Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140410 : c

Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140410

Prime minister assure the committee those who would refuse legal aid is still under the new exceptional funding scheme. He said, the minister, this was a vital safeguard. 617 family law applications have been made, and eight have been allowed. What kind of safeguard is that . I will at the close of the cases he raises a key thing is this, that we have to make sure our legal aid system is is affordable and where we can bear our legal aid system with similar common law countries, we still spend far more per head in countries like australia or new zealand or others. He shakes his head but, frankly, its no good for members apartment to Come Department every week and vote against every single spending decision but not to recognize we have to get our deficit down in order to help our economy recover. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Will be Prime Minister take a few minutes over the easter days [inaudible] in Economic Affairs which was announced last night . Because if he does i am sure it will get my some good ideas as to why leaving the European Union should become part of our longterm economic plan. [laughter] well, my honorable friend and i agree on many things, but im afraid this isnt one of it. Isnt one of the i will have a look at the incident pamphlet, as a potential piece of holiday reading and see how it competes with other alternatives but that is another choice for this cspan, a house hearing of the oneyear anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. Then todays washington journal. Followed by live coverage of the bers continue looking at a budget resolution. Coming up on the next washington journal, a look at the differences between the budgets released by democrats and Budget Committee chairman paul ryan. Our guest is congressman john yarmuth of kentucky. Then representative aaron sh ock will be here to talk about the prospects for tax reform in congress. Liveington journal is every morning starting at 7 00 a. M. You can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. If you continue to send people here who have no realworld experience, no real hardship, no difficulty, no successes in life outside of politics, you are going to continue to get the same result. That is why i think we need a Constitutional Convention that will put term limits. Once you put term limits on, you eliminate a lot of careers that go on here. The other thing that will open up a lot more seats for a lot more people who actually have real world experience to be competitive in terms of coming up here that is only one part of what you can do to fix the government. You are not going to fix it in washington today. I am literally convinced of that. I will have spent 16 years in congress, and i continue to be disappointed every day at the lack of foresight, at the lack of judgment, at the lack of longterm thinking, and the lack of critical decisionmaking that occurs in congress. Senator coburn on his career, politics, and reasons for his retirement from the senate, sunday night at 8 00 on cspans q a. Cspan, for 35 years bringing Public Affairs events to you. Putting you in the room and offering complete gaveltogavel coverage of the u. S. House, all as a Public Service of private industry. By thecspan, created cable tv industry 35 years ago and brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Watch us in hd, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. On the oneyear anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings, the House Homeland Security Committee Held a hearing with testimony from the Law Enforcement officials who first responded to and investigated the attacks. This is an hour and 45 minutes. The committee is meeting today to examine the bombings in boston on april 15th, 2013. Today there will be a memorial in my home state of texas for the shooting that took place last week. Before we continue this proceeding, i would like to take a moment of silence to recognize the victims of this horrific attack. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. This is a i now recognize myself for an opening statement. This is a powerful and emotional day for the witnesses and for me. It is a time to remember the anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings. It is a time to remember the victims. I personally remember walking down boylston street with Boston Police commissioner edward davis who is with us here today. I remember him pointing out to me the trash cans where the bombs went off, injuring 260 innocent people and killing three, including an eightyearold boy, in cold blood. In the middle of the chaos, we also witnessed exceptional bravery. Acts ofor the heroic the First Responders and boston citizens who ran towards danger instead of away, many more could have died. After the attack, the marathoners tying their shoes hundreds immemorial out of respect and dedication. I also remember the Watertown Police chief who is with us here fory as well, and thank you being here i remember him taking me and congressman keating on a tour of their once quiet neighborhood and seeing the aftermath of the gunfight to take down two of the biggest terrorists since 9 11. What happened after that is what heroes are made of. Threw everything he had at these officers, including pipe bombs, rounds of ammunition, and it Pressure Cooker ied. The boston bomber was finally subdued after the horrific acts and efforts of our local Law Enforcement who are with us today, as well. So wellknown is that had it not been for the efforts of commissioner ed davis and those of the Watertown Police force, our nation could have been further terrorized. These terrorists had six more bombs in their car, and they were on their way to times square. Heroicerent for these acts of bravery, new york city could have been hit again. We will hear from these brave individuals today for the first during thiscongress committee through its oversight responsibilities conducted a thorough investigation into what happened and what went wrong. We found that several flags and warnings were missed. Was ond that tamerlan the raider of the fbi and somehow dropped off. We found that he traveled to dagestan, knowing for its chechen terrorists. This is precisely what a russian letter warned our Intelligence Community and fbi about. He came back even more radicalized. We also found that unfortunately customs, fbi, and the Intelligence Community somehow missed it. Arrogantly, some u. S. Officials said it wouldnt have made a difference. It would not have made a difference if they had known about his overseas travels. We now know that, checking his public social media would have shown indicators such as jihadist video postings. Seen escalating behavior, as well. It likely would have been clear that he was becoming more and more of a threat to his community, which takes me to my rid state and local police have a strong role in counterterrorism. They know the streets better than anybody, and they know the local threats to rid the boston pd should have given more should have been given more information throughout the entire process. They must know Terror Threats in their own backyards. This process, in my judgment, has to change. This, twort to do weeks ago our committee issued our report about the Boston Marathon bombings. Over the course of the year, we held two hearings, added numerous briefings and engagements, traveled to boston multiple times, had a bipartisan staff delegation traveled to moscow. I personally went to boston and bosco with mr. Keating and spoke with officials on the ground. I want to thank the democrats for their participation in the investigation and the report. I am pleased that their input was reflected in the final report. Based on the Lessons Learned, we issued our recommendations to fix some of the systemic problems that led to tamerlan ts arnaev falling off our radar. Small way,hink, in a the recommendations we made in this report can make a difference in preventing the tragedy we saw in boston from occurring again in the homeland. Im pleased to know and to hear and report that both the fbi and dhs are already constructively implementing the recommendations of this committees report, and i commend them for that. Let us hope that such a tragic event like this never happens again. With that, i would now like to in thise the heroes hearing, in this Committee Room here today, the watertown officers who are with us here today who were directly involved takenerlans takedown, off the streets once and for all. Sergeant john mcclellan, officer joseph relevant reynolds, officermagill colen, michael comic, and of course, chief gevo. Gentlemen, would you please stand and be recognized . [applause] the chair now recognizes the acting Ranking Member, miss sanchez. I think the chairman for holding todays hearing, and i also extend my condolences to the families of the four People Killed during last weeks shooting at fort hood. Additional prayers are with the people injured during that shooting. The firstto recognize Responder Community and medical personnel for their incredible response to the shooting. Today, the joint Terrorism Task force does not consider the shooting an act of terrorism. However, the investigation is ongoing. I am going to read into the record comments from our Ranking Member, mr. Thompson. Incidents like last weeks shooting and last years model marathon bombing, we are reminded of the importance of our First Responders. I commend the service of our witnesses, former commissioner chief, the sergeants, and i think professor leonard for recognizing their courageous efforts in his research. Resilience and response are two of the reasons why almost a year areahe boston metropolitan why almost a year from ago, the boston metropolitan area remains strong. Wish mayor walsh, president of the boston athletic association, and all the runners and volunteers participating in the 118th Boston Marathon well as the race commences on the 21st of april of this year. Even though boston is standing strong, it would be a disservice to the community not to take a look back. There are still unanswered rnaevions about the tsa rudders. We owe it to doug people of boston to the people of boston and the people of america that officials do a thorough review of that situation. Last april, the inspectors general of the Intelligence Community, departments of Homeland Security and justice and the Central Intelligence agency announced a joint investigation into whether intelligence was properly intributed and acted upon the months and years before the bombing at the Boston Marathon. I find it rather unfortunate that the review was delayed because of the senseless 16day Government Shutdown in october of 2013. Partisan disagreements create serious gaps in Homeland Security oversight, and this is just one example of the myriad of setbacks that the shutdown yielded. Another Development Since last year is attorney general holders january 13 announcement that the u. S. Would be seeking the Death Penalty against the allegedlyaev, Boston Marathon a bomber. He was arrested and indicted. Confidence ind my his receiving a fair yet aggressive prosecution in the United States District Court for the commonwealth of massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, as a former federal prosecutor, you know attorney general holders decision to seek the Death Penalty is a game changer. Im sure you are familiar with the intricacies involved in a capital case. As i reminded the Committee Last year, as we fulfill our constitutional oversight responsibilities, we must be careful not to jeopardize a federal prosecution. This applies in both the words that we speak to the public, as well as the publications that stem from this committee. Unfortunately, some of the actions that have extended from this committee have not been helpful to the department of justice. On march 25, a majority staff report endorsed by a minority at a minority of the members of this committee was released to the public. Less than 48 hours after the arnaevs release, ts defense team filename ocean in the District Court citing this report. I reemphasize that as members of congress, especially as members of the Homeland Security committee, we are held to a heightened standard. We are trusted with both classified and unclassified briefings and meetings with members of the Intelligence Community. Therefore, the words that we speak or publish about alleged transcend the halls of this congress and are not taken lightly by the public. Furthermore, this not only applies to events surrounding boston but also to other events with pending investigation. Reaching conclusions before facts are known puts the reputation of this committee at peril. A sauce, we must exercise discretion in our questioning, and our statements about events, suspects, and the links to others that may not be in custody. Of those limitations, mr. Chairman, we can still use our platform to have a productive discussion about the acton marathon bombing and on outstanding matters. For example, we can and should discuss the funding given to the first Responder Community. Last year, at the committee on Homeland Securitys first hearing, former commissioner davis said without Grant Funding , the response would have been much less comprehensive than it exercisesithout the supported through the urban Area Security initiative funding, there would have been more people who died in these attacks. For faster leonards testimony also indicates that this type of preparedness is what makes first respondents effective. The sergeant is testifying today that local municipal governments are not financially equipped to take on the increasing burden of these catastrophic attacks like boston. We not onlyhat listen to the First Responders but that we also take action. Not only after last years hearings, but also hearings throughout several congresses, members have heard about the importance of these Grant Programs and the Success Stories involving them. Accordingly, i urge members to oppose the administrations proposal to shift focus away from supporting state and local efforts to develop terrorismrelated prevention and preparedness capabilities by morphing the Homeland Security annt program into allhazards grand prix im not convinced that the under funded grants consolidation proposal would provide sufficient support for First Responders across america to build and maintain the capabilities necessary to respond as effectively as the First Responders in boston and watertown did after the bombings last year. We learned from 9 11 that it is the local responders that are there on the scene. I cannot support any grant reform proposal until im convinced it would provide the support necessary to maintain the terrorism preparedness capabilities that we have spent has been building now for over a decade. Also, i agree with the chairman that we cannot ignore that information sharing between federal, state, and local authorities needs strengthening. Since september 11, information sharing silos that the 9 11 commissioners addressed continue to be exposed after tragic events. We need to Work Together to develop ways to fix that problem as soon as possible. We must also consider the economic costs of terrorism. In response to the events of september 11, congress enacted the terrorism Risk Insurance act of 2002. That measure increased the availability of terrorism Risk Insurance to at risk american businesses by guaranteeing that the government would share some of the losses with private insurance should a terrorist attack occur at a building. That act is set to sunset this year. According to the rand corporation, allowing this act to expire would harm our national security. , mr. Thompson introduced a bill that would and add somet needed improvements. I urge my colleagues to cosponsor the legislation. Even though it has been almost a year since the bombings, there has been some game changing. Oments some ships are still anchored. As we continue to seek answers, i remind us to be responsible and to act within our constitutional boundaries. The people of boston are looking for our leadership on this issue , and i yield back the balance of my time and a

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