earlier we spoke to the chair of the words and pensions committee.trading unlawfully when they should have actually been more honest about how dire their predicament was? why were they raising money, borrowing in fact to pay dividends and why did they take such large salaries when all these things were possibly happening? and we note the pension deficit was escalated. that was frank field, chair of the work and pensions committee who is questioning carillion executives today. we'll take you straight to manchester where theresa may is making a speech to mark the centenary making a speech to mark the ce nte nary of making a speech to mark the centenary of women, someone getting the vote for some time. on the sixth of every 19 18 —— 1918, most women aged over 30 and men who did not own property game the right to vote in parliamentary elections for the first time and with a say in making the laws of the land. it was a great expansion of democratic participation, tripling the size of the electorates and voices and perspectives which are sentries had been

is putting money in the pockets of private companies you not only on the official work and pensions committee environment here also in the committee regarding karelian the multi-million pound failure. of the lodge was going to drag you to bring some of this experience you're having over a person depends very much disability testing to what you do on that committee i want to really i think it's absolutely relevant to look at the way that these huge outsourced companies which game billions of pounds of taxpayers' money are actually using that money whether they're meeting quality standards and whether there's actually any competition in there to make sure they're not simply taking money for old rope. driving their own costs down driving paying conditions for their own staff down to the lowest common denominator but simply using a system that takes more and more contracts and fees off the government to prop up an increasingly failing internal financial structure where you've got huge dividends of directors taking huge bonus pay goes over it is a the taxpayer is being mugged for hundreds of milli

is putting money in the pockets of private companies you not only on the official work and pensions committee environment your other sort of a committee regarding karelian the multi-million pound failure because a lot of it was going drag are you going to bring some of this experience you're having over a person depends very much disability has to do what you do on that committee you want to really i think it's absolutely relevant to look at the way that these huge outsourced companies which gain billions of pounds of taxpayers' money are actually using that money whether they're meeting quality standards and whether there's actually any competition in there to make sure they're not simply taking money for old rope. and driving their own costs down driving paying conditions for their own staff down to the lowest common denominator but simply using a system that takes more and more contracts and fees of the government to prop up an increasingly failing internal financial structure where you've got huge dividends of directors taking huge bonus payment. of ours as a the taxpayer is being mugged

with disabilities in how their welfare claims are assessed, according to the commons work and pensions committeerust‘ among people with disabilities in how their welfare claims are assessed, according to the commons work and pensions committee, which says reports by private contractors are riddled with errors. it also says claimants don't trust assessors to record evidence of their conditions accurately. the government insists the system works well for the majority of claimants. in how their welfare claims are assessed, according anastasia is having a good day. but it's not always like this. most days she is constant pain. the 24—year—old has multiple sclerosis. she used to work full—time, but now she struggles to leave the house. on the days she can get out, anastasia totally relies on her car. she applied for a disability benefit and was assessed at home by a health care professional from a private company. on the days she can get out, anastasia totally relies on her car. she applied for a disability benefit and was assessed at home by a health care professional from a private company. anastas

the commons' work and pensions committee said reports by private contractors were "riddled with errors and quality targets had been "regularly missed". here's our disability news correspondent nikki fox. anastasia ashley is having a good day. but it's not always like this. most days she is unable to get out of the house. the 24—year—old has multiple sclerosis. she used to work full—time, but now she struggles to get around. she applied for a disability benefit and was assessed at home by a healthcare professional from a private company. she says she told says she could only walk 20 metres, but when the report came back it said she could walk further. she didn't give me a physical assessment. i was sat down the entire time. i was very, very cross about that. today's report identifies a culture of mistrust around the whole process. it says assessors risk being viewed as at best lacking competence and at worst actively deceitful. the committee says the government's loe bar for what is considered acceptable leaves rooms for reports to be riddled with obvious omissions. clearly the system n

the commons' work and pensions committee said reports by private contractors were "riddled with errorsake the service back "in house" when contracts end with private firms. the government says the majority of claimants are happy with their overall experience. two people have been arrested in a raid on the home of the controversial gupta family in south africa as part of a government investigation into undue political influence. the gupta family have been accused of using their friendship with president zuma to promote their business interests. both mr zuma and the guptas deny the allegations. mr zuma is under pressure to resign, in part because of links to the guptas and is expected to respond later today to a formal request from the african national congress to step down. with us now is our correspondent pumza fihlani in outside the union building in pretoria. pumza — could these arrests force president zuma to stand down? there is a sense in south africa that the net is closing in, notjust on president zuma but people associated with him. there was those raids on the gupta family thi

. >> delay democratic on the house labor and pensions committee senator patty murray spoke about daca recipient no as dreamers are doing that they should be given legal status and a a pato citizenship your cheese followed by majority whip john cornyn and rhode island senator jack reed. >> the senator fromhi washingto. >> thank you, mr. president. mr. president, as people around the nation listen to this floor debate i unsure they can or the division about immigration without an clear. i know i can can. immigration policy is hard. it is emotional and it has vexed this congress from decades. while the floor debate where can be tryingow and can actually be thrown offkilter by one more real-time tweets from the president, we have to keep our eye on the ball. because as tough it may seem right here, the stakes are so much higher for millions of people who live every day in this country. they're trapped inn a a broken immigration system. they face the constant fear of deportation and they suffer the threat of being ripped apart fromie their families, their friends, and the communities that

joining us now is the chair of the work and pensions committee, the right honourable frank field mp. y who feel these people in front of this committee made a lot of mistakes. well, they have certainly got a lot of questions to answer. one is, for example, were they knowingly trading unlawfully when they should have actually been much more honest about how dire their predicament was? why were they raising money, borrowing in fact, to pay dividends? and why did they take such large salaries when all these things were possibly happening, and we know the pension deficit was escalating? there are some very key questions. then later next week, the chair of the business committee, and i. chair of the business committee, and i, we are doing a joint enquiry, looking at those people called the auditors, you mentioned kpmg. there are four big companies in this country, they share the prize is out between them. why did they give them such a bill of health? when you look over a period of time, nobody with an a—level or o—level accountancy standards would say there are big questions for this compa

frank field, chairman of the work and pensions committee, says the move follows reports sir philip is the sunday times claimed that the billionaire had held talks with chinese textiles. fast—food chain kentucky fried chicken has had to close a number of their uk outlets after running out of a key ingredient... chicken. last week, kfc switched its delivery contract to dhl, which blamed "operational issues" for the supply disruption. the closures affected areas including london and the south east, the midlands, the north east and wales. as kfc put it in a tweet "the chicken crossed the road, just not to our restaurants." afternoon, welcome to the business news. we're well in to 2018 now, but some of us still struggling to get to grips with our household finances — we're still paying off debt and we're having to wrestle with sharp rises in living costs. is money supermarket‘s kevin pratt. thanks forjoining us. i want to talk about the markets. there has been a real squeeze on household incomes. we have seen the sharpest rise in 12 months of living costs. yes because we have inflation run

mps on the work and pensions committee say the scheme's members were targeted by "vulture" financial n the pension fund was hived off in order to keep the uk company, owned by the indian firm tata, afloat. sian lloyd reports. "exploited. . .. for cynical personal gain. shamelessly bamboozled by dubious financial advisers." the words of a report today by mps about steelworkers who devoted years to the industry but face changes to their pension scheme. some had the option of transferring their benefits to private schemes, but what happened has been described as a mis—selling scandal. yes, we've been let down with the trustees, we've been let down by tata as a company. we uncovered the case of richard bevan who had transferred his savings into a private scheme. he believes the financial advice he was given was unsuitable and resulted in him losing out on £200,000. he welcomes the scrutiny by mps but says it's too late for him. where that leaves people like myself i really don't know. it may highlight the fact for other pension schemes in the future, and this may not happen on this scale

frank field, chair of the work and pensions committee, said if sir philip sold topshop he might have luding london and the south east, the midlands, the north east and wales. as kfc put it in a tweet "the chicken crossed the road, just not to our restaurants." it‘s a bumper week for uk banking results, with hsbc, lloyds, barclays, rbc and challenger metro bank all posting their financial results. who will be the winners and losers, and what will these results tell us about the current banking climate? joining me now to discuss what we might be expecting is banking expert shailesh raikundlia, from panmure gordon & co. we‘ve got a very changing environment, higher interest rates, that should be good for the banking system, are we beginning to see banks enjoying a slightly more favourable climate? yeah, the interest rate increase cycle is broadly positive for the banks, we haven‘t seen a huge impact on domestic banks as we just had a 25 basis point rise. we expect a significant improvement in interest margins from deposited income improvement. mainly because the us dollar is helping them

with disabilities in how their welfare claims are assessed, according to mps on the work and pensions committeead "caught" down‘s syndrome. the government insists the system works well for the majority of claimants. here's our disability correspondent, nikki fox. anastasia is having a good day. but most of the time she is in constant pain and struggles to leave the house. the 24—year—old has multiple sclerosis and used to work full—time. now she relies on disability benefits. but applying for those benefits has taken its toll. i don't know how other people can cope with it. why do i feel so crushed and not believed? when she was assessed at home by a health care professionalfrom a private company, anastasia told her assessor she could only walk 20 metres. but when the report came back, it said she could walk further. as a result she lost part of benefits. she didn't give me a physical assessment. i was sat down the entire time. i was very, very upset about that. the committee heard evidence to suggest that anastasia's experience is farfrom a one—off. one of the assessors wrote down things which

the work and pensions committee say the scheme's members were targeted by "vulture" financial adviserst happened when the pension fund was hived off in order to keep the uk company, owned by the indian firm tata, afloat. sian lloyd reports. last year, members of the old british steel pension scheme faced a big decision about their retirement savings, after tata which had taken over the liabilities said it was no longer viable. workers could choose to transfer their benefit out of the scheme. a report by a committee of mps said some of those who did were exploited, shamelessly bamboozled by dubious financial advisers. there have been people who probably have been fleeced of the most valuable asset they will have ever had, which has been built up as part of their pension scheme, for which the financial vultures have been after and, in too many cases, been successful in getting their claws on. we uncovered the case of richard bevan, who had transferred his savings into a private scheme. he believes the financial advice he was given was unsuitable, which resulted in him losing out on £200,

steelworkers hundreds of thousands of pounds, has been investigated by the the work and pensions select committee for financial gain following the closure of the british steel pension scheme, and the financial conduct authority did too little to protect them. 0ur wales correspondent, sian lloyd, reports. last year, members of the old british steel pension scheme faced a huge decision about their retirement savings, after the company which took over the earnings said it was no longer viable. workers could tra nsfer no longer viable. workers could transfer out of the scheme, a report said that some of those who did were exploited, bamboozled by dubious financial advisers. there have been people who probably have been fleeced of the most valuable asset they will have ever had, which they built up as part of their pension scheme, of which the financial vultures have been after and in too many cases, been successful in getting their claws in. we uncovered the case of richard bevan, who transferred into a private scheme after seeking independent financial advice. he estimates the decision has cost him

the senate health, education, labor and pensions committee heard from a mother who lost two teenage sons to overdose. this is an hour 45 minutes.

disabilities in relation to how their welfare claims are assessed according to the commons work and pensions committeets, as our disability correspondent nikki fox report. anastasia is having a good day. but it's not always like this. most days she is constant pain. the 2a—year—old has multiple sclerosis. she used to work full—time, but now she struggles to leave the house. 0n the days she can get out, anastasia totally relies on her car. she applied for a disability benefit and was assessed at home by a healthcare professional from a private company. anastasia told her assessor she could only walk 20 metres, but when the report came back, it said she could walk further. she didn't give me a physical assessment. i was sat down the entire time. i was very, very cross about that. as a result, anastasia lost her higher rate disability benefit, which meant she lost her car. although she successfully appealed that decision, her experience is far from a one—off. today's report identifies a culture of mistrust around the whole process. it says the government's low bar for what it is what is considered accept

the work and pensions select committee says it cost the people involved thousands of pounds, and thaty bamboozled by dubious financial advisers. there have been people who probably had been fleeced of the most valuable asset they will have ever had, which they built up as part of their pension scheme of which these financial vultures have been after and in too many cases been after and in too many cases been successful in getting their claws on. we uncovered the case of richard bevan, who had transferred his benefit into a private scheme after seeking independent financial advice. he estimates the decision has cost him around £200,000. another greedy sort of person that of obviously been led into something that wasn't right for me by a financial adviser. —— gullible. that wasn't right for me by a financialadviser. —— gullible. it is not a nice place to be at the moment. the financial conduct authority is criticised in this report are not acting quickly enough after concerns were raised. it says it is reviewing its rules on pension tra nsfers it is reviewing its rules on pension transf

the work and pensions select committee says it cost the people involved thousands and the financial conductsh steel pension scheme faced a huge decision about their retirement savings after tata, which had taken over the liabilities, said it was no longer viable. workers could choose to transfer their benefits out of the scheme. a report by a committee of mps says some of those who did were exploited, shamelessly bamboozled by dubious financial advisers. there have been people who probably had been fleeced of the most valuable asset they will have ever had, which they built up as part of their pension scheme, of which these financial vultures have been after and in too many cases been successful in getting their claws on. we uncovered the case of richard bevan, who'd transferred his benefit into a private scheme after seeking independent financial advice. he estimates the decision has cost him around £200,000. i'm not a gullible sort of person but i've obviously been led into doing something that wasn't right for me, by a financial adviser, you know? and it's pretty...it‘s not a nice place

allowed to off—load its retirement fund — that's according to a report from the work and pensions select committeeim. more on that in just a moment. european plane maker airbus has taken another £1.2 billion hit on its troubled a400m military transport plane, bringing the total charges on the troubled defence project to over £7 billion so far. the news overshadowed otherwise upbeat full—year results. net profit increased 35% to almost £2.56 billion. supermarket chain lidl has hit a milestone of 700 stores in the uk, after it opened five new stores in one day. the new shops in edinburgh, stockton, hull, polegate and rosehill in south london have led to 200 newjobs. the budget supermarket chain, which has operated in the uk since 1994, says it plans to open more than 50 new stores this year. "shamelessly bamboozled" — that's how a parliamentary report has described members of the british steel workers pension scheme, who were given unsuitable financial advice, leading some to lose out on thousands. it happened last year when tata restructured the scheme, meaning its 124,000 members had to decide wha

on the pension issue democrats as a committee to report the legislative fix by december 2018. carpenters and minors in factory workers and so many more. and with those hard-earned pensions. the livelihoods to the pensions to make sure they get every penny that they earned that democrats would have liked we could not reach the agreement to do that but now we have a process with means and motivation to get it done. and to be responsible foren this. and those who work so long and hard on pensions. those long-awaited disaster relief louisiana and florida and puerto rico and u.s. virgin islands. many of these places are taking their first steps on the march to recovery. much of puerto rico remains in the dark this is not, moment too soon. i would also like to think the ranking member on the appropriations committeeto who worked so diligently with his staff and ranking members on these issues. with the beacon with those health issues. the budget deal is a win for the american people. and with middle-class americans. and with those sequester tax. so with a work herel in congress i wit

the work and pensions and business committee says it has a growing pile of evidence, the accounting firmver that. you're watching business live. our top story. the fight for clean air goes to court — we await a landmark german ruling on whether cities can ban diesel cars. it's being watched closely by the global auto industry and other big european cities. because most diesel cars are driven on european roads. learning a new musical instrument can be a chore, espcially if you're a young child. i know i found it difficult! the piano or violin. but musicality starts young, so are traditional techniques too tough? our next guest is the brains behind a new type of music education devise that is based on building blocks. soundbops aims to tap the $63 billion market for educational technology. its founder won the royal academy of engineering's launchpad competition in 2016. the musical toy is in the final stages of design, with the first batch due to be delivered in time for this christmas. would imagine that's pretty critical. the award winner, soundbops ceo and creator michael tougher joins

the senate health, education, labor and pensions committee heard from a mother who lost two teenage sons to overdose. this is an hour 45 minutes. >>> the senate committee on health education and pensions will come to order. today we are looking at effect on children and infants. we have a vote i believe at 11:30 today so we should i believe give us time to have a full discussion with our witnesses. before we turn to today's focus i wanted to say that later today senator murray and i and senators young will introduce legislation to help address the opioid crisis. dr. collins, head of the national institute of health predicted that nonaddictive pain killer can be introduced. our bill would give more flexibility to conduct research. the committee plans to hold a markup on the bill as well as other legislation to address the opioid crisis as soon as march. senator murray and i will each have an opening statement and introduce witnesses. after their testimony will have a round of five-minute questions from the senators. the opioid crisis is particularly heartbreaking for families and children

on the pension issue, democrats secured a special committee that must report a legislative fix for the problem by december 2018. millions of pensioners, miners, bakery workers, and so many more are staring down costs. they did not do anything to cause those cuts. are tied tohoods those pensions. democrats would have liked to pass the act. we could not reach an agreement but we have a process and the means and motivation now. i want to acknowledge senator ,rown and senator casey baldwin, mccaskill, who have all worked so long and hard on pensions. the budget deal also includes long-awaited disaster relief for texas, louisiana, florida, puerto rico, and the u.s. virgin islands. many of these places are still taking their first steps in the long march of recovery. much of it remains in the dark. soonercannot have come -- aid could not have come sooner. like to think all committeembers on the who worked so diligently with his staff and ranking members on these issues. as well as, senator murray who has been our begin on health issues where we have made real progress today. it is a win for

with disabilities in how their welfare claims are assessed — according to the commons work and pensions committeeerosis. she used to work full—time, but now she struggles to leave the house. 0n the days she can get out, anastasia totally relies on her car. she applied for a disability benefit and was assessed at home by a health care professional from a private company. anastasia told her assessor she could only walk 20 metres, but when the report came back, it said she could walk further. she didn‘t give me a physical assessment. i was sat down the entire time. i was very, very cross about that. as a result, anastasia lost her higher rate disability benefit, which meant she lost her car. although she successfully appealed that decision, her experience is far from a one—off. today‘s report identifies a culture of mistrust around the whole process. it says the government‘s low bar for what it is what is considered acceptable leaves room for assessment reports to be riddled with obvious errors and omissions. it also says assessors risk being viewed as a best lacking in confidence and at worst, acti

local 21 pension advisory committee is made up of active city employees and staff that are tasked with providing oversight on behalf of the workers. we've reviewed the staff recommendation and unanimously voted to communicate the following. first, the members of local 21 are firmly dedicated to the responsible care taking of our environment and taking appropriate steps to limit the impact of fossil fuel usage. second, the committee is encourages by the six-point recommendation for taking action on this topic, but would like to request more information regarding specific timelines for each of the action items lefted in the staff plan. the committee would like to communicate their grave concern regarding the possibility of a mass divestment of fossil fuels within a short time frame. the committee would advocate that the board undertake no such rash action until completing a complete analysis of the financial impact the effect it would have on pension performance and costs. we appreciate and understand the desire to divest from fossil fuels from different entities, but we must understand

he said the 80/20 rule, why ted kennedy got so much done on health education, labor pension committee. one a conservative republican, the other a liberal democrat. he introduced me to the 80/20. ted and i agree on 80% of the stuff, disagree on 20% of the stuff and we decided to focus on the 80% where we agree, set the other 20% aside for another day. that's the 80/20 rule out of the mouth of former mayor of gillette wyoming. it's a good rule for this committee and the congress as a whole. it's been a wonderful hearing. thank you all. mr. chairman, thank you. >> thank you, senator carper. mr. hansen, you looked like you were trying to say something to answer to one of the responses. >> i would like to address senator carper's question. i'm very dedicated about what i do but i can't hear a thing. when it comes to working together, the field is ripe with opportunity in the west on federal lands and our operation, we've proven that there is common ground and there's a lot of common ground. we always run into the headache of the federal regulation. nema is a huge one. we get tied up in the

is putting money in the pockets of private companies you know only on the official work and pensions committee environment here also in the committee regarding karelian the multi-million pound failure. of the large was going drag you're going to bring some of this experience you're having over a person depends very much disability testing to what you do on that committee i want to really i think it's absolutely relevant to look at the way that these huge outsourced companies which gain billions of pounds of taxpayers' money are actually using that money whether they're meeting quality standards and whether there's actually any competition in there to make sure they're not simply taking money for old rope. and driving their own costs down driving paying conditions for their own staff down to the lowest common denominator but simply using a system that takes more and more contracts and fees off the government to prop up an increasingly failing internal financial structure where you've got huge dividends of directors taking huge bonus pay because of ours as a the taxpayer is being mugged for hund

shoe salesman from wyoming were able to get things done on the health, education, labor and pension committee in years past. the american people are counting on us to work together to fix the nation's fiscal mess. we must start now because one thing is clear, ignoring the tough problems today will not make them disappear and the longer they persist, the more difficult they will be to fix. every year we spend $4 trillion, i don't think anybody really knows how much that is, but it's a lot of money, and we try to spend that amount and make the decisions on spending that amount every year. we really don't make changes. we just increase for inflation and what i call the panic factor. well, it's not quite true. we do make changes. we add new programs but we do it without eliminating or even consolidating existing programs, or even updating the old programs. the spending deal has a provision for fixing the broken budget process. the budget is supposed to be our roadmap to the future. we talk about the need for infrastructure, budget's one of those infrastructures that we better be working on if we'

on the pension issue, democrats secured a special select committee that must report a legislative fix to the problem by december 2018. millions of pensioners, teamsters, carpenters, miners, bakery workers and so many more are staring down cuts to their hard-earned pensions. they didn't do anything to cause those cuts. their livelihoods are staked to these pensions. we ought to make sure that they get every penny they earned. we democrats would have liked to take up and pass the butch lewis act. we couldn't reach an agreement to do that, but now we have a process and potentially the means and motivation to get it done. and there were so many senators, led by senator brown, who are responsible for this. and i want to acknowledge him and senators casey and stabenow, manchin, klobuchar, baldwin, mccaskill, donnelly and heitkamp, who worked so long and hard on pensions. the budget deal also includes long-awaited disaster relief for texas, louisiana, florida, the western states, puerto rico, and the u.s. virgin islands. many of these places are still taking their first steps in the long mar

the commons' work and pensions committee said reports by private contractors were "riddled with errorsld has multiple sclerosis. she used to work full—time, but now she struggles to get around. she applied for a disability benefit and was assessed at home by a health care professional from a private company. anastasia says she told the assessor she could only walk 20 metres, but when the report came back it said she could walk further. she didn't give me a physical assessment. i was sat down the entire time. i was very, very cross about that. today's report identifies a culture of mistrust around the whole process. it says assessors risk being viewed as, at best, lacking in competence and, at worst, actively deceitful. the committee says the government's low bar for what is considered acceptable leaves room for assessment reports to be riddled with obvious errors and omissions. clearly the system needs a major overhaul, but there are some things the government could do relatively quickly to improve it. automatic audio recording of assessments for people. why not share the assessment re

frank field, chairman of the work and pensions committee, said the move follows claims sir philip wasss. newspaper reports say the billionaire has held talks with a chinese textiles giant. a group of american teenagers who survived a school shooting in florida have announced a national march on washington to demand political action on gun control. they say they're determined that the mass shooting, in which 17 people died, will be a turning point in the debate about guns. the bank of england says more than £2 billion worth of old £10 notes need to be spent or exchanged in the next 10 days. the notes, featuring charles darwin, cease to be legal tender on 1st march. three billboards 0utside ebbing, missouri, a film about a mother seeking justice for her daughter's murder, was the big winner at the bafta awards last night. it won five prizes, including best film and best actress for frances mcdormand. the theme ofjustice and equality for women dominated the event, with most guests wearing black to show solidarity with campaigns against abuse and harassment. that's a summary of the latest

. >>> i'd like to call this hearing to order, the senate health education labor and pensions committee. this morning we're holding a hearing titled "facing the 21st century public health threats, our nation's preparedness and response capabilities." we'll hear from the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the department of health and human services, the director of the office of public health preparedness and response at the centers for disease control and prevention, and the commissioner of the food and drug administration. this is the first of two hearings we plan to have on this topic. the second will be noticed for tuesday, january 23rd. senator murray and i each have an opening statement. then i'm going to turn to senator alexander and senator casey for any opening remarks they might have. after that we'll introduce our panel of witnesses and hear their testimonies and then each member will have up to five minutes for any remarks and questions. first i'd like to welcome the chairman and thank him for giving me the opportunity to hold the gavel today. this hearing d

pension scheme amounts to nearly a billion pounds. more than a thousand people lost their jobs. and there was widespread disruption among sub—contractors and suppliers. the committeeensions regulator what lessons had been learnt. i am looking backwards with the benefit of hindsight, to see what happened, what lessons we can learn from it. you told us you are doing that. we still are. we'll have to do it on the situation as well. the fact is why i'm saying to you, we clearly have to be clearer, quicker, and tougher. the regulators insisted that their work with carillion had resulted in a 16 year recovery plan being put together, and more money being put into the pension fund. negotiating a recovery plan that balances the interests of the members and also the ability of the organisation to address its other obligations, and to deal with its priorities is a key part of this. and it does result and difficult positions, sometimes... if you cannot answer the questions, how many are in this position? how many other schemes were coming before you, we need all this extra years, for paying dividends? how many in a position? i cannot answer that question. this is complicated

president, that in the health, education, labor, and pension committee, which has jurisdiction over this issue, i would hope very much that we can bring those executives of those drug companies that produce opioids before us. because not only are we talking about 60,000 people a year dying as a result of overdoses, what we are talking about also is the expenditure of tens and tens of billions of dollars on health care and law enforcement associated with opioid addiction. so i hope that we can move forward and have those executives come before us and tell us under oath what they knew and when they knew it, because i think the time is long overdue for us to hold them accountable. and with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. mr. flake: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. flake: mr. president, last fall i had the honor to stand in this chamber and deliver remarks on the subject of a great and growing concern to me, the stewardship of our democracy at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government. i stand again today to sound the same alarm.

have been accused of failing to protect british steelworkers from a "major pensions mis—selling scandal". a parliamentary committee financial advice given to members of the british steel pension scheme, with some encouraged to give up their final salary benefits in favour of more risky investments. our wales correspondent sian lloyd reports. "exploited. . .. for cynical personal gain. shamelessly bamboozled by dubious financial advisers." the words of a report today by mps about steelworkers who devoted years to the industry but face changes to their pension scheme. some had the option of transferring their benefits to private schemes, but what happened has been described as a mis—selling scandal. yes, we've been let down with the trustees, we've been let down by tata as a company. we uncovered the case of richard bevan who had transferred his savings into a private scheme. he believes the financial advice he was given was unsuitable and resulted in him losing out on £200,000. he welcomes the scrutiny by mps but says it's too late for him. where that leaves people like myself i really don't know. it may highlight

the distinguished ranking member on the ways and means committee talks about prioritization for pension reform. our republican colleagues make gains with that. immigrants have been clear that middle-class them are our priority. republicans pay them lip service and we saw who they put first. word in this horrible tax package. we want to give them a reason to vote for us in the policy we represent. >> you said you are reserving for more promises on immigration. nancy pelosi was on the floor this morning saying she is against this deal. what is the message being sent to your caucus? will you instruct them to hold the line? see.crowley: we will there is more to the steel than the issue of immigration. there is the issue of puerto rico, the virgin islands, texas, and california, and their needs. whether this bill is supplemental and will meet the needs of people who are puerto ricos -- still does not have access to power. there are american citizens who are suffering. whether the government will meet their needs. it is very complex. there is much more to this. we have to at that in totality.

that's why the select committee on pension reform is now law and why it's so important. the committee will force congress to finally treat the pension crisis with the seriousness and urgency american workers deserve. my question is this, the we sometimes disagree on things, but this is an area, i think we can agree something must be done. would you commit to this committee and ultimately to the congress and to this select committee, would you commit the treasury of the administration will provide technical support and expertise needed for the committee to succeed? >> yes, i will. it's an important issue and we look forward to working with you, and we are pleased to provide technical help and any policy work you need from us. >> good. thank you, mr. secretary. thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. chairman, thank you very much. mr. secretary, good to be with you. thank you. i wanted to start with a matter that arose in the debate around the tax bill. and i think part of the story was missed in the coverage and missed in the debate, and that's what happened with regard to the chi

pension deficit. the former executives appeared before a parliamentary committee where they were reprimanded for refusing back their bonuses. large numbers of people will not get paid for their contracts and other people have lost theirjobs. and you are still all right. all of you. aren't you? and the collapse of carillion means the new hospital in liverpool is unlikely to be completed this year. also tonight. stock markets have experienced further volatility — after dramatic moves in global share prices in the past 2a hours. reports in south africa that president zuma — who's been accused of corruption — is now preparing to stand down. how some of england's most deprived areas suffer some of the biggest cuts in spending on children's services. hundreds of women gather at westminster to celebrate the events of a century ago — when millions were given the right to vote. and the world's most powerful rocket has been launched tonight from kennedy space center — experts say it could transform space exploration. coming up on sportsday on bbc news. could swansea's carlos carvalhal guide his side past notts cou

maneuverability you know so you can move around whereas a large pension funds large a satish and they have a board they have a committee bitcoin won't be on their radar for a. year two three years i think it's a great great point and we're talking to a multi you know tens of billions of dollars pension funds i'm going to class now who is going to going i'm going to guess in the guise of the guy had to go to what we would like to be is that in between that allows an institution to get access and we're talking this pension fund and they would love to get involved but they can't write smaller than one hundred million dollars check what's the chatter out there and the pension fund business you know best kind of the mother load in this industry and what's the chatter they know that they want uncorrelated assets you're talking about earlier that's one of the benefits as well j.p. morgan put up the bible of crypto currencies this morning because they want to base that as they want because there's no matter what jamie says the fact is that shareholders want profits of course jamie is just talking pension funds have a problem i

the work and pensions select committee says it cost the people involved thousands of pounds, and that authority did too little to protect them after the closure of the british steel pension scheme. more than a thousand driving bans were issued in 2017 to children who were not legally old enough to be behind the wheel of a car. some youngsters, aged 12 were included in the ban, and the figure has risen by almost 50 %, over the past four years. the statistics were given to the bbc under the freedom of information act. the rac describe the numbers as "the tip of the iceberg". differences in life expectancy between the richest and poorest neighbourhoods have widened according to a new report. the longevity science panel found that, a boy born in one of the most affluent areas such as st albans will outlive one born in one of the poorest such as blackpool by nearly eight and a half years. it's very unfair in our society that the poor, particularly among the elderly, are already quite disadvantaged in terms of income and all kinds of other social and economic factors. and they're also more

on the pension issue, democrats secured a special select committee that must report a fix to the problem. millions of pensioners, teams r teamste teamsters, miners, bakery workers and so many more are staring down cuts to their hard earned pensions. they didn't do anything to cause those cuts. . their livelihoods are staked to these pensions. we ought to make sure that they get every penny they earned. we democrats would have liked to take up and pass the butch lewis act. we couldn't reach on agreement to do that, but now we have a process and potentially the means and motivation to get it done. there were so many senators led by senator brown who were responsible for this. i want to acknowledge him and senators casey and stabenow, klobuch klobuchar, who worked so long and hard on pensions. the budget deal also includes long awaited disaster relief for texas, louisiana, florida, the western states, puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. many of these places are still taking their first steps in the long march to recovery. much of puerto rico and the v virgin islands we mains damaged an

the biggest difference here, and the ranking member of the ways and means committee has talked about the priorization for pension reform so that families can retire with dig nity and we are seeing the republican colleagues playing games with that. democrats are clear that the middle-class families are the priority and republicans paid them lip service and we saw who got paid first and all of the way to be made permanent in this horrible tax package as well. that is the case for the american people and not to vote against them, but to vote for us and the policy we represent. >> congresswoman, you said tman you are going to wait to see the deal and see the details, but nancy pelosi is on the floor saying that she is a against this deal. what is the message to the caucus right now? will you instruct them to hold the line? >> well, more no the deal than immigration. and there the issue of puerto rico, and virgin islands and the texas and florida and california and their needs as to whether this bill supplemental will meet the needs of the people suffering right now, particularly on the island of puerto rico where 40