permanently and fully funding the land and water conservation fund will help ensure that the outdoor places that we all enjoy will be protected for future generations to enjoy as well. so, mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that the energy and natural resources committee be discharged of the senate and the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 2101, and i ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. lee: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: mr. president, reserving the right to object, i want to point out the federal government currently owns over 600 million acres of land across the united states. in the opinion of many americans, that's way too much. some of my colleagues are pushing a piece of legislation to reauthorize the land and

water conserve a little fund -- land conservation fund or lc -- lwcf. and they want to do this before making a single reform to that program. before taking a drastic and i believe misguided step, i'd ask my colleagues to examine the federal government's current landholdings and, in particular, evaluate the manner in which they are being maintained. in many western states, the largest landowner is the federal government. now, in my home state of utah, the federal government owns close to 70% of the land within the state. this reality is hard for a lot of my colleagues, particularly many from states east of the mississippi river, to even comprehend. imagine if the federal government could tell your constituents where they could live, recreate, hunt and fish and how they could earn a living imagine that the federal

government used its vast landholding to block development of valuable natural resources. imagine further that the land and water conservation fund was used to acquire privately held lands from your constituents. given how much land the federal government owns, it's not surprising to find out that much of it is rather poorly maintained. specifically, the department of interior currently has a maintenance backlog on federal public lands with an estimated cost between $13.5 billion and $20 billion. instead of looking to acquire even more land through the lwcf, the federal government should focus on properly managing the land that it already owns. now, make no mistake, the lwcf is a land acquisition program. according to a congressional research service report from october 2014 -- quote -- "the $16.8 billion appropriated throughout the history of the

lwcf program has been unevenevenly indicated among federal land acquisition, 62%, and the state grant program, 25%, and other purposes, 13%." today we're talking about the expiration of the lwcf's ability to accrue additional revenues to the fund, nothing more, nothing beyond that. just that. according to the c.r.s., lwcf currently has an unappropriated balance of around $20 billion that can be appropriated to implement lwcf projects. if you assume the current rate of appropriations -- roughly $300 million per year -- it would take around 60 years before that fund was exhausted. at full appropriation, $900 million, it would take about 20 years. when we wake up tomorrow after allowing lwcf's authorization to expire, nothing will have

substantively changed. both the senate energy and natural resources committee and the house natural resources committee are working to reform the lwcf to address the numerous issues that i've raised today. i know i speak for many of my colleagues in the west when i say that the lwcf reform, he is is -- especially with regard to federal land acquisition, is a necessary condition to reauthorization. and on that basis, mr. president, i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: mr. president, i would also like to be able to speak to this. the land and water conservation fund, 20% of the land of the united states is already under federal ownership. let me clarify that. this is not federal control, federal ownership, 29% of the land. there's $20 billion in deferred maintenance on that land. $20 billion. so there's a significant issue

that we face here, where a tremendous amount of land that is owned by the federal government that is not being managed properly, including over $11 billion just in our national parks that's not being done. the issue is here, what is this land and water conservation fund going to be used for? continuing to acquire new land. it's actually prohibited under the structure of this account to actuallyto do any of the -- actually do any of the maintenance. so we're talking about expanding land holdings all right with 20% -- already at 20% of the united states -- and we're continuing to complain there's not enough money to go around and get things done. assuming this was the only program that actually did land acquisition under federal control. in the past seven years, there have been 130 conservation banks also set up by fish and wildlife service. now, this 130 different conservation banks that are scattered around the united states actually take private land and set it aside what they call perpetual set-aside.

this is land that's still in private ownership but that is under conservation that can never be changed from its current status. just in the recent decades, 160,000 acres have been moved into that in what they're calling these conservation banks. so just to reiterate, we have this growing amount of land that's being taken into federal ownership through the land and water conservation fund, and then we have a separate set of programs -- and this is only one of many programs -- that's moving other land into federal control and mitigation and we have this expanding control of the federal government. now, we should have national parks. we should have land that's set aside for public use. that's not the issue. but we're not taking care of what we currently have. now, the key issue here is, what do we do with this program and how do we reform it? as has already been mentioned is the key issue. if the land and water conservation fund has a reform, there are ways to be able to handle some of our deferred maintenance and the backlog that is there. if it doesn't have any reform at

all, we're continuing to purchase new land. but one key thing that's in this as well, as it currently stands right now, the land and water conservation continues to function. nothing changes about it. the only thing that changes as of tomorrow is that we're not adding new dollars into it. $20 billion is already sitting in that fund. enough money to fund this program at current rate for 65 years. 65 years worth of savings that's all right built up in this program. i think it's fairly safe at this point. strangely enough, the land and water conservation fund is more stable than social security is. so the argument to say that there's some urgent emergency here, to be able to take care of it and to continue to add dollars to it without reform, i think won't work. we need to reform this program. we need to manage carefully the land that we have and we can do that. so i would highly suggest the committees continue to still do their work to be able to continue to reform this program. and with that, i would also join

in the objection to extending it as it currently exists today. with that, i yield back. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. heinrich: mr. president, my colleague from utah purports to speak for westerners. i want to make it clear, he doesn't speak for new mexico, he doesn't speak for me and he doesn't speak for my constituents. and he certainly doesn't speak for the businesses that write me letters speaking about how the land and water conservation fund has benefited their businesses, particularly businesses that rely on tourism and outdoor recreation. that rely on places like the vias caldera national preserve, that rely on places like the rio grande national monument for their livelihood. and the reason why as westerners i can take my kids out and go hunting on public land and the reason why we can go camping and cut firewood to heat our homes is because of the public land

that the land and water conservation fund has provided in places like new mexico. we had a hearing in the energy and natural resources committee, and if anything, what we heard is that we didn't need to reform this program, that, frankly, it was working better than just about any program in the federal government. lwcf works. it has bipartisan broad support. it creates recreation jobs that are key to western states. lwcf buys from willing sellers in places that oftentimes reduce how much we spend on minimum taken-- maintaining and protecting and managing our federal lands. imagine inholdings that make it harder for our foresters to manage wildfire and to protect and do the work that we need to do, to do a better job of managing wildfire across the

west. so many of these issues that have been raised, particularly reform, are a red herring for what is truly an ideological opposition to the land and water conservation fund. a program that has put soccer fields and baseball diamonds in just about every little town across the united states. all of my counties, many of my cities have benefited from sports fields specifically from this fund for decades now. as well as purchases like the new national wildlife refuge in albuquerque's south valley, the vialadora national wildlife refuge, something that the local community has enormous pride in. they had a friends group set up for this wildlife refuge before the refuge even existed. so it is an indication of just how off base and out of the

mainstream some of our conversations in washington, d.c., have become, that we have this ideological opposition to the land and water conservation fund, a program that is actually working as it was designed to work and that has brought bipartisan support from one coast to the other in this nation. so i am disappointed in the actions of my colleagues. this issue is not going away. we have a strong coalition. we're going to continue to fight for the reauthorization of the land and conservation -- land and water conservation fund. and i would argue we ought to stop taking money out of the land and water conservation fund and using it to cover other expenses in the general fund. that we should remain true to the concept of this fund as it was created back in the 1960's under secretary udall and return to a level of fiscal responsibility where the money flowing into the land and water conservation fund actually

benefits land and water. with that, i would -- i would yield back the rest of my time, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the the presiding officer: i ask unanimous consent the senate be in a period of morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 238, s. 2078. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 238, s. 2078, a bill to reauthorize the united states commission on international religious freedom and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there

objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the bill be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i now ask unanimous consent the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of s. res. 266 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 266, designating september 2015 as national kinship care month. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 2617, which was received from the house. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 2617, an acted to amend the fair minimum wage act of 2007 to postpone a scheduled increase in the minimum wage applicable to american samoa. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the isakson amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, the amendment to the title be agreed to and the motions to reconsider be laid

upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m., thursday, october 1. following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following leader remarks, the senate be in a period of morning business for one hour with senators permitted to speak therein. further, that the time be equally divided with the majority controlling the first half, the democrats controlling the final half. further, that following morning business, the senate then resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h.r. 2029 with the time until 1:45 equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. finally, that notwithstanding the provisions of rule 22, the senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to h.r. 2029 at 1:45. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. mcconnell: if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until

>> guest: we were unable to pass and a preparation spell that would last for six months. the house managed to get through six before it stalled out in the senate was not able to take a penny. the democrats were saying they were not happy with the republicans undermining framework and blocked me those making to the poor. >> host: it passed in the senate by a vote of 78-20. you tweeted about the boat in the house saying the final tally on the cr, 277-151, one of the most painless votes on the spending bill we have seen in a while in the house. how did house leaders make sure that was a painless boat? >> guest: the biggest thing was john boehner announcing that he would retire at the end of october. there was a lot of pressure before for him to kill federal funding for planned parenthood using that spending bill and democrats said they would not allow it. conservatives were using it to challenge boehner speakership in order to force him to the right

in with him announcing his retirement that lifted the weight off to his shoulders for him to go ahead and put a so-called clean stopgap on the floor leaving planned parenthood funding in place and leaving it acceptable to democrats. the deadline didn't hurt either. >> host: you mentioned at the beginning december 11 is the short-term spending measure so what is does the cr include? >> guest: this year includes relatively flat funding levels for most federal agencies. it includes an extra $700 million to fight emergency wildfires in the west. it includes a flat level of funding for the pentagon to go fight wars and to go fight isil. it also includes special provisions for the department of veterans affairs to finish building a hospital in denver and to help get through the backlog. >> host: as the fiscal year and the cr passes the senate and in the house you tweeted shutdown threat evaporates for now but major storm clouds ahead

to what are some of those storm clouds? >> guest: the same pressures that were on the speaker this time. they will only get punted an otherwise it's going to add that. people want to negotiate a new budget deal to raise the spending caps to get final appropriations bills through. there is pressure from both hardees to do that particularly republicans defense people who want spending for the pentagon. there a lot of conservatives who say they don't want that and they will fight tooth and nail to make sure that doesn't happen. there's action on the debt limit required in november december deal on highways that will need to happen and potentially tax expenditure so it's coalescing at the end of year it could be really messy. >> and a change in leadership ahead in the house with a vote in the conference on october 8. how might the change in leadership complicate the negotiations ahead of the budget and other issues? >> guest: boehner is under extreme pressure from democrats to negotiate as much as he can

on some sort of a budget deal with the white white house and majority leader mitch mcconnell. democrats say they know how to deal with john boehner and they want to get as much time as possible but frankly it's going to be hard to get all that taken care of and a lot of the responsibility will fall to kevin mccarthy the front-runner for speaker. kevin is going to be under the same pressures that boehner was under with a really focal right flank that will want to push him to not make a deal and the same with the republican presidential field. >> host: on the senate side of things the senate passed their continuing resolution handily 78-20. what is mitch mcconnell said about the future for appropriations and working on the budget not only with the house but with the white house as well? >> guest: mcconnell has been been very blunt to the last few weeks. first of all he said there will not be shut down this year and he's been straightforward about how he thinks there needs to be a budget deal in order to make sure that happens.

that means negotiating with the white house to raise the spending cap finding ways to offset it that increase spending in a mentioned earlier this week at him and boehner talk with president obama earlier this month in negotiations over the budget appear to be starting. >> host: tamar hallerman covers our preparations and "cq roll call" and you can follow her on twitter at sub tree and report her of -- reader reporting at cq.com. thank you very much. >> guest: thank you. >> mr. president we now have information that the russians

have now launched airstrikes in syria ostensibly against isis. in reality it is not clear. in fact there is information that some of these strikes were at homes and the latest information is that the syrian observatory for human rights reports that at least 27 people were killed and that six children were among the dead. these strikes in the city of homes is not under control of isis of the islamic state. so already we are seeing the true intentions of vladimir putin, which is to maintain a strong position in syria, its foothold in the middle east and is propping up of bashar al-assad.

bosch are assad who has killed at least 250,000 of his own citizens do the horrible process of barrel bombing, has driven millions into refugee status with the full and complete support of iran and vladimir putin. i said to my colleagues over the past six and a half years president obama has sounded retreat across the middle east. in fact it was one year ago at this time that the president of united states had our strategy to degrade and destroy isis. a report yesterday some 28 thousand european and some american have come into the fight on the side of isis. also ramadi remains in the hands of isis and the continued

advances of isis in syria are well-known. in short a year ago after the president made that statement there is no strategy, there is no success and in fact we now see the result of this failure which is a flood of refugees out of syria and iraq because they have given up hope of ever returning to their homeland. our hearts go out to those who are big thumbs and have had to flee their homeland in the said cds reputation of breaks are of breaks her heart when we see a baby's body washed up on the beach. he didn't have to happen. it didn't have to happen. everybody knows that when the president of the united states said we would draw a red line in syria it had a profound effect on the middle east and sunni and arab states as well as shia.

everybody knows that when the president turned down the recommendations of the secretary of defense and secretary of state which happen to be secretary clinton at the time and his secretary of defense on the free syrian army and he turned it down was another moment. this is a series of decisions or decisions that has led to the situation we see today where vladimir putin may have inserted russia into the middle east in a way that russia has not enjoyed since 1973 when anwar sadat threw the russians out of egypt. he is still on course to repeat this nightmare by restoring nearly all u.s. forces from afghanistan as well as in the last couple of days the taliban capturing the strategic city of

kunduz and that is terrible in that respect that kunduz is in the northern part of afghanistan where it was believed was barely stable showing the ability of the taliban and the effects of our throw. but i come back to syria and the russian at two goodies today. after four years in syria there united states tested by as bashar al-assad, the war on the syrian people goes on and on and on and as the slaughter has been the single greatest contributor to the rising continued success of isil. have no doubt it was about -- bashar al-assad that gave birth to isil. the president said for years, for years that assad must go but he is done nothing that has brought us any closer to achieving that outcome. my friends it's not that we have done nothing but what it is we

have not done anything that would reverse the trend and in any way further the goal of the president articulated a year ago that we would destroy, degrade and destroy isil. in short this administration has confused our friends, encouraged our enemies, caution and prudence and replace the risk of action with the perils of inaction. into the wreckage of this administration's middle east policy has now stepped vladimir putin and in ukraine is also where he perceives the inaction and caution as weakness and he is taking full advantage. over the past few weeks vladimir putin has been engaged in a significant military world deploying strike aircraft and by the way he is also deploying aircraft that are air-to-air,

not air to ground. my friend's isis has no air force. it's a significant buildup of bombers, tanks artillery and russian military personnel. meanwhile our secretary of state calls lavrov frantically and asks him what's going on. not once, not twice but three times. my friends it was obvious what vladimir putin is doing in these airstrikes are a logical follow-on to his ambition which is realizing to play a major role in syria, to observe the port of latakia to prop up bashar al-assad and play a major role in the middle east. all of this is not lost on countries in the region. last time, today vladimir putin escalated his involvement as russian pilots carried out their first airstrikes in syria. initially ports as i mentioned

that they are hitting targets which are not controlled by isil. that should surprise no one because vladimir putin's primary authority and responsibility and ambition is to prop up bashar al-assad against all of his enemies. the white house's said quote it's unclear exact weight what russia's intentions are. my friends i am not making that up. the white house has said it's unclear exactly what russia's intentions are. if the white house is confused about putin's intentions and plans in syria than the united states is even in worse trouble than many fear because it's not hard. it's not hard to discern what vladimir putin wants. in fact from russia's military program in syria to its recently announced military and

intelligence coalition with syria iran and iraq. remember iraq is a country where we lost thousands of american lives and now the iraqi government announced that sharing intelligence with syria and iran. amazing, amazing. putin's ambitions are obvious. my friends he wants to prop up assad them play kingmaker and any transition undermined policy and operations and ultimately expand russian power in the middle east to the degree as i mentioned, unseen since 1973. this week at the united nations president obama said quote the united states is prepared to work with any nation including russia and iran to resolve the syrian conflict. they require self dilution of tremendous to believe that russia and iran have any interest in resolving the syrian

conflict. they seek only to keep the murderous assad regime in power. russia's intervention in syria will prolong and complicate this horrific war. and the main beneficiary will be isil which has fed off the ethnic and sectarian divisions fostered by the assad regime. it is tragic. it is tragic my fellow americans that we have reached this point. a syrian conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people created the worst refugee crisis in europe since world war ii, sponsored terrorist army of tens of thousands and now created a platform for a russian autocrat within iranian theocrat to prop up the syrian date later. it did not have to be this way.

but this is the inevitable consequence of hollow words, red lines crossed, tarnished moral influence, meeting from behind and a total lack of american leadership. my friends, today in the "washington post" there is an article by david ignatius. mr. ignatius quotes ryan crocker, one of the great diplomat that i have ever had the honor and privilege to know. ryan crocker says quote russia has played a horrible hand brilliantly. we folded what could have been a pretty good hand argues ryan crocker a retired u.s. diplomat who has served in nearly every hotspot in the middle east and is among the nation's wisest analysts of the region. quote the russians returned to a defensive position into an offensive one because we were so completely absent.

ryan crocker is right. i would also remind my friends that because of american and action the countries in the region are making their own accommodations. syria, excuse me saudi arabia evolved into russia and arms deals. the saudi arabians bought $17 billion of weapons from russia. uae 7 billion. would that have happened 10 years ago? of course not. they see america weeding and they are up, dating. and we have of course refused in many respects to give the kind of restless particularly that the kurds need. mr. president i won't go on too much longer. i will summarize by saying that

this is a very sad day for america and the world. the world is watching. it's not confined to the middle east. we see vladimir putin continue to dismember ukraine and now some funny separatist elections are going to be held in the area that we now control -- he controls. the chinese leader made some nice comments about how they would stop hacking that they have been able to compromise our most important industrial military and other secrets. we will see if that happens but they are also continuing their expansion of the islands in the south china sea. throughout the world and absence of american leadership, it's very visible and very interested by nations throughout the world. today we see vladimir putin

attacking with his airplanes not just isis but others who are enemies of bosh are assad. i would like to also add that these airstrikes are indiscriminate in nature and there has been no attempt whatsoever to stop the horrible bombing as general david petraeus recommended before the armed services committee just a few days ago. so, this is a bad day and it's a time for american leadership and at the time that president obama woke up to the realities in the world and reassert american leadership and that does not mean we are going to send thousands of ground troops back into iraq or syria but it does mean we developed the policy. in the case, i am told that these bombings that the american government has said that

american plane should not fly and that's we have somehow approved of these airstrikes. i do not know if that is true or not. i hope that it is not true. what we should be saying to vladimir putin is that you fly but we fly anywhere we want to, when and how we want to and you had better stay out of the way. that's the message that should be sent to vladimir putin. so i hope that the american people understand how serious this is. and that this rogue dictator named vladimir putin can only understand a steadfast and strong american policy that brings america's strength back to bare bear. we are still the strongest nation in the world. and now it's time for us to act like it. mr. president i suggest the

absence of a quorum.

zmapp studentcam is c-span2's annual documentary -- for grades six through 12. it's an opportunity for students to think critically about issues of national importance by creating a five to seven minute documentary. it's important for students to get involved because it gives them the opportunity and a platform to have their voices heard on issues that are important to them so they can express those views by creating a documentary. we do get a wide range of entries. the most important aspect for every documentary that we get is going to be content. we have had winners in the past created by using a cell phone and others that are created using our high-tech equipment but once again it's really the content that matters and shines through in these documentaries. the response from students in the past has been great. we have had many different issues that they have created videos on that are important to them. we have topics ranging from

economy and the environment showing a wide variety of issues that are important for students. ..

>> >> there is a vital role the federal government plays. it is especially vital for students with disabilities.

>> >> good morning. in my judgment the threat to the homeland has never ben greater. this is a product of isis

growing in the region in iraq and syria with foreign fighters flying to the region then come back to europe or to the united states. we had over 30,000 foreign fighters from over 100 countries travel the caliphate to fight. 5,000 individuals with a great concern with over to and ordered 50 americans travel from the united states to the region many of. have returned to the death states. this threat coupled with the spread of the internet that we have seen to now a new generation of terrorist using the internet to radicalize individuals with the united states.

and the task force in a bipartisan way and the findings are concerning that number one the press is getting worse, not better. to keep americans from the of battlefield because they go to the region then they come back. but most aboard the awacs the national strategy to deal with this problem. retest the delegation to europe expected to travel from iraq to syria into western europe and they don't put these citizens past their watchless.

and then the strategy of where it exists to eliminate that threat to continue to have this problem and and tell -- until we have and never in the united states to deal with radicalization from within on the prevention side, we will continue to have a problem in the united states. the statistics are alarming alarming, nearly 70 isis' followers have been arrested in the last year in the united states of america. that is a wake-up call to action and what this task force was grown to do and i am hopeful to produce legislation with the key findings of this report from

the task force. so with that they install the members to come together something that you don't see very often in this congress. and recognize the ranking member. >> listing did say bipartisan effort of the holman security committee the had a specific mission to produce legislation and there is no question with the terrorist threat with americans going to join the

ford fighters are brought or with isil. or we could determine to get back into the united states so what we have is a bipartisan task force to look specifically at this issue. they produced a report and now i love for word to the bipartisan efforts to produce legislation based on this report. the chairman is correct this committee is one of few committees here in the congress where bad people want to hurt americans so it is in that spirit we offer the task force report but we look forward to meaningful

legislation because of this task force. >> and don't check party affiliation before they kill americans my winter introduce fed chairman of the task force. >> working with komen security if we do things you're supposed to be doing if we see a problem we attack the problem. and to empower us to do this job and form a task force. with the 68 member briefings and eight foreign countries. and those that we travel to high will highlight. we sat across from prime

minister benjamin that audion who talking about the isis the red and terrorist threats and then travel to baghdad on the front lines from the leaders of iraq for go into turkey into syria and what they're doing about it if anything. and the counterparts to figure out why there are such keeping the holes in western europe and that is one of the alarming findings that we have had. there are 5,000 westerners at least i say at least to join the fight. many are from europe.

and to determine if somebody is going to turkey or to use syria. that is a huge problem for us because when they come back they may decide to go to the united states. then you have the problem of 250 americans who have traveled to the zone those individuals pose a huge threat and a couple of different ways if they go there and fight it is the major ticking time bomb and then joined the fight with them then they help tier radicalize individuals over the internet is the united states that is probably the biggest problem for the united states that is the most difficult for law

enforcement officials because over the last year alone said to plan those sizes pervaded attacks there is a lot of work we have to do going forward this is also about presenting solutions. 32 specific solutions but i will tell you the general overviews of those. and the issues that we have to address the keeping security in the polls to try to get european senate counterparts throughout the world to work with us to have a centralized database. and to combat domestic radicalization we have to figure out to identify them to do the work at the

community level. and have a a a national strategy we don't have that also had to do better job to identify those individuals also how are they recruiting americans here? that dark space we cannot monitor. and have to figure out how to do a better job with that. have a good global allies in a much more corrugated fashion those that were identified with information sharing and to do a better job of that the recommendations are specific i want to take everybody

involved to do their great job lot of the democratic side and the freshman congressman real all work together i think the report shows we have done our homework. the key to the chairman 80 very much. >> if they keep for your hard work. >> i want to thank the ranking members for officiating this effort fed chairman took over this committee read after he went into congress sub like to thank the rest of my colleagues who worked very

hard over the last six months i will not repeat what has already been said that we're dealing with the enemy but in this case they want to cause a lot of harm in we have that the founder fred over the last six months before our very eyes because the issue of the internet radicalization things happening all over the place. the most important thing of the report is it shows we have a lot more work to do so we can confront the threat and our committee has come together in a bipartisan fashion but it should have no party lines because it is an american issue with the safety of our people and hopefully we can

convince our colleagues to move forward with this crisis. >> chairmen and ranking member it is up pleasure to work alongside of you guys spent over nine years in the cia in the back alleys chasing a al qaeda and the taliban. seen this up close and personal and isis is scary. it clear and present danger to the united states we need to do everything we can to stop them in their tracks. but information sharing has improved since i joined the ncaa in 2000. that is good to see but a lot still can be done and the chairman with our european partners need to do more to use the information.

one of the scary things about isis is the ability to leverage social media to get the message out. they're touching millions of people per day. to inspire people to say come to do syria but we need to get the message out your likely to get a bomb dropped on your head. so to a - - hour minimum on a grounder drove a great job. i am looking forward to continue working with this committee to make sure we protect the men and women of the united states of america >> first of all, banks for allowing me to be part of this extremely important task force. the work we we're doing was the full recognition that

our major concern is terrorist attacks on american soil while we were on normal eastern and european trip occurred and it was a wake-up call to what we we're doing protecting american in some american soil. they are looking to do attacks on american soil. one of the challenges of a three multiplied forces on the ground we had better cooperation between the law enforcement agency than we ever had but we still have a lot of improvement. to have a force multiplier between local law enforcement and first responders there was a lot more improvement in one end of the areas i am focused upon after hearing about the attack is how do we

integrate those local law enforcement that can provide intelligence to the federal government to use resources better. we will look at how to better improve that with cooperation but we still have found ways to do that better. thanks for allowing me to participate. >> hq. it is of pleasure and an honor to be appointed to this task force the work is exactly what the freshman colleagues and by a did what we came to do to solve problems and impact the security zone i was shooting 30 mm against this type of threat while serving in the air force 26 years and the

threat has grown and metastasized to something which more nimble said terrorist are working fast career at the speed of bureaucracy we don't even nova numerator we don't know who was radicalized for food travels ursids at home right now to be radicalized by the internet this is the threat we have to be much more nimble and responsive i appreciate the of work of a task force for the we have got to be doing of better job to address the threat to be more nimble and with and given that agencies will be have 10,000 irs agents to make sure you don't have deduction on your taxes less than two dozen focusing on ideology or extremism. we need to step up our game

and more flexibility to respond between federal and state and local officials quite frankly made a strategy and these will address the shortfall. and this is to keep america safe. >> mr. chairman, prior to coming to congress i had the opportunity to serve as a prosecutor and i served by special appointment in the largest case in history so i know well the dangers and i am grateful for the opportunity to serve on the task force but the main takeaway to focus on is the lack of a national strategy to combat foreign fighters and that has created.

it is my hope to become the foundation for a national strategy by the executive branch and legislative plants to make my focus and my mission to go forward in congress. the key for the opportunity to be on this task force that my colleagues have provided on this issue. >> gas me but is kept up benighted is the individual we don't know about. we had good intelligence with the fbi and common security. but the four fighter to travel thank you back to united states as the

chairman says is a ticking time bomb the individual radicalized over the internet that could pop up to kill americans the chattanooga case we had no boardings that keeps you up at night. this report will go along way to protect americans here in the united states. we have to have a strategy a strategy of broad and dave prevention strategy in the united states to stop this threat to carry out the missions to protect the american people. with that of a bite to open for questions i believe j.j. has the first. >> they give for

crystallizing what we have been hearing we know about their nimble major - - nature. the images of what we have seen what they are capable of of the number one thing that needs to be done that the american people can actually see so what could be done to see results? >> with saying that threat that prime minister netanyahu went into europe

this security gaps of foreign travel and to give in to the united states was the threat that the radicalization over the internet, a when you have 200,000 isis tweets per day going to fall over is in the united states every day, to kill to attack the military installations it is hard to get around that. we have a good job to try to state that but that is different than the day's growth of for that notice a new generation that is adept at social media. we're fortunate to take up the military strike the number one isis cybercommand but there are others that

will follow after him. the prevention piece is severely overlooked to spend billions of dollars to keep them out of the united states we spend very middle focus on prevention and from within. and not reach to the community. the boston bomber was kicked out of his mosque for being too radical but was not called to the attention of the authorities. this could be stopped by prevention to combat extremist in these to be a pope is within the administration who would like to respond to that question.

>> how does this change? this is what we have heard a lot about to be stepped in the al qaeda opposed and 11 days then there's a whole other generation they are not hiding from al qaeda for the early 2000's their ability to reach out to many people is their area of attack in ways that we can understand their networks the we can stop them the same way we stop al qaeda and afghanistan.

december 2001 in the city of afghanistan which was the headquarters of a the taliban we killed two-thirds of that leadership to pushout on the country. there are only 400 americans on the ground. we're able to accomplish that because of the superior air power and in relationship with cruz -- groups on the ground the framework exist is syria there is a spanish professor now it georgetown that is highlighting the he has looked at 800 campaigns that isis is using their using imagery from tv shows of

movies like "american sniper" or call of duty for video games. looked at the media it is images we have already seen will have a total government effort to combat violent extremism her quicken not just the united states but our senior partners in the region hoping to leverage that as well. we're falling down on the messaging gay were isis is raising. >> use and how many fighters? 30,000 word is that number come from and what countries are adversely affected? >>. >> those our intelligence community and federal law enforcement never said develop those numbers for cry will emphasize that is

what we know about. many of whom have returned to the united states they're really coming from all over the world out of europe and northern africa australia, indonesia is a globe will g hoff phenomenon filling those power vacuums primarily been recruits coming out of europe a british says -- citizen to travel to morocco where they're operating out of.

it is a global phenomenon. not just the old days but it is metastasizing all over the world. . . we monitor them.

again if we don't have good intelligence on the ground in syria. , it's really hard to know who his trouble. i give great credit for stopping all of this and arresting almost 70 isis followers in the united states. these are astounding numbers. you can only stop it for so long. if we don't have good intelligence on the ground to identify who has gone to the battlefield and who has come back, that is a hard threat to stop. it's hard to stop as a prosecutor, you have to have evidence to prosecute them. if we don't have evidence on the battleground to know that they have joined the enemy, it is, it is very difficult to process the case.

[inaudible] >> good intelligence and intelligence sharing within our partners is key to this. tsa has amped up security precautions, there was a threat that ramped up at 25 different airports around the world. they stemple airport is the epicenter of the foreign fighter. 40 million people go through that airport per year. the screening has gotten better, i think for a while they turned a blind eye because they are fighting has side, who they don't like. now they are screening better inbound up but that outbound screening is not where it needs to be. we are concerned about that outbound traffic coming out of the region and into western

europe and possibly the united states. i would argue europe has a real problem on its hands. europe is wide open. until the european parliament passes new legislation to pass a watchlist, they'll continue to have this problem. not to mention the syrian refugee crisis that we are witnessing today. >> you talk repeatedly about the need for greater international cooperation. he said good intelligence we don't really have now we are seeing russians go into syria and all working together on intelligence. are we talking about potentially working with people we don't particularly like and trust? is that going to be necessary? does that change some of the recommendation in your report at all? >> i think russia has fill the power vacuum.

we have a failed foreign policy and strategy that has led to this. in terms of of dealing with huts out or isis, so with that vacuum we have russia coming in forming up political lines between iran and syria and really calling checkmate on us. i will say the one thing we have in common with the russians is our dislike for the terrace. they have the chechen rebel, i think they view that what is happening in the islamic state is becoming such a great threat and those strategies out there to deal with it effectively, they are stepping into it. they are also filling the power vacuum. the complication is their obvious support for a side. as long as façade rate in power they remain a magnet for jihadists and terrorists. i've said the long-term solution has to be a military and political

strategy but also dealing effectively with side. i have the president can work out a strategy to work to limit the threat of isis and also find a way to remove aside from power. whether it be through exile or other means, i think it has to be a part of the overall equation. >> you talk about legislation, what might that look like? >> i think the biggest is having a national strategy. that is the biggest piece of legislation we would look like at. >> the other is trying to close a security gap that we see in europe. the fact that we don't have a strategy, as we mentioned we can come back extremism and a bill on the home front. you have to deal with the problem at the homeland as well.

this radicalization of the internet is becoming increasingly a problem. when we went on a trip to the middle east and europe the threat was formed fighters, when we came back it was them radicalizing over the internet. there are hundreds of thousands of these coming out per day to radicalize americans. as indicated earlier they can go into dark platforms to communicate. they are very savvy. they get the hook on the internet with someone on the line and then they go into a dark place, dark dark platform to communicate and we can't see those communications, even if we have a court order. you can't stop a threat that you can't see. if they can continue to communicate and darkness, that

makes the threat even higher. we need to be able to shine the light on that darkness. that is another piece of legislation we will be looking at. how can we change that so we can monitoring these communications. if someone in iraq and syria is talking to someone in new york about conducting a terrorist attack and we can't see that communication, that puts americans in danger. >> where do you think you need to go from here. >> would talked with the homeland security advisor to the president. i think she recognizes the threat level. she has had discussions with her key, and important make nato i nato i i believe as we said

earlier this needs to be a sunni arab fight against the sunni extremists. under american leadership with our special forces embedded but it has to be a sunni arab, in their backyard. they have to step up to the plate to defeat the sunni extremists. i think for too long we carried the water there and i don't think there is a political appetite for that. i think in indigenous force under american leadership in nato with our forces is the best strategy to defeat this threat. >> you talked about a few pieces of legislation, where are they?

>> we just came out with this report so the next step is to identify the legislative steps necessary and also dealing with the key committees. i think again, this is one of the issues that as a ranking member indicated that this is about protecting americans. this should not be a partisan issue. these bills bills should be able to pass through the house. the senate, given their 60 vote rule, for god sakes, if we can't pass this kind of legislation what can we pass? i think the legend white house would welcome this type of legislation. >> in your report there are 32 key findings.

those findings are going to be the genesis of the legislation. if you look at those findings you will see what we'll be talking about for legislation. if you want more specifics to the federal agencies and officials, look at page 56 in the report. it lists all the different places we have talked with, all these executive agencies and we got a lot of input from them as well. >> how much of an indictment is this? how much fall squarely on the white house. >> i'm not trying to make a partisan attack, we are just telling the truth. the threat is real. you can try to downplay its but the threat is real. when you look at the numbers, i don't lie, the stats are real.

as far as the members of warm fighters that that i have described, tens of thousands of them, many americans, the internet threats, radicalization from within, the hundreds of thousands of isis directives over the internet per day. i am very concerned about our security. i would hope the president would take this as an opportunity as he meets with our foreign partners, and with mr. putin, to try to resolve this crisis. if we don't handle it and don't address it honestly, and call the threat what it is and know that it is a real threat, we will not be able to eliminate the threat and therefore the american people will be at greater risk. that is all we are trying trying to accomplish. we are not trying to put a partisan jazz out. were talking about the threat

level and what we think needs to be done to stop at threat. both overseas but coming into the united states. >> thank you. >> a signature future book tv is our all day coverage of book fairs and festivals from across the country. with top nonfiction authors. here's our schedule. in early october the southern festival of books in nashville. the weekend after that we are live from austin for the texas book festival. in the end of the month we will be covering two book festivals on the same weekend. from our nation's heartland it's the discounts and book us well in madison, and from the east coast the boston book festival. then we'll be in portland oregon and followed by the national book awards from new york city. at the end of november we are

five for the miami book fair international. that is a view of the fairs and festivals this fall. on c-span twos book tv. >> the palestinian flag was raised outside un headquarters in new york for the first time today. this came after palestinian leader told the un general assembly that the palestinian authority was no longer bound by the peace accords which created the foundation for the middle east peace process. the new york times says he accused israel of having systematically violated these packs which date back to decades. all of his remarks from today will be here in c-span2 at 8:30 p.m. eastern. right now, another speech from the un, the cuban president raul castro.

>> distinguished heads of delegation, mr. secretary general of the united nations, mr. president. it was 70 years ago that on behalf of the people the member states of these organizations by the united nations. we placed ourselves to assert future generations to discourage war and to build a new type of relationship guided by a set of principles and purposes. this should bring about an era of peace, justice, and development for all of humanity. however, after that moment there has constant lee been internal

affairs of the state, we have witnessed the so called-and the recolonization of territory. all of these are rated with new actions, new technologies and human rights violations. the militarization of the states and the covert and illegal use of information and communication to attack other states is unacceptable. the advancement and protection of human rights with the

selected and approach to validate and impose political decision. despite the fact the charter calls off to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights and the dignity of the human person, millions of people, the fulfillment fulfillment of human rights remain a utopia. humanity is denied the right to live in peace. denied the right to development. it is actually a inequality that cause of conflict should be shut out. sean flicks first generated by colonialism and the plundering of the regional people, and later by imperialism and the distribution of fears.

in 1945 took the social progress and better understandings of life for the people's along with their economic and social development remain an allusion. when 795 million people go hungry. 781 million adults are illiterate. 17,000 adults are illiterate. 17000 children perish every day from curable diseases. in the meantime, annual military expenses worldwide amount to more than $1.7 trillion. the reflection of that figure could actually resolve the most pressing problems afflicted to humanity.

the welfare society which was usually presented has practically disappeared. the election systems and traditional parties that rely on money and publicity are growing increasingly detached and distant from the aspiration of their peoples. climate change is threatening the very existence of human species. the state should assume differentiated responsibility. there is an indisputable reality and not every country is equally accountable. not all of us waste national and human resources to an inner rational and unsustainable

amount. the consequences of climate change have the particularly devastating effect on the small developing island nations. they bring additional tension to bear on the economy. the same is happening in africa. with the relentless advance. we stand in solidarity with their caribbean brothers and demand they are treated in a special and differentiated way. we also support the african countries and demand their fair treatment for them as well as technical and financial resources. mr. president, the establishment

of the community of latin americans and caribbean states, especially in january 2014 of the product proclamation of latin america and caribbean as it's his own. it shows that we can move beyond our differences to unity. not only that, but toward the achievement of common goals. we had to reaffirm our steadfast commitment to the principles enshrined in the united nations charter on international law.

settles disputes and our belief that full respect for inalienable right of every state to show their political, economic, social, and cultural assistance is an essential premise to to ensure consistency between nations. we advocate the application of these principles in relation of other states with our region. we reaffirm our full solidarity with venezuela vis-à-vis the attempts of-and the destruction of the work undertaken by the

president. for the benefit of the venezuelan people. likewise, a firm and limited solidarity goes to the republic of ecuador. it citizens revolution and its leader raffaella who has become the target of just the same destabilization script and force against other progressive governments of the region. we stand in solidarity with the caribbean nations demanding fair reparations for the horrific neighboring slave trade.

basically in a world where racial discrimination and repression against communities of african descendents have increased. we reaffirm our conviction the people of puerto rico and to be free and independent. after more than a century of colonial domination. we stand in solidarity with the republic of argentina and its fair claim over the sovereignty of the south of georgia, and the south islands. we have support and solidarity with president and brazilian

people in defense of their major social achievements and stability of their country. we reaffirm our rejection to the intention to expand the presence of the russian borders. as well as the unilateral and unfair sanctions imposed on that nation. we welcome the so-called nuclear agreement with islamic republic of iran. it proves gauge my negotiations are the only effective tools to circle disputes within the states. we renovate our confidence that the syrian people are capable of resolving their disputes by themselves, we demand the end of

interference in that country. a fair and lasting solution of the middle east conflict unquestionably requires the two exercise by the palestinian people of their inalienable right to build their own state within the borders existing prior to 1967. with their capital in jerusalem which we strongly support. for the past few weeks we have been moved by the images of waves of immigrants arriving in europe. this is a direct result of the destabilization actions promoted and executed by nato in

countries of the middle east and north africa. as well as poverty and under development prevailing in countries of the african continent. the european should take up full and immediate responsibility for the human crisis that it helped to generate. mr. president, after 56 years in which the cuban people it up the heroic resistance diplomatic relations have been reestablished between cuba and the united states of america. now a long and complex process begins. towards the normalization of relations. this will only be achieved with

economic commercial and financial against cuba. the return for country illegally occupied by the guantánamo bay,. >> ..

and government for your continued s. mr. president, cuba is celebrating with profound commitment the 70th anniversary of the united nations organization. we acknowledge that -- efforts have been made although not enough is being done to save the present and future generations from the courage of the war. and to protect the right to sustainable development without exclusions. the united nations should be saved from eudora --

unilateralism. as fidel castro who said in the historic leader of the cuban revolution stated in this same hall 50 years ago and i quote, anyone understands the fundamental objective of the united nations the present century that is just beginning is to save the world not only from the war but also development with hunger, diseases, poverty, and the destruction of the resource is indefensible to human existence and he added we should do it soon before it is too late, "-end-double-quote. the international community can always depend on cuba for its

honest voice against injustice, inequality, under development, discrimination. and for the establishment of the more roll and fair -- e-echo double and fair dignity and well-being. thank you. [applause] [applause]

former massachusetts governor and republican presidential nominee mitt romney was intervd