Captioning made possible by the Annenberg Cpb project this is siena, a wonderfully preserved Medieval City in central italy. At its heyday around 1300, it was one of the most civilized and prosperous places in europe. Siena and other italian citystates can stand as a new beginning in our story of western art. Hitherto, the old medieval world view had, put simply, divided the classes of society into the aristocracy at the top, the church, and the laboring peasantry at the bottom. In places like this, we see for the first time a new class, conscious of its own identity the merchants. These cities were no longer controlled by feudal lords. They were republics. Here in siena, several thousand citizens were eligible for election to the governing bodies which met down there in the palazzo publica. And in the palazzo, there is a fresco painted in the 1340s which encapsulates their faith in the secular arts of government, in the moderating power of reason in human society. Its called the effec
Thank you all so much. I am Andrea Mitchell from nbc news and from msnbc, and you know tom donelan and steve. We are so happy to have two former National Security advisers who have had long experience in Public Policy and before and since their roles in government. I, of course, knew tom all the way back when i was first going to the state department and you were working with warren christopher, and steve from all the years in the white house, and of course, with National Security adviser role when secretary rice was secretary of state. So, thank you all so much. Weve had a great kickoff to this from jack lew. First, lets talk about, since he raised the questions of sanctions, and it is so top of mind right now with russia and with ukraine, steve, first to you. How effective have we been in mobilizing europe against russia . Weve seen the effects, the economic effects with the ruble, but how is ha translated into effecting Vladimir Putins behavior . Well, you dont know. One of the Grea
In addition, the grow america act will further build on that 21 successes and support the departments Safety Initiatives by improving pmmsas ability to oversee the safe transportation of Hazardous Materials. It will give phmsa to allow to give orders to industries to cease activities without prior notice in response to emergency situations. Similar authority is already held by fra and phmsa, and increase d. O. T. s ability to stop unsafe conditions or practices that may threaten life, personal injury or harm to property or the environment. Grow america will also enhance communities and improve safety by expanding hazardous Registration Requirements and improve the effectiveness of phmsas Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness grants program. These are just a few of the many ways map 21 and grow america act can and will provide further safeguards against Hazardous Materials transportation risks for american communities. As ive stated earlier, phmsa is committed to improving Transpor
Talking about moving Hazardous Materials across the country, the backyards, the main streets of america, both the railroad and Petroleum Industries have been given a public trust, and complying with regulations is not enough. Safety is our ultimate goal. Absolutely, we think it is great when Industries Come together and agree on a cooperative, collaborative basis to take steps that have not yet put into regulations. Do you feel that the railroads negotiated in good faith during the voluntary negotiations that took place . I have no reason to view anything otherwise. I guess i would ask administrate er do you support the voluntary agreement with the railroads with regard to the speed reduction. We all want safety. Thats the number one concern. We all want that. We want to make sure that the tank cars that are being refitted, possibly, and i know theres some railroads that are taking the lead on that in trying to move forward to make sure that we move certain materials in the most safe w
Concerns about provisional compliance for the freight line particularly they put them in a competitive disadvantage. Right. It does the opposite, senator. I think thats an important point. I saw your question to the secretary, and were concerned with the issue, too. Two things, one, i think the final rule amendments that are in executive clearance right now are going to partially address those concerns, and then the approach for provisional certification would fully address those concerns. We agree that this is about advancing safety not putting somebody who has been out in front on deployment doing all the right things in a competitive disadvantage. If they have hiccups during early deployment it ends up gumming up their capacity. I think, also, an early deployment can create test cases where we see the problems are, what can be done better. Precisely. Precisely. Thats what provisional certification gives us the flexibility to do. If you have a chance to look at the new tower signing