distrust, u.s.-mexico relations are now stronger than ever. i'm pleased the obama administration has prioritized our partnership with mexico from the very start and i'm happy to see that secretary kerry is continuing a high level engagement of this trip there tomorrow. today our two economies are tied more closely together than ever before. ..

>> political and economic reforms, particularly in the country's energy sector. as a result of mexico's reforms, moody's upgraded its credit rating to investment grade in february. this makes mexico the only latin american country other than chile to achieve this rating. the mexican congress recently passed a law that will enable courts to try cases alleged against soldiers. to protect human rights, to protect advocates and journalists represent an important step forward. this is a real challenge, and mexico remains a dangerous place for those working to shine a light on abuses, corruption and crime. i urge the mexican government to speed up its implementation of these measures. i also urge the state department

to provide direct funding for this effort to help build a safe environment for these men and doing such important work. as our witnesses know, i have been a supporter of the merida initiative since its inception, but i've also made clear we have certain obligations under the initiative that demand greater u.s. attention. firstly, we must do much more to to stop the illegal flow of firearms from the united states to mexico. in 2009 the government accountability office released a report that i commissioned on this issue. it showed that 87% of the firearms mexican authorities seized and traced between fy-2004 and fy-2008 originated in the united states. today i'm sending a letter to the gao requesting a follow-up report reviewing u.s. efforts to combat firearms trafficking to mexico. secondly, the enormous u.s. demand for illegal drugs fuels

violence this mexico. in 2012 there were approximately 24 million illicit drug users in the united states. while i am pleased by the obama administration's efforts to invest in drug prevention and treatment programs, we must continue to do more to stop illegal drug use in our country. thirdly, we must do our part to cut off funding to transnational criminal organizations. this means enforcing our anti-money laundering laws and cracking down on u.s. banks that turn a blind eye to money laundering. without taking these steps, it will be very difficult to end the terrible violence in mexico that has claimed more than 70,000 arrives over the past -- lives over the past seven years. finally, i'd like to emphasize how important it is for the house of representatives to swiftly pass comprehensive immigration reform. we need a new immigration system that opens the doors of opportunity and emphasizes human dignity. our diversity is one of our

country's greatest strengths. throughout our history, immigrants have always been an indispensable part of the fabric of our society, and we know from the number of people reaching our shores every year that america remains a beacon of hope and opportunity around the world. the time to fix our system is now, and we all know that if the senate's bill came to a vote on the house floor this around, it would be on the's desk this evening -- on the president's desk this evening. i'd like to close by thanking our witnesses for being here today and for their important work in insuring that our u.s./mexico partnership remains strong. i know all the witnesses, i'm appreciative of their hard work and expertise, and i look forward to hearing from each of them today. thank you again, purchase, for holding this important -- mr. chairman, for holding this important hearing and working in a bipartisan way. >> thank you, mr. engel. we're going to now go to mr. salmon, the chair of the subcommittee on the western hemisphere. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank you and ranking member engel for convening

today's hearing on our extremely important bilateral relationship with mexico. it's wonderful to see you again, secretary jacobson, ambassador brownfield and ms. hogan again. you've all done so much to strengthen our relationship with mexico and the rest of the americas, and it's been a real pleasure working with you over the past year. as you know, mr. chairman, our economic and security partnerships with mexico are vital. six million u.s. jobs depend on our trade with mexico. that translates into 1 in 24 jobs here in the united states. let me repeat that, 1 out of every 24 jobs in the united states is related to exporting to mexico. 692,000 jobs in your home state, mr. chairman, in california, they depend on this relationship with mexico. my home state of arizona is the nation's fifth largest exporter to mexico, and over 111,000 arizona jobs rely directly or indirectly on the commercial relationship we enjoy with mexico. unfortunately, border ports of

industry face significant challenges keeping up with the growth in our two-way trade, resulting in wait times that represent a loss of $7.2 billion a year. and as chairman of the western hemisphere subcommittee, i've made trade a priority and look forward to hearing from our witnesses about how we can continue to address serious challenge. mexico has a growing middle class, and some economists have recently projected that the mexican economy welcome the fifth -- will be the fifth large economy in the world by 2050. sectors will open up in mexico's economy building a more prosperous mexico while opening markets for american manufacturers and entrepreneurs. meaningful energy reforms will open the sector to foreign investment that will allow mexico to realize its production potential, helping to make north america energy self-sufficient. as chairman of the western hemisphere subcommittee, i pushed the administration to finally set up the transboundary hydrocarbons agreement, and was

pleased when we passed it into law late last year. this resulted in 1.5 million acres of the u.s. outer continental shelf being opened up that had been off limitings to both the -- limits to both the u.s. and mexico. we're now on a real path towards energy security and independence. despite promising news on the economic front, security in mexico continues to affect both countries. our security partnership has been successful in undermining transnational criminal organizations and in helping mexico to reform its justice sector and build capacity of municipal and federal police forces. however, i continue to be concerned with the progress merida-related progress has slowed with the strategy to pivot away from real security challenges. i agree there is much more to mexico than the security situation, but when i see there's nearly $750 million in the merida pipeline, it tells me

there's still a lot of work to be done to get our partners to reprioritize security. it is true that mexico continues to contribute $10 to each dollar the u.s. contributes to the merida initiative, and the capture of el chapo certainly is another good indication of mexican resolve. but there is still much progress to be had, and i'm eager to hear from ambassador brownfield on steps he's taking to further cultivate this important security partnership and from ms. 40 ban on usaid's justice reform. improving mention cose' economic out-- mexico's economic outlook, the rule of law will have real and direct impact on the u.s. homeland and will enhance our already- impressive bilateral commercial relationship. thank you so much, mr. chairman, for convening what promises to be a valuable hearing on one of our most productive and important global partnerships. >> i thank the gentleman. we now go to mr. sires for two

minutes, the ranking member of the subcommittee on the western hemisphere. >> thank you, mr. chairman, thank you to our witnesses for being here today. the u.s. and mexico relationship -- [inaudible] it is also one of the most promising and positive relationships in our hemisphere. i thank my friend and colleague, chairman salmon, for making this relation a central fox of our subcommittee work. our nation's share common democratic value, similar desires for peace and economic prosperity as well as a nearly 2,000-mile border. the u.s. is mexico's largest trading partner while mexico is the u.s.' third largest trading partner. both u.s. and mexico have accepted a shared responsibility as part of the merida initiative. congress has appropriated more than $2 billion towards the initiative, and the administration has requested $115 million for fiscal year

2015. for its part, mexico has invested nearly $10 for every u.s. dollar committed by the u.s. nonetheless, mexico remains a major country for more than 95 percent of the cocaine sold in the united states. since 2006 more than 70,000 deaths have resulted from drug-related crime and violence in mexico. nearly a year and a half has passed since mexico's president came into office. since that time, president peen ya neatos that had a profound impact on u.s. relations and economic security. came about with the help of u.s.

intelligence. while deescalation of drug-related violence in one of the regions is still a concern, i hope mention cose' -- mention cose' -- mexico's recent announcement will signify an ongoing earth to continue -- effort to continue combating drug -- can i look forward to hearing about our involvement in security efforts and in terms of human rights how we can work with mexico to further protect journalism and central american migrants. i look forward to hearing from our possiblists on the -- panelists what we can expect from secretary kerry's upcoming visit to mexico and how we can improve our efforts moving forward. thank you. >> thank you, mr. sires. this morning we're pleased to be joined by representatives of the department of state and the u.s. agency for international development, and it is good to

see our madam assistant secretary, it's good to see you again, ms. jacobson. and before becoming assistant secretary of state for the bureau of western hemisphere affairs, she formerly was the acting stan secretary for western -- assistant secretary for western hemisphere and formerly served as director of mexican affairs. we also have ambassador brownfield with us, he's assistant secretary for international far a cottics and law enforcement affairs. he was the u.s. ambassador to colombia from 2007 to 2010 and served overseas in venezuela, el salvador, argentina, switzerland and panama as a temporary political adviser to the u.s. southern command. ms. hogan has 25 years of development experience in latin america. elizabeth or beth hogan as we know her is the senior deputy assistant administrator for usaid's bureau for latin america

and the caribbean. previously, she served as the director of the agency's haiti task team and was director of south american affairs. so without objection, the witnesses' full prepared statement will be made part of the record, and members will have five calendar days to submit questions and any extraneous material they may want to put into the record. but at this point we'll begin with ms. jacobson, and we will ask all of the witnesses if you could summarize your remarks, and then we'll go to questions. ms. jacobson. >> thank you, mr. chairman, ranking member engel and members of the committee. i want to thank you for the opportunity to appear here today to testify on u.s./mexico relations, and i'm really so gratified because i think this is the largest number of members that we've had at a hearing in this committee on latin america. and i also really want to thank the western hemisphere subcommittee and chairman salmon and ranking member seniors for their consistent -- sires for

their consistent and bipartisan support of the -- >> it's the panel probably that brought them, assistant secretary, so thank you. [laughter] >> our relationship is, with mexico is positive and successful and really is congress' support that's a cornerstone of that success. i'm going to speak briefly on security and the rule of law because my colleagues will cover that in more detail, but want to first provide the broader context for a relationship that is increasingly global and even more important to the lives and pocketbooks of americans. our high level engagement with mexico underscores the importance of the relationship. president obama has visited mexico five times since taking office, most recently in february, while vice president biden has gone three times to mexico. further reflecting the breadth of the relationship, we've had secretaries johnson, hagel, fox, lew, vilsack, pritzker and ambassador froman all visited

mexico over the past year to advance our efforts to support trade, streamline regulatory cooperation and enhance security of our citizens. and as you all said, my boss, secretary kerry, travels to mexico tomorrow. the united states and mexico have integrated our economies in ways we could not foresee when nafta went into force 20 years ago, creating good jobs and new opportunities for citizens of both countries and increasing our competitiveness. the u.s. and mexican manufacturing economies build products together for the north american and global markets. the united states welcomes mexico's focus on economic policy reforms. the reforms that are being implemented should not only help mexico build a more productive economy and raise living standards, but also create opportunities for mexican firms toífúx9úññfñ improve north amern competitiveness. the administration is capitalizing on president peña neato's strong push.

competitiveness and connective, entrepreneurship and innovation and regional and global leadership. we're working many many finish n many of these areas with canada and mexico. people-to-people ties between our two countries are vast. 10% of all americans, more than 33 million, are of mexican heritage. mexican-american community is a vital part of our culture, our politics and our values. and we're focused on tapping the great potential that our people give us. we've held five meetings or our biharm forum for education, innovation and research, bringing together government, academics and civil society members to promote opportunity, job creation and development of a 21st century work force. that forum complements the president's 100,000 strong in the americas initiative to increase student exchange between the united states and countries of the western

hemisphere including mexico. the president and his cabinet continue to engage with mexican leaders on the administration's vision for comprehensive immigration reform that respects our tradition as a nation of immigrants as well as a nation of laws. immigration reform would affect mexico more than any other country, but mexican officials recognize this is a domestic issue for the u.s. to debate and decide. at the same time, our border is more secure than ever. we partner with mexico to maintain that secure border which facilitates the illegal transit of goodsed and people. mexico is -- goods and people. mexico is better work securing its own border. we maintain close partnership on security and rule of law issues. i'll let my colleagues describe those programs but want to highlight two developments. the arrest of el chapo guzman

was a clear indication that no individual or criminal network is immune from the reach of law. another development was the public announcement just last week of a comprehensive mexican government plan to address security near the border of texas. the president stated there are no easy solutions or shortcuts to reduce violence in the short term, emphasizing long-term goals such as the rule of law and trust in judicial institutions. while the merida initiative does not directly fund law enforcement operations, it does build capacity, and we know that when mexicans benefit from more effective law enforcement and judicial institutions in areas near or far from our board or, we benefit as well. finish border. i enjoyed flank conversations on human rights security and improving the lives of our citizens. mexico wants to work with us to achieve the massive potential of our citizens and our economies.

thank you, mr. chairman and all the members of this committee, for your time today, and i look forward to answering your questions. >> thank you, assistant secretary. ambassador. >> may i open by thanking you for not drawing attention during your introduction to my three years as u.s. ambassador to venezuela, a period and a performance which richly merits not being remembered for centuries and centuries to come. >> well, i referenced it, but i didn't give the time frame. [laughter] >> mr. chairman, mr. engel, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss one of our most important relationships in the entire world. assistant secretary jacobson has just described the larger strategic issues, and i will report on the security relationship. with the arrival of the peña-any yes toe administration in december 2012, both governments

took the opportunity to review our security cooperation. we had much to review. since 2008 we have delivered $1.2 billion to support that cooperation, and the government of mexico has delivered many times that amount. our support provided training and equipment to 8500 justice sector officials and 22,000 police. civic education programs reached more than 700,000 mexican students, and secure federal prison systems grew from five to fourteen. the mexican government has taken down more than 70 major drug traffickers, and our contribution of 112 million in border detection equipment has resulted in almost $3.8 billion in seized illicit goods. our joint review started from a very strong base. early last year the two

governments agreed to maintain four pillars to guide our security cooperation; disrupting organized crime, institution building, creating a modern border and building strong communities. the government of mexico released its own ten-point national security strategy last august giving greater priority to crime prevention, rule of law and community development. we agreed with these priorities. for our part, we prioritized training over equipment and state-level engagement as well as federal-level engagement. the mexican government agreed with these u.s. priorities. since january of this year our two governments have approved 78 new projects valued at more than $430 million. the mexican government focused these prompts on jus -- projects on justice sector reform,

mexico's southern boarder and state-level law enforcement. we will work with the mexican attorney general's office to train prosecutors in the new accusatory justice system and empower law enforcers to fight financial crime. we will provide communications equipment and training for customs, immigration, border and narcotics officials along mexico's southern border through which most illicit product and migrants pass on the way to the united states. and we will increase training and support for state police academies to allow them to expand their reach to state police throughout mexico. mr. chairman, i do not need to explain to this committee the importance of this security relationship. i am sometimes asked when we will see concrete results on the ground from this investment. the question is easily answered. first, i note our lesson from colombia. it takes decades to create

security threats, and it takes time to resolve them. but, second, there are visible results on the ground. the arrest of joaquin el chapo guzman last february was the most important law enforcement operation since the colombian takedown of pablo escobar in 1993. in the past three years, the homicide rate in the city of juarez, 300 feet across the river from el paso, has dropped as much as 83%. u.s. consumption of cocaine and methamphetamines, midwest of them transshipped through mexico, has dropped nearly 50% since 2007. and u.s. border officials report that at some crossings mexican nationals now constitute a minority of those detained for illegal entry. members of the committee, this congress was bold and ambitious when it decided in 2008 to

support the merida initiative. we're not at the goal line yet, but we've crossed the 50. thank you, and i look forward to your questions and your guidance. >> thank you. >> chairman royce, ranking member engel and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss usaid's contributions to the merida initiative with you today. mr. chairman, as underscored in our new mission statement, usaid is partnering to end extreme poverty and promote resilient societies. we work with our partners in latin america and the caribbean, and the region's impressive progress over the past several decades has enabled usaid to shift our approach from providing direct assistance towards strengthening countries' capacity to provide for their own people. in mexico usaid's collaboration with the government on rule of

law and citizen security has three goals; to improve the effectiveness of the criminal justice system, strengthen the capacities of commitments to reduce crime -- of communities to reduce crime and violet, and promote the protection of human rights. to achievement and these goals, we operate in a genuine partnership with our mexican counterparts. these goals are a matter of national security for the united states as well as an economic and political imperative. six years ago mexico began a transition from the written inquisitor y'all criminal justice system to the more transparent, oral adversarial system. usaid's support to that transition at the national level and in '12 of the 32 mexican states ranges from helping to develop legislation to training judges, prosecutors, public defenders and investigative police. we're also helping the mexican government to create and strengthen institutions essential to the reform such as building the capacity of internal training units,

victims' assistance centers and pretrial service units. to prepare the next generation of lawyers and judges, we are assisting mexico's bar associations, promoting professional standards and law schools in curriculum reform and teacher training. the transition to a new criminal justice system is already producing positive results. evaluations of the states that have advanced the reforms found a significant decrease in acquittal rates, a marked decrease in the length of pretrial detentions, longer sentences assigned for serious crimes, reduced case backlogs and better assistance for victims. to support the mexican government's crime reduction efforts, we are piloting innovative, preventive approaches in three of the border cities most affected by violence and criminal activity. in ciudad juarez, monterey and tijuana, we are developing new models for safe urban spaces,

providing life and job skills for at-risk youth, increasing educational opportunities and empowering communities to address the root causes of crime and violence. we will help the mexican government build on and replicate the most successful of these intervexes. -- interventions. one of the keys to success of our merida activities has been the extent to which the private sector has contributed and partnered with us. to raise additional resources and insure job training provides the skills that employers need, we have partnered with companies like cisco, intel, prudential to name a few to train youth from tough neighborhoods for jobs in the growing fields of technology and construction. we're also helping to spur economic activity in poor communities across mexico by opening up affordable financing via the development credit aauthority, a 201 partnership between usaid, the mexican financial institution and credit suisse unlocked $60 million in

private capital for local job creators, small and medium businesses. to truly insure the sustainability of our efforts, we are increasingly supporting local organizations to reduce crime and violence such as the chi what wan business foundation and citizens committed to piece who are in see ciudad juarez, monterey and tijuana. our efforts to advance prevention by providing viable alternatives to mexican youth are already bearing fruit. one of our employability programs engaged 8,900 at-risk youth and approximately 70% of the participants have reenrolled in school or gone on to find gainful employment. through the merida initiative, usaid is helping the mexican government to protect journalists and human rights defenders who expose crime and corruption. together, we are applying the

lessons learned from a decade of investments in colombia to enhance similar protection mechanisms in mexico. we also train journalists and human rights professionals on the practices, tools and technologies they need to protect themselves and their work. mr. chairman, we are encouraged by many of the steps that mexico has taken to reduce crime and violence, but we also recognize that defeating the powerful cartels and the violence that they have spawned will take time. we are also encouraged by the progress we've seen thus far through our partnership with the mexican government, private sector and civil society. their success will make both our countries safer and more prosperous. thank you, and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you, ms. hogan. let me ask a question of the ambassador. and it relates to the administration, the peña

administration's review on security issues. and they took a step back, took a look at sort of a new approach. we're over a year into the administration there. how do we assess the cooperation between the u.s. and mexico on that? and the other aspect of that is i understand the state department works with the california attorney general's office to help provide oral advocacy training to the prosecutors in mexico and that our l.a. county sheriff's office hosts a study tour for mexico city police, and i was going to ask also how these state-level exchanges help improve cross-border relationships at the state level and in turn help on transnational criminal investigations. but i also wondered about the effectiveness of these programs and thought you might have some

comment on that. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i just might. may i start with your first question, and that is the state of cooperation between the united states and mexican governments. you are correct, as always, at the start of this now-not-so-new of president peña nieto as of the first of december, 2012, there was a period where both governments logically and understandably said let us review what is the nature of the cooperation that we have today. i would suggest to you that never in the history of mankind has a government come to office, a new administration, saying we will continue each and every program and policy of our predecessors. this process took some time. much of year 2013 was dedicated

to it. we were not sitting on our hands during this time. programs that had already begun were continued through that year, but we did, in fact, not mushuate a -- initiate a great many new programs. we have reached an agreement on how we will make these decisions in the future. we have set up our own team based out of our embassy in mexico city, and the government of mexico has established their representatives in the secretariat or the department of -- [inaudible] like their presidency ministry and their foreign ministry. they are making decisions. as i mentioned in my statement, we have agreement on 78 new projects and nearly $438 million worth of projects that will proceed. the message that i have for you is we are now moving ahead at a right smart pace in terms of new

programs and projects. >> and one of these would be the prosecutorial training by the attorney general's office in california? >> it would fall in that category, mr. chairman. and if you will allow me to pander ever so briefly, and i promise to stop, since you have opened that door, i would mention as well proudly that we have also partnered with a number of other state and local institutions in the united states of america for mexico programs including the chicago police department, harris county sheriffs, houston police department, state of maryland corrections, los angeles sheriffs department as you mentioned, portland police department, washington state justice commission, el paso sheriff's department, albuquerque police department, new mexico state police, california corrections department, colorado corrections, maryland corrections, new mexico corrections and a group called

the conference of western attorneys general which loops in about two-thirds of the attorneys general of the united states of america including california. >> and all this, all this focused on capacity building, and you deem this to be effective? >> in each case, obviously focused on their area of expertise. >> well, we appreciate that. i wanted to go to assistant secretary jacobson with a question about the shift in strategy for 75 years. you had a -- [inaudible] there and now that state-owned monopoly is changing. and i was going to ask you about the energy sector will and the changes you might expect following the implementation of those major reforms that are underway. and maybe ask also if you thought you'd, we'd see significant foreign investment as well as u.s. investment in the energy industry as a result

of the reforms. >> sure. thank you, mr. chairman. i think, you know, one of the things that has been so exciting about the reforms and the energy reform, obviously, has garnered the most attention are opportunities for partnership and investment. obviously, pemex will remain a state-owned entity, and cha's been -- and that's been clear throughout the reform. and the implementing legislation and the secondary legislation is not yet complete. so it's not entirely clear how things will play out. but what we hear from u.s. companies of all types, energy firms and firms that would support energy contracts, etc., is that they're very, very interested in the market, and they're waiting for the reforms to be complete. but they're, obviously, very excited about this, very positive about the possibility

of partnering with mexican companies and pemex itself and what possibilities there might be for them to be involved. there are also, obviously, outside of the oil industry there have been partnerships in renewable energy, other forms of energy with u.s. companies for quite a while. but in the oil industry, there are possibilities that didn't exist before. >> thank you, assistant secretary. we'll go now to mr. eliot engel of new york. >> thank you. thank you very much, mr. chairman. as the witnesses know, i was an early and strong supporter of the merida initiative, and since 2008 congress has appropriated over $2 billion in assistance to mexico through that initiative. and as large military hardware's been delivered and our focus turns to institution building and justice reform, the president's budget requests have decreased for merida funding. so i'd like to ask each of our

witnesses to give us a sense of what you think merida initiative assistance should look like both in terms of the amounts and types of funding over the next five to ten years say. i want to, obviously, insure that mexico receives the funding it needs in this tight budget atmosphere, is why don't we start with you -- so why don't we start with you, ms. jacobson. >> thank you, mr. engel. think that, obviously, as you've seen from our requests, the figures have gone down over the last couple of years. this was to some extent, i think, our expectation along with the mexicans', that those numbers would go down. number one, the mexicans are able to, obviously, afford a great deal on their own. but number two, as we had said and you implied in your question, equipment is more expensive than training which is this the area that we're in most now. i can't recall exactly at this moment the precise total figure that we're talking about, whether we're somewhere between

$100 and $200 million of assistance at point. i expect that figure to be in that neighborhood, trending downward but slowly, hopefully, over the next few years. there is still an enormous amount to do especially as ambassador brownfield has outlined as we move into cooperating with the mexican government on state efforts, because as we know, so much of the law enforcement and the justice efforts are at the state level, not just at the federal level to fight these kinds of crime. but i also think it's critically important as beth pointed out, the real, i think the real focus has to be on the communities themselves and the justice sector. this is an administration that came in very focused on completing that judicial reform. that's going to make a huge difference on the human rights situation and on convicting

people and making sure that you're only focused on the most important cases and that other cases are not always coming to trial. things are more transparent. victims' rights are respected. so i think that's really where a lot of the focus needs to be maintained in years ahead. >> anybody else? ambassador? >> may i quickly, mr. engel, and suggest to you the president's request for fy-2015 for international narcotics control and law enforcement was $18 million. i, of course, support the president's request. i do note that that's down from nearly $148 million the year before. i think there are two reasons for this. one, as assistant secretary jacobson has just laid out, you have to expect a program will start high and then you, the congress, will hold us to a standard to bring it down to a sustainable level in the richness and fullness of time. and second, as i suggested in my opening statement, we were

working through a period of adjustment with the new government, and during that time we were not spending down at the rate that we had in previous years. it would be my hope, congressman, that our request in the year ahead would be at a somewhat higher level. >> ms. hogan? >> i would just underscore a point i made in my testimony in that we have just begun to tap the enormous potential of the private sector to invest in some of these programs, and i think that's a win/win situation. by investing in work force development, they're getting better employees, and we're staving off the opportunity for at-risk youth to move into ill his sit economic activity -- illicit economic activity. there's much more that we can do. there's a great amount of liquidity in the banks that's not reaching small and medium-sized businesses, and we're poised to do more of that

kind of work and unleash the potential the private sector has to bring to bear on solving these problems going toward. >> thank you. as i mentioned in my opening statement, i believe that u.s. firearms fuel drug violence in mexico. be -- since 2009 i've pushed for full enforcement of the existing u.s. ban on imported firearms which are not for sporting purposes. this was enacted in the 1968 gun control act. frankly, i have been a bit frustrated at the administration's not enforcing this or enacting in this. this is legislation that's already on the books. it was fulfilled under both the administrations of president george h.w. bush and president clinton. it was stopped by president george w. bush and has not resumed under president obama. and it's been very frustrating. i know we're having some

discussions and, hopefully, we're moving things along in the right direction. but to me, it's very, very frustrating that a law that's on the books that we know if utilized will stop the violence. not stop it, but could help curtail it and that these arms that illegally go to mexico are fueling it, and we're just sitting there and watching it happen when we have laws on the books that, in my opinion, could prevent it. in mexico we've used merida assistance to ip stall spanish language e-trace to help trace recovered firearms, and relate me ask ambassador brownfield about it. how effective has spanish language e-trace been? how is your cooperation with your mexican counterparts in spanish e-trace? and based on the information we've obtained from e-trace, do you know where most firearms recovered in mexico come from? >> thank you, congressman.

e-trace is, in fact, a very important part of our security and law enforcement cooperation with mexico and the mexican government. under the merida initiative. i would describe our experience with e-trace as initially some concern or speculation on the part of the mexican government as to what this really was and whether this is a substitute for us enforcing aggressively our own firearms licensing and export controls and laws. then considerable enthusiasm for e-trace as it was introduced into the mexican law enforcement community. it then dropped in terms of number of traces called for in the course of the year 2013. it is now rising once again. i attribute that to, first, the same adjustment of one

administration to another administration and, second, a realization by the new team that this is, in fact, a valuable tool. i'm optimistic about it. i think this is a very good investment. it is not just an investment of the united states and mexico as you presumably know, we're also having excellent success with e-trace in the caribbean and in central america. >> yes. i think my time is over, but i'm wondering, ambassador, if you could answer the last question i said on the information we've obtained from e-trace. do we know where most firearms recovered in mexico come from? >> sorry. we know, we know where they come from in terms of those which have been processed through e-trace. i actually can't give you figures right here and now, but i'll be happy to give them to you. those that have actually been processed through the e-trace system will, in fact, give us a

statistical basis to say where their point of origin was. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. mr. rohrabacher. >> i thought you were going to go first, mr. chairman. thank you very much. fist and foremost -- first and foremost, let us be very grateful that we have such wonderful people that live to our south. and i'm a californian. we're very proud of our heritage that we share with our brothers and sisters to the south, and america could have people as our neighbors that we didn't like. but i will tell you this much, the people of mexico are wonderful people. i've spent a lot of time with them as a young person and as i as. being a surfer, i've spent a lot of time with mexican surfers down in baja, and so let's just

start with that, that we should be grateful as a country for having such wonderful neighbors as we have. .. is there a problem with internal drug use in mexico? >> i don't see anyone else grabbing for the microphone, congressman, so i will take a

crack at that. may i offer one lesson of history? and that is, there is no such thing as a country that sir solely as a transit country in the drug trafficking pipeline. and the reason is very simple. over the last 30 or 40 years, the trafficking organizations pay their network in product. they do not pay $50,000 to a corrupted customs official. they provide a half kilo of cocaine or heroin, and that product then must be marketed locally. and in that way a transit nation becomes a consumer nation. mexico is, in fact, confronting its own drug problem and crisis. it involves methamphetamines, cocaine and heroin. a big part of our program under

the mayor did a nation the government of mexico as drug demand reduction in terms of supporting an education program in schools and among youth, treatment and rehabilitation centers, particularly and since he's -- particularly in cities that are vulnerable to social unrest and poverty. >> let me ask you this. do they imprison drug users in mexico? >> i'll have to doublecheck in terms of the specific state of federal mexican law. there are of course 32 states in mexico, as in the united states, and each state has its own legal code. what i do not know at this point is whether mere possession or consumption is a criminal offense. >> let us note that our drug war has been a total failure in the united states. we have massive drug use after

how many years. and the truck used in the united states is one of the things that has had a negative impact on our neighbor, on our good neighbors who we like. and i think that there's a tendency among too many americans to blame mexico for our problem of consumption when actually it's the other way around. i've talked with former president fox in mexico, and he is sugggesting that perhaps we should try a revolutionary approach, which is bringing down the price of drugs by legalizing it and by treating those people who use drugs as people who need our help rather than people who need to be imprisoned. >> i agree with you, congressman, that drugs in the

united states, and everywhere else in the world, is a public health issue. that it is not just a criminal justice issue. >> so let me just say this. the best thing that we could do for mexico would be to lower the price of drugs so the cartels them wouldn't have so much income to create a power dynamic in mexico that's negative to that country, isn't that correct? >> i would want to be very careful not to support a policy or a strategy whose effect would be to increase the number of users and consumers of dangerous product. >> i agree. >> i understand what you're saying. my only response is the devil is in the details. we have to make sure as we proceed we are not producing a worse outcome. >> with a note on that, i understand that argument, but i would just suggest that, i have seen a lot of evidence that

indicates that the legalization of drugs and treating it as a personal problem that someone has rather than a criminal problem, i haven't seen where that would increase the use of drugs in our society, or in mexico. i've come to the conclusion that people can get a hold of drugs in our society, no matter what. there's nothing stopping them and that legalizing it wouldn't mean more people would be using it. it's just that they would be the drug cartels would be cut totally out of the equation. and for us, helping mexico. with that thought, thank you very much. >> we go down to mr. gregory meeks of new york. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank all three of our diplomats sitting at the table who, for your great representation of her country and her deep concern and commitment to the western hemisphere, you truly are

examples of fine diplomats that make the united states, and serving the united states in a very, very important capacity. let me start with assistant secretary jacobson. and shortly we had a long relationship with mexico, and we've had one starting with nafta. we moved on and now individuals are document how they are tied in with tpp. the economics of the relationship between united states and mexico. i'm sure that you've seen this relationship evolve and i was wondering if you would give us some indication on how you see it evolving, and how you would categorize it now? >> thank you, congressman. i think one of the things that's so remarkable is if you look at the growth in the 20 years, the growth in economic relationship over 20 years, it's a lot statistics. and we did here, i think it was in, certainly in chairman royce and chairman sammons remarks,

the number of jobs that did a tripling and quadrupling interest generated in the united states. but the other thing that we've seen in the growth of trade since nafta, since the growth in our economy's connection and comic to be as you call in the north american leader summit, is the growth in manufacturing industries that are now fully integrated. if you look at the on one that's always used it awesomely -- automobile production where cars are not american cars. they are north american cars produced in canada come in the united states and in mexico. but that's true in other industries as well. it's true in the aircraft industry, and it's increasingly true in many manufacturing sectors. something that a lot of ways in which we seen that north america, with all of its resources, whether they are natural or human, can be a platform for enormous economic

competitiveness, and that working together is the way that we can get there. is one of the reasons we've spent so much of our time in this administration focusing on three areas, i think, that are linked to the importance of that economic competitiveness. education, especially for the u.s. and mexico. energy, which is crucial to the economic competitiveness. and then the vice presidential leadership and high level economic dialogue. >> speaking of that, i know that prior to his inauguration president nieto announced unprecedented reform agenda that is largely been able to keep intact, and how will the recently approved fiscal labor, education, energy reforms in fact the united states and mexico relationship? how do you think these reforms affect u.s. investment in mexico? >> one of the things that i

think is so critical is these are reforms that have been urged by economists for fully 20 years. they are very much the structural reforms that many people said were critically necessary for mexico's economy to prosper, along with the free trade agreement. economists have always told us the free trade agreement alone to bring about economic prosperity. they require structural changes in an economy like mexico's. so these reforms in many ways, or some forms of changes, were needed i think to make mexico more competitive, to improve its economy. so they really do bode very, very well for the mexican economy, but they also bode well in terms of their openness for investment and for greater trade. even greater than we've seen in the last 20 years. hit also seemed mexico as part f

tpp and as part of the pacific alliance, the nations of latin america, chile, peru, lumberyard, mexico -- colombia, mexico, integrating and working to promote greater openness in their economies, really trying to encourage greater investment from overseas from all over the world, whether it's united states or elsewhere. i think the opportunities are really much expanded, even than they have been in the last few years. >> let me go to ambassador brownfield real quick. i know you've been very involved when you were the ambassador in colombia. can you tell us to quickly, what has colombia's role been in providing training to mexican security forces was the areas would help to further train or assist mexican security forces? >> thanks, congressman. as you know because among other reasons you and i have talked about it, the colombian

government has, in fact, provided support and training, exported some of its police and law enforcement capability broadly throughout the region. most heavily in central america, to a lesser extent in the caribbean. in mexico there's been a great deal of communication and dialogue between them. the colombian government has provided a great deal of aviation training in terms of helicopter pilot training and maintenance and support, they can ask training, if you will, for the aviation component of mexican law enforcement. that said, the amount of direct training engagement between mexico and colombia is less than you find between colombia and other parts of central america and the caribbean. >> mike mccaul of texas. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the witnesses for being here today,

particularly ambassador, secretary jacobson. you are truly a fine public servant, and i appreciate your hard work. with respect to mexico and the western hemisphere, as you know i'd share the u.s.-mexico ipg, and i must say in mexico city last, maybe six month ago we had a very productive meeting with the mexican congress. particularly on pemex reform. i guess i've been very optimistic about this new administration with respect to the direction they are taking on energy. what was amazing to me was all three parties agreed. at this place, it's hard to agree on anything, on each side of the output of all three parties come together, saying this needs to be done, i think was really remarkable. i think mexico has a unique opportunity to open up its energy resources, both offshore

and with the eagle ford shale, then working with the united states to have a true alliance on energy independence. i just returned from the middle east, saudi arabia, uae. we have a great dependence on energy with the middle east. i think this is a great way for the united states and mexico to work together on energy independence. my question i would ask the secretary would be, my understanding is the constitutional amendment has passed on these reforms but that it's still a waiting icas ratification for lack of a better word, by the mexican congress which would take place possibly in the june timeframe. can you give us an update on that? >> as far as i understand, ratification of the constitutional changes has taken place but now the implementing or secondary legislation has to be passed. it is possible that will be done in the june timeframe. >> do we feel optimistic that that will get done? >> i think we are encouraged.

certainly there've been lots of discussions and debates, and there's likely to be some opposition as is always the case in these things, but it seems that there is a great deal of support. >> i understand also the agreement, when i talk to the energy companies in the united states, for them, it's very important to production sharing as opposed to profit sharing but as i understand, that would be the key to a good marriage here on this issue. is it your understanding that they would lean more towards the production sharing? >> i would have to check and see exactly where the legislation stands right now. i think that maybe the gays but i don't want to miss speak so i'll check back. >> we've been very careful not to meddle at this point in time. i think it's good for us to sit back and watch what happens. >> good for mexicans to make this mexican decision. >> precisely. lastly, i also want to applaud the new administration.

there was some skepticism as to whether they were intent on going after drug cartel organizations, and not too long into the new administration we had the head of the most it has taken down. recently chapo guzman, which is a historic achievement against the drug cartels. i talked to the ambassador about this capture on the issue of extradition. he told me that he was open to the idea, but a request had not been made by the administration. can you give me, i know doj is involved in this as well, but can you give me an update on the status of any extradition request? >> oh, she turned that went over to me, congressman. >> and lucky you. >> for which, of course, i am

eternally grateful. members of the committee, i believe this is known to everyone on this committee, and neighbors them to every citizen of the united states and of mexico. there are, in fact, indictments against mr. guzman in the u.s., and the united states of america for federal charges related to drug trafficking offenses. there are also obviously charges and indictments pending against him in the mexican legal system. i believe what the ambassador has said he is quite consistent with what he has said to us. we have two legal systems which have expressed interest in taking jurisdiction over this particular matter. it will eventually be determined by the mexican judicial system in terms of whether they will try him there or they will support an eventual extradition of them to the united states. at the end of the day, that

decision will play out in its own time. >> okay. i thank you for the answer. i see my time has expired. >> thank you, mr. chairman. kamora, secretary kerry is going to mexico. i'm happy to see that it's not just the middle east, we have a whole other part of the world we can focus on. do we expect, what can we expect? is there going to be any announcements comment anything you can give us a heads up on before the trip? >> sure. i don't want to break too much news ahead of his trip, but i think it's not a secret that he is going to focus, the trip was relatively brief but it will focus on three areas that i think are among those that i talked about today. he will meet with his counterpart, the foreign secretary, as well as the

education secretary. and he'll have the national science foundation with them to talk about our bilateral forum on education, innovation and research. so this will be a, kind of a continuation and a launching of our action plan on bilateral education. this has been a real key part of our relationship, but a desire to do more in higher education, to do more in research efforts together. that's what the national science foundation is involved. he's also going to attend an event in which they're going to talk about clean energy and clean technologies. so a lot of this will focus on the economic and education agenda, but obviously he's also going to be talking with his counterpart and with president peña nieto about problems we can work on together. >> do you anticipate discussion on the security of the southern

border, the border with guatemala and belize? that is becoming a real dangerous point. what else can we do to assist mexico at this part of the mexican border to? >> i'm actually going to turn it over to ambassador brownfield in a moment, but i certainly expect that will be part of the conversations. but one of the things that we decided as an interagency group is also that the white house and the deputy homeland security adviser, rand beers, will be talking to him continuing his conversation with the mexicans on the citizen security issue. ambassador brownfield has supported those efforts, including discussions on the southern border of mexico. >> very briefly, congressman. we have already, there's already bilateral agreement. this is an important project for both governments, the united states and the mexican government's. it is already an area where we

have agreed on several specific projects that total nearly $11 million in terms of assistance and equipment that would support the ability of the mexican government to link together their drugs, customs, border, and police personnel on their border with guatemala and belize. we want to do it carefully, because unlike the u.s.-mexico border where we obviously have a right to speak, and to speak publicly, about our interests, the border between mexico and ad guatemala obviously is not something on which we have an automatic right to an opinion. we realize, however, first, that the southern border of mexico is about one-tenth the length of their northern border and, therefore, it is a much easier challenge to manage. and second, the overwhelming

majority of the bad stuff starts in south america and eventually enters the united states, crosses the southern border before it crosses the border with the united states. high priority. we are in agreement. we are committed to work with them on it. >> it's not just guatemala. believes is also a transit point for drugs -- believes is also a transit point for drugs coming into this country. >> i was speaking in shorthand for which i should apologize. but your absolute correct but in some ways it's even more dangerous because belize is a far less by this country does not necessarily have the resources to throw at the border issues as does guatemala. >> thank you very much, chairman. >> thank you. we now go to matt salmon of arizona. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm going to direct my first question towards secretary jacobson. as we look for ways to improve

management of our shared borders in an effort to shorten those wait times at our ports of entry, i'm pleased with some of the agreements we've reached with the government of mexico to achieve border efficiency, particularly given the loss of billions of dollars in economic opportunity that the kursk each year due to wait times on the border. one ongoing discussions been expansion of preclearance zones on either side of our borders, starting with a few pilot programs. assistant secretary jacobson, can you give us a sense of how the discussions and the pilots are progressing? particularly given the sensitivity on the mexican side on the topic of our agents during the agents within the preclearance zone. also hand in hand with the commercial side of the border management is border security. our diplomats in mexico city have made tremendous progress in reaching agreement to improve our partnership in these efforts. particularly the patrols between u.s. border patrol and mexican federal police along the busiest

smuggling corridors. however, it's my understanding that there have been only around 150 mexican officers deployed, not nearly enough. has there been any progress in getting the mexican government to commit more resources to this effort? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. and on the preclearance issue, i know that we have really been in party intense conversations with their mexican counterparts, votes i truly wanted to try to reach towards an agreement on the. i believe some progress is being made. let me get the specifics of where we are on that and try and get back to you. i know how important this is not only to you and your state, because that's where we try and do our pilot, but really to the border as a whole into the country. we want to try to figure out whether this model can work. it would be so productive, make things so much easier and then hopefully be able to be expanded. this is something we've been working on for a while and we would really like to try to break the logjam. let me try to get you more detail on where we are but it is

something we will continue to try and work towards. on the issue of the border violence and the efforts to reduce border violence and to work on both sides of the border, clearly we work best at that issue when we are working on both sides. when we are communicating across the border. the conversations we've had with their mexican counterparts since we restarted our dialogue with the new government, if you will, with the peña nieto government last fall, i think it really improved our communications and have made it easier to cooperate across the border. we continue to work with them to try and get more mexican officials on the other side, especially to move the hotspots as we get information, intelligence on where danger may be, and will continue to have those conversations. >> thank you. ambassador brownfield, i want to congratulate you and your colleagues in mexico for what

you've achieved and strengthening the security partnership with mexico through the initiative. despite suspects -- setbacks, progress is being made. however, the remains a substantial pipeline as you know. so i'd like to know from you what the sticking points are and if we can expect to see more steady progress? been a like to get a sense from you whether the government of mexico has prioritized for will prioritize to secure the effor efforts, the violence is happening right along u.s. border near brownsville texas. i know there have been several opportunities for us to ask questions of our counterparts in mexico. i think mother want to improve the security, they kind of threw up their hands on some of these

areas like this, and i just don't think we can do that. >> thanks, congressman. first on the pipeline issue and the pipeline, ladies and gentlemen, is what we into program management business call those funds which have not been either obligated or some obligated and expanded, spent down. and you are correct, congressman, as always, the pipeline for mexico at least in terms of those funds for which i am responsible, they can go funds had reached nearly $900 million. the reason for it is simply stated, one, the 2013 money and the 2014 money has not yet been obligated to the speed with which things to do. when that is completed, about $350 million will then be obligated to second as i

mentioned in my presentation, there was a period when you programs were not being launch. we have moved beyond that period. i repeat, we have reached agreement on $438 million worth of 78 new programs. i would expect that to bring this pipeline down by more than 50% in and of itself. finally, we do have a few holes. they constitute about $100 million. no one on this side of the capitol is responsible for them, but that is money that cannot be spent until the reasons for the hold have been lifted. i'm optimistic. the signal i want to send to you is i'm optimistic that pipeline delays is not going to be a long-standing issue that you will have to raise with the. >> thank you. rico to mr. vargas of

california. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. thank you to the witnesses. the three issues i'd like to talk about, the first one is an active u.s. marine reservist, his name is andrew tahmooress. also the border efficiency that we just spoke of and lastly the north american development bank. i live in san diego, about 14 and a half miles from the border. it's been a great place to live. however, inadvertently ever so often a marine or another person will go across the border and have weapons on them. as we've been hearing today they're quite illegal in mexico. this poor gentleman, andrew tahmooress, did that. across the border. he had three weapons on them. he is a reservist. he served two tours of duty in afghanistan. he served our country very honorably. and, unfortunately, he is now in prison in mexico for about a month. everyone understands he's not a drug trafficker. he's not in any way a criminal. in fact, the opposite.

he's a very good person has been diagnosed with ptsd and he certainly needs to come back to the united states and get treatment. i was hoping you'd comment on that. i want to bring it up to the other members of the delegation in san diego are working on this case. bill whitaker has been fabulous visiting him and doing of any good. i'd like you to comment on that if you could. >> yes, just briefly. as you know, and, obviously, you're aware him and i'm grateful for the recognition of that, we have visited him and will continue to do so. i think we've been about 10 times so far, have been able to visit the visit by his wife. will continue to do all that we can speed i believe it is his mother. >> i'm sorry, you're right. exactly right. sorry. i made in older than he is. i apologize. but in any case we will continue to make sure that we have family members facilitate the visit. anything that we can do to help

them. we've also made representations to the mexican government to make sure that his treatment is adequate and appropriate. to make sure that he gets his hearing as quickly as possible the public is scheduled for may 28. we want to try and get this resolved as quickly as possible. >> and i hope you can. it seems like a very unfortunate situation that happens quite often. the other issue we talked of a bit about his border efficiency. i would bring up the issue of infrastructure. you need more infrastructure. we're moving forward. i thank you very, very much and i would just mind you -- it takes me less than 20 minutes to drive to the border and it takes me three and a half to four hours to cross back. >> they get all the attention. but you're right, and there are a lot of things going on all along the california-mexico border. in the port of entry, a design

has been completed for two phase renovation, and i think that will hopefully be able to get under way pretty quickly. i do think that obviously a much bigger effort has been the three phase renovation which has expanded -- >> thank you very much. >> twenty-four to 46, pretty amazing. >> thank you very much. lastly the north american development bank, that the bank is i'm quite a lot of good in san diego especially in imperial county. i would just hope you take a look at that again and hope that they're still a strong commitment by our government to the nafta bank. and again i just want to bring that up because it's been a very important thing for a lot of the issues that confront poor neighborhoods and partners along the border. >> thank you so much. i was a nad bank boardmember

early in my crew. i gone from being called an odd thing to a real powerhouse. one of his most important original missions was to make sure that it should some of the poorest communities and i think it's incredibly important to continue to do so. >> just begin to emphasize, we've had a great relationship with mexico along the border, our human consulate in tijuana has been fabulous. but there are little things that happen along the border. it's understandable, mexico wants tough loss to make sure you don't import guns and we want that. we talked about that, but this poor marine, he inadvertently crossed, i mean, in no way, shape, or form is he a drug trafficker, a gun trafficker. he's a gentleman who served honorably, and he unfortunately didn't see the last turn. u-turn here and to cross into mexico. told the truth and now we have him there. anyway, i yield back.

>> thank you, mr. vargas. we will now go to mr. randy weber of texas. >> thank you. ambassador, you said in your questioning from chairman royce, uk the oldest of different law enforcement agencies, and i must have stepped out right before. what was that list in response to? >> the chairman had noted that the attorney general of california was providing some support for prosecutorial training in california. and, mr. weber, what i did, i took advantage of the opportunity to note that there was a large list of state and local law enforcement officials that have done that. >> thank you. i appreciate that. ms. jacobsen, you said in your comments that ar our border with mexico is more secure than ever. what matrix, what data are using to come to that conclusion? >> i think that basically the data i would use to point to that is that there are fewer

people coming in through -- we have net migration from mexico of zero. we have a period, we have more resources, more people, more high-tech equipment that's been used to obvious the resources provided by congress to keep the border secured. >> do you have a breakdown by state what those resources are? >> i could certainly get additional information from our colleagues at the department of homeland security. >> did you have input from the very state agencies responsible along those four states borders? >> we sir and work with many of the agencies in the states, as does dhs. >> because i was vice chairman of the border committee in texas, and i would tell you when i was there, and i was there before it came to congress this term, that wasn't their assessment that the border was safer. i can tell you that from speaking to steve mccraw,

former fbi, a retired fbi official. and that was not -- are you where of the recent report that the current commissioners has released some 36,000 convicted illegals? >> yes or. >> okay. and you still think we have a safe borders? >> i think that we've made huge strides in security along the border, yes or. >> i would like to get the data you used to come to that conclusion. so you have not, and that was really going to be my question, ambassador, the texas agencies were not on that list. i did not do you read the texas attorney general. did i miss that? >> i'm going to jump ahead of you. i'm going -- about two months ago i had the pleasure and the honor to be in austin. i did spend about four hours in the company of the director of the department of public safety,

mr. mccaul. we did sign and m.o.u. as of about two and a half months ago, whereby texas dps will, in fact, be a partner. they will be on this list as we worked our way into programs and projects. their specific related to their areas of expertise. >> let me break into because when i was border committee chair, vice chair, my only two terms, from the numbers right, we put, i think we put $200 million, equipment and fruits -- boots on the ground. we have five helicopters, surveillance, airplanes, high speed boat. we got a lot of high-tech stuff along the border. the texas mexican border. and my question is going to be we spent a lot of my to secure the border down south with

guatemala for example, but are we spending a commensurate amount on the northern border? i would say that arguably the texas legislator which a federal government has not been kicking in a commensurate amount on the texas mexican border. ambassador, what say you? >> first, i get to hide, congressman come and say that we, of course, are the international side, so by definition we're working south of the border. second, ma i will say i had the same conversation that you have had and i agree that is his of you. when i said to them my perspective is that the situation on the border is, in fact, getting better. he said that is not the reality we are dealing with. >> let me break into the wreck because i want is on the record he told me that 76 eastern religion are coming across our southern border. now, that ought to scare what we call in southeast texas the

bejeebers out of people. 70 religious teaching sex in the middle east. so i would simply say for the record, mr. chairman, that we need to be sure we focus on securing our border and i would yield back. >> mr. joseph kennedy of massachusetts. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for calling such an important into the witnesses. thank you for your testimony today, thank you for your patience and most important thank you for your service. extraordinarily important. i'm going to strike a theme that many of my colleagues have talked about a bit with you, mr. ambassador. you talked a bit in a testament already and in many of the questions that have been asked about the recent developments regarding economic and energy reforms taking place in mexico. the recent capture of el chapo as an example how the united states and mexico can cooperate and make both countries safer. drug trafficking is an interest

in me. as a former prosecutor and most importantly across massachusetts, heroin overdoses are on the rise. in my tissue specific, bristol county, has been on the front line of this painful epidemic. by the end of last month the police department confirmed there's been over 140 heroin overdoses in the city in 2014 alone. equally concerning is the substance abuse and mental health service admin section recent report that shows 12.3% of massachusetts youth between 12-17 reported using illicit drugs within a month before the survey was conducted. compare that to the national average of 9.8%. i spoke with local leaders, health care provider, law enforcement officials who stressed two things. first, the prevalence a prescription drug abuse is often the root cause of opiate addiction. four out of five heroin users

used. number two, i know you talked about this a moment ago, incredible cheap heroin that is flooding our streets make it more tempting for kids get a big did for oxycontin that can go to $3 a bag for a bag of hair when. in parts of massachusetts. the bureau of international -- the binlea, most of it is so into the u.s. most than from large much of the truck you find in the streets in cities like talking have a large up in front page story talks about new york city as being a hub of heroin for distribution across the northeast. much of that coming from mexico. mr. brownfield, you've talked a bit about this already but if you can give us some detail as to what advice he would give me, what advice you would give this committee, as to what we can do

about this on top of the efforts that you already undertaking, i'd be grateful. >> congressman, i'm going to start with something that, i don't know how often you hear it, but i'll say. i agree with absolute everything you have just said. there is not one point of disagreement in what you have just described that i would point to. >> i don't do that often enough, thank you. >> i would say the following them and i know we're not supposed to agree -- create had lunch, but i do in fact believe the united states of america is confronting a nationwide heroin crisis. i have seen the same specific you have. over the last four years, the number of addicts and abusers of heroin in the united states of america has jumped between 75-80%. the amount of estimated pure heroin that is entered the united states has increased by nearly 100%.

that heroin is now found in neighborhoods cities, regions of the country where it never was seen before. and we are, i would also suggest, set up to address a different sort of drug problem. we have gotten pretty good at it over the last 40 years, and that is interrupting the flow of cocaine and methamphetamine is a start in south america, process and transit through central america and mexico or the caribbean and enter the united states of america. heroine is a different problem set. we've got to get our head around that problem set, and will have to address it or we will pay very long-term consequences. mexico is very much part of this issue. you have cited the statistic. the statistic i have read is roughly 26 metric tons of pure heroin is produced in mexico any given year. that may sound like a lot, although they are remind the

members of this committee we estimate 600-six and 50 is produced in afghanistan, but nevertheless if the u.s. market is between 15-40 tons per year, 26 times actually goes pretty far towards satisfying the entire market. we are going to have to adjust our tactics, our policy, our dialogue and our diplomacy in order to address hair when as well as cocaine and methamphetamine spirit that's the answer i give you spend i know i'm over time but if you might give, respond with suggestions on how we should do that i would be grateful. thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you mr. ginty. we now go to adam can send your of illinois. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you all for being you. appreciate it very much. important thing to have and relationship i think sometimes both countries take for granted. i appreciate the attention being brought to this today. i want to add to the heroin issue, the talk on that. there's a gift recovery center

in my district, and they went to that recently. the person taking the around introducing me to these teenagers, 14, 15 years old, asked kids with her addiction is. when i was in high school, the drug issue was marijuana. that was the extent of the. i asked the kids what are you guys addicted to? half of the kids were heroin. it shocked me. it can't be way off guard. i know it was a rising epidemic. i didn't realize '14 and '15 year olds are getting in heroin as quickly as they are. is a real, real issue. ..

if you could keep it fairly short because i have a couple other issues i want to get to. >> i will be quick because they don't have a crystal ball. i wish i did have the answer to that question but i do think that the reforms open up possibilities for greater economic growth. the real question to some extent is how quickly. implementing legislation gets put into place, expectations are very high but it is not clear that the results of that in terms of improved economic performance and growth are going to be immediate. i don't know how quickly. >> we get a boost from people feeling better about it. >> you get increased expectations and positive feelings. you probably get some increase investment and then you begin to get real change. >> ambassador brownfield, one of the missions i have flown is on

the border of mexico as part of border operations we will call it, customs and border patrol i have seen firsthand, the threat that of course border creates, not people coming over but illicit drug trade and everything on that level. it creates damage and mistrust between the countries to an extent. it means different things to different people. i want to ask you a question specifically. the idea of the 21st border, and this initiative can you describe the secure border under this look like especially when it comes to illicit drug trade? >> what we are doing is the southern side of the borders, that is our focus, state, local and federal law enforcement

manages u.s. side of the border. our focus is on equipment. the modern border in fact has the sort of inspection equipment that allows the authorities to verify what is coming through the border, in a border that creates 50 mile backlogs and two week delays to cross the border. i mentioned over the last four years providing $112 million where inspected equipment, and that has been responsible for $3.8 billion worth of seizures. >> some of that is being repatriated from iraq and afghanistan we are bringing back. >> the issue whatnot increasingly a matter of internal discussion with the executive branch and simply put,

are there resources or assets that are in fact going to be drawn down and remove from one region is not just incidentally in u.s. in other parts of the hemisphere as well. and you can imagine my coming in position is i would like to apply as much of that as possible. >> operating overseas in the war, in those areas situational awareness, a quick statement in terms of the importance of natural gas resources here. i know mexico really needs the natural gas though we have so i would like to put a plug in to say we are in a good position to help our neighbors. thank you all for your generous time in being here. i will yield back. >> thank you, mr. kinzinger.

we go to joaquin castro from texas. >> thank you for your testimony. my grandmother is from mexico, my wife's family is from san antonio, over the years it has been instrumental in the u.s./mexico relationship. is home to the nat bank, a lot of trade goes on between the state of texas and mexico, texas has the longest border with mexico at 1200 miles so in reviewing these documents you provided i was struck by the incredible drop from $265 billion to $140 million from year to year. i know you provided some explanation for that but how would you answer the charge that the u.s. is backing away on its commitment to mexico and how does that number compared to other countries in latin america? has there been a drop in age to

let america? >> a couple things on that. first of all, on the mexican relationship, having been present at the birth if you will of the initiative when i was director of mexican affairs and deputy assistant secretary, it did start very large and we did know that was going to ease off. because of the equipment, and from loaded, equipment takes a long time. we also in conversation with the mexican government, they're feeling was they did not believe they would be need assistance from the u.s. government for a long time. they had very good resources and they needed their expertise before huge amounts of resources

with equipment. they still need our expertise and training, but reduced amounts for what they require of us so we do believe these reduced amounts, we hope they will not frail specter of -- trail off precipitously. >> that is a huge drop. >> they get past the biggest equipment purchases. >> in latin america -- >> let me say honestly i would not deny there has been a very large drop. >> the reason i ask that is there's a competition for dollars around here and over the years the drop in commitment to foreign aid and the united states's involvement in engagement in the world which i don't think is good for our country. are we robbing peter to pay paul? >> a huge amount of pressure on the budget. >> i wouldn't blame the

administration for having to do that. i want us to be clear about what is going on. >> when there has been so much pressure on the budget we have seen a period in time where growth rates in latin america especially in some countries in the region have been very strong. in some places it is perfectly appropriate, it just wasn't as necessary as in the past. we didn't feel we needed the same amount in the same areas, but that does not mean there are not still needs. there are areas where the u.s. can do something in the international organization, we feel we are doing what we should be doing in the region. it has been a large reduction. >> that has been the relationship with latin america over the years or latin america was put on the back burner.

it is one of the first regions to get cut and that is not in the best interest of the united states. the second question is congress is debating the trans-pacific partnership. in debating the trans-pacific partnership we are looking back to nafnafta. democrats wonder about the environmental and labor standards and what has happened to those in mexico but in the countries at stake, so what about labor and the environment in mexico since the passage of nafta 20 years ago? >> it brings some of the countries that were involved in our early free-trade agreements where things like labor and environment where, letters about the free-trade agreement. more recent trade agreement at labor and environment as part of

the free-trade agreement. tp would look at higher standards for labor and environment which is critically important. >> i know i am out of time. >> thank you, thank you to our witnesses for being here. the chair recognizes herself. recognize the importance of the improvements we have made jointly in the judicial sector, it is prudent for the u.s. to continue to seek and pushed extradition of high-value criminals who could provide insight into the drug trade in our region. three months ago with our assistance, the mexican government, the most notorious drug traffickers are many members including mr. mccaul brought up the issue of extraditing him. we have to continue pressure on

mexico. thank you to every one of you who brought it up. i am also concerned about the cuban rights situation in cuba, not just mexico. for u.s. citizens in 2012 i led the effort for another marine veteran, john hammer who also, like this case ended up in a mexican jail for too long, the family was at first quiet but then became focal because they were not getting much success and today as congressman vargas had pointed out, marine veteran from south florida was pleased to join mr. vargas and mr. duncan hunter in a letter to the embassy in mexico asking that

this hero will make up this bad situation, and also joined a letter with debbie wasserman schulz who is the mom of andrew who lives in her district. our congressional colleagues and i joined debbie on this letter, 25-year-old marine corps veteran from western florida and we are very worried about this case, took a lot of pressure and a lot of u.s. help to get these cases resolved. in the same way you help out with andrew's case, i put those in the record. i would like you to comment on that. secondly, secretary jacobson, thank you for rectifying for the record statement that had been made in the senate committee

about a different case. the opportunity before me always to speak about, other interests including my native homeland of cuba and in this case venezuela. you had said the opposition, the venezuelan opposition was against the sanctions bill, thank you for clarifying that that is not the case. it is not the right thing for the united states to sanction human rights violators that killed so many in venezuela. leopold's lopez's third month in jail, another switch from a religious leader of c. we hope we can move that bill quickly in the house. senator mendez and senator rubio are working on that, did not want to take too much time on

that. we wish cuba were truly independent, i would like that to be the case. secretary jacobson, on andrew's case, venezuela. and cuban independence day. >> thank you, madam chair. i mentioned earlier we will continue to do everything we can for him. certainly everything we can to get him home to his family, to get him out of detention. all i can say in this case is i hope you will continue to work together on this as actively, each of us in our own way. when these things happen is that these folks, as quickly as we can. thank you for your efforts. and we will do what we can with our consulate and our embassy in

mexico city. i appreciate congressman vargas bringing it up and we will do everything we can on that. just to say thank you for mentioning the clarification on venezuela. i was noticing this week, it is not just dialogue for dialogue's sake. it has to be dialogue with an end point of action. those that the actions we both want to see. it is not just a dialogue for dialogue's sake. >> running out the clock. you have got to hold it. >> to demonstrate our disapproval. on cuban independence day let me say we are looking forward to a day when the cuban people can make their own decisions about their own future.

>> amen, thank you to all of you. mr connolly is recognized. >> thank you, madam chairman. let me ask assistant secretary jacobson, i understand in advance diplomatically with your interest is likely to be, people who looked at northern mexico, and felt frankly it falls within the rubric of a failed state. how would you reacto that? >> that question came up fairly often early in the discussion of the situation in mexico 5 or 6 years ago, and it was a serious question but there is a serious negative answer to that which is to say i do not think that we

have a failed state in any part of mexico. there are government structures still in place everywhere in mexico which i believe are exercising their functions. we have stronger or weaker depending on where the drug trade is being applied, they may be under siege in some places and need the support of the federal government as has been the case once again where the federal government is sending in security forces and prosecutors, as was the case in many places where these transactional criminal organizations come in. i don't think we can say all states, administration and power has been lost. >> that is a fair point. would you agree one of the

challenges of the relatively new government is they are going to have to reestablish authority where the previous government lost it. >> one of the challenges is how do you strengthen government institutions against transnational criminal organizations which leave them we can lower -- weak or non investment to carry out the business. or use violence as a tool to do that so absolutely. >> when i was last in mexico we met with the previous attorney general from mexico. when we asked what is the single most important thing that could help you with this outbreak of violence and challenge reassertion of state control in the northern part of the country? of the single thing without hesitation, the single thing he

cited is reauthorize the assault weapons ban. do you understand why he would answer that way? >> i don't understand why he would answer that way. >> could you elaborate for the record? >> is that important? >> certainly i and both of my colleagues that we heard from mexican counterparts numerous times, their concern and frustration with the amount of weapons in mexico. >> all of which coming from the north for a lot of them? >> i don't know what the composition is but it is certainly their perception and it seems to be the reality is that a great number of them to come from the united states and it is obviously very, very difficult to own weapons in mexico, so they have done when they believe they can within the country and are frustrated with what they are frustrated with,

the advance weaponry that they face from these cartels wherever they may get it. >> it is really important and not part of our discussion for political reasons but our neighbor to the house says that is a critical component of our assistance. let me ask my last question. could you elaborate a little bit, there were concerns that the president did not have the same commitment against the drug cartels that his predecessor did and that cooperation with the united states would be diminished in a nieto government. can you comment on how things have changed or stayed the same or gotten better or worse with the transition of governance in mexico? >> i will start, congressman,

first by saying as i think i said in my opening statement. we are both satisfied, pleased with the commitment and cooperation of the pineto administration, there was a period, call it the break in period for a new administration where the communication was paused, we did a mutual review where we determine to what would be the system or structure that means the way we make decisions and what we would decide on. it is our judgment that this noun not so new government has kept the basic four pillars of our cooperation but has adjusted the priorities to some extent. more focus on crime prevention, particularly in the larger cities, and perhaps less focus on targeting specific criminal

organizations. that said it was this government that produced the successful take down operation three months ago which i noted in my opening statement was perhaps the most important law enforcement operation since pablo escobar was perforated some ten years ago. they focused on more community development and support. this is well within the range of the pillars that we had agreed to. in other words, i would say we have adjusted our cooperation, but i would be the last one to say this government has walked away from more decided not to support the efforts. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. you are almost done. >> as long as you want, mr.

chairman. >> i would like to focus on the economics. we have a $60 billion trade deficit with mexico. part of that is because we import petroleum from mexico but frankly we have been able to pay without petroleum with good dx4. in this committee often there is discussion of u.s. restrictions on the export of natural gas, ms. jacobs, my understanding that because of nafta, there is not a restriction on export of natural gas to mexico. are there legal barriers to exporting natural gas to mexico? >> i'm going to have to get back to you. >> miss jacobson, what can we do to increase exports to mexico excluding the natural gas issued? >> i think one of the things that we feel is critically

important that the president is focusing on is focusing on small and medium-sized businesses in the united states which could exports and don't right now, that is part of what the president's national export initiative was about. there are opportunities we think they could take advantage of and that is what we are trying to do. there are small business development centers that have been opened in mexico. >> they have non-tariff barriers to our exports. >> i don't know that i can answer that in any sweeping sense. >> is there any -- >> there are trade cases under way in some areas certainly. >> practicees of the mexican government have a call to trash or asked to be changed to our exports? >> i am going to have to get you

a better run down of this. i don't want to -- >> one comment about the state department in general, when you deal with foreign ministries of other countries, the persons holding your position would be first, second and third, economics and pushing exports and everything else we talked about would be 4-6. the state department's with all foreign ministries in the world the least focus on exports. if you compare your efforts, the foreign ministry's, it is not a culture over there. >> i would hate to have my weakness on this performance today -- >> i have been here for 18 years. i had that opinion before walking into the room. you have done nothing -- >> to dispel it unfortunately.

>> one hearing couldn't increase or decrease it. it is built on 18 years of sitting in this room. even if you were up on all of that. and it is hard to go back to our districts and talk about the need to be involved in foreign affairs, and involved in foreign affairs that we have the biggest trade deficit of any other country by far. let's see. in any case, the economic reforms of the new president's, it will to enact most of them, how do you think these reforms

will affect u.s. investment in mexico? >> in two particular areas, we talked about the energy reform. we think the energy reform is critical, is obviously critical for mexicans, very important for u.s. investor possibilities, this is for mexicans to decide, great sensitivity in mexico. >> it is affecting the entire world's, if we can increase production in north america, we just fought a war in iraq that i am told wasn't about oil. but oil supplies are critical to national security interests. >> in north american energy production of all types is increasing and that is very good for us in energy security. i think the telecommunications reform is crucial.

the telecommunications market in -- is one of great interest to u.s. investors and opportunities for the united states businesses. >> thank you to the panel. during the upcoming trip to mexico, we want to say happy birthday to ambassador brownfield. since it is mexico. >> i am 31 years old. >> committee is adjourned. >> you can now take c-span with you wherever you go with our free c-span radio air when for your smart phone or tablet. listen to all three c-span tv channels or c-span radio, and each of our network so you can tune in whenever you want.

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let's take you live to the senate floor on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c, may 23, 2014. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable jack reed, a senator from the state of rhode island, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 12:00 stands adjourned until 12:00 legislative work picking up again the week of june 2. more ca