >> where are the jobs? when are we going to focus on the economy and getting people back to work instead of all the job-killing policies that we're seeing move through this congress. >> the american people know there's no fix for obama care. we need to repeal this law and start over. >> now, what mike pence is suggesting, that's exactly what the democrats want. they feel politically it's easier to make the argument, okay, you want to go back to putting the insurance companies in charge. minority boehner's speaker about the economy that may be the argument that resonates better, right? >> it will if the jobless rate

goes up. the jobless rate is the big problem for the obama white house going into the november elections. it doesn't get better, goes back up to 10, they have a problem no matter what. on the repeal movement, david, it is harder -- it will be, i think, a harder argument for republicans to make. the bill is front loaded with things individuals might take advantage of being able to get insured if you have a pre-existing condition and safeguards against having your insurance company drop you when you need insurance the most when you're sick. >> lynn sweet, politics.com. thank you so much, lynn, we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> by the way, we are going to bring you when nancy pelosi signs that legislation in the house, we will make sure we turn that around for you, no worries. we have some news that the united states and russia are close to finalizing a new treaty that would drastically reduce each other's nuclear arsenals. the white house now says president obama will call dem

try medvedev sometime during this hour to discuss final details of the treaty. more on the talks this hour. a big deal in terms of nuclear disarmament issues. secretary of state hillary clinton, defense secretary robert gates and join chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen will join robert gibbs there in the white house briefing room to talk about this. again, it does appear as if a significant breakthrough between the united states and russia in the effort to reduce each other's nuclear arsenal. again a big briefing from top cabinet officials in 30 minutes. well, of course, be monitoring that. the vatican is fighting back today against allegations pop benedict xvi did nothing to punish a pedophile priest in the 1990s. he molested as many as 200 young boys at a wisconsin school for the deaf from 1950 to 1974. newly revealed documents show

murphy was spared punishment by the office of then cardinal joseph ratzinger, who is now the pope. instead, murphy was ordered to repent and was moved to a new parish. later yesterday a top papal aide denounced the report as part of a conspiracy against the church calling it a clear intention to smear pope benedict at any cost. alleged victims are speaking out. this woman says her father, arthur, was 12 when the abuse began. >> i believe somebody should be punished for this. his innocence was stolen from him. his childhood -- he was very depressed, not happy. he couldn't enjoy his childhood. everything was stolen from him. now he's 61 years old and he's still fighting for this. >> we're joined on the phone by barbara doris, outreach director of those abused by priests. what is it you would like the

vatican to do? >> we feel they need to accept responsibility for what was done, and they have a chance to begin to right the wrongs. they could establish an international registry of priests who have been accused of molesting children. turn over to local law enforcement agencies and allow them to investigate crimes. they could to go -- the pope has tremendous authority and could say to his bishops, i want you to visit every parish in your diocese. >> do you want any money out of this? because there are critics of s.n.a.p. that suggest you are tied to a lawyer trying to reach a settlement of hundreds of millions of dollars. is your aim money? >> no, our aim is to aid anyone who has been harmed and protect the innocent. those are our goals. >> here is the quote from the vatican. this is a pretext for attacking

the church. this is a well organized plan with a very clear aim. we should not be too scandalized that some bishops knew about it and kept it secret. this is what happens in every family, you don't wash your dirty laundry in public. your reaction? >> first of all, children are not dirty laundry. children are human beings, the most precious thing on earth. they should not be treated like dirty laundry. there are molesters in every segment of society but the catholic church has enabled, protected and shielded these predators allowing them to go on and harm more children long after they knew how dangerous they were. we feel this has to stop and they need to be held accountable for what they have done. >> barbara doris, outreach director of those abused by priests, or snap. intriguing story, part of what may happen to the pope, huge pressure on the pope to reveal more information and maybe calls

to consider resignation. this is the developing story we'll keep you posted on today. today john mccain and sarah palin will be together again. palin is going to campaign with the arizona senator who is facing a tough primary challenge. step aside nasa. we've got a guy who has figured out a way to take amazing photos from outerspace. here they are. for just a fraction of the cost. you will meet him in just three minutes. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there's new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. new motrin pm. you can label as "different." like janice. uh-huh. yeah. fashion deficient. and tom... copy incapable.

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we have some breaking news to tell you about right now. you're looking at some live pictures from what's been an unfortunate and horrifying crash in kentucky. this involves a tractor-trailer and a van near cave city, kentucky. police say at least 11 people have been killed. you're looking at ariel tape

from a short time ago. eleven people killed. the crash on interstate 65 both directions, cave city exit. half an hour north of bowling green, 90 miles to the southwest of lexington. coroner from several surrounding counties are headed to the scene. again, 11 killed in this large crash on interstate 65 in kentucky. we will bring you updates as they become available. in arizona today, it will be deja vu all over again. this afternoon sarah palin will reunite with john mccain in arizona to give the senators re-election campaign a political surge against a tough primary opponent. msnbc's chief washington correspondent norah o'donnell in tucson. norah, this is the first time they have been together since the campaign? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. as you know, john mccain is fending off this very tough battle from his political right.

so sarah palin coming here to stump for her former running mate, and it will be the first time we see john mccain and sarah palin campaigning together since the 2008 presidential race. >> reporter: less than two years after john mccain plucked sarah palin from obscurity in alaska, palin is now returning the favor in arizona to lend him her star power. >> he needs a conservative to tell those voters in arizona, john mccain is okay. he's one of us. >> reporter: mccain faces his toughest re-election battle ever. >> although john mccain was the presidential nominee in 2008, he's never been a favorite of true conservatives within the party. >> reporter: and that's why he's facing a primary challenge from another republican, former congressman j.d. hayworth. >> arizona conservatives view john mccain as someone who campaigns in arizona as a conservative and returns to washington, to that mantle of

maverick and legislaturulates moderately or in some cases takes up it liberal banner. >> reporter: palin could boost support with the voters who distruss him. >> invigorated, no, we're going to do all we can to take our country back. >> reporter: as a prominent fox contributors, she's rallying against what she calls for obama care and gunning for 20 democrats who voted for health care reform marking their districts with targets. on facebook and twitter, she rallied supporters with the words, don't retreat, reload. on "today," mccain defended her ramped-up rhetoric. >> to somehow say someone is in a battleground state is offensive, i'm sorry. >> reporter: he made her a star, the former governor now set to star in her own tv show. sarah palin's a alaska will air on tlc, the same channel that

made kate gosselin and the dugard family celebrities. don't plan for a look at her colorful family. rather, it's a travel show, which palin promises to bring the wonder and majesty of alaska to all americans. the show will be produced by mark burnett who created such hits as celebrity apprentice, now featuring rob blagojevich. >> i used to be the governor of illinois. hi. >> reporter: unlike blagojevich facing federal charges, this former governor will fetch a cool million dollars an episode. now sarah palin is going to headline two rallies and a fund-raiser here for mccain. then tomorrow she's headed to nevada where she is the star attraction at a big tea party rally where ann coulter is also expected to speak. >> should be quite a day today and tomorrow. norah, thanks so much. >> reporter: you're welcome.

a kentucky nanny is giving new meaning to the word hero after risking her own life to save the little boy she was caring for from a fire. you don't want to miss this story. forget all of those fancy satellites and rockets, after the break we will introduce you to a man who took some amazing photos from space with a homemade device that cost just a couple hundred dollars. so, doc... so, doctor... i've been thinking... no.

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"a few inches of water caused all this?" "but i don't even live near the water." what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you. including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $119 a year. for an agent, call the number on your screen. a train is stuck right now dangling off a bridge in chesapeake bay leaking diesel fuel. around 5:00 this morning the train apparently failed to stop and almost ran off the tracks. the loco motives is hanging over the trestle's edge, no one was hurt. about 2,000 gallons of fuel have spilled into the water. a florida school bus is honored for keeping a cool head

during an accident. a student was boarding the bus in rural manatee county, florida when it was hit from behind sending the bus careening off the road. he jumped out and checked on the girl boarding and then checked all the kids were okay. police in texas got a surprise monday night following a high-speed chase. the driver turned out to be a 12-year-old boy. officers say the pickup truck with headlights off was traveling at more than 100 miles an hour. when the truck finally came to a stop, police could not believe it was a preteen behind the wheel. the driver is now in juvenile detention. on wednesday, a kentucky nanny ran barefoot through 400 degree flames to save the little boy she was watching from a raging fire. allison has serious burns on her hands and feet from her desperate dash to receive aiden from the flames engulfing the

shelbyville home. >> i was calling for him. he said i'm here under my covers. i went in there and grabbed him and ran out. it was the only thing i thought about. i didn't think about me getting burned. right after i ran off the carpet, my feet were just -- it was like i was walking on goo, because all this skin, my feet were burned off. >> still barefoot, with her feet badly burned, allison ran with aiden out of the house. aiden escaped without a scratch but the house burned to the ground. a malfunctioning bathroom fan apparently started the fire. some new information about another incident this morning in terms of acts of violence posted to health care reform violence. three bricks thrown through the republican county headquarters in abermarle county, virginia, about a half mile from charlottesville near the

virginia city line. targeting apparently a republican county office. we'll have more details as the information comes in. a $600 gps, $100 digital camera, weather balloon and some duct tape yielded this. spectacular images from space that would rival anything from a multi-million dollar space program. nbc's mike taibbi has the story. >> reporter: 38-year-old robert harrison is a self-confessed computer geek who said it was boredom that got him thinking a while back about space exploration, photo exploration. >> camera, simply point and click. >> reporter: that's about $100 more, $600 for a gps tracking device, duct tape to hold it together plus a standard weather balloon and helium to phillip. then up, up, up and away from the english country side clicking automatically as he tracked from home. >> uk, france underneath the cloud there.

>> reporter: at 22 miles high, the stratosphere at the edge of space, the balloon burst as expected. with that cheap camera capturing images like these, a parachute carried it back to earth where harrison used the gps to find it. he may have been the first hobbyist to try it now several dozen enthusiasts going for the cheap thrill. cheap as in inexpensive but useful. >> liftoff. >> reporter: pictures like these have often been taken aboard the space shuttle. each mission costing nasa $400 million. getting images like these for a few hundred dollars is an eye-opener. >> if the government needed to do it, they can get tips from backyard entrepreneurs more cheaply. >> a team at mit has gotten their balloon aloft for $150 and they post add how-to for the next explorer. the truth revealed. >> we now know the earth is round and space is, indeed,

black. >> reporter: with your own photographs as proof. mike taibbi, nbc news, new york. joining us is the self-pro claimed computer geek robert harrison via skype. what were you thinking when this worked, when you said, a ha, i did it. >> i was astounded. the pictures speak for themself. to get pictures of the curvature of the earth and blackness of space. i wasn't expecting to see pictures by that but i was bowled over by the quality of them. >> and you used the gps to find this after the parachute brought it down. was there some point when you worried it wouldn't work, you wouldn't find the device, malfunction with the gps or it would break. >> malfunction very real risk. temperatures are cold there, minus 60, air pressure 1,000. atmospheric pressure on the earth's surface. a lot of things potentially go wrong. back to the nasa bit, i'm

relying on a lot of technology, gps technology and google maps. that technology cost millions of thousands to put in place. without those millions of pounds spent, i couldn't do this. we do need this money to be spent, but it means i can do it cheaply. >> what has it been like since you learned it work, the media attention. have you gotten inquiries from the british government or any governments for help with the space program. >> nothing from the government. the amount of media attention is phenomenal, global for 24 hours. when you do the launch you need permission from the civil aviation or the equivalent in your country. you can't just do this in the backyard. you do need to get permission. >> robert harrison, congratulations to you. it's a fascinating, fascinating breakthrough of sorts for all of us amateur space aficionados. good luck in the weeks and months ahead. we can't wait to hear what you

do next. >> thank you. take care. >> you're welcome. we're going to take a quick break. we're monitoring the white house briefing room again. a major breakthrough between the obama administration and russian government in terms of nuclear arms. an agreement to reduce the nuclear stockpiles. we're expecting secretary of state hillary clinton, defense secretary robert gates, and, we can now report president obama will speak at this white house briefing. we expect him to speak not only about the breakthrough with russia but these will be his first public comments since the house and senate both yesterday passed the improvements to the health care reform bill sending that to the president's desk. another major victory for president obama. a big briefing coming up in about the next 15 minutes. we will bring it to you live right here on msnbc.

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several minutes. you're looking at a picture of the side of the white house to the left. we anticipate an arrival shot of secretary hillary clinton, defense secretary robert gates. there's every indication the united states and russia have reached a major breakthrough in terms of reducing nuclear stockpiles. that is the announcement we're expecting from president obama in a few minutes. we'll that to you live. we're also anticipating the president may say something about health care reform or get a question about it because this will be the first public appearance by the president since the house last night and the senate both approved the fixes to health care reform. to that end a short time ago on capitol hill, house speaker nancy pelosi turned 70 today signed the legislation on the house. here is what happened. watch.

♪ happy birthday to you happy birthday to you how birthday to speaker happy birthday to you ♪ [ applause ] >> quite a day for house speaker nancy pelosi. she turns 70 years old and also gets to sign another piece of health care legislation perhaps pu putting her in a small fraternity of speakers that passed major legislation, the most sweeping health care legislation in more than 50 years. so many people are giving credit to nancy pelosi turning this around at a time when two months ago they said it would be impossible. a major day for house speaker nancy pelosi and her staff and the democratic caucus. again, we do expect president obama in just a few minutes to possibly at least get some questions about all of this but also for president obama to

announce a major breakthrough in foreign policy with the government of russia, an announcement to reduce nuclear symptom piles in both countries. as we wait for president obama and secretary of state clinton and secretary of defense gates to step into the white house, there was a fascinating story this morning about elected leaders getting all the face time. but the scores of staffers behind the scene on capitol hill who helped their bosses and the amount of money they are getting paid. senate staffers first to set this out. there were tributes to the staffers, at least on the senate side and house side but on the senate side here is a piece of tape from yesterday. watch. >> these staffs have worked on both sides, minority and majority, weekend after weekend after weekend, night after night after night, especially my taf director mary, bill, finance quit, john, joel friedman, my counsel. >> they left their families at

home. >> now, they are not only getting public attention. but privately many staffers, according to a new report, are making a lot of money, a lot more than you might think. literally thousands of aides on the house side are compensated on the house side particularly well. joining us politico congressional reporter erika lovely. what sort of figures are we talking about here? there's about 2,000 house aides making six figures or more. that's a striking number for two reasons. one, you think of hill aides not getting paid particularly well. secondly, the number of aides making that kind of money has been going up significantly just in the last five years, more than 40% additional staffers have made six figures or more. that's a striking figure especially in these financial times when the average american doesn't have a whole lot of money, there's a lot of debate over where our tax dollars are going. i don't know this is necessarily the place some taxpayers would

want to see their money funneled. >> in terms of the types of jobs with those making six figures, give us those but also some of the scale here. are we talking just over $100,000 or are we talking to $190, $200, give us a sense? >> we're talking $172,000, which is the cap for staffers. they are capped at a certain level. there's almost 90 making between the two caps. staffers are either capped at $172,000 or they are capped at 168. between those two caps, there's about 90 staffers making as much money as they could possibly be paid by the federal government, which is really striking considering most people think of aides as not being paid that well. these people are largely their chiefs of staffs, their legislative advisers. they are staff directors. they are people who have a lot of expertise. again, usually you think of a hill job as public service. i don't know if these figures necessarily suggest that public service is the cheapest way to

go here. >> politico congressional reporter erika lovely with a story generating a lot of buzz on the hill. erika, thanks for joining us. as we wait for president obama to step into the briefing room another fascinating story to tell you about in the wake of health care reform this week, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are condemning violence and threats that mostly targeted democrats since the passage of health care reform. this week democratic congressman bart stupak said this message was left on his voice mail. >> congressman stupak, you baby-killing mother -- i hope you bleed out your [ bleep ], get cancer and die. eric cantor said someone fired a shot at his virginia office. >> it is reckless to use these incidents as media vehicles for

political gain. >> that statement now turns out to be somewhat ironic given the police statement overnight monday. quote, a bullet was fired into the air and struck in a downward direction landing on the floor about a foot from the window. again, police suggesting this is more of a random bullet fired and came down. we're joined by radio talk show host larry elder and journalist from the "new york observer" and columnist for salon.com. let's start with you. you've suggested this is a fundamental change for the united states with this legislation. i'll give you the first opportunity to explain why. >> of course it is. it's a watershed event. you said it. it's the biggest legislative change as far as health care is concerned in 50 years. i believe it's an assault on the constitution and the only way to get around it is to amend the constitution. that's what i wrote about in my article. you can check it out on

we'vegotacountryto save.com. this is a dark day for freedom, assault on government, the document the founding fathers drafted. >> joe. >> yes. >> your view. you've got a lot to work with there. >> medicare was passed in 1965, david. at the time people like larry elder were pretty much saying the same thing, it was the end of america. we were in danger of slipping into socialism, on and on, all the alarmism and nonsense. it didn't turn out to be true then and it won't turn out to be true now. this is a pretty moderate bill. it includes a lot of ideas republicans have posed over the years to include health care for american people. that's all it is. it is nothing like the end of the world. it is not armageddon. all the alarmist language being used is doing nothing except stirring up some violence. hopefully small scale violence,

nonetheless disturbing violence and violent language. i don't see the point of it except they seem to think it will have some partisan affect. i think it will have the opposite affect. i think it will repel people and make them recognize republicans, people on the far right, like larry elder, have very little to offer them except rage and silliness. >> larry elder, i looked at what richard nixon proposed when he was president and this proposal looks remarkably similar to what richard nixon posed. >> he's a socialist, too, david. >> so is george washington, by the way. >> do you mind? first of all, you mentioned medicare. medicare was passed with majority support on the part of republicans. republicans, a majority of them supported social security. in this obama care bill not a single republican joined with the democrats to do it. medicare is underfunded by $37 trillion. >> a number of republicans

joined in the democrats in passing medicare part d, which was $700 billion and nobody decided they wanted to pay for at the time. we've got to wrap it up there, because we're expecting president obama to step into the briefing room any moment. larry elder and joe, we'll have you back, i promise, for more on this important debate. again, president obama expected to step into the briefing room in just a couple of seconds, we think, to talk about a major breakthrough in foreign policy with the government of russia. the united states and russia have been working for a loan time on some mechanism for reducing the nuclear stockpiles of both countries. it does appear the breakthrough came overnight or this morning. president obama apparently has spoken with russian leader medvedev, secretary of state hillary clinton, secretary of defense robert gates will be in the briefing room with the president. again, a major foreign policy breakthrough. a number of critics will suggest there's still some large issues obama and medvedev have not figured out how to resolve, such

as nuclear proliferation and the spread of nuclear technology to other nations. but at least as far as the united states stockpiles and russian stockpiles, there does appear some agreement reached in principle, if not something formal about the level to which they will reduce stockpiles. the president stepping incomes at a remarkable time in terms of the obama's administration domestic policy. just minutes ago nancy pelosi signed the health care reform fixes bill that passed the house and passed the senate. you have not only the legislation signed into law in terms of the bottom line health care reform passed over the weekend but now you have the president early next week having the opportunity to sign the health care reform fixes to take out some of the things that democrats thought could make them particularly politically vulnerable, such as the cornhusker kickback and gator aid special for the state of

florida. it's unclear the president will address it on his own. you can bet the reporters will ask the president about what's happening on capitol hill. two major stories confronting president obama and his staff. bill burton taking his seat, one of the communications staff there joined by some of the rest. again, we do expect president obama to come in. it's going to be a very crowded briefing room because you can imagine with the major issues that are in front of them and also the number of cabinet officials, secretary of state clinton, secretary of defense gates and their staff, the briefing room was not as large as some of the rooms they could have chosen to have this in. a packed briefing room filled with reporters and a number of staff there. again, we're going to keep it here, not take a break. by one of the cameramen we're

told president obama is just behind the door. again, in historical context, this will be the first major nuclear weapons agreement with russia in several years. while it's been an issue that several administrations have been working on, that the bush administration worked on to a certain extent, obama administration put something of a priority on this and they will now essentially be able to talk about what it has produced. there's secretary of defense gates followed by the president, followed by secretary of state hillary clinton. let's listen. >> good morning, everybody. >> good morning. >> i just concluded a productive phone call with president medvedev. i'm pleased to announce after a year of intense negotiations, the united states and russia have agreed to the most comprehensive arms control agreement in nearly two decades. since taking office, one of my highest priorities has been addressing the threat posed by

nuclear weapons to the american people. that's why last april in prague i stated america's intention to pursue without nuclear weapons, a goal embraced by presidents like john f. kennedy and ronald reagan. this aspiration will not be reach in the near future. i put force a comprehensive agenda to pursue it. to stop the spread of these weapons, to secure vulnerable nuclear from terrorists and arsenals. a fundamental part of that effort was a negotiation with the strategic arms reduction treaty with russia. furthermore, since i took office, i've been committed to a reset of our relationship with russia. when the united states and russia can cooperate effectively, it advances the mutual interest of our two nations and the security and prosperity in the wider world. we've so far already worked together on afghanistan. we've coordinated our economic efforts through the g-20.

we are working together to pressure iran to meet its international obligations. and today we have reached agreement on one of my administration's top national security priorities, a pivotal new arms control agreement. in many ways nuclear weapons represent both the darkest days of the cold war and most troubling threats of our time. today we've taken another step forward in leaving behind the legacy of the 20th century while building a more secure future for our children. we've turned words into action, made progress that's clear and concrete and demonstrated the importance of american leadership and american partnership on behalf of our own security and the world's. broadly speaking the treaty cuts by a third the nuclear weapons that the united states and russia will deploy. it significantly reduces missiles and launchers. it puts in place a strong and

effective verification regime and it maintains the flexibility that we need to protect and advance our national security and to guarantee our unwavering commitment to the security of our allies. with this agreement, the united states and russia, the two largest nuclear powers in the world, also send a clear signal that we intend to lead by upholding our own commitments under the nuclear nonproliferation committee we strengthening global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons and ensure other nations meet their responsibilities. i'm pleased one year and a day after my trip to prague, the close ally and the united states has agreed to host president medvedev and me on april 8th as we sign this historic treaty. the following week i look to hosting leaders from 40 nations here in washington as we convene a summit to address how we secure vulnerable nuclear materials so they never fall

into the hands of terrorists. later this spring, the world will come together in new york to discuss how we can build on this progress and continue to strengthen the global nonproliferation regime. through all these efforts, cooperation between the united states and russia will be essential. i want to thank president medvedev for his personal and sustained leadership as we worked through this agreement. we've had the opportunity to meet through the last year and agree we can serve our people through close cooperation. i want to thank the national security team who did so much work to make this possible. that includes the leaders here with me today, secretary clinton, secretary gates and admiral mullen. it includes a tireless negotiating team. it took patience. it took perseverance, but we never gave up. as a result, the united states will be more secure and the american people will be safer. finally, i look forward to continuing to work closely with congress in the months ahead. there's a long tradition of

bipartisan leadership on arms control. presidents of both parties have recognized the necessity of security and reducing these weapons. statesmen like george schultz, henry kissinger, bill perry have been outspoken in their support of more assertive action. earlier this week i met with my friends john kerry and dick luger to discuss this treaty. throughout the morning my administration will be consulting senators -- my administration will be consulting senators from both parties as we prepare for what i hope will be a strong bipartisan support to ratify the treaty. with that i'm going to leave you in the able hands of my secretary of state hillary clinton as well as secretary of defense gates and joint chief of staff chairman mike mullen. so i want to thank all of you for your attention. hillary. >> well, thank you all very

much. this is a good day for america and our security. and as president obama just reiterated, it is one of the highest priorities of the obama administration to pursue an agenda to reduce the threat posed by the deadliest weapons the world has ever known. president obama set that forth in his speech at prague last year. and today he and president medvedev reached an agreement to make significant and verifiable reductions in our nuclear arsenals. long after the cold wars end, the united states and russia still possess more than 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. we do not need such large arsenals to protect our nation and our allies against the two greaters dangers we face today, nuclear proliferation and

terrorism. this treaty represents a significant step forward in our cooperation with russia. we were committed from the beginning to reset the u.s.-russia relationship because we saw it as essential to making progress on our top priorities, from counter-terrorism to nuclear security and nonproliferation. now, we will continue to have disagreements with our russian friends. but this treaty is an example of deep and substantive cooperation on a matter of vital importance. more broadly it shows that patient, principle diplomacy can advance our national interests by producing real results. in this case results that are good for us, good for russia, and good for global security and stability. the treaty also shows the world, particularly states like iran and north korea, that one of our top priorities is to strengthen the global nonproliferation

regime and keep nuclear materials out of the wrong hands. the new treaty demonstrates commitment to making progress under the nonproliferation treaty, so-called npt. as we up hold our commitments and strengthen the npt we can hold others accountable to do the same thing. i know secretary gates and general mullen will say more details. i want to make sure we adhere to the proverb president reagan employed. trust but verify. >> secretary of state hillary clinton talking about the agreement between the united states and russia to reduce nuclear arsenals. president obama spoke for a few minutes and said it will cut by one-third nuclear weapons deployed by each countries, will reduce the number of missiles and launchers. president obama said this has been a top national security priority and follows intense negotiations for a year and will

leave behind the legacy of the 20th century and cold war and build a safer future for our children. secretary clinton is talking about the value of diplomacy and says it's an example of deep and substantive cooperation on a matter of vital importance. secretary of defense gates will speak as well. there will be a lot of reaction for this story throughout the day. that does it for me. i'm david shuster. i'll see you at 3:00 a.m. eastern time. sarah palin and john mccain will be stumping live in tucson. we'll bring you palin and mccain live. tamron hall picks up the coverage next after this. woman down from nasal allergy attack.

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