right now, the oecd could use someone like jack markell. he'll do a great is job representing our nation and he's ready to go to work. when i think about jack markell, i think about the successes he's had in delaware, serving three terms as state treasurer, a position i held, and two as governor. i think of the great adversity he's been through. elected first as governor of delaware in november of 2008, the housing bubble had burst, and our nation entered the great recession. in an op-ed for "the atlantic" in may 2015, jack recalled it was immediately clear his time as dpofer would be focused on one thing, and that -- as governor would be focused on one thing, job creation, and he was right. in the winter of first first year, the unemployment was 9%. in an instant our economy was in free-fall. along with economies of many other states. general motors plant in wilmington, the chrysler plant in newark, a refinery in delaware city, all of these hubs were good-paying jobs for thousands, thousands of delaware families, shut down just like that.

hear statements, vociferous statements with threats against russia, which, of course, reflects the oecd. >> ukraine is in no way a threat to russia. the only threat is that of renewed russian aggression toward ukraine. it is now on russia to de-escalate the current tensions by reversing the recent troop buildup, returning forces to normal, and refraining from further attempts to destabilize ukraine. mark: pope francis is urging unity as europe faces an influx of refugees and migrants are the pontiff spoke on a major mediteanean isla, the site of many seeking safety. francis is the second pope to visit the advent of cyprus after benedict xvi. france's center-right party are a step closer to their presidential nomination. they now face off in a second vote, the results of which will be announced on saturday. >> in a vote restricted to card-carrying party members, the hardline candidate came out on top. tough on immigration and nationalistic, he believes he is the man to reverse what he perceives to be france's decline. >> i wanted this campaign to be about reality, the reality of a countr

i think there are good conversations, and we support the global oecd conversations, figuring out whatsingle company to solve. you've got two teenagers, i understand? what's your policy on screen time for kids? i think this generation needs to learn to adapt to technology — it's going to be a big part of their life so i've encouraged them to develop boundaries on their own. but, you know, i've approached it as a journey of personal responsibility. how worried are you that today, the internet seems to be splitting into different domains, where we have a kind of californian internet and, increasingly, a chinese one, and the chinese one might be in the ascendant? the free and open internet has been a tremendous force for good and i think we take it for granted a bit but i do think the model is being attacked and, you know, so i think it's something we take for granted but i hope we can stand up, particularly in countries with strong democratic traditions and values. sundar pichai is clear — it's up to democracies, as much as any tech giant, to shape our digital future. and you can catch m

reinvigorated our engagement with key allies, with nato, the european union, the united nations, the oecd, the g7, the g20, asean. we created aukus, we elevated the quad with two leader-level summits, we launched the build back better world global infrastructure initiative. we're much more aligned with our allies and partners now than we were a year ago on nearly every issue, including russia's aggression toward ukraine and its neighbors, iran's nuclear program, and china's efforts to challenge the rules-based international order. and i can attest from my dozens of face-to-face meetings with counterparts in every region of the world that they're glad -- frankly, relieved -- that the united states is once again engaged and once again leading. at the start of the year, we said that we would lead the global effort to end the covid-19 pandemic. since then, we've donated more than 330 million vaccine doses to more than 110 countries, on our way to 1.2 billion donated doses next year. that's more than the rest of the world combined. we've led the world in funding covax, the global partnership t

reputation but second, it is harming the entire global economy because many studies from the imf, the oecd international chamber of commerce, has said failed to vaccinate the world equally is costing the globe trillions of dollars and economic damage. we see the result of that all around us. entire economies in europe shutting down because of the new variant, factories in malaysia and vietnam closing, supply chains are snarled. moderna's failure to do more to promote vaccine equity is harming its own reputation but also harming the global economy and interest of corporate investors at large. so we think it is incumbent on moderna. to do more. amy: the eight top pfizer, serna shareholders made over $10 million in their stock holdings skyrocketed after the discovery of omicron? >> it is frankly obscene. oxfam did research and we calculated the three mrna vaccine producers -- moderna, pfizer, and biontech -- are earninmore than $1000 in profit every single second. so the pandemic is doing incredibly well for these companies. these companies are profiting directly off the pandemic. new billion

countries where we ought to have an ambassador like china or international organizations like the oecd where we need representation. that was one of the topics of today's lunch. garrett, the other topic you were discussing, of course there's frustration. the "build back better" bill has been in the works, in process for months. but i'm convinced there is still an opportunity for us to get to yes with my colleague senator manchin. we're going to have to make some changes. but he is still in good faith, i believe, negotiating, although this has been very frustrating. i am hopeful we can still get to yes within the next few weeks. >> i hear you on the nominees, and didn't think i was going to use my christmas puns until next week, but i mean, confirming ambassadors is coal in stockings for people who thought you might have these big legislative victories before the end of this year. from my vantage point covering this -- >> let's be clear about something if we could, about the coal in stockings metaphor. this is the first year of the biden administration. and we have passed huge pieces of

jack merkel is the nominee to be the ambassador of the oecd, known as the heavy weight multinationalrganization in the area of anticorruption and keeper of the oecd's anti-bribery convention, which is one of the most important international anticorruption treaties. we all talk about our commitment to fight corruption and yet we're holding back a confirmed ambassador to that position. jack merkel, former governor, is eminently qualified for the position for which he's been nominated and there's no reason why we should not confirm his nomination. marcella ecobari, was appointed to be the assistant administrator for usaid. the assistant administrator for latin america, all activities in the region including the four regional programs and three washington, d.c.-based programs, ms. escobari served in the same position for which this nomination is being made under the obama-biden administration. i must tell you, i was on a call with senator blunt yesterday with regards to columbia, the needs to up our game in that country. ms. escobari is eminently qualified for the position she has been n

it is worth noting that if all oecd countries right now stopped burning fossil fuels, stopped emitting any carbon dioxide whatsoever, all of them for the next hundred years, we would only reduce the temperature by 2100, by .8 degrees fahrenheit. it is a huge cost for almost no benefit whatsoever. i only point that out to get us back to some kind of rational thinking when it comes to a cost benefit analysis and how we might look for better solutions that reduce emissions, so i think we all have the same goal there but do so in a pragmatic , way. i yield back. rep. castor: i want to thank our witnesses for your testimony today. your testimony comes at a vital moment for americans and the human race, frankly. congress is poised to act on the historic build back better infrastructure and clean energy package. that is good news for american families because it will lower costs, provide cleaner air, good paying jobs across the economy. we know that americans are awake it like never before to the rising costs and impact of the climate crisis. just take a look at what we are shelling out for c

representative to oecd, numerous ambassadors to european countries, including our ambassador to france, france being one of the key nations that will help orchestrate a policy of cohesion amongst european nations with respect to the crisis in ukraine. and so everybody sees what's going on here. not all of my republican colleagues, but a small handful of my republican colleagues are setting the president up, raising expectations about what he should be able to do to save ukraine but then denying him the personnel to get it done and i understand the refrain from my republican colleagues is, well, senator schumer should just file cloture. they know how this works. cloture, because of our current rules, the whose process takes days. we have pages full of nominees that we have to do. we wouldn't be able to conduct any other business. the senate has never run like this. when the senate has had qualified nominees like jack markell, denise bauer in front of it, it it has never required days of debate, cloture motions in order to get key personnel, especially at times of need right now. i hope