Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140725

Look forward to. They are no longer saying, my first option is to leave. They say, i have a technical degree that i am getting interest him in tourism. We have implemented measures in the western area and the coal so that allowscountry us to provide opportunities. I agree that we have to intervene in those areas where there are violent acts. I am looking behind you. I mean, you. Please stand up. Ok. Do not stand up. I am asking my question in spanish. You had a meeting the president is holding a meeting with mr. Obama. What to expect out of the meeting . Are there questions that you would like to pose . Specifically, looking at what happened to the u. S. Congress and the freezing of the funds by the president . What is the success that the meeting is going to have . This meeting is part of a sequence that started with the visit of joe biden in quanah mullah. Guatamala. Mullah meeting with secretary kerry. Johnsonved secretary and the secretary for mexico. I think that this is important. We see those events one after another and they are common ideas. Important. S very stop the immediate flow of children. Of course, the most important parts is stopping the flow of children. It is a humanitarian measure to protect the children. This is important to understand. To stoponly trying migration. That is not the case. We need to stop this as an essential manner matter. We are going to work with united this. To top this stop the actions involved law enforcement. The other issue that is important is this idea to in thesh a pattern medium term and the long term. This is going to be put in the at the meeting with president biden. These issues are going to be discussed with the administration and a branch of government. Also, with congress. Congress and the executive branch are going to make the decision to respond to the situation. Our position is a position of cooperation. I see there are so many questions here. Perhaps some of you will be able to linger and answer. Is there a final thought that you would like to leave the people watching on the webcast . In my opinion, the first thing that we need to remember is that this is a humanitarian story. There is a political background and a deadlock between different chambers of congress. There is a bipartisan debate in the United States. There are structural issues in the country. We can talk a lot about causes and effects. We can talk a lot about specific situations and longterm solutions. The important thing here is that, in all of this, we have to think that, apart from the material elements that we have to have to solve the issue, there is a background that needs to exist and needs to provide moral options. I do not think that i am going to start an ideological debate here. We need to look at what we need humanerom a correctly viewpoint. Specifically, when it comes to migrant minors. We are looking for the best interests of the child to do the right thing. It is a humanitarian story. Thank you very much. Do you want to add something before we go . No, no, go ahead. Finish. End by saying something very important. It has to do with the narrative of the debate here in washington. We are good partners and we can work together. Important. Y one cannot solve these problems if the government does not have the capability to meet the commitment. The United States now has an advantage. Three Central American promisests are meeting and have a realistic set of objectives. Problems inhave facing institutional difficulties. We have political problems. The u. S. Has political problems. The world has political problems. I think that the northern part of Central America has a certain maturity. That is important to solve these problems. And for thesese children, they had their rights respected. And, for them to be the subject of due process. And, for them to have the possibility of going through the tances in the u. S. And legislation. I talk about the efforts that we are making in our country and we want the u. S. To give us a war. The second thing that we ask is delve into theo measures that can solve migration processes and the root causes of migration. Security is important. Economic opportunities are important. If these individuals had the economic opportunities, many of them would never come to the u. S. . We say we wanted to be an option and not an obligation. We want people to not be obligated to come here and migrate. We have people will have basic conditions met and then want to emigrate. They have opted to emigrate. We want to help in that area. Thank you very much. Please thank the Foreign Ministers for taking the time. [applause] situation on the southern washington border. From washington journal. Your republican colleagues yesterday unveiled a 1. 5 billion solution. To the border crisis. It would put the National Guard moree border and spend than 2 billion less than what the president wants to spend. Your reaction . Guest it really avoids the with the dealing humanitarian crisis. It talks about troops at the border, increased in enforcement for Border Patrol, toss about expediting and essentially a noreen the law that exists as we speak. Processing the removal, deportation, of these miners and kids. First andnforcement frankly no resources to implement the law. Plan, the, under the u. S. Would also accelerate immigration hearings for the children flooding across the southern border, provide additional judges to hear request for asylum and held the children close to where they enter the country in texas and arizona. Primarily texas. Of beingprocess senator in arizona in my district, we reached a peak of 1300 kids, down to about 20 right now. Facilities opened up in texas whereas 90 plus of these children are coming through, that makes sense to avoid the travel, and also to avoid the as the numbers of kids trying to get across to windows, to windows, so will the need. Republicans also want to change the traffic victims protections act to more quickly deported children back to Central America. Where do you stand . Guest that is the fundamental line in the sand for many of us. If that indeed is the central part of the legislation, whether it is something the administration proposes, or something the republican majority in the house proposes, many of us will not vote for it. The law is therefore a reason. There is a due process involved in the law and it requires these children have advocates, that they have an opportunity to have someone represent them. I was a fiveyearold child to be able to make a claim of asylum or fear of violence. To bel the law has followed. The changing of the law is the political convenience right now. Does not really deal with the issue. It is a humanitarian crisis, a refugee crisis, fleeing from violence, and, unfortunately, the whole discussion has been looped in and tied together with the whole issue of Immigration Reform and border enforcement or the consequences are that the children are losing in the whole process. Democrat of texas was on the show couple weeks ago and he said we should change the law with deportations for the kids. We do it right now when children from mexico come across the border. Changed in 2000 and apply to all kids to essentially single out mexican kids across minorsder, unaccompanied , children. Many of us felt that was diluting the law. Now we have this part. I think it is a non sequitur argument mr. Claire has that we want these kids treated the same way as we treat mexican kids, because it is not an equity issue, trust me. It is an issue of due process. We feel very strongly about drawing the line on this portion of the law, because we have seen what the experience has been with the mexican kids. The u. N. Commission said there may be up to 5060 present percent of mexican kids in those areas fleeing for their lives. Law, their of the only interviewed by a Border Patrol agent and the assessment as to whether or not they have a right to claim asylum or go through the process is secondary to the primary issue, the border. Worth not passing anything over the 2008 law . It is a difficult question. If were talking about passing something of convenience, something that is more of a political coverage for people, the law becomes an issue thrown out, yes. Nation, the humanitarian values, asylum values, the values we have established in law and can and tradition and practice, are that important. It is a difficult question because you want to process the kids. If nothing is done, the law is in place and then like it or not, we are still obligated to follow it. It is a funny issue. Jeh johnson is the Homeland Security adviser warning if congress does nothing, the agencies run out of money in midaugust to deal with the situation. Unfortunately, i hope, i am not very optimistic coming from the house there will be a bill that could pass and go to the senate and that the senate would work with them on that particular bill, particularly the death the content proposed right now by republican leadership, even the in their own caucus, they have folks that do not feel it is tough enough or necessary to add Additional Support for the kids and they should just be deported. I would suggest, i am not very optimistic we will end up with a piece of legislation that meets the review by the republican majority in the house and senate. I think it will build up and we will probably deal with this in august. Our viewersshow what the house is proposing. 1. 5 billion in the border, laws we are talking about force beauty or deportations. It requires dhs to craft an amended plan to gain control of the border, address order security issues, create centers to help families and miners return to their own country, implement aggressive deterrent campaigns in the country of origin, deploy additional judges and establish the commission to craft a metric showing is these conditions are working. We have a fourth line set aside for border state residents who can call in. Jim, florida, democratic caller, youre up first, go ahead. Good morning. A pleasure to speak with you. You are one of my favorites. First, ito say to you am a prolife democrat and i am ofo the proud grandson jamaican immigrants. I was really pain to see the way my country greeted a lot of these women and children. Ofwas not a very good show our judeochristian values. I wanted to say to you, i wanted to suggest some solutions here to see if they have families here, if their families can take them, and i would also like to see states with cultural sensitivity, like my state, florida, take them in. I would also like to see our latin American Allies participate. What i am hearing a lot of is how we could reverse the reagan policies that destabilized the region. I am sure these people would and to return to safe homes live in security. Thank you so much for what you are doing, god bless you. Thank you. Part of the existing law deals with family unification. Family in the United States, to try to link those children to those families. Those children would have to be reintegrated back to their country of origin. I think the reintegration centers, transition centers, it is something that is a good idea in the home country so the reintegration deals with the issues of safety and violence many are concerned about. In support of the law, you have national, evangelical, organizations that have come out in strong support of the law because of the tradition you mentioned. Latin america, the root of the issue is Central America in this instance. We have a history, this country, a legacy in Central America, not a good one. Intervention, propping up dictatorships, taking sides in corporate, and intrusions into these countries. And the violence. We did a great job in columbia beginning to end the cocaine highway coming through the United States. They found another highway. That is Central America. With that highway came intending syndicates now, beginning to have a huge influence in those countries. When you have a country, the per murder,ation leader in that one out of every 300 men between the ages of 50 and 30 are destined to be murdered in their country and that is the violence, you can understand why i asked a mom why you are taking your kids with the riskier and the riskier of abuse , the riskier of violence, the death rate, it is a risk worth taking. This is what the Senate Democrats are proposing to do with the issue along the southern border. 2. 7 million in emergency funds. Border 1 billion for security and deportation. 50 million for Legal Services for these migrant children. 200 million to the state department. Two dueling proposals in the house and senate and the administration is saying funding needs to be approved before congress adjourned august 1 for the fiveweek recess. Sandra in alabama, a republican color, good morning. Morning. I just wanted to say about the immigration going on, the illegal immigration going on, america has always let people in. I love the country and i love children, but children need to be with their parents. There are a lot of parents over here and i heard there are a lot sending children ahead. A child needs to be with their parent. But i wouldry poor, not take a better home away from my parents. I love being with my parents. Host we will take that point. Thet family unification in family unit priority of the country is the priority all over the world. And in latin america as well. The meeting with those parents, those moms in particular, asking them, why would you take the risk, when they presented the situation in their neighborhoods and their countries, for the sake of their children, they felt finding them a safe harbor was more important. They were willing to take the risk and having them exposed to what they believe is the danger of their life. Said,so have come as i cartels that have taken over there that are charging between 3500 and 6,000 per person. We of Human Trafficking. We have the issue of people fleeing the violence. And the cartels are having it both ways. There are Human Trafficking and Drug Trafficking and making money off of it very i always thought the focus of our immigration crackdown and enforcement should be the cartels responsible for the violence in the border i represent, and responsible now excess tent for the exiting of the children from those countries. Press taken look at what these undocumented migrants are charging. 6,000 for a person for a full ride from Central America to the u. S. Person rides to gangs and 500 for an adult and 200 for a child a raft ride across the u. S. Mexican border. It has been one of the that somebody hacked into or got the information of these children at these Processing Centers and suddenly, theyre calling a families and saying, we can unify you with our chuck your for 5000,omplete lie, 6,000. 50 thousand dollars again, another level of exploitation and adding pain. Yes. That is the front page of the new york times. The fbi says minors data has been obtained a lizard lake and these gangs or whoever are telling these people they can get them to their children that are here for a price. Margaret in north dakota, independent color, go ahead. Caller yes, i agree with the congressman about the humanitarian crisis. Money to charity. I went down there and brought. Ood and toys American People need to step up and take care of these kids. But, we also need to secure the border. So, you know, right now, it is like a flag saying, come on in. Whole villages have cleared out. On their way up. Lets talk about securing the border. Cnn is reporting the president is contemplating putting a National Guard there . Put theans want to National Guard there. The governor of texas has done so. Guest i have been somewhat to supported disappointed with the ministration on these issues. About puttingon the National Guard at the border, it is conceding that the mission there the mission on the border has to change. Thing, butis one also, how you focus and who you go after is critical on the border. Work fornd women who Border Patrol have a tough job and i admire what they do and respect them. But i think they could be much better utilize with a different mission. Instead of talking in circles about this and trying to outdo one another, in terms of how tough you are on the border, look at the mission itself him wherete it, and decide you need to change your focus. We continue to pile it can billion dollars a year on the 22,000 premier Border Patrol agent, and various ice contingencies all over the country. Someone explain to me why we did not objectively look at that. That is what congress is doing. I agree with security about this important issue. Were doing the same thing over and over again piling resources. This has been a change in the minds of the American People. Obviously, were not doing it right. Host we will go to texas, steve. Caller how are you doing. Aid to all five of those countries involved. For clinical reasons, but why not go to these and tell all the leaders of each one of the that it will be shut down will not be shut down until they stop the crime and killing in their respective countries . Whats on that point, the wall street journal reported this morning that president obama is meeting with the president of el salvador, honduras, and guatemala on friday to discuss ways to stem the crisis, including the thorny question of how to appreciate tens of thousands of youngsters to countries without putting them in harms way back home. Ki fed is an important meeting the president is having. Met with theaucus ambassadors to each country, repeating the issue, that we want to help, we are allies, but there is a corresponding responsibility as well. What we need to do, the percentage that goes to latin america compared to the rest of the world is miniscule. Most of that money going into training, equipment, it is important. Here is the deal. Human development, economic development, that is where there needs to be focused. People need to have jobs and they do not want to leave their countries. In a civil society, one of the recommendations i approve of is with united United Nations building up the judiciary and the independence of that judiciary and law enforcement. Pay law enforcement. When the cartel can offer you 10,000 in more money, then the correction will be rampant. Civil society and no consequences and the rule of law, those are things we can help build up in those countries. That is nationbuilding. Nationbuilding is not telling us what to do. It is understanding we need to support them. Each country is different. Each country needs a specific kind of attention. International Monetary Fund puts restrictions on how they lend money to el salvador if they do not do certain things. Will continue to protect their coffee as an export. Those kinds of issues, we need to look at until the Monetary Fund they need to go in there aggressively and develop associations without conditions. Douglas, republican caller. Youre on the air. Caller i am living on social security. I expect to live on 600,000 a month on food stamps. I do not know where these folks are getting this money to transport their children. I do not have that kind of money. I cannot go and visit my i do not have a good answer to your question or comment. It is unfortunate. Where do they get their money and what changes they have to go through, how they get to these cartels in order to move the children to the border, that is a desperation tactic and i have no idea how they come up with it. Journale wall street reporting this morning, a sharp decline in the last week. The week before, 300, last week was fewer than 100. What do you see in our zone in arizona . More facilities opened up in texas than need to have the facility for processing. 1300 became less and less important than the number began to drop here it it has to do with the campaigns in those countries in terms of the dangers associated. It has to do with the fact those have an opportunity to work with our government to get real, substantive, concentrated assistance for the communities. The big assistance is a reduction of violence. Drop,pite the recent there are still things that need to be tackled. Congress would have to change the law were significantly increase resources. I agree. We have to increase the resources. That is part of the president s when. I would hope the administration at some point is more definitive for which one of those strategies theyre looking at. One secretary will say one thing. The president basically has not commented on that. Definitive, i think you can put whatever political effort into getting that done. At this point, i could be criticized for saying that will not cross the line according to the law. There has been no real directive as to where we go on this for the administration. Have you told the president that himself . From themmittee dishes caucasus, we have been firm and our chairman was pretty firm, beyond the point we will not go. If that requires voting against the supplemental, that will happen. You think there are enough votes to pass the supplemental . Guest i think we would need democrats to pass it. Were a negotiation point in which we could deal with the law, and pass an expedited resource to get the attention the kids need to follow the law, i think you would find a lot of support. For parts of the senate bill, you would find a lot of support. To make the centerpiece a protection of human traffickers it is ok, is to say, we will get rid of the law and there will be no protection for a huge, that is fundamental, historic mistake the congress has made. And they will vote no. Guest with the exception. Claire. Host have you talked to mr. Claire . Guest cordial, but there is a in the approach. What happened to some of my democratic colleagues in the house is they jumped through the trap too soon. They do not let the American Public come to grips with what we are dealing with here. As people begin to understand ofrything, the level to die down and the decent American People get to comedie down and the decencye American People begins to come up. Long enough,wait politically speaking, strategically speaking. They jumped at it. Now, it becomes something not just in this moment, but for a long time, that is part of their legacy. Springs national park, arkansas, elizabeth, independent caller. Caller i get disgusted when i hear congressman and senators who i feel are totally unamerican when you come to this country and the people, the mexicans and people from latin america come here and do not become americans. They keep wanting more of their people coming in. I do not want to go to south america, i do not care for the people there. Host why would you say that . I am beingeel like held hostage as an american to pay for these people. If i were to go for with a backpack and did not speak the language to south america, i dont think they would take care of me for a week, even. Host ok. Congressman . Guest interesting question, i am careful about how i responded to this to be honest. Underlining this whole immigration, there is an underlying grid to it, unfortunately. That has to do with changes going on in this country demographically. It has to do with many people feeling fearful and threatened that their america is not there america as they wanted to be. The fact remains that america is changing. Latinos in this country have been in this country forever. The presence of a Latino Community that both serves the military, pays taxes, i was born in this country it is just the reality. The underlying grid that involves the issue of race is one of the most disturbing divisions you see in the debate. It is coming more and more to as the frail elements begin to control the discussion. For the good of america, the sooner we get around to dealing with Immigration Reform as a whole, the better off were going to be. Like on mash when i was a kid. New englandht doctor who once said my family has had trouble with immigrants since we got here. The same situation is repeated, and much uglier terms. Florida, you are on with congressman grijalva of arizona. Caller good morning. Hi. My opinion is that america should clothe the children, pampere children, the children. The parents should fight for their childrens liberty. Give them all the material they need to get it done. Then send the kids home to their parents. The bible says that you should be nice to a foreigner. Because one day a foreigner might be nice to you, hopefully. That is what you do. You be nice, you clothe them. Get rid ofparents the drug cartels, kick them out of the country. Host you were saying something similar earlier about cartels. Guest that is the root. Just like we did with like were doing with russia in terms of sanctions and like we are doing with terrorist organizations and the friends they have in the u. S. Fronts fronts and the they have in the u. S. You begin to squeeze their ability to do business, lending and Financial Institutions are processing the money. You begin to squeeze them the way you squeeze every other group that has been a threat to our country. This is a threat to our country, those cartels, they should be treated as that level as an international threat, not just a border phenomenon we deal with occasionally. Host this is a piece written by jeb bush and a coauthor, a book. Rs of th the solution to the border disorder. Jeb bush saying the members of congress have offered more pragmatic ideas than the president. The speaker of the house called for the National Guard. Legislation by john mccain and not cnn, all from arizona, where thousands of children have been sent, have introduced those to treat all the little immigrants entering from mexico in the same way. Allowing their immediate return. To their native country. Fundamentals the difference. Mr. Bush is embracing a philosophy that we need to change the law and we have to make it a priority enforcement issue. I grew up on the border and i represent almost 400 miles of border arizona. The men and women of the border do a fine job but i respect them. To further militarize the region that most of my colleagues do not know about and continue to talk about, we need to do that. That inind it ironic texas it depends so much on the Economic Exchange of mexico for their economy. Per capita it has the highest number of it and documented of undocumented people working for their economy. I found it ironic that the only solution they can come up with is seven National Guard to the border. It is sensationalism at its best and political opportunism. Host republican caller, go ahea d. In referencealling to the children. Im not sure if you are a senator or a congressman host congressman from arizona. Caller he said they do not want to leave, i have been to these countries, Central American countries that is not true. My wife, for the past year, ive been having trouble getting her home legally. We have two kids that are u. S. Citizens that are stuck down there. Beenf my daughters has diagnosed with hepatitis a and i cannot get her home for treatment. I apologize, you are breaking up quite a bit. I think this gentleman is talking about something that many of us feel is also a resource question. Something that can help ease the issue of Immigration Reform. There are millions of people like the spouse that are waiting to be called in, that have passed everything. It is not a question of any illegality, they are waiting for that visa to be reunited and bring their citizen children home. Millions. And that backlog has nothing to do with anything else other than a severe backlog. These people continue to wait. Philippines, a 13 year wait. 8, 5, 6 years of waiting when they have done everything but are just waiting to the call. That is an easy fix that would legitimately process people and bring them to the system to be with their families. Barbara, st. Louis, missouri, independent caller. Caller i dont think the whatr has been hearing people are saying. He did not say anything on securing the border. Issue is, we are almost 18. Rillion in debt we borrow money from mexico and pay our current bills. Where does he think all this money is owing to come from you he talks about violence and drugs in these other countries has he ever visited chicago . Does he know what is going on in detroit . Host weve got your point. Good point. We have domestic issues, some of them are very grave. We have a failing education system. We have too much gun violence in our country on the we do nothing about putting any kind of gun safety legislation together. It has been rejected by the rebel and again and again. We have proposed that there be a fair balance to the taxation policies of this country so little class people are not carrying the butter in carrying the burden for everyone else. That requires congress to have some level of courage to be able tell Corporate America that you need to pay your fair share. So that the deficit, the debt, and the resources we need to take care of the issues you laid out is available not only to the federal government, but the State Government as well. Weve been on this, some of the house is going to pay, we run our government on two wars on a credit card. The complaint is that this deficit has been caused by the people trying to change that system. I think this country can do much better and they can be much fairer. Part of it is how we deal with our revenues and where we get it. Host mike in ohio, democratic caller. Caller good morning. Guys arey 31, you going on a month recess. Know i theo republicans still going to send back a delicate send back a delegate to check out benghazi, how much are they going to spend . If this immigration thing is so important, why are you staying in session to get this hashed . Ut guest we should. It is not only the issue of immigration. It is dealing with transportation. A variety of issues that will be put aside while people take a month off to campaign or do whatever. We need to do it during that time. I cannot agree more. If this is a priority, it looks like there is no resolution for the kids in this humanitarian crisis on the border, this refugee crisis on the border, there seems to be no middle ground or compromise. , i us to leave that undone think, would be a mistake that would aggravate not only the American People, but make the crisis even worse. Going to get difficult in august for any of these relief efforts going on. I think we should act before then. Host on twitter must take care of domestic albums equally or discrimination will be harsher. Republicanalifornia, caller. Caller good morning, thank you for taking my call. I would like the congressmans is, when iwhy it watch the news at night, i do see the immigrants. I never see a reporter in el salvador, guatemala, i am very aware that violence takes place in mexico, israel are on our border. I dont argue with that. I have yet to see one reporter from cnn, any network you can who is reporting to me, saying i am down here in guatemala and here is why these people are coming up here. I have yet to see that. I admire you for taking this on. I would not want your job for all the tea in china. I might be doing the job americans do not want. Great point, i agree with you. The mass media that does report univision,do, azteca. They have fulltime reporters talking with families and the level of violence, interviewing moms as kids are in detention centers. I agree, i wish there would be one in which the American People would see the profile, the reality of what is going on in those countries. Brewer, arizona republicans ever, put out a statement saying this. The Obama Administration has chosen to avoid digital agents and is releasing unaccompanied alien children into the custody of socalled sponsors. Guest i think the vetting in the background checks and any that takesfamily kids has to be scrupulous and in detail. Governor brewer has made. Mmigration her signature issue she denied kids drivers licenses that were protected under the law. That was thrown out by the federal court. She raised money to build a wall on the border, which she is not allowed to do. Unfortunately, these kids got r politicalnother trap. See howe the drumbeat, much reaction we can get. Unfortunately, these kids are getting exploited both on the political front and not being dealt with to the degree that they should be so we can on this crisis so we can end this crisis. What i find most offensive is that all of a sudden these kids have become cannon fodder for political campaigns coming up. Host how would Immigration Reform fix this . Guest in the senate, there was additional money for judges. Host in the senate comprehensive bill . Guest that has always been a shortage, immigration judges. There was additional money for dealing with children. Last year in the appropriations bill, money was added to the childrens line item. Otherwise, we would have been out of money a month ago. A congresswoman was able to do that and in helping on the next washed in journal we will speak to scott riggle on the Armed Services committee and we will be joined by to discuss immigration. The head of border security. The chairman of the committee on board security. Join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Michele flournoy is our guest on. His weeks q a part of the crisis of the day part of my job as undersecretary of defense was being on the deputies committee, the senior level group working with the issues and developing the options and a lot of Crisis Management focus. When you are in a think tank your real utility is not trying to secondguess the policymaker on the issues of the day but helping them to look over the issues theyee the could confront a year from now or 10 years from now and how to think more strategically about the role in the world. The cofounder for the center of National American security, on current defense policy issues. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern and pacific. State Department Deputy spokesperson marie hard told reporters on thursday that the u. S. Government has new evidence proving that russia is firing are terrible artillery shells into the ukraine. Here is some of what she said. It is not me who you need to convince. It is the rest of the world. Whorest of the world have a separatist leader come out and say that we have this missile, and we take credit. There is a lot of evidence and im happy to continue going through it. I lieu of evidence would like to know what you are basing this new evidence on. This is based on intelligence information. Is there a Youtube Video that you could show us . This is not the question i could not give you information and just say nothing. Would you prefer i do not give you the information . We are all concerned here when you make an allegation like that if you are able to back it up this is not what i said. It is not me who is making these allegations. The secretary gets on these shows and makes these allegations and when you present your evidence to back up these allegations it has appeared to, at least for some, fall short of definitive proof. So you are saying that they are moving new and heavier weaponry. I say multiple rocket launchers. I can check and see utility are firing artillery within russia to the ukraine. Do you believe the rockets and missiles filed from fired from russian territory took down these airplanes or do you not have information on if that happened . We do not have information we are still looking. That is my understanding. Said thatainians have the planes were shot down from russian territory. There are conflicting reports about this you have that determination. You arent sure that the russians are firing artillery. In a few moments, members of the house space and Science Committee talk to as not support the International Space station and in a little bit more than a we will hear from the head of the veterans committee, with senator Bernie Sanders of vermont and after that, the Foreign Ministers of el salvador and guatemala, discuss the status of accompanied children crossing the southern border illegally. Month, on book tvs in depth, ron paul. More than a dozen books on politics and history, join the conversation as he takes your calls live for three hours on sunday, august 3, at noon eastern. And in october, a Supreme Court expert discusses past and present. In december, American Enterprise Institute President and noted musician arthur brooks. Tv, television for serious readers. House spacef the and Science Committee spoke to two astronauts aboard the International Space station on thursday. Commander Steve Swanson and Steve Wiseman talked about their mission. This is a little more than a halfhour. We are going to go on and start, because time and astronauts wait for no one. 11 20l begin promptly at and we have a number of things to do between now and then. We will begin first with an opening statement. Good morning and welcome to todays event with 2 american astronauts. Medications wete will speak with Steve Swanson and read wiseman aboard the International Space station. They are more than 260 miles above us traveling at 17,000 miles per hour. For more than 13 years nasa astronauts have lived and worked on the space station, perhaps the greatest engineering achievement in human history. The station is roughly the size of a football field, with more livable space then a five bedroom house and science laboratories that will allow six astronauts to live and work there. The astronauts today include two americans, three russians and one european. Steve wiseman will speak to us from the destiny lab where they are testing weight limits in space. After with this mission we can develop new materials and medicines that we will use as products here on earth. The American Space program has mythically impacted our economy and improved our way of life. Our microchips and computers and materials we use on our cars and our ipads. These new technologies will help future astronauts as they venture to other planets in our solar system. Space inspires future generations to dream and work hard. Astronauts are are role models who encourage students to engineering, and encourage scientists to create the innovations they keep our mop economy strong and ensure that america remains globally competitive. Our accomplishments in space remind americans of some of our greatest compliments. The first footprints on the moons surface were made by americans. The u. S. Should always lead the in Space Exploration. Space amazes us and spurs our curiosity. It inspires us and makes us want to push our boundaries. Also after todays event, there will be a showcase of hardware and Research Presented by nasa, the center for the advancement of science and space, and the National Space Biomedical Research institute. It will leading the way be nextdoor in room 23, 25. Please go take a look and listen to the roundtable discussion that will be held. I recognize the Ranking Member, miss johnson. Thank you so much, mr. Chairman. Let me welcome our audience and also our former chairman of this committee that just came in the garden. Im looking forward to hearing from my action on survey about life on the International Space station and the challenges and opportunities they face. Can all of this with a formal hearing at a later date that will allow a more competence of the examination of the International Space station and civilization in support of exploration as well as for basic and applied research. The 45th anniversary of the first human landing on the mood, it was a bold achievement. As was the more recent assembly of the International Space station. The success of both of these ventures depended on the dedication and bravery of past and present members. Theyite of the risk, willingly faced the name of science and exploration. I hope that all americans will join me and submitting them. The International Space station stands as one of the emerging marvels of the modern age and a testament to American Ingenuity and perseverance. Partnership ofal the internationals a station has withstood the test of time providing the foundation for future longterm space partnerships. InterNational Space station has great inspirational value for our young people and you see many of them here. As evidenced by the intense interest of our students and at him to the astronauts and the developing science project, i have lots of that interest from my district. The stark reality is that the International Space station is a perishable commodity. The future is now. In terms of utilizing these unique facilities. While i welcome the proposal to extend the operations. We need to make sure that the that are available you are used to answer the questions i can only be answered on the International Space station. Ensure that the International Space station carries out the needed research and Technology Activities in a timely and productive fashion, we have to be willing to make the needed investment. The International Space Station Research budget is stagnating and the agencys life and microgravity science budget has been cut deeply over the past decade. The appropriated funding for biological Research Council last them three percent of the total International Space stage funding. This is a Situation Congress can and must rectify. Toclosing, i look forward todays downlink and the opportunity to hear from our ashen odds. I think you and field the balance of my time. Im going to introduce our astronauts. Whofirst is Steve Swanson joined nasa as a Flight Engineer on the shuttle training aircraft, later that year, he was elected as a mission specialist, this is his third spaceflight, he wants earlier this year along with two russian cosmonauts, all three are expected to return to earth in september, he received his bachelor of science in engineering, physics at the university of colorado, a masters of Applied Science and Computer Systems from Florida Atlantic university and his doctorate in Computer Science from texas a m university. Not read wiseman began his career as a naval aviator. Following his initial training, he made to deployment to the middle east supporting operation southern watch. He was selected for the ash not program in 2009 while he was deployed to the middle east. You may recognize him from the many photos that he tweets from the International Space station. His twitter account has over hundred and 60,000 followers. His bachelors of science degree in computer and Systems Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute and a master of science degree and a Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins university. That may go to the mechanics as to how this is going to work and first of all let me thank the members who are present for their interests and many of them for their participation as well. We will do our best to move through questions and answers as efficiently as possible. Questions for the ashen odds will alternate between the majority and the minority. Each will have a total of 10 minutes and the members recognize will have two minutes each. All members or more members will be able to ask questions. I had participated in downlink in the past so i will forego my questions and hopefully this will allow more time for another member. We have a few moments before we start the process and as a reminder. You have to wait for the transition to the station. Once youre finished, please turn the microphone off. Wait for a response. This was so the ashen us to not get feedback on their side. Under not the ashen odds while they are speaking. The delay in transmission does not permit fluid backandforth conversations, so it must be nice to be in ashen not and not be interrupted. You weve now come to a time where we are going to wait just a few minutes for the downlink to begin and so we are just going to have a policy or. This is dangerous to allow so much quite with some any members here, maybe i should say that no one will be recognized for improvisations or jokes. We will just have to be patient and wait for the downlink. Again, i think not only the members but it is nice to see a full house here in the audience as well. This is a special occasion. I dont think this has been done in congress for many many years. It is a nice thing to witness firsthand, it is historic and lots of ways and i do think the International Space station is probably our greatest engineering feat and we will see it and ashen odds in action today and with that we will just be quiet for another few minutes. R. Chairman, this is exactly what i was worried about. Former chairman and ralph hall can entertain with soros with a few stories from texas. With a few stories from texas. He could not give me enough time. Thank you, ralph. We will wait just a minute. This is Mission Control, houston. Please call station for voice check. How do you hear me . We have you loud and clear. That is great. The gentleman from california, mr. Rohrbacher, will be recognized for quick question. This is congressman dana rohrabacher. I appreciate this opportunity to ask you a direct question. I am sure, you might have seen the movie with Sandra Bullock just had a movie called gravity and it dealt with the whole idea of space debris and i was wondering if you might be able to give us an understanding of the challenge of space debris and how the space station deals with it and if there are some other challenges like that that we might not be thinking about here that we have to deal with before we build a new station in space in the years ahead. Is a good question, congressman. Yes, we have to worry about space debris. A couple of nights ago, we had to do a debris maneuver when we realize that there is going to be debris close to our path. So, luckily Mission Control has a good program set up, they go ahead and executed and within a few hours we are out of harms way. We had people on the ground to did that for us and they know where everything is. They can track and keep us safe. The gentleman from texas, miss johnson, the Ranking Member of the committee is recognized. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman and greetings to commander wiseman and dr. Swanson. It is a lot of excitement on this end watching you. I would like both of you to comment on the aspects of the International Space station that is most important in enabling human Space Exploration the on the earth orbit. I dont want to take your entire day. I could talk about this forever. Really, it is getting humans into lower orbit and having us live up here. Just a little bit over a year, we will have scott kelly of here for an entire year. It is all of the things that happen to the human body and what our spacecraft needs to provide to us like oxygen, to breathe water to drink, all of the food, the supplies, just running this machine through in places over six months or even a year at a time. That is what we will need when we go onward to mars and spent two or three years in space. We need to test this now on the space station so that in a decade or so, we can have a successful journey. Texas istleman from recognized. I thank you for linking our committee to these two astronauts. I remember the house floor of debate. Committee, in this room, when this committee came within one vote of killing the space station. Congressman markey had fought forever. The argument made behalf was the importance of providing something tangible that our children can dream about and aim their careers towards. I asked a simple question, how do you think the space station has inspired young people and can give us some exam to engage in people and inspire them to pursue Stem Education . What is the space stations greatest legacy . You immenselywith about the stem program. One of the things i did before i got here was worked on with students in the local high school. That is what we do. The kid themselves get to program the satellites that fly around and they have competitions. I saw it on their faces when they got to have their program run on the station. They got so enthused about science and technology, it was fantastic. Ms. Edwards is recognized. Thank you very much, thank you so much. You when iuld be grew up. Greeting to read weeman, a fellow marylander, will package some freezedried crabcakes for you up there. I wonder if you could tell us the importance of the work that you do and how you were inspired to join this Space Program. What inspired you . I think it is a challenge for us to figure out what inspires the next generation of explorers. That is a great question and i think back to my childhood and certainly it was when the space tuttle was being developed and launched back in 1981, i was around six years old at the time and i definitely remember a 747 flying over maryland when i was with my parents. Wed gone to the top of the hill for the simple act of watching a Space Shuttle fly over. That is burned into my mind. That probably started the course i was on to become not only a test pilot and the national. Little thing that that will spark the imagination of a childs mind. For me, it was a simple airplane. It was as simple act of being with my parents and that is what sparked my imagination. As much as we can from up here to reach out to kids and just expose them to this world, this world that is in motion, i think you never know when you will spark the imagination and im sure that you were doing it every day. The gentleman from mississippi is recognized. Thank you for talking to us. Hopefully the chairman of the full committee will allow us to have a congressional trip to the space station in the near future. I have a question for you from one of my constituents. Suzanne would like to know how do you deal with the incredible solitude for the length of your missions . That is an interesting question. Each person probably does it differently. And of we would like to do which helps keep us calm and motivated is to look at the window at our beautiful planet. We always go over to this window that is basically a Glass Bottom Boat of a ship and we look down on earth and it is fantastic. That is what keeps us going. The gentleman from california is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I had a question for you, for our committee. We struggled a lot with how to maintain the countrys lead into signs and i was wondering if you could give us your perspective on how important Space Exploration and research is to maintaining our nations lead in science. Certainly, it is right at the cutting edge and this is one of our many pieces, i guess in our overall u. S. Portfolio of leading this revolution that we are living day to day. I dont know, right off the screen to the right, there is the arm and we just had him out last night to do some upgrades and we will bring it out and get it in full operation or maybe even with a set of legs down the road. The work we are doing is right on the cutting edge but that is one small piece across the entire country and a lot of it is thanks to government funding and pumping money into this research. Not just five years down the road but 50 and a hundred years down the road. The gentleman from alabama is recognized. Dr. Swanson, commander wiseman, i am from alabamas fifth district, and as a child, i grew up feeling the ground shake and the rocket was tested nearby, and i vividly remember apollo 11 when Neil Armstrong descended from the lunar module declaring one step for man, one giant leap for mankind. The program was american exceptionalism at its best and it made us all proud to be americans. My question is, what mission should americas Space Program next embark on to be the next giant leap for mankind . I believe that we should get ourselves to mars. I believe we can do it. This was one of the first blocks we have to do is to learn how to live in space and recycle everything we need to from water, air, everything we need to do. So, we can reduce some supplies and create a robot system. Right now we are starting it off. I think going to mars is our main goal. The gentlewoman from massachusetts is recognized. Thank you. It is great to be here. I have some questions from the cumbre Summit Program students over 40submitted questions. I will be quick. Bring ate, how do you suitcase and what is the temperature from chloe, what fuel do you use to support the Space Shuttle and from luke, has anyone had a birthday and if so, how did you celebrate . Ok, so, we packed in a very very small suitcase. We get about one and a half kilograms. The fuel that we use, we basically used kerosene and oxygen to get up here and then once we are on the space date and we have a fuel mix we used to keep us here but we dont have to earn our engines very often and then we did have a russian crewmate. We had a dinner table they are in node one and we all gathered around the table, all six of us and we share u. S. Food, european some some of our juices, of the russian teaser very nice. We just joined together and have a really great evening. Unfortunately, i dont think that there were any presents to think that sasha was happy enough. It was a great event. The gentleman from florida, mr. Posey is recognized. Sometimes it is hard for americans to understand why human Space Exploration is so important. Can you take a moment to explain how the work youre doing now on the International Space station benefits americans . What are you up to . I think there are a few different ways to look at that question. We are doing research right now on the scientific aspects. Land thenew ways to fireworks. We do medical research up here, we have come up with ways to get chemotherapy to the target areas of the body more effectively. You have to look at is that humans are meant to explore. This is one path that we need to take and now we are starting off and that fulfills the idea, not just a whole race of humans and that is one thing we need to do. A lot of spinoff technologies come out of this. For the economy, it creates money for our country and he creates a better world for all of us. Mr. Kilmer is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for being with us. Questions fromg the young gentleman behind me here. Of is trying to get a sense how the space station plays into the effort to go to mars and a little bit more specific about what the utility is of the space station. He also wants to know as we look out into this century, what is on the horizon, what other new frontiers do you think that we are going to visit and he also wants to know how many planets lets startr with the and questioned. Good ours on how sensors get in our lifetime is to how many we will discover. Perhaps every time you look out at night, you have to think there is a solar system. It blows my mind. For the space station had is this play into our longduration missions, if were going to go to mars, we will set out on a three plus year journey. If you have one major system break and that could be your own human body, your heart, your muscles, your bones, that could be your Environmental Control system, your engines, any piece of that puzzle falls apart and now you have lost your mission to mars. This is where we start the fundamental blocking and tackling of this challenge to get to mars and i think that that research is being done right now and we are seeing very successful results. 90 . Ater balance is almost we recycle water into oxygen. We have an amazing regenerative system and it is proving extremely effective and we are working on reliability. I hope that covers enough of your questions. The gentleman from texas, mr. Stockton. Thank you for having this broadcast today, as you are my extension once, i appreciate what you are doing. I am proud of our country. Some of you coming might know that up here it is not universal support, which i think is a mistake and what would you tell my colleagues why they should be supportive of your efforts and why we should vote three times the amount of money that we are supporting right now, or four times . I dont care. I would be happy with twice but that is a good question. That is a really good question, it goes back to what do we provide for the taxpayer and i think we provide research and development, that is what we get out of this. Ideas, new products, new new research which always helps the country in the future. Again, that creates new companies which are better for the economy. We expired a new generation which gives them to be productive and help out and make our country stronger and then we are explorers. The gentleman from california. My questions come from the bay area and i have three young aspiring astronauts. The first question is an easy one. That is, what is your favorite food in space. The question is, do you think one day we will encounter life from another planet . I am a food lover but theres one particular food that they know when they open the desserts boxed, all chocolate pudding read, so ily goes to am hoarding chocolate pudding cake, i tried it on earth and i did not like it that much but theres something about this cake i am in love with. I will pass it over to dr. Swanson. Yes, asld have to say reid pointed out, as you look up , there are so many Solar Systems out there, so many planets, so many possibilities. Sometime, it will happen. Thank you, mr. Chairman. They want me to say howdy. Far, whatperience so have you found that has surprised you on what is robust, has held up quite well on the space station, and what have you found that is fragile that you see that we will have to do future reengineering of . This is my first spaceflight and i have known the space station are many years and were into our 5000 plus day of operations. What are the first things that struck me when i arrived is i expected to see an aging system, i that did it to be, well, from the tv, maybe it does look messy to you. Every one of these has a purpose. This is a brilliant laboratory. It is amazing shape. I think that it is a testament to the engineering that went in. The robustness of the design. This looks like a brandnew machine. Very impressive to me. Theyre not as reliable, the things that have surprised me, you get to see how quickly technology on earth develops. This was developed in the 80s and 90s. Really, you do see ethernet cables running all around the outside because we did not necessarily have that technology. We just flew off some tablets. There is a device that a year ago i hardly knew and now at home i can barely live without. Building on these technologies as we go over time has been so much of a surprise. You can see the evolution of technology up here. I dont even know you account for that. The gentleman from connecticut is recognized for the last question. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Theynts want to know what can do to become ashen knots in the future. It always goes with study hard. You have to do well in school. And find something you are passionate about in life. Andelps if it is Science Technology or engineering read but you find an area you are passionate about. Do it well. That will show when you become an astronaut. We are out of time to review astronauts are out of time we are out of time. The astronauts are out of time. We look forward to supporting you in the future. We will talk again. [applause] thank you all very much. Thank you. That excludes our event concludes our event. As a reminder, please go to the room down the hall for the showcase on the hardware and Research Presented by nasa. Thank you for being here today. So as a special event this was a special event. For over 35 years, cspan brings Public Affairs events directly to you. Putting you in the room at congressional hearings and conferences. Offering double gaveltogavel coverage of the u. S. House. We are cspan. Created by the cable tv industry and brought to you as a public service. Watch us in hd. Like us on facebook. Follow us on twitter. Any few moments, more about the status of legislation are guarding the veterans administration. You will hear from the heads of the committees starting with representative jeff miller. After that, the Foreign Ministers of el salvador, one guatemala, and honduras discuss the children crossing the border. A couple of live events to tell you about. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is looking into government activities any hearing in a hearing on cspan three. The House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the middle east will markup resolutions related to the israelipalestinian conflict. If you are in government, you are dealing with the inbox. Part of my responsibilities were representing the secretary of defense on the socalled the deputies committee. The senior level Group Developing options and working through the issues. For the principles, the president. A lot of Crisis Management focus. When you are in a think tank, trying toty is not secondguess the policymaker on the issues of the day. But to help them look over the horizon and see one of the issues i will confront a year from now . What are the issues i will confront a year from now . Former undersecretary of the center for National American security, michele flournoy. Night at 8 00 eastern and pacific on see q and a. Miller held a Conference Meeting thursday thursday the 10 would provide dba million in emergency spending. They are hoping to approve the bill before the august break. This is half an hour. Thank everybody for being here. We have a hearing thats actually going on right now in the house, some of our members will be shuttling in and out. I appreciate the opportunity to get together and the purpose of this is not to make fiveminute speeches. The purpose of this is for us to present an offer to the to senator sander, im sorry hes unable to be here today but i certainly understand his reasons. Without question, i think everybody here will agree that our intent has been from the very beginning, and continues to be finish our Conference Committee work, get something to both bodies so they can vote on it and to the president and have us make our votes before we leave and house leaves next thursday, one week from today. Everybody in here knows that we have continued to make good faith efforts. We have made movement in the process. Theres been a lot of give and take from both sides. Senator sanders and i continue to communicate on this issue and we will continue to communicate on this issue and what i wanted to do was try to bring everybody together and say, heres what we think in the house that we in fact can submit and we dont have total byin from the folks on the democrats side so i dont want to insinuate that they do. But they are aware of what our offer is going to be. I saw a statement a few minutes ago i was criticized for saying the senator moved the goal post. The facts are he did. He requested from v. A. Additional dollars and we got a 17. 6 billion ad in the middle of these negotiations. When i asked for the senate for your edification, when i asked for additional backup material for the 17. 6 billion, what i got was two sheets of paper and i told the secretary today that, that was not adequate. But we are, again, pledged to continue to work. I think its important. I thought it was important since we had not gotten together publicly in four weeks. Senator sanders and i serve as cochairs of this conference out of a desire to show bipartisanship. Tried to do this yesterday and the senator said he didnt want to do it yesterday. He said how about today . And he didnt like today either but heres what our offer is, so that everybody understands where were coming from. Were prepared to accept title 1 through title 7 of the original senate bill. With a small change to include all 27 leases. The senate only had 26. Were saying add the 27th lease into that, which is what passed the house last december. Provide v. A. With 102 million for the rest of fiscal year 2014 to address some of the departments internal funding short falls and some of those short falls are nonv. A. Care, emergency space leasing and improvements to rating fiduciary and appeals work. And how we will fund it is 10 billion in no year emergency mandatory funding to cover the cost of the senates choice provisions. This is what c. B. O. Scored the bill at was 10 billion. I think this provides more than a solid down payment on the first year of this twoyear program. And the remaining senate provisions would be subject to appropriations. Some of which are efforts to address staffing shortages, authorization of 27 Major Medical facility leases, the commissions to study v. A. s access to care and construction issues, improve the training of facility managers, collaboration with other federal Health Services and treatment for military sexual trauma. Its basically the senate bill, except its not all mandatory funding. And what we said is we would move to the 10 billion, make that emergency mandatory funding with a noyear limit so we can carry it over because most of us expect that we in fact will not spend 10 billion in the portion next year because i think this is the critical piece of this legislation. Senator mccain, thank you for working so hard to get this particular piece in this conference. Both of us, both houses think thats critical to helping v. A. Improve the delivery of Timely Health care. Its a very simple, straightforward offer. With that, i would yield to the Ranking Member on the senate v. A. Committee. Thank you, chairman miller. Let me say to the conferees that are here. When we started this process, every member believed that we should focus on the crisis at hand. The scope of the conference was to address those things that we saw as deficiencies at the v. A. I think for the most part we have stayed within the parameters and i think that the response from veterans around the country is this will help us. The chairman raises an important issue and that is the v. A. In the midst of this popped up and said hey, we have other needs here financially. Heres what they are. And those needs were broken down by 2014, 15, 16 and 17. We either have to trust our appropriations process to address our gears or do away with them. The reality is for the scope of this conference, i think it is well within the scope of this conference to address what v. A. Says they need in 2014. The chairman has included that in the offer. Its 102 million. I might say of that 60some million is in the v. B. A. Its not in v. H. A. Its not in the health care needs. When we talk about the additional whether its 13 billion or 16 billion, let me suggest to you, im not in any way saying the v. A. Is wrong. I think theres a burden of proof both sigh of the hill and parties have asked show us the information that proves how this is going to be used. We have yet to receive that. But thats probably more appropriate for us to look at in the context of an appropriations process where the request comes from the white house and request just doesnt come from an agency. To those v. S. O. s around the country, we agree with you. Were willing to look what the Additional Needs our veterans have. But we want to do it in the normal context. We will address those thing thats have identified in this years fiscal year that cannot be addressed in the normal appropriations budget. Thank the chairman for moving forward. I believe i said as i came in the room, im optimistic we can get a deal. That might seem a little odd considering my counterpart in the senate is not here or his colleagues. But still believe we can get there. We will never get there if were not willing to as conference entertain a proposal and eventually have a vote. So i thank you for moving it forward. Thank you very much. I also wanted to let you know theres media reports out there that say the v. A. Talks are on the verge of collapse are widely exaggerated. We continue to try to resolve the impasse, albeit not a great one in comparison to where we started but were getting closer. Senator mccain. Mr. Chairman, i want to this you and senator burr and all members on both sides of the capital for the hard work thats been done on this issue. And the priority all of us have given this situation. I dont have to describe the urgency which is associated with this issue. I did have a conversation with the chairman of the Veterans Affairs committee. I strongly recommend that as soon as possible the four, you two and Ranking Member and chair sit down again this afternoon. I believe that the only way we are going to reach a conclusion if we are, and i believe we must, its not a matter of can, its must, its going to require a dialogue. I believe that he will understand that theres certain compromises that have to be made as some have already been made and perhaps more. But i would hope that the that this afternoon the four of you could sit down and start some really tough negotiating and because that really is, we all necessity thats the only way were going to reach a conclusion. And especially mild mannered people like myself are very supportive of that effort. I thank you all for the great work you all have done and every member, thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator mccain. Let me assure you that the many meetings and telephone calls i had with your colleague mr. Sanders has been in an attempt to try to negotiate something that both bodies could support, be proud of and certainly would speed access and care to the veterans. I cant speak for him, mr. Chairman, but i am convinced hes ready to sit down and have a dialogue in the same way we do with conferences on every bill that gets up to the four senior members. Im still optimistic and i will remain optimistic. Thank you for all of your hard work. Thank you, senator coburn. I just note that the Senate Session is going to prove new head of the v. A. Thats my understanding. We will go through the senate this afternoon. And i would tell you the explanation should be lower unless we add title 30 to him for any conference room. Because if you cannot hold accountable employees under your leadership, you will not fix the v. A. My only recommendation is whatever we do, that title 31 authority be given to him so in fact he can clean the mess up. The accountability piece we both had is in there. 31, 38 . Again, the house believes and our position that it does cover title 38. I hear you, the intent is there. And thats something that we certainly can look at. I concur with you, senator. And the reason was he had to go through all of this enormous amount i said what one thing that you need and thats exactly it. I yield back. Any other comments . Mr. Kirkpatrick . Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to join in the comments made by senator mccain this really is about taking care of our veterans. Thats the focus. I know everybody here, thats what they care about and i agree they have to continue talking and continue the dialogue because thats how we get things done. Let may sure, miss kirk kirkpatrick, i appreciate your attendance here this afternoon, this was not a take or leave it. This was an attempt for us to make a public offer and dialogue will continue. Senator rubio . I want to take a minute to brag on you. Were proud of the work youre doing. Youre from florida. Im proud of the work everyone here is doing. I believe this Conference Committee is comprised of individuals that are very serious about bringing this to a satisfactory. And its unimaginable for any of us to believe we will go home next thursday or friday to have recess and this issue unresolved. I think it would be viewed as unacceptable. Not just by our constituents in florida but across the country. Particularly those that rely on the v. A. And increasing challenges and accessing that system. I want to echo sense of urgency i hear here today and necessity to get this off and continue to make progress in that direction. Thank you. I just want to clarify what will happen with the independent assistant assessment in the v. A. And whole Management System and how the v. A. Works. As you and i discussed, that is part of the senate bill. That is tantamount to finding out what the future is because v. A. Needs to look at itself not only from internal perspective but external review and thats what both bodies desire to do. I want to add comments to senator rubio about the urgency of the hour. I think were doing that distant about why we are here. Were talking about an urge sent situation. Its been almost a month since we met here the first time. I think we have gotten as far as we have because this is a bipartisan agreement. This is about our veterans. It transcends politics. Bigger than awful us and hero we depended on our nation. I want to echo as well i think my hope is and i think all of us will work diligently to make sure this is done and crafted and agreed upon before we leave for august, veterans deserve it and american taxpayers deserve it. I want to echo those thoughts. Im grateful were here today and its a bipartisan and were actually moving. Thank you. I think its important as we go forward as what were trying to accomplish right here, right now is taking care of those veterans in need. If youre ill and youre in the ambulance on your way to get care to the emergency room, you dont want to hear its being built in two years. Want to hear where youre going right now to get care. And that should be our number one priority. I think were on the right path with that. Went continue on that track. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I agree theres an emergency situation but its inappropriate this crisis be used to permanently increase the funding of poorly performing agency. I think its perfectly appropriate on behalf of the taxpayers of this country to make a down payment towards a better system to deal with the issues that our veterans face and then to allow congressional oversight to work its process so that we can measure the results of the agency to make sure its actually doing what we appropriated the money to do. In your proposal that you just laid out does that. It makes that down payment and allows the process to work going forward. Dont see how anybody cannot be supportive over a proposal that balances the best interest of the veterans and still does in an urgent manner and balances interest of our taxpayers. Thank you. Senator . Chairman, i want to thank you for the work youre done and Ranking Member burr, thank you for what youre doing. If you listen to the confirmation testimony of bob mcdonald yesterday in g50, you heard from a man that delineated point by point specifically what hes going to do to open up the v. A. To bring about a new attitude in the v. A. And deal with the v. A. In whatever we he has to do it. Absence of title 38 will be a problem for him big time. We have somebody whos been there. We have somebody whos done it. Hes done his homework. We heard that yesterday. I agree with senator coburn. I will work with you any way i can, chairman miller, to bring this to a successful conclusion so we can invest in our veterans future and change the culture of the v. A. I will also add Ranking Member, who is still in the hearing, also supports amending the bill to allow title 38 to be subject to the accountability portion of these bills. Mr. Chairman, let me just say briefly, i appreciate the work everyone has done but i also appreciate on the house side you have really leaned forward to accept the senate bill. I think the senate bill is thoughtfully put together. I think theres a lot of things about the senate bill we can like. The other thing that you have done with this proposal is you have built in a system whereby this puts burden on us to provide even more significant oversight of the v. A. Because what youre saying is look, we will make a major down payment here. We will give them the money that they need now. But we want to see results. What that means for the Senate Veterans committee, what that means for the House Veterans Committee is we have to stay on top of this. We need to make sure that this department is turning itself around, that it is using this taxpayer investment and it is Getting Service to our veterans and getting the job done. I think the way you crafted this is extremely artful in terms of number one taking care of veterans, making sure that theyre going to get the care they need but secondly saying to the taxpayers, were also going to make sure that this very poorly run department is turning around. That we will provide the oversight and if something is not working, were going to force it to turn around. So i just think its just a giant step to get this resolved and a compliment you on really thoughtful policy approach to dealing with a very, very complex issue. I think its absolutely good work. Thank you, sir. Any other comments . Mr. Kauffman . Thank you, mr. Chairman. I just again i think i want to echo the remarks of a lot of folks here today on this Conference Committee to say i really hope we get something done before the august recess. And i think its more important to recognize this issue. I think as you have in terms of putting proposal forward that recognizes this just isnt a function of resources but its about restructuring an agency that has not served the needs of our veterans. Thank you, mr. Chairman. This morning we heard from acting secretary gibson and from his responses to our questions, your questions, my questions and others, the question for the 17 billion, 18 billion is stale work in progress. They havent figured out how much people they really need and so im just cures why thats come forward at this time. I dont know if its helpful or not. But in any case, that is a work in progress and i dont think theyre ready to make that request to be honest. Thank you. I yield back. Has everybody said everything . I just want i didnt ask if you can say it twice. [laughter] all right. We had an article in the wall street journal yesterday that the problem was money. Written by one of the v. S. O. s. The problem is money. We had 60 increase with 17 increase in demand. We increased money three times faster than demand has been placed on the v. A. System. Its not money and if we throw money at this without the oversight that you have done in the past and needs to be done in the senate, we will have failed the american taxpayer. But most importantly, we will have failed the veteran. Its not about money. I dont care how many articles are written. All you have to do is look at how much the veterans budget grown in health care and how less efficient its become every year. The key is management. Weve got a great leader. Its going to gait proved. What we have to do is give him the tools. Thank you very much, senator. Thank you, everybody, for coming and joining us. I have drafted a letter that im sending to senator sanders outlining our proposal and asking for him to join me in a call that we come back together in a public setting as a Conference Committee to actually vote on monday afternoon. With that, were adjourned. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] i thought for weeks was long enough for us to negotiate behind closed doors. Willing to pay for what is going on. There have been attempts to make it appear the house did not want to pay. 10 billion up front is what we would consider down payment. Because we have to do this quickly before we go home. For how long . However long that 10 billion lasts, thats why we call it a no year. We dont lock it into a single year. Year. Uly believe that the 10 we believe the 10 billion is going to last. Lets go through the normal process and we will have the independent review