drove out the startling news that mr anderson and two local union carbide executives were under arrest on the rest can you tell us exactly who the arrested mr mr bush. and mr anderson. cooper arrested mr imus. really. there was. by the world. and everybody knew that it was coming from. and. there were. several indian wars. which. had been arrested on charges of criminal and constructive. offenses carrying a possible two year jail sentence and theoretically no chance of bail even the company's lawyer could see them as they were confined. saw the problem. as government. to try and solve the problem. of little at the magic pradesh state headquarters a senior official confirmed the government would be seeking compensation for damages launched a bitter attack on union carbide this government going after a minute. of the tragedy. and knows its. thousands of innocent citizens whose lives have been slowed. dramatically affected. by a cruel. on the part of the management of the union. the . request for extradition of. the us government has denied that request. then warren anderson to face trial. the proposal for the method that was cited black with one ande

mr. bush has been at a -- bronchitis. mr. bush has been cured for the most part but still has a lingering cough. the family hopes the 88-year-old will be discharged by the weekend. office from 89 to 93 and the father of former president george w. bush. >>> happening now president obama hosting republican mitt romney at the white house for a private lunch. romney arrived this morning walked into the west wing alone. it is the first meeting between the two since romney lost to president obama in the november election. that get together fulfills a promise president obama made during his election night victory speech. the white house says the president wants to talk about romney's ideas for making government more efficient. >>> lisa argen checks out where the showers are next. >>> we went all morning without airport delays now we have delays at sfo rain, wind gusts over 25 miles an hour. we are beginning to see the affects of a windy, rainy afternoon i'll dale when the next storm heads our way, how much rain, coming up. >> -- >>>

mr. bush has been at a -- bronchitis. mr. bush has been cured for the most part but still has a lingering cough. the family hopes the 88-year-old will be discharged by the weekend. office from 89 to 93 and the father of former president george w. bush. >>> happening now president obama hosting republican mitt romney at the white house for a private lunch. romney arrived this morning walked into the west wing alone. it is the first meeting between the two since romney lost to president obama in the november election. that get together fulfills a promise president obama made during his election night victory speech. the white house says the president wants to talk about romney's ideas for making government more efficient. >>> lisa argen checks out where the showers are next. >>> we went all morning without airport delays now we have delays at sfo rain, wind gusts over 25 miles an hour. we are beginning to see the affects of a windy, rainy afternoon i'll dale when the next storm heads our way, how much rain, coming up. >> -- >>>

bush, mr. rove campaign's strategy wasn't perfect, he kept mr. bush in california before election day.d not win that year. he moved into the white house as a senior adviser and once he was re-elected in 2004 he was promoted to deputy chief of staff. his job would be to get republicans elected to the house and senate in 2006. when the polls reported to a big win, karl rove's the math that year, website very, very bad math. >> it has been an extraordinary 24 hours in political history. starting with the polls where democrats were the winners gaining control of the house of representatives. the u.s. senate is a different story. they needed six. they have gained five seats that one race in virginia is still undecided. >> democrats ended up getting six. they won that seat and got the majority in the senate. making sure that didn't happen was his job in 2006. you remember what was going on around that time was the outing of a cia officer. he was hip deep in the scandal and nearly indicted with the case. and this year, he has crossroads america and they raised and spent millions of other peop

mr. gates' budget, when he was not mr. bush's secretary of defense, was mr. obama's secretary of defense, and you extrapolate that one, you come out higher than $2 trillion. so, $2 trillion was generated on the basis of certain assumptio assumptions, about the pace of defense spending in a romney administration. and the base will very much depend in part at least on the state of the economy. in other words, the sharpness of the increase. but in any event, it's kind of, if i could use the word flip-flop, by the obama administration, that actually had a higher number. if you simply extrapolate the way they would extrapolate the romney budget. let me also point out that, while have the floor because you cut me off, we are stationed forces in asia all right additional forces. for littoral combat ships. they are small. they're not meant to fight on the open seas. we are not fighting more big ships initiative and so you want to be careful but if you want to talk about other forward deployment or other places we might stationed ships, the answer is we don't have any

mr. romney's momentum and allowed mr. obama to look presidential and bipartisan. wrong again toururd blossom. that's what mr. bush the hurricane had absolutely nothing to do with the president's win. this chart shows poltracking the last month. you can see president obama regained his momentum before hurricane sandy hit. reality is coming to haunt the republicans in the electorate. let's bring in michael, special correspond for the d"the daily " and wrote a theory on conservative crapola. i love it. this election is a great example how the republican party thinks one thing and the conservative media regurgitates it out and pays no attention to the truth. what about it? >> their point, they don't exist to assess the facts, they exist to rebut the facts. they exist to try and challenge the existing reality and try and create a new reality. that's what they do and tried to do for the several weeks leading up to the campaign. i was struck many mornings, ed, i would go to the computer, turn on my twitter feed and see a poll came out and lead iing wisconsin or huo by five points and within five minutes of seeing the po

mr. bush or mr. perot, those who voted for the president among those who voted for ross perot, i know you love your country, too. i ask you to listen to the voice of your leaders. i ask you to join with us in creating every united states, a united country with a new sense of commitment. we will do our best to deserve it. when we seek to offer the young people the opportunity to bar the money they need to go to college and the challenge to pay it back through national service, when we challenge the insurance companies, the drug companies, the providers and consumers, the image to give us a new health care system, when we offer those in welfare and you challenge to work and incentives to put people to work and export american products and not american and jobs, it enables all of us to live up to the fullest of our potential. i accept tonight the responsibility that you have given me to be the leader of this, the greatest country in human history. [cheers and applause] i accept it with a full heart, hea

mcnally the founder and president of the rapid and group mr mcnally also served as top domestic and international energy adviser to george w. bush mr mcnally thank you very much for sitting down with r.t. today you're very welcome glad to be here you have said that the u.s. the e.u. and israel give a fifty fifty probability that a war with iran would happen how big of a window of opportunity still exists to prevent any military action well i think it's closing very quickly iran according to most non-plussed gratian experts nuclear experts will by sometime next year be at the point.

mr mcnally also served as top domestic and international energy adviser to george w. bush mr mcnally thank you very much for sitting down with r.t. today you're very welcome to be here you have said that the u.s. the e.u. and israel give a fifty fifty probability that a war with iran would happen how big of a window of opportunity still exists to prevent any military action well i think it's closing very quickly iran according to most non-plussed ration experts nuclear experts will by sometime next year be at the point where they could quickly break out and enrich enough weapons grade uranium to then later weaponize and it's the enrichment process which is the most a tech bubble and stoppable or delay of all part of building a nuclear weapon and i think there's a consensus among most folks even outside those governments most experts that iran is quickly approaching that level this is according to the reports on iran's progress so i think that's fairly well understood and i guess i would say that there is a larger concern among officials that one way or the other iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons is going to lead to a crisis. of some sort relative to market participants for market participants the iran nuclear program has been a little bit like the boy who cried wolf we've been hearing about red lines and points of no return for nine years and so far there hasn't been a conflict and so the markets are a little bit jaded they doubt perhaps that this issue is a serious as it is but i think there's no question among officials that this is taken very seriously the need for europe that's struggling economically or the u.s. that it's also facing its internal domestic problems need a war at this moment the israeli public is also not so keen on going to war with iran so who actually benefits the issue is iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and i think there's a broad understanding in israel and europe and the united states around the world i think in russia even in china that a nuclear iran is a genuine crisis for the global economy and that needs to be avoided at all costs you mentioned europe's vulnerability you're absolutely right i think to prove the point that i was making that european officials are very concerned about the consequences of a nuclear iran you have to ask yourself why in the midst of this economic crisis is your europe is having an existential crisis over the currency zone why are they suddenly choosing this time in history to do something they've never done before to embargo the imports of oil from iran that for europe is an unusually strong and risky step to take for their own economy it hurts their most vulnerable members like greece which is a big importers jaska after ask yourself why would europe do this it's because they understand that whether a war or an attack on iran takes place to delay their program or if iran gets nuclear weapons either way the consequences for global peace global economy. oil markets are going to be dire but iran is a member of the n.p.t. iran is allowed to have to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes some critics would argue well israel hasn't even signed on to the n.p.t. and many believe that israel has nuclear weapons iran is allowed to enrich uranium and have a nuclear program for peaceful purposes you're absolutely right that under the n.p.t. non-nuclear weapons states are entitled to a civilian nuclear program to enrich and many states do that brazil and japan and so forth without raising concern in the international community that they're seeking a weapon but there's a condition you must prove to the international community specifically the i.a.e.a. that your program is peaceful and the i.a.e.a. meeting after meeting report after report has been unable to confirm that iran's program is peaceful the argument if from not mistaken is we haven't been able to access right all the areas that we want to is that that's part of it that iran has not explained some signs that the i.a.e.a. has discovered that iran may be pursuing nuclear weapons and i think it's fair to say even the more neutral. officials who looked at this would agree ron is not being fully open in its program now that israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has dissolved the parliament there are two different points of view one that israel will not strike iran before their january election the other is that next in yahoo is much less constrained constrained and if he wants to strike he will what is your estimation my estimation is that if and when israel decides here regardless of election cycles in israel the united states or anywhere else if israel decides. it's that it has exhausted every other option to attempt to stop iran's quest for a nuclear weapon and the only options left are military ones then i think they will . they will conduct that kind of operation now we talk often of some sort of aerial attack planes and missiles and so forth that is one option and israel has that capability but as we see already there have been it's been reported in the press other options less direct options cyber attacks on iran's nuclear facilities even on its broader economy and so forth so we are not going to stuxnet olympic games and so forth that you see reported in the press so i think it's fair to say that both israel and other countries that do not want wish to see iran achieve nuclear weapons are prepared to resort not only to economic sanctions political isolation but also. military and covert options to delay the program but in israel's case it's a there's a consensus as far as i can tell in israel and it's not just prime minister netanyahu it's the defense minister abe who brock who comes from the left of the political spectrum and is in israel they are united and i think they reflect the general consensus that while israel should not rush into a military attack that israel should exhaust every other option because any other option is better than a military attack but as a last resort whenever that time comes and that's something only the israeli defense planners and political leaders will know they will not share that with any of us unfortunately but when that moment comes i believe they will act and do you believe that they would act alone if they choose to go to war if they felt they had no other choice i believe israel would act alone they've made that very clear and president obama has made very clear that while he opposes a military attack at this time he recognizes israel's. inability to outsource if you will it's defense to other countries implicitly saying he understands that if israel has to act it will by all estimations iran is nowhere near making a nuclear weapon if that is the case should the us be more concerned with constraining israel than pressuring iran well i think again there is a consensus that iran is not near having a nuclear weapon but as i said earlier there's also an understanding that in terms of stopping the process points that iran must go through the steps iran must take. the time is no more shortly now shortly it's coming up very shortly where the best opportunity to eventually stop iran from weaponize it is about to pass and that gets to again the most detectable and the most the label part of getting a weapon is the construction and the operation of the center fuchsias and then the enrichment of feedstock that would be put through the set of futures once they do that even if it's another year or two for them to develop a trigger and a and marry that to a delivery device that is something that is very difficult even for israel or the united states to detect and to stop so that is why there is the concern right now and this is what explains i think the stepped up sanctions even the new round of sanctions in the e.u. and the heightened urgency that we see among officials iran's economy is significantly in trouble its currency is constantly losing ground in the western sanctions that you have referred to are clearly taking their toll on iran what happens if iran economy is ruined i mean that is something that you know no one has spoken about that's an unknown how does that factor in to the current geo political situation those who. our hope that iran's government can still be persuaded to freeze its nuclear program and obey the demands of the un security council and the p five plus one i think the only way they will do that is if they feel enough economic pain and as you mentioned the startling collapse in the currency even in the recent weeks and the drop by almost half in iran's crude oil exports and the real problems around is having with its international linkages are financing exports and imports and so forth this is starting to have an impact and officials from israel to london to washington would prefer that this approach work and i think as we see signs that iran's economy is cracking further in becoming more destabilized there's more hope that perhaps we're getting closer to a point where iran would would in its own self-interest agree to freeze its nuclear program ship out those parts of the program that are most concern to the p five plus one are there any major factors that could push the price of oil up aside from more fierce certainly we are in a new world in the global oil market and that sometimes gets lost here in the united states because we see such rising production and we see demand sort of softening in tapering off so if you just look at the united states you would think oil prices should be much lower we're swimming in oil etc but outside the united states the oil market is very tight and it's very very prone to disruptions when there's geo political risk but even besides geopolitical risks what we have here is two billion people on the planet who want to join the billion of us in the rich countries who already have modern energy these two billion people in china and india and the middle east and latin america they want to drive they want plastics they want to fly planes. and so the demand for oil is huge at the same time supply growth has been very small by historical story circumstances we haven't seen the surge in production that we saw in the soviet union and in the north sea and mexico back in the seventy's and eighty's so what we have here is a world will market a world oil market that's feat that features huge demand increase by a very very determined drivers and flyers and consumers of energy who want in that they want the things that we have at the same time the world has had trouble in growing in increasing oil supply as a result the spare capacity amount of spare oil that can be quickly produced by opec that in the past has acted as a cushion. that if that is gone and that is nearly gone it's very low it's only two million barrels two and a half million barrels a day so in any way could even ron as well as major oil companies be benefiting from the tension around iran that could be driving up oil prices countries and companies that sell oil benefit when the price goes up and so for iran though it's a mixed bag because while on the one hand the price of its crude oil that it's able to sell is higher because of these supply demand factors i mentioned as well as geo political risk premium that gets added on to the price of oil on the other hand as i mentioned their exports are down by a half down from two point two million barrels a day to a million barrels a day or even less so their revenues how much money they're taking in has been has been cut severely so iran is not doing well net net had they still been able to export all the oil that they were exporting even last year at these prices they would have been doing very well robert macneil i thank you very much for thank you very much enjoyed it thank you. well for the future of science technology innovation all the list of elements from around russia we've got the future covered. resistance is not our politics but our culture. is couldn't speak. on its own. cultures of resistance on our team. browsers h.s.c. sers. i miss it in ways and manning has daycare my daddy. a lot of. does a famous reuse benson claim is oh my saved and does my mommy ransom business. wealthy british style it's time to buy such lies. margetts why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy cause a report on r.g.p. . would be soon which brightened if you knew about sun from feinstein. who finds time time t.v. . when i was on your bush show in this show we trace the wars obama faces in the next four years coming up an exclusive interview with a rock a leg obama. war with iran has already started and your textbook guide how not to invade a foreign country. as a bomb of draws but to the white house for a second wales the president for a tough interview on his foreign policy but he chose an easier ride from the mainstream media so we'll use a little bit. you promised change we can believe did tell us about your achievements. i've sent troops to afghanistan. record numbers of army suicides and defections. doctors say they've never seen such horrific injuries from improvised explosive devices i think that's unbelievable. you won the nobel peace prize that puts you in superstar company that's right kissinger one while he was secretly shelling gamba this year's winner the european union illegally bombed libya. look their spending cuts are causing massive social unrest to their own people once on the move pays philip. eleventh anniversary of yesterday as america's symbol of torture and evil you were hailed as a hero when you promise to be close if elected is no look a politician to break his word especially hold something so voile. you know what. we don't look back. a bomb is no more right wing than george w. bush this peter cook with hollywood director all of a stone he's just written the untold history of the united states throughout the bush years many of us were furious that bush was actually doing surveillance on people without condition review and saying appalling to us but what obama has done is taken that one step further not only has he continued but you surveillance policies but he's had it now with these drone attacks he's at he's actually killing people we have traditional review and you know the way this works bomb actually goes through the files and picks out the individuals to be targeted and assassinated. within hours of reelection the drone oid always launching molder tuck's i have two words for you predator drones i will never see it coming i. think i'm joking. he's not joking americans have been assassinated including a sixteen year old then vo boy the reality is every alleged militants killed fifteen innocent people when they took did an afghan go by mistake replied nato killed my twelve year old daughter and then told me we're sorry what does it mean what pain can be cured by this word sorry. despoiled so perhaps because of drone attacks insurgent numbers in the last four years of virtually doubled obama pretends it's been a success supporting the people of libya as they build a future that is free and democratic and prosperous. not embedded with the troops war correspondent lizzie field and witnessed u.s. so-called support in libya then syria she joins the truth seeker old libyans know building a free and democratic future yeah well it's the biggest. uk seymour and you can think they can bring and democracy on the back. and work and of course that never has been the case anywhere in the world anyway three and said to me not the case in libya and syria there was so much goodwill towards obama as he returns to the white house how has that changed. and africa and a bentley has been responsible for more intervention than any other and equal mean you have. not only has he not ended the wars in iraq and afghanistan as you and he when he knew all this and yet in syria and every kind of intervention they are very . responsible for what's happening and there is a hatred and anger. hatred for his breath taking decisions are. made of videos show militants shooting on their own people as they cry for mercy george galloway's u.k. member of parliament he's raised millions of dollars from victims of war and joins us now are you surprised america's all mean is worst enemy well definitely worth picking but to those of us it was so it's a ridge more surprising united states created. or at least its forefathers enough going to stone in the first place to care less of the obvious that when dr frankenstein made it once. you lost control of it because that's why it's called among stuff you know nine eleven was the blowback first time around what about this time what we already have in libya the very people that the united states the united kingdom assisted into power in libya if indeed they are stable. i want the very people who among the american ambassador in benghazi a little you know it's a blow by didn't take long george bush had the excuse that he was an imbecile. or professorial president obama does not excuse the early signs in the first few days of his second term have been very very negative he continued to fire these drones he joins you see them coming that's true mr president you can't see that i'm going to want to know that being because your wife's lying down beside your date without a head or without her limbs because you're lying in front of your eyes. this is a bomb on the one you can find. c.n.n. to show the most some sorts of cerebro month takes. the public you know moments of power company pulling the population. americans watch in horror as the loons point behind the shouting. on the best of the cold. unknown to many war with an even bigger middle east states has already begun america's crippling sanctions on iran is key uh no oil amounts to a military blockade of its oil ports that's an act of war as a dame of any is the author of lipstick jihad she joins the truth you can now you're one of the few u.s. correspondents reporting break into the from iran will a military strike succeed. and you reckon straight with convinced that you're running a government that the only thing that can secure its long term security that little charity so p

mcnally the founder and president of the rapid and group mr mcnally also served as top domestic and international energy adviser to george w. bush mr mcnally thank you very much for sitting down with r.t. today you're very welcome glad to be here you have said that the u.s. the e.u. and israel give a fifty fifty probability that a war with iran would happen how big of a window of opportunity still exists to prevent any military action well i think it's closing very quickly iran. according to most nonproliferation experts nuclear experts will by sometime next year be at the point where they could quickly break out and enrich enough weapons grade uranium to then later weaponize and it's the enrichment process which is the most detectable and stoppable or to label part of building a nuclear weapon and i think there's a consensus among most folks even outside those governments most experts that iran is quickly approaching that level this is according to the i.a.e.a. reports on iran's progress so i think that's fairly well understood and i guess i'd say that there's a fine.

mr. speaker, leader pelosi, mrs. bush, leader reed, leader mcconnell, secretary of state hillary clinton and my colleagues in government, this is a special day to honor a special person in a special place. for many years, i have followed the tragedies and victories of this uncommonly courageous and persistent woman. in 1988, she quickly rose to be the voice of democracy in burma, creating the national league for democracy. elections followed in 1990, where her party won 80% of the seats. that joy quickly turned to tragedy. the military junta nullified the election and arrested aung san suu kyi. she would spend the better part of two decades under house arrest, unable even to visit her dying has been -- husband. in 1996, i recall being approached to sponsor a burma sanctions bill. sanctions were only loosened in july of this year. senator mcconnell later became one of aung san suu kyi's chief advocates in the senate and we continued to work on behalf of the people in burma. in 2003, following an assassination attempt, senator mcconnell and i worked to pass an important and that remains in place today, an effort to bring about further reform. and i must say, burma is extremely lucky to have a champion mike aung san suu kyi. in the face of violence, harassment, intimidation, she has never wavered in her pursuit of human rights. she celebrates the release of political prisoners, including the approximately 90 released this week, but she remains true to those still behind bars, estimated to be around two hundred. this woman sacrifice years of her life to bring about these changes. she is truly an inspiration to the world. you are so well deserving of this gold medal. i can only begin to express my happiness that we are able to present this to you today in this very special place, a very special woman. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentleman, the senator from the state of arizona, the honorable john mccain. >> at my age, i try to be realistic about how many more times i will be surprised by a wonderful and unexpected turn of events. i might of hope, but i am not sure i expected that one day i would have be honor of welcoming my personal hero, aung san suu kyi, to the congress of the united states, that she would be able to travel abroad without fear of being barred from returning to the country that she loves and served so well. i consider myself very fortunate to have lived to see this day and to know the people of burma, whose dignity and rights aung san suu kyi has sacrificed so much to defend, and will one day be free to live with liberty, justice and hope. it is a testament to the courage of the burmese people and the person they call simply "the lady," that that day is approaching. i have known quite a few brave and inspiring people, but none more so than the woman we honor today. i first met her 15 years ago when she was permitted to leave her house briefly to speak to me in rangoon. i was not prepared for her. she was exquisitely polite and graceful. she spoke softly and calmly, the picture of gentleness and serenity. is this the woman, i asked myself, who has managed somehow to cause so much trouble for the powerful, violent, unlawful men who have managed to rule this country? they have attacked her, and shelter, threatened her, isolated her, kept her family from her. they have done all that, done all that could be done to break her spirit and her will to resist. but as a union soldier once noted about u.s. grant as he sat on his horse placidly while shells exploded around him, aung san suu kyi did not scare worth a damn. "it is not power that corrupts," she said, "but fear." fear of those who are wielding it and fear of those who are subject to it. aung san suu kyi would not be afraid, and that, my friends, is the most powerful resistance human beings are capable of. i want to thank you my friend, the lady, for teaching me at my age a thing or two about courage, and for reminding me to always expect justice to triumph over injustice, goodness over evil, love over hate. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the former first lady of the united states, mrsa bush. >> i want to thank the united states congress for allowing me to add my voice to the global chorus of honors for aung san suu kyi and to send along the deep respect of my husband george as well. the transition and burma, like past events in south africa or eastern europe, shows that history has a hopeful direction. it is capable of miracles. there is a part of every soul that longs for freedom, and any government built on oppression is built on sand. but as has been demonstrated, a vast historical changes often begin in a single mind, a single heart. any hope that now grows in burma is a tribute to daw suu. one of the most powerful governments on earth tried to silence one woman. easyst have seemed an task, but instead, it was broken by her character. her perseverance and violence were a symbol that integrity was still possible in burma, and a symbol became an inspiration for activists, months, and millions around the world. when her long isolation ended, some of us had finally

bush tax cuts? mr. howell and then mr. hatch. howell: yes. and you've read my platform, and i've said from the very beginning that we have to go back and insure that we do take that, because we're facing a financial cliff. this sequestration that could happen could devastate all of us. and for me, i proposed a $2.7 trillion deficit reduction. a trillion, two hundred million came out of the ceos of the largest companies in our country who said we can do better on technology. that's my background. i'm a guy who's worked for the largest and best technology company in the world. that's the experience we need. that's what mitt romney needs back there if he's going to be president. that experience that i can bring utilizing technology to reduce a trillion dollars of our deficit. >> moderator: senator hatch. hatch: i've only been in the united states senate 36 years, but i've seen time and time again when republicans have gone along with democrats to increase taxes in favor of getting some deficit reduction, the taxes always go up, the deficit reduc

mr. tax cuttle and others -- mr. tuttle and others were there when the president of the united states was there, at the time president george herbert walker bush and our beloved bob dole was there, and it was a great moment for all of us. it was a great moment for america. it was all of us doing something contributing in a small way to make better the lives of people who otherwise may have had great, great challenges in having the kind of lives that we want every american citizen to lead. i believe that this -- this treaty, this action is an action conrad and -- add qad and important followup. because i don't think -- yes, there have been problems with any legislation of the sweeping magnitude and scope of the a.d.a., but i don't know of anybody who doesn't believe that it was a magnificent success and an enormous contribution to making the lives of our citizens with disabilities better than they otherwise would have been. so wouldn't we want that same thing to happen to everyone in the world? wouldn't we want these children that are going through such difficult times in their lives, wouldn't we want those who have been wounded and maimed to have an opportunity for a better life? wouldn't we want to have as americans be proud that we blazed the trail with the a.d.a. in a really remarkable shift and change and act of almost miraculous benefit to so many of our citizens, wouldn't we want that also to apply to the other citizens of the world? i think most of us would, and i think most of the american people who are paying attention to this believe that. that's why so many of our veterans organizations are in support. that's why so many in the disabilities community are in support. that's why there are so many charitable organizations that are in support. so i want again thank both of my colleagues and tell them that i certainly hope that we can convince all of our colleagues that one of the nicest things that we could do as a christmas present for people around the world is to ratify this treaty. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. kerry: madam president, i want thank the senator from arizona, i want thank him obviously for his comments just now but most importantly really appreciate his extraordinary leadership on this issue and a lot of human rights issues, issues of conscience. he speaks with a very important voice on these things, and i think that he knows that i'm always happier when he's working with me than against me on any issue on the floor. i know he used to pride himself in his fight occasionally with senator kennedy but he also prided himself enormously when they were able to get together and work together and i've certainly enjoyed many things senator mccain and i have done together, most notably i think joining hands across a certain belief divide to help end the war in vietnam, the real war that kept raging in the minds of a lot of people and that was a ten-year journey that we made together, and i'm certainly proud of that and grateful to him. but i want come back to this treaty for a moment an

bush administration, from the obama administration, from general keith alexander, the premiere expert in our government? thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: i ask unanimous consent to speak for one more minute, if i could. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. carper: this is the first opportunity we'll have had since returning from the election to cast a vote on a meaningful piece of legislation, and as legislation goes, it is about as meaningful as any we're going to come across for a while. if we were in the minority and the republicans were coming to the floor and asking us to support moving to a bill so that we could offer -- so that we could debate it, offer amendments to the bill, i would hope that we would do that. for our republican friends who are fearful that they're not going to have a chance to offer those amendments, senator lieberman, the chairman of the committee, the ranking republican, susan collins, myself -- all cosponsors of the bill -- we will work very hard to make sure that any amendments that are relevant and germane to the bill can be offered and can be debated. we worked a si

mrs. did he get. >> i want to -- mrs. degette. >> most of the f.d.a. inspections into this manufacturer, necc, were 10 years ago, correct, and that was under the f.d.a., under the bush administration, correct? >> that is correct. >> now in 1997, i was actually here then, the f.d.a. modernization act excluded the -- well, it excluded drug compounders for the most part, is that correct? >> if a pharmacy was operating in accordance with certain conditions, they were excluded. >> the f.d.a. didn't have authority over those compounders, correct? >> that's correct. >> after the 1997 act was passed, it had to go over the hurdle of determining whether those conditions had been met or not before the f.d.a. was determined to even have authority, is that correct? >> correct. >> so what happened here is that the f.d.a. was contacted in 2002 about some problems. they went into necc and found some problems and there was a whole series of investigative efforts after that, correct? and one of the issues, in this case and in other cases is whether the f.d.a. even had authority to be investigating complaints whether or not this particular manufacturer fell under the appropriate criteria, right? >> with respect to the public health threat that was identified in 2002, we went in and aggressively investigated and worked with the state of massachusetts to get those contaminated products recalled to prevent ongoing damage to patients. then because this was a compounding pharmacy with the primary facility resting with the state board of pharmacy, they were responsible for the efforts -- >> who is they? >> the massachusetts -- >> massachusetts was primarily responsible because it was a compounding pharmacy. >> yes. >> in other cases, not particularly necc, but in other cases, when the f.d.a. tried to get there, they were sued in court by these companies saying the fed didn't have jurisdiction over these pharmacies, correct? >> correct. >> there is a court case that covers part of the whole country that says the f.d.a. doesn't have jurisdiction, is that right? >> the challenge we have today is there is a patchwork of legal authorities that really oversee the regulatory actions that we can take. we have a splilt circuit court decision. there's a map that we have that shows that, you know -- unfortunately, we have unclear fragmented regulatory legal framework that make it very hard to understand how best to exercise -- >> if you have an emergency like this, if you have an emergency like this, sometimes, what you are afraid is, you are going to act aggressively but afraid you are going to be hauled into court and that's why you go to the state regulatory agency shes is that correct? >> the fact that we have unclear, limited and contested authorities and a.m. big you yits in the law and crazy quilt of legal authority has required us to be very reactive to respond to those public health threats and every resource is intensive and will end up in litigation. >> let me ask you this, if congress clarified what we meant in the 1997 act with these large compounding pharmacies that we intend to give f.d.a. jurisdiction that will help you to be able to protect these patients better by either doing inspections to prevent these problems in the first place? >> absolutely. >> thank you. i appreciate the efforts that you are making since you took over, but again most of these things that happened, in fact all of these things that happened, happened before your tenure, dr. smith. and i would like to know and in reading all the documents and all of the history of this it is obvious to me that the ball was dropped and dropped in a big way by the massachusetts' regulators, what is massachusetts doing now to make sure this never happens again? >> i agree with you, there was missed opportunities and lapses of judgment that show that we have taken action. in terms of what we're doing now, i think the highlight now would be the enactment of the emergency regulations, importantly, which would allow or require sterile compounding pharmacies to produce information regarding volume and information. the volume information being so important because if you are making -- looks like you are more of a manufacturer than the traditional compounder. we require pharmacies to provide information on any state or federal investigations that concern them. that would allow us to have known that your state, board of pharmacy had issued a cease and desist in april of 2011 for the same issue in providing bulk prescriptions for patients. and lastly, we have done the -- convening a special commission to understand what are the best practices in strengthening the oversight of this evolving industry. we clearly are committed to making sure that this doesn't happen again and we want to do everything in our power to do that. >> thank you. thank you very much, mr. chairman. >> the chairman of the full committee, mr. upton. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to remind all of us here that this committee has a very long tradition even before john dingell, of working with strong members to identify problems in this country, to expose that and then coming back with legislation to fix it so it doesn't happen again. and one of those -- as we all review this case and see what was there, recent inspection, the leaking boiler, the bird flying around, i mean it's just -- what gives? if this was found just recently and it's our understanding there are similar types of contamination in earlier years, what is the problem -- what is the problem by not shutting down something like this until it's corrected? and if you don't have the authority, then we need to make sure that it's there. and seems pretty reasonable that you did have the authority to not only have unannounced inspections, but to come in and correct it some it didn't get to this stage, certainly