who work this every day to talk to who may be from companies or format like john davis that we can for instance with panama by passing panama we can double agriculture exports from the united states, which means, again, more healthy farmers. but that's the minority. it's not the majority of ohio, because all they see coming from leaders like president obama, when he campaigned in 2008, the trade costs jobs. that puts a tremendous amount of pressure on you and on me and everybody else up here when we try to tell them no, exporting and trade actually is going to grow our economy. and i think the president is disadvantaged when it now he says we're going to grow the economy by exporting, and by the way, not talking about trade agreements, because he is one of many who has said trade has cost us hundreds of thousands of

jobs. .. it can create more jobs in america and create a better america for all of us and our kids. >> you heard mr. brady talk about my work as a mayor. i always pride i covered myself with my principle the truth is always an option. unfortunately, i don't know that either one if you think this is wrong. one thing we are doing is going to places like cleveland and

detroit, not just going to dallas and washington and others in talking truthfully about what the promise of treaties. but it also means that we have to have a less tenure to go see we need help. one of the things you do and i agree. i think was congressman mcdermott, we need to pass trade adjustment assistance that we need to enforce our rights as we did in the qatar's case and then we can get people to sit and listen and make a case and help them understand trade can help create jobs. >> rob portman made a good case of it. >> i hope she is your leadership philosophy associate colombia and panama across the line as well. if we are indeed going to double our exports in the next several years, it is critical that we pass colombia and passed, in the near future. thank you you peel back. >> thank you. yesterday this is recognize. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ambassador kirk, i'd like to

comment briefly on the japan post insurance issue, which i know you are aware of, which is a serious concern to many on the committee. members of both is watching closely to see how this privatization is handled. the issue is important to u.s. insurance companies. you've worked hard to encourage japan to reform japan's in a manner consistent with wto obligations. in consumer privatization efforts they may not be fully been complaints with commitment current the of the wto. mr. ambassador, we support your effort hope you can achieve a successful resolution to the issues are. i'm submitting questions pertaining to this issue. request a late comeback closer to home with some of the agreements have been touched on. would like to hear your thoughts on the geopolitical review of strategic aspects of her trade agreements with panama and colombia. the key u.s. allies in central and south america where venezuela anti-american president, hugo chavez asked to undermine american interests

that dominate the political landscape. panama and colombia are queuing for the north-south inter-american drug trade. by not implementing agreements bailout sum in latin america to question our commitment. in may 2008, 5 former head of this beat southern command but a letter to congress urging support for the free trade agreement. in light of the significant u.s. strategic interests in the region in concert with the failure to move the units could participate a setback for influence in the region. do you share these concerns? if so, which will effort for a moment? >> well, let me say that we have examined our relationship in latin america from every standpoint theorists now i am always -- i try to be guided by the reality that the only reason the office of u.s. trade representative exists is because congress mandated that there be someone that looked the use of purely from a commercial standpoint, not strategic.

we are held under house in the state department. having said this, we understand strategic importance of our relationship with colombia. we applaud the work of both the uribe administration and understand his administration and working with us on the track in her dictionary. that's what i think it is that much more important that we are willing to transcend bipartisan compromise to move forward on this agreements install them in may 2008. and panama, ever worked on from the port of baltimore to the port of orlando is hitting ready and building infrastructure here to take advantage of the whitening of the panama canal and the impact it can have on our port facilities here to handle greater transshipment of goods back and forth. so yes, we've examined all of those elements of the benefits of that. it creates a great imperative for us to come together on this other issue so we can allow these. >> i guess i'd like to go to a

deeper love lana. the concern i have and appreciate as mr. tiberi noted come you have been dealt a difficult hand in dealing with this. you understand firsthand the issues -- the benefits of trade. but when we talk about raising the issues of the ilo standards, we talk about various incentives concern for the colombians, let alone panamanians. we've had military, and play with us. militaries across central america and colombians to bring this agreements about because their internal issues. labor leaders and colombia have come and pleaded to have a spring this for us and those who are strong organized labor advocates in the democratic caucus as have chosen to ignore the voice as they say they are trying to help. my concern is considering colombia is more in compliance as i understand it at the ilo guidelines than we are.

don't you think this rhetoric is a little bit not doers, but a little bit dissonant? that we need to actually agree this needs to move forward urgently, both for economic and national security concerns? >> we want to address all the concerns. i'm not going to comment on your interpretation of the democratic members of this committee's understanding of the ilo commitments. i appreciate mr. tiberi's concerns, but i enjoy the work i have and i think the president has demonstrated great courage and leadership in articulating to the american public how we can win by having trade agreements that fairly reflect our values that open up markets, that are enforceable. we can work in a minute to get those done, then i think we will get to a place that were not having this conversation next year. the longer we want to sit and try to decide which part is to blame are not moving forward is

how you end up with these agreements be installed for four years. so let's find common ground. let's stop pointing fingers at one another and figure out which movies forward. >> thank you. before recognize mr. lewis for five minutes, after mr. lewis will go to three minutes of questioning. the investor has to leave at 12:30 and went abroad to have an opportunity to ask a question. so without recognize this to lewis for five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. ambassador, i want to team up for being here today and thank you for your service. we've heard a great deal about delay, we, as the letter to rush and gather an agreement but to wait and get it right? mr. ambassador, you know i am very concerned about the issue

of human rights, workers rights, environmental issues. and some of these concerns and issues, a long seated problems and colombia. it's all right to talk the talk, but sometimes we need people to a walk. and i'm not sure that the leaders, even the new leaders are prepared to walk the walk. there's too many killings, too many violations of human rights. too many people disappearing. and as you said, and i agree with you, that our trade agreements, our trade policies should reflect our whole values. so you just elaborate. what are you going to do to see

if people in colombia to the rate at? as somebody said before, but time is always right to do right. if we don't stand for something, will fall for anything. >> congressman, thank you for your question. thank you for your service. you are a hero to so many of us who value and reflect human rights and we appreciate her advocacy and leadership on that. i will say what i said two others. we think that there has to be a way for us to respect the sense of urgency that america takes advantage of these opportunities to conclude these free-trade agreements so we can say to the farmer, there is an opportunity to grow your business. we can say toward manufacturers that we have to keep faith with the american people that wants us to trade policy that reflect those values. so my simple answer is we

believe we have to be responsive to both and we can do so. i know you have spent years studying devoted to the issues of human rights, labor rights and colombia. i would tell you we are greatly encouraged with not only the writer eric, that the actions we've seen for this and his administration. and that is part of what is driving the president to encourage us to intensify our negotiations. i know for some there still an unacceptable level of violent, but we believe not only under the current administration, but under the previous administration: he has made great strides. we think we can build on that and work with the new administration, work with those of you on the committee sides to come up with a password that allows us to address their sense of urgency with your concerns about making sure we do so in a manner that takes care it respects the rights of the workers.

>> thank you very much, mr. ambassador. mr. chairman, i'll take my five minute. >> mr. reichert is recognized for three minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome. mr. ambassador, i've enjoyed working with you and you do enjoy your job. i've noticed that. although it is a tough one, the bottom line is we want to sell america and that is the message. i think you are delivering the message loud and clear. i am pleased to be a part of the export council initiative with mr. tiberi in yourself and secretary locke. and the goal, as i understand it in the two meetings we've had is to create 2 million jobs redoubling exports. the descendents of previous trade hearing, we haven't done my double export 1995 between the period of 95 through 2007. during that period of time can we pass nine trade agreements.

one of the first questions i was going to ask was whether or not he thought passing a free-trade agreement agreement for not passing what impact the dublin exports initiatives. your answer was it would be difficult. i also want to say that i really appreciate the recognizing right up front washington state issues as far as canada attract new customers into their court and not into the seattle import,. and the importance of korea to washington state as korea's fourth trading partner. so, what impact do you believe will happen when passing the korean agreement through congress? what you think we might have a meeting the exports initiatives schools? and do you believe as i and many colleagues on both sides of the

il-2 that we will lose hundreds of thousands of american jobs if the e.u. implements its jobs with korea and we know china has 30 increased x ports for imports to colombia by over 200%. we are losing market share. if that's true, we're going to lose thousands of jobs with these two things happening. doesn't the same hold true with colombia and panama? >> is. first of all, congressman, thank you for hosting this. the roadshow with the bosnian ministers from there in washington. thanks for working on export of. in the interest of time, to answer all your questions is yes. i would add one thing briefly. when we looked at korea commodes intuited 70,000 jobs. important to know for your sick though we're the number one exporter in the korean market. today we are number four and sinking fast. there's two ways to look at it.

you can look at philly past and have the opportunity to reap the benefit. if we don't pass the korea free trade agreement for what purpose 220,000 jobs that are now tied to all the export to korea. i would see to those of you concerned about panama colombia, it's easy to look at korea because it's $10 million to write. every job is important. whether panama as a billion dollars market for $2 billion market, they represent opportunities for some farmer, some small-business. that's why it's important we find a way to bridge our differences to move forward on those as well. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ambassador kirk, i'm glad we have you in front of our committee, so welcome. look, i appreciate the work we've done on a south korean trade agreement and i know it will help workers, grow shops and businesses, but i can't pass up this opportunity to say that

rice, which is very important to my state in louisiana was excluded. we know that no trade agreement is perfect, but i do believe repressed nation really hurt the stomach standpoint of prestige, credibility in its time to move forward. if we look at columbia, are commodities, are included in this agreement and we've seen amazing statistics whereby u.s. experts and commodities have plummeted over the past year or two because we have not moved forward in other countries are moving forward with colombia free trade agreement. so i hope we will get to the point where we stop hurting our farmers and rural communities and get moving on is because it's going to help us export commodities moving forward. i want to raise an issue. even the president has talked extensively over the past two

years about enforcement is a very important part of your trade policy. either midsized louisiana company that cannot get payments of nearly $3.7 million in business for china, products they sold to china. i believe having a robust bilateral ancestor treaty with china is imperative. other countries are doing this. if are going to regain a competitive footing to help especially small and mid sized firm says the president has expressed interest in doing, we need a robust dispute settlement mechanism to handle this. and i think we're falling behind. so what is the delay on the part of the administration and moving forward and getting a bilateral treaty, typically with china? >> first of all congressman, thank you and i would say parenthetically this year's american toys were economically,

almost 106 lane dollars according to usda. they are forecasting that 2011 could be our highest tier level. we could reach as high as $114 billion that is extremely important to all of america's farmers and their workers and families will be looking to address some of your concerns about price within ttp and others. with respect to enforcement, we are trying to do things for china. where's eking china that would be helpful. we have had for negotiating rounds of fire. we are moving on parallel tracks of his reader db can be processed to review our model because we believe that needed updated. it hadn't been revised in almost 10 years. we are hopefully at the very end stages. we've had a count of patients with our committees of jurisdiction, the business community and there's only a couple issues remain to be resolved. we're going to try to get the

work concluded as soon as possible and we can go forward. not only was concluding about the china, but with india as well. >> thank you. the chair recognizes mr. neal. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. ambassador, i want to weigh in with mr. davis said another important issue to my constituency in the run back and forth with ustr for a number of years and i hope that you are going to continue to vigorously pursue that issue in terms of reform. i can, mr. ambassador, tickets to an issue important here. our friends on the other side jested reputedly the first emblaze the we've constructed into these fta's. in many way, the easiest bilateral was panama. on the problem was the problem offered by the assembly speaker who murdered an american soldier and was alleged to have murdered

an american soldier. the bush administration correctly pulled back on the bilateral because of the human rights violation. so we can't say that we are going to have mr. lewis point out, dismissed by behavior with human rights if it's a republican president and mrs. human rights to be a consideration if it's a democratic president. that is the point mr. lewis and i were trying to shop with you. could you give us an update on where we are with the panama bilateral what has happened with domestic politics that might ensure it easier payout to completion? >> i will try to. thank you for your comment. you are correct in not one of the reasons pana must office because of the complication of the assembly that it is in the bush administration wisely said we're going to do business.

after that person was removed to engage panama on ways to address nonissues. then we have the intervening complication of the oecd designated as a tax haven and we were engaged with the previous administration went out with them and mr. mcdermott was there and that administration told us frankly if you're telling us were going to have to put in place tax information exchange agreement, were not sure we want to. the bottom line is we were able to progress and i'm not. we've enjoyed in place are they to value this relationship as we do. we've made great progress on a number of the issues on labor they have been working with treasury to address the tax issues. i do understand they had initial tax information exchange agreement. there is legislation that has to be passed to address the

corollary issue relating to shares. frankly we're making good progress with panama will be working on the coming months to see if we can address those outstanding issues. >> thank you, mr. ambassador. the point that needs to be raised is this committee history in the years i've been a member has largely bipartisan. i think as we try to find a path forward on these issues of the bilateral cdnow, we went to a short the languages offered here make certain going forward will be a bipartisan undertaking. thank you. >> the chair recognizes mr. heller. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ambassador, thank you for being here. i appreciate you adding time and effort and energy with us. from the state that is struggling, mr. secretary, with almost 15% unemployment and we talked about the free trade agreements and the impact of

what it would mean to a state like nevada. clearly it is incredibly important. in fact, trade, as you well know has certainly helped nevada's action in 1864 to the year 2000 we went from zero trade to $1.5 billion. or from the year 2000 to 2008 what i'm a billion and a half to almost 6.2 billion, an increase of 266% in nine years. the president has challenged us all to double exports in the next five years. i would argue that it's already done from 2004 to 2008, our export jumped 110%. we do this by taking advantage of fast developing markets such as china. in 2000, china was the 24th

largest export market in 2008 is the third-largest. similar examples with india from 28 in two q. purcell from 26 to the 20th. the trade is always in poorer for his daily run and clearly as we move forward with the economy, trade will play a big part in picking this data. rice is important in the we've deana in my name is important in nevada. and i'd like to share a story. we have the minors in the building and some of their concerns are with pending free-trade agreements. for example, at panama. their concern is that they house taken the lead based on encouragement for the government there'll be a a free trade agreement to mind do the development and they're finding

the corruption is making a very very difficult even though they are able to find what is very good. all of these national mining companies come out of the nevada. sharing their concern with me, i guess i'll put it in your lap. how would you address this? between licensing, pvcs. they have a government they have to make under the table making it very, very difficult and their shareholders to produce or make a profit. how would you respond to that? and that is perhaps the panama free trade agreement be able to >> first i want to follow to get more more specifics on that. i can like, and not much of a lawyer, but what you frame tumulus hypothetical because american companies don't pay much because that would be in

violation of the prophet eye. first of all, were not going to put that out there. i won't make light of it. we need to have a conversation where i can learn more about that here to limit the values about the free trade agreement and why we want russia and the wto and china is we do have them in an environment we can address these issues. i'd be happy to follow up with you. we don't talk enough about travel as a part of our exports and is congressman wright can tell you an expert or motion council that we've been looking at since i was in your great state to the cpe. it is refreshing to see tourism in dollars that will bring that. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for being here today. >> thank you.

the appreciate president bertinelli's to move forward on panama business climate that is welcoming for foreign investment as well. the chair recognizes mr. ross. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your time. earlier you said the administration is going to move forward on the free trade agreements in the matter of weeks. discomfited processed internal audit that was given into that. a matter of weeks that can mean months for a sunday moderate understanding of islam, not. >> for us, weeks means weeks. >> less than 30 days we can expect that? >> we are trying to finalize the tax. as you know, we are operating on the trade from ocean authorities, so there is a fairly structured process by

which we admit this to this committee and finance. and you begin your mock hearings on those. we very much are concerned as you are that we want to get this agreement before to congress and pass royalties to the art putting our exporters at a disadvantage. >> just so i'm clear, the common understanding is less than a month and that is overlooking a. >> gray. how about columbia classics >> you may have missed my introductory remarks here that the president, just as he did not share in directing the seaweed could conclude our negotiations on korea has directed us to intensify our engagement with columbia so we can resolve the south indian issues this year. we've had a fairly exhaustive discussion of the sent of urgent in the sense of concern for members on both sides were going to try to find some way to find

some common ground that allows us to address those to move forward. we will send a team to columbia next week. the vice president was here. two weeks ago he met with itself, members of the administration of precarious state. we are cursed with the new leadership. we hear a message will go forward as quickly as we can. >> turning briefly to china, i want to highlight and experience in a nutshell animal follow-up with you what the letter, ambassador. it is involved in essentially a nightmare scenario with the joint venture that is scott's house and they have not been able to get the legal remedies that they deserve. if it is a very, very serious example of manipulation on the part of some in china that are taken in the image of an incredibly submit to manufacture in the chicago area.

because icann is truncated, i won't belabor the point, but i want to highlight it because they think it is an area where the administration and congress can work forthrightly to advocate and defend american manufacturers who in some cases and in this case a quick reading of the story, you know, something the wild west. so i know you don't have the benefit of the details, but i'll follow to get these to you or your consideration. i yield to. >> thank you. i inadvertently was not here at the gavel for the outset and with interest would like to recognize mr. randall. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's a great pleasure to see you here and even a greater pleasure to hear about the progress he made with our dear friends in korea in 1950 and under different circumstances i cannot believe the tremendous advance and that they meet economically and democratic principles and

quite frankly it is much more difficult to alter agreement that has been made rather than be involved in the first instance. you've done a fantastic job. so pleased to hear that. do note, that we've reached a point due in part to high unemployment and a sellout in the u.s. featuring jobs across. and of course with republican democrat business or labor, i don't think we do a good job in identifying exactly where is the job creation? it just seems to me as a former mayor, that if you are selling anything, the bottom line is what's in it for me, jack? and that's how you spell names of politicians do. so if you ask me ask you what

does this do for america, i really so closely to detroit and the pain we feel us americans for the same way nevada. when you see this coming you know what is good for detroit is good for us to really overcome that obstacle. but what about the rest of the jobs, whether it services or agriculture, why don't members, republicans and democrats come in a rainbow, we need to know. it is going to help us have jobs. i don't hear that type of thing. i hear from the chamber of commerce, from republicans, business people certainly does have a concern about making america great because you have to trade in order to survive. but how do you reach out to see what jobs are going to be created? they are not if it's good for the country. i don't get that response.

>> well, forgive me, mr. chairman, congressman rangel, thank you for your kind words and we would love nothing more than to work with you to provide you that data. again, we reasonably small, but i can tell you we can get data for every member, every tuesday, with everyone of these free trade agreement means in your community. in the case of korea, there is not a member here that does not have at least tens of thousands of workers that won't be benefited from our passing disagreement. some may be in manufacturing. some may be in the services and insurance. some in agriculture. we tend to overlook the fact that many of the beneficiaries of trade are small businesses who are suppliers to either caterpillar or chrysler afford and they may not even realize you're benefiting from trade. we welcome the opportunity to

sit down with remembering to be the best data we have and hopefully you can help educators on what some of those opportunities are. in my thank you, mr. ambassador. >> the chair recognizes mr. goodlatte. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for testifying today. whenever you talk about trade in pennsylvania, the first word that comes up is china. everybody is so concerned about the current trade policy or lack of trade policy we have relative to the growing economy. and we've heard from so many different businesses and entrepreneurs in pennsylvania that the manipulation problem is one that is greatly impacted adversely their ability to trade their products to train a have a fair price for the product in the united states. and the testimonies shared with the committee before you started at 10:00 a.m., you a paragraph

that says china including through the joint submission on commerce and trade has been productive showing results in innovation policies and intellectual property rights including greater use of legal software. that is wonderful progress and we applaud you for that. there is no mention of the currency manipulation that continues to be such a problem. so my question to you is first of all, what is the specific discussion between president hu and president obama when they met recently on this issue and what can you tell me the specific plan of the administration to try to get this currency manipulation problem resolved with them for all? >> i appreciate your concerns about china. it is a conflict, but long-term and extraordinary opportunity for america's business and exports, just as they are trying

to move 600 million people from an aquarium society to one in which they can have the need for an a for the types of products, services, goods produced in the country. first of all we think it's worth the time and effort. second of all, my remarks were deliberately drafted to reflect areas that ustr cannot impact. i hope i don't sound evasive, but as you know, our secretary of the treasury has a responsibility to address the currency issue and i know has spoken on this and i don't want to say anything that attracts or detracts from what secretary geithner is enumerated. i will call you in every occasion the president obama has engaged president too. we have a progress to a point where was the big till 10, 15 years ago that an american president entertained this one senate term.

president obama in president to have had a feast to face meetings. we knew kludgy 20, g8, the president does address the issue of china allowing this current fee to float to national guard. our work in u.s. dr is to make sure we are responsive to other concerns. you've heard other members talk about concerns with intellectual property rights, piracy, indigenous innovation. and that's where we think we can add the most value. while the currency is important, will be in small businesses is their fear putting a product in china and frankly how consoling him. we are businesses who are there that are concerned about their indigenous innovation needs. we think the time and energy was spent on those areas can be just as important to your businesses as addressing the currency issue. >> the house a session, late in the session -- >> the shaman's time has expired.

>> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. chairman. ambassador, i appreciate you being here today and i share the intensity we talked for just a couple minutes of your views on doing what is best for americans and american companies. we need to continue to fight for them in terms of all trade agreements. i do want to say i applaud the effort that you guys have moved forward on korea. i think it's very important. but let me mention to you, as it relates to my district in the state of florida, where 14 ports in florida, but the ports in our area that it is something we've been working on with doubling the capacity in terms of panama. i've been down there. we've had the ambassador in our area. it's not what the president to meet the delegation to go down there because they are doubling the capacity.

they are spending $5 billion in terms of the improvements in that area. i am very turned that these go on for four years. you know, you mentioned you've been in business. i've been in business geared up in a complicated to us before. they may not be as complicated as this, but i'm concerned with these run-on, you can't manage it or measure it and that's what we are talking about is having some reasonable timeframe because that is infecting us in terms of our jobs. we've got 20,000 good paying jobs directly and indirectly and we think we can double that. here we've been waiting six months, nine months, some as long as two or three years. it seems to me at some point you can't get the perfect deal. you get as much as you can get done. my experience, 80%, 90% and we need to move on. i think it's imperative that panama and colombia get those off the table because to me because to me it's a lot about

politics. or don't do something now, will run at more politics coming shortly. so we need to get that done. i just want to get your comment. the second thing is they do share a bond that can turn about china and a lot of issues with china. but what happens because we can't move forward here about a chance to move to the china discussion. the pair to forget that some in the next six months for the sake of the country, florida as well as a district. speenine thank you. the other point is panama was started in 2004. here we are in 2011 after seven years law declares your weekly dad and we do what panama to die. so without i recognize mr. doggett for three minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it is always good to see a fellow from austin do so good and so much of ports work on the world stage. i voted as a member of this committee for most of the trade agreements that have come here and hope to vote for more.

if we were looking on it solely in terms of trade and have, the three agreements we've been discussing with the very easy to support. these which cheney trade proposals are very much in margins. even the korea agreement is much larger than the other two, was described by the international trade commission is having a probable negligible impact on output and employment in the united states. but there is much more at stake. panama has made a name for it of, not only is the place into now, but one of the leading taxied in the entire world. it's been an equal opportunity. it wouldn't cooperate on taxes with anyone. as recently as four months ago, the oecd outlined a long list of deficiencies in panama to go framework. they have refused about as much as any country in the world and

operate anywhere in taxes. you've indicated you were getting close to being ready to submit this agreement. can you assure us that before you do so that panama will have provided full compliance and making all the necessary changes to correct these deficiencies and to fully implement them since it bears the trade agreement is the only thing we have to ensure they do what they should've done many years ago quiet >> congressmen, i can tell you we've made it very clear last year that frankly it is their call to make, they did not choose to engage us on the issue of address in the tax question that we would accept that. i would say we have engaged in taken away by want to be careful because it's a fairly precise question. i can tell you we have very good engagement. >> i appreciate that.

given the short time, and the seven years which can be declared legally dead, there's been a veneers to fully complement and make the changes necessary to stop being a tax haven. it hasn't done it and that remains a big concern to me in looking at that agreement. even president obama has spoken eloquently of the need to make significant changes in our trade policy and to recognize it's not about moving widgets across borders. it is the broader issue that encompasses the environment and working standards. i have some concerns as mr. lewis indicated that performance has not been quite up to the standards and procedures, specifically on opening up the process would involve a more public representatives in the way our trade laws is developed. you have lisa garcia, testified to her committee on this two years ago. she could not identify any example where having public representation on the street advisory committees had caused

harm and some have alleged in trying to block increased public representation. i wrote a shortly after that and i gather you and your staff now having had almost two years aren't able to attend by any subsidy. where having the public involved in this process through representation environments representatives has caused a problem. have you found any such problem in the history of ustr? >> the time has expired. >> i think we have submitted to never did get it to this you this morning promoting future letter. president obama is committed not just in trade policy to opening up the advisory process in our government to all americans to we've done our best to strike that balance between the statutory mandates we get from congress and the composition of our technical advisory committees, but in opening it up to other voices as well.

>> thank you. you can submit an answer in writing. >> ltd. that to you. >> mr. smith is recognized. >> thank you from a mr. chairman for your service. as we've heard, obviously the u.s. agricultural sector is a vibrant economic engine that contributes significantly to her ex route at first. we also know there is nontariff trade barriers that exist around the world and is actually keep the united states farmers from eating the command, global demand for no exist. i'm so as we do at first, we know perhaps some of our trading partners are not. we know the we've got very innovative producers here. can you tell me what u.s. tiaras doing to make sure that our trading partners are truly focusing on science-based standards as a regulatory efforts rather than more

political results are even efforts? >> we have a good story here, mr. smith. in the interest of time, one for the reasons you articulated, one report that you mandate we deliver to you is what is called a 301 report and that we have to tell you how our other partners are complying for example an intellectual properties. i made the decision when we came into office that was not good enough. we now offer the sanitary standards. we'll be submitting that to you soon. secondly, we have pursued in every foreign compliance with sound scientific standards and it has helped us. we for examples that all of a long-standing case for the european union. we are now shipping 20,000 metric tons, almost $250 million in the debt archaic. after we had the h. one and once

you care, almost 20 commodities for export. we are back and i think all of those economies but one. we'll go with everything from poultry to beef in china, but it is one of our highest priorities and we welcome your thoughts on how we could perhaps even do better. >> thank you, ambassador. mr. chairman, i have other questions i will submit. >> thank you. mr. shaw is recognized. in the thank you, mr. chairman. mr. ambassador, thank you for being here. i look forward to working with you on these issues are important to our country needs more so to make a straight,, issues of trade. i guess to be frank is frustrating to hear you talk about these groups that have labor concerns, not the people don't have legitimate labor concerns, but to the groups are and who the administration truly is working with and working to sign off on the issues of labor

concerns. let me give you an example. at the very large uaw presents a magistrate did they manufacture equipment that would benefit right now is put at a competitive disadvantage of doing business in latin america. i can assure you those labor workers would support having a level playing field in our country to do business in these countries. when i travel to panama a year and a half ago with then majority leader hoyer, we went met with labor unions in columbia u. interestingly the trade group so i thought would be imposed where the support of these agreements, but it was actually the public sectors unions, teachers, garbage collectors who are who's to trade not because they were concerned about human rights, but the plea for political reasons. there'd been significant progress made then and continues

to be. president uribe went to buy an item by item the work that he's done, the ilo just last year we moved columbia from its labor watch list. since then, 14: be a labor union leaders representing 79,000 of colombians workers have signed up supported the agreement. the president of the united workers in colombia stated ever in history at columbia reissued this much progress when you said a satisfied reedsport agreement. i'm looking for specificity on were not going to get complete agreement. many of the same labor issues that we had with paris were satisfied with the main agreement, which is what is in the current panama and colombia agreements. paris was passed with strong bipartisan support. there were those who opposed it, but it got strong bipartisan support. if we have the same environmental concerns, the same

language in panama and colombia in the administration is saying wait, who were with looking to specifically sign-on? >> first of all, i don't know the were looking for any one group to sign off. no one has a veto over the obama administration's trade policies. but just as they did on korea, i have met with members of the audit of expressed concern. we have labor advisory committees, statutorily mandated technical public advisory committees. i do as you recommended me the u.k. and illinois, i sit down and meet with the workers themselves. i don't just listen to the representatives in washington. we have published a notice in the federal register. we've got now those comments can't take information and then we try to come up with the best decision just as we did with what we want to do here.

>> mr. chairman, mr. ambassador, welcome once again. it's good to see you. thank you for your hard work. i know sometimes it feels as though a thankless job, but you have done some remarkable work as it pertains to the free trade agreement making it a better agreement for the u.s. senate what you think is while mr. levin as well as ester camp for engaging with you in your office and make another better agreement. all this for can be done in panama, as it pertains to human rights and the rule of law they are. i know that your engagement over these next months will have an impact in me cannot agreement a better agreement as well. i look forward to that. one country affected firm only to divert its india. i once again have assumed the chairmanship of the india caucus

chair in the co-chairmanship with ed royce. i know the secretary of commerce, has been working on a trade mission, seeking opportunities for u.s. companies to help expand opportunities for export to india. one issue i've been it in for a long time is investment caps in the indian insurance industry. right now american companies can only own up to 26% of the value of an insurance company within india, even though i've been working to increase the number to 49%. one of the status of zeno on that issue and what more can be done to ensure that our service companies can export their services to india on a more level playing field?

>> well, i appreciate your leadership on the indian subcommittee. we spend so much time on china and we sometimes neglect the opportunity of the growth markets and the needs in india and africa as well. as you know, president obama lead and ask on a mission to part of the south east asia last year. i will be honest, we have been extraordinarily frustrated that the slow pace of opening the market. we have a number of engagements with india. deleted trade policy arm in which we raise these issues about opening up the economy for more. sabia case. we are also looking to perhaps get and yet to sign a bilateral investment treaty, which removes those caps, notably in insurance, but liberalized markets across the board. there's great opportunity for americans in the retail and agriculture and manufacturing sector.

some of this we try to address if we can get the right balance in the doha round. the rest we will continue to see if we can't find the right buttons to push and i bilateral engagement. >> my time is right now. i think the chairman. i do have additional questions i will admit to the ambassador. especially as it pertains. >> thank you. mr. lee is recognized. >> mr. chairman and mr. ambassador, i walked on this too long, but it's worth repeating that is the issue of jobs here and we are sitting on 9% unemployment again. what i think congress could such a bad name is we don't listen to the american people. i think a virtue pretty loud and clear and also even ranking number 11 when he was in colombia. and colombia we made improvements in your belief is all three of these trade agreements will create jobs in the united states.

>> yet, we sat for seven years and you're trying to move things on, but it worries me when we keep saying weeks and when you go back and look at timelines, we look at the top and rhetoric that we have here, i think the american people is tired of it. they should be a nonpartisan issue. this is about putting people back to work in this country. so i will shift into another point because i think all of these are putting people back to work and that's what our job is, to help people in this country. another area and i came for manufacturing in that the issue of surrounding china. we all want to increase their trade there, but china has been using indigenous innovation policy for quite a while and is the third opportunity to circumvent international trade rules. i want to basically compare them to hand over their api or parent

i know from your point just recently we had a meeting of the jcc t. i was hoping you could go into some specific metrics that the administration has put forward to help remedy the situation. >> i want to make it plain, we are going to have to be constantly vigilant with china, congressman. but one victory this time is getting them to agree to delete the apr issue from indigenous innovation. this has been one of the highest concerns to her business community in terms of china's efforts to try to have this transferred to elegy in order to bid on mac, but were able to successfully between jcc t. a follow-up engagement with president hu can president obama at least get them the commitment they would delink those to answer those. there is also a question that china had a creative application of having to comply with their standards and experience in

order to do it on their projects, even though we at american companies that did experience all over the world, we are able to get them to agree to use that experience as well. but i don't want to get any means downplay the challenge ahead of us, but this is one area where we did have some success and will continue to monitor that. >> there would again urge you to push these trade agreements forward. it was very difficult to look her constituents in the eye when there are no jobs to be had. we have the solution to help. thank you. ms. jenkins is recognized. >> thank you, mr. chair. thank you ambassador curt for being here today and for your service. as he briefly touched on in your opening remarks, russia, in seeking to become a member of the world trade organization for more than 18 years, russia is joining the wto on the right

terms that would be good for both of our countries, strengthening the rule of law in russia and promote closer economic ties. last fall our two governments made two very encouraging progress in key outstanding issues and will continue on the multilateral terms of russia's to the wto. russia has much work to do on fair use long-standing issues of concern such as ip our enforcement barriers to u.s. agriculture exports another non-tariff barriers to such trade concerns combined with broader foreign policy and human rights concerns in congress is going to make it difficult for congress to consider pnt or legislation. as russia's wto accession to a top administration priority is at and if so what exactly does the administration more specifically what does the ustr

doing planning to do to address such congressional concerns only the groundwork to consider such major trade legislation? >> thank you, congress summoned for your terms. you've heard the answer her question in the first part of your recitation of what we've done. the president expressly directed our office to work with our colleagues in russia to address a member of the outstanding bilateral concerns we had. we did work on not successfully over the summer, but we met the presidentof september deadline for that. for the most part, we think that address the overwhelming majority of bilateral issues. russia's ascension then moves to a broader committee structure within geneva in which we will continue to engage them on the southwark turns. we are frustrated. you mentioned agriculture and

adherence to sound science. maybe you don't know, we've had an extraordinary challenge getting poultry and meat back into the market, but that also means the case of why we want them in the wto so we have them in a form that we can address many of those can turn of the human rights component is the state department takes the lead in addressing those, but we understand and appreciate all your concerns and want to work with you and other members of congress to address those so we can move forward at the appropriate time. >> thank you mr. ambassador. i yield back. >> mr. kind is recognized for three minutes. >> thank you for what in this hearing. mr. ambassador, thank you for the work you're doing and the administration to advance a pro-tip forward-looking trade agenda which is crucial for economic growth and job creation.com to look forward to working with you on the pending bilaterals. were glad to see the president has passed as you can get panama and kalinga put to bed at some point in the future.

.. this next session of congress in a bipartisan fashion we need to move forward. we have the case still hanging over our heads where we have elected now to deal with that by some summarizing the producers as opposed to reforming our own coffin program which we should be doing but also the so-called

amber box payments on the commodity programs and the work that needs to be there. having talked to many of the trade ambassadors involved in those ongoing conversations, so many times the roads to come back to the foreign policy both here and in the e.u., so i know the administration is anticipating an engaging the congress when it comes to the next farm bill and some of the changes we have to be pursuing in order to assist an important trade agenda at the same time. so i just humble beatifies let's not take your eye off the bill of around even though it's been tough the last few years trying to get it back on track, and i know a lot of interest to people that see what we can do to advance that and that we don't all just become a consuming with these bilaterals right now and we can understand why given that you're in front of us and pending and hopefully will be able to advance on those later this year, too.

thank you again. >> thank you. mr. paulson is recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman and mr. ambassador on this issue. we really do appreciate, and you mentioned just real quickly one of the benefits we have the south korean trade agreement is going to be the ability to engage in more services and having a market. the same exists with columbia and panama in particular. 70% of their gdp comes from the service sector and it's important to give the u.s. access a market foothold sweet tremendous opportunity there. but i want to ask a question about the potential benefits of what you might see with the transpacific partnership and also the timing of that might be. we have participants right now in the tp that do not have tried agreements right now. as with respect to the existing trade partners in what ways do you see the tpp a bad economic fallujah to extend trade agreements with respect to our potential new agreement partners, what areas do you think the talks might offer the

most promise for american jobs and exports in the future? >> well, thank you for your question. we think the tpp is an extraordinary opportunity for the united states because it is our belief and part of our rationale in reaching the decision to engage with this original group of countries our hope is obviously that this will effectively become the free trade agreement at least of those 21 member apec economies, and perhaps the architecture for what could be the largest most dynamic trade area in the world in southeast asia with respect to our trading partners obviously, we are not looking to reach trade in our existing market share. but there are lots of areas that we can further enhance trade by looking at regulatory clearance, addressing some of the non-tariff barriers, obviously with these new markets, with malaysia, those are

extraordinary opportunities for american businesses across the board. we have a very ambitious goal. i don't know, i mean, it's sort of our aspirational goal, but the fault was start with a small enough number of like-minded economies, work very aggressively to put everything on the table but let's just see where we are by the time that our leaders for mccaul, and at least right now we are on that case, but i will let make this next meeting in chile is the first time we will begin to take the offer. so this is where the negotiations will become a little more challenging. >> maybe i can ask the cousin of the president's economic council and the committee both urged the goal seeking the conclusion to the tpp agreement by may be this november when the united states is going to host apec at the president's home state of hawaii. do you agree that is concluding the tpp agreement would be an important concrete delivered double by that time frame as possible? >> if we could meet that goal

but would be exceptional but there are a lot of moving parts. right now the spirits of engagement among all of the economy's is the right mood, but i am also tempering this a little bit because i know that we are getting into the guts of it. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> all right. mr. berg is recognized. >> [inaudible] >> ambassador kirk, thank you for being here today. you and i both know how critical trade is for the united states and for us to recover from our current situation. and, you know, i know there's a lot of concern we've heard today by the concern from the american public about trade. the american to become national export initiative a goal of doubling exports is certainly one that i support, but in order to make that happen, we need to get the american people behind us. and, you know, you've done a tremendous effort in going out and speaking on the a vintage of

trade across this country, and i commend you for your efforts in doing that. but it seems to me, and maybe you can discuss in more detail how yourself and the at ministration is going to get the american people behind more trade, especially those trade agreements we are looking at right now. >> [inaudible] >> the same problem. >> thank you for your kind words. i think and i've heard from all of you we have differences may be on panama and colombia. but i haven't heard, refreshingly, for many of you is the difference we understand right now with the american public cares about is jobs. it is jobs, what's in it for me coming and we have to do a better job of articulating to the public health, when we provide a virginities -- opportunities we make, growth, produce around the wild that could help create jobs here, and for whatever reason we have had

a political environment that americans are a little more skeptical of that, but i think having an honest discussion with the american public and an honest presentation of the reality for the trade and what it does and doesn't do. but i think it is important, and i trust you not take this as a political statement. keeping faith with the commitment we've made to the american public. and i do think renewing trade adjustment assistance is one way to do that, to say to those communities that feel that they've gotten the short end of this that you have heard us and you are going to honor your commitment. i think making sure that we honor our commitments to those poorest countries in the world, the work that we do, when i take on china and stand up for them for the american steel workers, we absolutely got criticized from one end of this country to the other. but we didn't spark a trade war, and in fact every one of those tire companies for example as increased capacity, has added workers and are making more tires. sali eink listening to the

american public, being responsive to those that have concerns and honestly addressing those, making sure that we enforce our agreements and then make sure that we draw a connection between opening up markets around the world and creating jobs here at home, and the more that we do that with one voice, and we stop attacking one another here in congress, the better chance we're going to have to convince the american public of what we are doing. >> thank you. thank you very much. i want to thank ambassador kirk for his time this morning and his testimony, and also to all the members for their thoughtful questions. let me note for ambassador kirk members may submit questions for the record and if they do, i hope he will provide a prompt full response. ambassador kirk -- all right. i guess we are not quite done. we have a few more minutes and we have a member who just came, mr. pascrell is recognized for three minutes. we have had members going back and forth as members of the ways and means committee are on that i as well.

>> i'm flattered by the attendance and the number of members to have stayed here. i appreciate it. >> mr. pascrell was recognized for three minutes. >> appreciate that, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. investor, we discussed one of the issues earlier when i went to the committee. right off that i want to stress how important is that the congress pass an extension of the trade adjustment assistance program. i think it's important to everything we worked on in the last 14 years, a critical; would you agree? >> yes, sir. you may have missed my closing remarks -- >> i'm disappointed we are going to bring a bill to the floor and bring a bill yesterday extending the program and of course it happened. i strongly believe we could accomplish this in a fiscally responsible way without cutting the fight the worker training programs we are trying to

protect. i want to thank you for being here. we have taken some important steps i believe. we still have work to do to ensure that our trade policies reflect our values and the benefits of trade. i told you this morning what my promise to look through on a free trade deal. i will not back off that. you know where i stand. it's not going to be a fait accompli by any stretch of the imagination and i respect your candid miss on a matter. the transpacific partnership negotiations really represent the obama administration's best opportunity to reshape our trade policies. it also presents significant challenges i have two questions regarding the tpp. one of the countries involved in negotiations in vietnam is classified by our own government as a nonmarket economy, quote on quote.

they don't have a space government, and many of the major industries are controlled by the states. as you negotiate transpacific partnership, what efforts are you making to ensure that state-owned enterprising countries like the non--- we have this problem and a lot of countries, which are owned or controlled by foreign governments, a very serious problem, very serious to our competitiveness and leveling the field. what are you doing it if it this will not be able to enter a market enacting the government national interest instead of companies commercial interest. >> thank you for your candor with now and this morning. i would say to you one of the reasons we are excited about this tpp, it isn't an opportunity to bring the country like the viet nam into this global system. one of the areas that we are frankly looking to expand on in

our investment chapter is to take this opportunity to address that challenge of state-owned economies, and that's one of the issues that we are specifically looking to engage the vietnam as well as other countries the challenges brought on by the indigenous -- >> thank you. thanks again, ambassador kirk. you have spoken of many elements of the at ministrations trade policy agenda and i am encouraged by your statements on the south korean agreement. i am disappointed that the administration has not been more forward leaning on the plans for columbia and panama's trade agreements. as members of this committee including myself as is repeatedly said, american employers, workers, farmers, ranchers are put at a disadvantage every day that we delete tier in washington, so i continue to hope the administration will yield a clear plan with specific areas of concern, specific timetable

for considering all three of these agreements in short order, and i strongly believe we should consider all of the agreements, all three of them in the next six months and hope we can work together to make that happen again, thank you for your testimony today. for now, the committee is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] right now to the 60's and the annual congressional dinner hosted by the washington press club foundation. speakers include members of congress from both sides of the aisle jim of president of the washington press club foundation has an introductory remark. life on c-span2. >> friends, lisa and gentlemen, welcome to the foundation's 67th annual congressional dinner.

thank you so much for dusting off your evening ware and joining us tonight. keep those outfits handy. i want to introduce the distinguished head table. please hold off your applause into life and as the introduction and i will start from my right. congresswoman terri sewell of alabama, one of tonight's speakers. [applause] senator kelly ayotte of new hampshire, another speaker tonight. david myers of ceq role call, the foundation secretary and one of the dinner co-chairs. congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz of florida. senator john cornyn of texas. on my left, our master of

ceremonies, jake packer, abc white house correspondent. majority whip, kevin mccarthy of california. minority leader nancy pelosi of california. [applause] dena bunas of ceq rob roll call and another co-chair. senator chris coons of delaware, a speaker tonight. and congressman sean duffy, also a speaker tonight. and now, the round of applause. [applause] okay, i have a queue clich thank you's. a special debt of gratitude to the committee and in particular the dimare co-chairs for the

tireless dena bunas and david myers and the wonderful director suzanne puron who did magic with planning and logistics for tonight's event. i also want to thank the foundation sponsors and friends who made the work of the foundation possible and help us put on tonight's event. we have the hill, ceq roll call, the u.s. chamber of commerce, ford motor company, api, also the evelyn y. davis foundation, toyota, aarp, the comcast network catcem, many thanks to sydney wilkinson, the cartoonist for the philadelphia daily news, for providing the cover art for the program, and to bloomberg television for the lifetime achievement award video.

and of course, the mandarin oriental hotel and the great staff to have accommodated our needs and are serving you tonight. i encourage all of you to stay after our program for the hill's after party. you will get a special bipartisan treat them, too, that is the second amendment. it's a second because the plan old amendment, disbanded and came back together. they will be in the house. the future the congressman collin peterson and howe these macabre -- savvy is mccotter and others. you know, it was ten months ago we held this dinner when times have changed. in just three months, we had an extraordinary election, a newsy lame-duck section and an

outrageous tragedy. we have congressman debbie wasserman schultz here at the head table. congresswoman, i would like to see that next year it is our sincere wish that your friend, gabbie giffords, will be sitting there in your place. [applause] six lives were taken on january 8th and tucson, and we grieve and have grieved for all of them. yet with so many congressional staff members here in our midst, it is with you that we remember gabe zimmerman and salute what he represented and that you try to live up to every day. [applause]

92 years ago a group of pioneering women journalists formed the women's national press club in an expression of solidarity to establish their own voice in otherwise male-dominated business. we are proud heirers of that legacy to carry out the original women's national goal of equality, scholarship and excellence in journalism. in keeping with that mission, the proceeds of tonight's dinner go to the foundation's charitable projects including collecting oral history of women pioneers and journalism and a successful internship program that includes "the new york times," the associated press, doud -- del jones newswire, the houston chronicle and "the los angeles times." it is now my pleasure and a

great relief -- [laughter] -- to leave our program and the more able hands of our emce, jacob tapper, abc white house correspondent. when i covered the hill, i used to listen to his reports on tv, read his blog and his tweets for the value of the information in them. now, as the white house reporter i read them more defensively with dread, and i seem to be reading them all the time tall hours. we are deeply grateful for jake taking on this job. if only to stop the tweeting. [laughter] mr. tapper, take us away. [applause]

>> is congressman chris lee here? [laughter] right, i'm the bad guy. [laughter] i just see that he left his phone. [laughter] you guys can make fun of congressman lee all you want but he will give you the shirt off his back. [laughter] before i begin, has been asked to give an important message to the vice chairman of the armed forces, general corelli, are you here, valerie jaret would like a refill. [laughter] i had actually been seriously asked to alert congressman lee that the auditions for the chip and dales will begin after the event. is that joke too 4:00 for you?

[laughter] the scandal was quick, congress banned. some of you probably don't even know about it. the story posted at 2:30. it announced his resignation before the evening news. he told the woman on craigslist i won't disappoint, but i have to tell you i'm disappointed. i want more. freshman congressman and senators do not follow the example of congressman lee. [laughter] drag it out. do not ended immediately. anyway, as we all know he can be a divorced lobbyist for real and not just on line. so welcome to the 67th annual washington press club foundation dinner. the first in a series of the vince cure the nation's capital seemingly designed for those who

think that reporters and politicians are not chummy enough. as i look out i am struck by the sight of the money even as a freshman than i have seen since i've got to go back to spring break, daytona beach, 1988. [laughter] kevin was there. there are in fact more freshman legislators than at any time since the late 1980's. new republicans and 90 democrats in the house. 13 new republicans and democrats in the senate did you have to go back to the 1920's to find a time when there were as many new republicans and so few new democrats in the congress and of course that decade ended well so good luck with that. [laughter] seriously though it's always great to be a bunch of freshmen before the street slam's all over you. you are full of idealism, determined to change the ways of washington. it's just horrible. [laughter]

20% of the new congress is made up of freshmen which reminds me as a former capitol hill reporter to take to the opportunity to let you know the rules you might not know about that they didn't tell you. kevin, nancy. first there's elevators on the house side the that say members only to beat you are required to wear those full leather paul eurith and members only jackets when you are on them. chris van hollen since he has won used that he can sell to. second, i know a lot of you were elected after a some might say unhinged election season but the deal is we have a new tone so job killing, health care bill, i'm sorry, that's out. you may have noticed speaker boehner now uses the kind term job crashing. kevin suggested job mutilating,

job disemboweling. [laughter] job dismembering. before i forget, michele bachman asked me to provide the constitutional justification for my remarks tonight. i will be submitting those with my birth certificate. [applause] [laughter] congressman steve king if he's here. also the congressman kucinich wi-fi earlier the presentation is bringing you a special serving a jello and a waiver of some sort for you to sign. [laughter] it's been an interesting time for me personally at the white house i spend a great deal of time covering exuberant protests in the street leading president obama increasing and then slowly backing away from a close ally, close ally who is seemingly oblivious to the will of the people, but it's good to see you tonight, minority leader pelosi.

[laughter] [applause] i thought that there were republicans in this room. it's a press meeting, never mind. [laughter] as you may know the club was established in 1919 as the women's national press club at the time female reporters were not allowed to become members of the national press club or the gridiron club. the national press club was still wished to make sure women had an equal place in the newsroom and from the front row with the right to veto briefing room. i know i speak for chuck, wendell, jeff and jam when i say bravo, levy's, bravo peery [applause] you have come a long way, baby. [laughter] so this dinner is not to only welcome the new congressmen and their hard-working staff but also to salute the journalists who work hard to try to get the story right day after day after

day. there are a few of us left. on the serious note we reword the david lynch regional reporting award to a journalist who represents the high standards that david n. bodies throughout his career and from his corner cubicle in the gallery before his untimely death in 1999. the david lynch memorial is given annually to a washington-based reporter it recognizes excellence and coverage of congress from a regional perspective and the winner of this year's award is barbara of mcclatchy newspaper. [applause] her work was selected because of her excellence in reporting on issues affecting north carolina and particularly for the thorough research and well-written coverage of how tariff policies affect the state. please come to the podium. [applause]

[applause] on january 12th congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz was at her friend, congressman gabbie giffords. flying back she described watching her signs of recovery as being comparable only to experiencing the birth of her children. she joins us as a conduit to gabbi we wish her godspeed, converse woman debbie wasserman schultz tell her we are seizing a space for her next year. ladies and gentlemen, congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. [applause] >> thank you very much.

i really have to start by telling you i wish i wasn't standing here. i wish the defense had been different, but i am thrilled to tell you that i just spent a wonderful day and a half with gabbie in houston and am overjoyed to share with you she's doing great. as i assure all of you know, gabbie has begun to say a few words, which is an excellent development and a great indicator of the progress of her recovery. i can tell you that i spent the entire day all the way into the evening with her on monday and was sitting with her while she was eating breakfast in the hospital monday morning. if you've ever had hospital of meal common you can understand why she was eating a fabulous meal and looked at her trey, looked up and said toast. [laughter] so i was thrilled to be able to

be there when she asked for toast. it seems small, but obviously given the event, we know that that's just one step on what we know will be the road to her recovery and return to us and her colleagues in congress and to her friends and family i do look forward to next year's dinner when i can be seated back in the audience and gabbie can be standing here addressing you saying even more. thank you. [applause] as we move forward from the national tragedy in tucson we must honor the lives of those lost and the spirit of those recovering. bye pledging to raise the level of discourse in our democracy to that let us promised to debate passionately but without demonizing those with whom we disagree. president obama's clarion call from tucson urged us to honor the victims in particular 9-year-old christina tayler

green. by doing everything in our power to make our democracy in our nation the of our childrens' expectation. in the week following the shooting, the weeks that shocked the nation and rocked the foundation of washington, no words scarred me more than that of my 11 year old daughter who knows gabbie from our family vacations together. she asked me mommy, does this mean you're going to get shot? i swallowed hard and told her no, of course mauney will be okay. you know that we are careful. but she pressed further is going to pass an immigration law just like arizona and then people will be mad at you. my heart sank further that week when my leader made a republican reporters that we feel safer when you are in washington. our children are paying attention more than we realize. they listen to and understand our dialogue here in washington just like they know and understand the conversations of their parents. in my nearly 20 years of public service, i watched our national

rhetoric become increasingly toxic. i searched my own soul for moments when my behalf crossed the line for none of us but i know this when it has become easier to accuse those with whom we disagree of being an american or less than human than it is to simply make the most passionate case for the policy we believe best for our nation than we have field in which children. let me be clear the massacre in tucson was likely caused by the voices inside of one deranged man's had than those of the vitriol on our airwaves but i cannot blind myself and forget that during the health care debate, gabbie's district window was shot at or gunshots were fired at the office of eric cantor. i cannot erase from the memory that her political opponents held a fund-raiser with the slogan of removing her from office any more than i can forget that one of my own opponents did the same and shot at a human silhouette paper target with my initials written. republican or democrat, we are

all americans first. we are all on the same page. we must file back. let us show our children and the world our political opponents are not our enemies. and try harder to find common ground. it would be a real example for a were children. president obama eloquently spoke of the her resume in tucson that tragic day. four days tended to her wounds and kept her alive, the men in the grocery store who tackled the assassin, the elderly woman who ran away and ammunition that really could have taken more lives. the night before she was shot, gabbie learned that her friend, trey grayson, the republican from kentucky, had been named at harvard university institute of politics. in her very personal way, she warmly congratulated him by the appointment to such a prestigious a point and asked for his help in her words to figure out how to tone our rhetoric and partisanship down. now that she is once again

spoken, perhaps she can teach us all how to speak without the futrell that has been ripping the nation apart. thank you very much. [applause] senator crist coons should not be here tonight. [laughter] not just because the democratic leadership is holding their retreat in charlottesville, the stars had to have aligned themselves just perfectly for chris to win the senate seat in delaware first president obama had to win. second, he had to have chosen as his running mate a gas prone senator, joe biden, who has never once used the word literally literally. [laughter]

but then senator obama girded his loins and kicked joe biden to be everlasting delight of the white house press corps. that created a vacancy for the delaware senate popular republican congressman mike castle, seeing such issue in for the republican nomination, vice presidential son and state attorney general api cited not sure run the bin cantelon christine. so we know the story, new castle county executive coons is now senator coons. ladies and gentlemen, he's not a witch. [laughter] but he may be warlock. please welcome the angry birds champion of the senate, chris coons. [applause] >> thank you, jake. i a understand this is the biggest washington press club foundation dinner ever. the biggest dinner with the

shortest speaker. i take this is in the first time that jake has been the second choice to fill a job first offered to chris. [laughter] no good deed goes unpunished. you are doing a great job filling in. [laughter] i would like to start this evening by thanking the people who made it possible for me to be here in the united states senate, the republican primary voters of delaware. [laughter] and i'd like to extend a special and personal thank you to sarah palin and jim demint. without whose timely endorsement i would not be here either. [laughter] much like my colleague, senator kelly. this is an amazing experience though. i must say never in my wildest dreams was like convinced i would be united states senator until right at the end when it

was pretty obvious. [laughter] it was an honor to be invited this evening to address the members of my opposition research team or were you my opponents communications team. sometimes it was frankly a little hard to tell the difference. i am the senator from delaware, as jake mentioned so the organizers must meet this evening particularly to be short. [laughter] i will be brief, i am always short. but frankly barbara boxer and on behalf of the vertically challenged decided to form a caucus so we can stand up for the rights and interests of those who come up short every time they stand. and you know, just as an aside, if you are short and happen to become a person in how well, somehow people think you have an napoleonic complex. i don't know why this.

it interferes with my important work like the invade russia act, which didn't pass this time but i will try again next winter. as some of you know i just drove back up from charlottesville where the democrats are in retreat, i'm sorry, i read that wrong. [laughter] where the democrats are at a retreat. but i really wanted to be here. i thought it was important to be here because if i learned anything from the exit poll of the election in my state of delaware it said that there are thousands and thousands who really wanted a senator who would see lots of laughable things. [laughter] my opponent was, after all, magic. and if you read the news today, apparently she was the president's number one opponent

as well, which is why there were so many things flying around after the primary, and there are a lot of people who think she is the only reason that on one. well, that and my perfect hair. [laughter] folks, i'm not kidding. all of this is natural. [laughter] and the reason why scott brown is the sexiest man in the senate will soon come to an end. [laughter] [applause] it is really though going to take quite a lot to live up to my predecessor, taking joe biden's seat in the senate is a challenge because he's got really big effing shoes to fill. [laughter] actively i asked the vice president what i would most like about service in the senate and he said you're going to love the health care plan. it covers hair plugs.

[laughter] but, you know, i think if i really wanted to have a thousand little holes punched into my head i should have gotten here before ron left the white house. [laughter] in addition to that advice, joe biden also gave me a lot of his amtrak frequent traveler miles because he literally, literally has millions of them. [laughter] during the campaign, my opponent made some headlines when she admitted she had doubled in witchcraft, but i admired the way she attacked her critics head-on. you may remember when she said no, there is no way i would ever be associated with some fringe movement. i am a member of the tea party. i have a few skeletons in my own past, too, you may have read it's true a double with republicanism. it was 1980, it was the reagan era, i was young, everybody was

giving yet. [laughter] nonetheless, during the campaign, someone dug up an old article i'd written in a college newspaper where i refer to myself as a bearded marxist. the proletarian a great deal of this, but i told them please come comrades, it was just a joke. [applause] ultimately so i think my victory really was the result of good old fashioned retail politics. during the campaign, i did a bus to work all the way up and down my state. [laughter] it took about 20 minutes and cost $400 in tolls. [laughter] [applause] and today i am tremendously proud to serve as a senator from

the state of delaware. after all, it's not the size of your state, it's how you use it. [laughter] especially in the senate. being a senator, i know it won't always be easy, but i have taken on tough challenges before, as you may know, i am a lawyer with a degree in ethics. that sort of like it superman had a degree in kryptonite. now i am addressing you tonight as a 47-year-old freshman, college, law school, all of that, and i'm a freshman again. a lot has changed. back when i was 18, freshman year was all about keg parties and this year it's all about tea parties. as a freshman ulin on the seniors to give you advice. i went over to dick lugar the other day and said the senate can be the best for decades of your life. [laughter] freshman year is the time to try

something new, sit on committees you've never sat on before, discover new special interests you never knew you really left. [laughter] think about what sort of caucus you want to rush, do some exploring, yourself. koln chris really does remind me of high school quite a bit. we have a recess, lockers of the gym, assigned seating at our desks. i remember when i went to sit at my desk on the floor for the first time, just as a high school i was nervous would be assigned to me if i found myself between tom carper and bernie sanders. [laughter] to my left. sure enough, right before my first vote, senator sanders leans over and goes "i hope you're going to grow that beard back conrad." [laughter] once again, all of my friends were doing it, so i asked

someone to the prom. i mean the state of the union. my date was senator bozeman of arkansas. i got him a wonderful corsage, something that went with his eyes but not so much his life back physique. once we got through talking about how we were both from chicken growing states there was a lot of awkward silence. [laughter] just like at my high school prom. actually been there for the state of the union was a high point for me. i was inspired, by the way democrats and republicans sat together. and in the same spirit, joe lieberman sat by himself. [laughter] and by the way, sitting all yourself is not a euphemism for something christine o'donnell doesn't really approve of. after [laughter] i was so genuinely inspired by president obama's team, his call

to win the future. of course it was a little unfortunate that the acronym for win the future is wtf. [laughter] that's why i was so glad our vice president stepped in and offered a different contract, building futures daily. yeah. [laughter] but seriously, folks, what we in congress and you in journalism do every day is to build a better future for the country. if you will indulge me for just one more minute, i will say honestly how much i admire the folks who are here this evening, the people who don't just have a job, don't just work in the media but find in journalism a profession and calling.

it was just in the past few weeks that we have seen individual examples of the sort of courage, bravery and risking of one's self to give a window into what's really going on on the ground. as journalists have braved the most chaotic circumstances to give a glimpse into the reality of change. in the world with more sources of information today than ever before, your work is more essential than ever and that is why the time is distressing to watch as it times profit has replaced principal, entertainment crowded out news and so many areas of the media. i'm not sure deer has ever been a time when americans of needed high-quality professional journalism more than right now and that is why i was so honored to accept your invitation and join you hear in supporting this great organization, the washington press club foundation so thank you. thank you for the work that you do and the service to the public, the community and the nation and for providing a forum

where reporters were allowed to listen to a freshman senator from delaware. [applause] [applause] >> senator bill baggens everyone. [laughter] and i never told you i'm from philadelphia, your state is cute. [laughter] senator kelly ayotte was not just the first female attorney general, she and her husband in iraq war veteran created a snow removal company, and on the subject may i please suggest, senator, that you call me your gray and explain the process by which molecules of water vapor

and hear directly to dust and other particles creating snowflakes which can land on the streets and caused traffic. thank you. unlike senator kunes, this is one of the smarter bets, dubbed the grand grisly coincidentally congressman nickname when he was at dartmouth. [laughter] the senate republican party leadership recently saw an ayotte to deliver the republican response to the president's weekly address neither of which were heard by anyone outside of the immediate family and friends. she lives with her husband, 5-year-old daughter catherine and some jacob. ladies and gentlemen, calfee ayotte of new hampshire. [applause] >> good evening. it's great to be here with all of you tonight. for those of you that don't know me, my name is kelly ayotte, and

i naturally one of the few republican elected officials in america that has a reason to go to new hampshire every weekend. [laughter] and i know exactly why you invited me to speak tonight. you couldn't get marco rubio, come on. i'm still getting used to washington, but i've got to tell you this is one strange place. this is the first jobsites ever had where you are sworn in and then they give you two weeks off. i mean, it's a tough schedule. i do not know how i'm going to keep this up for the next six years. [laughter] you know, i heard that congress is a lot like high school, but i never thought that i did get to relive my high school prom. but when senator blumenthal asked me to the state of the union, how could i say no? i mean, john thune was already taken. [laughter] and you know, the state of the

union was quite an experience. did you know that they didn't even have a seat for me? no joke. they set up a folding chair and put me in the ogle. come on, they will get chris coons a booster and they won't even get me a seat? [laughter] [applause] but there was quite a speech the president gave. i found it interesting president obama called this our sputnik moment. i mean, we always kind of suspected he was a communist but we -- [laughter] i don't think any of us expected him to be so obvious about it. [laughter] regardless, i am so thrilled to be here to support the washington press club foundation, and i am pleased to join all of you in recognizing the achievements of bonnie

angelo and barbara barrett. it is also a pleasure to be here with congressional leadership and i am so excited and thrilled to be part, to be a new member serving in the 112th congress. and we have got quite a crew tonight. we've got sean duffy, i can't wait to hear what the real world, and terri sewell. i want to commend the house for coming together to read the constitution, or if least the christine aguillera version of it. [laughter] i have to say i am delighted to be here with my friend and colleague, chris coons. and i think we all know exactly why chris coons is here. i mean, don't get ahead of me. he was really motivated. if he lost, his opponent would have turned him into a toad. [laughter] but, chris, i want you to know

don't worry, i'm not a witch, but all i am a mamma grizzley. senator coons and i have something in common. we are seceding distinguished veteran senators to read and succeeding judd gregg, and chris is succeeding joe biden. chris, those are some pretty big shoes to fill. actually, vice president biden has been so great, god love him. he presided over my swearing in ceremony, and i had my entire family with me. and this is a true story. i had my husband, my two children, and the vice president kneeled down and said to my 6-year-old daughter how were you? she said are you 17? she laughed and said 96. the vice president and said you're not allowed to date on till you're 40. i smiled at him and said mr. vice president, keep your individual mandates away from my

daughter. [laughter] i do respect the vice president and of course president obama, and i appreciate president's overtures to work with republicans. but we have some real disagreements. i mean, the health care law we should clearly be overturned by the court. the precedent is right there in bush v. gore. we win, they lose. it's in the constitution. what can i say? is a tough business. i have to get used to it and so do my kids. i mentioned my daughter. well, my son is three, and the campaign was really tough on him. i realized just how effective campaign ads or when he came up to me and called me job killing kelly ayotte. [laughter] but fortunate, i won and i am eternally grateful to the people of new hampshire for placing their trust in me. they should know that i am going

to be hard working, a go getter just like every one of here tonight. in fact, the other day i was talking to mitch mcconnell, and i said to him leader, i want to learn everything. you have any tips? how do you pass legislation? how do you stop legislation? he said kelly, for starters, you're in the men's room. [laughter] but she wasn't the only one to offer me advice as a member of the senate. rand paul told me to buy gold. [laughter] [applause] chuck schumer told me having a press conference every single day is just a good start. [laughter] and john ensign told me i should get to know my staff really well. [laughter] [applause]

be on the senate, everyone has been so nice to meet. tim pawlenty, new gingrich, haley barbour, you know, they have all offered to come to new hampshire and shuffled my driveway. [laughter] and mitt romney has been very nice, too. he invited me to a reading from the paperback release of his book, no apology, the case for american greatness. it is a sequel to his other book. i apologize, i was governor of massachusetts. [laughter] my husband joe and i get invited to a lot of these events as you can imagine, and for those of you that don't know him, he piloted combat missions in the war in iraq and he is my hero. he has been so supportive and he's had to put up so much as you can imagine with his wife

running for the senate. people here in washington keep coming up to joe and congratulating him on his victory. and he put his arm around me and says i couldn't have done it without this little lady right here. [laughter] in all seriousness, i have been reminded more than a few times but i don't exactly look like a senator from central casting. for example, a couple of weeks ago i was sitting at my desk in the chamber waiting for boats and a door and came up to me and said three seriously i'm sorry, those tasks are for senators only. i share that because the idea of this event, the organization and the purpose of this organization to promote equality, excellence and scholarship is something that we should all cherished. when you apply those ideals to journalism, like all of you do, every single day in the most difficult times and the most turbulent times of the country

and around the world, you simply help make the greatest country in the world even better. i want to thank you for having me here tonight, thank you for what you do, and it's really fun to have politicians here that are being here and being funny on purpose instead of when we are funny and we are not trying to be funny. so i appreciate you having me. thank you. [applause] >> that's the funny thing about senator ensign, he and senator vitter voted to promote secret holds, but i'm not sure -- [laughter] you are way ahead of me. [laughter] its weird, senator ayotte, but senator blumenthal to keep to the state of the union because he told me he took you to hanoi. [laughter] i told for anybody tweeting tonight life - tag is wpcf.

the next speaker is congresswoman terri sewell, the democratic class devotee so much more impressive of the class didn't consist of only nine members. [laughter] not even enough to fill a table. but sewell has achievements on her resume, the first african-american woman elected from the state of alabama. [cheering] the first black to allow the torian of high school, her mother was the first black woman elected to the sell the city council and member of travelers on the 1965 march from selma to montgomery, stephen her mother's homestead during that civil rights journey. i do not want to give away her age but she once interned in the congressional office of an alabama democrat named richard shelby. ladies and gentlemen,

congresswoman terri sewell of alabama. [applause] >> what an introduction. it's a great pleasure to be with you this evening. it's also a great pleasure to have the opportunity to share the stage with such wonderful women and the work that you do hear the foundation. it's so important, and i just want to say it's a pleasure to share this evening with all of you. well, i have to say that it's exciting times in washington, d.c.. the 2010 election ushered in a new wave of newcomers. the political excitement and unpredictability was never ending. why just last week i heard congressman mike pence had decided not to run for president in 2012. this really shakes things up. i mean, who will be the tenth place winner in the iowa caucus if not mike pence?

.. i am very happy and, frankly, i'm sure he is very relieved that he won his senate race. he knew that it would be impossible to find another job if the last entry on this resonates was the person who lost to kristine o'donnell. and then there is delhi who i got a chance to sit next to and get to know. kelly, of course, won her 2012

election with the help of some mini republican presidential contenders. i mean, it was sarah braylon that gave you the most support, kelly. i mean, it was she who said, i can see the presidency from your house. give me a break. [laughter] as we celebrate fresh faces in congress this year, i have to tell you that this new job of mine is more like being a high school freshman. the names have changed, but experiences are still the same. mornings -- learning to go when the bell rang, looking forward to recess, choosing a locker -- i mean, an office. running for class officer, presumably your class is larger than nine people. i was even a cheerleader in high school, and now i get to be a cheerleader for the best district in the state of alabama, the seventh congressional district, home of rich culture, good people, and

great food. you all or should i say y'all know us albanians as the greatest state in the union. the states that have won back-to-back national collegiate football championships. more eagles. [applauding] we are also the state of two consecutive heisman trophy winners. i understand from my staff that it is heisman trophy winner. you can borrow that next time you parachute into a combat zone. now, all of us have had our on combat zones. no one will forget the combat zone that chris faced when he won delaware. i have to tell you that contrary to what my staff make tell you, i am not a witch, and i do not have brims in my office. i do have two whips, one senior,

and one. you will be happy to know that they were not made in china. they were made in america. [laughter] the land of the free and the whole of the brave. only in america can you rent your home, move to another city, go back to where you rented your home, be free to run for mayor, get kicked off the ballot, get back on, get kicked off again. you can't make up the stuff. this country we call home is a wonderful place. it is a place of dreams, where dreams can really come true, a young black girl from alabama can go to college, law school, and even oxford, england that is. i think my neighbor's still think that i went to college with her nephew at old ms. and now i get the wonderful pleasure of representing my home district allowed to find out that i am a freshman in the lower chamber in the minority.

i would like to just say that i am comforted by my grandfather's words, reverend tom gardner who would say that the last shall be first in the first shall be last. so i will enjoy being last first. i am not complaining. two weeks ago i received a great honor when i was chosen to serve on the escort committee to what president obama into the chamber for the state of the union. interestingly, what it was announced that i would be an escort by the time i got back to my office i had for messages but from eliot spitzer. [laughter] what is it about these new york politicians? [laughter] i was impressed with how gracious the republican response was to president obama speech. i actually heard a number of republicans say that it was a pretty good speech for a foreigner.

now, one little-known history about me is that i actually went to college. [no audio] >> we are having some technical problems with this washington press club foundation congressional dinner. we will bring it to you in a moment. [silence]

[silence] >> alabama. a story keeps growing. by the time -- did you see the coverage of the cnn camera crew and reporters being beaten to the ground? that simply was appalling to see the cnn reporters on the ground. it was appalling to me, but fox news called it a feel good video of the year. the buzz continued. the big buzz now is bipartisanship, and i believe in doing my part. i look forward to seeking common ground with my colleagues across the aisle. on climate change, for example,

even one skeptic admitted to me that we can and should lower temperatures dramatically. of course, he said all we needed to do was just switched from fahrenheit to celsius. that is a start. president obama's appointment of bill daley as his new chief of staff was a real effort of bipartisanship. i mean, this is the same bill daley who part for mondale in 1984, by and in '88, gore in 2000 and most recently on wall street. that track record of success doesn't please my republican colleagues, i'm not sure what does. i have learned very quickly even in walking happier that the name of the game his seniority. congressman duffy, at least you should be used to that the lack of seniority. i understand that you are the tenth of 11 siblings. i also understand that you were 14 by the time you got to use the bathroom in your own house. as freshmen many of us rode in

on this wave of change. i have come full circle. the last time i lived and worked in washington d.c. i was a college intern for my then congressman richard shelby. things really have changed. back then richard shelby was a democrat, and show was lieberman. arlen specter was a republican. jerry brown was a washed up california politician. arnold told us he would be back. kristine o'donnell was actually a witch, and joe biden was getting in trouble for his mouth. well, i guess not everything has changed. it is amazing how life brings you to places you never thought he would be from alabama to princeton to oxford a harvard law school, all that end up in congress because there are no other jobs, right? that is why most of us ran. and so we made it and so it is exciting to be sworn in on january 3rd. my parents came in. all of my family came in from

alabama. i was overwhelmed by the thought of being sworn in in front of some mini family members. it was on january 3rd. two weeks later we celebrated martin luther king jr. day or as when beck calls it, monday. now, dr. king's legacy has always held a very special place in my heart. i know that folks marched, many in this audience, many in this audience so that i could be the first african-american woman to serve in congress and the state of alabama. i know that i am living proof that dr. king famous dream speech is now a reality. i can only think of ending this torture by paraphrasing dr. king's most famous speech. by hasan know that tonight i will be judged not by the color of my skin but by the contents of a comedy routine.

please be kind. [applauding] >> the nicest congressional district in alabama. what is that like? pablo it sounds awesome. [laughter] where are you, but? [laughter] americans were first introduced to our final speaker in 1997 when he appeared as the seventh most interesting cast member on the real world boston. [laughter] perhaps keeping in mind that footage might make its way into an attack ad 13 years later, john duffy, a conservative republican kept it pretty clean. must be honest, there was an exchange or two that was a little dicey.

he knows what i am talking about. duffy later married the only other conservative to appear on mtv, a cast member from the real world san francisco. they had six children. somehow during that ten years he has been a prosecutor he has posted a 90% trial success rate. ladies and gentlemen, a politician who can truly claimed real-world experience, the republican congressman from the seventh district of wisconsin, john duffy. [applauding] >> very kind. thank you. good evening and thank you, ladies and gentlemen. i do want to take a moment and think the washington press club foundation and the sponsors for tonight's dinner. a very nice job. the food is very good. my name is john duffy, freshman

congressman from the seventh district of the great state of wisconsin, also home to our super bowl champions, the green bay packers. a great game last sunday, right? [inaudible conversations] it is a great honor to be here with nancy pelosi. how are you doing? you may not know this, but we have something in common. we are both the last speaker. [laughter] listen, i know you guys have enjoyed -- [laughter] you all have enjoyed writing about me. for those of you who have not seen it, i did mtv 15 years ago, a show called the real world -- 13 years ago. thank you, jake. almost 20 years. a long time now. but it is a show that takes seven strangers, but some in the

house, and they have them live their lives for six months and film them. a great experience, except when they air it you see all of the cat fights, the arguments that take place between all of these people. i am so grateful, so thankful to have that well in my past. just to prove it i want to show you guys a glimpse of my more dignified life here in the u.s. house of representatives. if we can't you our tape. >> i ran for congress, in part, because i wanted to be that to the man from wisconsin. >> they talk about all of the freshmen being treated equal to be guided the smallest office, and i can't believe that stinking duffy get the biggest one. >> test to get the hottest

notes. >> there were talking everyone talk about what kind of skills never going to have. >> i hope he never gets to the senate. can you imagine if he is allowed test filibuster? >> one thing i have known for combusting might be votes on line with facebook, mike ipad. facebook, ipad, e harmony. pander. then she treats him that she already has. better luck if he would have told her it was a seat from her old air force plane. >> john runyon but on the freshman 15 so fast. when he sits around the house he sits around the house. >> these freshmen. i can tell you, we won't be doing a signed copy again.

>> congressman don't even read bills. back bay. >> yes. >> my new colleagues. they do, guys. some stated that i am a living testimony that the american dream is alive and well. i am a descendant of pioneers. by logroll, and now i am a member of the u.s. house. now, some of you have taken to comparing me to sarah palin. i get it. we are both outdoorsy like politicians. we both have shapely legs. i know. but there are some key distinctions. i am from wisconsin, and she is from alaska. i chop trees, and she hunts moose. she put lipstick on a big, and i put tanning lotion on the

speaker's pac. [laughter] now, the truth is that she told me i was for zero. my election to congress gives her hope and inspiration for the future and not because i help retire a 42-year incumbent who was in the chamber of appropriations, but because i am living proof that you can get elected to higher office after doing a reality tv show. now, some are amazed that i have six kids. you can imagine, my wife here tonight, she is hispanic. i am irish. we are both catholic. we give all of the credit to a long wisconsin winters. [laughter] which is why we are both for global warming or as my wife puts it, birth control.

now, i here barney frank is in the crowd tonight, and he is excited that jinnah bush is out supporting his new ad on gay marriage. by the way, i was just speaking to her. she said that she will try to hook you up with egyptian president. she has heard from a pretty reliable source that he is out. what do you expect from a reality tv star? come on. okay. you know what, we have a great republican freshman class. they are full of new and innovative ideas, especially on the environment. take, for example, a freshman from south carolina who has been instrumental in redesigning. this is that new nissan car that will run on electricity. thanks to his hard work it will now run on a tangle that goes up

chris matthews leg every time he hears the president's speech. great work. now, speaking of innovative ideas, i have my own. i know how we will secure the border with mexico. what we do is dig a longboat and fill it by having the speaker talk about the american dream. after 7i have to tell you, on a more serious note i want to taks time and tell you why my friends in the republican aisle and i are not going to support our democratic colleagues in their initiative to improve airline security. this is going to be a $35 billion bill, and it doesn't do anything to upgrade the training of tsa agents who will continue to go after their own pets. >> jake, how are you doing?

i want to thank you for hosting tonight's events. nice job. we appreciate you are filling in you are a great journalist, but you are no christina. the bottom line is for me she is one who truly embodies the diversity that is america. you may now she is have british and half iranian, which means that with her afternoon tea she likes a little yellowcake. now, listen. all kidding aside, i look forward to the work in congress. we are going to have a c-span covering every battle, disagreement, outburst on the house floor, a committee hearing. i will feel like i am back in a reality tv show. charlie rangel was lucky he did not get voted off the island. listen, i hope the congress can

work productively together so our fellow citizens will not merely see us as idol americans, but all of us will emerge as american idylls. thank you all very much and have a great night. god bless. [applauding] [applauding] >> in the last part of the presentation. [applauding] [laughter] somebody who led two of his jokes go over your head. [laughter] after 11 years as a washington correspondent covering politics at the white house the woman we are honoring with the washington press club foundation lifetime achievement award was appointed

london bureau chief and became the first woman to have a time euro overseas. her rich career has taken to all 50 states. we would like to thank bloomberg. do we have that tape cued up? hello? we would like to thank bloomberg for compiling this video. if they don't run it i will keep going. grauman's i am a journalist from the time i was old enough to wre my name which would have been about the third grade. i never wanted to do anything else. i pretty had my career, which was a wonderful experience. i was able to break a lot of traditions, shall we say, restraints is what i really mean against women. they sent me tell london as bureau chief, which was a real breakthrough. it was a grand assignment.

my first major story over there was a woman named margaret thatcher who talked about trying to be prime minister. >> bonnie gave the impression of graceful, composed, professional reporter, someone who obviously had enormous good taste and then you would come into this story conference with her. she was an absolute pistol. nobody had a sharper news judgment or a tougher, more critical eye for the story of the day. >> what i was involved in was breaking down the barrier where women journalists could not do the same things in washington that a male journalist could. and so as president of the women's national press club i was one of the leaders of that movement, and i also was one of the targets. that is not a pleasant thing, but we did when. i was the first white house correspondent when women were

admitted to the dinner, and i was at the head table. >> it was a bitter battle, and she took a lot of flak, but, you know, at all of 5 feet tall she was not going to have anything of it. you know, all of that, much more impressive to know this was a moment he made such a big difference and change and the culture in washington. >> i did not understand that i was a trailblazer. i knew that i was going places that may be no woman had before, but i thought of it as just getting the story. >> body is going to be remembered and discovered again by generations of journalists for what she did for women in journalism in this town, and that is the legacy that will last forever. >> it is a total picture that having worked these many years in journalism. it is just one i would not change for anything. [inaudible conversations]

[applauding] [applauding] >> president of the women's national press club when it was at the forefront in the battle to end the practices of discrimination that prevented women from doing their job as journalists. she wrote first mothers, the women he shapes the president, member of the international women's media foundation. my honor to introduce bonnie angelo. [inaudible conversations] [applauding] [applauding]

>> i just want to say that it has been one hell of a run. i have loved it. i started with my own little newspaper. it was so well as did. [laughter] when i was eight and a half years old i got in early. i stayed late. i loved every inch of it, and i am not out yet. [inaudible conversations] [applauding] [applauding] >> folks, thank you very much for being here. i think that was of fitting end to tonight's dinner, and i would like to thank all of our speakers, especially jake for

his wonderful works tonight. [applauding] so, good night. go out and have a blast at hour after party. don't wake up too late tomorrow. good night. [applauding] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

.. testifies on capitol hill about national security threats and leader of the house ways and means committee,

that's not only one of the major challenges facing how you're in this country but also facing our country, and that is how we maintain a healthy lifestyle and get kids to have the strength in the judgment to say no.

at this hearing, homeland security secretary janet napolitano warned of the house homeland security committee that the terrorist threat is at its highest level since 9/11. she warned that u.s. citizens were being recruited by terrorist groups. national counterterrorism director also appeared at the hearing. the system and a half hours. >> of the hearing will come to order. der. [inaudible]testimy from

and national counterterrorism director michael leiter on thejt homeland threat landscape.nap i look forolward to the hearing and now recognize myself for anr and ing statement. i want to welcome her returning committee members to the first hearing of the 112th congress.me we also welcome back secretarys. napolitano and director leiter to the committee and thank them for a hearing today as the have done in the past, and the while she's not here yet, let me lied. while she's not here yet, let me take the opportunity to recognize the outstanding service of representative jane harmon who was announced she will be leaving congress to run the woodrow wilson international center for scholars. she's a leader in the congress. no one since september 11, 2001, or anyone before that has been more knowledgeable or informed or dedicated on intelligence and homeland security issues and her departure is a loss to both sides of the aisle. everyone wishes her well in her

new role. let me also express my deepest sympathies to the family of david hillman, the retired cvp officer who was killed by a suicide bomb in kandahar. there's other cvp personnel, michael lacowski, terry cheryl and vernon regis injured in the attack. our thoughts and prayers are with them all. to me, that personifies the level of patriotism that cvp offices demonstrate no matter where they happen to be located. again, perform a tremendous service for our country. also, there are members of the dh dhs that serve all around the world. >> as we begin the work of the 112th congress, the goal of the

committee today is to hear a comprehensive review of the terrorist threats facing our nation. today will be an open, unclassified session and so i would ask the secretary and the director if they could report back to us any member's questions which might require a classified response. the top priority for the committee is to counter the serious and evolving terrorist threats facing our country. let's put our work in context. a number of committee members heard from director lieda in a classified setting against the u.s. and our allies. as we aprech the tenth anniversary of september 11th, we are reminded that terrorists plot to kill americans at home and abroad. according to attorney general holder, in the last two years alone, there were 126 people indicted for terrorist related activity. there was the times square bomber, the ft. hood terrorist,

there was little rock recruiting center shooter, the new york city subway bomber, jihad jane, dozens of individuals in minnesota and so many other plots and cases, portland, oregon, virginia, river kal section of the bronx, dallas, texas, john f. kennedy airport, for example dix, baltimore, we can go through an entire list of cases in the last several years. home grown radicalization is a threat and one we can't ignore. this is shift is a game changer that presents a serious challenge to the law enforcement. attorney general holder says he loses sleep at night thinking of the young men who were raised in this country who are being radicalized and willing to take up arms against their own nation. senator joe lieberman released a bipartisan committee report examining the events leading up to the terrorist attack at ft.

hood. the report concluded that the department of defense should confront the threat of radicalization to violent islamist extremists ex publicistly and directly. i believe the statement is true for the entire government. we must confront this explicitly and directly. i entend to hold a hearing next month. the cost of policies the u.s. has implemented since september 11th, the threat of al qaeda has evolved. it is difficult for al qaeda to launch an attack similar to what happened on september 11th. obviously it's possible, but it's much more difficult for them and they realize that. they have adapted their strategy and their tactics so they are now recruiting from within the country and looking for people under the radar screen, people living here legally, people who have green cards, people who are citizens, people who have no

known terrorist activities. the classic cham example of that would have been zhaozy in new york. small business in lower manhattan, brought back to afghanistan for training and attempted to blow up the new york subways. that's the type of person we have to be looking for. of the good side of that, i suppose, is that al qaeda feels it cannot launch a major attack from the outside. they cannot send the type of fully you trained and skilled terrorists to this country. the down side is these terrorists are people living under the radar screen who its very difficult to detect. on certain issues that i you have a particular interest in, one is the threat of chemical, biological weapons which i believe to secure the city's program is so important because it's very likely that the next attack against a major city in this country will be launched from the suburbs, similar to what happened in madrid and london. the nightmare scenario were to have that attack involve a dirty

bomb which would put that metropolitan area basically off limits besides the massive loss of human life that would result. that's a program the secretary and i discussed with particular interest in pursuing that. no doubt against the threat against the united states remains extremely high. we must remain vigilant. with that, i recognize the distinguished ranking member of the committee, mr. thompson from mississippi for any statement he may have. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman for holding today's hearing. i want to join you in welcoming secretary napolitano and director litton. before we hear the testimony on the threat posed by terrorism, i want to encourage my colleagues to remember that our words travel far beyond the walls of these four walls. for several weeks we've seen protests against north africa and the middle east. in many ways these protests

represent a demand for democracy. yet we know that this is the same region that has been home to some of those who call for jihad. the united states, the world's only remaining superpower, occupies a providencele position. if we take the right action, many of our concerns about a terrorist threat from this region could be significantly reduced. that is why i want to ensure that our examination of the global threat from terrorist activities does not complicate the job being done by the state department and others in this administration. we must recognize that this predominantly muslim area of the world is seeking to embrace democracy. let us take care that nothing we do or say here today works to undermine those efforts, since september 11, the threat of terrorist attacks has become an undeniable and unsettling

feature of american society. however, combating the terrorist threats depends on accurate intelligence and an unbiased assessment of the size, scope, depth and breadth of the strength. the lessons learned from past wars are clear. we cannot defeat an enemy that we do not know. unreliable information, personal opinions or narrow agendas cannot inform our assessment of a threat to our nation. we've seen the results of unreliable intelligence in iraq. our examination of a global threat must look at the vulnerabilities within commerce, transportation, and all aspects of our modern lives. we must find and eliminate these vulnerabilities. focus on what we can do and keep the nation safe. we can secure an airplane, we can secure the border. we can secure a federal

building. we can secure a chemical plant or a nuclear facility. we must not become distracted from our basic mission to keep this nation safe and maintain the security of the people. finally, mr. chairman, i want to bid farewell to my colleague from california. she's demonstrated her commitment to the security of this nation by her service on intelligence committee and this committee. we'll miss her but we wish her happiness in her new undertaking. again, i want

this congress to keep the homeland safe and it's been an honor to be one of the initial members of the committee and to have chair its intelligence subcommittee for four years i just want to thank all the members and all the staff for the effort we've made so far together, and to these witnesses to our dear friends of mine i want to thank you for the effort you make, and finally, let me urge the best present you could all get me is to find a way to get more jurisdiction in this committee, which ought to be, and i know the secretary agrees with this the central point in the house of representatives for oversight and focused on this critical subject of keeping our homeland

safe. so once again, thank you all for your good wishes and just moving down the street i am really not leaving this place.ving dowthe thank you for a much.ally i yield back. >> thank you. i remind the members of. the committee opening statements may be submitted for the record.re we are pleased to have two very distinguished witnesses on this the record. we are pleased to have very distinguished witnesses today, probably no two more important in the entire government. secretary napolitano is the third homeland secretary. i have to say on the record, there's not a lot of partisan lines divide us, she meets us with us more than she wants to. she's always on the phone, both with compliments and criticisms, i never know when i'm going to get a call from the secretary. she's totally dedicated to the job. whatever differences we have are ones of policy. no one can ever question her

dedication or ability. similarly, mike lightner has done a truly outstanding job in the capacity. he was in the military, asis united states attorney. dedicated to combating international terrorism and protecting the homeland. >> i would ask you to summarize the testimony. because of the importance of it, i'm not going to cut you off, but i ask you to keep in mind, many members do have questions for you. with that, i now recognize secretary napolitano. secretary napolitano. >> thank you chairman king, ranking member thompson, members of the committee for the opportunity to appear before you today to testify on the terrorist threat to the united states and what the department of homeland security and the yctc are doing to combat it.

i also have to echo the thoughts about representative harmon. you will be missed. you have been totally dedicated to this effort and that effort has been producing results in terms of the safety of the american people. and i also have to echo your thoughts about the amount of congressional oversight of this department. we added up the 111th congress and our department testified over 285 times. i testified over 20 times myself. i think that was the most of any cabinet official. that of course requires a lot of preparation and work. we provided over 3900 substantive briefings to different committees of the congress. so chairman king, ranking member thompson, you and i have all discussed this, but that amount of oversight does have impacts.

i thought i would just mention that. let me turn now to the subject and the very important subject of today's hearing. there is no question that we have made many important strides in securing our country from terrorism since 9/11, but the threat continues to evolve. in some ways, the threat today may be at its most heightened state since the attacks nearly ten years ago. in addition to the core al qaeda group which still represents a threat to the united states despite its diminished capabilities, we now face threats from a number of al qaeda associates that share its violent extremist ideology. among these groups, we are also seeing an increased emphasis on recruiting americans and west n westerners to carry out attacks. people do not have strong ties to terrorist groups that could

possibly tip off the intelligence community. they are also encouraging individuals in the west to carry out their own small scale attacks which require less of the coordination and planning that could raise red flags and lead to an attack's disruption. this means that the threat has evolved in such a way that we have to add to our traditional counterterrorism strategies which in the past have looked at the attack as coming from abroad. the realities of today's threat environment also means that state and local law enforcement officers will more often be in the first position to notice the signs of a planned attack. our focus must be on aiding law enforcement and helping to provide them with the information and resources they need to secure their own communities from the threats they face. to this end, the department of homeland security is working to counter violent extremism here at home by helping law

enforcement use many of the same techniques and strategies that have proven successful in combating violence in american communities. dhs is moving forward in this area based on the recommendations provided to us by the experts on the homeland security advisory council. we are releasing the first iteration of a community oriented policing curriculum forefront line officers which is aimed at helping them counter extremism in their communities. that curriculum is being focus grouped right now down at fletsy. we are sharing case studies about the signs of violent extremism. we are helping communities share best practices about forming community partnerships. this way, law enforcement across can better know what works and what does not. we are helping law enforcement to reach out to american communities to include them as partners in the effort to combat

the presence of violent extremism in our country. americans of all stripes resoundingly reject violence, which we must use as an important tool in countering violent extremism here at home. dhs is also expanding our own outreach to communities and conducting these initiatives in a way consistent with american's rights and liberties. at the same time, we are building a new homeland security architecture that guards against the kinds of threats we are seeing right here at home. there are four major partings of this architecture i want to mention here today. the first are the joint terrorism task forces which are led by the fbi. these task forces bring together agencies and jurisdictions to jointly investigate terrorism cases. dhs has hundreds of personnel supporting the 104 jttfs across the country. the second is the network of

state and locally run fusion centers that bring together agencies and jurisdictions to share information about the threat picture and what it means for our communities. this information sharing and analytical work complements the investigative work done by the jtts. dhs is intents on helping these fusion centers to develop their core capabilities to share and analyze information and to provide state and local law enforcement with useful, actionable information they can use to better protect their own communities. we're supporting fusion centers in many ways. among them, we are providing dhs personnel to work in them and are providing properly cleared law enforcement personnel with classified threat information. the third is the nationwide suspicious activity reporting initiative or the sar initiative. we're working closely with our

partners with theof justice on this project. the sar initiative creates a standard process for law enforcement to identify, document, vet and share reports of suspicious incidents or behaviors associated with specific threats of terrorism. the reports then can be used to identify and share broader trends. to date, the sar initiative is under various stages of implementation at 33 sites that cover two-thirds of the american population. it should be fully implemented across the country by september. we're also working with doj and major law enforcement associations to provide sar training to all front line enforcement officers in the country. they'll learn how to properly make, vet, share and analyze reports in accordance with best practices and with regard to civil rights and civil liberties. thousands of officers have already been trained and we expect to train virtually all

front line officers in the country by this fall. the pilots of the sar program have proven its tremendous value to law enforcement and i believe it will be a critical tool in strengthening the ability of law enforcement to protect our communities from acts of terrorism. the fourth piece of the new homeland security architecture that i want to mention is the, if you see something, say something campaign. this campaign focuses on the positive role americans can play in our own security. it focuses en face ton fosterin public vigilance that we know is critical to community oriented policing. we constantly see examples of why this sort of vigilance is so important, not just in the attempted times square bombing last may, but also just last month in spokane, washington, when city workers noticed a suspicious backpack and notified police before an mlk day parade.

dhs is rolling out this campaign across the country and in many important sectors, including passenger rail, amtrak, sports stadiums, you may have seen it in the stadium at the super bowl. retail stores and more. on top of these four pieces, last month, i also announced changes to the national terrorism advisory system. we are replacing the old system of color coded alerts with a new system that aims to provide more useful information to the public and to those who need it. this new system was developed collaboratively by a bipartisan group and with the consultation of law enforcement. it reflecting our need to be ready while also promising to tell americans everything we can when new threat information affects them. in addition, to what i have mentioned here today, there are numerous other areas of action i have detailed in my written

statement, mr. chairman, and is that that statement be included in the record. thank you again for inviting me to testify today. i look forward to working with this committee and its leadership in this new congress as we continue to make progress in securing our nation. i'll be happy to take your questions once you heard from director leiter. >> thank you, secretary, napolitano. your statement will be made part of the record. i now recognize director mike leiter. >> thank you for having me with secretary napolitano. i hate to sound like a broken record, but i do want to add my personal thanks to congresswoman harmon who has been a leader in intelligence and humeland security for many years now. she's been a staunch supporter of nctc. the one anecdote i would pass along beyond the laws you have worked on, the oversight you provided, congresswoman harmon spent two and a half hours with

a packed room of analysts about 50 or 60 men and women to talk to them about what it was like to be a senior woman in national security. those young analysts came out glowing about their experience. i think it was the personal touch that you provided which helped i think inspire another generation of national security leaders. thank you very much. >> i also want to thank the committee for coming out and visiting nctc. the opportunity to see young analysts and dhs are so entwined in our work on a daily basis was a great opportunity. as chairman king noted, the past two years have highlighted the many dangers associated with a geographically and i had logically diverse group of terrorists that seek to harm the united states. these threats are not only from outside our borders but from within. we've made enormous strides in reducing the likelihood of complex katz strophic attacks by al qaeda from pakistan, we

continue to face threats from many other corners. i'll briefly outline those remarks and ask that my full statement be made part of the record. to begin, i'll touch on the threats that we face. today, al qaeda and its allies in pakistan still pose a threat despite degradation suffered from counterterrorism operations over the past couple of years and accelerated over the past two years. al qaeda, we believe in pakistan is in one of its weakest points in the past decade and it's being forced to react to a reduced safe haven and personnel losses. it rae mains a determine d unit. at least five disrupted plots in europe during the past five years, including the plot to attack u.s. airliners transiting between the u.k. and united

states in addition to disruptsed cells in the u.k., norway and attacks against newspaper offices in denmark demonstrate al qaeda and pakistan's steadfast intentions. we are also concerned about future homeland attacks from one of al qaeda's key allies within the federally tribal areas of the fauta, the group that changed shahzad, the times square bomber from may 1st of last year, as well as the other threat from al qaeda allies within the pakistan and afghanistan region. >> we remain focused on the group behind the mumbai attacks which remains a threat to a variety of interests in south asia. although lt has not yet conducted attacks in the west, it does have individuals who have been trained and it could pose a threat to the homeland in europe and in addition to

destabilizing south asia more broadly. of course, we continue to view yemen as a key base of operations from which al qaeda and the arabian peninsula can and has planned and executed attacks. over the past year, aqap expanded operations against the homeland, including of course the december 2000 nine attack and its following effort to down two u.s. bound cargo planes in october of 2010. in addition to the specific attacks, aq has made several appeals last year to muslims to conduct attacks on their own initiative. specifically, over the past year, aqap released four issues of its magazine, english magazine "inspire" which attempts to persuade adherence to launch attacks on their own in the west. east africa remains a key operating area for al qaeda associates as well. last year for the first time, they struck outside of somalia killing 74, including one

american in uganda and they continue to attract extremists from across the globe including from the united states. now, these were mostly threats from outside the country. as the chairman noted, we are extremely concerned with home grown violent extremists here in the united states. plots disrupted in washington, d.c., oregon, alaska and maryland during the past year were indicative of a common cause rallying independent extremists to attack the homeland. home grown bound extremists have yet to demonstrate a sophisticated ability but as ft. hood demonstrated attacks need not be sophisticated to be quite deadly. although time doesn't permit me to go into all the threats we watch, i would like to highlight, in addition to these threats, we continue to watch al qaeda in north africa and iraq, hezbollah and other terrorists groups including greek anarchists that sent letter bombs to embassy in rome and