military are you talking about? the american military should -- but this is very important. spent it's a strategy group. >> okay. so not the military. it's the national security council. [inaudible] >> this is the view of -- [inaudible] if something happens to the army, iraq will be -- spent i feel you are wrong. [inaudible] >> hang on, hang on. these are democracies. they are not run by the military so that might be the mildred thinking but is not necessary, doesn't have to be -- >> i'm just telling you what i --

>> right, i they're not really the people who -- [inaudible] [inaudible] >> who are you waiting at? okay. it's very disappointing. i found as a reporter it's been difficult to get stories on balochistan into my own paper. occasionally i will do a reporting trip and i will get the story, but i can't go down there very often because it's one of those very forgotten places and very forgotten wars. i think the same comes with the administration. it's something they are not, they have mentioned occasionally, i know when they have that talks, but it's very

low down the list. >> i think what carlotta was saying about the crimes been committed there again, the people living there, you know, all around the world when those crimes are reported widely enough and attention is brought to bear on them, then typically outside parties, whether that be the united states or european union, will feel obligated to be involved. and i think one of the strengths of pakistan's military intelligence agency has been to really control that information flow and to minimize these deaths. there's been thousands and thousands of kidnappings of very ordinary people for the most part come and many of them have ended up dead and there are bodies being found there almost every week now. the idea that that's not being very widely reported because it is an industry editors and also to get access means that it's less likely that outside powers will intervene. >> yet, and then --

[inaudible] >> slow down -- its low down the priority list. there are more things they are more concerned about. unfortunately, for the people living in balochistan, and that includes the relationship with the ministry, includes a policy on drone strikes, the continued presence of u.s. forces in afghanistan. they have to worry about that more in some ways than they do about the people of balochistan. [inaudible] >> it's an unstable area, but i believe if pakistan changed its policy of supporting the taliban, i think we would suddenly have peace in

afghanistan. i think it's as important as the. the taliban is not popular. i think the election shows that. certainly the uprisings that are happening in various provinces show that. people are sick and tired of the taliban and they want, they just want to follow a normal democratic life. so they really would've rejected. that's why they all tell you, why isn't, why aren't you going to the source of the problem? i think it's the finance, the money and the support for pakistan. and then, of course, you still have lots of men with guns, lots of young men who are unemployed, you've got to do a lot of post-conflict work. and i think afghan itself is huge problems besides that. it can't support itself to discuss you choppy. it's got corruption. but then i think they could start to work on that. i think it's you china also

think for pakistan, if they stop supporting and running these proxy wars they could start to get a grip on their own problems. i think it's time, it would be difficult but it's time to end that obsession with trying to manage their own defense through these proxy military groups who are now just so powerful, they are problems for the survival of pakistan itself. >> i just want to thank you for highlighting balochistan as you have in your book, and also wanted to mention that, i'll ask you, do you have any photographs or any mention of some of the baloch national leaders, some the things that have come briefly, some the traditional ways they have dealt with tribal issues like i know people are bearing women alive and justifying it in parliament.

some of the photographs of them making people walk on calls to see if they're telling the truth or not. did you come across -- [inaudible] internal issues that record on in balochistan? >> i'll explain a little bit about that typically. balochistan and the balochs of vinegar tribal society, and even today in some of the more remote regions -- do you want to just close that? remote regions, tribal leadership still controls many aspects of people's lives. and a lot of these tribal leaders have not been kind to members of their own tribes. there's still a huge amount of underage marriage going on as you mentioned. some the treatment of women in the more remote regions is pretty despicable frankly by our

standards at least but i did talk about that in the book about the authoritarian way in which they control their own people. this is i was the one of the main arguments advanced by the pakistani central government and the military about why balochistan come in their minds, requires a heavy military presence to protect the people from their own historic leaders, these tribal leaders. many of the people in the less remote regions rejected that wholeheartedly, and i think it's very difficult to generalize. but there is a complex situation and play between the old tribal allegiance and the more modern self identification of baloch nation, if that makes sense. [inaudible] >> women being buried alive. [inaudible] >> i mean some of the other things that go on.

one of the more famous leaders carlota interviewed come in the book with the photographs we tried to shove quite how, how much was in his particular area just before he was killed by the pakistani military. people that did essentially worship him as a minor deity, he cuddled all the aspects they made, property rights, to their marriage, to the kinship arguments. so yeah, i mean, we do try to explain it in the book through our photographs and the writing. >> in your book have you covered some of the relationship between one of the original sponsors on the council, and the role they played in the territory? and when it's talking of the isi

and the army, with all the trouble going on in the country now where you of militant groups who are killing people, thousands of military officers, citizens of the country, groups questioning the very constitution and the very being of the country itself today, there's no sort of security in the country and the war going on. what's the motivation that they have for the people in the country of the justifying supporting elements which are against the state and its very existence of? >> so, i touch on the narcotics issue but i don't go into it in great detail. it's there, it's part of the problem of certainly southern afghanistan, but i don't go a great deal into the funding, partly because my great friend has written a brilliant book which you can go and find on that whole thing, and she talks about that. i touch on them as being the original sponsors of the taliban.

what was the next question? >> the other question was about the force or antistate elements among ordinary people are is that a fair -- >> or how the taliban wins support. i would say, and it varies through the years. at the beginning that taliban actually came back and they came back with such force, they were defeated and they came back. they researched -- about 2006 and he managed to have a message with the foreigners are leaving for their up to no good. so there was a sense among the people that okay, they are back, we've got to listen to them. so there was that sort of movement, and then actually that failed and it turned into a big fight and the taliban became much more rigid in how they

forced, they actually forced people to support them through intimidation and through threats. and then, but they also used some quite clever propaganda that the foreigners are here, don't trust them, they are only here to gain our natural resources, or to do other things. don't believe them when they say they're going to do aid and education. so they spread a lot of quite clever but insidious propaganda. and i think sometimes that works, especially with the sort of foreigners are up to no good, they are infidels, they don't have your best interest at heart. some of it worked, but in the end i think what was most interesting was the region's where they have risen up against the taliban, it's really a test they had been angry at the danger, the insecurity that is created by the taliban, the ieds.

but also they realized the community is through austin size and is not getting the aid and is not benefiting from the jobs and the development. so they start to resent the taliban because of that, because the taliban make sure the aid agencies can't come in and do development. so people started to really suffer because of the poverty is great and they started to get very angry that the taliban prevented them from doing things. one of the men i interviewed, he had eight sons who helped in the uprising, and it was just last year, february 2013, and he said none of my sons have been educated and they are only, they have been living to the taliban area another the karzai era, and the youngest one is 20. so they should have all been in school this time, and he said none of them went to school. it was of course he lived in an area of constant

taliban-american push and pull. and he and they are really angry about that now. and so that, i think that over the years became a very important part of the push and pull with the taliban between the local people. they started to see that the taliban was -- does that make sense? >> do you mind if we take a couple more questions? >> sorry. i'm long winded. [inaudible] >> did you get the sense there's any truth to that? >> he was asking whether the balochs national bubbles do indeed receive support from the indian government, which is one of the accusations often leveled against him by the pakistani

authorities. and it all the instances where i've met with these groups, i've seen no evidence of that. these are not guys who seem to get a great deal of money from anyone, frankly. they are living in very, very difficult, basic conditions in very remote mountains, valleys, often many, many miles from nearby settlements. they have gotten very, very old and basic weaponry and they are living off maybe some home baked bread and that's about it. but no, i've never seen any evidence of that at all. i would posit that quite frankly in pakistan when there are problems, a very easy way to assign blame is with the indian authorities. >> certainly they are very poor, no doubt about it. and i think from what i understand is there is enough balochs ds brought to channel money. i think that's were mostly they get their help.

[inaudible] isi was also the right friend the u.s., so how do you think it -- [inaudible] ..

>> and then isi, let's continue. we're on to a good thing, it's working. as you know, they moved into kashmir, and i met a militant leader who was training people from all over both this kashmir -- in kashmir, in afghanistan, he even went to chechnya, and he was on a sort of worldwide trip to train mujahideen. and i think, and that was all sponsored by the pakistani military. so i think they thought we're on a good ticket, let's continue, let's find other places to do it. and that's where, i think, it got out of control. and that's where i think a civilian government would have said, hang on, what are our aims, where are we going with this. but the military thought, let's

keep doing it. we're good at it, we know how to do it. and then you could see they just got going with the taliban and couldn't stop and be couldn't bear to give it up even when 9/11 happened. these are their proteges, and they wanted to see them succeed. and i think they still do. so that's how i see it more. >> [inaudible] >> say again? >> [inaudible] should we take more questions? >> how are we doing? what -- >> do we have other questions? yes, please. >> i was going to say, let's take two more. >> [inaudible] >> from my experience, there is a huge amount of interaction in the border region on both sides of the iran and pakistan border. many of them have tribal ties, many of them have, you know, immediate family. and, actually, in the very vicinity of the border, people live on one side and work on the other. it's like commuting from new jersey to new york in some ways.

some of the larger tribal groups have a presence hundreds of miles apart because they were such a nomadic people, and you'll have tribes, a major iranian province, and then you'll ask other members of the tribe in the pakistan provincial capital of balochistan. so in terms of the militancy, there's not so much. the movement in pakistan, the ones that i've spoken to about it at least strongly reject some of the ideologies of their iranian remember as it were, the other militants on that side of the border who tend to be a lot more religiously inspired in their motivation. there's a group that's kind of taken on a few iterations of the last seven or eight years. and they see themselves from a sectarian standpoint. they really self-identify as sunni in the predominantly shia iran. and so that ideology is very

alien to a lot of the nationalists who tend to be a lot more secular minded. i hope that's helpful. >> [inaudible] >> one more. >> i have one question -- [inaudible] we discussed it the other day about -- [inaudible] and how the iran goth is confirming -- government is confirming his disappearance from dubai. and also you know -- [inaudible] in uae. so what do you think whether there is some pakistani connection to his disappearance, and how much actually affects the dubai peace process as it's called for reconciliation in afghanistan? >> very good question. i'm not sure if everyone understands that, but there's been peace talks with the afghan government and the afghan taliban, and we just heard -- i was just in kabul recently, and karzai was complaining, president karzai, that america was intervening and trying to

prevent his peace talks with the afghan taliban. the main character in these latest peace talks was a man who was detaped by the unite -- detained by the united arab emirates just after he'd had some talks with afghan officials. i don't know actually much more, peter, than when we were talking, but everything seems to point to the the fact that it was not the americans. i mean, i have talked to american officials, and they said it wasn't them, or it wasn't america that tipped off or asked the united arab emirates to detain him whereas people have pointed out that the pakistanis did ask to meet him while he was in dubai, so they were tracking his movements, and they were aware that he was there. but at the moment, it's just opposition that they were behind his detention. certainly, i know a lot of afghans who are very -- and

pakistanis, actually, who are very concerned about the close relationship between pakistan and united arab emirates. they feel insecure, people who are, you know, on the run or people who are worried about arrests. so i wouldn't put it past, but i don't actually know. yeah. as for the peace talks, i've never thought they're going be anywhere, quite frankly. certainly the taliban who want qatar to open peace talks with the afghan government, i don't think they're -- i think they're controlled, i think they're under, they're in difficulties because their families are still this pakistan. they can't really act as independent actors. but also, you know, in afghanistan all the new people running for president, all the front runners, they're not interested in peace talks. they want to fight the taliban. and most afghans want to fight the taliban. they don't want to see the

taliban come back and start, you know, getting nice, plum i don't means and -- jobs and having a great deal of influence. so i don't think peace talks are going to progress very quickly this year, especially with these new, the new elections. i just don't think it's going to happen. so that's my two cents. okay. i think it's time for a drink, right? [laughter] thank you very much. [applause] we're signing books if anyone wants to buy them, right? [inaudible conversations]

>> the house foreign affairs subcommittee on africa, global human rights and international organizations will hold a hearing today on the 25th anniversary of tiananmen square protests in beijing. survivors of the 1989 tiananmen square massacre will tell their stories and their hopes for change in china. our live coverage begins at 9:30 a.m. ian on c-span2 -- eastern on c-span2. >> c-span's coverage of commencement addresses continues tonight with cloud computing pioneer mark benioff at the university of southern california, dallas mayor mike rawings, and youtube ceo susan wojcicki at johns hopkins university. she told graduating seniors about making the decision to acquire youtube. here's a portion of her remarks.

>> i join ared google during the height of the first dot.com boom in the late 1990s. now, i know this seems like ancient times to you guys, but it really was not that long ago. at the time, i was newly married, and my husband and i decided to buy a house which was a huge decision. we could barely afford the mortgage, so we decided we would rent part of our house and the garage. thanks to a mutual friend, we represented our garage to two graduate students at stanford who had just started a company ask were looking for office -- and were looking for office space. they seemed nice. [laughter] their ideas sounded kind of crazy. back then no one had heard of larry page and sergey brin or the new company with the funny name. google? what? what does that mean? it doesn't really matter.

as long as you guys pay the rent on time, you can build your googley thing here. >> our coverage of commencement addresses continues tonight beginning at eight eastern on c-span. >> and live now to the hyatt hotel here in washington for remarks from veterans affairs secretary erik shinseki. -- eric shinseki speaking at the national coalition for homeless veterans annual conference, expected to discuss homelessness among veterans and his plans involving care for veterans. a growing number of lawmakers calling for secretary shinseki to resign after release of the inspector general's report indicating there are systemic problems in va medical care. we expect this to get under way in just a moment. live coverage here on c-span2.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> and we're awaiting a speech by va secretary eric shinseki on homelessness among veterans, we are also expecting comments on the problems at the va. the associated press this morning has this on the current troubles for current secretary shinseki: virginia's democratic u.s. senators are calling on veterans affairs shin shinseki o resign. senators tim kaine and mark

warner joined the growing number of lawmakers calling for his resignation. he faces calls from republicans and democrats in congress because of an escalating scandal about problems in the va's nationwide health care system. the white house says president obama is waiting for a full investigation into the department of veterans affairs before deciding who to hold responsible. warner says that he is outraged by the lack of care to the nation's veterans. kaine said shinseki's departure the only way to regain confidence. also this morning on c-span we're taking your calls and comments on problems at the va. texas democrat sheila jackson-lee is our guest taking your calls and remarks. you can see her on c-span this morning. [inaudible conversations]

[applause] [cheers and applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the opening session, second day of the 2014 annual conference of the national coalition for homeless veterans. at this time it is my pleasure to introduce the chairman of the nchb board of directors, mr. pat ryan. [applause]

>> thank you, john. the national coalition for homeless veterans rowdily welcomes our keynote -- proudly welcomes our keynote speaker, the secretary of veterans affairs, eric ship sec key. [cheers and applause] eric shinseki. members of the national coalition know secretary shinseki from his repeated appearances at this conference. and his willingness to report on challenges and progress being made in the campaign to end shp &c%

veterans. when secretary shinseki took office in 2009, he was faced with a number of priorities and challenges. he quickly decided to make ending veteran homelessness one of the top three priorities of the department. he has worked very hard to develop a unified vision, garner commitment among va staff and develop strong partnerships with hundreds of community organizations, many of whom are here today. with strong support from the president, funding from congress and the active cooperation of other departments, especially secretary donovan at hud, the number of veterans being served by federal programs supported by va has expanded exponentially. secretary shinseki has said i can't fix a problem that i can't is see.

his first step was identifying the population of homeless veterans. under his leadership that number climbed from an estimated 75,000 in 2009 to fewer than 58,000 today. [applause] the commitment to ending homelessness among veterans has never been stronger, and the number of community-based organizations and va employees who are serving homeless veterans has never been larger. the commitment and dedication to change starts at the top, but the progress, the record number of formerly homeless veterans happens, all of these are

attributable to the efforts of thousands of dedicated employees, many of whom are here today. please join me in giving a rousing welcome to a true friend of homeless veterans and nchv, the seventh secretary of veterans affairs,:tñ3osr eric . [applause]-%ískñci >> very kind, very generous, especially this early in the morning. [laughter] pat, thanks for that kind introduction, thanks for your leadership of the board and more importantly, thanks for your years of advocacy on behalf of veterans. let me also acknowledge john driscoll. john, thanks for having me here today, and thank you as well for your leadership of the national

coalition of homeless veterans. gavin gregory and fred whacker from the home depot foundation, city community development. gentlemen, my thanks to all of you for your commitment to helping end veterans homelessness in this country. sheriff pete doherty -- [laughter] [applause] i want to see the badge, pete. [laughter] a good friend to many here in this room and my former va colleague. he retired from va, but he's not retired from the fight against veterans homelessness. pete, glad to have you here today. laura -- [inaudible] executive director of u.s. ich and the person with whom i do pit counts for the last several

years. we refer to each other as pit buddies. [laughter] other va colleagues, especially our dedicated homeless team led by lisa faith -- lisa pate, other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, the past few weeks have been challenging for everyone at va because we take caring for veterans so very seriously. we've done tremendous work together these past

. >> today we better understand what factors contribute to homelessness; insomnia, pain, substance use, disorder, failed relationships and usually the last is a product of the first four. we can now begin to focus specific treatments to address each of those factors. they are treatable. they are medical conditions, and we are a large health care system. and then in the process create a

database for substantive and predictive research so we understand what causes homelessness and what we can do to prevent it. so we can end the rescue phase of getting people off streets by preventing them from ending up there. in 2010 we established a national registry for homeless veterans to capture facts and information on individual homeless veterans. it's produced a trove of data which we'll use to support research well into the future. the registry now includes over 750,000 veterans who are, have been homeless or are at the risk of being homeless. also in 2010 we launched the homeless veterans call center which has referred nearly 200,000 veterans for help. in 2012 we began screening veterans seeking health care, asking if they have a home or if they are at risk of losing it.

last year we screened over 4.3 million veteran and identified about 36,000 as homeless which we didn't know before we screened and another 42,000 who were at risk of homelessness. with that kind of information, you can do something about it. also in 2012 we established our first community resource and referral center, crrc. i call it crips, nope else does -- nobody else does. [laughter] locating the crrc downtown where homeless veterans tended to congregate. not putting it up someplace that was convenient for us, but fighting to get it downtown. crrc offers them a place to shower, launder their clothing, get something hot to either drink or eat while they're there. and today we have 27 crrcs in

operation. and in recent years the number of courts dedicated to handling veterans' cases has increased dramatically. five years ago, as i recall, when i arrived, we probably had four or five veterans courts in the entire nation. today there are over 260 in operation throughout the country, and every one of them has a va medical center in direct support of the judge who is holding that court. giving him an option other than release or incarcerate. the third option we offer is treatment. homelessness and involvement of the justice system seem to go hand in hand, and we need to play a strong role. and so in 2009 we launched the veterans justice outreach program which now has 248 full-time specialists working directly with veterans court, with the judges, to see that veterans get the care they need

and keep them out of trouble as well as off the streets. we also recently created the veterans reentry surge service, vrss, to help corrections officials in some of our 1200 federal and state penitentiaries quickly identify inmate veterans, especially those who are about to be released. by uploading their list of inmates and running the comparison against our veteran database, they can identify veteran inmates for us. and with this information 44 full-time specialists of our health care for reentry of veterans program can -- [inaudible] soon-to-be-released veterans, connecting them with the services they need to help prevent homelessness and reincarceration. those are all examples of effective outreach, wrapping our arms around the problem by getting in touch with veterans. getting in touch with veterans,

with the issues. finding out who needs help and insuring they receive it. in the process, we've learned a lot about homeless veterans. we've learned that it's not primarily a mental health problem as we thought five years ago. that substance abuse issues are a major factor and that va treatment for substance abuse with can make a big difference in a homeless veteran's life. treatment. treatment rather than incarceration. so three years ago in this forum i questioned whether we had the courage to ask ourselves if we were contributing to substance use issues by overmedicating our patients. you gave me a towering response then. and so i kept asking the question. i've gone to other audiences asking the same question including with dod.

and today, together with dod, we've developed and implemented a joint pain management guideline that encourages the use of other medications, alternative therapies and new opiates. [applause] and among va's health care facilities our minneapolis va medical center went after this hard, and they've been at it for three years. they've cut the use of high-dose opiates by more than 50% and all but eliminated oxycontin prescriptions. [applause] oxycontin down by 99% without putting people on the street. it is treatment, the it is not

shifting a problem. we're now reviewing opiates system wide and seeking to reduce their distribution significantly across all 21 health care networks. so what else are we doing? well, in the past five years we shifted to a housing-first approach aimed at getting homeless veterans into safe, permanent housing and then meeting their plentiful and other needs. some results. emergency room visits down 27%. in-patient hospitalizations down 33 percent. in-patient costs down 54 percent. total va health care costs down 32 percent. [applause] the hud voucher program are supportive services for veterans families, the engines for housing first. we can't end homelessness

without these programs. at the end of fy-2013, over 45,000 veterans and their families had homes to live in thanks to hud vouchers. my thanks to secretary donovan and all the good folks at hud for their generous partnership of that program. keep 'em coming. [applause] last year community partners sported by a grant per diem program provided housing to nearly 45,000 veterans, and nearly 14,000 of them moved straight to permanent housing elsewhere, some with the assistance of hud/vash voucher. including more than 20,000 individuals you should the age of 18 -- under the age of 18, young people. 79% of homeless veterans' families found permanent housing through ssvf, and 90% of at risk

veterans' families were kept in their homes. va's benefits administration, vba, has a similar program to help veterans who have defaulted on their va-insured mortgage loans. last year 74,000 veterans who defaulted were kept from foreclosure and eviction because vba worked things out with their lenders, keeping people in their homes. lowering mortgage payments, extending payment periods. that's another 74,000 veterans who didn't end up on the streets homeless. [applause] prevention. prevention is a long-term commitment. so we're not just rescuing veterans already homeless off the streets. that's important too. that's what we've targeted to be

complete in 2015, but prevention will continue for a long time. we are actively preventing veterans and their families from becoming homeless which is the campaign. this is the way forward for this coalition. melding our operations into an efficient, community-based system of services so that more cities can say as salt lake city and phoenix have that they have ended cobbic veteran homelessness -- chronic veteran homelessness. [applause] we have turned the tide, we've found a strategy that works, we've reduced veteran homelessness by 24% between 2010 and 2013 during a period of tough economy when historically homelessness surges. instead -- [applause]

so my point here is now is not the time to let up or get complacent. any of us. any of us in this room. with our goals in sight, we're looking at 2015 for reaching a major goal. many cities across the country are in sight. we all need to work harder and smarter towards achieving what we said we would in 2015. this coalition can end veterans homelessness next year, so let's get on with it. [applause] again, thanks for your hard work. it is the lord's work. i'm honored to have been in this fight for justice with all of you. god bless all of you. [applause]

o.k.. thank you all very much. i'm going to make a few comments. i'm going to make a short closing comment here. i wanted to get my thank yous out early. before i close, let me address the elephant in the room today, and you all have been very generous and polite in your welcome. after wednesday's release of an interim inspector general report, we now know that va has a systemic, totally unacceptable lack of integrity within some of our veterans' health facilities. that breach of trust involved the tracking of patient wait times for appointments. our initial findings of our

ongoing internal review of other large va health care facilities also show that to be true. that breach of integrity is irresponsible, it is indefensible and unacceptable. to me. i said when this situation began weeks to months ago that i thought the problem was limited and isolated because i believed that. i no longer believe it. it is systemic. i was too trusting of some, and i accepted as accurate reports that i now know to have been misleading with regard to patient wait times. i can't explain the lack of integrity amongst some of the leaders of our health care facilities. this is something i rarely encountered during 38 years in uniform. and so i will not defend it because it is indefensible. but i can take responsibility

for it. and i do. so given the facts i now know, i apologize as the senior leader of the department of veterans affairs. i extend that apology to the people whom i care most deeply about, that's the veterans of this great country, to their families and loved ones who i have been honored to serve. for over five years now as the call of a lifetime. i also offer that apology to members of congress who have supported me, to veterans service organizations who have been hi partners for five -- have been my partners for five years and to the american people. all of them, all of them deserve better from their va. but i also know this, that leadership and integrity problems can and must be fixed. and now. [applause]

and so i'm just announcing that i'm taking the following actions: i've initiated the process for the removal of the senior leaders of the phoenix va medical center. [applause] disposal to enforce accountability among senior leaders who have found to have instigated, tolerated dishonorable or irresponsible scheduling practices at va health care facilities. i've also directed that no be vha senior executive will receive any type of performance award for 2014, this year. [applause]ç i've directed that patient wait times be deleted from vha

employees' evaluation reports as a measure of their success. we are contacting -- [applause] we are contacting each of the 1,700 veterans in phoenix waiting for appointments to bring them the care they need and deserve, and we will continue to accelerate access to care for veterans nationwide who need it, utilizing care both in and outside of va. [applause] we'll announce the results of our nationwide audit of all va health care facilities in the coming days. i now ask congress to support senator bernie sanders' proposed bill giving va's secretary greater authority to remove senior leaders. [applause] and i ask the support of

congress to fill existing va leadership positions that are still vacant. again -- [applause] again, this situation can be fixed with va, vsos, congress and all of our stakeholders like many of you in this room working together with the best interest of veterans at heart. we can do this in the days ahead. just as we have done over past five years on veterans homelessness. we can do this. we'll need all of your help. god bless our veterans, those especially in greatest need of our prayers and our help, and may god continue to bless this wonderful country of ours. thank you all very much. [applause]

[applause] >> va secretary eric shinseki speaking at this conference for homelessness among veterans this morning, also taking a moment to apologize for the challenges facing veterans at va facilities. he also announced some of the changes that he's instituting to fix the problems at the hospitals. the associated press reporting that president obama today telling a morning talk show that he plans to have a serious conversation with veterans affairs secretary shinseki about

whether he can stay in his job. the president saying he will ask shinseki whether he is prepared and has the capacity to fix sweeping problems in the nation's health care system. that meeting set for 10:15 eastern today. we'll announcement ts or reaction that comes out of that meeting for you this morning. also coming up this morning, africa global human rights subcommittee chair christopher smith of the house foreign affairs committee will hold a hearing on the 25th anniversary of tiananmen square protests in beijing. survivors of the 1989 tiananmen square massacre will tell their stories and their hopes for change this china. that hearing happening this morning at 9:30 eastern, we'll have it live for you here on c-span2. and going back to the topic of veterans care, yesterday on capitol hill house republicans reacted to a report released on wednesday by the inspector general that showed hospital administrators at a phoenix va facility significantly understated the time new

patients waited for their primary care appointments. 700 veterans using -- 1700 veterans were kept off unofficial wait lists. the news conference is just over 20 minutes. >> good afternoon, everybody. i believe it goes without saying that there is an accountability problem at the county -- at the department of veterans affairs. the report released yesterday is a damning indictment on just one facility within the department of veterans affairs, but the office of inspector general has also said that they believe that this is a systemic problem throughout the country's va health care facilities. and so the house is about trying to make a difference and help va help themselves. we've had problems time and time again where it appears that it's much easier to get a bonus at va than it is to get disciplined or be fired. and so several of us sponsored a

bill, h.r. 4031, that passed the house with broad bipartisan support last week. it's very simple. out of the 330,000 employees at the department of veterans affairs, this would give the secretary the ability to discipline up to firing but also by demoting senior executive-level individuals which are less than about 450. the secretary says he has the tools to do the job. he has not used those tools. we are going to give him more tools in order to do what is necessary to get the veterans the care, the benefits and the honor that they've earned. >> good afternoon. i know there has been a lot of

attention as to whether i or any of my colleagues think secretary shinseki should resign. it's beyond clear that the va has not performed up to anyone's standards under his stewardship. but we must remember this is about more than one man. this is about millions of veterans, and they deserve more accountability than one resignation. it's clear that the va has ill served our nation's veterans for some time and that this poor treatment became even more alarming and more tragic lately. accountability for this starts at the very top. senior appointed leaders in the cabinets and agencies ultimately report to president obama. it's time the president specifically address what he plans to do to fix this problem now. on monday i visited mcguire va

medical center in richmond. there are many dedicated personnel there providing the care to the veterans that are needed. but as i spoke to our brave veterans in need of treatment, it was clear that more must be done to insure that all va hospitals across the country are performing at the highest level our nation demands. whether it is one resignation or 100 resignations that are necessary, we cannot keep waiting for action. last week senate democrats delayed a vote on a two-page bill that would help deliver accountability. where is the urgency? the house will continue, as chairman miller just said, to act swiftly on behalf of the men and women who serve this nation with distinction and honor. we owe them that. >> i'd like to start out today

by sharing a story of two brothers from eastern washington who both served in iraq. and i had the chance to talk to their mom on memorial day. she shared with me that when they returned with multiple health problems, severe ptsd, they've been forever changed. and yet as they approached the va and tried to get the help that they need, too often the va has not been there. and, in fact, in one case the va did -- took action that actually made it more difficult for them. ..

we know that 30% of the veterans that are coming home right now have some kind of service related disability, whether it's ptsd or traumatic brain injury, and they deserve the treatment that they were promised when they joined the military. too often that's not the case. so let's bring the va to the 21st century. let's increase accountability among its leaders, and protect the brave men and women who have for so long protected us. we are listening. we're listening and we will continue fighting for them. we're asking them to share their stories, gop.gov/yourstory. we need to hear from veterans all across this country so that we can address their challenges head on. i want to join in commending chairman jeff miller for his

tremendous leadership. i want to join my colleagues and my local veterans in asking for the senate to take swift action on the va accountability act. for those two brothers in eastern washington, and for the millions of heroes like them, we'rweare not going to stop figg until they are protected. >> i'm keith rothfus from pennsylvania. bill was one of six pittsburgh area veterans who died of legionnaires disease contracted at the pittsburgh va hospital. bill was a world war ii veteran who survived juan, saipan, okinawa, but not the va. the ig report compared six veterans died as result of systemic failures at the va. it was issued more than a year ago. to date, what we know is that those responsible were given bonuses, but the va has yet to discipline anyone for these deaths.

the va must develop a culture of accountability to better serve our veterans. that culture is missing now and the house has passed bipartisan legislation to address this. the senate should pass it. the president should sign it, and secretary shinseki should use it to clean up the mess. we have a solemn obligation to stand with our veterans. to the principle of solidarity, they stood for us, we stand for them. when men and women put on the uniform to defend our country, we as a nation bear a responsibility for every service veteran with disability. whatever the injury, whether blindness, loss of a limb, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress, no veteran should feel as though he or she is alone. they defended us. we shall defend them.

>> hey, i'm duncan hunter from san diego. let me kick off my congress that here and put on my united states marine corps hat. i've got to searches that have had from active duty time overseas in the two tours in iraq and one in afghanistan. and i intentionally went to private health care. i chose to not go through the va because the va does not work and i'd need that five years ago so i'd my shoulder surgery done and my neck fusion done in private health care. not everybody is that lucky. for those of us who go to war and join the military an account that time, a time when the united states is at war, we know that the enemy intends to kill us. if you make it home, we intend to go back to our jobs and our families, and we trust the va to provide for us and give us the care and attention that is needed. no one, and i emphasize no one expects the va to fail in their duty. no one expects the va to threaten at the same safety and

well being that our military brutal fully defense. the trust between the va and our veterans, the trust between the va and me, the trust between the va and the men that i served with and four, it's broken. it's broken and it needs to be fixed, and we have the first step to fix it with a bill that jeff miller brought forward. we're going to work as hard as we can to do that, thank you. >> high. my name is matt and i'm from arizona's fifth congressional district. right at the epicenter of this great tragedy, debacle. last week i held an event at my office with the veterans. we had about 150 veterans show up. i heard horror story after horror story. one guy that came up and talked to me about how the intervention of our office saved his eyesight. and then i said to the crowd, you know, and numerous types can we've had to intervene.

i mean, hundreds of times since i've been back in office the last year and a half we've had to intervene for veterans because they were either turned down or denied or postponed by the va of phoenix. and i made a comment that it shouldn't take a congressman getting involved for a veteran to be able to get an appointment. and we got a standing ovation on that one because i think they all believe that's where things should be. i think this is beyond a tragedy, and that besides the management accountability come which is a no-brainer, and i call on harry reid to use some of his leadership to get that moving, the fact is that these are the most important people i believe that we represent. they go out and they give their all to protect our country. we have let them down. and i think that besides fixing the system, those people not violated the sacred trust, if they indeed did maintain secret

list, besides getting fired, they should go to jail. we should do everything we can to make sure that there are criminal sanctions, if these things happen. and should eric shinseki resigned from absolutely i think he should. finally, this administration should put up or shut up when it comes to defending our veterans. there's another veteran that's been in a mexican prison for two months, who is in tijuana languishing in a prison cell and it's time for this administration to stand up and getting a. he is an american hero and we need to stand there for them like they stood there for us. thank you. >> my name is luis jolie, legislative director for the american legion. america which has long been a supporter of a template of the department of veterans affairs. we supported it when it's first introduced months ago long before we start hearing about these scandals but with the scans uncover and now, the american legion is resolute more

than ever. we represent two and a half million members and with our american legion family that's over 3.5 million members who do not understand why the second of veterans affairs does not have the authority to manage his department as he needs to pick if he needs to remove someone, if he needs to denote someone, he does not now have that authority and we need to make sure that he does have that authority. thank you. >> my name is derek bennett and a chief of staff. every week the reports out of the va system seem increasingly bleak. yet these reports are not new biggest problems have been going on for years if not decades. this is not a failure just a leadership and not about scapegoating. it's glory systemic. on behalf of our members and supporters many of them assert in iraq and afghanistan, we urge the congress, we urge the senate to pass the va kind of build act and this present assignment immediate into law.

we applaud chairman miller on his important work on this issue. >> good afternoon. thank you chairman miller for your leadership on this issue as well as house leader are paving the way on this important piece of legislation. i am a senior policy analyst at concerned women for america and air force veteran. i'm here on behalf of the millions of veterans across the country who are waiting and waiting for the care they need. just like a sales manager that he met yesterday, an army veteran who served our country for 12 years and has been waiting five months so far to be seen in a maryland va clinic. the management accountability act is straightforward. it's good first step towards reform. giving the secretary the tools he needs to get better results. this is essential as veterans affairs problems are addressed not only in the phoenix the a report that many previous investigative reports as well. additionally, it is a good measure for va employees that work hard and do the right thing, as they deserve

leadership at every level, integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect and excellence. we urge the leadership of the senate to act swiftly on the department of veterans affairs and management account build act and bring it to a vote next week when they return. thank you. >> good afternoon. i'm from the amvets american veterans. each day in the news there's a constant drone calling for the secretary shinseki. cutting off the head of a problem is not the answer. it is comparable to the monster -- we can chop off one head after another only to find that two more grow back in their place. this insanity as doing things the same way and expecting a different outcome is historically how the va has

operated. now is the time to slay the hydra by effectively changing its culture. in light of the testimony that i witnessed last night, we believe the secretary should begin immediately with the removal of some officials at va, starting with the hospital directors who are present in 2010 when the memo came out who are still in those positions now. they disregarded the directive of the central office about this very problem and they need to be held accountable. over a year ago and that's recognize the need for accountability when we recommended that the secretary be given the power to fire nonperformers. everyone was astounded to find out that they couldn't do that. and we applaud chairman millersville and ask for senator reid in the senate to speed up this process, get some va

accountability on the senate side also. another area that amvets has recommended that the secretary and the white house, some recommendations on how to improve the va, several of those are for one example is to increase the number of patients the va doctors see. thethey are ratio is not one doctors to 12 or 1300 patients were on the outside world primary care physicians see one, to 4200 where you can double or triple the panel of patients they see an almost reduce the backlog right there of waitlist patients. another thing after i heard testimony last night is that they have on staff over 700 attorneys, and i think that's a good place to start would be getting rid of about 699 of them and higher doctors in their place. thank you.

>> what questions do you have? >> questions? yes, sir. >> thank you. a lot of talk about accountability. could you talk a little bit about the congressional role in this? not just today in light of these new allegations, but in the last few years. we've heard these processes have been known for many, many years, is on one if you could talk about the house role but also the senate roll and then congress writ large. doesn't congress take some of the blame here for this not being addressed, not being more forceful in making sure these problems were addressed? >> i think if you witnessed the testimony last night, you would see why congress has a difficult time holding the department of veterans affairs accountable. we have over 110 written requests for information, which includes thousands of questions, some of them relating to patient

care and timeliness of the access. they will not respond to us. to the point that i could put up on our va website, trials and transparency that basically i was hoping would shame them into doing what they needed to do. makes no difference. i write a letter to the secretary every week and tell him exactly what we need. and yet we continue to get stonewalled at every turn. let's go back and talk about oversight. you want to talk about oversight and making comparison between the house and the senate? the house has had 70 hearings in the 113th congress about the issues. of that, over 40 of them were oversight hearings, and from those hearings and from my interactions with other members of congress we have written letters, we have requested oig reports, some in california. kevin mccarthy talked about one today, well over a year ago, that was about wait times.

and once the oig came back with their report, we asked, we jointly wrote a letter to the secretary and said, have you put these recommendations in place? the secretary says yes, we have done it. well, no, they haven't. and if the department will be truthful to us, as the congressional and constitutional body that's a charge with the oversight, i can only imagine what they will tell a veteran when they are trying to seek care your countr. >> do you think someone else can come in at this point and fix the problem or is it a response to the failed leadership that you talked about? >> this is much larger than one individual and i said it before. it's much larger than secretary shinseki. there has been no leadership from the white house as it relates to this crisis that exists. no urgency that exist. the president could have come in

immediately and said we're opening for private care to all veterans who have not been able to get an appointment in a timely fashion to yet only this administration which celebrate the fact that before someone who's already going to retire to resign, which is typical in the department of veterans affairs, and only this administration would celebrate the fact they're going to allow veterans to use non-va care when they have had that ability for over a decade. so leadership is important at the top, but i'm telling you there is a bureaucracy that doesn't care who leads, because they know they're going to be there after the president. they know they will be there after the secretary leaves and they sure will be there longer than the veterans affairs chairman in the house of representatives. [inaudible] >> it matters but it sends a clear signal. part of the problem in va is they do that very same thing. they will tell you, well, we

can't get rid of this person because we don't know -- look, if they can't do the job, they've got to go. [inaudible] >> one more. >> 's the point of speaker boehner made when he's been asked about the question of general shinseki's resignation, is that you don't want this to distract from the real issue and the idea, well, you get rid of him and then you have a fight for two or three months over confirmation of his successor. do you share those concerns? because you are also calling for a lot of other senior officials to be fired. said it would seem like he would also leave a vacuum at the top of that department at a critical time. >> there's already a vacuum at the top. is already there. that backing goes all the way up to the white house, what if we don't do something today, something sensitive, not just another report, not just another hearing. we have an opportunity now to transform the way va does business in a way that brings it from a world war ii mentality into a 21st century mentality.

yes, i'm very concerned that if secretary shinseki were to leave, somebody says given new person an opportunity, give them a honeymoon, look, they're not going to get a honeymoon. this congress is going to continue their oversight and to make sure that va does what they are supposed to do. and if they won't tell us what we need to hear, we will do what's necessary. if that's by subpoena, i tried not to make this a partisan issue. the democrats have voted unanimously on every step we've taken so far in the house. i would rather not break that relationship, and not give people the ammunition to call what we are doing political because it is not political. thanthank you very much, everyb. >> knew this one, president obama will be meeting with the secretary shinseki, that is set for 10:15 a.m. eastern at the white house and we expect to

learn shortly thereafter whether there will be a change in leadership at the d. coming up shortly we'll go live to capitol hill where house subcommittee hearing on the 25th anniversary of tiananmen square. survivors of those protests will be among the witnesses. live coverage starts at 9:30 a.m. eastern. yesterday house speaker john boehner and democratic leader nancy pelosi joined former chinese dissidents in remembering the team and square protests. during his about speaker boehner said the real enemy of democracy is not tyranny but apathy. we will show as much of this as we can and to the hearing gets under way at 9:30 a.m. >> i am congressman chris smith, chairman of human rights committee, also the co-chair of the china commission. speaker john boehner, leader pelosi, honored guests behind the are some of the strongest and most valiant human rights defenders in the world. so many men and women who put their lives on the line on

behalf of freedom and human rights in china. welcome to all of them as those members of congress and, of course, mr. steny hoyer whocome he and i have worked on human rights issues for more than 30 years to great to have him here as well, as other members. were here today to psalm remember the 25th anniversary of tiananmen square. last night the house of representatives in a totally bipartisan vote and debate passed house resolution 599, in a series expression of respect and solidarity and to honor those who struggle for democracy and human rights in china and to honor those who continue to put their lives at risk on behalf of those fundamental freedoms. were in remembers what would begin our program within invocation followed by a moment of silence to give occasionally given by a tiananmen square massacre witness and survivor who is now serving as chaplain in the united states army.

the chaplain's involvement as a student leader led to his arrest and imprisonment for 19 months. like many others he came to the united states as a political refugee in 199250 joined essays army's army in 1994 and was commissioned in 2003. he served in iraq. used to be stationed in fort gordon, georgia. please welcome chaplin yang. [applause] >> let us pray. oh, mighty and everlasting god, make heaven and earth, we thank you for the opportunity to gather together in defense that history. we thank you for the men and women who defend our nation and for those who has made ultimate sacrifice on our nation that we have. we pray also for all who work for the cause of freedom and

democracy in all the nations of the world. and we remember and honor those who lost their lives 25 years ago at tiananmen square massacre. we pray that while you are great, those who died and continue to live on in our memory, and if, continue to working toward a world that upholds the freedom for all people. may the lord our god bless those who are here today. may he bless all of us political and military leaders, who have the courage. may god, our great nation in your holy name we pray, amen. now, let us hold one minute silence for remembrance of those who died in tiananmen square massacre in 1989.

[silence] >> thank you. thank you all. >> speaker boehner, thank you for bringing us together and for making this a truly bipartisan effort. this week and next the world remembers the extraordinary sacrifice by hundreds and

thousands of peaceful chinese democracy activists who rallied on tiananmen square and in over 400 cities in china for almost two months in 1989, and their heroic quest to be free. while some may prefer to look beyond their past or even trivialize the wanton slaughter by chinese soldiers, the memory of the dead and wounded as well as the plight of the jailed and tortured requires us to honor them, respect their noble aspirations for fundamental freedoms, and recommit the struggle. 25 years ago, a generation of young chinese believe there was a series of chance that the government would greeted them with the open hand of friendship, understanding, and empathy rather than a clenched fist. they believe that systemic reform was possible and would eventually replace dictatorship. the beatings, bayonet, torture and murder of students and the ubiquitous display of tanks turned the dream of freedom into a bloody nightmare. despite its wanton economic and military gains, the ugly spirit

of government repression continues today unabated, often behind closed doors, throughout all of china. china's government remains one of the most egregious offenders of human rights in the world. tortures endemic religious believers can be they christians, uighurs, tibetan buddhists with him to be. and assignment of women have been forced to abort their precious babies because of the draconian one child per couple policy. as a direct result of sex selective abortion tens of millions of girls are missing the missing daughters exterminated, a gender crime without president and a leading cause of an explosion in sex trafficking. but violence and abuse need not be forever. the human history is filled with examples of dictatorships that matriculated to democracy because courageous people refused to capitulate or stand down. the 25th anniversary of the

isthmus of kra down on student dissent, therefore, must we inspire, re- energize and reprioritize the struggle for human rights and freedoms in china. someday china will be free and the courage, valor, vision and tenacity of the tenement square activists and all those who bravely struggle for freedom will someday be celebrated in beijing. it is now my distinct honor to introduce one of you wrote students, one of the code leaders from 1989 is tonight. when the government crushed the protests on june 4, link was named the government list of the 21 most wanted students to and i like so many of you remember watching her and others getting passionate speeches in tiananmen square. she escaped from beijing 10 months later. she secretly was hidden in a cargo box for 105 hours to escape china as she made her way to hong kong. after coming to the united states she spoke to us. gave a great briefing on with some of the other dissidents

about what was going on in the square and how we need to stay focused. ling earned a masters degree from princeton and an mba from harvard. she worked in business other than a group called all girls allowed which speaks in the of the girl child who is so viciously victimized inside of china. she also cofounded a foundation with support of the mentoring efforts for student leaders. please welcome chai ling. [applause] >> thank you so much for joining us. it's a special day and special event. 25 years ago on the morning of june 4, i was with my last eye thousand students at kim and square who are helplessly watching the tanks and troops moving towards us. we were risking our lives and hoping americans would come to

help us. today, we rejoice that america has, to the side of those who stand for freedom and china. [applause] spinning back thank you speaker boehner, thank you democratic leader pelosi, chairman royce, especially our friend, congressman chris smith and chairman of the human rights committee, and other leaders of this great nation. i want to thank my husband, bob, and my lord and savior jesus christ, for he made all this happen. 25 years ago, our struggle for freedom came at a great cost to some of us spent months and years in hiding or in prison. we lost much, families, possessions, educations, freedom, and even our lives. some of them even lives.

so the dream of a free, peaceful and prosperous china. we students admired the former leader who went to tiananmen square in his call for three reforms for china. economical, political, and spiritual. we saw brutal abuses of human rights. we saw corruption in high places. we saw in equities everywhere. we wanted to change, so we cried out, the country is our country. the people is our people. if we don't act, who will? the past 25 years after tiananmen massacre, china has developed into an economic dictatorship with no political reform. however, despite the brutal

oppression, forced abortion and religious prosecution, china is undergoing a powerful and unprecedented spiritual growth. the human heart cannot be satisfied by the materialism alone, as jesus said. man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of god. so the tanks and troops crushed our movement, but they could never crush our dream for free china. the tanks and troops can stop the demonstrations on the street, but they can never stop a people's unceasing prayers for justice and freedom. we are the spirit -- where the spirit of the lord is, there is

liberty. so today, just as i did 25 years ago, i call to the leaders of china to choose freedom and embrace political and spiritual reform. there's no force on earth can stop god's work and to bring freedom to his people. the pharaoh could not do that, and neither the babylonian, not even the communist china. thank you again to the members of congress who passed the resolution yesterday. you have made history with us. may god -- >> standing face-to-face with the dictator mao zedong's portrait. it was a moment when all dreamed that they tiananmen square

demonstration would become a triumph of freedom and democracy. and forcefully china's commonest leaders sought to hang onto power through force. they sent tanks and soldiers into beijing to quote clear the square on the evening of june 3 and into june 4. the beating, the bayoneting, the torture and murder of students and ubiquitous display of tanks turned the dream of freedom into a bloody nightmare. we have with us today five extraordinary witnesses to this tragic scene in world history. not just witnesses, but key players in the push for democracy in the people's republic of china. these individuals are reminding us today as they have so tenaciously since their exile that the events of tiananmen square will never save the memory and remind us of the longing for freedom there remains within the chinese

people. this week and next we want to remember the extraordinary sacrifice endured by hundreds of thousands of peaceful chinese democracy activists. some may prefer, particularly in the business community and some politicians, to look past or the to even trivialize the slaughter of innocents like a chinese soldiers. but the memory of the dead and those arrested, those were tortured and exiled requires us to honor them, respect their noble aspirations for fundamental freedoms, and we commit ourselves to the struggle for freedom and human rights in china. the government of china continues to go through astounding lengths to erase the memories of the tiananmen demonstration and their violent oppression to the internet is censored. citizens holding private discussions or public commemorations are harassed and detained. we still have no account by the government of those who died,

those arrested, those disappeared, or those executed. it is my promise, and i'm joined by many of my distinguished colleagues in the house and senate, that we will always remember, always, tiananmen as long as the chinese people especially cannot discuss its significance openly without harassment or arrest. when the tanks rolled down a square on june 4, 1989, all of china suffered. mothers lost sons. fathers lost daughters. china lost an idealistic generation of future leaders. china's loss from one point of view could be seen as america's gain. our witness today exiles and refugees from their native land have contributed mightily to the american fabric, out of tragedy and disillusioned have created lives to make america stronger. they are entrepreneurs, business people and academics. members of the military and

civil society leaders. the chinese government may call them criminals and hooligans, a horrible slavery, but one day soon they will be called heroes. they already are hero's to people in china who recognize that they are truly remarkable heroes. the people testifying here today are also extraordinary people of conscience. they're all advocates for freedom and human rights, a list of people of who's who was the best and most courageous the world has ever seen. there will always be those who want to downplay human rights and relations with china, but the people here today remind us that the people of china suffered for freedom, they bled for liberty and demanded justice, democracy and an end to widespread corruption. these demands were made 25 years ago. they were made with a great deal of dignity and respect him and they were treated with harshness

and murder. and they still, 25 years later, inspire the imagination of people of china. the u.s. needs a robust human rights diplomacy with china but it's been lacking, thoroughly lacking. we need policies that actively promotes human rights, freedom of speech, internet freedom and the rule of law. we must support the advocates for peaceful change and the peaceful change and the champion's of liberty, clearly signal our support for those seeking freedom for all of china citizens not only for those -- the economic bottom line. such leadership is needed now because china is in the midst of a severe crackdown on human rights advocates and free speech. last year was the worst year since the 1990s for arrest and imprisonment. at least 230 people have been detained for the human rights advocacy on top of all the other who languish and allowed to die in detention throughout the country. in the past month beijing has detained two more dozen

activists for simply seeking to commemorate the tiananmen anniversary. china remains one of the worst offenders of human rights over all. it remains the torture capital of the world. i will never forget reading the special rapid tour for china's report on torture in china. it was horrific to your arrested, you will, not maybe, you will be tortured. religious freedom abuses continue with ethnic minority groups face repression when they peacefully seek rights to their culture and language. hundreds of millions of women have been forced to abort their precious baby because a draconian attempt to limit population growth. china's one child per couple policy is a demographic and human rights disaster that has no parallel in human history. and mass extermination of baby

girls. this is not only a mass of gender crime but a security problem as well. experts are coming to the conclusion that china is in gender imbalance will and already is leading to crime, social instability, worker shortages and there's been a huge spike in human trafficking. i am the prime sponsor of the trafficking victims protection act. our landmark law in the united states talks about trafficking. last year, it should events that ensued, china was put on pure three, egregious violator when it comes to human trafficking. and a major magnet for all of that is the fact of the missing daughters. systematically exterminated since 1979 and there are tens of millions girls, gone, exterminated, killed, because of sex elective abortions. because of that men can't find wives. there's a huge gender imbalance so the traffickers have rolled

into china as never before to sell brides and to sell women as commodities. there also is the possibility, and we do testimony here at previous committee i chair we could even lead to war because of the instability that the one child per couple policy is littered despite the country's economic growth over the past two decades leaders to remain terrified of their own people. china's ruling hamas party would rather stifle them in prison rape and kill its own people and to defer to their demands of freedom and rights. rape russian has not been the desire of the chinese people for freedom and reform. the is an inspiring drive in china to keep fighting for freedom on the very difficult and dangerous situations and conditions. as our witnesses today will surely attest, the united states must demonstrate clearly and robustly a democratic reforms and human rights are critical to their national interest, the

global national interest, and our own. we want is a more democratic china come when the restriction rights because a more democratic china will be productive rather than strategically hostile competitors the future also should be in china's interest because there is a growing evidence that the most prosperous and stable society are those that protect religious freedom, the freedom of speech and the rule of law. i believe that someday china will be free. people of china will be able to enjoy all of their god-given human rights. as a nation of three chinese men and women, we will end of the nation of three chinese nation men and women, they will honor, applaud and celebrate the heroes of tiananmen square and those who sacrificed so much over the years. and the people at this table, the true hero's will be honored a mightily and for ever in china because they sacrificed so much. i would like to yield to the

ranking member for comments. >> thank you, chairman smith. thank you for inviting me to participate in this hearing today. i want to personally thank you for your 30 years of dedication that i've done you to those in the pursuit of freedom of conscience throughout the world. would also like to thank our witnesses who are here to testify before us today. next week will mark the 25th anniversary of tiananmen square massacre. it was june 4, 1989 when the chinese army rolled into tiananmen square in thanks and begin to fire indiscriminately on the peaceful protesters. these protesters were gathered peacefully seeking a more democratic china that china allow for basic human rights, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and to end government corruption. hundreds if not thousands were massacred for peacefully seeking rights which should be afforded to every person around the world. to this day in many provinces in china, continues to suppress the

rights of citizens and i'm committed to continue to work with chairman smith, and this committee and on the congressional executive china commission to bring light to these issues. i've worked for the past 25 years with the underground christian church and i've been able to see personally the impact of what it means to allow christians to live freely and what they can accomplish. the integrity, loyalty and the sameness of christian believers demonstrate the powerful impact that the freedom can have on a culture that even an economy. unfortunately, as ronald reagan once said, our nation has a legacy of evil with which it must deal. america has dealt with discrimination based on heritage, gender, and political affiliation. however, one of the reasons america was able to eradicate slavery was a free exchange of different political points of view.

through a very robust debate of ideas, our nation has become stronger, even through a civil war where we lost over 600,000 lives. the concerns i share today are the spirit of humility as america faces her own problems. those with drugs, with violence, or pornography. those still prevailing discrimination, among others. my interest though is not to be condescending but to recognize how both china and the united states can and must improve their cultures. my honesty about china is consistent with my acknowledgment about our own country. again i would like to thank the witnesses for appearing before us today. i look forward to testimony, and i'm again grateful for chairman smith for calling this hearing. >> thank you so very much. i'd like to not yield to my friend from texas, vice chairman of the committee.

>> thank you, chairman smith. thank you for calling this hearing. the spirit of courage and freedom will outlast steel thanks and cowardice. there's probably no greater torture than believing yet to maintain control on other human beings by weaponry and by those kinds of cowardly acts we witnessed in tiananmen square. the chinese totalitarian government must not be allowed to last. democracy must prevail and be the order of the day. you can count on us, especially with chairman smith at the helm, to be steadfast, to be your friend and to fight for keeping liberty and freedom on the forefront. we count on you for being bad example, having that courage,

the guts, the fortitude. you all are an inspiration to us. democracy will flourish. freedom will survive. because of you and others like you. so i thank you all for being here. thank you for your courage, your willingness to participate, and don't ever give up. thank you very much. i yield back. >> yield to my good friend and colleague. >> thank you. i can't believe it's been 25 years, quite frankly, gone by rather quick in a way. and i, again, like my colleagues, thank our good friend, the chairman for being so steadfast and fighting with, and fighting for individuals who want freedom. 25 years ago in tiananmen square

as they build a statue of liberty, and many of my friends were excited that the chinese people would be free. and much to our dismay, the government hired, i believe if this is correct, they couldn't use local military men so they got people from the countryside to coming. they even said if they used amphetamines and things to hype them up to come in, i think personally there needs to be a distinction between the government and the people. the government has made statements that the united states hates the chinese people, that we don't respect the chinese people. that is not true. to the contrary, we appreciate the long history of china. we appreciate the warm and gracious people of china. what we don't appreciate is a small collection of people who impose their will by force on others. 25 years ago, to be quite frank with you, and my colleagues, i

think we let you down. our response was wrong. we didn't speak up. and it reminds me back in germany when there was another government taken over and pushing people around, and at the end of the day they sent by the time they came for me, there was no one left to speak up. i hope these hearings today will demonstrate that we are still willing to speak up. i heard a very compelling story about the mothers of tiananmen square that lost their loved ones, and she said after these many years we still have hope that china will redirect its compassion for its own people. this is really a story about compassion that the government needs to have on its own people. and we stand with, i hope, our nation will not make the same mistakes we make 25 years ago. and at this time we will stand with you, both in spirit and in work, and not just words or twitter, with hashtags, but in actual action.

i yield back my time. thank you. >> thank you so very much. i'd like to yield to my friend mr. meadows. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you to you for being here today. some as they would report this as its and other hearing, it's another hearing on tiananmen, another hearing on china. i know in my very brief tenure here, i have probably been in at least six or seven different hearings to talk about human rights violations in china, specifically three or four hearings on this particular anniversary that we are about to recognize here in just a couple of days. and many would say, well, chairman smith continue to have hearings over and over again, and what good does it really have? what effect does it have? and yet i would like to remind those of you who are here to

testify today to not give up hope, because there was a gentleman by the name of william wilberforce many years ago that day in and day out fox to abolish -- thought to abolish slavery. some 17 or 18 years he would come and he would petition his government on behalf of a blight on our history that we know today as slavery. and yet we also know the rest of the story, that william wilberforce eventually prevailed because day in and day out there was a calling. it is the same with our chairman. it is the same with many of us here in congress that will continue to fight until human trafficking, human rights abuses, and really the freedoms

that many people in, not only in china, but in our country, have died for. and so we have a very good reminder because we just past memorial day where we have a number of our veterans who have thought for freedom. many of them shedding their blood and giving the ultimate sacrifice for a people that they would never meet, for a people that would never be able to say thank you. and so on the hal behalf of them proud to stand with our chairman to continue the fight in this wilberforce effort to make sure that this doesn't happen again. and as we see this, the greatest way that we can diminish what happened 25 years ago is to allow the future to be a new future for human rights and respect for life, is not only

encouraged, but lifted up. and i thank you for your boldness to be your and your efforts. and i yield back. >> thank you very much. we are now joined by chairman of europe eurasia subcommittee, chairman robot or. >> thank you very much, and -- chairman rohrabacher. i want to thank you, mr. chairman. this man is such a heroic champion of human rights and he has dedicated his life bigger people all over the world who wouldn't be alive today and they would be freedom movement all over the world that would have no hope of success it wasn't for the dynamic energy that you put into this here in congress, and i'm very pleased to sit with you and actually work with you, grateful for your leadership. what we do today is we are commemorating, looking at what happened 25 years ago. it's something that has had

dramatic impact, not only to the people of china but the entire world. and what happened in tiananmen square has dramatically impacted on the life that we live today in the united states, and, of course, the people of china. i happen to believe that had ronald reagan -- i worked with reagan in the white house. i was a special assistant to the president and i was a speechwriter for president reagan for seven years had he been president of the united states when this happened, this would be a different world, and china would be a different place. it is a disgrace that the united states did not make the leadership of the communist party pay for the crimes that they committed against the people of china. i believe that the president of the united states at that time, herbert walker bush, let leadership of the communist party know that if they

massacred the people in tiananmen square, it would be a major price for them to pay. that massacre would not have taken place, and today they would not only be democracy in china, but the world would be a safer, and more peaceful place. and that come and the fact is, mr. chairman, a common his party of china and the perpetrators of that crime have still not paid the price. we still permit china to basically enrich itself with the chinese leadership enriching themselves in suppressing the people of china. and we, as americans who love freedom, are not taking a stand and making it real. making our words real. we can talk about freedom all day long, and there's a saying, don't talk about saving the oppressed unless you are willing to take on the oppressor.

and w we've never been willing o do that, and mr. chairman, with your leadership 80 we can bolster that commitment around the world so that we will take on these big taters and these monstrous regimes like in china today. thank you. >> chairman, thank you. thank you for your comments and for your leadership, and all of us, you know, a man who helped write and was a speechwriter for ronald reagan and rating of some of the finest and most in depth speeches of any president that had a meaning behind it, wasn't calories are words, and have one of the men who wrote the speech is here, if such a huge honor. i'd like to introduce our five extraordinary leaders who were there at tiananmen square, beginning first with doctor yang jianli, president of initiatives for china, grassroots organization dedicated to a modern democracy in china,

survivor of tiananmen square. dr. yang returned to china following completion of his academic studies in 2002. upon arrival he was probably arrested and was held as a political prisoner for five years. now u.s. resident he continues to promote democracy in china through a variety of evidence including leadership roles in the chinese democracy movement, the foundation for john in the 21st century, and the interethnic interface leadership conference you've received numerous awards and recognition's for his work. i would like to note parenthetically that back in 1996, is in effect in december 1996, president clinton unwisely invited the defense minister of china to the white house. he was the operational commander of the forces that fired upon, bayoneted, and killed and maimed

so many students and democracy activists. i protested it as did many others. president clinton gave him a 19-gun salute at the white house your he should have sent him to the hague for crimes against community, but gave him all of these and honored for what he was there he went to the army war college and the young officer asked about people dying on tiananmen square. and he said that nobody died at tiananmen square. two days later i put together an emergency hearing of my human rights subcommittee. dr. yang was there and bore witness, and i'll never forget, i have his very words and without objection up at his full statement into this record, but he talked about how i so many people killed at 60 and. was already late. i was on a bike and walking with me were some students have retreated from the square and returning to their schools. as we arrived we saw four tanks coming from the square, going

west at high speed. the two tanks in front were chasing students. they ran over bodies. everyone was screaming. we counted 11 bodies. he talked about a third take that shot tear gas. ahead for the fight people with with machine guns, all of that he bore witness, right here. we invited him and the chinese embassy said anybody that would like to explain his egregious lie that he made while here in washington. we had an empty chair sitting right there. so dr. yang, thank you for that and i will put your full statement in this record because the lies and deception continue to this day. we wouldn't hear from major yan xiong has a chapter in the united states army. he was one of the student leaders who initiated the democratic movement in 1989. on that massacre his place on the chinese government's 21 most wanted student list. hu.s. probably arrested and imprisoned for 19 months to

major xiong was granted political asylum in the u.s. in 1992, joined the u.s. army in 1994, and commission an army chaplain in 2003. he continues to commitment to democracy in china. following his arrival most notably through his three-year chairmanship of the party of freedom and democracy of china and the second party representative of conferences. we will then hear from ms. chai ling, the head of a group called all girls allowed. having known chai ling since she was released and remember watching her status as one of the student leaders, she is a modern-day essayists "speaking truth to power," especially chinese dictatorship. she again is a founder of all girls allowed, an organization dedicated to exposing human rights relations caused by china's one child policy and a resulting gendercide in order to restore life, value and dignity to women. a leader of the 1989 tiananmen square student movement, she was

named one of chinese government's 21 most wanted students following the massacre. consequently she fled from china to hong kong ultimately seeking asylum in the u.s. she's been nominated for the nobel peace prize two times for involvement in the tiananmen square. ms. ling is also the founder president of a higher education software company and is associated humanitarian aid foundation. we will then hear from mr. zhou fengsuo, cofounder of the humanitarian china, and our position that offers a manager and 82 prisoners of conscience. another key student leader of the 1989 democratic movement in tiananmen square, mr. chow was a place on the 21 most wanted student list and arrested following massacre. he was imprisoned for a year after coming to the us in 1995, mr. zhou continue to advocate for freedom of democracy in china. in 2000 he was the leading in a

class action suit against the premier of china during the massacre for crimes against humanity. he served as the president of the chinese democracy education foundation. then we'll hear from mr. chen qinglin, an advocate for democracy in china, a student at the time of tiananmen square massacre. he was imprisoned for six years for attempted to form an opposition party following the massacre. ..