>> here's a brief look at programming coming up with the rest of the dance sent to. up next is the hearing on urban security and areas that could be at high risk for terrorism. followed by the national right to life committee as they review have their issues will impact the 2016 election, looking specifically for the presidential candidates stand on abortion. then the european union commissioner talks about security and foreign-policy. >> today on q&a at 7:00 p.m., "washington post" executive editor marty baron talks about the changes at the post since he took over in 2013. he also discusses the depiction of his work as editor in chief of the boston globe in the movie "spotlight". tonight and book tv books about terrorism. starting at 8:00 p.m., isis a history.

the program is from an afterwards program that aired earlier on the tv. sebastian follows at 9:00 p.m. with his book "defeating jihadi the winnable war". karen greenberg offers wrote justice the making of a security state. after that, lieutenant general michael flynn and the field up fight, how we can win the global war against radical islam and its allies. all of this tonight starting at 8:00 p.m. on book tv on c-span2. >> coming up next, we will show you a hearing on metropolitan areas that are believed to be at high risk for terrorism. a fema official testifies about a grant program for urban areas and orlando police chief and the sheriff of orange county florida also talk about their response efforts after june's attack at the pulse nightclub in orlando. oversight committee held this meeting early last month.

>> good morning. and would like to welcome everyone this morning to the committee on oversight government to reform. of this morning, we are actually conducting a joint hearing with a subcommittee as transportation public assets and also the national security subcommittee. the title of the hearing in this morning and a subject is addressing oversight of the urban area security initiative grant program. probably can't start this hearing without just maybe a moment of silence to remember the 49 individuals who were

killed in orlando. as we also last night and nice, our great allies lost some 84 people so, so let's just take a minute and pause here and remember those. [moment of silence] [moment of silence] >> thank you. is quite fitting that we do meet today to discuss one of the government programs that tries to deal with the terrorist threat. i would like to think our witnesses and the members attending this morning. first, what to say that the subcommittee on transportation public assets of the subcommittee on national security will order without objection and the chair does state this point that he has

authorized to declare recess at any time in this hearing. the order of business will be as follows. we will have opening statements from the members that are here. then, we will introduce our witnesses. witnesses will be sworn. each of them will testify. after we have those introductions into testimony, we will go to questions. we will wait on having the questioning until we have heard from all the witnesses. so, with that i went to welcome again everyone, particularly our witnesses and i will start with my opening statement. again, we come together to look at a federal program that is designed to help our local and

state governments deal with the terrorists threat that our nation and of the world is facing right now. this is a program, which is urban a security initiative and was established after 911 to aid our state local government, particularly our first responders with giving them a federal assistance they are our first line of defense and terrorism. and also providing federal grants. over the last few years we have given on average a billion dollars a year on these grants to state and local governments. unfortunately, i had the experience of working with some of my local governments in orlando, and my district three years ago, which changed to

represent more of the urban core of orlando and add to that time got a chance to hear from both of the sheriff of orange county and also the police chief who are two of our witnesses said a. they told me that there was something wrong with the assessment under this program that is conducted by dhs and fema. they told me that our central florida area had the risk assessment change. in fact, lowered and it was lowered so much that, in fact, they were denied federal assistance under the program that was designed to give them additional resources to deal with the terrorism threat. so, unfortunately, the federal government failed. we won't get into other failures of the federal government we have heard about by law-- federal law enforcement and

other agencies. today we are going to focus on the issue of the failure, the dramatic failure of missing the target in orlando, florida in that particular instance and then this isn't just a criticism of bats particular failure, but also an effort to find out how we can make our community safer and how we can make this program work better and how we can get the resources to those who are on the first line of defense and do that in a orderly and more effective and targeted fashion. unfortunately, again, working with this issue even before the horrible events that took place in orlando, with sheriff demis and chief john mica, we wrote to and appealed the decisions by fema and dhs same in orlando had

a significant security terrorist risk threat. each time we were denied. i have to put up on the screen my comments on january 27, on this year and in the next to last sentence i wrote to secretary johnson and i said if the central florida became a target, it would be a national disaster. of those were my words to the secretary back then. since dhs and also fema would not change their assessment we moved it forward and even before the horrible polls massacre we began changing legislative language. i would like to submit for the record also language that we

have included in dhs appropriations bill and that's both legislative language and report language to make changes in this program and give back to congress some of the data and information and assessment prior to becoming effective, so without objection we will put that in the record. since again, the horrible events in orlando, our committee and subcommittees have conducted investigation. lets me just go over briefly and conclude with some of their findings. some of this is astounding. of the money since 2011, almost half of the urban area security initiative fund the most half of

these funds are unexpended. we have a fly that shows $1.1 billion of the $2.8 billion in these awards or about 40% remain unexpended. it's stunning that while orlando got no money the last two years, there unexpended funds-- now listen to this, boston 2011, $591,000. new york city, 11 and a half million dollars. since 2012, sitting idle. los angeles sitting i don't, almost $19 million and since 2014, $68 million sitting item. tampa, which was one of the recipients and miami are the two that received awards in florida,

tampa had $170,000 left over from 2014. so, we are going to need to look at how we get this money distributed and how it doesn't sit idle particularly when we had the terrorist threat that we have today. this grant program is awarded a $.2 billion since 2003. also, we found in our investigation and reviewed 2012, is the most recent support. we found expenditures that were too justified in this program. michigan bought 13 so-called machines. ohio we saw funds from their award given to support a five day spa junket featuring actors on the apocalypse. these are just a couple of

examples that we found of the wasteful spending in the program. so, we are, in fact, asking today and i will ask with the chairmen agree to ask and we will have a letter submitted later in the record for review by the inspector general of the three areas, looking at the assessment area, looking at unexpended funds and then thirdly, wasteful spending. we need an update and we need that now. so again, we know orlando had received money before and was denied money the last two years. we do know that orlando and central florida use money on equipment, training readiness, exercises and communication systems and other things that probably could have helped.

we did have stopped this terrorist attack? we don't know that, but again it is our job to make certain that these federal resources are used in a proper manner. so, those are some of the things that we found. we have tried to warn fema. we tried to correct this before this took place. abets it didn't happen. now, without the threat threat we face in our community and across the nation, as we see where all vulnerable and we have to do a better job. i think you again as witnesses for coming today and let me yielded to mr. lynch, our ranking member. >> thank you, mr. chairman. to our witnesses, sheriff demis, thank you so much, chief john mica, thank you for coming up from florida and mr. walter purdy and brian kamoie, thank

you. thank you for being here. mr. chairman, at the outset i went to join you in my thoughts and prayers for the people in east france, the victims, their loved ones and all those affected by the horrific terrorist that-- attack yesterday. this is the third major terrorist attack in france in the last 19 months your the state farm has confirmed the victims include to american citizens. they are shawn copeland and his 11-year old son, brody. they are from austin, texas area and our hearts and prayers go out to the copeland family people affected. mr. chairman again, i think this hearing is especially importance in the wake of the horrific attacks in orlando and we continue to grieve and pray for

the victims families in orlando as well. i would like to thank both committees for participating in this hearing. i do want to say that sheriff demis and chief john mica, we have heard and it's been while he communicated that activities and your loyal dedicated service has been a blessing. before and after and during the attacks in orlando and i think that experience makes you especially valuable in terms of your perspective on how we might more effectively allocate the resources, substantial resources that we have out there especially with these urban area grants. the urban area security initiative is one of the three programs that make up the federal emergency management agency grant program and they

collectively provide funding to ates to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks and other emergencies and we have had her own struggles with this program in the city of boston. i think we were helped, ironically, because of that packs that we had attacks during the marathon and the realization of vulnerability and the threat assessment in that area give us leverage, but we were not always recognized as an area about needed funding. there are several cities that because of the factors that are applied in these allocations, there are other cities across the country, san antonio i know what, texas has also been dropped from the list and

there's got to be a better way for us to recognize and do this threat analysis so that places like orlando, and central florida received the funding that they need. the purpose of the urban area security grant is to assist cities and their anti- terrorism preparedness and response efforts. in particular, the program provides financial assistance to address planning activities, organizational resources, clinic, training and exercise needs of the threat to urban areas. is) statute. has representative boston-- massachusetts including boston and 21 other towns i can tell you nearly 18 million at the boston area received an urban area security initiative funding in 2013 proved critical in the midst of the aftermath of the devastating boston marathon bombings in april, 2013. as reported by the federal emergency management agency

july 2013, testimony before the u.s. senate on lessons learned from the marathon bombing. wait-- funding helped to secure on-site security and protection, bomb robots, x-ray, and ballistic helmets and best use during the event. program grant fund also helped to provide radio systems to increase information sharing between law-enforcement, fire service and emergency medical services. this funding support of the boston regional intelligence worked on bombing related operations and analysis and provided assistance that were used for an investigation. moreover, the boston area directed urban area security initiative funds to train swat teams and that was critical in our ability to integrate bomb technicians into law-enforcement operations. crucial capability that was demonstrated following the marathon bombing's.

given the importance of urban area security initiative grants to the anti- terrorism preparedness and response efforts in our cities, it's imperative that we conduct meaningful oversight of the program to ensure that no city is arbitrarily or justifiably denied this assistance. is my understanding that while the orlando area study steadily indicated that the orlando area was to receive nearly $45 million in funding from 2004 to 2012, the area did not qualify for assistance in 2013, 15 and 16 for metropolitan area that just last month experienced tragic terrorist attack perpetrated by a shooter, that pledged allegiance to the islamic state and the presence of a major densely settled population.

a lot of people-- a lot of tourist activity in orlando. of the absence of an urban area security initiative merits re-examination. i would note that a primary reason be taught from orlando's funding losses that congress has imposed restrictions when it comes to determinations to distribute urban area grants. three of the last five appropriation cycles congress added report language to the department of homeland security preparations bill that require the agency to place greater weight on certain risk and vulnerability criteria. regrettably, these are strictures have resulted in the loss of funding for several cities including orlando. other large and highly populated areas include kansas city, sacramento, california and san antonio, texas as i mentioned before. these cities have also lost

urban area security initiative funding in the past and hopefully we will be able to through the re-examination of what happened in orlando, might be able to help those localities as well. mr. chairman, look forward to discussing with the witnesses what steps we can take any thank you for the time. i yield back cement thank you, mr. lynch. ranking member of the national security subcommittee to think the congressman who chairs the subcommittee on national security for their cooperative efforts on this hearing in on this matter. lets me now recognize the chairman of the national security subcommittee, my colleague from florida. >> thank you, mr. chairman and thank you for spearheading this hearing and thank you for raising the alarm about the need

to protect central florida. terrorism is on the month-- march. last month's attack on orlando was the deadliest attack since it september 11. last night, terrorist mode down more than 80 people in nice, france, by running them over with a truck. our homeland security efforts must adapt to this growing threat, a threat posed by what is global jihad. .. recognizes recent terrorist trends. specifically theme back must change its risk ranging methodology and needs to listen to the feels the cities that are

closest to the threat. on the ground, the first responders here they know what the risk is. people pour into central florida every year in the greater orlando area contains a number of so-called soft targets such as amusement parks which seize large number of people's in one location. terrorists eke out soft targets because it allows them to inflict a large amount of damage in a short period of time. the orlando area is at risk and we need the methodology reflect this fact. i agreed with law enforcement from central florida including sheriff demings that the relative risk for orlando should also include volusia and brevard counties. the cohesive strategy includes these counties both of them said assistance of a terrorist attack at the pulse nightclub will better protect communities in central florida and uasi funding should recognize this. i look for during from sheriff demings and chief mina other appeal to the federal government

and how uasi funding can help orlando. these are busy and trying times for law enforcement and i appreciate sheriff demings and chief mina testifying today, and i yield back the balance of my time. >> thank you, mr. chairman. appreciate again national secret subcommittee cooperating on this hearing. we will hold the record open for five legislative days for any members would like to submit a written statement for this hearing. i now would like to recognize and introduce our witnesses. i am pleased to welcome from central florida sheriff jerry demings of orange county florida. he has our sheriff's office. he is also distinguished by just been named the president of the florida sheriffs association. welcome, sheriff demings. we have chief john mina.

john mina is probably known across the country, both sheriff demings and chief mina, for what they have been through. just unbelievable nightmare in our community, and believes that force with distinction, the city of orlando police chief. we have walter purdy was president of the terrorism research center. welcome. then we have mr. ryan mccoy -- mr. kamoie at theme, the federal emergency management agency. gentlemen, this is an investigation and oversight committee of congress. we do require that all of our witnesses he swore. swore. if yo you would please stand i l administer the oath. raise your right hand. [witnesses were sworn in]

>> the record reflect that all of the witnesses answered in the affirmative. thank you. some of you are new to the congressional hearing process. we tried to get you to submit anything you would like for the record, like the statement documentation. we like to have you summarized in about five minutes, your key points, and then we can get to questions. so with that we were first turned to our federal witness, mr. kamoie with fema. fifa again, a quarter of this -- fema again, a quarter of this review, mr. desantis, mr. lynch oversee the national securities subcommittee and the oversee dhs. but in this program, this urban

area terrorism risk assessment, fema actually conducts the assessment and, in fact, we will put in the record reference to the response after central florida was denied back in january, and multiple times their response on behalf of dhs. so with that introduction let me welcome mr. kamoie, the representative from fema to testify. >> thank you very much, chairman mica, chairman desantis and members of the subcommittee, good morning. i am assistant administrator for grant programs at fema. on behalf of secretary jeh johnson and administer to craig fugate, thank you for the opportunity to discuss dhs and emacs efforts to assist our state and local partners to prepare for and respond to terrorist attacks. the recent shootings in dallas and orlando at last nights tragedy in nice friends are reminders of just how important

it is for our nation to be ready to respond all types of hazards including man-made threats. our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of these tragic events, as was with a law enforcement officers who risk their lives everyda every day tt our communities. including sheriff demings, chief mina, and other officers. today i will outline some of them this programs to provide first responders with the resources they need to prevent these events, eggplant, equip and train for them should they occur. i will also discuss how we support orlando through these programs before after the shooting at the pulse nightclub on june 12. thanks to your support since 1002, -- 2002, more than 47 going to every parent is funny to state and local governments into a broad array of homeland security partners. in fiscal year 2016, more than

$1 billion was awarded to our partners to the homeland security grant program, to build a more secure and resilient nation. that includes three programs, the state-owned security program, the urban area security initiative, or uasi to the operation stone garden program. this year this date only security grant program provides $102 million to support prepared's capabilities with more than 11 million allocated to florida. florida received more than $143 million the operation stone garden program to enhance the security of the nation's borders. each beauty chest prioritizes uasi funds by conducting a risk assessment of the 100 most populist metropolitan statistical areas as required by the homeland security act. the annual assessment is based on three key factors for each urban area. relative threat, vulnerability, and the consequences from acts of terrorism. threat scores are derived from intelligence and data compiled

by the dhs office of intelligence and analysis. this information includes data on any acts of terrorism, disrupted plots, credible threats and known or suspected terrorist presence in each urban area. vulnerability scores take into consideration any infrastructure that is a potential high-value target for terrorists as well as any border crossings. finally, consequence score side in urban areas population, economic, national infrastructure and national security indices. the results, including the scores and relative ranking, and for the secretaries decisions regarding eligible urban areas and funding allocations. orlando received more than $44.5 million in total uasi funding from fiscal years 2003-2012. in 2013, congress for the first time directed dhs to limit the number of jurisdictions funded

under the program to 25 in order to focus resources in the highest risk urban areas. orlando vanderbilt to risk rank of 30 that year and as a result did not receive funding. in 2014 congress lifted the restriction on the total number of urban areas the dhs could fund. that year secretary johnson exercised his discretion and funded 39 areas including orlando which was ranked 33rd and received $1 million. in the annual appropriations act for fiscal year 2015-2016, congress the contract the dhs to restrict funding to the urban areas that represent up to 85% of dhs assassination would risk of terrorism. secretary johnson followed that direction and designated 28 areas as eligible for uasi funding, and 29 areas in 2016. orlando fell outside the funded range of both of those years ranking 32 in 2050 and 34 in

2016. though not truly eligible for dedicated uasi funny to orlando can still receive funding support to the state homeland security program. hsgp funds awarded to orlando in previous years demonstrate their value during the june 12 attack. for example, an armored vehicle and the bomb detection robot used during response efforts were both purchased through these programs. following the attacks i approved to request from the florida division of emergency management to allocate up to $253,000 in unspent hsgp funds for law enforcement overtime expenses. in addition, the department of justice has made $1 million that failed to cover response costs. also thanks to congressional action dhs now as new funding mechanisms to support jurisdictions in their characters and efforts. for this fiscal year congress appropriated $49 billion for the complex coordinated terrorist attack and kelly violent extremism programs.

it is important to note that fema training curriculum for first responders includes counterterrorism forces. in accordance with the national counterterrorism center and the fbi, we develop the joint counterterrorism awareness workshop series. participants worked through a sinner to identify planning gaps and mitigation strategies. in 2014 orlando hosted this workshop with nearly 300 participants. since 2011 fema a string more than 700,000 personnel including many from orlando to respond to active shooter situations. fema is honored to support sheriff demings, chief mina and first responders through these programs. i am grateful for the opportunity to appear before you today about how to respond to any questions the subcommittee may have. >> thank you, everybody to questions after we've heard from the other witnesses. let me know recognize and welcome began sheriff demings, the orange county sheriff. you are recognized.

>> i'm not sure if you might not -- mic is on. >> good morning, chairman mica and chairman desantis and members of the committee. it is indeed an honor and privilege for me to provide testimony today. let me begin by saying that i wish it did not have to provide testimony because there is no risk of a terror attack and orlando. but sadly we know that that is no longer the case. i will be addressing the valuable projects funded in previous years by the urban area security initiative, or uasi, grant program. our dhs and fema efforts to reassess the orlando-kissimmee-sanford florida msa and the need to strengthen and secure the central florida region from another terror attack like the pulse nightclub incident. the central florida region has been fortunate to receive approximately $45.5 million in uasi funding since 2004.

the orange county sheriff's office is at the agency which has managed those funds. the funding received prior to 2013 was critical to our region's ability to prevent, protect, respond to and recover from not only terrorism but a broad range of other threats and hazards your we are only as good as prevent a terror attack as the quality of information that we receive about that attack. one of the assets we have in our region is the central florida intelligence exchange fusion center. the fusion center is a center that operates in central florida in orlando. it is located just outside of the airport. it serve as a central repository of databases that are truly being used by the florida department of law enforcement

and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. in addition to its counterterrorism focus, it serves as an all has to fusion center assisting agencies and mitigation assistance needed to recover from hazards such as hurricanes and other natural disasters. it assist with investigations of crimes apostle the contain the next to terrorist activities or other homeland security issues. due to a lack of funding, some critical needs have been lost. we have reduced the number of analysts which could work to provide intelligence information that could prevent a terror attack. examples of ciefc's success story includes an incident in which ciefc assisted the u.s. marshals in locating federal fugitives. in another instance ciefc assisted the united states secret service into united states coast guard in locating a disco citizen who made concerning statements about the president prior to the launch of

a space shuttle endeavor mission. and numerous other instances in which they provide information with annexes to national security. through the national infrastructure protection program, we receive you as a fun things for a video camera surveillance project in the first quarter downtown orlando and in areas. university of central florida. chief mina will talk more about that. due to a loss of funding we have not been able to expand the camera project into areas around our top tourist destinations. on june 12, we experienced the benefits of more than a dozen or so uasi funded training exercises of the past years. i believe the agencies responding to the pulse nightclub incident flawlessly and issued an active shooter response because of the training paid for through historic uasi funded. you have a list of the training

exercises in your material. we trained to respond as a region to a terror attack or a disaster. in fact, on june 12, proximate 150 of my deputies responded with the orlando police department to the polls incident. because of the infrastructure connections in our region it is natural to other regional capability and vulnerability assessment. presently fema uses the office of management and budget geographical boundary defined in the federal register when calculating the risk score. we believe that the boundaries should be expanded to include the brevard county area to the east and volusia county metropolitan statistical area to the north. in september 2015 we begin the process of lobbying the federal government to combine the metropolitan orlando msa with brevard and volusia.

this was roughly supported by our members of congress from central florida, as well as other state and local elected officials, and numerous letters were written to the fema assistant administered of grant programs. the omb statistician at the own the office of information and regulatory affairs. you have a list and copies of the letters in your material. i believe don't have time this morning to get into the details of the methodology used in assigning risk, but we suggest that dhs include domestic and international visitors in the equation, and not just from the resident population in the scoring. one credible attack in central florida to a theme park would be disastrous for our economy. with the recent attacks in orlando, the incident in dallas, san bernardino, there's a need in this country to have an

overall, perhaps increase in uasi funding, or at the very least a redistribution of usc funding across the nation. that could increase the top msas with the most risk from the current 85% receiving funding to perhaps 90% of the msas on the high risk list of the top 100. congressman mike and has been a staunch supporter of many of these efforts and we appreciate the fact that invited us to participate today. in 2016 the orlando msa was 34 on the list when only 29 metropolitans fiscal areas were funded. in closing, thank you for allowing me to speak and ask, and ask the committee to analyze the current msa methodology formula and the data used in the formula to reflect current threats and vulnerabilities in central florida. we have now been proved which

makes us more of a target. thank you. >> thank you, sheriff demings. let me recognize orlando chief mina now. welcome, enjoy recognized. >> good morning. thank you for inviting me to testify and allow me to provide an overview of the immense and security challenges we face on a daily basis in central florida. in our use of the urban area security initiative funding. on behalf of the city of orlando, i want to offer our thoughts and prayers to the victims and families and friends of those victims and nice, france, as will do as the committee is well aware of june 12, orlando for victim to the second largest terrorist attack in history on u.s. soil. self radicalized extremist entered the pulse nightclub in begin shooting at the more than 300 patrons that were inside the club. fortunately, an orlando police officer working in a an extra dy as i'm at the nightclub engaged the suspect and within minutes

more arriving officers broke a large window to enter the club. within minutes, more arriving officers entered in the suspect retreated into a bathroom when he was isolated and holding hostages. the suspect reemerge into the hallway were offices exchanged gunfire with him forcing them to retreat into the bathroom. immediately afterwards the suspect was contained. offices on the dance floor began to evacuate the victims out of the club. that night we were faced with many challenges as the suspect claimed to explosives that were strategically placed throughout the nightclub including suicide vests that he is going to place on the victims. although faced with almost certain death, if the suspect detonated an explosives, offers remained in the nightclub and his dad told me of the critically injured victims out of safety transporting them to the hospital in the back of police vehicles. the next three hours the suspect

held hostage in a talk on the phone with negotiators where he pledged allegiance to the islamic state. after negotiations broke down we were forced to breach the concrete walls using explosives and dick barakat armored vehicle to see the remaining hostages and victims and the contact with the suspect. as rescue efforts were underway to suspect emerge from one of those great by our armored vehicle and engaged our swat officers in gunfire. the suspects rampage was ended at that time. 49 innocent victims tragically lost their lives. the orlando police partners are prepared for these types of incidents since the columbine massacre. although it would we demonstrate great courage and resolve to mitigate this horrible tragedy we can always learn from our actions and work to make them even better. i would like to share some of unique characteristics that make central florida region an ideal target for terrorism. we have a combined resident population of 3.7 million, and in 2015 orlando had an increased

tourist population from 16 to marion, making it the number one tourist destination. our land is rank number four and the top u.s. destinations for foreign travelers. sixth of the top 50 attractions in the world are in the orlando and kissimmee area. although our resident population is 3.7 million, that number grows exponentially every day as millions call orlando home want to live in our hundreds of area hotels and visit all of our regions they need. we seek funding under the u.s.a. grant funding under angel basis and the purpose of uasi is to enhance our capabilities. the intent of this funding allows us to establish readiness priorities and balanced threats and consequences. since 2002 elements a good act

was signed into law by president george w. bush the orlando-kissimmee-sanford msa received grant funds annually from 2004-2012. however the funding stream drastically changed in the past four years. starting in 2013 and continuing up to 2016, the orlando-kissimmee-sanford area has not ranked high enough in relative escort received uasi funding even though we are ranked number one on the msa for domestic visitor population in the consequent section of the formula. from 2012-2016 our area has appealed the relative risk score and ask the department of homeland security and fema back to reassess the data. in may, members from our region traveled to washington, d.c. and met with representatives from the department of homeland security and fema back regarding a concerted threats to our region and the lack of uasi funding our region has received. these critically needed funds are used to strengthen our regions preparedness and

competency in prevention, protection, response and recovery. uasi funding we have received in the past has assisted in accomplishing many goals. hazmat training has been provided for individuals to protect the injuries recognized and approved technicians, specialist level courses specific to identified required competencies. there have been traced including intelligence, on training, incident command training, fusion center drink, radiological and nuclear detection training, and interoperable and communication training. through these exercises we have strengthened our core capabilities within our u.s. the region. the majority of the funds we receive are allocated are used to purchase and sustained protective equipment within the region. this includes the continuation and build up of a camera and abuse offenses which supports our protection plan. when complete this program will

give us access to approximate 500 cameras which can be viewed remotely from fixed and mobile command centers. this ability will aid in the protection, prevention as those response and recovery from an act of terrorism or natural disaster that would directly affect the areas critical critil infrastructure and identify venues that are key resources to assisting the economic viability of our region. we've also utilize uasi programs to fund regional exercises, subsequent after-action reports and approved the plans. the last full scope exercise and 2013 funded by uasi was a medical search exercise at the orlando international airport which involve multiple hospitals in ceramic six counties in the city of orlando. these tools have assisted housing measuring, gauging the progress of regional collaboration and communications capabilities within the orlando metro area. it is critical that we as a region monitor and keep up with trends improvements in technology and updates to equipment are due to the lack of

funding in the past four years this has caused serious response and mitigation constraints as a whole. from a law enforcement perspective this affects much-needed training and equipment for our bomb teams in so to florida to have the opportunity to train and purchase equipment needed for adequate bomb response. this was a critical component to the pulse nightclub incident. in 2015 we identified through gap analysis and need to purchase a tactical robot for our swat teams and refurbishment of the aging regional bomb robots. but due to lack of funding these projects were not funded. finally, for the last few years we have sought funding through uasi grant program to conduct swift assisted victim extraction for the region. this critical training teaches law enforcement and fire service the tactics and skills necessary to save lives. a typical response act, a shooter, far person will stage a safe distance from seattle law enforcement declares the scene

is clear even the law enforcement is confident if captured, content or killed the suspect. this course is designed to teach law enforcement officers and the fire department the tactics necessary to enter a semi-secure area which will reduce time to render aid to victims and save their lives. without continued training these perishable skills will surely deteriorate. in closing i would like to bring to the attention of the committee that paradigms of traditional terror attacks are changing. in the past are identified critical infrastructures were and still are targets of terror attacks. based on horrific event we experienced at the orlando pulse nightclub, and that of the ray dallas police officer who gave their lives by protecting innocent civilians last week, i urge the committee to consider that these attacks are becoming more frequent avenues identified as soft targets. i asked the committee reviewed the relative risk for no to better address the risk profile unique to the simpler region,

also known as the orlando-kissimmee-sanford msa. i would personally to thank congress for your unwavering support not only from the pulse assistance but your assistance with the uasi grant funding to i would like to thank the committee for allowing me to give my statement today and i look forward to any questions. thank you. >> thank you. we will hear from our last witness, mr. walter purdy, president of the terrorist research center. welcome and you are recognized. >> thank you, chairman mica. chairman desantis, ranking member lynch and other distinguished members of this committee, thank you for inviting me today to testify about this their important issue at the terrorism threat in america is one that is constantly evolving. in the wake of the terrorist attacks last night in nice, previous attacks in paris, brussels, boston, charleston, chattanooga, new orleans, san bernardino and orlando, the last thing we should be doing is reducing the levels of funding to certain cities that need

these funds to protect america. it is truly unthinkable at this time that president obama's 2017 budget reduces the level of funding for homeland security initiatives through the urban area security initiative, known as uasi, as well as in other funding mechanisms to protect the homeland. the threat to america from terrorists has not gone away and is constantly evolving. the director of the fbi, james comey comments warned that the fbi is investigating ices suspects in over 50 states with more than 900 active investigations. just this last week on the front page of the "washington post" adam goldman wrote an article talking about 92 ices individuals here in the united states. even the funding for state and local antiterrorism training

conducted for the department of justice has been reduced and cut back. talking to an individual with that bureau yesterday, they said i'm not sure what we're going to do to help local law enforcement that needs this critical training today. yet the terrorism threat to america seems to continue to grow. last week consecutive homeland security johnson testified at a senate hearing on funding for homeland security. he said he was constrained by the budget agreement, wasn't happy, but had to make hard choices. .. >> as you heard all of the tourist visiting orlando. the terrorism threat was reduced

to going away and i would be the first to support a reduction in funding. but we know this threat is not going anywhere. it is actually increasing. today we see homeland radicalizeded terrori -- radica condu conducting attacks. we see individuals in fairfax, virginia getting locked up. out in sterling, virginia, we see people purchasing weapons and seeking to attack targets in this region. we need to be funding local law enforcement. both the police and sheriff's department and the officers in orlando bravely dealt with that incident. yet we are asking the law enforcement community, and first

responders, to deal with the evergrowing complex challenges are funding levels get cut. we cannot expect law enforcement as a community is going to be prepared to deal with these changing situations over time when we are cutting funds. the homeland security programs -- congress has heard from mayors, chiefs of police, sheriffs across america that have lobbied for a departure and a reexamination of how the funding takes place. the threat is real. i would ask you to change the direction and approach in which these funds and mechanisms provide critical resources in assistance to those first responders in america. training is critical. it is a critical step to getting individuals so they can respond effectively to this growing

threat. i thank you were the time today and look forward to answering any questions. thank you so much. >> thong, mr. purdy and i want to thank our witnesses today. i will go directly to questions. first of all, we have a program in place, it has been in place since 2003, many years. we provide about a billion dollar as year in funding. what we have to do is make sure we don't leave any american city or community behind. my dad used to say and i told this to sheriff demming this morning. my dad used to say it is not how much you spend but how you spend it. and looking at, and unfortunately, we are involved in this even before the horrible orlando terrorist massacre, we were looking at trying to see what was wrong with the formula

and why we were denied. we found several things. in the response -- i know if you -- who signed this but came back from fema to me and this was back february 19th. you said dhs office of intelligence and analysis uses a wholistic approach to analyze threat and juxtapose to review of the intelligence community. we have different agencies doing different things. you are relying on information you are getting from them. i am told some of the information is outdated. in orlando, they are using assessment data from 2011 on the tourism visitation and haven't been updated since then. do you know that?

>> sir, that is not accurate. we have got more recent data than that. >> we were told that was what was used. maybe there has been an update. we are told again that information that they have is not up to date. you don't do that, they do. you analyze their data, their intelligence, and what they supply you. >> so the reason we use the term wholistic is it is a partnership between us and the office of intelligence and analysis for the threat piece of the formula. >> right. >> the threat vulnerability and content. the threat looks at acts of terrorism and credible threats. >> you gave us threat vulnerability and consequences. but the information we have is some of that data on which you based at least laernd was outdated -- orlando.

that is one. number two, and mr. purdy referred to it, we are missing the mark somewhere. we missed the mark dramatically in orlando. and mr. purdy cited we had san bernardino and boston. they are hitting soft targets. we went back and tried as you heard sheriff demmings because we found the bases in which you analyze it orlando doesn't have a port so many went to tampa and then money went to miami because they have ports. we tried to change the area mr. santos represents over to volusia and ravard county and were denied that. somehow the threat assessment isn't dealing with the reality of what they are doing to us.

they are coming at us in soft targets. and we said we are a soft target. we have great security at disney, at seaworld, universal, and big attractions but look at the death toll list from orlando. these people came from all over. young ladies who were googling a good place to go. you look at the roster of those dead and it is a soft target. he scoped it out, came back and slaughtered people at that nightclub. we are missing the mark. maybe we should leave no community behind and divide the

billion between everybody. but orlando, central florida, the biggest terrorist attack in the history of the country since 9/11 got zero the last two years. >> i will address things you left in terms of leaving no state or city behind. the billion you are referencing going throughs two programs. the state homeland security, 402 million this year. that provides funding for all 50 states, the district of columbia and the u.s. territories. >> maybe you are not here to speak on behalf of the policy for the secretary of dhs and beyond. just for the record this is

provided by you, daily visitors. the data is based 2011-2012 and '13 survey data. this is what you gave us. don't say i am incorrect. that is what you gave me. the sheriff says this is only as good as the information we have in intelligence. they missed the mark with our particular terrorist who was identified multiple times, put on a watch list, taken off a watch list. sheriff, you have to have that information right to know who poses the risk either coming into or in our community.

is that correct? >> congressman mica you are correct. we have a wonderful effort between our federal and local law enforcement authorities in orlando as i indicated to operate out of the central florida intelligence exchange. we have a day to day crime prevention efforts that we work on. >> the other thing, mr. purdy, you said we have to change the parad paradime. they are not done with this. -- paradigm. it has to be the most effective

day. we have a billion sitting there. some of this is 2011. it should not be sitting here. if they don't use it we should find a way they can use it. you saw the chart. i saw it the first time. it is stunning. a third of money is sitting there and something is wrong and he to change it. my -- we have -- time is over and extended. let me recognize the ranking member mr. lynch. >> thank you, mr. chairman. the facts show our resources that were authorized but not expended. i am surprised to see the people of boston left half a million unspent. we are not known for that. could you explain to me why the

allocation? one might be the resources we are allocating and the other is the effective use and whether we deploy those resources to protect the people. that is my first question. can you explain why there is that reacid -- residual amount not spent? >> i will. there are three timelines you need to keep in mind with respect to the money. it is one-year funding when provided to us from the congress meaning we need to make the awards in the same fiscal year they are a appropriated. >> i don't want to waste all of my time on this.

>> the money is booked against projects they are spending against. you can think of it as your own budget. when you have a budget at the beginning of the month and you put you will pay the mortgage on the 25th it doesn't mean the money is idle. >> thank you. i appreciate that. we will spend that money later. it just hasn't been spent yet. okay. what about the factors that we are using her? orlando, you know, they have all that going on. i am sure they have fluxuations of population. manhattan has a low population saturday morning but monday morning all these people come in and there is a huge problem. in the factor and formula do we consider the inflow?

in orlando there are certain seasons they are swamped. >> we do. population counted as the nighttime census meaning people who live there, people who visit overnight and people who commute during the day and leave. we count those folks and the infrastructure you are well familiar in with orlando. >> it is clear the pulse nightclub was attacked. who could predict that? similar thoughts of someone from the boston marathon and that is not somewhere you would think but now we have to; right? so, if we are going to start protecting soft targets the list is endless and the opportunities are endless.

you get into this whack-a-mole situation and try to guess where they might strike. i don't think there is anything short of full spectrum surveillance of america's society. i don't think there is anything in american society that can approach solving the problem in terms of giving people money out across these jurisdictions to make sure nothing happens in the district. it is just -- i don't know. that is a tall order for law enforcement and our intelligent services. i am wondering if there is another model out there. i know the british put a lot of money in surveillance and has cameras everywhere especially on transportation.

we haven't done that. but is there another model out there you think offers hope? >> congressman, i will defer to the sheriff and police chief on what is the best policing tactics to address the threat. on the financing i can tell you on the funding levels you pointed out something important in your opening statement which is the direction the congress gives to the secretary about how many jurisdictions to fund. the secretary takes that guidance seriously. congress has a choice about the breadth of jurisdictions you wish the department covered with the funding. i would encourage you to have discussions among the committee and with the appropriate leaders about the appropriate intent that you would like to convey. >> i can say in closing, from our own experience in boston, the fact we had a very robust public safety infrastructure, a

superb police department, emergency services, hospitals, they were all on site. we have a great joint terrorism task force where fbi, dhs, state police, local police, and i think a lot of people will save that day because we had medical tents setup and that infrastructure in place and great leadership. that continues to this day so that is sort of a first line of defense. and then the stuff we are doing here with these special programs. we have to support the sheriff and the chief in their basic jobs and fluff that up with enhanced resources at this level.

i yield back. >> i now recognize myself for five minutes. sheriff, the amount of people coming into the central florida every year, what is the ballpark figure of how many people come to visit? >> in 2015 it was 66.1 million people came to visit. in my county permanent residence population is 1.3 million so the county population doubles on any day. >> those figures would put orlando in probably the top five in the country for visitors. is that your understanding? >> it would move us up from 34 where we reside on the list. >> you combine an influx of people with a lot of different soft targets. people think go to disney world and that is one.

but amusement parks everywhere. a high number of soft targets and probably more soft targets in orlando than any other city certainly in the southeast i would say. is that -- do you agree with that? >> certainly because we have no had an attack in orlando i believe that we will remain at risk and that is the unforunate thing about it. >> there is a huge number of people and the soft targets. as best as i can tell, that is perhaps some of the factors they look at but we are seeing a paradigm shift in the way terror suspects are identifying targets and chiefs.

they are looking more at the soft target. >> how does the funding change? what is your first point in terms of terrorist preparedness? >> going back to the florm formula and amount of visitors, we believe the number of visitors in our venues should hold greater weight. it has provided us with much-needed training and equipment but training skills perish and equipment needs to be replaced. looking at the pulse equipment, there is more equipment i would look like thermal imaging to see where the suspect was behind the walls.

i met with officials from france to discuss the paris' attack and they had ballistic protection for face fields for swat officers which we don't have. >> you have the dallas police use the robot to deliver a bomb to skill the guy who was shooting the cops. do you have access to that type of technology? >> we do have a similar robot but again we have not had the training to deploy such a device as you know the first time used ever to kill a suspect in that type of situation. but that is, again, training that could be provided with that funding. >> sheriff demings, you talked about having bravard and volusia

being involved. why is that important? >> it is important because of the infrastructure and roadways and how we advertise our tourism and how commuters travel to and from work. we are one metropolitan area. when there is something going on at the raceway we support the efforts. when something is going on at the kennedy space center we support that. even with the pulse incident we had a response from officers throughout the region who responded to assist us in our recovery efforts. >> i agree and join chairman mica in supporting your efforts to get that changed. how -- this is just a little bit off this particular subject but there has been a lot of shootings in the society.

how is the morale with the orange county sheriff's department for officers? are they feeling the support they need from the community and public? >> i have to tell you, for the last two years, the law enforcement across the nation has been criticize mightily, sometimes justly so and sometimes not. but after the pulse shooting we saw an outpouring of support and love shown to all first responders not just the law enforcement officers. there were various acts of random kindness to our personal that continues through today and i am sure the chief echoes why comments. >> is that your experience? >> absolutely. it has been a tough time for law enforcement but the morale is good because of the support. we are lucky in orange county

and we have a rich community and community policing and engagement. there has been a huge outpour of support from the community and any time a police officer is targeted because of wearing that uniform it is very concerning. they are very on guard and aware but the morale is good and they feel the support from our community. >> great. thank you. i am done and i guess we will now recognize the gentlemen from alabama, mr. palmar, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman and i want to thank the witnesses for being here and echo the sentiments we heard about our support for law enforcement and first responders at every level. we appreciate you and want to help anyway we can. does fema have the capabilities to do the evaluations of regional preparedness? >> we do.

we have got expensive reporting by our grant recipients against core capabilities for preparedness. we have done a great many things to advance our ability with assessed preparedness. >> how long have you been doing? >> the president issued this in 2011 and we have been working on identifying the core capabilities on working with state and local partners to align investments of the grant funds against those capabilities >> prior to the orlando attack, considering the high profile of that city, and of that region, was there a preparedness evaluation report done for central florida and specifically orlando? >> orlando has reported to us -- >> this is fema's responsibility. there is a joa report.

was there a report done for central florida specifically for the city of orlando? >> i will have to follow-up with you, congressman. >> when you follow-up i would like you to respond to the committee as to whether or not a report was prepared and if it was i would like you to provide that to the community. isn't it the responsibility of the usai program to make sure that the goals are met? >> yes. >> one of the goals is to make sure that these regions are prepared and what i find stunning, and i was at the briefing with congressman mica, and laid documents on the stage for secretary johnson, it was stunning to me more wasn't done to prepare orlando for this. to view orlando as a target. it is stunning that orlando was turned down for the grant.

and particularly considering the threats we face and it has been an escalating nature. it is not like one happened fire years ago and then something else happened -- five -- these things are escalating. it is almost as though the federal government is tone deaf or blind to it. i don't understand why there is a billion dollars that wasn't used. i heard your answer about other things going on but these are critical needs and orlando should have been one of the top areas for this. what accountability and oversight is being exercised to insure the funds are being used effectively? >> we monitor a hundred percent of open awards and where we see additional monitoring is needed

we do site visits and work on the programming and financial monitoring to make sure the funding is spent for the purposes are it is appropriated. >> it is unused and you could not come up with >> the award amount was 622 million. >> there is half a billion, you are right. 1.1 billion leftover. it is accumulated over time. thank you for pointing that out. >> it is not idle or left over. the grant used for 2015 have three years to spend the money so they are in progress with that $585 million and they will spend against it until 2018. in 2014, they had a two-year period of performance and have

until august of '16 to spend down the funding. when they conduct or complete large projects they request reimbursement. >> are you saying most of the funding is spent on the back end? >> i am saying timing for which they request reimbursement accelerates toward the end of performance. they submit the bills to us and we pay them. that $585 million for '15 is ongoing. some projects will get extensions because they in progress. that billion is actively being spent. it is not leftover. >> what i was asking is it looks like a lot of this is spent on the back end. if you have 2014 funding and have 445 million left and it closes out in august.

>> whether it is spent -- we reimburse on the back end. we are closing the grants and jurisdictions submit a large number of bills. >> i want to look into this more and make sure i understand how this is done. but i want to get back to this. i understand the senior policy group oversees the allocation of funding and determines priority actions for increasing the region's preparedness and response capabilities and reducing vulnerability to terrorist attacks. the group comprised of senior management officials from the district of columbia, maryland, and virginia. why isn't there more diversity in the context of regional representation? is there? i am asking this in the context of trying to learn something here. >> the policy group for the district of columbia urban area security initiative? >> no, the senior policy group. i understand they oversee the

allegation and implementation of the uasi funding and they determine the priority. >> not nationally. in every urban area there is an urban area working group whether the a policy group or by another name but every urban area has a governing structure among the jurisdiction. i have see senior policy from those govern what the priorities are. >> that comes from the jao report. >> congressman, we will take a look at that. >> you are not familiar with the group? >> there is no seener group t t that -- senior group related to

a jurisdiction. >> they identify the capabilities that are the priorities of how this administration defined preparedness against which the grants should be invested. they are broad and range from information sharing and interdiction, search and detection, all the way through to response and recovery capabilities. so we have as an administration determined priorities for preparedness grant funding and work to make sure the funds are spent and monitoring how the funds are spent and of course the department inspector general audit grant recipient and we find that funds have not been used properly we take enforcement action. >> i am trying to figure out how you make a can determination that result in orlando and central florida not getting a grant. is there a ranking process?

stl is a committee? or is it an individual? for the sake of time, can you give us a report of how this is done. >> absolutely. >> i appreciate that. >> thank you. appreciate your question and participation. let me yield now to the ranking member mr. lynch for additional questions. >> we are getting hung up on the allocati allocations and unspent amounts. what happens, you know, so we already are joining in a letter to have the inspector general look at this and see how much money has been lingering and unspent for how much time. obviously if something has been sitting there for five years and

isn't spent it is probably not going to get spent. >> it is why i mentioned money to us is one-year money. i cannot reallocate if it if a grant recipient doesn't use it. i don't have that authority. >> we need to change that. we have provisions in the transportation budget if they don't use money we will take it back. we could have a similar provision in this grant program that puts money back in the pot for reissuing or automatically knows the underserved jurisdictions that don't have the robust security apparatus. how much control does the state have? my governor is pretty good on this stuff. but, in terms of allocation

within areas, how much involvement does the state have in ways to allocate the resources? does any of that get tied in with the government? >> the governor assigns a state administrative agency and they have control over the state homeland security program funds. the urban area security initiative funds pass through a state which by statute is allowed to keep up to 20% of the funding and passes the 80% down to the urban areas. >> is that earmarked? all of the urban areas? >> they are directed to the urban areas, yes. when an award is made to orlando it passes through the state. >> and they can take 20%? for what? >> activities and projects tat benefit the urban the area or state-wide. >> i see. okay.

and you have any other points you want to make? >> i will go back to something you mentioned in your opening statement which is the guidance on the number of urban areas that the secretary provides funding to is critical. congress has a choice to make as to where the line is drawn in the top hundred metropolitan statistical areas. they can provide discretion to draw the line. >> thank you, i yield back. >> thank you, mr. lynch and other members for participating as we try to sum this um up. let me ask sheriff demings if there is any points held like to make as we heard what

transpired and then chief mina and mr. purdy. >> the last comment i believe has merit in which some discretion should be given to the secretary to determine where the line is drawn. if the secretary has discretion perhaps the secretary can make that user discretion based on current events and what is happening today and not what occurred one, two or three years prior. >> and just again, we ask that more weight be given in a formula to the 66 million visitors. it is important to mention orlando fbi officers run out of tam tampa. the investigation and intelligence received through orlando are attributed to and out of the tampa office. we would like that to be looked

at as well. >> mr. purdy? >> i think one of the issues is metrics, factors, formulas of risk and threat. maybe if the secretary of homeland had more discretion maybe some of those funds would then be able to be allocated to maybe those tier two cities and regions that maybe need these things. congressman lynch was spot on the money when he talked about soft targets. terrorists are looking at targets. he harbor stuff and they look at okay, nightclubs in paris, a stadium, nightclubs, restaurants, a concert hall. they are looking at what we are doing and adaptive. we think of evolving process and so maybe the secretary does need more discretion and congress can give them that.

>> thank you. >> any quick comment? >> no, we look forward to continuing the work with the sheriff, police chief and laned community and the other urban area jurisdictions to secure our communities. >> okay. we always have these hearings and people wonder what is coming from it. i want to thank mr. lynch. he has agreed to sign on and chairman chaffitz agreed to be a co-signer to the letter to the inspector general and we will ask for three follow-ups. one, the aagreemegreement of th assessment. we are missing the mark. somehow we have to do that. we have the issue of the discretion for the secretary. we need to look at that congressionally.

we do have what the amendment that i offered which is in the dhs appropriation bill. but we may want to go beyond that. they will show me w when they dd the final word. there is a million sitting behind and that is not acceptable. these people are after us. we have to stay ahead of them with every resource possible. it can't be sitting somewhere. we have seen wasteful spending. the last report was 2012 and we want that updated. people can't waste the money.

it has to be effectively extended to combat terrorism. we can't afford not to get it right here. we have to get it right. there have been multiple federal failures. this hearing is only looking at one of them. i have a letter and will make it part, without objection, i hope, to chairman goodlatte and chaffitz to look at the elements i don't have jurisdiction. but your subcommittee might. under the judiciary looking at the fbi and some of the failures or the watch lists that failed. identification, and somebody who posed a risk and months of investigation and then nothing done to track them. we have to get that right. i am going to put in the record

letter that i submitted on june 29th to the chairman goodlatte and chaffitz to follow-up. other items -- i just wanted to put into the record and people wonder what me, mr. lynch, and others are doing to combat terrorism. i got this week a summary of the homeland security committee. these are select counter terrorism bills. these are bills we have passed and voted on. we nutrient neglected trying to change laws from the legislative standpoint. i would like to put that in the record.

this is just belief and said for official use only but if we could put it in the record to refer to this is the 2016 allocation of urban security grant funds and threat levels. this is just released a couple weeks ago and orlando is not on the list. we have something wrong that needs to be corrected. we have communities counting on us. i cannot end the hearing without my two local law enforcement guys. they have been there even before the attack place in orlando. they wthere. they warned us. the federal government is there

and we will probably get something and make the changes but 49 people are not with us and their families are suffering and we missed the mark in boston and missed it in san bernardino and others. so we have to do a better job. i thank everyone of you on behalf of the committee for coming, testifying, and working together. i am confidant we can get it riot. there being no further business before the joint subcommittee hearing. again thank you. this hearing is adjourned.

[inaudible conversation] [inaudible conversation]

>> today on q&a, "washington post" executive editor marty barren talks about the changes at the post since taking over in 2013. he also discusses the depiction of his work as editor and chief of the boston globe in the movie "spotlight". tonight on booktv, books about terrorism. starting at 8 p.m., "isis; a history" the program is from an after wards program that aired earlier on booktv. and then at 9 p.m. we have "defeating jihad; the winable war" and then karen greenburg offers "rogue justice;making of a security mate "and then lieutenant general flynn and how we can win the global war against radical islam and its allies. all of this starting at 8 p.m. on booktv.

>> next, anti abortion advocates speak at the national right to life on how right to life issues will impact the 2016 election discussing competitive house and senate races and where donald trump and hillary clinton stand on abortion. >> welcome to national right to life session: the battle before us. it has been an amazing year.

we need the help of everyone of you this year. we have a panel working in every day and i will introduce them briefly. i know you know them all already. dr. david ooosteen and our political action director, karen cross. [applause] >> national right to life makes a recommendation on a candidate and when they do that they take their time to collect all of the facts and make the best possible decision on the life.

all of these people have lots of issues and these issues, a whole range of them, are influencing their opinion. you need to look at the candidates record on life, the candidate's statements on life, and whether or not they have a real chance of winning because you should not throw your vote aw away and look at what we have learned from the research on a candidate. we are a group totally dedicated to the life issue. we want to help you prepare candidates and make the best decision for life.

this session is designed to help you do that. and so we have been sent gszman peter roster, a video which is very appropriate because he is the successor to congressman henry hide and this is the 40th anniversary of henry hide's momentus -- momentous -- amendment. so we would like to hear from his successor congressman peter who was going to be here in person but sent us a video because he was unable to be here. >> i am from suburban chicago and want to say hello to everybody at the national right

to life convention. i want to telly story. i am in chicago and i have been invited to be a speaker for the march for life. i am downtown, it is a cold day and i got there early and was waiting for people to show up. off to one side there were abortion protesters. they were pro-abortion protesters. it was a small group, they looked miserable and their signs said terribly ugly things and i felt sorry for them because they seemed lost. i began to hear music while waiting and the music got louder and louder and more joyful and then all of a sudden around the corner came thousands of pro-life advocates. they had flags, were dancing, and had balloons and the contrast between the two groups

literally took my breath away. you have on one hand, this pathetic group that is articulating a lie and then the truth. the witnesses the pro-lifers were bearing is one of the most powerful images i have come across in my political life. we are on the side of the angels on this issue. we have a lot of work to do. but i want to let you know how deeply appreciative i am of the witness you are bearing that life is a gift from god and life is worth defending. thank you. [applause] >> now you will hear from our president carol tobias.

[applause] >> good morning. thank you all for being here. i had my remarks repaired and then yesterday we found out that there is going to be a vote in the u.s. house of representatives next week so i need to spend a few minutes telling you about that vote and encouraging you to get your grassroots people back home supporting this bill as well and getting contacts, calls, e-mails, whatever into the your representatives' office. as the obama administration has approached the end of the eight year, president obama and his appointees have become more brazen in trampling on the rule of law where they have a goal that congress has not enacted into law they manufacture their own laws in the form of executive orderers and directors from various federal agencies. where there is a law they find distasteful they refuse to

enforce it or they gut it by radical reinterpretation and that is what is happening now. two years ago, the california department of managed care issued a decree man dating that all health care plans in the state must cover all abortions. we said they cannot do that because since 2004 we have a federal law, the welden amendment, says no state government that receives any federal health and human services money and of course they get the money but no agency may discriminate for refusing to participate in providing abortions. the law explicitly includes insurance coverage and explicitly covers health plans. various churches and religiously

affiliated schools filled complaints with the department of hhs asking the administration enforce the federal law and compel california to withdraw the state mandate that was forcing churches and schools to pay for the killing of unborn. for two years the administration did nothing. despite urging and prodding from members of congress. finally a couple weeks ago on june 21st, hhs took action but it did not compel california to withdraw its abortion mandate. instead the administration sent letters to the people of california who had complained announcing that no violation of federal law had occurred. the letters were written by a government lawyer whose previous job was vise vise president of the legal organization. she announced the amendment only applied to those who file

objection to abortion on religious or moral grounds and said the department decided insurance companies in california did not have religion-based objections. the churches and religious employers did have religious objections but they were not health care providers and therefore not covered by the law. there is no language whatsoever in the law that imposes a religious test. and the welden amendment excludes health care plans within the scope. the california decree was a blatant violation of law. to avoid this conclusion the administration had to engage in its own blatant fabrication. for good measure, they suggested that the welden law, which does no more than protect against government compeled p--

participation might be unconstitutional. paul ryan, in the face of the outrage, has announced next week, probably on wednesday, the house will vote on legislation that would prevent states from requiring health care providers to participate in abortion. this legislation, the conscious protection act, and that is what you need to remember, the conscious protection act, would prohibit any level of government from mandating that health care providers, such as doctors and nurses, and also enties such as hospitals and health plans and their clients, would be covered. it provides for people who are affected by abortion mandates to file private lawsuits in federal courts so the cooperation of hostile activists drawing paychecks at the department of

hhs would no longer be necessary. this legislation is urgently needed. an agency in new york has already adopted an abortion mandate similar to this california one requiring small group of employers. on the same day the obama administration gutted the amendment, a court in washington state ruled they must provide abortions are they offer maternity care. i urge you to visit the our website and send a letter to your representative. the conscious protection act will be voted on in the u.s. house next week. make sure you are your people contacting your representatives to support the bill. nobody should be forced to participate in the brutal act of

abortion. please do it today if you can. do it tomorrow. whenever you get home. make sure your people are letting the representatives know people have a right to object to killing unborn children. tax dollars shouldn't be involved. that was your legislative update from yesterday. my remarks. did you know there is an election this year? yes, surprise, of course you did. on the ballot is a lot of attention placed on the presidential race. so on everybody's ballot will be the chance to vote for president. in 34 states you will have a chance to vote for u.s. senate and on the ballot will be a chance to vote for governor, attorney general, secretary of state. ...

gift of life into perspective for me. that donald trump has expressed his support for unborn child protection act, expressed his opposition to taxpayer funding for abortion and abortion providers and said he would appoint

pro-life judges. hillary clinton, having been in elected office and just having been around for a very long time has a much longer record. as a us senator, hillary clinton voted 100 percent against the babies. there was no limit on abortion that she would accept. we had a 12 year battle to span a particular abortion method, the partial-birth abortion procedure. in this procedure, the abortionist grabbed the unborn babies legs with forceps and pulls the baby into the birth canal. the abortionist delivers the babies body all but the head. he jammed his scissors into the back of the baby's head, opens the scissors tocreate a whole, inserts a suction tube, pulls out the brain , the head collapses and then he removes the head from the body of the mother. horrifying? absolutely.

gruesome? definitely. hillary clinton voted repeatedly to keep that procedure , partial-birth abortion legal. actually in 2007 united states supreme court banned that procedure and it is no longer allowed. more than half of the states have an effect laws that require parents to be notified if their minor daughter is pregnant and considering an abortion. but there are some who think parents shouldn't have to be involved and there was an effort of course to take minor girls into other states to avoid or circumvent the laws of that state that both parents had to be notified or maybe even have to give their consent before their daughter can kill their grandchild. congress tried to protect the rights of the parents in saying you cannot take a girl across state lines. but senate democrats including hillary clinton blocked those bills. clintondidn't care about your rights as a parent . he apparently has no problem

with someone taking your daughter into another state to get an abortion with you not even knowing she's pregnant . let's look more at her record. the state children's health insurance program or a chip is a federal program that provides funds to states primarily so that they may help provide health services to children in low income families. in 2002, the bush administration issued a regulation giving states the option of covering unborn children under this program. a policy known as the unborn child rule. this was an administrative rule that could be changed by a future administration, the senate in 2007 held a vote to codify the unborn child rule. the amendment would have written explicit language into the graham to guarantee that a covered child includes at the option of a state the unborn child. hillary clinton voted no. this woman who wants us to think she cares so much about

healthcare, remember hillary care in the 1990s? but she didn't think unborn children to get healthcare or allowed to be provided under this program. lastly, the united states house of representatives passed the pain capable unborn child protection act. they said unborn child has developed to the point where he or she can feel pain, abortion should not be allowed. hillary clinton issued a statement saying she opposed the pain capable unborn child protection act, he apparently thinks it's okay to kill babies who have developed far enough along the pregnancy that they can feel pain. and of course hillary clinton is planned parenthood's favorite candidate in the nation's largest abortion provider announced it could spend around $20 million to elect hillary clinton and pro-abortion senators. when bill clinton was president, he said that

abortion should be safe, legal and rare. hillary doesn't use that anymore, she just wasn't legal. in fact she has not met a restriction or a limit on abortion that she would approve of. he says the unborn child has no constitutional right right up until the day of birth. in april chuck todd on meet the press ask mrs. clinton, secretary clinton when or if doesn't unborn child have constitutional rights? he answered well, under our laws currently that is not something that exists. the unborn person doesn't have constitutional rights. two days later on the view, a ferris said secretary, i want to ask you about comments you made over the weekend on meet the press regarding abortion. you said quote, the unborn person doesn't have constitutional rights. my question is at what point does someone have constitutional rights to market and are you saying that a child on its due date just hours before delivery

still has no constitutional rights? clinton responded under our law, that is the case paula. i support roe v wade. when you think hillary clinton, the abortion or all nine months for any reason. no limits, no restrictions allowed. that's not just the presidential candidates that will be on the ballot this fall. last fall the supreme court overturned the circuit court of appeals ruling on the case out of texas. it was a win for the abortion industry. all excited about this victory, planned parenthood announced a nationwide campaign. they will work to repeal pro-life laws, pastoral abortion laws, they didn't say pro-abortion but that's what they are, and ask abortion laws and pursue litigation to strike down laws they consider to be unjust. i will admit i was a bit amused. i'm thinking you have not

been able to pass pro-life laws in most of these states in how many years? and all of a sudden you're going to do that? we've been passing pro-life laws in state after state after state for year after year after year and they think we're going to waltz in and just repeal them? you don't have the people. they don't have a popular support. they have not been collecting legislators. you have been collecting legislators. you have been passing pro-life laws. it's not going to be as easy as it is they think the challenge this group when you go home and work with your people and you elect those pro-lifelegislators . it's not going to happen. [applause] good luck to them but it's not going to happen. there are i will say, there are a handful of states that they have been able to get some of their legislation through, that they have been able to dominate.

the way the abortion industry has been able to accomplish what been accomplished is through the courts because they are not electing legislators, they are not passing bills. there is one state in particular may have a good firm grip on, unfortunately that is california. i talked about the conscience protection act for the state of california, selling insurance companiesthey have to recover all abortions . last year theyhad another brazilian law . they are telling pregnancy resource centers that when a woman comes into your facility you have to give them information telling them that the state can provide low-cost prenatal care, family-planning services and abortion along with the notice that if they want the abortion, the state will probably pay for it. can you imagine a state governments telling taco bell that they have to tell customers coming in the door that we serve pepsi products