senate before arlen specter and tom harkin. and i joked that it actually the bipartisan in because i started talking to specter when he was a republican and testified before when he became a democrat. although he's going to be leaving the senate soon. and at that hearing, we talked about the fact that there needed to be massive funding and training in research for this area. i know alfred pong is a very distinguished engineer. and i understand that this is an example of what i write about in the last segment of my book. i think there will be some opportunities for breakthroughs. on the other hand, maybe into my three year old grandchild. so we need to think about how we handle these things in a very broad way. i have no doubt that it can be done. in congress, where i testified was that we need a dollar a phone fee on every phone for five years. that will provide us with the amount of money that we need to train engineers and scientists to do the work that has to be done, and that is why i'm excited talking about it here at the

the senate may be out of the session, but there is a hearing -- senator tom harkin is discussing the committee topic. discussing retirement securities issues. it has not yet begun. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] . . and again a live picture from capitol hill where the senate health committee is holding a hearing on social security. they will be looking at the status of social security and other post post -- postings. the "wall street journal" is saying the midwest is shaping up to be a place where the battle of the house and senate could be lost. an area of concern is around lake michigan which is demographically similar. of course, you can follow all the races during this political season at our website. c-span.org. senator tom harkin is now in the room. >> committee on health and labor pensions will please come to order. i want welcome everyone to this hearing on retirement. this is an issue that is of critical importance to every american family. a recent survey found that 92% of adults 44 to 75 beli

she was tom harkin staff member on the senate health committee serving as health legislative assistant to the senator. private practice attorney, advising clients on health care laws and hipaa, medicare and medicaid regulations and was the director of health policy program at the national partnership for women and families before coming to georgetown's health policy institute where she is a research professor. what does a research professor do? guest: well, we do policy research and anational is i on a range of issues from medicare, medicaid, chip, substance abuse policy. my focus is on private insurance. host: are you teaching? guest: i am not but a number of my colleagues do. host: first call from ohio. that is john on the democrats' line. good morning, john. caller: yeah, good morning. i'd just like to know where your government lets insurance companies kick people off with pre-existing injuries? guest: well, right now the health plans are allowed to deny people policies in many states because they have a pre-existing condition. that is something that the affordable care act, which

for this reason, i am writing in tom harkin for senator in 2012. host: what is your question? caller: when is the democratic party going to get off of their corporate agenda and get back to acting more liberal? guest: to me, the question is whether or not you want to make the perfect enemy out of the good. there are lots of things that i would like to see democrats do, and compare that to the average republican, a democrat tend to come out on the line that i come out on. look for the candidate that you want to do the best. if they are not doing what you like, you press the case. too often, what we saw was the tea party showing up expressing their case for more conservative policies, but you did not see democrats and liberals showing up and vociferously stating their case. the tea party is >> we are at george washington university. we will hear from mark penn, a former adviser to hillary clinton, also karen hughes, an adviser to president bush. afterwards, a debate between various senate candidates. later on, a discussion between the wisconsin debate for coverage. -- the wiscon

for this reason, i am writing in tom harkin for senator in 2012. host: what is your question? caller: when is the democratic party going to get off of their corporate agenda and get back to acting more liberal? guest: to me, the question is whether or not you want to make the perfect enemy out of the good. there are lots of things that i would like to see democrats do, and compare that to the average republican, a democrat tend to come out on the line that i come out on. look for the candidate that you want to do the best. if they are not doing what you like, you press the case. too often, what we saw was the tea party showing up expressing their case for more conservative policies, but you did not see democrats and liberals showing up and vociferously stating their case. the tea party is exercising their constitutional duty, advocating in a peaceful way. i 1 democrats and progressives to do the same. host: jamal simmons, thank you for being here. coming up next, we turn our attention to the value-added tax. we will stick to the national retail foundation who recently did a re

for this reason, i am writing in tom harkin for senator in 2012. host: what is your question? caller: when is the democratic party going to get off of their corporate agenda and get back to acting more liberal? guest: to

. >> at a hearing on wednesday, tom harkin told health and human services secretary, kathleen sebelius, that he would not support the transfer of $200 billion from hhs to the department of defense. it would be used by the dod for a typical manufacturing center. this is just over 46 -- 40 minutes. ions committee on labor health and services related agencies >> is sometimes said that this subcommittee defines america. for the most part, that is true. subcommittee also defends america and one very important area that is public health. funding provided by the subcommittee is what pays for the nation's medical countermeasures including the drugs medicines and devices that protect aericans against bierrorism pandemic influence and other other emerging infections. subcommittee is taken that responbility seriously and we can point to important advances. america still remains vulnerable to an epidemic of bioterrorism attack. a good example as pandemic flu. since fiscal year 2006 the a subcommittee of provided $15 billion, $15 billion to improve pandemic preparedness and the united states. many