Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20150917

Lower rates, address International Taxation in ways that currently but american businesses at a disadvantage, and allow for repatriation, but not simply empty out the treasury. And would generate enough revenue so we could pay for some infrastructure. Hope was that we would get some nibbles on the other side. To his credit, paul ryan expressed real interest in discussions and negotiations, but your previous speaker, mitch mcconnell, has said that he is not interested in getting tax reform, comprehensive tax reform of that sort, done. So theres still work being done. We are still in conversations with mr. Ryan, and i know that senators schumer and others have been working on the possibilities of a fairly robust ultimately you have to ask the leader of the senate, majority party, brought in to try to get this done. I understand why tax reform is losing, because those of us who believe in a simpler, fairer, more competitive tax framework in the abstract sometimes look at our bottom lines and say, that deduction is helping us pretty good here. Organization has been supportive, there are other business organizations in town that have some pretty Strong Influence over the Republican Party that havent been as wild on it, partly because their view is that the only kind of tax reform thats acceptable is one that would also lower all rights, regardless of its effect on the deficit. Thats just not something that is viable. We are going to keep working on it. My suggestion would be that the brt continue to encourage speaker boehner, paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, to come up with an ambitious package. What i can assure you is, is that the white house will take it seriously. We dont expect that everything in our original package would go forward, but the one thing that we couldnt do, and i get that what isetimes labeled as tax reform ands up just being cuts, not closing the loopholes, and as a consequence, its a huge drain on the treasury. We then suddenly are accused of running up the deficit to help your tax rates and were not doing enough to help grow the economy and help ordinary workers. So thats the one direction we cant go in. Tom . 0 thanked thank you for being here. Love to hear your thoughts on energy policy. Above, about all of the but i think what is really changing recently are Technology Revolutions occurring either in the production of energy or in the use of energy that gives americans i think a way to play offense in what has been a set of unprecedented challenges. Whats your thoughts on that . Pres. Obama i think you describe did well. Aboutch more optimistic our ability to get a handle around energy that is good for our economy, good for business, good for consumers, good for job creation, and maybe saves the planet in the process. Im much more optimistic about that now than i was when i started as president. A good example is what has happened with solar. We are not quite at moores law the but the pace at which unit costs for solar energy have gone down is stunning. Weve seen not quite the same pace, but similar progress around wind. Our natural Gas Production is unprecedented. Ive been very supportive of our beingl Gas Production as not only important to our economy but also geopolitically. Its a huge recipe for energy independence. As long as we get the methane discharge issues right, and i think there are ways of doing that with sound science. So thats on the production side. On the utilization side, all of you, there is not a company here that is not producing significantly more product with less energy than you were just 10 years ago, and certainly then you are 20 years ago. Everybody here has seen the power of tracking utilization, and timingwaste issues around when his energy cheap. O theres enormous progress , wevidual households now are able to finetune our energy usage in ways that we havent seen before. Then youve got the whole transportation sector, in which weve continued to make significant progress in detroit as well as upstarts like tesla. Theres still some Distribution Network issues around the transportation revolution, although Companies Like ups are doing a great job. Already experimenting with their fleets. So thats all good news. The bigsay that challenge now, if we are going to realize all the potential utilitieso work with so that they have a Business Model in which they are making money, while seeing this change in distribution patterns. I think theres still some legitimate Economic Issues that have to be sorted through. Its tricky because its a patchwork system. The second thing is, investment in basic Research Needs to continue. Technology is greatly improved, but we still havent seen all the breakthroughs that i think we can make with Battery Technology that would make a huge difference in storage. Area ford exciting development. Then, i would urge the brt and some of you individually have done this as companies, view the issue of Climate Change and the paris conference is coming up this year, as an rather than as a problem. Because this is coming. Lly. Coming generational if you talk to your kids or my kids, they are much more attuned to this issue. Consumers are going to be caring about it more and more. Im going to be calling jerry brown later today to talk about california wildfires. The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is the lowest its been in 500 years. The flooding problems that were already seeing in places like just duringa, its high tide. Suddenly billions of dollars of property is underwater. This is coming. For us to be out and way of it to be out ahead of it and think about how our ingenuity and our science can solve these problems is going to give us a jump on everything else. There is a pledge that some members of the brt have organized around supporting a strong paris agreement. Id encourage you to sign up on that and look for opportunities in this. Companies that have been in traditional fossil fuel areas. If you know how to do oil and gas well, you can figure out how to do solar. You can figure out how to make money doing it. You can figure out how to create efficiencies that help your bottom line. What we try to do with the Clean Power Plan is to give states flexibility. Everybodys got a Different Energy mix. Down south, we approved the First Nuclear plant in a generation because we think nuclear needs to be part of that package. Believer that there are different ways to skin the cat on this thing. We just have to set a baseline in which all of us understand the direction we need to go. Instead of us spending a lot of time fighting science, lets go with science. We usually do better when we are on the side of facts and evidence and science. Just as a general rule, that has proved to be our strength as americans. Jim . If i could just turn back to china for a second, there are a lot of issues to sort out. Security, their ownings about tpp, their innomy, their inward turn the name of creating a consumer economy has had some protectionist elements we dont like. I think many in this room would like to see some kind of positive outcome from this summit as well that underlines our Mutual Benefit if we can figure out some of these things and find a way for the worlds two biggest economies to see a path forward as well as all the issues weve got. Do you have a comment on the youreguy in going to try to set with the president and the roles we can play in supporting both the managing our relationship as well as finding a future for it . Pres. Obama my tone with respect to china has been pretty consistent. It doesnt jump up and down depending on where the polls are. China should be and will continue to be an that we competitor, we are make sure that reaching an understanding with them about our presence as a but that it is in our interest for china to continue what has been dubbed a life. Ul, orderly it is a big place with a lot of people. We are better off if those people are eating and have and are buying consumer ands, rather than starving rioting on the streets. Ive consistently communicated first president hu when i came in office, and now president xi is, our goal is to have a partner in helping to maintain a set of International Rules and norms that benefit everybody, that in fact we are what facilitated chinas rise. They were essentially riding on our backs for the last 30 years because we were underwriting peace, security, the free flow of commerce, International Rules in the financial sector. Matured, whatve weve said to them is, with power comes responsibility. So now youve got to step up. You cant act as if you are a third world country and pursue protectionist policies or engage in dumping, or not protect intellectual property at a time when we are now, when you are second and eventually probably the first largest economy in the world. You cant simply pursue an exportdriven strategy, because you are too big. Youre not going to be able to grow your economy at the same pace once your economy reaches a certain size. There is not enough Global Market to absorb that. Youve got to start thinking about transparency within your own economy. And how are you setting up a safety net so that workers have some cushion, and are willing to spend money as opposed to stuffing it in a mattress . Youve got to be concerned about environmental issues. You cant breathe in beijing. And that spills over for all of us. Country with a powerful military, you cant go around pushing your neighbors around just because you write bigger. Just because youre bigger. Ultimately, you will be advantaged by everybody following the rules. I think in some areas, the chinese understand this. I think in other areas, they dont. I think in other areas, they still see themselves as the poor country that shouldnt have any obligations internationally. And in some cases, they still them ont when we call issues like their behavior in the south china sea, or on intellectual property theft, that we are trying to contain them. As opposed to us just wanting them to abide by the same rules that helped create an environment in which they can rise. Our fatesews is that ,re sufficiently intertwined and in many ways, they still need us a lot more than we need them, that i think theyre going to be continuing areas in which they move. As long as we dont resort to the kind of loose talk and namecalling that i notice some of our president ial candidates engage in. People you know. It tends not to be constructive. Bottom line though is, jim, i think this summit will be useful. I think there are going to be a lot of outcomes around things like energy and Climate Change, around improvements in how they deal with investors, that will show constructive progress. I think our conversations have been much better than they were when i began office. The one thing i would suggest two things. N do number one, when youre companies have a problem in help,and you want us to you have to let us help. Dont tell us on the side, we got this problem you need to look into, but leave our names out of it because we want to be punished kind of thing. Typically, we are not effective with the chinese unless we are able to present facts and evidence of a problem. Otherwise, theyll just stonewall and slow walk issues. So if we are seeing problems in terms of the competitive environment, in terms of protecting your ip, in terms of unfair competition that runs afoul of understanding the principles that have already been established, youve got to let us know and let us be your advocates. Thats important. The second thing i think everybody here should do is not fall into the same trap that we fell into around japan in the 1980s, which is somehow chinas taken over just like japan was taking over, and we are in inevitable decline. This whole argument, im just going to go on a quick rant here, this whole notion that were getting outcompeted, outthis, outthat, we are losing, we are nobody outside the United States what were talking about. Weve got problems. Our biggest problem is gridlock in washington. But overall, our cards are so much better than everybody elses. Our pool of quality businesses and talent, and our institutions and our rule of law, and how we manage and adapt to new and changing circumstances, and our dominance in knowledgebased industries, nobody matches us. And we attract the best talent around the world. I think its important for business voices to point out every once in a while that americas in the drivers seat if we make some smart decisions. Thats not a partisan comment. Thats just the facts. There is not a country out there right now, including china, that wouldnt look at us with envy right now. So our problem is not that chinas going to outnegotiate is sort of mr. Putin outstrategizing us. Anybody take a look at the russian economy lately . Thats not our problem. Our problem is us typically. In im being weerous when i say we engage in selfinflicted wounds like this potential Government Shutdown. Its unnecessary. Got time for a couple more questions. Good to see you. How you doing . Hows everybody back home . Good. [inaudible]n. Or earlier this summer, the expiration of the authorization pres. Obama speaking of selfinflicted wounds. Part of the ongoing discussion in washington, the senate has attached reauthorization to the transportation bill which is now at the house. On monday, the roundtable sent a letter to the leadership on both sides in congress, pointing out the benefits of reauthorization, that some of those get lost in this debate. Its been characterized as only benefiting a few companies, which ignores the thousands of people who are basically employed by our suppliers across the country, and the positive impact that has as well as it is a net generator for the government. We had plans to have further discussions later today and this week with leadership in the house. Do you have any we had a discussion with your team this morning do you have any insights you could share with us that would help us in getting that reauthorization . It is mindboggling that this wasnt reauthorized a year ago. Reversal inis weird opponentsprincipal are the Tea Party Caucus and the Republican Party. Bank has become this of, what do some of the president ial candidates call it, crony capitalism . I think some of you know the back story. They started this thing because they were upset about some planes being sold to a competitor, and suddenly this caught fire in the rightwing internet. And its just hard to explain. I had a group of Small Businesses ranging from four people to a couple hundred people talking about how they use xm. This is the only way they can get into these markets. As you said, xm doesnt cost the government. Not a money loser for us. Immelt orve to tell jim how important it is. I keep telling them i expect a gold watch from them because it seems like every time i take a foreign trip i have to sell some turbine or plane. I was concerned about the announcement that jobs that were here in the United States are going overseas because we dont get this done. That is true for the supply chain. It is also true for some Smaller Companies that use xm directly. Its not just that they are part of the ge or boeing supply chain. Ea to ae selling t country and this is the only mechanism they have to make those sales. The good news is, mcconnell and boehner both say they want to get it done. Shown said, we already there are sufficient votes for it in the senate, and we actually think theres sufficient votes in the house. I would concentrate your attention on House Republican caucus members. I think you have to flood the zone and let them know this is important. And that includes, by the way, talking to individual members who, in their districts, potentially have companies being adversely affected as long as xm is frozen. My expectation is it gets done during the course of these budget negotiations. And we are going to push as hard as we can to get it there. [inaudible] one of the issues that we deal with, regulation. That thee areas Business Roundtable is focused on these days is the ozone rule, which your administration will be coming out with a recognition associated with that. The Business Roundtable position is that we need to maintain the 75 parts per million, and when communities are already advancing for the 75 goal, if you lower it to 70, thats going to introduce another 200 counties in this country into nonattainment, which is basically we are not open for business. Do you have any thoughts on that . Pres. Obama theres a lot of complicated technical issues involved in this, but ill try to simplify it as much as possible. Number one, we are under a court order to do this. I think there may be a misperception that the epa can do whatever it wants here. Broughtre lawsuits under the Previous Administration that continued into my administration. We went before a judge. We actually, i think properly got some additional time because there was a notion that we are going to lower standards a few years ago, and then immediately get new data and force everybody to lower them all over again. We said, lets just do this one time in a sensible way so that people can plan. Weve got some legal constraints. This is not something that just popped out of my head fullblown. So i always enjoy seeing the advertising there are stringent guidelines by which the epa is supposed to evaluate standards. The epa is funneling following the science and statutes as best they can. We are mindful that in some cases, because of the nature of where pollutants are generated, this can create a complicated situation for a certain local jurisdictions and communities. Some states and counties are get worse and worse worse than others. To work with those states and communities as best as we can, taking those concerns into account. Is you canline legitimately go after me on the Clean Power Plant role role. That was hatched by us, i believe we need to deal with Climate Change. We can have a debate about that. On ozone this is an existing , and weand mechanism are charged with implementing it based on the science presented to us. We are taking this input into account. I recognize some of the concerns. I will say, the last point i costsake, even with the it lamenting the the ozone,plementing when you do a costbenefit, the amount of lives saved is still substantially higher than the costs. Resolvenot necessarily all of the concerns that people may have about local costs being more whereas the savings are spread out more broadly. Legitimate Economic Issues that have to be considered, the epa has been listening to every stakeholder. In the analysis overall, we do not issue a regulation where the costs are not lower than the benefits. The regulations we generally put forward, the costs are substantially lower than the benefits generated. Thank you. Many of us are interested in cuba. The opening has been positive. There are a lot of issues to get to full, normal relations, how do you see that happening . Thank you. President obama i do not think it is going to be an overnight transformation, but i am convinced that by reengage in cuba, andree engaging seek even people, we are creating the environment in which a generational change and andan andrews it transition will take place in the country. Already you are seeing conversations taking place about cuba going to accommodate an influx of tourists . How do they think about the internet . Communications in order to produce a paid in the modern economy. Participate in the modern i can modern economy. Can a company hire a cuban directly . Overtime that create space creates space for personal freedom, and a longterm political transition. For now what we have said is stepbystep look for areas and opportunities authorities, as long as Congress Still has the embargo in place, there are certain things we can do in terms of telecommunications, we are looking for opportunities they are, we will continue to press the cuban government around issues of political when the pope comes he will visit cuba. That i think will be an interestingfor more conversations inside cuba. Bebiggest suggestion would to have a bipartisan conversation about lifting the embargo. It is not have to happen in one swoop. Loot if you look at the opportunities, they are significant, it does not make sense that a country 90 miles off of the shore of florida is ,ot a significant threat to us it has shown itself willing to at least look beyond its borders for the first time. Even if it is still scared of what might bring. Bring, it it might does not make sense to the old ways of business. One more question and then i will come around and say high. Anyone else . Thank you. I know a topic near to your heart is education. You have spent a lot of time on this. You recently may comment about Computer Science for all high school kids, which i think is an important point. Technology is a broad topic. Make comments to about how you envision Something Like that actually taking root over the longterm that we can make progress with. President obama i want to commend ginny and ibm. Inspiration gos ibm isigh school that participating in brooklyn where kids a collaboration between ,etween the Public Schools city college, and ibm, you have kids from, most parents did not go to college, a lot of immigrant kids. They are marching through Stem Education, preengineering education, they are getting essentially College Credits by the time they are sophomores juniors in high school. They are able to save money of highin five years school, they come out and associates with an associates degree. They can work with ibm because they have been in an apprenticeship. The curriculum design has given them congress confident. Something that we are working to duplicate all across the country. Mentioned,ws as i because of the strong work that strongn done come of a work that a lot of governors and local communities have done to increase account ability, creativity, have i High Expectations for kids, bust through old bureaucratic obstacles, we are seeing the highest reading scores, math scores, and graduation rates. Is to improveal Stem Education generally, a critical element of that is understanding this computer age that these kids are immersed in. Knownot want them just to how to use their phone to play video games, i want them to know how it works and code it. What is remarkable, im about the age where i think my high had the first coating glass when i was maybe in seventh or eighth grade. You had those cards, the punchcard. The way these tools and ources available for kids starting in first or second grade we have science fairs where girl scout troops come in and designed their own games or simulations of entire towns with people and scenarios they have figured out. Actually something they naturally gravitate to. We have to start early, it is like a foreign language. Rather than try to catch kids when they are in 10th, 11th, or 12 grade, make it part of the broader curriculum and incorporate it into how your teaching math and science. The way into be which kids get engaged. We are doing a lot of work with many of you individually as companies on this Stem Education issue. We hope that you will continue to participate. You have been great partners on that front. Closing, itsay in is always a pleasure to be here. I want to reiterate as we enter into the silly season of the primary thing that is holding back a lot of potential growth, jobs, improved bottom line, greater stability is well within our control right now. Things that traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support. Done, financing and executing on an infrastructure policy. Ive had conversations with we are open to looking at new, creative ways of financing it, but the notion that we are not doing that right now makes no sense. Investing in research and development, these are not partisan interests. There are some areas where there have traditionally been legitimate arguments between democrats and republicans. Onre are some issues like environmental regulations or financial regulations where jamie and i may disagree or nick and i may disagree. , wean have those arguments probably will not convince each other on some of these things. What i am looking at is the low hanging fruit that are nobrainers and no one would argue with. The notion that we are not doing them right now because primarily a faction within one of our parties has gone off of the rails and sees a conspiracy around everything, or is opposed to anything i propose, even if they used to propose it. That is a problem. I think it is important for all of you to step back and take a look at it because you still least somence on at of those folks. Challenge them. Thatould we not do things everyone knows make sense. Everyone. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] announcer tonight, Samantha Power discusses the United Nations generally assembly session. A Senate Armed Services committee on combating isis. Later, president obama called on congress to avoid a Government Shutdown by passing a federal budget. Tomorrow ehouse hearing on the gold king minds filled it pollution million into a river. Administer mccarthy will testify. We will have live coverage at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan3. Upcoming the popes visit to the u. S. , cspan has live coverage from washington, the first stop from his to her his tour. He will visit the white house, starting with a welcoming ceremony, followed by a meeting with president obama. 24, theday, September Pope makes history on capitol hill, becoming the first pontiff to address the house of representatives and the senate during a joint meeting. Follow all of our live coverage of his historic visit to washington. Watch live on tv or online at cspan. Org. Luncheon hosted by the Christian Science monitor, you in ambassador Samantha Powell theed the in Assembly Assembly meeting. She also talked about Russian Support for the syrian government. This is one hour. David misses Samantha Powers first time here. She earned her bachelors from yale and a law degree from harvard. She reported from bosnia, kosovo, sudan, and rwanda. During that time she wrote an oped for the Washington Post calling for the u. S. Government to do more to release david rohde who was being held by bosnian forces. That meant a lot to me. She won a Pulitzer Prize for her book. She went on to become a professor at Harvards Kennedy school of government. U. N. ,to her tour at the she was a specialist special assistant to the president and senior director for Multilateral Affairs and human rights on a National Security council. She and her husband are the parents of two young children. That ends the biographical portion, now onto mechanics. The recordwe are on here, no live blogging or filing of any kind while the lunch is underway, to give us time to listen to what the guest says. Curb the selfie urge, we will email several pictures of the session to all of the reporters here as soon as the luncheon ends. As real or attendees know, if you would like to asking question, send me a threatening not threatening signal. We will start off by offering our guests the opportunity to make opening comments and then we will go to questions around the table. Thank you for doing this. Thank you so much for coming. Samantha i thought i would dedicate a few minutes to talk about the General Assembly. It is the 70th anniversary of the United Nations and more heads of state are defending new york then we have seen in the like of this ministration. We have historians looking to see more than ever before. Of course the pope is also visiting, between the pope come a president putin, president obama and his day, it will be a bad time to be driving on the east side of manhattan. Perhaps because it is the theversary, perhaps because secretarygeneral is entering the last year of his term, of course we are in election season for the presidency, for a host of reasons there is a lot of soulsearching at the u. N. There always is at every General Assembly. People reflect on the year before. This year it is more pronounced than usual. On the one hand you have the fact of the general a simile coming together again respondent remind people of where we were laster. That happenedngs last year when the the president was there was that when he and the secretarygeneral used to try to mobilize the International Community around ebola. This time last year we were passing around charts that show that you have one million infections by january of 2015 s if the curb was not bent. Now we are at the dubya a joke figures. Who that is an example of collective Action Network action at work. It shows that even though it was a slow start up costs and people , itde of a bola ebola was another example of the International Community building the airplane as they flew. Is nuclear deal over iran also something that has hardened not just the Security Council, but the broader membership. It it there is a belief in new york that this is the way the u. N. Should work. Country acting in violation of international norms, the Security Council comes together and put in place over many years and incrementally more and more regimeg sanctions calling on that country to come into compliance with international norms. The country comes to the table, we come to the table, we secure an agreement that on behalf of interNational Security caps off cuts off the runs irans access to nuclear weapons. This is an example of what the International Community can do when they are prepared to enforce. You have this on the one hand, and then you have scenes of biblical procession now from the coast of turkey, defending on the doorstep from europe. This comes on the heels of seeing comparable images off of north africa dissenting on italy earlier in the year. The European Union coming to the un Security Council looking for an authorization to take a set of steps to try and stem the flow in a responsible way. In east asia, the ships floating and being claimed for a time by no one. Others were trusting nefarious Smuggler Networks to try to promote the welfare of themselves and their families. If you need a more vivid , thement to the commons high seas is there is no more a testament in that. Than that. It raises questions to the syrian conflict and the political solution to that conflict. To preview what president obama will be doing when he travels to new york for the general , the first they theorize he will dissipate in the desperate dissipate in a summit in which the sustainable goals are embraced. These are goals that are the sequel to the previous millennium goals which were the post 2015 agenda. It is a series of goals to end inequality and extreme poverty , it is anrst time agenda that interweaves the environmental agenda and they need to take care of oceans, and into theon emissions antipoverty, traditional economic agenda. It is an important set of goals and targets. It is a long set of goals and targets. The president will join other heads of state embracing those goals in in breaking those goals. These are goals that will take another 15 years. Interesting and unexpected effect in that you started to see ministers in the developing world measuring themselves and their performance on the basis of how they were faring goals next to the goals. Now we have a new set of goals. Donors will Channel Resources around those goals. It is an important agenda. ,f these goals were realized some of the causes of conflict as well would be addressed. Course we cannot conflict deal with conflict, but the recall because. Root cause. He will also on his second day in new york convene along with a number of other heads of state in the secretarygeneral and unprecedented Peace Keeping summit. You might say why the United States is not have a large number of blue helmets, it turns out we are calling on you in peacekeepers to do more and more difficult places. The supply of peacekeepers is ng outstripped one needs one only needs to read the newspaper to see. There have been some noteworthy changes and peacekeeping since the conflictsered in the balkans in the 1990s. It used to be that european peacekeepers were 40 of u. N. Peacekeeping, and the 90s they had twice 5000 peacekeepers, today europe only constitutes 6000 peacekeepers. The number around the world is way higher than it was in the 1990s. You have a situation where some of the developing countries are doing the peacekeeping and developed countries like the United States and the other big donors to the u. N. , paying for. Important that places where extremism can fester that those capabilities be enhanced. Robust. Ates of got more but the capabilities of the troops on the ground are not with any to be. Where they need to be. The blindness of the peacekeepers because of the lack of the ability to know which extremist are where, is a liability. President obama is putting with his feet. Vice President Biden chair of the midsummer last year, working with the secretarygeneral of the u. N. To try to mobilize troop contributions from other countries. ,t is a pledging Conference Many heads of state we now have more than 40 who have signed up in order to speak. A head of state has to make an announcement on what they will be can treating desk interbeing. Contributing. Lastly some be on everyones mind, the president s final day in new york, he will convene a summit on counter terrorism. The first section will be the antieiffel coalition entire isil coalition. The president will create a new set of obligations in terms of preventing the lifeblood for isil. The third segment will be extremism. Violent that has to involve religious leaders. In order to really capture people before they become terror fighters and before the situation where you are in military conflict, camino the actual be indispensable Community Action will be indispensable. You will have very Different Countries to dissipating in each segment participating in each segment. The very last thing i will say this is really my last question say we havewant to been doing a campaign called free to 20 the 20 u. N. Women will be convening a highlevel meeting, a head of state meeting 20 years since the beijing summit on womens empowerment afortunately come all around world including china, many women will not be participating in this conference and are not participating in civic life because they have been in prison or speaking up against Sexual Harassment or corruption every day leading up to this event that will be convened again at the u. N. , we are profiling one woman political prisoner. I have a chart. We have a visual. Picture is being hung in the facade of the u. S. Mission to the United Nations. As heads of state walkin they will be able to see the prisoners being profiled. We are working actively, and did not medically diplomatically to freebies woman. Free these women. We will go right to my colleagues, starting with jonathan, michael, karen, george , rachel, jessica, ivan, and paul. Timeshould get us to the through the time. By one. Do one the first time in 10 years he will attend the u. N. Ga. Obviously the number one issue will be now that ukraine has come down a bit, syria. The fact that his foreign minister talked about the creation of antiterrorist front. How are how does the eye states handle this United States handle this given the fact that the United States is opposed to any kind of intervention that will keep. Tabilize a thought assad the United States shares an interest in keeping him where he is to prevent a power vacuum move andh isis could create more chaos in syria. Samantha let me address the assad question first. Assad and hishat been directed l the time insi which they have established a safe haven for themselves in syria. Timesour the new york documented a series of transactions between them and a series of her jeans series of regimes. The ongoing presence of a sod, but more than that the ongoing tactics he pursues in trying to retain power, namely, gassing his people, barrel bombing his people, arresting peaceful suspected or anyone of dissent, and of course the mass torture that has occurred in syrian prisons some of these as my british colleague said yesterday in the meeting, every barrel bomb that syrian syria and a sod drop is a gift to isil. We have made clear from the beginning that he is going to require a robust coalition to l. Feat iso isi the idea of doubling down the l andach to treat isi moderates and civilians in hospitals as equally worthy target, that is a perilous approach. Our shared interest is shared with russia is degrading and the isil. G defeating the approach of supporting a regime that has helped fuel the rise of isil is a misguided approach. It is not the approach we will take. Michael gordon from the New York Times. Michael i would like to follow , jonathan question remarked on the Russian Military moves, but in the diplomatic i would like to asked related questions. The russians sometimes and suggested they are not wedded to a sod asad. And your experience has there ever been a serious proposal by the russians to work with the states women i towards a political transition. Have they ever seriously proposed that . In the Foreign Ministers call with secretary kerry yesterday, they apparently floated the notion of military talks between russia and united situation. The syria do you think that would be a useful step to take at this juncture because the russians assumption is they would go after the islamic state. Samantha thank you. Let me say a couple of things about russias foster towards political talks. Ture towardspos political talks. They called for the creation of a governing body by a mutual can and consent. On the one hand that gives the government and the asad regime a say in what the body looks like. It also gives the opposition a veto. There is no scenario in which by Mutual Consent the opposition would agree to something that asad said. I know also prior to some of these news reports around stepped up military supplies that we in the killed will in the council actually agreed to a president ial statement includedg effort which we explicitly wrote the thin , wrote this in the statement negotiations to give rise to a negotiating body. There is a refresh in which they signal that. Ineover we have been engaged intensive vacation communication with stakeholders in the region in order to see one could getlesh to that idea a transitional governing body. Moscow has been inviting to its opposition politicians as well as regime politicians as getting a sense of the opposition. T is what i have described those are the rough contours of russias investment in the political process. They claim that notwithstanding this apparent infusion with military hardware to still be committed to a political solution. That is why we are engaging with them at the highest levels to course it is not tenable to think that you can. Efeat isil to stress again, there is no military solution. All in onor goes it the military side, if there is a risk happening now, that will prolong the conflict. It will enhance the risk of further chemical weapons. Course, strengthen hand. And the extent of our dialogue is to diplomatic. Do you think that is a good idea . Samantha i think we are talking into atlantic diplomatic channels. There was a story in the New York Times this morning about a possible meeting between president obama and putin there would where would they would talk about samantha there are a lot of questions like that one task one can ask. Question. A do you have any information in easternatists ukraine who have been blocking assistance since august. Is that something you can confirm . Samantha i would like to get back to his details. With details. That is probably a specific shipment you are referring to. I will get back to you. That that the european problem seems to have refocused attention, certainly by congress on the syrian issue and there is a series of hearings this week. Republicans and democrats seem fairly united at this point on voicing their opinion about me Administration Strategy is about theg Administration Strategy not working. Increasingly there are calls for Forward Movement on some kind of something that would change the equation. I am wondering if you have seen the same feelings among your Security Council colleagues. Are they advocating for a change in policy . Changee more pressure to the military strategy in any way that would stop the exodus. That would stop the isis advance. And whether to engage with or against asad. Also could you update us on the status of the efforts. Samantha i think for all of the the horrorsion with on the ground and graphically embodied by the death of the young boy on the beach. And so many families who have suffered and are now visible because they are descending into european cities there are on the hill and every where else a great plurality of use of views on what should be done. They run the gamut. It is true on the question of the anti isil campaign. In the Security Council you see something comparable. Certainly there is an urgency in light of the highlevel european cussions about it is quotas and resettlement and how to cut off the problem at its cance so that these flows be taking care of taken care of. , but recallt strand in the Security Council you also have again, and approach embodied by some of the comments michael alluded to. And jonathan alluded to by russian officials that says the way to deal with this problem is to double down with the regime that has from our standpoint caused the problem. The core differences in terms of what the root causes are of the refugee flow and all of the andng and liza viso lies of isil, it appears certainly we are very interested in the wake of the iran deal in taking advantage of the unity and what i described in the beginning, a positive feeling about what unity can actually yield in new york, but without we need to get past ins fundamental disagreement terms of what because of terrorism as is and how to combat it. Not appear tos do have abated. The fact that we have more meetings and heart rate, that has not changed yet break that has not changed yet. Ambassador, you have worked with diplomats from all over the world, the whole world is always as tong us, i am curious what you are hearing from folks about what they think about what is going on in this country in the president ial race. He kinds of things being said do you sense any interest in what is going on among diplomats and leaders . What are you hearing . Samantha i think i have a diplomatic answer. [laughter] i have not done a straw poll. Basis of theon the feedback i get in the hall is that the unprecedented viewership of the First Republic and debate First Republican modest share of that spike came from other countries ambassadors watching the debate. In other words, i think there is more interest at this stage of some of the more colorful aspects of the primaries then there might have been in the past. Interestre is a deep in who runs america. As things move on i will hear more. Until things settle, you do not hear about specific individuals. You just hope that cooler heads prevail and continue to exercise leadership in accordance with international norms, and will continue to want to build multilateral coalitions. An appreciation for what president obama has tried to do and the perceived return to the there is even more appreciation for those investments. Could we get clarity on what you are saying about syria. You have made clear that you think there is a difference on premises. You have made clear that doubling down as a bad path to follow. It is possible for an optimist to look at that and say abb russians are doing two at the same time. When you say they are doubling down, is that the nature of a final assessment of what their intentions are . Is there really anything on the to track worth exploring with the russians . Samantha we are going to continue in the aggressive way that secretary kerry has been last fewat it over the weeks to engage russia diplomatically. I do the same in new york every day with my russian counterparts. Say, there has to be a political solution. There is no military solution. Russian of what intentions are in this moment and what the infusion of connotes, idware think that is another reason to continue the dialogue and to make plane again the respective ive shared here which president obama articulated forcefully on friday. Thatso need to take note we all have an interest in defeating isil as the president said on friday, they pose a threat that of course will get president putins attention. That extremely important in addition to collectively figuring out how to bring a political solution for its own sake, it is also clear that that is the solution overtime to being able to wipe out a movement that has been constant self a part of syria. I am not passing judgment at all about what the intentions are, i think some of the comments that senior russian leadership have that asadss again military approach is one that requires more support and help. Thatmentally we believe the political track and sending a different message to asad, mainly that your country will be destroyed if you do not see fit to engage in negotiations in a manner that produces this notsition which will cause everyone in syria to put guns down, but to get a Critical Mass of actors to embrace a political settlement, all of this will be in a stronger position against isil. Thatestions about topics have not come up, how concerned are you on development the Northern Ireland . Secondly, with president she , it is hard tok remember any summit in recent years with more problems. Why should we not expect that summit to be a train wreck . Samantha does it have to be a train wreck . I will take the china question first. Ask my colleague to supplement. , and it hashas said become plainer, this is a complex relationship. Every day, whether it is on isilh sudan or an anti measure in new york, or a peacekeeping summit where china has semantically expanded contributions to peacekeeping, we are working with china on issues that are very much in the u. S. National interest. By the same token, whether it is on cyber threats, freedom of navigation, human rights, one of the most important features of the free the 20 campaign are the chinese women. Plainspokenl see is , Public Comments about disagreements. The problemsover on which we disagree. Internalin in the meetings where we are in areas of disagreement. In general the approach of this is onation as disagreements that will come up, it is extremely important to engage, it is no secret that president she is an extremely powerful leader of a country that is of course extremely important on the global stage print that kind of dialogue at that level is something that you want to take advantage of to try to unlock progress print on northern island, i will say that the situation is worrying. Traditionally, i know this is some thing that comes from someone from ireland, i think that the United States role is always welcomed print i think that we are in a situation now where it is politics as usual. The parties themselves have taken responsibility up to this way point. Whatever nudging the United States can do from behind the scenes, ultimately this will have to be settled. I do not have more. George, if you have more specific details we can meet after. Hello, they said today that the plan to accept refugees was modest, they said the country should be ready to accept 100,000 syrians. What is your thought on that . Onter the president called an Emergency Response to the ebola request. With some of the funding be used for refugees here, or go to u. S. Programs on the ground. Samantha thank you for the question it is important. Point, theer this United States have received 17,000 referrals. Cases are on candidates eligible for resettlement. President obama has made clear the number we have been able to meet is insufficient. That over the life of the obama administration, we have managed to resettle 140,000 iraqi refugees. I think that has gotten less attention. It has been an upanddown program. We have made significant improvements in the system. We are able to welcome people in desperate need, but also make sure that we have a vetting, and screening measures in place where we would have confidence that the people coming are not taking advantage of the program who are plotting are doing something antiu. S. Security. I think it has been strengthened overtime. The flow of iraqis shows that. The start up around a syria costs aroundart up the Syria Program have been significant. In terms of what the overall number will be next year, we are assessing that. I think it was important that the administration came out and make clear that at a minimum we would go from 1500 to 10,000. There are diverse views on a hill on the hill. Done in ationally is manner where we try to come to some consensus with people on the hill. The conversation is picking up. We welcome the proposal, we will consider it carefully. We will need to make sure that all of us collectively, whether for 10,000 or a higher number that all of us who have had the experience of working with refugees families, that the American People view themselves as much messengers for the kind of country we have been overtime and the kind of country when he to be. In aften, particularly political season, the loudest voices are the ones that are unwelcoming for people coming from other countries. Most americans have had the experience of feeling a great pride we all feel in terms of those we have been able to shelter in times of need. Your second question was programs for the. Nited nations samantha the United States has given more than any other u. N. Country. The spoken preference for most refugees was to stay nearby in the hope they would return home print other countries with the same language or they had the chance to integrate, the hasstates is actually actually spent 4. 1 million on the life of this congress crisis. 2. 1 billion on refugees alone. The you and appeals are woefully underfunded. Two weeks ago, thousands of refugees in lebanon were sent a text message saying that there were food rations we cut off would be cut off. That is becoming routine. One of the things we will be using the pope visit to do is to try to leverage our contributions and also try to mobilize contributions, not only from other countries who have not been as generous as the United States has been up to this point. Also the private sector, citizen action foundations, there are a lot of people who are deeply moved by what they are saying seeing. The United States has a tradition of combining u. S. Government resources with that of other nongovernmental actors. President obama is committed to. Sing his pulpit fred would be General Assembly coming up, there have been talks of another resolution coming up. With the u. S. Veto this type of resolution as it has been done in the past . Open hey are samantha floated. Right now, were all very ocused on the escalating jerusalem and the very quo, its a destabilizing situation right now. You know, in terms of what would the Security Council, its very hard to say what we would do. What president obama has always said, anything that would Israel Security or is united onesided, the states would oppose. We opposed Something Like that in december 2014, where there forward olution put that was just imbalanced and not have ing that would advanced the cause of the peace middle east. Just last week, im losing track of time, there was an effort effort to raise the palestinian flag. Voting against the resolution, that it is not attainable. There has to be solutions with the twostate solution. You cant short circuit the very that have es that the parties have not be past up to this point. You know, we have never reassessed the depth of our relationship with israel, partnership with israel. Down with tting israeli officials and figure out the other all the regionn poses to via terrorists or other forms of part ofnd so, again, as e ose discussions, im sure th arrive. S will minutes . E do five yeah, we can do five minutes more. Last week, in the house of representatives, they introduced islamic on, recognizing religion. Ging your s near and dear to own heart. What what sort of is and is y your response this Something Like you say, you now, Everyone Wants to see the defeat of isil. Is this another one of those perhaps find ould more common cause than the other igpicture issues than the syria and iraq questions . Samantha i think at the United Nations, and well see this summit,resident obamas theres really widespread unity. Mean, the needless to say, meeting no one in any defending what isil is doing and there is broad unity on not combat them, but rec ignition that there needs to be military combat. Say this, bama will im sure, at the summit. Insufficient progress in terms of sharing laws totion and changing prevent travel from those who, lating maybe contemp joining isil or going for training. You know, we have our work cut so theres nd consensus, again, on the nature gravity of the threat asserted its entacles since last year in additional, you know new arts of the world so you have even more countries coming forward to Work Together and again, how to bring about isils defeat. Extremely l be important, again, for every compliance be in full more esolution 2178, for countries to contribute to the raining and military effort in iraq and syria so this is a beyond an f moving abstract consensus to true burdensharing. His is going to be a long campaign. He other thing id say, on the genocide question, when president obama decided to intervene milltrarily on behalf introduced, himself, the specter of genocide. Here is no question that christians and shiah and lgbt, find yourself a minority f a certain time in isil americans that has proven a many. Sentence for if not a death sentence, certainly a displacement sentence. Having said that, sunni, in isil also living under orrific hardship and anybody even suspected of dissenting or opposition to isil, you have seen them wiped out. Specifictargeting very minorities as such. Monstrous ideologies apply doesnt share their world view. We will only have time for one more. Who were e to those waiting. I wanted to talk to you about the popes visit. I would be interested if you ould tell us about the u. S. Vatican relationship in ways noticeable. Be when you talk to people inside house and those who are close to them, they talk aboutboth the possibility how transformational that visit public life and complexity of both welcoming state, who is head of but youre not doing it how you and it is uld do difficult to predith what ed predict hot hed do and how one takes advantage of this moment. Samantha i think id be more modest in my response. It sounds like youve done a lot of thinking about this. The privilege of both of getting to be part of an administration that is welcoming united here in the states. I am looking at how is the pope global puplic opinion on are of issues that important to the American People and the collective good. I would only note that the we in crunch time when it comes and e climate debate climate negotiations and we engagements,ies of by president obama himself and brian detes with traveling some and following up on the work, the United States, in part also because of the regulations that have been put in place, is in a very strong to lead by ain, example but not all of the major emeters are where we would like to see them and the pope has tremendous way, well beyond his catholic flock so his message, going to be is extremely important in helping, you know, all of us in the International Community try to take much more significant save our planet. To put it mildly. Note that uld also the, i think, as somebody else refugees crisis is has hing that he, himself, spoken so eloquently on in the past. Put it, the hes globalization of in difference. You know, his trip, you know, as one of his first acts to meet with migrants and one of his very, very kind of, by pope speeches was in frica and he is visiting where the appeal is underfunded and it our contested issue within own country as people grapple ith how to balance security concerns and how to be generous with our greatest traditions. To hear what eager he pope says and i think theres a nice convergence of he timing of this trip and a set of issues that could not be really ent and where we do need to establish, whether in limate or on dealing with the acuteny, not only of the yrians, but the 60 million onugees that exist globally, deck. Thanks for doing this, again. Appreciate it very much. Samantha thanks. On the next washington journal, well discuss the budget deadline. Well also talk to steve of roll efforts torepublican defund planned parenthood. 7 00 each morning at. Astern on cspan. Our road to the white house overage continues saturday comeing with a New Hampshire pain. Sanders,linton, Bernie Omalley and n lawrence. On rday at 9 30 am eastern span, cspan radio and cspan. Org. Aking you on the road to the white house. A signifture feature of a signature feature of books with authors. Iction near the end of september, were in new york city for the brooklyn. October, nashville. The weekend after that, we are live in austin. Near the end of the month, well festivals, two book the wisconsin book festival in madison and the boston book festival. Well start of november, be in portland, oregon for word stock. November, were live for the 18 year in a row in Miami Book Fair international. Few of the festivals. Lloyd austin, the Central Command give a speech at a senate discussed the investigation that sentcomhas skewed intelligence related to isis. John mccain chairs the committee. Hours. Two well, good morning. E meet today to receive testimony on the United States operationsnd military to counter isil. Our witnesses, general austin, for appearing for us today and their continued service to our nation. Year since e president obama spoke to the nation about the threat posed by increased military operations against us. Belief the goal the president laid out is right. Agree with a military strategy to combat isil. With u. S. And coalition training, equipment assistance and air power. Into thecome pain. If youre not winning in this warfare, you are losing. It is accurate that we have conducted thousands of air strikes against isil, trucks and s. Ghters, bunkers and building his conjures the illusion of success. Isis has lost some military margin. Isil has consolidated control of territories. It continues to dominate sunni areas in iraq and syria and controls many cities. Efforts to retake those appear to have stalled entirely. Is expanding globally in fghanistan, yemen, egypt and nigeria and alshabaab. Appearance of success only isil to recruit and grew. Isils s estimates of power has remained constant. T suggests they were wrong to egin with or isil is replacing realtime. S in officials at Central Command assessments ligence to paint an overlypositive ground. On the were currently investigating these allegations, which we take with the utmost seriousness. Responsible must be held accountable, if true. Its not that were doing isil. G to counter its that theres no compelling what we are ieve doing will be sufficient enough to degrading and ultimately destroying isil. He United States and our partners do not have the enemies do. Our they are using it to maintain he initiative as they have for the past 4 years. The situation on the ground is dramatic turn for the worse. Published report that using lieve isil is mustered gas and may be themselves. Ng it by whether they are manufacturing themselves, this is a potential nightmare scenario for our partners in the middle east and for us. At the same time, the united and equiport to train Syrian Rebels to fight isil is unfortunately failing. The goal was 3,000 fighters in the first year. Instead, they have equipped fighters who were killed and captured. His program the administration promised would result in ground yet to syria has produce any significant effects battlefield. He fixation with perfect vetting is contributing to this failure. Ar worse has been the administrations requirement that this new force could only fight isil, not the regime which more than isil. They want to authorize the Close Military t and other assistance to make sure our syrian partners would be successful. Clear ontraditions were from the beginning. Warned to change force a lot is cost money and of time. To continue supporting this changes. We need major now steppedcuum has vladimir putin. Advantage. G according to media reports, deployed aircraft, armored personnel carriers, russian marines and housing up personnel in western syria. This is an expansion of russian east that wemiddle have not seen in four decades allow putin to pop facade, undermine u. S. Goals, policies and operations and prolong this horrific conflict. He main beneficiary will be isil. Many of us have said from the the conflict in syria will not be contained and or four years we have seen evidence of that. Hundreds of thousands of that, people, themisplaced use of chemical weapons from the the terrorist army in world. We are seeing the failed policy, out lood of people pouring of the middle east that has led refugees crisis in europe since world war ii. Promised stration has 000 refugees in the next year. This, the refugees will keep coming. Stronger, the middle east will descent further nto chaos and u. S. National security interest will be put at greater risk. Have been ars, we told that there is no military solution to this conflict. Believes there is. And there are no good options, as if anybody believes there are. Limited, influence is as if that has not always been the case. T succeed ll no overnight, that it one of time policy. We cannot solve problem in the if that st and as devolves us of making the situation better where we can. Between doing nothing and evading iraq and syria. This committee for suggested options years. We need to put an end to air power against his people, horrific the use of barrel bombs. Drop down blames that barrel bombs that slaughter instant civilians. Zones d to establish safe inside syria. We need air controllers. Significant ke changes in order to improve and rapidly improve our training. While no one believes we need to invade iraq or syria, the fact likely need additi additional us forces and advisors to be successful. I hope our witnesses will not repeat our desired policy goals tactical t of talk about nine lines of effort. We have heard all of that before. Today. To here victory thank you very much. Welcome. This mornings hearing continues committees review of u. S. And its growth in the middle east. Tactics, including weapons, chemical they have gained portions of the and iraq and erasing border of these countries. Ered women has slaught and children and carried out broadcast ttacks and its barbaric attacks on social media. Escape isil, other armed militants, millions have fled. Sense of ed to the urgency regarding the need to region. Security in the this remains complex with no answers. They have success in pushing some areas, the of isil along border with he turk turkey, they continue to hold key cities. The Iraq Security forces has last few over the months. Have same time, iranian installed on the operations near there. Unitedeement between the states and turkey and seeking to create an isilfree zone is an important step forward. The deployments from russia of forces are military countering isil efforts appears by putin to pop regime. Concerns whether it is sufficient. Progress the u. S. Training and equips programs in both iraq and syria. While the u. S. Lead air campaign effective effect, local forces that can take full isiltage seize ground from and hold it are central to success. They recruit sunnis in he Security Forces and equipping them to fight isil. I am concerned they have fallen short and the governor of iraq has been slow to arm sunni forces. In syria, the program, according to public reports, has variety of a setbacks. Address what you hink about countering the isil effort. Would you facilitate the sunni tribes or nce. Ide assista he isil problem is not geographically bounded by syria and iraq. Appeared in have emen, afghanistan, and elsewhere. Im interested in your groups growththe in the region and how they are combat the group. The success will depend on nonmilitary actions, whether initiative an Iraqi Government that is better. International isils on can counter propaganda and financing and weather a political solution can sis in d for the cri syria. These are the responsibility of department. These issues are integral to our approach to countering the isil threat. I hope you will also, to the extent possible giving the ongoing comment, it is important hat we wait for the investigation before making a judgment. But i have no about you will as such allegations seriously as we do in congress seriously. Them very i expect they will continue the investigation and be active in terms of the recommendations. Let me thank both witnesses for the testimony this morning. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mccain, you chairman reed and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to give you an s, ate on the military aspect its a pleasure to be here with general austin. We work closey together on a chairman issues. As the said, its been just a year since the militarycome pain against isil. When we began that campaign, pushing into kurdish territory and pushing toward baghdad. 12months, isil lost territory. Slow but as been steady. While not tenfeet tall, they enemy that adapts to evolving conditions on the battlefield. He pace of our program in iraq has moved more slowly and in syria, the criteria were using has contributed to smaller for. Ers than wed hope as the military campaign continues, we believe there will challenges. Be retake liar with other areas. The Prime Minister demonstrates how to confront isil and it is a landscape in baghdad. In syria, the northern part of the country, syrian kurds, arabs have h syrian successful pushed them along the turkish border. They want to degrade and defeat isil and he emphasized it would multiyear campaign. Secretary carter was here, the nine strategies. Need to dry up isils finances and stop them. Humanitarian assistance in areas we are taking back from more nd find a way to affectively counter isils very campaign. Messages as secretary carter said to the