message and demonstrate to our military men and women in harms way, that america stands up for our soldiers and our marines. that is how it should be. i look forward to hearing from all the witnesses, and i thank you for being here. i now yield to the ranking member. [inaudible] most importantly, thank you to our witnesses today for taking your time to come in and allow us the opportunity to hear directly from you and to allow us the opportunity to elevate your story and sergeant tahmooressi's challenges to the american people. , your story,ssi what you and your family have gone through, or importantly, what your son is going through, is incredibly heartbreaking.

. i have never met you before, have never met your son, but hearing your story, hearing the story from those of you who served with him, he is our brother tom a part of our family. part of the family of those who have worn the uniform, from whatever branch of service, and who have gone through that fight to see what he is facing now, one of our own, is unimaginable upon coming home. when we serve overseas, the one bright light that we have is that we can come home, and that we, home to our loved ones and to some sense of normalcy. to see down what he's going through, to not have that bright light, is despicable and unimaginable. there is no question that our government needs to do whatever

it takes to support sergeant tahmooressi as he seeks justice and freedom in mexico. there is no question the state department must make this a priority. while we hope the mexican courts, government will do the right thing and recognize that this case must be dismissed as soon as possible, the reason why we are here is because we know and understand that we cannot let up, that action is necessary, and we need to continue to apply that pressure to force that action and to bring him home. i want to thank each of you for coming today, for your championing sergeant tahmooressi and his freedoms and continuing to push for this action and being his voice in his absence. thank you all for being here and i look forward to hearing from you. >> thank you. the chair now recognizes the chairman of the full committee, mr. royce. you, subcommittee

chairman salmon for your work on this issue, for holding this hearing. we had an opportunity to go down and talk to sergeant andrew tahmooressi in his cell. jill, andto share, observation --an sergeant buchanan was absolutely right. he said this was one of the most impressive young man he has served with. he is a very fine young man. he has been through a lot. i think this committee has played a role historically been trying to make certain that, in foreign policy, we look after the interests of those men and women who have served this country. in this particular case, a young man who made a wrong turn, and

has now found himself six months after his diagnosis in this situation. i had approached the government of mexico on several occasions. one of the things that you had us do was try to get him moved from the prison in tijuana. , and in ain tecate better place, and he expressed that, and we are respectful of our relationship with mexico, but it has been six months. discussions, our which we have had in the past, discussions with the foreign minister, and now last thursday, i had a long discussion with the attorney general. argument that i think we are making here today, the argument that he cannot get ptsd treatment, but less than 10 days

before he was taken into custody , he was diagnosed with just that diagnosis. as the attorney general shared with us, it is within his ability to make a decision, based on humanitarian grounds, if the diagnosis shows that this, in fact, was the case. we sent him that diagnosis, and we sent him subsequently the diagnosis also that we have now from the doctor in mexico. i think -- as matt has raised the point -- it is important to consider, since we have raised this with the state department, our government took steps to have one soldier released in exchange for five senior taliban leaders. five senior taliban leaders who had all committed serious

offenses, war crimes. be holed up in front of the hague for crimes against humanity based on the terror they visited on afghan and u.s. forces. all five were determined to be a serious danger to the united states, and yet, at the end of the day, those five, with close ties to osama bin laden and to mullah omar, and to the haqqani network, have all found their .ay out of custody the question is, what steps is the government taking in order to ensure the release of this young marine? and that brings us to the hearing today. as members of congress, we must see to it that u.s. servicemen and women who are put in harms

areto defend our country properly cared for when they return back to the united states . when they were injured, as andrew was injured by a grenade. mrs. tahmooressi, i am pleased that you are with us today, and i'm equally pleased that we have with us a brave marine who served two tours, combat tours in afghanistan. your son did this, jill. we talked with him about his service. during his time when he was deployed with the second h regiment, he received a meritorious promotion. valor and too his his love of country.

and to discuss his service, it's an honor to have robert buchanan with us today. some robert at my office months ago when he came to talk to me about his comrade and about the effort he was undertaking along with you, jill , in order to secure his release. and he served with your son, as you know, and said, as i indicated, that he was one of the bravest young men he had served with. too, robert here, has been very brave himself and earned the purple heart after sustaining injuries himself from an ied explosion. we want to thank him and others for traveling all the way to washington. as many of you know, these physical injuries as a result of

that ied attack that andrew leads, at times, to psychological difficulties that we call ptsd. the fact that the san diego veterans affairs hospital diagnosed in less than 10 days prior to this event on the that itnd the fact results in hypervigilance and memory and can't issue lapses , the fact that he will not be able to receive -- trayvonn mexico has been prolonged by six months. it is because of this that i, together with congressman salmon, have pressed his case with the attorney general of mexico. last week, after our say, i amon, i must

confident that a humanitarian release of andrew will occur very soon so he can start getting better and get the treatment he needs. i believe the case that is being made here is a compelling one that will result in the right decision, the correct decision, the humane decision from the attorney general. thank you very much. >> pursuant to committee role seven, members of the subcommittee will be permitted to submit written statements to be included in the official hearing record. without objection, the hearing record will remain open for seven days to allow statements, questions and subject related to the length and limitation of the rules. mr. chairman, i request unanimous consent to recognize debbieour colleagues, wasserman schultz, who represents the home district of mrs. tahmooressi in western florida, to join us on the committee today. she has been actively advocating on this issue, working closely

with jill and the obama administration and mexican government to try to secure andrew's release. >> without objection. so ordered. >> first i want to introduce the panel, and thank you again for traveling. i know you have busy schedules. mrs. tahmooressi is a resident of florida and is the mother of marine corps sergeant andrew paul tahmooressi, an active reservist. mrs. tahmooressi is a licensed registered nurse in florida. she has been serving at miami children's hospital since 1980. from everything i have seen, in my conversations from her, one heck of a mom. let to have you here, mrs. tahmooressi. lieutenant commander williams is founder of the montel williams ms foundation. mr. williams is working on ways to improve the treatment for soldiers who have experienced blast related traumatic brain injuries. it is great to have you here and see you again.

lieutenant commander williams began his professional career in the u.s. marine corps. he holds a bachelors in engineering and minor in international security affairs from the military academy. sergeant buchanan is a marine corps veteran and a purple heart recipient who was honorably just charged after six years of service. thank you. mr. buchanan was a machine gun squad leader during the training for his deployment with the battalion and help train andrew as a machine gunner. while on deployment in afghanistan, he fought side-by-side with andrew. in august 2010, sergeant buchanan's vehicle ran over and ied, resulting in him earning his purple heart award. since his exit from the marine corps, he has been active in his community's veterans organizations and has been attending american legion posts.

he is currently working on his business degree. -- the ceo fors the mission of concern veterans. they work to preserve the freedoms and prosperity of veterans and their families. an infantry captain in the army national guard, he served in afghanistan in 2012 where he was the senior counterinsurgency structure of the counterinsurgency training center. iraqously, he served in with the third brigade of the 101st airborne division for their 2005-2006 deployment. he earned two bronze stars and a combat infantry badge for his time in iraq and afghanistan. graduated from princeton university, completed a masters in public policy at harvard university's jfk school of government. jill, even though i will enforce

it on everyone else, i will not mess with somebody's mother. the way it works, you are given five minutes for your testimony. after four minutes, the amber light goes on. when you start speaking, it is green. the amber light means you have one minute to wrap it up. the red light means to stop for everyone except for mrs. tahmooressi. mrs. tahmooressi, you are recognized. mr. chairman, ranking members of the committee and congress, thank you for the invitation to testify today. i am grateful for the committee's interest regarding sergeant tahmooressi, my son, and his ongoing incarceration in mexico. as a mother and a high achieving young man, there are a few horrific memorable quotes i recall and wish to share with you regarding my son. i believe these quotes will not only frame the character of my son, yet will also highlight the

current predicament my son is in. in 2006 hundred at the age of 17, he said, mom, i can scheduled for my solo flight today. i will be getting checked off on my private pilot essence. -- license. at age 18, after graduating from public school, having been afforded the florida bright scholarship, he said, i'm not ready for college and. i'm going to go to alaska. i want to be a commercial fisherman. one of his favorite shows at the time was "deadliest catch." 2008, mom, god just nudged me to join the military. i'm going to enlist in the marines. 2010, he would phone home when he could with battle stories. i and a brave mom, a mob that a marine. in 2010, mom, we just got hit with an ied. in 2012, i blacked out.

hit mya top the mrap, head on one part and i was blocked out. they found me. of3, mom, i am dropping out the aeronautical university where i was enrolled in a bachelors degree for the commercial pilot degree because i cannot concentrate on the academic work. 14 -- march 31, 11:25 this year. i got lost, i made a wrong turn. i'm at the mexican border. you need to know this because i have been surrounded by military . in case anything happens to me, i need you to know where i am. the following morning, april 1, 2014, mom, i've been arrested. we secure me an attorney. -- please secure me an attorney.

5.il mom, i'm not going to make it through the night. whatever you do, do not come down here to investigate. do not come down here to ask questions. you will be killed as well. i need you to go underground. i need you to cancel your bank accounts, let the broward sheriffs office now, but i will not make it through the night. do not come down to investigate. april 14. mom, i tried to kill myself because the guards and the inmates were going to rape, torture, and execute me for personal information. i need to protect you. days. mom, it has been 25 i have been in four-point chain restraints, spread eagle in the infirmary. quotes, horrific in

varying degrees for a mother, pale in comparison to andrew's statement that my time in mexico has been far worse than my two combat tours in afghanistan. andrew is under contract with the u.s. marine corps. he is still a marine and will always be, but he is an inactive reservist until august 4 2016. he was discharged active duty october 2012, serving unselfishly in operations multiple tors,m, being meritorious we promoted on the field. andrew felt privileged to serve the war on terror. he thought in an infantry battalion as a section lead and a 50 caliber gunner. he volunteered and was willing to lose his life for freedom, liberty, and the elimination of oppression. he fought not for one political party, yet for the world at

large, including mexico, who does not send their military to foreign combat. suffering symptoms suggestive of combat related posttraumatic stress disorder throughout 2013 while attending university, andrew packed up his ford f-150, the same one that he drove to alaska, with all of his possessions, including his three u.s. legally purchased firearms. his purchase test first purchase was in 2007 on the way to kodiak, alaska. that was a shotgun force protection. therrived in san diego at invite of a friend who has a purple heart, 100% disability, who said, come up here we have the best be a system in the country. so we did that. on march 12, he received his crisis intake, positive screens for posttraumatic stress disorder.

thehe time he was ordered cognitive therapy group therapy, the veteran group therapy. he attended on march 20. indeed there is a third medical record in his veterans administration record on the morning of march 31, that famous day when, at 10:30, he pulled theof a parking lot on telephone inside, a very confusing area, lots of construction going on. he had just come off of that ran earlier in the day. as he pulled left and made a sharp left back onto the on ramp, thinking it was headed north to san diego. in a few hundred feet, a blind curve into a barricaded mexican customs lane. there was no way to turn around at that time. in fact, there was no signage at the border at the time. with no visible signage indicating how to turn around and with no u.s. presence at the

border, andrew purposefully stopped at the first mexican official and said i got lost, made a wrong turn, and am here by mistake. i have all of my possessions including three legally purchased firearms. can you bring me back to the border? he thought the customs agent would like to make escort vehicle. but over time the military came aboard. that is when he dialed 911. no one was able to help him including the operator. isse facts are recorded and evidentiary statement in the courts of tijuana. arrested on weapons and ammunition possession now incarcerated in a mexican prison, andrew is despondent and desperate to return to the united states. his ptsd treatment land has been aborted. 1 ass aborted on april mexico did not have the ability to provide combat related ptsd expressive group therapy, as

recognized here. he phones home every day. he is very competent entry and appreciative for the actions of the congress, the white house, in responding to the we the wasle petition that responded to on august 28. at that time, the white house responded that they would ask for emergency. influence urgency to is ineffective, in my opinion. ares six months and we still connecting dots. we still do not have the authenticated 911 call in the record. it is supposedly held up in a department in mexico. today, there is new signage at the border for wayward drivers that make that error that andrew made. i am sure there are hundred each day that do it. there is now a new sign that says return to the usa erected

in may, and the graffiti laden sign on the on ramp has also been changed. make the any motorist mistake now, they do have a way to come home. i urge attention and collaborative action among the united states and mexico for an expedient resolution of andrew's mexican judicial process, expecting wholeheartedly that release to the usa is justified. withouts despondent treatment. he needs to be home. thank you very much and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you, mrs. tahmooressi. lieutenant commander williams. >> [inaudible] chairman salmon, ranking members, chairman royce, members of the subcommittee and full committee. it is extreme the critical that we hold this hearing today and i cannot thank you enough for doing so. also thank you to all the members that made it a point to come back to this hearing today. you have to understand your peers must recognize the fact that veterans are watching today

and for those of them who did not come back, this will be remembered. while the scope of this hearing is limited the case of andrew tahmooressi, i would be remiss to remind us community that his case is merely a symptom of a greater policy error and how we addressed the needs of our returning soldiers. the failure is unfortunately even more pronounced when it comes to ptsd. we throw this term around lightly, but we have to recognize that 30,000 new cases of traumatic brain injury occur every year in our services. and it does not matter whether or not soldiers go into a combat situation or not. the majority are for training exercises. we currently have over 600,000 veterans suffering from residual symptoms from traumatic brain injury right now in the v.a. system. veterans from iraq and afghanistan often feel absolutely abandoned by our government.

-- have a reason to feel before i begin, my testimony is more than five minutes. there are some point that have to be made. we addressed it over and over again, andrew made a wrong turn. we have thrown up a couple of terms related to ptsd with that wesaying hypervigilance, but have to slow down and take a second to understand what that means. say it andll cannot others will not, we know for a tahmooressi'seant time in this prison has been worse than his time in prison. he will come back to the u.s. it will be treated for his combat his incarceration ptsd. to me this is an abomination. six months. he did not hesitate to say, aye, aye , sir. to go off and serve. a nation,e as

hesitate to get that young man back? we sit here in the city and discuss sending more young people off to die. i have a son that is 21 years old who is asking me over and over again, should i serve? right now i am telling him no. that is coming from a guy that did 22 years in the service. our government does not respect you enough. how dare they treat him the way that they do and the way that they will? incident is clearly triggered by his ptsd. the hypervigilance when he made that turn in mexico, he made a decision to leave. when he got in his car, he was probably already triggered. just as some of you understand, i suffer from ms, i have scars in my brain that are said --

synonymous with concussive brain injury. so some of the symptoms are talk about our what i lived through on a daily basis. sometimes depression, sometimes hypervigilance. i can walk in this hallway and feel protected but be afraid to walk into the bathroom. this is what these young men lived through. it is said that we have one of our own right now being held in a prison while we talk about it. it is clear, everyone understands, he is not going to get the treatment he is due. he has served the time, i believe, for any crime that he could have committed. bring him home and let's treat him appropriately. but his treatment was not be just for combat ptsd. remember, treatment for ptsd from being in prison rests on our shoulders. say, iwant to clearly

have the utmost respect for the mexican government and the mexican people. i am not one of those who is going to join into the fray of screening for invasions and all of those things. what i will scream for is the one part of political diplomacy .hat has not been reached yet congressman salmon, you pointed it out. it is called political compassion. compassion is what is needed right now. we should not let this case go by and then deal with the other hundreds of thousands that are suffering by making the same mistake. my testimony is much longer than five minutes. i would please ask the members to reach the entire thing. i would like to leave you with one other point. . every nation on this planet and all people are judged, no matter what religion, faith you are, we

are all judged by what we do for the least of us. andrew is one of the best of us. america's treasure. if we cannot treat the best better than we treat the worst, how dare you ask another gentleman to put on the uniform? thank you so much. commander, without objection, your full testimony, everybody's full testimony will be entered into the public record. i appreciate your great comments. sergeant buchanan. chairman, ranking member, members of the committee, thank you for the invitation to testify today. i am forever grateful for the committee's interest in the overview of sergeant andrew tahmooressi's dire need to get hospital medical treatment as soon as possible.

say, i knew want to andrew -- i was a corporal when he came to our unit. i was the guy that made sure he had a haircut on monday, a fresh shaved every day. if you have any questions about who andrew truly was, i recommend that you ask sergeant wski, his brother in arms, his best friend. not truly know a man until you have deployed to combat with that individual. i had the pleasure of taking part in training and deploying to afghanistan with sergeant tahmooressi. he was truly one of the best junior marines i have the pleasure of working with. him,ask something out to there was not a second thought, it would get done. he was the kind of guy that his peers looked up to. day ihe get-go, the first

met his group, when they came to ki andit, sergeant podlows sergeant tahmooressi stood out among his peers. he had a humble attitude, always eager to learn and be the best review could be. this was a marine who received a combat meritorious promotion. let me go back. waseant andrew tahmooressi meritorious the promoted to corporal. that alone speak to somebody's character. with combat meritorious promoted in this day and age amongst our field, it is a honor and in honor -- an with our gun club, if you want to call it. this alone speaks to the volumes to what kind of individual andrew is an contest to his .haracter

on andrew's last appointment to save the life of a fellow marine by securing tourniquets on him after he stepped on an ied, causing him to lose both of his limbs, it is in these moments that a man's true character is tested and andrew shined. he did not run away. he ran to help. congressman matt salmon, ed royce, and duncan hunter, i want to personally thank you guys. you have spearheaded our cause in getting andrew home. from the bottom of my heart, i want to thank you personally. they have also taught multiple to the statepport department and the white house. i also had the opportunity to sit down face to face with congressman ed royce. from the get-go, we had his immediate and unflinching

ndrew's toward getting a release. the crime that andrew is being chart requires intent here weapons trafficking is not in the region crime and true intent was proven as being an accident. this combats get veteran home and into the v.a. for much-needed medical care. everyday day he is done there is a day longer that it will take for him to reach us in the civilian life. military member comes back with different luggage from more. we all have -- it take different amounts of times to readjust and so that -- in civilian life. we all have good days and bad but isolation is the last thing that anyone needs. please help us get him home so that he can get the treatment that he needs. thank you. >> thank you, mr. buchanan. mr. hegseth. >> thank you for the opportunity

to be here today. i want to thank chairman salmon, duncan hunter, and everyone else who came back to be here for this important hearing. your forward leaning support for veterans in our military matters and is noticed. want to thank my witnesses who are allowing a soldier to hang out with a bunch of marines. , your courageous this inspires us all. buchanan, thank you for having the back of your fellow marine. lieutenant commander williams, using your platform the way that you are mixing huge difference, thank you. i am the ceo of concern veterans for america. our mission is to fight for the prosperity of all americans and the well-being of veterans. we represent a number of growing american families who refuse to accept the status quo in washington. hell, aggressively and passionately to ensure america's veterans are no longer treated like second-class citizens in their own government . the ongoing situation with sergeant tahmooressi, who has

now been held for 184 days by the mexican government, is another example of our government meeting a man behind. in the military we leave no man behind. we are leaving behind and in active reservist in mexico. andrew tahmooressi is a united states mr. -- marine. he is a machine gun or an infantryman. a decorated combat veteran who deployed twice to afghanistan, meeting the enemy in combat. literallyahmooressi saved the lives of his fellow marines. he was so good, as everyone said, meritorious we promoted, which is unheard of. doubt this guy is an american hero, plain and simple. comes with ace physical and psychological cost. let me assure you, ptsd israel and if left untreated, especially for those that took place in the horrors of war, can

become deadly. 22 veterans in america today take their own lives. many more struggle in silence. as has been reported widely already, sergeant tahmooressi was diagnosed before he crossed the border and attempted to take his own life in a crowded tijuana prison. has only been exacerbated by his treatment there and lack of treatment in the u.s.. he does not think -- phase ptsd because he is weak or a coward or a victim. he faces the invisible wounds of war. right now, he faces them alone, largely alone come with a few advocates fighting for him on the outside. left untreated, these hidden wounds that can lead to the bottle, that can lead to reckless behavior, detachment and societal withdrawal, following my tour in iraq, i know i don't with all three. but much worse, these scars can end in suicide.

unless, of course, there is a lifeline. seeking care for post-traumatic stress through peer to peer counseling, alternative therapy, family support, or care at the v.a. saves lives. they are not ticking time bombs are victims. with the right to be the right place at the right time most soldiers and reams like sergeant tahmooressi comeback back and become leaders and pillars of our communities, which we need so badly today. my bottom line to this committee and the government into the mexican government is this. needs andahmooressi deserves immediate treatment for his post-traumatic stress. shame on anyone at home or abroad that does not move heaven and earth to make that happen. in combat, men like sergeant tahmooressi never have enough troops or ammunition, never have enough time or enough equipment, but they still get the job done. the same should be expected from the united states government.

no excuse for inaction is good enough. he should be released immediately. and of story. before leaving home for the testimony, i kissed my two young sons. i am willing, as a soldier and citizen and father, to someday lend to the cause for the freedom to fight. but in doing so, i only ask that my government do everything possible before, during, and after they serve to stand right beside them and be there for them. ms. tahmooressi expected the very same thing. issue going to receive it is the million-dollar question. in closing, the contrast before this committee, this congress and this white house could not be more stark. it has been mentioned twice but it's worth mentioning again. this administration negotiated with the taliban and exchanged five terrorist killers with american blood on their hands for the release of army sergeant bowe bergdahl, a soldier who deserted his unit on the front lines two months into his first

tour of duty. as everyone has heard, sergeant tahmooressi did two tours of duty, highly decorated. sergeant bergdahl cost american lives. .ergeant tahmooressi save lives does that not matter? it is time to bring our marine home, long overdue, and get him the care he deserves. thank you for the opportunity and i welcome your questions. >> thank you. i will yield myself five minutes for questions. mrs. tahmooressi, i want to start with you. interestingly, mr. hegseth, after the release of bergdahl, there was a lot of media scrutiny about that arrangement, that trade. the president very boldly said on national tv that as commander in chief, heelys no soldier behind. that was his policy. i want to ask you, mrs. tahmooressi, has the president contacted you about this case?

>> no, he has not, mr. chairman. your the best of knowledge, has the president made any phone call to the president of mexico to intercede on andrew's behalf? >> not to my knowledge. >> i had a personal meeting with vice president biden the week before the president was to speak with the president of mexico. vice president biden assured me that they would be on top of it. i was told after the phone call that the president did not bring it up. very disappointed. can i ask you, mrs. tahmooressi, how have the mexican authorities treated you as you search for information regarding your son and his location? have they been forthcoming or have they let you in the dark in the process? process ise judicial one that is done in secrecy, in a sense. i attend all of andrew's hearings.

supposedly, it is to be open to the public, but each and every hearing i attend, the presiding judge asked that i set out in the hallway because there is not enough space in the courtroom. i have not been given any information forthcoming from mexico officials other than a fact sheet that did come out some time ago. yet, i have some questions about their facts. >> i was mystified when he told me that the judge would not allow you, the mother, to come in and sit in the hearing. have to sit outside? >> correct. and it is interesting, it is always a hero and selected with no windows. all of them have windows except for the one that andrew's court proceedings are going on in. >> how about the folks at the consulate in tijuana? have they been helpful? >> the local department, counsel

general andrew erickson, who actually served with andrew in afghanistan 2012. from a personal standpoint, like making sure andrew has a toothbrush, making sure that i'm escorted in and out safely, because there are travel warnings. in the beginning, they had regular travel warnings to mexico. americans were supposed to keep a low profile because of the high risk of kidnapping. they do escort me in and out, but it is the state department local level, on april 14, that translated the va medical record that i've got in san diego. it is the state department in doctor that flew in the from the u.s. embassy in mexico city. dr. regal did a full evaluation that day. i witnessed it. i received the report from the state department approximately may 1, with the diagnosis of ptsd. it was translated and supposedly given to the judge, but it was

never used, as it was never entered into court as evidence to substantiate ptsd. i don't know if it was not considered legitimate, a u.s. source. that is why, just two days ago, six months into this ordeal, a mexican psychiatrist has come into validate combat related ironic,ich i find because they do not send their military to combat. aremexican psychiatrists considered legitimate but not dr. regal, who did a full evaluation from our u.s. embassy in mexico city on april 14. but those documentations have not seem to be effective or considered important. >> lieutenant commander williams, you mentioned in your testimony that him being imprisoned for six months is

extremely counterproductive to his ptsd. could you elaborate on that a little bit? i was afforded an opportunity to speak to andrew three days ago. this is my first time speaking to him. i tried my best to keep this off knowing that when i enter the fray, the press may take it in the wrong direction. he said to me the other night, we talked in general -- i said, are you doing ok? said, i have ae hard time keeping the bad. out. this is just two days ago. -- bad thoughts out. this is a key statement from somebody suffering. he was sending the message to let me know and let his mom now,

it is not going well. but he could not say it any other way. so why am i so concerned? again, this is not about me, but most of you know i suffer from ms for the last 20 years. diagnosed in 1990. i have scars on my brain that are equivalent of a concussive blast. the symptoms i recognize. i am in a treatment protocol for them now and am doing well. however, i know, one day, two days without treatment, these things come back. unfortunately, andrew being involved in a concussive blast, we have just now determined that he has there may be residual effects that would cause this a little longer to be treated and now for him to sit in a prison -- the rumors are he has been beaten, he has been treated like a pow, not a person incarcerated for

making a mistake. he said it to his mother and to his peers, his treatment here is being worse than being in afghanistan. and for a person suffering to make that statement, he knows it. this is just the beginning, but it's also an example of what we need to make sure we take of four -- take care of for the other guys. >> the chair yields to the gentleman from hawaii. >> thank you all for your very heartfelt testimony. i wish we had more time. i know it's difficult to capture everything you are conveying in such a short time. appreciated and can everything each of you has communicated with regards to posttraumatic stress, with regards to the treatment andrew

needs, but i want to take a step back from many people who may be watching or listening who may not have learned the uniform who may -- or who may have not had a family member who has warned the uniform and has not had that firsthand experience each one of you has related and put us in a position of any one of us going there. any one of us missing that turned, anyone of us not seeing a sign and ending up in a position where you are getting arrested after making an honest mistake. each of us would be ready pissed off. each of us would be not acting in the columnist of matters, understanding the unknown that lay ahead. that, understanding the strong case for his

character you have made, the strong case of his service and the commitment he has had throughout his life only adds to that understanding and goes to the point of what is occurring, there's absolutely no excuse for it. they is unfortunate that bureaucracy is being allowed to be used as an excuse for his continued incarceration and is being blamed for why no action has been taken. whatever it takes, he should be brought home. jill is afterr the september 19 hearing, it has then reported your son's lawyer expressed confidence that a favorable ruling may be close and i'm just wondering if the assessment has changed since

then and how you expect things in the near-term to go from the mexican judicial standpoint. >> thank you. andrew's current defense attorney, we have had to attorneys previous to him who did great service to andrew. i selected off of the department hestate reference she and states a high degree of confidence that there was a where the september 9 video surveillance was watched for eight hours and it definitely corroborated andrew's truthful and forthcoming by the mexican officials and customs agents. so he believes he's very close to resting the case now and

expect an action of either dismissal or acquittal within the next couple of weeks, especially since the two psychiatric events, and one from the prosecutor has been filed yesterday and ratified at 5:30 in the afternoon. i believe we are several weeks away and we are hopeful. know you. williams, i as well as jill and others have talked about specific actions -- president,l from the a petition over 100,000 people have signed, what specific actions do you feel will truly be effected in gaining andrew's release that we can advocate for here? and as a to apologize

ranking member, i want to say thank you for your service. 11: -- 11:05.w the president needs to make the call today. if you are not going to call -- call this woman. father,an's child is a i need to say something else i did not say earlier. the reason why i jumped out and decided to become public -- this is not about me -- i have a daughter right now who is going through cancer treatment four-year. she's in her second round and came back. the worst of it the last couple of days. june has sentnce

a prayer to my family every day for my daughter. those who wonder why i'm here, this is a father and a mother who have to ill children and i know a lot of us who have suffered from posttraumatic stress don't like to use that term. but if we use it appropriately and use of the right way, it can be treated. it is an illness. i would beg the president make that call. if that can't happen, i would beg that maybe this committee, we issue a joint statement to the president in mexico and say the world is watching. it's time for you to act. >> thank you all very much. the chair recognizes the full chairman of the committee. >> i want to go to sergeant buchanan. i think all of us are hopeful your friend andrew will be back here soon, but what advice would you give him and us on how to

best approach his ptsd treatment? that questionsk of mr. heck since he is a veteran and works regularly with those who have gone through what andrew has gone through. >> thank you for your question. he needs to be with his brothers . the guys who trained with them, deployed with them, know what he is going through. it doesn't matter what rent or what your job was, we've all warned the uniform. readjusting, something about him is his humble attitude. he'll always wants to help. willof the problem is he help other people before he

helps himself. started though the a treatment, he was just at the beginning getting diagnosed. that's the first of many steps and it's a long process. we need to get him in there, get him with his friends, and start the healing process. it's the last thing a combat that needs. >> you mentioned the trade the united states made for taliban leaders, including the former director of intelligence for the taliban. senior commanders

and one was chief of staff. he was implicated in the death , all ofands of shia them were involved in coordinating attacks against american coalition forces, and three of the five were directly linked to al qaeda. the united states has taken an action to get them released. one of those five told a senior telegram official and this was nextted on the news, his step would be to return to attackstan to carry out against american and coalition forces there. let me ask you your thoughts on this and what can be done in order to secure the release of

?ergeant tahmooressi >> knee and my those men in guantánamo for a year. this is personal for those of us who serve in those combat zones. boots orhe number of on the ground who sought those men and locked them up so we don't have to face them again and then to know our government is willing to give them away. a rose garden ceremony with a family of someone who everyone knows who has looked at the case deserted his unit. ms. tahmooressi doesn't get a phone call. your phone ande call the president of mexico and get this done will stop it's not lyrical, it's personal for people who do it. it is peer to peer counseling,

it's talking to the menu served with and often times at the ba, .here is alternative therapy you talked about your rocker see sergeant jones and sergeant smith's are trying to access mental health care at the v.a. at made to wait weeks and months? do you know how many mothers i meet on the road who say i lost my son to suicide as he was waiting for treatment at the department of veterans affairs? another instance where our nation turns its back as lieutenant commander williams tradingbout -- deserters for terrorists and making veterans wait for basic care is unacceptable. you, mr. chairman. the chair recognizes chairman smith, chairman of the subcommittee on human rights.

>> thank you. i think this hearing perhaps more than anything else that has happened so far will give additional help to andrew and hopefully he knows the strong bipartisan support, the concern and prayers that go out for him -- i would just say to mike colleagues that i am not -- to my colleagues that i'm not .urprised and i am not shocked montel williams made a point about pick up the phone is president will stop this at calling -- this is calling friend and ally with whom we have a robust trading relationship. duty ondereliction of the part of the president that he has not made this phone call and put the four -- put the full-court press on the mexican government not to release andrew.

i was chairman of the veteran affairs committee and served in the committee for 26 years, including as chairman. -- this argument has -- theyugh they care have written the book on how to care for veterans suffering from post-paramedics dress disorder. delay is denial. it also needs to be pointed out to any service connection disability be it physical or psychological causes that condition to fester and worrisome. to appeal to the mexican government today is very simple and very direct. release andrew now so they can procure badly needed treatment

for ptsd. he is a hero. he is a man that congress looks up to and he says thank you, yet he languishes in a mexican prison. fund programswe and to oversight. it is the executive branch that and thatt contact phone has to be raised to his ear and he has to not get off the phone until andrew is released. testimony andul to hear a mother make such an articulate and strong appeal on three of her son and has distinguished americans do so in a way that has to be heard, it has to be heard at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. it has already been heard by members of congress and my colleagues have done yeoman's

work. you to duncan hunter and so many others who have done so much for so long that the president has to do his part. plane has to be on a getting the health care he needs. >> i would like to recognize the former chairman of the full committee and a great american, the gentleman from loretta. >> thank you. to follow-up on a few things we discussed when we met in miami. i am aghast you have still not heard from the white house. do you play golf? >> no. >> i know you are a nurse at miami children's hospital. that's just walks away from the biltmore.

should we invite him to play a few rounds of golf? mysk for a statement from constituent -- they are parents of a marine veteran, john hammer, who similarly was arrested and detained for weeks and weeks in mexico it is an absolute shame, it is a disgrace that we need to be here. it says quite a lot about the priorities of this administration. it should not be up to the wounded warriors come in to the families and the friends and mr. tahmooressi has so many friends to wage this awareness campaign and press government

the administration for andrew's relief -- release. i want to ask about the process you have to go through with the lawyers in mexico. i'm recalling some of the things olivia had to go through because it important we recognize the similarities between the cases. turnoressi took a wrong and ended up in the twilight zone and we must get him back. that conflict is prohibited from advised -- from providing legal advice but does give some help in finding a suitable lawyer. to god olivia have through a number of lawyers before you can find a good and trustworthy one, is that correct? could you describe the process you went through to find your lawyers and the consulate provided you with a list, but was it a list of that at individuals or was it here's an abbreviated version of the old-fashioned yellow pages?

finally, i would like to ask about andrew's health and his injuries from afghanistan. ask the panel for their recommendations on how we can better serve our combat veterans who return home. andrew has suffered at least two separate concussions. they don't get the immediate attention they deserve. the alarming number of veterans who take their lives every day, we need to do more as a society and government to address this

today. i will start with you. if you can tell us about the process of finding a lawyer. , iwhen i got the phone call did the responsible thing and reached out to my congresswoman, debbie wasserman schultz. rivas ande to george he said go to the website will stop there is a website in tijuana mexico. andarted down the list reached out. he answered the phone and he spoke english. 10 miles away from san diego, yet there is a language barrier. this lawyer spoke english and was u.s. trained. he was listed as a criminal defense attorney. i thought ince -- was getting a reputable attorney and he was honorably the most scrupulous and exploitive person

i've ever met in my life. he served in the disclosure statement before the judge as andrney and translator scripted a missed truth. he scripted a missed truth. he perjured my son. he scripted a missed truth and told andrew that this is mexico, forget anything you know about american law -- i believe we sent $100 million to mexico in the past couple of years to help them reform their judicial system. this is an attorney that told andrew he must say that he just ,rrived in san diego that day he was rushing to meet a friend, he's never been to mexico before, and he got lost.

when andrew called me that afternoon and said mom, where did you get that attorney? he just lied and he told the judge i've never been to mexico. i stood up twice -- the prosecutor was there, the defense attorney stood up twice to say no because he must have attorney toldthis him to sit down and when i called up this attorney that night and said you said what? i said my son has been to mexico and my son never lies. my son has some faults, but .ighting has never been he is a man of integrity. he says you have to forget everything about america. we do not press upon the law. we do oral arguments. they are not going to check any evidence. they are not going to pull bank

accounts -- i pulled his bank account and i see he's been in tijuana twice. i got validation he walked into mexico with his friend who is a purple heart who invited him to san diego. within hours, they were already in tijuana. there must be a popular lace for marines to visit. he told me he walked out of mexico that day and when he got in his truck to head back north to san diego because he had stayed in a hotel the night previous, he was headed back because he got triggered in tijuana upon nightfall. he got triggered and thought i need to get out of here. with themy experience first mexican attorney. his original court

day that she had to go into court and say judge, i request this attorney no longer represents me. receive with the lies. that was my experience selecting an attorney. manhe grace of god, a great -- he heardlifornia me on a radio station or tv and he called me and said jill, you don't know how to pick mexican attorneys. we are going to pick an attorney. department,he state we met in their boardroom and we , ad lee's provide us a list rank list as we typically

number one, provide is a short interviewing at least four to five different firms and selected mr. anita is the next day. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. -- the gentleman in california. >> thank you very much to all the leaders who have divided their time and effort to make sure this hearing was an incredibly significant hearing that is happening and let me mr. tahmooressi for sending me a tweet the other day for something i did not even notice was going to happen for we are defining ourselves today. actionne ourselves i our

-- andrew defined himself in a time of war. he joined the united states marine corps. i come from a green family. i know what that means. know andrew did not do anything intentionally wrong stop i went to tijuana and i retraced his steps when i drove out of the parking lot and made a turn to the left, i can testify that it appeared i was going into california. when she make that turn, there was no going back until you were in mexico. any was not caused by intention to in some way not

respect the law of mexico. that is very evident. today, mexico is defining itself. us.co is defining itself to i have a warm spot in my heart for mexico and i think i'm speaking for most of us here mexico we look at as a friend. i hope the people of mexico are listening because if this thing is not cleared up soon, there will be hostility that they do not deserve being heaped upon them because they will be proving themselves to us that they are not our friend and we should not treat them that way. heroey treat an american like that, we can no longer treat mexico as our friend. i would hope in a very short time, we can celebrate together with the people of mexico, with you and re-cement a friendship.

and it will all depend on whether they do the right thing we are defining ourselves, the president is defining himself shame on president obama for not making a 30 second telephone call to the president of mexico. he is the commander-in-chief. that means he's the commander of people who volunteer to fight our wars will stop if they don't think he cares nothing about him to make a phone call, are they going to feel betrayed? they are being betrayed. recommend -- i understand the president is in washington today. that we not wait for the president and we put a

conference call into the president or that today, within the next half hour we call the white house and personally request each and every one of us go and see him and have a meeting to talk about this case. enough. gone on long if the gentleman will yield -- i would just relate myself as , and meetingalmon with the vice president relayed that request that the president to make the phone call and its white appropriate for other members here likewise to contact the white house and make that request stop >> we went to the second guy and not time to go to the guy on top. would ask my colleagues to join us today in a telephone let'sill stop finally,

hope and pray -- our thoughts travestyyou, this is a that a brave hero has been treated like this. the unitednt of states is not doing his duty. let's act on this. thank you very much. like the gentleman from texas. sergeant tahmooressi, a marine. he exemplifies exactly what i believe ronald reagan said about the marines. there are two groups that understand the marines -- marines and the enemy. i think that's a true statement. hearing to me is more about the way america has handled this

situation of your son. it is an example and a symptom of a bigger problem our marines and soldiers who have testified have talked about. idea that the government release five terrorists who killed americans and are on the battlefield again doing the same , they are in guantánamo. you have been to guantánamo bay prison. people need to see what it is like. it is not a mexican jail, it's a lot better than a mexican jail and we have learned about the mexican cars -- mexican incarceration system. as a judge, i learned a lot about it at the courthouse will stop but a prisoner or marine being threatened and assaulted while incarcerated is wrong. no matter who he is, whether

he's a mexican national or american. we know it has occurred, but still, months later, there he is. during that six months, this is not about president. he has had the opportunity to make a couple of phone calls string that six months. 3 the men's july soccer team to congratulate them. he congratulated the san antonio had -- san antonio spurs had coach, so he can make those congratulatory calls. let's make one more and make a statement to the mexican president. i have sponsored along with the , sponsoredresolution by 81 members of congress that calls on the mexican government to release our sergeant. we hope we can get this

by action adopt did before we have to take a vote on. maybe contacting the mexican president is something we ought to be doing. that is one avenue we are going through legally to try to get something done. been excellent witnesses. you do not hedge on anything. i wonder why there is no witness from the state department, why they are not testifying about what they are doing or not doing about the marine we have been talking about? commentr williams, your going back to about this is bigger -- it is a symptom of other things. our veterans coming back, how they are treated, waiting in i am not very i.t.

savvy, but i am getting constant tweets, i think they are called from citizens in texas complementing you and demanding congress to something about our marines. 37 young men and women killed in iraq and afghanistan from all races and all branches of the service stop their photographs are on my wall here in washington as are many other members. we are not forgetting this marine. we are not forgetting any of whether they were killed whethern or wounded or they come back with the wounds of war as you have talked about all stop the american public stands with our military, all of them because as it has been said, the worst casualty of war

is to be forgotten. forget thoseing to who come back and we are not going to forget sergeant tahmooressi while he is in a mexican jail. it is long past due to come back. i think i am out of time. i have some questions, but i will ask you later. comment i just make one ? i want to thank you for bringing house resolution 620. 80 members of congress have signed on to this, but unfortunately, we need to get this to the floor. it would send an incredible message today to the president if the house and congress would at least call a vote on this. what you stated, the american public knows about sergeant tahmooressi, but i don't

understand what's going on at the political level. two governors have set down with the mexican president and neither one has raised this question. i was in a meeting yesterday with an individual who is a grand funder of a lot of campaigns going on across this country right now. he sat with the president of mexico three or four days ago when i said why didn't you tell me that? i would have called and asked you to do so but they will -- we are holding this hearing today, most of the american public has some weird idea that he must have done something wrong and that's why you are not backing him. when you talk about the fact he made a wrong turn, people have to understand submitted as evidence in the mexican court right now is the video of pulling uphmooressi to the checkpoint and they gave him a green light.

he could have entered the tontry, figured out a way get one back every week. he could his hands up and said i made a mistake. that right there is clear enough for anyone to understand, this is not us -- some people claim he had to do something wrong. this is not getting a soldier back to his done something wrong, this is getting a soldier back. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. >> i want to thank you all for being here. , to you and your family from my family, we pray for your family every day. i ask unanimous consent to enter into the you record a letter i dated july 10 of 2014 to the ambassador of mexico to the

united states of america respectfully asking for the immediate release of sergeant tahmooressi. can i have this letter entered into the record? i did not receive a response. assist thed i will chairman in any way needed or anyway they request to continue to work on the release of your son. as lieutenant commander williams son andu and your veterans deserve more and we need to see that is accomplished. i apologize for how inappropriately you have been

treated and i apologize for the inappropriate letter of concern -- i am truly disappointed in that. the president said on numerous occasions that he has a henan the phone and he can do what he wants. to use your pen in your phone to tell the american -- do you keep repeatedly telling the american people you're going to use. i am disappointed you have to be disappointed that vets have not receive the appropriate care they should be receiving in this country. the president needs to step up and show the proper attention. our allies in the mexican government need to step up and do the right thing and do it immediately. >> the other

gentlemen from texas, mr. stockman, is recognize. congressman matt salmon and his efforts through all of this. ahave to say if your son is gun runner, he's one of the worst ones i've ever seen. think he brought enough to make any money. it is so bizarre -- this whole thing is upside down. he is unbelievably over there and i sat with the counsel oferal and gave him a stack papers on your son and i said this is going to grow into something really bad for both of our countries and you continue to hold our hero. compassion. we all

the time in texas -- we come across the border -- we have them come across the border accidentally and they were shooting 50 caliber machine guns at us and we let them go and. friendship i our i ams is so disturbing and puzzled by it. i hope this committee in the future reconsiders the amount of money we are sending down there. i don't think we should keep investing in friends ike this. we have friends like this, we don't need enemies. as i seely frustrated the lack of compassion on their side and i see compassion on our side and we just want talents. there are some other people that have not been announced that have come up on the hill on your appear-- a marine can

and spoke on your son's behalf, larry ward from special operations has been appear -- sam bushman has been appear with his organization on your behalf office hase from my been pushing very hard and anna marie hoffman has been pushing. we tried to struggle and do something but it feels like we are pushing against jell-o sometimes. it seems to fall on deaf years. we talked to the president's people and it falls on deaf ears. we have nobody from the state heretment here -- you are and that's great, but there should be people here that can hearing this

powerful testimony and they are not here. that is disappointing to me personally because of a long run, this will do damage to congress and to the institution of the presidency -- there is so much silence -- the silence is deafening. are heroes from every standpoint and we continue to be silent and it's very disturbing. is there any more we can do outside of what we are doing right now that would move the process forward? i would like to see more than 81 signatures on house resolution 620. if you could reach out to all your colleagues -- i believe mexico would find that if therey intimidating , butore than 81 signatures

thank you for all of your oforts and coming in out session to hear about andrew's fight for freedom in the fight of our veterans in america full >> the chair recognizes a former veteran and congressman from florida. friend.ar >> thank you for holding this hearing. sergeant tahmooressi is an american era who fought for us with honor and distinction with accordance to the finest distinction of the united states marine corps. himself languishing in a mexican prison for six months. his imprisonment is unjust and his length of detention is a disgrace. beenitnesses here have phenomenal. i've sat through a lot of congressional hearings and i

want to apply this to you because you have all brought tremendous insight into this issue and i think it will help educate the american people about andrew's plight. me -- is inexplicable to this should have been resolved long ago. people have mentioned we would like to see help from the white house -- this is the law of the land right now -- whenever it is made known that any citizen of the united states has been unjustly deprived of his liberty by or under the authority of any foreign government, it shall be the duty of the president forth with to demand that government the reason of such imprisonment and it appears to be wrongful, in violation of the rights of american citizenship, the resident sat -- the president shall forthwith demand the release of such prisoner. the president shall use such means not amounting to acts of war or otherwise prohibited by

law, as he thinks is necessary and proper to obtain or effectuate the release will stop all the facts and proceedings relative thereto shall as soon as practicable be relegated by the president will stop i am not aware of the president taking any action to bring our marine back and i don't think we have received any information in congress about actions that have been taken. president, we have a man down. pick up the phone and do your job on behalf of our marine. [applause] i think it could be solved very quickly, but i do think even though it is the president duty ended all on him, we do need to not justcongress and in press releases but in actual votes. means we call up house

resolution 620 and we voted out of the house of representatives say to mexico we send you hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign assistance. that money stops until our marine is brought back to the united states. [applause] we need to stop talking in this town and start acting. i am glad you called this hearing. like to see more action and there are more things the president could do. we have a lot of leverage we can use to secure our marines release and needs to happen as expeditiously as possible. >> i would like to say for the record that when we go back into session, if our man is not back him we will be moving that bill and we will be moving it out of the subcommittee. to workvery intention with leadership to get it expedited on the floor as quickly as possible.

i have a sneaking suspicion and an optimistic view that good things are going to happen very fromand, congressman florida, i know we have heard that before, but i have reason to believe maybe some optimism might the in vogue right now. i recognize the jarman from florida, mr. young. but i want to thank you, chairman and mr. hunter for the stellar work you have done. thank you all for showing up -- i agree with everybody appear that you guys have done a great job. -- the storyssi you are telling exemplifies only the love and concern a mother or parent can have for a child will the things you have shared with us are great.

i did this, mom i scheduled my solo flight, and you went through this whole list of stop the last one i cannot read because it's too disturbing, but to hear the excitement of our kids, mom or dad, i did this and then to have this turnout, to me it is unconscionable we have gotten to this point. throughng we've gone with our relationship to mexico and it has been brought up, they get $300 million a year in foreign aid. they are a trading partner and ally and eight don't send their young to defend freedom as we do. interesting how you s and turns the path we make in life often lead us to the wrong direction.

how many of us have may wrong term that has had this consequence in our life? had thisturn that has consequence in our life? i see a young man that went down there who made a wrong turn, realized he made a wrong turn, goes to the security guard and says i've made a wrong turn, i want to go back to america and, by the way, i have three guns. i'm telling you what i did stop if you were doing that to smuggle them in there, you would not say that. was a mistake and a wrong turn. i need to let him go and for our up, tont not to stand heand his release, negotiated and released -- i of the illegally, five

all-star players in the taliban and team for one of armoring. i'm always happy to get one of our soldiers home of a but if we can do that and he can do that, he can do this. just ask for him to be returned. we do not want to make an international incident out of this. we want our son, your comrade home. i as a u.s. congressman apologize that one of our citizens came into your country and made a wrong turn i apologize he made a mistake and i hope you find in your heart the ability to forgive him and .elease them i just want to thank all of you

that have served. we are well aware of the suicides that happen every day in this entry and we need to get them back and get them treated all stop i thought it was statedting that it was it was a medical emergency. if it is true then, it is true now. the president should use his pattern and bring this man home. we are with you and we will do whatever we can. >> i recognize the john from california who is a veteran who has worked tirelessly on behalf of sergeant tahmooressi, a great guy and good colleague, duncan hunter. >> thank you, everybody for coming out. we don't call it the marine

corps, we call it america's graincorp. marine who fought for .very single person they say it is your marine corps, america's marine corps. frankly, i'm tired of the lip service. i watch the president give speeches. is just lip service. he does not care. secretary kerry does not care. the state department, for all the little things they have done, they do not care. people in this room care. when they trust or lives to the u.s. military, you gave your son

up for your country and he did it illegally and probably -- he is a stud. he is a young killer and that's why he joined the country. see what they have reduced him to in mexico and read the excerpt where he was tied red eagle and beaten and threatened, that is appalling. this is not yemen or somalia, this is supposed to be one of our number one neighbors, mexico. i would advise everybody we don't allow our marines to go to mexico. in san diego, not allowed to go to mexico. ,exico is more than rosa rita cozumel, and it's not a. in mexico, they make five dollars a day. that is their new minimum wage.

it is not a first world country and there's a reason we do not allow our marines and sailors to san diego.o from they do not get leaves therefrom and pendleton. andrew does not just deserve this. he has earned it. 1% of the u.s. population who has served in the .ilitary he has earned this attention today. he has earned this. this is what we are here for. this is why we are in congress, to represent people like him some -- to represent people like him so we can fight for him when the president won't. what kind of low margin we have to set for this president when we have to ask them to make a phone call? he ought to go to those mexican golf courses and get him out in

person. a commander-in-chief should go to hell and back for one of their men or women who has been left behind. i have a question for the panel. would you allow your marines or soldiers to go to mexico today? no, congressman. >> negative, congressman. >> would you allow your son or any of your friends or kids to go to mexico? >> it is too dangerous. i would not stop fax in 2011, when afghanistan was raging, you likely to bes more killed in mexico than afghanistan. afghanistan was safer than mexico was. this does not sound like a good neighbor.

it doesn't sound like a neighbor with all of our corporation so they can have i've dollars a day laborer in mexico. still am -- still andrews chance and i think montel that that right on the head. they stole his chance. by getting rid of this case and they at least, set him on a slow uphill path to being healed. montel, you are dead on. this is much worse than half of the stem. you probably want to serve two or three tours in the most horrible, dirty combat face onerous than sit in a third world country jail. thank you for what you are doing. god help us if we cannot get one of our own back out of the

clutches of a not so great government like mexico. [applause] i like to recognize the german from florida, mr. jolly. i think each of you for your service. myself withsociate the comments of mr. hunter. we are elected to work and actually get things done. panel haser of this run against the dysfunction of washington. when we are elected, we don't have the luxury of resigning ourselves to dysfunction. we have to work. that means putting your name on important pieces of legislation like house resolution 624th. the issue is leadership and the facts are as clear as they can be. we have established we have to get andrew homan the president has not enough.

israel.tly, pts about getting andrew home, but we've talked about a very important condition, and that is pts. walk us through very briefly because i have a couple what youons, as a mom, noticed in andrew as pts began to progress in him? >> he got out of active duty in october of 2012. he pretty much immediately enrolled in emery riddle and was accepted in gender -- accepted in january. it is hard to acclimate from the battlefield into a college environment, especially when you have a difficult time relating to your peer group. having a difficult time relating to the peer group, he would see a classroom full of people his age will stop they were

disrespectful and got up and left. as a marine, you definitely bow down to authority. he started getting aggravated and frustrated and was having flash backs, having a difficult time sleeping and would wake up screaming. we would hear him wake up screaming. restless nights and agitation ansys mission. and progressed he did cap hypervigilance of self-defense. called ahad what i hunter, pray system -- syndrome. to me, he was always .ypervigilant 13 is when he purchased his concealed weapon. wenthotgun in 2011 when we to alaska but then felt the need to have himself armed with a handgun. being a marine, he carried a

rifle and was responsible for the biggest gotten on the battlefield, the fifth he caliber. so when he made his third -- second purchase which was his third firearm, the rifle, that made sense to us. we knew that wisisis. this. me posit we know we have the waitlist. i have had a conversation with a mother like you. theweighted treatment and waitlist. what do we need to do more to go ? >> as the congressman said, the late care is the nine care. it is great if you can get in but if you cannot get it, you did not get the treatment you need. we have to hold leaders accountable. we have to hold transparency. we need to give veterans a choice. if they cannot be seen in a

timely and are, why can't they go to a private facility? introduce a little competition. >> one last russian. me made ans extremely powerful statement in your opening statement. that you could not counsel your son. this appears to be a failure and with fashion leadership. my question for you is what do you need to see changed to find yourself in a position to say yes to your son dr. to say it is ok to put on the uniform and carry the flag? i have beencourse extremely vocal. i am not going to let up.

i have given the president and the last bill the 90 days requested. apb my mouth shut for another 34 days. at the end of the 35 days i am not going to stop. all the claims in the bill passed, so far i do not believe they are being implemented. just the fact that our shall the shoulders were supposed to have the right to go and visit outside the hospitals and get assistance we cannot get it. that is not happening as quickly. giving a car to go say cs civilian, each one of days -- to go see a civilian, we need to be with our brothers. the simplest and this body could do, authorize the veterans to go to dod facilities. those facilities to see the troops. this is where we grew up being treated. why should we not be treated by the then people right now.

empowered the people to stay with their guys if they want to, but if they need immediate assistance elsewhere, but the individual in charge of their own health care. thank you. i yield back. >> i think the gentleman. this hearing has been a fantastic hearing. i noticed a few short hours ago you were in mexico setting out by the courtroom as ordered by the judge in order to support your son and now here au suck -- here you are as tireless advocate and wonderful example of what an american mother is all about. thank you. god bless you. all of you panel members, your service is truly humbling. think the consensus of the panel discussion, which focuses

on a brave soldier who gave his country his everything, it is a lot broader. it is about do we stand for those who stand for us or not? do we stand for them? to thee reference veterans administration. we checked $17 billion. on herly pat ourselves back like we have done something stupendous. in the past 60 days the calls have not stopped. not in my office. not with caseworkers. i do not see anything changing and i do not see anything better and i am dubious it will get better until major changes happen and a major change within our country that we really do care about those that care about sent into harms way.

this is a case of a young man who served our country crowd place who is suffering -- probably who is suffering from ptsd and now suffering in a mexican jail. i implore what the commander-in-chief should do and that is to use everything he has got to get this young man home. i for the government of mexico to do the right thing. laws are there to provide safety for its citizenry and to enact justice. we know what justice would be. justice would be to have this young man home and being treated. that is justice. that is compassionate and justice. i thank you for being at the hearing. members-- thank the from coming from around the country. this hearing is concluded. god bless.

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014]

madame ambassador, delighted to see you here. very pleased to looking forward to you handling many of you here today. very nice to be here at georgetown university. i am honored to be hosted by one of the finest schools of foreign service. i look at your mission statement

and correct me if i get that wrong, the mission is to contribute to global peace, prosperity and human well-being by educating future generations of world leaders. the founders of the school back in a year that is very famous for me, 1789, the founders of the schools had an ambitious and sustainable vision. inspired by some of the writers happened in france around the field, but i am sure they have no idea that only 70 years ago in 1944, the institutions including the i m f would be founded with pretty much the same purpose and the same

mission, using different means and the focus of the institution is education, our focus is stability around the world using all means that were then available land reached i will tell you later on have evolved over time so we are in the same boat and as i look at the gray and blue colors of georgetown university, that adorn the beautiful capital and tried to replicate my thoughts. and i am reminded of the themes i would like to touch upon today, and what we focus on is the gray clouds on the horizon and the blue skies that most

populations around the world aspire to and we have that integrity at the moment between the aspirations for this and gray clouds that are signing up. before i do that, because of those would be the topics addressed next week by 188 finance ministers and 188 governors of central banks around the world, they will be focusing on that and they will discuss how the imf can contribute to pushing out some of these great love this. let me tell you a little bit about the imf on the occasion of that seven peace anniversary celebrating. it was founded as i said, 1944 as world war ii was getting too close, hopefully in new

hampshire. for the last 70 years we have been doing quite a few things, we have been fighting many crises around the world, starting in europe, moving over to asia, focusing on latin america, then performance of european countries, then we helped many developing countries, we have provided enormous support, technical assistance for capacity buildings around and historically, we were very much a referee of variation of currency. and it was predominantly a floating exchange. the fighting activity, surveillance, that is still with

us. in recent years we have provided financial support through programs to many countries around the world, predominantly in europe, back in europe in many ways and in recent months we have extended support to countries like ukraine in the middle east and most recently the three african countries, how the victim of ebola, we put together in next to no time literally a financial package in order to give them additional budgetary quotes so that they can face the shortfall of revenue and additional spending they have to engage. our main job is as i said earlier on, to push the clouds because you will see numbers and

hear about numbers, there is some economic recovery and as we all know come as we can feel it because we have family members, friends, relatives, people we know who are looking for a job, to do not have the means they would like to have. it is not be enough to respond to the challenges the world is facing. what should be done? we believe the clouds can be pushed provided that all policymakers actually aim higher, try harder, do it together and our country is specific and touch on all of that. what do i mean by that. name higher, try harder, do it

to get there. there has to be a new momentum. new momentum that will consist of putting a set of boulder policies together in order to overcome what i would call the new mediocre and that is a risk. if we have this whole rise in of new mediocre, and what will focus on is the state of the global economy as we see it at the moment and the risk that the world gets stuck in the noon mediocre. and second, i would like to describe for you how all policies of the makers can generate the policy momentum that is needed to power up the global activity and overcome the new media career or eyes and.

of course i will conclude -- that really comes back to us in a way, the paragon of central going forward this new military ladder realism which requires increased cooperation among policymakers and countries. let's have a quick look at the state of the global economy as it is at the moment. i am not going to give you very specific numbers because they will be released next week when we bring the finance ministers and governors of central banks together but suffice it to say at this point the global economy is weaker than we had hoped only six months ago so there is recovery. but it is weaker than what we had thought and we forecast modest pickup in 2015 and that is an important factor. the outlook for potential growth

has been pared down. as i said earlier, it is country specific and the prospects are different, and where you look at. among advanced economy is clearly the united states of america and the european hated kingdom i leading the charge and expected to be stronger. the recovery is much more modest in japan and is weakest in the euro area at where there are disparities within the same currencies. turning to the emerging and developing economy is they have been doing all they have the living in the last five years and contributed 80% of global growth in the last five years, and led by asia predominantly given the size and growth, particularly china, they will continue to contribute massively.

but then too, likely to do that at this point, at a slower pace because we are all interconnected. if some of the players are slower they will be affected too. for low-income and developing countries including sub-saharan africa the economic prospects are rising. i will come to the risk in a moment but economic prospects are rising in maine but because some of them have been boring quite extensively and is issuing the markets, it has increased. they should be watching. finally in the middle east the outlook is clouded by difficult economic transitions and of course by intense tensions and political strife so the bottom line of all that, six years after the financial crisis, we continue to see weakness in the global economy. countries are still dealing with

the legacy of the crisis. what do i mean by that? a much higher debt rubble of sovereign and quite often corporate and private sector levels in general and unemployment is still a major, major difficulty in many crises. those are the legacy. in addition to the legacy's they are still struggling with and have difficulties addressing there are those clouds on the horizon. let's look at those clouds. we have different categories. we have the economic clouds, the financial clouds and the geopolitical clouds. i don't pretend the imf can push all the clouds. it will require a collective effort and that is my final point. the first economic cloud the we see is the risk of low growth for a long time.

how does that characterize, if you expect growth to be low and lower and on for print or and you are a consumer particularly if in addition to that you envisage relatively low and even lower inflation you are going to refrain from investing in new capital expenditure, you are going to refrain from consuming possibly. and this dynamic could seriously impede the recovery so that sort of vicious circle into which the economy could find itself and as i said, by the circumstances where you have a combination of low inflation and high unemployment that is currently ease the case within the euro area and in some countries more than in others. the second cloud is still economic though more monetary,

the second cloud on the rise in is that of synchronous -- who has studied latin and greek here? everybody. so it means they are not all synchronized together and will let -- the same monetary policy. they're a different moment of the cycle so they are synchronous monetary policy normalization in advanced economies and the spillover effect that it will have on other markets, and the effects that it could have in domestic markets where normalization is taking place and those impact could be of three comments, interest rates, variations which we haven't seen much of wheatley because they're all too often and variations of exchange

rates. the second category that we see, financial clouds. there is a concern that financial sector accesses maybe building up in advanced economies. asset valuations are at the highest. volatility in almost all sectors, not quite all but almost all are at their lowest. further wary is the migration of new markets and liquidity risks outside the banking sector in the shadow banking sector which is nonregulated non-bank sector which is growing rapidly in some countries, in the united states for instance the shadow banking sector is not considerably larger than the banking sector. in europe it is half the size of the banking sector and in china

about 25% to 35% of gdp is the fifth largest in the worlds of it is growing and what's more, at chateau banking can be fine in some cases and is needed in some economic space to finance economic growth but the problem is we don't know enough about it. when i say 25% it gives you the range of what we know but also what we don't know about it. some that requires particular attention and probably extended regulation for larger and broader than the banking sector but also emphasize the fact the we need to complete the financial sector reform and you may have heard a lot about the financial sector reform over the

last six years because it was inscribed back in washington and london. i was there. i remember. but still areas where we made progress we have to make and that is the case where the too important to failed institutions and the resolution regime that should apply, that is the case also for the derivative markets that need to be safer and more transparent and require exchange of information between those places that actually have an active derivatives market. we talked about the economic clouds, talk about the financial clouds, a one to talk about the geopolitical clouds and we have quite a few of those. we have to talk about the on our radar screen because they have an impact on economic and financial stability and prosperity. the first one i would mention is any exploration that takes place

in ukraine where it would cause disruption in the immediate vicinity, possibly community prices and trading. second area of possible disruption clearly the middle east and also in some parts of asia. the third category i would think of -- sorry, the fourth. ukraine's middle east, is obviously the development of the ebola virus. if it is not contained, if all the players that talk about it don't actually do something about it to try to stop it, contain it and help those three countries deal with it might develop into something that would be a very serious concern

and cause significant risk so all those risks, some of them are materializing just a little bit. we have to be careful they do not develop and we cannot put them on the back burner. we have to help from summarized all the time and that is the reason why we must adopt collectively the new momentum that i told you about in order to avoid that horizon of a new media career. i hope you noticed something. it is just for you to remember my speech, mediocre and momentum, my second am which is the momentum. and that momentum is quite special because it requires a

better balance in our policy tool kit, both the demand and supply side of the economy. those who study economy know about this confrontation, controversy debate between supply-side measures and those that are in support of demand side measures. the canadian 1 hand demand and many others on the other one. what we are saying is it has to be a mix of both and we had to use all the tools that are available. you have a good basketball team here. it is about the same thing. you have to use all the players. it is not just about the type, it is about defense, it is about moving the ball around so all players have to play their part

in order to score. and it is same with the economy. each policy instruments must play its part in order to achieve this momentum. i start with the first one which is most visible in been most effective lately and that is the monetary policy. it does provide important support to demand and that has been the case when the fed decided to start quantitative easing measures and it has proved efficient. it does a lot to push recovery. the pc has done quite a lot as well. the different moment of the cycle, bank of japan is doing a lot. the bank of england has done a lot. all the major central banks have pushed that cool.

monetary policy alone doesn't suffice. if you had a great defense player, that is it. plus the longer easy monetary policies continue the greater the risk of fuelling financial excess so this needs to be monitored and manage. equally important as i mentioned earlier are the prospects of accepting from that new monetary policy because it will have implications for other parts of the world's. these implications, that is what they call the spillover effect, and when it moved back to the domestic market where the decision was made in the first place needs to be monitored and managed. they need to cooperate and talk to each other extensively. again, an area where cooperation is needed and where a lot of work needs to be done is in the

area of macro prudential tools and those tools have to be used not warmly by those advanced economy is when they see the development of bubbles in the house housing market where measures are adopted by the bank of england's or the bank of australia. but also in the emerging market economies where they have to use this available for macro prudential tools in order to resist the consequences on their territory of monetary decisions that are made elsewhere and that indicates for existence minimum liquid issues so back to this. monetary policy is playing its part but it needs more support from the rest of this team and there are three areas where significant effort needs to be made to, which means not enough is done at the moment and i will talk about the type of fiscal policies and speed of fiscal policies we have in mind.

i will talk about one of the reform of markets which we believe compete efficient and i will talk briefly about the infrastructure needs that require it investment and that can help. have you heard about growth friendly, job friendly environment friendly fiscal policies? not quite, not quite. i am going to try to explain to you what we mean by that. we believe that intelligent fiscal policies were calibrated, designed, can help boost growth and jobs. what do i mean by that? i am not suggesting any stimulus package because that is not the time. what i am suggesting is so much

has already been done in terms of fiscal consolidation. countries that still need to put their finances in order have to do so at the right pace, not too fast, not too brutally and have to adjust to the circumstances and taken into account and this is clearly what we do in the programs we design. we don't push countries into cutting the pace is important. the sensible base. second, they have to be well targeted because if so, they can contribute as well to boosting growth. for instance finding tax evasion. support more efficient public spending. reduce the burden of taxation and charges on labor costs, payroll taxes for instance are

clever fiscal measures that can be taken soon is a sensible mix. third one and 9 come to my environment friendly measures we have worked hard and made strong recommendations concerning the reform of energy subsidies. we believe around the world $2 trillion are spent on subsidizing people to use energy and predominant be that energy. this is not particularly smart from a fiscal point of view or the social point of view or the environmental point of the because those who benefit subsidies in most of those countries are those who need it least. they are usually easy 10% wealthiest in the population that actually consume a lot of energy and therefore consumer lot of subsidies and frankly it also harms the environment.

we are not suggesting they be removed without paying attention or a safety net and support for people who are really in need. that is a prerequisite but we are suggesting that additional revenue can be generated out of the subsidy removal program. fiscal policies can actually be growth friendly, job friendly, environment friendly. but again these are only some of the players they cannot substitute for important reforms that need to deal with deep-seated obstacles to growth and development and the creation of jobs so that brings me to my structural reforms that are so essentials. what challenge are we talking about? predominant in the advanced economies, we are dealing with the challenge of creating jobs

for those people who are looking for one and those that are coming to the job market in all countries of the world have the means to access and make a living out of it. that is the challenge. we currently have 200 million people looking for jobs, of which 75 million are under the age of 25, and that is what we should focus on. the other thing where we should focus on is the -- apart from the 1% of the wealthiest around world, income has been stagnant for most people and as you quoted me, not just a moral issue, it is a macro economic issue that has a lot to do with growth and sustainable growth. and the labour market works

better. everything has been tried, countries of tried and succeeded. if you look for instance at -- countries like germany, like australia, countries like sweden, it has the country specific. and the educational system, and the kind of growth and the growth drivers each country has, and in place finally, encourage women to join the job market. and i came back from japan and was delighted to see the prime minister is not just talking about it, he is putting budget on the number of child care centers that will be available

for japanese woman, tremendously talented, and the job market in an aging country like japan or korea which is trying the same thing, it is critical that all potentials be used and those who want to join the market cannot join in. those are two categories of measures about the labor market. the reforms have to take place in the opening of markets that have been predominantly nestle protected by those with access to and many countries around the world where if you want to be a taxi driver or a lawyer, or other, quote, protected profession you would not have access. so again, without jeopardize thing health or safety, those reforms have to take place.

but those reforms will only go so far if money flows, if entrepreneur is have access to credit, that is where we believe and we will support that next week, we believe that banks have to revisit their business model. hopefully supported by the appropriate reforms of the insolvency and bankruptcy laws which have to help them clean and strengthen their balance sheets but they will have to get rid of their business model and focus on actually making sure credit flows within the economy. and the we don't have this antagonism between what some call the real economy and the financial economy. as i said it is not one size fits all, one thing we're seeing at the moment is while there is that interconnectedness we have

been talking about as a result of globalization, the situations are country specific, policies are country specific and the interconnectedness' comes back in terms of cooperation between all the players. .. we see that with e.g. 20

countries gdp is 8% lower than it would otherwise have been. that's a big never. there's a bigger number. the shortfall in investment is much higher, nearly 20% below trend. it's no surprise and most advanced economies when you use airports, electricity, internet grids, solana so forth, each really suboptimal. and why is that? a public investment has been depleted over time but if you compare the level of investment back in \80{l1}s{l0}\'80{l1}s{l0} it was about 4% of gdp. it's now down to 3% of gdp. that's a big number. how many of you cycle around? come on, hands up. i am cycling. you know what i'm going to talk

about. and it's not just me cycling but it's not you cycling. it's the american society of civil engineers that estimates the in washington, d.c., 99% of the major roads are in poor condition. there's work to be done. globally, some estimates place spending on infrastructure at 6 trillion over the next few years. $6 trillion. it's nice to have better roads when recycled, but it's even far more important in some of the low income countries and developing countries that they have transportation, that they do not just sit and feels because they can't be transported to report. developing countries and developing countries have electricity available so that they can power their machines and equipment.

so investment in infrastructure is an imperative across all economies, not just low-income countries, emerging countries where there are bottlenecks, many instances but also in the advanced economies. it will be different, it would be country specific. some country it would be about maintenance, for others it will be about greenfield investment. one thing is for sure, across the mold there will have to be a focus on efficient spending because the moment you talk about public investment in infrastructure to focus on it being efficiently spent. one final point of that infrastructure, and i'm going to quote a number that is mentioned by the global commission on the economy and climate. that indicates that integrating lower emission standards into infrastructure investment would cost only a tiny fraction of the overall project of investment,

4.5%. so efficient investment especially as a time of historic low interest rates can be good for growth, good for jobs, and good for the environment if it is efficiently defined. so we thought about the new mediocre risks, talked about the momentum. i would like to talk a little bit about unilateralism. unilateralism is what actually gave an incredibly energy to the founders of the bretton woods institution, the imf and the world bank. unilateralism was the principles on which the monetary -- post world war ii has been avoided. unilateralism is also what is animated the leaders of the g20 when was the question of fighting the terrible financial

crisis that we had back in 2008, and of which we are suffering the legacies. that unilateralism is what we need again. now, you will say we would not be needed? out give you a few examples. when policymakers get together to sort out the financial sector, to regulate it better, to supervise it better, they have to cooperate. that cooperate on unilateral basis. when they discuss monetary policy and revisit monetary policy, they have to cooperate because there to be mindful of not only the effect at home but the spillover effects abroad and how it is built back at home again. when they put together safety nets just in case, they cannot

do it in isolation. they have to do it together. it has to be a corporate investment. when one strong institutions like the imf to be in a position to bring them together as they will come together next week, also to be together to provide budgetary support to gaining, liberia -- dini, sierra leone, they have to be together and cooperate. and it is for that very reason that i hope that's united states of america will actually ratify the governance of the imf, that it is so much wanted to happen like in 2010, which is currently stuck between the legislative and the executive branch. because the imf has to be representative of the economy and the changes in the economy,

number one. number two, it has to be financially solid response in case there is a crisis. so i hope that happens. because we are an institution that is capable of adapting or adjusting to new circumstances. we have done it. when the crisis hit we had to very shortly changed some of our financial instruments, invent new ones, put in place programs and limiting conditions as 0% interest rates for the low income countries. we had to adjust by not having those programs with a laundry list of what needs to be done and be more focused. we had to adjust our analysis and thinking as well from being focused on bilateral surveillance of our members. we had to enlarge our horizon being much more multilateral, and then bringing together the

bilateral surveillance and work that we do, together with the unilateralism analysis that we do as well. and we had to adjust from being that exchange rate referee that i talked about to being in a position to provide for fans, to provide monitoring as we will do concerning the 2% growth objective that the australians have set for the g20. to providing capacity building, to providing training and technical assistance. we do that from myanmar to mexico. we do that using what i will mispronounce because i see it in my french brain spelled with two owes so i say mock but it is probably mooc. from which 2000 civil servants and others have graduated in the last year.

i'm trying to can be with you, president. [laughter] but they only focus on public finance and that sustainability for the moment. so we do that, and as i said we try to constantly adjust on responding to the needs of our membership. as i like to say sometimes, it's not your father's imf. it's yours. now together, as we look forward to the future, as we adjust, i hope that together we can actually push the clouds out and see a lot more the blue sky that many people aspire to a round the world. thank you. [applause]

thank you very much, madame woodard. madame the guard has agreed to honor george counts tradition stay, not only by -- but also bring to take questions from our students. so we're going to bring out some microphones. i think there might be one in the middle i'll. would you please step up to the microphone, identify yourself and ask your question briefly so that ever has an opportunity to ask madam lagarde a question? thank you. >> hello. i am a junior in college studying governor i want to ask you about internationally the a little bit. and sort of your opinions on valleys of microfinance and commuted banking as kind of new innovations in the fields of

development. >> shall i respond to each question? fine. critically important. when i talk about growth, it's also based on -- microfinance, community finance is at the very base of that financial inclusion. i'm very supportive of it. we encourage it where ever we can. and i think that we are seeing some major developments that have fueled our based on new technologies, and the extensive use of cell phones in countries that have not seen fixed lines and will possibly not see fixed lines in the near-term, but where the use of cell phone can actually help with moving of money around without corruption and can actually help those who

want to start something, predominantly women, and actually do it whenever you sort of official financing is not available. >> first of all, thank you very much for coming to speak to us. my name is marco. i'm a freshman from switzerland here. i was lucky enough to have a conversation with former chancellor of the exchequer and he made it quite clear he believes the only path to genuinely sustainable economic and monetary union in europe was through stronger political union. which sort of falls into your multilateral aspect. but today we see friends, holland, and switzerland, the rise of far right politics. so i want to ask first, what do you think of that initial assertion? and secondly, given the current

climate, how plausible is a move in that direction towards a political unit? >> i think the only response to that is precisely stronger cooperation, a clear picture of what the leaders want to achieve together. and within europe you have the eurozone which is clearly a currency zone that works well when you look at the the euro, not bad, for young currency. but where additional layers are needed have been built recently under the impetus of the crisis. and here i'm talking about the fiscal union, the banking you know, and one has to be union towards a brighter future and where people feel included so they have a future and that there's something exciting for them to do but i would suggest that more and more around europe would go a long way to pushing the european ideals and projects for the but i think that's where

the response is needed. >> hello, madame look our government thank you for speaking to us today. i am kate from a canadian that is also a first year law student at the faculty of law. so i have a question actually more about yourself and less about the imf. as an individual you have done so many courageous things, and often as a woman you were the first to do them. so when you're young, like many of here are, what gave you the confidence and inner strength to always reach further, take risks and accept new challenges? and now, as some of us a great deal of responsibility and also experience, what continues to give you that confidence and inner strength? >> the same thing, love your very simple. [applause] >> thank you.

>> i would become it would be unkind to my parents if i didn't say as well a good health. because you need that. but you can work on it and i hope you will be. do. i see some of you sometimes running around and exercising. i think -- [laughter] it's also the basis on which you can develop, but love, yeah. >> i'm a mathematician at georgetown also from canada. recently finished a book by one of your countrymen -- >> you've finished it at? [laughter] [applause] >> it only took about two months. >> that's not a dismissive comment on my part, don't get me wrong. a lot of great, great information but i don't know many people who have actually finished it. [laughter] my question is about eight central thesis that in the long run, the returns on capital will

always be driven economic growth. i was wanted to what extent do you agree with that thesis and what are the indications going forward in terms of the imf mission? >> we at the imf have done quite a lot of work on any court as well and i'm pleased that this book contradicted to put in that subject in the limelight and not as a communist subject. but one that actually muscles enormous it for economic growth. i wouldn't pass judgment on his overall thesis because for one, i have not finished the book myself. [laughter] and there's so much information, so much data, so much in it that it would be unfair if i was trying to do that. but what we have studied on the particular point of any quality is, well, we have arrived at two important conclusions. the first one is that excessive inequality is bad for sustainable growth.

it is not conducive to sustainable growth. so if we want sustainable growth, which is the aim of all g20 leaders when they get together, and excessive inequality has to be the target, or one of the targets. the second finding is that countries with conventional wisdom, redistribution, redistributed or policies actually do not harm sustainable growth and they are part of the toolkit that should be used by policymakers. thank you. >> hello, madam lagarde. thank you very much for coming to speak. i am a junior in the school of foreign service study international economics. my question is what sort of relationship, if any, do you think the imf should have with the new development bank? >> may i restrict your question to the contingency reserve arrangement? that's really what is more on

the part, right? i think it's because the bank is more an initiative that parallels or will play with the world bank, not the imf. what has been announced is something that's called the contingency reserve arrangement which is an arrangement where the central banks of the bric countries put together from you, sort of aggregated sub lines amongst themselves which they can draw in case of problems. i see it as an area for corporation, i'll tell you. because, and they see it that way. because in excess of certain very low thresholds, the condition for those countries to access those contingency reserves is that there is an agreement with the imf. so what we need is continue to work together with regional financial arrangements of that nature. there's one in europe, the

european stability mechanism is one. there is an arrangement which has been put in place in southeast asia. and all of those provide for cooperation with the imf. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> hello. thank you so much for coming to speak to us today. i am a senior here at school. >> i missing in the college. we want to ask a question together. because -- >> cool. >> you start a discussion about your comments regarding -- >> the need to improve infrastructure reform and oftentimes a big kind of challenge to that is corruption within governmental officials and within this sort of distribution application of these things, so our question -- >> our question with regards to foreign aid to developing countries, what steps can imf

take to reduce corruption or the risk of corruption? >> you're right to point that out, because corruption cripples, and i think the best remedy to that is transparency, transparency, transparency. the public opinion is often the strongest way to actually defeat corruption. and when we see something that has not been made transparent by a country with which we have a program relationship, to which we are lending money, we just stop, say okay, that you didn't disclose, we didn't know about it, we don't understand until we understand what's going on. >> thank you. >> that's nice cooperation. [laughter] >> i am a sophomore from paris.

thank you for speaking to us. i wanted to bring up points, the fact that a large portion of the world's population today remains unbaked and i wanted to hear from you what the imf is doing to address that problem? and what reaching out to these populations and ensuring that they are included in this very important part of the economy, the account for each individual and how addressing this issue might help us moving forward, the exclusivity of population? >> well, we tried to serve our membership. as you rightly pointed out there are lots of countries that are low income countries and developing countries. now, i don't like to put them all in the same category because they are country specific. and whether a country has natural resources available,

whether it is exploiting those resources, you know, with the purpose of collective well being or not, whether it is surrounded by countries with which it trades well or not come it's going to be a different story. but it's clear that we have many members where populations are poor, with the standard of living is very, very small, and with it economic development has to bring prosperity to all. so when we look at the various regions we see the highest growth rate in country like developing southeast asia, or sub-saharan africa a lot of growth has to come about. and whether it's by technical assistance, training, everything is focused on helping them to bring the economy up for the good of all. i would say it as will the

education of girls and women as a cripple factor in the development of many of those countries. thank you. [applause] >> we have time for just one more question. so would you, please. >> hello, ms. lagarde. i'm a visiting researcher at georgetown law and the come from portugal. i was going to pick up on to point you made in his speech that are very important to the what about any quality of reason it's just not a moral issue, it's a microeconomic issue state i say it's not just. >> exactly. the part where you talked about the interventions that were made in european countries and tried not to slash them in the limit and tried to adopt measures that are growth friendly, job friendly come environmental friendly. do you think that having in mind the austerity measures that were used for budget cuts in

countries just like portugal, greece, spain or italy, were made in the way that does these two objectives in mind? so many a sensible application of austerity measures and promotion of equality? >> well, we have always in respect of those countries and the program supported a reasonable pace. and in those countries we have operated as you know as one of the members of the trillion of. and in the trillion of we've always advocated that the pace in some of those countries is close and initially considered. but having said that china, tough measures were taken, had to be taken to public finances had to be restored and put together so that those countries could stand and finance themselves. because when they face the economic crisis, the solution

was not to run for yet more debt and more debt and more debt, which was no longer available anyway because the market had closed on them. but we also believe that they have done a lot and they now have to move into a direction of supporting growth and focus of what will actually great for jobs that are needed. think you. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much, madam lagarde, for reaching our knowledge of the international monetary fund and encouraging us all to exercise more. [laughter] so that concludes our program. would you please remain seated while the state party and a presidential part exit the hall. thank you very much. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] vice president joe biden will talk but youth employment and workforce training at a forum hosted by the use chamber of commerce foundation and the urban alliance. watch live coverage at nine eastern here on c-span2. later, author and "dallas morning news" military correspondent richard whittle will discuss his book predator, the secret origins of the drone revolution. he will be of the army navy club in washington live at noon eastern. >> this weekend on the c-span networks, tonight at 10 eastern

on c-span, conversation with retired u.s. supreme court justice john paul stevens. saturday night, the founder and former chair of microsoft bill gates on the ebola virus outbreak.

>> let us know what you think about the programs you were watching. collins, e-mail us, or send us a tweet. join the c-span conversation, like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. >> the c-span cities to her pics booktv and american history tv on the road traveling to u.s. city to learn about their history and literary life. this weekend we partnered with comcast for a visit to boulder, colorado,. >> my book is called the beast in the garden, because it's a book about a large animal that in ancient times, or in american history we would've called the beast, the mountain lion, in what is really a garden and that is boulder, colorado. boulder is a beautiful seemingly natural place but in many ways it has been altered by humankind. when you get this wild animal coming into this artificial

landscape, you actually can cause changes in the behavior of that animal. a mountain lions favorite food is venison. they eat about one day a week and then the dear abby on the outskirts of this beautiful, lush city where we have irrigated gardens and lawns, the city attracted the deer. we had a dear living in downtown boulder. when the lights but beck and erich they were first in an open space area and then they discovered they were here in town. so the deer lured alliance into temperate than alliance discovered that they could eat dogs and cats. that is good for them. and so the lions were learning, and they have learned that this is where they will find food. there is certainly food up there but there's lots to eat in town. >> it's a retreat china in a beautiful place for enrichment, enlightenment, entertainment and coming together.

the people who were intended to be the audience were really what we would call for middle-class. the programs that most of the chautauqua were very similar. combination of the speakers of the day, also a variety of both we might consider highbrow and lowbrow entertainment, opera, classical music, and probably what would be considered a vaudeville of that day. >> watch all of our events from boulder saturday at noon eastern on c-span2's booktv and sunday afternoon at two on american history tv on c-span3. >> general petraeus and former bush administration trade representative robert zoellick talked about u.s. relations with mexico and canada. they were interviewed by jonathan karl of abc news at the council on foreign relations.