has more than doubled from 13 pifer gao's person in 1997 to 29.3 gallons per person in 2007. that is over to her calls a year for every man, woman and child and 11 plus billion dollar market. with this increase of come several questions and concerns over bottled water quality and safety. my testimony is based on reports issuing to the committee today which is going to be publicly released. in summary we found that fda safety and consumer protections are less stringent for bottled water acampo epa protections for tap water and law fda standards generally of the status for the nearly all of the 88 contaminants covered by the epa national primary drinking water regulations there is one notable exception, dehp which is a plasticizer is tucson and plastic which has been linked to reproductive and liver problems and increase cancer risk and it has been regulated by the epa in tap water since 1992 but that it be a deferred action on dehp and ethanol will publish in 1996 and has said together adopt the senate are published for not doing so even though the statutory deadline for actin

the gao has brought authority to the operations and functions. congress recently granted the gao the new authority to conduct extended by the federal reserve to single and specific companies under the authority provided by section 13 the federal protection act including lunesta but does provide to work. for aig or bear stearns. the gao and in special inspector general have the right to audit our t.a.l.f. program which uses funds from the troubled asset relief program. the congress however purposefully and for good reason to exclude from the scope of giglio reviews erie is notably monetary policy durations and operations including open market and discount window operations. in doing so the congress carefully balanced the need for public accountability with strong public policy benefits that flow for maintaining appropriate degree of independence for the central bank in the making and execution of monetary policy financial markets and in particular likely proceed guarantee authority in these reviews to the gao as a serious weakening of monetary pol

ten times gao brought liquid explosives and detonators inside federal buildings, assemble a small bomb and walk around the building unchallenged. >> the fact that we could gain access to buildings across the country shows a lot mors e need to be done. >> reporter: this picture s ne said to show a security guard sleeping on post. the report detailed another guard using government computers to run an adult web site. another sending an infant in a carrier through an x ray machine and another guard firing his gun while practicing drawing his weapon in a men's room. >> the training issue is one of the most prevalent. >> reporter: the new director of the federal protective service told a senate committee he ordered new training. t the rules won't take effect until next year. >> substandard performance by contract guards is unacceptable. >> reporter: senate homeland security members like susan collins of maine wants big chans in owe the federal -- how the federal protective service protects the buildings and workers. >> this is alarming. this requires immediate action. >> reporter: what the g

on ten separate occasions, gao investigators were able to slip bomb-making materials past security and in to federal buildings. once inside the building the investigators would walk in to a building, assemble the materials in to a small bomb and wander through the buildings. >> gao investigators were able to get through the metal detectors, get through the x- ray machines and go assemble their bombs. >> it's simply unacceptable that we have such a poor level of security at busy federal buildings that are obvious targets. >> reporter: the gao officials say their investigators were only stopped once, eneven then they were able to talk themselves out of trouble. >>> at least 25 people were killed by a massive bomb in afghanistan today. at least nine of the victims were school children. the blast happened in central afghanistan south of kabul. the power of the explosion sent truck pieces flying more than a mile. no one has claimed responsibility for that blast. >>> and a series of bombings killed more than 40 people today in iraq. six victims lost their lives when two bombs, just a few hun

the gao has brought authority to audit our operations an functions. the congress recently the gao new authority to conduct audits of the credit facilities extended by the federal reserve to single and specific companies under the authority provided by section 13.3 of the federal reserve act including the loan facilities provided to or created for aig or bear stearns. the gao and inspector general have the right to audit our talf program which uses funds from the troubled assets relief program. the congress however purposef purposefully and for good reason excluded from the scope of potential gao review highly sensitive areas including policy deliberations and open market operations. in doing so the congress carefully balanced the need for public accountability with a strong public policy benefits that flow from maintaining an appropriate degree of independence from the central bank in the making and execution of monetary policy. financial markets in particular likely would see a grant of review authority in these areas to the gao as a serious weakenin

gao being held? is mr. gao alive? what is the chinese government doing to this poor soul who has previously been tortured simply because he speaks out and practices law in support of those who are vulnerable in china? we call on the chinese government to give us information about mr. gao, to allow him access to a lawyer and to his family and to publicly state and justify the grounds for his continued abuse. the right to speak freely and to challenge the government, all of these are enshrined in the constitution in china, and yet it appears the chinese government and the communist party seem intent on upholding the violation of these rights in the case of mr. gao. what has the chinese government done to mr. gao? how do they justify it? when will they allow his family to see him? the government's continued refusal to produce mr. gao makes this case resemble those of the -- quote -- "disappeared" in latin american dictatorships. american law has the practice of habeas corpus. it's the legal action through which a person

we got a gao report today that says they're not rebuilding roads, they arrepaving roads, that doesn't create as many jobs. states are using this to pay down their deficits, which don't create any jobs. this? bad shape? >> reporter: well, the white house disputes some of that. they say that the gao says that the stimulus package is spending the money more quickly than they expected. and they make the point that only about 25% of the money has been put to work, and there's a lot of good to come down the road. but economists are saying that a second stimulus is going to be necessary, because of this high unemployment right now. the problem you have right there, there simply aren't the votes on the hill to get it done. >> all right, george stephanopoulos on health care reform and the stimulus. >>> overseas now to china, where president hu jintao left the g-8 summit to fly home to deal with the ethic protests in his country. a local leader called for the death penalty for anyone behind the violence, but even that has not been enough to stop the unrest. clarissa word is in ward is in . >> r

as you are aware, gao conducted an investigation.a great message from the government to taxpayers, agencies regarding the responsibility of making sure taxpayers safeguards are in place to make sure people are playing by the rules. how many has your agency conducted since gao made this recommendation in march? >> yes, we are making announcements, in this time until the last hearing in march when the report was released, there had been only seven visits in six months. since that time, we have done over 600 in the last week for months. we are building data from that message to build risk-based mechanism -- we will continue to work on this mechanism. i believe you are referring to the march 2009 gao report which was very helpful. i wanted to report back on what has been done. there were 19 firms cited. two had already been certified when we got the report, one actually was okay. of the remaining 16 -- >> i want to deal with that specific issue later. allow me to follow my train of thought here. mr. shear, in your report you said fda fai

the gao was able to smuggle a bomb-making materials into federal buildings.laxed security. jon: we remember when that guard at the capitol building was shot and killed by a deranged gunman. if terrorists wanted to try this thing, obviously, the gao pulled it off, so they could do this, too. >> some of these components can be bought at a local hardware store for under $100. the materials are readily available. we have to depend on security guards and equipment to keep them out of the federal buildings, particularly, when we know that a lot of buildings are at high risk. they are obvious targets. jon: what do you say to people who say, what are we publicizing this, what are we telling the world that what should be some of our most security -- secure buildings have these security holes? >> senator lieberman and i debated whether we should go public with these results. we decided that the findings were so alarming, unless we shined a public spotlight on these findings, we would not be able to enforce the type of corrective action that was needed immediately. this

if that carve-out is eliminated, the congress would have the authority anytime to ask the gao to come and audit and look at that's not consistent with independence. >> lehrer: crosby kempner has a question about regulating. >> crosby kemper, mr. chairman. i've also been a banker in kansas city and now im a librarian. as a banker, i can tell you that the two banks who are represented here, my cousin and i, are two of the solvent banks left in the country. im the director of the kansas city public library and an amateur historian. and i've read your book, essays on the great depression. wonderful book. and you talk about two causes of the great depression. one is the failure to the federal reserve to provide an adequate monetary policy. it tightened too much during the days after the stock market crash. and you talked about the non- monetary problems, part of which was the failure, despite great liquidity of the banking system, to respond to the, you know, problems of production and unemployment. and i wonder if there isn't a similar problem going on today in regulation where you're goi

what people don't understa is tt this bill would give the gao the authority taudit monery policy.nd what does thamean? that means that if the feder reserve decided year from now that because of incient inflation it was time to rse interest rates, that t congrs would say, oh, the g.a.o.s going to audit tha cision, its going to subpoe your materials,t's going to demand information from the members of the f.o.m.c., i's going to evaluate yo decision d report to congress, don't think that consistent with dependence. so ware completely open to providing any informati that congress was to make sure were using taxpayer money safeland soundly, that we are meeng all our responbilities. i don't think the amican people want ngress running metary policy, and i thk that's very, vy critical for pele to understand. lehrer: and do you think that's what - wouldnd up doing >exactly. that's wt it would do. the's a provision in that lawsuit which currentl current law, whi carves out monetary policy, and it doesn't giv congress authori or gao authoritto audit it. that was put in, in 1978, aa time when

this is from the gao showing an undercover gao investigators actually going through a checkpoint, sneakingmponents through a checkpoint at a federal building. they visited ten federal buildings and did the same operation in each of them. once they got the components past these check points, these investigators were able to go into bathrooms and other private areas and assemble, essential will debt ton nay tors and bombs. this is what we were able to make, a debt ton nay tore in the trunk of a car. this is how strong an explosive they were able to make. this video given to us by the gao. there was a hearing today on capitol hill. gary shenkel was called to account. here is what he had to say. >> when the gao presented its alarming oral report several weeks ago, it caused us all grave concern. we have all work very, very hard and were taken aback upon receiving this disturbing news. >> reporter: one other thing to mention, these buildings, ten federal buildings in four u.s. city, all buildings with level four classification, top security levels underneath the level of the white house, as far

the gao has brought authority to our operations and functions. the congress recently granted them new authority to conduct audits of the federal reserve under the authority provided by section 13.3 of the federal reserve act. including loan facilities provided to or created for aig and bear stearns. they have the right to audit our health program, which uses funds from the troubled assets programs. in doing so the congress carefully balanced the need for public account nlt with a strong public policy benefit that flow from maintaining an appropriate degree of indpengs to the banks in maintaining monetary policy. financial markets in particular would see a review in these areas to the gao as a serious weakening of monetary policy independence. because gao reviews may be initiated at the request of congress, reviews or the threat of reviews in this area to be seen as efforts to try to implement monetary policy decisions. a perceived loss could raise fears of future inflation. leaving to hire long term interest rates and reduced economic and financi

today, gao says federal buildings lac secured.vestigators for congress's government become a bill the office say they succeeded in each of 10 attempts in april and may to enter federal office buildings with a hidden liquid explosive. inside investigators assembled the bombs and your them in a briefcase and more freely around several floors. a copy of the statement was provided to "usa today." wisconsin, good morning. caller: good morning, last fall there was a hearing with representative stupek and di ngall on the cftc. the conclusion after the hearing was that the fellows playing with computers and speculating could not play. the only ones who could play on the market with those who could take delivery of the oil. since those playing with computers do not have huge farms where they can store the oil it would eliminate this speculation. host: milwaukee, wisconsin you get the last word this morning. caller: two quick items. i would like to discuss why the government has gone after the 50 wall street bankers who still legally over $

it's been done by the government accountability office, gao. been able to smuggle some bomb components past security of some federal buildings across. country. we would like to hear a little bit more about what you think. you get a little bit of a synopsis of the story on our website which is cnnnewsroom.com/heidi. just go there and let us know what you think. should reports like this actually be made public or do they put a little bit too much information into potentially dangerous hands? we'll talk about that here. we welcome your blogs. back in a moment. >>> there you have the opening bell there for this july 8th. a wednesday. in fact on wall street, stocks are poised to have a quiet open again following the dow's more than 160-point tumble yesterday. susan lisovicz is at the new york stock exchange with a preview of today's market action and news of a big showdown in the tech world. very interesting story, susan. >> oh, yes, no question. of special interest to microsoft. overall the "wall street journal" says after more than three months of

i think the gao has rules and guidelines, and it is an ongoing process. the first front of stimulus money came in on march 12. that was less than four months ago. i love reading these articles -- there was one in "politico" and "washington post" -- where people were complaining that spending was not coming quickly enough. we have led construction projects in the past few months. we have spent the up. -- sped that up. if we started to do things much quicker, critics would say that we are going to fast, there are problems here. no one wants to create jobs more than i do, but i want to make sure that we do it right, and i do not think there needs to be 7% waste. the administration and congress gave us less than 1% on administrative costs. we are only allowed to spend one-half of 1% on that. everything else needs to go to the projects. host: henderson, nevada. john on the republican line. caller: this cap and trade, which would cripple the economy and government -- we are in a recession already. to compound that, and they want to handle medicare program to us

our executive editor alan friedman sat down with the fund's president gao xiqing... >>friedman: of china's two trillion dollars reserves your sovereign wealth fund is a couple of hundred billion dollars. your highest profile investments have been the three billion dollar stake you invested in blackstone and then the five billion dollars stake in morgan stanley. in retrospect, do you regret that? >>xiqing: no, why should i? >>friedman: because of the nature of prices, they have come down... >>xiqing: prices go up and down, but we still believe these are very good institutions and through the past year and a half, through our dealing with them, we met a lot of them, they are very professional firmsand we cooperate very well. >>friedman: is this a time to be more cautious or more courageous as a sovereign wealth fund? >>xiqing: as a sovereign wealth fund... for us, we are a much longer term investors, so it is very difficult to set any particular period of time, like we need to be more greedy or we need to be more cautious. no, we are looking at things in a much longer

the gao also has access to the talf, which is a major program.nd i think we would be willing to expand gao access to any extraordinary program with the focus being on our operational integrity and making sure we are pro teching the taxpayers money. where we are nervous is when the gao begins to second-guess our monetary policy decisions per se. but in terms of safeguarding the money and making sure the operations are well maintained, all those things i think are appropriate for congress to oversee. >> i'd like to get into something you've talked about on the house side on a number of occasions, but i don't believe over here yet. that is the bank of america/merrill lynch merger. what really went on between you, senator paulson, the ceo -- former secretary paulson, and mr. lewis, former -- i guess he's still currently the cao bank of america. there's been a lot said. a lot of charges both say. some that you and secretary paulson threatened mr. lewis. i think you basically said that you didn't. but i'd like to hear in your own words what went on the

been going on in the defense department and especially so after a year, year and a half ago when the gaocame out with a report that said we have $250 billion cost overruns in our weapons systems. and it seems to me that anybody who considers himself or herself to be fiscally conservative should have been extremely upset or horrified by that. yet, it didn't seem that many people were. it looks as though both parties are trying to prove how patriotic they are. or concerned somebody is not patriotic that they don't give the defense department every penny that they want and then some. and now we're ramping up in afghanistan and spending an unbelievable amount of money there. and then i read in your testimony, commissioner thibault, that ye

on ten separate occasions gao investors were able to slip bond making materials in to federal buildings. inside the buildings the investigators walk in to a bathroom, assemble the materials in to a small bomb and wonder through the buildings. >> in all ten cases gao investigators were able to get through metal detectors, get through x-ray machines and go and assemble their bomb. >> it is simply unacceptable that we have such a poor level of security at busy government buildings that are obvious targets. >> gao officials say their investigators were only stopped once and even then they were able to talk themselves out of trouble we learned more websites being hit by a powerful attack. the stock exchange and nasdaq were targeted. although the attacks did not disrupt market activity. and this morning police in south korea report they have confiscated computers that may have been used in the attack. >>> with more on what is happening on the web, here's kristin fisher. >>> this is much more like the story you reported. this is a viral video. i am sure we have all had issues with airlines and

that's not the way the gao works. you could put a provision we want to review the thing. you can't even review some of these decisions for a year or something like that. we do deserve to know, if they give goldman sachs $10 billion for some reason down the road, through the discount window, we have a right and a moral obligation to figure out what he's doing and when and why. >> if you go down the road a year or two, isn't the real problem going to be, like in 2000, bernanke and the fed, even the constitutional fed, they're targeting the unemployment rate and they're not going to tighten interest rights to stop inflation, the congress doesn't want them to stop inflation, the unions, business establishment, even the banks? isn't that what he is up against? isn't he going to target unemployment and overstay easy money. >> that's exactly right. i accused him of a policy deliberately wanting to inflate because the real deficit goes down when you inflate. you de value your currency by 10% a-10 trillion national debt goes down to $9 trillion in real value. you have to get rid o

the gao has brought authority to the operations and functions. the congress recently granted the gao the new authority to conduct extended by the federal reserve to single and specific companies under the authority provided by section 13 the federal protection act including lunesta but does provide to work. for aig or bear stearns. the gao and in special inspector general have the right to audit our t.a.l.f. program which uses funds from the troubled asset relief program. the congress however purposefully and for good reason to exclude from the scope of giglio reviews erie is notably monetary policy durations and operations including open market and discount window operations. in doing so the congress carefully balanced the need for public accountability with strong public policy benefits that flow for maintaining appropriate degree of independence for the central bank in the making and execution of monetary policy financial markets and in particular likely proceed guarantee authority in these reviews to the gao as a serious weakening of monetary

republican senators john mccain and tom coburn who requested the gao report it's time to examine wheress the priorities and make sure after we get the roads, bridges and highways repaired in this country then we can spend money on making it look better. >> the gao report found over the past five years, $78 billion that comes from the highway trust fund paid for projects other than highways and bridges. for example, $2 billion for bike paths and pedestrian walkways. 850 million for scenic beautification along highways and byways, 488 million for behavioral research to study and improve safe driving. even $28 million for transportation museums. transportation officials tell fox, quote. activities such as safety but senators coburn and mccain argue some of these projects may be, quote, unnecessary luxuries and should be put off until after the economy recovers. so that congress doesn't have to keep bailing out the highway trust fund. shep? shepard: molly henneberg reporting earlier from washington. now a different sort of transportation project. an effort to keep all of us safe as more an

. >> gao investigators conceal the bomb making components in their clothing and passed undetected throughecurity checkpoints at 10 federal buildings. >> this was made with a liquid explosive and a detonator. >> in each case, the investigator assembled a bomb in the restroom and roamed freely throughout the building with the device in a briefcase. >> [unintelligible] >> the probe found a lack of oversight, security guards with insufficient training and without the necessary security -- necessary certification. >> we have an urgent problem. >> there is purely an act -- a lack of oversight on our part. >> they promise aggressive action, including retraining security guards, but he says he lacks the staff and resources to provide oversight. >> it is the same 600 inspectors that are also responsible for inspecting and 9000 buildings. >> he says the agency is stepping up inspections, instituting random searches, and re-examining its screening procedures. legislation is in the works to address the weaknesses. the gao would not reveal which buildings were involved in the probe. >> leaders on capi

mccool from gao. this week we've introduced and presented our most recent quarterly report in the oversight that we've been conducting the past quarter and so much of that oversight is the result of the coordination that we have had with our oversight partners and one of the things we strive for of course is to coordinate the oversight. t.a.r.p. has gone from 700 billion-dollar program which is large enough in its own right to not being expanded with activity at the federal reserve and the fdic to almost 3 trillion-dollar program and this is more than any one of the three of us in our organizations could ever cover alone and we strive to coordinate that working with gao on an important audit to cover as much as possible and we are recently putting forward a joint audit program, were first on corporate governance utilizing the experience and activity of both agencies and we recently this month did a coordinated project with professor warren and the oversight panel and i thought there excellent evaluati

the gao report released yesterday confirms the stimulus is simply not working. confirmed the obama administration is wasting millions of dollars in the process. abc news reports that $18 million is being set aside in order to redesign recovery.gov. this is the website that was so important that the vice president did not know the address. >> do you know the website? >> you know, i'm zit -- i am embarrassed. do you know the website number? i do not have it in front of me. i am embarrassed. it is recovery.gov. sean: the white house says this site will help americans track where their money is being spent. i have a better idea. why don't you give us our money back and leave us alone? "hannity's america" continues with details of why the members of one of the world's most famous bands are being called gecko vo: you see, it's not just telling people geico could save 'em hundreds on car insurance. it's actually doing it. gecko vo: businessmen say "hard work equals success." well, you're looking at, arguably, the world's most successful businessgecko. gecko vo: first r

mccool from gao.ek we've introduced and presented our most recent quarterly report, and the oversight that we've been conducting over the past quarter. ucting over the past quarter. and so much of that is the result of the coordination that we've had with our oversight partners. one of the things we strive for is to coordinate the oversight. it's now being extended with activity of the federal reserve. we've strived to coordinate that oversight, working with gao, our important audit partner, trying to cover as much of this terrain governance utilizing the experience and activity of both of our agencies and we've recently this month did a coordinated project with professor warren and the congressional oversight panel. the first part was -- i thought their excellent valuation report and their july report and the conclusions there. we're going to be using that as context for an audit that we've launched into the warrant repurchase process. basically in our report that we've just delivered this week, i'll

in nework state this is what e gao, government acting office, by the nework post.o has spent only about 22% of the federal stimulus set aside for the state, and the gao report revealed that mosof the money is being used just to governments afatrather than to cree jobs. this is apparently happening all over the country. is that was the stimulus was designed tdo, to plug holes in government fincing at a state level? >> it was designed tdo many things. immediately, it had et some money tohe economy. you remember -- you can quote all those economts -- the danger of going into what economistsalled a deflationary spir, where prices go down, more jobs are lost, prices go down further, was a nighe beuse once you get into a deflationary spiral, no economist knowsow to get out. you had to avoid that at all co. getting ney quickly into the economy, which is wh the the first stage.ending did was now we're in the secd phase. money is still continug tgo to the government. >> but is it too slow? look at the numbers out of new york. >> this isot a four-month plan or two-month plan

in new york state this is what the gao, government acting office, by the new york post. new york has spent only about 22% of the federal stimulus set aside for the state, and the gao report revealed that most of the money is being used just to keep governments afloat, rather than to create jobs. this is apparently happening all over the country. that was the stimulus designed to plug holes in government financing at a state level? >> it was designed to do many things. immediately, it had to get some money into the economy. if you remember -- you can quote all those economists -- the danger of going into what economists called a deflationary spiral, where prices go down, more jobs are lost, prices go down further, was a nightmare because once you get into a deflationary spiral, no moderate, liberal, conservative, knows how to get out. you had to avoid that at all cost. getting money quickly into the economy, which is what the government type spending did was the first stage. now we're in the second phase. money still continuing to go to the government. >> but is it too sl

the fed is already subject to reviews by the gao. that brought 42 of our operations and functions. congress recently granted them a new authority to conduct audits extended by the fed to single out specific companies under the authority provided by section 13 of the federal reserve act, including loan facilities provided to a i g and bear stearns. the special general had a 42 monitor the talf program. which uses funds from the troubled asset relief program. the congress however purposefully and for good reason to exclude from the scope of giglio reviews erie is notably monetary policy durations and operations including open market and discount window operations. in doing so the congress carefully balanced the need for public accountability with strong public policy benefits that flow for maintaining appropriate degree of independence for the central bank in the making and execution of monetary policy financial markets and in particular likely proceed guarantee authority in these reviews to the gao as a serious weakening of monetary policy independence. because the gao reviews may b

. -- the gao is doing some benchmarking that we need to respond to. we need to do this in an integrated manner. we're looking at very similar debtor the analytic work is similar. the approach and recommendations should be consistent we need to have an efficient use of staff resources. let me point out to folks in the community that will give us input, that in light of that, the filings in proceedings for the 706 report will be incorporated into the broadbent proceedings and vice versa. we'll take the comments into the record of the broadband proceeding. it will be a continuing process. this leads us to thinking about this as an omnibus broadband initiative. the purpose is to deliver on all the different congressional mandates. it is important that we create institutional knowledge on broadband beckons our ongoing policy deliberations. we will deliver a plan by the date of february 17. the broadband work will be far from over for this commission. it is important that the information stays here as the engine city continues as the expert agency on these

. >> in all ten cases gao investigators were able to get through to the metal detectors, get through the x-ray machines and go and assemble their bombs. >> it is simply unacceptable that we have such a poor level of securitity at busy federal buildings that are obvious targets. >> reporter: in silver spring, bruce leshan, 9news now and wusa9.com. >> whistle blower judy adams says since she complained her bosses are harassed her and threatened to fire her. the two guards sleeping on duty no longer are working. >>> tonight as president obama meets in his first g8 summit in italy, rd back at home the honeymoon may be over. 13,000 voters were surveyed in ohio and the poll found 49% of voters approve of the job president obama is doing. 44% disapprove. now, that's down 13 points from the same battleground state poll in may. >>> one stat not happening the president's popularity is all the americans that have lost their job. tax cut and government spending and talk the economy needs a second stimulus but watch dog agencies point out so far only 11% of the stimulus package has actually made

[laughter] >> this is from the gao, and the report found that over the past five years, $78 billion comingn the highways and bridges, were using the money for other things. $2 billion went to bike paths and pedestrian walkways. $850 million for seating beautification. $488 million for behavioral research. $28 million for transportation museums. all this is from the highway trust fund, money collected from you when you buy gasoline. the fund is set to go bankrupt again this summer. bill: there is always room for another museum out there to generate money. was any of this done illegally? >> no, and some of these measures were legally required. the two senators who called for this report, tom coburn and john mccain, said that there should be periodic reports like this to see if there are any unnecessary luxuries that cannot be justified and perhaps should not be paid for by the government. bill: thank you. megyn: he is the man in charge of keeping track of stimulus spending and he is reportedly hard at work. we're getting reports that vice- president joe biden spend all yesterday in a secret

the gao says their postal service needs to develop a restructuring plan.f it does not, the postal officials say they could run out of cash by september. >>> the president's cabinet is going on a retreat this weekend. but they're not going far. president obama is hosting them at the blair house, right across the street from the white house. the group will review the first six months in office over dinner friday. and then a series of meetings on saturday. >>> subway operator in new york city has been taken off the job. after a passenger reported an 8-year-old boy driving the train. according to the passenger the train operator was in the cab sunday afternoon, but the child was operating the controls. new york city's transit department is investigating all this. there is a clear policy against anybody other than employees in the cab.we'll be we'll be right back. there are moments in time when the paths we take do determine our future. today we are communicating with each other as never before - and that requires a seamless network that is constantly growing b

and will be added to the list of high-risk government operations by the gao. that could mean closing post offices and cutting mail delivery down to five days a week. >> there are some situations where you have post offices directly across the street from each other. we have to look at those situations, and where the volume does not justify it, we have to consolidate. >> the post office has been on the high-risk list before it was recently taken off, however. two years ago. >> weather wise. gloom and doom this week. i don't know why there is no sun up in the sky, besides the fact that it is night. however do we have stormy weather or is it over? here is vytas reid. >> wow, what an intro. thank you very much. here is what's going on out there. still a few showers and rumbles of thunder as we look at the radar. zooming down here. folks in columbia get rain at this time. ellicottski city, catonsville. getting showers. and south of woodlawn a sprinkle there. north on 795. reisterstown and owings mills getting rain. pikesville getting rain up there. as you you go up

>>gao did not find a problem once or twice but in every single case.hat suggests a systemic failure that has to be remedied. >> investigators also discovered one guard operating an adult for profit website on government computers. another accidentally fired his weapon in a restroom. >> and a third was not paying attention as an infant in a baby carrier was sent through an x-ray machine. and this guard was found fast asleep on the job after investigators say he took percocet. >> doesn't make you feel very safe. >> one of the buildings was homeland security. >> not reassuring. >> tax dollars at work. today's weather is perfect saturday weather. unfortunately it is the middle of the week. >> hopefully saturday will be just as nice as wednesday. check back with meteorologist jessica starr. >> beautiful day out there. sunshine. low humidity. and temperatures around 81 degrees. and we are headed for a beautiful evening as well. 75 degrees. partly cloudy skies. checking in at the inner harbour. 68 percent is the humidity. and on sky watch hd radar. dry sweep.

likely to be questions about the gao report at a homeland security hearing today. >>> government agencies suffering a july 4 attack cyberattack that knocked out websites including those used to fight cybercrime. the secret service, federal trade commission, and transportation department websites all down at some point in the weekend and into this week. south korean officials say their government and websites were hit too and the attacks may be connected. ten minutes after the hour. i think i'll go with the preferred package. good choice. only meineke lets you choose the brake service that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke. >>> 12 minutes after the hour. welcome back to the most news in the morning. it is, as i said, 13 minutes past. new this morning, a dangerous situation unfolding as we speak. here we go again. pirates have reportedly boarded a turkish-owned ship off of the coast of somalia. right now, no information on the condition of the 23-member crew. but the ship's owner said the vessel is still on course and heading for jordan. >>> iran's president mahmoud a

. >> it sounds to me like gao did everything but put the word "bomb-making materials" on the packages. >> it is stunning and shocking. it says some people forgot the lessons of 911. but the head of the federal protective service said he is working to fix problems. >>> the city of dallas has eliminated police protection for george w. bush. the officers had been working eight-hour shifts. it will save the department about $300,000 a year. the former president still has secret service protection. >>> just about nine minutes after the hour. when "good morning washington" coreturns, a famous museum threatened by fast approaching flames. >> adam caskey live in the weather center. another great day to day. we do have some changes coming up for the weekend. >> and lisa baden will be back with another look at your morning commute. you're watching "good morning washington." 4. >>> this is the automotive technology class. we're working on some engine rebuilds. this is where we train tomorrow's technicians. >> the morning, washington. -- good morning, washington. >>> welcome back. a while fire th

but the gao has now found at least 20 of the companies are operating again illegally under differentames. they found even more rogue trucking companies with more than a thousand possible reincarnations. >> it's very easy to reincarnate. it's kind of like going to the mall and getting a new set of clothes. you put the clothes on, you look a little different, but you're still the same person. >> reporter: he said unsayer operators roll along america's roadways because there aren't enough investigators to catch them all or penalties tough enough to stop them. how dangerous are rogue operators? the american bus association says 50% of fatal bus accidents involve operators who should have never been on the road in the first place. all of which makes things more difficult for responsible operators like bill austin, in business for 17 years. >> for those of us that spend the money to do it right, yes, it hurts from the perspective that the impression of the general public is tarnished. >> reporter: austin says he welcomes congressional efforts to strengthen oversight of charter bus companie

what is the gao talking about?disease was in d inadvertently released in a research lab in britain in 2001 leading to eight outbreaks in near farms which were contained by massive animal slaughters. an official counters the gao report saying we feel we've done a thorough assessment of the risk, the security, and the safety of this particular facility and proponents in kansas insist it will not pose a hazard. >> the safety and security measures that go to this research have enhanced dramatically. this research takes place safely and securely on the mainland in cities like atlanta, georgia at the centers for disease control every single day. >> reporter: the construction of the kansas lab will result in the closure of the outdated plum island animal disease center off of long island, new york. the gao report concludes it will be less risky to continue animal research there than to move it to the agricultural heartland. but dhs has no plans to revisit its decision. as for the tornado issue, we talked to a specialist a

. >> it sounds like the gao did everything but put the words "bomb-making materials" on the packages. >> it says some people have forgotten the lessons of 9/11. >> one man is working to fix the problems. >>> the city of dallas is facing budgetary problems. they have done away with police protection for george w. bush. it will save the police department about $300,000 a year. still has secret service protection. >>> 5:26 is your time. let's get the latest headlines in business news. >> linda bell is standing by. >> good thursday morning. we are watching closely general motors. today could be a big day. thebankruptcy judge is saying they could sell most of their assets to a government-backed by year. gm entered bankruptcy with more than 107 $6 billion in debt. it will exit bankruptcy with about $48 billion. shares of former aig were worth about $13 a share. one analyst said after they are done paying uncle sam back, there is a good chance shares will be worth nothing. we have an upbeat start to things. stock index futures are indicating a higher open. you. alcoa for that -- you can than

they had some explaining to do yesterday at a senate hearing. >> when we received the gao report, it cost us great concern. we have all worked very hard and we are taken aback on receipt of this disturbing news. we knew we had challenges ahead of, and coincidentally, we have initiated corrective actions to address these shortcomings. bill: joe lieberman was at the hearings. he is my guest this morning. welcome back. this is not cool. what are we going to do about this? >> you are right, it is not cool. it was john dropping, infuriating. the federal protective service agency, which employs 50,000 security guards to protect 9000 federal buildings across the country, in which hundreds of thousands of federal employees work, and millions of americans visit, it is a sick -- is a sick agency. they need some help. what are we going to do? we put the agency on our high risk list. we are asking for a monthly meetings. we are asking the secretary of homeland security to get personally involved. they need more money, but frankly, until we see that the agency is better managed, we are not going