My honorable friend makes a very good point. This government have made available money for a council tax freeze. That has the consequence that money for that freeze is available in wales, so people in wales will know who to blame if their council tax is not frozen. It is the Labour Assembly government in wales they are to blame; they are the ones who are charging hardworking people more for their council tax. We all remember the Prime Ministers promise last october that he would legislate to force Energy Companies to put customers on the lowest tariff. Will he explain why his energy bill contains no such commitment and why he has broken that promise . I have to tell the honorable gentleman that he is completely wrong. The energy bill does exactly what i said in the house; it is about legislating to force companies to give people the lowest tariff. Oh, no. Order. It is very discourteous of the house to issue a collective groannotably on the opposition benches. It is quite inexplicable. I have called the good doctor; let us hear from the good doctor. Schools in cambridgeshire were underfunded for decades by both the last Labour Government and the one before that, and the latest figure shows that they receive £600 per pupil per year less than the english averagethe worst funding in the entire country. Does the Prime Minister agree that that is simply unfair . Will he support the Cambridge News fair deal for our schools campaign, and pledge to end the discrepancy during the Current Parliament . I will consider carefully what my honorable friend has said, but i will say to him now that we have protected the schools budget so that per pupil funding is the same throughout this parliament, and head teachers can plan on that basis. By encouraging Academy Schools and free schools, we are ensuring that more of the education money goes directly to them. The institute for Fiscal Affairs described the chancellors tax changes and benefit cuts as giving with one hand and taking away with many others. Does the Prime Minister think that that is fair on hard working families, when at the same time he is giving to millionaires with both hands . I do not agree that that is what the ifs said. As i said when i quoted the ifs last week, it has pointed out that the highest increase in tax payments has come from the better off, and the changes that the government have made are particularly helping hard working people on the minimum wage who will see their income tax bills cut in half. That is what this government are doing, and we will not forget the abolition of the 10p tax rate that clobbered every hardworking person in the country. I know that the Prime Minister is aware of the Watford Community exchange, which will take place on friday. It will involve a meeting between 50 businesses and 50 charities and community organisations. I hope that the Prime Minister will congratulate chris luff of freedom communications, which has already offered 150 hours of its time to help local charities, including Westfield Community centre. I also hope that the Prime Minister will encourage all his colleagues, including ministers, to initiate similar proceedings in their constituencies, because this is the big society in action. My honorable friend is absolutely right. A very large part of the big society is businesses coming together to help voluntary groups and charities in local communities. I think it is excellent that my honorable friend is doing that good work in his constituency, and i pay tribute to all who are joining him. As i said earlier, it is good news that volunteering is up, Charitable Giving is up, and the big society is getting bigger. Is the Prime Minister still eating processed beef . I am following very carefully what the Food Standards Agency says, and what the Food Standards Agency says is that there is nothing unsafe on our shelves. Procedures at the northern lincolnshire and Goole HospitalsNhs Foundation trust are being reviewed because of the high mortality rate, which is obviously of considerable concern to my constituents. Will the Prime Minister assure them that whatever recommendations result from the review will be implemented in full . I can certainly give that assurance. It is important that we get to the bottom of any hospital having an unnaturally high mortality rate. It is also important that such inspections and investigations are carried out properly, and that we all learn the lessons of the mid staffordshire inquiry report. You have been watching Prime Ministers questions. Question time airis on cspan2 on wednesday at 7 00 a. M. Eastern and the house is in session. Next week, the british house of commons will be in recess. Prime ministers questions returns on wednesday, february 27. Watch any time ad cspan. Org or you can find videos of past Prime Ministers questions. Next, a Senate Hearing with u. S. Central command nominee general lloyd austin. Then the state of the Indian Nation speech by the president of the National Congress of american indians. And a Senate Hearing on the implementation of the doddfrank regulations for financial institutions. What worries me is that i do not want to be sitting in the same place i was a couple of years ago, going to the government and saying, this i want to see Spectrum Management that is much more marketdriven. Things like incentive options oakley will continue to work. The Commission Given flexibility to existing licensees. The secondary market working in a smoother way than it does now. You look at the growth rate in data usage from subscribers, were seeing anywhere from 30 50 on an annual basis. There is no slowing down. There is this insatiable hunger for capacity, faster speeds, and they have a long feature in being able to provide that service. Onmore from this years ces monday night on the communicators at 8 pm eastern on cspan 2. General lloyd austin has been nominated to lead the u. S. Central command in the middle east and afghanistan. He testified before the Senate Arms Committee on thursday. General austen was joined by the nominee for u. S. Africa command, general David Rodriguez, a Top Commander in afghanistan from 20072011. This is two hours. Le conversations] good morning everybody and welcome. This morning the Committee Considers the nominations of two very distinguished officers to two of the most active and challenging combatant commands. General lloyd austin united stes army nominated to be commander u. S. Central command and general David Rodriguez u. S. Army to be nominated to be commander of the u. S. Afri command. These two combatant commands centcom and africom are the centers of gravity for our militarys operations to counter the threat of terrorism. Oath nominees have served our country with distinction and i want to thank each of you for your decades of military service and your willingness to serve once again. I understand that general austin s wife charlene and General Rodriguez wife jen air with us this morning and i want to a knowledge them and thank them for their sacrifices, their support to our nominees throughout the years which is so essential to the success of our nominees and as is the committees tradition are nominees are invited to introduce any family members or friends who may be with them this morning with their opening remarks. If confirmed general austin will assume command of centcom during it critical transition. Not for military operations in afghanistan. In the coming months Afghan Forces will assume the lead responsibility for providing security throughout their country, the Coalition Forces stepping back though a support role. On tuesday, president obama announced during his state of the Union Address plans for drawing down half of the 66,000 u. S. Troops in afghanistan this year, a 34,000 troop reduction by february of 2014. The president continues to consid options for a significantly reduced us. Military presencin afghanistan after the end of 2014, which will depend on many things but in part on negotiations with the government of afghanistan over Legal Protections for our troops. The president has made clear that then missions of residual u. S. Presence in afghanistan after 2014 will be limited to current terrorism operations and training and advising Afghan Forces. General austin would bring exceptional experience in overseeing this transition, having commanded u. S. Forces in iraq during the reduction of u. S. Forces and equipment from iraq. Just this ast weekend our forces in afghanistan have had a change of command, with general Joseph Duckworth replacing general john allen as commander of the International Securities systems forces and commander of u. S. Forces afghanistan. I want to take this opportunity to thank general allen for his thoughtful and devoted leadership in afghanistan, for his forthrightness and his interactions with me and the rest of the members of this committee. When senatoreid and i visited afghanistan in january, we saw a real signs of progress, including the Afghan Security forces increasingly taking the lead responsibility for protecting their country. Good news stories about afghanistan and the Afghan Security forces dont seem to get the coverage of the u. S. Media that is given to negative stories. For example, it was widely reported that only one of the 23 afghan brigades is rated by isaf is independent. On the other hand we heard from our commanders in afghanistan that 87 of operations in afghanistans critical regional command east are carried out solely by Afghan Security forces. Another Success Story is now the 18,000 strong Afghan Local Police program. These Community Defense forces when coordinated with district Level National police and afghan army forces are more and more effective in powering afghan communities to defend against taliban intimidation and violence. Plans are being developed to increase the authorized size of the alp program from 30,000 to 45,000. The next centcom cmander will also play an Important Role in shaping our Enduring Partnership with afghanistan after 2014. The partnership that i fully support. Ike m. Concerned however by the plants to reduce the Afghan NationalSecurity Forces by a third starting in 2015. 352,000 to 230,000 by 2017. I believe that any future reductions in the size of the Afghan Forces should be based on security conditions in afghanistan at that time and this Afghan Security forces make and providing for their country security, we should reassure them that we will continue to support these efforts by deciding that as we withdraw our forces that the wont get drawdo and Afghan Forces. Progress in afghanistan remains fragile and significant challenges to afghanistans longterm stability remain. Among the greatest threat to its stability are the safe havens for afghan insurgents across the pakistan border. The government of pakistan has failed to disrupt or eliinate. In addition the major shortcomings of the government of afghanistan in delivering governance, fighting corruption creates political and economic instability that could exacerbate the challenges in the 2014 transition. In addition to afghanistan sense, as can contend with when the most difficult issues in our security debate, the threat posed by iran in pursuit of its nuclear program. As the centcom commander general austin will be at the tip of the spear with regard to preparing militarily for the detention of an Armed Conflict with iran. He shares the presence view that all options must be some remaining on the table. Including its relentless pursuit of its stability fomenting the violence through proxies such as hamas and hezbollah and through its own covert activities in the region. Already destabilizing events in syria, yemen gaza egypt and sudan are made worse by iraq spending and supply of terrorist organizations seekg to undermine governments to spark further conflict among sectarian and tribal groups. Centcom has a Critical Role to play in leading efforts across the region to counter irans aligned influence. Events in syria continued to deteriorate. The impact of the assad regimes increasing dependence on support from iran and desperate actions to hold onto power can be seen in the thousands of refugees that flow into the towns and villages that syrias neighbors. While the United States is focused on providing humanitarian relief and nonlethal assistance to the syrian opposition, the centcom commander will be asked to advise on the situation to syria including whether to provide Legal Assistance to the opposition, with eight the United States should conduct limited strikes against k Syrian Military capabilities and whether the United States should seek to build a coalition of nations to take re significant military action. These are extraordinarily complex issues that general austin will be asked to share his views on today. Centcoms area of responsibility remains a Central Location of many of the nonstate terrorist threats to our nation faces. In addition to core al qaeda in pakistan and the reemergence of al qaeda in iraq, al qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula remains focused on attacking United States and our interests. Our centcom forces continue to assist our Yemeni Security partners in preventing al qaeda from taking advantage of areas in yemen where the government has limited control. The offense and ghazi benghazi were powerful reminder of our need and public expectations for a capable capabilities to respond quickly to crises around the world. This is one of the major evolving situations that general rodriquez has to address and it will consume a great deal of his time. It is far from limited to benghazi and libya. We have struggled in africa to find a foothold to allow for the responses to the type of events that occurred in benghazi and will allow us to conduct day to day operations lech intelligence collection. Africom has received less in the way of resources and support and other geographic commands and this disparity indeed may grow in a resource constrained environment. These challenges combined with these destabilizing effects of terrorist and Critical Networks will make general rodriquez task at africom among the most complicated in the department. An additional matter in the africom aor is committee watches osely is the ongoing u. S. Support operationsin Central Africa to assist the multinational effort to remove joseph kony and his top lieutenants from the battlefield. This committee and general inhofe has been very active in this effort and assad to ensure that this mission is adequately resourced including additional Intelligence Surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. General rodriquez i know you are familiar with this mission and the committee looks forward to hearing from you about it and to working with you on it and so many of the other challenges he will be facing. Im going to turn the gavel over to senator kaine who has agreed to take over because i must go to the floor and i i will call upon the senator inhofe. Thank you mr. Mr. Mr. Chair i join you in weoming our witness. Ive had an opportunity to get to know them in the past personally and im very anxious to mo vaughn with this and i think thanks charlene and jenny for being here. You are the ones who work harder than they do so we appreciate your sacrifices if they are concerned. General austin will be in charge of overseeing arguably the most volatile region in the world and in the midst of the declining defense budget. Just last week secretary panetta announced the indefinite array of a a deployment in the middle east in development that was a darkly welcomed by the regime in tehran and egypt despite all the best hopes of the arab spring