Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20150128

Is under the previous regime in ukraine because of the significant amount of corruption that took place in all the agencies of government, what took place inside the yo Ukraine Military is outrageous in terms of the capabilities they used to have and no longer have. They are a mere shadow of their former selves. While i know some of their desires, i dont know the entire list of what they want. Nor do i. I have no idea what the laundry list is or what make sense. I would caution, again, whatever we decide to do here will be effective or not in large measure based on what the people in ukraine do and what they do is going to be based on the confidence they have in the leadership that has been abysmal up to now. Im not sure where they are. We could dump stuff in there all day long and probably not be successful. Understanding what is really going on in that country at the political level is really the prerequisite. Admiral, i would like to ask you on a different area and the premise of my question is that you have done i fair amount of work on Climate Change and environmental issues. In light of your experience, i open this question to others as well how big a threat to our National Security is potentially what we see happening in climate disruption the impacts on the availability of sea lanes, Water Resources in the middle east, food resources in africa. To what extent is climate disruption a National Security threat . I think it is a very important National Security issue. It is one that we understand very little about in my opinion. Ramifications of the continuation of the Current Trends provide all kinds of interesting scenarios. In one that we have talked about here it gives them very interesting opportunities to move things around and act in ways that were significantly inhibited in the past. Some other opportunities economically, who knows . The melting of the ice caps, the rising sea levels, you pick your scenario but the trends are pretty clear that the water is coming up and land is going to disappear. The implications for us in this country, more poorly for those in really more importantly for people who are really in danger like bangladesh, the turmoil all these problems we deal with. Every single one of them has its roots in instability and insecurity at a very basic level. Not armies, not isis running around with 50 caliber guns. It is what people feel very close to them. If they feel threatened in their livelihoods and their families and their ability to things start to get unraveled. That is the potential that i think we face. I dont want to lie awake at night. There are things we could be doing to try to reverse the trends that appear to be moving pretty strongly. That is probably another topic. It gets back to one of my points about credibility. Our credibility as a country. As the world grapples with these things, it applies to all of us, i think the u. S. Leadership ought to be paramount, ought to be at the forefront. Sometimes we are not there. We are not voting. Whether we are denying or a avoiding, defaulting to somebody else. Despite the sometimes incessant gnawing that the u. S. Is always tried to get into this on the other hand, the world needs are leadership. This is an area we can probably do some good if we put our minds to it. Thank you very much for that answer and to all of you for being here today. Thank you, madam chairwoman. Senator shaheen. Thank you, not a chair madam chair. Thank you very much. I have just one fundamental question for each of you. I had a chance to hear your Opening Statements but not was not here for most of the questioning so i dont think anybody has covered this aspect of my question. You all are probably aware that dod released a study done by the Rand Corporation that is entitled improving strategic confidence. There have been a number of fairly high profile articles that have addressed this question as well. One of the conclusions from the study as you all know is the types of or that the u. S. Has fought since world war ii has changed. They are no longer conventional combat wars against the state actors. They are more Unconventional Warfare by join forces against the nonstate actors. One of the statements in the report says the joint force in the u. S. Government as a whole has displayed an ongoing ambivalence and a lack of proficiency in the noncombat and unconventional aspects of war and conflict against nonstate actors. The report goes on to point out seven lessons from his review. I will not go through all of them but the first two seem particularly relevant to todays discussion. One is that the u. S. Government displays a weakness in formulating National Security strategies and his weakness is due in part to a lack of an effective civilian military process for effective National Security policymaking. I wonder if each of you can comment on whether you agree with this conclusion and whether this is something that can be addressed by changing personalities or do we really need to improve our process for National Security decisionmaking . If uf thoughts about how to do that. Admiral fallon . I agree with it. I think that my observation of several changes in washington to get to be this old, you see a lot of transition. One of the weaknesses i believe is a belief that tan effective National Security policy can be created after things are settled down and people get in their places. It all sounds nice. Lets get a secretary of state and defense. My experience is it is too late. There is no way you can come up with comprehensive longterm thoughtful affective policies once the gun goes off. Once the inauguration starts, you are off and running. The reality is a something happens all the time, every single day. All these pressures make it virtually impossible to think strategically, in my observation, once you get into the game. Prerequisite to this is a very thoughtful process in advance using whatever resources are available. A lot of smart people around this country and the world that can inform some pretty good decisions. Cannot solve everything but pick a few big things and decide that is what you will focus on and go for it. Thank you. General keane . There are a couple of things. The most predominant form of warfare since war started is Unconventional Warfare. That has been well documented. Interesting enough, the prosecutors of Unconventional Warfare usually lose far more than they win. That is best documented by max boots history. He is out of the council of formulations and is a prolific articulate, thoughtful writer. In terms of your comment dealing with the application of force and also government dealing with this kind of experience that we are facing today, i agree that we have not taken a whole of government approach in dealing with some of the challenges we face. What i observed in countless visits over the 13 Year Experience in iraq and afghanistan, much of the nonkinetic things that needed to be done in dealing with an unconventional enemy defaulted not to other parts of our government, but largely to the United States military. Even though while there are intelligent they are intelligent and have attributes and skills that they can apply against anything to be successful, it is not something they were trained and necessarily have experience in but they became very good at it. We would always be looking around where is the rest of our government to help us do some of these things . In that regard, i do believe there is much we can learn from this 13 Year Experience and how to take a more comprehensive approach and recognize kinetic actions i have a value all in their own certainly and that is obvious. Nonkinetic actions do as well. We can do much better at that than what we have done. Thank you. General, do you have anything you want to add . I would just point out we have to improve the process assuming there is a process. I have been unable to identify one. I think it starts with the assumption we should develop a sound strategy or we are going to wate ste lives. I think we need to move authority back to the senate. Confirm secretaries of state and defense and not concentrate it. At the same time, National Security staff that that is not have the trained military officers who can actually develop what you were looking for here. I dont think we can adopt one preclusive form of warfare. My form is the enemy will always try the kind of warfare they think we are least ready for. One of the reasons you can say we did not have state on state warfare is because we probably prevented it. That is a pretty great war, the one that never happened, because we were ready for it. Last, i would just point out that Unconventional Warfare always takes a long time. The u. S. Calvary against the American Indians in the 18th century was decadelong and the sense of rushing things a setting withdrawal dates and telling the enemy in advance probably contributes to the endless wars that we get into. We are engaged in a violent political argument with political islam right now and we need the diplomatic and developmental tools alongside our military. For a country that can send the truth right into the iron curtain, we are not fighting the war any more smartly than we did act in the cold war. You could aggressively go after these areas you are bringing up. Thank you all very much. Senator graham. Thank you. We probably have violated the Geneva Convention when it comes to the three of you. This has been terrific. Lets assume we can get more of a cohesive government. The new Prime Minister is better than the old. We can get an iraqi trained force. Eventually we can take back mosul. The province gets solidified once again. That is a big if. If they ask us in the future to lead a residual force, would you recommend we honor that request . Yes sir. They will ask for sure. How can we say no to that given the circumstances . Our interest is for iraq to turn out well, do you agree with that . Whether we go in or not of behind us. We are there. The line of defense for america to achieve allies in the region that we can work with that can fight this radical ideology at its core. The hardest part of getting this war won is the strategic patience that comes into investing with others. As unreliable as they are, the alternative as we get ready to go into mosul general keane you said the iraqi timetable is probably different than ours. Just imagine as an american politician that there was as town in your state occupied by a foreign force. I think the new sunni defense minister in is a real spot. How long will he allow the people in mosul to suffer . We have too realize it is different. It is in our advantage, in our interest to make sure the iraqis do this right. Is that correct . Yes. They are not ready. Are they . I am not on the ground but talking to people that are, i dont think so. Admiral fallon, would you be worried . I dont know what the timing is because im not been in dialogue with these guys but my senses is is there is probably something we could do. Last week, the sense is we are starting to go back, our allies. Maybe they are not ready for the big thing but i have a hard time envisioning the kind of activity that we saw when we had to retake falluja the second and third times. Going in street to street. Im not sure that is a scenario that makes sense. Somebody has to take mosul back. Do you think 10,000 is the right number in terms of support general mettis . I would look more at the capability but we have to have enough trainers, enough advisers to actually make a difference. Does that make sense to you . Im not sure what the exact number is. We will have boots on the ground if we are going to get this right. With syria i can understand how we get there in airaq. I dont understand how we can get there with syria unless we have a Regional Force to supplement whatever army we can muster. How do we dislodge isil from syria . If you dont, how can you sustain your gains in iraq . Tfinally, the endgame is a very problematic situation. How sdo ydoy ou you salvage this tradition must embrace tolerance. And human rights for all people. And must include opposition to antisentism. It should be common place rather than exceptions. Unfortunately, the passage of time makes it more and more apparent that there is an effort by the audiological ideological successors as well as the deniers and the ignorant by much of the media. It was by much of the media. To sanitize, they employ language to describe the holocaust so it appears less wicked and brutal. Their efforts obscure what actually happened. For example, it has been routine to use the word lost when referring to relatives and loved ones who were brutally murdered during the holocaust. The term lost does not accurately describe what happened. Lost refers to something that has been misplaced or haas gone astray. 11 million people, including 6 million jews and 1. 5 jewish children, were not lost or misplaced. These children were murdered as with the generations that followed them. Similarly, we hear stories of the holocaust. They did not perish in the normal sense of the word. They were viciously killed murdered burned. For all intents and purposes, it was killing. We diminish that should exist. In effect, we protect the perpetrators who pdid these reprehensible deeds. By cleaning up what happened, we are to the deniers. We must lessen the atrocities of the perpetrators. Yet, in view of the participation of so many, it is easy to find compassion and improvement instead of indifference. This is progress. It is now up to the leaders of tomorrow because the remains of so much more to be done. We should all be involved. No one should ever be a spectator. I feel so strongly about this point that if i had the power i would universally accept the commandment. You should never never be a bystander. You can see all of the ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of auschwitz at 3 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan or any time at cspan. Org. Washington journal continues. Host the cofounder and member of Tea Party Patriots, Jenny Beth Martin. How would you assess the current condition of the tea party . Guest the tea party is alive and growing. We still stand for the same things that we do as we began. We want more personal freedom, more economic freedom, and a debt free future. We continue to hold all elected officials accountable. Host how have you personally reach out to the new congress . Guest we have reached out to some of the congressmen. We work we empower our local supporters to reach out to their own congressmen. Its not about people who work with tea party pages going out to congressmen on capitol hill. Its about local people establishing relationships and holding the senators and representatives accountable. Host what would you like to see the group accomplish . What are some of the goals of your organization . Guest some of the things that we would like to see happen is we want a debt free future for our country. We are 3 trillion in debt. We want to see that Congress Show that there is a plan working towards a balanced budget, and we can work towards paying down our nations debt. One of the best way to do this is the penny plan spending one penny less for every dollar. If the congress would do that, we would end up with a balanced budget. Host the deficit is reportedly going down. What do you think about the numbers of that that going down . Is it the result of the administration . Guest when the deficit goes down, it is easy to do. When it increased so much during the first two years. What we are looking at is what is our overall debt. It is over 3 trillion. We will likely be 20 trillion in debt once his administration finishes. Average hard working americans understand that that is real money that someone will have to pay back. We dont want to see our children and grandchildren have to deal with this that. Host our lines are divided in the typical way democrats, republicans, independents. If you align yourself with the tea party, there is a separate line. By now, you know that the house speaker, john boehner, went on 60 minutes this week. Particularly, members of the tea party coming up in that discussion. [video clip] mr. Speaker, can you bring the tea party in line. There are Tea Party Groups that hold fundraisers under the heading of lets fire the speaker. They dont think youre very conservatives. My voting record is as conservative as any. The issue with the tea party is not one of strategy. Its not want a different visions. It is a disagreement over tactics from time to time. Frankly, a lot of it is being driven by National Groups in washington who raise money, beating the dickens out of me. Conservative groups beating the dickens out of me. It works, they raise money. How many parties either . There is one. We continue to work to bring those members along. It is always a work in progress. Host a couple of things, but start with the idea that theres one Republican Party. Guest there is one Republican Party that is a political party. There are people across the country that vote republican and they expect the republicans to live up to their platform. The tea party is nonpartisan. We hold both parties accountable. Personally, i used to be a republican. Now i just consider myself an american that one step more personal and ec Tea Party Movement started because people were so concerned about our government. Our government is spending in outofcontrol levels. We are 18 trillion in debt. We want to see congress do something about it. We started because were so concerned about the debt and spending. What we have seen is that congress is that our donors are try to help amplify their voices and hold congress accountable. That accountability is uncomfortable when you are not doing the job that you were elected to do. It is a lot easier to complain about the hardworking people that help put Speaker Boehner in his speakership, rather than address the fact that you are not solving the nations problem. To the tea party take any position on whether to nominate boehner to the speaker of the house . We did take a stand and we encourage our members to call their members of congress and encourage their members of congress to discourage speaker of the house john boehner. You may have been a fundraising, that went out about that, but we were doing this because our members said to usyou may have been and i was on the phone at 1130 at night. Yes, you are from georgia and are you aware that during the tea party, the first man was a black man and i would also like to say to you that here in georgia, you are behind solar panels, and it seems to me to see party the tea party needs of these big donors, what is the difference between the tea party from voting the same way and also, you need the police to stop this criminal justice with the are doing to the black community, are you against that . Remember the first and who died at the Boston Tea Party was a black man . Thank you, i think we want more personal freedom and economic freedom, we Want Congress and our elected officials to work to find a way to reduce our nations debt so that we, our generation, our children, and our grandchildren are not saddled with third debt and we also want more personal freedom and leave people alone a list people are infringing on their life. As far as energy goes, and we want to make sure that Law Enforcement is supported as well. High, how are you doing . We were talking about the deficit and i heard you talking about the deficit there, and i think what a lot of americans dont understand is that under the world Banking System is called special drawing rights, and in this economy, the way it is going now under you in agenda 21 is that they want to collapse this economy, they want to actually rebalance all of the world economies so that america is brought back down and other third world country economies are brought back up. But my point in all of that is saying that what is going to end up happening here is the collapse of the dollar, people will default on their delegate did in 1971 under next in, and then they will restart over again with sdrs. Hopefully americans will wake up. Thank you. Thank you, norm. We as Tea Party Patriots have supported auditing the fed to figure out what is happening with the fed and one thing we have been doing and encouraging our supporters across the country is that we believe in the greatness of america, and that the leaves and that means that we believe in the americans voters, and we know that the American Voters and get engaged and they hold their officials accountable, and then great things will happen in this country. I have not seen it the negative come up the mystic view of what is happening in this country instead, i get inspiration from people around the country who are talking on a daily business who are holding this Company Country accountable. From the republican line in georgia, richard, go ahead. Yes, miss martin, i am not a member of the tea party but i look at the people that are running for president , for the Republican Party, there are at least 20 people now, and one of those people would be 100 times better than whoever the democrats are going to put up in 2016. I want you as ahead of a Tea Party Patriots to try to hold your membership together and is someone is elected or nominated on one or two points and is not a key and does not agree with the philosophy, dont vote and sit out of the election. I want all factions of republicans, people that have the republican philosophy of governing to stick together and elect a republican in 2016 to stop this democrat destruction of our constitution. Thank you, richard, and i encourage you to vote and we are looking at all of the candidates on the republican side but also the democratic side to see who supports the plan and who wants to repeal obama care and who wants to start over with Real Health Care reform in this country that would honor the doctorpatient relationship but also who wants to address how we can have real Economic Growth in this country and address some of the problems that exist within our tax code. As far as supported the republican nominee, i can tell you this the Tea Party Supporters did not support romney as a nominee, at least not in the primary and when he went out and worked and volunteered and did what they could to help see when he would become elected, i think youll see the same thing or a similar thing happening and 2016, especially if the nominee is going to embrace the value of the tea party and what they stand for and the solutions of the tea party has, so i think it would be good for each of the candidates to look at the solutions that the tea party is putting forth, and to endorse our solutions, and when they do that, i think they will see that the volunteers will support them. Is that a formal endorsement of mitt romney . We did not have a super we did not have a super pac so we did not endorse anyone that tamara. That time around. There is a survey done in the pages of usa today asking republicans of the choice that they would make, and republicans said they are currently undecided, at 13 percent says they support jeb bush, of the three, mitt romney, jeb bush, ben carson, who do you like the most . Ive i think there are more selections other than those three, and there are other ideas, especially the penny plan repeal of the law. So ideas that are close to your issues than . We will see who that is and how it all unfolds, there is a lot of really good candidates that we have seen in iowa this past weekend and in South Carolina past weekend before. Youre are on with Jenny Beth Martin, go ahead, you are on. I would just like to make a comic, and im glad the commentor made a comment, and im glad the commentor earlier made a comment. Our senators are putting through legislation to discriminate against members of the gay and lesbian communities, and also the Marriage Equality that they are against, and i think that is just promoting discrimination. Thank you. Thank you, paul, and as Tea Party Patriots, we do not get involved in social issues, so we dont take a stand on that, and as far as being able to hold at the constitution, we are not a political party. We are an organization, where i think the job and responsibility to uphold the constitution is a place is that each of us as american citizens is to watch what our elected officials do and make sure that the laws are in line with the constitution, and when we think they are not it is our job to reach out and make sure they understand where we stand on the issue and for us to hold them accountable, and it sells like you are doing that, paul, and i think that is great. You talk about getting the government off your back why not talk about gay marriage and issues like that . We were so trusted with the outofcontrol spending, and what we saw is there was not a Grassroots Organization or many Grassroots Organizations that focus on the fiscal issues. There were organizations of that focus on both sides of the issues and we encourage our members to get involved with whatever side of the issues they cared about and the organizations that already existed. A tea party supporter, this is chris from tennessee. Hello . You are on. I wanted to ask jenny if you would make a note about this, and i wonder if she would be open, i wonder if she would be open to bring an event or two to east tennessee, Western North carolina, like the southern virginia area, we would like to have some, there are a lot of people who would like to have some more enthusiasm for the tea party. Around where i live, it the enthusiasm is not what it should be. I wonder if she could very, very seriously consider bringing an event or two to the areas i am speaking of. Guest i will reach out to our state coordinator and you mentioned north carolina, and we will see what we can do to help you out there. Host this is mike. Caller i know this is going to come out wrong, great time because it matches your hair, anyway, what i wanted to say was jenny beth, you are really fighting me here, i am an independent who leans a little more republican and i am also a bit of a democrat, that i am also a disabled person, i have a footlong scar on my back, and the Republican Party is doing everything they possibly can to take money out of the disability act. And i feel like the tea party is behind this, because this sounds like what you all would be trying to do. I just wish he would kind of expand on that a little if you would. And to the first caller that called it, it wasnt a black man was guilt of the tea party it was a black man who was killed the first started the revolutionary war, so just a little history there. Guest well, thank you, and he does have a really nice time. Tea Party Republicans dont want to take money out of this particular agency or this particular agency, we support most of all the one cent plan and that is where you take one where the government simply spends one penny less than it is currently spending out of every single dollar that is spent. And i think that we can agree that acrosstheboard, just about every single agency, they can find a way to reduce the spending by one penny out of every dollar they spend, just by 1 , and if we can do that and reduce waste and reduce things that may not be necessary, that we can get to a balanced budget, and that is what we are very concerned about, and i am very sorry to hear that your disabled and we think safety nets are important, and we are not traded out go out there and harm anyone, we does want to create a good situation for our children and gradually. Host democrats line, good morning. Caller i always hear about people reducing the debt, and they talk about generalizations but i wanted to ask you specifically about your idea on what specific area, line item, some to specific, on the expenditures that you would do to reduce the debt, and explain that to people who are directly impacted by the cut. Sometimes we just look to money and we do not realize how it hurts people when you cut something from their schedule or something they need. Guest ours is not one where we are focusing on any Single Department or agency we have the one cent or the single penny plan, see you simply send spend one single penny, so that every agency and department can look at what they have and determine the best way to determine that within their own department, and they congress can go about doing it and being much more specific that way. Ours is looking at it and looking at it in a way where we as americans can find solutions that we can work to find a balanced budget. And i have been in households where things get tough, and we have two tight and her belt, but within five years you would have a balanced legit economically speaking, most of us would understand that that is something that we could do, and we could tighten our belts just a little bit in order to have a much brighter future. Host you talked about a safety net issue, and you talked about tax credits for child care, and what should republicans offer instead of that to those who need it . Guest i think that the thing that is most needed is something that would work. We need to figure out a way to grow the pie economically. And i dont think you should do that by taxing more and then spending and spending more and giving out free items to some people while others are paying for it the way to do that is to grow the economy and cut the taxes and cut a lot of the problems with the tax code and free up businesses to create jobs. Host talahassee, florida. Caller first of all i would like to think jenny for all of the work that you do. Guest thank you. Caller i would like you to dispel the lies about the Koch Brothers and what can we do to bring more black people into the tea party . They are offended from day one because we do not like how obama started off with the stimulus and started wasting our money from day one, and they cannot get past that. We want the black people to understand that we are for lower taxes and we are for protecting our children and grandchildren and i will grantor, and i will take my answer off the air. Guest Tea Party Patriots have donated millions to us over the course of six years, but the average donation side size is 45. We are not getting money from the coke network Koch Brothers network. By a large and large our donations are from small donors for the last six years. As far as how do we expand our base and be more diverse is to go and talk to people in our own communities and tell them what our solutions are, how we want the same thing that they want for america, and we want the same thing that they want for their own households, and Work Together to hold our elected officials. You are from florida and im from georgia, and i go all around this country talking to people to remind them that those of us who are in the heartland of this country, we see that the problems are in washington, and it does not matter so much which party is in charge, that we have seen at least certainly in the last over a decade, that the Government Spending continues to go up, our debt continues to go up, and it is time to get to a debtfree future. And when you do that and talk about that and you remind them that you hold people accountable, regardless of party, just look at house Speaker Boehner has talked about the tea party. Obviously, we just want what they want. Host you mentioned the Koch Brothers network, first of all when you think about that figure. Guest i think we are going have a very expensive president ial race in the next two years. There is a lot of money, a lot of money, and i suspect we will have a lot of money from the left as well from super pacs and union money, it is going to be a tremendous amount of money. Host that much out side money when you think about the . Guest i think it is the way that elections are done right now. Instead of sitting there and trying to dismantle the particular system, we have tried to figure out how we can work within the system that exist right now to best amplify the voices that ours that are our supporters right now. With Pay Attention to the donations and we look at what are the, no matter which side of the aisle are on, what did they expect in return for their donations, and tea party the treated, and i think with the other organizations similar to ours and this Tea Party Movement, we are looking for a government that is smaller, more responsible, and leaves us alone to live our lives to be the way we see fit. We are not looking for special laws. Host what do you think is the likelihood that the Koch Brothers will have money that will go to candidates that you align with your philosophy . Guest i would say a good bit of what the Koch Brothers network does is in lined with what we want is in line with what we want. So we look for opportunities for synergy when it exists, whether it is on the left or the right and we work with people where synergy exists, and when it doesnt, we stand up for our principles. Host our next caller is sherry from oklahoma city. Go ahead. Caller miss martin, you actually contradicted yourself, you said earlier in the show that you patriots all came together so that you could amplify the voices of the people who want to see the same agenda. So you said that you are not aligned with the Koch Brothers, but you are wholly supported in a creation of the Koch Brothers, particularly, charles koch, who does have a social agenda. He wants to remove minorities and other subgroups who reach a certain level and so forth, and so that is about education and all of these areas that have impacted to raise the middle class. So they do have a social agenda, i think it is important to they you understand how people like me got involved in this movement and why. There was a stimulus bill moving through congress and there was a question of who wanted to pay for their neighbors bathroom getting fixed and that were mortgage bailouts happening. That spoke to me. The stimulus bill, i thought was wrong. Bailing out Big Companies was wrong. Certainly, my tax dollars bailing out Big Companies was something that bothered me. On a personal note, when he started talking about bathrooms and who wanted to pay for their neighbors possible after a that took personally. I had just come out of bankruptcy, my husband and i had to file personal bankruptcy because of a field business. A business the government did not bail out for us. We came out of bankruptcy in early january 2000 82009, when he got a call offering us A Freddie Mae or freddie mac loan. Who asks someone coming out of bankruptcy of they want a loan . Our bank did. The federal. It was not right when we had to bail neighbors out. We did not take that. Instead, we were cleaning our neighbors houses at the time. That is how we were making ends meet. A couple weeks later in february 2 thousand nine, they called for people to have tea parties like our Founding Fathers did. I heard it on the radio and decided to do it. I did not know what it was, but i wanted to get involved because i thought with the government was doing was wrong. I was not paid by the kochs. I had a problem with the latest government was going. Host alan from illinois, go ahead. Guest i was wondering how you feel about Homeland Security tsa. I heard that they are trying to privatize a lot of those airports, i know some have been privatized. I was wondering how you feel about that because i think that would be one of the biggest mistakes you could make, especially being under Homeland Security is a deterrent itself so privatizing it would bring up more loopholes for a terrorist attack. I already have a fear of flying, if they privatize it i definitely would not fly. Guest i am not familiar with exactly what youre talking about. I fly all the time and a lot of times get frustrated with the way the tsa does what they do. They are doing what they can to make sure our airports are safe. I am on airplanes generally for 5, 6 times a week. Host a line from a bill says the bill had to be pulled because it did not do enough. Was that a tea party influence . Guest it was. It is a gang of eight to bill that is moving through the senate. Last year i had the opportunity to go to the border of texas. I was on the border through much of july and august. I visited over 700 miles of border. I spoke with sheriffs, border patrols, residents, ranchers duck is. What i saw is that our immigration system, our Border Security is broken. It is not secure. It is very porous. What we hear from the Border Agents themselves as they are not free to do their jobs. Theyre not free to do a job that already exists. In some cases it is just a joke. I saw a beautiful multimillion dollar fence that went for miles but then just stopped. So people could just go around the fence on the other side and you could see foot traffic. We need to address Border Security. We need to Pay Attention to people who are on the front line, like border patrol. Make sure they have resources. Especially on a job that is called order security first. Guest good morning. This is an independent black man that you can win to your side of the argument. [indiscernible] two wars not good for. He had another 3 trillion he added another 3 trillion to the deficit. He added several hundred billion to the tax deficit. 435 years, you supported [indiscernible] as soon as obama came in, you begin to tell me, why . Guest where i live, i live in an area that is the suburban area of atlanta. It is a very republican area. When mccain came in and voted the same way as obama, obama and senator mccain in 2008 voted for the tart bill. A of people did not vote for mccain. They were certainly not voting for our senator who went to a runoff in 2008. The frustration was mounting. We had the bank bailouts, we had tarts and 2018 and the stimulus bill on top of it in 2009. It was a calm it was a culmination of all these bills all of this all to control and bailing out big businesses. It was certainly not about obama, not in 2009, it was more about the outofcontrol spending that will seeing from both parties. Remember, senator mccain voted for tarp just like senator obama did. Guest how are you . I am not in independent i am a democrat. I was afraid you were not let me speak if i said so. Yeah, i just needed to address the caller before me. Nobody said anything about this deficit when the war was going on. Ok . I would like to ask if she i lost my train of thought. Where is that from . Where is best from . Atlanta. I am confused. Host we will put you on hold for a second and go to regina from pennsylvania. Go ahead please, regina in pennsylvania. Caller i have been involved with ron paul since the bill supported by rick santorum, our hero, not for the workers, for himself. The trade authority is coming up again under fast track trade. I wonder if the tea party would look into this. Congress regulates trade. There is no reason to give any President Authority to go and negotiate with a country and then were to our congress and tell them they have a vote of up down and if you not like trading with other countries that is a total lie. This happened with george bush. Case sick comes out there, he is for fast track trade. Freddie and fannie will you money. From who . The other taxpayers. Thank you, Jenny Beth Martin for making that clear. Guest thank you for bringing that up. Generally, we focus more on the mystic issues rather than the international. I can look into it. Thank you. Host last call. Caller good morning. We are in during this blizzard right now. Historically, the income tax. Ill keep taxes. They thought they were helping this country. As far as Energy Freedom is concerned, i am a awkward it. I am all for being physical fiscally responsible. There is a 40,000 barrel spell in the river yesterday. You know the situation going on there . Last week, as well as spending, if we do not be allowed our country and bailout the Auto Companies and to the banks or whatever else, we would probably end up where europe was right now. Guest thank you very much. One difference is about the taxes being so high after world war ii. We were actually paying the generation that was incurring the expenses was paying for it. We are on track to be 20 trillion in debt before we have a new president. We know this is really money that somebody is going to have to that. Why think it is time for the congress and the president to stop paying as much money. Simply stop spending at least one penny out of each dollar you spend down the debt so that our children and grandchildren are not saddled with the debt we incurred. Host do you think it is realistic in this congress that we see some kind of a turnaround . Guest i am optimistic that will repeal obamacare again and they will start to show the difference between red Health Care Freedom looks like and a plan that will allow you to keep their insurance and will protect the doctorpatient relationship versus what we see now what are the costs are spiraling out of control and 70 people have lost access to their doctor in their Health Control policy. Host Jenny Beth Martin is our guest. On q a recent discoveries about the teenage brain. The cause and effect of teenage actions are not as readily of them. The connections cannot make as quickly for splitsecond decisionmaking. And a lot of hormones are changing of young men and women. The brain has not seen these yet until you have teenage years. So, the brain is trying to learn how to respond to these new hormones that are rolling around and locking onto receptors and synopses of different types. It is trial and error. This contributes to the roller coaster kind of experience that we watch as parents. Sunday night on cspans q a. Tomorrow night, the senate will vote on liquefying natural gas exports to trade countries. The House Rules Committee met on monday to come up to the rules. They decided there would be a closed rule. Meaning no amendments would be allowed. This is about 40 minutes. Today, that committee will consider the transparency act. It expedites the department of energys process for approving natural gas exports to countries with which we do not have a Free Trade Agreement. Since 2010, the department of energy has only issued final decisions on five of 37 applications to export natural gas to these companies. That is five out of . 37 2010. As a result, america is squandering what i think it is a boom in liquefied at has made americas held hostage by thugs around the world that do not share their natural gas. I want to thank congressman bill johnson from the great site of ohio. General whitfield from kentucky. John garamendi in the eagle scout friend of mine from california for their leadership. Im sorry . That is a good start. It is a good start. Thank you. I will have you take the chairs here. Mr. Chairman. And i am delighted if someone from the northeast can make it, i do not know these circumstance. Before we defer to anyone on this bill, i would like to defer to my friend from massachusetts. Thank you. As always, i want to ignore a job three of you being before this committee. We count on your testimony. Mr. Wood failed, you are exhibit a. You are so wellprepared. You give the committee decisive and insightful knowledge about the bill. Were delighted that you are here. Anything you have in writing will be entered into the record. Mr. Johnson, will start with you. The gentleman from new jersey is now here and welcoming, im delighted that you are here also. Boys remember when you do speak to turn on the microphone so we can hear from you. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. It is important that Congress Acts immediately on this legislation. If Congress Fails to act, it could prove it difficult. As nations with nearterm energy needs are forced to look elsewhere for that source. Potential geopolitical benefits such as planning the influence of other exporters like russia or i ran while simultaneously strengthening ties with our allies could be jeopardized. Additionally, if we delay, domestic benefits may fail to materialize. Specifically the opportunity to put unemployed americans back to work by 28 teen according to one study conducted for the department of energy. As you know, there is currently no timeline for the doe to make a decision on pending applications. As a result, d. O. A. Has only issued a decision on five of those pending 38 applications and has received since 2010. This will address the current backlog by ensuring applicants receive an answer within 30 days only after the pending permit has received its necessarily environmental and construction permits from the regulatory commission. To be clear, this legislation does not allow applicants to skip the process. Nor does it allow them to buy a fan Environmental Impact study under the environmental act. Furthermore, it does not require deal only two of the application once the company has approved approval. Do you will still have authority to disapprove the application if they see fit. Simply fit and order to maximize American Energy action we must continue to enact smart blossoms. Hr 351 is smart policy. The last congress thought so and it is time to realize its full potential by the thing this legislation here in the 114. Thank you very much for your authorship. I would like to defer to you for your statement. The gentleman is recognized. Thank you for meeting today. I was afraid you are going to postpone this. Im glad you decided to me. I wanted to say from a procedural point of view, that i think this bill should be considered in the course of regular orders so that new members can have a chance to consider its merit in a careful fashion. I know they sponsor has said that we have seen this before, but we have a new congress. You have heard me say this before on keystone and other bills that have come up. The cousins is controversial, this should be an opportunity to have a Committee Hearing and markup in energy and and to not reference what has happened before. For the same reason, the rule should not be closed. They have set up the process in their reports to accept this material. The pipeline takes it, they liquefied overseas and make it into gas again. The price is such that this is going to go to asia, not europe. The price is so much longer that it is unlikely that would happen in the near future. I think you should hear it from that perspective. To me, that is another reason why we should not have the shortcutting of 30 days. This is the very kind of public review. What is of interest in the United States and where the stuff is going. We should have the time to deal with. That is not a problem right now. All of these have been approved. The need for Environmental Review. I think it is unnecessary. And any case, mr. Chairman, i hope you would reconsider having an open role in having amendments. Your back. Thank you very much. Mr. Whitfield, your star witness here day after day after day. I know you have this down. It is good to see you. I hope you had a good weekend. I did. I am delighted to be here on behalf of hr 351 and i think bill very much for introducing this bill. This discussion about exporting lng to nonfreetrade agreement countries over the last year the one aspect that has affected me the most is the number of representatives of countries that have come to us and then pleading with us to step up our export of the lng, especially since we have such an abundance at as a result of the shale revolution. Within the russians recently making the decision that not to be a building that new gas pipeline into bulgaria but going to turkey instead i think that reiterates the need for additional liquefied at national gas in europe. The lithuanians have been here. People from hungry have been here. They are pleading with us to do that. I would also say that i do not see why we should have a rebuttable presumption that it is ok to export natural gas to a Free Trade Agreement country and not to a nonFree Trade Agreement country. That is all hr351 is talking about. Does not impact in any way the very detailed process that goes through in making the decisions about the pipeline. That has not changed in any way. All were really talking about here is, in some instances by the way, the department of energy has finalized the nonFree Trade Agreement countries the day after before it completed an Environmental Review. In other cases, it has taken them forever. As you said, they have only approved five. There seems to be a lot of disparity here for no apparent reason. This bill simply fits those guidelines. Since the only Department Since the only responsibility the department of energy really has is in the Public Interest of the country. That is why it and the house has already approved this bill last year, 48 democrats voted in favor of it, so i think it is a commonsense police of legislation. And i would also support the request that we have an open role. Allow some amendments. In my view, that is when you come up with the best product. When you have amendments, people debated out, argued out, and then the vote. I would respectfully urge all of you to a dubbed a bill to let it go to the floor. You have already been welcomed in a great way. I am glad you are here. Thank you very much for the courtesy. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. The debate over whether were going to export lng is not a debate. We are. We are exporting it to getting this spring. The operation in texas will be up and operating in the next few months. How much we export, that is a question i think is a good one. My personal opinion is there is a sweet spot where a certain amount of expert takes place without significantly altering the availability or the price of natural gas in the United States. That is a question that i think is appropriate for the department of energy and everybody to weigh in on. The bill itself, and my view, is neither here nor there. I do think if we have 45,000 jobs building all of these export terminals, which is probably the case of the do have that number of terminals, we have the chance to expand that tenfold for jobs in the United States. If those lng is exported on americanbuild chips, which we can do, with american cruise, crews, which is already the case for the import of lng, it is a safety issue. We have a chance to really do some good for the American Economy. A chance to build the American Economy using a Strategic National asset, national gas. It is an asset. It is strategic. It is already el al, the love seven, allowing us to rebuild our Manufacturing Base in america. Lets take it one step further. Lets take the gas that can be exported, put it on board with american ships, and were talking about maybe 500 thousand jobs in america. 2020 five years ago we did build many of the first tankers. We lost that market for a variety of reasons. We can get it that. We can take technology, some of which we have, the shipyards in san diego are building lngpowered takers. The first in the world. So we can take it a step further. Shamir itself is likely to need 100 ships. If we do the rest, i dont know we multiply 100 by 35 and oh my goodness. Were talking about a book of business for the American Shipyards that goes for the next couple decades. Thousands and thousands of jobs. They supply train is not just the steel, the men and women but it is the electrical systems. The control systems. All things necessary. The pumps. This is a big, big opportunity for america. My suggestion is we amend this bill. I wrote this and Everybody Knows i am not perfect. Certainly my wife will tell you this. That there is a pretty good start. In the process of legislating we can make improvements. The says that for the next five years, as the us lng ramps up, it will be with a american crews on those ships leaving american ports. And the ships themselves will be americanbuilt. It will take that much time for the shipbuilding industry to gear up. To cut the deals with perhaps korea or others that are now holding the ship to bring that Current Technology in. I had a conversation with either Lockheed Martin or boeing. They said those tanks, those are a lot like the tanks on our rockets. We make this. We just make them to go. This is a bigbig opportunity. I want to point out an example of a country that is using its import of lng to strengthen its shipbuilding industry. The president is in india. You see the pages of the parades and all that goes with it. India has a out today for america to import natural gas into india. They need a minimum of 10 tankers to bring that gas to india. India says as part of that tender, three of those ships will be built in india. Im going, theres a good idea. Why dont we say three of those ships built in india, good. Three of them built in the United States, and somebody else can have the other four. This is how we can build the American Manufacturing sector. This is how we can put this country to work. This Strategic National asset it natural gas. Two other Strategic National acids. The maritime youngers and the shipyards. The maritime mariners and they shipyards. Why not . I would like to defer my time to dr. Burgess. Thank you. And thank you, mr. Chairman, for being here today. If i recall correctly we did a number of hearings on the same your subcommittee last congress. We did a mark upon this in your committee and in full committee. Of the five approvals of the 37 requests, if memory serves, two of those occurred after you scheduled your markup. Is that not correct . It was because of your activity at the subcommittee level that the department of energy responded. I think that is an important point. Because, if you had not done that we would be talking about three out of 40 applications that have been approved. You moved the needle on this. Were very grateful to you for having done so. For those who do not know, in addition to me being on the allpowerful Commerce Committee and the omniscient rules committee, i am also a member of the Helsinki Commission. Last may, after the made on activities occurred in mr. Yanukovych left the country they were in the position of choosing a new president relatively quickly. They did not plan on an election occurring at the end of may and all of a sudden it had to. They Helsinki Commission was requested to be there as a monitor to make sure the elections were free and fair and make sure there would be a measure of respectability and parted and credibility visited upon the person who won this election. At that time, it was not known who was likely to win. I remember growing up in there and speaking to people in the government and the ukraine. We had just one room before passed a bill in the house of representatives to provide a billion dollars worth of emergency moneys to ukraine. Vladimir beeton recounted and said our natural gas bill went up 1 billion. That is the pressure that that new government, formed by its people that resisted some of the problems they had in their government. They did that democratic thing and elected a new president. And this is the kind of pressure they are under. I traveled back to ukrainian in november because they had their parliamentary election. They affiliated much more strongly with europe than with russia, the previous soviet union. We seem that has happened since then. Last april russia reestablished itself as primacy in the crimea. We thought that was something of 1938 1939. Not now in the 21st century. Except it did. Watched her learn the year, when russia bit off several of the states in Eastern Ukraine and is now trying to establish a land bridge to crimea so it will have it for its parts. It will have learned access to those words. Do not think Prime Ministers is not a serious geopolitical issue. For whatever reason, the United States has chosen not to participate in providing lethal aid to the army in ukraine. But we can provide, we could facilitate we could at least up to inhibiting or cease to inhibit the flow of natural gas which has a geopolitical consequence to the people in that country. If they lose in their endeavor to keep their sovereignty from russia, it will be a very different world that it emerges in the next 1015 years time. It has a significant economic consequence for the state of texas. For that, i am very grateful. I want to see it loaded onto ships at texas ports in sold to people in Eastern Europe and the ukraine. I think there is merit to what you are doing. I am grateful that you brought the bill forward. I realize it was not the timeline wanted, but it is important to have heard a lot about this in your subcommittee during the last congress and the world is not waiting for us. Im happy to yield to the gentleman. Believe me, i would be the first one advocating that to me would help the ukraine. And i have. My point dr. Burgess is this. There has been no delay with any of these requests. The way this legislation operates once the Environmental Review is operated there is a 30 day window for the public review. There has been no delay in the sense that if there is any application that has gone to that review, it has either been approved or conditionally approved. But beyond that i reclaim my time. I would like for chairman would fit to perhaps provide. We heard from people who felt the department of energy was withholding activity on these export licenses. Did we not . Yes we did. And when did feel like our hearings in this bill in particular pretty well was fire under the feet of the department of energy i do not know if they were deliberately doing it or not. Once we started moving, they started more attention. With the gentleman yield . Maybe you have a problem with the Environmental Review. The belieber as set out, the 30 day test is not start until the Environmental Review is completed. There has not been any held up after that because of the Public Interest review. My argument, dr. Burgess, it is that for the very reason that these issues are important to our International Policy and Manufacturing Base. To have a 30day window is a mistake. These are issues that are important to our National Security, to our international relations, to the mystic manufacturing. So, why would you want of a 30day straitjacket. 30 days is not very long. With the gentleman yield . Certainly i agree with mr. Alone, there needs to be some thought without we export natural gas so that we do not place the demand in america at risk. That is exactly why the legislation keep said decision with the department of energy. They get to make that decision. Number two, when we talk about a delay and the fact that only five have been approved of the 37 or 38 to applications, it is a very expensive process for these companies to go through that process. You are talking about millions and millions of dollars. I do not have the exact figure in front of me but ive heard something on the order of 100 million dollars. I do not know of that is accurate or not, but i notice a lot of money. Not everybody has the role of thought a lot of the Big Companies to that money up front in and then wait indefinitely for the department of energy to move. Were talking about is bringing some business certainty so these companies that are starting to start that are ready to start construct think orange and not as though have a reasonable response from the department of energy in order to move the ball forward. I yield back. If i remember the testimony correctly, and i dont remember which company exactly, but even with a green light from the department of energy, it was a year and a half before the product was brought ashore the United States. Thank you for bringing the bill to us. I yield back. Can i make one other comment . Can i minute that . The gentleman is recognized. I want to point out that when the hungarian representatives came to us they pointed out that they were already negotiating with the hungarian government in anticipation of our moving from here and of course in lithuania, they were developing this as well. I you back. Thank you mr. Chairman. We may be on the verge of making history on this committee. Chairman would felt that he has an open role. He is the first republican to ask for one. I want to rush this to conclusion so we can vote on open role. I would like to say they are 58 new members of this congress who were not here when we did this last year. Who did not have a chance to participate. So an open role would give everybody what they want. I do not want to spoil this moment. I get back my time. The gentleman is recognized. Yes sir. Thank you very much. The gentleman from ohio is recognized. I will be fairly brief. I want to take off on something the gentleman from texas was just talking about. I appreciate the chairman, the sponsor, the ranking member, the gentleman from california being here. I appreciate the gentleman from californias amendment as well. Mr. Chairman, i am curious. In your subcommittee, i think there was testimony that everybody understands the process but there is some real mystery that surrounds the department of Energy Process and it seems to be open to more manipulation. You know, do you think this might help solve that problem . I do. It is about transparency. We did not feel like it was really about transparency over there. That is why this bill has been introduced. That was the focus of it. To the sponsor in the chairman as well, do you think we should try to put some processes around the department of Energy Process to make it a little more clear instead of, you know, leaving it shrouded in mystery. I think this timing helps a little bit, but is there a way to make it more clear about what theyre supposed to do. The more direct . Of course, they have to were not trying to do the department of energys job. Were just trying to get them to act timely and responsibly. We do not want to as i mentioned earlier, we did not get a veto threat by the president and this legislation passed the house before. We have got a similar blog being introduced in the senate at this point and it looks very likely that we are going to be able to go to conference and if the president something to act on and the department of energy works for the president. So, we do not want to come across like were trying to make daytoday tactical decisions. But, a 30day decision certainly gives them enough time to manage that process once Everything Else is complete. I am not asking whether we want to make the decisions for them. I am asking to remain a want to create a framework for the decisions to take some of the shadows and mystery out of the process for the folks who are applying. I know we chose not to do that here. Maybe it does not make sense. We wanted to see what the department of energy made a decision to do as we moved forward with this legislation. Maybe this is a good step bystep process. I want to thank the gentleman from california for the amendment. My understanding is that it is compliant . It could be. In its present form, it probably is. But we need to go after and in much more detailed to make it compliant. There are different ways we can get there. This is a way that speaks to National Security, and therefore would be as a National Security issue. Is that contentious . Probably. But also other countries have used their National Security waiver as has the United States. So we believe it is. Thank you. The gentleman from new jersey. I have a cup of to add to the record. Without objection. Were talking about 30 days for a very important review. It is a very short. Of time. One of my big concerns is that it is very likely of the deal he only has 30 days and they think it has a potential problem, they might just denying the apartment in the Public Interest rather than spending the time for another couple months and do a thorough review. I just dont see i mean all of those on the republican side seem to think 30 days is a good thing. I think it is a short parade of time that could easily lead to denial if the doe thinks theyd have not had enough time to review it. Does the gentleman from new jersey think the process is transparent today . My understanding, and i feel i am repeating and dont mean to do that, i think the problem is i am kind of guessing here that you are concerned about the Environmental Review. Remember, this 30 days does not talk started to click until the Environmental Review is completed. We do not have any applications now that are pending that have not been approved that have completed the Environmental Review. So again, not that i am suggesting you give some kind of deadline to that, but there does not seem to be any problem with the doe doing the Public Interest review once the Environmental Review is completed. This legislation only goes to the doe review and says it should be for environmental approval. I think that 30 days is not sufficient given a lot of the things we have discussed today in terms of the International Impact and the manufacturing impact a mess to clean. That is my point, and i have made it. I would like to clarify one thing. When i was thinking about an open role, last night i was with another senator talking about the legislative process. We talked about regular order. For me, personally, i like modified rules. Open a rules allow people to offer amendments. But come on this piece of legislation come i want all of you to know that the official position of the energy and Commerce Committee is that they are requesting a closed rule on this bill. I want to present this letter to you from the energy and Commerce Committee. And i am speaking of my personal view. I would like to come back and engage both of you on this issue in a minute if i can. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman does not seek time. I do not see anybody else who would is going to sink time so i want to reclaim my time. I think were here to expedite procedures to get things done. Is that the essence of this . Ok. I like your idea. No hold on. The second section requires that lng be transported on u. S. Flagships until 2012 in on u. S. Built ships thereafter. 2020. But evidently we dont have many ships that can do that right now. It is going to take five years to build new ships. Help me out here. How many do we have today . To meet the requirements of this particular bill will track how many do we have today . There are three ships that have been built how many are there . Three. Three that are reflagged. Under the how many ships are you and visioning. Because the gentleman in testimony to us, and i have not sent through this, dr. Burgess has. We talked about a lot of work, a lot of ships, a lot that would go on. But, really, it is going to take five years to build these ships. So if we want to get it done lets go get the ding thing done. Lets do it. The House Rules Committee later approved the bill, sending it to the house which will debate the bill later today. President obamas nominee to be the next attorney general testifies on capitol hill tomorrow. Loretta lynch will take questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee Beginning at 10 00 a. M. Live coverage on cspan3. Holocaust survivors and foreign dignitaries gathered today to mark 70 years since the liberation of the ostrich birkenau death camps in poland auschwitzbirkenau death camps in poland. Most who died were european jews. Today, there were fewer than three hundred on hand. Most are in her 90s, some are over 100 years old. Their dwindling numbers prompted many in the ceremony to ask how to best sustain their memory when they are gone. Here is the ceremony now. It is to ours. Two hours