given these findings by gao and environmental working group of the subcommittee is sending today to a dozen bottled water company's letters requesting information hot on the source of their water from other treatment methods and results, other contaminant testing for the past two years. even when water is treated and municipal facilities and then called, there still may be questions about contaminants such as pharmaceuticals that may be present in the treated water, and the environmental working group reports suggest that the estimated 25% of bottled water brands that rely on tap water are drawing from supplies that collectively contain 260 pollutants. according to associated press drugs have been found in municipal water samples across the country. officials in philadelphia discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or by product in treated and drinking water. anti epileptic in anti anxiety medications were detected the in the treated drinking water for 18.5 million people in southern california and drinking water in washington d.c. and surrounding areas tested positive for six pharmaceuticals. f

>> bill sheerer from gao declined to speculate, but i not being from gao, i'll speculate. but you've got to understand this is a very low-rated particular ox vegas. observation. it was my understanding initially there was supposed to be a full drill review of gse optionings. and, in fact, at some point my friends told me that's not happening. so i suspect, in fact, that there's a reasonable prospect we are going to see the status quo carried forward, and that ties in with my personal observation -- i'm sure all of ours -- that this administration has a huge amount on its plate. i mean, in between two wars, health care, climate change if that ever is on its agenda is a serious -- i mean, there are just a whole bun with. of things out there. the future of financial regulations genericically, i have a feeling that there's probably this feeling of, you know, hey, we've got enough balls in the air, let's not throw this one up there yet. so that would be my conjecture, but it's only conjecture. >> in the back. >> tom, given the hundreds of thousands of innocent shareholders who

when you look lately, the latest gao report on the stimulus package and what it has done, only 22% ofhe funds were actually distributed. which at this late date is extraordinary given how it was rushed through. and finally, when you look at the numbers of bogus job reports and misreporting and inflated numbers, almost all of them going in one direction suggesting more job creation, more job saved than was actually the case, you've got a real problem for the president. >> bret: much more on the stimulus and the panel about the economy a little later. one day after the stimulus signing, the president outlined his plan to help struggling homeowners hang on to their property. called for bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of the loans in favor of the borrower. critics say the effort has done little to stem the foreclosure crisis. and in the ides of march, stinging attack from the president on former vice president dick cheney. cheney said president obama reversal of the bush administration policies on guantanamo bay and terror suspect interrogations made the u.s. more vulnerable to atta

the gao report issued in october found tsa has an array of ten passenger screening technologies but the la not deployed any technologies to airports nationwide. the tsa spend $30 million on bomb detecting puffer machines only to find they have frequent maintenance issues opinion new body imaging scanners which could have made the difference in detroit are years away from widespread use. >> bad technology, called whole body images, back scatter machines meter wave machines in place at airports. at a minimum, noticed something anomalous was taped to this suspect's leg. >> reporter: add to that the plea to include the terrorist no-fly list a list that did not include the suspected bomber on flight 253 and a top security expert says you have a big problem. >> i think the flying public has reason for concern. >> reporter: with new conflict, experts know aviation has seen more security upgrades than the ports and borders. by an attack on an airliner would send a disturbing merge of failure. jim acosta, cnn, washington. >>> the custody battle over sarah palin's grandson. our legal guy, standin

>> i've not read the entire thing that i am aware. >> are you aware of the recommendations of the gao, they recommended the fcc number one improve its outreach to consumers about its content process related to performance goals and measures complaints. number two, develop guidance on federal and state oversight role and number three, develop policies for communicating with states. are you familiar with the three recommendations? >> i'm more familiar with the facts the uncovered first that was in the report that showed 84% of ntia and that's where i'm going. you're getting ahead of me. [laughter] >> sorry. let's go right there. why asking is they have these recommendations based on supply want to ask you to comment about what they are based on. my gosh, when we look at all of the choices the consumers have going into the christmas shopping season and levels of satisfaction or to comment on the basis and facts they relied upon for the recommendations? >> well, i think it's not the way i would have written the report based upon the statistics they found in this study. knowing this indust

is not in a letter to acting comptroller general david rivera to provide all records necessary for a gao audit of the fed to give a clear understanding of his in the fed's actions in the $182.3 billion bailout of aig. and i will go just because i believe he understands the nature of exacerbating the crisis by tightening monetary policy at the wrong time. mr. president, president kennedy said quote, and knowledge is light, we must think and not act only for the moment, but for our time. he told a story of a man who asked his gardener to plant a tree, but the gardener objected saying the tree was a very slow-growing tree. but it would not reach maturity for 100 years. to which the man replied, not case there's no time to lose. when it this afternoon. as your president, but it's not step back and succumb to the urge to act for the moment, but do what's right for a time. solving our economic crisis surely will not take a hundred years, but the seeds of recovery that are taking place right now need to be nurtured by experienced hands. i urge my colleagues to join me in voting to ensure compet

just 11 months later the gao concluded that the existing inner city passenger rail system is in poorancial condition and the current structure does not effectively target federal funds to where they provide the greatest public benefit such as transportation congestion relief. quota routes generally less than 500 miles in length have higher ridership and perform better financially and appear a greater benefit. we invested $8 billion over the next years. president obama and senator reid and this congress realized that that investment in passenger rail is needed now not over the next 50 years. so $8 billion was put into the stimulus bill to not only create jobs but to kick start the program to begin a valiant new vision for america's transportation modes. i think this president and senator reid and this congress have a vision for transportation in our nation. and it is much like as president eisenhower which is connecting america. the united states is way behind the curve in passenger rail service as we all know. the far east, near east, europe and the middle east have been investing bi

. >> it omb, cbo and the gao were predicting the success of columbus's venture, if they were and risingabella we would all be speaking in italian. [laughter] you hit it right on the head, senator. some of this we've got to do because we know it works and other parts of the world and some we've got to do on faith. when i visit the $74 million, that's not a lot of money down here, vice president mondale once said we spend and that sum of money before breakfast in washington, but for the commonwealth that's a nice talk of change. i was unsure and there wasn't any study we were going to jump up writer ship that much, but i knew we had to try. this was our best shot a look at the tip on the via pennsylvania, this was our best shot to prove there was a market for high-speed rail and it worked. so sometimes you just have to it as mr. skancke said, you just have to do it. >> senator, and the texas mexico connection it's not just about the train system. we spend time talking about the passengers but also is about the development of the national economic activity with a monopolist we have referre

one more question, the gao recently released another report on disaster case management programs. case managers are meant to help clients find jobs, permanent housing, access to critical services -- particularly after as a disaster. they can be extremely helpful in trying to make sense of things and trying to identify the programs that are still operating out there and making them real for clients. what, in your study, could you share with us about the need for case managers? how did the case management program work generally? i think you testified to this. could you elaborate? >> overall, because of the chart you showed here with the multiplicity of funding streams. case -- case management is very important. it is important for low income families or families under stress to find out how they can put together a package of services they need to stabilize and regain their self- sufficiency. we have had to go major findings. one was -- as we found in the mental health area, and there was a significant lack of case management providers and limited were for all services. this goes bac

>> bill from gao declined to speculate but not being from the gao i will speculate but you've got tonderstand this is a very low rate particular observation. it was my understanding initially there was a post be a full trial review of the gse options, and in fact some point my friends told me that's not happening. so i suspect in fact there is a reasonable prospect we are going to see the status quo carried forward and that ties in with my personal observation and i assure all of ours the this administration has a huge amount on its plate. in between the two wars, healthcare, climate change if that ever is on its agenda is a serious we -- there are just a whole bunch of things out there. the future of financial service regulation generically. i have a feeling there is probably this feeling of you know, we have enough balls in the air let's not throw this one not yet. so that would be like conjecture but it's only conjecture. >> given the hundreds of thousands of innocent shareholders saved would be labeled a couch by management received as late as april of 08 when the head says thing

i think there have been some gao numbers more recently i think that puts your numbers well below. i mean, contractors play an important role in any significant operation anywhere in the world whether it's a military operation, whether it's a humanitarian operation and it's something that we're going to see in the future. the real issue is whether they doing, how are they doing it, how are they integrating. in the case of buyback, how well are the operations of the contractors integrated within military operations. and other cases, how well are they integrated within the institutions within specific countries. obviously, as you heard here yesterday, richard holbrooke, in a different context in afghanistan was talking about how we hope to change to the delivery of vital services and use our support, the involvement of government officials, non-governmental officials in certain cases contractors, but do it in a way that increases the capacity of the host nation to ultimately to tight -- take on these challenges directly. there are some very specific instances in iraq, for example reh

read yesterday, i can say with respect both through diego and ig report on scanners -- both through a gao were looking at earlier iteration of technology. it has evolved rapidly over time, but we're continuing to push the technology. that is why we have asked not just our department but the department of energy and the national labs to get involved. from the objective evidence, the scanners that are being deployed now clearly give us a better chance of picking up, be it metals, nonmetals, powders, or liquids, that somebody may be able to eat -- may be trying to get onto a plane. >> externally. >> we can talk in closed session about that, senator. >> based on the analysis of- staff on operational testing and screening technologies, i will send you a follow-up questions. and if you can get those back to me quickly, i would appreciate it. >> we would be happy to do that. >> thank you again for your service. >> thank you so much, senator coburn. >> thank you for having this hearing and a want ad my welcome to the witnesses that are here. i have been concerned about privacy and civil liberties

read yesterday, i can say with respect both through diego and ig report on scanners -- both through a gao and ig report, they were looking at earlier iteration of technology. it has evolved rapidly over time, but we're continuing to push the technology. that is why we have asked not just our department but the department of energy and the national labs to get involved. from the objective evidence, the scanners that are being deployed now clearly give us a better chance of picking up, be it metals, nonmetals, powders, or liquids, that somebody may be able to eat -- may be trying to get onto a plane. >> externally. >> we can talk in closed session about that, senator. >> based on the analysis of- staff on operational testing and screening technologies, i will send you a follow-up questions. and if you can get those back to me quickly, i would appreciate it. >> we would be happy to do that. >> thank you again for your service. >> thank you so much, senator coburn. >> thank you for having this hearing and a want ad my welcome to the witnesses that are here. i have been concerned about privacy

commenting on a wall street journal article that i did not reject it, i can say with respect to both gaod in ig report on the scanners, that they were looking at a limited sample of a earlier iteration of the technology. the technology is clearly evolved rapidly over time, but we are continuing to push the technology. that's why we've asked not just our department but the department of energy and the national labs to get involved. they are from the objective evidence, the scanners that are being deployed now clearly give us a better chance of picking up, the embattled, non-metals, powders, or liquid, that somebody may be trying to get on a plane. >> actorly. >> we can talk in a classified setting about that, sir. >> what i will do then is based on analysis of my staff on operational testing of your screen technology, i will send you follow questions, if i'm a bigot if you would get those back to me fairly soon i would appreciate. >> we would be happy to do so. >> thank you. thank you again for your service. >> thank you very much, senator coburn. senator carper had to leave for a moment.

worth remembering sometimes it's an artificial construct security, privacy -- if you look for example gao report on government feelings inside for security, things they saw it on network management, failure to install patches, lack of encryption where necessary, poor network management, an effective security programs, none of this has anything to do with privacy and many cio will say i do that stuff all day. it is worth noting as i think we have this discussion that many of the techniques of all enforcement need and many of the techniques the security professionals use to protect their networks have nothing to do with personal information and nothing to do with privacy so when we're talking about security and privacy, it is just worth focusing on all those things we can do without looking it personally formation now haven't really dodged the question i will pass the baton. [laughter] >> i will take the baton and build on that a lot of things chris talked about were the policies of running a secure network, and i think from a law enforcement perspective one of the challenges that we have i

the gao or whatever it was but i have heard and correct me if i am wrong that the medicare system has fraud in the billions of dollars. that would pay for a lot of mri is. am i correct? id understand some of the parts that we pay for, remember the hammer the big investigation about paying $500 for hammers and the military. what energy or what time is spent in our government at the federal bubble investigating and stopping fraud in each and every department? to we spend as much time there as we do debating issues and saving dollars through investigating fraud? >> i think we could do better on medicare fraud and medicaid fraud. there is broad there are providers to build four people or patience they never saw. and we could put more resources behind that. of that is actually done in the clinton administration when shalala was secretary. and it paid off. then it slipped -- slipped behind. it makes doctors very uncomfortable but it is very important. >> "60 minutes" has done some important work on that topic in the public space. we're coming up on one of our. we are done about thank you so

read yesterday, i can say with respect both through diego and ig report on scanners -- both through a gao and ig report, they were looking at earlier iteration of technology. it has evolved rapidly over time, but we're continuing to push the technology. that is why we have asked not just our department but the department of energy and the national labs to get involved. from the objective evidence, the scanners that are being deployed now clearly give us a better chance of picking up, be it metals, nonmetals, powders, or liquids, that somebody may be able to eat -- may be trying to get onto a plane. >> externally. >> we can talk in closed session about that, senator. >> based on the analysis of- staff on operational testing and screening technologies, i will send you a follow-up questions. and if you can get those back to me quickly, i would appreciate it. >> we would be happy to do that. >> thank you again for your service. >> thank you so much, senator coburn. >> thank you for having this hearing and a want ad my welcome to the witnesses that are here. i have been weaknesses in our syste

. >> if omb, gao, were predicting success of columbus's adventure and advising queen isabel last, we'dll be speaking italian i guaranty you. you hit right on the head, senator. some of we've got to do because a, we know it works in other parts of the world and we have to do in faith. where i invested $74 million of commonwealth money, that is not a lot of money down here. vice president mondale once said we spend that sum of money before breakfast in washington but for the commonwealth that is still a nice hung of change. i wasn't sure, wasn't any study we would jump up ridership that much, i knew we had to try. this was our best shot. if you look at topography of pennsylvania. this was our best shot to prove a market for high-speed rail and it worked. it worked. sometimes you have to, as mr. skanke said, you have to do it the. >> in it is also about transit oriented development and induced demand and economic activity in this megapolis we refer to in the urban areas that would grow as a result of that infrastructure being in place. that is one of those things. it is hard to measure un

. >> let me direct the commissioners, as well as your staff, there is a gao report that came out on july 28, 2009, regarding the characteristics and performance of nonprime mortgages. and there's a lot of information that i think would be very useful to the commission enclosed in there. it may not cover, however, you pay option arms, which are categorized as prime mortgages which are the ones that are now default in in record numbers. and so they will have to find additional studies, but we're happy to look for the information and provided to you. >> anyone else? okay. i only have one other question, and that is for commissioner madigan. i think you mentioned in your statement that pay option arms were part of the predatory or otherwise abusive loans that were bought by wall street. is that correct? >> what i reference is the fact that pay option arms are the most complicated and risky loan product that we've ever seen. often, they include we've been talking about low introductory teaser rates. the low introductory teaser rates on pay option arms can be as low as 1%. that teaser rate o