members of congress as a bipartisan effort to require the epa to have much better relationship to recognize the sovereignty of the navajo nation to expect that level of collaboration in for your arm process should be respected and supported. your welcome. >> i hope private citizens want the same thing. we appreciate the long distance traveled here written testimony is part of the record i appreciate the detail of your oral testimony. there may be other questions that members may have we will keep the official transcript, the record of committee opened 10 days.

and if there are questions please submit a written response within that time period. thank you for your testimony i promise we will not let this go through the? we will maintain until we have definitive answers and changes to go forward. without objection i am the only one here no one will object. the committee stands adjourned. [inaudible conversations]

c-span.org. [applause] >> next, jimmy carter gives an update on his cancer treatment to an audience at the carter center in atlanta. the former president was joined to discuss the senators global

initiatives and current world events. this is one hour. [applause] [applause] >> thank you very much to all of you. [inaudible] since i have announced that i have known this, i have been receiving treatment and i'm receiving radiation in my brain. there is a new medicine that has been developed for my disease

and it took me three weeks to learn how to say it. and i get those statements every three weeks and we will talk about that a little bit later on. i started off with 84 ounces of fluid and we are down to 64 ounces per day. so i have spent a lot of time in the restroom come as you can imagine. to that is the extent of things physically. i'm going to continue now with what we have been doing at the center. we have been working on a number of issues, as you well know. and we have been establishing

them ever since we founded it 32 years or so ago. and we have a very viable and well-qualified group of trustees. with 11 of them being approved by us. so we have a legally binding contract and we provide active programs as well in the academic background researching that sort of thing. so it's an interesting arrangement. we also have friends from many countries that have joined in to monitor the relations in treating diseases and that sort of thing.

and in the stock market i know exactly what it is now. [inaudible] we are going to continue. we have a new vice president and jordan, would you stand up, please? [applause] and the key has spent three or four years of united nations and we started at the carter center back in 1989 and we were

monitoring elections. this has been a stimulating and productive process. the professor has never had any democratic elections from the totalitarian government within certain bounds of what we have raised and we go on and monitor the first elections. sometimes a democracy will get so far with this party that they are not willing to compete in a troubled election. and quite often we have just finished out our 100 election act in may. so we are still going on with that and he is one of our

primary commitments. and that includes those who are desperately in need of that assistance. one of the programs is the most highly publicized and as you know, we started out with 23,600 villages and we are down now to poor countries and so far we have only 11 cases in the whole world. [applause] and we hope that this will be the second that we have eradicated. and we also have an ongoing exhibit at the american museum of natural history and it has

been very popular there and it is going to be until january of 2017. and so they have extended it several times. we are looking at the possibility of putting this exhibit in london and that has not been finalized yet. dog and so that was the main

focus. and that includes how we cannot go there. so other people will be representing me. so we are continuing and that includes this in the bible and so forth and that includes the quality of treatment knowing about these facts. until recently i have been traveling and i have traveled as much as i ever have before.

and we also went later to russia with a group of people called elders and there were six of us and we met with former president gorbachev and then we met with clever putin in a private place where he lives and we discussed all of the issues that he now has on the agenda with president obama and other leaders around the world. and one of the things that i am not going to go into detail about, he was saying how much he has been working with the opposition and what he hoped to

see develop was an arrangement whereby russia and the united states respond to just three other countries. one would be iran and the other would be saudi arabia. and the third would be turkey. so if you think about the geography, that is a wise decision and they can agree on the future for syria that would be most likely to be accepted by other countries and i said, that is a good idea, what does obama say when you visit him. [inaudible] and that includes meeting with vladimir putin to explore that idea. we need to get on the same side whenever we possibly can with russia and also with china to

promote peace in the world in harmony. as well as economic development. and i would say that he is the most powerful leader of china. they have had four or five in between, but he is very powerful. then treating each other with respect and as equals. china has emerged to be one of the greatest powers on earth since we have normalized diplomatic relations since 1979. and china announced then that there would be a reform and they

performed at within china letting people to move around and they also now have diplomatic relations with every country in so they have become the second-largest economy and are destined to become the top economy. they have some great challenges ongoing in china right now with which xi jinping has to deal and i'm hoping that he and president obama can common ground. we have been normalizing relations since the second world war, since 1980 they have not been in war with anyone. my hope is that they can cooperate. so that is happening this month as a matter of that.

and i have been asked to mention people to have access to information. and especially to know what government is doing. that includes what kinds of sales are made, resources, things of this kind. we kind of take it for granted because we have had partially implement of gloucester whiteley while that are still not perfect. but we are trying to do that with countries all over the world and we are working hard to make sure that women have a right and same access as men to the legal insight into what the government is doing. and that includes what loans they can get and agricultural assistance and things of that

kind. but we have found that women are very deprived on an equal basis and so we are finding that as well. so that will be the last thing that i mention. we have just finished the 220 million that deals with this and they have transformed the agents now in changing the basic goals in dealing with this. and in the past we have just try to control this by giving one dose of medicine and they won't have it for another year and they have found out that they

had more than one dose per year, up to four doses per year, it could completely limited the disease from that country in latin america and this includes how we have taken that knowledge to africa instead of just trying to completely eliminate it. [inaudible] and we have just talked about it on a country by country exists and that is part of this.

and the disease is transmitted exactly by the same mosquito and to see if we can get rid of this at the same time. so we are doing that all over nigeria and we are trying to illuminate both of them. and as you know haiti is a very poor country on the dominican republic. and we have been able to reduce the amount of malaria in the dominican republic by two thirds and then in haiti by 33% in the last few years and as far as haiti is concerned this is since the earthquake took place.

so those are the things that i wanted to say to bring you up-to-date and i will turn the program over now to the center and then at the end of this we will answer your questions. >> this week we have a journalism fellowship. this is a program that was started 19 years ago and what else can we do about stigma and overcoming stigma and that includes living with mental illnesses so that they can report accurately and in depth. so this is our 19th year since we have trained 165. since we have expanded it in

colombia is part of this. this is my favorite program of the year, it is so exciting to the people come in from all over our country. we have 117 applications and so so many people are interested in mental health that it is just getting to be really exciting. and that includes the outgoing report on what they have done. and we have five people from columbia. it's a little bit different and

two people work on the same issue. and it's based just outside and the whole university has supported us and it makes so much difference with those that are really working on it and this has just been special to us. and that includes this this past year and learning about so many things that have been going on in the country. and they gave us that she and i'm just going to point out the

supporting of inhumane practices at the facility. and that includes the changes and that includes earning more than the psychiatric beds and one of the places. and so that is exciting. so we begin our program again and the first time we have ever done and they had one

psychiatrist that was part of it and so we started off and we just finished and we've had about the same number as before in each class when we actually trained about 165. and that includes the program and access to all of it to teach people about ebola and how contagious it was and what people can do. they did overcome this and they

had one that came up later. but it was really satisfying to be able to do that. so i would also like to thank everyone for the support and in spite of all that is going on it so great to know that we have had that kind of support. [applause] >> president and mrs. carter will take as many questions as we have time for tonight. and i want to thank those of you here who submitted questions and those who submitted questions

via twitter. we have chosen those that represent the main lines of interest. president carter, there were a number of questions about your health that i believe you have addressed. and so we are going to move on to an easy one. and this one is from the audience. the whole world is concerned by the european migrant crisis, how can this be solved globally. >> as you know that includes the founding of our country. [inaudible] and we continue that. and we have used a good example

to encourage the europeans and others to accept immigrants as well. so it started off with very open arms and then eventually closed down the borders pretty strictly. so i think it will be interesting to get all the european countries to agree to check a certain quota. including what i'm talking about, there's about $125,000 a year and the estimate is $400,000 for your. so even though they are generous at the borders, i don't know what is going to happen and i think president obama has announced the recipients receive 10,000 in two years which is

part of the total. and as you know there is not an easy answer to it. and we now know the refugees from war zones. even after the second world war. and so about a fourth of the total population now of refugees from syria and jordan also is heavily afflicted. and turkey has also taken a lot of those refugees very at sigh really think that the united states should follow up with these suggestions and after this

is approved and russia and the united states, i think that mistakenly at first there is a possibility being involved in deciding what will happen to them in the future. so many times they take the opposite position which would have included bashar al-assad, but the united states decided that we should not do that. and as you know russia and iran have supported the bashar al-assad government and now isis has basically taken over a good portion of syria. so that would be the first major step and i have my own ideas about what to do. the peace program is leading in many ways to evolve some arrangement whereby a general

cease-fire and process set up and we meet with the united nations and other leaders even those involved in the war itself. even the one that the carter center has originated so that they know where these rapidly changing forces are. so to deal with this in war and peace is a first step that needs to be taken and then every country should be generous and accepting. there is no answer to it, really. >> this program was done by one of our interns watching social media. and he can tell people about

this and it's really remarkable. >> it is, indeed. president carter, this question comes from tara brewster in the audience. as the naval academy's most distinguished graduate, what advice can you give a high school student seeking to attend the academy and served the country upon graduation. >> there are a lot of graduates that would disagree with you. [laughter] and first of all study hard and make high grades. secondly, if your parents aren't involved in politics like mine were, get your application in. and i knew when i was six years old and my sole purpose was to get into the naval academy and the only thing that i could say when someone would ask what are you going to do when you grow up

great and i said that i was going to go to the naval academy and become a naval officer. and so a few prospective applicants and graduates like me many are accommodating. but looking at family and looking at students. and if i really believe that there would be an outstanding applicant i could give them a letter of approval. but i wouldn't do that automatically. i think they are very strict about making recommendations unless i really believe that that particular student should be in the naval academy. so the best thing to do is talk about this very exciting career. >> thank you.

mrs. carter. can you give us an update on your large family? >> well, he really has exploded. we have 12 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. and of course the grandchildren have spouses and we have 36 or 37. i can't keep up. it's great so far. but we have 23 and we schedule them one week to be here. but during that one week we have a 21 that are here until we get to see them and it's really quite wonderful. >> with the recent iranian nuclear deal, your opinion come

how should the u.s. and other global powers deal with nations who have nuclear weapons and ambitions? .. >>

>> it is backed unanimously by those countries. and those that go in another direction basically is a necessary. during 1994 to deal with the crisis in north korea. but the leader was revered and worship like jesus christ but together. i am not exaggerating. and for north korea to be the allied nation -- the outlaw nation and my friends

said they did have but to save face in the military general in charge said that the south korean would be killed in the first 48 hours so we negotiated the agreement that put the plutonium and atomic weapons. but now this week they announced they will expand development. but i think they need to rigidly enforce the treaty and this permits iran by the

way they have the right to develop that that many people think it isn't just a peaceful program. and those adult comply now pakistan or india or a new country like south sudan. so they may be the biggest threats to nuclear peace. at all think north korea would attack anybody that would be suicidal for them or i ray hadn't even if they cheat would attack because

israel has nuclear weapons and we would respond to destroy the whole country so it depends primarily on the enforcement of the proliferation treaty and for those that violate or refuse to sign the non-proliferation treaty i was very disappointed with bush and now obama to help india. but we let politics overcome the approach to a program so i think that treaty is the best way to. >> we have a question from online orlando florida from steve.

dear president and mrs. carter knu address the role of forgiveness and the peace initiative to have been involved with? if peace is even possible without some level of forgiveness? >>. [laughter] we wrote a book on this a number of years ago the analysis that i made as my own experiences as a mediator but the same causes the civil war breeze -- inside a country is what causes a husband and wife to get a divorce to cause friction between parents and child and students on a college campus. with the absence or the willingness to communicate

that is necessary through a mediator and that is the basic cause. the people are within a country could just talk with each other with mutual respect and mutual forgiveness than most altercations could be resolved peacefully. if they are not willing or able to forgive the other person directly then to call a mediator. or just buy my books. [laughter] i do give some examples that i have experienced in my life. i also teach the saving in bible lessons that sunday school. the sunday before last the

subject was forgiveness and i gave this example. >> so to jump in on those negotiating sessions years ago with we didn't have the staff that we do now i would take notes while he negotiated. you cannot believe how much people hate each other and there will never forget. but when a really good negotiator because he has done some significant negotiating. [applause] >> i certainly agree. mrs. carter, just for you, what progress of mental health issues you see in the next five years and what

your goals for the united states mental-health system? >> to overcome the stigma for everybody who has a mental health issue get help and it should be what it is. to cover mental health the same way they do other issues. but we are seeing a lot of progress. i'm keeping my fingers crossed i think it is happening fast. removing back to the community through the mental health community. and with the integration of services and substance abuse but having mental health professionals and primary

carrier -- of the primary-care doctors office is great. because many people have mental health issues also and this brings them together in the office and primary care doctor office so to be sure that person gets treatment. the medical schools don't get training on mental-health as they should. it is better but when we started working on this many years ago, some schools had six weeks or three months. but no schools had more because we did not know how to treat people back then.

but there is still much research going on working on prevention and if they can recover from mental illness. >> much of that thinks this to mrs. carter's old efforts over many decades. [applause] floor -- president carter building on the success is there another disease you theme we could eradicate in the next 20 years? >> really the only organization that analyzes every human illness to see which might possibly be