Rnd. Why doesnt he go over and talk and say it has been a nice ride, but what we are going to do is just going to depend on you a lot for r d. We will pay our fair share, but why dont we do something for our people instead of looking toward europe, asia and everybody else . Have him put his money where his mouth is and lower costs medicine. Host donna in massachusetts, good morning. Caller hello. I just wanted to ask a question regarding psychotropic medications and how dangerous they are and as far as the cost of health care, billions and billions of dollars in big pharma and i wish that the doctor was still on because there were not any lab test the confirm a mental illness. Sometimes, people keep talking about the stigma of mental illness, but it just makes up symptoms and that book or whatever it is, it is like hundreds of Mental Illnesses, but they are not being honest but there is big money in the pills that are really dangerous to people, especially the children. They want to screen the kids for d and there really is there are no test to definitely confirm these allegedly Mental Illnesses and the other thing, the suicide rate is increasing with teenagers. People in general, but i think that is given to the state of the nation and all the problems we have, but have they done research correlating the thatdes with the people have been on these drugs . They are really dangerous. Host we will have dr. John knows where the on again, down the road. We will get to questions with him down the road. We want to remove remind our viewers of our coverage of the connecticut,t in delaware, maryland, pennsylvania and rhode island that begins at 8 30. We will follow results and hear from the candidates and get viewer reactions. You can tune in right here on cspan. That will do it for the washington journal and we now take our viewers up to the senate. The Senate Foreign relations subcommittee on western hemispheres is holding a hearing on the 2017 budget request for the state department beginning in just a few. And the purpose of this hearing is to review the resources, realities, and programs in fiscal year 2017 budget west the president and the u. S. Department of States Bureau of western Hemisphere Affairs and the bureau of democracy in human rights and labor as well as the bureau for latin american and caribbean. A howled we will have official panel with three witnesses. The Principal Deputy assistant secretary of state for western Hemisphere Affairs, the acting assistant administrator for latin america and the caribbean at the u. S. He for international development. I want to thank all of you for being with us, we appreciate your time and commitment to further the important work of this committee. I also want to thank your staff for working with the committee and members of my staff to making this hearing possible. Today is an opportunity to learn more about the nations priorities in the western hemisphere in promoting democracy and human rights around the world. There are many challenges we need to collaborate on. Building strong Democratic Institutions and building is in the moral and Strategic Interests of the United States and she to be one of our top priorities. It is important for u. S. Programs to be aligned with our priorities and not just in the western hemisphere. It is also important that u. S. Taxpayer dollars are not wasted that instead used to address significant challenges to National Security interest. I believe congress can continue to work in a constructive way to enhance the departments efforts. I hope you address these issues in your testimonies and with that, i turn it over to our Ranking Member. I asked that my entire statement be placed in the record and i will summarize. This is an important hearing and i want to extend my welcome to our guest and witnesses gue sts and witnesses. Our subcommittee is a very important one that has a range of matters, including the countries of the western hemisphere as well as Global Responsibility for democracy, human rights and womens issues. While we face numerous challenges in the western hemisphere ranging from narcotics trafficking to assisting countries in the wake of natural disasters, the region is making tremendous progress and it is rife with opportunity, due in large part to the support of the United States. Areow the chairman and i friends, but we disagree strongly on cuba, so i will say that president obamas to change a field plus decision to change a fail policy is working with me and i hope it will turn out to be so for the cuban people and the human rights activists there. It is an unprecedented moment and i hope the cuban people make the most of it that the government understands that they have to change. We have also witnessed progress in columbia due in large part to the support of the u. S. Negotiations between the government and they continue to move forward. A look at argentina where the United States is poised to build stronger ties. And was soecently depressed and disgusted with what i saw in that kershner government. I have hope now and i really believe as we see the new government saying they will pay back the bonds and make investors at least partially whole, it is an important point. In mexico, we continue to build upon and rhea horse our relationship with our close ourhbor and reinforce relationship with our close neighbor and i am very concerned about threats posed by the spread of the zika virus and i think we will be hearing more on that. This is an emergency. We should not be quibbling about it. Our people are going to get sick. Have in florida, 99 cases. It is going to happen as sure as we are sitting here and in short order. World, andleave the i know there are no sure answers. We will stumble and fall, but as they say, what is important is get back up and make sure we dont repeat those mistakes because in any kind of human relations, let alone foreign relations, we make mistakes. I support funding for programs that support human rights defenders and Simple Society organizations that promote religious freedom, strengthen accountability and the rule of law. We begin with a testimony from our panel and we will have a vote at 11 00. We will get into the pretty heavier statements the record. For the record. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member boxer and disturbing to sing with members of the i ammmittee, iq for the pleased to present fiscal plans for the year 2017. Our request for 970 million will promote the interests of the United States while significantly improving the quality of life are those we help. We have identified five priorities to focus our assistance where we can have the greatest impact, prosperity, good governance, promoting a sustainable and equitable peace in colombia, longterm development in haiti, advancing democracy and human rights across the americas and addressing environmental threats to livelihoods. One of our highest priorities is Central America, particularly in el salvador, guatemala and kanye west and honduras. We know that Opening Doors for citizens, especially will bolster our efforts for more prosperous societies. Our programs include efforts to support Small Businesses and entrepreneurs, encourage private investment, train youth in job skills and improve agricultural productivity. These efforts to grow prosperity are only sustainable in an environment where Democratic Values and institutions flourish , human rights are respected and Civil Society and the media can play their rightful role. Our programs are aimed at rooting out corruption, strengthening Civil Societys ability to hold governments accountable, fostering a culture of respect for human rights, especially for historically marginalized roofs and improving fiscal transparency groups and improving fiscal transparency. It will ultimately be difficult for our efforts to take root in societies played by insecurity. Tacit approaches in the most violence prone communities to create safe spaces, provide job and life skills training and provide police for the residents. Northern help the triangle develop into a safer and more prosperous region for all those who live there. Such sustained commitment yields as we have seen with the notable strides made in columbia. 2017, we are requesting 187 billion dollars to expand upon current programming to help the Colombian Program government established a stronger presence, provide postconflict reconciliation and justice, improve Economic Growth and sustainably manage the countrys natural resources. It programs will build upon current successes, especially for marginalized population. Along with Central America and columbia, haiti remains a high priority. Our fy 17 request will continue our efforts to help haiti grow into a stable and economically viable country. We remain focused on promoting Economic Growth, creation and agricultural invest advances, providing basic health care and Education Services and improving the transparency of government institutions and the responsiveness citizens. While more remains to be done, we are committed to supporting the haitian people as they build a more secure future. Throughout the region, our democracy and human rights friends address fundamental issues including anticorruption anticorruption, and the rule of law and the support for Civil Society. Thatrk to ensure governments are open and accountable and use public runs responsibly and effectively and deliver Critical Services to citizens. We are also committed to serving human rights wherever we work, underpinning all of these efforts is support and protection for a strong Civil Society that can hold governments accountable. Another challenge facing the region is the negative impact of extreme weather events. Our mitigation and adaptation efforts helped reduce dividends devastation to life, property and economic activity. We are also seeing the development and the one at of advanced Clean Technology and revelatory environments. We have one goal in mind with everything that we do, to empower countries to assume responsibility for their own development and grow beyond the need for national assistant. We use science, technology and private sector partnerships to find new solutions and scale up what works. For every dollar we spend in the region in 2014, we mobilized ive times that in every sector resources. We take our responsibility to the taxpayer seriously and we are committed to accountability, transparency and oversight of our programs. We use a full range of monitoring and evaluation tools to track progress and ensure the programs are meeting goals and delivering results. With sustained commitment from countries in the region to advance their own developing goals and our government support, we are well paced for success. I look forward to your questions. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity 2017stify on fiscal year for assistance request for the western hemisphere and thank you for your ongoing support of our diplomatic efforts in the hemisphere. The administrations approach to improves security, strengthens the rule of law, promotes the sea and human rights, advances partnerships, and promotes prosperity and inclusive growth for all its citizens. U. S. Assistance is a critical tool that supports these goals. In our request for Central America and mexico, the to address the underlying conditions driving migration from Central America through mexico and to the United States. The request also includes increases to support colombias implementation of an expected Peace Agreement marking the end of the hemispheres longestrunning conflict. The request maintains support for key partnerships with peru, haiti and the caribbean. The fy 2017 foreign assistance request for our strategy in Central America continues support for prosperity, governance and disparity in recognition of the acute challenges these companies countries face. U. S. Assistance complements the investments northern triangle governments or making through their own development plan, the alliance for prosperity. They planned to spend 2. 6 million this year on their own plan. Continued u. S. Support will be vital to columbias success as it seeks to implement a peace accord. Our partnership with mexico remains an important priority for the United States and includes a range of issues that benefit both countries, including trade and investment, energy and security. The America Initiative continues to provide the framework for our bilateral Security Cooperation at both rural and date levels. Our request also includes essential democracy assistance for cuba and venezuela were the United States will continue to provide assistance that advances in universal human rights and supports Civil Society. Promotions of democratic principles and human rights remains of the core of u. S. Interest in cuba. Our continued investment in infrastructure, agriculture, Economic Growth, basic education and health, expanded governance and security. A sustained u. S. Commitment is essential to build on the past gains of u. S. Efforts in haiti and build its capacity to respond to citizens banks. Eds. Itizens ne cattlemansative caribbean efforts to reduce crime and violence, strengthen the rule of law and address the factors that put you in marginalized communities that put youth and marginalized communities insecurity. In eradication and alternative development and cultivation. I urge the u. S. Congress to fully fund this request for the western hemisphere as it advances our National Security and wisely invest our resources where they can have the most significant impact. I look forward to your questions and i just want to point out there is a great group of students from richmond, virginia at the hearing. Ask if they are Maggie Walker students . Congratulations on we the people, you guys are fantastic. Think your thank you, senator rubio, it is a pleasure to be here. I will say a few words about our Global Programs support people who are struggling for advances in democracy and human rights around the world. I will start by technology that this is obviously not the time not an easy time to be doing this kind of work. Authoritarian governments are beginning are striking out with great ferocity against freedoms of expression, association, and the press. Andhorrible war in syria the terror of isis and mass migrations of refugees and the fear that all of this security creates even in democratic countries with all the impact on our politics that we have seen. All of that should disturb us, i dont think it should surprise us. Freedom has advanced in waves over the last few decades. By advancesfollowed in the internet and the global Civil Society which allows people in just about every society in the world know exactly what they are missing and to connect with each other and people around the world, to build effective mover movements for social change. People often say to me that human rights is a soft issue, but i think it is the hardest issue there is, because its advance is a threat to the most dangerous people in the world. If you are trying to steal an election or stay in office for life or profit corruption, then of course you are threaten by ngos and journalists who try to expose those abuses of power. Of course you will fight back and that is what we are facing in many parts of the world. World, i around the find that the good guys are winning as many victories as they are losing, particularly when we are there to help them. Look at the historical elections that took place in burma, nigeria, sri lanka even in venezuela. The lesson i take from that is that if we have patience and determination and stick with these efforts and with these programs, we are going to win more victories than defeats. That is where the funding you provide my bureau, through our human rights and Democracy Fund comes in. It is about 85 million. We like to think of it as our Venture Capital fund for freedom. We are using it to get news, knowledge and get entertainment into north korea, an effort that is changing minds and awakening expectations in the most closed society on earth. We are using it to support the Legal Defense of political activists and dissidents in multiple countries. We are using it to support Political Prisoners in burma so they can contribute to Building Democracy and fight the religious hatreds that threatens democracy. We are using it to deploy cuttingedge technology that breaks through chinas great firewall and protect activists in dozens of countries from cyberattacks and cyber intrusions. We are using it to help organizations defending him of expression in latin america. One of our programs supported a campaign that saved ecuadors number one press freedom watchdog. To keep civilt Society Organizations alive in area where groups we funded negotiated ceasefires, documented the crimes of the aside regime of the assad regime. We are setting up Early Warning systems in remote areas of the eastern congo so that people there can call for help when they are threatened by armed groups in nigeria, to protect people from boko haram. Were using it to help women who have a desk escaped isis captivity in Northern Iraq. We are using it to support organizations that try to build trust between muslim communities and the police and eastern kenya so that they can unite against auch about against ousted bob al shabab. Our emergency Grant Programs can get small but lifesaving amounts of money to activists and ngos under threat is little as 48 hours. These programs now to provide protection and assistance to some of the bloggers and others who have been threatened in bangladesh, one of many examples. To save the best for last, on a fiscal standpoint, libby say that we also use it to support the work of ngos and journalists that expose corruption around the world. This work has contributed to inost 3 billion confiscations and finds, including over 1 billion in the Justice Department seizures which is a good investment for your drl funds. I want to thank you for the strong support that this committee and the congress has shown our programs over the years. With continued support, we will continue to do work that that only does our country proud, but makes us safer and stronger in the long run. Thank you. My first question is on the issue of human rights and the president s visit to saudi arabia. There were two cases. You know if either one of these cases were raised in those meetings and what are we doing to pressure . There was a bipartisan letter urging the president to make human rights a priority with his during his meeting with the king. If these cases were not raised during the meeting, what are we doing in regard to these in regard to these people who have been jailed unjustly . These cases have been raised more than once with the highest levels of the saudi government and i know the president had an extensive conversation with the king about human rights in saudi arabia. You may have seen some stories about how intensive that conversation was. Continuedge to you cases privately with the saudi government and publicly where appropriate until people who are unjustly detained for peaceful expression as these individuals are, are released. Madee Administration Countries of particular concern designations and noticeably absent absent from the list was pakistan. What would have to happen for pakistan to be designated as a country of particular concern . There are a lot of tough calls when the secretary makes these decisions, i think the test is not simply whether there are significant abuses a religious freedom in a particular country, but whether we feel that there is a commitment within the government to try to do something about it and it is in valuation that the secretary makes on a casebycase basis. A country this year because after a lot of diplomatic meetings with the government, we were not getting a sufficient spot to our requests getting a sufficient response to our requests to take action. The secretary recently made his genocide designation. What steps does the Department Communities which is found themselves in the crosshairs of isis . This has been a learning priority for many of us since this conflict with isis began. I was in Northern Iraq a couple months ago. Religious shrine just a few miles north of the front line with isis. We have a lot of programs that we are funding to provide direct support, that just military this is but Psychosocial Support for people who have faced violence, escaped captivity on the part of isis. As you know, the first shots we fired in this war to liberate territory in iraq from isis was fired to protect these people when they were surrounded by the terrorists, and i think this is something that we need to think about with particular focus in the next stage of the military campaign, as it focuses more members ofmany congress rightly urged us to look at the genocide determination and call was happening to the other minorities by its name, by using the terminology is the easy part , the important thing is that we these way to liberate historical homelands of these people in a way that not only to each isis, but enables these communities to go home with dignity and security. Frankly, that is going to take resources and we are working with you in reaching out to you to talk about what its going to take to do this in the right way so that people can go home. What additional Budget Resources are necessary . I am probably not the best person to ask what the total cost of the entire mission. It will require support for shortterm idps, for example, as it is squeeze, there will certainly be hundreds of thousands of people fleeing that city. There are 2 Million People that will need to be cared for, somewhere by somebody. It will require stabilization funds after the liberation of that area for rebuilding and supporting institutions of justice. It will require training and support for local security forces, including some of the local security forces, including the Christian Communities that have been performing in that area. We are beginning to work with those folks and i think if you look at the various appeals including the appeal for the humanitarian support, you will find that a lot more is needed. Overst year, there were 8600 documented arrests in cuba, is the only country in the americas still classified as not free. In light of all of this, why would the administration request a reduction from a 20 million it has provided annually in recent years in funding to democracy assistance for the cuban people . Thank you for the question. Request seeks to establish a sustainable level of democracy support in cuba. We believe the human rights situation merits continued and continued attention and our assistance is designed to work independentociety, Civil Society, promote Democratic Values, human rights and advance fundamental freedoms. One we believe we can execute on the ground. You are saying that you dont think you can spend 20 million or find programs to fund so that is why you are asking for less . It is very unusual for a Government Agency to ask for less. We believe that is the sustainable level of programming that we can carry out inside cuba. What does that mean . The funding you can get in the future or that is as much as you can handle . It is a combination of the amount of money that we believe can be absorbed inside you but at this time. That was not the feeling two years ago . Is that a change in position because a couple of years ago, the funding was at 25. 20 million. I will have to get back to you on what happened to the previous funding. You say you dont believe the island can support 29 in spending, there are none of programs for it to sustain. In past years, there has been more money, are you saying that it has not been spent . Something you fund in the past is not getting funded now, correct . We have spent slightly more than 58 million in the past and what we face every time we make these request to be honest is overall, as you well know, a diminishing pool of resources to do almost everything that we want to do around the world. , as thei look at this head of the democracy and him that human rights bureau, i always welcome as much spending as we can do in any country in the world that needs it. We have about 85 million globally for every country, for human rights and democracy programs and i could probably spend more in every single country where we are doing this kind of work. , next to as point rock is a country that receives the most next to iraq is the country that receives the most hunting in the world and merits it given the challenges and importance that this issue has to the United States. Say itimes look at it and would love to have more and sometimes i look at it and say id rather have more than 200,000 for a country in africa or in asia were that is all we have. Those are some of the choices. So this is a part of reallocation. Within a limited budget. We have a very limited budget. You know the challenges that we have had overall in trying to maintain adequate levels of spending in a lot of places we care about. Cuba is one of them, so it is not certainly a real cap it is certainly not a reallocation away from supporting human rights, but we have hard choices to make within the limited amount of money we have. I would love for us to be able to do more and a lot of places. I would like you to be able think i want to get back to the zika virus because i think this is an absolute threat to this country. Thisogan, i will direct question to you. There is no doubt the zika virus is a Public Health the that has affected thousands of people in the western hemisphere, including almost 300 americans. It causes severe birth defects occluding blindness and deafness. Toadults, it is late syndromes which can cause paralysis linked to syndromes which can cause paralysis. The World Health Organization described the zika threat as one of alarming proportion. Proportions. That zikave learned is sexually transmitted. Dangercountry, the most dangerous american endangered americans are those that live in the gulf states. It is clear that these types of epidemics know no boundaries. We have to respond quickly. In february, the president requested a 1. 9 billion emergency supplemental to seek a. A portion of this would go to usaid. Sadly, andly, and inexplicably, congress has not provided the administration with the ending it needs to rest on to this outbreak. Those who oppose it will be held accountable. It is as simple as that. Difference inig these kinds of epidemics. The longer we wait, the more people get infected and the more lives are painfully altered forever. We have seen it. You, with your limited funds, what efforts has taken tod. Usaid combat the spread . Ive heard several republicans say take the money from ebola. That is a whole other problem and it is not the answer. I want to know what you are doing with your limited runs and du agree we have a great need for the ones the president asked for . Thank you for that question and we share your deep concern about the potential impact of a in the region the gut of zika in the region. Thus far, usaid has conducted region,nt around the particularly in those countries were Health Systems are weak and we have developed a strategy which we are ready to launch. The strategy would include change,behavior syndication, vector control, investing in new diagnostic techniques. Can we diagnose it . Is it easy to find out if someone is carrying the virus . Cdc is the expert in this area, and i know that they can diagnose it. It more rapidly and less expensively is what we are hoping to bring about through a grand challenge that the usaid had issued to the private sector for 35 million to invest in Innovative Technologies and approaches to do the kinds of things that i just mentioned in terms of diagnostics. Areo to sum it up, you doing everything you can with limited resources, but it is a race against time and from my understanding, we have so much and i know you are supporting taking action we dont even know how long the virus stays in your system and since it is sexually transmitted, couples planning to have children that are know the situation, whether the man is infected and can pass it on. I raise it here because it is one of those unusual situations where there is a direct impact for americans that is going on in another part of the world. This is not some Foreign Policy matter, this is a Health Emergency and i will be continuing to speak about it. Womenllenials key, afghan have made progress in education, health and Political Representation and i have been engaged in meeting with the women and while president donnie is a Strong Partner on womens issues, it is clear that women continue to face great barriers, especially in regards to their legal rights. Last year, a mob really killed a woman falsely accused of burning the koran. In central happened kabul in broad daylight in the presence of security officials. Disturbingly, the Afghan Supreme Court recently vindicated the death sentences of four men charged with this murder and reduce the sentences of nine others. This is but one example of ways in which afghanistans legal system continues to fail afghan women. How will the u. S. Continue to work with afghanistan to bolster the legal rights of afghan women . Thank you for that question. Im sure i wont do justice to every aspect of it or everything that we are doing. With with respect to the afghan judiciary, one of the steps that the president intended to take was to appoint the first woman or women to the Afghan Supreme Court. When i saw him last, i urged him to do that and he said he was committed. To it. His appointments have been successful unsuccessful and blocked. Where they learning how to block appointments to the Supreme Court where are they learning how to block appointments to the Supreme Court . That was a bad joke. [laughter] of resisting all kinds at a lower level, but at a important level, we have done a lot of work with local justice institutions in afghanistan through training and other assistance programs to help them implement a new violence against women law which has been one in orton advance. We have a program out of my bureau, which supports sending talented young afghan women to a university for women in bangladesh. We established a really Interesting Program there and women who graduate on the program often go back to afghanistan and enter government and the Justice System. At a grassroots level, just encouraging more women to take up positions in the Justice System has been an important priority for our programming. Senatorrdner gardner. Requires a designation of human rights violators in north korea and a designation out of out of curiosity, how are those investigations going and do you have any intention of naming someone under legislation passed by congress . We are working very hard on identifying people. I have often spoken publicly about this in one of the most important things that we can do for human rights in north korea is to send a message inside the system to the midlevel people. People in Public Security ministries who are responsible for the worst abuses that guess what, we know who you are and someday, when there is change on the peninsula, you will be on a list you dont want to be on if you are associated with those abuses. Figuring out who those people are is not always easy for reasons im sure you will understand. We are working with our partners, including with the South Koreans to try to figure this out, we have made some progress and we intend to use the sanctions authority. The president s executive order for the legislation passed created a human rights sanctions authority for the same purpose. I cannot tell you who because we are not there yet, but when is hopefully as soon as possible. Will you be looking at the highest levels of government for the sanctions . We can look at individuals and at ministries. I dont want to just say kim jongun is a bad guy. My preference would be to identify some of the people who are less wellknown in order to send that message that we do know who they are and there may be consequences in the future if they are associated with executions and the prison camp system. We did provide additional authorities in order to communicate with the north Korean People to ways to build cheap and efficient medication channels in order to get the message out about the atrocities of the regime and hopefully those authorities, senator rubio was a critical part of that and will be utilized and helpful in getting the word out about ask that these people are carrying acts that these people are carrying out. We are go we are working with all dachshund Technology Like radios and getting information to people in the north. There are about a million cell phone contracts in with korea right now, so people are communicating with each other and also with people outside the country in surprising ways. There are a lot of folks working on delivering content that will raise awareness and bring information to people in north korea about simple things at what life is like outside of the country. We find that some of that out of my bureau and at their is room for a lot more. China has had a policy of returning north korean defectors to the regime. Are you in conversation with china about changing the policy, are they intending to change the policy . We have raised this many times with china, as some other countries have in the region. I would note that there are some cases recently in which china has allowed people move on who have sought asylum. There were some north korean workers in beijing recently, who managed to get themselves to south korea without objections the Chinese Government from the Chinese Government. It is a question we continue to raise. After president aftervisited the week his visit, things in cuba have returned to normal, 150 activists were arrested on saturday. Is that an accurate assessment . How many Political Prisoners are there in cuba today that we are aware of and has their been in a resort decrease in the number of these arrest since our policy change . Big distinction is between longterm Political Prisoners, most of whom have been released and the shortterm harassment, often violence that who trycted on people to hold meetings or organize rallies, discussions to engage in the politics of the island. That is absolutely that has absolutely not let up. There were a couple thousand short detentions in the first three of this year. Both thet reflects highly repressive tendencies of this government, which we know extremely well, but also their nervousness, about the changes that are taking place in our relationship and the hemisphere. See thenteresting to reaction of the cuban government to president obamas visit after the fact. Fidel castro basically left his dad to deliver a speech denouncing president obama and said we dont need any gifts from the empire. President obamas syrupy words about brotherhood and shared history were enough to give humans a heart attack, he said. Full castro made similar rob raul rob Castro Castro made similar statements. There is a myth of american hostility toward cuba and we have completely destroyed that and they have nothing else and are extremely nervous as a result of that. If i could, i will introduce you to the students who are here, the school is for governmental and and international studies. It is in the neighborhood where i lived, it was a vacant and abandoned building when i unelected and over the course of about evan years, we worked with governments in the region to build it into this high school that is now commonly ranked as one of the 25 best public high schools United States and the students are here as part of a constitutional competition that they have been participating in and i am really happy to have them here. This is a good hearing for them to be at. I have the opportunity last week asking essence of this hogan and mr. Paul mary with respect to the northern triangle and i will not those that focus my questions to the secretary. Yesterday, i had a meeting with senators baldwin and coons with inspirational city councilwoman and in in stable. She founded the Istanbul Pride parade in 20 2003 and there were 30 marchers. By 2014, there were over 80,000 marchers and last year, the turkish government use Water Cannons to shut the march down and disperse everyone after it had grown so large. She was visiting us to talk about ways in which the United States could be helpful and when senator coons asked her how we could help human rights in turkey. This was her answer and i wanted you to hear this because it is about your she set the help we have had that has enabled us to do a we have done has been the United States. The support of the ambassador and the consul in that in his temple has enabled the lgbt to not avoidturkey persecution but enabled us to come out of the shadows to some degree to organize and we have been note that there have been no greater friends and when we asked for we can do to help. She said the main thing we could do to help would be to thank the diplomats and members of the state department. Talk about the work you are doing in your bureau with respect to lgbt rights around the world. Whether it is in turkey turkey or russia, we see serious challenges. All, it is a very heartening story and i will pass ambassador, who is one of our best ambassadors on so many different scores. I know that he has been principled in reaching out to the Lgbt Community and the broader activist community in turkey, which is facing a lot of challenges. , first of all, it of thewith recognition legitimacy and dignity of people around the world, who are working for the human rights of lgbt people and simply asserting their own right to live in safety and dignity and simply reaching out, meeting with these folks as you mentioned in turkey, is an important part of it and i tried to do it on all of my trips. We provide materials to people who are on the front lines of the struggle. We have a Global Equality Fund which we have gotten other governments to contribute to, is one of those emergency funds that i mentioned in my Opening Statement that we can deliver 3000 and 48 hours to someone who needs help for security or support for anic ngo that is doing good work, sometimes for legal support. There have been successful legal challenges in countries around the world, have a restrictive or repressive antigay laws that we have provided support to. Rhetorical level, we are very careful in our public statements not to suggest that this is about carving of special rights for special kinds of people, we are talking about simply basic human rights that everybody in the world enjoys, whether straight or lgbt, no one violence,subject to no one should be persecuted because of who they are and i think that message increasingly resonates in countries, even where there is nervousness about the events of this issue. Met inmber of us istanbul in january, we were right in the heart of the city under the blue mosque before the bombing. She definitely connects the feelings of government persecution of the Lgbt Community to the worries that other religious minorities or political opponent are feeling in turkey. I would like to delve into turkey further in another moment. I like to move on to press freedom. Around the world, we are seeing turkey is a good example, russia, honduras. I actually worked at a Radio Station in honduras. A number of journalists have been killed. This is so fundamental and you see government cracking down on the free press, you can debt that they are cracking down on political opponents and they will be trying to engage in other authoritarian activity. Weh as we politics would not trade a free press for anything. Tell us how your bureau tries to it is the notion of texting him of the press around the world. When a government crackdown on free press, he spake out about it we speak out about it and talk about it in our diplomatic engagements. We have done it with turkey and egypt where we have worked hard to get journalist out of prison. We have done it in china. Sometimes we are successful and sometimes we are left out. Persecuted are because they are doing effective, hardhitting work. Corruption is coming to the fore in many countries and is making many governments nervous about the work of the free press that is uncovering their secrets. Oftentimes, they will find that we are supporting those journalists, and not just rhetorically. Havegenerally, we also programs that are specifically designed to help train journalists in difficult environments to stay safe. Programs in digital safety, physical safety, that do not provide 100 protection, but that i think are very helpful to journalists that are facing very real danger in the work that they do. A quick question about the Lgbt Community inestimable in istanbul. Is that criminalized under turkish law . I would have to get back to you. Cornyn senator garden. Let me thank all of our witnesses for the work they do every day on behalf of human rights. Malinowski, i want to ask you a couple of questions. The Russian Media has been actively engaged to try to rewrite history as to what the tragic arrest, torture and death of has used itsation Inherent Authority to grant certain types of sanctions against those who perpetrated those crimes in russia and has also used the authority under the law that was passed. Can you comment as to the basis for imposing those sanctions as it relates to the allegations that have been made by the Russian Press . One thing i have learned that our sanctions rims in this job is for our the bar lawyers, our investigators, the folks who determine whether a particular individual needs meets the criteria that congress has laid out for application of a particular sanction, and i can tell you in the in this case, we rely on multiple sources of information in making these determinations. Is reviewed by many people in the unit since governments who have to be confident the information is credible before we put somebodys name on that in addition to the state department. We are very confident that the people on that list deserved to be on that list based on hard evidence. I thank you for that. There have been several people who have been sanctioned as a result and there has been congressional involvement working with the administration. That the information we have received, the type of conduct that they perpetrated in person that was trying to bring to attention of the authorities the correct situation and in fact became a victim and lost his life. I thank you for clarifying that point. I want to move on to a tragic situation. We are seeing an increase in the number of Political Prisoners in that country and the repression against those who differ with the government in iran. One of those cases, a political prisoner and Radio Liberty reporter is currently serving a 7. 5 year sentence on charges that many human rights organizations regard as politically motivated. She has been a tireless reporter on corruption the country and it is believed she was targeted for her work. Could you just comment as to what diplomatic tools we have available in order to raise this issue . I would say first of all that we have called and will continue her. Ll for the release of we are very well aware of her case. In the last several weeks, we have engaged. Attentively with the government n human rights issues. I think it has attributed to the a numbert to release aat we consider to be ,ecognized human rights lawyer the chairman of their election monitoring and Democratic Center thinkwe have seen some i very positive stuff by the government in response to our engagement that we would thatinly be the good news we have seen is not yet enough and there are still others. We very strongly believe that releasing the remaining Political Prisoners and expanding freedom of expression and freedom of the press would be good for that countrys future and our relationship with them. Lastly, let me just raise the tragic death that we saw in bangladesh a few days ago that the u. S. Aid employee. Keith founded he founded the first bangladesh lgbt magazine. That murder still being investigated. L relatedhat an isi group claimed responsibility, but this is just outrageous. I would hope that the administration would keep a bright spotlight on this tragic sure we have full accountability as to who is responsible, and that we hold the government to doing Everything Possible. Not only to hold the perpetrators responsible but to protect the Civil Society in bangladesh. It is challenged and clearly this murder will have an impact on the country. It is absolutely correct that. We are outraged by it. It is the latest in a series of killings, as you mentioned. This one hit particularly close. We can to everything encourage the government of bangladesh to investigate this and bring the perpetrators to justice. We will support them in doing so, and as i mentioned in my also can useds, we and are using some of our Emergency Assistance programs to provide support in getting people who are threatened, so threatened in bangladesh, to safety. Thank you. I think all the panelists for the commitment to these issues. Senator markey . Senator markey thank you. There is an epidemic in the and sources now say that it is clear that china and mexico are the two principal means by which been to know is coming into the United States. The number of opioid deaths has escalated with the single plague addition to that been a killer in the country. What is our government saying to ofico about the implication the drug . It comes from mexico and winds peopleassachusetts where died, but what is it that we are telling the mexicans about this importation . It is the state department that has the lead on that dialogue, so i would ask my colleagues to respond. Thank you. We are engaged in a broad effort addiction and improve poppyability to eradicate cultivation inside mexico, as well as strengthen our border and Law Enforcement cooperation to prevent those kinds of drugs from leaving mexico. Senator markey are you talking about fentanyl . It is like the chemical concoction that is put together. What are you saying about fentanyl specifically to the mexicans . It is a killer. We have a broadbased conversation with mexico on counter narcotics. Our Law Enforcement agencies are engaged with mexico on a full range of Drug Trafficking that emanates from mexico into the United States. Markey are you having specific conversations about fentanyl with them . It is much more deadly than heroine or anything that has ever been seen before. What are you saying to them about this one specific new deathn to the opioid spirals that too many families in america have now fallen . We are pressing the Mexican Government to do all it can to prevent illegal narcotics from entering the United States into working collaboratively with our Law Enforcement agencies and fentanyl is one of the substances we are focused on. Would urge you i as strongly as i can to elevate fentanyl to the top priority which you have. It has potential to kill tens of thousands, tens of thousands of americans over the next several years and the route in is through mexico. This is something that i urge of to elevate to the level intense dialogue between our two countries so that they know we. Ean business and our issue it is a critical concern. Not just an urban america but every city and town in our country. Istanyl is the new drug that killing people, andrea got to stop it. Mexico must be our aggressive partner in this. , theman rights in mexico beenity forces have implicated and repeated serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings , disappearances, torture, and the government has made little progress investigating or prosecutors in those responsible for abuses. What is happening in mexico to fives belief in september 2014 123 students disappeared in mexico. That was nearly two years ago. At the time, i wrote a letter urging the secretary of state to do Everything Possible to support the Mexican Government by making additional investigated and forensic resources available. My letter also encourage the systems to the mexico government to bring all those responsible to justice and to ensure positive postmortem identifications to allow families to begin grieving and healing processes. The Mexican Government has not done this. In 2015, a Disciplinary Group of experts from human rights went to mexico to investigate the case and worked for about when youre to uncover the truth. But then the Mexican Government refused to extend their mandate prematurely and the their work. This past weekend, they released their final report and found serious abuses and inconsistencies in the Mexican Government investigation. It throws the Mexican Governments version of events into question and suggest that the government did not seek to discover the extent of official culpability for the crimes. The New York Times reported that the group of experts had injured carefully orchestrated attacks in the mexican media, a refusal to turn over documents or grant interviews with central figures, and even a retaliatory criminal investigation into one of the officials who appointed them. What is our government doing to persuade the Mexican Government to allow the group of experts to continue its investigation, and what will we do now in response to the reports . Senator, we did take notes of of april 24 report independent experts from the commission on human rights. The commissions work and we do urge mexico to consider the reports and respond to the recommendations, specifically to provide assistance to the families and the victims, to bring the perpetrators to justice and to actions the suggested to address the actions associated with that. Senator markey what actions can we take to show how serious we are about this . Have anieri we do ongoing civil rights dialogue with the Mexican Government. This topic has been raised that many Different Levels and will continue to be raised with the government. Senator markey we have a huge problem here, twentysomething thousand mexicans have disappeared over the last 10 years and the government has done little to investigate. I think this is just an escalating problem inside of the country and it is up to the United States since they are a partner on so many other issues to use every bit of leverage we had to let them know that we are dead serious about this issue and it cannot be allowed to continue. Thank you, mr. Chairman. We will drop up. I have one more question. The rest been a significant uptick in cuban migrants. Period,fivemonth 18,000 immigrants arrived. We are also getting similar reports since october of last attempted tohave enter the u. S. , but what is more concerning is the number of people we talked about last week of people coming into ecuador, panama and costa rica. Some of these governments, the body language or attitude is that we will put them on a plane us close to the u. S. Border and we dont want that problem. Outsource has occurred since the deal. What is driving the migration and what is our position toward those countries that are talking about frequently moving these people and is it our job to facilitate them to get them to the u. S. To where they want to go . I we confronting the attitude they have . And third, what is the best way to handle this . The focus is on encouraging them to ensure state and legal and orderly aggression. Much of this migration is undocumented and a regular as it passes through. And a regular as it passes through the Central American region. Costa rica and panama worked with the government of mexico and they did their let almost bothcuban migrants from countries to the northern part of mexico, where they crossed into the United States. Costa rica took a step at that time of making it clear that after that backlog was addressed that they were going to be more aggressive in forcing their immigration laws and returning people to their last point of origin. We now see an additional backlog in panama, andts there is now at least as reported by the press, talk of another possible airlift but in panama and mexico. We continue to urge the countries to enforce immigration laws, to strengthen their border controls, and to address undocumented and irregular migration by returning people to their last point of origin. We think that is the best way. Senator rubio how we pronounced ourselves against these airlifts, whether in costa rica or panama . If word gets out that you can get into this country and they will fly you close to the u. S. Border to get in, you are encouraging more people to do this, so have we said, do not airlift those people . We have significant potential leverage over these countries. Mr. Palmieri we have direct with all three countries to make sure theyre going to strengthen their border controls and to put in place that are mechanisms to prevent this undocumented senator rubio that is the future, but what about the current backlog . Mr. Palmieri we have encouraged the countries to figure out the surge oftion to this migration, and we believe the best solution is stronger enforcement of their own immigration laws. Sen. Rubio we have not told him not to do the airlifts . Mr. Palmieri no, sir. Cuba has been oppressive for 60 years. What is the difference now . The fear that the cuban adjustment act is going to go away and people of coming here before it goes away . Mr. Palmieri we have no plans to change the cuban adjustment act at this time, senator. There continues to be a large migration flow out of cuba. It reflects the difficult human rights conditions in the country. Sen. Rubio i understand that the administration has no plans to advocate for a change in the cuban adjustment act, an act of congress, but is there fear what i hear is that people in cuba think the cuban adjustment act might go away so theyre trying to get into the u. S. Before that happens. Mr. Palmieri i do not know and cannot comment your agree on the individual motivations of these cuban migrants, but i can make clear that the administration is at entertaining any idea of change to the cuban adjustment act, so that should not be a factor in their decision calculus. Rubio i would like to thank all of you for being here today. I appreciate you dissipating in this. I think it was informative and i am pleased that we have so many members attending and asking great questions. Workways think you for the they do on behalf of our country. With that, i want to know that the record will remain open until the close of business on thursday, april 28. With that, the hearing is adjourned. Thank you. [indistinct chattering] [indistinct chattering] [indistinct chattering] the senate subcommittee, you can find it online any time at www. Cspan. Org. Going from the senate to the house. It will be in at noon eastern time. They will be working on a number theales under suspicion of rules, including one that deals with the u. S. Airports donating screening equipment. Also, measures to get money for oil spill cleanup. The house is live today at noon eastern and legislative business at 3 00. Now, we would take a look at millennials and how they vote from todays washington journal. The polling director of the Harvard Institute of politics joins us after releasing a new survey of millennials and their views on this years election and politics in general. This survey might have some republicans concerned, not just when they look at the selection, but perhaps looking into the future. Guest i think so, and inks for having me, it is a pleasure to follow dr. Madonna from frank the Marshall College franklin Marshall College. A year ago, i mightve been on this program talking about my position that this could be a very good year for youth,cans regarding the but i felt that after two cycles of running against barack obama, somebody who really could have understood not only how to connect but communicate and empower young people, but the Playing Field might be a little more level in 2016 in just a few months before the general election, we see that the Net Advantage the democrats have generally has gone from plus 15 a year ago to plus 28. When we look at the most likely match of birth november, Hillary Clinton versus donald trump, we see secretary clinton with a one point share of the vote, compared to only 25 percent for the likely republican nominee. Host 40 you attributing the change to over the past year . Is it the candidates themselves . Guest i think it is the campaign, generally. We conducted polls once a semester. It is a collaboration between me and 26 undergraduates from harvard. A year ago, it was. About a 15 point advantage for democrats. That was before the campaign actually kicked off. What we are seeing is, as the campaign, especially the very divisive Republican Campaign where it fits one segment of america against another segment, we see the republican brand suffer in the eyes of americans across the board. For example, the republican brand has suffered among young whites who prefer republicans to democrats a year ago, that is not the case anymore. Also young, independentminded americans who were a toss up a year ago and are now fairly solidly democrat. I think as the campaign has gone on, we have seen a Divisive Campaign on the republican side and the unfavorable number for donald trump is in the 70s and i think that is the main reason why it is such a significant advantage for democrats. There is a second reason as well. The Sanders Campaign deserves a lot of credit for inspiring a generation again americans of Young Americans to think about politics and issues in a different way than they might have even thought was possible. Host as you talk about this poll of millennials, we are splitting up the phone lines by age group. 8 to 29, 202 7488000 30 to 50 years old, 202 7488001. Over 50, 202 7488002. I want to pick up on your comments about Bernie Sanders. Why is the only candidate oldest candidate in the race attracting the most support on the youngest voters . Guest there is no relationship between a candidates age and their position. Young people Pay Attention to the position, they Pay Attention to the worldview and perspective. He is the only candidate among the five currently vying for their nominations where a majority of Young Americans you him favorably. View him favorably. It has to do with the positions he is holding as well as his overall persona. People generally get excited that he is so passionate in terms of what he believes in, and trying to create a movement. It is the idea of his campaign, less about winning a nomination and more about putting a variety of issues on the table and that has really galvanized a significant part of young america. I conducted some analysis of the exit poll data over the course of the first several months of his campaign and he has one close to 70 of all votes within the democratic primary and of alland about 40 votes cast between 18 and 29yearolds across america. Millennialsoes into views on politics, their understanding of the political situation which leads to this question from twitter, the people understand that we have 19. 2 trillion in debt . That . Ng people get guest they get that america is essentially the politics is broken. In fact, we ask a question in terms of what direction emanate is the nation heading and we asked this back in 2000 when the ball started and 15 again americans believe the country or the nation is heading in the right direction. 85 disagree with that statement, about half say we are on the wrong tracks. And people are concerned about the future of america and debt is certainly near the top of that list. Line for 30 tour 50yearolds in arizona. Caller a quick comment. I just wanted to say, i think my generation is generation x. Myself and a lot of friends are leaving towards trump because even we can see the system is kind of broken. Corporate america. Im leaning towards trump for no other reason than it is a he is not a caught in the machine and could set us on a different cog in theled the machine and could set us on a different path. Host how does that compare to the millennials you have talked to . Guest in some ways, it does the other way, as ive said, i dont think we have a lot of support among americans for donald trump. I think in people, millennials agree that in big picture, things are going in the wrong direction but they disagree on the solution. What weve seen in the last year is a significant shift in how young people are thinking about politics and issues. I would argue that when we look back at this campaign and the ,uture, that this campaign specifically the Sanders Campaign, will be responsible for shifting a significant part of this generation to the left. You have Seen Movement across four or five issues that we have been tracking for over 10 years to Significant Movement just in the last year, five points on issues like the governments responsibility to aid people who are impoverished or protect against climate change. These are issues that the Sanders Campaign to look at about, putting into the national dialogue, especially moving them closer aligned with his positions. Host we are seeing the same sort of things when ron paul was running and libertarian principles and the support that he was getting from young people. Tillman on twitter says they change like the wind. Ofst a very small number Young Americans fawned over ron paul. He did very well in new hampshire. He probably received about half of the youth vote in new hampshire, that ron paul was not a factor in the campaign at this stage and going back to even 2008, the Obama Campaign really empowered young people and made them an integral part of that effort. I would argue that was less of an ideology and more of a optimism in the future and having a voice at the table. Todays campaign from the Sanders Movement is really about ideology and it feels different both the Obama Campaign and there are elements of the paul campaign, perhaps but this is different. Host augusta, maine, 18 to 29yearolds, tyler is waiting. Caller i wanted to comment on this guys young people shifting toward democrats. That may be true in the cities, but im thinking that in the country that more are shifting toward libertarianism or even the republican party. Basically, what we are seeing is that a lot of people, especially like in my community, a lot of people are going more toward bernie, i find they tend to have drug problems or they tend to be more dependent on the state and local government and we see that a growth in any of these small communities, and massachusetts i know people down there are pretty crazy about trump right now. Right here in maine, it is more in the southern areas, more left wing but you are seeing a lot of people are getting a little upset about the kind of slow growth in some of these rural areas. Guest i think tyler raises some good points. I think he is right about the concern about slaughter small growth. We asked a question inspired by a town meeting we discussed we conducted on campus about the American Dream. We asked americans if they believed that the American Dream is live is alive and about half of them said that for them, they believed the American Dream was dead. That is the element of the electorate, a significant half of thoses folks believing the American Dream is dead. Pessimistice more about america are more likely to align with donald trump on the right and Bernie Sanders on the left. That there are large numbers of young people flocking to donald trump. We just do not see it in the numbers. Mostderperforms among traditional republican constituents. Looking at the 18 to 29yearolds in our survey who voted for mitt romney, only 60 of those folks indicated they would vote for donald trump if he ran against Hillary Clinton. We have a minority, only 42 of kasich supporters say they would vote for trump. Supporters ted cruz supporters said they would vote for trump. I thought the future was fairly bright that the republicans would when this constituency and have more of a fight. 29, 18 toeam to 29, 202 7488000. 0 to 50, 202 7488001 50 and older, 202 7488002. We are talking up his only came up yesterday about millennials and their views on the candidates this election cycle. 18 to 29yearolds, nicholas in maryland. Caller good morning. I wanted to call in and comment about the support for donald trump. The caller a couple of minutes ago said that he wanted to vote for trunk because it would be throwing a cog in the political machine. As a millennial, i can understand that idea and a lot of my peers are voting for Bernie Sanders, but i think notrump and the way he carries himself is disgraceful and i would urge people against voting for him that reason and looking for his character and politics, thank you. Host looking at character. Guest i think that is the first step. It is still relatively early in some respects in terms of the number of people paying attention to the general election campaign. We are still trying to figure of the convention process, what i believe with young people that they need to seek a connection with a candidate before they can think about particular issues. That is the kind of current challenge with donald trump. Seekeeking candidate a candidate, we asked what attributes they are interested in, they tell us integrity and willingness to compromise, authenticity. Thatll trump has some of those characteristics but others are turning off young people, especially the divisiveness around his comments about muslims and walls and those sorts of things. A majority of young people do not agree with those and i think it is hurting him. His unfavorable rating is over 70 and that should be a concern, and that is about character, to me. Actually a is majority of republicans a majority of the young republicans hold a unfavorable view of him. A republican, you need to create a better relationship within the party first before we can think about expanding to independents and conservative democrats. Host george is above 50 years old in alabama. Caller good morning. I want to pass this thought along where i have heard several conversations and one that comes up is the delegates and the people. The people elected the delegates, did we put them in power and they turn around and say well this is what the people want. What isly that is not happening and there is not much of a debate when the people to get all the votes is not get elected. Does not take a Rocket Scientist that the people are not putting our politicians in power, that the politicians are putting politicians in power. I am a democrat, but i am not voting democrat this year. Host lets stay on that line for those over 50, rich in west virginia. Kimberly in houston, texas, 30 to 50. Caller good morning. Havet wanted to say i three children that are millennials and all of them are backing donald trump. Like the last caller said that it does not take a Rocket Scientist to figure out that the system is broken, that we are not actually doing anything and i feel like more thereans need to get out and be a citizen and vote. A lot of my friends dont even want to vote because they dont inc. Their vote counts, and it takes the citizens to make a change in america. Host thank you for the call. Voter participation, why do young people consistently fall below other age groups in going to the fold election day . I think a couple of reasons, in terms of that they dont think their vote matters, or the start of his budget in 2000, the questions, you have questions about the asian is reform patient, essentially because the answer we get back to me ask young people need to see it did feel like there is a tangible difference between one candidate and another. I think in this campaign, we will see that and we can encourage more people to participate but only if the candidates really take apart and take a part and empower the people. They dot to note that care deeply about the country and they volunteer in significant numbers. Young people are participating in every way, but i do think and hope that the campaigns will also begin to encourage more participation among young people. Asked all you we americans in our survey, 3100 interviews all Young Americans in our survey, 3100 interviews. The states in which obama targeted young people and increased, but it is a combination of everybodys responsibility to encourage and empower more youth participation. Line california, on the for 30 to 50yearolds is can. Is ken. Caller i would like to ask the guy from harvard, do you think the fact that young people are over towards the back the percent of our College Professors are either socialist marxist . Caller i am not familiar with that statistic. I too i think it has more to do with the Sanders Campaign right now and the principle of the Democratic Party during this campaign. I spent a lot of time on College Campuses, not just harvard, but franklin and marshall, kansas, and young people are really excited to talk about politics in a new way and think about politics and have debates. I think we are not giving young people enough credit if we think that they are being somehow brainwashed by socialist or marxist professors. Host on the issue of socialism, one finding from the pole that we can show our viewers. A majority of 18 to 29yearolds reject both socialism and capitalism. Into the question when it was asked, which of the following do you support . For 18 to 34yearolds when you asked socialism, 34 say they support it, 38 say they support capitalism. When it comes to those 65 and older, just 7 said they supported socialism, 60 said they supported capitalism. This is a collaboration i have with a couple dozen students of harvard and one student from oregon was really interested in trying to measure whether or not young people could associate with or call themselves a socialist or capitalist. What we found was a couple of things, young people really dont like any labels. Very few people as we as you indicated, but comfortable calling themselves a socialist or capitalist. More telling is that a majority of young people today the first thing we did was, we expanded the polls for the First Time Ever as you noted and asked people over the age of 30 as well, we conducted a survey and found that the fleet of the over over the age of 50, there is not a lot of support for capitalism. Once you get over 50, a majority of people in america tell us they do not support capitalism. I went back to a College Campus and conducted a focus group of in y caster or so and franklin and Marshall College and what i learned was capitalism that is practiced today is something that is unfavorable for students. They tell us that it provides opportunities not for anyone but for a chosen few that know how to manipulate the system and that those of the main reasons why capitalism is not supported by members of this generation. Largest generation in the history of america. Host about 20 minutes left. Paulina is waiting for that line over 50. Virginia, good morning. Caller good morning. Mentioned. Note you thyselfnd neighbor as help thy neighbor as thyself. Wasreason i was calling with respect to millennials and their predicament. First we had automation and software and that eradicated jobs. I read recently that i think it was 4000 banking jobs will be eliminated due to robotics. As we start incorporating robotics into the work lace and moving up the job chain into whitecollar jobs, not to mention the fact that certain jobs that are whitecollar get shifted overseas. Imports development and where does it leave these young people looking for jobs that will allow them to start a life . Guest it is not even the question of just jobs. It is the question of jobs plus debt. Dontof Young Americans have a grand plan in terms of their definition of the American Dream. It is the ability to do what they want, pursue their version of the American Dream. I spoke to somebody last week on a College Campus and their dream after attending college for four years was to college was serving the public but unfortunately, and there are a lot of other people, who would like to pursue that kind of career but they feel like they cant because of the load of student debt after college. So it is a combination of child shifting overseas and shifting from one sector to another. It is that incumbent nation with the cost of college and it has placed a significant burden on Young Americans. 30 having 50 years of age, suzanne, good morning. Caller how are you . 45 years orhould be old or older. That never really existed. And the same people who want to 45,re and are lower than waiting for their place in management and decisionmaking. Host how do you define the American Dream . Caller i do find the American Dream as opportunity. You know, there are people who think of back in the day, this is america. It is about progression. So if a syrian refugee who is a doctor of wants to come to america, bring them. They add to their productivity. You know . Age group think about the global world. We think differently than the people who are 45 years old who somehow hang to the past. ,he jobs that have been lost these are not jobs that we want. We dont want to be stuck in a factory working from 9 0010 00. Wed want to shift the Service Sector so we have to adapt. We need to bring back all of these old jobs and teach younger people how to become programmers. How to become doctors or whatever. They cannot. Host a couple of issues there. Guest he is right on in his definition to the American Dream. We have done a lot of research into the common theme that ties everyone together in america and it is dead on when you talk about opportunity. I talk to people in thousands of cities and we talk about all of the other countries out there. The idea of opportunity still exists. For some, they think it is slipping away. From the young people i have spoken with recently, that is part one. Host a comment from karen on twitter who says most younger people i talk to like Bernie Sanders as they see him as more genuine than Hillary Clinton. We are talking about the Harvard Institute and the latest poll on millennials. Is the pollinge director there. Now, lynn from texas. Good morning. Caller good morning. To say i couldin not disagree more with mr. John. Ella Volpe Harvard is a liberal institution and he is affiliated with harvard and i am sure that if you asked him who he was going to vote for, it would be either hillary or Bernie Sanders. My comment is, host lets let him talk about the ideology of harvard. Give him a chance to respond. Guest thank you. I dont know where to start of cash start other than be conducted this for 16 years and we spent yesterday in washington, d. C. With two students, one was republican and one was democrat. I think frankly, it to have the cycle, some recycles feel about our data that i have been saying for quite a while that this race among the youth vote, take it vantage of the opportunity. We tracked it back to 2000, and in 2004, people were in the mix. Republicans had taken a big step back. For some time now, i thought this could be much more competitive. It had nothing to do with the way in which i vote. It has everything to do with which pages 29yearold answered questions in the survey we released. Host lets talk to another 1829yearold, and it is in baltimore. Caller good morning. You talked about how millennials rejected labels. I wonder how this relates to vibrant rumors to open primaries. Host hannah is asking about open primaries. Do you want to expand . Caller yes, i know a lot of my peers will not register as democrat or republican and are then unable to vote. Because of that rejection. Guest i think that is a key concern. People could participate in the cycle but in several states, you have to change your registration. We have seen a significant we that bernielysis sanders has 140 of all of the votes cast among young people in america. Secretary clinton has received about 16 . 55 of all votes cast for democrat candidates and i think that number will actually increase in favor of the democrats if we had more open primaries but that hasnt been the case. Host lets go to armando in connecticut. 3050yearolds. Thank you to cspan for the great programming. I have a quick comment and a question. Hear thatfreshed to millennials are starting to reject labels. We need to take a more practical look at our problems. So if you think about what unites us, we talk about searching for things that unite us. Withrobably are aligned him credit principles. Republican. When i look at the country, i think that the things that are the things in our infrastructure. Airports and roads. And you look at japan taiwan, that is how they compete. I wonder whether this is part of the question. Whether people are starting to see our human resource, our people as part of the. Nfrastructure it is leading people to all different messages, including Bernie Sanders. People starting to recognize that it is an important area to invest in . Host john della volpe. Guest i think that is the case. I will say just a couple of reasons why a think that is the case. One of them is that the young people always tell us when we have followup questions as far as what the top two or three issues are, education is typically in the top tier of issues. Education defined as College Education and trying to deal with student debt but we had a focus on k12 education. When we asked the question in this survey, we talked about education and which deserved 65 ofctation, 2 3, Young Americans said investment in k12 education. They understand that the quality of their education generally is very good and that is factory. Believe they had a satisfactory education through the point in life. But we asked them what their advice was to further improve k12 and another caller called up as mentioned earlier technology and stem training. Including more stembased curriculum in the grammar school. It was one factor and was the wast significant thing that followed by lower class sizes. 52 said there should be more emphasis on stem. Smaller class sizes with 50 . Increasing teacher present at 46 and free prek at 35 and increasing School Choice at 33 . They said that would be most effective in improving the Education System and 32 said standardizing the curriculum across the states. Lets go to osler, kentucky where richie is waiting. He is on the line for those over 50. Caller i lived through the exchange that we went through in america where a man especially college people, i barely can go through Technology Today that years ago they could get out of college it be placess of a factory or but what we have done is take a whole group of people. People, il these drive a truck. [indiscernible] i have a house sitting on an acre of land and i dont how to read or write. But today, i went down to get a job as a School Bus Monitor and they told me that i have to go back to school and get a High School Diploma to learn how to put a child under a school bus and i have been driving a tractor trailer truck for 36 years over the highway. And you people are putting a piece of paper and between a person with intelligence against a piece of paper. That is what is happening to our country. We ship these jobs overseas. American people wanted the cheap stuff. I hear people say that they dont want to work in a steel factory but the college kids today want to go into hightech jobs and there is no other jobs left. Host john della volpe, your thoughts . The idea of the need for a College Education these days . Tost first of all, i want appreciate the story in terms of the American Dream. He used his talents to to make a great life which is the opportunity that should exist in the country. There is athat pathway to college. One of the barriers on we to young people in committee colleges, we ask them why they arent pursuing a fouryear degree. We are going to leave this segment of washington journal, but you can find this and other segments on www. Cspan. Org. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. The clerk the speakers rooms, washington, d. C. April 26, 2016. I hereby appoint the honorable fred upton to act as speaker pro tempore on this dafmente day. Signed, paul d. Ryan, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the order of the house of january 5, 2016, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for