Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20141114

When the ebola has been such a big concern for many, including politicians who in some cases ran campaigns on ebola, we have have thethe senate opportunity to confirm a Surgeon General for this country. There are a number of nominations that must work its way in before the end of the year. We believe that we heard the public right. We will stick to trying to help as much as possible all those families that are survived the difficult times as a result of the wall street crash. We will focus most importantly on the middle class. We can build on the more than 10 10. 5 million jobs created over the last 54 months. We can hope to continue that progression of more than 200 thousand jobs created for the last nine months we continue to have more americans with Health Security that we take for granted in this room. We learned just recently that we have the highest rate of High School Graduation in our country ever. We saw that five states, four of them red, the people in those states said, we should give americans who work for minimum wage arrays. A raise. The American People have spoken to us. It is all about helping the middle class. If you do that, than Everything Else will fall into place good we are ready to do that. Let me introduce my colleagues. They will speak in order after the vicechairman. Congressman from the 31st cocongressman from the Second District in nebraska, and congressman elect from the 33rd district in the state of california. With that, let me yield to the vice chair from new york. Let me thank that chathank tn for his service, and to the caucus. It has done a great job. Through some very difficult times. Those difficult times they will exist for some time to come. We look forward to the 114th congress. I look forward to working with them. Welcome to this wonderful and diverse incoming freshmen democratic class to our congress. Right now, it reinforces what this incoming freshmen class before i turn it over to them, i think, as many of you of heard me say before, with all the natural calamities that happened around the world, and happened here in the United States, some of the more manmade calamities, like war itself and what we have seen happen with crimea, ukraine, middle east, the uncertainty that exists. The other natural calamities in terms of ebola, and the uncertainty that has created for the American People. The American People are looking for more stability coming out of washington, d. C. Something they have not had over the past two years. We have seen manmade instability, shutting down our government, threatening not to pay the national debt. We hope those days are behind us and we can pass a clean cr before we leave the 113th congress, that we can have tax extenders that makes sense for small businesses, entrepreneurs, that we can Task Terrorism risk insurance. That is important to our city and country. Those are ways in which i think our republican colleagues can demonstrate that they are here to work on behalf of the American People, and not just political selfinterests. I look forward to working in a bipartisan spirit to make those things happen, and look forward to this incredible incoming freshmen class. I have the distinction of having the opportunity to introduce to you the most senior of the Incoming Freshman class. Seniority means everything here. Alma adams from North Carolina. Thank you. Thank you. I join with all of my colleagues, thanking them, and looking forward to working with them, and the entire Democratic Caucus, and the republicans as well. I come from North Carolina. We have had we have made National News there. I am happy to be here. To represent the citizens of the 12th district, who had no representation for 10 months. That is almost a year. That is as close to a year as you can get. After i was sworn in yesterday, i am happy to be here to get to work for them, to work with this 113th congress and be sworn in again to the 114th congress. It is unique for me. I had two primaries. I had two general elections. I will be sworn in the second time. It has been a wonderful experience for me, to also be the 100th woman in this 113th congress. With that comes a lot of responsibility. Representing and advocating for women and children and families for working families for workers, and for middleclass families. I am an educator by training for 40 years. I served for 30 years. I am here to work. I have the experience to do that. I am looking forward to making a difference, not only for the 12th district, but the citizens of the United States of america. It is good to be here. Thank you very much for the opportunity. I would like to introduce now my colleague from california, 31st district, pete aguilar. Thank you. As the vicechairman said, we are all a little envious of her position. It is my honor to be here. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to join you. I am currently the mayor in redlands, california. I am Congress Member elect for the 31st district. During this campaign, we talked about a lot of things. Chief among them was a middleclass initiative, which was a return to discussing issues that are so important to the middle class in southern california. Creating jobs, supporting investments in education, making sure we honor the commitments to our veterans and our seniors. Those are going to be the focus of me and my colleagues in this caucus. Under great leadership, we are already talking about these issues that affect our communities. I want to thank them for the opportunity and i look forward to this orientation where we continue to learn and grow and get ready to deliver for our constituents come january. We will be getting ready to deliver and to Work Together on both sides of the aisle. As a local mayor, i have a track record working together to a accomplish things. I look forward to continuing those efforts. It is my pleasure to introduce another one of my colleagues within the 114th congress, brad ashford, congressman elect from nebraska. Thank you. I heard on npr about that. I am proud to meet you. I have never been to a caucus meeting. I have been in the legislature for 16 years. We dont have caucus is our party. This is interesting. This is a whole different deal. I am convinced i also, when i was running for office, i was going to find 25 friends. Ive gotten over that. I have 25 plus democrats and republicans ive never been so impressed by a group of individuals in my life. So much enthusiasm, confidence, and hopefully, if i can just add, a tradition of nonpartisan problemsolving, like we have a nebraska, hopefully we can do that. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you. All right. Congressman elect ted lieu. Yes. We can go now, were finished. From california. I am thrilled to be here. Let me also thank everyone for the incredible job you have done. I have been here less than 24 hours. Somebody asked me what the differences between here and southern california. Coat checks. This is diverse. We are also proud that a quarter of that class are veterans. I served in active duty in the air force. Im still in the reserves. I look forward to working with my colleagues across the aisle. It is clear to me that voters want us to Work Together. I believe we can get agreement on transportation, infrastructure funding, protecting the privacy of americans from illegal surveillance. There are also the areas where we will not agree. Those areas are where we will protect our core values. We will protect a womans right to choose. We will protect Social Security and medicare. We will fight for the middle class. On those issues where we can agree to help middle class, we will agree and cooperate. On those issues that hurt the middle class, we will fight to oppose them. I look forward to working with everyone to make our country stronger and safer. Im thrilled to be here. Thank you. Thank you very much. You can understand why we are very proud of the Democratic Caucus. 2 3 are women or minority. It continues a tradition in the Democratic Caucus of continuing to elect individuals who represent what is america today. We are very proud of that. With that, we will take any questions. Theres a report in the New York Times that the president will likely act on Immigration Reform in the coming weeks. I am wondering if you had heard about any of this or had a chance to read these reports. If i can get your reaction to that. I have had a chance to read this same reports, but i know nothing about their veracity. I do know that the president was very clear months ago. He was very clear last week in a lunch with the house and Senate Democratic and Republican Leadership that he was going to take action since congress had failed to do anything to fix the broken immigration system. He was going to try to do what he could to make the law Immigration Law work well, efficiently, and as intelligently as possible. He is committed to act before the end of the year, but more than that, i do not know. You just read the reports . He did not say in our luncheon when he would act. He did say he would act by the end of the year. All the questions about what the president might do to make the broken immigration system work better were posed by republicans. They were posed by republicans. The president was responding to their inquiries. I know that he was hoping that we would have more time during the lunch to discuss economy, jobs, some of the pressing issues like ebola, syria, iraq. He made it clear that he thought about this quite a bit. Short of congress acting, congress has not acted. He was going to try to see what he could do to make the broken immigration system work better where he could under the law. The republican position on Immigration Reform especially executive order weve had several republicans today saying you are really his word was, there could be an explosion. Is there concern here that we could be going back down that road like we did last fall if the president moves ahead of time and that really complicates the cr . Today, tomorrow, next week we could the president could take any type of action on immigration if the house of representatives would unstick its gears and let us vote to improving our laws. For more than a year and a half, about a year and a half, the house has had sitting in his chamber a deal that had 60 aide votes that would fix the broken immigration system. My sense is that the president would like to see the house Republican Leadership act, whether it is on the senate bill or anything else, to do something. Short of that, i think the president is prepared to do what he can using his executive authority to prioritize how we go out there and make a broken immigration system with broken laws work. Again, it is hard to understand why any member in congress would complain to the president about trying to make things work better when it it is in the full purview of those same members to make the law work right by making the changes necessary. We can act and dispose of the need for the president to do anything. If it comes to that wouldnt this be different . The president took this action and created this problem. Maybe in the court of public opinion, its different than the government standoff last fall. I will simply say this to impose ultimatums at a time when the president has said lets Work Together, i think it would be a bad way to start. The president said if congress acts, i will stand down. I will not need to act. Short of congress acting, and in six years, congress has not acted, he is prepared to try to do what he can, as he did two years ago. My sense is that all we have to do is see congress do its job and act. We wont have to worry about the president trying to act through his executive powers. To start with ultimatums if you dont do this our way, we will not do anything else that to me would be a bad sign. Let me ask my other colleagues to respond. I would add to that, as i mentioned before, talking about threatening to shut down the government because they dont get their way or because the president is trying to improve the way in which the laws are carried out i think his childlike, quiet frankly. We need to stop creating more uncertainty. That is not going to help. It will create more uncertainty. That is what we need to into that is what we need to end here. It is no secret, the president talked about executive order for quite some time. We know that it has been coming down the path. It is not the first time a president has use executive order to carry out major events in history of the United States, quite frankly. To add to that, if and when and i believe the president will carry through with issuing executive order it still will not address every issue that needs to be addressed. The Congress Still needs to come back here and fix what is a broken immigration system. That does not change. That still needs to be addressed. Its about time the Republican Congress and the house and senate take charge. The responsibility is squarely on them to act on this issue. What is your position on that right now . We will have an opportunity the bill was sprung on us. This is not the way you typically handle legislative policy, where all of a sudden a bill comes before you for consideration and debate. It is a closed rule, which is another sign that were not having full transparency and democratic action on the floor of the house. Members will not have an opportunity to fully express themselves on behalf of their constituents to try to make changes to a bill that we rarely saw and to try to improve it or perfected. The process is flawed to begin with. This is an important issue which has been on the minds of some members for for quite some time. In my particular case, my biggest concern is this, someone wants to make money by extracting petroleum from shale in canada, pipe it through the United States to get to our ports on the gulf, to then have it exported to who knows which country or what place to sell at a pretty good profit there is no guarantee that an american will benefit one drop from the oil that will be transported through our turf by the company in canada that is getting ready to make money by exporting the oil out of our ports in the gulf. What is in it for americans . Especially if there is some kind of catastrophe or leak of the oil it will happen on our turf. My understanding is that this proposal that is before us would exclude the company that is shipping this oil to the pipeline from any liability should there be a spill, which does not make sense. We get the ill effects of the spill. We get the contamination. And this company is getting all the profits. That would concern me greatly, if americans are not going to benefit from a pipeline that is going all the way across our country, north to south, so that some company in canada can make profits by selling oil to people outside of the United States. I have concerns. I would like to have an opportunity to debate and amend that. This bill and this process that has been set up by the republicans in the house will not permit that. I have real concerns about moving forward with the legislation as it is. Given the results of tuesdays election, give us some idea of the color or tenor of the meetings about the same Leadership Team going back in the field for 2016. This is where it would be nice to hear from the newer members as well. I learned after 22 years that an election is an election. Some of our colleagues have learned that you should not take anything for granted. An election for leadership in the Democratic Caucus, Republican Caucus is no different. You still have to come out with the votes. I dont believe anybody in our Democratic Caucus will be elected to serve as a leader unless he or she deserves that opportunity to lead. We will have an opportunity to have a discussion, debate, about who should be our Leadership Team. I fully respect and will abide by the wishes of our colleagues in the Democratic Caucus on how to move forward on an agenda that will work for all americans. Again, i have been to enough elections to know that it is the votes that count, not what you say or do. We will find out who members of the Democratic Caucus vote for to be members of the leadership. If it is folks you have seen before, it is because theyve earned the opportunity to meet again. As a member of the present leadership, and i say this for the new members as well, something they will experience, the collective wisdom of the caucus. That is what i have faith in. I continue to have faith in that. It will service well as a caucus. Thank you for that, mr. Vice chairman. I think one of the things the new members are looking for is leadership. Who shares our values. Chief among them is an investment and commitment to the middle class. Those are things that i hear being discussed in our community and in that caucus room. That is what im looking for with the leadership and within the discussions we will be having in the future, to make sure that our leadership will reflect the values of the Democratic Caucus, reflect the values of my community, which is important to grow the middle class, create jobs, invest in education. Those are things i want to see out of our caucus and leadership. I might too, if i could. I would like to comment a little bit on the issue of the pipeline. In nebraska, we spent a considerable amount of time debating and discussing where the pipeline should go through our state. As most of you know, the largest deposit of underground water in the world is located under nebraska and oklahoma. There is a great deal of concern in our state that that be protected. It should be a concern of the entire nation. My concern would be, as i said throughout my campaign, when there is a decision made, and we decided in nebraska generally that if the pipeline is approved, it should be approved pursuant to the rules and regulations that we in nebraska have designed for that particular project. As of now, in nebraska, we have not finally determined the process for approving the pipeline. That decision is now up to the nebraska supreme court. I expect there will be a decision soon. I think there is some concern amongst my colleagues in the legislature and nebraskans generally that we respect the process in nebraska, which will be finalized very soon. That would be a concern that i would have as a representative of the state of nebraska. Feel free to discuss anything and ask any questions of our colleagues as we conclude this conference. I want to thank all of those participating. I want to thank our colleagues for participating in this press conference. With that, we will conclude. Thank you. [captions copyright nl cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] nancy pelosi will run to keep her post. She had these remarks today. On your own leadership after democrats lost seats last week, im wondering if you gave any thought to stepping down as the leader and what you thought about. Let me start with the second question. I have heard it from you all a number of times. As i said most recently, you have lost three times, why dont you step aside. I said, what was the day that you said to Mitch Mcconnell when they lost the senate three times in a row, taking back the senate, arent you getting a little old, mitch. Shouldnt you step aside. Have you ever asked him that . I dont understand why that question should even come up. I am here. As long as my members want me to be here. I am not here on a schedule. I am not here on anything except a mission to get a job done. I am so proud of the confidence the members have placed in me. Im happy to be here. If you dont, i am proud of what we have done together. How many times is that question asked of a woman, and how many times is that question not asked of Mitch Mcconnell . Senate republicans also voted on leadership positions for the next congress today. Mitch mcconnell will become majority leader when the new Republican Senate convenes in january. The gop made one addition, mississippi senator roger wicker, selected to chair the 2016 campaign operations. They spoke to reporters shortly after their party meeting. Good afternoon, everyone. Let me start by saying we have a new member of our senate Leadership Team, senator wicker. He has been elected chairman of the National Republican center and he will be speaking here in a few moments. Ive been very disturbed about the way the president has proceeded in the wake of the election, whether it was his intervention on net neutrality, his apparent decision to move ahead on immigration with executive orders, the rather ridiculous agreement with the chinese under which they basically have to do nothing for the next 16 years while we are losing jobs in this country as a result of epas overregulation. I had maybe naively hoped the president would look at the results of the election and decide to come to the Political Center and do some business with us. I still hope he does at some point, but the early signs are not good. Let me tell you who did get the message, and that was Senate Democrats. They got the message on the Keystone Pipeline. Thats why you have seen the current democratic majority in the senate have an epiphany and decide to allow a vote. The senior senator from north dakota, i want to call on him to give you his thoughts about Going Forward on the Keystone Pipeline, which it looks like will be able to do in both the house first and then the senate next week. John . Thank you, leader. Ill just take a minute to talk about the game plan on the keystone xl pipeline approval bill. As you know, we have a bipartisan bill and we worked out unanimous consent for a vote, first in the house, then thats the house will be friday, tomorrow, and then we will vote on it in the senate on tuesday. This is a bill that is bipartisan, but its got all 45 senators onboard. This is an issue that we in pushing for quite some time. We think there is very strong support for it. Its about jobs, its about energy, its about building the right kind of energy plan for this country, which is important for National Security as well. The American Public overwhelmingly supports it. So we have been working to get a vote for quite some time on this bill. The house will pass it overwhelmingly tomorrow. We have all 45 republicans onboard. All 45 republicans are cosponsors of this legislation, so we need 15 democrats. We will see what happens on tuesday. We hope to have 60 votes. We will see. The point i want to make is this all along we anticipated that we will win on this issue because the American Public wants keystone xl approved. If we dont get 60 votes on tuesday, in the new congress, we will have 60 votes. If you just go through the election results, not only did the American People speak, but if you look at the candidates, we have 60 votes for the bill. Then it is up to the president. You have seen his comments. One of his spokespeople traveling with him in asia said that he wasnt fond of the bill. It sounds like he might veto it. If he vetoes it, we will have the ability to bring it back, maybe an appropriations measure that we think he wont veto. Again, this is about what is good for the American People. I think we have a good plan to advance keystone. I want to thank our whole caucus for getting onboard and getting behind this important legislation. We are very excited with the new majority that will be sworn in in january to do important things on behalf of the American People and to get americans back to work again. The keystone xl pipeline has been something he has been fighting for and weve been advocating for for at least the last couple of years. According to the secretary of state, it will add about 42,000 jobs. The kind of thing we ought to have been doing years ago, but we are grateful to have the chance to vote for that on tuesday. Given the opportunities we have, i think an emerging bipartisan consensus, the American People really are more interested in us getting to work again, solving problems on a bipartisan basis that they had to live with day in and day out. I cant think of anything more discouraging for the president to do, to issue an executive amnesty order which disregards the law. Think about it. If you are someone who has tried to play by the rules and immigrate to this country legally, we naturalize almost a Million People a year. We are a nation of legal immigrants. How much more unfair could it be for the president to issue this order and essentially bump all of these new folks ahead of those who have been waiting patiently and trying to play by the rules and doing it the right way. I hope the president will he the request of people like senator angus king who says he hopes he delays this. I hope he delays it permanently, but at least the president would give us adequate time to be able to Work Together to try to begin to build a bipartisan consensus on repairing our broken immigration system. If he does that, is going to make it much harder, not easier. I want to start by thanking my colleagues in the senate for the opportunity to serve with this Leadership Team. What we will be doing is continuing to speak directly to the American People about our policies to create jobs, grow the economy, and strengthen the middle class. We believe the president s policy has been harmful to the American People. We believe there is a better way. We will start by taking of these bills, many of which have languished on harry reids desk, passed by the house of representatives, that are creating jobs and growing our economy. We will work very hard to protect the American People from government overreach in areas where it has added extra burdens to our economy and made more difficult to create jobs. We believe theres a different directopm, a better direction for the American People. We will talk very directly to the American People about those differences. We hope the president and the democrats will work with us. It will be up to them, the ball is in their court. We are pleased to have an opportunity to serve as the majority here in the u. S. Senate, and we look forward to hopefully bipartisan cooperation. We think it is in the countrys best interests for us to get not only the Senate Working again but also to get the peoples government working again for the American People. I also want to thank my colleagues for giving me the opportunity to continue as chairman of the republican policy committee. We are committed to policies that are going to put americans back to work, focus on jobs, the economy, affordable energy, Affordable Health care. There are many bills that can pass in a bipartisan way with a significant number of democrats also onboard. Those are the things we will work to try to pass through the u. S. Senate. We have heard the message loud and clear from the voters. That is that we have now been given an opportunity to help try to change the direction of the country. I believe thats not just an opportunity but an obligation, and we are focused and committed to focus on the economy as well as getting people back to work and strengthening the middle class. Joining in to what my colleagues have said, there is a lot of work out there to be done. Im optimistic. We have the rules of the senate that allows us to do it, if you will just follow those rules. Im also optimistic that there are a lot of things beyond the Keystone Pipeline that there is tremendous agreement on, if we could just get to that work, and i believe the new majority leader is absolutely committed to see that we get this work done. Lots of legislation for more american energy, for things that produce good jobs that take care of families in ways that families would like to be able to take care of themselves. Frankly, the president is going to engage one way or another. The last four years, not much reason for the president to engage with the senate or the congress. In the next two years, he will either have to engage the day the bill winds up on his desk, at that point his choice is to sign it or veto it, or decide to engage earlier in a way that we might be able to do hard things together. I think the American People have sent a clear sign, they want the government to do what it is supposed to do and better than it has been doing it. They want the government to get out of the things that they could do better for themselves. Thats a challenge for this congress and this president. I hope the president decides that this is a good time to do hard things. We need to get those hard things out of the way so we can see more good, private sector jobs, provide good takehome pay for families. Let me begin by reiterating what ive been telling my colleagues the last hour or so. I very much appreciate the opportunity to represent the republican conference in the 2016 campaign. I also want to congratulate dean heller for a gentlemanly, friendly campaign. We made it clear all along that this was a race between friends, a contest decided among friends, and we began it and ended it that way, so i congratulate him on a very fine race. I also want to congratulate jerry moran and rob portman for the wonderful job they did leading this committee over the last two years. Let me just say, we are determined that we build on the success we had in 2014 for the 2016 cycle. That includes protecting our 24 incumbents, increasing our majority, and making it possible to elect a republican president in 2016. The American People sent a message, a strong message with a huge swing in the United States senate. Listening to that message begins with Good Government in the u. S. Senate. I am so pleased with the agenda that leader mcconnell set out today. The American People want us to return to regular order, to bring up issues of concern to them, to protect minority rights as they have not been protected over the last several years, and to send to the president of the United States and enact into law changes that benefit the american middle class and american families. Winning in 2016 begins with Good Government, with good legislation, and im glad to be part of this team for that reason. Will you be able to follow through with your pledge to have no government shut down if the president goes ahead with his executive order . We will not be shutting the government down. We will not be shutting the government down or threatening to default on the national debt. You did Mention Health care, and i wanted to get you and anyone else to weigh in on jonathan gruber. What does it tell you that is new, and does it change the way you plan to approach obamacare with the Senate Majority . I think you all heard the definition of a washington gap, when a politician mistakenly tells you what he really thinks. We were subjected during the obamacare debate to a whole lot of stuff that we all knew was not true. Not even close to true. What this insider is saying is that they were spinning tales from beginning to end because they knew they couldnt tell the truth and have a hope of it passing with 60 votes. The American People hate, detest, and despise obamacare. Virtually all of us would like to see it pulled out root and branch. We understand the president obviously is not sympathetic with that point of view, but we will be voting on these issues. The overall obamacare issue and the various pieces of it, like the individual mandate, the medical device tax, and trying to restore the 40hour workweek. You talked about being disturbed by the president s proposal for immigration. What should congress do to address this next year once republicans come to the majority in the senate . What we said is we hope the president is going to do that. There is a lot of interest and republicans in both the house and senate in passing and Immigration Reform bill. I dont think theres anybody in our conference who doesnt think the Current System is a mess, and we would like to improve it. The president has been told over and over again, and we are telling him again today, dont do this because his executive actions are not permanent changes. They wont necessarily be there under the next president. If he really wants to improve the immigration system we have in this country, he is stuck with the congress that he doesnt like. President reagan never had the house in eight years. President clinton didnt have the house or senate for six of their years. He understood the American People elected a divided government. We would like for the president to recognize the reality that he has the government he has, not the one he wishes he had, and work with us try to find a way to improve our immigration system. We will let you know. Thank you. Senate democrats also reelected most of their Leadership Team today. During the Conference Meeting they added montana senator jon tester as chairman of their committee and created new roles for Elizabeth Warren and amy klobuchar. They spoke to reporters shortly after the meeting ended. I always try to start my meetings on time. The meeting this morning started at 9 00, and we just finished. It was a very productive, very constructive meeting. I was so impressed with every senator. I dont know how many spoke how many . 28. 28. 28 senators spoke, and it was very, very good. What i wanted to announce today is that we are going to expand our leadership. Were going to do things a little differently, just a different approach. The one thing that came out of the conference without any secondguessing is that we have to continue fighting for the middle class. Speech after speech after speech. I would be hardpressed to think of three of the 28 that didnt talk about the middle class. The middle class is what is concerning to every one of my senators. They are not getting a fair shot. Were going to do everything we can in the 114th congress to make sure the middle class of this great country of ours has a fair shot. Were going to have a new dscc chair, jon tester of montana. John is a very plain man. He is a farmer who has one and extremely difficult races in a swing state. Amy klobuchar is part of the expanded leadership. I dont know anyone who tries harder to Work Across Party Lines than she does. She is one of the top senators in any legislative body, whether you are in the house or senate, if you want to get something done on a bipartisan basis, talk to klobuchar. Elizabeth warren, somebody asked me on the way in here, what do you expect her to do . I expect her to be Elizabeth Warren. We have to take a few questions. What message do you believe voters sen [indiscernible] i believe that if we look at voter patterns and what we saw in this incredibly difficult election is the people that should have voted that didnt vote are people who needed a reason to vote. We have to create an atmosphere where the middle class feels we are fighting for them. We had a number of brilliant statements in our caucus. A number who talked about how important it was that we do something to let those people out there know we work for them. Some say some members didnt have much of a record to run on. Looking back, do you think you should have managed the senate a little bit differently . We tried on 73 separate occasions to have a vote. The minority refused to let us have a vote. We tried to have a vote, remember . Energy efficiency, not once but twice. The republicans said this is the time to do something. We havent done anything in energy in a long time. First time, neverending stalling, we had to take it off the floor. The second time, i had republicans who were part of that committee come to me with shaheen and say ok, weve got it this time. We have five amendments that make this bill so good, bring it to the floor, and the republicans told me, in the presence of Jeanne Shaheen and others, we will vote for cloture. Just before that vote took place, they wanted to vote on keystone. They said no, we want an up or down vote. I said yes. They came back and said we will only want to vote with the guarantee we can win it. The bill was so awful as far as time consuming, we got nothing done. Example after example. We tried to have votes and the republicans made a decision after obama was first elected that they would oppose everything that he wanted, and thats what they have done. They couldnt stop us in the congress where we where we had 58, 59, 60 senators, but that is the story. Anyone thinking i stopped votes from not happening is not valid. I will tell you why. There are women here with me. I came to the senate in a sweep when reagan got wiped out. Eight of us came. I served at that time with one woman, barbara mikulski. I have seen this institution change, for a lot of reasons. One reason it has changed for the good is because of women. It has changed. Women think differently than men, and im so impressed with the women i have in my caucus, that i wanted to reach out to them because they represent what america is all about. [indiscernible] ive said that many times since the election. This is not get even time. I do not intend to run the Democratic Caucus like the Republican Caucus has been run. Im not going to do that. For example, i just told amy klobuchar, we have a lot of bills that are bipartisan bills. She is going to get me a list of those and were going to sit down and see if we can get the republicans to agree that they want to pass bipartisan bills. We want to legislate. We are not forestalling. We want to move on to the next congress with a record of accomplishment. Can i ask why you wanted to be part of the democratic leadership and what message you believe voters were sending . I believe in what the democrats are fighting for. Wall street is doing very well. Families all across the country are struggling. We have to make this government work for the American People. Thats what we are here to fight for. I am grateful to the leader. Im grateful to the caucus for giving me a chance to be part of that fight. Thats what we are all going to be here doing every single day. Thats what we are about. I see this as a tremendous opportunity for our country right now. Our economy has stabilized and we need to move forward. When we talk about those bills that are sitting around, many of which have now passed the house, we can get this done by the end of the year. The idea is to break through the gridlock, to start having votes again, and we will take them at their word when they say they want to move with us and move this economy forward and get going. I think its an opportunity and we need to seize it. [indiscernible] ok. First of all, its going to be great to make the Senate Functional again. Really to move the ball forward for the middle class. I think it is critically important. If there was one message the voters sent out, a lot of them by not voting, it was that we need to Work Together. My role will be going out to find candidates that can lead, that can win, that can advocate for the middle class in their elections. I look forward to that challenge. I still have my duties as a u. S. Senator which are very important for the state of montana. The bottom line is that we work hard before and we will work hard again. I think we will be successful passing good policies. I think weve done enough, everybody. Thanks. Lauren french covers congress for politico. Shes joining us on capitol hill on this thursday. Thanks for being with us. New faces on the Leadership Team for both the house and senate, but the same leaders. Lets talk about the Senate Democrats first. What happened . Harry reid is currently the majority leader but he will take his new role, only three members voted against him. There was not a lot of opposition. Hes going to come back and continue to be the leader. That really is a sign that though democrats lost the senate, theyre willing to give harry reid another chance, looking forward to 2016. Senator mark warner recently reelected in a very Close Senate Race in virginia, and senators Claire Mccaskill and joe manchin, both likely to seek reelection. They also voted no. That is a political vote. You can never stop running for reelection. Once you get here, you are constantly running. Even though mark warner just got reelected, if he voted for reid, that would likely be used against him during the next cycle. You have to lay down that no vote. You have to say im not happy with the current established leadership if youre going to be in a tight race that pits a republican against a democrat, especially a republican that the party is nationalizing all these races and making everything about obama and harry reid and nancy pelosi. It would have been used against them. And a new face, Elizabeth Warren, freshman senator from massachusetts. Explain what her role will be. She will be the envoy to the liberal groups that the senate wants to reach out to. She is constantly mentioned as a foil to Hillary Clinton as a president ial candidate. Progressives love her. She bucks wall street, which is near and dear to more of the left wing of the democratic party. Leadership decided she should be the Outreach Coordinator for them. She will help them get a larger voice in the conference and make sure these groups progressive voters have a say in what happens with the democratic party. A Republican Team will include corn inyn of texas. There was a contest for the chairmanship of the republican committee. Campaign both had been lobbying for to gain the seat for that campaign item for senate republicans, but ultimately wicker beat him out. Do you have a sense of what was inside these Senate Caucuses . Republicans are jubilant. Nearly every race that was tight. In North Carolina was expected to win reelection, but tillis republicans are looking for to want to two years, they show they can lent slate. They dont want to be the party the government shutdown. Democrats are a little more despondent. Thought they would do better in the senate elections. Hagan would kay come back, they thought they had nunn. Ce in georgia with mary land drow doesnt have a good shot. Recognize that theyre now in the minority and all these tricks that have been used to keep debate down and keep amendments down when the democrats were in the majority are now going to be turned on them and theyll have to fight theirand nail to get priorities heard. Lauren french, let go to the capitol. E of the House Democrats and republicans also meeting today. What happened there . A so the republicans had clean sweep, no opposition to any of their leaders in the will beo john boehner returning as speaker, kevin leader. Is majority that was a really simple, easy notafree episode which is what people expected when eric cantor lost his primary back in june, they expected these elections to be very contentious. Haveoehner and mccarthy done good work reaching out to the more conservative members of giving them reason to vote for the current Leadership Team. The leasts really dramatic thing of the day up here. Finally, as House Democrats to meet next week, any opposition to nancy pelosi . Tonancy pelosi is not going face any opposition. Democrats are totally loyal to leader, no one is her. To contest that, many have reported that theres a simmering anger against nancy a simmering anger against the democratic Leadership Team. They want new blood injected party. E pelosi has led democrats in some form or another for a few years. Have younger democrats, staffers who are looking to take decade for them to gr. So you have some grumbling of blood. New didunder 30 voting block not support democrats as much as the party thought they would. It,when that comes down to. Elosi has so much loyalty it would be shocking if she sort of race on tuesday. That next weekor and well look for your reporting online at politico. Com. Appreciate your being with us. Any time. On the next washington journal, an update on the open Enrollment Period for health insurance, and tim pack its on consumers, with Jean Odonnell of u. S. A. Today. The effect of the Health Care Law on the u. S. Economy. Aaron and Casey Mulligan will join us. Washington journal is live at 7 00 eastern on cspan. You can also join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Today on our companion network, cspan 2, live coverage of three events. Iniscussion about diversity the work force at 9 30. Then at noon a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on Energy Supply and security in africa. Look at fiscal policy in the next congress, sponsored by the concord live today on cspan 2. Joint chiefs of staff said thursday a modest number of torican forces could be sent iraq to help iraqi troops with complex missions against islamic state. The statement at a House Armed Services hearing alongside defense secretary chuck hagel said the campaign against isis has made progress, though isis continues to represent a serious threat. From capitol hill, the hearing is just under three hours. The committee will come to order. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Before we begin, id like to say up front i will not tolerate disturbances including verbal disruption, photography or holding signs. I want to thank you for your cooperation. We have a stop at 1 00 p. M. After consultation with mr. Smith, i ask now to consent each member shall not have more than four minutes rather than the usual five to question the panel of witnesses so we can get to as many he bes as possible. Thank you. The Committee Meets to receive testimony on the administrations military campaign and strategy for syria in iraq. Id like to welcome secretary hagel and general dempsey. We appreciate you being here to address these issues. When we last saw you in september the Congress Just passed the authority to train and equip modern Syrian Rebels a after a lengthy debate. The air campaign in iraq had been underway a few weeks and strikes in syria had not yet begun. I stated then i did not believe the president s minimalist strategy was sufficient to achieve his objectives of degrading and destroying isil. This hearing is critical to our understanding of progress made by the president s strategy and hear from our military leaders on what else may be needed. The Budget Amendment that we received monday afternoon pays for the air campaign and adds more advisors. It does foot peer to reflect any changes in strategy. However, we know that targeting and air strikes are getting harder as isil changes tactics. Limiting advisors to Headquarters Building will not help newly trained iraqi and Syrian Opposition. Their forces to hold terrain. Much less defeat isil in the field. Yet the president doubled down on policy of month boots on the ground despite any advice you have given him. So my fundamental question is how can can you successfully execute the mission youve been given to degrade and ultimately destroy isil when your best options are taken off the table. Mr. Secretary, both your predecessors, gates and leanetta have stated any hope of success in the strategy. Even coach k, a west point graduate and successful basketball coach at duke, told an Army Conference last month declaring we wont use Ground Forces is like telling your opponent youre not going to play your best players. We may have well be considering a new umaf in the future. Im offering a warning. Should it prepose it, i will not support sending our military into harms way with arms tied behind their backs. Lastly, the risks increases more with terrorist detainees returning to battlefield. Isils leader is chief among them. There are reports of former gitmo detainees returning to the fight. Weve seen an increase in notifications regarding the detainee transfers from gitmo. Mr. Secretary and general dempsey, you shoulder an immense responsibility each time you sign off on or concur on these releases. I understand youre under pressure to release even more. The roughly 150 detainees that are left are the worst of the worst. To continue these releases just as we have had to open a new front in the war on terror is unwise. Mr. Secretary and general dempsey, again, thank you for being here today. This is likely the last hearing a that we will have together. All the issues that bring us together are never easy. Ive always appreciated your friendship and candid conversations. And your service and dedication to this nation. For those of us that will not be here in the 114th congress, let me express our gratitude to you for leadership, service and above all your devotion to our troops. Thank you mr. Chairman. Gentlemen, thanks for being before us. Mr. Smith could not be here. Ill be reading his statement if it so pleases. These are not my words. As you know mr. Chairman, im probably very different than a lot of the thought thats going on in this committee in many ways. These will be mr. Smiths words. Hed like to thank the witnesses for appearing here today. Just three months ago the president notified congress he had authorized the commander of Central Command to undertake air strikes in iraq against isil. Just two short months ago september 23rd, the administration provided a war powers notification of strikes in syria against isil. Since that time, the u. S. Has taken hundreds of strikes in iraq and syria killing hundreds of isil fighters, eliminating freedom to move in convoys, substantially impacting their ability to sell oil to fund their operations and driving their leadership underground which complicated their ability to command their forces. Dod has deploy ee eed 1500 troo advise the iraqi army, Counter Terrorism services, peshmerga. The president has announced 1500 more will go. We have airlifted ammunition to those fighting isil. The administration enlisted around 60 countries to fight against isil. A number have undertaken strikes in iraq or syria and some volunteered to send special forces to iraq to help. Of Course Congress approved temporary authority for the dod to train and equip elements of the Syrian Opposition to fight isil. In other words, mr. Smith says, we have come a long way in a fairly short amount of time. Thank you to the two of you for leadership in arriving at most of what i just mentioned. Even though we have made substantial progress, more remains to be done to combat threat of isil. Isil able to control territory in iraq and sir i cant have will without question plan and plot attacks on the west. We all agree as weve seen what theyve been doing to people that they have taken to the people of beheadings, executions et cetera. Im paraphrasing here to make this short mr. Chairman. Going forward, we have many decisions to make about combatting the threat of isil. The president for example has requested that congress authorize the use of military force against the group rather than relying on the 2001 amuf to combat al qaeda. I agree congress should pass the imuf. Im skeptical we can assemble a majority. Again, these are the words of mr. Smith. Ill end. I would like unanimous consent to put the entire statement into let me end with this last paragraph. Going forward, prosecuting the campaign against isil either iraq or syria will be extremely complex and challenging. We must not dilute ourselves about this. Both iraq and syria are complex, messy situations where perfect outcomes are extremely unlikely. Whatever course of action we undertake will take years and dedicated effort. Well have disagreements with our allies and partners about desired outcomes. It will be challenging. While we seem to have overlapping interest with iran and iraq, our outcomes do not clearly align. We certainly do not have the same overlapping interest in syria all of which to say these situations are going to be messy and require constant attention and management. Fortunately managed correctly well have a real path toward the goal of degrading isil denying safe haven, eliminating leadership and curt tailing their ability to strike at our allies and at us. I hope our panelists will help to explain to us and the American People the strategy. Thank you mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent to put it forward into the record. With that objection so ordered. Mr. Smith had surgery ten days ago. Hes fully engaged. Yesterday we had the big meeting working on the bill. He was head of technology. Its possible he was in the room with us and fully totally engaged. One other thing id like to mention at the outset, several of our members will not be with us next year. Some retired. Some lost their election. Let me thank each of you for your service to this nation, to your service on this committee. Its much appreciated. This committee has always tried to work in a bipartisan manner. Any way i think enough is said. Thank you for your service. Mr. Secretary . Chairman mckean, congresswoman sanchez, members of the committee, thank you. I u. S. Military prevention is counter productive the chair notes theres disturbance in the proceedings. The committee will be in order. Id like to formally request those in the audience causing this disruption cease their actions immediately. Thank you very much. Thank you to the Capital Police for restoring order. Mr. Secretary . Chairman, obviously your last hearing is not going unnoticed or unrecognized. We shall rode. As i was saying, i very much appreciate, and i know general dempsey does the opportunity to come back after a couple of months and update this committee on what were doing and how were doing it, why were doing it. I know this has not been as you all know the only communication we have had with this committee. We have had many, many briefings with your staff. Many of you have spoken to directly as well as general dempsey and many of our military leaders. To have this opportunity to give explanation of what were doing and why and how, i very much appreciate. Mr. Chairman, your leadership and your service to this committee, to this country over many years has been recognized many times appropriately over the last few months. It will continue to be recognized. It should be recognized. I want to thank you personally for your support, your friendship. I have value had the over the last two years. Ive had the privilege of holding this job. I will miss you personally. I know this committee will. There are so many very able, dedicated people right next to you that will carry on. So i didnt want this opportunity to go without me expressing my thanks and best wishes to you and your family and to the next chapter in your life. Your many new adventures that lie ahead. By chairman of joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey, who i too like you have appreciated his wise council and his partnership as we have dealt with some of the most complex and difficult issues that i think this country has faced in a long type. I know general dempsey appreciates all of your service as well. General dempsey has played a Critical Role over the last six months especially in shaping and developing our strategy along with our commander who you know lloyd austin. Austin and his commanders and to our men and women, i want to thank them. Mr. Chairman, president obama, chairman dempsey, austin and our leaders have been clear that our campaign against isil will be long and will be difficult. We are three months into a multiyear effort. As we enter a new phase of this effort, working to train and equip more counter isil forces in iraq and syria. We will succeed only with the strong support of congress and the strong support of this committee. Since i testified before this committee two months ago, our campaign against isil has made progress. Isils advance in parts of iraq has stalled. In some cases its been reversed by iraqi, kurdish and tribal forces supported by u. S. And Coalition Air strikes. Isil continues to represent a serious threat to american interest, our allies in the middle east. Well still influence over a broad swath of territory in western and Northern Iraq and eastern syria. But as president obama has said, isil will not be defeated through military force alone. Our comprehensive strategy sustaining a broad base regional and Global Coalition and strengthening local forces on the ground. It also including undercutting isil flow of resources, counter messages, constricting the flow of foreign fighters, providing humanitarian assistance and our intensive regional. Much more needs to be done to reach reform. Iraqi Prime Minister is leaning forward by engaging in all of iraqis diverse communities. Hes appointed sunni defense minister after that post was left vacant more than four years. And hes moving to create an Iraqi National guard that would empower local forces especially sunni areas of the province aligning them with Central Government. You may have noticed yesterday it was announced he replaced 36 of his most senior commanders s integrating the forces with more sunni leaders. This is essential to strengthening not only the Iraqi Security forces but strengthen a Central Government. America is not supporting this effort alone. We build a Global Coalition to support local forces in both. A coalition over 60 nations that are contributing assistance ranging from air support to training to humanitarian assistance. Since i testified here, 16 nations have joined the milit y military. This is tremendous demonstration. Coalition partners have carried out 130 air strikes against isil in iraq and syria. Last week, canada launched its first air strikes in iraq bringing the total to 12 nations participate manage strike operations in iraq and syria. As additional partners provide tanker command and control and Intelligence Surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. Coalition nations have pledged hundreds of personnel to support our mission to train, advice assist and help build the capacity of iraqi forces. Our Global Coalition is also helping shape the burden of the campaign with nearly all of our Coalition Partners funding. With the president s special envoy for our counter isil coalition, john allen. General allen is in the lead as we coordinating the coordination strategy across a all lines of effort with our partners. As a coalition and as a nation, we must prepare for a long and difficult struggle. There will be setbacks, but we are seeing steady and sustainable progress. Mr. Chairman, thats an important part of answering the questions we have. The questions about our own strategy we ask ourselves. The questions you have about our strategy. Can we sustain it . Can it be sustained after at some point we leave . That is a critical component of our strategy. Asking that question and answering that question. Were seeing steady and sustainable progress along dods two main lines of effort. First, were seeing progress in degrading and destroying isils war fighting capacity and denying safe haven to fighters. Through support of iraqi forces, Coalition Air strikes have hit isils command and and control, its leadership, revenue sources, supply lines and logistics and impaired ability to mass forces. In recent weeks, strikes helped Peshmerga Forces push out of Northern Iraq and and helped Iraqi Security forces begin retaking areas around the major oil refinery. Last weekend, air strikes hit a gathering of isil battlefield commanders near mosul. Fighters are forced to alter tactics. We knew they would. Theyll adjust maneuvering in smaller groups sometimes making it more difficult to identify targets. Hiding large equipment and changing communications methods. Sustaining this pressure on isil will provide time and space for iraq to reconstitute its forces and continue going on the offense. This pressure is having an effect on potential isil recruits and collaborators striking a blow to morale and recruitment. We know that. Our intelligence is clear on that. As iraqi forces build strength, the tempo and intensity of our air campaign will accelerate in tand tandem. We need to continue to build aparter in capacity so local forces can take the fight to isil and ultimately defeat it. Today many of the approximately 1400 u. S. Troops in iraq are engaged in advice and assist programs with iraqi forces. As you know, last week the Defense Department announced well expand the support to iraqi forces by deploying up to a 1500 additional military personnel including two new advice and assist Centers Locations beyond baghdad and irbil as well as four new Training Centers in northern, western, central iraq. I recommended this deployment to the president based on request to government of iraq, u. S. Central commands assessment of iraqi units, general dempseys recommendation and strength of the iraqi and coalition campaign. These additional troops and facilities will help strengthen and reconstitute iraqi forces expanding the geography of our mission but not the mission itself. U. S. Military personnel will not be engaged in a Ground Combat mission. Our plan to help strengthen Iraqi Security forces has three major components. Our advise and assist mission to provide the iraqi forces at headquarters level. We are already helping plan future operations. Well expand this mission with two new assist and Advice Centers we have announced. Second, we will support the rep generation of iraqi forces so they are better equipped to launch offensive operations over the coming year. Sitcoms new training sites in northern and central and western iraq will train 12 iraqi brigades and more than a dozen Coalition Nations have expressed intent to send trainers and advisors to build a capacity of iraqi forces. Third, we will concentrate on broader Security Sector reform to help transform iraqi forces into a more coherent and capable unified force. This includes Prime Minister with the National Guard units i mentioned earlier. Coalition partners are playing a role in efforts by providing advisors and trainers to regenerate iraqi brigades. Together we are also providing more arms and equipment to Iraqi Security forces. This year the United States alone has shipped more than 685 million in critical equipment and supplies to iraq ranging from grenades and small arms. Hundreds of which will be arriving this month. U. S. And Coalition Partners together have delivered over 2 22. 7 Million Pounds of supplies including ammunition to Peshmerga Forces. Mr. Chairman, in syria our actions against isil are focused on shaping dynamic in iraq which remains the priority of our counter isil strategy. We are sober about the challenges we face as isil exploits the complicated long running syrian conflict. Because we do not have a partner government to work with in syria or a regular military partner to work with as we do in iraq, in the near term, our military aims in syria are limited to isolating and destroying isils safe havens. Coalition air strikes in syria are accomplishing this by con continuing to target significant isil assets which has impaired isils ability to move fighters and equipment into iraq. Disrupted their command and control, damaged their training bases and significantly limited their Financial Revenue by hitting captured oil fields and disrupting their crude Oil Distribution and corruption sites. The longer term effort is to train and equip credible moderate Syrian Opposition forcforce s especially areas most threatened by isil. This will require eight to 12 months to make a difference on the ground. We know the opposition continues to face intense pressure in a multifront battle space. We are considering options for how u. S. And Coalition Forces can further support these forces once they are trained and equipped. These forces are being trained in units not as individuals. Our strategy demands time, patience, perseverance to deliver results. We cannot accomplish our objectives in syria all at once. The position of the United States remains that assad has lost the legitimacy to govern. There is no purely military solution to the conflict in syria. Along side our efforts to isolate and sanction the assad regime, our strategy is to strengthen the moderate opposition to the point where they can first defend and control their local areas. Next, go on the offense and take back areas that have been lost to isil. Ultimately as their capability and leverage develop to create conditions for a political settlement in syria. Thanks to the broad bipartisan support in congress mr. Chairman including majorities in both parties. Preparations for our syria train and equip mission are now complete. Weve established a combined joint task force to equip the Coalition Program for syria. Saudi arabia, turkey and other partner nations have agreed to host training sites. Development of those sites, recruiting and vetting will begin when congress is authorized the actual funding. We are still moving forward doing what we must do to prepare for that vetting process and that training. Were still at the front end of our campaign against isil as president obama told leaders of both houses of Congress Last week during a session in which i attended with general austin. Congressional support, your support is vital for the campaign to succeed. You all know the administration is requesting 5. 6 billion in in in additional overseas Contingency Operations funding for fiscal year 2015 to help execute our comprehensive strategy in iraq and syria. 5 billion for the department of defense. 3. 4 billion would support ongoing u. S. Military actions against isil under Operation Inherent resolve. 1. 6 billion would go toward a new iraqi train and equip fund devoted to helping reconstitute iraqs Security Forces. This fund will be critical for enabling Iraqi Security forces including kurdish and tribal forces to go on the offense in 2015. And it will require the Iraqi Government in Coalition Members to make significant contributions as well. Over 60 or 1 billion of the 1. 6 billion fund would be available initially. The remaining 600 million would not be released until the government of iraq ask and Coalition Partners have provided at least 600 million of their own contributions. Because the Iraqi Government must invest in its own security and its own future. As the president said last week, the administration will be engaging the congress to support the effort against isil by enacting a new and specific authorization for the use of military force. One that reflects the scope and the challenges of our campaign against isil. Dod will work closely with congress on each component of this effort as this Mission Continues to progress, we will continue to evaluate and reevaluate each element of our strategy. Having just marked veterans day earlier this week, let me again thank this committee for what you do everyday to support all our men and women in uniform and their families serving this country across the world. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Thank you. I want to thank you for all youve done for the defense of our nation. Your devotion to men and women of the joint force and importantly to their families that continue to resinate throughout our ranks. I too appreciate the opportunity to appear before this committee this morning to discuss our strategy against isil. Secretary hagel has detailed the elements and progress of our comprehensive approach against isil. Broadly our strategy is to reinforce a credible partner in the Iraqi Government and assist regional stakeholders to address the 20 million disenfranchised sunnis that live between damascus and baghdad. They have to reject isil from within. We have the first strategy enabled by the coalition, but as ive said before, its not iraq only strategy. It will evolve with the coalition and multiple lines of effort overtime. We need to squeeze isil from multiple directions, deny safe haven and disrupt operations in syria. We need to build up a Syrian Opposition to confront them. We need to take a long view. The multiple lines of effort all have to move at pace of each other. These lines of effort include counter financing, counter foreign tighter flow, counter messaging, humanitarian aid, economic progress, air campaign, restore an offensive capability to the Iraqi Security forces, and a Ground Campaign managed by the Iraqi Security forces with the isf from baghdad and peshmerga from the north with contribution from the tribes in particular in the provinces. An ongoing dialogue with my Coalition Counter parts, theres a consensus across the coalition about our common vision and the objectives across those lines of effort. And theres a strong commitment to Work Together closely in this complex and long term undertaking. Progress will be uneven at times but with strategic patience, the trend lines favor the coalition over the long term. Well a are alert that the assumptions that underpin our campaign will be challenged. Most notably, we dont know to what agreement the government of iraq will convince the kurds and sunnis it intends to have the nation of unity. One that gives confidence they have a future ethotheethaother ideology. Well continue to revisit and review our assumptions as the campaign evolves and will adapt. Which brings me to resources. Our commitments across the globe as you well know are up. Resources are down. To add to that sequesterization is months away. Everyday we dont have budget certainty, flexibility and time means that we will continue to erode our readiness. Over time, i will have fewer military options to offer. The joint chiefs and i appreciate your support to help us work through not only our National Security challenges but also the resources and flexibility necessary to meet them. Thank you. Thank you general dempsey. In september you testified to our colleagues in the senate i quote, if we reach the point i believe our advisors should accompany troops on attacks against targets ill recommend that to the president , end quote. However, during a recent interview on front line deputy National Security advisor ben rods announced the president will not reconsider his boots on the ground limitation regardless of any recommendation you might provide. Further more the president seems to equate boots on the ground to 150,000 person u. S. Invasion force. I havent heard anyone talk about sending in divisions. So please help us understand the circumstances where you would envision the need to introduce u. S. Military troops into combat situations and the size and types of forces or capababiliti these would be. Thank you. First of all i want to make sure i mention, ive never been limited in my ability to make a recommendation of any size or sort t to the president of the United States. As we look ahead to the campaign as it evolves, there are certain operations that could be more complex than the ones in which the Iraqi Security forces are currently involved. Theyre doing a better job, and i think soon we would be able to describe it as a good job moving north out of baghdad the pesh moving south out of the krg. Theres some places along the path that i think will be fairly complex terrain for them including for example mosul and eventually as they need to restore the border between iraq and syria. Im not predicting at this point that i would recommend that those forces in mosul and along the border would need to be accompanied by u. S. Forces, but were certainly considering it. The size and types . Back to your point. You know, its probably worth mentioning theres two ways we could go about this strategy to defeat isil. We could take ownership of it entirely and gradually overtime transition it back to Iraqi Security forces peshmerga, tribes, sunni opposition. Or, from the beginning we could enable them and then hold them accountable for the outcomes. After all, its their country that is most threatened by this threat. Obviously weve taken the latter course. In taking that latter course, weve established a modest footprint, one focused on development of Security Forces assisting them with planning, integration of fires, and advising and assisting them from higher headquarters. Any expansion of that i think would be equally modest. I just dont forsee a circumstance it would be in our interest to take this fight on ourselves with a large military contention. Could there be an exception . I mentioned assumptions in my prepared statement. One of our assumptions is that the government of iraq will be conclusive. One assumption is that the Iraqi Security forces will be willing to take by the provinces. If those assumptions are rendered invalid, ill have to adjust my recommendations . Thank you. The u. S. And allies are facing an increased terrorist threat from isil and former detainees in part make up the leadership of isil and also are fighting along side isil. Secretary haguehagel, how can T Administration continue to press ahead with transfers from guantanamo at this time . Isnt this in conflict with your policy of stemming the flow of foreign fighters . Mr. Chairman, as you know, the congress delegated the responsibility and the authority to make that ultimate decision based on risks to the United States and our allies of whether we would release any in which detainees of guantanamo. I have as i have noted in testimony before this committee taken that responsibility very seriously. Every time i certify and send up documentation to this committee, i am saying to this committee with my name and reputation that i believe the assurances substantially mitigate the risks to this country and to our allies of certain detainee releases. Now, in september, this committee may be aware of this number, the Intelligence Community released a percentage of their based on their intelligence on those who have returned to violent extremism since their release from guantanamo in this administration. Im dealing with what i have right now. Over the course of this administrations detainee release, i think there are over 80, total over 600 during the bush obama administrations, the Intelligence Community assessed that more than 90 of those detainees had not intended to or had, in fact we had no evidence of returning to the battlefield. Overall, you know what the president s position and policy is on closing guantanamo. Partner of defense supports that. I support that. But not at any cost. Not at any cost. So every certification they make, bottom line, with all the other requirements by law that i have to apply with, and i do comply with every part of the law, in my best judgment, the best judgment of our Intelligence Community, of our joint chiefs, of the interagency of our secretary of state, homeland security, has to be unanimous before i will seriously entertain it, and if i can get the assurances required by the host governments and the mechanisms, and i go into detail, that it substantially mitigates the risk they will assign it. And i have. Thank you. Ms. Sanchez. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Im going to ask a little bit about what has changed with respect to working and training the iraqi troops in order to make them effective. And i say it with all due respect because you gentlemen werent necessarily involved in which, but ive been here for 18 years so ive been clearly on this side asking some of these questions, because in afghan, of course, we saw that we had ghost people in the afghan army, meaning they didnt really exist. We had 63yearold men, ill literal people, you know, and thats one of the reasons why i think weve been so ineffective with respect to the training and bringing up of the afghan forces. But im particularly very interested in the iraq situation. This goes all the way back to the Bush Administration where they were throwing out hundreds of thousands of numbers of who was being trained and who wasnt and of course they were completely and totally off and wrong. And so then what we saw was the iraqi army either run away from the fight with respect to isil or fall in with respect to isil. And some have said that the malaak i cma la i can wasnt doing the 602020 thing. But my question is what has changed or what needs to change in order for us to continue what i see is your strategy in part, what i called the iraqification of that army, of having iraqis actually fight the battles so that our people dont come in as boots on the ground . What is it that has changed, or what did you learn from the fact that we havent gotten it right in afghanistan and havent gotten it right in iraq . What are you doing to change that so that these men actually do take the fight to isil and our men and women dont have boots on the ground . Congresswoman, ill give you an answer, but im going to also ask chairman dempsey to answer this because as you all know chairman dempsey spent a lot of time in iraq. And there are few military leaders that we have today in this country who know as much about iraq based on personal experience than general dempsey. So i will give you my brief response and then i think this committee will want to hear from general dempsey on this. Whats changed . A number of things have changed. Lets start with isil and the threat of isil and what it represents. Ive said before this committee, ive said in other places, and believe it absolutely, weve never seen a threat like isil before. The comprehensive threat that isil remits, the sfis sophistication, the armaments, the strategic knowledge, the funding, the capacity, the ideology, its new. The threat is significantly worse than weve seen ever before not just in iraq but in the middle east, what isil represents. Certainly to the future of iraq. Second, you have mr. Secretary, im not i understand the threat of isil. Im asking whats the difference in the men of the iraqi men that we have in the forces there in making a difference, not running away from the battle, being trained correctly, being led correctly . Im going to get to that. But i think it is important you asked whats the difference. There are a lot of differences, like i said, starting with isil. Second, a National Unity government by a new Prime Minister who, in fact, as i said in my system, for the first time has designated, picked a minister of defense. We havent had a minister of defense in iraq for more than 44 years. Prime minister maliki took that job unto himself as he did the minister of interior. This new minister of defense and this new government is reconstituting the leadership of the Iraqi Security forces as i noted in my testimony, 36 new commanders were switched starting at the top, across the top. Men and women will not fight if they do not have confidence in their leaders. If they do not have confidence in their country, in their government, if their government wont support them. Those are fundamental changes. Now, let me hand this off to general dempsey and i can get more of the specifics. With respect to that second point, maybe, general dempsey, you can clarify whether those 36 new commanders are a 602020 split or the same as before. Well, im hoping well find out. We dont know yet. Weve got some who have been retired, some who have been relieved, some who have been moved, and i dont were not yet familiar with whos taking their place. And i hope its not actually some artificial 602020 ratio, because what you really want in the is fx is somebody who can lead and fight and inspire and be inclusive. But well see, well see here very shortly actually who takes the place of those who have been changed. This is a very brief answer to a very complex question. We left iraq and we left it with some things undone. We hadnt fully established the logistics architecture, an intelligence architecture. We they did not have closeair support and the capability to integrate fires. And we left there with a ministry of defense that was largely dysfunctional in the way it would assign leadership. And they knew that. They knew we knew that. But it was a it was not a completed work. It was it remained a work in progress. And then to cup that will back to the secretarys comments about the what creates courage on the battlefield is can have that youve got somebody at the Central Government that actually will care for you and your family. I mean, look, you dont think wed be out there swinging and fighting if we didnt have the support of the congress of the United States and the kind of support that the American Public provide to our men and women in uniform. So we really cant hold the iraqis to a higher standard that just simply didnt exist. Thats why ive said that one of the important assumptions about this campaign is that the Iraqi Government does establish its intent to create a government of National Unity. I can predict for you right now, if that doesnt happen, then the Iraqi Security forces will not hold together. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Mr. Cornbreadth. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you for being here. Mr. Secretary, you said that the president would be Engaging Congress to support a new updated, revied authorization for the use of force. My understanding is in every previous instance an administration has proposed language and sent it up to the congress. Is this administration going to propose language and send it up to us . And if so, when . Congressman, i dont know specifically what they are going to propose. I dont know specifically if they are going to send it up as a legislative proposal. I do know that conversations are being held right now, have been with various members and their staffs about the right approach. The president said as you know last week that he intend to engage congress on this. I know the president has had specific conversations with specific members of both the house and senate on this. Well, id just comment that having conversations is one thing, but as we learned with the authorization to train and equip the folks in syria, until you get words on paper, its kind of hard to make progress. Let me follow up a little bit with your some of your comments that you made to miss sanchez. And i noted never before seen a threat like isis or isil, worse than weve ever seen before. One of the key question s quest underlying this is to what extent we can ultimately be successful against isis without dealing with assad. And what is your view of that . Some people believe some of our closest allies involved in this effort believe that we can only be successful against isis if we become involved in the effort against assad. Congressman, its a fundamental question you ask, and ill answer it this way. First let me just make a brief comment about my assessment about isil. I make that assessment, and by the way its not only mine, but when you look at the brutality, the slaughter, the indiscriminate brutality and slaughter of what isil is doing and has been doing, killing, slaughtering, murdering women and children, sunni, shia, kurd, minorities of any kind, me completely indiscriminately. And t sophistication of that when you add it up represents a pretty clear and different threat. How does that relate to your question about syria . I think its also clear that assad, because of how he has governed, has brought this astounding instability on himself, on his people, on his country. And it has allowed groups like isil, al qaeda is still there, other terrorist organizations, to be strengthened for obvious reasons. But just alone dealing with assad, where we are now, maybe two years ago, three years ago, thats not going to put isil back in the box or the feet beginning with degrading or defeating isil. Assads part of the equation, of course. But when you look at what isil dominates now, the swath of control they have, eastern syria, much of north and western iraq, you can change assad today, and thats not going to change all the dynamics quickly, certainly, and in syria. But who are you going to replace assad with and what kind of an army would take on isil . So, yes, assad is part of it, yes, it is the longerterm part of this, defto find a stable government, leader ys syria to be able to bring some stability to that country is part of it. But isil is right now, and isil is threatening the country of iraq and the government of iraq. And so thats why we are dealing with that component first, because we must. Theyre threat to our allies. They are a threat to us. Thank you. Mr. Larson. Thank you,