Transcripts For CSPAN3 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140723

I dont think youre at the age in your career when you want to move up the career latter. You dont need anything more to your resume. Youve done pretty well. In the midst of all of these problems in the midst of a dysfunctional u. S. Congress and bitter partisanship, why do you want this job . Thank you chairman sanders for the question. I think its a good question. Its a question my family and i have talked a lot about. Desperately want this job because i think i can make a difference. I think that my entire career whether it was starting at west point, being in the second air born division, being in the proctor and Gamble Company one of the most admired companies in the world for 33 years has prepared me for this task. As i said in my prepared remarks, i think theres no higher calling. This is an opportunity for me to make a difference in the lives of the veterans who i care so deeply about. If not me, who . Now tuesdays White House Briefing with press secretary jorn josh eanest. The shooting down of the malaysian airliner in ukraine and the palestinian conflict. This is a little less than an hour. Good morning everybody. I dont start off too many briefings by saying that. Its nice to see you all. Were doing this early today in advance of the im glad steve appreciated that. Were doing this briefing to accommodate the president s travel and speaking event that he has in the afternoon today. I will try to be quick. I do have one statement at the top. Some of your colleagues in the in town travel pool are not here now. They are with the president who is visiting the embassy of the nenler lands in the washington d. C. To sign a condolence book of the shoot down of the Malaysian Airlines flight shot down in ukraine. Theres some footage you guys will have saccess to signing th condolence book. Is there anything that basically invalidates the Health Care Subsidies for people in states that havent set up exchanges. I know there will be a statement coming from the department of justice on this. They are representing the position in the United States government and the administration before the dc circuit so id refer that statement i do have a couple of thoughts. The first is that its important for people caall across the country that this ruling does not have any Practical Impact on their act to receive tax credits right now. Right now there are millions of americans all across the country who are receiving tax credits from the federal government as a result of the Affordable Care act that is making health care more affordable to them. It has no practical on their tax credits right now. The second is there are four Different Cases of making this point that are working their way through the federal court system. Two of them have been dismissed at the District Court level. Two of them are awaiting their initial ruling. This of course is the appeal of one of those cases. So there is decidedly mixed legal opinion about this. For those who are keeping score were still ahead 21 here. What i do anticipate the department of justice will do is ask for a full ruling from the d. C. Circuit as you know. This was a decision that was issued by three members of the d. C. Circuit. Two ruled for the federal government and one agreed for the governments position. Its important for people to also understand that some of the District Courts that have thrown out this case have been decided by judges who used some pretty strong rhetoric in doing so. There was a judge in this case at the district level who said there is simply no evidence in the statute itself or in the legislative history of any intent by congress to support the claims made by the plaintiff. In other case that was making the same legal argument, a judge wrote that the neary propounded by the plaintiffs was not a viable theory. The last thing thats important and this is theres a lot of highminded case law thats applied here theres also an element of common sense which is that you dont need a fancy legal degree to understand that congress intended for every eligible american to have access to tax credits that will lower their Health Care Cost whether it was state officials or federal officials running the marketplace. I think that is a pretty clear intent of the congressional law. This will work its way through the legal process. We are confident in the legal case that the department of justice will be making. Obviously as these cases do work through the legal system there could end up being a Practical Impact on people receiving subsidies. Can the Health Care Law work effectively and continue to as you say be affordable for americans without the subsidies being available in all states. We are confident in the legal position that we have that millions of americans what if that legal position no longer becomes tenable. Can the law work if these subsidies are not widely available. That is a hypothetical we may be able to entertain at some point. Right now were confident in the legal basis that supports our case. The department of justice will litigate these claims through the federal court system. Again, our confidence is rooted in the fact that it is pretty obvious what the congressional intent was here. Their intent was for every eligible american who applied for tax credits to make their health care more affordable to have access to the tax credits whether it was state officials or federal officials running the marketplace. Can you give us some context on the president s decision to send dennis mcdunna and lisa monaco today. I think the statement originated in germany where the chief of staff and where ms. Monaco currently are. This is the result of a telephone conversation between the president and murkel and they agreed that the president s chief of staff and top home land security advisor would travel to germany to meet with their counterparts to talk through some of the issues that have been covered in the media. It was an opportunity to meet and discuss the state of bilateral relations and future cooperation. There were a full range of issues discussed including intelligence and security cooperation. They agreed to set up a structured dialogue to address concerns of both sides and establish Guiding Principles for future cooperation. Did they bring with them any specific information or answers on the two allegations of u. S. Spies in germany . I will not get into the substance of the talks. I will describe the talk as productive and a useful trip. As weve said a couple of times as it relates to these reports, it is the view of the United States that differences of opinion or differences of perspective on these kinds matters are best established through diplomatic and intelligence channels. That is what were doing. What does that mean structured dialogue. I think its simply the basis of future discussions on these kinds of issues. Again, it is our view that these kinds of differences are best resolved through these private established channels and not litigated through the media. Vladimir putin is saying he will use his influence to allow a full investigation. Are you detecting a change in tone from the kremlin . Well, there was some news from that region that we welcome for a change. We welcome the news that most of the remains of those that parished in malaysian flight 17 are now in the hands of dutch and malaysian authorities. While that is one step in the right direction. International investigators led by the dutch still need immediate and full access to the site. As you point out russia did say today that it will use its influence over the separatists to fully cooperate. We intend to hold the russians to that. The investigators still dont have access though . They dont have i think what we have seen is weve seen conditions on the ground improve. Thats illustrated by the nafac that we made progress by the two matters i addressed at the top. I dont think weve seen yet the level of cooperation with International Investigators that wed like to see at this point. This is a complicated issue and one we anticipate that we well, we anticipate its going to require some work to get the kind of cooperation that we would like to see. Time is of the essence here. As the president said yesterday, it is the least that those separatists could do to cooperate with International Investigators. Give them the access that they need to that site so that they can conduct a transparent investigation and determine what exactly happened jim. Anything new on the evidence in the plane crash investigation . I know yesterday some Senior Administration officials were telling reporters that the black boxes were not perhaps as important as the wreckage itself. There are some reports about burn marks on some of the pieces of wreckage at the crash site. Is that a approximapromising si. Any new evidence that bulls t the u. S. Case what happens. I think theres been evidence that paints a compelling picture. Weve been saying for months and in some settings the russians have acknowledged that they are actively supporting the rebels, the separatists in eastern ukraine. Some of the leaders are actually of russian citizenship. Weve seen reports of heavy weapons moving across the russian border into ukraine. In fact that was the reason for the sanctions regime that this administration announced last week was the continued evidence of heavy weapons moving from russia to ukraine. Weve seen evidence that russians are training separatists on how to use the weapons, including antiair craft weapons. In fact they have bragged in the last several weeks of shooting down three Different Aircraft. Theres ample Association Media evidence to indicate that the separatists have access to the kind of saa 11 missile that is capable of reaching aircraft flying at high alt it yitudes. The shaother thing we know is t the airplane was downed by a missile on the ground in a separatist controlled area. At the time the Ukrainian Military was not operating antiaanti antiair craft weapons at that time. After the plane was down, there were ample social media accounts to indicate that a sa 11 system that appeared to be missing one specific missile was being transported across the border from ukraine to russia. There were also social media accounts of separatists talking about shooting down an airplane. Theres a lot of evidence that has already been marshals. Is it a circumstantial case at this point . Well, there will be a role for a more formal intelligence assessment to be presented. I do expect that you will hear from intel officials later today who will have some more data to present and more evidence to indicate educate you about what we know so far about that situation but i will leave specific intelligence assessments to them. They are the experts who can analyze this data and can be more effective in drawing a more conclusive case but i will leave tha that to them. Apparently u. S. Carriers are making decisions not to fly over parts of israel because of the violence down there. Does the Administration Support that . Was the administration pivotal in making that change and asking the carriers to do this. As it relates to the air face in gaza the faa has not issued any notices related to the ongoing violence in that region of the world. I think it does serve to illustrate its individual carriers who make the decision about their flight plans and whether or not to alter specific routes bases on hostilities on the ground. Some people raised the question about Malaysian Airlines and whether they should have been flying over that air space in ukraine. Ultimately its the malaysian carriers who are responsible for the flight path. One point, the president was going to go on the jimmy kimmel show but then i guess booking was canceled by the white house. Was the white house concerned about image that might be put out if the president was there on a late night talk show . Well, what i can say jim is that we had been in touch with representatives of his show about having the president participate in that program on this trip. We ultimately elected not to have the president do that interview over the course of this trip. That is at least in part related to the challenges of doing a comedy show in the midst of some of these other more serious matters that the president is dealing with the in the international seen. At this point we just elected not to do it. John. Thank you. Getting back yesterday to the u. S. Being supportive of the European Union also joining in the sanctions against russia youre obviously aware of the difference between britain and france on the sale of the misdrawed helicopter care to russia. Does the u. S. Have a dog in the flight or that all the eu members have to be united in order for the sanctions to work. Well, john we have said many times that we believe sanctions would be most effective when they are closely coordinated with our international partners. Thats why youve seen intensive discussions between the president and individual leaders, particularly in western europe about the sanctions regime that should be in place to further isolate russia. So this has been a months long endeavor. There have been important steps that have been taken by the United States in coordination with our partners to impose economic costs on russia. There is ample evidence to indicate that the russian economy has suffered as a result of those economic costs. As it relates specifically to the proposed military transaction between the french and russians, we have in the past, i think the president was traveling in brussels in june, and he articulated some concerns about the sale of that military equipment to the russians. Again. This is a little bit of a common sense thing. Weve seen ample evidence that the russians are flouting International Norms. Supporting efforts to violate the territorial integrity of independent sovereign nations. It seems like a suboptimal time if you will to be transferring advanced military systems to them. So weve made our concerns known. We will continue to work in close coordination with the british, the french, the germans and others as we coordinate the effort to further isolate the russian regime. Any concerns for. Yes, i believe the president had the chance to say this privately and publically. This intelligence presentation to whom was the setting. Who were the officials . I did not get that impression from either the briefing yesterday or the background briefing we had either that you guys felt any sort of pressure or had any intent to lay out more of an intelligence case than you already had. Obviously i misread that but did anything change in the last 24 hours that made this discussion necessary . No, i dont think that anything changed the calculus on that matter. In terms of the logistics, id r refer to the office of the director of National Intelligence who i think will have some more information about this later today. Look, we want to be as forthcoming as we can understanding that there are important intelligence equities to protect about the evidence of what exactly happened. This is something that we would envision would be integrated with an ongoing forensic investigation at the crash site. I dont want to leave you or anyone with the impression that somehow whenever intelligence assessment is arrived by the u. S. Intelligence community somehow supersedes the ongoing work being performed on the ground. That work is important. That work will also give us Important Information about what exactly transpired in this tragic circumstance. But we are working with the International Community to try to make sure that International Investigators have access to the site so that they can conduct that investigation while at the same time were going to do our best to present the information that we have already obtained or assessed about what exactly happened last week. Are you in a position to say whether that intelligence assessment has been shared with say, the dutch and the malaysians and the ukrainians im not in a position to talk about how that intelligence has been handled but you can try the office of the dni and maybe they will be able to share some additional light on that for you. Major. Thanks, josh. There are reports that the eu is going to impose a new round of sanctions against russia after consultations today. Do you have any confirmation of that or any reaction . Im not in a position to confirm that. I know that these talks have been ongoing and are headed into the evening hours over in europe. We certainly would welcome additional steps from the International Community principally our allies in western europe that would impose additional economic costs in russia. We would think that those additional costs are justified. Is there a triggering mechanism that if the eu goes ahead and does another round than the u. S. Might go ahead and follow state. Or is the u. S. Government intent on where it is. Well, content is not the word that i would use. I think were continuing to review the sanctions regime thats in place. We will continue to work with the International Community to coordinate efforts to impose costs on russia. Our willingness to consider adding additional costs is something that continues to be a live option here. You mentioned that theres no practical effect of this federal Appeals Court ruling today, is there not a practical effect in that it creates an atmosphere of uncertainty. Thats what i was trying to clear up. For those who are in the Health Care Industry itself and are trying to apply, implement, follow, and are trying to understand if they are going to have patients who have subsidies or dont. Doesnt that uncertainty itself have a practical effect as the law is implemented . I dont think it does for two reasons. One is that we feel very strong about the sound legal reasoning of the argument that the administration is making. The second is that theres a clear common sense case to be made here which is the intent of congress was to ensure that every eligible american who applied for tax credits to make their Health Insurance more affordable would have access to the tax credits whether or not it was operated by federal officials or state officials. The intent here is pretty clear. We feel pretty confident about our case. Is the administration considering any legislative fix if necessary to clear up any ambiguity the court noted in the legislative language. The president has said countless times hes willing to work with congress to make improvements to the law. The prospects for that considering that republicans have voted more than 50 times to repeal the entire law, the prospects for the kind of legislative fix that might actually improve the law seem rather unlikely. When steve asked you about the structured dialogue, it sounds to me that there now be a formal channel of communications that did not exist before between this administration and the Merkel Administration on these issues of intelligence. Since the precipitating factor was intelligence. Is that an understanding of what this opaque language actually means. I dont know if i would necessarily describe it as a new channel primarily because conversations between lisa monaco and her counterpart in germany are not unprecedented. There was a robust intelligence sharing relationship that has existed between the u. S. And germany for quite sometime. You sent the chief of staff and the chief Counter Terrorism advisor when everything is normal. You would agree with that. Well, i would agree with your observation that published reports indicate that there were a number of things that needed to be discussed between us and our count ercounterparts. We value the close and ongoing security operation and intelligence relationship that we have with the germans as i mentioned before. That is a relationship thats significantly benefits the American People. Its also a relationship that benefits the german people. Its in the interest of both sides to ensure that those channels remain open. They do. That security of cooperation relationship continues to be continues to function at a high level. That said, if if it is necessary for us to establish the structured dialogue to resolve some of the concerns that have been aired publically, were willing to do that. Thats a testament for our desire to resolve the differences of opinion in a way that satisfies the germans but also protects the private nature of the topic being discussed. On the president s trip this week apart from the kimmel show could you address the trivial or unnecessarily obligation of president s to raise money in the course of conducting important matters of state . I think the critical standard that everyone that i would suggest the people apply. I think people can apply whatever standard they like but my suggested standard would be whether or not those Political Activities interfere with the president s Constitutional Responsibilities as commander in chief of the United States of america. I think what was demonstrated on thursday at least in the context of last thursdays schedule that even in the midst of some Urgent International matters, the president was able to attend to american interests around the globe while conducting the political functions that go along with the job. We anticipate that that will be the case this week. Thats why there have been no changes to the schedule announced thus far. If we make some changes to the schedule, they will reflect the need for the president to be focused on they will reflect the need for the president to rearrange that schedule to assure that he can fulfill his functions as commander in chief. Right now we dont anticipate that a change in schedule will be necessary. Behalf of the correspondents association, i want to log a formal complaint. The astronauts were among the most televised National Heroes we have ever known. Thats financed by the american taxpayer. Still a presentation of that limits. Coverage of that television event. We believe that that is a classic definition of something that should have the broadest press coverage imaginable and we are therefore lodging a complaint for your decision to keep us out. Understood. These are legitimate american heroes. We can agree. Is there any concern among the white house that if the eu or u. S. Were to move forward on sanctions against russia in this particular time that that would somehow complicate the effort to get president putin to intervene with the separatists to get access to the crash site . I think the hope right now as the, u conside eu considers add steps in concert with the United States to impose additional costs on russia would actually be to compel president putin to live up to his assertion that he will intervene with the separatives to alaw annilow acc that site. That would be part of that goal. I think theres a broader goal in mind beyond that immediate priority. We do need to see russia demonstrate some respect for ukraines territorial integrity. We need russia to stop supplying these heavy weapons to russian backed separatists. We saw the consequences of that ongoing effort to provide weapons last week. Put simply, we need russia to acknowledge their commitment to basic International Norms and to the idea that it is entirely possible even normal for the nation of ukraine to have a strong cooperative, even close relationship with their neighbor russia while at the same time, having a productive economic ties with the west. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. If that is what the ukrainian people desire and there are strong indications that that is what they would like to see for their country, it is not appropriate for anybody, including the russians to interfere with the ukrainians to make that kind of decision about the direction of their own country. Are there any plans for president obama to personally make the case to mr. Putin . I dont have any phone calls to read out at this point but well certainly keep you appraised of any. All the other leaders have spoken to him since this happened. I dont im not aware right now of any scheduled telephone calls between president putin and obama. If that changes well let you know. Ed. On health care, i understand what youre saying about the legal aspects. It seems like conservatives are even acknowledging that the Affordable Care act is likely to survive this. Will you acknowledge it could be a bit messier if 33 states dont have these subsidies . No what i believe and what this Administration Believes that the legal basis for our case is strong. We have Effective Advocates at the department of justice who will be making that case before the d. C. Circuit. It is pretty clear even to those of us who dont have a fancy legal degree that the intent of congress was to make sure that every american have access to tax credits for their medical costs. They take dim view of the government rewriting laws that dont turn out as they expected. So given that out there as well, why are you so confident that your legal basis is sound . Well, the other legal expert that i would site is the district judge who ruled in this case who would anticipate that the government would implement the law in line with congresses intent. This judge who ruled in this case at the district level admittedly did say that theres simply no evidence in a statute itself or the legislative history of any intent by congress to support the claims that are made by the plaintiff. So i guess to put it more simply. Its the view of this administration as agreed by this judge that the way that we have implemented the Affordable Care act to maximize benefits for people all across the country. Millions of americans have benefitting from this right now that that is cleanly in line with the easily understood intent of the United States congress. I want to quickly voice my support for what the major was saying about access. I do want to followup on the substantive question about the president s schedule this week. You gave kind of a clinical response that the functions of being commander and chief can be dealt with. I understand the president s going from Marthas Vineyard or texas. You can have secure phone calls, et cetera. What about the president s time. What about the fact that there are five work days this week and three of them hes fundraising, i will hazard a guess that a significant portion of the president s time each of those days will be dedicated to participating in the president ial daily briefing. Getting updates from his National Security team about the situation on the ground. Making phone calls to world leaders. Consulting with his National Security officials who are traveling across the world whether its his chief of staff traveling to germany or his secretary of state in cairo right now. The fact of the matter is the president like most professionals has the capability to deal with more than one priority at a time. Particularly somebody who has the trappings of the presidency alongside him, hes got his own airpla airplane. Hes got dedicated phone lines and senior advisors who will be accompanying every step of the way to make sure he has access to the information and technology to represent american interests in the midst of these challenging times. I understand he has the trappings but theres no concern about the image that yes he can have these calls but his schedule is basically dominated by fundraising this week. Maybe the public schedule that you see but how many meetings is he having that were not seeing. What will be clear to you as the president goes through the next several days is that he will be paying all of necessary attention to make sure that american interests are represented in each of these circumstances. Again he can do that through phone calls. He can do that through conversations with staff either in washington around the globe or traveling with him in the west coast. If it becomes clear that theres something that the president is not able to do from the road that is critical to advancing american interests, we will alter the schedule to ensure that the president can fulfill those responsibilities. Can i ask a question following up on the apollo 45 anniversary this week. We heard from a former nasa administrator who says that given the fact that the u. S. Relies on russian rockets to take us to the internags space station were in a hostage situation. Russia can decide that no more astronauts can launch to the u. S. Is that the position our nation should be in and given the new hostilities between the u. S. And russia. The relationship between the u. S. And russia is multifaceted. We certainly do cooperate closely with the russians when it comes to our Space Program. Were also closely cooperating with the russians when it comes to dealing with iran in the context of the pf plus one tuals to resolve the International Communitys concerns about the irani iranian nuke ri clear program. Were also coordinating about gaza in the middle east. We worked very closely with russia to eliminate the declared chemical weapons stock pile from syria in the last month or so. Currently those chemical weapons are being destroyed aboard a u. S. Ship out at sea. We have acted with the International Community including the russians to make sure that the chemical weapons couldnt be used by the assad regime or terrorists who werent able to get their hands on those weapons. That made the world a safer place. Thats as a result of close cooperation between the u. S. And russia government. What continues to be true is that russia has important responsibilities as it relates to ukraine that they are adhering to broadly accepted International Norms about the right of sovereign countries to make the decisions about the future of their country. So you disagree with the assessment that were in a hostage situation to travel to space. We have clear differences in the way the russians have conducted themselves in ukraine. It doesnt prevent us from accomplishing other priorities in cooperation with the russians. Theres been a lot of International Outrage associated with the number of casualties on the israeli side versus the palestinian side. The numbers approaching 600 on the palestinian side. 30 on the israeli side. The u. S. Said it would provide more than 40 million in humanitarian aid to the palestinians. They provide 3 billion in aid to israel. Is there any concern that aid that is provided and supporting their military efforts and helping to support palestinian on the other side. Were on both sides of this. Peter, i think everybody will agree that everybody single life that has been lost when it comes to innocent civilians both israeli and palestinian is a tragedy. Our hearts go out to the families who have lost innocent loved ones in this terrible conflict. Thats why you have seen the secretary of state travel to the region to try to get both sides to agree to the terms of a ceasefire that had previously been in place. Its why youve heard the president get on the phone with world leaders, including the israeli Prime Minister to try to bring this violence to an end. Its also why youve seen the commitment of u. S. Resources to organizations on the palestinian side to try to meet the humanitarian needs. Is 40 million enough to meet the needs of the palestinians. Its a start. What will make a difference is both sides coming together and agreeing to that ceasefire. This has to start with hamas ending the barrage of rockets aimed at israeli civilians. The civilians are protected by a dome system to protect the lives of israeli civilians. So you are right to assess that there are a number of different ways where the United States has intervened to try to protect the lives and well fair of innocent civilians on both sides of this conflict and trying to get both sides to agree to a ceasefire to reinstate the terms of november 2012 ceasefire is a continuation of that effort. The president does arrive in Washington State today for a fair of fundraisers. Its also a state that right now is dealing with the worst wild fire in that states history. 150 plus homes has been lost. Has the president in any conversations with the governor of that state. Does he have any intentions to make a last minute trip out there to visit the people who lost everything out there in that destruction. I dont have any announcements but he did receive a briefing from his home land Security Team but the latest on the wild fire situation thats raging in Washington State and in western canada as well. When the president arrives in washington he will get an in person briefing from the governor about the response to those wild fires and get an assessment about how local communities in Washington State are being affected by the wild fires. I also want to point out that included in the supplemental appropriation requests that this administration forwarded to congress three or two weeks ago were additional sums of money dedicated to responding to wild fires throughout the american west. Unfortunately we have seen Congressional Republicans indicate a willingness to obstruct that funding. That is disappointing but we will continue to keep pushing on congress to make sure we have the resources that we can bring to bare to meet the needs of those communities that are affected by wild fires. Back to ukraine. How much does the Administration Believe what happened with the separatists in ukraine and the malaysian plane is a reflection of russia and how much a reflection of the risks of untrained rebels having access to wemon weapons. As i pointed out, there are some basic facts that we know about the situation in ukraine. We know that they for months now weapons have been moving across the border from russia to ukraine. We know russia has been training the separatists in the use of those weapons including antiair craft weapons. We know the separatists have claimed credit for shooting down three Different Air crafts. And weve seen the same social media reports that did indicate that separatists did at one point have possession of an sa 11 system that is capable of reaching air craft flying at high altitude. We also know it was a missile that was fired from the ground that drowned the doomed malaysian jetliner and fired from separatist territory and we know the Ukrainian Military was not operating antiaircraft weapons at that time. Weve expressed our concern about these circumstances, specifically russias willingness to provide weapons to the separatists on many, many, occasions. In fact, we explained that one. Reasons that the president had decided to put in place tougher sanctions against russia last wednesday, the day before the jetliner was downed was because russia continued to provide these heavy weapons to russian backed separatists. That clearly has had dangerous consequences for the people of ukraine. Unfortunately it has tragic consequences for innocent civilians from countries around the world now. So we will continue to compel the russians to shut down the border and stop providing heavy weapons and material to russian backed separatists in ukraine. Any intel that shows . We have seen some evidence that the russians actually are training russian backed separatists to use equipment. Still training . Well, i dont have an up to date minute assessment to provide you. We know that has happened with some frequency in the past. Back to the d. C. Circuit court opinion, i understand you believe you will win on appeal. But if this opinion is uphold, does it affectively gut obamacare by eliminating up to 5 million subsidies. There are millions of americans who do benefit in a an important way from the Affordable Care act. Millions of americans have eligible for tax credits that make their insurance more affordable for them. That is one of the hallmark achievements of the Affordable Care act. It is clear to make sure that every american had access to those tax credits whether or not the marketplace was operated by federal officials or by local state officials so we feel very confidence in the legal case that we will make before the court. The department of justice will be responsible for pressing that argument. We feel confident in the argument theyll be making. If this decision was upheld and you were just slapped down by a circuit court. If it decision is uphold does it effectively gut obamacare. For instance, the president can no longer say that people can have access to health care for the price of a cell phone bill as we wipe away 4. 7 million peoples subsidies. You and i agree with the fact that there are millions of americans that currently benefit from this provision of the law. We are confident that that law has the kind of legal basis to wij strand legal scrutiny. If it is upheld does it gut obamacare. It is a question that im not willing to entertain. Weve won two cases at the District Court level. The Justice Department will be pressing this case before the entire d. C. Circuit. We feel confident about that case theyll be making. The law very clearly states that the subsidies are available to those who enroll through state exchanges. Does the letter of the law matters to the white house on this . That is the letter of the law. It says state exchanges e i dont have the fancy legal degree but i do think what the courts are charged with doing is evaluating the intent of congress and the intent of congress in this case is not just clear. Its transparent. Congress intended for every eligible american to have access tax credits whether it was run by federal officials or state officials. Liid like to come back to majors point about the apollo 11 representatives who were here at the white house today. Why the secrecy around this event. Why not allow reporters in that. It was merely a scheduling thing. The president is making remarks in the eeob to talk about job training and the president needs to get on a plane at 1 00 this afternoon. The president has a very busy schedule. Couldnt he have been maybe five minute later for the seattsee a seattle fundraiser, you really couldnt accommodate coverage. I find that explanation a little hard to believe given this is such a small amount of time to come in and have a little bit of well ill just say in the past that there have been some Television Journalists that have complained about the small amount of time but complaining when its 38 seconds maybe a couple of minutes but is it because some of those apollo astronauts including Neil Armstrong sthohortly going to congress was very critical for the way this president handled this Space Program. In the words of armstrong said before congress that the president s canceling of the program was embarrassing. Absolutely not. The president invited the crew members of the apollo 11 to the white house to honor their contribution to Space Exploration and innovation in the field of science. It was a genuine honor for the president to have them here today. Hes proud about the fact that they chose to come. I will also say that we are proud of the policy that this president has put in place to take our Space Program to the next level. Were very optimistic about the future of the american Space Program. Thanks josh. You mentioned a supplemental before on border crisis and the wild fires. Today the speaker said that he believes that the supplemental is not going to pass unless changes are made to the 2008 law and that the president needs to push democrats on the hill to do that. I wanted to know what your response is to the speaker but also is there anything that you can tell us about how the president is speaking to democrats on the hill about that is issue. I can tell you that white house officials have been in regular touch with democrats and republicans about the importance of Congress Acting to approve the supplemental appropriations request that this administration has sought. The bottom line here is the federal government needs Additional Resources to make sure were appropriately managing the urgent humanitarian situation at the border. What were seeking specifically is funding for additional immigration judges. Ice prosecutors and asylum officials who can more effectively process the claims that have been made at the border. That enforcement of the law is something we have prioritized and something we need Additional Resources to do. Has the president spoken to Democratic Leaders on the hill in recent days, i dont have any specific conversations to read out but i can tell you that a number of white house officials have been in touch with their counterparts on capitol hill in this matter. I think some people in the white house shot this down just to get it out there. Has the president or anyone on his behalf bought a house in california or planning to buy a house in california . Ive seen those reports too. Those reports are not accurate. Mark, i will give you the last one. I understand the president is about to speak. Can you tell me whether president obama enjoys doing fundraisers or does he regard them as a distasteful chore . Mark, i can tell you that the president enjoys traveling all across the country and meeting americans from all walks of life and talking to them about the country that they love and he loves. The president will have the opportunity to meet over the course of this trip to the west coast if the schedule holds, a variety of individuals and the sprez lo president is looking forward to the opportunity he will have to visit with them. In terms of fundraising, its a responsibility that president s in both parties for generations have been responsible for. The president like his predecessors is interested in supporting members of his party who are on the ballot in 2014. Thats part of what hell be doing over the course of this week. Okay. Thanks everybody. Thanks josh. Not from here. This weekend on book tvs off words. I thought it would be compelling to tell the story of a white family and a black family with the same name who come from the same place and follow them from slavery through the civil war, reconstruction, jim crow, the Civil Rights Movement up until today. And compare and contrast. Chris tomlin so n on his familys slave owning history and how it still affects american society. He talks with the brother of ladanean tomlinson on after words. Ed head of the peace corps joined ugs Tuesday Morning to discuss changing to the recruitment process. W this is a little move than a half hour. Joining us now, carrie s. Hesslerradelet, director of thc peace corps. I think we have a perceptionwh what the peace corps is. But what is it . Its a wonderful opportunityy to serve your country while lpi helpingot others. Volunteers live and work in 66 countries around the world. In we work in agriculture, health, environment, education, Youth Development and community ic dev economic development. Uth and its just aup wonderful wayo immerse yourself in another culture, to learn some important life skills, to Development Relationships that will change o your life and to make an impact at the community level. This was started by the federal government . It was started by president john f. Kennedy, 53 years ago. Why . You know, i think he was concerned about some of the very pressing issues that continue to i think concern our country. Hunger, poverty, disease, the threat of nuclear war and the s need for ourwi nation to develo relationships with other countries, especially at the fmmunity level. As far as your membership, rt how many people are out there in other countries representing the peace corps . We haveve just over 7,000 volunteers right now. They come from all walks of life from 20ye years old to our olde volunteer is 80. As far as the numbers are nus concerned, how does that compare the 7,000 that you have now, how does that compare to years paste historically, its about the same. Now ourlent highest number of volunteers was actually in 1968. We had about 15,000. Number o and then in recent history, we had about 9,000 in 2010. Thats been our highest number in recent years. But with the recession and ht nw budget cuts, we have had to go down to 7,000 right now. Tori there have been stories that you are changing the process of how someone pe where someone goes in the peace corps. Is that true . Its the process for applyine to the peace corps which we have made simpler, easier, more w personalized, more user friendly. What caused the changes . An understanding that people want to have a user friendly thp experience. Theres technology to make that possible. Also, this generation really has a lot of choices on what they do after they graduate from college or if they want to an encore career. People want choicees. And peopl have other choices. So we wanted to offer an also application process that is ease to use but also offering applicants the opportunity to yt choose the country t and the sector that they want to apply for. Thats a big change because before that, awe plied to peace corps and we placed you where we need you. More was that change just to get more people attracted in what the peace corps is about and the ability of where they want to an serve . It started with a story, if i could mention that. When i was in jordan in 2010, a met a woman who had 20 years of experience in hiv aids service delivery. And she was in a a special s Education Program in jordan. She said to me, i love jordan. Il its aly wonderful country and d love my community. But i really was surprised that peace corps did not want to make use of my hiv aids skills. You have programs in hiv aids all around africa. So i was confused as to why youd sent us sentuc me to jordan t do special education. And i thoughtth about it. Ake a i thought that doesnt make a lot of sense because she wanted to work in hiv aids. So that combined with the desire to really streamline our procest ishe what got our reform effort moving. Even before that, we bsh four r years ago we did a comprehensive assessment of our agency. We received a fame work for , te reform that is huge and extensive and the largest reform effort ever undertaken at peace corps. These changes to our recruitmene process are part of that planned reform. Our guestcoe un carrie hesslert to take your questions about the corps. 3880 2025853880 for democrats and 2025853882 for independents. If you are a volunteer and want to give your thoughts 20205853883. How much is theht peace corps l. Budget . Right now, it is about 380 million. 400 mi how that saturday compare to years past. Our high point was 400 million in 2010. We went down to 356 million. We are back up now. As far as someone who is a d . Volunteer, do they get a salary or stipend from the federal government . You get a living allowance while you are serving. In fact, you can enter broke. Arf we take care of everything. Your transportation, all of you, health and safety and security and living allowance. For every month, you get a readjustment allowance. So if you serve the full two years as a volunteer, you will walkyo away with Something Like 7,500 in your pocket. Its a twoyear stint . Twoyear. D you you can reupca for a third yearf you would like. As far as requirements what a are you looking for . What we are mostly looking at is sort of qualities that otivat individuals have. Io a desire to serve. Rest i motivation to ben of use to others. A real interest in other languages and cultures. S it helps that if you have some e skills to impart. College were primarily looking for people with college degrees. But if you have a lot of Life Experience as a farmer, as a businessman or woman, we will also absolutely take that as ia . Well. I involved ou get initially . I come from a a fourgeneratn peace corps family. Eace cor six members of my family and four generations have served as peace corps volunteers. My aunt was the first person. She was the 10,000th peace corpv volunteer to swear in. She served in turkey. My grandparents were volunteers after they retired. We are looking at pictures of your family. Thats my there we go. D in there i am. Thats me. My grandparents served in malaysia before me. My nephew just completed his service in 2009. Its a family affair. The as far as i can remember, ive always wanted to be in the peace corps. Topic of the peace corps, our topic for the remainder of the time is. Dan, ohio, republican line. Go ahead. Than caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Pao question one, if i want to go to macedonia and be a peace corps and i have skills, farming e pec skills, how much money would it cost me to join the peace corps i mean, not moneywise im talking about time away froo my family. Do i get to go home for vacations . Am i there for two years solid . Great question, dan. For that thank you so much for that. If you wanted to be a volunteerl in macedonia, you could go to our website and clip on the andh europe mediterranean and asia button. Then you could explore the. Opportunities in macedonia. Then you could see if you a qualified for those programs. If you were a farmer or a businessman, a baker. Perhaps you managed a bakery. I think you said that. E woul whatever life skills you offer, we would evaluate that and see whether or not you qualified foi the program. Llfo if you go to our website, you will see what isac needed for eh country program. For it is a 27month commitment fors the twoyear peace corps programthf that involves about three months of training and then 24 months e of service. Se, whic there is another program called peace corps response which is a program for higherskilled individuals. Itsmo a shorter time period. Its anywhere from three months to a year. If you go to our website at pea peacecorp. Gov, you will see an opportunity to learn about thatt host there are many opportunities for service. We would love to have you check it out. Jeffk, is from new york. Caller good morning. The good morning, jeff. Caller im from the caribbean. Im calling to sing the praisesa of the peace corps. Its one of the greatest things to come out of america. You dont hear much about it. Ear ive been living here almost 40 years and peace corps came to the caribbean, the english caribbean and Young College kids will get there. At, we always we came across southern evangelists, great poepoemlo people. I want. To sing the praises and hope they give them more money. This is the greatest thing. Its long lasting for america. Thanks. Thank you very much as far as you mentioned people who are interested in the peace corps, they had other opportunities. Does it get competition as far as organizations like yours ande where they can serve throughoutp the world . Orpeop there are other opportunity t for americans now. When we started, we were really the only game in town. Now there are many ways for amec americans to go overseas. They can study, they can travelh they can do research. There are other opportunities for service. So we needed to be more competitive. We want to attractet the very bt and brightest of the american tt people. We also want to attract volunteer divorce that is l, ri, diverse, that reflects the beautiful rich multicultural th nation we are. Thats another part of our about strategy. T were very serious about diversity. We did set aside a line for volunteers. 5853883 with a 202 area code. 2025853880 for democrats. From twitter, a couple of questions. Do countries still welcome peace corps volunteers . This is from a viewer. Also he is asking, who are the most esfriendly . Has it changed since the 1960s . There are 20 countries that have asked for peace corps that we are not able to go into because of our budget. It is very common for countries to want more volunteers than we can provide. We have strong relationships with our hostha partners. Friend what country is most friendly . Thats a hard question. I cant answer that. I was a volunteer in samoa. Thee i loved my service there. What about areas of the worlf that are dangerous . Gu does volunteers get sent there . T we have too be able to guarantee with a reasonable amount of work that were goingy to be able to keep our volunteers healthy and safe. So we take we take safety anl security very seriously. Theres a thorough assessment st process that goes into the gram. A country program. We have safety and security staff in our Country Offices that are continually reviewing information and data in da collaboration with others to fe. Ensure we can keep our volunteers safe. Do those in other haether co have handle sneakers. We workan closelyd with the state department and others to o ensure that we are onn top of al information. Keith from beth he is da, good morning. Go ahead. Caller am i on the air . You are. Go will takahead. Caller three fiquestions. I will take the answer off the air. First of all, have there been t any deaths or injuries in recend history with all the scares . Second question, do you take was married couple snz third question, when you gave the budget, was that in real dollar snz im surprised its not larger in earlier times. Thanks very much. Thanks, keith. Excellent questions. There are occasionally deaths and injuries, very rarely deaths. Injuries also rarely. But when you are supporting 7,000 people overseas, they do happen, unfortunately. Again, safety and security is our highest priority and health. We do all we can. We have doctors and nurses and security folks in each of our Country Offices to oversee the health and welfare of our volunteers. E teers. Yes, you absolutely can serve aa a married couple. A i served as a married couple. D, its a wonderful way to r experience life in another d ath country together. Ow is. Our be our budget is in real dollars. We do a lot with it. When is there a partisan issue when it comes to the budget . Aree are peopleop calling for cuts . Wede get bipartisan support. Democrats and republicans are supportive. We do have solid support. Up next from denver, dragan. Caller good morning. I just wanted to give you a cal and thank you for your efforts. I am a native of macedonia. I am going to take my experiencd and sign up for peace corps and hopefully send a couple years i my native country. To go thk job. Before you go, what made you decide to go to peace corps . Caller i tried to go ten imo years ago, once i graduated froc college. But at that time,ou you were on able to go where they send you. I just wanted to, of course, help out my own country. So now that i saw this, i am signing up as soon as i am done with my assignments here in the United States. Reciate thats wonderful. We appreciate that. D that a we find that a number of people who experienced peace corps while living and growing up in e another country, when they ey wn graduate fromt college have cs become american citizens, want to serve in the peace corps. We have some fabulous stories ou people like yourself. Thanks for yourself. From the Washington Post as of september 30th, in africa the most programs with the most volunteers, morocco. When it comes to central and south america, peru topping the list, panama and nicaragua. , thi and philippines and china and the dominican republic. 66 does it expand from here . We have 66 countries around t the world. That just shows is our Largest Programs. As far as once you have ges,h announced the changes, what hasg been the interest . Have you noticed an up tick as ar as people interested in applying . We had some ofwe our biggesto application days in history in the last few days. Tease been very exciting. A lot of interest both on the part of media and on the part oa americans. I have think people are ready for this change. Peace corps is a great brand. People love peace corps. Many people feel its the best face of america overseas. This is just really exciting . The application process, what do you look for . You talked about skills. But what overall do you look for as far as if a person is a goods candidate for it ort not . We look a lot at their motivation for service. The way we look at that is whether or not they have ever done community service, if they have studied a language, have d indicated an interest in helpin others. To see evidence that they are resilient, that they were able to work through a tough problem. Ce can b Peace Corps Service can be illse tough. And then we look at whatever skills they bring. Did they have any turterring experience, have they served ine a food vibank . Were just looking for evidencee that they would ber. Successfuls a volunteer. I would also say that we have ae excellent training program, very strong. Even mor e rigorous because of the reform effort that we have been under going over the last few years. Aboratio in collaboration with partners r like universities and other u. S government agencies. So we can train an english major to be a health volunteer. So your degree is less importanr to us than your willingness to serve and your motivation. Sort of the soft skills you bring. Does a person have to be multilingual . It helps if you speak spanish or french. That would help you inu going latin america or french west ut africa. We have Language Training in about 250 different languages. So we really do emphasize language because its such an important part of the integration process. It you can come in speaking no immr languagesat and immerge fluent l another language. Ue its one of the great benefits of peace corps. This is a line for volunteers. Charles, go ahead. Caller am i on . Yes. Go ahead. Caller this is charles. Kno i want to let you know that i ne wasr a peace corps volunteer in he can with a door from 1966 to 1968. Wonderful. Caller my daughter was aaugv volunteer in honduras. Vol my son was a volunteer. Fro after thatm, my wife and i in 2006 to 2008, we joined the peace corps again. Oh, my gosh. Thank you. Your family may be overtaking mv family as a peace corps family. Whats the best thing you learned from your experiences . Caller i learned a lot. First of all, i learned how to be more sensitive to people. I will tell you that. More p during myeo training back for ecuad ecuador. It certainly changed my whole life, my peace corps experience. I can tell anyone that if they could possibly join the peace corps and have a service a couple yearsli service, it will have a life changing affect on u your life. Thank you. Thank you, charles, for your service. Anything you want to add . Ut e i think he spoke about the ls experience. It is really t transformative. Not only for the w community whu you work but i think most especially for the volunteer themselves. Baltimore, maryland, another volunteer. Hi. Caller hello. You are on. Caller i am emerick. I am a bishop of a church. I was very much a street guy ine jamai jamaica. The peace corps came there and i have hung around the office for a little while. They fall in love with me and they treated me so well. E god bless him, he passed away and mr. Smith and some other ones that i know. I worked with peace corps for about four years out there. Stu and they have taught me a lot of stuff. I mean a lot of stuff. And i was able to merge in ministry and grow in the ministry. Theres a lot i could tell you about the peace corps and how i was able to know the volunteersa are. About 260 and i would be able to work with them and from them my education was thvery, very low v because i ran away from home at around 12 m. And they have taught me until i was able to do a lot of stuff on my own and continue in school until i become a minister. And i learned the skills. Today im living in the united t states. I have been here now for about 35, 40 years. I really owe that and i was blessed to establish a ministry. And work a lot of the american young people here in baltimore. Thank you. Ny rea thank you. I think your testimony really a does prove the life changing power of peace corps. Rps thank you so much. Do volunteers work with nongovernment organizations in countries . Agguabsolutely. We work with all development partners. We are looking for organizations that volunteers can work with with accounter part. Unterpar we make sure every volunteer is. Paired with a coworker, a counterpart we call them. Its often with a nonprofit organization. Either a local ngo or an international ngo. Go ahead. You are on. Of the p caller hi. Thir ive had this image of peace corps being mostly a third worlp countries where you dig wells or singing around a campfire. I was wondering, if you also serve developed countries, places like germany or south korea . Also if it becomes a war zone like ukraine, how quickly can you be evacuated . Thank you for that question. T we have a number of different criteria for selection of peacew corps hicountries. We one of which is certainly need. We use the United Nations human. Development index as our guide for that particular aspect. Ne we also looked at places where r need to build relationships between our country and countrye goals. E three maybe i could share those. The first is to help the people of interested countries meet their needs for trained men and women. Thats a development goal. But our second goal is to o prom promote a better understanding of americans on the part of people served. Our third goal is to promote a bert understanding of our countries on the part of americans. Land and we go to ukraine and macedonia and thailand and panama where es perhaps they are higher on the Human Development index, meaning they are not as poor. Ation to but there is a need for our nation to build friendly relationships with that nation. Donna from eagle lake, texasw democrats line. Caller i was just wondering, where is the biggest need and what kind of volunteers are you looking for . Ecto inrs terms of of the sector, the work sector . Caller yeah. I mean, i used to be a paramedic a long time ago. That would be my skill. Sure. We have a very large health program. Our Largest Program is ation. Education. About 40 of our volunteers are associated with Education One way or another. But health is right behind that. And if tur a pair modic, would s you have wonderful skills to share. We would love to have you consider Peace Corps Service. Whats the work schedule, 40 hours a week . Its dependent on the volunteer in the community. You are a volunteer 24 7. You are immerlsed in your yo community. You have a job that you will do. During the work hours of that job. It doesch depend. Ou may teacher, you may ng and start at 7 00 in the morning and go until 3 00 in the afternoon. If you are working with an ngo that reaches out to street children, you may start in the afternoon and go until the evening. Your schedule is determined by your work. But volunteers also have secondary projects which are other communityoriented projects that they do. Pr that takes up their free time. Our volunteers are incredibly td committed too making a difference. I would say they dont usually work a 9 00 to 5 00 job. Donna, eagle lake, texas. Thanks for holding. Go ahead. Caller i just asked you a ne question. Where is thehat biggest need . What country or you know, yeah, probably one would say that africa is the greatest need. There are needs anywhere. There are needs all over the world. Ouy r largest request area is ra education. So i would say that that would be an area where there is just extensive need, especially girls education. But health is also very, very s important. So your skills as a paramedic would be very useful in that arena. Besides a stipend, does a volunteer get Health Insurance . We take care of all your health needs while you are a volunteer. Federal Health Insurance . We actually directly paymedic medical care. We have teams of doctors and nurses that are at each country post. Then its backed up by an officn here ingt washington. E we totally take care of the a c health needs of volunteers. Yes, its federal insurance. I ask because a recent story talked about abortion funding provided in case of rape or other instances in the peace corps. You can talk about whats covered here and why this is necessary . Ab sure. We are prohibited from paying for the cost of an abortion right now. Were one of the few federal al employees volunteers arent really employees. Other federal workers are ws the covered which u allows for the e of federal funds for abortions services in the event of rape, incest and life of the mother. Right now peace corps does not have that. T have so unfortunately, were not able to cover abortions services at this time. There is a bill right now up on the hill that would address this. Its called the peace corps equity act. Appens we will see what happens with that. We are in favor of it. Olunte we thinker our volunteers shoul have the same treatment as othe. Federal workers, including the military. Does that happen for talk about the instances that where s abortion is needed. How does that happen . T it is occasional. There are occasional rapes in a peace corps like here in washington, d. C. We have established a very rity. Strong program of safety and sst security and a brand new sexuala assault Risk Reduction responset program. As a mother, as a return peace corps volunteer, as a Public Health specialist, i spent my life in Public Health, theres o no issuert thats more importan. To me than this. We have over the last two years working with National Experts nd here in this country developed a program that were very proud of. It has created more than 30 policy changes. Traini we have totally revamped our training for volunteers and staff. We have created a new office of victim advocacy to support of u vehiclepp tichlz any crime. Just a set of support systems to support volunteers when any bad thing happens. It doesnt happen all that b often. But we want to be sure that when bad things happen, we can fully support our volunteers. Le whats thgie status of the legislation . Whats the likelihood it gets passed . The status, it was passed ine the house. Its waiting for the senate. Its hard for me to tell. We have been down this line st before and it hasnt been passed. Let me say that. Michi atlanta, michigan. This is pat. Go ahead. Caller hi there. Your speaker is very applied interesting. My husband and i havee retired. T we were educators applied to the peace corps many years ago. Re we we couldnt get any place where assignment where we were together. We failed to become a peace corps people. You h my question this morning is, do you have programs in this in country where they are so badly needed as well as in other t hae countries . Peace corps does not have programs in the United States. N ou wonderful servic opportunities for service here. T vista, americorp. Great opportunity for service in our country. We are very supportive of these services. Many volunteers then go on to serve as peace corps volunteers. We have many openings for educator educators. About 10 of our volunteers are over 50. And we are always delighted to see people who have an education background and an interest in service apply to peace corps. Nol i hope you will take another look at us. You said 50. S there there is a viewer on twitter asks if there is an age limit . Only by your health. Our ability to support you in s the field. 86. Our oldest volunteer was 86. What country . Morocco. She was amazing. Amazing. My grandparents served in their early 70s. Some of our most fabulous volunteers are older. One of the the wonderful aspects of peace corps that mosk people dont think about is the comradery that develops in the peace corps group. You go in as a group. The group of volunteers that Enter Service together becomes very strong. Lop rela and you find that you develop relationships with people who are very different from you andi the s innergenerational friendship is wonderful. A group trains together and prepares together before they are put into a country of service . They train together and, yes. But they are training in their country of service. Ice. They fly together. E is a there is a staging in the country first. Its a day. Then they fly together to theirf country of service. And then they train for about s te, n weeks together. During that tenweek period of time, they become incredibly an close. Family erfueach others and support system. You see wonderful relationships develop, especially innergenerational. If you are just joining us, where he talking with the director of the peace corps. Ut talking about the mission of thv peace corps and recent changes from it. The website is peacec ro ps. Gov. I read that the initial application we talked about this was eight. 80. If you printed it all out it would take it was 60 pages long and it would take eight no hours to complete. T now its an online application that will take you less than one hour to complete. As far as what you were 60 a looking for inge the 60 pages, were you looking for essays, background checks . We were looking for several essays. Or now we have one essay which is h motivation statement. T. We also found that there were redunn dan says. For we were asking the same information in different ways. Pe in addition, now we ask people to submit resume. They dont have to actually fill out pages and pages of forms onm everyor single thing they have done. So its just a much more user friendly personalized system of applying to the peace corps. The previous way, how long would i have to wait before finding out if i got accepted . You could wait for a very ws long time. It was variable. Unpre it was unpredictable. Lacked transparency. People didnt know where they m were in the system. Xactly its a system thats more ur new transparent so you know where you are. One of the features of our new application is there is an apply by know by day. E. Its similar to applying to university. If you want to go to that program to be a teacher, lets just say, that if you apply by august 15th, you will know by november 15th and you will depart by february 15th. Im making up these numbers. Ansr it becomes a transparent process thats very similar to applying for a job or applying to university. Carrie hessl lelerradelethe 202585 2025853880 for democrats. As far as state side, how much staff do you have . As far how much infrastructure does peace corps have . We have our headquarters here in washington. We have about 500 staff members. And then we have five regional recruiting offices around the country. Thats all covered by the 379plus Million Dollars . Exactly. Every one of us is dedicated tog supporting our volunteers either through the recruitment processr and the application process or doctors and nurses that support from stateside, some of the medical care. We have communication staff. We have country Desk Officers that backstop each of our 66 sui countries. Everything we do is completelyn dedicated towards supporting our volunteers. You talked aboutn transparency. Does your organization have oversight on congress. We have an inspector general. Were under the Senate Foreign relations committee. We report to congress. So you havein testified befo congress in your new position or is that pending . I have been up ive done a lot of testimony. Te confi i also had my senate ress confirmation hearing. I meet regularly with members o. Congress. Members of congress are very supportive of the peace corps i. General. Kevin up next from yes massachusetts, democrat line. Caller yes. I just wanted to reflect upon the late senator sanders. He was a supporter of the peace corps. Also i was wondering if you are accepted into the program and you are injured on active duty and you could no longer perform, would the peace corps support y you . Something akin tocoty like a serviceconnected disability or something. Thank you so much. Thank you, kevin. Paul was a phenomenal american and also a return peace corps a volunteer. Im glad you brought him up. Pokr he was a fantastic spokespersonf and an exemplary volunteer. Seri peace corps does provide for volunteers who are injured as part of their service and those who have longlasting we consequences of health service. L we are part of the u. S. Government system and people would go over to the departmentn of labor to the federal Employee Compensation act. There is disability pay for ablt people who are unable to work as a result of their peace corps ee service like, other federal workers. One of the benefits of Peace Corps Service is that you are part of the u. S. Government safety net, so to speak. I also want to say that post support healthcare is an issue i care about deeply as a return volunteer and as a Public Health professional. One of the things we have been m working on is improving the lune quality of our support to le volunteers after they leave service. Both those who are completely o healthy and arefo looking for js but also those who require ou wn continued medical service. What do you want to see as far as the future . I would love to see us ted st thrive. I believe its the best face of the United States abroad. I think you heard testimony of that. See us in a few more countries. There are many countries that would love tocurr have peace coe served where we are not able to. And i would love to see an increase in the number of volunteers. Our goal is to get to 10,000 by 2018. Thats part of our plan. You have heard from kerr ri he carrie hesslerradelet. Foxx for about an hour at the National Press club. Gu our guest today has been in his post as the top u. S. Transportation regulator for just over a year. Since he assumed the job of u. S. Transportation secretary, shipping oil by train has become a hot button issue. The u. S. Suffered its first fatal aviation crab in more thn four years and the money that re pays for roads and bridges founf itself on the verge of running n out ofg money. Is the anthony foxx is the head of the u. S. Department of on transportation, which is , s sometimes overlooked. Which but which in recent months has been at the front and center of the news. When t when transportation runs smoothly, no one pays attention. But when bridges fall down, ns trains derail or more people dic in traffic crashes after years of decline, its the on sec transportation secretary who hears about it and hasrears too figure out a solution. Foxx previously was th e younge mayor of char noslot, north carolina, elected in 2009. City when the city slipped in the financial crisis after he was elected, he looked to transportation to revive the tan local economy. And he later brought thousands of visitors to theor city it whd it hosted the 2012 Democratic National convention. Io the father of two won a rare unanimous confer rags from the senate. And he keeps reminder of home, a carolinas panthers helmet in hil help. Help me give a warm welcome to u. S. Transportation secretary n anthony foxx. [ applause ] thank you very much. Much. I also want to thank Myron Belkind your current president for welcoming me here and to to thank all of you for taking time from your busy schedules and days to be here at the National Press club. Almost since i assumed the role of u. S. Secretary of anspor transportation i have been ringing the alarm bell about the looming crisis with our Highway Trust Fund. The federal source that is used to pay for highways and for transit. It is unfortunate that it has taken months of ringing this alarm bell, traveling the country in april on a bus tour, putting up a trust fund ticker on the dot website, meeting witf dozens of governors and mayors across the country, putting shoe leather on capitol hill to get to the point where just last of week the u. S. House of representatives passed a measurt to avert the immediate crisis or our Highway Trust Fund and to pass in effect a tenmonth patch on the system. Later this week, the u. S. Senate is s expected to take up a simir measure. If this shortterm patch passes, it will not be time to celebrate. Its hard tod imagine that Cong Congress will not push the Snooze Button on this issue again. Until crunch time. Come may 2015, if we are not be careful, we will be right here again with the shot clock set to expire looking for an easy solution to patches for a few a more months leaving the real conversation for another time. I can hear folks on capitol hil now, gosh, you know, this transportation thing is really important, but we just cant figure it out right now. Le so lets just do what we can and keep moving. Cand today, and until congress passe a longterm bill, im urging thp American People to say no more delays, no more gimmicks, no more shortterm patches or bandaids. To work build our country. Put us to work and get america moving again and help future d t generations move forward inhe t process. Because, folks, if were only re building for the present, we ar building for the past. Thats just the reality. Its a sad commentary that we are in effect managing a declining system. A s system that is crumbling before our eyes. A system that is growing potholes. A system that is creating longer commute times and a system that will cause us to lose jobs we have no business losing in america. U why . If this system were a patient, w we would want to look at what hh the symptoms are and we would want to figure out what the hat underlying disease was. On on the surface, our system suffers from chronic under an od investment. And old project pr delivery sys that makes projects take too ndo long and cost too much and a se of priorities that are more like modelts a set of policies that are like modelts. Beneath the surface the American People are confused about who to hold accountable, even as they s sit in longer and longer traffic jams, even as though traffic jams areja expected to get long over time. Get what i am saying in effect is that America Needs more than just an incremental adjustment. We need a reset. It has got to be big. Let me talk about the symptoms. First, our chronic under investment in transportation feels normal. E t we treat it like its just the t way it is, the way its supposed to be. We talk about the infrastructure deficit as if it is the normal course of things. Every year the cost of catching up grows fath s fa s farther we will fall almost 850 billion short of Transportation Needs nationally by 2020. T but you dont have to just looka at a big aggregate number like that. Go to rhode island where i was a couple weeks ago and talk to thd governor and his dof director. At they can show you that at levels current levels, even if we get a patch, even if we get 50 more s, patches, at current levels, ovet the next 20 years, roads in rhode island are going to get an worse. Rhode island is not bysl itselfw a few weeks ago, pieces of the n Brooklyn Bridge fell b to the underpass below closing the and underpass. I could goo to nashville and s t point to three a bridges that a doing the same thing. This is happening all over america and we have no shortage of highprofile bridge collapse, in this country, including up in minnesota and Washington State. I as the president says, we have 100,000 bridges old enough to fr qualify for medicare. So so were piling up deferred a maintenance. And its not a surpriserp that m system is falling apart. So i characterize the first symptom is we have a big proble that wereli treating like a little problem. Thats the first symptom. Second, we are understating the cumulative affect of the sy shorttermst measures on the system. Over the last five t years or sd we have had 27 shortterm measures passed by congress. So we get into the 11th hour. Congress shuffles around, tries to find an answer. H we patch ourselves together for a few months. Everything is supposed to be but okay. But its not. You you know, when i used to go g shopping as a kid, i would go y with my grandmother a lot of times. She would take me. Ta i would get to a store and i e a would pick up a toy or omethi something. I would ng say, lets get this. Say, she would say, no, put it down,t were just browsing. Well, i learned later what browsing meant. Browsing meant we have no eant w intention ofe coming back to g that toy. Ats wha right . Thats what congress isg. Doing. Every time they do another h, patch, they are just driving another nail into the idea that america is going to solve our longterm transportation problems. Creating less confidence at the state and local level. This is something i know a little bit about. I was a mayor. I can tell you that when you arn trying to put millions of dollars on the table just to plan a project without knowing whether the federal governments support is going to be there, it gets harder and harder and harder to get those projects going. Ojec so instead of ramping up transportation construction, were actually ramping down. That has kweconsequences. Without planning, you cant design a t. Project. You you dont design, you dont engineer. If you dont engineer, it doesnt happen. If it doesnt happen, theres no relief. Its a big malooming problem in america. Thats the second symptom. s which leads me to the third one. In addition to stockpiling a huge infrastructure deficit, chilling activity at the state and local levelsy a s through shortterm measures and indecision, the circus mirror iq washington is making the most c. Practical answers seem impractical and its like its upside down. What whats right iss wrong, whats wrong is right. The American People are wise. When we explain the facts to them, they make the right choices. Ak i have talked to them. Talk talked to many of them over theo course of this past year. You give them a choice between a temporary, imperfect, more expensive solution and a real lasting cheaper solution, they are going to take the latter just about every time. Thats exactly what we have tried to do with the grow america act. Im sure all of you have read. It. If you havent, i would i recommend it to you. We it is a bill that we put forth in this administration towrit r america on a path to growth. Let me describe the bill for you in summary fashion. Not it not only stabilizes the Highway Trust Fund, it actuallys increases investment in the Highway Trust Fund to the tune of 37 . 22plus billion dollars over a fouryear period of time going into our system creating jobs, creating the kind of activity we need. Itstan substantially invests ini critical repairs. It puts in place money to putghn place a freight structure. Wer it woulde help deal with the ldh complaint thatel projects take t long by streamlining the federal permitting process and. Incentivizing states to do the o same. R creating more value for the dollar. It brings rail into the dedicated funding family along i with high ways and transit. It strengths buy america and local hiring. And even helps by by directing n dollarg s directly to state directly to local communities sm they can getun projects moving. And the kicker is is that Cong Congress can pay for the grow america act without raising dei deficits or rates. By just doing some common sense progrowth Business Tax Reform like preventing companies from g moving profits overseas. This bill or Something Like it l ought toik be a layup. Asy. It ought to be easy. But but when you talk to members, es essentially the argument against it is we cant do it because we cant. Ladies and gentlemen, the idea that congress cant pass a multiyear forward thinking transportation bill is one of te the biggest selffulfilling prove sits in american politics today. And by the way, it is killing our Transportation System softly. One of the buildingftly blocks our economy. So here we are. We are on the eve of another patch, another shortterm clou measure, another cloud of d uncertainty that will certainly grow our infrastructure deficit and roll the drawbridge up a little more on the next generation. Our congress iss runningis out mattresses, out of child seats and rocks to look under to patch us just for a little while longer. That brings me to the disease. Ce its congress but its deeper than that. I said this before. Before but i really believe Abraham Lincoln was right when he said that the American People, when n given access to facts, will do g the right. Thing. Im paraphrasing. But but when they dont have the fat facts, we can get stuck. Well, on this issue with the American People, they need the facts. In w,reality, they know somethi is wrong because they are stuckn in traffic. They have been awaiting the new bypass or the new Passenger Service for years and years. Unfortunately for them, they y cant put a finger on who to wo hold accountable. Theres not a sign on the free a way that says, your commute would be shorter if Congress Just took action. The dots arent connected. It gets more confusing. Frankly, when you hear when they hear that Congress Passed a measure to keep highway funding, going. Because it sounds like something that ought to happen. But they are not told to read the fine print. In the fine print it says this t fix is temporary. Its not really going to fix whats broken and its not really going to do what we need it to do. They if they knew these facts, if ite were put squarely in front of ma them, the American People would demand a solution. Clearly, we need a moment of clarity and a moment of political courage. Will no that will not happen without the American People raising their voices. The good new s here is that it, starting to happen. We have 30 governors who are at republicans who are asking for e bill that allows them to plan more than ten months out. They are not alone. Last week, 62 associations, tios including the national g th association of manufacturers, joined together calling on congress for a longterm proposl proposal. They are notre n alone. 11 of my predecessors and i are joining to push for a longterm solution. Secretaries lahod, dole, coalmad and boyd, taking together we have served 35 years standing tv watch over our nations road ad ways and transit systems. Five of us served under democratic president s, seven ofr us served under republican president s. While i amts. Sure there are iss on which we may not all agree, there is one issueag on which w are united. That is for america to reach hee potential we have to have a ngm longterm transportation investment plan. And we need is as soon as an possible. Today, we are releasing an open letter to Congress Calling on congress to do just that. Th the 12 of us can stand togethers congress can stand together and get something done. But but we wont stop there. I wont stop there. Im not going to stop inside the beltway pushing this issue g to because im going to do serything possible until this gets acted on to make sure the American People know they are in charge. Were going to convene leaders in 50 states and make the case for ending gridlock on this issue. Right right now, washington is dictating outcomes to the American People. T shou it should work the other way. Ee were going to let the American People decide whether their futures are worth fighting for. As a department, we recognize the challenges that are coming r around the corner in america. We are going to work hard to o make sure these trends and challenges are more clear to the American Public and to policy makers. We have to look past our noses. To do that, one of the tools wes will use is a 30year Transportation Vision thats going to look at the trends ando challenges. By the end of the year, we will have that available to the American People. So we have a plan fo r the future. And th the American People, i believe, are on our side. T particularly when they have h access to the information that is so critical to this issue. Thats why i believe were goino to get progress on this longterm plan. I thinklong the moment is in fr of us. Is i why i do believe it . Ieve i believe it partly because from the from lincolns railroad to i tont eisenhowers roads, we ared country that looks forward. Where he not stuck in our past. We are a country that is ever e focused on the future. With that, i want to thank all of you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you, mr. Secretary. Ecry as you can imagine, we have a lot of questions on a lot of topics. Starting on the topic of transportation funding. Are are i confident the 10. 8 on billion patch thats moving wil keep the Highway Trust Fund hrog funded through next may as it is supposed to do . I think from a funding standpoint, the answer is yes. Again, i want to reemphasize that the system we have is really a system that depends one certainty. While there is a patch foe potentially that Congress Passes thats not hce going to help tht certainty issue. Mult you have a project that takes e years to get done and you are io the middle of a planning term o process, do you go for the longer term or dont you . U know with a tenmonth patch you dont know whats on the other end ofd the ten months. Ten thats the problem we have in our system right now. You are relesion the letter t today, the bipartisan letter with hopes that will spur ngress congressional action. Io do you see any signs that this congress will work to pass a longerterm transportation bill or any signs that the congress likely to be elected in november wouldwo do so . Well, let me say it this way. We really dont have a choice. I i mean, honestly, the gimmicks and smoke and mirrors and things that have been used in the past to patch us along, they are thos starting to run out of those options. We are reaching a point where, you know, were going to have tr do Something Big or we are going to have to fold the tent. You know, knowing this country the way i know it, we dont fol, the tent. D you know . We dont stop building bridges. We dont stop repairing what we have got because it was given ts us by previous generations. P they paidai for it. And they bekweejed it to us. Lowg otherwise, our kids are going to be stuck. Not only as the transportation r secretary im duty bound to th fight for this, but im a father and im a concerned citizen, too. We have just we cannot allo oualr politics to screw up a system that was given to us in good faith by previous generations. One of the things that you didnt mention and that president tha o obama has made he will not support is raising the gasth tax. Why has the obama administratioo been so opposed to raising fuels taxes for the highway trust fun in the longterm when the other solutions arent getting passed either . Well, what you have heard me say about this is that number e one, we have a proposal that wei believe isev a 21st century bil that is paid for through usines progrowth business tax s refoxn and can b be done by congress wh without raising rates without increasing deficits. Wev we have said that we are open to other ideas that emerge from congress. Andan have been very clear not rule anything out. In but let me say this to you, the tax itself has some challenges. No matter whether you set the curve level, the curve of the gas taxy is actually down ward facing. Ha thats because vehicles were oo becoming more efficient, good reasons. The but that is a stuructural challenge with the gas tax. Secondly, historically theres been an 80 20 split between transit and highways using the a gas tax. Reach as we reach into the 21st century its becoming increasingly clear that this ori idea that surfaceon transportatn is just highways and transit wih without rail is a questionou th i think we need to grapple with as a country. Easons thats one of the reasons why the grow america act actually folds rail into a trust fund. But the way we get there is thae we use a different source of revenue and we add money to the pot so to speak so that were n not robbing peter to pay paul to get this system going. N thats a conversation that needs to be had and frankly, even oura stakeholders sometimes get mired in the system weve had and arent focused as much as id ke like to see them focused on the system we need in the future. Shortly after he stepped on e as secretary he called for gas, raising the gas tax. We will we some day see a former secretary anthony fox doing the same thing . I didnt hear the question. I really didnt. Look, im going to say this a different way. When our system was built in ers 1956, there was only growth in h the foreseeable future in our revenue stream. We now know that that growth is actually changing because of the increased deficiency and so forth in our vehicles. Were at a Pivotal Point where i ouron Transportation Needs are here and our revenue is there. So our proposal introduces a new idea with a way to pay for our Transportation System on a long term basis. I think we will continue to havg these questions how to do it long term. There are many ideas out there inpeni academia and pilots arou the country that are interestin but they are not ready for prime time yet. I dont know what i will say. Im sure i will say a lot things when im not here anymore but what about vehicle miles travel tax as you said, vehicle efficiency is increasing, therefore gas tax collection isu declining but the amountt of is driving is not plummeting. Will that be a viable option or atn . Least something to conside for this administration . T i think the crisis that wert in right now is one that has to get dealt with as soon as possible. I think on the scale of seem solutions that seem more likelyo or less likely, i think, vmt is something thats notth very lik lyr but there are pilots out in t it oregon orhe other placesment m. Im sure these things will be looked at in the futurement we need an answer. We got one thats tailors to pass and w meov want to see cons do it. Mon monthi mon cmoving onto malaysia downinga ti were constantly in it sources that we trust and there are other parts the world that are active right now. An we continue to monitor the International Situation to ensure that u. S. Commercial carriers are given the best guidance possible. When the u. S. Banned commercial flights over crimea, why didnth it extendy the restrictions ati that timect to other hostile ars in ukraine and at this point, d you regret that the u. S. Did not do that . This this is a point at which i figured you were going to ask me some of the questions about ay malaysia. Let me just say to your question that even when the no tem was issued back in april, there was also general guidance that urgen caution among u. S. Carriers. Gen more generally on these questions, let me just say a few words about it. The president spoke this morning and made clear that this is an evolving situation but that time is of the essence. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their at families. The at ususdot safety is our to priority. We are working closely withcl o partners an the u. S. Intelligence agencies and Law Enforcement communities on a continuous basis to monitor and analyze intelligence. When the agency receives specific andic credibl aee and a actionable intelligence of the l National Air Space system. The u. S. Aviation and its passengers, the agency provides guidance to carriers or inst institutes flight restrictions. In april, the faas no tem warned about the hostilities ano urged them to take extra caution as i said. A number of operators chose voluntarily to alter their roots in the restriction in the peninsula of crimea. Ow t my comments are combined to what i just said to you can keep can asking but thats what i have to say. The white house has said that u. S. Criminal investigators as well as Transportation Safety as investigators through the w nts have been sent to ukraine to kre lend assistance. Is there a role for dot in the y response and investigation as h, well. We stand ready to help and i stand on what i just said. In the 2000s. The faa in partnership with dhs spent millions of dollars ipping studying the possibilities of equipping commercial planes with counter systems. What is the status of that effort and would these measures have been effective against the missile fired last week . This is obviously as the ly s president has already said a sa, very fluid situation. Theres a lot that we still need to know. Know. The International Community ne needs toed be accessed to the se of this horrible crash. Im not any steps on that im not f commenting on at thisin time. Up what about studying in an general equipping planes with antimissile technology . Still was that project ended in the ha previous decade or was that ongoing, absent in this cant particular incident . I cant speak to a decade ago but i can tell you that we continue to monitor the si situation and any statement of f what we will do or not do would be premature. Ner question asked. When will u. S. Aircraft be mandated to be equipped with gpl so that they can be located world wide. Well, this is an area that gets into our next gen effort m domestically. We tip to make progress on nextf gen. I was in houston just a few re wee woo weeks ago and we just rolled out about 60 or so new functions that are next gen oriented functions that move us closer to theerfoki performance based nave system that youre talking about. Even if we getoy it deployed in the u. S. , theres still a lot of work to be done around the worly to see this Technology Advanced and deployed but were very bullish on thison technology and look forward to working with the International Community to see more of it get deployed world wide. Speaking of next gen we heard the president mention air Traffic Control as a source of jobs. Is that a message that were m likely to continue hearing out of the administration . Is, it is because we think next is really the cutting c edge of transportation. The intersection of technology and the way our airplanes move hold a lot of promise to not only make the air place move for efficiently and oir planes move for efficiently in the air space ratherbe but it has strong environmental benefits and also fuel saving benefits for our cos carriers g which will hopefully reduce costs. S the statistics ive seen though that next gen will reduce airplane delays by passengers for greater than 40 . O it is dependent on getting us off of a