i think your position that in the use of executive power will be in accordance with the law and authority clarifies it and i think what has been missing a lot of the reaction of the president's speech were some of his critics have said that he's going to be legislating or bypassing congress and in fact he is using legislation that granted him authority.

let me just say on the issue of trafficking i welcome your comments on that score. i have proposed a resolution, bipartisan resolution with my colleague rob portman who is not a member of this committee basically saying that there should be more vigorous enforcement of these laws particularly around the time of the super bowl because the trafficking on web sites like back page.com and tends to increase during this time so i welcome your comments. and let me just add briefly, to take senator leahy's comments, i want to thank you and the department of justice for really over these past years viewing these legal issues on their merits, on their legal merits putting politics aside. the justice department went through a dark area in my view under the previous administration when politics far too often became part of the

analysis and i want to thank the career, justice department employees who worked so hard and long under you to make sure that the rule of law is berserk. let me turn to a part of the president's speech where i might have hoped he had said more on the issue of repenting gun violence. the mention by the president was very brief, but i hope and i hope you will join me in the view that the president remains completely committed to ending gun violence in this country, adopting common sense sensible measures like background checks and mental health initiatives and a ban on straw purchases and illegal trafficking. the bill that was before us unfortunately failed to pass but i would like your commitment on

behalf of the administration that he remains resolutely and steadfastly in support of these initiatives? >> yes, we do still have that commitment. the worst day that i had his attorney general of the united states was the day that i went to newtown to thank the first responders. the crime scene search officers that were there and they took me on a tour of that school. and if people had the ability, if the american people and legislators and members of congress have the ability to be with me today to walk through through the classrooms and see the caked blood and i didn't understand when i first saw it, the carbon where bullets had gone through and picked up the carpet and people had seen the crime scene pictures of those little angels i suspect the outcome of the effort we mounted last year would have been different. our resolve remains the same.

my resolve was as firm as it was back then and i think what we should also understand is the vast majority of the american people still want those commonsense gun safety measures that we advanced last year. our commitment is real and we will revisit these issues. >> and on the subject of the use of the president's authority, my hope is and i would urge that he take whatever action is possible as he has done in a number of steps already and as you have done and trying to clarify the mental health issues that have to be reported to the system. my hope is that the initial measures, executive actions are contemplated under that authority. >> the president, it is his intention to again try to work with congress but in the absence of meaningful action to explore

all the possibilities and use all the powers that he has two frankly just protect the american people. >> thank you. one last subject. i have a lot of subjects that i could explore with you but i'm hoping that the administration will also explore very vigorously what i can do to stop assaults on campus. i applaud the president's initiative and you were part of the task force that he has appointed, the council on women and girls that emphasizes how pressing and pervasive this problem is on our campuses. i am attending an initiative in connecticut to try to raise awareness about it and i would like your commitment that you will work with me and others on this committee on this issue. >> i look forward to working with you on that important issue

in the statistics are alarming. 20% of all young women are either assaulted or an attempt of an sexual assault. usually this happens and there freshmen are early part of their sophomore years. we have used those statistics in the work of the task force of the president has put together to deal with that issue and we look forward to working with you and other members of congress and trying to come up with meaningful ways that we can deal with an issue that has too often been if not ignored not given the attention it deserves. >> just so no one thinks that this issue nearly involves rhetoric. there is a legal basis for legal action and federal -- title ix in protecting women against the ongoing assaults and other kinds of harm that they suffer on campuses. >> the justice department has using all the tools that we can and we have worked out an

agreement with the university of montana using our civil rights statutes where the problem was not being adequately addressed and we worked to the credit of the university would he put in place a descent decree and that the university says i now understand it are talking to the university of montana to see what measures they had put in place and it's our hope that this kind of thing will expand and cover more college campuses. >> thank you very much. thank you for your testimony today and for your in the department of justice service to our nation. >> thank you senator. senator graham. >> good morning attorney general. people on both sides of the aisle are asking you to do some very worthy things. this is a great area for you to be involved in. tell me how sequestration over the next decade affects your ability not only to do more but to do what you are tasked to do today in terms of fighting terrorism. >> sequestration were to remain in place we would not be able to do the kinds of things the

american people expect of us. we have 4000 fewer people in the justice department and we did in january 2011 as a result of sequestration or the expectation of sequestration that forced me to put into place a hiring freeze. we simply have fewer investigators, fewer prosecutors our ability to do the job is very negatively impacted by sequestration or has been negatively impacted by sequestration. >> is one thing to become more efficient and it eventually becomes a lack of ability so i hope we will all remember that. over the next decade do you see threats to our homeland increasing, decreasing or staying about the same regarding terrorist activity? >> that's an interesting question. i would say that in terms of the threat from core al qaeda, the threat i think is likely to be less severe. i'm more concerned about homegrown violent extremists who get radicalized in a variety of

ways that you are familiar with and what they might try to do. where you have one offs or two people. >> so there to threats, homegrown terrorism which i agree is definitely on the rise, the likelihood of being attacked by someone who has been radicalized as an american citizen. austin is maybe the future but you have to remember taliban -- it's not just core al qaeda. >> no, the affiliates. >> they are out to get us and i just want people to understand that privacy is important but understanding the threat too is also important. about the irs to you agree with me that the allegation is that the irs agency targeted people who were political enemies of the president or seemed to be political enemies of the president and made it harder for them to organize and express themselves? isn't that the basic allegation? >> is certainly was generated my

desire to have an investigation done. >> this is not the first time that has happened in washington. i mean -- >> old enough to remember the nixon -- >> i guess how we handle this is important. senator cruz has written you a letter, please pay attention to it because senator cornyn suggested that the victim, the person trying to organize houston? hasn't been talked to. is that possible? >> because the investigation is not completed -- >> but how could you investigate a matter if you don't talk to the people who are claiming to be the victim of the offense? it would be almost impossible to say that was a thorough investigation would nick? >> you certainly have to talk to the victims. my only point was the investigation is not over yet. >> understand that at this point in the investigation how many

victims of the tea party organizations that claim to have done abuse by the irs, how many people have actually been talked to, the victims themselves by anybody in the justice department? >> this is an ongoing matter and i'm not sure i want to get into the specifics. >> if the answer were none, that would be studying -- stunning would nick? investigation has been going on for sometime and i'm not sure how much longer it's going to go. >> i don't mean to belabor this but do you know of if any of the victims have been talked to by the department of justice about what allegedly happened? >> i have been briefed on this matter on a couple of occasions. >> finally the arab rid of special prosecutor seems to make sense and the gentleman that you appointed as a fine man and he made a donation to the president that bother some people and i

understand why it would great don't you think we would be better off just to have somebody clearly disconnected from the politics of president obama, certainly it does not to be a republican but somebody they can be seen as maybe having a political allegiance in this matter either through prosecution urges missile? don't you think that the country would be better served if we did that? >> an investigation is being done by career people have a constitutional right to engage in political activity. the men and women of the justice department have from the time of memorial put aside whatever their political meetings are conducted investigations under the facts of the law. >> you have political appointees and you have career people in that respect both but we have a country to run here, democracy and a group of people apparently with great reason believe that their own government made it difficult for them to organize and express themselves politically. that sort of goes to the heart

and soul of democracy and it would be better for us all if somebody with an independent viewpoint looked at that. >> i don't think there is any basis to believe that anybody who is involved in this investigation would conduct themselves in a way that is an appropriate or would be shady. >> the person investigating abuse of power by the abundant is a donor to the. >> i would say that people have constitutional rights. >> i totally agree. i'm just saying from a perception problem for lack of a better word i mean you know, to me it just is a no-brainer. i'm glad that someone outside of the nixon administration eventually looked at watergate and i'm not saying this is watergate. it's not a good moment. so let's go to benghazi.

can we expect any prosecutions anytime soon against alleged perpetrators and benghazi? >> we have been working very hard in connection with that investigation. the work we are doing is in a challenging environment. we have identified people who we believe are responsible. >> is one of them mr. at? >> i don't want to comment on anybody specifically. he is commonly identified in the press as one of the planners of the attack and participated in the attack in libya. that is what the press reports are and i have reason to believe they are right to refuse bin interviewed by cnn times of london and reuters. why can't we grab it if the press could talk to him in a hotel in libya of? >> i would say that we are determined to hold accountable the people who are responsible

for that attack and we will take and use all measures of the american government in order to effectuate that desire. >> a few more questions. the fbi interviewed the survivors of the attack at the state department on the 15th ,-com,-com ma 16th and 17th of september. i have asked for those if di interviews because i want to know what they said about a potential protest carried the deputy director retired of the fbi says none of the survivors told the agents on the 15th, 16th and 17th of september september -- [inaudible] would you allow members of congress to have access to these interviews? >> i'm not aware of what happened with these interviews with these three days of interviews. i'm not conversant with what happened. >> when did you first get notified about what happened and benghazi and did you believe there would be a terrorist attack? >> i would have to think about it.

i'm not sure when i first heard about the attack. i'm sure it was sometime shortly there, probably -- >> do you member being briefed by the fbi about what they learned mcgaw's a? >> after the attack xp yes. >> i've been briefed by the fbi on a number of occasions with regard to both the attack in the investigation into the attack. >> the last interview was on the 17th of september. can you recall intel is the first time you were informed by the fbi about what they found with the attack? >> i'm not sure i understand. >> my time is up at the point i'm trying to make is when did the attorney general of united the united states were you made aware of the fact that the fbi interviewed the survivors of the attack? when did they tell you about the interview about what they found? >> i would have to look at the records on that. what we tried to do initially was to work with the libyan government to get the f. bim to

libya to look at the crime scene that was our primary concern and then from there interviews we have done of the people who were in the facility at the time into survived. >> if you could go back and look and let us know in writing when you were first made aware of the results i would appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you very much senator and senator franken i do want to note that senator franken and i jointly recommended the u.s. attorney. we started our process way before he had been confirmed despite pushback in doing that. it's now been 189 days since we recommended him. senator franken. >> thank you madam chairwoman. i would associate myself with the chairwoman's remarks. he is an outstanding nominee and

we passed the committee and we hope it gets to to the floor as soon as possible. mr. attorney general thank you for your service. i want to talk to you about matters that are very pressing and urgent right now. minnesota and the number of other states are experiencing a severe shortage and propane in the cost of propane is skyrocketing. this is a real crisis. i wrote the president about it over the weekend urging him to take immediate action and i just spoke an hour or so ago with the secretary of energy moniz. one of the things the administration can do is to work with the industry to make sure propane is getting to the regions of the country, about 25 states that are in crisis here. one of the potential challenges in getting companies in a room to address the crisis is there may be a concern over anti-trust

violations, however unintended. i notice this issue is not yet on your radar but would you commit to working with me to make sure that any of those issues can be addressed and avoided in the midst of this crisis? >> yes, we will certainly do that. we will try to do all we can to make sure that the relief that people need with regard to the provision of propane occurs and we will look at what we can do to be as flexible as we can. >> to allow these companies, i mean. i was pleased to see that you've visited a veterans treatment center in roanoke last week. we have some very successful veteran courts in minnesota and across the country but not nearly enough to meet the demand can you tell the committee what you learned from your visit to the veterans treatment court and

why you think it's worthwhile for the federal government to invest in these programs? >> first, i think that we as a nation of oa debt to people who have served. and have done so obviously putting their lives at risk. they oftentimes come back with issues that were generated as a result of their service that puts them in conflict, they break the law and they should be held individually responsible but i think we also need to come up with ways that we deal with those underlying issues that generally cause involvement with the law. what i saw in roanoke and something i want to try to expand is a very difficult thing. talk to these veterans and they say would be easier to plead guilty and do 30 days in jail a year in jail and be done with it as opposed to going through a six-month or grammar you have to report every week where you are subject to random drug tests and you have to prove you have a

living situation and employment. it's very rigorous but the recidivism rate is tiny compared to what other people go through. so we save money by not incarcerating people unnecessarily and we enhance public safety by decreasing the number of verses of those crimes. what i saw in roanoke i think was very heartening to see and it's something we need to support and expand. >> i really appreciate that response. this is a very important issue to me and to a lot of members of both the house and the senate and on a totally bipartisan basis. the justice and mental health collaboration at, which would authorize federal funding for veteran treatment courts, along with a whole bunch of other things. i mean we do have too many people incarcerated who have not

committed violent crimes who are there because of mental health issues or for addiction, who would be better off not being in prison and who are paying way too much money to keep incarcerated and who has more recidivism because of being put in prison instead of being put in treatment. this is about mental health courts, this is about veterans courts and i would like to submit to the record the support i received from the warrior project and am vets and i would like to submit articles from the "star tribune" in the minnesota minnesota -- madam chairwoman? attorney general, on monday the department announced that when

companies disclose surveillance orders they get in the number of customers affected by those, i think this is a step forward for transparency and i want to thank you for your work on this but i respectfully think that's enoug. disclosures do not apply to the largest surveillance program that is declassified, the 215 call records program that affects hundreds of millions of americans. what's more company disclosures are optional and voluntary and unless the government tells the american people how many of them have had their information collected under all of these programs the public will not know the full scope of surveillance. i have a bipartisan bill was senator dean heller of nevada that would force the government

to give the american people a good idea of how many of them have had their information collected under all these programs and how much of it has been queried. how much of their information has been looked at. senator heller introduces bill with me and chairman leahy has cosponsored it along with several other colleagues on this committee but the government has opposed this measure and has refused to disclose this information. i think it's common sense that the public knew this information would be able to make a better decision for itself as to both the purpose, the efficacy of this program and to what extent extent -- and i think the president said at last night, it would help gain trust.

so my question is when will the government give the american people a good idea of how many of them have had their information collected and viewed or queried or accessed under this program? >> well, one of the things we want to try to do and i think you are right that the action we took on monday was a first step. it was only a first step. there is a think a need for greater transparency for people to understand the nature of the programs that are being run. we always have to understand though that the value of these programs, substantial value of these programs are intelligence programs and therefore they have to be kept secret. how we strike that balance is something that director clapper and i will be working on in conjunction with other people and we would certainly invite your involvement in that process. we would ultimately come up with a system that is effective and

keeps the american people safe but at the same time gives the american people a degree of insurance we are only during that which is necessary to make those programs effective. to the extent that we can share information as we did on monday about what actually is being collected in terms of numbers, to the extent that we can do that i think that's something that we want to try to encourage. >> thank you and my time has expired. i would like to submit some questions for the record. thank you madam chair. >> thank you very much. senator cruz. >> general holder thank you for being here. i would like to talk to you about abuse of power and the integrity of the department of justice. eight months ago the inspector general at the department of treasury concluded that the irs improperly targeted conservative citizen groups, tea party

groups, pro-israel and pro-life groups. the day that was made public president obama described what had occurred as quote intolerable and inexcusable and he said americans have a right to be angry about it and i'm angry about it. likewise, that same day you said that the irs targeting of conservative citizen groups was quote, outrageous and unacceptable. that was eight months ago. in the eight months that have transpired, lois lerner the head of the office that targeted conservatives improperly has gone before it congress and pleaded the fifth which you know means she raised her hand and she said if i testify it may incriminate myself. for a senior government official to plead the fifth is a major

occurrence. in the 280 days since that inspector general report, nobody has been indicted, not a single person. in the 280 days since the inspector general report it has been publicly reported that no indictments are planned. today in this hearing, you were unwilling to answer a question whether even a single victim of the target has been interviewed in the 280 days that have transpired. and most astonishingly, it has now been publicly reported that the lead lawyer heading the investigation was number one appointed from the civil rights division, which is historically the most politically charged division and the department of justice. and even more astonishingly, is a major democratic donor and

donor to president obama. indeed between 2004 in 2012 she has personallpersonall y given $6750 to president obama and the democratic party. i must tell you i find it astonishing that the department of justice appointed a major obama donor to head this investigation. the first question i want to ask is did you know that the lawyer in charge of this investigation was a major obama donor? >> first off my characterization of the lawyer as the lead lawyer on this case is not correct. this is an investigation done by the civil rights and as well as the criminal division of the justice department. if i had to assign the lead i would say the public integrity has the lead and also involving the fbi as well as the inspector general from the treasury department. >> attorney general with all respect he did not answer the

question that i ask which is did you know that this lawyer was a major obama donor? >> i don't know anything about the political activitieactivitie s of any of the people involved in the investigation. >> previously when you're asked about this he made a reference to the fact that she has the first amendment right to be involved in politics and that is surely right. nobody's talking about restraining her first a memory to be involved in politics but the department of justice ethics guideline says that if the lawyer quote the leaves your impartiality might be questioned you must either disqualify yourself or see the ethics and indeed it goes on to say in a case where your impartiality might be questioned, you may obtain a formal opinion that the department's interest in your participation in this matter outweighs the concern that the integrity of the department's operation would be in question.

now i have to tell you the facts that a major obama donor is playing this leadership role has resulted in the integrity of the department being questioned. is it your position that the 117,000 employees at the department of justice, the only lawyer available to have this investigation was a major obama donor? >> first we have 112,000 people but beyond that, the people who are assigned to this case, the assignments were done by career people within the department to make sure that the best people with the greatest amount of experience would handle this matter. your repeated reference to her as a legal lawyer as i said i think it's not borne out by the role she is actually playing. i don't have any basis to believe that the people engaged in this specification are doing in a way other than the way

investigations on her mali done. that is by looking at the facts and applying the law to those facts and reaching the appropriate conclusion. i don't think any basis to believe anything other than that is occurring. >> given the 20080 days has passed and no one has been indicted. many of not all of the victims have not even been interviewed. 280 days have passed and apparently the anger and outrage that both the president and you express has utterly disappeared and indeed last night in "the state of the union address" the president did not so much as mention the words irs. the anger and outrage sees very little manifestation in actual action. now, i would also point out -- >> i would hope the president would not discuss an ongoing investigation. i don't know if you have ever conducted an investigation but the fact that it's taking 280 days is not unusual for a complex investigation. we want to make sure that what

we do is comprehensive and at the end of the day we get it right. on a short races i asked people to simply -- >> many of the victims have not been interviewed. has the investigation examined the meetings between the head of the irs and the white house political operatives to determine the degree of political influence that was exercised from the white house over this political target? >> as i said to senator grimm i'm not going to discuss an ongoing investigation and what steps have been taken in connection with that investigation. that is not something i'm only doing for this inquiry but this is an answer you would get about an investigation the justice department is involved in. it's not a pro-before the attorney general in any justice department person to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation. >> has any investigation been done about whether individual

donors to governor romney has been targeted by the irs at a greater rate than donors to president obama? i have total -- i will tell you as i have traveled the country i have heard from dozens of financial supporters for governor romney who have told me they have never been audited in their life and within a week or month of it becoming public that they were raising money for me romney they discovered they were being audited. those are anecdotal stories but it would be relatively simple to examine the prosecution rates of obama donor's versus romney donors and if there were a sharp differential, if it were the case that romney donors were being audited at a much higher frequency that would raise substantial basis to investigate further. has the investigation inquired

as to that? >> senator you know i will say, that could be the same response to the questions that you are asking that are in many ways very similar. i'm not going to discuss what we have done in the ongoing investigation. this is a matter that is presently being investigated and interviews are being done. analyses are being conducted and it would be inappropriate for me to talk about the matter in the way that you have asked. >> my time has expired but let me say this in conclusion which is i sent you last week a letter laying out this record, laying out the abuse of power, laying out the obvious conflict of interest. in my view the integrity of the department justice has been severely compromised. predecessors of yours in both parties, democrat and republican, when faced with serious charges of abuse of power for partisan gain at me

the right decision and appointed special prosecutors. elliott richardson appointed archibald cox to investigate president nixon's abuse of power. no one would have chested john lewis to investigate and likewise janet reno appointed robert fisc to investigate allegations against president clinton. i would call upon you to carry out the tradition of independence that attorneys general have honored that office with for centuries and to protect the integrity of the department of justice, given the political sensitivities, given the fact that individual citizens believe they are being persecuted by the federal government for partisan reasons. it would further the justice in the integrity of the departmedepartme nt of justice for you to appoint a special prosecutor with a meaningful degree of independence to

investigate and find out what happened and i would suggest that any special prosecutor should have integrity beyond reproach and not be a major obama donor. >> well let me just say this. a lot of what attorney general reno did with regard to the appointment of independent counsel was because of a statute that no longer exists. the regulations that were put in place under my supervision when i was deputy attorney general in the clinton administration and so i'm familiar with both regulation and went out to be applied, i don't think that there is a basis for us to conclude on the information as it presently exists that there is any reason for an appointment of counsel. i have faith in the career people handling this matter to do so in a way that is free of any kind of partisan or ideological intent to come to an assessment of the facts of the law based only on the facts and

the law. the notion that somehow this has caused a loss of faith in this justice department i think is inconsistent with the facts. >> senator coons. >> thank you senator klobuchar and thank you a attorney general holder for your testimony today in your service. i wanted to first focus on an area of shared concern and interest. the department of service questioning as a broad range of of -- i have one of particular interest is strengthening the vita connections between federal state and local law enforcement and in your opening statement you emphasized her gratitude for the appropriations this year which makes possible strengthening that relationship. in delaware in particular the justice initiative is one example of this partnership that snake in a difference and sustained federal support might be critical to ensure that newly enacted state reforms translate

into a reduced recidivism to save lives and save dollars. can you comment on the outset why it's important for the federal government to invest in state and local law enforcement training information-sharing and funding assistance? >> one to try to increase the capacity of our state and local partners. the reality is the vast majority of criminal law enforcement is conducted by people who are state and local law enforcement agencies. so helping them just do their job specs a great deal of sense. i also think that what we see is innovative practices being done by our state and local counterparts that we want to try to port experiments almost and see which things work and then try to push those out to other parts of the country. if we want to have a truly safe country with safe communities with innovative law enforcement practices, the federal

government i think has the unique capacity for our funding mechanisms to funnel money to agencies that have particular crime problems they are dealing with or have innovative solutions to crime problems that many communities around the nation are facing. >> thank you. i'm a strong believer in the capacity of the federal government to find specific programs and combine research training and funding assistance to catalytically leverage those unique actresses are important and special programs. i want to draw your attention to two of them that we discussed before. the victims of child abuse act as in the past funded child advocacy centers that are really important tool and senator klobuchar discuss with you earlier the critical importance of strengthening our enforcemeenforceme nt against traffickitrafficki ng. i think his these advocacy centers have plated essential role and the bulletproof vest partnership that that has made possible vest that protects

local law enforcement officers in rural departments where they could not sustainably feel them themselves. regrettably both of those were zeroed out in the president's fy14 budget and the funding was restored and i think we are continuing to work in partnership to usher their carried forward and deploy. i know you have spoken in support of these programs in the past and the budgets are difficult and an important tool to convey our values and priorities. could you just comment on how the specific programs can help state and local law enforcement particularly in ways that are not possible is done alone that the state and local level? >> well i think child advocacy centers are things i've been familiar with since my time as united states attorney in washington d.c.. they are a primary tool, a good tool for people in law enforcement to successfully

prosecute cases that involve children who are victims. but beyond that it also helps the healing process for young vic dems so they don't get re-victimized by the process they go through through with the process can try to get on and to heal. for too long we did not understand the unique needs that children had been child advocacy centers have gone a long way to increase our sensitivity in that regard. we don't have the budget numbers for fiscal year 15. we don't have the micronumbers by the justice department but i will be advocating on behalf of of the child advocacy centers. i think they are proven to work and given who they assist, i think that as we try to decide what our priorities are, the protection of our most

vulnerable citizens, our children, has to be a place where we put our money. with regard to the vests, i think that we have talked about this before, it's a very legitimate concern that we did not make the provision of fest's dependent on the size of the community. officers who were on two or three men police forces are just as at risk when they are making a stop on a highway in the middle of the night as if somebody who works for the new york police department into the extent that we can be want to get as many of these fest's out there as we can. >> the a recent report from the presidential commission on election administration confirms an issue i've raised previously that there is a widespread lack of compliance with action by the national voter registration act the so-called voter law. in fact the report specifically says dmv's which are supposed to play a central role in registration are the weakest link in the system.

many states have disregarded the law and others have presented impediments on the registration from voter vehicle to voter registration. do you see this report is a call to action for enforcement of section 5 by the department and what is your plan to make sure that this import and forced? >> i think we need to look at that report. i think that was a very thoughtful and potentially very consequential piece of legislation and for it not to be enforced and for it not to be paid attention to would go against what i think is really important which is to somehow in an appropriate way without fraud expand the franchise and make it easier for people to get to float. to the extent that issues have been identified in that report

we will look at and that will help shape our enforcement efforts. or just to bring when i say enforcement just to bring it to the attention of the departments sometimes just's practices. we can hopefully modify things that are inconsistent with the act. >> let me ask a last question about fisa reform. the president has publicly recently offered options to the program in ways that would better respect and defend civil liberties in this country. is it the departments decision that section 215 can be used for metadata beyond phone records including location information financial records or internet records, and how do you view the best way moving forward to ensure the public that the

framework for making these decisions is right? do you support more disclosures of the legal rationale for the aspects of the surveillance program? >> i think we have two ask frank questions about the bull collection component of section 215 and make a decision on whether or not we are getting from that program sufficient amounts of good information, sufficient amounts of usable information to balance the i think legitimate concerns that people have expressed about potentially the wide-ranging nature of the program. i come into be honest with you with an open mind. there are certain programs, section 702 for instance that has to be regarded at all costs. with regard to 215 i think the metadata part of 215 we have to

ask ourselves difficult questions. not simply do things as the president said simply not do things because we can do them. the question is should we do them? as i said i think 215 is legal but that does not answer the question that the president has posed to us. >> thank you mr. attorney general. i joined a number of colleagues in urging and hoping the investigation to the irs action is done in the balance and repression on appropriate way. i assume it is unless demonstrated otherwise and i have heard there are progressive groups as well as tea party groups that were perhaps allegedly on the receiving end of reviews of their 501(c)(3) applications. it is my expectation that we will hear more in appropriate and timely way about the conduct of this investigation. >> let me assure you and the american people that the investigation what we call the irs investigation will be done in a nonpartisan nonideological way that we will make determinations on they on the

basis of the good investigated techniques that we always employed in the justice department and let me also express confidence in the men and women who are part of the team investigating the case now. as i said i see note aces to question their impartiality and we will try at the conclusion of the investigation to share as much information as we can about the conclusions we have reached either through prosecutions or declarations however the case ends up. >> thank you. >> last but not least senator flake. >> thank you. i appreciate you being here and i just want to say i share the concerns that some of my colleagues have expressed about some of the for lack of a better term constitutional actions taken with the president with regard to the aca. you have been asked those questions and some answers have been given and some not very it i don't think i will plow any new ground by going to that and

i also share my concerns about the investigation and the timeliness of it and i hope we can move forward quickly. i'm concerned about whether there are leaks or statements by the fbi that should have been made -- that there will be no criminal prosecution. i think that's concerning. when the fbi says something or leaks that out i hope the doj refutes that. i don't think we saw that. let me just talk about an area that i don't think it's been talked about. it's with regard to waste or inefficiency at the grant 0 grams. doj release 17 billion in grants between 2009 in 2013. inspector general michael horowitz issued a report in december that i think is some tough medicine. it says that we need some budget constraints. we need some things put in place to make sure we are not

squandering taxpayer resources. doj reported somewhat as squandering as much as 100 alien over the past five years. the oig audit questioned for example all of the more than 23 million in grant funds awarded by the departments to big brothers and big sisters of america. the controls are in place that need to be to shed light on where this money is going. mr. horowitz highlight of the problem yesterday and he said there is quote virtually no visibility under how grant funds are being used by recipients. quote unless there is an oig audit or investigation or the granting agency analyzes accounting information the government and taxpayers are virtually in the dark regarding how grant funds are actually used. this is an ongoing problem. i just wondered what was being

done to remedy this? >> first i think what we have to understand is i don't think the inspector general indicated that he is concerned that these funds are necessarily being misused as they are being used in appropriate way. that is a serious concern. i think as i remember in the report that he said over the past couple of years i think things have gotten better. i might be confusing the warts but i think that is what he said but what we have to do in the concern you raise is a legitimate one and we need mechanisms in place to ensure that the money given to grantees is use an appropriate way first so we know it's being done for the purpose that was given but also to assess the equities of the grants.

>> let me give you platitudes on this. doj said in 2012 that you would conduct an assessment of these programs and see whether there is overlap and where money perhaps is being placed. the inspector general said that that assessment has not and completed or provided to him or to congress. is that the case? >> we will have to get that assessment completed and share with congress and share it with the inspector general. >> you mentioned with regard to investigation of the irs it's perhaps routine to go 260 days or whatever was used and i understand that it probably is routine but i would suggest if it is not routine to go for a year, year and a half or two years before you come back with an assessment with regard to these programs. is that routine to take a year and a half or so after you have an assessment? >> i wouldn't say it's routine but what we want to do is make sure we have looked to see if

these are done in a good incomplete way. i don't know what the timeframe is but that would read to me on the excessive site. >> was brought up in the hearing that the questions that were submitted after the last oversight hearing in march of last year doj has not returned any answers to those questions by this oversight committee. is that routine to go a year without answering specific questions that have been asked as part of the oversight hearing? >> what we generally try to do is make sure as senator grassley said to answer the questions before the next oversight hearing. i don't know how many of the questions have not been responded to. i will have to look into that. >> i think it was the case in the questions had been -- nothing.

>> the answers have been prepared and are under review by the office of management and budget rates be a year later when we come to the next oversight hearing we soever received answers to the questions from the last oversight hearing. i realize we haven't gone through regular order in this place for a while but it's difficult to provide oversight when the answers don't come back >> that's a fair criticism and we obviously have to do a better job both of the department and answer in a more timely manner. >> it would like to have a commitment if you could that you will get back to me in a more timely fashion. >> with regard to one quick question on immigration as part of the bipartisan group that put together an immigration bill i share the president's concern and desire to get immigration reform done. let me tell you in all honesty one of the most difficult

questions i face at home from constituents and others about this new legislation we are putting forward. they say why in the world would we want to create more laws where we aren't enforcing the ones that we have for the department, the administration takes it upon itself to interpret the laws we have and use perhaps a little too much discretion in terms of -- implementing those laws? they have very little confidence of the new legislation put forward when it becomes the law will be implemented as it was intended. do you understand that sentiment out there at least and what can the administration do to help us? we are trying to get this done. i'm on your side. those who want to get immigration reform done let me tell you it's very difficult when we see things like the release of individuals with multiple felonies into the community.

i ask questions of secretary napolitano and those answers never got to that to us either. that kind of stuff at home make sit very difficult to instill the confidence that we need that these laws will be faithfully executed. >> while i think that if people truly understood how we enforced the laws, how completely we enforce them and how we use the discretion that we possess they would have a greater degree of comfort and how the justice department and dhs for that matter conducted themselves. and not for anecdotal things but really on a more systemic view of how it is we do what we do. i'm actually quite proud of the way we use the little resources we have to keep the american people safe. >> i agree with that and i would just tell you that if people understood or haps they would

better understand and if they had answers to these questions, what i'm telling you is we are not getting answers to those questions. i'm unable to go to my constituents and say here's the reason that these people with old felonies were released into the community because i'm not getting answers back from the department of homeland security or if in some cases from the og so i take it point. it's difficult when we don't hear back from the department a year later in conducting oversight hearings so i would leave you with that and i appreciate you being here and we will have further written questions to follow up. >> senator that is fair and as i said we will have to do better. i'm not criticizing anyone the justice department. we have to as an executive branch to better e-rate. >> thank you. i yield that. >> thank you very much senator

flake and thank you attorney general holder and i think the people who watch this hearing can see the range of work the justice department does. i was jotting down some notes on the legal issues regarding surveillance propane fuel, trafficking irs investigation and drug policy so we thank you for answering such a broad range of questions in this oversight hearing today and look forward to seeing you again soon. the record will stay open for two weeks. thank you. >> thank you. [inaudible conversations] ..

>> coming on next on c-span and c-span3, the senate commerce committee looking at west coast fisheries on the law on covering those fisheries. that is live at 10:00 p.m. eastern. >> this is where the clintons lived.

bill was down here and they bought a house and it was for sale and hillary pointed at the house and said that as a cue house. and bill took her to the airport and picked her up from the airport a month later and said bye-bye to your dream house, you have to marry me and live live with me because i can't live there alone. and that was the fourth time he had proposed mcgovernite people at the wedding come it was very small and intimate ceremony. it made notable mention of the fact that hillary was retaining her own name and build a not seem to be bothered by this. when i told virginia she cast and when they told sylvia's mother she cried. they really thought that they had arrived and they had settled in. they got married and they bought a house and they had successful jobs as law professors and they finished law school and they reached a plateau where they achieved a lot of things that they had set goals for my great. >> watcher program on the first lady's and hillary clinton at c-span.org/first ladies order

saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. our series continues on monday with laura bush. >> the secretary of the air force says there is a systemic problem with the forces that protect and maintain the nation's nuclear arsenal. secretary deborah lee james spoke before the air force association for 40 minutes. >> good morning, ladies and on. i have been getting signs from people that have to get back to the nursing home so i had to get back to the nursing home, i am referring to john conway, 80 your guide to crowder pergamon combine craig mckinley craig mckinley and president of the air force association. on behalf of the chairman of the board, welcome to our first secretary of the air force breakfasted 2014. and happy new year to everyone.

thank you for being here. [applause] madame secretary, normally we have to go through a buffet one and it takes forever. but for some reason when you are here we get a plated in sitdown breakfast. we thank you for that. we hope to come to all of your breakfast. we even have a coating her. i said would army guy doing in the air force association and he said that he just wanted to make sure that we were taking care of what the army air forces. so it's good to see the former army air corps. that is right. and we have a wonderful group of seniors and corporate executives and industry leaders and attaches from around the world. and we have a lot a shot at americans in the audience today. and we couldn't have a better keynote speaker today for our first breakfast series and under secretary of the air force. secretary deborah james at the 23rd secretary of the air force.

probably the most uniquely qualified secretary the we have ever had. with vast amount of experience in industry and in the pentagon and in government. and i cannot think of a better person to lead the world's greatest air force and that is secretary james. you didn't come here to hear me speak. without further ado i would like to bring her to the podium and thank you, madame secretary, for being with us this cold and brisk morning. thank you. [applause] [applause] >> thank you so much, general mckinley. if i could also add what a pleasure it is for me to be here with you going forward. and i could also start by saying thank you to the entire air force association team and we work very hard to put the

breakfast together. about 250 of us are here today which is a very high number of record breaking series in 2014. and that is just like extra pressure on me. i only hope that i'm worth it. you will have to be the judge of that if you care what i have to say. the thank you to the whole team for putting this together and all of the work i'm sure that in addition to braving the cold today, i know that i am a little tired having stayed up and listen to the state of the union address last night. so glad to see you tonight and we are thankful that you made the effort to come in. i don't know about you all, but my favorite part of the address last night was the recognition for a member of our army and sergeant first class corey rensburg left to attend appointments overseas was seriously wounded by a roadside bomb and he has been through

many surgeries and lots of great struggles. he is coming back and he will come back, including coming back to serve actively in a very active way on active duty with the army. his motto is never give up your into that is actually something that brings a tear to my eye and it's very inspiring. be air force association is at the very top of the list when it comes to our services and the strongest advocates. and the news organization is a rallying point for innovative thinkers. so it is no wonder that we have such a long-standing positive relationship between our air force and the air force association. in coming next to our dod in what terry and the civilian work force, the other part that i

want to recognize that is extremely important that our military capabilities is our ministry partners and i have enjoyed talking with you today. i see people in all walks of my life and the pentagon in my earlier days and it's great to see so many of you again, as well as some new colleagues as well. i want you to know that because i just finished walking in your shoes, i understand how important it is to have that open communication in mind and to make sure that the government and industry across talking all of the time. i also good how difficult it has been not only in government but also the industry with the recent stops and starts and so my point is that i understand and i walk in walked in your shoes and i'm going to work hard

as the secretary of the air force mixture that we keep the communication lines open. because there is no question about it. and we can't get our jobs done without the access to make sure that we are selling our national security requirements as quickly as possible to the taxpayer. there are many attaché individuals who are here and i very much look forward to working with all of you. and more in the immediate future i am looking for it to an event that i think we are going to have in the next few weeks. and there are three topics that i'd like like to touch upon pure indulgence this morning. number one some of what i have been up to in my first four or five weeks as secretary of the air force.

and third i would like to offer up some comments about our nuclear forces. so as he said, general mckinley, i am the 23rd secretary of the air force and it is an honor and a privilege. and i had a wonderful and ceremonial swearing-in in a reenactment by the secretary of defense and some of you were there. all this came on the heels of the lightning quick senate confirmation process that i so very much enjoyed going through. and when you raise your right hand as i did last friday in the presence of the secretary of defense and the chief of staff and all of the bands in the honor guard and the flyers, you come you really know that a deal has been sealed. so i'm just so elated to be

here. what a wonderful event that that was for my family and for me. this early in this audience knows, this is a very exciting time. to be serving in all of the capacities in which we serve. the strategic environment is dynamic and the threats to our national security but overseas continue to evolve and it comes from state actors and nonstate actors. the fiscal environment that we face is also extremely challenging. and even when we are thankful, and there is some certainty going forward. and that is clear to me that maintaining or shipping a

growing we're going to capable air force, not only for today's needs, but also for tomorrow's challenges. this is a paramount importance and we have to always keep in mind and so we also have to keep in mind that the development. and that is not helpful to anyone. so this is why we in the air force look to the future. i feel certain that we will become a smaller air force and the only and highly capable and on the cutting edge of technology so that we can step up to the plate and meet the country's needs. it won't be long with the physical name budget proposal and i have some practice at bat when i testified during my confirmation hearing and i got to my practice.

just a few weeks ago i testified before the national commission on the structure of the air force and mrs. in early january that i do that. and going forward is no doubt in my mind that our air force is going to rely not more or less than our national guard and reserve oysters. it also means good sense from an economic standpoint. and i don't have all the details but i think that we are going to find that there is a great deal of symmetry between the recommendations of the commission and this will be an excellent body of work to inform us in the future. and with the way that the air force is proposing to go forward and i think that there is a lot that we can agree upon. and a lot that i look forward to getting the report and digging into the details.

i've been working on budget and structures and be beyond those issues i am pleased to tell you that i have had a chance to get the on the beltway and see some of our airmen at work. in december and i have to be in california on vacation, i dropped by the airmen of the los angeles are space and it is hard for the secretary of the air force to pop in on anyone because it's kind of a big deal, but i did my best to keep it small and had a wonderful visit with them. albeit way too short. especially two times and sad to say that it was welcome home following airmen on occasion knowing as to be a dignified transfer. when i tried to provide some small measure of comfort to grieving family members. and of course this is extremely

humbling for an experienced. and then it was to be with her airmen who are involved with a number of things and then last week i visited our intercontinental missile races in wyoming and might not come in north dakota and then figured out at the air air force base as well as missile teams and i will have more to say that as well. later this week i will be able to congratulate some of our newest airmen is a graduate from basic military training and them later on to him once i am headed to the air force come in colorado springs. my point is that i am trying to mind the important here in turn worked in washington getting ready for the budget and time to get out and about because i am learning as everyone already

knows a great detail that our airmen inactive guard and reserve and underpin everything that we do and we are extremely fortunate to have them. so now let me shift to the three priorities that i have laid out for the air force. in the first which is probably no surprise then that is people and taking care of people will be job one for me going forward. and it means to me that we need to continue our focus and if anything kick it up a notch when it comes to making sure that we recruit and retain the right people and that we shape the force and reshape the horse as we go forward not only our immediate needs but also with the longer-term in mind. it means treating people fairly and i'm quite certain that we

will not see these types of compensation increases in the next decade as we have in the last decade. but we need to compensate people fairly. including diversity of thought and leadership in protecting the most important family programs and it means balancing our talent so that we make the most of each of those components. it means ensuring a climate where everyone is treated with dignity and respect and need to work on sexual assault and sexual harassment very hard this is we have been doing. including taking care of people with job one and we need to keep on communicating what we are doing because people want to know what is going on. and that's how we do all

townhall's order meetings. getting it done to keep you informed. i mentioned that we are going to become smaller and we have overages and on churches and we need to get the right balance doing as much voluntary work as we can and involuntary but we can't get what we need to be. and the second is finding the balance between today's readiness and tomorrow's readiness. so i have to work very hard to make sure that we restored the air force readiness levels higher levels. because it has slipped in recent years. particularly flipping last year when we were facing sequestration and we have to get those levels back up to a more

acceptable level because we owe it to our airmen make sure that we have the right training and equipment to be able to successfully do a we asked them to do. with the relief that we will be receiving the fiscal year 2014 and 2015 to the budget agreement and the numbers going up. certainly readiness will be why we should place the resources going forward. the readiness of today, what i mean by that is our modernization program in making sure that we are looking out and what are the technologies. because of course the objective is to continue to control this just as we have in the past we continue to be able to project our global reach for many years to come. so that is the point in whidbey to make sure that we are modernizing and also protecting the readiness of today. as everyone knows we have our three top programs.

including the new tanker program and so these will be top priorities for us and others as well. the readiness of today and the future is tomorrow. to make every dollar count is our third priority. make sure that everything that we do add value to the taxpayer that the air force needs to deliver capability at the very best price tag to the consumer and and we have to deliver this with programs are on budget and schedule them coming out of in a string of hoping that those skills and knowledge onto the table will help us do even better on this. and we also go to the american people to autograph books and

it's striking that we are not able to deliver this. we are marching down that path and trying to get her and the need to stay on that path. it's her vice chief of staff who has led the every dollar counts campaign and i told him that i want to throw in and work this out. the precise details about how we are going to advance those items will be forthcoming in president's budget rules out in march. the police know as i said earlier that despite this budget relief, the budget will still remained tied we will see this when it rolls out. we've had to make some tough choices and there will be decisions that you may like like and some of which you may not like and i guarantee that there will be something there that congress will like and others that they will not like. and we had everything on the table. talk about retirement and

obviously the shaping initiatives. and i'm hoping that as we go forward we can count on everyone to help us tell the story and needing to make savings in certain areas so that we can reinvest in other areas and it's simple in that regard. but it becomes more difficult and i certainly hope that we can work together on that and we look forward to doing so. and let me now turn to the nuclear world. while the air force is responsible for many incredible and important missions, i knew that at the top of my list i wanted to visit a nuclear enterprise basis as soon as possible to learn more about it. so as i mentioned my not, and

other areas of at barksdale. continuing to strengthen this is a top priority because no mission is more important than safeguarding the nuclear capabilities and maintaining the deterrence. after all, the airmen are entrusted with the most powerful weapons on earth in this mission is essential to our security and our allies and partners. two weeks ago with general welsh and i held a press conference and we didn't have very good news to report. it was at that time that the illegal drug investigations have uncovered a certain amount of cheating on the monthly proficiency test. the general and i try to be as clear as we know how to be clear by making the statements that this behavior is completely unacceptable and that is

contrary to our number one core value, which is integrity and i want to say that we will get to the bottom of this. it is an ongoing investigation great and i also want to say again and reassure everyone here that this is a failure of integrity on the part of certain airmen. it was not a failure of the mission. it remains safe and secure as i am confident of that. so we are continuing to investigate trade when this first came to light. the directive the office of special investigation to get to the bottom as soon as possible. and we took some corrective actions with love. and we retested the crew members across the work on the various contexts in which the cheating

occurred. in the past at the 95.5% rate. and that is 95.5% took that examine past it and that is very much in line with our historical averages. we also took immediate action to put in place tighter development control and a administration procedures. basically their posturing procedures during the exam taken. and there are ongoing nuclear infections as well of the missile crew with what is called nuclear inspections. so we just went through 100% pass rate and the other was will be going through this completed by the end of february. submission is strong and i want to say that again.

but i also want to say again that we will get to the bottom of this and we will do it with transparency and those who don't meet our standards will be held appropriately accountable. that means the people who are involved in assessing leadership to try to understand what went wrong. secretary hagel is also very committed directing a review of nuclear deterrence which will involve lsd and the air force to see what we can learn and we will be sharing those practices and developing an action plan over the next 60 days. and there is also an independent panel that will be a part of the nuclear forces. i want to share with all of you and by the way at each location

i not only had command briefs and talk to the leaders but i also did town halls and small focus groups and i did it with officers and i did it in a variety of levels and i found the focus groups to be very enlightening. so i have come up with a list of seven observations and focus areas and all of these will be discussed at greater length so we can have a way forward when we develop the action plan that i have talked about a little bit earlier. and so here is my list of seven. in my first observation is that we likely do have a systemic problem and the need for perfection has created two much stress and fear.

about the future. i heard about focus groups that the system feels very punitive but rather you are punished severely if anything bad should happen. and i have heard repeatedly that there is of micromanagement that should be transformed into empowerment. but i also heard repeatedly that the mission is important but we don't necessarily put our money or attention when mouth is. and that is my first observation that we probably do have something systemic going on here and we need to get on top of that. and i observe that we may have lost between training and testing. so in the current environment there is no room for error all of the time.

and yet when you are talking about training the idea is mistakes happen and you get better and in this environment sounded to me like everything was a test and it had become an important gauge. allowing commanders to differentiate them. and we need to address this and i think that rather than make this test, we make it or break it. i think we need to look at the totality of what they're doing. and not a make it or break it down and all of the time. so looking at this is an observation. and we clearly have to have accountability and some of who

actually cheated and some who knew about it but did not stop it. there needs to be accountability and it will be. but we are also looking at the leadership as i mentioned earlier. and that is the third element which is accountability. the fourth is professional leadership development. and we have to really take a look at the human dimension and this is an area where i have been able to give some thoughts and advice. but are they getting a lot of leadership training and are they being mentored a way that others are. what about their career path opportunities do they understand and are appropriately laid out?

and we need to work to make this something that the young airmen want to do and i aspire to do. need to reinvigorate our campaign and airmen need to understand that being a good wingmen does not mean the spirit and airmen have a responsibility and also to report wrongdoing that they see going on. and somehow that got a bit lost here. we need to go back to basics with the core values and remind people to report it or anonymous sources. they don't want to be perceived as supporting this and that's not good that comes to matters of integrity. and we need to examine the

incentives and recognition that is available to the nuclear force and we need to take steps to make this more attractive and that is not just on the enlisted side and i am talking about this as well. so this gets into whether we should consider it a scholarship or certain type of work and accolades as well. should we do a medal or a ribbon and should we do all that. lastly, we need to look at other types of investments, are they inappropriate for nuclear force and if so, this is very important that we need to put our money where mouth is and this is everything from perhaps high-priority military construction and things of this nature that might have a quality of life.

and we'll have we will have more to say in an action plan to address the entirety of this. i want to know close that although we face lots of challenges with the structure of budgets and that out of all of this challenge comes an opportunity. and that is certainly the way that i look at it and to return for a moment searching for nothing like that is what anything is easy or for free. i was expired by those words and i think they are very right. i am proud of our air force and our military these days simply cannot operate without the air force because it is embedded in every operation that is important around the world and

the corporations can't get by without it. that tells us that the future is very bright. whether we are watching the facilities in florida or guiding the missile or refueling of providing close air support in afghanistan were facilitating the personnel here at home at the pentagon, our security depends upon our airmen. i know that, i believe that, and i will be working very hard to protect them throughout the next several years and i would like to thank the air force association in my time for being a strong advocate. we need you more than ever and so please keep it up and thank you all for your sub work of our airmen. [applause] [applause]

[applause] >> well, they stood up and that is a good sign. that's a good start. last night. >> we have time for a couple of questions. so we will try to get as many as we can. >> please identify yourself a pillow, amy mccullough with air force magazine. part of the speech talks about the air force and i was wondering if you could give us your insight into how some five years after the air force started global strike command and bought a new leadership in the enterprise. how these issues are still so prominent. >> my take on that, amy, is that

although the nuclear enterprise has certainly gotten focus over the years, i think that we 10 to focus heavily on something goes wrong and it focuses on that element where it went wrong. and perhaps we haven't done as well is persistent focus, meaning persists in and brought focus even when there is nothing going wrong, i we still focusing. when things do go wrong are we taking a broad look board a no look at what went wrong. so that is my take on it. and we have to deal with the immediate issue before us and i think and believe and hope that the observations in areas that i outlined will be a broad view to

come up with the overall enterprise and not just what went wrong in this particular instance. and we will also provide more persistent focus and not just something that omron. constantly things as well. >> in the back? >> a question on a number of people, question on a number of people, we have heard now that has a double. and how many are for cheating and how many of them are for not reporting what was going on. people that knew about cheating

so thank you. >> i don't have a specific update on the investigation to be able to share today. but i do commit that we will have an update on that but we actually brought this to the american public. and so i promised transparencyi. and so i promised transparency and i just don't have that today. i can tell you the numbers are up in the investigation is ongoing and we let that investigation take us. and that is what we will share with you. as i mentioned, the secretary of the and is also very committed there are a number of us that will be meeting with the drinker but i talked about a we will sit down with them and whatnot beginning in the sessions later today. so please stand by and we won't

be having too much longer before we have an update on the situation. >> a question the middle of the room? >> welcome. we have heard your important message about every dollar that counts. what is your idea from the facilities and the weapons facilities? >> this gentleman gave me a heads up and so i hope i do all right but i have little time to think about it. and my answer is we have spent a lot of money on energy and it is in our best interest to look for ways to be energy efficient and that is and on the same and we get back. and there are the obligations we have for the environment and

that is another reason to do it. so we are working on it and hard and it is everything from looking at how we purchase energy to alternative energy that maybe ken on hila programs to see what we can do. there are a variety of initiatives going on. and there's an important area of whether our savings possible and i'm looking forward to delving into it deeply at how the. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] >> i know i air force is in great hands and we couldn't have a greater opening speech than the secretary. we know the you will do a great job and we're proud to be a part of the air force association today. george wanted me to remind everyone that we couldn't do it without those who have attended today and we appreciate the

leadership at we have. this coin was minted for the team of the year award this year because you are now on our team we want you to have one. even though it is a large point, is not as large as some of the officers who have made room for themselves. [laughter] we wanted you to have this for a great speech. so thank you. >> thank you so much. >> on the next "washington journal", the afl-cio on the present state of the union and andrew campanella on his group's work to promote charter schools and other alternatives in "washington journal" is live every morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> bringing attention to what women do or how we are going to

continue this, always returns to the question of the body. many object to bring this into a high school classroom. because there is an assumption that it is only about sex or controlling abortion and it is also about women working on this with prime ministers. and it is to break down the fear that many people have. what goes on in a woman's study classroom. >> living history and the antifeminist backlash. women's studies professor bonnie morris will take your questions in depth for three hours starting at noon eastern on in that c-span2.

on monday still have a few days to weigh in on this booktv bookclub. the liberty amendment. join the conversation. click on bookclub to enter the chat room. >> senate majority leader harry reid here is whether the two leaders said. >> mr. president, america's private sector eradicated more than a million jobs. the stock market has never been higher than americans have started buying homes again. while the economy is gaining momentum, far too many americans don't match the grim reality. many americans have seen their

paychecks shrink and it is better and better. mr. president, as the president said last night, there is nothing wrong with people making money and we are happy that they are doing well. but the average income is like 250 times the people who work for that we have wealth increased by three times. americans are working longer and harder and doing less in the way of this. the difference is hard work isn't paying off the way it used to. and we must change that and it's not too late the size of their

bank accounts. lyndon johnson declared unconditional war on poverty and here is what lyndon johnson said before. many americans are living on the outside of hope. we can help to replace disparate opportunity. thanks to these innovative programs rated five decades ago. mr. president, there is so much work to do. it increased $2 billion on

average and do you know what happened? during that same time 1 million more american children were trapped into poverty there is much work to do. too many american families to live in the outskirts of hope in the american dream. last night president obama laid out a plan to breathe new life into the struggling middle class. across the bill with what we have made for progress to guarantee that it is seen by every hard-working american. we challenge congress to work with them. president obama called for investment in the future, those that have been deferred for too long. hopes to reap told the world-class economy and build this infrastructure with a cutting-edge energy supply it how it and we must prepare these

students with higher education within reach of every promising student. must keep small businesses and manufacturers driving. we have the opportunity to retired comfortably. i support raising the minimum wage in government with janitors and food service and dishwashers and construction workers and no american working a full-time job should live in poverty. congress must act to raise the minimum wage with a strong at middle-class continue in this nation's prosperity. including a new amendment to which the principles on which this country was founded. including fairness and basic fairness and making certain that every american regardless of gender and sexual orientation has the opportunity for full and

equal workforce and there are no guarantees in life and not everyone succeeds, but every american deserves a fair shot at that success. >> mr. president i would just like to say a word about the present state of the union speech. i think that commerce woman kathy mcmorris rogers did a great job representing the

people. i wish the president had laid out an agenda half as hopeful as one of cheated. because the state of the union is always an important union for our country for them to come together with other government officials to show a kind of unity with what we have here every single day. it is a worthy tradition. last i the president had a real chance to unite the nation and around a forward-looking agenda. we had a huge opportunity to reach the middle and try a new path at a time when 70% of americans say the country is either stagnant or worse off now than when the president took office. that we are on the wrong path. it could've been a legacy making

moment and instead it was the tired things we hear you're after year after year. when you peel back the anecdotes and the nods to the left, what remains of the middle-class? likely will lead us to this point. the same failed agenda with stagnant unemployment and lower incomes and crumbling pathways to the future. the only difference is that the president wants to keep doing the same thing. without as much input does it represent us in congress but all the same thing with domestic accountability.

because the president didn't talk about a new agenda last night. he didn't talk about reforming our tax code in a way that will drive the private sector growth and job creation. he didn't talk about finding serious ways to reduce a massive 70 trillion-dollar debt to suffocate our trees of our children that he didn't talk about social security and medicare. or about streamlining and the sight of government. or about america's entrepreneurs free to dream. taking it out of more regulation on new energy production. all this talk, he didn't even mention using his pen to sign off on the pipeline.

including taking this soon. it would have been a project as i indicated that would create jobs right away. and that's okay. if the president would just leave. unions union supported and other supported and other people supported including those that don't support it. special interests on the far left. the middle class lost and there's another big issue and that is obamacare. it was the state of the union to admit the painful consequences that have affected so many in kentucky and around the world and it was a chance to call her a fresh bipartisan beginning to

start over with to help perform that can help middle-class families. and instead doubling down on failed policies. in a show suppose that is natural. and many are not going to buy this and trying to sell obamacare bureaucracy is some kind of success story to the thousands and thousands of those being hurt by it. and it's frankly insulting to a quarter million kentuckians because of this law. it is insulting to a family that have increased by almost half against kentucky and insulting

to taxpayers as well who have been forced to subsidize to the tune of about $250 million in kentucky alone with obamacare restricted acc access to the-ree crushing effect on families and skyrocketing costs as well. so it is clear that president obama missed the mark last night and on some issues the axis of the right thing like on trade promotion authority than's and we can work together to create more american jobs as long as the president can convince those who work with us to do that. because what he didn't say last night is the only thing stopping us from creating more trade jobs of his own party. but we will see if he actually follows through. but overall he mostly refused to budge from his failed policy and reach across the aisle in a way that would lead to immediate job growth opportunities.

and it is especially disheartening for those who actually want to get things done for our constituents. for those who want to work with those smart bipartisan policies that can finally get americans back to work after years of the failed obama economy. but we can't do it without president obama. he has to leave jobs and energy and the economy and whatever the issue may be. so we will not see if they will call for a new direction for a forward leaning agenda that puts middle-class verse and leads hired ideas behind in the history books. when the prisoners willing to work with as he will know that we are willing to work and we have always been here. many members of his party have

been here as well waiting for him. democrats with smart ideas that the president hasn't been able to understand so far. all he needs to do is pick up the phone and if he's willing to work in a serious way, we will send him something to sign as well. a yield the floor. >> the senate is back at 10:00 a.m. eastern and will continue work on a measure that will delay insurance increases. watch the coverage here on c-span2. >> attorney general eric holder testifies about an investigation is whether the u.s. has proper conservative groups. that is next on c-span2 and the air force secretary talks about a report on officers and oversee america's nuclear missile system.

>> so many people are of the opinion that if the members of the supreme court don't like something that is happening in the country, that it is reaches out and brings that in and starts talking about opinions on that which is contrary to the fact is anything could be. >> c-span radio begins a series of oral history interviews with supreme court justices. from 1971, or one at 4:00 p.m. eastern at 90.1 fm at c-span radio.org and channel 120. >> attorney general eric over testified the race senate panel on a number of topics including the nsa data collection program

in the ongoing investigation of the irs. including legalization of marijuana in several states. the senate judiciary committee hearing is chaired by senator patrick leahy. >> before we start today's hearing with serious issues, under and of the public will act accordingly and i appreciate so many members of the public coming in here. we try to have these hearings as open as possible. the senator grassley not like to make sure that these are live so that anyone can watch. the rules prohibit any albers were demonstrations of any kind and includes blocking the view of people around you. please be mindful to those rules

and of course of your neighbors as well. and this is part of the senate's core mission. it is interesting that the judiciary act of 1789 and neither senator grassley and i felt which at that time, but be attorney general has carried the responsibility is to protect americans to make our country's great and the attorney general of the united states represent all of us for much of the past

two centuries including fraud and corruption in enforcing our nation's laws for the last several decades including protecting civil rights of americans for many years after the jim crow law by recently drawing representative sensenbrenner and we also talk about our national security and sophisticated methods of criminal activity in developing new tools and resources to respond to these threats and this includes remaining true of our liberty and privacy and government responsibilities to the people.

we live in a digital age and the challenges even more acute than those that have simple routine tasks including calling a friend in searching for direction on the web. as the technology improves our life the vast amount of data increases. .. i ask at some point is there anything in the u.s. constitution that gives authority to the congress to pass a law that enables and empowers the executive agency such as the nsa or bureau of land and management, for that matter, to open, to listen, or seize either the mail, the phone conversations, or electronic communications of u.s. citizens simply by a law. in vermont we treasure our

privacy and it makes me weary of government overreach or lax protection for consumers in these laws. i berlex protection for consumers in these laws. i think it is the changes show a need for congress and the departmendepartmen t to act. we need to set appropriate limits for when and how the government can collect vast amounts of data from americans assuming we even have the power to allow any agency to do this. legislation to reform electronic indications privacy act. i think the senators and parties who joined similar legislation. we have to ensure the huge amounts of data that we collect