captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> lehrer: good evening. i'm jim lehrer. there was new evidence today that flawed mortgage documents could lead to billions of dollars in bank losses, and further cripple the housing market. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the newshour tonight, judy woodruff gets the latest on the nationwide probe into questionable mortgage practices. >> lehrer: then margaret warner interviews t.s.a. administrator john pistole about concerns over security screenings at the nation's airports. >> we have to do a good job of informing the public as to what we're doing without providing a road map to the terrorists.

>> ifill: tom bearden tells the story of an organization trying to heal the wounds of war, working with former child warriors in uganda. >> lehrer: we update today's news from the congress, including the guilty verdict for congressman rangel, and the effort to end budget earmarks. >> ifill: and ray suarez talks to army staff sergeant salvatore guinta, the first living service member to receive the medal of honor since the vietnam war. >> i think this represents all those unsung heroes that deserve it so much. this is for them. i can't wear this for myself. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> lehrer: new warnings today added to fears of what foreclosure problems could mean for the u.s. economy. they came as executives of major banks faced a congressional hearing. the report on home foreclosure problems came as many mortgage lenders have resumed selling foreclosed properties. they had been frozen for a time after revelations of faulty paperwork in thousands of cases. the congressionally created panel that oversaw big bank

bailouts went on to investigate the foreclosure problems. the panel's new chairman is former senator ted kaufman a delaware democrat. >> employees, gmac mortgage and other major loan services testified to signing thousands of foreclosure documents even though they had no knowledge of the underlying facts. if these reports reflect a disregard on the part of banks for the legal requirements of a closure, that alone would be unconscionable. >> lehrer: in the worst case scenario the panel says courts could block foreclosures, banks would be left holding bad mortgage loans that would cost them billions of dollars. that in turn would deepen disruption in the housing market. but in the best case, the oversight panel acknowledges concerns about mortgage documents may prove to be overblown. a view embraced by the financial industry. this afternoon executives from two major lenders j.p. morgan chase and bank of america appeared before the senate

banking committee. bank of america is an underwriter of the newshour. the committee pressed them on today's report and their plans for managing foreclosures going forward. >> many believe that the robo- signing errors are the tip of a much larger iceberg that they are emblematic of much deeper problems at the mortgage servicing business, problems that have resulted in homeowners of course losing their homes and unjustifiable foreclosures and service practices may be putting homeowners at risk. >> lehrer: both bank had suspended foreclosures pending internal reviews. bank of america today said it's making changes. >> we were the only servicer who stopped foreclosure sales nationwide to review our procedures. we know the concerns are not just technical issues. we have confirmed that the basis for a foreclosure decisions has been correct and accurate, but we did not find a perfect process. >> lehrer: also testifying at the hearing was iowa attorney

general tom miller who is leading a 50-state probe of foreclosure practices. >> we view this as a chance to solve some or much of this problem that's hung on for over three years as senator dodd outlines. it started as a mess, the robo- signing. we want to figure out a way that it leaves the whole situation much better than when the mess started. >> lehrer: a second hearing will take place before the house financial services committee on thursday. in the meantime, the obama administration has said it sees no reason for a mandatory nationwide halt to foreclosures. to judy woodruff. >> lehrer: and to judy woodruff. >> woodruff: we get the latest now on the foreclosure problem and what's being done about it. brady dennis has been covering this story for the "washington post." he joins us from the "post" newsroom now. brady din it, thank you for talking to us. first of all, what sense do we get, do you get today after hearing this testimony and

based on all your reporting of just how serious the foreclosure situation is in this country right now? >> you know, i think that's truly something that everyone from the regulators to lawmakers to the banks themselves are still wrestling with trying to get a handle on just how deep this problem goes, you know, how serious the reverberations from it may be. last night senator ted kaufman who now heads the oversight panel put it succinctly and pretty well when he said this may turn out to be essentially nothing and this may turn out to be a really huge deal. i think we're seeing in realtime folks on all sides sort of still wrestling with that question. >> woodruff: and so in terms of mistakes that have been made clearly some mistakes have been made by some banks, some of the mortgage servicers. we heard more testimony about that today. that is an ongoing, unresolved question. am i right? >> right. i think no doubt huge mistakes

have been made. i think you saw some of that today. the banks, bank of america and j.p. morgan who were present own up to some of those mistakes namely the robo-signing we've all heard about and some of the other paperwork issues. the question i think is going to be the fallout from that. on one level you could have big problems for the banks in the nation's courts as they're trying to foreclose on these homes. whether judges accept new paperwork or throw out cases based on the problems the faulty paperwork that the banks submitted. on the flip side of that you have large institutional investors now threatening lawsuits against banks. investors who had invested in large mortgage-backed securities saying, you know, that they intend to sue and make the banks buy back some of these mortgages, some of these securities if investors were misled due to these problems. i think that's another worry that can be very, very costly for the banks.

in that worstate case scenario that can be very troublesome. >> woodruff: how serious is the evidence, brady dennis, that the iowa attorney general and others put forward today about what the banks have done? >> well, you know, i think i was able to speak with tom miller this morning before he headed to cap fall... capitol hill. i think they're still digging into the extent of the problems. what he reiterated time and again, he is invested along with others attorneys general in getting to the bottom of the... if the law was broken and what remedies there are to that. he seemed to be more intent on saying this is an opportunity to force the banks to focus more on modifications and to putting more manpower and resources and money into that process. so i think, you know, what we ultimately might see even though it's early is an effort, a some sort of settlement with banks in which it's not just fines but rather, you know, an

agreement to put more resources toward helping people stay in their homes rather than just foreclosing. >> woodruff: in fact, there were wire reports today that perhaps they're getting closer. some of the banks and the, i guess, the attorney general and the group of attorneys general he represents. what in general would you... how would you describe the tone of what the banks are saying? that's their defense? >> well, the banks up to this point, you know, while acknowledging problems, have generally said this is an oversight on our part, a paperwork problem that essentially can be, we can resubmit paperwork to the courts. this will be a problem that will essentially... something that can be fixed. you know, tom miller and up certainly saw lawmakers on the senate panel today say, you know, hold on a minute. it's not simply a technical problem. you know, we're going to keep after that and get to the bottom of how serious it

really is. >> woodruff: i was struck by the number of senators on both sides of the aisle, both political parties who said they were being inundated in their offices with complaints from homeowners who have been foreclosed on even though they were in the process of having a loan, a mortgage modified. >> that's right. i mean another... you saw that anger because certainly they've been just bombarded with the experiences of individual homeowners. another problem that keeps coming up in this is what's known as a dual track or sort of a parallel track that troubled homeowners get on where at the very time that they're trying to work out a modification with a bank, they're also going through the foreclosure process. it's very, as you can imagine, scary and troubling and quite confusing for homeowners who are trying to stay in their home and do a modification and yet the foreclosure proceedings against them are going forward. i think that's something that the banks talked about trying to change today but certainly the lawmakers and the state attorneys general want to

force a change on that. >> woodruff: we know the senators and i guess house members do plan additional hearings on this. brady dennis, we thank you very much for talking to us. >> my pleasure. >> ifill: still to come on the newshour, closing gaps in air security, >> ifill: still to come on the newshour, closing gaps in air security; offering therapy to child soldiers in uganda; ending legislative earmarks; and honoring afghan war veteran salvatore giunta. but first, with the other news of the day, here's kwame holman in our newsroom. >> holman: chances faded today for senate action this year on a nuclear arms treaty with russia. the number two senate republican jon kyl said he does not think there's enough time to address republican concerns with the treaty during the lame duck congress. in response, vice president on wall street, stocks fell to their lowest levels in a month. the dow jones industrial average lost 178 points to close at

11,023. the nasdaq fell nearly 44 points to close above 2469. the sell-off was driven by fears that china's growth will slow. and markets were on edge about the growing debt crisis in ireland. finance ministers of the european union convened today on the irish situation. dublin has resisted a bailout, but it's struggling to cover more than $60 billion in real estate losses by irish banks. we have a report from faisal islam of independent television news. >> reporter: gathering in brussels, 16 finance ministers who gave up control of their own money in order to create the euro raising questions about the very survival of the monetary union as they gather for yet another crisis meeting. >> we were in the survival mode. it is not over if you have a closer look to the papers this morning it is not over yet. so we enter a survival period.

it is not the moment to discuss what is the right method. we have all worked together in order to survive with the euro because if we don't survive with the euro we do not really survive with the european union but i'm very comfortable we will overcome this. >> reporter: this was partly a tactic to heap pressure on this man, the irish finance minister who arrived an hour late because of the brussels fog. he gave little away even as he may have suspected that his fate wasn't quite in its own hands. >> will you be asking for emergency aid. >> reporter: the official line still that the irish state does not need a bailout. but during the course of today it became clear the island is in talk s with european institutions and the i.m.f.over an external bailout of its banks. >> holman: also today, austria

warned it may not pay its share of an already agreed bailout for greece. the austrian finance minister insisted greece show it has raised enough money from higher taxes. the death toll from the cholera outbreak in haiti surpassed 1,000 today. that came as rioting spread to more cities, and two people were killed. the crowds claimed u.n. peacekeepers from nepal brought the cholera into haiti. in washington, state department spokesman p.j. crowley acknowledged the heightened tensions. >> clearly concerns are on the raise, frustration is on the rise. we understand that. you know, the number of, you know, cases continues to rise. the number of hospitalizations, you know, continues to rise. there is obviously an investigation going on to try the determine the source of the outbreak. as far as i know that investigation is ongoing and has not reached any conclusions. >> holman: haiti's ministry of health has reported nearly 17,000 cases of cholera in the country. the bacterial strain is identical to one native to south asia. afghan president hamid karzai pleaded with insurgents again

today to abandon violence and accept offers of reconciliation. his latest appeal marked the muslim holiday of eid al adha, or feast of sacrifice. karzai spoke a day after the leader of the taliban, mullah omar, declared his fighters will step up operations. and insurgent attacks killed two more nato soldiers today. across the border in pakistan, intelligence officials reported u.s. drone aircraft strikes killed 20 suspected militants. the attacks hit a tribal region of north waziristan. pakistani officials said the targets were a home and a vehicle caught speeding away. prince william, second in line to the british throne, is engaged to marry his longtime girlfriend, kate middleton. the announcement was made today in a brief statement by his father, prince charles. this afternoon, the couple appeared at st. james' palace in london. the bride-to-be wore a sapphire and diamond ring that belonged to william's mother, princess diana. she died in a car crash 13 years ago.

>> as you may recognize, it's my mother's engagement ring. very special to me. it's very special to me, the two put together. it is my way of making sure my mother is a part of today. we're going to spend the rest of our life together. >> holman: the couple plans to be married next spring or summer, but no official wedding date was announced. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to gwen. >> ifill: travelers and government officials are grappling with fresh concerns about air security as the holiday travel season approaches. margaret warner has that story. >> warner: growing concerns about air cargo security were the focus of a senate hearing today. how effectively is the u.s. preventing bombs planted in packages from getting on board? transportation security administration chief john pistole. >> it's all intelligence driven. what intelligence do we know about the shipper? did the person positively identify themselves when they came in to drop off the

package? was the package physically inspected? what do we know about the cargo carrier, where the package was dropped off, how thorough are they? how thorough is the airport at the cargo facility? so a lot of of criteria and indicia go into figuring out what is a high-risk package. >> warner: the issue was brought to the forewith last month's discovery of timed bombs headed for the u.s. on october 29, british authorities intercepted a shipment from yemen on a u.p.s. cargo plane bound for chicago. they found a printer with a toner cartridge that had been rigged with a detonator and a powdered explosive. a similar device was found aboard another airplane in dubai that also came from yemen. a furor has erupted over airport security screening for passengers. two new security measures are at issue. first the use of full body scanners which reveal images of the naked body. they're now in 60 u.s. airports with more to come. some people have balked at

submitting to the scan for reasons ranging from invasion of privacy to fears of radiation. homeland security secretary janet napolitano insists that the scanners are safe and the images are viewed in private without identifying the passengers. those who refuse the scans are subject to new intensive full body patdowns. those, too, have raised hackls. >> the guy was coming up the inside of my thighs front and back with his thumbs extended. when he got up to the back where was his thumb? in a very uncomfortable place. >> reporter:. >> warner: a california man even secretly recorded his interaction with an airport screener in san diego on a cell phone camera. the exchange can be heard in this posting on you-tube. >> we're going to be doing a groin check. place your hand on your hip and the other hand on your inner thigh. slowly come up. >> if you touch my junk i'll have you arrested. >> warner: other air passengers

sound more accepting. >> i'm okay. i'm very confident in the tsa and the process they've taken for security measures. i believe it's necessary, you know, just given recent events and the current times. if it's necessary, i'm, you know, i'm okay with that. >> warner: still organizers of the website we won't fly dot-com are urging passengers to opt out of security scanners next wednesday the day before thanksgiving. in favor of the more time consuming patdowns. that could tie up airport traffic on one of the busiest travel days of the year. i sat down with tsa administrator pistole this arch shortly before he testified. administrator pistole, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, margaret. glad to be here. >> warner: did you hear at tsa underestimate the estimate of blow-back of anger from passengers over these more intrusive screening procedures? >> we are a risk-based intelligence driven organization. knowing that any time we make changes in the protocols we use to screen passengers in

dealing with the latest intelligence that we have to do a good job of informing the public as to what we're doing without providing a road map to the terrorists. so that's the tension that we deal with. how much do we inform ahead of time here's what we're going to be doing as a counterbalance to the security that we need to ensure that everybody gets on every flight has been properly screened? i think reasonable people can disagree as to the balance between the privacy that some people have raised as issues and i'm sympathetic to those concerns. but the job is really security in terms of how can we provide the best security. >> secretary know pal said if people don't want to fly they have other means of travel. that isn't really practical is it for a businessperson? >> you know, if you have two flights and you have the option of going on the two and you know the one people have been thoroughly screened and the other plane people have

opted out and not had a thorough screening and so you don't have that confidence, i think virtually everybody is going to go with the flight that has thorough screening. >> warner: a lot of passengers are wondering whether these procedures are proportionate to the threat. i'm just wondering, would, for instance, these more extensive patdowns and the full-body scans, would they have caught the christmas day bomber with the explosives in his underwear? >> i know the threats are real. i believe that the techniques and the technology we're using today are the best possible that we have. it gives us the best opportunity for detecting the christmas day type bomber. >> warner: are there any other examples of people who have gotten through with explosive materiale that weren't caught that would have been caught with these new methods? >> we know that the general accounting office and the homeland security inspector general and even our own tsa office of inspection does what

we refer to as covert testing. i can't go into the details of those but some of the results of those are that we could and should improve the techniques that we use to do the security screening. >> warner: but these new methods don't catch something hidden in a body cavity. >> correct. >> warner: what about the level of radiation? the pilot and flight attendants are objecting saying it will expose them to a higher level than is safe. have you done any kind of of testing? do you know how much radiation an individual is exposed to and how that measures up to what is allowable, what's safe? >> there have been a number of studies done that deal with this whether by the national institute of standards technology or the fda or johns hopkins which have independently assessed this. obviously that's something we're concerned about. what is that exposure? they have all come back to say that the exposure is very, very minimal. it's equivalent to-- i've heard several analogies-- a couple minutes of flight at 30,000 feet the same amount of exposure you get there.

is... so it's well well within all the safety standards that have been set. >> warner: flyers are also complaining that the security lines seem longer. what is tsa doing to handle that? have you put more people on duty, for example, in these airports? >> well, i think the statistics would show that actually the lines are not longer. there may be an appearance but i get a weekly report. of course compared to years ago when there were regularly hour-plus waits, perhaps people have become adjusted to 20-minute wait times, that's a long time. we are making sure that we're fully staffed to deal with those surges just like the rush hour. >> warner: it has put a strain on the system but you're saying you've put enough extra people on duty to take care of it? >> i believe that they have taken all the steps that we can given with our budget and the number of officers who need to have a good through-put rate, obviously the bottom line is security. we want to provide the best

customer service and make sure we can get people through quickly and efficiently but with the proper security. >> warner: what are your plans for dealing with this national opt-out day, the day before thanksgiving. it's being organizeded amongst some passenger rights groups and on the web to get people to refuse to go through the body scanner. >> i think anybody who intentionally tries to slow the system down is going to hurt not only themselves but all their fellow passengers who are trying to get home for the holidays and enjoy their family time. i would hate for somebody to miss a flight because of that. that being said what we've seen with our advanced imaging technology is that 99% plus people decide to go through that rather than opt out. we fully staffed obviously for the thanksgiving rush next week. we just hope to look for the partnership of the traveling public to say, if you want to get home on a timely basis, then work with us as a partnership. >> warner: finally, you're doing all with passengers. what about the cargo on

passengers planes. is it the case that 25% of the cargo is still getting through uninspected. >> 100% of the air cargo that goes on u.s. domestic flights either originate, departing from the u.s. is screened. that was an congressional mandate that we put into effect august 3 of this year. the other aspect is what we saw in... coming out of yemen a few weeks ago with toner cartridges. international air cargo destined for the u.s., we have not yet reached that 100% requirement to have that screened so we're working very closely with our international partners to accomplish that. we assess that 100% of the high risk packages are being... that are destined for the u.s. are being screened. but that's something we still need to work on. >> warner: administrator pistole, thanks for being with us. >> thank you. nice to see you.

>> lehrer: next tonight, former soldiers in a children's army that has wreaked havoc in uganda and central africa. some of the onetime child soldiers are now talking of their horrific experiences. newshour correspondent tom bearden narrates this report prepared in partnership with hdnet. >> reporter: morning breaks with prayer at world vision's children of war rehabilitation center in uganda. counselors here are helping rehabilitate people who were abducted as children and forced to serve as soldiers for a guerilla force known as the lord's resistance army or l.r.a. sarah was 16 when she was kidnapped and forced into service by the rebels. >> they divided among the groups, groups for killing people who are there, groups for beating people is there. group for others is there.

for abducting children is there. >> reporter: more than 30,000 and perhaps up to 60,000 children are estimated to have been kidnapped by the l.r.a. during 20 years of civil war in uganda. while initially the l.r.a. fought on behalf of tribal people who felt owe prose oppressed by the government, the leader quickly became became a brutal terrorist and began killing the villagers themselves. michael was just 13 when the rebels took him. >> i was abducted with my brother. they told me i had to kill my brother and other people. if i didn't, i would be killed. they also told me to give them some money. but i didn't have money so i was forced to kill my own brother. my own brother. >> reporter: now that the war is mostly over, the young soldiers of the l.r.a. have been granted amnesty which means they won't be prosecuted for crimes they committed.

centers like this one are trying to help the soldiers heal their emotional wounds so they can reintegrate with society. christine is one of the counselors. >> the child could have been abducted when he was nine years old. but now he is coming back home when he's 25. most of the time, most of his lifetime is spent in captivity. so we see that really the challenges in.... >> reporter: she holds group and individual sessions and art therapy to get the former soldiers to work through their feelings. study on child soldiers who return from the battlefield show they have a wide range of problems like post traumatic stress and depression. >> this is the grave of our sister. >> reporter: according to research by the university of hamburg, half these children have killed someone. more than a quarter have been raped. getting the right care is tough. there is only one psychiatrist for every 1.3 million people

in uganda. >> >> i feel even still i am so weak because of what happened to my mind and my body. i feel like i'm not going to be able to do anything in the future. i don't see any good thing in my future. >> what can i say about the rebels and the bitterness i have with them forcing me to kill my own brother? really this pains me a lot. i feel i have no hope for the future. >> reporter: one of the first steps for the former soldiers is to get them to forgive themselves for what they've done. >> i apologize for doing the wrong thing. >> reporter: but christopher says he's still in the process of apologizing to the people in his community for the crimes he committed. the counselor says even when the soldiers have made progress during the therapy sessions returning to their

villages can still be difficult. >> not everybody in the community has already forgiven them, the rebels. there are others who are still very bitter with the rebels. even those who have already returned back into their community. there are other community members who are still bitter with them. they see that now my child is not back. for you, you are back at home. my child died from captivity. now for you're still back at home. they're still finding it really very hard to forgive. >> reporter: while many of the former soldiers continue their therapy sessions and struggle to return to civilian life, others have been hired by the ugandan government to track down their former leader joseph coney. in recent years he's been responsible for massacres in the congo, the central african republic and sudan. >> lehrer: by next week the obama administration is to report to congress on its plans to protect civilians in the region from attacks by the lord's resistance army.

>> ifill: congress got back to work in earnest today, starting with the verdict in a high- profile ethics trial. political drama spread from end to end on capitol hill today. after 40 years in congress, less than a full term as chairman of the house ways and means committee and one day after his he walked out of his own house ethics hearing, new york democrat charles rangel was found guilty of violating house rules. >> count 11 conduct in violation of the code of ethics for government service clause 2.... >> ifill: california democrat zoe loftgren announced the verdicts on 11 counts. >> we have tried to act with fairness, led only by the facts and the law. i believe that we have accomplished that mission. >> ifill: rangel, the panel found, broke ethics rules by using official letterhead to raise funds for a public service center at new york city college that was to bear

his name. failing to disclose more than $600,000 in assets and income, not reporting income earned on the rental of a villa he owns in the dominican republic, and using a rent-controlled residential apartment in new york city as a campaign office. rangel called the panel's judgment unfair and said he'd been deprived of due process rights and was not even in the room when the charges were considered. he argued yesterday that he could not afford his legal defense. >> thanks to all of you. >> ifill: it now falls to the full ethics committee to recommend what punishment the house will impose. sanctions could include a vote deploring rangel's conduct, a fine and denial of privileges. on the other side of the capitol, senators from both parties returned their leaders to office. democrats who will hold a 53-47 seat advantage in the new congress re-elected nevada's harry reid as majority leader. >> it's been my honor to serve

as the democratic leader for the last six years. my team was just re-elected. >> reporter: a strengthened republican caucus stays with mitch mcconnell and his team. >> i think we have a great opportunity here to demonstrate that we are responding to what the american people clearly would like for us to do. cut the spending, cut the debt, and get private-sector job creation going again. >> ifill: but mcconnell reversing himself on a spending issue of importance to newly elected conservatives has announced he will support an end to earmarks. money lawmakers typically designate for home state projects. >> i don't apologize for them. but there is simply no doubt that the abuse of this practice has caused americans to view it as a symbol of the waste and out of control spending that every republican in washington is determined to fight. >> ifill: mcconnell made the

opposite argument in a post election speech at the heritage foundation. >> you could eliminate every congressional earmark and you would save no money. it's really an argument about discretion. >> ifill: president obama who argued against an earmark ban during the 2008 campaign has also changed his mind. in a radio address over the weekend and a statement yesterday, he embraced earmark reform, welcoming mcconnell's decision to join me and members of both parties who support cracking down on wasteful earmark spending. democratic leader reed who has defended earmarks, said this afternoon he now will allow the senate to vote on banning them. so how much of this is about fiscal reform, how much of this is about politics, and how much a little of both? for that, we turn to james thurber, director of the center for congressional and presidential studies at american university. and maya macguineas, president of the committee for a responsible federal budget at the new america foundation. let's start with a little fact checking.

how much of the federal budget is devoted to what we call earmarks. >> nobody actually knows because it depends on how you define an earmark. let's say that the range of how much we spend on earmarks a year is somewhere between $15 billion and three times that much. so it's real money. there's savings to be had there but given how big the whole budget is it's not even close to a significant slice of it. >> ifill: what are they spent on? real projects? real bridges with people's names on them or other things. >> they're real. the bridges are actually built. sometimes they go go nowhere, sometimes to real places. what they are is spending projects directed by members of congress or in cases the white house as well to certain interests in their district for their constituents. the biggest problem with them is they don't tend to go through the normal budget process. they're not treated the way the rest of the budget is. they're slipped in and they're usually pretty specific interests thereby not representing the public interest. >> ifill: james thurber we have heard this debate in many

different forms over the year including john mccain who built his campaign in some respects around that in 2008. how much of this is politics? >> well, you know, senator obama also wanted to have earmark reform. he pushed it through, more transparent. individuals cannot receive anything from the earmark. the family cannot. he pushed that reform through. there was a debate.... >> ifill: reform not ending it. >> not ending them. they're still there. but we went from 15,000 earmarks to 8,000 after that reform in 2007. they're creeping back up. there are about 9,800. and the amount spent is... has been going down. each one is smaller. it's controversial though because it seems that it's behind the scenes. we don't have the regular process in deciding them and so a lot of americans are very upset about it. >> ifill: are they kind of hard to resist because it's bringing the bacon home? that's what a lot of legors

think they've come to washington to do? >> i think that the appropriations committee indeed don't want to get rid of it because it helps them get votes for their build and helps them build power relationships. the power of the purse is with congress. they have the right to do this but the question is whether it's transparent or not. and i think it's going to be very hard to give up even though the president says he wants them cut and the leadership says they're going to have a vote on it. >> ifill: maya, how do you distinguish earmarks from pork and how much of... how much is transparency a factor in making that distinction. >> two different ways to think about it. earmarks are some of the pork that is out there. but earmarks are either something that are done because of an individual member's interest or a local or very small targeted area or they could be pork because they're sort of wasted. they're just to get money into the district. the problem is it's the same with all areas of waste, fraud and abuse.

one person's waste is jobs for another district or projects for another district. so it has some value there. i think the big picture is it undermines all of our sense that government is doing what it's doing well. because it ends up, you start hearing some of these laugh lines about where the money is being spefernt. it undermines the credibility that the government is spending our money well especially when we have to think about scaling back spending and doing it more responsibly. >> ifill: doesn't the executive branch have control over the earmarks. >> a lot of the focus on is congressional earmarks. the white house directs plenty of money in separate ways too. the white house doesn't tend to show that in its budget. but this is standard across the board. there are some members who don't take earmarks. they've been very principled on that. >> ifill: john boehner among them. >> that's right this is a way that business gets done. that's what people are rerejecting. they don't want this to be the way that business gets done. it gives you that feeling of things getting done in the dead of night. you don't know where they've

come from in the past. people want to see that changed for their tax dollars how they're spent. >> ifill: with all the debate that has gone on over the years about whether to get rid of this approach, what is different now? why did we see mitch mcconnell switch yesterday? why do we see harry reid saying he will allow debate? what's the different formula? >> we had an election. >> ifill: oh, that. >> we had people sort of on the far right conservatives from the tea party movement saying, hey, in the caucus you've got to do something about this. the american people want something done about this. that's going on in the house of representatives. the leaders are responding to it. the house and the senate get the leadership that they want. and the leaders are listening to these new members that are coming in. they're going to go after earmarks. >> ifill: it's fair to say this is a win for the tea party caucus such as it is? >> so far it's a win. it's a rhetorical win. let's see what happens because.... >> ifill: what do you mean by rhetorical win? >> there are about 9,000 earmarks in these appropriation bills that have

not passed yet. the tax cuts are going to be considered but also the appropriation bills. let's see in the lame duck whether they deal with it or not. >> ifill: is it possible, maya mcginnis, to make the case for earmarks anymore? >> i think the problem with the case for earmarks diana and some of the earmarks that things go to fund are worthwhile. the truth is if we eliminate that process some of that money will still be spent. a lot of that money will be spent on those projects because they're good projects. the argument is pretty strong on the side of it's time to get rid of them for symbolic reasons. let's be clear. they are not going to fix the budget. they are not going to make a real dent in the budget. but they are going to be a first step. it's very important. before we move on to the real issues of dealing with our budget on the spending and entitlement, tax side. it's very hard to say to tax payers or recipients of social security or those in medicare or in defense all the different programs that will be affected you have to make real sacrifices if we still

read about bridges to nowhere or rock'n'roll halls of fame museums. these kinds of things if they undermine the sense that the money is being spent well it will be harder to asked for shared sacrifice. i think it's a very important symbolic first step albeit one that will not save us much money. >> ifill: i'll give you a chance to defend the rock'n'roll hall of fame. >> it's thard to defend these. it's especially hard to defend them in the context of a member of congress going to prison for taking bribes for earmarks. duke cunningham was his name. now we get campaign contributions in a direct relationship between campaign contributions and earmarks. it undermines trust. democracy is a fragile thing. i think that it's good to cut back on these things. i think some of it is very good. there have been books written about how some earmarks have led to very good things. if you talk to chairman of the appropriations committee he certainly will say we have the power of the purse. we need separation of powers. we need to control this.

they have we have the right to do this and we've had very good earmarks. it's hard to make that arguments these days. >> ifill: does this open the door to other broader reforms that have a greater effect? >> i think speaker incumbent boehner says he's going to have more transparency. fewer closed rules out of the rules committee meaning more deliberation. i think with the earmarks it's about deliberation and transparency. i think the republicans are going to try to do that. now, the next step is will they have them with tax earmarks? there are billions of dollars of tax breaks as well as appropriations. we've just been talking about appropriations. no one is talking about the earmarks on taxes. >> ifill: do you see this opening the way to new other changes? >> i really hope so. that point about tax expenditures and tax earmarks is a really good one. i think this vote needed to happen. we have a bunch of new people coming to washington and they need to let off some steam and say we're going to change the way things are done here.

that's really important. what it can't do is focus us so that we spend months debating earmarks instead of get to go the real business of change both improving how the budget process works. listen we didn't even pass a budget last year. we need to improve our budget process. also to deal obviously with our deficit and debt situations. those are the real challenges. so this is an important symbolic first step. >> ifill: maya mcgis and james thurber, thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> lehrer: finally tonight , an act of extraordinary bravery in afghanistan honored at the white house. ray suarez has that story. >> suarez: in a remote part of eastern afghanistan, staff sergeant salvatore guinta risked his own life to stop insurgents from kidnapping another wounded soldier. a citation was read aloud describing his gallantry in action. >> specialist guinta, decisive

leadership while under extreme enemy fire were integral to his platoon's ability to defeat an enemy ambush and recover a fellow american soldier from the enemy. >> suarez: today president obama awarded him the medal of honor, the nation's highest military award for bravery beyond the call of duty. guinta subpoena only the fourth recipient in the war in afghanistan and the first living recipient of the medal from the current wars in iraq and afghanistan. >> it is my privilege to present our nation's highest military decoration, the medal of honor, to a soleier as humble as he is heroic, staff sergeant salvatore a. guinta. now, i'm going to go off script here for a second and just say i really like this guy. (laughing) when you meet sal and you meet

his family, you are just absolutely convinced that this is what america is all about. it just makes you proud. so this is a joyous occasion for me. something that i have been looking forward to. the medal of honor reflects the gratitude of an entire nation. >> suarez: in october 2007, guinta, an iowa native, was stationeded in the valley among the most dangerous places in afghanistan for american troops. abc news was with the army in the valley during the fighting but didn't capture guinta in action. his unit was trapped by taliban fighters in a maneuver called an l-shaped ambush. >> so this group would open fire and draw all the attention from all these people because you want to eliminate the threat. then once everyone focuses here, this group comes down and kind of sweeps through or shoots down this way so everyone gets hit from the

side or from the front. >> suarez: he pulled injured soldiers to safety. then he moved to aid his badly wounded fresh sergeant joshua brennan. he saw two insurgents dragging brennan away. >> i don't think anyone knew exactly what was happening. i think everyone just kind of reacted and then started figuring out as things went. >> suarez: that's what training is supposed to do, right? >> that's exactly what it is supposed to do. you don't have to do the thinking, just the reacting. that's what everyone did there that night. >> suarez: he tossed his last grenade, emptied his rifle and chased the insurgents down the hill. he killed one and injured the other. still taking cover he pulled brennan to cover. brennan later died in surgery at a nearby base. for his own part he still wears the label hero uneasily. it's just one of the many things the young iowan is still getting used to. he talked with him this

morning before the ceremony. >> i know heroes. i've met heroes. i've met some of the bravest people in the entire world and i've had the privilege to serve with him. i've had the privilege to serve with them. when someone comes and says, you know, hey, you know, you're the man. congratulations. you're an american hero. i just take it in sprid... stride. i think about all my heroes and all the people i look up to and all the people who have given so much and taught me so much. >> suarez: since you know those people and you've admired those people, maybe part of your job now is to be that person to somebody else. no? >> i guess if that's the role that i'm cast in. i will play that role to best of my ability. >> suarez: but guinta returns again and again to his lost brothers in arms. >> it's strange when someone comes and congratulates me. and i have to, of course, okay. this is very good.

this is very positive. this is for a lot of things. it brings back instantly the memory of specialist hugo mendoza, skt joshua brennan. and i think, you know, that is who needs to be congratulated. they're not here to be congratulated. they gave every single one of their tomorrows. i'm the one they're going to pat on the back and thank and give a hug? it's difficult sometimes. >> suarez: the action that you're being decorated for, that you're come into this situation, you put yourself on the line for those men. didn't you? >> a soldier is not being a soldier for themselves. they're being a soldier for the people around them, for the men and women to the left and to the right. the ones that are showing them, leading them in front and for the people that will follow them behind. no one out there was in it for themselves. everyone acted for each other.

>> suarez: this recognition gives you an opportunity to talk about brennan and mendoza. >> it does. i think this represents all those unsung heroes that deserve this so much. this is for them. i can't wear this for myself. the president of the united states united states will give me the medal of honor and i will wear it for every single one of the service members that i have ever served with. >> suarez: have you thought about what happens to you now? i mean, this must be on some levels an overwhelming thing. few men get to wear this decoration. >> it's a lot to take in still. you know, when i found out it had almost been three years after the incident and now in the last two months it's kind of been a whirlwind of a lot of different things and a lot of different eye motions and a lot of cameras and lights. but it can't sink in yet.

it's still just kind of... trying to hang in there in my mind. >> suarez: have you thought about the ways your life will change because from now on you're not just salvatore guinta. you're a medal of honor winner. in everything you've listed in, you'll be referred to that way. it's become part of your name now. >> my parents will still call me sal. my friends will still call me sal. i'm still sal. i don't know how else to take it. i mean, like i said, it's attached to my name but the people who know me know that this is for all of them and for myself. i've got a whole bunch of buddies downstairs. it's awesome to see them and to have, you know, all the people i've served with in the last seven years come from all around the world to come to washington d.c. and be part of this and share this with myself and my family and it's

truly incredible. >> suarez: well, thank you for that day. thank you for service in general and congratulations. >> thank you, sir. >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day. a congressional watchdog group warned that problems with foreclosures could trigger heavy bank losses and damage the housing market. stocks hit their lowest levels in a month, with the dow falling nearly 180 points. and a house ethics panel convicted new york democrat charles rangel of violating house rules. and to kwame holman in our newsroom, for what's on the newshour online. kwame? >> holman: you can watch all of today's medal of honor event. on art beat, jeffrey brown talks to photojournalist tim hetherington about his new book of showing images of u.s. troops in afghanistan. paul solman weighs in on ireland's debt crisis and how it

compares with economic problems in spain, greece, and elsewhere. and we break down some data on congressional earmarks. use our interactive map to see how your state stacks up. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> lehrer: and again, to our honor roll of american service personnel killed in the iraq and afghanistan conflicts. we add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. here, in silence, are nine more.

>> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

and the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org