make sure the u.s. treasury can always pay our bills on time. ..

any such plans that might be in the preliminary stage. >> there's an important election suggesting the nsa is a very dramatic role in the drone campaign. i wonder if you can talk about that but also more broadly, keith alexander, was this prompted by the edward snowden scandal in terms of the terms of the presidency ended? >> the answer is no pity if we can confirm several weeks ago general alexander confirmed to the president in the spring of 2014. when he was extended for the third time as the director of the nsa for the fiber command in march of 2013, general alexander indicated his interest in retiring next spring. and having served as the director since 2005 and commander of u.s. cyber command since 2010, general alexander served in extraordinary and let

these agencies through critical periods of clinton's transition. the president looks forward to continuing to work with general alexander until his term as complete and he thinks him and the men of the nsa for the patriotism and dedication as they work every day to keep all of us safe. so this was something that again, general alexander have spoken to the president about a number of weeks ago and he had indicated that he would be having expended already so many times. on the other question i can tell you the national security agency is a foreign intelligence agency that is focused on discovering and developing intelligence about the value of foreign intelligence targets including terrorists. its activities are directed against these foreign intelligence targets in response to requirements from u.s. leaders to protect the nation and its interest from threats such as terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. so i think that is a higher altitude answer that responds to

the specific article. as i said in the past, i can't answer every article 1 of the methods but i can tell you it's important to remember the mission is a foreign intelligence mission. >> on accountability in health care we talked about robert saying that it's so bad in his estimation there should be people fired. you've defended the secretary. short of somebody being fired, what kind of accountability will there be specifically i haven't heard you ask about the company's to reduce the the federal services they've got millions of dollars of federal contracts for the data collection etc and he says it has been botched is there an investigation of the company to turn over the millions of dollars of hard earned tax payer dollars is the government going to get some of that money back? >> questions about contracts related to this are ones that

should be addressed to the hhs. the account devotee the president seeks today is the accountability of that comes from those that are working on implementation, working around the clock to ensure that the experience is improved and that the whole process of implementation of the affordable care act moves forward. it's important to remember that this is not although there is a lot of focus on that the affordable care act is not just a website. it is a portal into a virtual marketplace for an average of 50 health insurance plan options per state for americans on the market many of whom have never had access to affordable, quality health insurance in the past or at least not in the

recent past. and getting all of that and a place is the focus of the team and that includes improving the consumer experience on the web site. >> again the accountability the president seeks right now is the accountability that comes from making the system better, improving the process for consumers, fixing the problems that have arisen and making sure that millions of americans for whom this program was created are getting their benefits that it provides. >> scolding republicans for their handling of the crisis. in real terms how going forward what will the president do differently in real terms going forward to try to build better relationships with other republican members of congress? >> i think the president described what happened and made it clear that it was unnecessary and make real tangible

quantifiable damage is done by the decision to shut the government down with the default. the scolding if you want to call it that was far less severe than some republicans received from the members of their own party for pursuing this path and i think that has been well documented in the media reports. the president was more focused on in his remarks both in this morning and last night on what we can do moving forward. >> what's he going to do differently? >> i think that he will continue to reach out to the members of congress of both parties and make clear that he is open to any good idea, no matter who prefers it and no matter what party that person belongs to. if it is an idea that will help grow the economy and create jobs and help responsible and balanced way continue the project of reducing the deficit

and managing our long-term debt will help us enhance our energy security and enhance our climate security and help us pass comprehensive immigration reform. the president is interested in getting positive results for the american people. and he is willing to work with anyone who was interested in that as well and he acknowledged today that there are some differences that we may not be able to bridge that are sincerely held that are just about political positioning that there are areas we can find common ground and he identified 3e that are working through congress right now that offer the opportunity for washington to demonstrate to the american people that washington can function. that bipartisan progress is possible. we saw the bipartisan vote. i think 80 senators voted for the measure last night and a bipartisan vote in the house.

we have seen a bipartisan vote on the comprehensive immigration reform and on the farm bill. there's an enormous opportunity here to get some significant work done on behalf of the american people. >> interview earlier today they spoke to them slightly dismissive of the budget conference plan unless the president gets involved. with the president be actively involved in those conversations? >> i think the president would be as involved as he and members of the conference believe is useful and necessary to help bring about. that is what you are citing one senator, the minority leader's opinion about that. i think that our view is the house passed the budget and the senate passed the budget and that is how the process is supposed to work with one party of the house by another. the two sides can conference. the president has already

demonstrated a level of seriousness through the budget that he put forward, very detailed budget he put forward that includes tough choices for democrats as well as republicans and i think that he will engage as useful and necessary as well his team to provide the kind of assistance that could be helpful as this process moves forward. there is no question that it's hard but we shouldn't give up on it before it starts to the islamic can you take us behind the curtain very briefly if you would. we saw the chief of staff greeting and returning for rarely furloughed workers. we saw vice presidential by and doing the same, secretary vilsack doing the same thing. did president obama made the rounds of some sort to the returning workers and can you take it back and tell us what it looks like inside of the white house when he% of the staff that was not here returns?

>> they've forgotten where to go. they don't know where the bathroom is. [laughter] is a lot more crowded and it's wonderful to have folks back in the national security meeting he has said a lot of people that haven't been around and putting from his immediate staff and we are all really glad that this is over much more so for the broad community that paid a price for the shutdown but also for us because our colleagues here as the president said are here because they believe service is good and that is true of every staff member for any party on capitol hill that is furloughed. they are doing this especially those young people because they come to washington and they

could see good things happen and be part of its. now they are back in those offices and they are going to continue working towards trying to be a part of something good. >> do they believe it is realistic for a grand bargaining or the next fiscal year is doing the sequestration. >> it's probably not useful to set expectations when it comes to the size of a deal that could be achieved. i think we are interested in a larger budget agreement. that's why the president put one on a table that represented the ten year budget agreement that included the deficit reduction that not only eliminates the sequester but succeeded the sequester in the levels of the deficit reduction.

so, the key investments in the economy and the pre-que for all for investments in infrastructure and innovation. so his vision is big and broad but he has also talked in the not distant past about finding a deal on the tax reform the interests that both parties have and cobbling it with the interest of investing in infrastructure development that both parties share which is just to say that there's ample opportunity to craft a budget agreement that rewards the interest of both parties especially shared interest and in a way that is fair to the middle class and it gives our economy a boost instead of a cake in the shins. we are optimistic there is an opportunity and the president

hopes the congress and the conferees will see that opportunity. >> what kind of -- what is he advising them on? what method is he giving on the democratic side? >> i appreciate it has been at least half a day since the government reopened. i don't think that -- and the conferees have only just been named. i don't think that we are at the level of giving instruction to the conferees. the leaders of both houses that were capable of doing that and the president put forth a budget. the senate and the house passed budgets. our interest to think the president's view is reflected on what he said today which is there is common ground and we could reach an agreement here.

>> the egyptian foreign minister had relations between the united states and the new jet memorial. he also added he egyptian people [inaudible] egypt was on a path for new leadership? >> let me just say that as i noted when we talked about the adjustments in our systems programs, you know we are committed to our relationship with egypt and continue to provide assistance to egypt which is reflected in that commitment. we believe that it's necessary

to support a process that restores a space governments through a space path of -- democratic for the reasons that i've laid out before. i don't have anything new on that that is in the same as what i talked about the other day. >> do you see are the budget negotiations in the next increase in the debt ceiling tie in some way so that if they can reach a budget agreement it will be easy to raise the debt ceiling in february but if they can't reach a budget agreement it would make it difficult somehow? >> the existential question. the president's view is

consistent with what he said in december of 2012 and in january of this year and what he has been saying for the last several weeks, which is congress must not and should not and cannot default. it must without drama and the late take action to make sure that the united states as it has for more than 200 years can pay its bills on time and retain its full faith and credit. as the president said in reaction to the question last night, he does not expect to have this kind of manufacturing crisis repeat itself when these two deadlines approach because he doesn't believe that members of congress want to engage broadly speaking there may be individuals who have a difference of opinion on this but most members of congress

believe that this was a profitable exercise because it was not. it did harm to our economy and to the average folks out there who were trying to make ends meet and get ahead. so i can't predict all the things that will lead us to those moments except there are opportunities through the budget conference to get an agreement for a longer-term budget deal and then separate and apart from that as it should be that the necessity of ensuring that the united states pays its bills will always remain. >> the president has talked about washington meeting to earn back the confidence of the country. as he reflects on his own performance on budget issues and what he needs to do to win back the country does he think he needs to do more to bring his party along towards the kind of

budget changes in the long term that he has said to his budget and other statements he is willing to make and propose this compromise? >> i think of the question is does he think it is necessary to lead the party in making these tough choices, the answer is yes. i think adding more to that is suggested he hasn't delivered on that need for leadership but he has. but i think as you in particular -- i'm just saying that there is no question some of the traces the president has made and negotiating with the speaker of the house going back to 2011 through the various iterations that we've seen has resulted in the president putting forward a compromise to proposals that represent tough bills for democrats to swallow.

but democratic leaders have been willing to do that as part of a comprehensive and balanced approach. and what we have yet to see in this process but we hope we will see it is a similar kind of willingness by republican leaders on the house of republican lawmakers and with the support of republican lawmakers to do the same to accept compromise and that there are some things that in order to get that compromise and in order to get some of what they want, they have to go along with. that is the nature of compromise. >> if you believe and the president believes democrats are prepared to take the steps on medicare and on social security -- >> i would report to the publicly reported statements in the past of support for the approach and the offers the president has made and the budget that the president put

forward which is not to say that on some of these issues there won't be some democrats who feel very strongly that they are too difficult. but the fact of the matter is the president has demonstrated leadership on this issue by these negotiations that he has had with republicans by saying that he can deliver the votes necessary or working with congressional democratic leaders for what's necessary for the comprehensive balanced budget agreement. and as you know, knowing the history as well as you do, the -- became close to some agreement on a couple of occasions. but there was not the ability by republican leaders to stay the same and to deliver the same. but it's a new day and hopefully that dynamic will change. we hope that it will.

>> in light of the damage that has been done and continues not only in the u.s. but in the world economy, has the president considered urging congress to simply repeal all establishing the debt limit? >> the president simply urged congress because the authority rests entirely with congress to use that responsibly and how they use it is obviously up to congress. we have seen the way that they dealt with in the legislation that passed last night and the way they dealt with it in the agreement from the end of last year and into the first of this year and that was obviously a somewhat novel way to approach it. his interest is not an taking from congress' power that is invested in congress. his interest is in seeing the

converse of sure that power is used responsible so that we do not threaten a default again in this country because the damage is so clear. how converse addresses this in the future is up to converse with the perspective is that they do it in a way that never threatens the full faith and credit of the united states. >> a lot about a completely different subject. how is the subcommittee focus on the investigation on the ninth hearing of the subject it's classified as was last week where the witness was the chairman of the joint chief of staff. i know that you've covered the particular subject matter before in this briefing room, but it has resurfaced in a fresh context receiving fresh scrutiny from the investigators and

therefore i thought was fair to give you another chance to address it. they are accepting the white house conclusion that no military rescue or response could possibly have achieved in benghazi the night because the posturing of the assets around the world was so poor on the night. >> the statement of the house republican subcommittee chairmen, correct? >> their conclusion. this is to refocus their attention on the press release that your office issued on timber tenth before the attack. it was very brief. was four seconds but it essentially stated the president on that day had met with the key national security principles to ensure that steps were being taken to ensure the protection of u.s. personnel and assets. it would further to meeting the challenge that was held. the house investigators have

determined that the general carter, the combatant commander with the jurisdiction over libya was not consulted as a part of those sessions. i wonder if you can tell us more about those meetings entailed, who the participants were, for a leavitt said that press release was and whether the white house might be willing to make to the public the e-mails and the memos and the other paper work that was associated with the development of that. >> james, president of the united states as did his predecessor received a briefing from the national security team, principals of that team on the eve of the anniversary of 9/11 on the actions were being taken in the homeland ander of the world in preparation for the potential threats.

if your question is was there adequate security at the diplomatic facility in benghazi to protect the americans there, the answer is categorically no. has the president said after the attack in benghazi, which is why he said he would make sure that his administration did everything they could to bring those to justice who killed four americans coming and he endorsed the effort undertaken by the former secretary clinton to set up an independent accountability review board to investigate the situation was before, during and after the benghazi attack was a particular focus on the question of security and they found problems with security and made a series of recommendations,

clinton and her successors have address in full every single one of them. so, i'm not sure that i understand the question focused on a press release which i think i probably also discuss here as i think my predecessors in both administrations have done which is that for the nature of the anniversary, there are preparations made in anticipation of potential threats, but it is clear because four americans died on that day and there was not adequate security. and that was revealed in the accountability review board. it was revealed in the testimony had 13 congressional hearings that this administration participated in with 40 staff briefings and 25,000 pages of documents. efforts by that committee that he mentioned -- i believe it's

that committee to denigrate the credibility of the accountability review board were rejected quite powerfully by the independent inspector general who said that there were no signs in the accountability review board by the way which was headed up by the former joint chiefs admiral mullen and one of the most admired diplomats to serve presidents of both parties, ambassador pickering. the president remains committed to ensure that every step is taken that we can take as an administration and with congress to enhance the security of our personnel serving overseas, recognizing that by serving their country, the of course are in some places and cases putting themselves at rest. he is committed to doing everything that we can as a country and as a government to

bring to justice those who are responsible for the death of the four americans and those are the issues he believes are most important. >> focused on the work which has a statutory issue does not have destruction over military posture in an and your answer also indicated the security of the conflict itself. but the piece of benghazi over which the house armed services subcommittee i'm talking about does have jurisdiction is not with respect to the arms work or with respect to the facilities on site at benghazi. it's with respect to the posturing of the military in a volatile time around the world which as we now know from retrospect was so poor as to make rescue a remedy of -- >> it's a reflection of an assessment made by republicans who have, as you know, attempted unfortunately to make this a

partisan issue. and i would simply say when it comes to -- and i know we are creating an exchange here for fox and i am mindful of that but allow me to suggest to the questions about the posturing of the defense forces are usually better address to the pentagon. >> my question to you is first of all what we are engaged in is not for fox it is for the record in each. the posturing was such that it made the remedy and the rescue in that situation possible is not a conclusion of the house armed services committee or four republicans. it is itself as a fact. so all i'm trying to ask is with respect to these meeting does the president of the key national security principles before those attacks how is it possible that you can maintain that adequate steps were taken by the commander in chief and his aides when in fact posture is now acknowledged to have been such it may remedy impossible.

>> again, james i think i said there was not adequate security to protect those four americans. and the president has been absolutely forthright about that. as have the numerous investigators who have looked into this and putting of course the accountability review board. i think when it comes to how the u.s. military division backs us, that is a question that is best answered by the department of defense and by the commanders about you get no argument here from the suggestion that there wasn't adequate security. that is self evident, as you said. and the president -- the administration's cooperation has been exhausted. it includes obviously the full cooperation with accountability

review board. his credibility has unfortunately despite the stature and independence of those who were in charge of it being questioned by the partisans on capitol hill. and i think that this reflects unfortunately the kind of partisan gamesmanship that so frustrates the american people when we need to be focused on making sure that adequate security is provided at our diplomatic securities are around the world so that our personnel serving abroad are protected and making sure that the intelligence and resources in that we can apply bring to justice those who are responsible for the deaths of four americans and making sure that we continue to provide the resources necessary to our military and the rest of our national security apparatus to

allow it to keep us safe. that is what this president is committed to and that is reflected in everything that he does and says about this issue. >> are they willing to make any of those documents available as you did with the talking point? >> i think we are done here. thanks. >> now that the government has reopened, we are asking on facebook would you think congress and the president should focus on next facebook.com/c-span. when you are in a debate with somebody that believes in god or believes that jesus is the son of god, how can you expect somebody who believes that? do you think that they are stupid?

i respect individual pieces whether i respect their case. >> i can't respect the believe of the creationists. i have to regard them as either ignorant or stupid. i hope i treat them with politeness dean. the british journalist said i respect you as a person. c-span radio is moving to a new channel starting friday c-span radio is on xm channel

120. although congress, the white house and public affairs in your car or on your smartphone any time you are away from your tv. former defense secretary leon panetta and former white house budget director james mosul yesterday called on the congress to come up with a bipartisan solution for a long-term deficit reduction. they spoke at an event hosted by the campaign to fix the debt. >> good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. i would like to introduce mya, the president for the committee of responsible budget. [applause] >> thank you everybody for joining us today. this turned out to be an incredibly well timed conference. but on behalf of fix the debt we are made up of citizens, business leaders, civic leaders with a purpose of trying to in a

bipartisan way focus national attention on the need and pushed for a comprehensive debt deal that would help deal with the nation's fiscal challenges. today is obviously an important day. it appears as though we have a real plan put in place that will deal with opening the government and lifting the debt ceiling and putting in place a budget process to help focus on those discussions. we have today with us an incredible gathering of people who are going to talk about sort of the current crisis that we have been and, the state of place where we are and of course the kind things we want to focus on going forward from a really diverse group of people with diverse perspectives. because again i think the importance is to talk about how people with different opinions can come together and work on these issues. i think what is clear is that what we have seen so far on the model in the country is we have been lurching from crisis to crisis and we can't continue to do that. i think going forward in the coming weeks it is going to be critically important. we know what we need to focus

on. issues of informing of retirement system, the tax code, replacing the sequestered with the cuts and find a plan to put our debt on a downward path. so we think it is critical that it's time to stop the madness of the way that we have been governing, start real negotiations and solve the problem to be i'm really thrilled today to be able to introduce secretary leon panetta who has helped so many important roles in all this most recently as the secretary of defense but has also played instrumental roles in budget negotiations in the past. and he's going to kick off this whole discussion and talk to us from his perspective about all these issues. we are lucky to have him. thank you so much for joining us, secretary panetta. >> thank you come mya for the great work and ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in this ad effort to try to put this country back on the right track.

our hope is that later today with actions with by the house and the senate they can bring but i think has been a very shameful and tragic period in our history to an end. this is hard to believe that what has happened hasn't been the result of an economic crisis, not the result of the war but the result of a self-inflicted wound by people who frankly swear to make sure that they will do everything to protect and defend the constitution of this country and this country. 17 years ago, we went through a similar shutdown when i was the chief of staff to president clinton. at the time, i thought that

there were two lessons that were learned by that experience. one was that you don't take a step that hurts the american people, innocent american people by shutting the government down. that makes no sense to use that weapon against your very constituents, against the people that elected you into office. and second, that ultimately the lesson that came out of that is that it was better to govern than to create a grid lock and shut the government down. and that was the case. 17 years later i think those lessons still apply. it makes no sense to shut the government down and to hurt this

country come to hurt innocent people, kids, women need nutrition assistance, families that are trying to meet their debt at the end of the month, putting people out of work and out of jobs, threatening individuals in terms of their quality-of-life. it makes no sense to do that. to take a step that threatens our economy and growth levels, an economy that has been through rough times and is looking like it may be on the right track why would you take a step that would deliberately hurt our economy? and hurting our national defense. let me tell you that from my own experience i had the opportunity to come from the pentagon. a combination of sequester in the shutdown has hurt our national defense. not only some very important elements of our defense being

put on hold. we've got 12 airforce squadrons, combat squadrons that have been grounded. half of the air force planes are not ready for combat. we have ships that are not being deployed and maintenance that is not being done. we are virtually halting all our military. at a very important time when we face all kind of threats abroad in this country this is still a dangerous world that we live in new. the shutdown and the furloughs and the impact this is having on the men and women in the defense department is an excusable in terms of protecting this country so it hurts america and americans when these shutdowns take place. my hope is that everyone learns the second lesson which is that it's time to govern, to roll up their sleeves and to get to work

the place they should be and should have been weeks ago is in a budget cut. working on the key issues that the need to address if we are serious about reducing the deficit, getting rid of the sequestered to put this country on the right path for the future. so a budget conference that deals with entitlements, looks at all of the entitlement programs and determines what reforms and savings can be achieved. a conference that focuses on looking at the whole issue of discretionary spending but what should be the next discretionary? we need to establish some stability rather than this kind of kick the can down the road mentality that we've been involved in. so what is our discretionary spending going to look like over this next period? and looking at elements of tax reform. what can we implement for tax reform? what are some steps we can do to

try to provide the balance and fairness that this country is all about? all those things ought to be looked at. and this is the opportunity to do it. so, my hope is that they will take advantage of this opportunity to govern this country. i believe we are at a turning point in the united states of america and it's a critical turning point. it can either be an american renaissance with a strong economic recovery, with opportunity for everyone, strong middle class, the opportunity to be creative and innovative, the opportunity to provide a good education to our kids, to be able to have a strong work force as we do. this country could be in a renaissance in the 21st century or we could be a country in decline. in america in decline. if we continue to be dysfunctional in how we govern the country and if we continue to operate by crisis after

crisis after crisis that is no way to govern the country. what have we take is going to be determined by how we govern ourselves. in recent years unfortunately as i tell my students, we govern a democracy that's either leadership or crisis. if leadership is there, we can avoid crisis but they have to be willing to take the risks associated. if leadership is not there to make no mistake about it we will offer eight by crisis and crisis will drive policy. you can do that. but there is a price to be paid. and the price that is paid is you lose the trust of the american people in the system of the government. and so, the time has now come to exercise leadership on all sides. the american people are probably the best example that all of us that are in elective office drew our strength from because the american people like my immigrant parents have some

fundamental principles and values that they believe in. common sense, doing what's wrong to the car right, hard work, sacrifice and willingness to do what they believed was necessary in order to give their children a better life. and i believe that i have seen that in our men and women in uniform, secretary defense. our men and women serving this country are willing to put their lives on the line in order to protect this country. they are willing to fight and to die in order to protect the united states of america. and i believe if they are willing to fight and die to protect this country, then surely those that we've elected office ought to be willing to take the risk associated with government in order to protect this country. our hope is they will do that and they will engage in this conference and they will do everything necessary to protect the government body and for the

people. >> next i but like to introduce the former congressmen, head of a budget, jim nussle. >> thank you. that is impossible to follow. and maybe i shouldn't even try. but i followed you a few times, so i will -- both as the chairman of the budget committee and omb. and i'm proud of the tenure that you have the experience and the dedication and example of public service. again, you show it here today. and i think you for joining us that this important moment. this is not a proud moment for our country. even with the good news of an agreement, we can all look forward and see a couple of different paths that could easily develop. one is just as negative as the one that we have recently been on that could by january 15th or

february 7th of evolves into yet another crisis, stalemate another juncture that would be proven just as damaging as the one that we have been through or a path where cool heads can prevail, some experience and judgment and leadership and people that want to govern as secretary panetta said. people want to step up and realize that the whole is greater than the sum that the country is more important than all of the little things that go on all the time. and we've all participated. i don't stand here with clean hands today. i see former members of congress and of course leon as well. all of us from time to time their rhetoric has gone up a little bit too hot and maybe we've said something or done something. but at most, junctures we were able to put all of that aside, come together and say okay, we said that, we've done that. let's come back and figure out what the right path forward

should be. what we've seen recently has been reckless or incompetent. cure plates and. it's based on the dates that are important, the role of government is an important national d-day that we have now. we will continue to have waste, fraud and abuse, tax reform, entitlement reform, even defunding or deleting programs that may be popular on one side and unpopular on another are certainly worthy of the debate. but certainly anyone that has watched saturday morning cartoons and has watched house bill becomes a law i am only a bill on capitol hill, no, and knew what was going to happen. this didn't take anybody other than a kid watching saturday morning cartoons to understand that when the president and the senate say no, the house isn't

going to go. that's just the way it works. that's the way that our system has been developed. and instead of educating our constituents and instead of taking this as an opportunity to inform people and to explain exactly how we are going to govern ourselves in a self-governing society, people have taken this to forward their own personal or their own personal political agendas, which has been an abomination to in my view very reckless and incompetent towards our system of self governing. so, we have an opportunity. today cooler heads did prevail. we have an opportunity to look forward over the next couple of months and say we can put this process back together. both secretary leon panetta as the chairman of the committee and myself have participated in these conference committees between the house and the senate where the budget negotiators come together and plot a path forward. they are messy. they can be ugly. they can be just as difficult as

what we have seen. but, if people are committed to the end result. and if they will listen to organizations and campaigns such as what we have assembled here today, we can give them some tools for that tool box as they go in to try to build that consensus. and there are many good examples of that here today. fix the debt was put together as an organization or as a campaign that believes the tax reform ought to be on the table certainly. entitlement reform needs to be there. sequestration is a crazy, a dumb way to run the government. still looking at both and you will as well as automatic spending needs to be put on the table. focus needs to be on the long term. not february 7 or january 15th. but how about 2020 and 2025. and when our kids and our grandkids have to look at some of this debt that's the reason

that we focused on the debt because most in a bipartisan way can say fixing the debt has got to be the ultimate goal. everything else, yeah we will have those fights and disagreements. no one even in this campaign is going to agree 100% of the time. but we have partners here today that i want to invite forward to give a little bit of their perspective on this. as an example we've had a group of former members, some of whom are here today in a bipartisan we have met on the outside on a regular basis to talk about ways that they can influence our former colleagues on a path forward. we have had a wednesday morning what we call the fest where we get together over breakfast and we talked about ways that our organizations can work together and stay together and focusing attention on this very important mission. so we have invited a couple of those partners to come here today and to give us some of

those thoughts. so i would like to invite a few of them forward here today. first i'd like to invite copier who is the president and ceo of the u.s. hispanic chamber of commerce to come forward and provide his perspective. >> javier? >> good afternoon. on behalf of the united states hispanic chamber of commerce, i'd like to thank the team that fix the debt for organizing this press conference. the usatc represents hispanic businesses that together contribute more than $468 billion to the american economy every year. we also advocate on behalf of 206 major american corporations. and we do this through the network of 200 local chambers and business associations throughout the nation. while the usatc represents businessmen and women who happen to be of hispanic descent, we never forget that we are first and foremost american businesses

every tax bill that we've taken every job we create, every product we manufacture and every single service we provide those to benefit our american economy. as one of the nation's largest business organizations, our membership's primary concern is the health and prosperity of our economy. all businesses are directly influenced by a stable political climate in the state of any economy. our american people understand that we must work together to sustain the growth of our businesses, the security of our jobs and the full faith and credit of the united states. everyone from mean street to wall street knows that the weight of the american economy rests on the shoulders of our elected officials. and we are asking them to put the common good of the work country before the political partisanship and self-interest. how deeply his the nation sunday into the trenches of the partisan politics?

that not only has the government of the strongest democracy in the world been shut down, though it is now facing the threat of an unprecedented default which will jeopardize our standing as a global economic leader. for the past years, our conagra's has been plagued by a divisive politics that have reversed the recovery of our economy. this environment of brinksmanship has reached its boiling point and the current threats of default are already resonating and creating signs of uncertainty in national and international markets. consumer confidence is now at an all year low while interest rates continue to climb. and the ongoing gridlock is estimated to cost taxpayers almost $19 billion in extra interest. even the foreign debt holders are demanding more collateral deutsch to the uncertainty on whether america can even meet its financial obligations.

a substantial segment of the usatc membership does business abroad and is deeply impacted by both the health of our national and the international economy. it is no secret of congress allows the united states to default on its debt, the economic consequences would be nothing short of catastrophic. what happens in the united states doesn't only affect our nation. it impacts all of the countries that rely on the stability and the well-being of our american economy. recently mexico and brazil, the two largest economies in latin america and two very important trading partners solve their currencies lose value simply because of america's threat of redefault. chinese officials have urged the u.s. to avoid a debt crisis for the sake of the global economy. and just last week the international monetary fund warned of a worldwide shock that would result from the united states the faulting and stated that it is critical for our

country, especially its elected officials to prevent a looming crisis that would put the global economy at risk. the american people, our economy, and quite frankly the world is hoping for better news from washington. the usatc stands with our friends at fix the debt with secretary panetta, with former omb director jim nussle, and all of the other organizations assembled here. and we all call on the congress to raise the debt ceiling and avoid this default. we urge congress to put an end to this hostile climate of uncertainty and brinksmanship. it is time to move our country forward, not to jeopardize the hard work and the progress that we have all made together. at the end of the day, the elected leaders have a stake in preserving our free market economy and american way of life. negotiations with a motivated by profit or politics achieve the

highest possible success when we recognize that cooperation works much better than conflict and that solidarity will always out last isolation and that our differences do not outweigh our common interest. thank you very much. >> next we will hear from ian kramer of its executive leaders engaged on alzheimer's disease. >> thank you for the opportunity to be here today. this is not a happy day. this is a day that we all sidey and relief that the circular firing squad said ready, aim and then held its breath and this crisis is not over. all it is is delayed so the guns are still pointed. and the real tragedy is that the harm that could be done by the beatles and the harm that has been done by the government shut down and the harm that continues to be done by sequester is not harmed by those imposed upon us

it is suffered by those that they victimize and that is the american people as it has been stated before. we are relieved we have not defaulted and we are relieved the government shut down appears to be near the end hopefully not to resurface, sequestration continues to be a weight on our economy and more important around the neck of the american people who desperately need their government to function and for long term solution to be found that keeps them out of this sort of day today jeopardy about whether the programs and services upon which they depend and for which they pay will or will not be there in their time of need. i'm going to focus primarily on the sequestration but we know that sequestration is ten annual doses of bad medicine. it's not only what has happened so far but it's what could happen over the next budget cycles if we don't fix it now and fix it once and for all. so if you want to understand what sequestration means for

pursuing our own clearly identified and carefully planned national agenda i would offer one example of many and that is the crisis in alzheimer's for 5 million americans who have the disease there are 15 million caregivers and if we do not proceed with the science that we need, over 13 million americans will have alzheimer's and well over 40 million americans will be their care givers within less than two generations. currently, dementia costs the american people over 200 billion a year just for caregiving and we invest roughly 500 million in trying to arrest the disease or reverse. so it's a ridiculously small investment and it's an investment that sequestration and roads. who agrees we have to take more dramatic steps to fall on is -- fight alzheimer's as a catalyst to reverse the trajectory of the disease? i will tell you it's president

obama and the nie director francis collins but also the house majority leader eric cantor, the tea party founder michele bachman and the former speaker newt gingrich, susan collins and bill nelson and in fact the entire congress, every last member of congress voted unanimously about two years ago to adopt the national alzheimer's projects that create the first-ever national plan to address alzheimer's disease which has in its most recent update the 2013 update a consensus plan, a business plan to stop and effectively prevent alzheimer's by the year 2025. but that plan depends on scientific investment that the sequester not only prevents from being increased, but the slight investment that we already have. so, who else is for that increased investment? i would argue the entire american people. the 5 million who live with this disease today, the 15 million

who are caregivers today and all the rest of the american population that lived in fear of their family being struck next. so who is against nih having the tools that it needs to stop alzheimer's? no one. no one will come forward and no one should come forward to say that they oppose those kind of investments. but actions speak louder than words. so your commitment is shown by what you do or what you choose not to do. ..

if they are brave enough to put politics aside committed read the the sequester engage in long-term, serious budget planning that reduces the burdens of cost from care and invests in innovation, which is the driver of our economy. so i would say, do not isolate all summers says the reason to get rid of sequestration. across the government, but get all the good that all of these members of congress will force the issue by issue and then say, the undermining their own good intentions by their actions and choices? thank you. >> thank you. next we will hear from todd mccracken, president of the national small business association. >> thank you, congressman. i can't get a great deal i don't think to the excellent opening statements of secretary panetta and congressman russell. i can assist you myself with their remarks, but as i said before, i represent the small

business community. and for us, all of this creates a crisis of conscience. the funda

to fix the debt and to the secretary for this i think it's particularly important given the lead hour that we find in our congress. i want to be very brief which for an academic is always a challenge. but i will succeed in that. we have the best research universities in the world by a

wide margin. and we have the best innovations system in the world. but those are not jeopardized. those universities and that innovation system are jeopardized by the continued problems here in washington. this isn't today's problem, it's not this week's problem with a sequestered. it's the budget problem overall. because as it was just said, members of congress did not vote against research. they just let the cuts in research happen because of what is now in place. a budget that is constantly taking money away from research and innovation and putting it in the hands of old people like me who frankly should not be getting the percentage of revenue that is now coming to our generation. the reason we have the best research universities in the world as that for some 70 years now, the federal government has invested heavily in research.

competitively awarded research grants which the faculty members of the university of michigan, the university of virginia, harvard, stanford, and the other universities in the country that carry out research. what is the result of that research? a great innovation system. economists now acknowledge that 60% or more of the u.s. economic growth over the past few decades is based on innovation and a huge percentage of that innovation is done in research labs at our universities because business for the most part has stopped doing fundamental research. it has to be on the bottom line so it no longer invest as in the days of the fundamental research. it is instead carried out in our nation's universities. china has noticed that and is now investing heavily in creating great research universities. we are disinfesting at the same time and so we are rapidly

creating innovation deficit. the innovation deficit to the long term is just as important as over the long term we are going to lose our advantage and innovation and someone else is going to get and that will determine economic success in the future. most of the prizes as it has been the case for some time now are awarded to american researchers and frankly to the researchers warn and other countries who now were acquired? at our university. how much longer is that going to go on if we continue the innovation deficit and is investing in research and other countries have seen that as the long-term goal? we need to fix this problem quickly and stop the crisis management and get on to thinking about the long-term investment, the only thing that

is when to lead to long-term success in the country. thank you. for an academic, that is a brief. >> the last speaker before we take your question is mary who is the president and ceo of research america. >> thank you to my fix that colleagues and every one that has spoken already. research america is an alliance of patient groups, academic institutions, business and industry and scientific and clinical societies. well over 100 million americans represented. and we all believe that research for health in the entire ecosystem should return to being the number one american priority. sequestration and the shutdown have truly frank talk on american science overall and that includes medical research

and the nation's public health capacity. research projects including the clinical trials have been cancelled or sold out indefinitely. researchers have been furloughed or laid off. scientists are not receiving grants for innovative studies and are rethinking their career project d options. suppliers and other businesses that rely on discovery from basic research or downsizing. the cdc is blindsided by the thune bordallo says -- foodborne illnesses. and the department of defense has hampered in its conduct a medical research to benefit the wounded warriors and protect our men and women overseas. and that life goes on in him. i think about the rest of the prioritizing research and

innovation. and as mentioned, other nations are not just sitting idly by. they are actively exploiting our failure to prioritize research and innovation. in addition to china i am talking about singapore, india, sweden, germany and the u.k. to name a few. a national public opinion polls commissioned by the research america show half do not believe the u.s. will be world leaders in science and technology by the year 2020. that is just over six years from now. unfortunately, americans might be right about that loss of leadership but they don't like it. an overwhelming majority say it's important that the united states maintains its world leadership in medical research and science overall. but our elected officials listening to their constituents,

are they listening to the concerns of americans? i would argue that in this recent period of time they have not. yes, we must reduce the deficit. we must fix the budget. but cutting the funding for medical and health research and other domestic discretionary priorities is counterproductive to solving the problems that we talk about all the time and bring our hands about like controlling health care costs. diseases and disabilities are not going to cure themselves or be prevented over night. this research that is a deficit reduction strategy. public health readiness is a deficit reduction strategy. so why are we squandering those solutions? now i know, you know, the president knows and the congress knows that there is a way to fix the budget and it involves tax and entitlement reform.

it doesn't undermine the public for the private sector medical innovation. to give you one example, the cuts to prescription drug reimbursement would undermine innovation. prescription drugs prevent hospitalizations, and alleviate disability and represent only a small fraction of health care spending. developing medications is a high-risk proposition and takes both sectors working hard at it. if reimbursement is cut, it undermines the flow of capital necessary to the development of those solutions that we are all waiting for is. and for sure, sequestration has to go. we look to the committee to address the sequestration and to eliminate it and we and the members of our alliance will be speaking to the members of that committee.

starting the institutes of health and science foundation and other catalysts of american innovation and medical progress simply contravenes the common sense and the nation's prospects for economic stability going forward. medical progress should be an american priority to be in the polls, the majority of americans say they would pay more in taxes if they knew that would go towards medical research. that's how important it is to americans. stalling that research now through the sequestration or the kind of reform that again underlines something that we've too long taken for granted while other nations are ramping up will drag our nation down at the moment that we have everything it takes to store. the interest group that policy makers are not listening to i would argue is the american public. the words the policymakers are ignoring at our peril is our

nation's future. thank you. >> we do have time for questions. i want to make one point which i think is a unified theme that you hear from this diverse group of people. they want our leaders to govern. and we want them to lead. it's time for them to stop lurching from one crisis to another and focus on some of the long-term issues pivot i think that i wils that said we've middle of the stupid choices and now it's time to make the real choices. just how important it is. i would be glad to turn the questions over to the secretary to any of the speakers today. yes. >> thank you very much you talk about sequestration in and the cuts and the sequestration. is that a bad deal to you think

the senate is a failure of leadership that you refer to? >> the fundamental challenge that faces them is to do what ever is necessary to and the shutdown and extend the debt limit. this is a double and a pity we were dealing with the essey are. in a situation we had both the debt limit coming due as well as the funding for the government. the first thing that had to be done is to do whatever is necessary to try to end the shutdown and extend the debt limit. and i understand that a fight could have been done on sequester or other issues. understanding the politics you have to engage to get things done i think they made a choice. now understanding that my hope is once you get into a budget

conference, and once you're dealing with bigger issues on entitlements, discretionary tax reform, that the decisions you make will not only help in terms of debt reduction and putting this country on the right path towards ending the deficit, but also will end of the sequester. >> the accomplishment in the negotiation was securing the budget control act. >> you are going to hear i sure over the next few days everybody taking credit for what they want. but i have to tell you something to the you know what? as it has been said and it needs to be repeated there are no winners and losers in the process. the american people have lost, and now they need to roll up their sleeves and do what is right for this country. ..

some kind of continued reductions will continue changes in federal worker benefits will be necessary as part of an agreement or do you think that given what has happened may be dead we have been put on the back burner? >> i would say it is a fair question. what we are saying today is everything needs to be on the table for consideration. the big items that are often left off the table need to be on the table for this discussion, and it still has some many have said, today this is a process. it is not going to completely resolve itself through this committee process. a budget conference could come out with a budget conference report which may, in part, put

in a process for further reform, changes, you know, reductions, increases coming getting sequestration of of of a pilot and back onto what we call in the house of representatives and the senate regular order. these other things that i think are important, but your point not only further government workers today, and we all know many of them. there friends, family, but i also think about -- we are going to lose a generation of public. we made the have lost a generation of public servants who have watched this process over the last two, three, four years and have just said, forget it. why would i choose public service as a vocation when they should be an admirable -- it is recalling and should be whether it is in political office or government service, there are so many good people who do not deserve to be used as pawns in this process.

yes, changes need to be made. this changes may affect many workers, but it should not just be about them. everything should be on the table. >> i guess this would be for secretary panetta. is there any reason to expect this budget conference to be anymore successful? [laughter] has anything changed? do you still have the major sticking points? >> this is not going to be easy. nobody will assume that this will be easy. the hard work begins now. the kind of game playing that went on over these last few weeks with the shutdown and with the debt limit and, you know, all of the threats and counter threats that went on, that is kind of politics of this town. the hard work, the hard work is to sit down and walk through the entitlements and determine what reforms need to be made, with savings can be achieved.

let's get discretionary spending and lay out a path to that and look at tax reform. if somebody who was with me at the time that we sat down at andrews air force base and went through that process and walked through all of the entitlements and walked through discretionary spending and then walked through the whole tax arena and finally came to a bipartisan agreement, but that was tough, and it was not easy, and it took courage. there are risks involved. risks of all parts, but that is what governing is all about. that is why we elect people. we do not elect people to simply survive in office. we elect people to make the tough choices of governing this country. and hopefully having been through this experience of a shutdown and the implications of not increasing the debt limit we will be a sufficient enough

incentive to now turn to governing. >> secretary, mr. secretary, senator mcconnell was trying behind-the-scenes to get a provision in the deal that the merged in the senate that would give federal agencies more flexibility in dealing with sequestration cuts. as no one needs to tell you, across-the-board nature of cuts makes it very difficult. hal important with that provision had been, and how difficult is that for an agency to have to deal with that? >> it was a crazy, crazy formula. they designed it to be crazy, to basically do they cut across the board was going to be so that it would force them to do the right thing. that was the whole logic, if you call it logic, of why they developed sequestration. they obviously did not have the courage to deal with sequestration, so sequestration

went into effect and has created havoc, you know, across the board, particularly at the apartment that i headed. you know, i would rather instead of playing with ideas as to how you create flexibility so that you can move money around within the bounds of sequestration, i would rather than deal with the bigger issues in the budget and be able to death be trigger sequestration. that would be the more responsible approach. >> if you could get one thing from congress, flexibility. >> right now they are sinking in quicksand. they will take whatever wrote we throw to them. >> mr. secretary, i was wondering if you would entertain a question on an unrelated topic, a serious topic.

>> i'd prefer to chime in. the soda of institutional congressional reforms to put forth. the work ahead. >> well, i would be interested in the answer to this as well. we have both been through the ringer when it comes to considering budget process reform. i think it is a little bit of a panacea. this is the reason i say that. i am the last person, i believe, who bought bridget -- brought budget process reform to the floor and had a chance of getting something passed. my reason for saying it that way is that there are some changes that could be made, but the problem over the last seven, eight years is that it has not been used. i mean, my advice to the committee on budget in both the house and senate when they held hearings about this was, why don't you try it first before you decide to reform it. you might find that it actually

works if you respected, if you adhere to the timetables, if you actually work together in a bipartisan way and in a bicameral way. so really what this process has an opportunity to do is to put that back on track. i am not sure that it will, bubble for somebody blames the process, realize that this is a process created by human beings. if those human beings don't open their ears and start listening to one another and getting to know one another and realizing that, just as an example, if i am not mistaken, the president had in his budget this last year over $500 billion worth of intel of reforms. now, i would bet there are many republicans who either don't know that where are surprised by that. i would take that as a good starting point as a republican to say, let's start there. the spring hours to the table and see where we can work out both our differences as well as our commonality, but its starts by listening and recognizing that we are not that far apart

on many of these issues if we bother to open up our years and stop blaming the process and really look into our own souls and hearts about what needs to be done. >> the question. just getting back to how this next round will be any different from the super committee or anything else. i am wondering if you can describe what you think the white house can do to encourage the next few months. he talked of a bit about this earlier. >> look. there are some elements, basic elements that are important to make these kind of budget conferences work. first and foremost is restoring trust. these people don't trust each other for a lot of reasons. some justified, some not justified. the problem is, if you get into a room and have to deal with tough issues you have to trust the people you are in the room with that are going to tell you what they think, be honest, and that you are going to tell them

what you think and be honest and you're going to have that kind of exchange and that you are not going to suddenly what got into a bunch of sound bites with the press. that is the kind of atmosphere the need to have. one of trust. secondly, you really do have to put everything on the table. you cannot say, you know, we are going to air say this but not do this. you need to put everything on the table. it does not mean it's a going to do it, but you need to put it on the table and go through it and talk about each of these programs. thirdly, you know, when they look -- work their way through it they should not agree on anything until they have agreed on everything. even though they make some tentative decisions, wait until the end of the road to put everything together, basically packages' the deal. and lastly, and on the budget question, you know, once you put those pieces together you decide how you enforce it effectively. and very frankly, there are some

steps. we did it, you know, at andrews air force base. it was frankly the heart and soul of not only the bush budget that we passed with the agreement that was made but also at the heart and soul of the clinton budget plan that passed. some very good elements. some of the things that were done with regards to enforcement of limits in terms of spending. those were all very effective tools and ought to be built into this process. if this is going to work, this is going to work, then the members that have been beating each other up and engaging in a sound bite war are going to have to put all of that aside and decide that you will go into a room and really try to be honest and truthful with one another. that will be a big step. i cannot say at it will happen, but everybody from the president to the leaders, democrats and republicans involved in that are going to have to restore trust in order to get something done. >> thank you, everybody. >> thank you.

[inaudible conversations] >> now that the government has reopens, we are asking on facebook what you think congress and the president should focus on next. weigh in at facebook dot com / c-span. >> you are watching c-span2 with politics and public affairs weekdays feature a live coverage of the u.s. senate. on weeknights watched the public policy events, and every week and the lead is nonfiction authors and books on book tv. you can see past programs and get our schedules at our website and join in the conversation on social media sites. >> earlier this month u.s. special forces raided a terrorist hideout in somalia but were forced to withdraw under a fire fight. a few days later the heads of

african affairs for the state and defense departments testified on capitol hill of the u.s. efforts to combat the somalia based terrorist group al shabaab. >> i am pleased to call to order this hearing of the african affairs subcommittee security and governance issues in somalia. let me at the outset say that in this government shut down, i think it remains critical, first, that we fulfill our constitutional duty in a bipartisan manner to examine ongoing and pressing national security issues. i also think that the shutdown, as we will examine in this hearing, is having a significant and potentially greater impact on our ability to execute effective diplomacy, provide meaningful development assistance, and allies intelligence in a timely and

thoughtful way in the horn of africa and elsewhere. so i think it is relevant to our current state to have this hearing today, and i am grateful for the cooperation of the full committee chair and my ranking senator for allowing us to move forward today, particularly given the very strong panels of witnesses we have before us. as we work together to help somalia chart a course that may lead to more stable and secure future, i think it is additionally helpful for us to provide a strong example of a functioning democracy that we can be proud of here at home. i would like to welcome, as i mentioned, the ranking member and other members of the committee -- committee and our distinguished witnesses on our first panel, assistant secretary of state for african affairs, deputy assistant secretary of defense for africa, and u.s. aid assistant administrator for bureaucracy -- excuse me, democracy, conflict, humanitarian assistance. nancy is not the assistant secretary for bureaucracy, but

democracy. forgive me. on our second panel we will have a senior research fellow for africa at the national defense university institute for national strategic studies, founder and executive director of the heritage institute for policy studies in mogadishu. and thank you for the effort involved in your travel here to join us today. and deputy director for africa and the international crisis group. thank you to all of our witnesses. i know in several of your cases it was difficult to make preparations given the shutdown and i am grateful for your cooperation and presence here today. today's hearing comes almost exactly two decades after the battle of mogadishu in which 18 americans were killed defending u.s. interest in providing vital assistance to somalia. following the u.s. withdraw that occurred after that and after 20 years of state collapsed, lawlessness, and general difficulties, recent developments have given us significant reasons to be helpful. brought progress is due in no small part to the security gains

made by the african union mission consisting of kenya, uganda, burundi, and other national troops in coordination with the ethiopian military. amisom has deprived al shabaab of territory in revenue creating much-needed space to begin building a functioning state and state structures. this has allowed some dahlia to form a constituent assembly and elect a new government which is sufficiently recognized by the united states last year. as witnesses will testify, while much progress has been made to a significant challenges remain. the people are frustrated with the government's ability to provide basic services and the humanitarian situation remains severe. this year, for example, more than 2 million somalis without adequate food access and recently more than 160 confirmed cases of polio have emerged as a reminder of the fragile health and humanitarian situation. recognizing these matters cannot be fully dressed without a functioning state the solid people are frustrated.

the government now has 36 months to complete a constitution, connect constitutional referendum and hold national elections. increased security is provided the foundation for governance, but as the earth attack, still capable of operating both within and beyond the borders. the unconscionable targeting of civilians by katie requires our attention and resources command as to consider what it means american interest in the region and our allies in the region, where the extra attention today. this is why i will soon introduce along with the senator a resolution to the resolution condemning the attack and reaffirming u.s. support for kenya and regional efforts to counter terrorism. this hearing is an opportunity to consider a u.s. support to help big gains on security and governance. since 2006 our country is provided $700 million of support to amisom and the somali national army in addition to the hundred 40 million to support stabilization, democracy, and economic growth.

despite the investments i am concerned our strategy has not kept pace with changing realities on the ground, particularly concerns about governance, and i intend to introduce right to have legislation requiring the administration to introduce a strategy with benchmarks, and a timeline for implementation which i hope we can discuss in more detail. i am pleased to welcome assistance secretary thomas green felt for her first hearing before our committee before being a firm hand again a express gratitude for traveling from mogadishu to be with us and all of our witnesses for the skills and expertise and background that you bring to this hearing. with that i will turn it over to the senator for his opening statement. >> said thank the chairman and appreciate him holding this hearing and for you making the sacrifice to be year. some challenges with the shot down. obviously the geographical challenges as well. thank you for being here. the events of the past week, weekend indicate u.s. interest is continually threatened.

nearly 20 years to the day after the battle of mogadishu unfortunately known as black hawk down a u.s. special forces risked their lives in defense of those interests. yet 20 years later it seems that the same problems that plagued somalia earlier since the collapse of the central government in 1991 and perhaps even before continue to play today. today's hearing will provide us with an excellent opportunity to evaluate current u.s. policy toward the somali government and which the u.s. government recognizes for the first time earlier this year is significant and we need to make sure that that leads to something positive it is encouraging that the recognition occurred, but we need to make sure, like i said, it is moving in the right direction. the security situation and the threat posed by al shabaab also need to be assessed, especially in the wake of the nairobi terror attack in the past couple of weeks.

lastly, the assistance of the u.s. to somalia for development and security needs to be examined to ensure that tax dollars spent in somalia go to support u.s. objectives there. this hearing today, i feel, is important as a first step to help in assuring that in another 20 years we won't be hearing reports of u.s. special forces risking their lives again. i look forward to hearing from the witness today. thank-you to the chairman for pushing forward on this. i think of it as a good show that we are still having hearings and moving forward, even with the shutdown. thank you for being here. >> thank you. now we will move to our first panel of witnesses. broadly speaking, we encourage you to keep opening comments to five minutes, but we are here to hear from you. madam assistant secretary. >> good afternoon. chairman, ranking member, it really is my pleasure to appear before you today to talk about

somalia. you reminded me that this is my first hearing since taking over my position about two months ago, and it really is important for me because as assistant secretary for african affairs, somalia will remain atop the foreign policy priority for the department of state as it has for the obama administration. the bilateral relationships, the election of president a side dish was a welcome signal that room for political progress in somalia was opening. this was made possible in part because of the international community's support for the peace process and the role of our regional partners, notably the african union and the intergovernmental authority and developments. on january 17 to be formally recognized the federal government of somalia after two decades of transitional government's.

nonetheless, the u.s. government also understood very clearly that somalia would face considerable challenges as it worked to rebuild its stated. the success of the african union mission in somalia, -- amisom troop contributing countries and strategic partners to combat and eviscerate al shabaab are demonstrating the strength of an african-led model. nonetheless this somalia based al qaeda affiliate remains a dangerous presence. the all too recent terrorist attack in nairobi for which al shabaab has taken credit is a chilling example of the challenges for somalia and the region. the tax suggests the violent extremism in the horn of africa may be evolving. it also makes clear that al shabaab presents a threat to u.s. partner nations in east africa, american citizens, and u.s. interest in that region and elsewhere.

al shabaab must be stopped. the federal government of somalia must increase its capacity to town to -- counter al shabaab, unified a fractured political system, and provide basic services to the somali people. for all this the government of somalia needs our support and much more. our primary interest in somalia is to help the people of somalia build a peaceful nation that is stable, with a stable government , that is able to insure civil society, civil security, and services for its citizens. this leads me to turn to what our policy engagement is in somalia. prior to our recognition of the federal government of somalia, our policy had three primary elements, provide support for african union mission in somalia for c-span.org as it is commonly known and the amisom strategic

partner, ethiopia to combat al shabaab and political space -- and provide political space for the government to operate. second, we wanted to respond to the humanitarian crisis and initiates stabilization where possible. third, we wanted to promote our dual track policy. post transition, prior transition. post transition the three elements of our small policy have evolved and are as follows. first, we continue to support amisom as the primary stabilizing force in somalia. as we expand our assistance to the somali national army to build an institutional and operational capacity, from fiscal year 2007 through fiscal year 2013 the united states obligated approximately 512 million u.s. dollars in support of amisom. in addition to our assessed contributions. during this same time we

obligated more than 170 million to support the somali national army to counter al shabaab more effectively. second, we have shifted focus from humanitarian crisis response now concentrating on security and stability. the foundation for economic recovery to our development. in fy2012 and at what 2013 be provided nearly $140 million in funding to support somalias stabilization, democracy, and economic growth activity. third, our dual track approach concluded with a successful completion of the peace process and recognition of the federal government of somalia. the united states has underscored the importance of outreach and engagement with the regional administration to form the federal framework. we will continue to fund the humanitarian assistance and civil society programs in somaliland with an objective of

improving regional collaboration toward federalism. our assistance to somalia includes an emphasis on human rights, accountability, child soldier prevention, countering human trafficking and budget transparency, and fiscal management. the tragic and cowardly attack on innocent civilians had kenya's west gate mall has underscored vulnerabilities in the horn of africa and demonstrates that al shabaab as a capable network in the east africa area and is willing to carry out attacks outside of somalia. concerted pressure from amisom and the somali national army has weakened al shabaab and the ability to wage conventional military offenses and to hold territory inside somalia. we attribute the success to the african-led model for achieving great stability in somalia. however, al shabaab can still conduct destabilizing operations in east africa.

the department is working closely with our regional partners on counter-terrorism efforts and we are reviewing internally what further resources we can provide to shore up amisom and further support their efforts, secure the border and its neighbors and contribute to the international effort to shape the somali national army into a cohesive, professional, an effective force for the united states to effectively engage on these complex issues, understand local dynamics, build relationships and manage our expanding programs in somalia we eventually need to establish a permanent u.s. diplomatic presence there. ultimately the security conditions will dictate public and establish a more permanent presence and recognize the time is not right for that at this time. however, we are moving in that direction. our current posture allows for a nairobi-based diplomatic team to travel to the somali capital and

other key regions with increased frequency and duration and security conditions permit. building political cooperation among the somali regional -- somali regions and plans in support of the federal framework is the essential if democracy, economic security is truly to take hold. this is the message that the president emphasized during his washington meeting with secretary carey, secretary hegel, national security adviser rice and with me when i met with him in new york. we see budding signs that he has meaningfully engaged in regional administration. a small the federal government signed the accords on august 22nd recognizing that regional entity and mapping a way forward to become a federal state. the federal government introduced a road map to the 2016 election with the focus on political inclusion and security.

mogadishu and somalia and came to an agreement on regulating air space, a step toward wider reconciliation. ultimately the development up to satori accountable and representative institutions that respond to the needs of the people will secure that country's future. we are committed to working with the government and the people of somalia to help them realize that vision. thank you. >> thank you very much, madam assistant secretary, and i look forward to a round of questions on the topic. if i might, we look forward to your testimony today. >> chairman, ranking member, distinguished members of the subcommittee and staff, thank you for the a paternity to appear today to update you on department of defense will these of the somalia and the way ahead dare. the united states, as you know, has not maintained an official

military relationship since the early 1990's in large part because there is not a u.s.-recognized government of somalia until 2013. in light of the recognition on january 2013 the department of defense in close cooperation and coordination with the state department 60 developing normalized military to military relationship with the somali national security forces.

that's for the for seeable future we must maintain focus on somalia to sustain security progress knead today as al-shabaab is likely to remain the primary threat for some time to come. the significant gains achieved over the past two years have been critical in providing space for the political process that resulted in somalia's transition to government now officially recognized. somalia faces many challenges ahead moving forward on a five years ago. through u.s. africa command will work with state department to

design security operation activities to assisted with department of unified somali security force. there have been tremendous gain at sea. in and around the horn of africa it's been eliminated. as maritime nation, the united states relies on the unhinders use and access of the sea to ensure the economic well being. as recently as 2011, somali pirates held nearly 600 mariner hose hostages aboard the ship and roamed an area the size of the united. today thanks to changes in business practice by the commercial maritime industry and the presence of international -- naval forces. dod's approach to the region and somalia reflects the u.s. national security strategy of the sub saharan africa and the deafen strategic guidance. it focuses in particular on

advancing peace and security by working with partners to address security threats to share concern and create and environment that -- sustainable broad base development. looking forward dod will work in conjunction with state department and other u.s. government agencies to provide security tan to build the capacity smom ya's security institutions including their ability to counterterrorism, secure borders, and coastlines, and reenforcing democratic value in the rule of law. additionally we'll continue to work with the state department and the contributing countries in their efforts to counter and defeat al-shabaab. amazon represents and important success story in which african forces from uganda, kenya, have collaborated to regain territory from al-shabaab working in collaboration with the somali national army as well asth open began phoneses.

the united states and other international partners have provided critical training and equipment assistance to facilitate these efforts. once appropriations are approved from the department of defense fiscal year 2014 would be the first in twenty years in which dod is able to support somali national security forces directly with title x activities. dod put in place a senior military representative at the somali affair unit who performs a role similar to that. and we will increase our presence in mooing key shoe in tandem with the state department. dod personnel are now participating in the joint security committee lead by the somali government and the somalia defense working group lead by the united nations on a regular basis. more over we made a concerted effort to increase the key leader engagement with the senior somali officials. this summer the commander made

his initial visit. initially secretary of hagel hosted -- these engagements have been critical in identifying and better understanding somali security needs and concerns inspect conclusion, somalia continue to present a complex set of challenges and opportunities. however with sustained assistance from the united states and other international partnerses. will be better positioned to fend off the al-shabaab insurgency and gradually transform the state to a success story. thank you for your enduring support, men and women in uniform, and the dedicated team of civil began officials. we look forward to work with you on somalia and the other elements of our african policy. >> thank you very much. last on the first panel. >> good afternoon. thank you, chairman coons and

ranking member flake. i appreciate the opportunity to be with you today and appreciate your ongoing support for our assistance program that make a difference in the live of millions around the world. i last testified in front of the committee about somalia in august of 2011. and that was at the worst drought in east africa's 60 years had plunged more than 13 million people in the rebelling to crisis. the july 20th u.n. declaration of famine. 4 million somalis survival dpernded on receiving emergency assistance. the entire region suffered, only in somalia if the drought result in famine. it was a deadly combination of drought, a failed state and the remembers of our tariff that lead to the death of hundreds of thousand of somalis. as was famously said.

famines don't happen in democracy. two years later it's a remarkable story we're telling now. somalia has a first legitimate central government since 1991. it has e a democratically elected president and parliament. i'm pleased to report i was in brussels where 58 countries gathered in support of a exact for somalia that focuses not on famine but peace and prosperity. the recent, very tragic shall baseball attack underscores a need to reaffirm our commitment to help somalia on the pathway to peace, process territorial-type -- prosperity. since 1991, u.s.a.'s work in somalia has been defined by a prolonged complex humanitarian emergency. however, over the past five years, with increasing security gains, u.s. aid has been able to increase our support in five key areas for transition.

and most importantly, in 2012, u.s. aid's democracy and govern mans effort supported the formation of the first national government in 22 years. with other donors, we have provided logistic support, constitutional experts to convene tradition nam elders and representatives from a cross section of somali society in to a constituent assembly. u.s. aid partners mounded as maive civic education campaign to mobilize support for the constitution drafting process and the eventual adoption by the constituent assembly. the assembly elected new member of parliament who selected the new president through a democratic process. globally, we see that the greatest poverty and insecurity persists in weak and fragile state it is a -- states that are claimed by conflict. if 2011, a group of 19

self-inflicted conflict states established a new framework for helping countries climb out protracted conflict. this new deal calls for a clear focus on e five key peacebuilding and state building goals including legitimate politics, security, justice, economic foundation, and revenues and services. the contact we endorsed in brussels with the government of somalia sets us on a road map to achieve the goals clear benchmark. a federal institution by 2015, credible election by 12016, 30% quota for women's participation, state security institutions, and so forth. the new deal hinges firmly on mutual accountability and a state society relationship that is based on inclusion and on dialogue. it specifically need involving

previously marginalized -- and vital dialogue with regional entities like somali. this approach recognizes that security government, are deeply intertwine. today food and security level in somalia are at the lowest point since before the 2011 drought. not only by conflict and weak governance with the severe

weather shocks that are coming in ever faster cycle possible for communities to escape the cycle of crisis. as we have done in other part u.s. aid focused not just on saving lives but building resilience. so communities are better prepared for enable to recover from the next shot -- in their country. and somalia would not have the opportunity that it has today were it not for the many member of the somali community in and outside of the country who are making a daily decision to focus on a future built on hope and peace rather than on conflict and despair. we know the road is long. the challenges are steep. this will not be fast nor will it be easy. but with the specific commitment of the new deal that road maps with the specific commitment and

continued we believe right now represents the best chance for peace in two decades and the u.s. will remain a committed parter in. thank you, again, i look forward to questions. >> by focusing on the norm progress that has been made in the last two years since you first testified a reminder there's been real progress in dealing piracy which has been dramatically curtailed and making steady progress toward a legitimate state recognized by the united and laying the platform for progress toward moving forward with dealing with some of the unresolved constitutional i i guess --

issues. i would like first, of all three of you. what impact is the current federal government shut down having on your ability -- your department or station's ability to review and improve programs. to carry out and deliver needed development, diplomacy, and were the shut down continue for another few weeks with the impacts strengthen become more pronounced in any way. i'm sure my colleagues will agree that the shut down has had an enormous impact on our ability to coordinate foreign policy within the interagency frame work as some of our colleagues within the interagency are on furlough. they're not available for us to coordinate or speak with. and it's really important if we are to have an interagency process that everyone is at the table. we are also not in a position to

travel in the case of travel to somalia, that's a two-sided problem. because security now or people not traveling but had there not been any security issues they still could not travel because we have a travel moratorium. thirdly, our ambassadors are not able to host events that build on the critical relationship we need to duoto do our job. we are unable, also, i think we're not able to monitory our system. it was mentioned the large amount of taxpayer dollars that are going in to supporting somalia. we feel responsible for the taxpayer dollars. in order to ensure where they are going where they need to go. we need to get in the field and monitor the shut down will essential impact as well. similarly to the area laid out

my colleague -- in particular for the first week of the shut down were effected and that significantly diminished our ability operate across the department in all key area whether it was acquisition, personal readiness, training, et, et. there are also unexpected ways for the shut down impacts, for example, the inability to make cash expenditure could be fine as far as if you're thinking about cash expenditure entertain -- for example that could be set to the side temporarily. when it comes to aircraft who are paying fees of various kinds whether it's refueling and overseas locations and unto be expend cash that is just a small example of a