. i was a little confused. could you explain? >> i can. i was saying, i was talking about having some distance. it seemed like a lot of commercial. it seemed all beef and no substance a lot of #and diane's and these kinds of performances but what was undergirding it? this movement. the creators say it is not a moment but a movement. we have to figure out how we attach ourselves to it. and then progress and perform accordingly. ..

she is trying to ask for some help. and we are talking about young black lives so to just put a hoodie on ora hashtag in front of some words and a cool picture, there is no there there and that's all that it is. so how is it that you are

occupying and implying activism? that is what i was trying to say. thank you for the question. yes please. >> you mention that we are all privileged to be in this particular room or to be at the institution we have been in and you have been a more house and howard and you have been to colombia and he seemed to have a fairly good grasp and then you say privilege shouldn't be a negative thing so how have you found that you have been able to navigate that privilege while still being able to make impactful change? >> my mama. it really is. my mother and my father the people that i surround myself with, my partner, my wife. those are folks that helped to ground me and so you know my

mom, my mom came here it was the junior experience so my mom went to bass are in my dad went to yale. i recognize that as being some sort of privilege is something that's important that they came from -- my mom came from segregated portsmouth virginia. grandparents went to virginia union. granddaddy was at norfolk state so you know again looking at how and why it is that they did what they did they did it so they could open doors for folks like you. i would dare say my mom and she is moved that i'm giving this talk, hey mom how are you? i know she would be moved to see me giving a talk but to see all of you all here. when she was going through what she was going through at vassar which was tough she got an education for a reason and so for me it was always that well of course you are going to college just like you are going

to first grade. the reason you are going to college and the reason you are getting caked up with all these degrees is not so that you can just brag and boast about how smart you are so you can use those tools to make substantive change to speak truth to honor. when you are in positions to be able to do so so the way that i negotiate a navigate is by surrounding myself with those who are most like my heroes, my parents. >> you mentioned something about respectability politics and you mentioned also being -- so for people who collude with them as you described it.

>> you took all the notes. >> how would you respond to those people because oftentimes you read in the newspapers they say black lives matter but then they talk about what about black-on-black crime which to me speaks of respectability politics because you lump them all into the same group so how would you respond? >> that's an interesting question because respectability politics is so curious and really when people employ that what they are doing is they are colluding because they are attaching themselves to this norm culture that is easily able to other people so it's like oh well i have a suit and tie on so i'm able to step over here with them and what is that guy doing at the liquor store? he needs to pull himself up. i got an education and my parents went to such and such and it's not appreciated the context with which we are

growing and developing and having to negotiate our lives. so what i would say to folks who would say that, what about black-on-black crime yeah its problem. i don't even get into the argument of well you know it's always going to be intercultural intercultural. i'm not interested in that. yeah it's all a problem for right now what i'm concerned with is you blowing young black lives away so let's deal with that. how is you change in the conversation we are having does not obfuscate us from the reality of what's going on with respect to how it is that black bodies are understood as being disposable period. so he can be by us but it certainly can be by you. so let's figure out how we deal with that. so where you are just placing the responsibility back on me. black lives matter pit i really

want to curse. why are we getting into this conversation? it makes no sense whatsoever and a lot of that is i thank and this is what i was asserting in the beginning is this kind if you don't even want to believe or think about those kinds of things. it's almost like when i teach black psychology and alexis we talked about this when you were there to match you really think about black folks as being slaves, chattel slaves being on it being depreciated below it is that you value a pet. being burned, being lynched, being raped having a child cut out of your belly. that is some horrible evil stuff. so for folks to say what i just get over that? all of this stuff is systematic. it's related one to the other so what has to happen is we have to be honest and tell the truth. black-on-black violence and we

have to do with that but people are dealing with it. but now how is it that you are going to deal with how it is that you are contributing to and killing of black bodies? [laughter] try to do it off camera. >> i am courtney and i also want to thank you for your wonderful lecture. when you mentioned scandal i felt like you watch it very critically but i hear a lot of people criticizing the show because of their relationship with the president and infidelity in the show and just as you were speaking about how to keep the conversation on the significant part of that black

lives matter and not allow people to avert the situation to black-on-black crime, how can we create a more complex conversation over bolivia's relationships in a relationship that black women get rather than just saying the show is problematic because she is in this complicated relationship or maybe this is portraying black women in another way. in reality black women do find themselves in that situation and they are not the only ones. all women might find themselves in a situation at some point. maybe from a psychological perspective how do we create a conversation with those relationships? >> you have a more complex conversation by having greater presence so you have more of that. i think it also becomes important and this is kind of my qualifying statement, is that i understand that i am a black man and i understand the society which i live and i understand

that i have a position as an ally in many different ways. but that's still going to color in many ways how it is i assess and define things also. i don't mind being pushed around to be like you really have to consider this also but we have more narratives that talk about black women in different ways. when you have bolivia pope that is complex and she does the fierce walk about the kind of have you seen her walking? she does all that. she is articulate and educated and i hate that i just said she's articulate but anyway she does all this great stuff but when you have a counterbalance of that is being loving hip-hop with a counterbalance of that being real housewives of atlanta or that counterbalance being whatever woman as object defying or who is being objective side and hurling someone over the

table by the chair when you have that and this is how i look at black women as depicted in the media. when you have that look at the violence that is depicted on that part of my community. when i'm looking for positive images of black women i'm so glad to have her. i'm so glad to have dr. cameron. i'm so glad to have dr. cole who is the president of spelman for many years and there are all these books that i'm proud to have this different parts of my communities look at and we just need and i use this word over and over again that we need to amplified those images in those stories. but i'd love to and do go back and forth about scandal because i think it's a powerful piece of television and something that folks are invested in but we have to be in the same way that

we have to be critical of beyoncé. it's hard to have conversations about. especially for me because there are a lot of folks i love that her public academics and they say hold on because i am part of it. [laughter] but i think not having those conversations and not putting them front and center really allows us to escape some of the responsibility that i'm saying we have to assume. >> and lastly i really like your word amplify that you are using a lot. i wanted to sort of bring attention to the show blackish where gisele frost is a professional and she's a doctor who works in the hospital and her husband is a professional so there are other expressions of black womanhood and professional black women on television. >> you are right, thank you.

>> so this is to go off on courtney's question on narratives. so the narrative talking about having different narratives. >> use the mic's use the mic so people can hear you. >> having different narratives on television so scandal is written by a black woman, right? how much responsibility do we place on a black woman to put forth the proper narrative? bywatch scandal i love the show but i feel discriminated when the only male partner that was ever presented to olivia was just not even, it never came off as a viable option trade no one i don't think and if the viewer

side is a viable option in terms of the kind of woman that she was. fourchon the rhymes as someone who is a black woman and well-educated what responsibility does she hold them putting for such a narrative? >> she does have a lot of influence so i think we could have a whole nother lecture that looks of the difference between influence and power but she has a whole lot of influence. she has also developed shows that have been very nuanced and complex so i first started watching her in seattle that has all these different flavors of folk which is important. so she might have assumed her responsibility in terms of her determination of what it is she needs to be responsible for. i think what we have to do as

critics, not cynics, the type of narratives we are assuming is we have to be able to answer those questions. we have to be able to ask those questions and not shy away from them. so your question to me is to what type of responsibility does she have? she has some and she has assumed much of her responsibility. i don't want to seem like i'm backpedaling but we have to have those conversations. people are investing in scandal in a different way. i think i would have to look at the ratings, then perhaps gray's anatomy was invested in our private practice and then we can also look at empire which just finished breaking a 23-year-old record recently in terms of having more and more viewers but it's a great show and i dig it. i watched it. i missed it this week so i hope dr. cameron doesn't get me back and tell me anything about that but we also have to look at

again what is it that we are comfortable consuming? how is it that way are comfortable seeing ourselves and that becomes a difficult conversation not only for white folks and how they see us but how we are comfortable seeing ourselves. >> i have a question. what is the responsibility for what should our white counterparts be doing in order to help us establish that black lives matter? >> i had written something in here written something inherent i don't know if i skated over it or change the language. what does that look like because i think that's honest. i feel it's honest for me. recognize that we are privileging and understanding the importance of articulating how black lives matter. there doesn't need to be any

confluence or countertransference that exists. when i say stay in your lane i don't mean this is ours. how is it that you occupy a certain type of privilege and what is it that you can do with their privileged to be a comrade comrade? we don't want to be dismissive. when we say black lives matter doesn't mean that black lives matter just a black folks. it means black lives matter so what is it in how is it that you do things that help us to amplified? you are welcome. i'm here all night. >> hi. so my question is, it seems like i guess i can only speak from my own experience but i have my

narrative about what black lives matter's to me and my parents also have a narrative and there are a lot of differences in the differences often seem to be counter narratives that can fit together in some ways. i don't know if this is something that is generational and if you have seen this before and i guess how do we deal with narratives that seem to not sit? do you understand? >> i do understand that it's difficult for me to answer the question wholly without knowing specifics so maybe we can do it not on television. [laughter] but i think that the one thing that i would hope is that there is a common denominator. the common denominator would be that you and your folks understand lack lives matter. so the roads that you take to get there i'd be different but i would hope that because of that common denominator you would be able to arrive at a common

place. you can think about -- when i was younger i was fortunate enough to work at transafrica which a lobbyist group for africa and the caribbean which is held by another hero of mine randall robinson. when i was there i was allowed to work there when i was very young, crazy young and i remember they had protests all the time from the south african embassy. i wanted to go and get arrested because they knew, i would be like i'm going to go and get arrested and make a statement for my people and all that kind of stuff. they are like you are not going to get arrested. you are in high school. i probably was in high school. i think the sentiment was an authentic one from my parents perspectives and the perspectives of the folks who were taking care of me while i was at transafrica there were other things you might need to do right now.

i remember also saying to my mom after reading the autobiography of malcolm x i am willing to die for my people. that's a profound thing to say if giving your life is the only thing you can do in terms of a revolution but what about living -- so my mom in the work she did in the work my grandparents did, they didn't do all that work so i could read malcolm x since say i'm going to die for my people. they are like hold on a second you have more work to do first. i think it becomes important to be able to recognize the generational divide but it also becomes important for us to yield to those who have gone in front of us who have a broader view of what the landscape looks like as we are traversing towards liberation. >> thank you.

she is coming with the mic. the mic is coming. >> thank you. you mentioned paradigms and i'm taking a class right now where it's all centered on paradigms of societies and i just wanted your thoughts not necessarily a question but to me. i'm just a way of thinking and it's a system. so we have a paradigm that we grew up with in our society is just the way we thought. when you are saying to somebody am trying to a controversial conversation with them that kind of attack it or take it personal instead of looking at as you said that paradigm or way of thinking our way of that. so how do you -- obviously i'm not african-american but.

>> it's not necessarily obvious. >> i'm not black but we all have our own issues when you are trying to have a difficult conversation with somebody and then not attack them but attack the system in a way that they were taught growing up so a personal question for me is how you navigate this and attack the paradigm and not necessarily i'm a techie was a person but attacking what i was taught as opposed to what you were taught and the institutions? >> a good question. be caring and compassion for the individual which it seems you are leading with and also be caring and considerate enough to talk to them about paradigms and systems. the most convenient way for me to kind of mirror what it is that you are talking about is to talk about racism. there are a lot of white folks who say i'm not racist. i love black people and i sit

next to them and all that kind of stuff. i am being jocular but they say i don't have a racist bone in my body and all that kind of stuff. nobody wants to be called a racist. so one of the things we can say is that you benefit from white supremacy. the idea that racism is a system and i talk about it as an elegant system. how elegant is it to where racism presented in such a way that black people hate on themselves? when you are talking about racism you are not just talking about this kind of personal interaction or commitment or violation of one another. you are talking about a cultural system of paradigms that you are brought up in and you are talking about is socialized paradigm that you are brought up in as well. i think when we began to talk in that way it allows folks to not personalize it so much and i think another thing that becomes important is i love people.

i love people and so the point is that just because i am black and i believe in black revolution and whatever that looks like and i believe in black liberation, just because of those things does not mean i'm going to devalue what other cultures and communities can contribute to me. but it still means if i'm going to be a human being who is them a democratic society where we all have voices i get to assert my voice without feeling like you are violating. i get to say that racism exists. patriarch read access at morehouse college you know? hetero centrism exists at morehouse and many other places so there are these systems there are these paradigms which grind people and to dust. the important thing for us to recognize is that we have to be able to attack just as you said

the attack the system and attack the paradigms and change them for the betterment of humanity. that can sound so pollyanna-ish about that kind of stuff but it's not. we are here all in this room presumably because we want for our world to be better and a cancer that is associated and attaches itself to the culture we live in and develop them is racism. it's not just racism that looks like oh you can't eat at this lunch counter is racism that kills people because of the perceptions and narratives that people hold or the assumptions we have about folks. so pointing out this pop cultural stuff it's not just fun and games. they have something to do with a mind's eyes framed at how we interact with each other. it all has everything to do with systems and paradigms that we would be doing well to look at

those paradigms in full view so we can help to dismantle it and do it better for my babies and yours. [applause] >> thank you. let me just say that it's been a real privilege to be here. i was excited to develop a talk for you all and i think i got more out of the back-and-forth that my developmental talk so i thank you for stoking my interest and my thinking and i hope we will share ideas with one another on the inter-web or wherever. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you dr. rice for coming all the way from atlanta to share your work and insight with us. on behalf of of black women's ministry and more house we would like to present you with a small token of our appreciation. [applause] >> may i open it right now?

>> please join us for refreshments where you can continue to speak with dr. rice and thank you again for coming. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> it was very clear to me that i still had an issue with public trust in people believing things that were said in regardless of the fact that i stand like it did read it day and saying use of force is down 40% and lawsuits are down that officer involved shootings are dramatically down and we are moving in all the positive ways people and communities say we don't believe it. >> house minority leader nancy pelosi and members of the delegation who visited cuba recently talked to the press about u.s. cuba relations and their hopes were normalized relations between the two countries. this is 50 minutes.

[inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon everyone. thank you for joining us. on sunday we returned from a congressional delegation trip to the greater antilles. that is how it was referred to there. we started our journey in cuba and we had a very eventful visit there. we went on to the dominican republic and then to haiti. starting in cuba we have the privilege of meeting with the first vice president of cuba miguel diaz -- appointed to be the first vice president, some say next in line heir apparent, i have no idea but a very

impressive next-generation leader in cuba. we met with the vice president of the national assembly the minister of foreign affairs bruno rodriguez and met with the director at the u.s. affairs who is engaged in negotiations with secretary jacobson at this time. we went to the latin american school of medicine. we are honored to have met with carmel ortega obviously of cuba and we met with members of civil society. our chief of missions are what they call the special interests section -- bless you and just dealer and has arranged for us to have dinner with 12 ambassadors from allied nations who gave us their impression of what the president's action was.

we were very proud of president obama coming forth and joining with president castro to start a new path of diplomatic relations between the united states and cuba. we found the people in the street people were very enthusiastic about that. everyone we met with was very positive about that. that is what we agreed on. we had some areas of disagreement that related to human rights and was the ranking member on the foreign affairs committee addressed that and i'm sure he will in his remarks here as well as did mr. mcgovern who is the chairman, the cochair of the tom lantos human rights commission but it was a subject that all of our members address. so that was briefly what we did in cuba. i think rather than going into every country right now we match with the president of the dominican republic president

medinah, he was very impressive and we talked about the future of the dominican republic and the future relationships with them. a big subject of conversation there was the treatment of haitian refugees in the dominican republic. congresswoman velázquez will talk about that among other things. we went to haiti and they had a tragedy this week when we met with president martelli as well as their prime minister and members of his cabinet. we visited two initiatives one inspired by paul farmer that addresses the needs of orphans orphaned children in haiti and another that was about a sustainable role of development and of course in all three countries are ranking member

once chernow ranking member on the agricultural committee colin peterson took the lead in those discussions. we ended our visit to haiti at the cathedral of the assumption, our lady the assumption. as a cathedral that five years ago in january was the earthquake was completely devastated. it looked bombed out more than an earthquake. more like a bombing. we prayed for victims of the earthquake and the veterans of the carnaval tragedy and the people of haiti they are. from beginning to end we had a very inspiring visit. i was very proud of our delegation in terms of standing on the issues and the authority that they brought to the subjects at hand. we had lively discussions about what we agreed on and while we disagreed on and of course in haiti who said he must have

elections and our members will address all of these. on our delegation was elliott angled the ranking member of the foreign affairs committee and we will hear from him and congresswoman rosy delauro the ranking member on the appropriations subcommittee on labor health and human services colin peterson ranking member and former chair of agriculture congresswoman anna eshoo ranking member on the telecommunications and technology subcommittee of energy and commerce and media velázquez member of the small business committee as well as a senior member of the financial services committee. all of these are important in terms of the subject. all these committees are important in terms of the subject matter. jim mcgovern cochaired the human rights commission and members of the rules committee in the agriculture committee. steve israel a member of the leadership chair for democratic

policy communications committee and a member of the appropriations defense subcommittee. david cicilline he foreign affairs and judiciary immigration and lg bt human rights issues along the way. we were supposed to be joined within the last 24 hours of our departure congresswoman barbara lee could not join us because her mother passed away but she was with us in spirit because she helped formulate the trip as well as the issues we would address and she is very respected. we brought her respects to all that we met and extended their condolences back to congresswoman barbara lee a very important figure in u.s.-cuba relations. there is so much more to tell you that was very positive and very exciting and very candid. it was productive, it was

positive and it was candid and to tell you more about it i yield first to the gentleman who is ranking member on the foreign affairs committee in mr. engel and you will hear from the others in the order of which i mention. mr. engel. >> thank you very much madam leader and let me first start by thanking leader pelosi for leading this important trip to cuba, haiti and the dominican republic. this was a good trip and the right trip at the right time. president obama's december 17 announcement on cuba told the cuban people we want to move forward. it was clear during our time in cuba that there was an outpouring of affection by the average citizen to the united states and the average people we met on the street were very positive. i feel very strongly that congress has an important role to play in u.s. foreign policy and i think it was very

important for us to engage in the cuban officials directly, talk to them directly. i raise the issue as did my colleagues of human rights and to the cubans in every meeting that we had. i believe the law is now in the cuban government's court to respond by ending the harassment of political activists and policing political prisoners for our policies to continue to change give or take on both sides and i would like to see more changes on the cuban side. i said that in havana and it's important for us to meet with cuban officials to let them hear how we feel. i hope to be at this, that the americas in panama in april and i hope there will be a large segment of independent cuban civil society and i have said that everywhere i went. as the former chairman of the western hemisphere subcommittee i was pleased to return to haiti

and the dominican republic. i visited haiti five years ago after the devastating earthquake and i'm pleased there has been a lot of progress made in rebuilding haiti that much more needs to be done. i asked the gao the government accountability office for their report on the speed up assistance to haiti which will be released in june and i believe we have to do everything we can to expedite assistance to haiti and i brought that message to the u.s. embassy officials in port-au-prince. finally as a new yorker let me say that it's a pleasure to visit the dominican republic and haiti because we have many constituents that come from both places and i deeply value the strong ties between our countries and again i think the trip of all of us collectively helped to deepen those ties certainly in haiti and the dominican republic and in cuba, show the cuban people the united states cares. we want change in cuba. we are going to take trips like this to demand change in cuba

and move positively forward. thank you. >> i was so honored to be part of this congressional delegation with cuba and the dominican republic and to haiti. i have had the opportunity of working over 15 years in the house of representatives on a bipartisan basis with something called the cuba working group to address the issues that face cuba and the united states human rights banking credit embargo and many others. so this delegation was my third visit to the island. i was struck as i think all of us were by the importance that everyone attached to the december 17 announcement. as leader pointed out that deputy foreign minister and cuba's first vice president parliamentarians government officials the u.s. -- cardinal ortega at the head of the jewish community and representatives from civil society that's

bloggers journalists entrepreneurs and we had the opportunity to sit with the ambassadors from 12 nations to listen to their views about what should be happening in cuba and in all of our meetings the support of the process from open dialogue and yes for negotiations. people wanted to see this process move forward. and they all recognize how critical it is to make sure president obama and president castro succeed. i'll believe on putting pressure on the cuban government to make changes. there was a strong sense that this is a historic moment for building a better relationship and the opportunity should not be missed. i might add that no one is looking at this through rose-colored glasses. the issues are difficult. the conversations were frank

weather on human rights, removing cuba from the state sponsor of terrorism list banking, finance, the embargo, diplomatic reciprocity. important to note that there was no mention of preconditions. the focus was on not dwelling on the failed policies of the past from both sides but about the future, moving forward. the benefits of doing so are so clear. the process can lead to opening up lights of communication increased trade that allow the cuban people to move toward greater freedom as well as greater prosperity. benefits united states economy. new markets 90 miles from our shores are ready for industries like agriculture telecommunications infrastructure technologies. both countries will enjoy greater opportunities for cultural exchange. on both sides of the aisle historically there has been strong support for stronger u.s. cuban ties.

we have worked together with our public and members. on monday we were in the house with jeff flake and jerry moran and now we are in the senate working on these issues. we met regularly and we will continue to try to do that to foster this process. this is a historic opportunity. we need to foster the kind of change that will be critical for the united states and for cuba. congresswoman anna eshoo. >> thank you. good afternoon everyone. thank you madam leader for calling us together today and for having the important sense of time and putting together a delegation at this time from the house to cuba and then onto the dominican republic and to haiti. i will be very brief on my roll

and part of this outstanding delegation and that is that i think there is one word that really is operative that describes each country discussions and that is the word future. each country just as we do look forward to the future and how to shape it. and so in cuba where broadband is practically nonexistent i not only raised the issue but spoke about how transformative the internet is that it can transform a society. it transforms commerce education many of the values that both countries share. and make no mistake about it, they are more than interested in it because they don't have it.

they do have an appreciation of what this has done and is doing around the world and certainly in the united states of america. when we met with students from the latin school of medicine in cuba where they are training, educating and shaping thousands of doctors to send across the world i asked one of the students if there was any way if there was any telemedicine and she said it's nonexistent. the cubans have a great deal of pride about their role in medicine, their export of doctors around the world to the african continent and certainly to south america and other places on to the dominican republic. they are making -- the president is making what they consider to be a large investment in education and i

urged him and his team to leverage those dollars that he is placed in the budget with broadband because you can achieve so much more in terms of the education of their children of their society and the benefits will flow from their. haiti obviously is one of the poorest countries in the world and yet they too look forward to a future that can help lift up their society the children and their society and be connected in a very special way to the rest of the world. now on the heels of president obama and the december 17 announcement, he made i think a rather remarkable, he created a remarkable pathway relative to

the telecommunications and the internet and i want to ask questions about that i'd be happy to answer it. this is outside of the embargo and so again there is room. there is room to build. they -- we went there with her hand extended in friendship understanding that we have miles to go and places to see. none of us are naïve but we also i thank product and a bit of ideas and a can-do spirit, the american spirit to each country and what will benefit the people of their nations. thank you. >> good afternoon. congresswoman nydia velasquez from new york and i'm too want to thank her leader nancy pelosi. this is a time for us the united states of america and for cuba to prove that we are interested

in building relationships between the two countries. in 2009 i had the honor of accompanying president obama to the summit of americas and there wasn't any state that didn't raise the issue of cuba participation in the summit of the americas. i can tell you right now not only among latin america who has always felt that the united states, that latin america is a forgotten part of the world when it comes to either democratic administration or republican demonstration in the white house house. not this time. this is too symbolic for the people of latin america and the caribbean and i'm so excited that we are here at this time discussing this announcement of december 17. to be in cuba i have seen

people's reaction and overall it was really excited. people are welcoming this new beginning and are relationship between cuba and the united states of america. president obama plans to reopen diplomatic ties loosen travel restrictions export from the u.s. to cuba and increase cuban access communications are important steps. standing by decades of all policies that have failed to destabilize the cuban government will only produce the same results we have seen today. on the other hand expanding commerce and supporting the free expression of the cuban people will help put cuba on a path to prosperity and freedom. as ranking democrat on the house small business committee i am particularly interested in seeing how a normalizing

relations can help cuba's entrepreneurial sector. during her visit i spent time as well as my colleagues with cuban entrepreneurs like private restaurant owners. we discussed opportunities for the u.s. to provide technical assistance to broadening entrepreneurs and cuba encouraging economic empowerment. we want to see change in cuba. let's provide a path for the people of cuba to empower themselves economically. the number of self-employed and cuba has risen from 156,000 at the end of 2010 to nearly half a million today. on the new rules from the state department many of them may soon be able to export to the united states. smaller u.s. companies also

stand to benefit from normalizing relations. the u.s. currently restricts financing for u.s. agricultural exports to cuba. changing this policy will mean greater opportunity for small american agriculture producers. policy changes toward cuba are an important step that many must be done -- though more must be done. after meetings i am optimistic about the future of u.s.-cuba relations. while the administration's policies are welcomed the manifestation of relations will require congressional action. i look forward to working with leader pelosi and all my colleagues for policies that allow the cuban people to live in freedom and prosperity and dignity. >> i am jim mcgovern from

massachusetts. i've been to cuba many times. my first visit was in 1979 and my purpose as a student, right. my purpose on this trip was to move forward and support the proposals and principles the president announced on december 17 including urging quick progress on normalizing diplomatic relations between our two countries. that means having a fully functional embassy in havana and washington and allowing u.s. diplomats to operate like diplomats are real where else in the world today when a blogger friends to speak directly and candidly about all issues including the issue of human rights. i believe improve relations ultimately will result in improved human rights. there are some who do not want to let go of the past who cling to outdated approaches. they are on the wrong side of history and on the wrong side of

overwhelming public opinion with both the united states and cuba. the policy of poking each other in the eye of threats and intimidation of accusations has been a miserable failure by any measure. my hope is in the coming days the obama administration will remove cuba from the terrorist list they list the cuba never go long gone to begin within a list that was unnecessarily politicized by adding cuba to that list. i hope these negotiations that will occur this weekend between our two countries will result in concrete achievements but it is time for a more grown-up and mature approach. and we need to pursue a policy where we deal with their differences honestly, respectfully and more effectively. finally there is a role for congress. media velasquez mentioned it but

the embargo itself can be lifted and so congress has a boat so i would call and speaker boehner and leader mitch mcconnell to show cuba and the world how a democracy functions and let us have a vote in the debate to show the members of congress can all be on record on where they stand on this issue. thank you. >> thank you to jim and all my colleagues. i'm steve israel from new york. i'm going to make for quick points and we will open it up to q&a. the first is during this trip there was lots of talk about how this process can move forward. the thing is a process cannot move forward if everybody both in cuba and the united states is focused on the past. i think that's going to be just critical. that we move forward embracing the opportunity of the future or

we use legitimate grievances on both sides that have occurred in the past to be one excuse after another to prevent a change in direction. the second , everywhere we went whether it was the vice president of cuba -- cuba to many believe will take over in 2018 when raul castro's term ends or the figures of civil society we met with everywhere we went everybody called the december 17 agreement historic. everybody use that word a historic agreement. it's only historic if it leads to change. if it continues to repeat the past that is not history. that is just a repetition of the past. true history will be made if that agreement results in some compromise by both cuba and the united states and a way forward. third, ultimately the united states congress and the

government of cuba will be judged by who embrace the future and to dwell on the past and i don't know whether it will be 10 years or 15 years or 20 or 30 years but ultimately people will look back at this moment and figure out who was it to try to focus on what lies ahead and who was it who try to bog us down in grievances of the past. this is a moment of extraordinary potential opportunity. for me as a baseball fan i always tell people i don't care whether you're a democrat or republican to me it's -- cincinnati reds not to mention the san francisco giants that may or may not come up during this trip. i look forward to the day that we can play an exhibition game in cuba. it's those small steps and the

larger steps that will lead to a change in direction and hopefully we can get there. with that i will turn it over to leader pelosi. >> leading up to david ortiz coming to our reception in the dominican republic. that was pretty exciting for all of us. we have been very generous in san francisco. we went every other year but one of the things we saw cuba as an aside and back to the serious part of it is they have a baseball corner. do you want to tell them? >> cuba is a place where free expression is obviously frowned upon where there is suppression and there is repression but if you are talking baseball there's a corner of the park in havana where that expression is not

only tolerated but in fact very much incentivize. if you think the debates on homeland security on the floor of the house were -- this week go to this park and cuba and try to get into a conversation with the members of cuban society about various baseball teams. >> in any

that credit being available so our farmers or whatever in the united states can export to them. that's not just to create business for our farmers which is a name in itself but also to make cuba more efficient and farming. three-quarters to 80% of their food is imported into cuba.

we can export to them seed tractors, farm supplies and know-how in order for them to be self-sufficient so it is mutually beneficial in many respects. i just want to make one more point and that is we spent a great deal of time talking about the plight of patient refugees in the dominican republic. when we were in both countries we said to both presidents talk to each other and that is the advice we should take ourselves this week talk about cuba to talk to each other. >> thank you very much. all the meetings you had with respect to human rights and after you visit the cuban regime critics with the government and people and a new position. are you disappointed?

he went to cuba and you talked about human rights and right when he left the island the government reacted. >> we are critical of any move that cracks down on human rights by any government including the cuban government. and we raised this issue on many occasions. the question is how do we effectively deal with this issue? i think the choices we have are to pursue a policy, continued to pursue her a policy that for 50 years has been a miserable failure or pursue a different policy in which they are increase relations between our countries and by the way increased relations by her peoples which i think will ultimately push to open the island up. so we are disappointed when anybody's human rights are

denied but the issue that we want to raise is what is a sensible policy? we believe engagement we believe the proposal president obama put forward is the best way to proceed. we think that is the best way to expect results as well. >> my name is jean-pierre. in haiti they are talking about having -- and junot or october. my question is will we support an election in june or october having one or two elections? >> we want to have the elections as soon as possible. we spent a good time with president martelli talking about this very issue. these elections are long overdue and they must take place. we are hopeful that in january the senate would vote to advance advance, the senate in haiti would advance these elections.

they didn't get a quorum. they're always those who will stand in the way. the president expressed to some shall we say dissatisfaction, dismay as to the fact that elections are not there but he told us it would be imminent that it would happen, that the process would move forward for the elections and we want them the sooner the better. we thought the difference between the summer or the winter or fall was too long of a time to wait and in fact impressed upon them that the love the way it is written in our foreign operations bill says we cannot proceed with the assistance we want to get to haiti unless there are elections. >> in your talks in cuba to the issue of compensation for seized property ever, pours it too early to bring that topic of discussion of? >> it did not come up.

[inaudible] >> we had other issues at hand. we are trying to get diplomatic relations so we can talk about all of these issues so we are a couple of steps away from getting down to the particulars but they had plenty of other issues that they wanted to bring up with us and we basically said let's see if we can come to terms about how we can have a diplomatic relationship and then we can move on to other issues. >> i have a question on foreign policy but not on cuba. >> save it for later, chad. [laughter] yes maam. >> you have mentioned some steps in the relationships that should come with an knott but as congress and my question or what are the next steps? the embargo to open up travel

and how can you push for those changes and should they be should congress do something to let cuba respond? >> i'm going to yield to my colleagues but congresswoman velasquez has had a bill to end the embargo for 20 years. >> 21 years the first legislation i introduced with charlie rangel. public sentiment is everything and if you look at the polls in america and the united states the majority of the people in this country support the actions taken by president obama. we cannot continue in this stagnation. it hasn't produced any positive results for either side so it's time to move forward and i believe our leaders from both parties should address the issue

of lifting the embargo. it will be beneficial for both sides cuba and the united states. >> congresswoman we have been working on a bipartisan task force. >> i think something that is little known and i said this as well at the press conference i have been in congress for 25 years. 15 of those years at least i have worked in a bipartisan way. congressman mcgovern and myself and others have been part of a working group to look at all that the issues that have been outlined. human rights, embargo, credit. we have been in touch with the administration on these efforts. we have been cognizant of the repression or the oppression etc. and trying to move that ball as well. there is a very strong bipartisan sentiment to engage with cuba and it's our view and

our belief that in fact if that piece of legislation that we are talking about of lifting the embargo were brought by the majority to the floor of the house of representatives we could win that vote. this is not a democratic issue or a republican issue. we are interested in a broad-based efforts that would allow us to have a dialogue and a communication with cuba. we want to look at the diplomatic relationships which we have mentioned about embassy here, embassy there, on the state-sponsored terrorism list. we are looking to cuba to make some movements that suggests the forward process. they are aware of that and we are. that is why we are enthusiastic to be able to work together in a bipartisan way to achieve the

goals. >> i want to stress again that engagement is really important. if we want to see positive change in cuba than we need to be engaged. we need to tell them what we think. this is not a matter of visiting them and sweeping differences under the rug or turning a blind eye and looking the other way. not at all. in fact it's quite the opposite. we are going to cuba in a positive away and we let the cubans do we have very serious concerns with the things they do do. the oppression in that country put on by the government. the question is what is the best way to end that oppression and? is it too simply adore them as we have done for 50 years or try to engage with them and to say to them the ball is in your court. we want to see positive change. if there is no change i will be very disappointed and we will have to reconsider what we do but for now i think this trip was a wonderful way of trying to

push things forward for the cuban people to change the oppression that has been there as part of that government for more than 50 years. we mentioned humans -- human rights of every meeting. we talked about things at every meeting. we didn't sweep anything under the rug and i think as a result of that the cuban people and the american people are going to be a lot better. >> there are two quick things i would like to add to what was just referred to and that is that in our meeting with cardinal ortega it was an enriching meeting because he obviously as you all know had his hand in the communications with the vatican, with pope francis and those in our country so that advancement could be made. he was highly instructive to us. he is the representative of the

church, of christ in cuba. and so the depth of the discussion was around the issues that are being raised here and how important the engagement is. and one quick anecdote. when we were in cuba and we were hosted a nice lunch and when we held a press conference and at the luncheon i sat next to someone that may be younger than just about all of you here. it was a blogger so i asked him part of what he was doing and it was millions. i received an e-mail from him a while ago. i gave him my personal e-mail address and i said let's stay in touch. he said since i was born i was told that you are the enemy and i met you and you reminded me of

my mother. [laughter] >> i thought she was going to tell you about when we went to mass on ash wednesday while the others get -- went to the synagogue to get a blessing. the cardinal welcomed us and was very proud of the role the church had played and pope francis had played in this december announcement. when you are asking about congress you have to understand the ramifications of our actions. for example it is very well recognize that the private sector, the entrepreneurial spirit, the small businesses the number has increased from 150 to 500 in the past four and a half years and that is an important part of breaking the lock of a centralized economy in a communist country. but we have regulations or attitudes that say nothing we do

can help small business in cuba. why would we have such a thing if in fact we object to a centralized economy, i communist system would we think it's a good idea to support the private sector small businesses entrepreneurship. instead there is that attitude up again looking backward rather than looking forward. so we have to just take a look at all of these things and say what are they in furtherance of? are they in furtherance of improvement and progress or a perpetuation of the past and in some ways that are not even smart. i think we only have time for one more question. >> was there any discussion about the refugees from the united states? >> yes well i want to yield to an idiot to talk about the refugees from haiti to the

dominican republic. again looking at her goals for haiti as my first trip there was 1997 and this was my fourth or check -- fifth trip to haiti and every time our goal was to improve the situation to reduce the number of refugees coming to the united states in on unsafe ways. then there was the connection between haiti and the dominican republic refugees going across the border, children born in the dominican republic to haitian parents and what was her status. she is a expert in terms of all of that. and of course we had the cuban adjustment act and if that would change what that would mean for all of that. mostly we spent a lot of time on the subject of haitians and the dominican republic. we did take great pride in the

fact that our secretary of labor is a dominican dissent. his grandfather told me on sunday when i spoke to him we are very proud of the dominican republic to secretary perez that you are the first dominican to be in a cabinet and he said my grandfather was ambassador to the united states with the dominican republic and the split on the treatment of haitian refugees into the dominican republic as one area. that is how he got to united states. >> i would just like to add that both sides, haitian government and the dominican government they understand that it's important to deal with this issue. we have 800,000 haitians who at this point because of the ruling of the court might be stateless. ..

>> >> immigration is a difficult issue it will take for the two countries to come together to provide resources that needed. with the dominican republic to do our reach i am hoping that they facilitate the process.

>> just talk about quickly about trade and freedom of speech it is critical issue for us. and with other respect we have the opportunity to go to the cuban medical school for what they're doing with science and vaccine recovery and the treatment of diabetes and how to prevent amputation and cancer screening. the facilitation of that dialogue allow for the exchange for the national institutes of health and in particular in haiti but

opening that door open and say this stuff of the cross exchange and a cultural exchange and those issues that are critically important our sex trafficking and violence against women a big issue that we worked so hard here that we can cooperate to bring some relief into the serious to benefit from the open exchange as we try to tackle a whole range of issues that is what is critically important. needless to say the economies are in those countries the more success people will have at home.

>> with the negotiations there is some consternation. are you concerned as they get closer to netanyahu? >> of course, i am concerned about the negotiations and we don't know it is all speculation but needless to say the president has said and i agree iran was not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and that is the bottom line. >> let me close by saying talk about security and our relationship with other

countries in our hemisphere and is in our national security issue it is sad to see the gamesmanship the silliness of the republicans in congress are a engaged with only an security with our homeland security. we take an oath to protect and that is completely undermined by the actions taken. now you see it now you don't i promise i will bring that up holding a press conference in that district so what does this mean to your home? homeland security. what does this mean in your community? if you don't have a whole land security will -- bill

but the point is you cannot engage in the training of first responders to build fire stations on a six week by six week basis. what is their purpose? why dell they just do the right thing? i don't agree with the court that they should take the path but the fact is that makes you think immigration is just a excuse they want to shut down government to shut down government and that is what we will be engaged in going forward. so what happens

with:security everybody understands except the republicans and the congress of the united states. [inaudible conversations]

>> the opening of the suez canal it was almost day deathblow with coal-fired ships headed shorter route to the far east to the markets so the ships needed to find a way to make their own living so they would catch up coal or oil or cotton. said she found her niche to carry any type of cargo that did not require getting to market

[inaudible conversations]

i would like to call the hearing to order this morning. today energy and power and the energy subcommittee will be examining the epa fyi 2016 budget request. before you start my time i want to welcome administrator mccarthy thank you very much for being with us today you have been before our committee many times and enjoyed working with you. you are unable to administrator and we have significant differences with the use of what you are doing down there but we all have of opportunities but it thank you for taking the

time to be with us. are recognized myself for three minutes for an opening statement. first of all we're very much where president obama has made it very clear he considers climate change to be one of the major issues facing mankind today. i was reading an article a few days ago in repeated more on greed energy per year than energy security around the world. over the last five years the administration spent roughly $39 billion per year financing grants to subsidize tax credits to bailing out the solar energy boondoggle with every renewable energy idea under the sun.

now we all recognize climate change is occurring but the fundamental difference is suitable the bid is the number one issue facing mankind and the president does. so entering into international agreement because he is committing the u.s. to meet certain requirements. so many of the rules coming out of the epa it better so controversial are implemented with the 2013 speech that he al like the climate action plan. so i was reading no legal opinion that says certainly

it is not the matter of law but the president making these agreements has through regulation pursued his commitments so that the u.s. is penalized because of these extreme actions. so reading from a legal opinion you are forcing a select set with communities and regions and businesses and utilities to bear a substantial part of what is a global problem that does you and your predecessor indicated asking

$425 million more than last year a lot of that money goes to hire additional lawyers to defend and litigate these extreme regulations. we'll look forward to the opportunity to explore this situation with you so i recognize the gentleman for three minutes as a. >> administrator mccarthy it is always a pleasure since to see you on this subcommittee for what you all are doing at the epa. i want to thank you so much for all the great work for the area and the land of and for the american people.

but you understand how we feel about you on this side. we might as well addressed the elephant in the room that is the proposed rules but on behalf of those of us it includes most of the american people that believes the climatologist conspired together to perpetrate that climate changes real to commend president the bombing and yourself for working to

address the serious issue all of our citizenry and everyone else around the globe. it is a significant opportunity to shift to cover many energy sources that have contributed greatly to the atmosphere for those forms of energy to help pull us back from the brink of disaster to set us on more stable footing. i applaud the epa for that approach that provides the utility is encouraged operators stick to remove

co2 emissions the sole to maintain a former of reliable energy. i look forward to engaging with you. >>. >> also want to welcome you administrator. with this hazardous waste that could be helpful and will look forward to collaborating with you on the call lash legislation but today is not just in the administrative exercise while we don't write the

checks the most majors bigelow authority delegated rest with this committee. >> as a legislator with the statutory naxos with the budget request the dead is implemented by the climate ready utility's water program and under the clean air act says chemical safety. these regulations can become complicated to add an unnecessary cost to the industry to the consumer. this chart is what we think is how cumbersome your proposal of a clean power plant could be by itself.

is the plan inputs reliability and energy and that they may face higher costs to suffer brownouts win its need. this leads to the energy future without placing the burden on the backs of consumers to sacrifice power plants to those across the country also those under the toxic substance control act on the agency transparency to set policy choices. there are particularly important as we work across the aisle and again i think the administrator for being year and a look forward to the conversation than the ones that follow and i give

remainder of my time. >> we're always glad to see madame administrator. i will ask about the china policy and talk to about the renewable fuel standards that under current law is not workable but we do appreciate your excess ability. >> this time we recognize the gentleman from new york. >> good morning. thank you for holding this hearing with the epa budget request and we welcome the administrator mccarthy for your keen intellect and respect your passion for stewardship and thank you

for being here today to discuss fiscal year 2016 budget request. the epa plays of vital role of citizens to maintain resources with our economy as you stated through the opening of your testimony public health in our linked and with the record of achievement to demonstrate it is consistent that if we're willing to make investments of infrastructure such as drinking water treatment and delivery we can create thousands of jobs with the coast line. to transfer the cost to state and local government

could even worst you delay maintenance and repairs and is which we depend. with the resources that become available with a contaminated property is unoccupied undeveloped for our community. and it does not become less expensive to clean this up at a later time but the cost rises. and to address the complex challenges of climate change and the structure does not repair itself and the impact is both increasing we need to address these issues now before the cost rises further. many members believe cutting the budget is a good thing

for the economy because a lower budget will block with regulations to force environmental laws the most either grants or loans that so welcome cuts the budget into an extra burden in our states. they should work together that they maintain on environmental protection accord to your testimony into working with you to continue our progress as a nation to environmental protection. thank-you. >> at this time i will recognize the chairman of the full committee for three minutes. >> we do appreciate the administrator for appearing before us with the budget

request. that we have never been disagreeable with a continued relationship. i am sad to say it looks like we can expect more of the same costly rules because i think some of the regulations will cost households big-time our businesses, manufacturing in michigan and across the country finally has an edge for the first time in years global manufacturers are eyeing michigan to relocate operations. the epa regulatory agenda threatens the cost to shift the advantage back to foreign manufacturers. it seems intent to locked in a long list of new regulations from putrid ministrations with new ozone standards that proved to be

the most expensive ever. i would like to see epa focused on current responsibilities before taking on new ones. with the new ozone rule even though it is well behind schedule implementing the existing standards and that makes this problematic program is made even difficult i remember your testimony last year we thought we would have an answer last spring. for your testimony presents an opportunity of common ground for example, to raise the rule on coal ash to go one step further with the permit authority to make sure the standards are enforced also to work much better for the states to have a benchmark to meet and managed the implementation. also for the people responsible handling the

combustion residuals everyday that are given the opportunity with the regulatory certainty that they need but last year they had reform overlap so let's work together on a good bipartisan legislation to improve safety through the interstate market for chemicals and products. thanks for being with us today. i yield back. >> now recognize the ranking member from new jersey for three minutes. >> thank you for being here today. a clean environment is not a luxury but the essential to public health and a strong economy and there on the front lines to make our water saver to drink and air to breathe fiscal year 2016

fonda the epa over the fiscal year through 2014 levels that is the minimum amount it needs to address the many challenges it is facing today which is the greatest is climate change. but the funds requested is a small portion of the overall federal budget less than one-quarter of 1% of over 40 percent do shared with the states to implement laws to achieve national goals for example, includes funding to protect human health with cleanup projects while promoting substantial economic growth and gains with property value. with their recent analysis

organizations is just one of the nine regions to provide 6200 jobs to contribute an estimated $334 million of annual income and other policy fount 3 miles of superfund sites was that 24 percent increase of value of the sites federating the. this budget will also invest than the aging of drinking water for structure by providing over funds under the safe drinking water act lendable provide safe systems will be on the fiscal year also for the president is commended for reducing the impact of climate change in this budget it provides funding for states to develop their own strategies also the efforts to go above and beyond the reduction goals

in the power sector some safety-kleen power plant is problematic but the reality is over the past 40 years clean-air regulations have tremendous public-health benefits while also supporting the economic growth. i appreciate the efforts to build cleaner resiliency my district has one of the distinctions to be the hardest hit by superstorm sandy and it will help to have adaptation planning. this is essential to protect the economy facing that devastating cost of climate change. five the forward to hearing from administrator mccarthy. >> at this time that concludes opening statements so now you are recognized for your five minutes of testimony. >> thank you.

also to the ranking members thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to discuss the epa proposed fiscal year 2016 budget by and joined by the agency's acting chief financial officer. the budget request $8.5 billion of discretionary funding for the 2016 fiscal year provides the resources that our vital to protect the health well building a solid path for for sustainable growth. since 1971 founded we have seen over and over a safe and farming and a safe economy go hand in hand. this budget addresses climate change to protect our water to support communities and environmental health to maintain court enforcement with needed research to work to a sustainable future for all americans.

it is a joint effort zero epa to set a high bar to look for opportunities for a closer collaboration and targeted joint planning for efforts light of the government's approach why the largest part of our budget 3.$6 billion, a 42% is provided directly to state and tribal partners. it includes an increase of $108 million for state and tribal grants. the budget request addresses client change to the improved air quality these resources will help protect those most foldable to climate impact with the harmful effects of air pollution to common-sense standards and guidelines and partnership programs. it is not just an environmental challenge but a threat to public health

and to national and international security. in particular the clean power plant that establishes standards for power plants and the budget cost is $4 billion from the incentive fund to support the state efforts to a accelerate carbon pollution reduction in the power sector. it remains a top priority for the epa in fiscal year 16 we will finalize and support implementation of the clean water rule to clarify the of waters covered under the clean water act with more efficient business decisions to look at the water's the efforts are funded at 2.3 billion dollars and we will work with partners to focus on issues such as financial planning with future public

infrastructure investment and efforts to identify financing opportunities for drinking water and storm water infrastructure. last of the agency launched if the resiliency finance center as a key component of our efforts moving for river posey bolted faceted effort to help communities including low income neighborhoods and communities of color with targeted funding through epa regional accord innate -- coordinators'. an investment of 16. $2 million will help communities to improve safety and security at chemical facilities to prepare for oil spills this is a sheriff covenant among those with the stake in facilities to first responders. fiscal year 2016 budget

request will allow was to make good difference to communities every day to give us the foundation to improve the infrastructure across the country to sustain federal environmental assets all across the programs. with the proposed budget the president not only sends a clear signal of their resources epa needs to work with states and tribes to protect the environment and also a part of the overall federal budget proposal that does not except the bad public policy of sequestration and does not hold back needed resources to increase needed defense spending or vice versa but instead the budget is a path forward to avoid sequestration to support both domestic and national security interest purpose mr. chairman i thank you for the opportunity to testify of the accord to answering

your questions. >> of now recognize myself five minutes for questions. first, how confident are you you can defend the use of the colt plan to roll? how confident are you can successfully defend the call planned rule? >> i'm confident because of the extent about reach to all the stakeholders i am confident that this sounds to move this in a way that is beneficial. >> du think the of reach would preempt what the language says of your position? >> i think it has specific

language allowing states to move forward. >> with your budget document you talk about further efforts are required to put them on introductory with the president's long-term goals. i assume you talk about the commitments made in copenhagen and china he said he wanted to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in america by 17% below the 2005 levels by 2020 and then be below those levels at 2025. correct? >> by referring to his understanding that climate changes a significant issue the administration has the authority to address and i am trying to make sure we deliver the plan effectively

>> how did he decide 17% below 25 levels? >> it is an international gold the u.s. government put forth. >> u.s. government presented that and that was the goal? and how was that determined? how did they reach that conclusion? to make you have to speak with the department to know that in standout. >> have you talked about that? >> the rules that the agency had under way. >> it is arbitrary. >> what we talk about now it is very concrete and they're concrete steps moving forward that our measurable. >> one thing that bothers us

when you testified in the senate 2014 you mentioned this is not about pollution control you said that in your statement. so this must me about honoring the president's commitment? >> was referring to the fact when you seek to address pollution many ways it is an investment opportunity versus a technology. >> so what is not about investment opportunities? >> but states can look at this as an opportunity. >> it is not about pollution control. >> with a clean power plant meets international commitment without the adoption of this rule that you are proposing?

>> the president has established aggressive goals commensurate with our interest to address climate domestically also meeting the commitment internationally but it is not focusing hour of legal efforts on any particular international or domestic gold just implementing under the clean air act symmetries and we're so upset is the cap-n-trade system was rejected by the congress but yet the president makes international commitments and is that the georgetown speech. then epa follows up so he could meet the international agreement. >> it is the direct application of the authority

congress gave us to move establish the power sector to address carbon pollution. >> my time is up. >> i want to express my gratitude for the of meetings that i had with the assistant administrator last january i but they for real expressed concerns of the nuclear provision and as i stated in my opening statement it gives to credit to all zero emission sources which not all may includes

removals' such as solar and wind and geothermal which i fully support also nuclear power generation. a whole state of illinois is the highest status of nuclear reactors 48% of the state's electricity. they run up to 90% capacity this is extremely efficient in comparison to any of their type of resource the goal is to reduce carbon emissions while venturing states provide safe and reliable electricity so nuclear power must play a central role to achieve this objective. i realize there are other

considerations that have resulted of nuclear being somewhat less competitive. . .preserve nuclear power in their energy portfolios while valueing the sources. it is important the final rule promote the use of zero emission such as renewables and nuclear energy if we are going to achieve the carbon reductions that the regulations was intended to reduce. my question to you madam administrator is would you agree that nuclear power must play a vital role in the clean power plan and that to allow states to provide zero emission that is

affordable, safe and reliable? >> i think it is a part of every state's strategy moving forward yes. >> can you assure the subcommittee that the epa is taking into account of states like illinois that might be impacted if nuclear plan is not credited in the plan to meet the carbon reductions? >> i will certainly agree that nuclear power is zero carbon and it is an important part of the baseload for many of the states and it should be considered by those states carefully in the development of their plans >> thank you. i would also like to continue to engage on this issue to make sure nuclear power is appropriately valued due to its carbon emissions and any rule that is proposed. madam