The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the order of the house of january 7, 2014, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour ebate. The chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip but in to five minutes, no event shall debate continue beyond 1 50 p. M. The chair recognizes the gentleman from American Samoa, mr. Faleomavaega, for five minutes. Mr. Faleomavaega mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to extend and revise my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Faleomavaega mr. Speaker, i rise today to thank our fellow americans and the people of American Samoa for the opportunity they gave me to serve them. Having grown up in a small village in American Samoa and graduating high school in hawaii, i never expected the people of American Samoa would choose me to serve them in the u. S. House of representatives from the time they first elected me in 1988 until 2014. I pay special tribute to them and to the late paramount chief who served as American Samoas first elected representative to washington, d. C. The chief gave me the opportunity to serve as his chief of staff from 1973 to 1975, and im grateful for all he taught me. From 1975 to 1981, it was my honor to serve with the late congressman burton who was chairman of the house territory and insular affairs. During my serve as chief counsel, he instructed me with drafting legislation providing for the first elected governor and Lieutenant Governor of American Samoa, and for American Samoa to be represented by a delegate to the u. S. House of representatives. I will always be grateful and thankful for the opportunity that i had to participate in such an historic undertaking for and on behalf of the people of American Samoa. After my service with Chairman Senate d the late paramount chief. He encouraged me to come home and come back home to eat the dust and walk on the rocks so that i could feel the peoples pains and sufferings so that i might be able to serve them with more meaningful purpose. I followed his advice and as i took look back over my life of service, had i not returned to American Samoa to live among our people it would have been impossible for the people of American Samoa to have entrusted me to serve them for nearly four decades at home and abroad. As i now leave this great institution, mr. Speaker, i want to express my love for the people of American Samoa and to all my fellow americans. I also want to express my love my dear wife, to who is from tahiti, and our children for standing beside me throughout my years of service. I express my love to the late sr. , and father, eni my mother. I also want my to thank my siblings tore their unwavering support. Again, for their unwavering support. Again, mr. Speaker, i want to thank my colleagues, both republicans and democrats in the house and the u. S. Senate. We have worked together in close cooperation for many years, and i will always be grateful for their set fast friendship as well as their constant support for the initiatives i put forward for the benefit on behalf of the people of American Samoa. I especially want to thank fellow democratic leader nancy pelosi. My service with the late congressman philip burton, who was like a father to me, led to my friendship to congresswoman pelosi. Congresswoman pelosi had and i have been family since our burton days, and im grateful she has been part of my life for all of these years. I am also proud that congresswoman pelosi became the first woman in the u. S. House history to serve as speaker of the u. S. House of representatives. Congresswoman pelosi will always hold a special part in my heart. I thank my friends from around the world, including diplomats and World Leaders from vietnam, kazak stack, uzbekistan, malaysia, cambodia, laos, taiwan, both north and south korea, china, india, hong kong and elsewhere for their friendship and support. I also want to thank my staff in washington, d. C. , and in American Samoa for their loyalty and dedication to me, to our nation and to the people of American Samoa. Above all, i thank my heavenly father for his guidance and protection. I go forward, mr. Speaker, knowing that the best is yet to come and knowing and hoping that i will be remembered for trying my best. For the times i fell short and i ask for forgiveness. And to each of my colleagues and to you, mr. Speaker, i extend my kindness and highest regards. May god be with you, always. Thank you and may peace be with you always. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida, ms. Roslehtinen, for five minutes. Mr. Speaker, n stability in the western hemisphere is in jeopardy due to the political and economic pressures occurring in venezuela. Misguided financial decisions, a tax on entrepreneurship and socialist policies have led the economy in venezuela to a freefall. While oil prices continuing to decrease, venezuela is suffering from large budget shortfalls due to its large dependency on oil sales. To try to make up for the deficiency, the venezuelans have a foreign debt of over 100 billion and have had to cut its Oil Shipments to some caribbean and Central American nations. This paradigm shift can lead to an opening for the u. S. To get more involved in the region and deter the large democratic setbacks that we have experienced in recent years. Venezuelas economic crisis is combined with its political problems and, mr. Speaker, i rise to urge this body to stand in solidarity with the freedomseeking people of venezuela. Icholas maduros intrang gent, brutal regime intransigent, brutal regime, are trying to silence those who believe in democracy, freedom and human rights. Corina week, maria machado, this courageous woman, who was until recently a member of the Venezuelan National assembly until she was illegally removed from her seat in congress by the venezuelan thugs, why was she removed from that seat . Because she spoke up for the people of venezuela. Before she was removed unjustly from her legislative seat, she was physically assaulted on the floor of the national assembly. Yes, on the floor of the vnslan congress, she was beat venezuelan congress, she was beaten up. Maria corrinea, despite being banned from her country, continues to use the power of her voice to spread the word of maduros d nicholas brutal regime. Her case was not an isolated incident. Savage repression met the thousands of students who peacefully demonstrated, seeking a better venezuela. Maduro in desperation used his National Guard and Paramilitary Forces to savagely quash the protest. During that time innocent people were injured, arrested and even killed. Unarmed demonstrators killed by maduro. 72 of those students remain in prison today as well as two mayors who are in prison, Opposition Leader lopez, another brave voice for corina. Like maria heres is lopez. He remains in solitary confinement in ramo verde military prison, without regular access to visitors and all denying hyzdu process. His wife, children, family and friends are not allowed to freely visit him, mr. Speaker. His cause caused International Outcry from Amnesty International stating that charges against him are politically motivated and an assault on dissent in venezuela. More recently, the United Nations working group on arbitrary detentions, along with that bodys top human rights officials, demanded the release of lopoldo lopez, as well as the release for all of those who have been detained for exercising their legit mate right to legit mate right to exercise their rights freely. They said that the decision was nonbinding on them and so these innocent civilians remain in prison. The venezuelan people have been met with intimidation, with violence, with imprisonment for simply calling for respect for human rights and democratic freedoms in their own country. So the United States must stand with them in their struggle for freedom. That is why this body passed h. R. 4587, the venezuelan human rights and democracy protection act in may, a bill that i authored. The bill targets venezuelan officials who by denying them visas entering the United States, blocks their property, freezes their assets and prohibits Financial Transactions of these thugs responsible for committing human rights abuses against the people of venezuela. I call on the senate to pass the venezuela sanctions legislation immediately, to send a signal that these abusive tactics by the maduro regime will have consequences. Mr. Speaker, the people of venezuela are sending us a distress signal, and the United States must stand ready to act for the cause of freedom, democracy of our own hemisphere, democracy leaders like lopez and machado are counting on us. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. Maffei, for five minutes. Mr. Maffei thank you, mr. Speaker. In this nations great history, the life of harriette ross tubman is certainly a life worth recognition by this country and this congress. Born in 1822, dedicated her life to the epans pasion movement Emancipation Movement as well as the underground railroad. She served for the union army during the civil war and established the tubman home for the age. She was hit by as a teenager with a heavyweight by a slave oversear who was trying to subdue another enslaved person. She was an advocate for womens right and worked to get women to vote. And she dedicated her life to the zion episcopal church. And the National Park Service Completed a special resource study to determine the most appropriate way to recognize the life of Harriette Tubman. They came to the conclusion that it should have two separate units. One would be tightly cluster set of buildings in auburn, new york, and the other would include large sections of landscape, who displayed her life as a slave and as a conductor of the underground railroad. Bill aims to establish a istoric park in auburn and another one in dorchester park, new york. A part of that that includes Historical Structures like the tubman home, the tubman home for the aged, the zion church she went to and the cemetery where she is buried. We passed legislation to establish a park in tubmans honor. This week i hope the senate will also pass this legislation and send it to president obama for his signature. It is completely appropriate that this provision should be included. For, though not as wellknown as her activity on the downground railroad, Harriette Tubman was one of our first africanamerican military veterans. She traveled to the south to help the Union War Effort by helping fugitives and serving as a nurse to Union Soldiers in port royal, south carolina. Eventually she was leading bans of scouts through the land and port royal where she where her ability to travel unseen and fool her adversaries made her an ideal spy. Her group, working under the orders of the secretary of war, made maps and collected important intelligence that aided the capture of jacksonville, florida. Tubman became the first woman to lead an armed assault during the civil war. When Union Colonel James Montgomery and his troops attacked plantations, tubman went them and guided steam boats in the waters leading to the shore. More than 750 enslaved africanamericans were rescued in the river raid and according to newspapers at the time, most of those newly liberated men went on to join the union army, largely due to tubmans recruiting efforts. Tubman lived for freedom and worked hard to extend freedom to hundreds of others. In doing so she earned the nations respect and honor. A century after her death, i am proud to have worked so hard to establish a fitting memorial to her. I truly believe her dedication to the nation based on the principles of freedom make her as relevant today as she was in her own time. Mr. Speaker, our time is fill with too much cynicism. Filled with too much sin tism and people are feeling powerless to do much better in our society. We should look to the example of Harriet Tubman. She is someone for whom liberty and freedom were not just concepts but principles worth working for and fighting for. When tubman escaped from slavery in the northern states she said, i look at my hands to see if i was the same person. There was such a glory over everything. The sun came up like gold through the trees and over the fields and i felt like i was in heaven. We, mr. Speaker, should look to Harriet Tubman, an enslaved africanamerican woman of slight physical stature and suffering from head trauma and realized that the glory and heaven that is American Freedom is there for you will all if we are willing to work for for us all if were willing to work for it and fight for it and believe in it as Harriet Tubman did. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from north carolina, ms. Foxx, for five mibs. Minutes. Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in october i had the privilege of visiting southern Prestige International to view firsthand the companys creative and innovative manufacturing solutions. Based in statesville, north carolina, jim wilson, one of the most creative and remarkable people ive ever met, started the company in march, 1979, as southern prestige industries. In 2013 this familyowned business joined with partners jeff edison and joey chambers to form a new company, southern Prestige International, and focus on future opportunities. Currently southern Prestige International has two operating mpanies, proedge precision and specialty perf. Proedge precision is an advanced manufacturer of precision machine components for the aerospace, defense, medical, energy and commercial industries. Specialty perf is a soft goods pepper rater, producing Specialty Products for signage, advertising, media and food packaging, as well as oneway vision, energy diffusion control and medical products. Although its businesses its business has taken on different forms over the years, today southern Prestige International is a place where experience and confidence have prevailed to forge an advanced Manufacturing Business that understands the needs of its customers. During my visit, i had the opportunity to meet with employees as well as local leaders in Work Force Development before touring the companys two manufacturing operations, proedge precision currently employees employs about 35 people. And during the visit mr. Chambers told me he could see the company doubling its work force in the next few years to keep up with increasing demand. However, he also said one of the companys greatest challenges is finding the qualified work force it needs to be a competitive manufacturer in todays marketplace. Its my hope that southern Prestige International will have an easier time finding these employees with implementation of the Work Force Innovation and opportunity act which aims to close the skills gap by modernizing and reforming our countrys Work Force Development system. By streamlining the jumble of paperwork and red tape that has been prevalent in federal Work Force Education programs, this law will provide direct access to education and Skills Development for in demand jobs. During the tour i saw firsthand the Cutting Edge Equipment and methods used by southern Prestige International and how they take advantage of industry innovations and develop proprietary advances of their own to give customers a competitive edge. Its clear we need to stop washington from telling employers every little jof and tiddle what have to do and turn the American Work force loose to be productive and innovative as it has been in the past. The underlying philosophy of southern Prestige International is that of Customer Service and highquality products. Its clear that theres more isdom in that county than in washington, d. C. I yield back, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Poe, or five minutes. Mr. Poe mr. Speaker, the United States has our military all over the world. And we have for a good number of years. In fact, the United States has been at war for a long, long time. And this year, as we approach christmas, families across america will gather around to enjoy home made apple pie and turkey and each others company. Our men and women in uniform, those volunteers, are still all over the world protecting and representing the United States. These are americas best. Its the best we have in our country. In 2005 i had the opportunity to go over to iraq and see our military during the christmas season. But before i left, i decided id ask local School Children and their teachers to help make some homemade christmas cards and holiday cards to give to our troops when i arrived in iraq. So that year after i landed i took about 5,000 handmade christmas cards made by primarily School Children to our service men and women in iraq and kosovo. Since that time children in seevet texas it Southeast Texas have been making handmade christmas cards and holiday cards for our troops in afghanistan and iraq and other parts of the world every year. And these cards are either taken overseas by me or they are shipped. Thisyear the community in Southeast Texas this year the community in Southeast Texas and the schools rallied and the result was quite outstanding. This Holiday Season well be sending 9, 96,000 handsmade christmas cards and holiday cards to our troops in afghanistan, iraq and other parts of the world. Primarily made from school kids in Southeast Texas. And remember, mr. Speaker, these are handmade cards. These are not storebought cards. These cards are received from various texas residents. Just to name a few, kingwood high school, sterling middle school, timberwood middle school, goose creek memorial high school, alamo elementary, horris man junior high, also from the high Neighbor Club in kingwood, houston methodist hospital, the by a baytown housing authority, victory hospital and boys and girl scout clubs in Southeast Texas. 80,000 of these cards came from the city of baytown alone. So a big thank you to ricky wheeler, the executive Vice President of the Baytown Chamber of commerce, as well as the baytown schools and hospitals and organizations for their remarkable contribution and organizing and managing the collection of these cards. The patriotic spirit of those folks in Southeast Texas to me is quite heart warming. And the outpouring of support from texans, primarily School Children, is quite exceptional. I want to thank all of those who have take the time to bring joy to our troops in lands that are far, far away. Those troops that will be separated from their families this christmas. Its because of the schools and the teachers and the School Children that this is all made possible every year. This is a way that people in Southeast Texas show appreciation to our troops who are separated this time of the year. Remembering to thank them and send them special greetings is very important. Many of these School Children have family members overseas that are serving in the military. And this small gesture brings comfort and cheer to all of those involved. A piece of home will mean so much to those who are representing us overseas. And its possible only because the Community Volunteers to do this each year. The simple act of making a handmade card shows the connection between our warriors and our School Children. Who are thinking about them this time of year. So this christmas, as americans celebrate, we remember to say a prayer for the safeguarders of americas freedoms. We thank our volunteers in uniform and we thank our volunteers who made the season quite special for our military by making these cards and thats just the way it is. Mr. Speaker, id ask unanimous consent to insert the list of other groups who have made this holiday cards for our troops. The speaker pro tempore without objection. The gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from alabama for five minutes. Mr. Bryne thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to ask for a moment that my colleagues imagine a situation, imagine a few years down the road that a republican president announces he has instructed the Justice Department to no longer enforce the clean air act. That he has told the Justice Department to no longer prosecute violations of the clean air act. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle would rise up with frustration and indignation. They would say the president has fail to faithfully execute the laws passed by congress as he has is constitutionally require to do and they would be right to do so. Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what is happening in our country today. President obama has chosen unilaterally not to enforce our nations long standing immigration laws. He has made this decision without any consultation with congress and entirely on his own. Think for a moment about the precedent this action sets. That a president can alter long standing law simply through an executive memo and his words. A president can simply say that hes not going to enforce the law. That would be frightening to all americans, regardless of political belief. Lets be clear what this action is not. It is not prosecutorial discretion. No one doubts that the president has prosecutorial discretion. But this goes far beyond that power and enters into New Territory that frankly has never before been touched. I believe this issue was settled long ago, before our country was even founded. You see, in the 17th century in britain, during this big fight between the kings of england and parliament, the king said that he had prerogative powers, the ability to override parliament. And there were battles, there were wars in britain about how this was going to be settled. And the parliament determined in consolidation with the courts that the king could not on his own do that, that he couldnt just simply say, im going to dispense with the laws or suspend their operations for a period of time. Our Founding Fathers knew this history well. And when they put together the constitution of our country in article 2, they had that in their mind had they gave to the president the obligation, not the option, option, the obligation to faithfully execute the laws. All the laws. Of the United States. Regardless of whether the president grease with those laws or not greece with those laws or not agrees with those laws or not. I would say this type of executive action is clearly not what the founders had in mind when they drafted our constitution. Main overriding goal of our forefathers was to prevent the executive from becoming too powerful. And they went to great effort to ensure a strong system of checks and balances. President obamas executive action runs in the face of how our government was designed to operate. Lets also remember that earlier this year president obama said his policies, all of them, would be on the ballot in the midterm elections. And the American People went to the polls and soundly rejected the president s policies. They made clear they were not supportive of more unilateral executive action. They wanted us to work together. And as a congress, we warn the president not to go forward with this executive action. Mr. Speaker, we need a solution to our nations immigration problem. But by using executive action, the president has made finding Common Ground far more difficult. I believe this house should rise above the actions of the president. And early next year we should send the president real Border Security legislation. Much like the Border Security legislation we passed in this house this past summer, yet the senate wouldnt even take up. This house should pass legislation to update and fix the worker visa program. This house should pass legislation to put in place everify for all employers. This house should pass legislation to tighten internal security. Then and only then will we go then, when we go through all of those pieces of legislation, should we even begin to discuss what were going to do about the millions of people who are in this country illegally. You see, mr. Speaker, the more the president acts outside the bounds of his powers, the harder it becomes to actually achieve a solution. It leads me to wonder, does president obama actually want a longterm lasting solution to immigration . His actions imply otherwise. Mr. Speaker, i ask the president to rethink his approach to the immigration debate. I ask him to abandon this ill conceived executive action and are instead come to the table and work with the republicans and democrats in the congress in both houses to find together the Commonsense Solutions that we need to find for these problems. Were capable of doing that. That is how our founders intended our government to operate and anything other than that is a disservice to the American People. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The chair lays before the house a communication. The clerk the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2h of rule 2 of the rules of the u. S. House of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on december 8, 2014, at 10 37 a. M. That the Senate Passed h. R. 366, h. R. 4812, h. R. 5108, h. R. 5462, h. R. 5739, house concurent resolution 120, house joint resolution 105, senate 1447, senate 1683. That the senate agreed to Senate Joint Resolution 45. Appointments, Karen Kathryn tobin, virginia, United Stateschina economic review commission, tom, library of congress, trust fund board. Signed sincerely, karen l. Haas. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until coming up in the afternoon on coverage of secretary of state kerry testifying talking about isis and whether new authorization is needed from congress on the use of military force. That is 2 00 p. M. Eastern. The house ednesday Benghazi Committee will hear secretary of tant state greg starr and that gets way wednesday morning 10 00 eastern on cspan 3. The hour we go live to todays white house earnest. With josh that 1 00 p. M. Eastern. Until then a look at the house nderfor this week and beyond from this mornings washington journal. We want to welcome back Emily Ethridge to talk about the lawmakers returning this week final week of the 113th congress and big funding deadline thursday to keep the government running. Set up who will act first and when. Uest we expect that the house appropriators will file some time before midnight, we think their attempt y t an a. M. Any boss omnibus with all the work they have done and lastminute weekend work by and lawmakers. We expect them to file that before midnight trying to get a and cleared to the senate by thursday. Host lets stop and remind people. When you say 12 spending bills it is four what . Guest it is all of the departments. Bill. Lture has a spending financial services, military, separate hey all have extend r spending bills and different committees have worked package will draft them all into one big bill to fund the different agencies and changes from the hrlast year. Priorities that need toed funded higher levels. Programs that dont need as much, all of these changes would in this big package to fund the entire government. Ost we are talking about discretionary spepbltd iing spending. Guest exactly host does it include money for luther . Sticking point the House Republicans want it to of it only for a couple months. The rest of the bills through fiscal 2015 and they are saying Homeland Security through february or march so the republicans when they take both chambers of commerce can respond to resident obamas actions on immigrati immigration. Host is that the map . Guest we think they will give a shortterm spending part for Homeland Security and all the rest of the government will funded through september 30. Host are all republicans on board with that strategy in the house . Guest not necessarily. A lot of conservatives so say it homeland unding security and basically they feel engolf course doorsing en what president obama did on many segregation and some ho say the appropriations bill isnt the right place to have this. Lets fund Homeland Security the we do Everything Else and find a different way to responsibility to obama. Own immigration bill passed legislation. Government furnishing a separate issue. Host if the speaker of the house decides to bring up what called in washington an omnibus bill, the package of all spending bills, to the floor, how many votes we get . Guest it is interesting. Seen Speaker Boehner reach out to democrats a little bit the past week because he he might not have enough members of his own party to pass bill. Spending he might have to go to the democrats to give him that push give him that vote. So it could be close to 218 needed. S what is he could assemble a coalition of republicans and a few democrats more thandnt be much 218 but enough to get him over edge. Host if he separates the Homeland Security department and nly fund it for two months, does he have enough republicans for that . And would democrats approve that . Guest democrats probably would not want to get on board. Because of theon other things in the package the ially if they make other spending bills more appealing to democrats. Hopes is he can take that and get enough republicans. But we are hearing from conservatives that wont be enough. Host what about conservatives in the senate . Guest we have senator jeff from alabama and ted cruz from texas who had been going to the louse talking with house going to the conservatives saying that is not good enough. Hey are pressuring House Republicans to get as good a an in the house so we have easier team in the senate. They wouldnt support it. Host what do those senators say mcconnell ader mitch who is about to become the majority leader . The mcconnell is sending message we do not want a boehner t shutdown and the same lets pass it and it doesnt do us any good. Lets regroup in january when we have the majority in the house and senate and we can do something. They are saying lets stay on board and focus on getting this done done. Host we are talking with Emily Ethridge. You can find her reporting at rollcall. Com . Warm with their piece about ted cruzs power to disrupt. Faces a fresh test saying that it presents a test of how is willing to push if the house pass as funding block at doesnt seek to the Immigration Initiative that protects millions of immigrants deportation. He could try to force a vote. What are you hearing about what do . Might guest we have seen senator cruz try to get involved and muddle when he in the past did a long overnight speech before the shutdown in 2013. We are nearihearing he might tr where he is pened called for not confirming any nominee until he changes on immigration. A separate vote to basically block funding for mplementing the executive actions on immigration. Theres a dispute on whether that can be done amongst the lawmakers. What he said needs to happen. He might try to build a not tion in the senate and vote for a spending bill the house passes. A showdown ead to where thursday night funding runs out and he is trying to the leaders into agreeing to something or put the brakes on the whole thing. It could lead possibly to another slutdown which is shall which is something nobody wants especially the leadership. How many ted t of cruz will get to rally behind him. Host the wall street journal in the last paragraph that cruzs aides are saying he not want a government shutdown. This week . Ppens then thursday is the deadline. Then they want to leave town. When will it hit the floor in the senate potential my . Early years is thursday. The earliest is thursday. Withesnt leave the senate much time to amend it by any means, very little time to it. Te we would see the bill some time today before midnight and it the house floor wednesday. The house passes it wednesday and it goes to the senate thursday. Thursday it has to vote to pass by midnight or not. They dont they will have to scramble to the last minute passing to keep the government funded a few more not a lot time but of people say more time will resolve the issues. If that strategy is what people are looking forward to. Is congresss potentially last week in washington. We should say the 113th congresss last week before they return in january and epublicans take over both chambers. They will gavel in on january 6. Tkwhraouryour thoughts. Republicans are open to es start dialing. Ethridge, besides having to deal with this funding legislation what else does do before they leave . Guest there is an authorization 4 l that was passed december that the senate will take up. There is dispute because there measuresal public land that were introduced that angered some conservatives but house with pretty solid majority. I think it will do the same in the senate. Nominations al coming up and some concern over risk ng the Terrorism Insurance Program that would expire that a lot of groups of commerce amber want to see renewed. Lastminute a few agenda items. Host that terrorism risk we will legislation talk about that in the last hour of the washington journal. Can you detail the damage the. O. P. Suffered after the 2013 shutdown . Didnt they just win a wave election . Guest the republicans. Telling have been members that they got a huge approval e polls and after the shutdown the. The only thing that saved them of the basic failure obama Care Exchange website that happened closely after in that took the spotlight off him and hurt the president and democrats and supporting the healthcare law. And say we cant risk that assume that Something Else will go wrong to take the publics us. Ention from it took them from september 2013 to rebound in their popularity numbers. Rebuilding process and it happened conveniently nough right before the midterm elections but it might take longer if they do it again. Leaders dont want to be coming into the majority looking like a Group Government eep the open. Host joe from georgia, a republican. Hey, been calling to cspan 35 years. We have to cut spending. I agree with ted cruz. We are sending from georgia two guys. We already have two others there. We have to cut spending. Found im disappointed in the republican leadership. President d cruz for and we need more like him and you will love david purdue and latimore. Host you watch this stuff very closely. What should the Republican Party do . Should they go for a government over this . Caller they need to go with cruz. Ruz is the best man in america for the taxpayers and my children and grandchildren. Cruz uz i would go with and i think he will get graves georgia. Ins from i would say the republicans need to go with him. He is the best. But what is the solution here . How do they get out of this deadline that is looming . What they do is vote to cut spending and the government really is not going to hurt that much. The republicans won master this year n 2010 and and landreaux was just beat in louisiana. m not worried about a government shutdown. Obama will back down. Cruz. Y is ted he is the best thats ever been in washington. Did ted cruz get so much sway with the Republican Caucus . E is dangerous and needs to be stopped. Guest we hear some great things ted cruz has a lot of sway less. House conservative democrats like to say he is speak and has more power than boehner. Cruz says he is not trying to or usurp anybody but there is a lot of people who and support his tactics and ideas and he does have a lot of support and can on the actual leadership in this way when he as these meetings especially crossing the aisle to go to the house. Has the meetings how often . Guest we hear sometimes every week. Comes to the meetings on the side and not necessarily to strategize or make a solid but to share ideas and it is interesting. You see other senators do the same thing. Sessions from alabama has been coming over. He has this big alabama sometimes that votes all as one and takes their stance. So we are seeing this back and clahambers. N the host he has said lets hold up nominees over l executive action. Leadership te saying . Guest that is one power the the e has is to confirm knowlednominee nominees. We havent heard leadership say great idea, ted cruz. The senate has been passing a nominations as a typical yearend wrapup. Controversial ones are not happening and some are happening now and some of the decisions defense secretary, attorney general will wait until when the Congress Republicans are a majority so they are not picking any right now. Al fights host the democratic line from the air. U are on caller i want to say that the dead change with the tiger. They cut the tiger and dont know what to do with him. Raises a good point. There is still not a real from republicans about one way to go after the mmigration actions that they oppose or keep the government open. Ou are hearing different strategies but even when leadership puts it out that we conservatives that upset so they dont have a unified yet. Egy it points out the difficulty with legislating and what will republicansenge for is they have been in the north in the senate for years and next unified will have a republican majority in the house and senate, what can they really a democrat in the white house . Itislate be is difficult and is more difficult to get things stop things. S to ost we go to nate an independent in baltimore. Caller hi. I have dealt with congress over past 50 years. Im 87. Imperial hed an Congress Take over the operation rather than really an elected congress. This is a chance for an elected. Ongress to take over we are only talking about the discretionary spending. Point. E a goingtitlements are still on regardless of what happens. They can pass a bill that says 40 of y can operate at what they had before. Know what your tpho guests opinion is of making implemented. Guest i think that would be a outcry from all agencies even with sequestration we saw several places not 3 . Ly that much, by 1 , 2 , we heard a huge outcry. O many things were sunk and they couldnt continue with projects they had been doing. A it is not necessarily targeted cut. You are not getting rid of the things that are not as efficient be or maybe d outdated or need to be reformed. You are cutting good programs,ed programs, mediocre programs, all at the same level and we need to go back to the appropriations process which is what they are trying to do with the omnibus and look at department and agency closely to see what needs to be less. More and a lot of agencies and departments say the continuous on autopilot funding really hurts them because funded at thet is same level for longer and you dont have the flexibility to make needed changes. Specifically the Homeland Security Department Says if you just give us a shortterm just uing resolution for our agency, what could be at risk . Lastard from the secretary week. Guest right. And there are certain things we ould not be able to respond to new threats as we know them now. E had an issue with the Child Migrants crossing and you ouldnt have more immigration responding to that or housing. Khaeupchange e able to the programs that you need to respond to what is happening now. It gives you outdated funding programs and that would really be a problem and hurt our we onse to criminals who need to go after and people we need to help and just isnt a pills policy. Host a republican from washington. Hi, joe. Caller good morning. Ethridge im glad that you are on this morning compared it that e bias organizations come on this program. I really need for you to check on something i read friday. The president of this any ry did not sign executive order concerning immigration and there are filtered out that that was all a sham and a scam. It is typical of this white house. Would you please check on that or do you know anything about it . Is certainly new information to me. We have heard from the lawmakers it is l seem to think real and needs to be implemented on the democratic side. It has caused a lot of waves and tenor of this the spending debate the last few weeks of this Lame Duck Congress in. E and willis, texas, rob, independent. Caller the Simple Solutions for file publicans Environmental Impact lawsuits are inadequate and file Racial Discrimination lawsuits numbers are so verwhelmingly that obama is discriminating against asians and blacks that the policy has they could shut this down if the republicans ould ever use the courts the they could control this until they get the senate. Host what about the prospects of a lawsuit over president obamas executive action on immigration . Guest the House Republicans have filed a lawsuit for the law and provisions in that. There is talk about adding the immigration provisions to that bringing up a second lawsuit. But they could combine a health and immigration lawsuit in cases that had a few conservatives have brought that are coming to the Supreme Court it keeps it t and in the news and gets through the it has worked in the past as a tactic. Surprised to see them do the same thing. Host what is the price tag of omnibus 12 spending bills combined to fund all the Government Agencies . The total price tag . It is about 1. 1 trillion pretty on level with the past few years. Among the is split up agencies is more detailed. It include earmarks . Guest not as we have previously known them. Will be some directed spending for special projects oing to certain members, districts and things but in erms of Traditional Old School earmarks no. Host do you expect some surprises in there bill . Guest yes. Always on out lookout for policy riders which are little are s of language that added to a spending bill that contain usually controversial messages. For example there might be a often isiter on, there one on abortion laws. One of ll likely be legalization of marijuana in the district of columbia. That is a contentious issue. Regulations policy bout the e. P. A. , i. R. S. , daubsfrank law that. That is something we will scour the language for. Do you w many pages expect the bill to be . Guest it will be thousands of pages. When it drops the lawmakers, rely on , we all summaries and fact sheets that the Committee Sends out and then that and go to the text, double check everything long rify it, it takes a time. That is one reason we wont see vote on the house floor until wednesday. Everybody needs to look through and it see what is in it is complicated language and not easy to read and a lot of be ers and math and it will a huge bill. Host Mark Allen Young wants to an attempt toe be dismantle regulations on clean water and air in this bill . A lot of republicans have been pushing for that. Because of what we talked about with the House Republicans needed some democrats to pass there bill wont end up in there because language like that ould prevent democrats from supporting the bill and you dont get enough democrats or republicans the whole thing pass and we are stuck again with only a few days ago. Nights you expect late wednesday, thursday . Guest late night tonight, wednesday, maybe not thursday but last week when leadership aid our last day is thursday many reporters including myself were a bit skeptical. Watching. Will be indianapolis, cluck chuck is next, republican. Caller hi. Im finding it interesting that talk is tdown shutdown talk is brought up it s always in terms of republicans shutting down the government when it is obama who would be shutting down the a veto. Nt by congress assumes that must present obama with a likes. G bill that he and what congress is really doi if they either send up an obama might that piece of spending that he doesnt like is choice ng obama with a o either sign or veto the bill and then obama has to decide if worth shutting down the government or what other follow from aould veto. Host emily . Not the white house has given a veto threat. They say they have to see the techniques and havent text if it doesnt fund Homeland Security on a shorter manner it. Y would veto the fact is that the next few eeks Senate Democrats still control the senate and you have to have a bill that would pass the ouse and senate and leader blocks rity obama from vetoing it. And when it comes to a shutdown get the blame but it really does tend to go to the ess since it writes bill an creates it and questions it through both chambers. Host does it have to start in the house . Ould the senate bring up their own legislation . Guest it is a revenue note so house. To start in the that is the way the laws of congress work. Then the senate takes it up after that. Go to the house and let them know what they would like to see and a lot of work o on the bills and have been in the iation meeting with house appropriator in all of the weeks. O they have had a say but the house has to pass the bill first before it can go to the senate. Host the senate the democrats, under barbara mikulski, chair of the appropriations committee, has been working with hal rogers. They have a deal on the underlying bills. What are the operating off of . Guest it goes back to this deal that was brokered by paul ryan and patty murray. They figured out a deal. You figure if the details, these are the marks were going to hit. The appropriators get together and gave those numbers to their committees. They are close on the numbers. That is what is so interesting. The house and senate are not that far apart on the numbers. They need to negotiate things that are much less than you would expect. Host mike is in a pennsylvania. Caller thank you for cspan. I just wanted to make the observation and comment about what is a majority and super majority. A super majority is defined as two thirds of the vote. What that means is if you get back, theyre only two times when the congress have had a super majority. 1933, what did the common men get . Social security. In 1955, what did the common men get . Medicare. I am more interested in a 1 sales tax on all Financial Transactions. If you look at 1000 trillion dollars going through financial instruments, 1 would give us 10 trillion per year. This could address our revenue shortfalls. That would save our future. Host that was mike in pennsylvania. Robert is in nashville, tennessee. Caller hi. I want it to ask emily a question. I dont want to make this the same. Emily is part the press. The press is more complicit in the problems than the allocations are. The republicans have control of the house and senate. If they want to disagree with obamas policy, why dont they pop their whip. They have the constitutional ability to bring obama up on impeachment and get it over with instead of law hearing it to death. Lawyering it to death. They are both complicit in it. The media is the real problem. They wont pop the question. I would like to hear your response. Guest the republicans dont have control yet. They have decided as a party not to go for impeachment. Speaker boehner pursued this lawsuit instead. You heard some members float the idea. That really is not the way to go. That is not the right way to get obama. Its not the most effective tool. Then what . We dont have the super majority in either chamber to do something. President clinton stayed in office. In order to stop his policies, they have chosen different strategies rather than impeachment. Host the tea Party Lawmakers agree with that western mark . Guest they are going to have more power in the legislature. They think they can do a lot more that way. Nobody is pushing for impeachment in congress right now. Nobody is frustrated about not pursuing an appeasement resolution. Host harry is a republican it. You are on the air. Caller thank you for taking my call. One of the things i am disturbed of is nobody cares about the growth of bureaucracies. It seems the only way these liberals know how to run the country is to expand the government. They need to reduce the bureaucracy and rebuild private sector jobs. We will be a third world country soon. We will be like greece or italy. Host what are republicans saying . Guest they are making the case that making this appropriations work is the best way to cut government spending. You can target the inefficient programs. You can cut back on things that should not be funded anymore. This is the best way to make an effective government. They want to make the case that dont just give everybody a universal lower spending limit. Lets go after things that we dont like. The best way to do that is regular order. Every committee writes its own appropriations bill. They vote on it. Then they meet and they discuss it. They bring up a final version. It is a lengthy process that is supposed happen. We have not seen this happen in almost a decade. That is what they are planning on here. Host hello, jason. Caller i was interested to hear about the laws of congress. The rules of congress are where they need a lot of work. The majority or super majority, if you look at the budget, it is a good idea to have a budget. You might get locked into these little small battles. If the rules committee could rewrite something eight years out in order to not guess about who would be in power, they could write rules that everybody would agree are common sense. Bring a budget bill to the floor two months before they need to. Why cant they do that . Guest they absolutely could. There rules committees do meet and write the rules for the next congress. You might only have the majority for two years. It could switch. Then somebody else comes in and writes the rules. They have the power to change things. They can set their own rules within their party for how things should happen and be run. They can set their own goals that way. It will be interesting to see what they choose to do next year. Host have we heard what they are planning to do or changes they might make . Guest harry reid changed some of the requirements needed to confirm a nominee that is not a Supreme Court nominee. Nominee that is not a Supreme Court nominee. They called that the nuclear option. Some democrats were upset and many republicans were. Mitch mcconnell is going to have to decide whether to keep that rules change or to go back to the way things were before harry reid changed it. We have not heard from him on where he wants to go with that. Wont be as important as when you have a republican president and a republican senate. Oconnell will still be voting on confirming president obamas nominees. To make that choice and we dont know which way he will go. He may go back to requiring 60 votes on a nomination. Joan is in rockville, maryland. Caller good morning. The 18 trillion debt is disturbing me. I have discovered that if the ofernment goes bankrupt, all the savings that each individual american has toward their retirement goes to zero. We cant allow it. What is wrong with the government shut down . What is so terrible about it . Social security is going to go to people regardless. Whats wrong with the government shut down . People, you of dont stop everything in its tracks. They are still doing essential things in a short shut down. Ass not even as effective making things change. We came back from that and just continued to have the government spend the way it did. It did not change much. It didnt cause people to attack fixing the debt or changing our entitlement programs or looking at making some hard decisions. Effective asot as you might think. It does shut down some important things if it goes on for long time. The parks were closed. You could stop some highway and transportation things. The faa was having robbins with problemswould be with how flights would be managed. Viewersts remind our what lawmakers face this thursday. Midnight, the current spending bill expires. The government would run out of money. We want to see what lawmakers do to keep the government open and fund the government through the rest of fiscal 2015. This is all wrapped up coming up in a few moments, live coverage of todays white house retreat with the josh earnest. Intelligencesenate Committee Report on cia in television practices Interrogation Practices and this thursday. Prince william and his wife kate meeting with officials today. All of these topics likely to come up today. Until then, a discussion on terrorism risk and assurance on a program that is set to expire at the end of the year without congressional approval. Lets begin by explaining what this terror risk insurers and program fees. Thank you for having me on. Start, roll back to september 11, september 10, 2001. At that time, company did not pay anything for terrorism insurance. Companies included terrorism as coverage for property and casualty. 12, industryber realized there was a new risk that was not well understood and insurers decided to exclude terrorism from coverage. That created a problem for those who depended on having insurance , commercial property owners. They were not able to purchase insurance. That is why congress stepped in to pass the act. That provided a backstop for Insurance Companies, should another catastrophic terrorism event happened. According to the National Association of insurance commissioners, revised the definition of a certified act of terrorism. Why was that important . The original definition had a few components. It had to be a violent act and it had to be on a u. S. Person or organization. The other aspect was that the purpose was to coerce citizens or the u. S. Government policy. A change in definition was whether or not the act had to be by a nonus person. As we have seen, there could be many terrorist attacks carried out by u. S. Citizens or u. S. Persons, so the definition took away that requirement that it had to be an act by a nonus person. Host go legislation is about to. Xpire it requires clear and conspicuous notice of policy holders of the existence of the 100 billion cap. Explain that. There are a few litmus built into how this works. One is they attack any given attack has to exceed 5 million belosses before it can declared a terrorist attack. A second limit is that total losses across the industry over the course of a year, the on insurancemages policies have to 100 million. After that, the federal government will start paying to helption of losses Insurance Company defer the payment they have to make on their policies. Then there is the industry aggregate attention threshold. In the current law that is set at 27. 5 billion. If payment by Insurance Companies do not exceed 27. 5 billion for all attacks throughout the year across all companies, then eventually those companies have to pay back the government for any money that was paid out. The final limit is 100 billion. Exceed 100ses billion, then the law is not clear what will happen. The secretary of treasury is opposed to issue guidance but there is no guarantee any payments will be made to companies. Host could that threshold be met in iteris to cap attack . In the same way that we use modeling for hurricanes, we try to use the same modeling to see how that an attack could be. For some of the worse case scenarios, it could exceed that. The this law fixes andrance deductible at 20 the federal share of compensation that 85 of insured losses that exceed deductibles. That means taxpayers on the hook. Correct . Desk of those parts of the law were put into place to ensure companies that right policies are on the hook for what some of the payments associated with the policies, just like with health care, you have a deductible and a copayment. But really what happens, particularly for events that have total industry losses over the course of the year for less than 27. 5 billion, it allows the companies to differ those payments. Requires the company to under current law pay 133 of what is paid up by the current government. Host as we said, this is about to expire. There are house and senate proposals. The Senate Passed a sevenyear extension and the House Financial Services committee passed a fiveyear extension and 500 million threshold. How many times has this program been used since the 2001 terrorist attacks . Guest since 2001 the program has been in place and has been reauthorized a couple of times. There has never been an attack certified no payments have been made since the act has been in place. I mean, really the costs over the last decade or more have been just the Administration Costs of the program, which the last three years has been about 2 million a year. Host 2 million a year, that is what it is costing right now the federal government . Guest administrative costs to clarify what the policies and regulations will be. Host how does it work if there is an attack . Guest if an attack happens, the secretary of the treasury has to determine whether the attack meet some of the requirements i mentioned a few minutes ago that it meets the definition of a terrorist attack, whether the losses meet the thresholds i mentioned. Whether across industry they exceed 100 million. At that point, the deductibles for the Insurance Companies come into play and the government will make payments to the Insurance Companies to cover up a portion of the damages of the insurance policies, up to the point that those total payouts reach 27. 5 billion. Insurance covers will have to pay the government back. If the full damages exceeds 27 . 5 billion, they may have to pay out there is some discretion given to the secretary of the treasury as to whether he will require the payouts. If a Nuclear Attack or bad biological attack, if the losses were to exceed 100 billion, then the law doesnt certify what will happen. In some sense it will be left to the government to decide what to do. Host part of our your money series. The phone lines are open. Host henry willis is our guest, rands director for the Homeland Security and defense center. Who benefits from the Insurance Program . Guest interesting, there is a lot of different groups who would benefit one group that benefits is those who buy insurance. Right after the september 11 attacks, a lot of companies fled the market. By having this plan and place it could be thought that the rest of us benefit as well. We look at this and try to understand the costs of the benefit in this regulation and when disasters happen and there is uninsured losses, government often pays. The bigger those uninsured losses are, the more the government pays. In some ways it sets up the rules and helps government avoid payments that will be made otherwise. Host if this were to expire, what will Insurance Companies do . Guest that is a difficult question to answer. We can look at a couple of things. We can look at after september 11 and Many Companies chose to exit the market and there was no insurance. Since then there has been a number of surveys issued and most of them senate Many Companies would exit the market if the terrorism insurance act didnt exist. Evidence suggests around and 85 reduction in the amount available for insurance. We are not totally sure that given the real situation, the Companies Like whats in the survey or not. Host what type of company is buying this insurance . Guest what you would expect most commercial real estate, malls, highrise, office buildings, airlines, any company that has a lot of facilities, a lot of infrastructure, a lot of people that they need to cover both the property will be buying terrorism insurance. Host football stadiums, baseball stadiums . Guest all of those. Host jeff, republican caller. You are on the air. Caller good morning. I guess this is a terrorism insurance policy that is premuch backed by government dollars. Does it cover business losses . Kind of explain how the policy works. Guest not really an insurance policy so much as it is a backstop on private insurance policies that are written. Should they exceed what we might be able to forget . This provides a backstop on those insurance policies to keep Insurance Companies from going out of business if they end up paying losses that are bigger than they couldve anticipated. Host willy in toledo, ohio, democratic caller. Caller good morning. Oh, i have a comment. I would like to know why the government has to help the Insurance Company pay for terrorists insurance if business or industry take out insurance. When the government like medicaid and medicare, the Insurance Companies dont like medication that the doctor has prescribed for you, they wont pay for it. Their life is up for grabs. Host henry willis . Guest that is one question people keep asking about the terrorism insurance act. In the case of health care, like the questionnaire brought up, we can get a sense of how many people get sick and how often they get sick and what that will cost us. Terrorism is somewhat different because the risks we saw in the past, we fortunately have not seen much of. Two, something new could happen in the future. It doesnt allow us to know the actual risk we are trying to ensure. Host henry willis taking your questions and comments about terrorism risk insurance. The phone lines are open so start dialing in. Hi, karen. Caller good morning. I have a question. This insurance coverage, does it include Business Enterprises across, say, over in iraq or good afternoon, everybody. Know, we had an unexpectedly busy saturday afternoon here with the president s trip to walter reed. Unfortunately, it was off for it had been called but our friends here and then bloomberg stepped in. We are very grateful for that service. It was a significant assistance to your friends in the press corps. As a small token of gratitude, i like to invite you to ask the first question today. Trying to do something nice. Do something nice, we are happy to repay. Obviously, the key question today is we are expecting the report to come out this week. How wellprepared does the president think u. S. Embassies and for installations are for the potential reaction . s we have heard from the committee that they intend to release the report tomorrow to the timing of the release is something that has always been up to the committee. Its a decision they have made. Been, forstration has months, preparing for the release of this report. That are some indications the release of the report could lead to a greater risk that is opposed to u. S. Facilities and , soviduals around the world the administration has taking prudent steps to ensure the proper security precautions are in place at u. S. Cities around the world. Part,aid, this is the key the administration supports the release of this declassified summary of the report. The president , on his first or second day in office, took the steps using executive action to put an end to the tactics that are described in the report. The president believes on principle its important to release the report so that people around the world and people at home understand exactly what transpired. There will be limits about what can be said given the classified nature of the program, but because of the scrupulous work of the committee and the administration and the Intelligence Community in particular, we have declassified as much of the report as we can. We want to be sure that we can release it, be transparent about it, and be clear about what American Values are not, and to be clear that Something Like this should never happen again. Potentially a related potentially a related subject, eric holder put out a report on profiling. Elect thesesident guidelines on racial profiling should also be followed ultimately by state and local Police Agencies . If he feels that is a good idea, what steps does he want to take to get to that goal . Might, you are right, the department of justice put out rules todayoday that will enhance the civil rights protections above and beyond what is otherwise required by the u. S. Constitution and that existing federal law. The standards will apply to federal Law Enforcement officers and we certainly welcome the decision. Made by any local Law Enforcement to apply these policies at the state and local level as well. We would certainly welcome that kind of development. Policy that the attorney general has been working on for quite some time now and its something that was done in close consultation with attorneys at the department of justice as well as Law Enforcement officials all across the federal government. It does reflect a significant enhancement of protections for a way thatns, in might not have any impact on the ability of these federal Law Enforcement officers to do the important work necessary to keep the American People safe. Back to the torture report, the white house put a statement out on friday that said secretary kerry had called senator feinstein to share information. If the president wants the released this week, why doesnt he tell secretary kerry not to make that phone call . I will read from the readout from the state department and they made clear that he strongly supports, as the president does, the release of this declassified version of the summary of the report. For the same valuebased reasons that the president does. We should be as transparent as we can about what transpired and to allow the American People and people around the world to examine what occurred and to be just as clear and transparent about what American Values are. The president and the secretary share the view that the release of the report is important for that purpose. Than what was the purpose of the phone call, as it relates to the timing . Secretary kerry call the president to say that he would make a phone call. Clearly, the white house had information about the purpose of the call. I will allow secretary kerry to explain why he made the phone call. That is explained in the readout that the state department issued over the weekend. There are two unmistakable principles here. One is that the administration has taken the necessary precautions, because of the potential that exists, that the release of the report could have an impact on the security situation at u. S. Facilities around the globe. At the same time, we have taken the necessary precautions and done what is prudent to ensure facilities in and our personnel are safe. We also want to make sure that is very Important Information is communicated because of the need to be clear about our values and clear about the fact that what transpired should not occur again. On the rating yemen this weekend, the head of an age pictureleased a [inaudible] cap the Yemeni Government apprised of its association. Two weeks ago there was an exchange of information in which american officials were present. I know some officials have said that americans were not sure if there was any release. [inaudible] the United States had no information there were private negotiations underway [inaudible] that is the information i have. Death of, we mourn the him in a way that we mourn the death of mr. Summers. The thoughts and prayers of everyone here at the white house are with this Summers Family particularly with the terrible loss of their son. He was an innocent individual who was murdered by aqap militants. The president , over the last several weeks, ordered two special operations raids to secure his rescue. Unfortunately, while those raids were carried out, flawlessly, even under very significant time constraints, mr. Summers was not successfully rescued. But it should be a clear and unmistakable signal to the militants in yemen and two militants around the world that the United States and president thea will not tolerate unjustified to tengion and hostagetaking of american citizens and we will expend significant resources to secure the release of those individuals. The information, this Aid Group Says there was an exchange of information about the private negotiations that happened in yemen. American officials and Yemeni Government officials were present. Are you saying that did not happen . Is thei can tell you u. S. Did not have information about the private meetings that were underway to secure the release. [inaudible] do you have any update on that review . This was part of an interagency review. There are a lot of agencies who are involved in working to secure the release of american hostages held around the world. There is obviously an Intelligence Community component, a lawenforcement component, diplomatic component. Each of these agencies have some work involved. The president asked for a review to see if there were some steps we could take to better integrate those efforts, to make them more efficient and effective, and also to ease the burden the significant that is on families who are in these terrible and unthinkable situations of having a loved one held hostage. I dont have an update at this time, but i would anticipate when we have made when we have concluded the review, we will have more to say about it. Some family members are reportedly complaining [indiscernible] any second thoughts about the wisdom of carrying out these rescue attempts, and going forward, will you do more of these . [indiscernible] the president does not at all regret ordering this mission to try to rescue mr. Summers. There are a few reasons for that. First is, as we saw from the video, it is apparent that these militants were planning to kill mr. Summers on saturday. That is why this raid was executed on very short notice on friday night. There was a very limited window for action. Testament, more than anything else, i think, to the bravery and skill of our men and women in uniform who, for the second time in a few weeks, put their lives on the line in a dangerous country in a very Dangerous Mission to try to secure the rescue of mr. Summers. Hearts are filled with sorrow for the Summers Family, we are also feeling a lot of gratitude to were those men and women in uniform who risked their lives to try to secure his release. As i mentioned earlier in response to julies question, this should be taken by militants around the world as a clear sign of this president s resolve to do Everything Possible to rescue americans at being held hostage anywhere around the globe. Militants or extremist organizations that decide to take the risk of taking an american hostage are put on notice today. About [inaudible] leaving next march. Does this feel like you have a good handle on the ebola crisis, now that he is able to leave . He is planning to leave because he originally came on board in a status described as a special government employee. That is what allows individuals to serve the government or 130 days. His 130 days will be up at the beginning of march. Then he says he will return to the private sector. There is no that we have made substantial progress against ebola since he came aboard. We have made substantial progress in leveraging u. S. Resources in west africa to stop this evil outbreak in its tracks. Most of those efforts have been often treated in liberia. There indicate we have made substantial progress. There is still more work to be we still havee not achieved our goal of stopping this outbreak in its tracks, but we have made substantial progress. The statistics about the spread of the disease in this country bear that out. We have also made important progress on enhancing the readiness of medical facilities here at home. This is included in the fact sheet that was put out last week in association with the president s visit to nih. When mr. Clay and came on board there were only three facilities in the u. S. That were prepped to treat and ebola patient safely. That number is now up to 35 hospitals nationwide. That is a testament to the has takenat mr. Klain to integrate the response from a variety of agencies to ensure that we are accomplishing our goals. We certainly thank them for the work that he has done. When he leaves, will there be another coordinator . That is something we will have to evaluate. The reason he was brought on board, the president believed it was important to have one person who could dedicate fulltime believe me, he has worked more than fulltime in the time he is dedicate but could 100 of their energy to this specific challenge. There is no question we have made substantial progress in putting in place processes to integrate our response. There is now a more rude nice process for individuals that have traveled to west africa and are now attempted to enter the country. We have a solid routine. There is a larger footprint on the ground in west africa with defense personnel and usaid and others and they are working together more smoothly. The question that we will have we haver is, even if not accomplished the goal of stopping the Ebola Outbreak in its tracks in west africa and i dont anticipate reaching that the question is will it require one person to dedicate 100 of their time to get to that goal . Still. N open question that is something that we will discuss in the early runup to march exterior. Johnming back to this kerry phone call to diane feinstein. Clearly expressing concerns about the timing, as we heard from the state department of the release of this report. Kerrys president share concerns about the timing of this report . Candid from the beginning that it is the committees decision to determine the release of the report. That is why the administration has been working for months to prepare for this eventual release, that there have been concerns that were raised, that were validated by the Intelligence Community that indicate the release of the report may have any impact on the security situation at u. S. Facilities around the world. That is why this administration has been working for months to plan for this day, and to ensure to prudent steps are taken protect american personnel and american facilities around the globe. On the central question, which is, did these socalled enhanced interrogation techniques produce any actual intelligence . The committee believes they did not. Cia believes they did. Where does the white house stand on the question . Does the white house believe these tactics produced any actionable intelligence . The president felt it was important for us, for the American People, to have a clear, unvarnished look, as clear as possible, into this program about what actually transpired. That is why the president believes the release of this report is so important. I have not read the report, its unclear whether or not the committee has taken up the question that you are raising, but certainly they will have something to say about it. Obviously, i understand that the president is very much opposed to these tactics, morally reprehensible, something the u. S. Should not be doing. But what does the white house believe on the question, did they produce actionable intelligence . You could think the tactics should not have been done, but were they effective in any way . As you point out, there are a variety of views across the federal government about the effectiveness. Is thecan tell you president believes that the use of those tactics was unwarranted , inconsistent with our values, and did not make us safer. That is a different question than you are asking. Let me finish. Useful National Intelligence information . I think the president would say, and this is clear from his decision to outlaw these techniques, that even if they did, it was not worth it. And it did not enhance the security of the United States. Let me try one more specific one that you have talked about over the last few years. Osama bin laden. Techniques crucial to getting the intelligence that led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden . [indiscernible] [indiscernible] these are complicated issues and worthy of discussion. This is something that was talked about in the days immediately following the successful raid against Osama Bin Laden. These were issues that were raised and discussed extensively in conjunction with the release 30. Ero dark there were a variety of views about whether or not information gleaned from enhanced interrogation techniques led to the capture of Osama Bin Laden. What we have been clear about, what the president has been clear about, is that he does not that the use of these enhanced interrogation techniques is justified. He does not believe that makes us safer, not in the Core National security interest. You are asking a very difficult question and there are a variety of views on it. The president s view is wherever you come down on this equation of whether it yielded information that was helpful, information that was crucial, or no it did not yield any helpful information regardless to the answer of the question, the use of these techniques was not worth it because of the harm that was done to our national of whatnd to the sense it is that we believe in, as americans. Is there any daylight between the press release and the cia on the question of whether or not they yielded any critical intelligence . Is apparent from some of the Anonymous Sources that you and others have had at the cia, that there are people with a variety of opinions on this. With all due respect to those, i think the views of the commander in chief are the ones that are most important. You include the cia director on that . Is there any daylight between the president and the cia . You would have to ask the director about that. He had been asked this question in the context of congressional testimony. I dont have that directly in front of me but i know there was extensive and said discussion about this. He asked about the president having concerns about the timing. I know that he strongly supports the release of the report, but is he, was he concerned about releasing it now . And there has been concerns expressed by members of the Intelligence Community and others about the risk that the release of the report make look posed to u. S. Facilities around the globe. That is why the administration, for months, has been prepared for this day, the day that the report is released. Does the president share those concerns . The president wants to make sure that we are doing what is necessary to protect our men and women who are serving this country, either military or in the diplomatic corps, and he believes we should take all the steps necessary to do that. That is why we did not just start planning to figure out what was necessary to safeguard these facilities, but rather something that we have been focused on for a number of months now. The other context, i guess this would be an implicit question, more of an implicit point in your question, what would be a good time to release this report . It is difficult to imagine one, particularly because of the painful details included. Again, the president believes that it is important for us to be as transparent as we possibly can be about what exactly transpired, so we can be clear to the American Public and people around the world that Something Like this should not happen again. On the rescue attempt, we heard criticism from the south africans family. Maybe you could share some of that criticism from the americans family, saying that they wish they couldve been consulted on this . We know the review is underway on how families are consulted, is there any family interaction, coordination, is that possible, move forward . Part of the review the president ordered involves the communication between the federal government and the families that are in this terrible situation. As i mentioned earlier, our thoughts and prayers are with the Summers Family. It is difficult to comprehend the level of grief they must be feeling today. You is,an tell particularly this raid that occurred on friday, took place in a very short timeframe, that the amount of time that elapsed between the intelligence being concept ofthe operations being put together and approved by the secretary of defense, and then its for approval by the president , was very short. The reason for that is because out made aed promise to carry out the execution on saturday. The only practical time to carry this raid out would have been front tonight. That is why the president acted quickly, that is why our special operators acted quickly. That is why we work quickly with the Yemen Government to ensure and was well coordinated, that is what was necessary in order to save this persons life. I know we do not want to talk about hypotheticals, but it in this case there was a longer timeframe to work with, is consultation with the family that would be considered something that would be considered . Its difficult to say because each situation is unique. There are significant operational concerns carrying out a raid like this, that the element of surprise is critically important not only for the success of the operation but for the safety of the operators. The amount of information that can be shared with anybody is very limited. That would have an impact on what is communicated to the family but is not necessarily determinative in terms of what is communicated to them. Is that something that is being looked at as the review is ongoing, that there could be some kind of consultation there . A general matter, communication between the federal government and the family in this terrible situation is being considered as part of this review. Weekend, how long has the president been suffering from a sore throat . I believe it has been a minor but assistant problem. The president got it checked out here at the white house on saturday morning. As you saw from the statement, dr. Jackson issued on saturday, as a matter of prudence and as a matter of convenience, not urgency, the followup diagnostic test was done saturday afternoon. The president has a busy schedule for the next couple of weeks, including on the weekends, and he had an opening saturday, so that is why the decision was made rather hastily to go to walter reed to get this checked out. As you saw from the president s remarks here last night, honoring the recipients of the Kennedy Center awards, the president is feeling pretty good. Was there ever talk with counsel about transfer of power is more tests were needed that day . Its my understanding there is a pretty standard playbook for how these things work. There are considerations raised if the president , under any circumstances, has to undergo general anesthesia, but that was not necessary in this case. Indicatinge reports that 2000 have been deployed [inaudible] any countries that you wouldve more and more about potential trouble, whether in egypt or yemen, because of this report . In the position to detail the security precautions taken by u. S. Facilities around the world. Is, that probably would not be a why security strategy, to detail to everyone what we will do in advance. There are also precautions being taken any substantial number of facilities around the globe. It would also be difficult for me to stand here and described them. If you have specific questions about specific countries, i would encourage you to check with the state department or the fenced apartment. The thing i want to stress is two things i want to stress. Reparations have been underway for months to prepare for this day. They have been mindful of the fact that this report would someday be released. That is why preparations have been underway for some time. The concerns that have been raised our concerns related to the potential for violence, potential for an impact on security. This is something we are mindful again, thising, but is in the range of risk and potential, not in the range of certainty. Another controversial policy being carried out under the Previous Administration and has been increased under this administration is the use of drones. Many civilians have been killed, they have not been accounted for or compensated. Many would argue that this policy has brought on more radicals and jihadist. So what is the difference between enhanced interrogation techniques and drills killing civilians . The president gave a pretty detailed speech on this topic about a year and a half ago, where he talked about the desire to try to bring more transparency to some of the counterterrorism programs that are implemented by the united. Tates despite a commitment to transparency, there are some limits on what i can say from here, but i can tell you, the president does want to be sure, that as we execute the counterterrorism energy he has strategy he has outlined, we are mindful of the impact those strategies have to win hearts and minds. That is why one of the core components of our strategy in many of these places, including in iraq, syria, and yemen, is close consultation and cooperation with local government. And making sure that it is local forces taking the fight on the ground to these extremist elements. That the administration is working closely where possible with the Central Government in these areas to make sure that we have the nuyin of the elected buyin of elected leaders in these countries so that they understand that these extremist that we are going after are the same extremists that have wreaked havoc in their community. You talk about an organization like isil. Despite their high profile and terrible execution of americans, have killed far more iraqis than americans. The same dynamic is at play with aqap. The violent they have brought against other yemenis and muslims far outnumber the violence they have carried out against american citizens. That is why its important for we areto understand that working closely with local governments and local forces to take on a flight against the common enemy. [indiscernible] you are a democracy and that is a difference. That is true and that is why we want to work as much as we can with local forces and local governments. Here are limits to this it is true, even if these governments are discredited, the local population does understand that these extremist elements are carrying out acts of violence against people in their community. That therenowledge may be some limits in our ability to communicate that message and for that message to get through about who our target , but there are enormous percussions taken by our men and women in the military and by our toelligence community eliminate, or at a minimum, minimize, the impact on civilian populations in this area. That is something that we try to be mindful of and be careful about. That is an extensive part of this planning. An tell you, these carry terrorist groups carry out attacks against westerners, they are not concerned about the violence on locals. When there are car bomb detonated or other acts of violence carried out that are targeted at westerners, they often have a terrible impact on the local population in terms of destruction of property or even the killing of innocent people. That indiscriminate killing is that even these extremist groups are so marginalized in many of these areas. I wanted to ask a couple of questions on racial profiling and this interview today. Could you talk about why its important to target young people with the message about race . You are talking about interview the president did with 106 park, from last friday, some excerpts released over the weekend. I understand the entirety of the interview will be broadcast later today. The president conducted the interview in conjunction with the program because we certainly young people,t of particularly young people of color, the pretty outspoken in their concerns about the lack of trust that exists between many of Law Enforcement communities and local officials and the communities they are sworn to serve and we will now go live to the floor of the u. S. House. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain, headquarters u. S. Marine corps, plan taint florida. The chaplain let us pray. Heavenly father, you have blessed this land gathered from every nation, tribe, people
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.