support to them as well. we're going to keep a close eye. we think that will be an indicator of iran's desire to up the ante and in which case we'll have to take other actions. >> i appreciate that. let me ask you a few more questions. a couple of really factual questions about afghan national security forces there's been a lot of discussion about the policy judgments. i don't know that anybody's asked you to compare the cost per troop. is that a number you have? >> i don't have it off the top of my head. i do visit. i can get it for you. and it is significantly different. >> much less expensive. >> yes, sir. >> the second is i know you know this, but just for the record, the afghan national security forces are not just what we would say call the army or the marines they're also the police

and other specialized units. how does that break down roughly speaking? >> the air force will be about 8,000. the remainder moi forces. there will be still be 30,000 alp in addition to the 352. and the newly formed afghan public protection force will have some numbers of tens of thousands of forces as well. they'll be largely in support of the development of afghanistan. within the afghan military, the army it's exnumbers of brigades. the operators come in the army in the form of nine batallions. ultimately 72 special forces teams within the moi the swat type high end police units are

very capable. there's significant special forces capabilities and a growing ground force capability. we're still not recruited to 352. we will be by october within the next couple of months. we'll still be building the 352 force-out through december of 13. so much work remains to be done. >> last question is this, i appreciate very much what you testified to the house and again here this morning that you're not really going to be in a position to make a recommendation to the president about whether the u.s. should draw down beneath the 68,000 troops that will be there, our troops after the surge troops are removed until later in the

year. i appreciate that because this seems so logical to me. the only calendar that matters to the fight in afghanistan and to you of course is the calendar on the ground there and so it seems to me what you've said is very compelling. you've got to wait until this fighting season is over. see what the impact of the draw down of the surge troops has been and then make a recommendation. let me ask you generally, what are the kinds of factors you'll be considering in reaching a judgment on the pace of the draw down in 2013 if any? >> as you know, senator, the pace, the steady pace construct is a decision that's made elsewhere. i'll just make the religious for the amount of force combat power that i'll need. there are a number of things that will be occurring in 2013 that will i believe dictate both the tempo of the battle, the

progress of transition and the amount of combat power that's going to be necessary. for example, we will have in 12 inserted our advisors into the afghan national security forces. most of the advisory teams would be in place. we need coverage in the short-term until we begin to see their effects start to take hold. we will see importantly the progress of transition in the lisbon summit context. we'll probably see the forth traunch of transition occurring the latter part of 2012, early part of 2013 to be determined at this point. president karzai of course, will make the final call.

those are going to be almost certainly the most challenging of the provinces. the provinces that are up against the pakistani border. as you know the ansf technically goes into the lead. that doesn't mean they're not going to need help and i anticipate that in those areas the ansf is still going to need some help and will need to support them in their counterinsurgency operations. we're going to need some combat power to be able to that. those are things in the draw down to support that. of course, we'll have the almost certain continued presence of the safe havens which will have a regenerative effect for the insurgency.

>> exactly. that's why they troubled me and i know they troubled you as well. we can hurt the enemy. we can convince taliban to reintegrate and yet they can regenerate right next door in pakistan. i appreciate what you said. i think in that answer you clarified something, i hope there's no misunderstanding generally about this which is that though the afghan security forces will be taking the lead in combat and afghanistan, that doesn't necessarily mean that we can precipitously cut our troop presence. this is one factor, correct. just as you said, we're going to have a back up role, we still may well need to be involved in combat but not behind their lead. >> that's correct. >> dr. miller do you want to add anything on that particularly

with isaf. >> senator let me say three things. the first is there has been speculation in reporting in the press that there are options being developed for reductions lower than the levels that -- lower than the 68,000. that is not the case. second, the president obama is going to make a decision about the size and scope of the draw down following getting the force to the 68,000 at the appropriate time and right now it looks like it's going to be in the fall after general allen makes his assessment. if he says he's ready. it could be in principal either direction. i would want to ensure that that got up to the chain of command and that was considered. and then third, it is very much

the case that our coalition partners look to what we're doing and look to our sustained commitment as they think about what they're going to do and that has they the rankly consider how they make the case to their publics for sustaining the presence in afghanistan to the end of 2014 and then an enduring commitment beyond that. i was in afghanistan i came back through brussels had to chance to talk to the 13 largest contributors of forces. this was a message that they gave very clearly. they want to not just have the conversation with us? general, they want to understand where we are in terms of hour plans and that is critically important conversation for the chicago summit, the chicago nato summit. thank you very much. i thank you for your testimony which has really been extraordinary and i think convincing. you two know better than i that the lesson that history teaches us that military in a democracy

can be winning a war on the battlefield and lose it on the political battlefield at home. i think your testimony today and the earlier testimony before the house has given me confidence anyway that that's not going to be the case here. that the political decision makers are going to be died by what's happening on the battlefield and thanks to year leadership general and the extraordinary effort being made by the men and women in our military, we're winning on the battlefield, i think the political leadership is going to give you the support to carry that to the finish. god bless you and your work. thank you, very, very much. the hearing is adjourned. >> thank you, sir. >> thank you.

>> if you missed any of this the senate armed services committee hearing, you can watch it live -- not live, you can watch it on our website cspan.org. we take you to capitol hill where nancy pelosi and other leaders are speaking about the affordable care act on the second anniversary of passage of president obama's health care law. this is live coverage here on c-span3. >> good afternoon, everyone. thank you for being with us

today. as you know, two years ago the congress of the united states made history. after 100 years of trying finally we passed health care for all americans as a right for all not just a privilege for a few. it honored the vows of life, liberty, the freedom to pursue our own happiness. today we have people with us who are already benefitting or will benefit from the health care bill. i'm pleased to be here with my colleague democratic whip steny hoyer. assistant leader jim clyburn and we will join together in presenting our guests to you. a special -- is that it? calling you from the audience your grandson. that's what it's all about. i'd like to thank our friends

bob meeks, brian england, felicia williams, elizabeth mart martinsteen and car min morales for being with us. imagine and this is not hard to do being a parent who has a child with a preexisting medical condition like asthma or diabetes. driving medical bills through the roof and forcing you to choose between paying the mortgage and paying the next doctors' appointment. imagine being a college senior getting ready for graduation, looking forward to a successful career, but you cannot accept your dream job because they don't offer health insurance. imagine being a senior who re relies on medicare for health and economic security but faces rise each year for medicare or prescription drugs. a woman charged higher premiums, women are up to the tune of $1 billion higher premiums than men

for the same coverage or a worker locked in a dead end job unable to pursue your professional passion for fear of losing your insurance. for too long these examples are not simply a matter of imagination. they are a matter of reality faced by millions of americans. but that all changed for the better with health insurance reform. the passage of affordable care act. who made history bassing the bill for congress. we made progress for the american people. imagine republicans want to turn back the clock and take away from progress from the american people. they will be voting next week to do so over and over again. they keep bringing up one way or another to unravel it. in their budget they'll be voting on this to end the medicare guarantee making seniors pay more for benefits. already the american people are seeing enormous benefits.

86 million americans have received key preventive health benefits under the law. for the first time in american history millions of american million have access to free preventive health care. today no child in america is denied health coverage because of a preexisting medical condition. and seniors have saved over $3.2 billion in prescription drug benefits. imagine 86 million americans have already benefitted from this and the full bill has yet to go into effect. i'm pleased to introduce my colleague a leader on this issue in the fight on affordable health care to increase the access and to lower the cost for health care for all americans our distinguished whip mr. hoyer of maryland. [ applause ] >> thank you very much.

thank you very much. we usually have our caucus meetings and whip meetings in this room. and what a wonderfully diverse wonderful crowd we have here of working americans, senior americans of very young americans. whose name is lucas. very proud grandfather standing here. now let me tell you, i happen to be a great grandfather. >> that's not an adjective. [ laughter ] >> he is that, too. but it's a generational. >> as i was saying, since it was signed into law two years ago, we celebrate its signing, health reform has made it possible for over 32 million seniors on

medicare to access free preventive services. the leader said that, it bears repeating. people need to understand the consequences of what this bill is doing for america and americans. it has reduced the cost of prescription drugs on to medicare part d. it will eliminate the donut hole by the end of this decade. the cost containment provisions in the affordable care act are already slowing the growth of medicare spending. with many beneficiaries, premiums and deductibles already going down or growing at the lowest rates in years. republicans on the other hand, want to end medicare guarantee. and turn medicare into a voucher program that would ask seniors to pay more than $6,000 a year out of pocket. americans who are aged 54 would have to save an additional, listen to this, an additional

$182,000 just to cover their health care costs in retirement. the donut hole would re-open if we repeal the health care bill. swallowing an additional $44 billion in extra drug costs for seniors through 2020. these are the kinds of figures we're talking about. some of you like me in this room are seniors. and you understand the consequences of that increase. you're now going to hear from an american who was every year. i want to thank you for being here. but thanks to the affordable care act his medicare prescription drug costs are much lower and as i said the donut hole is closing so i want to welcome bob meeks here. we want to hear from somebody

who has real experience, real knowledge and real conviction. [ applause ] >> good afternoon, my name is bob meeks. and i am 75 years old or as one of my grandsons pointed out, papa, that's 3/4 of a century. he didn't have to say that. i live in florida near tampa. i'm here on behalf of the alliance for retired americans and for every senior citizen in this country that's covered by aca. during my working career i was a freight truck driver and a car hauler. two years ago this week people like representative pelosi, hoyer and clyburn along with president obama had the courage to stand up to the special interest and enact affordable care act. which is helping millions of

seniors like me better afford to see a doctor and fill a prescription. i have been in medicare donut hole ever since it began in 2006. when yoer in donut hole you must continue to pay your full monthly medicare d premiums to the insurance company but you receive no prescription drug benefits. to me being in the donut hole is like going to a restaurant paying full price for a meal and the waiter brings you a plate empty. i am not in the best of health. i must take seven daily medications and nearly all are brand names. i suffer from copd, severe arthritis, and high blood pressure. the affordable care act i would fall in the donut hole every year around may. my prescriptions were costing me $1200 a month and i had to pay

it all. thanks to the affordable care act, i received a $250 check in 2010. that helped. and in 2011 my monthly drug costs of $1200 a month went to between $600 and $800 a month depending on my health while i was in the donut hole. this has been a huge help to me and my wife. i know many seniors are confused and skeptical about the new law, but here's what i would say to my fellow seniors and everyone here on capitol hill, the affordable care act is good. it works. it's saving seniors lots of money. don't be fooled by politicians and their friends who try to scare you. to the members of congress here today, thank you for helping me and millions of other seniors. and please i implore you don't give up the fight. i'll living proof the affordable

care act works. a little side note to those in d.c. that oppose the aca. don't remove it, improve it. thank you. [ applause ] >> very good bob, i hope more folks take your advice, improve it. don't remove it. i want to thank you for that contribution. and a real experience, not just somebody debating on the floor of the house of representatives saying it doesn't do this, doesn't do that, bob is an example of exactly what it does do and it makes a difference.

passing the affordable care act was important at a time when our economy has made small businesses and families make decisions about spending. so many families had that happen to them. that's why one of key parts of the affordable act is about bringing costs down for small businesses to bring insurance cast costs for them and those who work with them. talk about the positive effects of health reform is having on the small businesses he and his wife in maryland let me invite lucas' grandfather brian england up to the podium.ome ght up to .

>> tell them like it is, lucas. >> thank you for the opportunity to come here today. and as you can see we're a family business. this is lucas. he's going to be 2 soon. we're committed to offering health insurance to our employees. but over the past ten years it's become a real struggle. we've been accustomed to rates going up anywhere from 10 ternt to 20%. it's been very difficult to find ways to deal with that. we have a great agent that really works hard to give us different options, it still ends up that we havebill. question renew our insurance in august so we start thinking about this in may. standing up here is really a nerve racking -- well that's what it was like this year we

heard the previous year that ra20%, 30%. all sorts of scary things were going to happen. so when my wife jennifer and i sat down with the agent in front of us, we were pretty nervous about it because we pay $70,000 aee for health insurance for employees. if it goes up 20%, that's $30,000. that's the same amount of money as employing an apprentice.oney was it going to come from? it was total disbelief when he said it was going to go down 6%. 6% down. so we made no major changes to our group. it's the same insurance company. same average age and it was going down. so it was j news. on top of this, there was going to be a new package in our to get no co-pay.lowed for all

so there was a real boon. the first we asked why? i could not -- our agent explained it was thelo ratio. that's what sounded like chinese to me. i didn't know what that was about. any case i did research and it means 80% of my premiums are going to go to medical care. that seems amazing. our rates went down. as a small business owner i'm committed to providing good value to our customers. it seems only fair that insurance companies should provide us good value. i want to thank leader pelosi very much about what was done. i know it's a risk this is so important.

it works in our community because of the local health improvement part. it's working for individuals. it's right for america. it's right for the fifa u-20 world cupper generations. it passes this technician's inspection test with flying ry . >> well done. [ applause ] >> i'm jim clyburn i represe congressional distribution. i'm proud to serve as assistant democratic leader. too often in this town the conversation gets bogged down into arcane process. you've heard the terms, bending the cost curve. motions to proceed, who wins, who loses.

all of that really missed the point of this landmark legislation. it's not about this town. it's about real people and their families and their health care. it's about saving lives, saving money and saving medicare. i'm pleased to be here today with two real people with some very powerful stories. the first one i'm going to introduce i can really identify with as the grandfather of a preemie who came here 90 days before we expected him. who weighed three pounds and four ounces. had three operations before he turned 20 pounds.

so i can relate to felicia's story. she's from raleigh, north carolina, and she's going to tell you about her son, ethan. felicia. [ applause ] >> good afternoon. my son ethan was up here with me a moment ago. i want to especially thank leader pelosi for giving me the opportunity to come out today and share our story with you and let you know how the affordable care act has helped our family. in 2006 my husband and i were very excited parents to be. he was a law student and i was a manager for a major department store. we were newlyweds. we had just bought our first home and we felt like we were prepared to start a family. i was going to continue working while my husband continued law school, but all our