>> i do not believe that usaid's action that were quoted to promote quote democratic societies that are able to realize their potential are in anyway a bad idea. i believe it is what the people of cuba, iran, burma, north

korea and other nations need to help communicate with each other and help them achieve usaid's stated mission of a quote free, peace full and self reliant society with an effective government. i commend you for giving people a less controlled platform to talk to each other, for helping them find a way to connect and share views. global internet freedom programs and use broadcasting for support were human rights activist are components for our long-standing efforts to promote democracy over states. for 50 years, the united states has had an unwavering commit to provide free information around the world. our work in cuba is no different than promoting this in ukraine,

iran, russia, china or north korea. it should be noted there is $76 million set aside to promote global internet freedom and democracy in closed-societies like cuba where the regime allows no independent press and limits access to the internet. it also states that quote with assistance for democracy this programs shouldn't be subject to the prior approval by the government of any foreign country. it is common since we should not ask the government of iran, egypt, or china to support advocates of free speech, human rights or to provide uncensored

access to the internet. at the end of the day, giving people the access to communicate outside the world is a fundamental to democracy. as bill gates said the internet is becoming the town square of the village of tomorrow. he is right. but the town square will be more free and inclusive thanks to the democracy organizations like usada. i think it is dumb, dumb, and even dumber to say there is freedom and we can seek freedom of expression globally but somehow the people of cuba don't

deserve the same freedom. and i will finally say there is only one entity responsible were the imprisonment of alex gross. and that is the cuban regime. i am tired of blaming ourselves. the institution that the holding an many in prison for doing nothing but having the jewish community be able to communicate with each other. it is outrageous. with reference to the budget, we look forward to how we can make concern that you are aligned with foreign policy and look forward to hearing your 2015 aid

budget. i know i speak for all the members when i say i am impressed with your creativity and to the pursuit of progress that folks on best practices and results. as we have discussed on numerous occasi occasions i do however remain concerned about the resource for the western hemsspe sphere. so that is something we look forward to continuing to engage you on. and while efforts to address the transcriminal networks are the threat in the area, but the long term strategy is fundamental and in my view, it is currently

lookinlac lack lacking. i think we can do better in that area. i look forward to an ongoing conversation about getting the best results for foreign assistance, donors, ngo's, for the taxpayers and now i would like to recognize senator corker. >> thank you, mr. chairman and those passionate comments. we appreciate you being here and all of the work you do around the world. my comments are going to be brief. but we look forward to your testimony. we appreciate you being here to go over the budget request for 2015 and appreciate the reforms you are trying to put in place around the world and within the usaid itself. i think foreign aid one of the most misconcepts american have.

we spend 1% on foreign aid in the budget. and i would like for you to herald the successs. i know you will do that today. but it is our responsibility to have healthy talks about the specticism. i like what you are doing with the food programs to make them more efficient and other programs that deal 30% with local enities and one way that is appreciated and on the other hand i want to make sure there are results. thank you for being here and we look forward it to your questions and testimony. and we look forward to your work. >> the floor is yours.

we ask you to summarize your record and we will add the full to the record. dr. shah: thank you, secretary hagel, and thank you for your generosity in inviting usaid and our many partners from around the world to be part of this important discussion, and for your vision of using this forum to help us build greater cooperation across all of the range of issues that bring us together as a common community. it's an honor to be here. this resource and investment is a core part of keeping our country safe and security over the long term and improving our own domestic prosparty as the world grows with us. our mission is to end poverty and promote demcrotic societies.

our efforts have constituted a serious rebuilding. we have added to staff, managed budgets and projected priorities in food, water and health. and expanded our base to include companies, universities, scientist, faith-based organization in addition to the val valued g ngp -- ngo's. our efforts have constituted a new model that involves many

partnerrelationsh partnerrelationship. president obamas feed the people program now reaches 7 million small scale farmers in 19 countries. this year 12.5 million children will no longer be hungry because they are in families that are beneficiaries of feed the future. our invest. -- investment and matched and exceeded sometimes and i want to thank the commit for supporting food aid reforms that will help us reach an additional 800,000 children in the context of disasters around the world. or our effort to save children's lives are supports with a 2.7

billion budget request. every year we save more than 5 million children from dying under the age of five. similar foal of 6 million by 2030. education, water, energy and many other sectors of the economy we work in a result way and i look forward to that discussion. i was in the philippines last week with secretary hagel working to build the capacity to be great partners in dealing with disasters. this includes more than $3 billion for disasters in places like syria and south sudan. this past weekend, we noted with initial success an election in

afghanistan that saw 60% voter turnout and a large proportion of women. those efforts were supported by the united states and other international partners and led by afghan institutions themselves. budget have been tight and this budget does make tradeoffs. we have now launched a u.s. global development lab that is bringing businesses, scientist, te technologist together. we are seeing interesting results. we will spend $5.7 to get banks to $133 to farmers in columbia, peru and guatemala.

that kind of leverage and scale is what is possible if we do things in a more creative and effective way. let me close by saying thank you. i had the opportunity to deliver the speech at the national prayer breakfast. it reminded me when we come together to serve the world's most vulnerable people this cuts across party lines and brings us together and allows us to continue our proud heritage as humanitarian and global effort aid giver. >> let me start off with the one concern i had in the western hemhe hemisphere will be cut.

venezula 14%, haiti, columbia, guatemala, all cut by 20%. i don't underestimate the problems we face in the world, but i think we underestimate the problems we face in our hems sphere. we have problems in south america with the highest homicide rate in the world and challenged governments in terms of rule of law issues and meeting the challenges. in mexico, some states that are lawless still, near the frontier border with the united states. we have the challenge of venezuela and a growing set of circumstances there where civil society is under siege and ec

ecuador and i see a wide range of issues. i understand that some of the countries have graduated. but instead of looking for other investment opportunities, the money is sent to other parts of the world. and we have now seen year over year, double digit cuts that from my perspective are not sustainable. so, can you commit to me you will work with us, as the secretary said he would, to see how we change the dynamic. because in our own front yard there are challenges that are both in our national interest on so many different questions from security to drug addiction to economic opportunities to health care issues that no borders when it comes to diseases.

can you talk a little bit about that? >> yes, thank you center. i agree where the nature and importance of the region. while we have made tough tradeoffs, as secretary kerry noted and president obama this region is important to the future from a trade rperspectiv and partnership. we are trying to possession so as countries get wealthier, we shift to public-partnerships. in particular, i am proud of the fact that our development credit authority team has expanded the number of loan guarantees we

provide to local banks. whether it is el salvadore where $25 million has been opened or in mexico where i will be next week to meet with partners. we are unlocking local guarantees. and similary we have a >> hoshost of improved partnerships. one i would note is one with starbreaks to help them reach 25,000 small scale farmers in columbia so they can bring better prices to the farm gate, economic value and build supply chance that enhance economic

opportunity. i think the region can be a model especially for countries moving up the scale. >> i appreciate the innovative thought and welcome it but we are looking at other challenges as well. in the ukraine, the language passed by this committee and in the senate and house and signed by the president, asked for reprogram assistance to the ukraine. $50 million for the improvement of democratic law and $100 million for security spread over the next three fiscal years. where were you in the process of reprogramming this assistance and when would you expect it to get to ukraine and when did you believe the usaid mission

director signing the agreement with the ukrainian government that transfers the billion in loan guarantees will take place? any sense of the timeframes there? >> i appreciate to come back to you on the bilateral agreement and loan guarantee because our acting deputy and assistant administrator are in the ukraine right now working with civil society groups and groups supporting the election process. some of the partners there were critical to documents the human right situations that took place during the protest. our economic portfolio is being aligned to move forward with the imf agreements so they can get tens of billions of help from there. we are working with the future

of their energy security and in a number of other areas. we have a proud and significant history of working in the ukraine and we have delivered significant results and look forward to do that at a higher level given the resource and the strong support of the committee. >> i understand it will incentvise unfunded money and i think that is is an important initiative that deserves highlighting in a time of constrained budget. what hard deliverables will we discuss with the incoming afghan government? what are some of the goals? what are some of the challenges there? >> thank you for your leadership in supports our programs in

afghanistan. for 2-3% of the total cost of the war we think we have delivered important results that create the bases of a more secure society in the future. we were part of an effort in tokyo to bring together international partners and create a set of conditions that the afghanistan government would have to meet to receive the full mount of development assistance and not just from the united states but all of the int international partners. anti-corruption activities, the conduct of free and fair election, collecting more custom revenue to replace development assistance over the long-term

and there is a 360% increase on that bench mark and several with protecting girl's rights and access to schools for girls. our committee meets twice a year to assess their performance and we make suggestions after that. >> senator corker. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you were for being here. we talked about the food for peace program and it has been delivered somewhat but we are failing on it. i wonder if you would-like to talk about that and what you would like to see happen relative to your food programs

>> tank you, senator. america has for food for peace served more than three billion people and providing them food assistance when they need it. because of nearly every other country that provides food assi assistance made a shift to purchasing food locally and providing cash resources to institutions like the world food program so they can by and deliver. >> that empowers that local countries to be more self-sufficient and raises the standard of living, right? >> yes >> how many more people could be served if he moved fully to this kind of program and i think anybody would say from the stand point of what we are trying to do makes more sense than shipping united states products overseas to places and never building up that independence we

would like to see. how many more would be served? >> it correlates to 2 million additional children who would receive food and that is women and men and children in syria, south sudan, afghanistan and other areas. >> and if we did it fully how many more people would be served >> i have not made a 100%. >> we did an estimate and we think it is 7-9 million more people would be served if he we move away from this and build up the economy which is what this is about. we have preferred shippers, i guess. would you tell us about that? >> the way the shipping/contracting system works relies on a handful of core partners.

they have been important partners over the course of the program. and the president's proposal maintains on important role for farmers and shippers and we are asking for additional flexibility so we can meet the needs of beneficiary at a time the most need with the lowest budget. >> we asked for a goa study and this is along the lines. your goal is contract 30% of your activities at the local level. one of the concerns we have, though, is that right now, the way you are tracking that is you are tracking how much money you are spending but not tracking outcomes to see that even though the money maybe 30% going there, are we getting the same results?

this is a different effort than the food aid. this is contracting to work with people to care out the work that usaid is doing. do you have concerns we are original measuring money out and not results? >> i think united states forward allows us to be more efficient and better to report on core results. so that is a pack of forms to move us in a direction and i would say we have been able to do that. i believe the review is focused on the shift of including more local ngo's and local institutions. i would hope they broad n the analysis because if you do, you

would find, unlike a few years ago where we said we are reaching seven million farmers and helping 12 million kids and why saving millions of lives a year. and that ability to quantify and report on those results is also a part of usa forward. our progress against our goals in moving to local institutions has been as designed incrimental and we are doing this at a pace that is responsible. the ultimate goal is to build assi assistance locally so that we don't have to be there forever. >> one of the important things that we do as a nation is trade capacity building. and these are along the lines that i think most people here would like to see and that is making sure that we are doing on a daily bases everything we can to empower countries that we are

working with to be sustainable on their own and not depend on aid forever for the united states. we looked on the website for who is in charge of capacity building and there is 24 agencies involved and which one is ultimately responsible tr building trade capacity in countries that we are dealing with? >> well, sir, first i think this is critical and important and we commit nearly $200 a million to trade capacity building more more than that if you look at agriculture trade support in regions in africa and elsewhere. michael and i are co >> hoscohosting a discussion so we can figure out to implement the new agreement

and president obama launched trade africa in africa based on resulted that showed for every dollar we invested generated $40 in value. so the united states trade representative, myself and the state department work in close coordination >> i think the concern is, and you are one of the most reformed minded leaders of this administration we have had and i think we applaud the efforts, but i think the concern is there is not a small group of people, and there is so much to do without much money to empower these countries to be involved in trade that go on. is there a way that i cannot

answer this in the setting but there is a way you would work with us to help figure out who is in charge and responsible for accountable for these activities so it has a focus that gets us to place that we would like to go? >> we would absolutely like to work with you. i would say the way it currently works is united states takes responsibility for the implementing of the programs and reporting on the results and ensuring they are designed appropriately and the trade uses the programs to deploy them where they are needed. it is critical we work together and i can report to you with confidence that relationship has never been closer. >> thank you. >> thank you for your leadership, development assistance is a critical part of our national security interest

and the obama administration made it clear the national security budget included the development assistance programs and you are less than 1% of the federal budge & small fraction of the total national security budget. it is very important. i particularly want to acknowledge the budget support f fore east asia pacific. as i said, you are work on a tough budget. the overall budget growth is very much reduced. and you had to make very touch decisions so i appreciate the priority that has been given to east asia and the pacific from the philippines to burma and i might say to senator corker your

trade capacity improvements, there is many countries benefiting directly from what you are doing in that area. secretary clinton initiated this on environment, health and also on infrastructure and it is a major initiative that i think we can be proud of. >> having said what i did, we want to make sure the aid is done in the most efficient way. and i agree with senator corker, we need improvement and reach more people and leverage our dollars more than today. you started the global development lab and i want to talk about using this to leverage the money we make available at a our academic centers that have expertise in

this area. if we work in a coordinated way we could get more effective results and achieve the objectives in a more efficient and hopefully shorter time period. can you share with the committee how this program where you are using this program with existing resource and how you will continue to operate as you lunched the development lab? >> thank you for your help on the issues related to work and for your personal commitment. we are excited to have launched the u.s. global lab. in our time in this role we are

increased had spending on science, technology, research and development from $130 to just over $600 million and done that through tradeoffs where we make the tough choices to move money in this area. this allowed us to create developmental laboratories on college campus across the country. and groups of staffer and technology are creating new ways for babies to breathe through low-cost devices coming from rice university and the device from duke that allows us to save drugs so that women can they can that and take one dose before and for the child after and prevent the transmission of aids from the mother to a child

without being in an assisted medical environment. those kind of breakthroughs reduce the cost of saving kids' lives, saving mother's lives -- >> it reduces the cost we would do in direct health services to deal with babies that are infected. >> that is exactly right. and we have also found that big companies around the world have been eager to partner with us. walmart joined the lab and they are working with us to reach farmers in africa and procter and gamble joined in giving us packet that allow us to filter patter in burma. and they are donating that to help countries where too many children die from too many

organisms in their water. this will allow u.s. aid to have a technology we can employ and allow young people that want to create businesses on their own whether it is making and selling solar power flashlights in parts of rural africa where there is no energy access or commercializing this positive airway device which they do for $20-$30 a device and we are deployi deploying. to use that business savvy and skill to actually solve some of the world's most challenging problems is exciting >> you are leverage the strength of america in our science and technology and what we have been able to discover and share with

the world as well as our private companies. leverages these -- these are american values and where are the challenges and where congress? >> we have requested new authorities from congress to help us be more flexible in how he we carry out the work like hiring people with science and business backgrounds, the ability to provide prizes. we see a lot that come out of prized competitions and you spend money on those winning and you can motivate thousands of partners that you would never be able to find to compete for winning prizes on the awards and some flexibility in how we use the resources in the development assistance account which is

critical to funding this effort and fullly funding the budget. those would be the request and i want to thank the members of the committee for the ways you have done to support this >> it is using existing resources in a more efficient way to accomplish greater results? >> that is correct, sir. >> senator rubio? >> thank you for being here. this isn't a charity right? they promote humane aid around the world and furthering our national in the right? >> that is correct. >> as you get involved in each country, you look at the spi specific needs. some have lack of access to

water, some women need to be treated better, and you aim to go into the countries, determine the needs and promote those causes but also in a way that promotes america. >> our mission is to end poverty and promote democrat cities. >> so you have programs on the island of cuba and as i believe it is to break the information block aid in cuba and promote information sharing among other goals. those are stated goal of our program there. >> we have notified congress in every year on the goals of those programs and we run internet access and freedom of information programs in many parts of the world including

cuba. >> the reason i bring this up and rightfull y so you focus on this because cuba has the second most oppressive government in terms of denying access to the internet. people in cuba can't go online. the average person on the street can't go on the internet. it isn't a capacity issue. it is prohibited. i will send out a tweet right now. if i sent this right now i would be put in jail. and i will send it as an example of what people in cuba can't do. and as a result of that, usaid, as it has been revealed over the last days, usaid had a program that cause designed to provide the people of cuba access to information and to break the information blockaid allowing

people to share information. there has been talk this program was illegal. but i think this program was within the stated mandate and purpose of your program in cuba. that is accurate, right? that is within the goal? >> we have publically notified these programs are designed to enable open communication. >> and the other argument i have heard was this was a covert program. but this was reviewed by the general counting office, right? >> correct >> and they made no suggestions for changes? >> they complimented the usaid. >> this wasn't an intelligence program. >> no. >> we were not selling weapons or arming people on the ground

in cuba. >> no. >> this program was allowing cubans to be able to communicate with others because their government doesn't let them do that. people should be able to do that in an advanced society but in cuba they are not. so this program chose to fulfill the mandate and break the block aid. at the peek, 40,000 users were on the program and that is not true. at the peek it had 68,000. when was the last time we stopped a program because it too successful? this program in my mind is successful and not only am i glad we did the program but i am upset we stopped. i believe we should do everything we can to provide the people of cuba, and other

repressed cites, full access to internet. if they want to read the communist rag they can, or the cnn or drudge or whatever they should be able to do that. for everyone who is outraged by this program, when was the last time undermining a tyranny is counter to the purposes of the united states? when was the last time we were outraged and lost the ability to talk to each other? i read the quotes in the paper of people setting themselves on fire. we have radio broadcast to europe during the cold war and to cuba right now. all we wanted was people to do was to talk to each other. those had contact them them. i want to know when it was against the united states and

goal of america to under monopoundermine a tyran tyranny. a tyranny that votes against us in every international form and consistently on the side of every madman and tyrant on the plant. if there was a vote on syria, they are against us. russia, they are against us. human right violations in china, they are with china. when was the last time cuba lined up on the form of decency and right. they are trying to undermine our foreign policy aims and the foreign policy aims of the world. when do we start the program again? and what do we need to do to expand it so people can do in

cuba what i just did and that is speak to the world about cuba live and anything they want including the latest record from beyonce or jay-z or what someone wore to the oscars. >> senator, i want to clarify. usaid programs are designed to promote open access to information and facilitate information. any programs that have further purposes are not implemented by usaid but rather by other parts of the state department or the national endowment for democracy. in terms of restarting these types of things, we have the fy 14 fiscal guidance clears as to which agencies will pursue this into the future. >> senator? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i guess i want to follow my colleague and friend senator

rubio. i don't coral with the premise, whether it is china or cuba, opening up free exchange of information is fundamental to our country and the basic values of a democracy. so the critics of this effort, ought to come up with a better idea. but the notion and premise is sound behind it. i may go further than my colleaguee colleagues on the committee when i say after 50 years of what has been a dubious foreign policy in cuba by the united states, i have been in favor of opening up cuba and the people of the world and the united states that is how communist and the soviet union came to an end. cuba is isolated from reality. if we had more social media level and beyond i don't think

the current regime could survive like in europe. i visited alan gross, i think two years ago. what a heartbreaking situation. this poor man is being held because he may have brought in equipment that would have brought in more information into cuba. i don't know specifically whether he did or not. and what they have done to this man is heartbreaking. when you visit and see what his life is like today or meet his wife and family as i have. i said to the cuban officials i have leaned your way opening up, but you have lost me on gross. what you did to this man and closing out his small effort to bring in equipment to me is just outrageous and this poor guy is

still in prison, hospital prison and is going on a hunger strike. i don't know how he keeps his mind when he faces this every day. but i don't agree with the premise. open it up. the more ideas we poor into the that island the better chance they will move toward values we share. so those who are critical of the approach give me something else that will achieve this goal. two things i focused on, one was with a legacy for my predecessor, paul simon, about w water for the world. we have been appropriating money and the other is child marriage. i know there is a program underway in usaid to try to discourage child marriage and the awful things that come as a result of it and i would like you to comment on those two

areas, if you would. >> thank you, senator, on your leadership for water and water for the poor. >> -- we have given people access to waters and girls who are usually sent into dangerous environments to fetch water avoid being abused and raped and hurt as they are going about those tasks and they can do things like go to school. it an extrodinary thing the congress should be proud of. our spending on water went up from 1.4 million to 1.2 billion.

as we focus on the cost effective results that save the most lives and produce the most students for girls around the world, investments in water were at the top of the list and that is why you have seen that transition and shift. i want to thank you for your lead leadership. with respect to child marriage and gender-based violence, we have new programs that focus on these issues, in particularly high-risk places. but it is amazing the challenges people face. i was in eastern congo and saw the un report showing 15,000 girls that have been raped and

that is a part of how war has been conducted. i am proud of the fact that thanks to your support and other members of the committee the united states leads the world in supporting health services for helping girls get back on their feed and finding economic opportunity and going back to school. the range of the program have gone up since secretary clinton went to that region five years ago. it is something america could be very proud of. >> thank you very much. i might add. i am promote ing a product maden chicago. it is called port-a-pure. this man made a six gallon thermos and whatever you poor in the top comes out clean drinking water in two minutes. no chemicals.

they use nano fibers filters. it sells for $60. if we can take this into a micro credit situation in haiti they can buy a jug that would provide safe drinking water for family. that is one idea. you mentioned others and i hope your committee takes a look at it. portapure. one word. you will be very impressed with this. >> we set-up the u.s. global development lab to help commercialize and distribute those items. we will take a look at it. >> senator johnston. >> thank you. we have good water filtration

center in milwaukee and probably helped out with that company. welcome. i really enjoyed your key note at the national prayer breakfast where you made a strong case for foreign aid. unfortunately, not ever american got to hear that case and it is also unfortunate situation. most americans look at the foreign aid and that is the first place they want to cut. so can you speak in terms of making the case for foreign aid. >> thank you, senator. what i learned at being at the prayer breakfast was that when we come together, republicans, democrats, house and senate, and

very importantly faith community members who carry out the mission of serving those who are among us. we present a picture of a world of america that cares about vulnerable people and cares about countries and societies that have been left out over the centries. 860 million people go to bed hungry. 6.6 million children die under the age of five almost all from diseases that could be prevented with pennies-per-dose treatments. people see the opportunity and ask us to do more in foreign assi

assistance and developments. our priority is to demonstrate the resources congress entrust in us are deployed efficiently as possible. congress has helped us rebuilding the agency to do that. but we evaluate every major program. i can describe programs that work and those that don't. >> and i am going to ask senator mccain to preside. i am going to vote and come back and we will maximize your time. >> you mentioned a word that is dear to my heart: priorization. i think something that hurts is when we good give foreign aid to a country that is corrupt and the converse of what senator rubio asked, can you name a program and give me ininformation -- information --

or argument where we ended a program that wasn't successful and we haven't been able to influence a country into better behavior? >> over my tenor we have shutdown 34% of areas around the world and that is what we needed to do to free up the resources to invest in feed the future that is in 19 countries and delivers incredible and outstanding results. specifically, i went out with my team a couple years agree to afghanistan and did a review of everything planned and called it a sustainability review. we removed a number of projects we didn't think would be financely sustainable and i am glad we did as i sit here >> provide my office with that list. that gives me information where i can say we have a good

administrator and he ended these 34 appropriately so. let's keep going on priorization. you have have half a billion toward global climate change. when you were before the appropriate and subcommittee we talked about lombard and i respect this bright writing because he is looking at where you get the most bang for your book. he wrote a book, "cool it" saying saying we are better at addressing aids and providing fresh water as opposed to spending money on global warming and climate change initiatives. that is 3% of your budget being

allocated to something they some are scratching their heads saying you are far better off spending money else where. >> just so i am clear, the largest area of of investment ad usaid is health. when you include the hiv program it is $8 million a year. food is 2.5 billion dollar is that includes the food to feature program so the food aid is no longer needed >> so another half billon for climate change that could be put toward the food initiative. >> and $800 million for education and $600 million for water. ...

people actually pay a huge amount of money for diesel generation for power and energy in places where there is no systemic access. in that context small-scale solutions, off-chrysalises that rely on solar, wind, and other sources our extraordinarily cost-effective.

a zedekiah the math, investing in things that because we want to invest in things that have the highest return on investment , but ultimately we're making an initial investment. companies themselves have to sustain these systems. like we did in afghanistan, we want to be sustainable and how we carry out this work. bringing that kind of sophisticated analysis and our allied thinking san how we do this work. in particular, carrying out the cost-effective analysis on these major programs. >> again, thank you where answers. >> thank you. good to be with you today. just three comments. a set of questions around syria. humanitarian relief. senator harkin and others talked about the development. i was in the palestine recently and met with technology, japan

yours to work with usaid when not only create economic opportunities. you are a good ambassador. senator menendez concerned allow the american budget. the line items going down on the sea there are ten ambassadorial positions unfilled. some of that is on the white house, but some of it is on people languishing on the floor of the senate. the south, region of our defense has been hit very hard by the politics and having to reduce there drag interdictions as a result. the combined message that we seem to be sending, their own explanation, let america is really a place of importance to us. just because it's not a place of points to us doesn't mean it's

not to china, ron, russia, russia is doing military exercises in the caribbean. i really worry about this. a just want to echo what the chair said. the committee two weeks ago and the full senate last week passed a resolution, as are to be a four dealing with the largest provider of humanitarian human refugees outside syria. much of the aid has been delivered through ngos and the u.n. the best resolution last picking upon the u.n. security council resolution. now is the time for cross border delivery of humanitarian aid. they're refugees outside, but there's 9 million.

the un has indicated unimpeded access cross border is now something that is supported by the united nations security council, and our resolution last week, then the administration to bring back a plan for how we will be more aggressive. the more aggressive humanitarian strategy to deal with the suffering. >> thank you, senator. thank you for really no such a broad range of issues. on syria in particular i hope more americans can see that the money be provided is making a huge difference, reaching over 4 million people inside assyria courage in a two and a half million refugees, as you point out, that are tremendous. and within syria, three and a

half million of the nine you referenced are essentially not reachable. the constraints placed on how 80's provided. in that context u.s. aid has been a world leader in providing cross border assistance. they win council resolution calls for you and agencies to do the same and was agreed to by all security council. per valerie's report presented at the end of march it essentially shows that the syrian regime has not allowed for the security council to put men and a reasonable scale. there have been have you convoys across the border done in coordination with the syrians, but a small and very incremental steps, three and half million people that could be reached that are not being reached because the terms of that resolution are not being implemented as aggressively as

necessary by the regime. so we are currently non main provider of cross border assistance. you know, that assistance as allow us to provide surgery's and medical support to 250,000 injured syrians in the north in the south and in places that others are not reaching. i want to recognize syrian american ambassador's and other humanitarian actors who have risked their lives to do some extra repair work in that context. we need the u.n. agencies to do more and ultimately the syrian regime to abide by what some of the un security council resolution calls for. >> i was at a meeting with save the children, one of the many ngos that does work inside syria talking about the effect that the regime does not allow access in accord with the security council resolution. as important thing for the administration to understand in terms of congress. while there are complicated feelings here in congress about syria and particularly that was

demonstrated in a vote about authorization of military force in august the feelings but humanitarian assistance, humanitarian resolution came out of this committee unanimously, pass out of the senate unanimously. it would not be providing the aid if it was controversial and congress. so as the administration wrestles with what is the next at to try to make a serious policy more effective, take advantage of the fact you have a congress that is unanimous about the aggressive delivery of humanitarian aid. that is something we are with you in there is not controversy about. i think there is much more of can be done. >> thank you. that is wonderful to hear because just tomorrow i am convening my counterparts from other donor countries to basically ask them to do more of this type of cross border work. and that is good to know that there is support for that. >> thank you, senator.

>> i do want to respond to some of the comments made earlier. the chairman started out by talking about the cuba issue and said -- i will just bear freeze, it is down, down, and even dumber to essentially shield cuba from the influences that we have on other dictatorial regimes and authoritarian regimes. i could not agree more. i could not agree more. this why i oppose our policy on cuba for so long. mentioned another senator mentioned that iran is the only country less free cuba. but even iran, we don't shield the people from the influences or the government from the influences of americans traveling there. we encourage it. north korea to my of their government would allow more of it we would encourage more of it .

we had a similar situation with cuba praising the education system. if we had bob from peoria our friend from the mind it would say no such thing because they would realize that it's a different world than is described by some with travel there was enough for -- the cuban government for american influence, we cut off our by denying ordinary americans, every day americans the ability to travel freely. now, i have no doubt that if we opened up the travel ban, suspended, and did it, the cuban government would try to be more selective on who they allowed to come to cuba. they are all about control. but if somebody is going to limit the travel, that's the

broader problem and issue i have with our whole policy regarding cuba. specifically not with the fact that we have programs like this going. you can say, well, this is something that we should have known about or heads been authorized. it's legal. we would argue back and forth with its covert or simply disagree, but that does not shield the fact that it is televised for usaid to provide humanitarian relief and encourage democratic development round the world chess.

u.s. interests as well. of what we have programs elsewhere in the world among describes some of the things the u.s. the idea is doing, providing humanitarian relief. in south sudan we have supplies coming from nairobi to south sudan cannot tough stuff. we are working with partners inside syria. we may not have people on the ground, but we do in neighboring countries. this is serious stuff. what are we doing to our u.s. aid programs around the world when they hear that there are covert were discreet programs like this going on by u.s. aid? do you have any concern that this program in cuba jeopardize our programs elsewhere in the world? like a said, questioning whether or not we should do this but we're we're doing it. >> well, senator, i appreciate and i think your remarks illustrate that there is a

debate policy debate on the overall policy. with respect to the implementation of programs when i can assure you is that our implementation is consistent with the authorizations and appropriations of language. and by that i mean they are not covered. they are intended to provide access to open information. they're consistent with programs that we conduct as part of our efforts in a number of other countries around the world as part of supporting democratic and open governments and societies and civil society actors. in a the end of the day, you know, i believe that our mission to end the extreme poverty requires a broad, open society to participate. and i appreciate your mention of south sudan and syria were people are connecting to my belief, heroic world leading and modern technology enabled --

>> i understand that, but i have limited time here. lancaster said, we can argue with its discrete or covert, but when we look at the description of the program here, look at some of these texts, messages that we hired people to write, summer and south america to rights of these. i'm reading a few that we have access to. this is a tweet sent out under this program. >> i think -- and i'm sorry to interrupt you. i do think that this program is no longer operational. i have asked my team to review the content that was in the various stories because when of the intent of the program was to support open information. >> along those lines we have access to all of the streets are the messages that were sent by

u.s. aid contractors in full. so we can judge here because we have to determine, we have to provide oversight, within the authorized programs are fine and. >> i would ask my team to review my documents. most of these documents are not in our possession but in the position of -- >> surely. >> but you have access. >> they will gather them, review them, and we will make -- we will like the findings available to you. >> i'm not interested in your findings. on interested in the data. think that we need -- >> we will make the data available. absolutely. >> we will have access to each of the streets are messages that were sent out. >> you will have access to what we're able to gather. absolutely. >> my concern, you know, we have programs like this dating back. on not pointing fingers at this demonstration. this of ministers has done some good things for the broadening

allowable trouble callable categories for travel. i applaud this demonstration for doing that much better in my youth in the last administration , republican administration. the last administration had, for example, for a while a ticker. messages were put up that were really the only way to describe it charitably was juvenile. you would chide the cubans for not providing school lunches for the kids. those were provided in miami, for example. juvenile sayings that i don't think serves anybody's purposes. and this seems -- >> i can't always speak. >> i know that. we are continuing with things like that. it smacks of that kind of program. i'm not making a political point. republican versus democrat. our policy is wrong. the simply allow americans to

travel to cuba says. we would achieve, in my view -- and this is not your call to make an hours. we have the information from this program to actually review it and then make a decision, do we want to continue to fund programs like this that in my view might put u.s. aid contractors or individuals were of the country's including key with a participant in this program in danger. >> for what. >> and not sure what we get out of this. allow americans to travel, allow them to take five terms allow them to do good instead of saying, no, you can't travel. we will shield the cuban government and the influences that come with american travel. i don't see american travel as some kind of reward for good behavior on behalf of the cuban government. it is finally a get-tough policy in my view.

>> my time is well spent.

>> so i would like you to give the chair a list of all the internet access programs to conduct. and as you for the same thing for all. it seems to me we area going to judge whether or not we're going to be supportive of the internet access in the world were not. and i think it's consistently unfair that one set of democracy

programs has the greater scrutiny of the federal government to the absence of all others. so as the opera's in committee i think we want to see what is happening across the entire spectrum. and i would ask you to give me information about all of those programs and all the programming and all of the you know this and everything so that we can make an informed judgment. the chair is of the view and is the opera's in committee and either that believe in those programs selectively, which i no think i do in which case we will support and not pick and choose which country deserves openness and which country is not. whether or not the idea is the appropriate entity. i think a id as part of the loan

program and so on not one to advocate having an idea of a sudden be stripped of its democracy programs falls from generally speaking maybe they are in some open societies. there are many in which they're not they're not receptive of the end of the day. and just as the voice of america and a whole host of others are good broadcasting was meant to try to create an open information to people in different parts of the world, it seems to me than what we're trying to do is do exactly that choice for which we have our global perspective and understanding of the value of

those programs and a commitment to a. those commitments should not be decided by picking and choosing which country we some how like and which countries we don't. if they fail to provide there people access to the basic flow of information it seems to me that we should be pursuing it. >> and let me to send, i would like to get awful sense of your democracy programs. want to judge all of those. maybe i will ask for gao inspector general's. there's, in my mind, of siege mentality and but i suspect there is difference of opinion as to what our policy should be. what i don't respect is the

siege upon to the exclusion of all orders. that's something that we are going to have a full spectrum analysis of. >> this particular program was not to provide an access. social media content with the access that already exists. >> this program was designed to provide access to information and create a platform. >> right. it did not provide internet access. >> and let my team respond. the program was intended to provide open access to information and a platform to communicate. >> klum the a was a basis which did not exist because people had the opportunity. they have some living in it would use the.

the regime blocks the access to about the internet and to these platforms. and so that is the challenge of our regime as of the vision to know that simply don't want to allow its people to have him permission because when they have information they mesa may decide to make choices or to peacefully protest the change in a given which regionally in the world look at turkey and what it's doing in the world we look at enron and what is happening and. and let it china and the challenge. we condemn them. and you with some of the cuban people don't deserve the flow of information. we're going to have a broader range of judgment. one final note, i know that send

a blank as a different view, senator durbin expect some of that. the problem is that when you travel to cuba europeans, latin americans, canadians and others. yet the regime has become not less repressive but more repressive. and when you travel and go you end up feeding him? unfortunately not the cuban people. why? because the regime is the one that had through its company which is basically on by the military will among the entities by which those to go visit and on tuesday and an answer with a foreign partner or with entities that are totally unknown by the

military to a foreign company. so this is a legitimate debate. we have different views. the nature of our democracy programs and creating access to and from nation anywhere in the world we will keep this record open for questions. this hearing is adjourned. >> coming up next, grover norquist, president of americans for tax reform. that's followed by testimony from health and human services secretary kathleen civilians. and later, a senate foreign relations committee hearing on u.s. spending for 2015. >> the house oversight committee

voted to hold former irs official in contempt of congress for refusal to testify. on our next washington journal we will get an update from the heritage foundation. then jocelyn fry of the center for american progress on white house efforts to combat gender inequality. later will talk to a georgetown university history professor maurice jackson about the 50th anniversary of the 1964 civil rights act. washington journal is live each morning and 7:00 eastern. loss of take your calls on facebook and to our. >> friday, the councils of the session about bit one in the future of digital currency. loniten 30:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> i think we need is something akin to the grace commission during the reagan administration

or the brandt commission, the base realignment and closing commission during the clinton administration. an outside group with integrity, former members of congress, no current elected politicians to come in and do a complete on the government of top to bottom. every agency of government has a piece of legislation or charter that created it. has the purpose. it's not the filling that purpose are not doing it within a reasonable budget it should be cut or eliminated. let's just take a start. this came in with the highest motivation. do you know, and i did until i researched, there are three. early, enhanced demand regular. allied we have the ability? the first one was working. the third? because the second one was working. >> veteran columnist cal thomas on fixing a broken washington. 79:00 eastern and some then added 9:00. immediately following at a heritage foundation but party as

he signed his book and chats with gusts. also this weekend this year's national black writers conference. saturday and noon eastern the panels on race, power, politics, literature, shipping and entities in africa. sunday 2:00 strengthening committees, the historical narrative. a panel on publishing, book tv every weekend on c-span2. >> health and human services secretary and a difficult insurance rollout, kathleen sibila assess and a resignation. president obama is expected to make the official announcement on friday. secretary sibelius' lives on capitol hill thursday talking about the latest health-insurance menders. here's part of what she said. >> happier, healthier lives to reach their fullest potential.

all of the hard work of our employees is oftentimes unheralded, their efforts benefit millions of americans. our nation's seniors benefit from the hard work of employees at cms and the administration on community living. children benefit from the sea as administered initiatives like and start. and all of us benefit from sensors work on mental health, substance abuse, treatment, and from the efforts of employees across all our departments operating in staff division's. another area that is benefiting all americans is the administration of the affordable care act. even prior to open enrollment in the marketplace millions of americans and their families obtained new brides and new consumer protection. during these past six months millions have obtained a security and peace of mind of affordable health coverage. today the people of manitoba and they have been able to recover for the first time in years.

signed up for private insurance in the marketplace. as of this week 400,000 additional americans of signed out. the expected number to continue to grow. between october and the end of figurine in additional 39 americans enrolled in medicaid coverage now we know that if more states move forward on medicaid expansion more uninsured americans will be able to get covered. affordable health care bridge, mental health, substance abuse, treatment, food safety, early childhood, health security, all of these issues connected president obama's call for expanding opporunity, in fact your security.

thankible conversations] >> thank everyone for coming. this is our annual tax the eve press conference here at americans for tax reform where we have let the tax issue and the irs issue along with taxpayer members of congress and senators. no one to just brown through the hand that you have when your see the first -- and all these can be found on atr doubt ork. so don't forget our hands tied on twitter.

the first is the list of all of the tax protection signers. these are people who have committed to their constituents that they will not vote for any net tax increase as long as they are elected to congress. the next is in op an average of about why the ira should not be comparing people's taxes. we also have a packet of information for the ways and means committee. finally we have a map of state control. so with that i will turn over grover norquist. >> we have a number of congressional house and senate leaders. i should just point out that we hold an event like this every april 15th. don't worry if you're not. taxes and did you doing this ahead of time. members will be back in the district's.

this year 2014 as a little different than of a past years. in the middle of discussion of extenders, the middle of a conversation about what is fundamental tax reform. what year exactly is going to kick off. the shape will be formed. lastly every april 15th we know that the american people have a certain amount of fear about the errors and the viruses power. as we know from the last several days this is the first time that the people who run the irs the beginning have a little bit of fear about the anchor of the american people and how they have been treated by some of the bureaucrats and leaders. that said, our first speaker today will be house majority leader eric cantor from the great state of virginia. >> thanks, grover. pleasure to be here with

americans for tax reform. i want to say that atr has consistently been the voice for the taxpayers of this country demanding reform of our tax system. and they're is a lot of discussion right now going on in this building in throughout the country about the lack of confidence that people have in what is going on. i think central to that is the trust that the people of this country place in the government and the appropriate balance of that government in terms of whether it works for the people of the of a way around. and to the point that was just made by grover in terms of confidence of the people, and the fear and the anchor of the people toward the tax collection agency in this of ministration is central to this notion of distrust. it is reprehensible to think that an administration would condone activity on the part of

bureaucrats that employed the tools of one it from the instruments such as the tax agency enforcement agency for political and. there is one thing when people are elected, parties are elected , members of congress, boaters and citizens of america have a right to expect that the individual elected will be promoting his or her philosophy your agenda. but never was it expected that a candidate, president, his administration is going to use and neutral instrument like the tax collection agency to for the political lines. that is what is going on right now. as you know, the house is taking action. we have announced the intent for us to go forward to all this administration accountable, told ms. lerner accountable. as you know, the ways and means committee took an extraordinary step in its criminal referral of

what's going on the. we have got to get to the bottom of this. rear going to restore the trust that is owed to the american people on the part of this government. also on the other issue of april 15th coming it is a day that we are all reminded of how much money the government takes from hard-working families. we have to strive to make sure that the amount of money, the level of taxation is reduced. we are taxed enough already. yet this week we have got the democrats and the house right now as we speak passing their version of a budget which increases taxes. that is unacceptable. we can do better than that, and that is what we are about on the part of the majority in the house, pushing forward in terms of ideas, focused on how we reform our tax code, ideas of

how we can make sure that people keep more of their hard-earned money and to ensure that this government works with the people and not the of the way around. thank you very much. >> we're now joined by representative steve sillies, chairman of the republican study committee. >> thank you, grover. i want to thank grover for the he provides the americans for tax reform. number one, highlighting just what tax policy means to real families. but also, how important it is to cut tax rates to get economic growth, to give more people back to work in this country. i think the importance of this island's leading of to april april 15th, especially today when we are voting and house budget. we have had some incredible debates because our budgets are our visions for the country. how're we going to actually get our country moving again? the republican study committee just add a button on the floor.

paul ryan was bringing forward the house republican budget. both of those budgets actually get to balance within at in your window. what is interesting about that is we do all of that by putting americans back in charge, by giving washington out of the way to allow for people to give more of their freedom and more of their tax dollars. rebounds the federal budget and that in your window without raising a dime in taxes. why is that important? it's important to contrast with the democrats' budget. five of his six years in office as president he has missed the legal deadline to file budget. never missed a deadline to file his final four bracket. that shows you what his priorities are. literally every single year he never missed a deadline to file his final four bracket but did not do too well. five of his six years as president in is the legal deadline to file as budget.

you look in his budget human see why he was ashamed to put it up to before the people. reflects his budget priorities. what are those perris? one of those important contrasts is president obama actually calls for 2 trillion in new taxes in his budget on top of what he already passed the obamacare which was another trillion dollars in new taxes. the president says he wants to take more taxes and of the pockets of american families among one and it will panicle 58. it would suggest maybe that's what you need to get to a balanced federal budget. unfortunately when you look at president obama's budget he never ever gets to balance. budging -- the balancing the budget is not a priority. he has made that clear, but he lays it down his budget document. when you talk about tax policy toward the americans for tax reform does, why is it so important. when you look at the debates there are people on the liberal

side of the aisle and say tax increases is what is needed to get the federal budget balanced. if only those corporations making money with this in to have a problem with and if you're making a profit this administration wants to go after you and punish you for your success. and they say it's all in the name of fairness and fiscal responsibility. when you look at their own budget, higher taxes are not the answer to getting you to a balanced budget. fact, higher taxes on the hallmark. so none ten years, none 20 years, not ever. new taxes and we both bounced and the to go britishers in economic growth is what this

country needs to one of the federal gunman taking more or hard and tax dollars. in fact, unleashing the potential of american families, giving families more of their hard-earned dollars. that's what's going to get us back to not only balanced budgets back to prosperity for families who are struggling in this tough economy. judges rarely do layout of perris. you can look in our home state of louisiana. senator landry was the deciding vote for obamacare. and one vote alone to put that policy in place is going to cost the louisiana families millions of dollars in new taxes on april april 15th. just to pay for those 20 new tax increases should put into law with obamacare. these policies have real impact on families. that is why we're fighting to lower tax rates to get our economy moving again. thank you for the great work you do. look forward to continuing.

>> thank you. congressman from louisiana, the chairman of the republican study committee. i had mentioned the abuses on going and the investigations in the pushed back by the american people and by congress. and now the discussion that has been kicked off by the chairman of the ways and means committee, the congressman from michigan. he has really taken the lead in trying what the future can look like. and also where we are going with tax extenders. i could just say from of free-market conservative perspective, i think the most important tax extender decision to make is to maintain what is called bonus depreciation. now, all it really is is moving toward expensive, sort of halfway toward expensive recall the bonus depreciation makes a

mistake. it is actually less than full expense in, which is where we ought to be. new investment in the united states. maintaining and expanding it to all investing i think is ultimately the right way to go. german. >> thank you very much. good morning. good morning, everyone. thank-you for though the data you provide. americans for tax reform, you have really helped us move this issue forward. there are a couple of things that obviously americans are very concerned about. steve talked about some of them. that is that we don't really have the kind of growing economy, the kind of economic recovery and job creation that we need to see. markets are living at home than ever before. rather than starting on their own careers and their own by the heads and pursuing their own dreams. we really do have a low worker participation rate and we have had since the carter

administration. people are just not able to see this sort of prosperity. incomes have been declining. the number one issue facing americans as jobs in the economy. one way to address that is to comprehensive tax reform so that we can be the party of opportunity, a pro-growth policies and a country that really sees the kind of an immigrant and the real revitalization of the american dream. many people feel the country is moving in the wrong direction and don't think it will get any better. obviously what we have tried to do is to really have a code that really is pro-growth. we do that by lowering rates, increasing the standard deduction. that gets at the complexity of the tax code. they talk about just how incredibly complicated our code is. that really has put a wet blanket over the economic recovery and is another reason we aren't seeing the job creation. but the real object there is it 95 percent of the people don't

itemize, which they don't to the tax plan, that means that there will be filing a simpler to and 40. that means that they will really have less opportunity for the irs to meddle in their affairs because that will be much more straightforward. there will be as much discretion in terms of the irs. that partly nothing more frightening than having a lantern and now when you get home. they always come on friday night and obviously with the investigation into the abuses that the irs in a scandal that has resulted we have had an agency where there have been high level officials and felt it was up it a target people based on a political believes. really what is that? that is denying people their constitutional right of due process. that is a serious matter. so the committee has been investigating this. obviously if we had people from the irs that were forthcoming we would not need to be going through line by line tens of thousands of pages of documents.

i don't have all the melson documents. when i get them i can assure you that we will be able to conclude this in a very expedited way. what we found so far really leaves me to conclude and that we believe that there is reason to believe that ms. lerner committed crimes. the key one is denying people their constitutional right. clearly it was very important for the public to know this and in part for the committee to vote this so that this information would become public. and this, you know, being able to hide behind the american people not knowing what end. now we need to see whether mr. all there will take a serious look at this as we think it is important enough that he does. it was revived a violation of constitutional rights, the potential release of

confidential taxpayer information and really sort of denying people the ability to choose to express their constitutional right. those things all were things that we felt needed to be looked at. moving forward with the only country in the world with big pieces of its tax policy that expires. we now call those extenders. we literally let them expire and and retroactively put them in place and then they go forward. one of the things the committee is looking at is how we can take the so-called extender packages which is a number are really some items are very good, whether it's the expense in issue or research and development tax credit, one of our neighbors, canada, as a permanent research and development tax credit. we are competing with the tax policies. we are looking at these. and our first hearing on them, doing those in a methodical way, breaking them down into groups. clearly those are two that are very much of the top of the

list. i look forward to continuing to work on those in have markups in committee to see which of these policies we can make prominence in that we can get off this. really the answer did for people who are trying to plan on whether to build a plan or hire more people or even by that piece of equipment, it really makes a huge difference. i just want to think grover, thank the americans with tax reform and all the work you do. really helps as we continue to try to push these issues forward. thank you very much. >> the ways and means committee. thank you for your the. we're now joined by a representative, virginia fox and what carolina.

virginia. >> well, when you agree to do these things you should probably try to find out who it is you're going back to follow. dave camp is a preeminent expert in the area, obviously, as chairman of the ways and means committee. most of us aspire to know just a portion of what dave knows about tax code and about budgets and the issues were dealing with right now. i also want to thank atr for what it does and educating the american people in particular about the issues we're facing. last year when it was the year the length of the tax code, 4 million words, compared to the bible. it is staggering in size, but that is just the statute.

when you add the 20 volumes and a growing of regulations and the toll comes in and while of the $14 million. that's a lot of words. each year the average american spends 13 hours to comply with our monstrous tax code, and it really is monstrosity. this includes reading pages of rules, filling out forms, keeping receipts from a gathering records, and often paying someone to do the rest. in total we spend more than 6 billion hours and $168 billion just to pay our taxes. would that we could keep all of that in a productive economy, perhaps the siepi be which is so concerned about the length of applications should take a crack at the over 200 pages of instructions that it takes to explain just that 1040. it is bad enough that citizens,

small-business owners, moms, dads to my annabel's have to try and make sense of out of 49 in word tax system applies to them. now we learn that very likely some of those entrusted with enforcing the system, a system in which a simple math there can devastate your budget will likely weapon is the code in an attempt to make life difficult for those they disagree with politically. this cannot be allowed to go unpunished. the tax code will never be popular, but it should not be as complicated, and it absolutely should not be partisan. it is genuinely puzzling that our colleagues across the aisle are not pursuing the ira's would figure. the entire vision of government requires massive bureaucracies to function. they should know the american people are unlikely to support a politicized bureaucracy.

for all these reasons and many more i support a simpler, more fair tax cut. again, i want to thank atr for the work that it does. and now we're going to missed it kemp and his expertise on the ways and means committee. thank you all for helping to get the word out about what is happening here today. thank you very much. >> thank you, virginia fox from of carolina. the discussion that several of the members of brought up on the abuse of awareness, some of our less honest cities, the tax assessor is a political job. it punish people through the tax code and forget to contribute to the mayor. not to do with the want to do. so there are some people who think the abuses in the ira's

our politics as usual. if you're from chicago. not politics as usual at the national level, and it cannot be tolerated in elantra. we are now joined by senator orrin hatch of utah, the ranking member of the senate committee on finance. >> it's always great. i think it stands singularly in and shoulders above everyone else in this field of trying to get the government to live within its means. understand the more we tax them more in government spends in the larger the government becomes. and i think we're proud,

standing sent on these particular issues. no issue rear to celebrate tax state. let's face it, the clock ticks towards in the 15th. americans across the country are rushing to complete their tax returns. on taxed a it reminds us of how overly complex and burdensome the u.s. tax code releases. over 70,000 pages in length, our tax code is on labyrinth of red tape, counterproductive, stifling to american competitiveness commander in much needed job growth and needlessly hassles individual americans and their families. we have not reform our tax code in 20 years, and it's a colossal mess. i know that my good friend is working hard over on the house side to overhaul the nation's

broken code. he recently put forward a bold vision. for that he deserves tremendous credit. i, too, share the chairman's role of remaking the tax code and getting this thing and the control. the tax code should be more efficient. it should be more competitive for both our job creators and hard-working middle-class families. let me be clear, any efforts to advance a comprehensive tax reform must not be turned into a revenue raising exercise. i believe we ought to focus on spending reductions, and that's one to be a real challenge to our friends on the other side of the aisle. just look at the democrats in the house are trying to push the budget that would hit the american people. that's on top of over a trillion dollars in affordable care act. give me a break. we know that the democrats are hard wired to believe that the government's money is not the

people's money. even the nonpartisan congressional budget office has made it clear that we don't have the revenue problem in this country. we have what's called a spending problem. frankly, given that today 17 the half trillion dollar debt exceeds our nation's annual economic output. a lot of people don't realize that. we are just spending ourselves into bankruptcy. is pretty clear we have a debt problem. all of the president's populous talks about the redistribution of wealth and making sure the so-called rich pay their share, well, guess what? that is not one to do is what to reignite our struggling economy to provide better jobs. if we are serious about taking on the economic jones is facing an addition today than reforming the tax code, we need to rebuild

and economic growth. some restore prosperity to the american people. we have to get to work and hopefully in the near future we will be able to get to work on these types of matters. and for young people coming and future is being thrown right down the drain. all of the answers that they have for this kind of bumbling is we need more taxes and we need this. well, that maybe, but they're not going to solve our problems. and it would take care. we have to find someone to bring this economy back on track. to that degree i appreciate what is done the trying guinness on

the right track. >> ranking member of the senate finance committee for you till. we are now joined by senator pat burns. senator robb's quite good morning. >> good morning. once tried again. and, you know, this is the first amendment rights. if this keeps up and the ira's comes in and you wanna be able to say good morning. good morning. >> good morning. >> thank-you. appreciate it. and it says in my biography and i'm a journalist. hyman and employed newspaperman, but am pleased to recognize and

i made a personal vow, like many in the senate and house to keep pushing the administration until they understand the actions have been targeting conservative 51c 51c4. and just this tuesday night took the opportunity to question the information of the ira's. beyond any shadow of doubt a conservative. in fact, it looks like it's doing this even as i speak. yesterday's action by the ways and means committee really confirms this. kudos to the ways and means committee with the dedication.

what is going on is a deliberate abuse of federal enforcement powers for purely political purposes. .. past using the irs to shut down its critics and opponents and to change the outcome of elections. when i go back home to the town hall meetings or when people come to my office, they will bring up the number 1, 2, 3 issues they are concerned about. there is always somebody in the back that says, wait a minute, what about my free speech rights? why can't congress get to the bottom of this? that takes a rather lengthy explanation. there are those of us that are committed to do that. that is why they are frustrated, concerned, angry. that is why they think the america they have grown up in and appreciated and they want to leap to their kids and grandkids, the very