Transcripts For MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports 20131029

Coastline in some places. The comeback coast. One year ago today millions were bracing for the impact of Hurricane Sandy. It was the superstorm Strong Enough to carve out a new shoreline, bring a president ial campaign to a halt and test resilience of communities across the east coast. You can see the water up to my knees, more importantly, a record storm surge here in new york city. Its been an all day battle between Mother Nature in the form of Hurricane Sandy. Good day. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington. At this time last year sandy was a category one hurricane still hours away from making landfall in new jersey. As the storm gains strength, residents up and down the eastern seaboard were bracing for impact. Some of the communities devastate add year ago are still reeling a year later. Nbcs al roker was on the jersey shore when sandy hit and has an update on the still ongoing recovery. Sandy slammed ashore one year ago, new york and new jersey coastlines. This water following this neighborhood. Destroying entire communities and pieces of history. When the storm hit, i was in Point Pleasant beach, new jersey. Finally Hurricane Sandy has won, the dune has been destroyed, the ocean is rushing in. Its a much different scene today. One year later that sand dune has been replaced by much stronger stone. This is pretty strong. At the National Hurricane center in miami, experts are creating a new storm surge Warning System based on what they learned from sandy. We dont have a warning for the hazard that kills more people in hurricanes than anything else in that storm surge. We hope to have that by 2015. One year later the people here are focused on rebuilding, from tragic scenes like this to triumphant ones like this. A hopeful future from a horrible past. I hope and pray we never see a thing like that again. Thats all you can do. Nbcs katy tur went to survey the damage in sea bright, new jersey and is back there today and joins me now. Katy, i know so many people are not back in their homes, theres a lot of frustration but what is your report card . Reporter well, 70 of this town is back in their homes according to the mayor here. Unfortunately the mayor isnt one of them. Her home is completely gutted. Shes fighting with insurance. A lot of people weve spoken to are having a lot of problems with their Insurance Company. They are having problems trying to figure out how to get grant money. They have applied, havent gotten back, they have been denied and dont understand why they have been denied. We came a couple days after the storm. This town was completely shut off for a while because gas lines were open and it was covered in sand. One of the first tv crews to get out here and show images from here. Right here is where a Mens Clothing store was. It was hanging by a thread, about to collapse in on itself. It was condemned like a number of buildings in this town, torn down. Unfortunately nothing has gone back up. If you look in the distance at the Green Building here. The line across it, 8 feet high, thats the waterline. Thats three feet higher than my head. Thats how the water got in this town and doesnt include waves crashing over. The reason it got hit so hard, this town is three blocks wide, the river is down there, the ocean is right there. When the storm hit, the water came crashing in on itself and destroyed everything in its path. Businesses all along here looked as if they had gone through a spin cycle. Everything inside of it was thrown upside down. This, that, and the other completely torn apart. A lot of them unfortunately are boarded up. There is signs of progress here. We had this Hardware Store open for over 100 years. They were able to rebuild. Unfortunately not with grant money. They had to take out more loans. They are waiting and hoping their grant money does eventually get approved. Sea bright is one of many. Towns up and down the jersey shore. Youre seeing much of the same over in new york city as well. Breezy point completely decimated, burned to the ground in new york and on the rockaway peninsula. That is starting to get rebuilt now. Were seeing progress there. Rockaway reeling, businesses out there havent reopened. Many businesses are just mom and pop shops. If they dont have money to rebuild they have lost revenue from the summer and cant get grants or loans, they are probably not able to rebuild. There are people out of their homes, a few thousand trying to get back. Up and down what were seeing are people not able to figure out the process and cut through the red tape. They are blaming on local governments, federal government, blaming it on governor christie and governor cuomo. Unfortunately theres so much they cant do at this point until they find out how the process works best for them. Andrea. Katy, the politicians were all out in force today. Youve got Mike Bloomberg going around on Staten Island, governor christie has 10 stops today. Governor cuomo, laguardia, the subway station. Are they going to take the heat or are they getting points for being engaged . Its a mixed bag. Some people are saying the governors did a great job. In new york and some areas, new york city especially was able to roll out a lot of help from its own coffers and get people on their feet while it waited for a repayment. That didnt happen in new jersey. You have a lot of people angry especially in Staten Island where people want to rebuild and they cant seem to get the money to do so. So it depends on who youre speaking to. A lot of people say christies fault, bloomberg, cuomos fault. You find others who the process works for. It depends on who you talk to. The recovery is uneven pref katy tur, thank you. Youve been there since the beginning. Great to see you back and get your take on it. The Seaside Heights roller coaster was one of the Iconic Images of Superstorm Sandy representing not only the force of the storm but how life would never be quite the same for those in its path. Bill akers is the mayor of Seaside Heights. You had a double whammy. We saw you with Brian Williams on the night of the terrible fire september 12th, the boardwalk fire, everything youve endured. Bring us up to date on the fire, sandy, and how the town is coping. I know weve been delta double whammy in a short period of time. But after sandy, Everything Else became manageable. As bad as the fire was, you can think back it could have been a lot worse. If it wasnt for those brave firefighters and the plan they put in place, we could have lost this entire boardwalk, including the part im standing on. Were very, very fortunate. Governor christie was on the today show. Lets take a look at part of what he had to say about the recovery. Theres a lot more federal regulation that folks are having to deal with. Were continuing to push back on that. Its one of the realities of wasted abuse that happened in katrina. What is your impression of how the federal government has responded . I think government honest best day is complicated. It wasnt designed to move quickly. It wasnt designed to be proactive. And i think that you see that. But having said that, i think everybody has done things to what it seems this time the best of their ability, to get the money where its needed, get the help where its needed. Did they need a little prodding, a little push . They did. Senator menendez gave them that, governor christie gave them that. So i think government, we might we all know what government is. Yet we expected because of this tragedy to be different, but its not different. What it is is just reality. When youre caught up in the middle of it, you make your adjustments and realize that, yes, youre getting the help you need, but its certainly not going to come as quickly as you would like it. Tourism is, of course, the Third Largest industry in new jersey. Has tourism come back this summer . We had its depending how you look at it. I can tell you when i came out the day after the storm. I honestly you say the right things but i honestly didnt know if we were going to reopen. We were down about 30 this year as opposed to other years. You can look youre down 30 or up 70 . We did get the doors open. We did get things rebuilt and we did have people come to see us. Mr. Mayor, whats next . Whats the biggest challenge for you and the home owners there . You hit it right on the head. A lot of businesses got themselves back on their feet, the municipality has been rebuilt, boardwalk, buildings, repaving of the streets. It is the home owners. In our community, what youre going to find up and down the coast, were 80 of secondary home owners. As you know, there are no programs for second home owners, if you werent insured, youre left high and dry. Thats going to be the biggest challenge. I think were probably three to five years away from helping home owners in our community that need it. Thanks for taking the time to speak to us. Lots of luck. We know everyone across the country is pulling for you but you need more than that. You need somebody to cut through the red tape. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Take care. Breezy point, of course, in new york, that community a scene of unbelievable destruction after Hurricane Sandy. Nearly 130 homes engulfed in flames after rising waters sparked an electrical fire. Families lost everything. Now were hearing new homes are beginning to pop up on the charred landscape. This picture shows before and after on what a difference a year can make. You can see an outline of a new foundation in the second photo. Another hopeful sign, kids across sandy, devastated communities, are finally going to have halloween. Its the halloween they missed out on last year because of the storm. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie plans to get in the spooky spirit this year. Listen to what he revealed to matt lauer on the today show. Most important question, whats your costume . Its funny, matt, this year, im actually going as Savannah Guthrie. I dont understand why but im actually going as Savannah Guthrie this year. Its going to be interesting. Take it from a guy who has dressed as a lady a couple of times on halloween, thats going to stick with you, governor. I can tell you. I understand that. But i figure if i pick savannah, i will endear myself to the people of the state because they love her here. I dont vote in new jersey, just so you know. I know election day is soon. Savannah, dont worry about that. Theres seven days left. We can work that out. My employer matches my charitable giving. Really. I get bonuses even working parttime. Where i work, over 400 people are promoted every day. Healthcare starting under 40 a month. I got education benefits. I work at walmart. Im a pharmacist. Sales associate. I manage produce. I work in logistics. Theres more to walmart than you think. Vo opportunity. Thats the real walmart. You may be muddling through allergies. Try zyrtecd®. Powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms all in one pill. Zyrtecd®. At the pharmacy counter. Only minutes from now a House Intelligence Committee will hold hearings where James Clapper and Keith Alexander are going to have to explain who knew what and when about the spying on german leader Angela Merkel, maybe they wont, since the fur or that caused this is secret. I asked Lee Greenwald if it was credible if president obama, as he claims, did not know president obama was spying on one of his most trusted european allies. Unfortunately it is credible. Nsa has become this rogue agency that does go off on its own and do whatever it wants. You would think the president or white house would be aware of that. At the same time an incredibly opaque world that is unto itself that operates actability. I dont know whats carrier, the president did know, approved it and is lying about it or didnt know and nsa took it upon itself to do that. California congressman adam schiff will be among those raising questions at the hearings. Hes stopped off on the way. Thank you very much. You bet. Whats the most important thing you want to hear from the head of the nsa and National Intelligence. Couple of things. The hearing was originally supposed to be focused on domestic information fisa court and reforms, want to know how they restructure metadata, so they have their own data, doesnt have to have massive amounts of u. S. Calling data. On the most recent allegations, andrea, im not sure how much hes going to talk about in open session. The question i want to know is if this is going on was this reported to Intelligence Committees . If it wasnt, how can they justify something that has been reported. How can that not be exposed to the Intelligence Committee. I have questions some of which might have to wait for closed section. The counterpart of the senate said very claire tifl last night that she and her committee was not briefed on it. She says shes unalterably opposed to this kind of eavesdropping, not denied, all intents and purposes they say it happened in the past, recent past and not currently ongoing on merkel. In fact, Intelligence Committees were not informed. Is it credible this would have happened without the president knowing . I find it hard to believe that these programs were not briefed to congress in some form. Im going to want to look into this carefully. They have a responsibility to inform us of things with blowback, which, indeed, this has. If the president represents he didnt know about it, i believe the president. Why are we gathering information on foreign leaders if not to be utilized. Clearly someone at high level had to know about this. Otherwise, whats the point if it cant shape decision making. The president is right, any effort at home or abroad must be consistent with our values. I think spying on the allied leaders, except for potentially the most extraordinary of situations is not consistent with values and jeopardize those important relationships. You said if the committees were informed. Youre a member of the committee. Hu been informed . I had not been informed but that doesnt mean the committee wasnt informed. Some issues are briefed to the leadership, briefed to the committee or reported to the committee but may not call attention to themselves. Is this something that fell through the cracks in terms of committee oversight. Before i lay responsibility at the feet of the nsa, i want to make sure what responsibility we have in congress. Indeed we have ultimate responsibility to overseas these agencies. The president ordered a review and feinstein ordered a major review and suggested mass collection which she briefly supported now has to be reexamined and basically the nsa has to be reined in. Do you agree with that . I do think the Metadata Program has to be reexamined. This is something i raised years before it became public. I dont see the government has to require this data. I dont know why we cant go to Telecommunications Providers when we have reason to believe a number is connected with a terrorist plot. Theres been a lot of talk about we need the haystack to look for the needle. We dont need that. The telecommunicating companies can hold onto the haystack. I believe in its current form it should end and be restructured. We can get the information to protect the country we need to without a wealth of data. They should meet three tests, constitutional, effective and structured in a way to minimize any unnecessary intrusion on privacy. Thank you so much, congressman schiff, look forward to watching the hearing and q a. Abortion issue wendy davis filibustered again but failed to block. They have been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in texas and will not go into effect today as scheduled. The law would require any doctor performing abortions to have admitting privileges to a nearby hospital, which is not realistic for most communities. It violates the rights for abortion doctors to do what they think is best for their patients and restrict access to abortion clinics. The ruling had immediate impact. The only boring clinic in a 300 mile swath of texas is seeing patients against, lubbock planned parenthood Womens Health center stopped making appointments bracing for restrictions to begin this week. There are cameras, police, guards. Ds us. But who looks after us online, where we spend more than 200 billion dollars a year. American express can help protect you. With intelligent security that learns your spending patterns, and can alert you instantly to an unusual charge. So you can be a member of a more secure world. This is what membership is. This is what membership does. I save time, money,st, and i avoid frustration. Youll find reviews on home repair to healthcare, written by people just like you. Find out why more than two million members count on angies list. Angies list reviews you can trust. [ alarm sound for malfunctioning printer ] [ male announcer ] youve reached the age where youve learned a thing or two. [ metal clanks ] this is the age of knowing what youre made of. So why let erectile dysfunction get in your way . [ gears whirring ] talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. Ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. To avoid longterm injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. Stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. [ cellphone beeps ] this is the age of taking action. Viagra. Talk to your doctor. Your watching live pictures from capitol hill. Moments from now general James Clapper and general Keith Alexander will both be giving their Opening Statements on nsa programs. Over at the white house the Obama Administration is navigating through rough political waters. Joining me now Mark Mazzetti National Security correspondent for New York Times and Chris Cillizza nbc contributor and host of in play. I was talking to congressman schiff on the committee and he said theres going to have to be a narrowing of the nsas reach of broad metadata as it were. He does not see justification for spying on friendly allies. That is really the flash point that has got europeans and now senator feinstein on the senate side and senator collins on the senate side who say they were not briefed in the Senate Intelligence community. Interesting you have a lot more congressional outrage over the listening to foreign leaders than the collection of metadata of american citizens. But there is sort of two controversies at the same time, the foreign and domestic. Thats what various communities hearing from intelligence officials about. Youre correct, the white house really has had to face a cre amount of controversy in the last semple days and political fallout from the leafulations about spying on foreign leaders. Mark, is it credible the president did not know . Its clearly a good question. The president sits in these briefings every morning where the most classified high intelligence is given to him. It seems pretty clear highlevel officials would have known about spying on foreign leaders. Whether the president himself knew is still unclear but maybe his aides knew this was going on. These are the important questions that havent been answered. When the president is presented with classified information, many times the source of the information can be revealed to him if he asks. Chris cillizza, this intersects with anyone the website for obama care was not going to function. Thats right. There is a narrative here of ondisengaged president , which is not the mo of this man, very, very smart, intellectually involved, passionate about his legacy legislation, which is health care. I would say elected at least in part as a rejection of the caricature of george bush as someone who sort of had given parts of his presidency over to dick cheney, who was disengaged. Its all the more striking than that. The i dont know strategy, calling eight strategy may be giving it too much credit, to be frank. It doesnt wear all that well. The truth of the matter is americans expect their president to be on top of things. While theres a million and one to keep track of, thats why americans believe they elected this person president. They are not sure they can do the job. They expect the person they have elected to do the job. Again, go back to irs when we had revelations in may, targeting of tea party groups. President obama again said he learned of the news via the news, that he had no prior knowledge of it. So you know, i understand hes busy, i understand hes got a lot going on. He has to prioritize. But particularly with nsa and health care as you point out, nsa situation obviously a huge domestic and Foreign Policy issue, health care is his signature achievement to this point in his presidency. You would think he would be more in the loop is a way of saying it than he has been. How much of this shock thats being expressed by the allies just simply to try to get some leverage with the u. S. Because everyone knew this was going on and they do it to us and we do it to them. The world of spying. You have to express anger this is going on. If you suspected or knew it was going on. They can use it effectively for leverage. The question now is whether or not United States is going to enter into new nonspying agreements with countries they have long resisted entering these agreements with. So whether its the french or germans, you know, they now have a good deal of leverage to try to negotiate these pacts if they so choose. Its quite possible one result is there will be more nonspying agreements with european allies than there were before. I would bet on germany and not on france, just saying. Mark mazzetti and Chris Cillizza, thank you both very much. Thank you. One sad, former missouri congressman ike shelton died, built a reputation as a social conservative, 34 years in office, chair of the House Armed Services committee when he lost his reelection in republican sweep of 2010. Ike shelton was 81 years old. Americans take care of business. They always have. They always will. Thats why you take charge of your future. Your retirement. Ameriprise advisors can help you like theyve helped millions of others. Listening, planning, working one on one. To help you retire your way. With confidence. Thats what Ameriprise Financial does. Thats what they can do with you. 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The president repeatedly promised if you like your Health Insurance, you can keep it. If you like your Health Care Plan, keep your Health Care Plan. If you like your Health Care Plan, you keep your Health Care Plan. If you like your doctor, you keep seeing your doctor. If you like your private Health Insurance plan, you can keep it. If youre one of the more than 250 million americans who already have Health Insurance, you will keep your Health Insurance. But then theres the fine print as nbc news is reporting thats not the case for millions of americans already getting notified or about to be told that their plans, these are people who file individually, are not good enough to qualify under obama care so they have to start shopping around on a website that still doesnt work, even though there are subsidies available. Nbc contributor emanuel provost at university and former white house. Nice to be here. You wrote five fixes in this oped about five things you think the white house needs to do. Could we run through those right now . No one would argue this has been a good rollout. The website is only part of the problem. People are now getting notices and this you might argue is perhaps having an exaggerated impact because of the technical problems with the website. Its all rolled together into a pr disaster. All coming together making it a little bit a bad week and bad two weeks for the white house. First on the website, i do think the key thing is to get someone in control, ceo who can manage disparate parts and put them together. They have begun this process by appointing jeff zients, who was at the white house, has experience in health care, is a good manager. Hes got about two months before he has to go back to the white house to direct economic council. They need to appoint a ceo who will oversee the process for the next few years. They have begun daily briefings. They need to increase the amount of Technical Information in them. Information about the nature and solution. Third, i think they need to borrow from websites working. We should be clear, a lot of state websites are doing quite well. Kentucky, california, connecticut, washington, d. C. They are doing relatively well. New york. Dont have to reinvent these things. Im sure theres some adaptation of these websites. The way we rolled out money to start developing, there was the idea best practices would be shared among them. Once they get the website working reasonably well, they have to engage young people and make sure they fin it easy to shop and useful. All those steps are absolutely necessary going forward. As i said, they started pretty well. Some technical experts tell me its not that easy to find out what part of the code was written into this doesnt work and you really have to start over practically. Its hard to diagnose what went wrong with this website and do it quickly. This is part of the problem, competing experts without a delineation of the problems from the white house and from jeff zients. I think it would help to have that detail delineation. Other people i talked to suggest as you point out, once you fix one part, other parts may show problems that you hadnt seen before because it wasnt working and you couldnt get the problems. Rebuilding from start is wrong. We dont need to do that. Thats not necessary for fixing the problems. Some issues we thought you had one way, might be creative and be able to go around them. Again, i think this is where transparency and canndid with te public and experts with briefings would be helpful. This is congressman aaron shock. This is not issue we are saying were being mandated we cant continue to offer this policy. Its a yes or no quechl the white house. Gov says if you want to keep the insurance you have, you can keep it. Now they are told they are not. Those issuers grandfathered in in 2010 and they are choosing to make a different decision now. Zeke, shouldnt the white house have been much more open about the fact if your Health Care Plan does not meet up to the standard, does not cover preexisting conditions, maternal care, that youre not going to be able to keep it . Lets be clear of it applies to the individual market and sum total of 15 million americans in the market, 5 of the american population. Second, as the official said, its right. We grandfathered in those plans. The Insurance Companies have decided, not the government, Insurance Company decided they are going to change those plans and bring them up and include other services that means they dont qualify for grand fathering and they need to qualify for the new plans. Third, if we really want, the American Public cannot be of two minds. If we want to cover people with preexisting conditions, make sure they get insurance, have no rate shock, doubles, triples, quadruples when they get a new disease, you do have to have this floor people cant go below. You cant have an insurance policy that says were going to cover everything but that preexisting condition. Thats mostly whats written out. In addition twothirds of the plans never covered maternity care. That seems unethical if you ask make as annet ethicist. Most didnt cover preventive like smoking prevention, cholesterol control, with no deductibles and no copays, which the new plans do. All of these are not just enhancements but getting to a benefit package we want people to have. They are necessary if American Public wants people with preexisting conditions to get things affordable. Of the 15 million in the individual market, the vast majority are going to be able to go on the websites and get a subsidized Health Care Plan. So the premise subsidized. The idea they have to pay more, might have to pay more, they are doing to get much better coverage including Preventive Services with no copay and no deductibles. In many cases subsidies they werent getting before. I think net net this is a big improvement for most americans. Zeke emanuel, thank you very much. Thats why we called you in. Thank you. Thank you. Well be right back with the Connecticut Governor and more on the sandy aftermath. One more time, just for themselves. Before the last grandchild. Before the first grandchild. Smile. Before katie, debbie, kevin and brad. There was a connection that started it all and made the future the wonderful thing it turned out to be. At bank of america, we know were not the center of your life, but well do our best to help you connect to what is. His day of coaching begins with knee pain, when. [ man ] hey, brad, want to trade the allday relief of two aleve for six tylenol . Whats the catch . Theres no catch. You want me to give up my two aleve for six tylenol . No. For my knee pain, nothing beats my aleve. If i was a flower growing wild and free all id want is you to be my sweet honeybee and if was a tree growing tall and green all id want is you to shade me and be my leaves grown in america. Picked packed at the peak of ripeness. The same essential nutrients as fresh. Del monte. Bursting with life™. Right now general clapper, the head of National Intelligence is speaking at the House Intelligence Committee. Lets listen. We focus on covering plans and intentions of foreign adversaries as we are charged to do. What we do not do is spy unlawfully on americans or for that matter spy indiscriminately on citizens of any country. We only spy for valid purposes as authorized by law with multiple layers of oversight to ensure we dont abuse our authorities. Unfortunately this reality is sometimes object steward in the current debate. For some it led to erosion of trust in the Intelligence Community. We understand the concerns on the part of the public. Im a vietnam veteran. I remember congressional investigations of the 1970s disclosed, and i was in the Intelligence Community then, some intelligence programs were carried out for domestic purposes without proper authorization or oversight. Having lived through that as part of the Intelligence Committee i can ensure American People Intelligence Community today is not like that. We operate within a robust framework of strict rules and rigorous oversight involving all three branches of the government. Another useful Historical Perspective during cold war free world and soviet block had mutually exclusive Telecommunication Systems which made it easier to distinguish. Now World Communications are unified, intertwined with hundreds of millions of innocent people conducting billions of innocent transactions are a much smaller number of nefarious adversaries trying to do harmon the very same Network Using the very same technologies. Our challenge is distinguished precisely between these two groups of communicants. We had an alarm bell that went off when one terrorist communicated with another terrorist our job would be easier. That doesnt exist in the world of technology at least today. Over the past months i declassified and released documents related to section 215 of the patriot act and section 702 of foreign intelligence act or fisa. Were doing that to facilitate informed debate for Collection Services that operate under these authorities. We not in light of unauthorized disclosure Public Interest far outweigh additional damage to National Security. These documents let our citizens see seriousness, authorizeness and rig or with which the fisa court exercises its responsibilities. They also reflect intelligence communities, particularly nsas commitment to uncovering, reporting and correcting any compliance matters that occur. However, even in these documents weve had to redact certain information for sensitive sources and methods, targets of surveillance. But we will continue to declassify more documents. Thats what the American People want. Either what the president has asked us to do. I personally believe its the only way we can reassure our citizens that the Intelligence Community is using tools and authorities appropriately. The rules and oversight that govern us ensure we do what American People want us to do, protect nations security and peoples liberties. So ill repeat. We do not spy on anyone except for valid foreign intelligence purposes and we only work within the law. Now, to be sure on occasion weve made mistakes, some quite significant. These are usually caused by human error or technical problems. When we found mistakes we reported, addressed and corrected them. The National Security agency specifically is part of the Intelligence Community broadly is an honorable institution. The men and women who do this work are honorable people dedicated to conducting their mission lawfully and appalled by any wrongdoing. They, too, are citizens of this nation who care just as much about privacy and Constitutional Rights as the rest of us. They should be commended for their crucial important work in protecting the people of the country, which has been made all the more difficult by this torrent of unauthorized damaging disclosures. That all said, we in the ic stand ready to work in partnership with you to just surveillance authorities to further protect our privacy and Civil Liberties. I think theres some principles we already agree on. First we must protect sources, methods, targets, partners, sources, liaisons and relationships. We must do a better job helping American People understand what we do, why we do it and rigorous oversight that helps ensure we do it correctly. Third we must take every demons commitment to respecting the Civil Liberties and privacy of every american. But we also have to remain mindful of the negative longterm impact of overcorrecting the authorizations granted the intelligent community. As americans we face an unending away of threats to our life, more than ive seen in my 50 years in intelligence. We need to sustain our capability to detect these threats. We certainly welcome a balanced discussion about National Security and Civil Liberties, its not an either or situation. We need to continue to protect both. With that, let me turn to general alexander. Chairman rogers that was of course the director of National Intelligence, general clapper, rejecting what he would call an overcorrection that the opening of the hearing mike rogers, the chairman, also rejected bipartisan plan filed today, which would restrict the massive collection of telephone records of what they call meta data by the intelligence agencies. A year after hurricane and Superstorm Sandy, communities across connecticut and as well as new jersey and new york are rebuilding from the storm. Governor, thanks for your patience in joining us. We want to update people on this National Security controversy which really grabbed so much attention but no problem at all. I enjoy hearing the testimony so we all have jobs to do and yours is to keep the public informed. I appreciate it. We want to be informed about connecticut because they get overlooked with the drama of what happened on the new jersey shore and in breezy point, Staten Island, rockaways. Tell us how the connecticut shoreline has rebuilt. Let me be very clear, our hearts go out to the people in new jersey and new york and my heart goes out to the people of connecticut who suffered the type of losses we suffered. Millions and millions of dollars of destroyed home and damage and loss of profits for companies. Were trying to make people whole. We Just Announced a new stale restar resar resiliency fund, people raising houses out of harms way. What weve seen because of Climate Change is an onslaugt of attack along our water front. Irene hit us harder than it hit new jersey or new york, just over a year later by Superstorm Sandy. We did a pretty good job of being ready. We lost six lives but a tiny fraction of all of the lives lost as a result of Superstorm Sandy. I think it was because we have had that terrible experience with irene the year before, that we were ready. I also remember closing the highway system at 10 00 in the morning, full 12, 14 hours before the storm hit but i needed to get peoples attention and take it seriously and needed them to evacuate and they did. There were a lot of complaints about that but it turned otd that was really a point of wisdom. I want to also ask you before we run out of time, people are pointing to connecticut as well as kentucky and other state Health Care Plans as the models. What have you learned in connecticut that you could perhaps teach us here in washington . I wish every state had done what we did. Their governors and legislators are doing everything they can to kill this program. This is medicare, medicaid, social security, this is a great program. Were signing people up right and left and getting information they need to get. We have a great platform for that. If all of the states that participated to the rate we would, these kind of crocodile tears who want to kill the program bont wouldnt be necessary. And theres a lot of blame to go on, the federal system should be working better. It promised it will be working better in the month of november. People are going to be protected that were never protected before. They are going to have higher levels of protection. These crocodile tears that the Tea Party Republicans are crying, is really a masking effect they want to kill this program and cannot be allowed to do it. Governor dan malloy, thanks for being with us, always good to see you, sir. Good to see you. That does it for this edition of Andrea Mitchell reports. We have shawn donovan, and fda commissioner dr. Margaret hamburg and senator tim cain. My colleague tamron hall is next. Two big hearings on capitol hill. Right now top u. S. Intelligence officials are testifying before House Committee on i nsa spy program domesticically and abroad. Were expecting to get more details an how world leaders, including Angela Merkel were being spied on. New jersey congressman bill pass rel will join me when he challenged republicans to help constituents sign up for Affordable Health care. We told our seniors although we voted no, we personally believe and will work with the Bush Administration to make it work. Thats what we did. And how many of you stood up to do that . None. The congressman will join us and plus steny hoyer saying, quote, we knew there would be some policies that would not qualify and therefore would be required to get more extensive coverage. His reaction after an nbc news investigative report, all of that coming up next on news nation. A confident retirement. Those dreams, theres just no way were going to let them die. Like they helped millions of others. By listening. Planning. Working one on one. 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News nation is following developing news, steny hoyer confirming what nbc news investigative correspondent lisa myers has been reporting, the Obama Administration and democrats, some, knew that under the Affordable Health care act, some americans who buy their own Health Insurance would not be able to keep the plans they currently have. Congressman hoyer said, we knew that there would be some policies that would not qualify and therefore people would be required to get more extensive coverage. When asked about the president s past statements that after the Affordable Health care act became law that people would be able to