people on the wrist and send them right back out the door. i i cannot tell you how often i get these boys that i consider sons because i have watched them grow up. people say oh, they are are terrible they are not doing anything at all, and give them such a bad rap. that frustrates me because i watch them, they are busting their butts but what you expect them to do when they keep arresting the same people and sending them in front of these judges for the judges to turn him right back out on the street. the boy that sold my daughter the heroine that killed her just recently went back in front of a judge for his fourth offense for trafficking heroine. fourth time he has been arrested for this. he was given five months. how is that possible? that is so frustrating. it frustrates me of course but i cannot even imagine what our law-enforcement deals with in that situation. these are things that have to be dealt with. lastly, what do i know? i know that when you find your 21-year-old on the floor, blue, with bruises already on her for head and her nose from slamming into the sink because she died so fast, that sticks with you for the rest of your life. that when you do cpr, praying for someone to show up and help your child in your arms are burning because you have done it for so long, waiting on help, and you want to quit but you can't quit, it's your your child, that's your baby, you can't stop. the sound of my air going into her lungs, the crackling that i still here in my nightmares, we have to put a face to this. we have to help these kids. when they say i want to quit, i need help, we can't say to them, i'm sorry give us two or three weeks and get back to us. the legislation gives me a little hope. please, please do something to help our children. thank you. >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you. >> thank you so much. much of what i have included. >> could you pull the microphone in front of you. >> first of i would like to thank you for this opportunity. i've been been in the treatment field for 26 years and i was asked to participate today to provide the perspective of life what it's like when the rubber hits the road. what what are the problems, what are the challenges. i'm going to quickly skim through the statistics that everyone has heard over and over, astounding as they are and get to the complexity of the disease and what is needed. so i may not completely for the testimony that you have right now. the opiate overdose epidemic has resulted in an average of 125 people daily in this country, and it continues to grow. since 2002 the heroin addiction has doubled and deaths have could you build in the united states. the rate of opiate team edit prescription has increased dramatically. new problems are emerging. parts of our country are faced with limited or no resources to assist those needing care. midwest states, northeast. infectious disease such as hiv, aids is on the rise in numbers have increased in an alarming rates. the disease of addiction with chronic relapsing and often permanent disease of the brain is costing taxpayers dollars and causing society to lose the creativity the individual contributions that each loss life represents. it is replacing those contributions with fear and grief, the pain, distress is the result of lost lives have permeated our communities and have become a part of the problem. my understanding and 26 year experience in the treatment of this disease and its related tragedies is the reason i am honored to have been invited to participate in the conversation today. from the treatments perspective i've been asked to speak of the prevalence of the need, what what populations are be most affected, what are the treatment needs of the individuals and families and what challenges do we face in five minutes. the growing numbers reflect new trends and those that are becoming addicted to opiates. this is critical when we are creating effective treatment modalities to assist the people who are coming to us for care. the traditional bell curve of a person coming to treatment has reflected an age of 39-42, 30% female, 70% male. there is but i can vicious shift in the demographics between 2004 and 2014. i believe it was reference the mortality rates, there's also mortality rates that are changing in the mortality rates for young, white adults. the numbers correspond with increases in emergency room visits, treatment episodes and police data all reflected of opiate use. what we're seen seeing is an increase of opiate dependence and older and younger white populations, female populations. emerging are growing vulnerable populations are women, young adults, adults, adolescents, middle-age adults, returning vets, those receiving multiple coal prescription, patients receiving pair for pain. i don't believe it leaves a lot of us out there that are not impacted by this. and no longer follows gender, race, socioeconomic boundaries. the challenge of treating multiple populations is in providing care that is individualized, effective and evidence-based for each of the populations. cognitive and emotional the moment, cultural norms, experience trauma, the individuals redness for train, the resiliency is in recovery supports are some of the clinical variables that need to be addressed. over 50% of those who come to treatment, with at least one other mental health or psychiatric condition. as well as multiple is a go conditions. most commonly forms of depression, excite in other manifestations. this is a highly complex highly complex biological, psychological, social and spiritual disease. to be prepared to address the complexity with confidence, treatment providers, physicians, and independents practitioners and counselors need knowledge of treatment options, compassion and an understanding of the neuroscience of addiction. medication assisted treatment for opiate dependence have been the most effective research and regulated evidence-based treatment for this disease. the phonological intervention assisting individuals from regaining their lives worked by replacing the heroine or prescribed opiates on the receptor sites in the areas of the brain affected by those opiates. signs signs have shown over again the replacement therapy works with behavioral health counseling. the current dosage of medication, the correct dosage of medication allows an individual to not feel the extreme pain of withdrawal but also does not provide the high associated with misuse and dependence. this in turn provides the individual an opportunity to heal physically, emotionally, and spiritually. medication assisted therapy can preserve life and allow an individual to work on their recovery. sustain long-term recovery ideally includes health, home, community and a purpose. medication addresses none of these but allows an individual to work on all of these. a partial replacement therapy, extremely effective in populations were physiologically naïve, those who have not used as longer much, where the brain changes not been as severe or as permanent. the assessment process is determine which medication is indicated requires a deep understanding of the disease. it is obtainable like any other medication through primary care physician's office. this can dramatically increase accessibility, however at the same time with less stringent regulations do not require the same level of expertise. physicians are are only required an eight hour training to prescribe it. that speaks to the name that we've all spoken to in the attention to this in the medical schools and or areas. it is here that another chair arises, clearly winning more accessible, effective treatment. there is no magic wand, provided only medication will not be successful for the majority of patients receiving mat. we of patients receiving mat. we need more prescribing physicians and practitioners knowledgeable in the specialty of addiction. another medication has been recently used is a medication that blocks the drugs euphoric effects. that work well in populations that show a high amount of motivation. you have to to be motivated to take it. therefore be experiencing cravings it does not work for you. come to kidding matters there continues to be a social veil of moral judgment, stigmatizing this disease. those who come for care and those who provide care the stigma can be seen in the regulation of methadone treatment in those environments in which it is provided. the regulation appears to reflect the stigma attached to the population for whom it was created. the loss and incarcerating individuals for symptoms of the disease instead of assisting with rehabilitation and recovery destroy lives. this practice which has resulted in the u.s. having the highest incarcerated rate in the world is widely known to be ineffective at reducing drug use with high rates of crime and incarceration. stigma is also reflected in the ongoing struggle with the implementation of mental health and substance misuse. he and reimbursement rates. this is a critical critical issue when we're talking about someone coming in saying i need care. often, on obtainable or difficulty obtaining authorization to provide career creates a barrier to treatment. this is for people who have medicaid and the benefit of the metal care acts. often often families and individuals do not have the resources to advocate for themselves and loved ones. treatment providers do not have the staff hours to assist. low reimbursement rates paralyze provider and the complexity of the benefit paralyzes consumer. in addition, to this challenge and stigma we see challenges to meet in the growing needs of the growing population and accessibility geographically and financially. treatment capacity and inadequate provider competency. i can't say that enough. were not developing our workforce quickly enough. were quickly enough. were not paying them enough to allow them to stay. if we can build on what we know works, holder systems accountable to the best practice standards, reimbursement and a realistic rate and continue to build an easily accessible continuum of care we can reverse this. i was asked to speak on prevention which i will speak to briefly much of what is here was already stated in terms of physician education and the surge of prescription. one one piece that has not been stated in his deadly is that concurrently with the surge in opiate prescription medication there has been a rise in prescription of benzodiazepine frag signed the and other hypnotic needs. in 20,142,014 and 15 in rhode island, 33% of those receiving opiate prescription were coke prescribed benzodiazepine. this is a deadly combination has been a significant barrier and the increase of opiate death. this statistic showed nationally as well. we need to look at the cope prescription. other strategies for their prevention initiation include but are not limited to patient education and the use and storage of medication, family education, continued public continue public health education and the use of community. resources. treatment within a system of care individualize for the patient that is easily accessible can prevent the progression of the disease and the possibility of overdose. this is a dynamic epidemic exposing the need for collaboration between's public health, public safety, and behavioral health. reaching into the medical, pharmacy, farm reduction in recovery communities, farm reduction in recovery communities and in partnership with civil society representing a communal call fraction. for me for me this is one of the most exciting part of the bill itself is that there is a piece there that mandates interagency collaboration and the i believe the interagency collaboration is going to be able to start to remove some of the silos created by funding streams, it's a huge reason we have the silos we do. that is going to create the foundation for an answer to this. i know that i represent the task force and those of us in rhode island providing treatment strongly support cara. it in its focus on interagency collaboration. thank you. >> i've three questions, one for each of you. thank you for sharing your tragedy with us, i know and we can tell that it is not easy for you to do that. you have not given up and i thought we ought to give you an opportunity for you to tell us about holly's song of hope and in particular how the organization works to provide community support for those struggling with addiction. >> a lot of people how to do this. it's not strength it's that fight or flight and to get off the couch in the morning or get out of bed and not lather and cry all day. i realize that what was lacking when i was going through everything after losing holly was family support. there is tons of programs out there for those who are caught in the depths of this disease and fighting it, but the family support is greatly lacking. the little bit that i did find i was going to get charged for. i thought that was ridiculous. however i also realize that he didn't tend to really appreciate somebody else talking to me unless they have been there and been through it. so that they truly understood where i was coming from. it just made sense for me to offer that to others. we started holly's song of hope on facebook just as a group for friends and family to have memories about holly and maybe what things were going on with this heroin epidemic and things like that. somehow in under a years time i ended up with 1000 members very active members. i realized that this is something that we need. i mean members from australia, scotland, ireland, as well as a cross the united states. we started posting questions every couple of days that have to do with addiction in some form or another so that people are constantly learning as well is getting support. i had so many people say you need to take this outside of facebook. so i started talking to members and they started sending me, i want i want, i want. i'm currently working with just under 50 different facilitators in states across the united states looking to start their own chapters. i started actual meetings in carroll county they run every other week at this point. we cover codependency or enabling, those two go hand-in-hand. i i cover a street drug of some sort make sure that people that come to the meeting see what it really looks like and what signs they need to pay attention to. also how much it cost and so on and so forth. i firmly believe education is what is going to change every single piece of this puzzle. every single one. we hear about educating doctors, we need to educate the families, the stigma education is the only thing that is going to change that stigma. i can't tell you how often every single day i am sure there's going to be some story in this that if you go in and look in the comments you're going to see a lot of people who are going to say to me well if you would have done your job as a parent and raised your kid right your child would not be dead. well let me give you a four instance. in the fifth grade my daughter was going to a sleep over one weekend and she came to me and said, mom one of the girls got it joint for that sleep over this weekend. and i'm scared to death i don't know what to do. i don't want an arc anybody out, absolutely don't worry, you're not going. i'll give you a . >> you talk about problems with having parity in the reimbursement and about insurance and the level of reimbursement rate. could you talk about this area, about what we need to do to meet the needs that we have with people who need treatment? and what we should be doing and where we are not, what barriers are there to meeting this. >> i think everyone has spoken on what is needed of the medical community. at this point. that is the training and to increase capacity. one of the message to which to increase capacity and i will say it again is for someone to please here that the independently licensed practitioners be allowed to prescribe medication for opiate dependence. that would increase capacity with training that would also correlate to competency. i cannot say that often enough how complex this diseases. it is not just biological, psychological spiritual, emotional. in terms of i can use the co side of my head here, the operational side, reimbursement rates have historically been lower than other mental health rates for substance abuse. that continues. you can look at any formulation of reimbursement rates for either commercial or medicaid or medicare is an area in which we desperately need. we desperately need. >> and how is that determining quote mark how are reimbursement rates determined? i mean if if someone goes into the hospital for cancer treatment they get reimbursed and there is not anyone going well, it's their fault may have cancer. what seems to be going on, what is the one justification but also also was as a coo, what is going on the other side with the insurance industry? and in terms of the federal government state governments reimbursement. >> we can start with medicaid in each state is different. i believe that the medicaid rates have been historically lower than other commercial insurance provider rates. what ends up happening, particularly in the behavioral health side is we very often have a very high percentage of those who are medicaid eligible. therefore a treatment facility is going to have anywhere from 60-90 for% of the people coming to us for care reimbursed at a medicaid rate. medicaid rates are not negotiable they are issued through health and human services in each state. we choose to do the best weekend with those and stay committed to our missions. on the commercial side there are negotiations that go on over and over. we don't have a lot of juice. we simply don't in those negotiations. i've been part of this in one way or another for 20 some years. we don't. so that's the real issue. the result. >> let me just ask, i know them running out of time. >> i'm sorry missed your question. >> no you didn't. your speaking to the question. medicaid obviously reimburses lower than some private and other areas to come as their particular disparity between the actual cost in the reimbursement in recovery and in rehab? >> yes. >> okay that's what i wanted to know. we have run we have run out of time. i think that's interesting. >> thank you. >> i used to live in manchester, new hampshire, i'm now down in north carolina like senator grassley a lot of the additives you use for new hampshire i would attribute to north carolina. we're just just further away from the arctic circle. it's a beautiful place and you should be proud of it. i'm glad he pointed out that it's a thriving state and community with this challenge that is not unique to new hampshire. one question i have for you is the chief, what sort of obstacles are either the federal government in this case i will speak to state issues but what kind of things have you seen as a policy here or give you pause in terms of taking this fight to law enforcement? >> the relationship we have with the federal agencies in new hampshire are robust. i am concerned with the recent doj decision to freeze assets. i understand at the hopman issue in dc. d.c. i've read some articles about some law-enforcement agencies that have may be abuse the practice of it, i think there should be oversight as opposed to shutting it down and having this conversation that is not being used properly. what does it look like for the manchester police department? i use it drug forfeiture money to fund my drug unit. that means i have an off-site, i have a location away from the police department that i play rent on. all the under cover vehicles we have i pay leases on. all the equipment the drug invested gators use, cameras, any sort of specialized stuff that they need, covert need, covert mike so nobody knows that there miked up, all that stuff costs money. i take it directly out of the drug forfeiture money. i'm using drug dealers money to do drug investigations. there is even a push in the state of new hampshire now to take all that money and put it into the general fund. as such a time it's unpalatable that they think about doing that when were in their throes of this pandemic. i think it is a pandemic. what would it look like if the doj doesn't open up this money, i hope the split stay the same, i, i hope they don't diminish that split. if the state of new hampshire does the same thing, the manchester police department has two decision. i have to shut down my drug investigations because i can afford it out of my budget. the city only to do so much. or, i can go to the city government and they are extremely cooperative and supportive of the manchester police department i can say i need all of these line items, whatever that number is the year that you're now going to have to pass on to the taxpayer. instead of using a drug dealer's ill-gotten gains where shifting the burden on a taxpayer. it's countered to attend and i think it's bad policy. i understand that there is something affairs afoot with law-enforcement,. >> ,. >> the reason i wanted to ask that question, it's a matter of balance but i think there's a very clear between the source of that money and it's used put it back into law-enforcement preventing the classic cases they had to deal personally and that she continues to do within her service. i thank you for that. this really i had a question for you. you mentioned variations among states with colleagues and any professional affiliations that you may be a part of with networks, are there any states that seem to be a best practice and going about providing care back to their communities? >> i'm most familiar with new england area each state has a strength they're doing a phenomenal job with that i've worked with some of those positions and they have done a phenomenal job. i have to say that in long island the governor's task force has brought together all of -- it's truly an interagency collaboration, department department of health, behavioral health, hospitals, ag's office, she has 17 people on the committee, they've done a tremendous job of creating strategies and looking at dollars communally. i believe going going forward that may be a very good model for addressing this. we've actually been looking at everything that is been noted here today. >> i want to thank all of the witnesses, i want to thank the senator for continuing to demonstrate her interest in this matter by sitting here and beginning and ending the committee with us. this will conclude the meeting, the record will remain open for one week to provide additional information and potentially response any questions of members who were here are not able to attend may have. thank you very much, god bless you. [inaudible] none. [inaudible] >> in the news come the state department released its latest batch of emails from hillary clinton's secretary of state. spokesperson announced that 22 email threads were with help from the disclosure because they contained top-secret information. let's take a look. >> i can confirm that is part of this monthly investigation the state department will be denying a full seven e-mail chain founded 22 documents, representing 37 pages. the documents are being upgraded at the request of the intelligence community because they contain a category of top-secret information. these documents were information. these documents were not marked classified at the time they are sent. we work closely with our partners on this matter and the dialogue is exactly how the process is supposed to work. as to whether they were classified at the time they're set, the state department the process is focused on whether they need to be today. classification at that time they are sent are being and will be handled separately by the state department. the emails will be denying them full meaning they will not be produced online, on our foia website. i do not mean to remind you that in response to foil request is not unusual to deny a request to document in full. i will not speak to the content, i understand the curiosity. i am not going to speak to the content of the e-mails. were aware that there is intense interest but the process has been completed. we have requested a a month extension to complete the entire review, we do not need the extension for these particular documents. these emails denied of all are among the emails discussed recently by the intelligence community inspector general in a letter to congress. will not however be confirming or speaking as i said to every detail provided in the documents or in the icg letter. one of these e-mails was also among those identified last summer as possibly containing top-secret information. to remind, we are focused as a secretary secretary wants us to remain focused on producing the e-mail through the foia process. there's approximately 55000 pages is a major undertaking. our staff is working hard to get this done in a manner that will protect sensitive information and refresher commitment to transparency and disclosure. >> a statement released from the clinton campaign said that "this appears to be over classification run amok". >> house democrats concluded their weeklong retreat in baltimore today before leaving caucus leaders held a press conference. it is about half an hour. [inaudible] none on. [inaudible] [inaudible] >> good morning we're joined by our leadership in each of our members of the leadership will have an opportunity to speak. i will introduce the leader momentarily. we still have a day to goats so it is to have to say it is but a great success and we're thrilled that the work we have been able to accomplish in the people where been able to hear from, because we still have tom sire, one of the leading experts on energy and how we go about making this a world where we can survive and thrive. richard will no doubt echo the theme of working on the half of working americans. trevor noah will say whatever he wants to say and we're hope where able to finish this off with a real hurrah as we move forward and get work done in 2016. everything we have heard and everything we have done as colleagues, families, gather here in baltimore has built on our theme, united for opportunity. we want we want to say thank you to the mayor of baltimore, to our cohosts elijah cummings a member of congress from baltimore and quite honestly the people baltimore maryland because this is been a great venue. the city is treated us so well and i hope you have found this to be addressed in accommodating place but a city on the move. everyplace has its ups and downs in baltimore is no exception. clearly it has more obstacle than downs. looking forward to continue to work with mayor of baltimore and the people of baltimore as we move for. a couple more thoughts, i will remember the one word that stuck in my mind, why? why are you here? why did you want to be a member of congress? why do you want to do the things you want to do the things that you tell people you want to do? if you can tell people why then you have a place among leaders in america. i i think we take that seriously. the other thing that i recall of the many things the speaker said was the president and talking about where we are said, we should not be about subsidizing the past, we should be about investing in the future. i think that's exactly what democrats are about. investing in the the future not trying to subsidize the pass. we have work to do and we know it. i think we leave here more united there would we keep. this report lithic were very focused and we understand it's about opportunity for all americans, by providing them the security they need economically, nationally, and personally. they have a place they can go. as we. as we told the president vice president when they're here with us we tell this to the american people, we have your back, let me handed over to our leader, nancy pelosi. the american people certainly have been great in congress. >> thank you very much. i want to thank you and congratulate you and mr. crowley for next line issues conference. united for opportunity. that is not only the title of our conferences week going forward it is a description of a house credit caucus over the years. we express our determination to stay united for the good of the american people. not only did one of our speakers pose a question why, one of our locations did in terms of key fellas, what what is your statement of purpose? what have you decided to dedicate your life to the public good. so that is why, our purpose is to meet the needs of the american people. in a way again that takes us into the future. here we were with this conference which i just thought was one of the best in terms of the unity of the caucus, the the attitude of the members in terms of being united. it had vision hearing from the president vice president, but also vision each member brings to all of this. a vision of a future where many more people participate in the prosperity of our country. of future that respects god's creation in terms of our responsibility to future generations to pass along the planet in a serious way. the list goes on and on. our chairman and vice chair provided us with experts to keep us up-to-date on the knowledge so that we made the right judgment. we had the vision, our dream, we had the knowledge to base our judgment on, and we had a plan. we are dreamers with a plan. that's a manifested buyer leadership here. our other members of leadership indeed, every member of our caucus. dreamers with the plan, strategic thinking. really important to how we communicate with the american people is the emotional connection we made with them. i do not think i've ever been in a room where there is a stronger bonds or emotional connection than the vice president talking about his role in the members recognizing his role in the fight against cancer. to hear public policy makes a difference. allocations of resources make the different. different. freedom of investigation, scientific investigation makes a difference. collaboration, it requires leadership, it requires a sense of purpose of how we do this in a public, private way. it recognizes that institutions of higher learning are places where much research is done but much of that research is funded by the national institute of health. it also respects with the private sector is doing. it it is an example of the importance of public role, recognition of the private role, sense of urgency for the american people and personal stories. a colleague from hawaii was receiving treatment from hopkins in the morning, i don't think think he would mind me saying. treatments in the morning and was speaking to the vice president about this at lunch. again, why are we here, what is our purpose? we purpose? we note that is in it all relates to the well-being of the american people. i think a chairman and vice chair for excellent caucus that focused on her vision, jewish information and knowledge about how to move things in a more entrepreneurial way it was very informative and strengthen our plan on how to go forward to connect in an emotional way with the american people. with that that i'm pleased to go chart distinguished assistant leader was very much a part of all of this discussion is a former chair of the caucus, the former house democratic in the majority, an assistant leader. >> thank you very much. let me offer my thanks and congratulations to the chair. thank you all so much. yesterday as i listen to the vice president and witness, as we all did, the reaction of our colleague i looked over and i mouth something to the leader and she can hear me. i was thinking, mime mom and father both were cancer victims. my my mother was 54. i thought about my last conversation with her. when she implored that she spent all of her savings if she had no chance to live. of course she had no chance to live where told that she would not live beyond eight months. and we spend all of her savings. they thought about what that does to families. the question is why? most of us come to congress bring with us our experiences we try to answer through service that question why. every session i sat through there's a common theme of unity of really open up opportunities to all and i think it was embodied that chance between art colleague in the last president. as i go away from this conference a much better person than i was when i came. i hope that as we democrats back to the hill on monday that we will really stay united creating opportunities for all and going to the american people in this election year. to presenting a united front dedicated for opportunities for all. >> thank you jim. first i want to thank all of the leadership for a wonderful conference. i would like to thank the chair. even my colleagues asked me what role does the vice chairman play is a democratic -- i tell them i carry the chairman spake. literally i carry his bags, that's what he makes me do. but it's a pleasure to do that. things i have this weekend, you don't want to know. i think one of the roles of the vice chair is a sounding board. i can tell you my colleagues expressed a tremendous gratitude for this particular conference. the issues we discussed and what appears today as well are second to no other conference we had before. so congratulations on the successful retreat. i also was going to talk about, what a great name -- he did make the points about why we are here. i think we democrats understand why we are here and we are united on my car colleagues and the other party we see that on display right now in terms of the presidential primaries. we know where we want to go in how we get there. i think that's important to help create a safer america and a safer world as well. so we'll be hearing from tom today about the challenges but is not just a challenge for the united states before our world. we have to be the leaders in terms of environmental reform in this country. the president and we will hear from the vice president as he said so many wonderful speakers, to hear the president speak last night and will be his last visit to us as president. he said, we have to look back on what we have accomplished and appreciate what we have done. to have the strength and to help build the strength to meet the challenges before us. i strongly believe that challenge creates opportunity. we know why were here, we know where we want to go, and we know how we need to get there. this caucus stands ready to do that. this retreat has helped to unite us even more so than what we were a few days ago. with that i asked my good friend the chair of the -- to take the podium. >> first off the morning. thank you for making it appear for the weekend and getting the chance to chat with all of you. congratulations on what has been a strong few days are ready with an amazing afternoon still to come. work talk about ideas and how to work together. look, i thought we were pretty strong and united coming into the retreat. the leader has been doing an amazing job in making sure we continue to work together. we are leaving this weekend stronger and more united than we were coming inches the exchange exchange of ideas, optimism, the speakers that presented to us were extraordinary. you are in the room with the president vice president spoke. you. you could feel that energy, the enthusiasm. people talking to you visiting with you as well. everyone spoke about the why. there's a reason for that. when vice president biden was introduced, i think you also saw that humility when he was being introduced. the bow of the head, the emotion that feels us when we remember those that we lost. vice president biden is committing himself so that no other family has to go through what he and his wife had to. if all of us can do something to make lives a little bit better for whoever it may be out there, stranger or friend, it is worth it. that is the why. there's a lot of people out there that need our help. i can tell you what, i am am happier that unemployment is done five thing closer to ten. i'm happy that there's been consecutive months of job creation and we have a foundation to build from. i will close with this, i am excited. i'm looking for to the next ten months and there's a lot of enthusiasm coming our way. with a 55 districts that have candidates in it more to calm, stay close and help us make sure we tell the stories of people across the country. >> welcome home. on the presidential race, i talked to supporters and senator sanders on the republican side, mr. trump. all of them say they're supporting the candidate they chose is the establishment isn't meeting their needs. it is not addressing their concerns. first what you say to that? and secondly, does your caucus, does the republican caucus share the blame for creating that attitude? >> thank you for your welcome back to baltimore. isn't it a great city? do you feel very comfortable here. i think it was wonderful choice i cannot wait to spend a little more time outside the hotel in baltimore. the fact is that there is a disillusionment with government in general. as i have said to some yesterday since 2000, we have had 911 and the reaction to it is to go to afghanistan and then to iraq. all of the serious mistake that was for our country to do that. we had katrina, we are in the campaign where there is , and comes katrina what their roommate is the head of fema fema who has no confidence to do their job. then we had a natural disaster and that a man-made disaster after that. among other things we had the meltdown of the financial services industry. that was because of the policy of the bush administration. will bring in free markets, we don't believe in no supervision, no regulation, no self policing in the industry. that left a very severe scar and the mentality of the american people. for many people they want their homes, their job, their their living off their savings and pensions are at risk. can they they send their children to school. what do we do? we had to to correct the situation with the and the vision that they have is that we bailed out the banks. but the fact is we did bail out our entire economy. they they see all of this and what good is happening for me? if i think we had a shortcoming in all of this it is that we did not message correctly. we are not -- we do not have a national trait to out there and say you should see how really bad it is. and that they are up to doing this again. i think it's really important in this campaign that the public understand that republicans are very much on the course of reversing dodd frank, of wanting more tax cuts of special interests and will take us to a place where our economy would be weekend. having said the, the leadership of barack obama and the measurements we took, practically every time with no republican vote, we had with mrt have the deficit, 70 deficit, 70% reduced 1,400,000,000,000 to 500 some billion. we still want to go lower. but we went drastically in the right direction. an auto industry that was on its heels and now it is was on its heels and now it is leading the world were hoping to have double-digit sales of autos in 2009 and 2010, we now have 17 million cars this year, record-breaking. the list goes on and on. it's a very long one. i will just allude to those points. we are are the strongest economy in the world. those countries that exercise austerity are not coming back the way we came back from oh eight. >> .. >> >> i think the press has made this equivalent they had a decision to have day trickle-down rather than middle-class. this is essential to use the success of the economy unless it has purchasing power or consumer confidence or is willing and confident to consume 70 percent consumer economy we will not turn around. and not to point more clearly what they were about to inspire fear and instill confidence but if they want to take it there. because nothing less is at stake of the community is america is this bottom-line capitalism where decisions are made for those shareholders and ceo but the employees in the community at large. >> we have to break quickly select their reminding me had a cup of coffee this morning. [laughter] >> one of the important parts is how we come back to our responsibilities. then it is the oath of office. with the remarks of our members to participate which was such a success if we did not come early we may not be able to get in on it. >> you perceived a potential softness with birdies on -- sanders is the nominee? is because there is some of in line with bernie sanders. >> elections are about contrast as well. if the premise is he will be the nominee who is he running against? that is the concern as well but in the end how they can bring together the electorate around the democratic nominee -- republican nominee. we have the debates about an exchange of ideas and i had to watch two different television sets to get the full debate last night. that is a sideshow and it is evident. >> we are so proud of the demeanor and the focus on issues and values of secretary clinton and senator sanders a governor o'malley i am pleased out bernie sanders has expanded the universe of young people interested in the political process. i also think his suggestions are excellent but let's point out reducing the role of money in politics. whether our economy or fairness or opportunity to save the planet the list goes on and on and are affected by big dark money in politics. , and we are gathered here as well for his leadership role to take on the big money issue. to amend the constitution to overturn citizens united, and to empower to stop block people at the vote. we want to rock the boat they want to block the vote. tsa i think it is important if we diminished participation. of governments of the many. but that is one of the draws to his campaign. >> senator clinton is already recognized to energize people and they think at the end i don't believe so but that isn't to people of new hampshire to make that determination. >> the candidacy had a wholesome effect on our political process and we're proud of that. [inaudible conversations] selected junior ensigns in college and is off more both participate in the fact check project. tell us what you did. >> to suggest emigration and cause his wages to be depressed so we found over all that part was over emphasized and other factors are causing this. >> wed do the students get out of that in the election cycle? >> we tend to be there then do the research anyway. so we were just looking at criticizing the other party but also at our own party and the claims we were making. >> how do you manage that job if there are so many candidates? to make there were a ton. we tried to approach that to make those cuts of to fruition. obviously i allege is important we go to some events with a lot of volunteering and it is just to make sure it is always say yes. >> to you supporting it? >> bernie sanders. i believe he is the progressive voice and has done an excellent job engaging youth strategy said you came to simpson to be here as part of the action as it takes place. tell us about your role in that. >> is to make jeb bush and hillary clinton it too far . . it plates -- pays >> in his will, visionary publisher joseph declared i am deeply interest in the progress and elevation of journalism. having spent my life in that profession, having regarded as a noble profession and an equal influence on the minds and moralofmora morals of the people. the pulitzer prize still has that tone to this day. it calls us to produce work that has impact and makes us a better people. the pulitzer's invite us to unearth what we never knew or draw attention to what we failed to notice. it invites us to hold powerful interest to account and to give voice to those who have been fall n or pushed to the margins of our society. it invites us to clarify a world that often defies underinstandi. it also invites us to understand the best of our craft in video and graphics and presentations. perhaps you feel as i do, every time we have not won a pulitzer prize is a great injustice. apparently you do. but we know the truth and the truth no matter how much or organizations and journalist cawe covet this and should be heartened by the experts we see in the finalist. amid this year of celebrations, it is worth reflecting that the pulitzer's represents standards. high standards in an era where we have seen standards erode or under frontal assault. when we see distortion and disception and lazy reporting, the pulitzers remind us week take a different route. in pointing us in that direction, the value of the pulitzer is greater than it has ever been. today we have two sessions that will allow us to do what the pulitzers sask us to do; dig deep. the second is an interview by eugene robison. winner for columns during a historic election. the first panel will address the oba administration. joel becker will -- joe becker will be the questioning person. her book, forcing the spring inside the fight for marriage equality was recognized was one of the most notable books of 2014. earlier in her career, she wob the pulp -- she won the pulitze prize award for reporting on dick cheney. i am pleased to turn it over to joe and the distinguished panel. [applause] >> thank you for being here. we have a lot to talk about and not a lot of time. we will get right to it and at the end we will try to save time to take your questions. bob woodward is next to me. one of america's most important investigative journalist. he led the investigation on watergate. he was the main reporter when the post won the 2002 pulitzer for the coverage of the 2001 terrorist attacks. and next to him is the vice president of the washington journal after working with the asian wall street journal he was assigned to washington and wrote a weekly column that won the pulitzer. >> i am going to start with you dave, david. , how mache how much do thunk he is thu >> i grew up with old men in suspenders and what this place is a is a different world. you know, barack obama throughout this presidency has thought about it deeply. he has met with a group of historians. i don't know if anyone on the stage was part of that. i certainly wasn't. but over the course of many years he would meet with thrum to them about what it meant to be a great president. legacy is written by the winners. but the first legacy to be written by barack obama himself. he will write a book that will probably get more money than any book in presidential history. when he was just starting, if you remember, he compared himself not to bill clinton but ronald reagan. he wanted to be a president of consequence. and i think that no matter what your ideology is he has done that from obamacare to opening up relations with cuba and what he is doing in iran whether you disagree or agree to bailing out the auto industry. there has been a series of actions he has taken that i think add up to a president of consequence. i think also, you know, there are many politicians and, you know, people of all sorts who don't change they just become more so. i think one of the things that president obama's legacy will show is what he learned on the job and the final, whether you agree or disagree, he became more effective even as he lost control of congress. >> danielle, what do you think his legacy will be? there are events that we won't understand the consequences of for many years. >> this is a funny thing to suddenly get out the telescope and pretend you are 50 years from now and see what is durable and what is very much influx. i think one thing that requires recognition, and i thought i got summi something out of my wap wallet it was the transit ticket from seeing obama speak. we have had the first african-american president and now for african-americans i think there is a sense of ownership in this country and i think it will affect the issues we see raised with the police force brutality and issues playing out. and i believe the obama administration and president obama has secured the principle that health care should be available for all. the shape that will take is an open question but i think the principle is now secure as it was not prior to his administration. for me the areas that look open and uncertain are the interesting combinations of the relationship between the move for energy independence and foreign policy. i think there are ways in which ba obama's foreign policy would make sense if it were possible to achieve energy independence over overnight but it is not so the foreign policy looks erratic, uncertain, and it is difficult to figure out the long-term impacts. that is how i would split up what i think to be certain and durable. i mind be surprised in if 50 years we will not talk about the changed relationship with african-americans and the change of agreeing on secure health care for all. >> paul, what do you think? transformative or transitional? >> i feel i have been invited to be the skunk at the garden party. >> didn't you invite yourself? >> i did not. i invited marty to host an event and weeks later marty said we better get somebody on the right so i think they invited me. let me thank marty and the post for hosting this and jeff and fred it is wonderful you did this. and on behalf of my colleagues on the board thank you very much. this is great event and this is a wonderful space. i agree with a lot of what david and danielle said. david is right, the president is wanting to be had -- to be the reagan in reverse. and the question is has he achieved that and i think the jury is very much out. his legacy, domestically in particular will depend upon the election of another drouthic president. i say that because so much of his domestic agenda has been done through executive order and regulati regulations. his entire climate change agenda is through regulations. the health care agenda, while i agree even if republicans sweep the elections this time, they will not roll back coverage -- they will rewrite the bill and replace it. and i would argue even if a democrat wins one of them will attempt to rewrite the affordable care act because it is not sustainable in its present course. quick point on foreign policy, i hope we will talk about that more, but i think if you look at the world that is more up in the air in question of legacy. while the cuba and iran deals are yet to be played out particularly iran. that has a chance to work, although you can count me a skeptic. i think the middle east -- if you look at the world the president inherited and you look around and say where is that world more stable, more ordered, where is there more peace and prosperity and i have a hard time looking around the world and finding many places where that is the case. from putin in europe, to it south china sea where china is pushing to the middle east which is a complication. >> i want to come back to foreign policy. but first, bob, there is nothing knew about republicans disliking democrats and vice versa. but pugh found the level and depth that people feel toward the opposing party has surged with many going as far as saying the opposing party policies threaten the nation's well' -- wellbeing. president obama wanted to change that. does he get a pass on this? >> i hate to talk about something karl rove once said and that is everything depends on outcomes and we don't know the outcomes on lots of these things. paul, you muted your criticism, really. you wanted to prove you were not a skunk. >> he is a chameleon. >> we read your work. >> and i consider that a high doc compliment. >> i read it very careful laech. i think there is a way to describe this and david hit on this. you have to measure how presidents learn and change. and in obama the trajectory at the beginning, his first term, particularly on domestic policies, he was not a negotiat negotiator. i think he has become a negotiator now and realizes inevitability and deal making and relationships with people in the congress particularly didn't work with democrats. it was awful. i remember when the democrats controlled the senate one key senator, one of the very powerful committee chairman i was talking to about this, and i was saying obama hasn't connected with people. and he said i don't know how you can say that. why in five years he has called me twice. i told that story and said don't tell it in public because the senators who only got one call or zero calls will feel totally out of the loop. on foreign policy, i think he started out -- i remember a couple years ago having breck breakfast with the key leaders of one of our biggest allies who said he likes obama and he is smart but then he said something true and he said no one is afraid of him in the world. and i think that is true. and i think he said the message of i want to negotiate and he has toughened up. the world is a dangerous place and i think the instability is lit in so many places. if one goes off in the next year or the next two or three years people are going to go and do the backbearing on it and how did we get to this point and not enough tough stuff -- back bearings -- >> can i add? i don't know want to talk about foreign policy but i don't know it but i understand obama and i would like to compare him with clinton in terms of dealing with congress and the best of the world. >> and relationship building. >> they both came out of nowhere. out of southwest arkansas and hawaii. they came from dysfunctional families with alcoholic step-fathers and obama had the extra burden of figure out who he was. they had a lot to deal with and dealt with it incompletely opposite ways. bill clinton just plowed right through it. he learned how to get past it without resolving things and became the ultimate survivor. he needed people to do that. transactional politics in life was what defined bill clinton. that got him all the way to the white house, in trouble in the white house, out of trouble in the white house and into trouble again. a repeati -- repetative cycle. barack obama spent time dealing with and felt like we was a quote integrated person. and that got him to the white house and got him into trouble because he thought if i can resolve my internal conflicts why can't everyone else? that has played out throughout his presidency. >> so it is the fault of mom and dad in congress? >> no, not at all. i am saying that is the reason he is the way he is. >> he is a smart man. there were many articles about his failure to reach out to congress and bob has written about i think you talk about the economic deal. scom >> i think it is a overwhelming self-confidaence that helped hi rise to some extent but made it harder to deal with people in congress. when you meet with president clinton he would want to convince you that what you said was the smartest thing he ever heard. man, paul, that is just fabulous. >> even me. >> did you believe it? >> of course i didn't. but just for a moment. you are a smart guy, mr. president. and i would talk to ceo's coming out of meetings with him saying it will all turn around and be fabulous. president obama wants you to think he is smarter than you, has you beaten in an argument and this is why your argument is wrong. that is a different kind of peterso personality. >> that is not a personality. as president you have to figure out a way to work your will. this is what reagan did and clinton did in so many ways. this we are going to find out in history. and you know we don't know if the big stories of this year will be domestic and economy or foreign affairs? they may be both. but what he has done or not done is going to be tested and certainly going to be tested and in the lap of the next president. >> i would like to add a footnote to the conversation about relationship building and the way in which president obama has or has not done that. i think in all honesty it isn't just an issue in congress and politics in washington, d.c. and so forth. but an issue with the conversation he had with the american people over time. he has no surrogates. this is an unusual feature to have no sayurrogates conveying s story. he hasn't build that conversational network. there is a link of two expressions in regret the one in the state of the union where he could not bridge the gap and the one of not bringing the office of communication together. it is a core piece of the presidency and being a politician. not a lawyer. there is a distinction between a president and a lawyer. >> even if he had those skills in the polarized world live in is it possible to bridge that divide? we live in an environment where people need their views reinforc reinforced. or should leaders rise above that? >> i think it is a question of rising above it but there is infrastructure questions. there really are question about how we put conversations together in different context. what is the underlining structure that makes conversations possible? we cannot blame president obama more than we can anyone else but it is something we have to do. it is not optional. it requires the underneath thinking about the construction of the conversation. >> it is about time against the problem also. you have to spend time with people and you have to listen and the negotiating process is very complex. i think like the iran deal, paul disagrees, but i think the iran deal is a significant and brave accomplishment. and anyone who knows anything about nuclear war will realize if even though it might take ten years to get the bomb or the likelihood they might get a bomb that is a big deal. and barack obama lives in that world and he is the commander and chief in charge of the nuclear war planes and if you do any reporting on those you find it is frightening. if you were the person who had to make decisions on that you would work like i think he has done and john kerry have done to get a deal imperfect but wow think if it works. >> if it works. and i would just make a couple quick points. one is, if after ten years, iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon or it isn't making progress toward it, and there is no proliferation elsewhere in the middle east, then it will have been a success with one other cavb ought and -- caveat and that is will iran use this to increase their position in the middle east? the jury is out. we don't know how it will end up. >> of course we don't. but if you are the president and have the military aid that carries the football around and has a book of options that tells you you can just by yourself, no committee meeting, no nfc meeting, launch nuclear weapons and in the last category casu i casuality 40 mill -- 24,000. >> what might it looked like had he developed the skill quicker? >> i think given the fact he wasn't good at that he accomplished as much or more than bill clinton who was the best at it. >> clearly he had a robust legacy. if he had made the grand bargain with john boehner maybe. but there are other variables going on there that bob has written about. >> bob, you want to jump in? >> look, both sides are to blame. they are deals that obama should have taken at the same time boehner didn't know how to do it. in some of these meetings effectively blackmailed or tried to blackmale obama. and it is kind of shocking blackmail -- >> he started as a community organizer. if an issue like gun control was so much at the heart of what he believed in his inability to develop a counter to the nra is a failing. if you look at polling, the huge majority support not just controlling the automatic weapons -- >> right before the election he doubled down on this. >> he could have developed something there if he had better skills at -- his oratorical skills are overrated to develop a public following on actually issues as opposed to getting elected. >> i want to turn to foreign policy. obama aids summed it up to don't be stupid. hillary clinton said that is not a policy but a slogan in a rare moment of peak. danielle, how much from departure of the historic norm is his foreign policy? >> that is a good question. i think in the long ark of history there are accounts of people he fits with. it is not like we always have a strong and aggressive foreign policy. we had periods where we are more inward looking. i think in terms of history the effort to steer the ship that was established in the bush administration. but without sufficient clarity about the world or the emerging shape of the world. it is a hard problem. >> that the a communication issue or a deeper issue of the foreign policy being incoherent? sgr >> i think it is incoherent and it is smart to focus on asia and that is a success. but doing it at the expense of our engagement with europe has cost us. we have been relatively disengaged in europe and we see the results of that and that is critical for what we are able to do in the middle east. so i do think that there were sort of some smart ideas but the whole picture didn't -- >> he really said unintentionally, and with good will, a message that was interpreted properly as weakness. this paragraph from this first inaugural, stunning to go back and look at this, where he says our security imminates from the justice of our cause, the new horizons of our example, and the tampering qualities of hew ma mail -- humility and restraint. that doesn't work in a world with russia, al-qaeda and isis. when people do the serious histories you will see the leaders abroad said he is begging to not have a fight. and a president who has the biggest and most potent military in the world needs to scare people. and he didn't. >> i am going to jump in. the "washington post" wrote about syria and how obama could have and should have done more to support the syrian rebels against assad. and then fred hyatt wrote nis might be t-- this might be the most surprising of the foreign policy plans of obama. he is suing the american people into no responsibility of the tragedy. fair criticism? >> good piece. >> it is a signal of weakness but more than that. these are strategic things the president did. he wasn't going to commit american forces in a way president bush had. >> there wasn't a lot of bipartisan support for another war anywhere to be fair. >> absolutely. that is why one reason why he won the election. but that has consequences. and just you can say iraq is the overintervening syria is what happens when you look at a burning county and just let it burn. general patrius called it a cherylnoble radiating throughout the world. that was the incubatur of tof te islamic state. i think he is handing the next president a real problem in the middle east. >> is the middle east better now than it was in 2009? that is the key question? >> was it better in 2009 than to 2001? >> it is tough territory. i don't think they were st stretegic decisions. you pointed out there is an intarnternal drive. obama is in charge and he hates war. he wants to avoid war. >> i think what they would say is -- and when you talk to the aids, he doesn't like slippery slopes. is there something in his dna that makes him worried about that and try to figure out the endgame? >> he doesn't like war. but he did say in the speech that got him elected in 2002 his first words were i am not against all wars. >> just dumb wars. >> he is not a pacifist. >> i spent a lot of time on this subject with him and others. i think like he said in the noble prize expectance speech war is an expression of human falling. >> he is right. >> we have to go to the audience. i am going to ask one more question and then we will take your question because we don't have a lot of time left. in 2007, bill keller, the executive editor of "the new york times" said the bush administration was the secretive and his successor said obama was the most secretive white house she had ever worked with. a sentiment ecoed by the "washington post" saying this administration trying to control is the most aggressive. we all rely on linked stories -- >> no, no, no. leaks are when the wall street time and the washington journal have a good story; right? >> do you agree with the assessment? most secretive. >> you know, of corpse knurse n likes secrecy. how do you compare this and that? you know, david spent time with obama, i have been able to interview obama and find out what goes on. you need a lot of time -- >> so you don't agree it is the most secretive since the nixon administration? >> i am going to give the nixon the administration the academy on this. >> lifetime achievement award. >> how do you feel whitehouse high ranking officials who talked to you and many of us about things that are classified don't get prosecuted but lower people do? >> well, they made a mistake and it is a stupid system. but, you know, we can still find out some things but never enough. that is a big -- all of us are, in a sense, begging for transparency. and you know, the key is time. you have to be able to spend months and sometimes years on these things and you can chip away and the internet environment of impatient and speed doesn't lend itself to that. >> hopefully we have time for a couple quick questions. anybody? there is microphones. >> hey, bob. >> i have a question that goes back to what danielle said. in some ways this president peeks out on his first day. >> i didn't say that. >> i said it. >> where is the question? >> the moment he becomes the first african-american president he knows he made a mark in history. i wanonder in the long span of thing what everyone on the panel thinks that will look like in 50 years from now in terms of of the change of those different franchised citizens? we end his presidency at time of real racial strife how is this going to play out? >> let's get an answer. >> yes, racial confrontation, rather than strife i would say, but it is within the groups of people who are organized and organizing and working with a sense of a political stake in the country and are engaging in seeking legal changes and policy changes. so a greater degree than gets covered perhaps. i do think that is a different picture of politics around race than we had prior to barack obama's election. i think it is a significant energizing of people as political actors. i would not be surprised if we see people who enter into politics coming out of this moment as well. >> i totally only have time for one more question. anybody? >> there is one over there. >> i have a question about rom emanuel and what impact he had on obama's legacy and what impact obama has now had on chicago. >> david? you want to try to take a stab at that. >> i would say, and i am a fan of rom emanuel unlike a lot of people these days, but i would say his impact on the obama administration hasn't been big. he was a short timer as chief of staff and i think most of the key stindecisions didn't come f rom. >> we could go on and on because we didn't get to half of everything we want to talk about but we have to turn it over. now >> hello, everybody. hello, first of all let me thank our first panel. you heated it up nicely for us. i am gene robinson and i am here with our special guest who took time out from his busy schedule and it is one of the busiest in washington -- the president is somewhat demanding. the 27th whitehouse chief of staff is here. the previous 26 are the stooped and broken figures you see wandering around washington occasionally because of the nature of the job. dennis joined the administration in 2010 as the national security council head of strategic communication and quickly became the deputy national security advisor and chief of staff in 2013. dennis, thank you so much for being here today. we heard the federalist panel giving us a fairly definitive assessment of the obama legacy. but by my count there is a year left minus one week. so, could you tell us, what can the president get done in this lame duck year? can you name his three top priorities that he can actually accomplish in the last year. >> yeah, first of all thanks for the opportunity to be here. it is a beautiful building and i thought the panel was quite nice. i would say just a couple things. that is the way we see it as the way you finished the question. mainly, we have yet another half of the forth quarter of this administration and so we are working hard on that. we are not coasting through the year. what the president said to us about three weeks ago is he said he was going to be asking himself throughout this year whether we would do something and he would say why not. we will be pushing very hard on that as we did the last year when people were asking us the same question and i think last year i had stacked up and i would leave it to the historians but i would stack up his year seven against any year seven when why think about things we can -- when -- accomplish from iran to cuba to the budget agreement to the imf reforms and the xm. but i am happy to come back to that. in terms of the year ahead, we are open for business. we are open for business in congress but we will pull ever lever we can. criminal justice reform. there are things that we think we can and should do with congress. but there are things we know we will do on the president's own accord. on the economy, we have an opportunity with the biggest free-trade agreement in history in the ttp and we will continue to press congress to do that. i think those are two pretty big examples that in the main we will push congress to work with us. but we are open for business on that. but if they are not willing to act we will pull ever lever we can. >> how much concern is there in the white house that much of the what the president did could be seen as fragile in the sense if it was done by executive order or regulation can be undone by executive order or regulation? what he did with guns and climate change and so on came through the regulatory process rather than congress and could be undone. >> yeah, look, i mean i worry about a lot of things. do i wish that congress would have passed cap-and-trade back several years ago? sure. but the steps we are taking on the clean power plant, now affirmed by the court are within the mainstream authority of the president, and ride in the first instance a wave of transition from coal to cleaner natural gas and we are trying to give it a boost to cleaner still renewable. and i think that there is a question of policy on that. and i think we are pushing as hard as we can on policy. but there is a question of what is actually happening on the ground. and because of the tax changes that went through at the end of last year with dramatic extension of the solar and wind tax credits you will see a pace that will keep up with what we need to do on clamaimate and wh we are pushing for but will exceed that. so i don't think the next president will be inclined whether he or she won't want to undo. that >> so donald trump won't want to undo these things? >> that is my belief and that is the case across the board. in terms of the energy revolution we have seen i think it is way beyond what anybody would have thought when we made those investments a couple years agoop go. >> let's talk a little bit about foreign policy. and you can't start that discussion, i think, without mentioning syria. >> i agree. >> you know talking about the problem from hell. it is the problem from hell. but what kind of syria will the president leave behind in a year? a syria still in the throws of civil war, humanitarian disaster, part of it in the hands of the isis caliphate or some different syria? >> i think what we have laid out is a strategy that recognizes that this will not be the first civil war that is resulted by a mean other than politics. that is to say there is going to be a political settlement among the syrians to what happens in syria; one. two; we have an overriding and immediate concern about the threats posed to us in the homeland to our friend and family from isil so we will push with our own kinetic force but by mustering syrian and iraqiforce that will have to govern the spaces they push isis out of. and we will have to be a leader to handle the chaos going on. we want to present the next president a stable set of partners. as we address those we would like a political process that all parties in syria have engaged in. i think we have made progress on that. not withstanding today's news. and we will see an isil on a pathway to ultimate destruction. >> when do you project that will start and the policy will ba bare -- bear fruit? >> i would say we have seen progress over the last several months. it is not sufficient and we will continue to press that aggressively with partners in the region, state actors, and forces on the ground who have to take the

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