after that, federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. >> joining us is the agriculture secretary tom vilsack. he joins us from nebraska. the question is about the drought and what is going on with food supply. we have two reporters. thank you for being here. let us start with the first question. >> good afternoon. i wanted to start off by asking about this disaster relief for livestock producers. they did not get a farm bill done. disaster relief for livestock producers expired in the 2008 farm bill. i would like to get an idea of what is being done to address this. >> first and foremost, we are trying to use as many tools as are available to the usda to provide help and assistance until congress gets back to work. hopefully they will pass a farm bill and we will include in that comprehensive disaster assistance for livestock operators and specialty car producers. -- specialty crop producers. the access to hay and grazing opportunities are important. we have an open breach of we of opened up lance and allocated -- we have opened up lands and made acres available. we have created an opportuni

secretary of agriculture tom vilsack will join me. and later actress goldie hawn joins me to discuss the film business and the work close to her heart and far from audiences as we take a look at how the stock market ended the week. it's nearly impossible. and train by myself, tm behind team usa stands another team. family... i lead the cheering section for tatyana. friends... i push her, i push her a lot. coaches... i take some of the pressure off. he takes some of the pressure off. she's a fierce competitor. when you meet sanya for the first time, you better tighten up your skates. thanks coach. bp is honored to be part of the support network for team usa. the team that stands for us all. you know what i love about this country? trick question. i love everything about this country! including prilosec otc. you know one pill each morning treats your frequent heartburn so you can enjoy all this great land of ours has to offer like demolition derbies. and drive thru weddings. so if you're one of those people who gets heartburn and then t

secretary of agriculture tom vilsack is joining us now from ohio state fair. mr.ave you on the program. thank you so much for joining us. >> you bet. >> so more than half of all the crops, due to drought conditions, the counties have been added to the list. characterize it for us, how bad is it? >> well, maria, it is probably the worst that we've seen since 1948, in the lower belt, obviously having an impact on crops, 48% of corn, and 57% of our range and pasture land, rated poor to very poor, so obviously this is a very stssful timen rural america. >>> which is why obviously we're seeing prices go higher and higher, the most in decades, and the u.s. provides most of the world's corn. so what can be done, what can thee u.s. do to ee help for farmers? >> well, in 1948, when we had the worst drought, most of them have crop i insurce that wl ve tm 75%, to 80% coverage. that is the good news. the mostifficult aspect of this is the livestock farmers, who don't have that. we're trying to find help to the livestock producers, opening up the grazing and hay areas, on thei

condados estan siendo afectados...o'malley dijo que solicito asistencia al secretario de agricultura tom vilsackureste del estado...se estima que los agricultores han perdido entre 30 a 54 por ciento de sus cosechas.. una maquina de rayos-x promete revolucionar la medicina y permitira a los medicos dar un diagnostico mas efectivo y rapido..monica navarro nos amplia.. atender al paciente con mayor prontitud puede ser la diferencia entre la vida y la muerte.nats, take a deep breath.. y saber el diagnostico en cuestion de segundos, es crucial en estos casos, por lo que este hospital fue el primero en los estados unidos en adquirir este ligero equipo revolucionario con menor nivel de radiacion ,conocido como maquina movil de radiologia drx.monica navarro bridge. 03;43;07;25esta nueva maquina es la que esta remplazando a esta otra donde antiguamente estas placas tenian que ser enviadas al departamento de radiologia para ser interpretadas.. ahora solamente se pone la placa en la zona afectada del paciente y de manera digital llega en cuestion de segundos la imagen de rayos a los radiologos..ricardo pe

also coming up tom vilsack and "true blood" star, debra ann woll. "starting point" begins right now. >> good wednesday morning, thank you so much for being with us here. we want to begin with our starting point this morning being jared lee loughner, admitting he's guilty now and faces life in prison. >> he changed his plea to guilty on 19 different charges amidding to killing six people and wounds others outside a tucson grocery store. gabby giffords survived and is still recovering. he will avoid the death penalty. after the hearing a number of survivors came together outside the courthouse. >> give up this hopelessness in this country that we can't do anything. because we can and we must. >> these taboo words, gun control can be spoken plainly in the halls of congress again. >> one of ways i believe we can make good come out of this, is to begin some common sense discussion about who should bear arms. what hands should firearms go into. >> kyung lah was in the courtroom. >> he seemed calmer than previous appearances. clearly medicated. when he fir

your outstanding former governor, now i think the best secretary of agriculture we've ever had, tom vilsackcongressman leonard boswell and mayor tom hannafair. you see the sun is coming out. i love being back in iowa. now, we're starting here in counsel bluff but we're going to be heading east and i think i'm going to end at the state fair. michelle has told me i cannot have a fried twinkie. but i will be checking out the buttered cow and i understand this year there's a chocolate moose. so i'm going to have to take a look at that if i can. the last time i went to the state fair, secret service let me do the bumper cars, but they said this year i -- i wasn't president yet so i could do that, but not this time. now, before i get started, i just want to say a few words about the drought because it's had such an impact on this state and all across the country. you know, right now folks here in iowa and across the heartland, we're suffering from one of the worst droughts in 50 years. farmers, ranchers depend on a good crop season to pay the bills and put a roof over their heads, and i know thin

your outstanding former governor, now i think the best secretary of agriculture we've ever had, tom vilsackn. the sun is coming out. i love being back in iowa. now, we're starting here in council bluffs but we're going to be heading east and i think i'm going to end at the state fa fair. michelle has told me i cannot have a fried twinkie. but i will be checking out the butter cow and i understand this year there's a chocolate mousse so i'm going to have to take a look at that if i can. the last time i went to the state fair, secret service let me do the bumper cars but they said this year, i wasn't president yet so i could do that, but not this time. now, before i get started, i just want to say a few words about the drought, because it's had such an impact on this state and all across the country. right now, folks here in iowa and across the heartland, we're suffering from one of the worst droughts in 50 years. farmers, ranchers, depend on a good crop season to pay the bills, and put a roof over their heads, and i know things are tough right now. the best way to help these states is for th

. >> tom vilsack joining us from omaha, nebraska. thank you. we will turn to ron nixon and alan bjerga.takeaways? alan bjerga? >> i saw some echoes and some possibilities there. when you have a drought that focuses natural attention on agriculture, that brings up all sorts of interesting conversations about ethanol, livestock, what we should be growing food for, and what we should be even producing. there are some hints there that are intriguing and i am looking forward to hearing the secretary speak in the future. >> the biggest take away for me was the market adjustment that the secretary talked about with ethanol production and exports going down. you will not have this stress that we have heard analysts say that we would have with the corn crop being reduced. there is a divide in the agriculture community with livestock producers and those who produce ethanol. that is something that has been happening for a while but the drought has brought out more division. >> the secretary talked about looking at the long-term versus short-term. what doe

tom vilsack is hoping congress passes a farm bill soon that includes some form of disaster relief. >>unately we have new technologies and perhaps the yields will be better than we expect and we hope that's true. but many farmers are in fact going to lose basically their entire crop. >> secretary vilsack says what may help farmers this year is crop insurance but he says congress needs to come one is disaster -- up with a disaster relief bill and do so quickly. lynette that's something people are continuing to watch. we need rain. we say this is a broken record but for the farmers who rely on this? they certainly do. >> exactly. i'm throwing out some numbers. 8.77 since january. that's how we're below. that's the deficit. >> below? >> below. 8%. almost 9 inches. so that's not looking too good and 2.44 since june. we are really starting to get below. we need that rain. let me show you what's going on right now on maryland's most powerful radar. we're not seeing a whole lot. we have the sweeps on. we are scanning the skies there but you know what? not a whole lot to scan this morning. we

tom vilsack joins us live. you're watching "starting point." ar.ablet. isn't it time the automobile advanced? introducing cue in the all-new cadillac xts. the simplicity of a tablet has come to your car. ♪ the all-new cadillac xts has arrived. and it's bringing the future forward. wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer? well, legalzoom came up with a better way. we took the best of the old and combined it with modern technology. together you get quality services on your terms, with total customer support. legalzoom documents have been accepted in all 50 states, and they're backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. it's law that just makes sense. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. i'm one of six children that my mother raised by herself, and so college was a dream when i was a kid. i didn't know how i was gonna to do it, but i knew i was gonna get that opportunity one day, and that's what happened with university of phoenix. n

followed by "newsmakers" with tom vilsack.debates timothy geithner at a house budget committee hearing at 10:30 a.m. next, it looked at the republican message to voters with frank donatelli. he is followed by a discussion on the history of the vice presidency with joel

organism that may be linked to miscarriages and infertility a group of scientists wrote a letter to tom vilsack which was leaked on to the internet the secretary of agriculture and described how this organism when isolated when it was exposed to pregnant chickens it killed the embryo within forty eight hours when they have ranches or forms with high levels of miscarriages they look at the aborted fetal tissue and they're packed with this new organism which is also on the fire which has been which has been treated with round by organism you're talking about a bacteria it's new science it's the size of a virus so it's only seen in an electron microscope it's never been characterized before and you know viruses are those weird kind of in between or i'm not sure if it's alive and i'm sure it's not because they don't they don't excrete they don't metabolize they do it's basically do this is not and are so this is not a virus it's not a it's not a lot of things it's probably something like a fungus that's a microfungus but they've never seen it before they're isolating the d.n.a. right now. i know i

i'm not surprised that tom vilsack didn't know. did you see tom vilsack?bout that. >> i want to -- there is a passage which i think we should end with the president's words, he is such an incredible writer, where he is talking -- he's talking about a lesson he learned about how black politicians talk about race. his book rihn in 2006. i remember once sitting with one my democratic colleagues in the illinois state senate as we listened to another fallow senator, an african-american who represented a largely inner city district. launch sboi a lengthy tirade about how it was acase of racism. you know what the problem is? whenever i hear him, he makes me feel more white. i said it's not easy for black politicians to gain the right tone to take when discussing the enormous hardship facing his or her constituents, still my white colleague's comment was instructive. it's about learning a lesson as a black politician who is in a world on the south side of chicago, where if that was all he was going to be, he wouldn't have to negotiate the sort of cross racial appe

tom vilsack the agricultural sect. farmers, we're going to do -- congress of course, didn't -- hello paul ryan did not pass a farm bill before they left. they would rather go to the beach than pass a farm bill but the president said we'll do what we can by executive order to provide some relief. >> obama: today, we're announcing that the federal government will help livestock producers by purchasing over $150 million worth of meat and fish right now while prices are low, we'll freeze it for later. we've got a lot of freezers. >> bill: got a lot of freezers in the agricultural department. they'll take care of that. buy up some stock. and then a little bit later on, the president went to the iowa state fair. paul ryan was heckled there in the morning. president obama went to the beer tent, of course. and got a little better reception. he walked in and was asked about whether he was going to buy a round. he looked in his wallet and put money down for ten beers and the crowd picked up the chant. >> four more beers. >> bill

also coming up tom vilsack and "true blood" star, debra ann woll.th us here. we want to begin with our starting point this morning being jared lee loughner, admitting he's guilty now and faces life in prison. >> he changed his plea to guilty on 19 different charges amidding to killing six people and wounds others outside a tucson grocery store. gabby giffords survived and is still recovering. he will avoid the death penalty. after the hearing a number of survivors came together outside the courthouse. >> give up this hopelessness in this country that we can't do anything. because we can and we must. >> these taboo words, gun control can be spoken plainly in the halls of congress again. >> one of ways i believe we can make good come out of this, is to begin some common sense discussion about who should bear arms. what hands should firearms go into. >> kyung lah was in the courtroom. >> he seemed calmer than previous appearances. clearly medicated. when he first walked into the courtroom, he did have an unusual look on his face as he looked at the pub

ashley: agriculture secretary tom vilsack saying he thinks the impact of the drought on crops may beking. liz: but the founder and chief investment officer says climate volatility is here to stay, she joins us to explain how you can make money off of it. renee, welcome. why do you believe we will still have the heat or perhaps the problems that the drought has brought us which keep commodities high? >> well, we think yields are actually lower than the usda is forecasting and even lower than some of the independent reporters have predicted. liz: you're saying they're wrong? >> yes, we are. liz: okay. >> actually, i just got back from minnesota, iowa where we have the edge in research center where we do our on-the-ground checks, and in one of the fields that was predicted to be about 100 bushels per acre, it's down at 60-70. from the road the crop looks great, but when you get into the field, corn bore, there are yield issues that we think are deeper than are known right now. ashley: the government is underestimating how bad -- >> yes, we do. we think so. ashley: how do people play thi

agriculture secretary tom vilsack says he will do what he can.orn country to look at what it means for crops and your grocery bill. >> if you drive past a cornfield you may not notice a problem but this corn should be way up over my head. it's about half as tall as it should be. the individual ears are not filling in. half of the corn yield in america right now is rated as poor to very poor. midwest farmer rod sharkey says it's too late to even hope for rain. >> look great. the water shut off. we have lost our crop at this point. >> possibly the hardest hit are the livestock. it's causing decrease in price of meat but you will pay for it in the long run when the supply runs low. before recess, house of representatives passed $383 million drought relief bill to open conservation land for grazing. the senate had its own bill and congress went home leaving the farmers high and dry. oh% of the corn harvested is slated to produce ethanol required by the epa. cause manage to demand the epa ease the mandate and leave the corn supply in the marketplace.

secretary of agriculture tom vilsack on drought.cnbc.com. >>> our poll question is, has the recent hiken food prices forced you to make changes in your budget? with over 27,000 votes, 53% said, yes. 47% said, no. i guess that's pretty evenly split. >>> coming up, herb's look at etfs on the death watch. what happens to the money? >>> and we have got the story of the two luckiest race car drivers that you have ever seen, that video from pike's peak. yeah, they're okay. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. we believe the more you know, the better you trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades ar

so in the meantime, i have made sure that my administration led by tom vilsack is doing everything thatn to provide relief for those who need it. last week we announced $30 million the help ranchers and farmers to get more water to livestock and to land because of the drought, and now we will help by purchasing over $150 million of meat and fish while it is low and freeze it for later, but we have a lot of freezers. that way, that will help ranchers, you know, who are going through the tough times right now, and also over the long term obviously that food is going to be spent by folks at the pentagon and other places. america depends on farmers and rancher ranchers to put the food on the table. depends on the farmers and the ranchers to feed our families and we have to be there for them. not just today, but tomorrow and everyday until this drought passes, because we are americans, and that is what we do. we take care of each other, and when the tough times strike our neighbors, we give them a hand. now, that speaks to the larger idea of why i'm here. you know, the notion that i'm my bro

cnbc spoke with the head of the usda tom vilsack a few moments ago. listen in. >> well, when you're looking at nearly two thirds of the continental united states impacted by drought and severely so, we added counties to the disaster declaration list, we have 1,670 counties in the united states now disaster counties because of drought. >> knows a lot about it. he was a former governor of the state of iowa. corn prices skyrocketing in the last three months, up 33%. 34% as you look there above $8 a bushel right now. wheat up 42% in three months. soy up 15% in that same time frame. in about a moment, sue speaks live with the governor of illinois. his state hard hit, as well, in this drought issue. but first, more on the money being left in the dust by this drought. we move on now to jane wells in nevada, iowa, with more on how one farmer is getting through the drought of 2012. >> reporter: tyler, ugly. they're going to be talking about the drought of 2012 for years to come. for old timers, it is bad. for young farmers, it's scary. >> we have gone from a d

you mentioned agriculture is our kultury tom vilsack.is wife, christy, is running against one of the most conservative members of congress, and she is hitting him every day about this farm bill. this is a guy that it every set of circumstances is against the food stamp program, but here he is advocating for this bill because he knows he cannot get it done politically with the market. host: next caller. it caller: good morning and thank you for taking my phone call. what igor bertran shopping to buy look at the frozen foods and they are all from foreign -- when i go grocery shopping, i look at the foreign foods and they're off from foreign countries. -- all from foreign countries. my question is, we need to pass this farm bill in the united states. people need to recognize that if we do not pass this farm bill, there will be more and more imported vegetables and fruit into this country, and they use more pesticides than the american farmers. in order to help the farmers, we all need to call congress to help push this farm bill. guest: you

both tom vilsack and bill richardson used blue state digital services during the 2008 election. but after, essentially, the folks from a blue state digital brought their platform to the democratic party and the obama campaign, one of the innovative things that the obama campaign did very well was creating an organization around those tools to use them effectively in some way. i love just framing this by a quotation michael slaby, chief technology officer in 2008, gave me when i interviewed him about the work of the campaign. now he is the chief immigration -- integration officer in 2012. folks were already mobilized around the obama candidacy -- his charisma, rhetoric, just the opportunity to elect a democrat to office for the first time in a long time -- into concrete electoral resources. the mantra of the media division was money, message, and votes -- the staples of electioneering treat you need money to do television advertisements, to court and eight field campaigns. -- to coordinate field campaigns. you need to get your message out there. and ultimately, on election day, y

both tom vilsack and richard nixon knew the services during the 2008 election. after a essentially the folks in the digital brought form should the democratic party to the long campaign one of the innovative things that they did it for very well as creating a organization of around the tools to use them effectively in some way. and i want to frame this by a vote in the chief technology officer from 2008 gave me when i interviewed him about some of the work in the campaign in the integration officer for 22 of, but the idea is that folks were already mobilized around the candidacy. they were mobilized the charisma, his rhetoric, just the political opportunity to elect a democrat to office for the first time in a long time into the concrete electoral resources and a really the mantra of the campaign media division was money message and votes. the stables of electioneering. you need money to do things like air of television advertising to coordinate your electoral campaign and you need to drive your message to get it out there and make sure you communicate with the

department of agriculture and the secretary tom vilsack announced they're going to provide april extraor glazing for livestock. it is land they normally preserve, won't let livestock trample over it. right now, the situation is so dire, they're providing almost 4 million acres of conservation land for glazing and livestock because the land is moister, it has more quality. that's the first step. the usda said insurance companies will give them a grace period for paying insurance premiums 30 more days. farmers getting a financial boost to get through it. they need all the help they can get. 30 days may not cover it as far as financial concerns of farmers now. >> well said. also so interesting, july is a key growing season, growing month and tough go of it for so many farmers. brian todd, thank you so much. want to bring in our severe weather expert chad myers to go more in depth. chad, how did things get this bad? >> it was hot a long time. remember that about summer. then it didn't rain. big ridge of high pressure took all the rain to canada. there are only very few areas, kate, that ar

. >> in the meantime i've made sure my administration, led by tom vilsack is doing everything we canovide relief to those who need it. last week we announced $30 million to help prapb muchers and farmers get more water to livestock and rehabilitate land affected by drought and today we're announcing that the federal government will help livestock producers by purchasing over $150 million worth of meat and fish right now while prices are low, will freeze it for later, but we've got a lot of freezers. [laughter] >> and that way that will help ranchers, you know, who are going through tough times right now and also over the long term obviously that food is going to be spent by folks at the pensi the pentagon and other places. we fend on farmers and ranchers to put food on the table and tpoed ou feed our families. we've got to be there not today and tomorrow only but until this drought passes. we are americans, that's what we do, we take care of each other and when tough times strike our neighbors we give them a hand. [cheers and applause] jenna: the president talking about the farm bill

this morning on "starting point" we're going to be talking with agriculture secretary tom vilsack. >> get you up to date on this morning's top stories. the next time we will hear from tucson shooter jared lee loughner will be in november at his sentencing. yesterday he pled guilty to 19 charges in order to avoid the death penalty. loughner also waived his right to pursue an insanity defense. loughner killed six people, wounded 13 others outside an arizona supermarket 19 months ago. among his victims, then congresswoman gabrielle giffords. >>> violent threats at a madonna concert have pushed authorities in russia to step up security. officials say they received a threat of an attack against fans and performers at madonna's show scheduled in st. petersburg for tomorrow. u.s. officials are urging any americans headed to that show to remain aware of their surroundings, be vigilant of themselves, of course. >>> leave the cash, take the yogurt. a strange break-in caught on camera at a mcdonald's. this is in indiana. the suspect seen there on surveillance video trying to steal a cash registe

. >> tom vilsack has been talking about that all along an especially now as we see hardships for smallse many small farmers are going to be hurt badly. >> labor secretary hilda solis in studio for us with this one suggestment. follow what the secretary is doing and the labor department is doing at their website at dol.gov. madam secretary, i want to come back to people who are still out there, still hopeful, still looking for work. what should they be doing and what sector should they be looking at? >> they need to stay engaged. i would encourage them to vitsit or wibseat at www.dol.gov. if they don't have access to the internet, call us at 1866-4-usad'l. toll-free line. if they are looking for anything right now in particular go online myskillsandmyfuture.org. it's user friendly. >> what sector? >> growing? >> they might consider? >> i would say health care, and i mean at the upfront, the ambulatory, the front office recordkeeping, people who want to be pharmacist aides, nursing assistants, and also areas in i, computer technology, always very helpful. and, also, look at apprenticeshi

[applause] tom vilsack. congressman leonard boswell and your mayor.e sun is coming out? [applause] i love being back in iowa. we're starting here in council bluffs, but we will be heading east and i think i will and at the state fair. michelle has told me i cannot have a fried twinkie, but i will be checking out the butter cow and chocolate moose. i will have to take a look at that, if i can. the last time i went to the state fair, secret service let me do the bumper cars. i was not president yet, so i could do that. not this time. now, before i get started, i just want to say a few words about the drought because it has such an impact on this state and all across the country. right now, people in iowa and across the heartland are suffering from one of the worst droughts in 50 years. farmers, ranchers depend on a good crop season to pay the bills and keep a roof over their heads. i know things are tough right now. the best way to help these states is for the folks in congress to pass a farm bill that not only helps farmers and ranchers respond to natu

both tom vilsack and richard nixon knew the services during the 2008 election. after a essentially the folks in the digital brought form should the democratic party to the long campaign one of the innovative things that they did it for very well as creating a organization of around the tools to use them effectively in some way. and i want to frame this by a vote in the chief technology officer from 2008 gave me when i interviewed him about some of the work in the campaign in the integration officer for 22 of, but the idea is that folks were already mobilized around the candidacy. they were mobilized the charisma, his rhetoric, just the political opportunity to elect a democrat to office for the first time in a long time into the concrete electoral resources and a really the mantra of the campaign media division was money message and votes. the stables of electioneering. you need money to do things like air of television advertising to coordinate your electoral campaign and you need to drive your message to get it out there and make sure you communicate with the