we still have a regulatory structure that i think is far from optimal. as i said, five regulators falling all over themselves trying to figure out how to write the rules and compete with each other, i just don't think is a way to do it, and i think it's complex. there's a lack of clarity. i said i thought we needed better regulation, not more of regulation. we got some of both, okay? and -- but part of the problem you have is what i think chris dodd and barney frank have said, it takes a while. let me tell you, our system is such that when there's a problem, we shine a light on it, the pendulum swings too far, but we work with the rules. and those rules are going to take time for regulators to implement those rules, adapt them. we've got a poisonous political environment, right? normally you go up for technical corrections bills, you can't do that today. so it's going to take awhile to

do it, but i think we'll get our arms around it and it will work, but we can't rely on regulation alone and that's why you need moral hazard and no institution can be too big to fail. that's why it's just essential that we end too big to fail. i think we've gone a long way to doing that. i think the biggest way to do it is making sure the biggest, most systemically important institutions have significant capital charges and that the regulators have the tools to make sure we don't prop them up in the current form and they fail. >> i guess that's a semioptimistic note in which to end, so thank you all, and thanks to hank and david for a really informative briefing. thank you. [ applause ]

we're going to leave this program and take you live to a capitol hill hearing for global assistance to the philippines after a recent typhoon devastated the country. we'll hear from state department and u.s. aid officials held by the foreign relations subcommittee. this is live coverage on c-span3.

good morning. let me welcome you all to the subcommittee on east asia and the pacific for the senate foreign relations committee. let me thank chairman menendez for allowing us to conduct this subcommittee hearing on such short notice. senator rubio, thank you very much for your help and your staff's help in arranging this hearing in record time. when we say the senate can't act quickly, we did act quickly on putting this hearing together, and i very much appreciate that, all the people who worked to make this possible. nice to see you again, we were together yesterday, billy, referred to that, but the filipino ambassador to the united states is a friend and has been extremely helpful to

us. shortly after the typhoon, we had a chance to talk, and at that time i expressed our deep condolence on the loss of life as a result of the typhoon, and america's interest to exercise leadership internationally in assisting the filipinos in the recovery, saving lives, and dealing with the restorations that are going to be necessary for the people of the philippines. the tragic typhoon, yolanda, was horrible, tragic. the numbers that we have from yesterday, as of yesterday, from the usaid indicates that over 10 million people were affected, where close to 4,000 confirmed deaths to date. that number will certainly change, unfortunately. 4 million people have been displaced.

571,000-plus homes were damaged or destroyed by the typhoon, and the u.n. humanitarian action puts the emergency response humanitarian dollar at over $300 million. and i know that that is just an estimate, it could very well exceed those numbers, and, obviously, it presents a real challenge. i want to also acknowledge senator shotz who's with us today representing the state of hawaii. he's not a member of this committee, but he's been deeply concerned about this issue. many filipino-americans live in hawaii, and i know he has been very actively engaged and we welcome you to this hearing. the philippines is a close ally of the united states. i may not tell that to the people in this room, we know the sacrifices they endured during world war ii, the incredible strategic partnership with the

united states, it is a incredible partner of the united states and we're concerned about humanitarian needs anywhere, but when it hits one of our friends, it's a particular concern of the united states. the response has been led by the philippine government, as it should, and they recognized immediately that they needed help, and the united states responded even before the typhoon struck by positioning resources, knowing that it may well have been needed. and, in fact, it was needed. i am proud of u.s. leadership committing $20 million in aid. u.s. a.i.d. disaster response team is on the ground, we appreciate that very much. the department of defense is mobilized in the region, and the state department has been engaged, so there has been a u.s. response with the international community to assist the philippine government. the immediate needs have been in the area of food, water, medicine, and logistics, long-term needs are going to be the rebuilding of the effected

areas, and clearly, that will become a challenge for the philippine islands and for the help of the international community. it's personal to many people in america. we have 4 million americans of filipino descent that live in america. and in the state of maryland, we have 26,000. and yesterday, with the ambassador's assistance, and jeremy, with your help, we met with representatives of the filipino community in maryland, and they are, obviously, very anxious because they have relatives and friends that were directly impacted and they are worried about their well being. they also are frustrated because they want to help, and how can they help? and that's a question we're going to try to focus on during this hearing, is how can individuals help in the response effort, what is the best way to deal with it? i thought the meeting with billy was particularly helpful, but it

was clear to me that we have to keep a focus on what is happening, and that brings me to this hearing, the purpose, of course, to get an update where the circumstances exist today in the philippines, what is the government doing, what is the international response, and what role america is playing on this latest humanitarian need. with that, let me turn it over to senator rubio for his comments. >> mr. chairman, thank you for holding this timely hearing. over the past week, our hearts have been broken by the news and the images that have been coming out of the philippines, entire towns and villages, and, of course, the lives of real people have been ruined, thousands of people are dead. it's times like these, by the way, we're reminded how important and engaged america is for the world, especially for allies like the philippines, we, as a nation, pledge to provide the filipino people with humanitarian assistance and deployed some of our brave men and women in uniform to assist with these efforts, and as yesterday's front page of

"florida today," which is a newspaper in florida, in my state, "space coast," ran a story about the impact we're having and good will. in addition to doing the right thing morally, this has a foreign policy implication for our country. u.s. military, a god send for typhoon victims. they are saving us, says one grateful victim. as americans, this is what we have always done as a people, this is who we still are. contrast that, by the way, with beijing, whose initial pledge was $100,000. $100,000. just a fraction of what was committed by other countries, a fraction of their size. they've, of course, increased that pledge now to $1.6 million in u.s. dollars, again, still dwarfed by what china can and cannot do. it's a separate conversation to be had, but a point that's so important the u.s. remain engaged. by the way, our assistance is not just limited to what our governments can do, not for profits like the american red

cross and faith-based organizations like samaritans purse and the tim tebow foundation have stepped up to help. this includes, by the way, many floridians of filipino descent who have expressed a number of concerns i will address in my questions later on, and as the chairman's already pointed out, americans of filipino descent are a significant part of our country, involved in my own office, my chief of staff who's here today, has family in the philippines, so this is an issue that reaches all of us. as a nation, we all know too well the tragedies natural disasters can cause, how to save lives and help ensure many needed food, water, and supplies reach people who need it worse. our example, our assistance, and our prayers are needed today more than ever. by our allies in the philippines, because this is who we are as a people, who we have been and continue to be as

americans, but in return, the american people as taxpayers, charitable donors, expect to assure this assistance does what it's intended to do and reaches who it's intended to reach. nothing undermines america's willingness to help in time of need than seeing unscrupulous actors filling the void left in the wake of natural disasters and exploiting the moment. it's important to ensure that doesn't happen, as well. i look forward to make sure our response to the calamity in the philippines is swift, transparent, and effective, and i thank you, mr. chairman, for making this a priority. >> also recognize senator blake, who is on the subcommittee, nice to have you here, thanks for being here. i'm going to turn to our two witnesses, first, honorable scot marciel, department of state bureau of east asia and pacific affairs. scot marciel began his term as

principal deputy distant secretary in august 2013 after serving three years as a u.s. ambassador to the republic of indonesia. he has previously served as the assistant secretary east asia pacific bureau, responsible for relationships with southeast asia and the ambassador for the asean affairs, career member of the senior foreign service and joined the state department in 1985. we thank you very much for your long, distinguished career in public service. second witness will be jeremy konyndyk, the director of u.s. aid's foreign disaster assistance, who has delayed his trip to the philippines to be here today. we thank you very much and i very much appreciate the fact that you traveled all the way to buoy, maryland yesterday to be with me and the filipino community in maryland, i thought that was very helpful and was impressed with the coordinated

efforts you have undertaken. we'll start with mr. marciel. >> thank you, mr. chairman, senator rubio, senator flake, senator shotz, for giving me this opportunity to testify on the u.s. government's response to supertyphoon yolanda, which struck the philippines on november 8th. the typhoon, which was, as you know, one of the largest and strongest in history, struck the central philippines from the east and carved a swath of destruction across the middle of the country. hardest hit were laite, site of general macarthur's return to the philippines, samar, and a series of other islands. the typhoon's winds, major storm surge, killed an estimated 4,000 people, left hundreds of thousands of others homeless, and devastated cities, towns, and villages. even before the storm hit, the u.s. government agencies began preparing to respond. u.s. aid prepositioned a team in manila, our embassy in manila

issued a message warning american citizens of the storm and urging that they seek shelter, and many of us in washington began to communicate and coordinate to prepare for the storm. then once the storm hit, the state department, u.s. aid's office of foreign disaster assistance, pentagon, pacific command, all working closely with manila began intensive communication and coordination to ensure a swift, effective, and transparent response. so u.s. aid and pay-com disaster assessment teams went almost immediately to tacloban to coordinate our response, working closely with philippine authorities, who as you said, mr. chairman, have the lead on this. there was an immediate agreement throughout the administration at all levels on the need for a rapid, effective response, both because of the scale of the disaster and because, as you said, mr. chairman, because the filipinos are long-time friends

and allies of the united states. so jeremy's going to describe in detail the efforts on the ground. what i'd like to do is highlight that the u.s. government's response has been, i think, extremely well coordinated and substantial. within a few days of the disaster, u.s. aid had announced $20 million in humanitarian assistance, and just a few days ago, announced an additional $10 million in assistance, so as of yesterday, combined u.s. government assistance in response to the disaster totalled $37 million. that includes $7 million from defense department funds. our military, as you know, has deployed substantial assets to assist, and with the help of u.s. aid, colleagues and u.s. military on the ground, our assistance is reaching people in the effected areas and is making a difference. and, of course, u.s. companies, foundations, and private citizens are also contributing.

president obama and secretary of state kerry have called the philippine counterparts to offer condolences and assistance and stress our commitment to helping the philippines respond to and recover from this disaster. at the state department, we set up a crisis response task force to monitor developments and try to identify obstacles to effect relief supply and make sure we were well coordinated, as well as deal with calls, a lot of calls from concerned american citizens. our embassy in manila continues to play a very crucial role. it's kind of serving as a platform for coordination, where all the agencies are working through that to coordinate with philippine authorities and private organizations, as well. the state department and the embassy have a special responsibility for helping american citizens caught up in the disaster. there are now five confirmed american deaths caused by the typhoon. the state department and the embassy have been working pretty much around the clock to assist the families of those victims, but also have received nearly

1,000 requests for information from u.s. citizens or on u.s. citizens in the disaster area, and we've located almost 500, about 475 american citizens through our efforts. our counselor officers are visiting tacloban and the area pretty regularly to help out with these american citizens services, and we continue to work closely with philippine authorities, making sure to address any security concerns, again, identify any obstacles to relief, and asking them constantly, what more they need so that our response is effective and targeted. president obama told president keno during a november 12th phone call that the united states is fully committed to a swift and coordinated response to help the people of the philippines recover and we stand shoulder to shoulder to the philippines, our treaty ally. thank you again for allowing me to appear. i would be delighted to answer

any questions. thank you. >> thank you very much. mr. konyndyk? >> thank you, chairman cardin, thank you, ranking member rubio, and thank you always for joining us senator flake and senator schatz and thank you for the ability to testify for fooun haiyan, known locally in the philippines as typhoon yolanda and thank you very much for your continued support of u.s. humanitarian programs around the world, which every day as they are doing currently in the philippines, are saving many, many lives. chairman cardin, i want to thank you, as well, for the invitation to participate in the event in bowie. it was enjoyable. great to see their deep, deep commitment to helping to the response to this. supertyphoon haiyan was one of the most powerful storms ever to make landfall, and the government of the philippines estimates that around 10 million people have been affected, of

whom 4 million have been displaced from their homes and roughly 4,000 deaths have so far been confirmed. the devastation and the loss of life is absolutely staggering, and i want to express my deepes condolences and on behalf of the usa our deepest condolences to the people of the philippines. for these horrific losses. in the face of this disaster, the u.s. government has mobilized the full range of our humanitarian response capabilities. the office of foreign disaster assistance is mandated to direct and coordinate that overall humanitarian effort in close partnership with our military, state department and a range of other colleagues. the collaboration and cooperation we've seen has been exempla exemplary. we've seen tremendous collaboration and coordination here in washington and in the philippines. before the storm hit, the u.s. response was already beginning.

our hydro meteorological efforts identified the severity of the storm and predeployed disaster assistance advance team in manila. that team was on the ground almost immediately after the storm passed through and was givening to assess damage and send back reports for assistance priorities. we rapidly stood up a response management team in d.c. and started sending people out. we have been working hand in glove which proved critical. there were enormous constraints and dod involvement has been vital getting those obstacles cleared and enabling the initial aid effort to gain momentum. as scott said, we have mobilized now across the u.s. government more than $37 million in assistance to help typhoon-affected populations. we are beginning to see note

able progress. several days ago usaid partnership got the water turned back on in a city rescoring clean water to roughly 200,000 people in that town. that was a major accomplishment. dod transported more than 1,000 metric tons of commodities to communities throughout the affected areas. food for peace program in partnership with the government and world food program. has provided back bone support and fed 1.9 billion people. going forward, we are seeing a range of different needs. i'll go through those quickly and turn it over for questions. on logistics, that will remain a challenge and has been the major challenge. we've seen real progress clearing blocked roads, restoration of airport services and notably in the past few days, restoration of ferry

services to enable much greater scale of aid to reach affected areas. we are seeing improvements here, but it still will remain a major focus. food will remain a major focus. we anticipate 2.5 million people will require emergency food aid over the next six months. usaid provided $10 million in food support working with the world food program. in particular, i want to emphasize the importance of flexible cash programming for food aid in this instance. we were able, using some of the flexibility that congress granted us, to procure 2,500 metric tons of rice on local markets in the philippines for immediate distribution. this is much faster than would have been possible using traditional food aid tools. that flexibility has really helped enhanced the response. we are also focusing a lot on water. as i mentioned earlier, we helped get the water turned back on in colvan city. looking ahead, we are continuing to source generators for water

pumping stations to provide chlorine tablets for household level treatment of water and large-scale treatment and family water containers for transport of clean water. shelter remains an urgent priority. i know senator cardin you've seen the emergency shelter kits we are currently distributing. that is, we will have distributed enough for 30,000 families in need. i am over time. we are looking ah ed to the early recovery process. we are starting to plan on that. i want to call specific attention to the important contributions of the filipino american community in the united states. we are looking for ways to partner with them. setting up mechanisms for that. they will be a critical piece of that response going forward. thank you. >> thank both of you for your testimony. thank you for updating the dollar amount from the original $20 million. now we are close to double that

as far as the direct support given. i appreciate your testimony. senator rubio pointed out clearly u.s. leadership and what that's all about. and the fact but for u.s. leadership, the international partnership could not be as strong with the government of the philippine islands. we are proud of what we've been able to do. our technology in dealing with these crisis we know. i was impressed by the temporary shelters. they're prettyi simple but keep people from the elements and allow for local assistance to provide a more permanent type of housing for individuals who are left homeless. these high energy bars are interesting. i don't know whether i would -- they are not on my diet, i see that, the number of calories that are included in these high energy bars, but they are efficient. they keep people alive.

people were desperate immediately after the typhoon. they didn't have food. there was no place to get food. to distribute these high-energy bars to get through the day with enough calories to survive was critical. these are nine bars included in this. we know how to get this type of sustenance out. on the logistics, i thank our department of defense. they understand how to get to people who have been isolated and to get a better assessment. let me point out one obvious point here. most of the time it was done on the coast and that's what we saw. we could reach the coast. we could not reach communities isolated from the coast. therefore, initially, there

wasn't a good understanding as to the severity of the damage inland. do we now have some indication as to whether there is going to be significant losses of reaching people we weren't able to reach initially? >> thank you, senator. we did initially focus on the coast. we did initial over land and over flight assessments in some inland areas working with dod colleagues. the coastal areas were the worst affected. that was the first priority for focus. as that has headed in the direction of stabilizing, we have began looking further afield in partnership with government of the philippines colleagues to try to reach some inland areas. our initial prioritization reflected what we were begin by

the philippine government. we got their input where they advise we focus at first. we followed that guidance fairly closely. we are getting better visibility what is the situation inland. while the loss of life is less because they did not face the storm surge, there is significant damage, two structures and two crops. that is a focus going forward. we are gathering more and more information. >> thank you. the question that is frequently asked is how well is the help being coordinated? the catholic relief services located in my state of maryland, we are proud of the role they played. they have a natural alliance and are well represented in the philippines. they mobilized to help in regard to their international humanitarian mission. can you share with us how the coordination is taking place

between the philippine government, international governmental responses and the ngo responses? and how that is coming together? >> it's important to emphasize the government of the philippines is in the lead. we have worked with them for sort of a good news/bad news story. we have a great relationship with them responding to disasters. bad news is we are there five or six times a year. because of that we have a long-standing relationship with the philippine authorities and we work closely and well together. they are in the lead. they have been providing invaluable information on priorities and needs. the u.n. activated what it calls the cluster system which is the globally-recognized system for coordinating response across the united nations, ngos and humanitarian actors. that is co-led with the government of the philippines. they are directly integrated into that. we are working very closely with th