Brought to a standstill, rain soaking the west and its not over yet. Have you not found a more productive way of supporting the Syrian People . Artists taking on isil using cartoons and comic books to keep young muslims from taking up arms for the group. Good morning, welcome to Al Jazeera America. Cronk took it down to the wire, but the government is still running this morning. The house barely approved a 1. 1 trillion spending plan. The bill is heading to the senate, while a stop gap measure keeps federal offices open. Some democrats threatened to derail the plan over provisions loosening banking regulations and allowing Bigger Campaign contributions, some republicans voted no. We have more. We have democratic holdouts voting in favor of the bill. What changed their minds . Some things changed yesterday, because we have the president and john boehner on the same side, but its still government by crisis management, nothing gets done until the 11th hour, but the president got on the telephone, he called lawmakers, so did the Vice President. They didnt want the government shut down and in the end, they prevailed. This morning, the government is open for business, the house narrowly passing a one dollar and one cents trillion budget hours before the midnight deadline. The motion is adopted without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. This is a bill we should vote for. This bill needs to pass the passage of the bill rs the new power held by republicans in congress, but this wasnt a fight along party lines. Democrats were mostly battling each other and the white house. Enormously disappointed that the white thousand feels the only way they can get a bill is to go along with this. The democrats are angry about provisions in the bill weakening Campaign Finance rules and rolling back taxpayer buyouts for big banks. All the opposite side has to do is stop supporting a bill that would allow the biggest banks in america to rip off the people one more time. President obama and Vice President biden reportedly burned up the phone lines urging democrats to pass the bill. The president sent his chief of staff to capitol hill to rally support. The president supports the passage and would sign it if it arrives at his desk. John boehner worked to get the republican votes in. It stops wasteful spending. Weve now reduced overall Discretionary Spending 176 billion since the 2010 fiscal year. The spending package includes money to battle ebola, fight isil and beef up the food Safety Inspection program. It keeps most of the government if you knowed through next september. It is a gigantic compromise designed to allow government to continue to function. The senate will take up the measure after the stop gap measure was passed for the next 48 hours. If it passes, then the president has promised to sign it into law. It funds most of the federal government through september of next year. There is a big exception in this budget plan, though. Youve got the department of home land security only funded until february, plus youve got republicans taking over congress in january. Republicans are coming to town expecting a fight, and this sets up a fight over the president S Immigration plans. He was urging undocumented immigrants to apply for relief. The republicans want to force the president to withdraw his executive actions, allowing millions of immigrants to avoid deportation. Its unclear whether cutting funding would have an impact. The president could declare d. H. S. Workers to be essential. It is reported that in last years government shutdown, 85 of d. H. S. Employees worked during that shutdown, deemed to be essential. Thats huge. If the president can declare them essential, then theres no fight. That republican tactic may not work in the end, anyway. That you can so much. Washington is buzzing over the report on the c. I. A. Socalled enhanced interrogation tactics and now the current chief is weighing in. Brennan is defending the agents but also acknowledging the agency may have gone too far after 9 11. Yes, admitted c. I. A. Director john brennan, some interrogations at times went too far. I will leave to others how they might want to label those activities, but for me, it was something that is certainly regrettable. Brennan disputes a major finding of the report that the information obtained from some of the socalled enhanced interrogation techniques yield would no actionable information. There was useful intelligence, very useful, valuable intelligence that was obtained from individuals who had been at some point subjected to e. I. T. s. Would in a interrogators lead the same information if not subjected to techniques. He stopped that short of claiming the techniques were essential. There is no way to know whether or not some information obtained from an individual who had been subjected at some point during his confinement could have been obtained through other means. The c. I. A. Is hit with harsh criticism. Mark udall director brennan and the c. I. A. Today are continuing to willfully provide interactive information and misrepresent the effaces of torture. In other words, the c. I. A. Is lying. Since the reports release, president obama has kept a low profile. Mr. President , do you agree he. Thursday brushing off shouted questions in an event centered on foreign trade. Were talking about exports, john, thank you. Just before the speech, the white house praised brennans record of service. That makes him a patriot and someone who has the full confidence of the president of the United States. Part of brennans goal, buck up morale among agency employees. C. I. A. Officers operating in some very, very dangerous places on behalf of their fellow americans. There is concern and disappointment about what has happened. As calls for accountability mount, brennan was clearly uncomfortable with all the scrutiny of an agency accustomed to staying in the shadows. I think theres more than enough transparency that has happened over the last couple of days. I think its over the top. Lisa stark joins us from washington this morning, good morning to you. How unusual is it for a c. I. A. Director to give a press conference particularly from its headquarters . I would say it is very unusual. As you say, first to give a press conference, second from the headquarters in langly, virginia, he took questions and answers from the press for 25 minutes. He clearly felt he needed to get out publicly, very publicly to rebut conclusions in that report released by the Senate Intelligence committee. We saw Immediate Reaction coming from out of washington during brennans speech. What can you tell us about that . We did. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chair of that committee who pushed for the release of this report began live tweeting responses as soon as brennan began his remarks. In fact, she said things like c. I. A. It is downknowable if we had gotten the intelligence in another way. Studies say it is knowable. C. I. A. Had info before torture. She tweeted c. I. A. Helps keep our nation safe and strong, torture does not, we must learn from our mistakes. She was giving immediate feedback. What do you think his future is . He was a top official when the program started. Could he be forced out . There certainly are some watchdog, government watchdog groups saying he needs to go. You heard senator mark udall calling for brennans resignation. Really, he has the full confidence of the president. He has been on obamas team really since before the first election, advising the president on Counter Terrorism. It seems very unlikely that he would be stepping down or asked to leave. Thank you. Two images this morning of a suicide bombing in afghanistans capitol. The taliban said it sent a teenage bomber into a French Cultural Center where a musical was being performed. One man was killed and 16 wounded. The u. S. Senate has taken a major step towards authorizing military action against isil. In the 108 vote, airstrikes and other military operations were approved. The panel gave the approval for up to three years and barred most use of american combat troops. Lets go to baghdad with the latest on the ground, because we are getting reports of an attack in the Anbar Province that happened recently. Tell us what happened. It appearance to have been a suicide bomber driving a stolen humvee. That would be one of the u. S. Made humvees used by the iraq army and one of the many, many arm vehicles seized by isil when they rolled into northern and western iraq. That suicide bomber detonated just outside a makeshift base used by the iraq army. In the an bar capitol, 14 were killed and 10 injured, an indication of the tactics isil is using now increasingly, the suicide comes into as the fight continues, i want to go back to the senate vote. The Senate Committee envisions that this fight is going to go on for at least another three years, but there are senior iraq officials youve talked to who disagree. We sat down with the iraq finance minister who said it might be a long fight, but key elements of this battle, including for mosul, iraqs third biggest city seized by isil in june could come sooner than many people, including u. S. Officials think. That would be a good thing. I guess the question is are iraq troops at a level, does he believe where they can tackle isil fighters with minimal u. S. Support . That would be a resounding no. What weve seen in the fight against isil is the pattern of u. S. Airstrikes taking out infrastructure as well as other, the command and control center of isil. The advances that the iraq army and Kurdish Forces have made couldnt have been done without the airstrikes. Iraqis acknowledge that. They need to get forces on the ground back up to speed, including, and the finance minister emphasized this, getting sunni arabs onboard particularly in mosul. They have made the most gains with soon any majority. There are a lot of disgruntled people who feel disconnected with the government here. Theres a lot of work to be done not just on the military front but certainly on the political and economic side, as well. That, too, Falling Oil Prices is a point, as well. Ukraines president , 24 hours with no casualties in eastern ukraine, saying today is the first time in seven months that a real ceasefire is in effect. A short term truce took effect this week. Last week, two soldiers and six civilians were killed in clashes in donetsk. In sierra leone, ebola is surging, 87 deaths in one Eastern District in 11 days. More bodies were found piled up at a hospital in kono. The area is under a two week lockdown. Sierra leone has overtaken liberia as the country with the most ebola cases. Thousands are expected to descend on washington, d. C. Several staged a lockout raising their hands in a symbolic gesture of hands up dont shoot. Eric garners daughter continues her own protest. Erika garner has laid down on the sidewalk where her father died twice a week since his death in july. The 24yearold said she intends to keep doing it. In california, this undercover officer pulled a gun on protestors. The officer was marching in demonstrations when it happened. Highway patrol is not identifying him but says his partner was attacked. After suffering a wilting drought most of the year, thee western states are getting soaked with rain. The intense storm currently hitting california is packing Hurricane Forced winds. John henry smith is here with more on that. Experts say Northern California hasnt seen rain and wind like this since 2009. This storm, which already hit washington and oregon is leaving a lot of damage in its wake. Ive never seen anything like it. The weather system known as the Pineapple Express has brought life to a soggy halt along the west coast and brought flash flooding to some areas. I was just wanting to take a picture of the rain coming down, and within like five minutes, my car was almost submerged underwater. In washington state, the storm washed out roadways and claimed two homes. This was winddriven waivers over the top of my deck, wiped everything out. The storm has cut a swath through Northern California. They were kayaking down the street in wine country. There was flooding in other areas north of the bay area, too. Manhole covers in San Francisco were no match for the deluge and winds of 78 Miles Per Hour in low lying areas downed trees and power lines from San Francisco to san jose, where this s. U. V. Got crushed. At the height of the storm, more than 200,000 people lost power and shut down San Francisco businesses and its mass transit system, including the iconic street cars. Those driving found chaos on the streets as traffic lights went dark, floodwater stalled engines and high winds caused accidents. Over 240 flights were canceled. Some were able to have fun with the water, including surfers and kids across Northern California, who enjoyed a rare day off from school. We saw it on the news and it looked really fun, so we just wanted to do it. Rewarding the effect of this storm on californias historic drought, experts say while this is a good start, they would need three to five similar such storms in short order to get rainfall levels back to where they need to be. Lets get more on the storm with nicole mitchell. Some people are having fun, but for the most part, this is a really damaging storm. It is. He was just talking about the drought. The monitor comes out every week. The last big storm didnt dent the drought. All the numbers stayed exactly the same. As mentioned, you need a few of these and it does cause things like this. You can see rocks sliding down the hill carried by all that water and houses there that had tried obviously to put sandbags out to keep that away. As we continue on, now, all the heavy rain moving into more parts of Southern California. You remember a couple days ago, this was more to the northwest, yesterday, it was the northern part of california, now its shifted farther to the south and will continue interior now. Not as much rain as we saw in the northern portion of the state, but today and lingering into tomorrow, one to three inches and mountainous terrain funnels so places will see higher amount. Because of that, our big concern through the state and southward flood warnings to advisories for those conditions. Up get to the Higher Elevations and spreading interior, the pinks is for the snow coming down and that is at least one of the good side effects of this, but you watch this move out. Another one already slated for later into the weekend, so at least theyre getting the moisture they need right now. This system that just been too much water. Nicole mitchell, thank you. Questions about accountability in the wake of this weeks c. I. A. Revelation. Critics want to know will anyone be prosecuted. Well speak with former ambassador about whether the International Criminal court could take up the issue. Another high profile celebrity comes forward with allegations against bill cosby. What a super model said he did to her decades ago. Theres a huge appetite in the middle east for superheros. Countering isil using cartoons and comic books to reach out to young muslims, inspiring them to do something good. 42,900,000 is the big number of the day. The burden of medical debt on Many Americans. Todays big number is 42,900,000, thats how Many Americans have unpaid medical debt. The Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau said 20 of americans with credit reports are carrying past do medical bills. The average amount do is 1,766. 52 have all debt on credit reports culls from medical expenses. There is growing pressure on president obama to prosecute individuals connected with the c. I. A. Enhanced Interrogation Program. Our guest is currently and International Law professor at northwestern university, mr. Ambassador, thank you for being with us. Is there a war crimes case here . There certainly is. The question is where and whether it would ever actually be be launched. Thats a value lid question, right . The u. S. Is not a significant in a atory to the u. C. C. It is a nonstarter to even talk about this . Not at all. Under u. S. Law, it would be difficult under some circumstances to bring these prosecutions, because in the Bush Administration, there are various laws passed that essentially immunized officials from prosecution. Thats one hurdle here in the United States. There is exposure overseas for u. S. Officials who were engaged in this activity. Including in the countries where rendition was happening, such as poland, afghanistan . Yes, afghanistan, poland, romania, lithuania, all of those are States Parties to the rome statute of the international court. If crimes took place on the territory of those states, then it is possible that the International Criminal court would absolute nice those crimes and determine whether or not nationals of the United States engaged in committing those crimes might be held culpable before the International Criminal court. Given the political situation among those allied currentries, do you think thats likely to happen. Whats more likely to happen is that the prosecutor of the International Criminal court doubtless particularly with respect to afghanistan will look into this very, very