Transcripts For CSPAN3 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

Energy anymore. That process took place pretty quickly after the giant impact. Very small fraction of the age of the solar system. That must have all been a long time ago. Its not contributing to the Energy Budget currently. Well take three questions. One question as only so we can get through media. Well go to the phone lines take a couple questions from social media and come back here. Cliff mcmurray im one of the people in the room that can remember when the first pictures came back from mariner 4. At the time you could hear the balloons popping the atmosphere is thinner that i thought it was. Tonight i hear excitement but i dont hear balloons popping. It seems plutow is kind of the world that we thought it would be. Im completely surprised. I would disagree with the assertion. In my case, i certainly didnt expect charon to show nearly the degree of different terrains and variety or the surface that it does show. Thats a complete surprise. Thats a balloon popping. In addition, i think just having one image of about 1 of the surface of pluto as a planet and finding mountain ranges like the rockies is a balloon popping. My colleagues may disagree with me, why dont we ask them. Who would suppose that there were ice mountains . And you know, we can its just blowing my mind. We have had such a hard time finding any evidence for water ice on the surface of pluto e. We havent yet. We are going to be some data thats going to really reveal that for sure. But thats the only way to get these huge mountains. Thats a big surprise, i think. I can speak to that as well. That image yesterday that showed an amazing diversity of compositional units on the surface and the photographs that show an amazing diversity of morphology geomorphology on the surface points to a great diversity of processes that are shaping the surface. I think all of us thought it was probably a few processes that were at work. Now it looks like this is a much more complicated system where the interplay of chemistry j thermodynamics is leading to a huge pallet of processes that are working in different ways on different parts of the surface. That to me is amazing. This will keep us busy for a long time to come. Can i just i would never have believed that the first close up picture we get of pluto didnt have a single impact crater on it. Astonishing. [ applause ] emily. Im wondering if will could read the spectra for us. While youre getting that on the screen, if its time for us to consider that maybe the charon forming impact could have happened more recently and that could explain the recent looking geology . One more time past this one. Right. So these spectra are both methane ice spectra really, all of those dips that you see are methane ice. The other features are much more subtle and theyre going to require modeling to pull them out. But just to draw your eyes to the right hand side of it, you see how the blue colored one goes down to almost zero. And the red one doesnt go down to zero. That tells me that theres Something Else present in the red terrain that scattered light where methane absorbed quite strongly. Theres an example of the sort of thing you can do. Corner me later and we can chat as long as you like about this stuff. I dont want to put people to sleep. Theres a huge amount of information in this data. Lets go to the phone line. I believe we have a question on the phone line. Do we have a question . Caller can you hear me . I can hear you now. Caller the question i have actually i hoped to ask last night. I am looking at the spectral image, a question for allen, whats specificity are you going to be able to get from this information from ralph and alice as you go on . And how will you be able to map it up against the terrain . You talked about a thin veneer of this stuff. Some of the stuff is looking like waste i saw when i was teaching chemistry. Where you be able to map this . I had a hard time not loud enough. Could you speak a little later and repeat . We apologize. Repeat the question one last time. Caller how much specificity will you have the speck spectrometry mapped against these features. Okay. I think the question is about how well well be able to determine the composition of the surface and spot other organic on the surface. Well have very High Resolution compared to what will is showing you here, about not quite 100 times but spatially well have duffly to five to ten kilometer range. Every pixel we can look at things ten times smaller. 1 smaller by area. Which means we dont average over large blocks of terrain but can instead really see the details, interfaced between units. Any craters that we find there are windows into the interior. Ill let will speak to the range of organics we could find on the surface, thats his area. There are a lot of different chemicals that have diagnostic features in this wave length range. There are also substances that have no visible absorption, a good example is argan. We just cant detect it because it doesnt have any vibrations in our wave length. The alice instrument will be able to see it if its on the atmosphere but on the surface were blind to it. Its a mixed bag. Well be able to learn a lot more than what we know about it today. Can i add to that . Maybe we can give a examples of what we could expect to find sure, the things like carbon chain with hydrogen stuck to it we could distinguish between methane, propane, ethane and so on. Polytickric hydrocarbon. Some of them have distinctive features. Theres a wide range of organic calm pounds we could detect that could be produced in that surface chemistry. I was going to add theres other ices also that have spectral features in this region. Theres water ice nitrogen ice this is a very diagnostic region. Not only that you can see slopes across the spectrum. So even some things that dont have sharp features you can identify the possibilities that theyre there by the slopes in the infrared spectra. Okay. Lets see whats going on in the social media world. I know it is abuzz. Well turn it over to emily. Im from nasa headquarters. We have a lot of questions on social. The first one is from david. What, if anything can we learn about our own planet from this information new horizons has provided . Well we expect that the data that will return teaches us a lot about the formation of the earth moon system. Were going to get atmospheric data sets and it will let us study the escape of plutos atmosphere. The alice instrument should give us powerful constraint on that escape rate. Plutos atmosphere is escaping through a process with a big fancy name called hydrodynamic escape that you just dont find on any of the planets in the solar system except pluto. Now, the interesting thing about that is that the same process did operate in the early atmospheres of a number of planets, including the earth. The earth is believed to have lost its poisonous hydrogen envelope due do that. By determining exactly how fast the atmosphere is escaping and knowing the input conditions the solar flux at the time that we made the fly by and the heliosphere in the plauzsma. It will help us understand the early earth and the loss of our atmosphere. And the water from early mars. Were looking forward to learning things for uminpluto system that will translate into a better understanding of other planets in the solar system. Im going to ask the mic handers to help me. Some folks have been raising their hands for a long time. Mic handlers, give them the mic cue them up and give me. Lets go back to social media. Two more questions and well come back here. This is from herald hes asking how large of a percentage of pluto will be viewed and will there be any blind spots . Im happy to take that. So were going to cover the entire illuminated part of pluto. All the parts that rotate into view. It takes 6. 4 days for pluto to rotate. Well have some at higher resolutions than others. But there is just like on earth, when you have the winter pole and its dark there the sun doesnt rise theres something similar on pluto. That winter pole of pluto were going to make a special observation to try and observe that. And were going to use the light that goes from the sun and reflects of plutos large moon charon and then reflects to pluto. We will use charon shine to look at the winter pole of pluto. Well be seeing all of it but at different resolutions. Just not getting your hopes up too much on the charon shine. This is a difficult observation. Charon shine is feeble and well do the best to pull detail out of those images. Were looking with the sun in our eyes. Well have fun pulling that out but well certainly do our best. This question is from will. How do you think pluto has been able to maintain its own geo activity for so long . That was a great question. Right. The certainly if you have rocks and pluto pretty much has to have silicate rocks in its interior to make its density come out right. Silicate rocks come with uranium and various radioogenic elements. The naive naive now in hindsight was a world this size just wouldnt get enough heat to drive this kind of activity. And now we see that it can. Or like john said, theres a lot of heat in a internal ocean. As the internal ocean freezes, that liberates the latent heat. And also will tend to make the world expand in size. Because ice is larger than liquid depending on which phase of ice you make. Which could also produce tet tonic features. I want to thank the world on social media sending your questions with asknasa. And following the conversation throughout the world on on plutoflyby. Back to the question about the diversity of processes youre seeing in this new close up pluto image, im wondering if you could walk us through the image a little bit . I realize youre not at the stage where you can provide answers, but i would like to see the kind of questions you have posed. You have a hilly terrain theres something that looked like a fault. What are the things youre going to be investigating there . Thats a good one. Very nice job. We have the surface that looks pollacky and something that looked like a fault. The terrain to the lower right looks really strange. And its like piles of stuff with grooves on it. To be technical. And then we have smooth plains filling in some of the low spots that we can say more about on friday i think. This being erosion thats being mountain building theres been whatever produces lumpy terrain with grooves on it. And it its baffling in a very interesting and wonderful way. And i hope when we get more context we can fill in how this fits in with the rest of the geology. It will start to make some sense. We can only hope. Ill allen boyle with nbc news. I wanted to return to the ice mountains, is that actually in tom baragg i o. Do you see any pattern to that might suggest the formation of those mountains . Are they being pushed up like ridges . Allen mentioned the rockies. Is there a similar process going on here . Thank you. Yeah. This is right at the base of the heart, if you like sort of where it wraps around the edge of the wale. But its still in the bright terrain at the base of the heart. Thats where this is. And, again, in terms of distribution of the mountains well have to wait to see when we get the bigger pixel view and things may make more sense. Claire mcmurray. Some of the features on that very good resolution square kind of long and thin, my eye sight is not the best. I cant tell whether theyre trough like or hump like. Maybe youre waiting for the other direction image. Could there possibly be similar to lava tubes . We i dont see anything that leaps out to me as looking like a lava tube. Some of that surface looks like the surface of a lava flow. I dont think it would be the surface of a lava flow but maybe an amalgs process happening on a larger scale. There is i should comment that yeah, there are a lot of linear parallel features as you say, and maybe its falling at the surface some strange kind of erosion. Yeah well have fun figuring it out. I should say, we will get im not sure if this exactly area is covered at High Resolution. It probably is. We have more detail of this areas when all the data comes down. Leo wainwright with irish television. Your findings on internal heating today, are they a game changer for the way we should be thinking about other objects in the edgeworth belt . Im thinking in particular if i could take it to the extreme, does it raise the prospects of water worlds out there, and does it increase the excitement about what we might see out there . Ill take a crack at it. Yeah i think it could be paa game changer. Charon is the size of some of the smaller worlds in the belt. We dont know how recent the activity is on charon until we can count the craters. Its clearly had things happening gelodgely recently. We think of it as candy coated lumps of ice. This meets it could be equally diverse and equally amazing if we ever get a spacecraft to see them close up. Were coming up on the top of the hour. Ill try to get as many as we can. Well have a cluster and will have to shut this down. Josh. I notice today we havent talked about the touch stones. Moons weve explored that we could think of as analogous to pluto and charon. Is that because they dont look similar enough, or how much can we learn from what we already know from exploration to understand whats going on . Were starting to make those analogues. The first thing is it doesnt look like triton which is the world that we have thought up to now is the most similar object in the solar system to pluto. Triton doesnt have this kind of rugged terrain. It has a lot of strange materials. It doesnt look at all like this. Theres something very different about pluto and geology. And charon looks a little bit like some of the moons of uranus i would say. Arial where we have invoked tidal heating as an explanation. As i said now we are seeing that we can get these kind of this kind of activity on worlds that do not have tidal heating. Well have to go back and look at those. I can add to that. You know part of the reason youre not hearing us say pluto looks like this world or that world is because pluto has so much diversity, were seeing so many different features. Theres lots of different processes going on here. Well probably end up pulling it apart and say this part resembled that on this world. But theres nothing like it. Okay. So were going to take two quick questions and then, unfortunately, im going to have to end. If you have questions well see if we can follow those up at a later time. Thank you. I think this question may be for allen. Or whoever you want to delegate to. Youve shown us a first look at hydro. Im wondering today in the Missions Operations room how that feels to see it come down. To open it and know yesterday you had one photo and now you have something ten times better and tomorrow its going to get even better. Thank you. Hell feel terrible. Yeah theres a lot of depression in the science team. We dont understand anything. People were thinking of just catching flights. Honestly, i said a few days before the approach there were a lot of smiles. You could feel the momentum. We were finally getting to the stage where we could see topography on the surface. Now, you know, i think i can characterize the four individual rooms where people are at work as something close to bedlam. Because, you know, particularly today, today is probably our biggest challenge. First were definitely living on less sleep than normal. But the imagery came down beginning just before 6 00 a. M. , and this event began you know, nine hours later. We had more data thats coming down today. The next time we talk to you is in 48 hours. If we have many times as long to work with the data and discuss what we think the results are. Then the next time we come back and talk to you will be yet a week later, still. So this is really, you know hot off the press. But i asked my colleagues to pitch in. I dont think any one of us could have imagined that it was this good of a toy store. This is what we came for. This exceeds what we came from. [ applause ]f. [ applause ]o. [ applause ]for. [ applause ] okay, frank, take us home. Last week, i believe you were surprised by the difference in color between charon and pluto. Have you seen anything since yesterday that is beginning to inform that question . I can speak for myself. I dont think so yet. One of the interesting things that i think ill just remark on is the image that we showed yesterday showing very strong color contrasts on plutos surface. And i wouldnt be surprised if there are some units that might be charon like. Well have to see when we get the higher resolution and more global color data sets. Well take a look. Something is making these two words very very different. One has an atmosphere, the other does not. One is covered in water ice, the other is covered in volicals. Its a puzzle. A real puzzle. Okay. Were going to end here. As youve heard this is just the beginning. The story is far, far from being over. We will transition to the next News Conference at nasa headquarters at 1 00 p. M. Eastern on friday. There will be an advisory going on tomorrow. Follow the mission and the incredible images and information on social media. Join the conversation follow the conversation. Plutoflyby and send the questions in and all of this information is online on nasa. Gov newhorizons. Its been a remarkable week. The nasa new horizons and applied physics lab and all of the partners on this mission are truly household names throughout the world. Thank you for joining us here at the applied physics lab. Well see you at nasa headquarters. [ applause ] this sunday on q a. Artist on molly crab apple on her use of drawings to tell stories around the world. Game affiliation might mean reading a being by a black panther. But pelican bay isnt alone. Around the country you can land in solitary if your beliefs your gender status your seculate orientation or your friends. I go around with a sketch book and draw. Thats not necessarily to show the finished drawing. Very often when you have a big camera it puts a distance between and the person. Youre taking the images, they cant see what theyre taking. Its vampiric in this way even though youre producing beautiful things later. When you draw its a vulnerable thing. They can see what youre doing. If you suck they can tell you so. Most people havent been drawn before. Most people are delighted to be drawn. I like to draw people. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern and pacific. Former Maryland Governor Martin Omalley a 2016 president ial candidate delivered the keynote address at the annual conference in kansas city, missouri. Mr. Omalley discussed immigration, the economy and civil rights. This road to the white house event from earlier this week is 35 minutes. I am so privileged to introduce one of our keynote speakers. Born and raised in the state of maryland, governor Martin Omalley has become one of the states most dedicated and revered public servants. An attorney by profession, governor omalley began his career of Public Service at the age of 28. He was first elected to the Baltimore City council, where he spent eight years and was later elected as mayor of baltimore for two terms. In 2006, he became marylands 61st governor. A post he held until january of this year. Throughout his distinguished career, governor omalley has focused on improving the lives of his constituents. Whether its advocating for better education safer communities, or Stronger Economic opportunities. No where is this more evident than in governor omalleys work on behalf of the growing latino population in maryland. He has worked closely with nclr affiliates in maryland for years. Governor omalley has long supported comprehensive Immigration Reform and supports president obamas immigration relief order. But it is his record of accomplishments on issues of top priority to latinos that stands out. In 2007, he appointed our good friend and colleague current labor secretary has marylands first latino secretary of labor. In 2008, governor omalley established the Maryland Council for new americans. A pioneering effort on immigrant integration. In 2009, he issued an order that expanded access to drivers license for undocumented drivers, which he helped make permanent in 2013 when he rightly noted that the measure protects the safety of all marylanders. In 2012, he shepherded the passage of the maryland dream act. The following year, he helped beat back a challenge to that law when Maryland Voters overwhelmingly passed a referendum in support of the dream act. And one of his final acts as governor was to increase marylands minimum wage, one of his Top Priorities on policy. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to governor Martin Omalley. [ applause ] thank you very, very much. It is wonderful to be here with all of you. And i want to say a special thank you to Janet Murguia for your invitation and for the ability to be with you here today. As many of you know, this is janets tenth year at the helm of the National Council of la raza. Big round of applause for that. [ applause ] and that means ten years of Exceptional Leadership and the battle for hispanic civil rights and immigration that will uplift our entire nation. [ applause ] as many of you know, janet and her family have lived one of the greatest american Success Stories that you will ever hear. And i had the real honor to be able to meet with her family just a few moments ago. Janets grandparents moved to the United States to escape the mexican revolution. And neither her mom nor her dad made it past the seventh grade in school. But they believed in hard work family, community, possibility. All of the things that our nation promises. Growing up the kids in janets family slept dormitory style in one big room. But they also shared Something Else. And that was an unshakable belief in the American Dream. Janet and her six siblings grew up to pursue College Degrees and law degrees. Janet went on to work at the white house to serve as a top administrator at the university of kansas and of course to lead this fine organization. One of janets brothers is a federal judge. And one of janets sister is a judge. And thats the first time in our countrys history a brother and sister have served on the federal bench. And that too, is the American Dream come to life. [ applause ] and now janet helps lead the fight to make that dream available and true to every hispanic american family. In fact to every american family. Now, of course she had big shoes to fill after 30 extraordinary years of raul who made this council a force. His family faced a nightly hispanic curfew. And in spite of growing up in exclusion, his appointment as American Ambassador to the Dominican Republic and a host of other great achievements in the service of the cause. He benefitted from one of the most transformative investments our nation has ever made in our people and the growth of our middle class. Thats when he went to college on the gi bill. Millions of lives have now been touched by rauls life work in part because his own country had the good sense to invest in him. Now i know the power of that investment personally. My dad tom omalley went to college on the gi bill as well. I think its fair to say that he went to college only because of the gi bill. His dream was set in motion when my great grandparents came to this country from ireland. My great grandfather whose name happened to be Martin Omalley. Had no money. His first language was no english. The hope and dreams he had for his children and his grandchildren were purely american. He started from zero. Just like so many new americans from all over the world come here and start from zero. The new americans that he worked beside risked all of their lives in the mines of southwest arizona to feed their families and to give their children a Better Future. New americans today often have that same experience the same drive, the same spirit, the same love of family that builds up our country one person and one family at a time. It is a spirit that has always made us the land of opportunity. For many years i had very intentionally and repeatedly used in my own Public Service the term new americans. The genius of our country is not so much about where you came from. Its about where youre going. And where were all going together. [ applause ] of course we know that both the positive and the negative aspects of American History can often repeat themselves. Todays new americans immigrants are not the first to face the ugliness of exclusion. Fear or hate. During my service as mayor, true story, i always kept a sign from the 1890s on my desk. It read help wanted no irish need apply. Those signs were once very common throughout america. And for me that sign was a daily reminder that not only were we all once strangers in a strange land, more importantly, we are all in this together. And we must help each other if we are to succeed. [ applause ] and i suppose this truth is why i have always seen in the eyes of my new american neighbors the eyes of the great grandparents that i never met. You see, the cause that we share is the cause of human dignity. The work that we share, is the strengthening of our common good as one american people. It is the dream made real by the murguia family it is the dream made real by my family. Its the dream made real by your family and by every family in america who loves their children and loves our country. [ applause ] and it is the living reality of that dream that lifts us all. As governor of maryland i fought to make that dream real every day. How did we do this . We did this by including more of our people more fully in the economic and the social and the political life of our state. You see, in maryland we didnt wait for the federal government to act. We pursued our own dream act to insure that 36,000 dreamers could have access to affordable higher education. [ applause ] and after i signed the dream act into law shannon indicated our brothers and sisters in the Republican Party decided to petition it to referendum. And it was a straight yes or no vote. When we started off, we were losing. Fact we were about 10 points down. But instead of following public opinion, we forged a new consensus. And we became the first state in the nation to defend the dream act at the ballot box. [ applause ] after that conversation that we had around the referendum, get this, we actually won with 59 of the vote. We are a good and compassionate and a generous people. This was not simply a victory for the dreamers future, though it was. But it was also a victory for marylands future. For the Better Future all of us want for our children. In maryland, we also expanded access to drivers licenses because people need to be able to get to work safely and obey the rules of the road. [ applause ] and at the very start of my administration in 2008, i established the new americans commission. Its purpose, to highlight and welcome the skills that were being brought to our state by new american immigrants from countries all over the world. And that effort was helped by our first labor commissioner, a name that will be familiar to all of you, tom perez who is now our labor secretary for the United States of america. I regret i have but one cabinet to give to my country. [ applause ] during my two terms as governor we actually increased government contracts to latino businesses by 154 . [ applause ] we became the first state in the nation to pass a living wage and we expanded the earned income tax credit not once, but twice. We raised the minimum wage to 10. 10 an hour so that by 2016 hundreds of thousands of marylanders will have gotten a raise. We froze College Tuition for four years in a row. And we did a better job than any state at keeping down the cost of College Tuition, which helped [ applause ] this of course helped all of us but it also particularly helped hispanic students earn twice as many associate degrees and bachelors degrees during my service as governor as ever before. We kept marylands Unemployment Rate among hispanic workers down to one of the lowest in the nation. What does all of this mean . Anyone can talk about it. But we actually did it. [ applause ] [ speaking in spanish ] [ applause ] [ speaking in spanish ] we created real opportunity in maryland for all of our people. We did it by investing. In our people. We did it by including more of our people more fully in the economic and the social and the political life of our state. And together, through these actions, we made the dream real for more and more families. Tomorrow, i will lay out a detailed immigration policy for the sake of our nation. And today i want to talk with you about the Core Principles that guide my thinking. First, we are and we have always been a nation of immigrants. Out of many one strong nation. [ applause ] second, we are a compassionate and a generous people. And the enduring symbol of the United States of america is not the barbed wire fence it is the statue of liberty. [ applause ] number three, it is in the best interest of every citizen of the United States for us to reform an immigration system that is callus, irrational, inhuman, unjust and sells our nation short. [ applause ] you see our fight for Immigration Reform is not only about our values as americans though it certainly is. But it is also about creating an economy that actually works again for all of us. It is about bringing our neighbors out of the shadow economy and into the light of an open and inclusive economy. It is about one of the most important issues affecting kitchen tables all across the United States of america. And that is taking better actions to make sure that wages go up again instead of down for all americans. We must begin by providing immediate relief to the millions of new americans whose hopes have been dashed time and time again by a congress that has failed to do its job. Many leaders, many Leaders Within the Republican Party sadly today visitify scapegoat, and seek every opportunity they can find to speak ill of new americans and have fought tooth and nail against Immigration Reform. I know that all of us here today share my disgust with the comments donald trump recently made. [ applause ] the real problem the real problem isnt that the republicans have such a hate spewing character running for president. The problem is that its so hard to tell him apart from many of the other candidates they have in their field. [ applause ] get this the Los Angeles Times ran a headline the other day. It read and i quote republican field divided on Donald Trumps comments about mexican immigrants. Divided . As in not sure hes wrong . Two days ago, two days ago, donald trump attracted a crowd of thousands of people to listen to his hate speech rant against new american immigrants. What does it say about the direction of todays Republican Party, that donald trump calls new americans from mexico rapist drug dealers and murderers and the best their leadership can summon up is that theyre divided . Theres nothing to be divided about here. If donald trump wants to run on a platform of demonizing immigrants he should go back to the 1840s and run for the nom nomination of the knownothing party. [ applause ] our children deserve better. America deserves better. Let me speak with you now, about leadership in our own american atmosphere, if i may. Maybe its an irish sensitivity. But i have a soft spot for island people who are being treated poorly. I would like to speak with you, therefore, about our fellow americans in puerto rico and our neighbors on the island of his paniola. [ applause ] our fellow citizens for almost 100 years they have contributed to our economy, they have fought and died to defend our country on battlefields around the world. Today, our fellow americans in puerto rico are suffering through what may be the worst economic and fiscal crisis in the islands history. We must not let their economy collapse. [ applause ] i was glad to lead the field of our candidates in calling for congress to approve legislation giving puerto rico the same ability to negotiate with its creditors that states have under the u. S. Bankruptcy code. And i led the field, also, in calling on our health department, the department of health and Human Services to end the inequitable treatment of puerto rico under medicare, medicaid and the Affordable Care act. [ applause ] treatment of puerto rico under medicare medicaid, and the Affordable Care act. [ applause ]. We must all demand action. And on the island of hispanola, where mass deportations of haitians and dominicans of haitian decent have already begun. I was the first and only candidate to call with the United States to work with our allies and the United Nations to use the full force of our diplomatic might to stop this atrocious afront to human rights in our own hemisphere. [ applause ]. We would not tolerate the expulsion of citizens without due process based on their skin color or ethnic background and we should not remain silent when such an injustice is being perpetrated here in our own hemisphere. Speaking up is the right thing to do, and we must all demand action. The people of this world of ours this earth we share, the people of our own american hemisphere, they care a lot more about what we do than what we say. And that is why i pledge to you that i will always act accordingly to my principles and guided by our better angels. It is who i am. It is the way i have always led and that i will always continue to serve and to lead. We are the greatest and most powerful republic ever brought forward on the face of this planet. We have literally saved the world before and we can save our country now. We have come a long way since the depths of the recession. But a great deal of work remains. That work the ongoing continuing and urgent work of including more people more fully in our economy. There are things we need to do as americans. We need to return to our true selves, practice the common sense economics of our parents and grandparents. Therefore, yes we must always raise the minimum wage keep it above the poverty rate and pay overtime wages for overtime work so families can get ahead. [ applause ]. And we must respect the rights of all workers to organize and collectively bargain for better wages. [ applause ]. And we must send our kids to College Without saddling them with a mountain of debt and college loans. This isnt rocket science. Were the only industrialized advanced nation that saddles our kids with debt like this. This doesnt have to be the way it is. We must also create an american jobs agenda to build a new clean, Green Renewable Energy future for our childrens and grandchildrens sake. [ applause ]. And we must rebuild American Cities as places of justice and opportunity for all. And we must protect the American Dream from ever again being wrecked by the elite and powerful and the reckless behavior of a select few on wall street. [ applause ]. And we should stop entering in to secret socalled free trade agreements that lower wages for workers, lower standards for workers, and export american jobs abroad. [ applause ]. There are things we must do there are things we can only do to build a new Foreign Policy of engagement and collaboration to fund and craft and carry through on a new National Security strategy of threat reduction. But all of it begins and depends upon making our own economy stronger here at home, making the dream real and true again for all americans. I want to leave you with this final american story. All of you may not remember this scene last year when refugee children were streaming north from guatemala, honduras, and el salvador. Fleeing death at the hands of murderous drug gangs. When children arrive on our doorstep, fleeing starvation and death gangs, we cannot as americans turn our backs. We cannot turn them away. Or worse pin them up behind chain link and barbed wire in conditions that looked a lot like more things you would see at a local Humane Society than conditions you would see in a humane country. No. We must act like the generous, compassionate people that we have always been. When those scenes and those stories and that suffering was playing out i stood up and i spoke out. And i said we should care for these children decently and with respect for the dignity in every single child. [ applause ]. Sadly, at the time and some of you will remember this there were some other governors around the country who spoke of these courageous children as if they were some kind of invading swarm of jack rabbits. One of my advisers warned me at the time. He said, well im not sure about this. I think youre going out on a limb. I wasnt going out on a limb. I knew i was speaking truthfully to the compassion and generosity and the heart of the people of my state and the people of my country. And i was not wrong. Our people rallied. We rallied faith leaders. And we accommodated through foster care more children per capita than any other state in the United States. [ applause ]. A few months later, as my wife katie and i were hosting the holiday open house at the governors residence, there was a long line of people coming in to shake hands with their governor and first lady and to say hello and merry christmas. And i will never forget one gentleman came up to me with a young teenager with him and he said, governor omalley, i want to introduce you to emmanuel. Hes 13. And he was one of the refugee children who you helped who just came here from guatemala. And that little boy, who had braved the desert and deprivation and so many other horrible things to get away from the drug gangs that plagued his country and threatened his life, he did not speak english but he shook me by the hand. And as he took my hand he immediately released and hugged me around the waist. In an embrace that i will never, ever forget. Because his dream is our dream. The dream of everything thats ever been possible here in the United States of america. Do you know who believes the most passionately in the truth and the reality and the ongoing life of the American Dream . It is everyone who has ever risked their life to get here. Thats who believes in the American Dream. [ applause ]. I believe it. You believe it. Now together let us fight as one to make it true for all americans. May god bless you and may god bless the United States of america. Thank you. [ applause ]. This weekend on cspans road to the white house, two Major Political events from iowa. And were the only place you can watch or listen to these events in their entirety. Friday night at 8 00 eastern, live in cedar rapids for the Iowa Democratic party hall of fame dinner. It will mark the first time that all five Democratic Candidates share the same stage. All day saturday, beginning at 11 00 a. M. Eastern live in ames where nine leading republican president ial candidates are scheduled to speak. On cspan, cspan radio, and cspan. Org. Cspans road to the white house 2016. We take you there. The head of the u. S. Soccer Federation Said he had suspicions about fifa, the Sports International governing body, before federal prosecutors indicted nine soccer officials. That hearing is next on cspan3. Then remarks from Los Angeles Mayor eric garcetti. Later we hear from gop president ial candidates ted cruz. And then a discussion on the u. S. Patent system. Book tv is television for serious readers. And join us this saturday starting at 11 00 a. M. Eastern for our all day live coverage of the harlem book fair. Author talks and Panel Discussions featuring historian nell ervin painter and pamela new kirk. Author and code pink Medea Benjamin on in depth. Live from National Book festival celebrating its 15th year. And on sunday, live in depth with second lady and senior fellow at the American Enterprise institute lynn cheney on on cspan2s book tv. The senate panel was critical of the way soccer is run by International Governing Bodies and questioned what current soccer chiefs new about corruption in the Global Organization fifa. Well hear from the u. S. Soccer Federation President dan flynn and journalist Andrew Jennings at the Senate Commerce committee. The panel was asked about discrepancies in spending between mens and womens soccer. Senator jerry moran chairs the hearing. This hearing of the subcommittee is now called to order. 3 00 is troublesome to our subcommittee. Well see how this goes as far as how we handle that circumstance when it arises. I would like to first thank the Witnesses Today for participating in what i think is a very important hearing regarding International Soccer governance. Im not one who generally thinks congress should investigate every scandal in the world of professional sports. Neuer do i believe that the topics we are discussing today will lead to legislation that must be enacted. But i do believe this is a significant issue that deserves public attention. By shining light on the corruption bribery and other criminal activity that has been a part of International Soccer for far too long my hope is that the american people, current and future sponsors, and Media Companies that support the games today will better understand the consequences of allowing the organizations governing soccer to continue without reform. Including the tragic loss of life. According to some reports, as many as 4,000 my grant workers will die before the first ball is kicked in the 2022 world cup. That is appalling. Soccer is by far the most popular sport in the world. It is truly a Global Institution that connects humanity across language, culture and continent. Soccer is attracting a wider audience by the day right here in the United States. One must look no farther than the womens world cup u. S. National team winning to see the impact soccer has on lives. Along with this excitement comes billions of dollars of annual revenue from tv contracts, sponsorships and endorsements. Thats why the revelations of bribery atrophy fifa and concacaf are more troubling. Bribery, corruption within International Soccer is so serious that may 27th 2015, the u. S. Department of justice unsealed a 47 count indictment against nine fifa officials and five Corporate Executives charging the defendants with racketeering, bribery, wire fraud, and money laundering. The culture of corruption must be addressed. With the announcement that fifa president blatter prepares to step down. Now it is time for the United States and the Soccer Federation to engage and encourage meaningful reforms and elect a leader atrophy tpa who will spearhead long overdue changes within the organization. The goal is to have a serious and meaningful conversation about how to address fifas culture of corruption, United States participation in the organization, and the Human Rights Violations stemming from the organizations lapses in integrity. Without evidence that reforms are being implemented, we must examine our countrys own participation in fifa and how it can restore integrity to the world of soccer. We cannot, should not, must not turn a blind eye to this issue any longer, especially when human lives are at stake. I now would like to turn to the Ranking Member, senator blumenthal for his opening statement. Senator blumenthal . Thank you mr. Chairman. And i want to thank you for having this hearing and for our witnesses being here. I also want to thank the department of justice for its vigorous and profoundly significant investigation. And i want to note that soccer is a growing and important sport in the United States. And we pride ourselves last month in our World Champion team. I want to congratulate them and say very bluntly that the corruption uncovered in world soccer is a disservice to the game, it is a disrespect to them. It betrays countless men and women. Many of them young people just beginning in this sport. Who have a right to expect better. The fact of the matter is what has been so far is a mafia style Crime Syndicate in charge of this sport. My only hesitation in using that term is that almost insulting to the mafia. Because the mafia would never have been so blatant arrogant in its corruption. The simple fact is that in this indictment more than 100 pages long, shows a Crime Organization a racketeering conspiracy. It has an organizational chart that shows how it was run. And the question is who knew about this criminal wrongdoing when did they know it and what did they know, why did they not act more quickly. And those are the questions that u. S. Soccer federation has to answer today. These are classic questions involved in any racketeering conspiracy investigation. That is why there is no fact an ongoing criminal investigation. We know some of the individuals who were responsible and should be held accountable. At least one of the principals has pleaded guilty already. And others may be cooperating. But the facts show that there had to be either willful ignorance or blatant incompetence on many of the members of this organization. And thats true of u. S. Soccer as well. They either knew about it or they should have known about it. And im not sure which is worse. The recent success of our professional womens soccer team should remind us and all americans that fifa, the international responsible for regulating and promoting soccer, has engaged in this willful and prolonged disgracefully corrupt conduct, including money laundering, fraud spanning two decades. Many of these crimes were committed in the United States. Which is especially troubling. I am saddened by the fact that these corrupt practices over many years have deprived American National teams, our youth leagues and millions of american soccer fans of the full value and integrity of the game they love. The actions of fifas international and regional soccer officials have undermined the very sport this organization was established to serve. And this hearing is an opportunity for us not only to ask these questions about who knew what when and why they didnt do anything about it but also to lay the groundwork for reform. Just as sports scandals in the past have led to fundamental farreaching overhauls in the way those sports are organized and conducted. I want to know what reforms the u. S. Soccer federation is planning to introduce to instill Greater Transparency and accountability in the governance of soccer in america. Not whether but what and when. Because clearly there is an urgent and immediate need for such reforms. But i also believe that Americas National Soccer Federation has those serious questions to answer. And i think it has to answer them not only at this hearing but for its fans around this country. Clearly we can no longer indulge the idea of fifa, a multibillion dollar nonprofit. Only those who install Greater Transparency and accountability can shed the necessary sunlight to disinfect this corrupt organization. One proposal is in fact to reorganize it as a Public Corporation or some part of it as a Public Corporation. Im proud that the United States has led the world in bringing these scandals to light and holding individuals responsible. But that job is far from over. There needs to be additional action. And it should involve not only members of the public and Public Officials but also let me emphasize the private corporation that sponsor these events, corporate organizations that sponsor International Soccer like mcdonalds, nike cocacola and visa play their part by ensuring that they stand as guardians of Good Governance. They must do so rather than silent beneficiaries who benefit from opaque governance. And at least one of those corporations is mentioned without making it in the indictment. As my colleague senator moran has just mentioned, these actions have real life consequences not only financially but in potential discrimination against women in the game and potential physical harm to the workers who may have been involved and may be involved in other countries where major physical construction involves Human Trafficking and human rights abuse and worse. The International Community must collectively work to ensure human rights are upheld wherever our athletes compete. The betrayal of trust is no less when Human Trafficking is involved in building the stadiums where our athletes compete. Its a betrayal of trust on the part of those organizations that sponsor the game, and it implicates the entire sport. We should not tolerate the worlds most preeminent sporting competitions being staged at the expense of our most vulnerable citizens. Todays hearing is a first step. And i want to thank all of you for being here today. I look forward to your testimony and to restoring the trust of american fans, trust which has been betrayed but which they certainly deserve. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank the Ranking Member. Our panel today for this hearing is consists of four witnesses, mr. Dan flynn, whos the ceo and secretary general of the u. S. Soccer federation. That is the United Statess representative at fifa and concacaf. Mr. Michael hershman. The president and ceo of the fairfax group, member of fifas independent governance committee. Mr. Barry, advocacy director for the middle East North Africa Amnesty International. He will testify about findings of the may 15, 2015 amnesty report regarding working conditions. And finally mr. Andrew jennings whos traveled perhaps the furthest to join us. Hes an investigative writer and filmmaker credited with blowing cover on fifa scandal. We will start with mr. Flynn. Mr. Flynn, please testify. Thank you, senator. On behalf of the United States Soccer Federation i would like to thank senator moran, senator blumenthal, senator from my home state of missouri and other members of this committee for giving soccer to appear today and answer questions you may have. On behalf of our Womens National team, i would like to also thank president and mrs. Obama, Vice President and dr. Biden, distinguished members of this subcommittee, your senate and house colleagues and the tens of millions of fans in the United States including the Largest Television audience ever to watch a soccer match in this country who supported and cheered this Wonderful Group of women to the womens world cup title just ten days ago. I am daniel flynn, and i have been u. S. Soccers chief executive officer and secretary general for the last 15 years. And im ultimately responsible for the daytoday operations of the federation. We are a Nonprofit Membership Organization recognized by the u. S. Olympic committee as a National Governing body for soccer and by fifa, the worlds governing body for the sport of soccer as National Association member for the United States. As required by fifa we are also a member of concacaf, covers the north and Central America and caribbean nations. For more than 100 years u. S. Soccers mission has been to make soccer a preeminent support in the United States and to continue the growth and development of the sport at all levels. U. S. Soccer directly fields 17 National Teams including the Womens National team which has won three world cup titles and four olympic gold medals and the mens National Team which is in the process of defending its 2013 concacaf gold cup title. We also field the National Paralympics team and numerous aged based boys and girls teams. U. S. Soccer is made up of various organizations including among others our professional leagues, the adult amateur leagues, Soccer Organizations for disabled athletes and the youth amateur organizations. U. S. Soccer is governed by a 15person volunteer board of directors elected by its members which includes independent directors, athlete representatives and directors representing different segments of our membership. Our annual tax returns audited financial statements, business plans, bylaws, policy and board of director Meeting Minutes are all publicly available on our website. In fifa, we are one of 209 National Association members. Fifa members must vote on any substantial changes to the organization. And a vote of every member, regardless of the size, number of players or the quality of their National Teams, counts the same. Until two years ago when our president was elected to the Fifa Executive Committee, the federation did not have a direct representative on that important policymaking body. Although our role and influence in fifa has historically been limited, the federation has been a strong advocate for reforming the organization by among other things improving governance, increasing transparency and strengthening ethics rules. U. S. Soccer supported fifas decision in 2011 to engage experts to conduct a review of its governance structure and then urge the adoption of the reforms after the governance report was released. U. S. Soccer supported the investigation by the Fifa Ethics Committee into the bidding and award processes for the 2018 and 2022 world cups. And publicly advocated for the release of the full investigative report, not just the summary report released by fifa last fall. U. S. Soccer was one of the National Associations which nominated prince ali and then publicly supported his challenge to fifas long standing president mr. Sepp blatter in a recent election. We did so including potential impact on our possible bid, the host the 2026 mens world cup. But u. S. Soccer believes Good Governance and good leadership at fifa is paramount and more important to the sport than hosting any individual world cup. Going forward we believe reform will have to start at the top beginning with the election of a new fifa president in light of mr. Blatters stated intention to resign. U. S. Soccer will look to the new president to lead this reform. We understand many traditional soccer powers also believe it is time for a change. U. S. Soccer will continue to work with like minded National Associations and confederations to promote change and to alter the culture at fifa. At concacaf, efforts proceeded more rapidly. Concacaf appointed a threeperson special committee which includes u. S. Soccers president to help guide through this period of turmoil. And over the july 4th weekend concacaf Recommendation Committee unanimously approved a series of sweeping reforms to discuss governance, and compliance and transparency. Thank you for your time and i look forward to responding to specific questions you may have on this or other subjects. Mr. Flynn, thank you for your testimony. Mr. Hershman. Good afternoon, chairman moran, Ranking Member blumenthal and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for this opportunity to appear before you today alongside such esteemed colleagues in the field of transparency and integrity in the global world of sports. Im honored to speak on an issue that has been a passion and driving force throughout my career including having served on two years on the independence governing committee of fifa and as cofounder of Transparency International, the worlds leading ngo on issues relating to transparency and accountability. Additionally im currently spearheading an integrity project in sports as an Advisory Board member for the International Center for sports security. As senator moran has stated before, soccer is by far the most popular sport in the world, and it is attracting a wider audience by the day in the United States. However, the upper echelons of the sports governing body have been notoriously corrupt for many years. Until the laudable recent efforts of the u. S. Justice department and the fbi, many allegations were mostly swept under the rug. Now that fifas lack of transparency and accountability has been brought into the Global Public attention, theres a tremendous opportunity to discuss the inherent autonomy in sporting organizations. Sports organizations have long maintained that autonomy is essential to the preservation of the values embedded in sport. This is a difficult concept to argue with. That is until the core values in sport are undermined by a lack of accountability and trust, which weve seen recently in one of the worlds largest, most profitable sporting bodies, fifa. The growing commercial interests at play, the protection that many governments offer large sporting organizations and the rapidly growing sports gambling industry, both legal and illegal, are all converging to create a situation where selfregulation is increasingly challenging. The Sports Industry must put in place governance and Compliance Standards which demonstrate the best practices in transparency and accountability. Fifa is a big business with revenue of about 5. 6 billion every fouryear world cup cycle. And fifa had a chance to be a leader in reform when the scandals first began popping up about ten years ago. Despite multiple chances to change after being presented with reform proposals by Transparency International as well as our own independent governance committee, fifa held to the irresponsible notion that it was autonomous and did not have to adhere to outside oversight or interference. The u. S. Public cannot assume fifa is the only sporting body with endemic structural problems. Every single governing body in the sports world from the International Olympic committee to the icc to the nfl, needs to agree to modern standards of transparency and accountability. While many people around the world hold sport as sacred, it has become an incredibly profitable industry that needs to be regulated and treated for what it is, big business. These recent events are bigger than fifa. They require coordinated Global Action across all sporting bodies. And i believe there is a way we can achieve this reform with the cooperation and support from governments and sport Industry Leaders around the world. The International Center for sports security, which is also a nonprofit organization, has bourn the idea of the Sports Industry transparency initiative. I serve on their board of advisers and we have established a set of Global Standards which would be voluntarily adopted by sports organizations. This collective action agreement would form a governing group that would work with the Sports Community to promote transparency and accountability while strengthening a higher standard of ethics and values in sports. The standards would finally create a benchmark to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of sports governance and compliance programs. The standards would include but not be limited to professionalizing boards of directors in sports, managing conflicts of interest, building a democratic foundation, embracing transparency and accountability, leveling the Playing Field for athletes, men and women, motivating ethical behavior for staff and volunteers, engaging with key stakeholders, showcasing sport event integrity, considering the positive role of sport in society and establishing effective risk controls. This approach will be comprehensive and far reaching while every principle does not apply to all sports organizations, there is enough Common Ground to ensure that sports groups understand what is expected of them in terms of integrity and transparency. As attorney general Loretta Lynch so rightly pointed out in her speech after announcing the fifa charges, many of the individuals and organizations we will describe today were entrusted with keeping soccer open and accessible to all. They held important responsibilities at every level, from building soccer fields for children in developing countries to organizing the world cup. They were expected to uphold the rules that keep soccer honest and protect the integrity of the game. Instead they corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interesting and rich themselves. Mr. Chairman, thank you. I look forward to answering your questions and those of the Committee Members. Mr. Hershman, thank you. Mr. Barry, welcome. And we welcome your testimony. Thank you. Chairman you need to turn on your microphone please. There we go. Chairman moran, Ranking Member blumenthal, and distinguished guests, on behalf of Amnesty International thank you for the opportunity to address the issue of human rights in the 2022 fifa world cup. The 2022 fifa world cup brought in global focus the foreign my grant workers cannot leave without permission of their current employer. Even if an employer is not paying the employee the employer can still block the employee from changing jobs or leaving the country. In 2012 the Qatar National Research Fund funded a survey is of some 1,000 low income labor migrants. 90 of migrants said their employers possess their passports. A violation of qatar law. As documented by Amnesty International researchers in the most extreme examples, foreign my grant workers have become suicidal after trapped without pay by employers. They have been forced to depend on charity from others simply to eat. Family members in poor communities in their countries of origin can face eviction and other serious challenges because a Family Member is trapped in qatar and not being paid for work they have done. There are an astounding more than 1. 5 million foreign nationals working in qatar today. These numbers have increased at a dramatic rate with the population growing staggering 43 since they awarded the world cup in december of 2010. This is due to a massive construction boom in the country. The government is spending hundreds of billions ever dollars into a massive infrastructure program. This goes well beyond stadiums. Many of the Construction Projects arent solely for the world cup but remain central to the success of the sporting event and the overlapping effort to make qatar a Global Destination for tourism and commerce. The problems faced by qatar go beyond the restrictions by the employer sponsorship system. Foreign my grant workers are forbidden from joining trade unions. Which qatar does offer labor laws they are not enforced effectively. To make matters even worse, thousands of foreign Migrant Workers in domestic roles are excluded from the protections set out under the qatar poorly enforced labor law. These my grant workers who are mainly women working in households are exposed greater exploitation and abuse, including sexual violence. Despite repeated announcement to the contrary, the government has failed to address the problem of labor exploitation. In may of 2014 the qatar government promised limited reforms to address the widespread exploitation of Migrant Workers in the country but one year later none of the reforms have been implemented. In 2014 Amnesty International identified nine key issues to address urgently and one year later nothing has changed in the four most critical areas of abuse. Only limited actions have been taken in the remaining five areas. They do not address the structural factors of the abuse in qatar. The responsibility for the rights of the workers in qatar rest with the authorities but when fifa awarded the world cup it assumed the responsibility for the human rights impact of that decision. Unfortunately fifa efforts have fallen far short of the concrete action needed to make sure the world cup in qatar is not based on labor exploitation. Ive outlined specific problems with the exploitation. These solutions should be implemented by the government fifa and countries that my grant workers are from. The United States government can help in specific ways. For the government of qatar the solution is to fix the deeply flaws sponsorship system and address the many other problems ive highlighted today. For fifa it is not enough for the Organization Officials so simply accept the verbal commitments of the government of qatar. Fifa must send a strong message to the authorities and the construction sector that human rights must be respected in all world cup related projects and fifa must put in place effective systems to monitor and report on this. This includes not only training and stadium facilities and hotels and transportation projects and other infrastructure. If reforms are not put in place, the facilities for the 2022 cup will carry the permanent stain of forced labor and human suffering. On behalf of Amnesty International, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Mr. Berry, thank you for testifying. Mr. Jennings, thank you for joining us. Thank you, chairman and Ranking Member, i dont know the proper way to do this. Youve come a long way, we want to hear you. I testified to john mccain back in 1999 on the olympic scandals but it has all changed since then. I would you like to join with everybody else in honoring americas soccer players and the gracious way they and the only 23 teams conduct themselves in the womens world cup. And this contrasts sadly with the massive, massive deficiency of the u. S. Soccer federation, frightened to upset blatter and fifa and enjoying the elite lifestyle he provides. Were here to discuss how american soccer relates to fifa. I note the absence of mr. Slaty. That is one crucial question today. Where is sunil . Where is he . Hes the man who takes american values, supposedly, to fifa and to Konica Concacaf and not here to talk bit. Ive worked with cbss 60 minutes and hbos real sport. I have reported from war zones in beirut check nia. Chechnya and Central America. Im not a sports reporter. Sent me to the match and i might get the score wrong. It is not what i do. Im proud of being the only reporter in the world banned by mr. Blatter because of my disclosures of his corruption over the last 13 years. Before stumbling on the fifa low lives, i had experience of organized crime filming nose to nose with the mafia in palermo. But as fifa ticks all of the boxes for a organized crime and compromising and outwitnessing the public authorities and hiding criminality behind the worlds most popular game. After seven years of probing the sleaze bags and putting up with the legal threats and the attacks on my computers, i was invited to the fbi special agents in london. The business cards said organized crime. I wasnt alone any more. The real people had arrived. In august of 2011 i gave them financial and other documents about american that america had hid from the fans and the public. By the way, you talked about not having mr. Flynn. Chuck blaze was there since 1995. Look at who represents. U. S. Soccer was happy to represent american values. I hope you can come back to that. Chuck blaze had hidden the Financial Information from the fans and the public. My source obtained them from the archives of concacaf. As you know, 35 footballing nations, including the usa. They were circulated privately to all executive Committee Members of concacaf including u. S. Soccer, who also suppressed them. U. S. Soccer had to know that blazer and his fellow crook jack warner from trinidad, fighting extradition at the moment, with the approval of blatter, were looting regional football and evading rightful taxes. But they looked away. I have a long list, no time to go into now, of the failings of u. S. Soccer with concacaf and with blatter. Id be happy to present it to any of you and discuss it later. Now, if americas soccer leaders had taken action when they should have done, blaze and warner would have been in jail, blatter seeking asylum in jim bob way and the 2022 world cup being hosted by the usa. Not some graveyards in the gulf. It only took the fbi and the irs to check out the information i gave them. They arrested blazer and he immediately turned informant and fifa has imploded. Fifa is now a smelly shell. That is all. It has no credible. Credibility. We dont want to know it. Nobody wants to know it. Once upon a time fifa officials would walk down the street with the logo, im from fifa, im important, and who would do that now . Who would dare do that now . None of them. And that is how we sum up fifa now. It is about determined to stay in power, dont believe this nonsense about his going. Watch his words carefully, ive put down my mandate but ill pick it up again. His hitman are working to get rid of rivals and his Ethics Committee im running over time, to obey his instructions. His p. R. Operation briefs the wires services that hes innocent. But this is a National Sports leader that can only travel to bojar, russia and switzerland. What america can do is engage with clean decent football associations around the world and create a new organization based in another land and invite sponsors and tv networks to go with them. I cant see cocacola and mcdonalds and visa preferring the remnants of blatters organized crime family. And there is one other crucial thing that u. S. Soccer should do. Some of you some of you may remember when the u. S. Olympic committee was in disarray over the salt lake scandal 16 years ago they called in senator mitchell and ken dubestein to investigate where they had gone wrong with the ioc and make recommendations. External, respected, nonpartisan investigation. This committee to help u. S. Soccer set up a similar independent committee to find out what on earth has gone so badly wrong and it being covered up. Also u. S. Soccer could do what your government does, which is put everything online. The forms are inadequate. And then renew, reorganize and reinvigorated soccer could say to the world, this is how it does. We are not in america pushing around but we can do it. It is all wide open. Join with us and the 209 National Associations would come with you, finishing. Next monday, the absent mr. Gillaspie, who i think is treating you with contempt and the u. S. People of soccer, the men and women and the whole sport with context when he cant come here and defend the u. S. Soccer activities in concacaf and fifa. So hes going over to zurich next week with a private meeting of what is left of the leaders of fifa who arent in jail. I urge and i hope everyone else would urge mr. Glady to email blatter and say when i get to zurich i want all of your pay slips and everything you paid yourself, your perks your bonuses, your per diems. I want it on the desk. Because it is not there and im going to come home and help america, to kick start the reform. That is what youve got to do as a country to get credibility back internationally. Thank you. Thank you mr. Jennings. Let me start with mr. Flynn and ask a question. You heard mr. Jennings just say that u. S. Soccer had to know. So the question is what did u. S. Soccer know, what should you have known, and in particular, with the indictments that allege racketeering, bribery, fraud, money laundering, what is the reaction of the u. S. Soccer federation to that, the charges at fifa, the executives and the board members, and also what does u. S. Soccer federation know about concacaf in similar circumstances. It is perceived as the most corrupt of the very regional associations. What does u. S. Soccer federation know . Thank you, senator. I knew nothing about any corruption let me interrupt one moment. When you say you knew nothing, you speak just for you personally . I will say i or anybody that ive worked with has not brought anything to my attention, cold hard facts, regarding corruption within fifa or concacaf. That being said, there is a couple of things id like to point out in terms of, mr. Blazer has not been involved with u. S. Soccer since 1986. He has been a member of concacaf and fifa but not u. S. Soccer since 1986. In terms of mr. Blatter and mr. Warners activities, i would like to point out that those were private, individual, secret transactions that with the full resources of the department of justice and the fbi took four years to bring to light. We are a Soccer Organization with our greatest focus on developing all aspects of our sport in this country. So i wanted to point out that those private transactions also for regional sponsorship and regional broadcast rights. That has nothing to do with u. S. Soccer and our rights and our tv and our sponsorship. So i think that is an important point of distinction i would like to make. Mr. Flynn, thank you. Let me ask a followup question to that. When the u. S. Department of justice and the u. S. Attorneys office announced indictments, you and your colleagues at the Soccer Federation would be surprised there could be some activity occurring at fifa or concacaf that would result in indictments . That would be a surprise to you . Senator, i was not aware of any part of that investigation in the department of justice. But the fact that someone was indicted, surprised you . I just wasnt involved. In my focus, and that of my daytoday focus is to stay focused on the domestic side of the business so i just didnt have any knowledge nor anybody that i worked with had any knowledge of it. Let me try to tie something together because it may be confusing as to why were having a hearing that involved mr. Bery for example. By question to you, mr. Berry and mr. Hershman and mr. Jennings and even mr. Flynn, weve heard mr. Berrys testimony about the conditions involving the preparation for the 2022 excuse me, 2022 soccer world cup. What is the relationship between the testimony that were hearing, mr. Berry, about corruption, bribery, racketeering, criminal activity, related to fifa and the findings that your organization has made in regard to what is going on in preparation for that world cup. How is our hearing, are these two contrasting type of stories that dont belong together or are they intimately tied to each other . Thank you for the question. At the end of the day when fifa made the decision to grant the bid for the 2022 world cup to occur in qatar, it took responsibility for the human rights impacts of that decision. How can you say that . Why is that true. Because fifa as an International Organization with a billion dollars plus in reserves has a responsibility under u. N. Principals to ensure that its operations do not turn a blind eye to or directly involve serious human rights abuses and it is pretty clear that human rights abuses and labor explanation are rampant in qatar today. Not only that but the Amnesty International shows that the government has yet to do anything serious or substantial about the basic labor exploitation so the question remains as to why was that fifa provided why was it fifa did not go more deeply into these questions of labor exploitation in the process. Now fifa has said at this point in time that 2026, for the 2026 process, they are going to incorporate Human Rights Concerns but why has it taken until the 2026 process for these questions to be raised. Mr. Jennings, let me ask you, is there a relationship between what you describe in your testimony and the testimony that mr. Berry has described leading up to the preparations for 2022. How do they relate . Take a step back. U. S. Soccer has failures, so do the leaders of english soccer, they should know better than to bid for that world cup because we all know in the business that you have to pay to play. And i dont think the u. S. Pay bribes and im sure the english dont. You dont get in a race where you will get bears off the planet. It was firsty decision to put it on there. It is wrong to put a tournament there on a strip of land that is boiling. And you have to wonder why certain people despite that at fifa voted for the world cup to go there. And it is worse, they have another meeting now, knowing that cant happen, what blatter calls stakeholders, which are all members, and no fans and now moving it from november to december to the world cup year. Now if you want to die young, come to england, come to stand outside of Manchester United and liverpool, everton all of the clubs were going to stop you having football for seven weeks because jack warner took the money. I hope it is a painless death. You cant walk into somebody elses sports culture and just take it away. But that is what blatter is doing now. And who is questioning him . I dont see any of the officials from u. S. Soccer saying, no, no. Were friends with the english and the german and the dutch and the western european federations that will have to stop their game because of the dirty slime bags at fifa. That is the background to it. The money went in from somewhere. Im not saying where it went in. As long as the investigation is still going on. But it went in. And the low life of the executive committee voted for something which is ending up with the death of Migrant Workers. It is and i just would say well the one other thing here, we have a saying in european football, when officials or administrators cant remember what happened, i dont know, i wasnt there, i cant remember, we say oh, yeah, well when they were younger they must have headed that big wet football too many times. Because the ticket rackets go back to Public Knowledge back to 2002, again in 2006 again in 2010. Richly documented that racketeering was a way of life for concacaf. But that never reached the chicago offices of the u. S. Soccer federation. Let me turn to senator blumenthal. I appreciate you being here today. It is my understanding you had no knowledge about this corruption before may of this year when the department of justice issued its indictment . Is that correct . You had no knowledge . Thats correct. That is correct. Did you have suspicions . There were moments i would describe if i had a level of discomfort, i would not participate and i what just get myself out of any any situation that offered any level of discomfort to me. So there was evidence that caused you to remove yourself from discussions or meetings . I wouldnt say evidence. I would say i think it was the Comfort Level. When did that lack of Comfort Level begin . I couldnt pinpoint any particular time. Years before the indictment, correct . I wouldnt necessarily say years. It would be hard to pinpoint the time. Months . I think it would be fair to say greater than months but once again hard to pinpoint exact time frames. Did you make any effort to investigate . There is if there was cold facts, i would have brought that to the attention of the effort to investigate . If there was cold facts i would have brought that to the attention of people. There was nothing in the way of any facts that i could take to anybody else and obviously would consult our outside consult but thats as far as i would take it because it was something that was a disComfort Level. But you made no effort to investigate and your outside counsel didnt tell you to investigate . No, i just passed along my discomfort. Would you agree that u. S. Soccer acted inadequately to investigate or prevent or stop the on going criminal wrong doing at fifa . I wouldnt say we would do it differently. What our focus has been is trying to we have two choices. Were one of 209 National Association and at the end of the day we find a way to participate in a manner consistent with our core values. One of the ways to do that and starting in 2013 we finally had somebody that was with u. S. Soccer soccer. That was a start at getting a louder voice and a seat at the table. I think what youre stating is fairly wellknown history and i want to ask about what officials at u. S. Soccer came to learn. The department of justice indicted chuck blazer and had long standing ties to u. S. Soccer and particularly in the lack of Comfort Level that you had had. Whats the explanation . I didnt i was aware of some level of discomfort but it was all i think, in general a general feeling so i had no hard evidence and we wanted to continue to participate and try to influence the organization for 209 members. The second choice we had is to opt out and pull out and with that comes a series of ramifications. We no longer have a seat at the table no longer involved in world cups or competitions for our olympic teams and it has far ranging ramifications for u. S. Soccer in the Business Model of soccer in our country which we have through ownership developed hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions of dollars building the sport over the last 20 years so we can continue to build and compete on the field in such a manner that we accomplished on the womens side for the men. But wasnt there a third to begin asking questions . Begin an inquiry . Begin shining a light . Begin blowing the whistle . Begin essentially Holding Accountable officials who might be guilty and we now know they are of wire fraud, conspiracy bribery, money laundering. That would impact the quality of the sport youre responsible for upholding. We did support the Ethics Committee. We pushed for full disclosure of the full report. And the having the Fifa Executive Committee seat we continue to feel that that is a proper course of action to reform fifa. And i want to make clear my comments are directed against the collective you. Not you personally. The executive offices, the board members, the organization of the u. S. Soccer federation and i want to ask you as a matter of fact why he declined the invitation to be here today. When the notice came to of the hearing, we anticipated rather broad and specific questions potentially and it was determined with outside council that i would appear before the Senate Subcommittee hearing. Whats the reason that he didnt . I think it was a Comfort Level that i had more knowledge of the daytoday operations and the event. There were questions related to that. Dont you think he has an obligation to answer the questions that we have been directing to you . Senator i would answer if youre not comfortable with my answers we would be more than happy to respond in writing to your staff anything directly related. Well, do you commit that he will answer these questions . I will do my best to do that, wrers. Thank you. Just a couple more questions. What is Sepp Blatters continuing role in fifa . Theres a special meeting the 20th and 21st. Next monday and tuesday. They have to do a four month notice and move forward and there would be a new election for a president. Will u. S. Soccer take the position that he should be excluded from fifa . Our position was pretty clear when we in the last election nominated and supported prince ali. I dont know who the candidates are. I dont think anybody does yet but rest assured we will look at all the candidates and their platform from human rights to corruption to reform before we make our decision. One last question, dont you believe now that u. S. Soccer has a responsibility to do more . Its silence has been deafening in many respects to expose the wrong doing. Id like to answer your question, a real prime example of what we have done is the reform of concacaf. Those are sweeping reforms. We think thats a footprint that wed like to bring forward to fifa recognizing that were 1 of 25 on the fifa expo executive committee, excuse me. And one of 209 nations within the fifa organization itself. So we pride ourselves on our leadership and we also understand at tiles the limited capacity that we have for reform. My time has long expired and i am hopeful that we may have another round of questioning but i want to defer at this point. Thank you, senator. Lets follow up on some of the questions that he was asking. How many years have you served as either ceo or security general of u. S. Soccer . Roughly 15 years. 15 years. And i understand mr. Blazer the indictments it was mr. Blazer and 14 others; is that correct . I couldnt tell you the exact number. It was more than 10. Yeah. And you mentioned the cold hard facts. Not having cold hard facts and at times having discomfort. And i guess over a 15 year career and were going to get to the happier part of this here. Truly a tremendous accomplishment. Thank you. But as regarding the discomfort that you felt at times, where you felt like you needed to step back because perhaps there was a line crossed, if we look at what this indictments read the bribery and racketeering and so forth can you tell me about a time you experienced discomfort and you stepped back because of what you were seeing . The discomfort was in generalities. I will tell you in terming of how mr. Warner, how he ran the meeting and went through an agenda and had hand votes, sealed votes. Those are the kinds of discomforts that i would that lead me to some level of discomfort. And in your distinguished 15 year career leading the organization, how long ago was it when you first started sensing perhaps something is wrong . Perhaps a few bolts are loose here. Perhaps theres discomfort. Looking at what the indictments here these things typically dont happen overnight. This is probably building. When did you start having some concerns