Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20140912

Governments role in the 4. 7 billion deal to buy the american pork company, smithfield farms. The chinese, they paid a 30 premium. Very interesting. Not exactly the best business deal. So, whats really going on here . What really is it that this merger, this purchase, was all about . Woodruff and its friday, mark shields and david brooks are here, to analyze another week full of news. Those are some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Ive been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. The ones getting involved, staying engaged. They are not afraid to question the path theyre on. Because the one question they never want to ask is, how did i end up here . I started schwab with those people. People who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. 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. Woodruff the Obama Administration faced growing questions today about the coalition its trying to build against Islamic State militants. Secretary of state met with turkish leaders in ankara, hoping to win their support. Later, he said the roles of turkey and other potential allies have yet to be determined. It is frankly inappropriate at this point in time to start laying out one country by one country what individual nations are going to do. More than 40 countries had already offered assistance of one kind or another before i left washington. Meanwhile, french president Francois Hollande was in iraq, meeting with the new prime minister, haider alabadi. Afterward, abadi said france agreed to join in air strikes against Islamic State fighters. Secretary kerry also announced nearly 500 million in humanitarian aid today for syrian refugees, and the countries where theyve fled. Some three million syrians have taken refuge in neighboring states. More than twice that many remain inside syria. The World Health Organization has issued an urgent new appeal for health workers, to fight ebola in west africa. The agency announced today the death toll in the outbreak has topped 2,400 out of nearly 48 hundred cases. Cuba, meanwhile, announced plans to send 165 Health Specialists to sierra leone to help in the effort. The United States and the European Union both formally imposed new economic sanctions on russia today, for fomenting unrest in ukraine. The u. S. Measures target russias largest bank, plus energy and defense companies. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told russian state t. V. That the moves could jeopardize the ceasefire in ukraine. This was already commentary and our position is that making this type of decision at the very moment when the Peace Process is gaining stability, it means choosing the path of disrupting the Peace Process. Were going to respond calmly, adequately and, most of all, from a need to protect our interests. Woodruff the kremlin said later it will issue its own retaliatory measures. In south africa, doubleamputee olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide, akin to manslaughter, in the shooting death of his girlfriend. The judge acquitted him of murder charges. Afterward, police and bodyguards led pistorius through a mob of Television Cameras and supporters. He could get as many as 15 years in prison. The embattled mayor of toronto, canada, rob ford, has dropped his run for reelection, after discovering he has an abdominal tumor. Ford had previously insisted hed stay in the race, despite drug and alcohol scandals. In a statement today, he said hell run for a seat on the city council, instead. His brother, who now holds a council seat, will run for mayor in his place. The fiery, longtime leader of northern irelands protestants, the reverend ian paisley, died today. For decades, he rejected compromise with catholics, and demanded the defeat of the irish republican army. After the i. R. A. Disarmed, paisley stunned the world in 2007 by forming a unity government. The reverend ian paisley was 88 years old. Deportations of undocumented immigrants from the u. S. Have fallen 20 this fiscal year, to the lowest level since 2007. The Associated Press reported today. Its partly because Border Patrol agents have been swamped by a surge of Central American children crossing into the country. President obama has postponed any official immigration policy changes until after the midterm elections. On wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial average lost 61 points to close at 16,987. The nasdaq fell 24 points to close at 4567. And the sandp 500 slipped nearly 12 points, to finish at 1985. For the week, the dow and the sandp lost about one percent. The nasdaq fell a fraction of a percent. Still to come on the newshour former president bill clinton on the legacy of americorps, the threat of Islamic State militants, and more; how an airbag defect has triggered the recall of fourteen million cars since 2009; what you should know before checking into outpatient surgery medical centers; the role of the Chinese Government in buying americas largest pork company; and mark shields and david brooks on the weeks news. Woodruff they celebrated at the white house today, 20 years after a landmark law that enshrined a domestic version of the peace corps. And the man who signed that law, was on hand. Woodruff with the stroke of his pen, former president bill clinton made the Americorps National Service Program a reality, in 1993. A year later, the first class was officially sworn in. Will you all raise your right hand and repeat after me i will get things done for america. Woodruff in the 20 years since, more than 900,000 participants have spent in excess of 1. 2 billion hours working on projects across the u. S. Today, that spirit of service was celebrated at the white house, as clinton and hundreds of current and past americorps members joined president obama to mark the anniversary. Americorps has changed the life of our nation. And now its up to us to make sure it continues cause were not just here to celebrate whats already been achieved. Were here to rededicate ourselves to the work that lies ahead. Woodruff a new class of some 75,000 volunteers was sworn in today at the white house and around the country. Members must be at least 17 years old and commit to volunteer for a year or two in exchange for a modest living allowance as well as an education stipend. Over the years, theyve tutored and mentored children in under served communities and helped rebuild after natural disasters. Volunteers have also worked to combat hunger and on Environmental Conservation projects. Matthew little joined americorps shortly after its inception. He worked with the Service Organization city year at an Innercity School in boston. This is a onceinalifetime opportunity that people dont typically get to have. You get to serve your community. You get to serve the nation. And you get to serve these individuals. Its just something that makes you a better person for having done it. Woodruff but the program is not without its critics. Some republicans have objected to giving a monetary incentive for civic service. At todays ceremony, former president clinton called it a wonderful investment in americas future. Americorps works because all of you who went before kept your promise to get things done. I hope that congress will on this occasion reconsider its opposition to its budget requests and give us a chance to grow americorps some more. Woodruff i sat down with the former president this afternoon to talk about americorps and other matters. Former president bill clinton, thank you for talking with us. Thank you. Woodruff as we just saw, youre celebrating the 20t 20th anniversary today of ahmeamericorps. You said this was one of the proudest things you did as president of the United States. But from the very beginning, many republicans said this is something that should be done in the nonprofit sector, the government shouldnt be funding it, its been difficult to get it fully funded. Why do you think its been so hard to get bipartisan buyin . I think it violates their ideology, but if you think about it, it costs us less to hire an americorps person on basically a living stipend and give them College Credit like the g. I. Bill than it does to pay a years worth of unemployment, and every dollar we spend on americorps represents a dollar spent on the community, every dollar on an independent study provides almost 4 worth of benefits and every dollar spent that way saves governments, federal state and local, more than 2 they would have to spend otherwise because of all the free labor. And the americorps, like when the tornado hit joplin, we sit americorps volunteers down there and they were adept at generating and organizing large numbers of other volunteers, something not everyone knows how to do. Its just been a great thing. And, you know, we still have to fight it, but i guess well just keep doing it. President bush supported it, and i appreciated that. So weve had three president s in a row that have really been in here for it, and i think with 900,000 people having served in americorps now, i think its part of the fabric of our national life. Woodruff even some big supporters of the program have said that its been harder than you would have expected to get young people interested in this. Last year, there were half a million young people who applied, but thats out of 32 million in this 18 to 24 cohort. How do you explain that . Well, first of all, they were applying for 75,000 slots. So they knew that there was i mean, thats like trying to get in an ivy league school. Thats first. Secondly, i think a lot of young people still dont know about us, but i believe if we had 250,000 slots, which is what we wanted to have by 2017, i believe there would be millions of people apply for it. Im amazed. I think whatever we can provide, the demand will exceed the supply in americorps. Woodruff president clinton, you the Clinton Global Initiative has now become a big annual happening in new york city coming up in a few weeks and you raise tens of millions of dollars every year for a variety of causes. One of your major focus this year is women and girls. In the wake of the ray rice incident and other domestic abuses and after all the education thats been done in this country on domestic abuse, why do you think this is such a problem in our country . Oh, i think its a problem around the world. You know, there was a recent survey, at least sometime in the last couple of weeks, and i wish i could remember who did it, but the number of women and girls who have been physically and sexually abused, the percentage around the world is staggering and far greater than it is here. I think the reaction to the rice incident shows that were still moving on it here, but i dont know that you will ever eliminate it. There is an enormous amount of violence in every society within the home, sadly, where people live in proximity and are under pressure, have lives they dont show to the outside world. But i actually think america is making headway here. Its a big issue to me. Ive lived with it and hillary spent a lifetime fighting against it, and its a big issue. But i think what we would like to do primarily with the c. G. I. Is to keep trying to empower women and girls around the world and to work against much more institutionalized violence against women and girls that exists all over the world. Woodruff let me turn you to some news of the week, the big story, president obamas announcement of his plan to go after, in his words, to degrade and destroy the terrorist Islamic State group. How confident are you that this is going to be successful . And how long do you think its going to take . Well, this group, i think they can be degraded and eventually destroyed if and only if the people they are abusing are willing to fight. In other words, the strategy he outlined, which i strongly agree with, requires us to use air power and people on the ground to give training and support and intelligence and to bring in equipment they need so it will be a fair fight. But ever since vietnam, we have learned that if the United States goes anywhere in the world to fight i hate sports analogies but potentially its an away game, and we need to be back in the home team. And now because of the changes in the iraqi government, it appears that the sunni tribal chiefs are, once again, having been abused by i. S. I. S. , and they were by al quaida and iraq, are willing to fight and, this time, looks like theyre going to be involved in a more unified iraqi government. The peshmerga of the kurds has fought. We need to keep them equipped, trained, full of intelligence and give them support, i think they can win, but its not going to be easy or quick. Woodruff i must ask you about russia, vladimir putin. You know this plan, his government. Theyve annexed crimea, now effectively control much of eastern ukraine. There have been more sanctions announced today, they dont seem to phase him. Is the west helpless to stop him . No and i dont think they will phase him. The allocation of money and power in russia is not as it is here and theres nothing that resembles the free market and theres a lot of politics in it and thats going to be felt. But putin controls the media. Russia doesnt have a free media, so by the time they get through whipping everybody up, he can maintain ocularty longer than popularity longer than he should. Poroshenko is probably the best president ukraine can have right now. Hes a responsible, strong man. We need to make sure theyve got equipment and other support. And theyre not n. A. T. O. Members. We cant commit to put troops on the ground. We dont want a major war, but we ought to back them and protect and support them as much as we can. Woodruff question about american politics. You have been all over the country, you will continue to go all over the country campaigning for democrats, you and secretary clinton will be in iowa this weekend. Despite that, all the experts are saying republicans are going to take control of the senate this fall including in your home state of arkansas. Whats your assessment . Cant tell you. In arkansas, it is a question of whether the democrats can get over their primary disability as a Political Party which is we can produce in a president ial race but not a midterm race. Mark pryor i believe can win a substantially victory if we had a normal turn out of africanmanner, hispanic voters. We have too many lower income white voters. We have too many voters in state after state offafter state where thats the case. I dont know whats going to happen yet but im going to help all over the country. Woodruff youre not going to predict the democrats . I think we have a slightly better than 50 chance to hold the congress. I still think we can win in georgia and kentucky. Were now competitive in kansas, and we have to, i think i think we have a great chance to win in North Carolina. I think were now going to hold michigan, and i believe well win in iowa, and i thinken mark and Mary Landrieu will win, so im not with the skeptics. Woodruff president bill clinton, we thank you very much for talking with us. Thank you, judy. Woodruff General Motors major series of recalls has so far been the defining consumer safety story in the Auto Industry this year. But now, to add to that, there are concerns being raised around airbags on the part of honda and ten other car manufacturers, that have prompted more recalls, and a focus on disclosure, regulation and safety. Jeffrey brown has the story. Brown as with g. M. , the problems may date back a decade or more. In this case, its the rupturing or explosion of air bags that injured drivers and are linked with two deaths. The airbags are supplied by takata corporation. Which makes them for automakers around the world. Honda first began recalling a few thousand as early as 2009. This year, recalls related to the airbags have grown dramatically. And now exceed 14 million overall, six million of them by honda. While toyota, b. M. W. And nissan have also recalled large numbers of cars. David shepardson of the detroit news joins me now. First, remind us what the problem is with the air bags. Sure. These are abags deploying in a frontal crash. Rather than just getting the pillow you see in a standard air bag, they are rupturing because of the high force and in some cases sending shrapnel or pieces of metal causing injuries and reports of two deaths. Brown as we reported here, it was found first a long time ago. It has taken a long time to get to this number of recalls. Kind of quickly bring us up to date. Whats been happening . Well, its been a real puzzle both for honda and regulators, in part because you had two different plants, one in mexico and one in Washington State that had two different issues with these air bag inflaters that prompted, you know, starting with honda to recall these vehicles and grew to almost a dozen worldwide. In fact, the government is Still Deciding whether the recalls that have been done so far are enough and still may be more vehicles to be recalled, and that goes to the issue of its hard to figure out exactly how many vehicles and which specific air bags should be covered by this. Brown and thats led to the question whether ford and honda have done enough or have tried to keep it quiet. As standard procedure in the auto industries, some Auto Companies have settled suits but the settlements are confidential. The government receives reports of settlements through Early Warning database, but remember, when you have 6 million crashes a year, 30,000 people who die and a relatively small number of people for the government investigating, its often hard to find a needle in the haystack, as they would say. Brown that leads to the other side of this, questions about the regulators, how much are they looking and how much are they able to look . The Senate Commerce committee is having a hearing tuesday to decide, look, the number of car sales has grown and the complexity of cars has grown with the computers. The groups investigating is relatively stable. Theres a question of does the agency need to be beefed up and have more tools to force Auto Companies to recall vehicles faster. Brown the company involved, the Japanese Company is supplying a lot of automakers. Right. Brown thats representative of changes in the Auto Industry, right . Absolutely. We had the crisis in 2009, which caused and spurred dozens of major suppliers to file for bankruptcy. As a result, some of the suppliers who survived got bigger and bigger and, therefore, you have this one inflater part that in the past may have only led to recalls by one or two companies but, as a result of the market dominance of the company, you had a Dozen Companies in the u. S. , in germany, around the world. So it goes to the fact that commonality of parts is leading to much bigger recalls in some cases. Brown and what is honda itself saying at this point about where things hand and its own culpability . It took them a long time to figure out what the problem is and said theyre committed to recalling vehicles if they find theyre unsafe. Brown you say theres a hearing coming up. What happens next . What do we look gore. Well, the government in june pushed companies to recall vehicles. In fact some of the automakers did it even though they said they didnt need to. So look for the national Highway Traffic Safety Administration to keep up its investigation whether honda acted properly and recalls need to be expanded and look for congress to grapple with the issue of auto reforms. Brown david shepardson, detroit news. Thank you. Thank you. Woodruff now, the rising use of Outpatient Medical Centers for surgeries and other procedures. Its a corner of the American Health care market that rarely gets public attention. But after the death of comedian joan rivers, who suffered from complications at one facility in manhattan, there are larger questions being asked about those centers, as their numbers are growing. There are more than 5,000 of them performing a total of 23 million surgeries a year. Hari sreenivasan fills in the picture from our new york studios. Sreenivasan joan rivers first went to the Yorkville Endoscopy center on august 28th. But she suffered complications and was rushed by ambulance to mount sinai hospital that day. She never regained consciousness and died september fourth. It is still not clear what went wrong or what procedure she was undergoing and there are no allegations of wrongdoing. But the facility is the subject of a state investigation. It announced the departure today of its medical director and there are questions being asked about similar facilities. Shannon pettypiece is covering this for Bloomberg News and joins me now. What exactly is the type of facility ms. Rivers was at . Its actually very common. Theres more than 5,000 of these called ambulatory surgery centers. Theyre basically a freestanding surgery facility for outpatients only and theyre typically owned by the doctors rather than a hospital. Some of them are small, like the one ms. Rivers was at with just a few doctors that focuses on one or two types of procedures like endoscopy or colonoscopy, but some are quite big and do a range of outpatient procedures and almost look like a hospital. So it can be tricky for a patient to tell the difference between a hospital and Outpatient Surgery Center. Essentially, these facilities dont have an emergency room or an i. C. U. And, like i said, are owned by the doctors performing the procedures there rather than a nonprofit or a large corporation. Sreenivasan why are they increasing in number . Whats creating the market for them to exist . Two things one, more and more procedures are done outpatient because of improvements in technology. You dont have to spend the night in the hospital for one or two days. The second is theyre cheaper. They cost about half as much as as having a procedure done in the hospital because they dont carry the hospital overhead like the emergency room or charity care that a hospital provides. So they save insurance a lot of money and with people having these 5,000 deductible and copays now, they can save individuals a lot if its 1,000 at the Outpatient Surgery Center versus 2,000 at a hospital. Sreenivasan the Insurance Companies pay less, the patient may pay less out of the deductible. Is there a conflict of interest if the doctor tells you to go to a facility they have a stake in versus a hospital where they make money differently . The doctor will make more money if he sends you to a facility he owns rather than going to a hospital where hes basically just paid for his labor. There have been concerns and studies that have shown doctors who have an ownership stake in these facilities refer more patients and do more of a certain type of procedure. Why that is hard to tell. Some people said its because they think the doctors have a financial stake and also may be because its nor convenient to do the procedures, can schedule them more easily and quickly but thats one of the main concerns raised about the facilities. Sreenivasan are there concerns about the health. Coms . If you dont have an emergency room on the premises and if something goes wrong like in mrs. Rivers case, what happens . Theres no data that shows that, for the general population, an Outpatient Surgery Center is any more risky than a having it done at a hospital. But for that one in a million case where something does go wrong, theres not an emergency room, so there has to be a backup plan, usually thats calling 911, which was the case with joan rivers, and then you have to be rushed to the hospital where there isnt an emergency room. So one of the Big Questions is what type of emergency equipment do they have on hand and how far are they from an emergency room facility if it is one of those rare cases where something happens . Sreenivasan so what kind of questions should a consumer be thinking about when they might go into one of these procedures . First theres the stuff you should always ask before you go into the procedure. The surgeons history, how many procedures, theyve done, what their Safety Record is like, is the facility accredited and certified. There is an Accreditation Process for these facilities. But the other thing to ask specifically for an Outpatient Center is whats the backup plan if something goes wrong. How close am i to a hospital if i need to get to the emergency room. And you might want to ask if the doctor has an ownership stake in it and then question is this procedure really necessary or is it possible the doctor is suggesting this because he does have a financial motive. Sreenivasan obviously this particular tragedy put this into light. Had this been a debate or struggle in the Healthcare Community in the past few years now . There has. As these Outpatient Facilities are more prevalent, there are an increase in the number of them in the past decade. There have been a lot of studies and research, physicians groups and ants thesology groups, everybodys concerned about them. So this is not something new in the medical debate just because of this event though its getting a lot offattention. Sreenivasan shannon pettypiece, Bloomberg News, thank you so much. Mmhmm. Woodruff one year ago this month, a Chinese Company bought americas largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods. The 4. 7 billion deal is the biggest chinese acquisition of a u. S. Company to date. Nathan halverson from the center for investigative reporting looked into the Chinese Governments role in the takeover. This story was produced as part of the food for nine billion series, a collaboration between the center for investigative reporting and homelands productions with broadcast partners, the p. B. S. Newshour, American Public medias marketplace and p. R. I. s the world. Reporter pork pride is everywhere in smithfield, virginia. This small town of 8,000 dubs itself the ham capital of the world. Painted pigs line main street. And, at the taste of smithfield cafe, bacon graces nearly every dish. The towns museum even features the worlds oldest edible ham. And some in town still produce ham as it was done generations ago. We are curing ham the same way it was done during colonial times. Jamestown, williamsburg, right on up to now. Reporter the town is also home to the Worlds Largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods. This factory processes more than 10,000 pigs a day. Weve got boneless loins, bonein loins, butts, backribs, spareribs, neckbone, cushions, weve got an assortment of everything. Reporter and this is going all over the country . All over the world. Reporter here, every employee from secretaries to the c. E. O. Learns how to properly butcher a pig. A year ago news broke that stunned the town. Chinese buyers had purchased Smithfield Foods. That was the issue when it was announced. It shocked the town. Nobody saw it coming. Another foreign deal causing chatter if not National Security concerns. Smithfield agreeing to be acquired by chinas shuanghui international. A Chinese Company today offering nearly 5 billion. It would be a largest chinese takeover of any American Company questions are being raised about why china wants our pigs. Reporter the takeover raised concerns the Chinese Government was a hidden player in the deal. Some members of congress wondered why Shuanghui Group would pay more than smithfields market value. The chinese, they paid a 30 premium. Very interesting. Not exactly the best business deal, so, whats really going on here . What really is it that this merger, this purchase, was all about . Reporter senator Debbie Stabenow heads the Senate Agriculture committee. She says food is a strategic resource that should be as important to the u. S. Government as oil. This isnt just an acquisition of a company. Its 25 of the pork industry in the United States. Reporter stabenow worried that the smithfield takeover, could signal a longterm threat to the vital American Food industry. This is a precedent setting case. Reporter while the deal was still under review by the u. S. Government, stabenow called a Senate Hearing to take a deeper look at the First Chinese purchase of a major American Food company. Its a matter of control. Reporter daniel slane, a congressional advisor who receives classified china briefings from the cia, warned of Chinese Government involvement. They have told their domestic industries, like shuanghui, go out and find these companies and acquire them. American companies are not competing with a Chinese Company but with the Chinese Government and they cannot win that competition. Reporter larry pope, president and ceo of Smithfield Foods, said this was simply the case of one private Company Buying another. Would you agree that shuanghui is a state controlled company . Reporter no i would not agree, senator, that it is a state controlled company. I think thats fairly easy to research. Id just ask mr. Slane to do the research. Maybe hes just got some bad information. Some senators even laughed off slanes remarks. Did you realize you were the victim of a Chinese Communist plot . Senator, i did not, to this moment im not sure i understand im the victim of a communist plot. laughs and the control of your company . Ah, senator, i was not aware of that. Reporter in his written testimony, pope said the Chinese Government has absolutely no ownership stake or management control in shuanghui. The Chinese Government has absolutely no ownership stake or management control in shuanghui. Hes either lying or delusional, one or the other, i just dont think he understands the situation and you cant expect him to be a china expert. His job is to do whats in the best interest of the shareholders. Reporter the Treasury Department approved the deal last september. A special committee, which meets behind closed doors to evaluate foreign purchases of american companies, reviewed the acquisition to assess whether it posed a threat to National Security, focusing on military defense. Since treasurys final report is classified, the center for investigative reporting spent four months determining if the Chinese Government played a role in the takeover. Carl sanchez, the lawyer who brokered the deal for shuanghui says the bank of china approved the 4 billion loan to buy smithfield in a single day. Bank of china is owned by the government. So if the government has an initiative, and they want to go forward with that, they can support that. Sure. We had our financing all lined up. We were ready to roll. We were ready to sign that agreement. We were ready to provide commitment letters from the banks for about 5 billion for financing altogether. Reporter in its annual report, the bank of china highlights the smithfield takeover calling it their social responsibility and saying it spares no effort to support Chinese Enterprises in their international competition. Reporter we asked sanchez directly about the Chinese Governments role in the deal. So that part of the transaction im not sure i can comment on. Reporter so to find out more, we went to china, where a rapidly growing middle class is eating more meat every year, pushing the countrys pork production to the limit. At factories like shuanghuis, the government has established massive pork reserves, akin to oil reserves in the u. S. , to store millions of pounds of frozen meat. Reporter in 2011, the government issued a fiveyear plan directing food companies, such as shuanghui, to obtain more meat for their production lines by purchasing overseas businesses. We went to shuanghuis headquarters in luohe, china. Welcome to shuanghui, thank you, thank you reporter we got a tour of the company from zhang taixi, president of shuanghui. Zhang, like the other Senior Management at shuanghui, was appointed to his position by the Chinese Government. How supportive was the Chinese Government of shuanghuis purchase of Smithfield Foods . Very supportive. Reporter how did the Chinese Government support this deal . The Chinese Government has been supporting us with preferential policy as well as investment. For instance, the bank of china has shown great support both financially and politically. Reporter and why has the government given so much support . Because shuanghui, according to its own documents, is required to carry out chinas fiveyear plan. In effect, the Chinese Government does exercise management control. We went back to smithfield ceo larry pope, who is now an executive with the Chinese Company, to ask whether he stands by his testimony to congress. I have never seen a Government Official related to this transaction from china at all. Reporter we showed larry pope the bank of china annual report that details their role in the smithfield acquisition. This is the bank of china document where they lay this out. I didnt know they did it in 24 hours reporter you can see here, i just mark it, theyre saying that that transaction is part of the governments plan and they are supporting it and its their social responsibility. Wow, the bank performs its social responsibility. The bank spares no efforts to support chinas enterprises. Wow reporter how do you compete with that . Its hard. I dont think i could go out today and get the Us Government to support j. P. Morgan, or bank of america, or Goldman Sachs making a 4 billion loan as a social responsibility for smithfield to move forward on a foreign countrys territory. No, i dont think thats doable. Reporter sanchez, the lawyer for shuanghui, says the bank of china is set to fund many more chinese takeovers. I can tell you first hand that this has paved the way for other deals. We are now looking at a few other very large transactions for chinese clients looking at other iconic brands in the United States. Reporter senator stabenow said that if the Chinese Government has a global food agenda that includes purchasing American Food companies, the u. S. Government should provide strategic protection for its food industry. Food security is National Security. I cant imagine that the American People will feel comfortable if they wake up someday and find that half of our Food Processors are owned by china. Think there are some very, very tough questions that need to be answered. Reporter stabenow is now drafting legislation that would require the Treasury Department to take a much harder look at foreign takeovers of American Food companies. Woodruff one footnote the Chinese Company, shuanghui, in the story has officially changed its overall name to w. H. Group, but it still retains the name and use of Smithfield Foods for that brand of products since the deal was completed. Tomorrow on pbs newshour weekend, we look at what the smithfield deal reveals about chinas plan to modernize its food system, and feed its people. Woodruff a major president ial address to the nation and calls for congressional backing to take on the Islamic State. It was another full week of news, as we turn to the analysis of shields and brooks. Thats syndicated columnist mark shields and New York Times columnist david brooks. Woodruff again, the major so, we love the program tonight with bill clinton. He is supporting president obamas plan to degrade and destroy i. S. I. S. And thinks it wont be quick but he thinks it will be successful. My question is, two days after the president rolled it out, you said it feeds a healthy debate. Is it getting that kind of debate now . No, it isnt. If john kennedy were writing a post script of profiles and courage, he wouldnt get any material on capitol hill, with few inconspicuous exceptions, tim kaine, democratic senator from virginia and several others arguing congress should accept the responsibility. The irony is Republican House members are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to sue the president for excessive abuse of power, and heres the one power that is delineated by the constitution that resides with the congress to declare war, and theyve abdicated that responsibility or appear to be. I want to get to the election. Leaders now see their responsibility as to avoid difficult votes for their members, whether its leadership, Mitch Mcconnell being the exception. Hes calling the republicans in the senate for a vote. Harry reid doesnt want one and i dont think john boehner does either. Well have a debate about the backdoor funding mechanisms. Whats interesting is it seems to me the democrats are more divided. Its more troublesome for the democrats than the republicans. Republicans are more united. Rand paul has come out more or less in favor of this so what had been more of isolation strategy, that part of the Republican Party merged and looks more like a conventional Republican Party, the National Security party. The democrats are the divided ones and anywhere the democrats leading wants to push it beyond the election. But we are having a National Debate about it on the streets. What struck me is how hard it is to talk about it. Most people think you have no choice but to somehow you cant allow a genocidal caliphate in the middle east, but how you do it has everyone scratching their heads. What kind of coalition do we need . What happens if the iraqi army is not successful or the Free Syrian Army is not successful. So the tenor of the debate shifted from ends for the most part to the means because people are up in the air and not clear how that works. Woodruff the president asked congress to support the training of syrian rebels, as soon as they identify the moderate rebels. Theyve got to be is there a test here . I mean no, judy, the western United States, the western military has shown its ability and capacity to come in and dominate the battlefield, but the idea of establishing order, security and peaceful government in its wake after that has eluded us. And theres no way in the world, the question of coalition, who are these people . Where are they . Who are the troops who are going to be there to guarantee stability, order and some sense of justice in the areas . You cant do that with airstrikes. I mean, airstrikes are wonderful, theyre antiseptic, theyre at a distance, the possibility of your own casualties is finite. But they dont occupy. You cant occupy a nation and bring order and stability by air strikes. So who is the coalition . Where are the troops coming from . Woodruff youre saying these are reluctant warriors and can can a reluctant warrior lead in a situation where we dont know what the end game. A syrian moderate is anyone against beheading, that makes you a moderate in syria. But he doesnt want to be there and that has advantages that he wont be carried away by his own righteousness and wont want to dominate the ground, it will make him skeptical of things the generals bring him because hes not gungho and it means he will be realistic about our goals. Turning syria into a great country is not one of our goals and turning iraq into a viable country is one of our goals. Hes more interested in keeping iraq a healthy country more than sir. I cant our goal is not positive. Its not make the middle east a better place. Our goal is make sure the middle east doesnt get any worse. So i think with that limited goal, with some buyin from the sunni tribes who have done it before, they have defeated this kind of army before, it should be possible to degrade this group. Woodruff something very different, politics, weve talked to bill clinton about it. Hes gone to iowa, mark, with former secretary Hillary Clinton, who a lot of people think will run for president in 2016. She has not been back there since she ran for president in 2008. Is this something youre going to be watching . Is it a big deal . Its a major deal, first time back up you see in iowa. Two things, fog the earlier discussion, judy, Iowa Democrats are the most indiscernible democrats in the country. The Iowa Caucuses were created in 1968. The antiwar democrats could expect their opposition to Lyndon Johnsons vietnam policy. So Hillary Clinton who is priding herself on barack obama coming over to her position and arming the syrians and her toughness will be interesting. What is interesting to me is how she handles bill clinton. Bill clinton think about this, weve had one balanced budget in 45 years, during bill clintons presidency. We had the lowest unemployment in the history of the United States among africanamericans and latinos. We had the lowest Unemployment Rate in 30 years under bill clinton. There were 22 million jobs created in bill clintons eight years, which is more than in the 20 years of Ronald Reagans eight and the bushes 12. An amazing record. So shes running a nostalgia back to the future campaign. Woodruff do you think its a good idea . President ial campaigns are about the future and i dont think you can run a nostalgic campaign. She wants to remind people how good things were when bill clinton was there, yet its going to be 16 years later. Since she left the secretary of state job, shes emerged as certainly one of the most hawkish democrat and probably the most hawkish president ial candidate. How forward leaning is she in talking about it . If you remember the tears, her voice quavered, she was in New Hampshire at the time, but it was a scene of maximum vulnerability for her and one expects the clinton mind, it will seem a maximum effort this time. Woodruff to broaden it out, i asked president clinton about the senate races. He said at first he didnt know, then he said, no, i think the democrats are slightly better than 50 50 chance. You and i specifically analyzed the mike Ross Woodruff one right after the another. The problem, judy, the democrats are not an encouraging environment right now. The seven key races, six the democrats control the senate are being run in red states that mitt romney carried by more than 14 points. Youve got a president whos at the lowest job rating in his presidency right now at 40 , and you have people feeling the country is headed the wrong direction by a 21 margin, the worst it was in 1994 when the democrats was swept and in 2006 when george bush was routed. So the interest and enthusiasm factor is higher among republicans than it is among democrats. You know, its not an encouraging picture. So the democrats, the mark pryors, the mark udalls, all trying to make a oneonone race. Woodruff mark, a good name. They dont want to mention barack obama, and the republicans all want the say, my opposition, my opponent went to washington and voted 95 of the time with barack obama and forgot the people. Its funny how the barometric pressure among those who watch the polls, a couple of months ago looked like a great republican year, then the tide shifted, georgia and North Carolina hanging in there. Id say in the last two weeks if you look at the polls, officially theyve gone to a tighter screen where they only look at the likely voters. It shifted more toward the republican side. The democrats still doing well in georgia and other places, but the momentum feels, at least at the moment, back again a little more on the republican side. Woodruff president clinton is saying hes going to be out there campaigning in the fall and getting more invitations than president obama is. He is the most popular political figure in the country. Woodruff one last thing, the announcement by the white house, they confirmed the president is not going to announce any sort of executive action on immigration until after this election. Is this good for the democrats, david, or not . In the short term, yeah. So its a shortterm longterm thing. In the short term, means a lot of democrats running in red states will have an easier time, they wont have to confront the issue. Over long term, the democratic strategy to sacrifice the short term, it will benefit us so much more in the long term. Theyve taken a hit among latino gropes, president obamas poll standing among hispanics is down. Theres a lot of anger from the groups to whom were promises on they made a longterm sacrifice for a shortterm play. I think some democrats view this long term, 1994, judy, when the democrats were routed and the republicans were in the congress, for the first time in 40 years, won the house. After that the post script, the narrative was the democrats lost because of the vote for gun control, and gun control became toxic at that point. I think democrats are concerned in 2014 if they didnt lose and immigration was front and center that it would kill prospects for immigration in the future. Woodruff well be watching because youre right the pro immigrant groups are really angry now. Mark shields, david brooks, were not angry at either one of you, come back thank you. Woodruff again, the major developments of the day. Secretary of state kerry pressed turkey to join the coalition against Islamic State militants, but he said its too soon to say which countries will contribute what. And the number of confirmed ebola deaths in west africa rose past 2,400. And on the heels of the ray rice case, Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson was indicted for child abuse in texas. He allegedly used a tree branch to switch his son. On the newshour online right now, our National Anthem is celebrating its bicentennial this week, so were observing the occasion by bringing you seven facts you may not have known about the star spangled banner. See what they are, plus listen to two very famous renditions of the song, on our art beat page. All that and more is on our web site, newshour. Pbs. Org. And a reminder about upcoming programs from our pbs colleagues. Gwen ifill is preparing for washington week, which airs later this evening. Heres a preview ifill we go behind the scenes and read between the lines, delving into the world of hard choices, harder politics and uncertain outcomes. At the white house, on capitol hill and along the fault lines in the middle east. Thats tonight on washington week. Judy . Woodruff and well be back, right here, on monday. We talk with voters in scotland, before a crucial vote for independence from the united kingdom. Thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff, have a great weekend. Thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by Carnegie Corporation of new york. Supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of International Peace and security. At carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. 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