ms. clifford -- >> i don't know if it's a breakthrough idea, but if we don't address the human resource piece of it -- it's not the staff doing the work there killing themselves trying to help us get these people in. but the task ahead of them is so overwhelming, i don't know what the retention rates are but i would think they are not very good because they turn over quickly because it takes a lot of time to get them trained. they don't stay long enough to get trained and go to other jobs, either in other parts of the government or out of human resources all together. we don't address that area because they are the bread and butter of getting people in. >> that's an open question for me to each of you, i'm sure my colleagues on the committee would be interested in hearing your answer. we won't have a time to get to each of you today. but i speak for myself, very interested in a different way forward. i just think more of the same we've seen from the last year

despite what i think is tremendous leadership on the part of the va and new secretary, it's just not working and the people who are delivering that care in the front lines are suffering and what's even more important, the people that they serve are suffering and we've got to have a big bold path forward to fix this. with that i yield back to the chair. >> thank you. mr. kauffman, you're recognized. >> we get scope of practice questions here in the congress relative to the veterans administration. i think a lot of these issues have been resolved down at the state level before state legislatures and i've been on both sides of it as a state legislature where i think they

are better qualified at the state level to make those decisions. they can have hearings and they know that the docs -- providers within their communities. i guess my question to you is, clearly people that -- well, my question to you is, what do you think about devolving the scope of practice issues down to reflect whatever the standards are within the given states that these va facilities are in? number one and obviously want to make sure the providers are credentialed and trained to perform those duties within the scope of practice. and so, devolving down to the state level, reflects state regulations, as opposed to us relitigating the issues at the federal level. would anybody like to comment on that? >> well, i can speak from the advance practice realm and the issue becomes we care for patients across states and different states have different nurse practice acts, which allow

the nurse practitioners to do different things at different levels. in va boston, we are a referral center we see patients from main and new hampshire and yet the nurse practitioners in this states are able to do things and not able to in other states, it's hard for us to give equitable care across our veterans when we have different practices. >> anybody else? >> i'm not sure i could respond to that because i never thought of that as an answer. but i'd probably have to look at that a little bit more and see where that would take us because it may be a possibility. i would like to get back to you on that. >> as an example, the issue between anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetist has been settled in different states and now both sides want us to relitigate it here at the federal level.

where i would just as soon to defer to state legislatures who have made those decisions so that would be an example. >> i would have to look at that across states lines, i don't i don't have a good answer for you on that whole issue, but i'll get back to you on that. >> okay. thank you, i yield back. thank you. >> trying to get it right. >> thank you. ms. clifford, thank you for your testimony today about the role nurses play in the va and how to better attract and retain nurses. to care for our veterans. you mentioned about stream lining the hiring process and improving education resources but i'm wondering about your thoughts about giving nurses improved rights to raise grievances about staffing levels and how that can improve the workplace and empower nurses and encourage them to continue serving our veterans?

the statement submitted it mentions through a loophole nurses and other va health care providers are denied full collective bargaining rights that other federal employees have. afge supports a bill that i've introduced hr 2193, the va employee fairness act to expand prior's ability to negotiate to improve staffing levels and in turn the care our veterans receive. do you think we need to pay attention to the work environment to attract and retain skilled nurses? >> yes, sir, and in va nursing we actually use an expert panel for staffing methodology model, we use front line staff to participate in what those staffing levels and numbers should be for those individual units. that's the model we use. we do involve front line staff in that and they look at the demographics of the turbulence of the unit and things going on

in the unit and the acutity levels to determine what should be the appropriate level. and those recommendations are put to the resource committee. >> similar question regarding the ability to collectively bargain and set staffing levels. do you think expanding collective bargaining rights and physician's ability to negotiate would play a role in ensuring physician's voices are heard, s voices are heard, ' voices are heard, you're paid attention to by folks making decisions? >> frankly i'm not sure i have an answer to that question. we currently have union representation in the hospital. it gets involved in a lot -- i think some of these issues seems to me many times makes it more complicated. i think if we could empower more people within the hospital we could probably eliminate a lot of these problems that have to do with working conditions. >> how do you empower them if -- without having collective organization, how are you going to be heard and listen to?

how will you get people to listen to you unless there's some leverage? >> i'm not quite sure i understand that question, if you're talking about pay or talking about working conditions? >> working conditions are also part of what are collectively bargained. >> i'm not sure the issues i've been discussing here, i don't know if you need the collective bargaining agreement. i think if we sit down we could solve these problems. >> i want to turn to the physician assistant issue -- i want to briefly ask, isn't there a tremendous physician shortage in the country? does that not play into why physicians might be difficult for the va to recruit physicians? >> there's a physician shortage in some areas. >> primary dare? >> primary care but again i keep coming back to the same issue,

it's a revolving door. if you don't make things better, i think the salaries in the last ten years have come up significantly. >> on the physician assistant side, i'm wondering about whether or not there might be some education, i was interested to hear that the military was the beginning of the whole idea of pas and there are community college programs that take up until now pa people who had up to five years of experience say in the military and community college program a few years they can become pas but i understand it has moved that to a master's degree minimal. is that something you would agree with? >> i went to a community college and applied to an accredited physician assistant program. it is at a master's level now. it's a great pathway to let medics coming back to have a pathway to go and become

physician assistants. it is a masters program and has to be accredited. >> is the loss of that pathway, community college, two year program, is that a problem? is that an added burden? >> when i applied to pa school and to my knowledge there's not a path you can go to a community college and become a physician assistant. it was a minimum a bachelor's program when i applied in 1999. i did not know of any community college that was offering the physician assistant program at that time. there were few offering a bachelors and had all turned to master's program and now even offering doctorates. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman, i want to thank you and ranking member for putting this panel together and all being here today, it's very insightful and provides us with a lot of

opportunity to make things better in the va to hear what you had to say today. i know when i got here before phoenix broke and everything else, coming from private practice i was concerned and remember asking dr. petzell if anybody on the administrative staff have ever been in private practice where they had to be in the black to keep the doors open. and none had. i find that significant. when you talk about physician directors today being involved, it would be more helpful if they had private practice experience. i also asked, do you think the va, if you took all of the expenditures like a private practice has to do, physical plant and nurses and assistants and supplies and bills they had to pay, if the va looked at themselves that way and took fee for service would you be in the black? he said yes. and i about fell out of my chair. because i know how tough it is to be in the black seeing three times as many patients as the va was doing. i greatly appreciate what you're

talking about today, where you have physicians doing things that in a private practice you have someone else do so you can care for more people and that really is the bottom line. so i really5b you're saying today. on this committee alone we have five physicians. if we can't make things better, sitting here, then we're in trouble. this is an opportunity that should not be wasted. i hope we proceed in that direction. thank you all for educating for the things we believe in. i have one question and it has to do with retention and recruitment and length of time it takes to fill a spot. i think we've touched on the reasons why it's tough but i'm curious how long it takes to fill a spot because i've had young doctors, podiatrists and mds come to me and say i looked into it but didn't see a bright future here. and especially when you talk about the poe die trif issue. if you can weigh in on the length of time it takes to fill

a slot and challenges, i'd appreciate it. >> i don't know what else to tell you other than the process is to complicated. it has to get approved and reapproved and on a resource committee meeting then off a committee and sometimes a committee doesn't meet for two months then goes to hr and comes back to the resource committee. just takes forever. >> that's what i want to hear and i'm hoping that working with you we can come up with a plan that streamlines that and makes it a whole lot more efficient. >> i would be delighted to help you work on that plan. mr. chairman, i have a clinic at 1:00, we have 40 people waiting on me. may i be excused? >> dr. salvo, i'd like you to weigh in -- >> i'm in complete agreement and he indicated earlier in his testimony and approximate wait time in terms of getting

credentialed and privileged and starting in the va approximately one year. that is certainly, if i were to consider the average, that is probably true. when i left my post in the cleveland system, it was 14 months before that was filled. i've had two woc positions since i started my current position, one took me 11 months and other one surprisingly took me five. it is an excessive burdensome process when you factor in vet pro and the application process alone with all of the forms and the various hr levels and committees that everything has to be completed. so it is extremely excessively burdensome. >> thank you very much for your testimony. i yield back. >> thank you to our chair and

vice chair for holding this hearing. i apologize that we have flights we have have to catch but i appreciate you being here and look forward to perhaps another time we could bring dr. lynch back so that more of us could hear. i want to focus in -- i had the opportunity just recently to visit the white river junction vermont hospital which is the va hospital that serves the folks many of the folks in my district. >> i think they are very focused in veteran centric care. they've had good results from the choice act in hiring just recently. in fact, they were focused on getting nurse practitioners into our c box so in the rural communities they would have the prescribing ability to stay on top of medications and prescribe without people having to go down to the va hospital. but i want to focus in on the

question of the pas and just generally i'm pretty familiar with the private sector and the fact that we are -- this is a national trend. we are pushing down our medical care to the right person at the right time for the right task. and so it doesn't surprise me that somebody would come in and not see a physician. i don't typically see a physician when i get care in the private sector if i can see a pa or see a nurse practitioner. i get terrific care. so i just want -- i don't want to mislead anyone about what is expected. my concern about the pas is this chronic loss rate, 12 to 14% loss rate. and particularly comparing it to a very favorable practice with the nurse practitioners in their residency program, 100% retention of employed nurses

after one year of employment as compared to over a loss rate of 10% in other practices. i'm wondering, and this is for ms. desilva, have you seen anywhere in the va or outside, it could be a best practice we could bring in, a residency type program where we could be more focused on our pas, give them the support they need to be able to stay on the job because my understanding is it takes at least six months to replace a pa, that's expensive and expensive to the system. and you know, as i say, i'm focused on veteran centric care. can we get them the care they need? >> thank you for that great question. the issue you were talking about the residency program, we don't have a particular like grow your

own residency program. when i had given my verbal testimony i talk about the scholarships that are just not available. if you have a medical technician or somebody in the va system who says they want to go on and become a physician assistant, there aren't really funds that are naturally set aside for it. it is up to each local facility if they do that. there isn't a definite program that you can apply to and have a pathway to become a physician assistant. so if you wanted to do that, you would have to take out loans or leave the va system or come into the va system and spend a short amount of time and leave. that's why we're talking about the grow your own. if you do have medics in the va system or returning and coming to work at the va, get their pa school paid for and continue to work within the system. that would be the ideal pathway to do. to set aside, there is education debt reduction programs to have pas come and work in the system. however, the funding is at a local level. it's not nationally mandated. if you ask at the local level

they may say funds are not available. >> and so i'd be very interested in looking into bipartisan legislation to bring the pas in line with both the debt reduction and the scholarship programming to -- and i love the idea of our returning vets, i know we've talked about aligning their abilities and making sure that they have a path to successful employment in the private sector. and then just briefly, my time is almost up, but i did want to just mention, i'm also interested in the mandated surveys to include pas in the mandated salary surveys in the community so that we -- better align the compensation for pas. but i think you know, we should do what we can to make sure that doctors are working at their highest and best use and they have the support to see more patients.

i'm a big fan of bringing in nurse practitioners and nurses obviously for what they can do for it and i want to be supportive of getting p a's up to speed and well compensated so they will be able to participate as well. thank you very much and i yield back. thank you. >> dr. abraham, you're recognized. >> i want to give dr. spagnolio for having the patience of joe b if he's able to work four years in the system that requires him to enter data. i know as a practicing physician when my triage nurse would call in when we used the electronic health records would call in sick, i would see two thirds, if not 75% less patients that day when i had to do the work. the hard work is done by those nurses and triage people that make us better than we probably really are. saying that i've worked also

with pas and mps in my career and service and the level of care that you provide is outstanding. i referred patients all my career to podiatrists for -- to diabetic cultures and again, could not ask for a better level of care from your profession. so kudos to you guys. i find it odd that in programs such as choice or anything that's non va related that the va doesn't mind our good veterans being seen outside the va clinic by board certification other than abms, they allow the

aoa, the osteopathic boards and don't seem to have a problem with that. but they have a problem hiring those same types of board certifications and the va hospitals themselves. again, going back to my little world, i'm a practicing physician before this job, i use physicians for every specialty for hospitals and referral and across the board they all, there was no difference in care they all whether it be the profession you represent, the aoa, all provided outstanding level of care either outpatient or in the hospital. i guess my question is, how many physicians do you think have been denied positions at the va because of their different board certification? >> there's a lot of our membership which is why we've been pushing this issue.

>> unfortunately some are afraid to come forward and say things because there are black lists or names that get out to where if they do get an opportunity to get a job they've been denied these instances. the politics has been amazing and something i i was shocked to see when i first came in. you're having great physicians denied opportunities or even great physicians working within the va system denied levels of promotion and movement along in their career solely because they chose the smaller board. and we're here today and we've been here continuously having you meet our physicians to really show them that it should be looked at the physician as a whole on their education and training and experience, not what choice they made in their board certification. >> thank you.

>> i yield back. >> thank you. >> well, i think everyone has had an opportunity so is there any further questions? otherwise we'll excuse the panel. you all are excused then. thank you very much for your testimony. we really appreciate you coming in here. joining us in the second panel, thomas lynch, the va assistant deputy undersecretary for health for clinical operations and dr. lynch is accompanied by elias hernandez, deputy chief officer for workforce management and consulting and the chief officer of nursing. thank you

all for being here. once you get settled you're welcome to begin your testimony. >> thank you, i think i got the short chair here but i'll make the best of it. i would like to go off script for just a moment in thanking you for the opportunity to discuss the va's ability to recruit on board and retain qualified medical professionals. i want to acknowledge the panel that preceded us and want to acknowledge the opportunities that they afforded us to hear. i want to echo secretary mcdonald's statement of the other day that we really need to engage and empower our employees and need to listen and learn because they will help us provide better care to veterans. with that said, i would also like to acknowledge today that

i'm accompanied about mr. elias hernandez, recently appointed chief officer for vha office of workforce management and consulting and is responsible for providing human resource support services and training. dr. gauge, who recently joined va from the private sector, serves as vha chief nursing officer and advises on all matters related to nursing and delivery of patient care services. establishing and realizing staffing requirements for va's health care system is a complex task. va operates over 1,000 points of care across the country. provides a full range of primary and specialty care services for patients ranging in age from the youngest recently discharged service members to our most senior veterans. rural populations and unique health conditions resulting from combat experiences and increasing number of women veterans require a commence raterate array of professionals to address the unique and individual requirements. adding to the challenge is the

fact there are many approaches to medical professional and support staff modeling across large health care systems. there is no one size fits all model and no single set of staffing management tools in the private sector or elsewhere we can borrow. these are indeed challenges but no means insurmountable barrier to achieving the goal of timely access to care for veterans. the va is leveraging our national recruitment program, dedicated recruiters identifying hard to fill positions and marketing and hiring qualified medical professionals. we are promoting scholarships and loan repayment programs such as the education debt reduction program and employee incentive scholarship programs as expanded. we have increased the physician and dentist pay tables to attract and maintain health care providers. we're improving the

credentialing process which involves sharing credentials to speed up the process. in the last 12 months hired 37,000 new employees with a net increase over 11,000 medical professionals and staff. this includes about 1,000 physicians and 3,000 nurses. in addition, we are leveraging new technology to expand to the reach of health care providers from 2010 to 2014, there was 114% increase in the use of all health care technology among unique veterans. at the end of 2014, 12.7% of all veterans enrolled in care receive telehealth based care. this includes visits touching 700,000 veterans. to address the increase in the rural veteran population, the partnership with office of rural health, sponsoring the training initiative, the project is

designed to fulfill va's mission to serve veterans living in rural areas. funding allows va facilities to expand health professions training to rural va locations. additional training physicians awarded as part of this initiative become part of the permanent base location. as you can see we have made significant progress but we realize we still face many challenges like wait times and provision of rural health care and commitment to health issues. by increasing staff and community care and hours of care available, we believe our recent progress has resulted in some increases in the number of unique patient visits and large increases in the number of appointments for veterans already enrolled. we have completed 2.5 million more appointments inside va this past year. we also believe that in many specific locations with the longest wait times, the more access we offer, the more

veterans we'll see vha care services, it's also a challenge to recruit health care professional as at these locations. these are all significant on why we must focus or efforts. in conclusion, we have the best clients in the field of health care. we're grateful for congress's support and look forward to your continued assistance in getting best doctors and nurses to serve professions. our commitment to timely accessible care and positive patient experience is unwaivering. mr. chairman, this concludes my opening remarks. my colleagues and i are prepared to answer any questions you and members of the committee may have. >> thank you, dr. lynch. i yield myself five minutes for questions. >> it's great you come and tell us how well you're doing and stuff, but it's really

frustrating to me, to me, and you heard the testimony from the previous panel, there seems to be way too much orders from above about how things get done within the va and there's not enough with dr. spagnolio talked about, the people on the ground taking care of patients get to make some decisions that affect how the process works. now, the va provides hospitals and this bureaucratic mess has not occurred to the same level in private hospitals. so not every single private hospital is a 2000 clinic but

they seem to do a better job of hiring and firing and having processes work efficiently than the va and i think a lot of it is because people on the ground have more power to actually change these. i'll give you a great example, i went to my district and one of the complaints that i had was that everybody went and had the patient sign in and sign out of the computer. the nurse has to sign into the computer and sign out when she's done. the doctor comes in, he's got to sign in and sign out. to write anything about the patient, they can't take their laptop in and keep signed in. they have to waste five minutes signing in every time they see a different patient. it's the cumulative time of signing and signing off was a huge waste. they are telling me this is a big time killer yet nobody could get that changed. because that was some -- the way they were doing it was from above. those are the kind of processes, dr. lynch, that need to be solved at the local level. every single little clinic or hospital will have an issue like

that that has to be done. and you know, i've been here for years now, listening to what you guys have been doing as far as physician staffing, for example, like eight times in the last 30 years the inspector general has told the va that they need a central plan for hiring physicians. eight times the va has agreed to the inspector general that you know, they are going -- they need that. they haven't gotten a central plan over the last 30 years. so what has changed dr. lynch. how can we get this? how can we jump start this? >> i mean, this is the same answers i hear now working. working.t working. >> let me start by agreeing with you on one point. i think the aggravation of dealing with our computer system is exceedingly frustrating.

i think the other side of that, it provides a very accurate medical record. i would disagree in that i think the solution is probably central. and we need to look for ways to make computer access more efficient across our system. i don't think it's a local problem. i think it's larger. i will also agree -- >> i can tell you at the hospital that i worked at, i had a laptop of my own that i used and signed in once and kept it with me and saw a bunch of different patients, didn't have to sign in and sign out. that was not a centrally planned decision, that was a locally planned decision and it was a lot better. the nurse had her computer at the nursing station, just went back and forth and didn't have to sign in and sign out, you know, lose your spot, all of that baloney. and somehow you can't solve that simple problem but your answer is it has to be solved centrally. that's the wrong answer. that's what i'm trying to tell you. >> i understand your position, but i'm going to disagree and we

end up facing obstacles from homeland security and the risk of access to national computers -- >> everybody has the problem with the security of health computers, don't tell me it's special to you. everybody is concerned about the patient's privacy on health care. so these are answers that don't make any sense to me, dr. lynch. i'm really disappointed to hear this kind of stuff. i want your solution to these problems and i think it -- it goes down to not having enough control locally. mr. hernandez, let me ask you a quick question before i'm out of time. ms. clifford's hr question, what can you do about that? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would tell you, mr. chairman to acknowledge to the subcommittee that we do have a complex hr system, which is comprised of two different --

>> what have you done in the last year to change that? >> we have trained the hr professionals, the credentialers and leaders of the organization and hiring managers at the local level to understand the hiring process and the roles and responsibilities -- >> have they changed that process in the last year to make it simpler? >> sir, we are looking -- >> you have not then? that's a no? you have not changed the process in the last year to make it simpler. >> we have, mr. chairman. >> what have you done? >> we have visited the -- >> what have you changed in the process of hiring people in the last year that made it simpler? one thing. >> we have educated the hr community -- >> no, what about the process have you changed in the last year to make the hiring easier? >> that's what i'm trying to convey, mr. chairman, that the right hiring authority that we have given to us by choice as well as flexibility that we have

of hiring 38 hybrid occupation is being fully utilized, systemwide. i know earlier -- >> i'm out of time, i'm sorry. >> thank you, mr. chairman. just to follow-up on that line of questioning, i think mr. o'rourke asked the first panel what is a big major thing, that's what he was looking for, something big and big change. ms. clifford answered by saying it's human resources. i think this is what the chairman was getting after as well, that there's so many rules that you have to follow that that really slows the process down. to me it's the rules and probably need more human beings in human resources to carry out the task and mission of the amount of people that we need to

hire within the va, which many would say is insurmountable. it's a huge number that we need to hire. so you know, can -- you know, can you address -- is there anything underway to evaluate rules that we might have been made 20 -- two decades ago that can be changed, rules that can be changed and what we can do to hire more in human resources to get this engine running at a higher speed to hire new professionals within the organization. >> yes, ranking member bradley, there have been numerous engagements at the local level by experts from the national level to provide support in terms of the processes we currently have and i would like to state this because it's very important and perhaps made look like a simple issue but we have integrated the requirements identification at the local

level with the responsibilities of the human resources professionals and hiring managers and people that are responsible for space and equipment and the individuals responsible for the credentialing process where at one time those processes used to be independent and used to operate in silence. we have integrated that particular process so we don't have delays that other panel made to the subcommittee earlier. we have proven that in phoenix and in the process as worked in st. louis -- >> okay, so you've gotten rid of silos and there's an integrated process where we're speeding up the process. have you had any directive from above to say we need to review the rules within human resources and adding additional personnel and is anything like that under way?

>> yes, ma'am, i would tell you the last year of the leading access in scheduling initiative looked at the processes and barriers that we had in the local level as well as hr and national level and we were able to change a lot of vha policies that were identified as barriers in terms of the human resources -- human resources situation that we currently have, we are looking at that particular process in terms of bringing up that to the national level to address that particular situation. we have issues in hr -- >> have you had a specific directive to hire additional people and continue to make changes within the rule process to streamline the whole hiring process? you've had directives? >> we've had guidance issued to the field, yes, ma'am. >> so dr. lynch, in terms of the

testimony from the american podiatry association, is there something we need to do legislatively to fix what was -- what they testified in if -- if there's not a need for legislative fix, is there something that the department can do to recognize their growing mission and i think they also testified vis a vis their salaries, et cetera, do we need to fix that legislatively or can that be fixed internally? >> let me first acknowledge that the work that podiatrists do as a vascular surgeon, i have worked closely with podiatrists throughout my career and appreciate the value of their product. there have been several

suggestions that had been provided. one was suggested this morning that va be given the authority to recognize podiatrists as physicians, as cms does, other changes are to our handbooks. but it appears that one of the more significant opportunities may be legislation and we're more than happy to work with the committee to provide the clinical input to the development of any legislation that may bring that forward. >> thank you, i'll yield back. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. lynch, you said something that really struck and it's not on you but what you said there's homeland security issues. and i think what a shame it is that the veteran going to the doctor becomes a homeland security issue. that tells me that you -- that we have become way too connected

in everything that we do with the core of the federal government, when you go to the doctor, you have to have these issues. i can tell you for many years in my practice, many change since emr, and people's medical records are going everywhere instead of staying within your office. any veteran wasn't worried about russia, china, north korea or iran. we need to have a solution to that problem. i'd love to hear a solution. that should not be a concern of the veteran that it's a homeland security issue for them to go to the doctor. >> congressman, i don't disagree with you. i'm as frustrated as you are. >> i'm sure you are. >> i've lived it. i don't know what the solutions are. i agree we need to figure out a way to streamline the medical

care system that has the opportunity to use virtual technologies and not let it get tied up in security issues that actually create more work rather than less work. >> i agree it's the same on dod side with personal experience. you're putting your cat card in a million times a day rather than seeing patients. and going back and forth. the difference in my practice, if somebody comes and tell a medical assistant how they injured themselves, they turn their ankle. get an x-ray. haven't seen the doctor yet. now they see the doctor, the x-ray is there. i haven't had to plug in three times to make that happen and do that from patient to patient. let us help you help fix this problem by coming up with solutions that we can insist that the v.a. make changes. i know as a practicing physician if you've had to experience that or know the difference, help us come up with the solutions and

demand that we get it done. >> yes, sir. >> thank you. >> thank you. you mentioned the v.a. has already hired 2500 medical professionals and support staff. did i get that right? >> 2600. >> were all of those new positions or were some of those staff hired to fill existing vacancies? >> to my knowledge those were new positions. new positions. >> okay. with the resources the choice act provided will the v.a. be able to shorten the wait time it takes to fill the vacancies at the v.a.? >> i am confident they are. i think mr. hernandez implied earlier that human resources had begun looking at their process. it has in the past within a

serial process. it needs to be parallel. it can be complex but it need to be simplified. it requires proactively assessing our needs. in certain cases it requires staffing to organizational charts. we know somebody is going to leave, we know that position is approved. it involves communication. it involves preparation. this is where the clinical staff does need to get involved to with the leadership and human resources to further the efficiency of the process that we currently have. it's not efficient. it takes too long. i think we know how to change it. i think we've gun to implement changes. we need to go further. >> another provision was the increase of 1500 gme slots. i understand that the first round of residency have already been awarded. >> yes, sir. >> the v.a. is moving forward with the second round.

>> yes, sir. >> will expanding the number of residencies improve the pool of candidates for the vacancies at the v.a.? >> absolutely. two stand points. number one, i think v.a. has a unique advantage over the private sector. currently we have over 4,000 0,000 residents and medical students that rotate through our v.a. we have nurses as well. these are all potential employees. we have first chance at evaluating those individuals. we just need to be able to efficiently move to hire them. what the choice act did was to give us more positions and primary care and mental health in rural areas and in areas where there is not access to care. the goal will be to train people in communities where they may go

back to practice. v.a. once again has the opportunity to say let's try to look for the best and hire them for the v.a. let's do it efficiently. >> i did get a call from a young doctor and express extreme frustration at not being communicated with. this person's applied for a vacancy at the l.a. v.a. hospital. i'm beginning to understand what may underlie this frustration. what do we need to do to breakthrough this inefficiency?

you have a plan -- have you pinpointed where the bottlenecks are? >> the bottlenecks are the fact that we don't move fast enough and we don't give people commitment soon enough. i was talking to mr. hernandez before the subcommittee hearing and we have mechanisms in place where we can offer a job a year in advance of the completion of their program. that means we can identify the people we want. we can offer them the job. the only condition is that they have to complete their training. otherwise, we have an opportunity to take advantage of this educational training programs that we have. we haven't been doing it but we need to. do you want to comment briefly on how we can begin to recruit and get these people sooner? >> thank you. going back to my original point is taking advantage of the flexibilities we have on title 38 hybrids. appointing authority. we can engage in early conversations with the residents so we can get their commitments with the condition that once

they complete their training program we'll be able to convert it to permanent employees for the organization. >> what about people who have trained and certified and planning for vacancies? >> i would tell you we have a very aggressive national recruitment program. i would like to know a little bit about that particular individual. because gas troe enterology is one of the most critical positions, and national recruiters dedicated staff to deal directly with those individuals to engage them early in the process walk them through the entire process. >> i'll be happy to furnish it. >> i would love to have it. >> it's funny that they're solving the problem but your guy can't get a job. dr. abraham. >> just i'll add my frustration. evidently the panel about having

to log in every time that patient goes room to room. homeland security was one issue you brought up dr. lynch. certainly on the civilian side, we as physicians have as physicians have to worry about hipaa. the fines are hefty. we're under the gun as much as the v.a. is. but we understand if we have a computer system in the va facility that the record can't move from computer to computer then we do have a problem. i'm sure they can. but the reason they don't is i guess a question i do have is like the doctor said, why can't that computer travel with the patient or just travel from room to room as the patient travels just move that record to another facility facility. the second question, you heard mr. morrison's testimony from he was representing i think the american board of physician

specialties as far as not being able to receive jobs in i guess the ratio that the abms was able to with their certification. do you -- is there a disparity between those two specialties and even the aoa, the owes yo pathic physicians and if so why? [ inaudible ] >> i take it seriously because it's the potential opportunity to find more health care providers for the va and for veterans. i will take it for the record to go back and find out a little bit more information about that and what has happened in the past. >> i would appreciate if you would send that to me or just a follow-up, i would appreciate that. >> absolutely. >> and the first question -- >> i should -- >> what is the issue with the computers. >> i sure your frustration. >> i know you do. >> i've been there.

>> we're past alexander graham bell and we have some pretty good computers at this time. >> i grew up in an era when the phones were dial and actually in an era when you had party lines. i can carry a phone in my pocket now. we need to figure out a way to harness computers to work for us and not create obstacles for us. >> i appreciate that. again my request is that you please look into that it shouldn't be that hard with the computer systems that we have now. mr. chairman, i yield back. >> thank you. anyone have any other questions? go ahead. >> i just wanted to make one final comment before we close here. and i just want to say i know that the employees within the va particularly human services and you mr. hernandez are working very hard every day. his clifford testified you're working really hard every single

day. i believe that and i thank you for your service. i just believe that we need to do more that you need more assistance, you need more -- you need a larger team. and we have to streamline the rules that are made. and we've got to put on our common sense thinking hats, if you will and stremline this process. so i didn't want to close outyou thinking that -- i believe that you ar working very hard and the people who are working for you are working very hard. i just believe you need more people and we need to improve upon the rules. >> thank you, ma'am and we appreciate your support. >> thaung you all once again for being here today. i think we touched on several issues that are very important for our veterans and i really appreciate the work that you do. subcommittee may be submitting additional questions for the

record. i'd appreciate your assistance in ensuring an expedient response to those inquiries. and if there's no further questions, the panel is excused. thank you very much. i ask that all members have five legislative days to revise and expand their remarks. without objection, so ordered. i would like to once again thank all of our witnesses and the audience members for joining us here this morning and this afternoon. and the hearing is now adjourned. on the next washington journal, former homeland security council and stephen brad bury will discuss the future and effectiveness of the patriot act.

and "wall street journal" reporter amy harder talks about the obama's decision for drilling for oil and gas off the alaska coast. and we'll take your calls and you can join the conversation at facebook and twitter. live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. this weekend the c-span cities tours partnered with comcast to learn about the history and literarily life of ft. lauderdale, florida. >> this was cultural tourism. when they set up their villages along the way, along the trail really early ones, sometimes only lean-tos, the buses would stop. here was a tourist attraction. when they came into the tourist attractions, they were getting a weekly allotment of food and also getting the rental of soy machines where coppinger would rent and let the people use them when they lived in the tourist

attraction. and they also sometimes get fabric because it behooved the tourist attraction people to supply them with fabric so they were sitting there making things for craft market. this is a little boy's belted shirt from the 1920s. this was an interment tall time for patch work. and you can see that on the bottom this is not a design let's say that's made it down today. this is a little interment tall design. the designs were big ner the "20s and sometimes they weren't used any longer than in that particular decade. >> the thing about the devil's triangle and the bermuda triangle. all kinds of things have happened. flight 19 was a regular navigation training mission. they would take off from the base and then flight 19s, they would go east out towards the bahamas. there's an area out there. and they would drop bombs on that and then they would

continue on another 70 miles or so and then they were supposed to make a turn north and go 100 and something miles and then make a turn back west towards ft. lauderdale. they never came back. after they were sure they were out of fuel, they spent out big rescue plaebs looking for them. the next day they started a five-day sej with hundreds of planes and ships and they never found anything. >> watch all of our events from ft. lauderdale saturday at 5:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 2's book tv and on american history tv on c-span3. the new congressional directory is a handy guide to the 114th congress with color photo of every senator and house member plus bioand contact information and twitter handles, also district maps a foldout map of capitol hill and a look at congressional committees the

president's cabinet federal agencies and state governors. order your copy today. it's $13.95 plus shipping and handling at c-span.org. at the daily white house briefing deputy press secretary eric schultz addressed toppings including syria, relief efforts in nepal and the palestinian conflict. this is just under an hour. good afternoon. i have one quick announcement at the top and then we'll go right to your questions. on wednesday the house passed the usa freedom act with overwhelming bipartisan support. the legislation passed the support with more support than receive last year. it represents a reasonable

compromise that strengthens the foreign intelligence surveillance acts privacy while preserving essentials for authorities and law enforcement professionals. we strongly support the bill, as well as civil libertarians do and we urge the senate to pass it before their memorial day recess. this is the senate's last chance to act before the authorities expire on june 1st. with only five business days remaining, we understand that senator republicans tend to vote on a short term reauthorization that provides no reforms. but a bipartisan group of leaders in both chambers made it clear they will not consent to any extension that doesn't include any reforms of the current program. if some senate republicans allow certain authorities to expire that have overwhelmingly passed the house and strong bipartisan support in the senate, they will be weakening our nation's security and standing in the way of reforms that would have

enhanced -- that would enhance the american people's trust and confidence in the agencies tasked with protecting them. with that, darlene, i'm happy to take your questions. >> i wanted to follow up on a question asked yesterday. the question was for the president's thoughts on the vatican's decision to recognize the palestinian state. does the white house have anything to say about that? or not to be seen as criticizing pop francis pope francis. >> time's up. >> i'm ready to go. darlene, the president did speak to this yesterday and our position is cloer that we continue to believe that the preferred path to this resolved conflict is for the parties to reach an agreement on final status issues directly. if you have questions about the

vatican, you should probably check with the holy c. >> the vatican is recognizing the palestinian state. that's something the united states has not done. the question is what do you all think about that? i mean do you think that will help the two state solution, get two-state solution that the president talked about or will it hurt efforts to do that? >> well i think as the president said yesterday we believe that peace is necessary just impossible. and will only come with a two-state solution. that's why we've worked hard over the years for a two-state lugs and to develop ways to address their needs. as the president pointed out yesterday, the government that was formed in israel, some members of that government aren't the most ardent supporters for a two-state solution. we understand that this isn't something that is particularly eminent. but that's not going to water

down the president's support. >> monday, is there a possibility of a side trip to philadelphia when the president visits cam den, new jersey? >> darlene, as you point out on monday, may 18th the president will travel to camden, new jersey to visit with local law enforcement and meet with young people in the community. up there the president will hear about the effort of the camden police department to build trust between their department and the community. this visit is a continuation of the and support of highlighting what is working, including recommendations included on the president's task force on 21st century policing. so that visit is going to be focused on that issue. >> and lastly, congress passed the iran bill. do you have any sort of timeline for us on when the president might sign that? >> i don't. as the president mentioned yesterday, he was pleased that congress did pass this piece of legislation. we have said for a while now that bill represented the

reasonable and acceptable compromise that the president would be willing to sign. i know the house passed it earlier. but i don't have an update on when that's being delivered to the white house just yet. >> thanks. >> the president yesterday when asked about senator warren, back and forth on trade, made the point that this was not personal and that even some of his best friends in the senate disagree with him. but have there been meetings in the past week between people at the white house and senator warren to try to work out some of these differences or do you foresee them going forward as the trade bill moves forward? >> as you pointed out, yesterday the president made clear that the differences he has with those who oppose both tpe o tpa are not personal. in fact they're policy

differences. he was very candid in why the differences kpigs. that for years the issue of trade has been particularly challenging for democrats. that's because previous trade agreements have not lived up to the hype. that's why the president doubled down to make sure this is the most aggressive in history human rights proteks that we haven't seen before. the president insisted that those protections be included as part of the text. not in any side deal or side agreement, but right there in the body and in an enforceable way. the president does indeed look forward to having conversations both with supporter of the bill and those who he hasn't convinced yet. i'm not sure senator warren is on the convincible list but we absolutely plan on engaging folks have across the spectrum to make sure that we can sell any skeptics. >> i also wanted to ask you about this vote of virginia from

myanmar that had been turned away. said that they wanted to continue going -- humanitarian crisis. what could the u.s. be doing or what is the u.s. doing to prevent this from becoming a major humanitarian crisis even more than it already is? and is there any way for the state department or u.s. officials to be pressuring other countries, perhaps working with indonesia to find a place for these people? >> i have seen some of those storiesance they're heartbreaking. we're absolutely away that increasing number of migrants from these countries are risking their lives on the seas because of dire economic situations they face at home out of fear of ethnic and religious va lens. the united states continues to raise these concerns with the government and underscore the urgent need to fulfill the government's commitments to improve the lives of all of those affected by the

humanitarian crisis. jim. >> just to follow-up on that, we were in myanmar just last year and the president was insisting that the government there -- and he's made myanmar one of his top priorities in that part of the world. he was insisting that this government show greater respect for these ethnic minorities. so what happened? >> jim i was on that trip, too. and it was a significant one. you are right. the president and this administration from senior white house officials all the way up to the president, but also our team at the tate department andless where throughout the federal government have worked hard on this. that the reforms that are happening in ber ma are important, are significant. but the process isn't done. they have not -- they're not completed their democratic reforms. that's why, as i said the united states is going to continue to raise concerns with that government and underscore the urgent need to fulfill the government's commitment to

respecting these human rights. >> i wanted to follow up on something the president said yesterday in response to a question about syria and the use of chemical weapons. in response to mike's question the president said that well, there is some reporting out there that the syriaens had used chlorine gas. but there are reports that other gases have been used. i wanted to to get an update from you. what is the u.s.'s assessment of the recent reports. the other question i had about that, the president seemed to have saying he did enforce the red line by ridding syria of its chemical weapons -- i parentally they may not have happened. where do things stand on that issue? >> it's a fair question. what the president was referring to was our successful work to destroy the 1300 metric tons of dangerous chemicals in syria's declared stockpiles. those are chemical weapons that

the assad regime no longer has. they were identified retrieved and destroyed. the assad regime no longer has access to those. at the time we were clear that that declaration remained incomplete. there's in doubt that more work needs to be done to ensure that the assad regime fully meets its obligations. while the declaration isn't complete, we know that the opcw charged with this as its mission is look into those. as the president made clear if those reports are confirmed, he is going to work with the international community specifically russia in order to apply pressure to make sure that never happens again. >> and what kind of options would be on the table for enforcing this? i mean i suppose that red line still stands. i know he took the option of not

using military force at the time and opted for this idea of trying to work with russia and rid syria of chemical weapons. but i suppose if this conversation gets restarted again, we have to go back to that question, and that is the question for potential of military force. i'm curious, where do things stand in this area? >> i think my boss josh entertained a few questions earlier this week on secretary kerry's travel to moscow. it's important note that in the wake of those conversation we would look forward to working with our russian colleagues to build upon the collaborative approach. this is again a strategic weapons of mass destruction capability that was removed and destroyed under the threat of the use of force. >> one last quick question. was the first lady here yesterday when this drone incident occurred? >> that's a good question.

i don't know the answer to that. kristen. >> i'm going to follow up. the president and you use mentioned that the international community is addressing the chlorine. what is being done to try to term if chlorine bombs were use snd. >> i would say that this administration continue to prioritize our work with our international partner to put in place an attribution mechanism through the united states security council and collaboratively with these partners. there's no doubt that more work needs to be done in these areas. and specifically what we look at is the united nations security council resolutions 2118 and 2209 to represent fully completely and accurately its chemical weapons program to declaration of the organization of prohibition of chemical weapons. as we said that declaration at the time was incomplete.

so i know the opcw is currently investigating. we're going to let that work continue. go ahead. >> how much urgency is there, though? is the president pressing for a specific time line? when did he want to get an answer to this question? >> well, we -- and there is urgency, kristen. and i think that's underscored by the united states working with the international community to do our utmost to empower and strengthen the efforts of the opcw and press the syrians to cooperate to the fullest extent they can with the opcw fact finding mission and secure access to all information so that they may fully investigate the wretch ed incidents of chemical weapons use. >> as you know on thursday, columbia ordered a halt to the aerial spraying of illegal

plantings of cocoa. is the administration concerned that there could be an increase in cocaine production and are you concerned this could strain relations between the u.s. and columbia. >> i don't think we're concerned that this will strain relations because any decision about the future of this is a sovereign decision for the columbian government. we have many tools to help columbia confront this problem. if aerial is not possible, in coordination with our columbian allies we're going to use other tools. >> you're confident that you will still be able to combat this in the same level that you are now? >> yes. this is columbia's sovereign decision to make. we have many tools to help columbia confront the problem of transnational crime. so if aerial is not possible we're going to redouble our

efforts to use other tools available. francesca. >> thank you so much. so earlier this week the administration released a very lengthy list of reasons that it would not support the houses defense authorization bill. but senator mccain suggested this week that potentially because of the senate version of the bill that you know, that passed the panel this week contains less restrictions on transferring detainees from guantanamo bay that the white house might be more inclined the sign that bill. and i wanted to know if what your thoughts were on that, if that was true, if you guys would be more inclined the sign the senate version of the bill because of guantanamo bay restrictions being lessened. >> i appreciate you pointing out that one of our most ardent objection to the ndaa bill was the guantanamo provisions. as we've said, the operation of

this facility weakens or national security by training resources, damaging our relationships. and rather than bringing this dark chapter of her history to a close as the president repeatedly called on congress to do, this bill aims to extend it. that is a significant objection we have to the ndaa bill. there's other objections as well. let he take a moment to lay them out. the president has been very clear asht his core principle that he will not support a budget that locks in sequestration and he will not fix defense without fixing nondefense spending. sequestration levels will damage our ability to restore readiness and advanced badly needed technical modernization. i think you've probably heard secretary carter secretary john sob, other members of the administration make clear that issues that coloekially we think would end up on the defense side

of the ledger are actually budgeted on the nondefense side of the ledgers. olive dhs is in the nondefense side. the va the nondefense side. all of the funding for our counter and violent extremism grant program something you all have asked a lot of questions about, that comes out of the department of justice. that's on the domestic side. those are few of the reasons why we object to the nda bill. >> sorry. that was a lot. i just wanted to be clear. so would the white house be more inclund the support the senate version of the bill because of the guantanamo bay language in it or no. sorry. >> no. >> okay. >> stephen. >> -- et cetera. there's been talk from the podium about progress that's been made against isil.

this is obviously seems like a big setback. what is the white house assessment? are we losing this war? do we need to do something differently? what is the white house doing to try and prevent this critical city from falling? >> we do continue to work steven, with our coalition partners along several lines of effort to degrade and ultimately destroyed isil. as you know more than 60 partners are contributing to this coalition, including military support and providing humanitarian support. it's been a while since this has come up in this briefing. let me give you the latest rundown of the progress that we have been making. the coalition conducted over 3900 air strikes against isil terrorists, 2500 in iraq and 1500 in syria. we've taken out thousands of isil's fighters and 6,000

targets. we've taken out thousands of isil's fighterance commanders with 1700 vehicles and tank nearly 4,000 fighting positions check points, buildings, bunker, staging areas and bareracks. isil's momentum has been blunted. its ablts to maneuver degraded. its commandery control and supply lines severed. despite the successes the president has made clear that there's going to be ebbs and flows in this fight. this would never be something that was going to be short term in duration. and but ultimately will be successful. >> one of the things that the president has been talking about with his strategy is to get the iraqi government to enlist the sunnis and to provide them with what they need to defend

themselves. this looks like an example where that failed. the anbar province. is there a failure here by the iraqi government to take the steps they need to take? and does the white house need to sfep up its assistance or pressure on the iraqis themselves? >> sure. you asserted a lot of facts that i'm not sure are quite in evidence. i would tell you in conjunction with the force, the iraqi forces have been confronting fighters for several months now. today isil is attempting an 0 phonesive but the coalition is supporting the iraqi coalition to help protect the people of anbar and support their efforts. coalition forces continue to provide air support in contested areas throughout iraq. but i am going to refer you to the iraqi government for the

latest position on their forces. >> there's no broader reexamining right in the white house of the broader strategy of we're going to let the iraqis take the lead, we're going to be mostly doing air strikes? >> no steven. there may be others suggesting a reoccupation of the country of iraq. that's not something the president has been open to. but the president has been clear this is a long-term opposition. he's committed to making sure we're successful. john. >> how can you say that isis's momentum has been thwarted when they're now going into ramadi the capital of anbar province, they're still well entrenched in mosul. no sign of them being moved out of the second largest city in iraq. you have a situation where they're moving into the capital of the largest province in iraq and still maintaining control of the largest city in iraq.

and you're standing there saying their momentum has been thwarted? >> i think if you look at a lot of the data, john, the department of defense estimates that isil no longer has freedom of movement in about 25% of the populated areas where it once operated. this is populated area where isil had essentially ruled. much of that has to do with the support the coalition has provided to local force to make the gains. as you point out, isil is attempting an 0 pensive on the city of ramadi. but iraqi security forces are focused there. the u.s. coalition is performing the role that the president envisioned. that's what we're focused on. >> let me turn back to syria. i want to come back to the president's comments at the press conference. the president was asked about the yous of banned chemical weapons and he said assad gave up his chemical weapons. that has been confirmed with the

organization. he was referring to the opcw. now you have multiple reports that the opcw has uncovered evidence of the use of sara and rice and gas in syria. was the president unaware of those reports or does he think those reports are not credible? >> john, i think what he said -- he's very much aware of the reports. >> he said that the chemical weapons -- that assad gave up his chemical weapons and that's been confirmed. now you have evidence that may not have been the case. >> and i believe the president mentioned those reports in his remarks yet. >> he mentioned chlorine which is not one of the banned chemical weapons. >> understand. our point is 1300 metric tons of dangerous chemical weapons in

syria's declared stockpiles were removed as part of the teal wu were referencing. at the team we were clear that syria's declaration remained incomplete. the opcw is looking into the reports you mentioned and once there's a conclusion drawn we're going to work with our international partner to make sure this doesn't happen again. >> and if those banned weapons were used, is that to get back to jim's question, is the red line still there? is that crossing the red line again? is it time to consider what would be done and reaction? >> i think the president was very clear yesterday. what he wants to do is if the reports become confirmed, then what we will do is work with our international partners. there happens to be a framework set up where secretary kerry worked with his counter part over in moscow to use the relationship between the assad regime and russia in order to rid the assad regime of chemical weapons. >> you laid out the forceful

case that the white house has previously laid out why the president would veto that bill that passed the house. 41 democrats voted for that bill, nearly a third of the democratic caucus. the president made the case forcefully for the trade promotional authority bill and you'll be hard pressed to find more than a dozen democrats in the house that are willing to agree with the president and vote in fairvor of that. who is the leader of the democratic party? it doesn't seem like the president is showing much persuasive pow ore with the m thes. >> the president is the leader of the democratic party. if you look at the legislative priorities, the public policy of priorities over the past six and a half years now, they enjoy broad support within the democratic party. even those who disagree with him on this specific issue of trade. the president has not allowed his party affiliation to preempt

him from working across the aisle. he's he'll be the first to admit that trade is difficult for the democrats. that there's a rescueidue of bad feelings. that's why he insisted to make sure that we learn from the past. and he believes that not passing this trade deal would look in the status quo. that's why we believes that doing that would be a bad idea. so he's willing to work with democrat ons this. she's willing to work with republicans on this. thank you. jordan. >> thanks. to senator mcconnell yesterday made some very kind remarks toward the president. we've been seeing a lot of this over the past two weeks. what does the white house make of these overtures by senator mcconnell and do you think the relationship of the two has improved since the republicans took control of the senate? january? >> i know the president has a

good deal of respect for senator mcconnell. they worked together cleest closely on trade authority. the president feels good about the bipartisan coalition that was built. i don't have any grand projections to make for you about their relationship. i would know there's a number of important pieces of business in front of congress right now that we hope they get to wrk on before the break next week, that includes again the usa freedom act and a transportation bill that is set to expire. the president believes that we shouldn't be kicking the can down the road. that these are investments that are important for or country. they're not partisan. these are american investments worth making. so we hope that congress gets to work? >> do you know the last time that senator mcconnell met with president obama? >> i don't have date of any specific meeting. but i know that the president and leader mcconnell have been in touch over the past cup of

weeks, as have our staffs. laura? >> thank you. [ inaudible ] >> yes. can you ask that question again >> does president obama still want president assad to lead -- >> yes we believe president assad has lost the legitimacy to lead and he should leave. >> when? >> as soon as possible. >> and how. it's not happening at this moment. >> laura again we believe he's got the legitimacy to lead, that he mous go. that syria needs a change in leadership given the barbaric and inhumane acts that president assad committed against his own people. >> who do you want the see in syria instead of sayassad? >> i think there would need to be resolution at a political table with the political

framework. the president believes all countries are stronger when there's a legitimate framework with an all-inclusive government. colleen. >> i want to ask how the president plans to follow up with the gcc nations over the next six weeks. is he going to keep in regular touch? did that sort out a game plan for updates? >> sure. the president did indeed find the conversations yesterday and the night before valuable and productive. he had the opportunity to reiterate the united states strong commitment and strong national security interests. and the gulf region, specifically. they did have an extensive and candid conversation on the p5+1 framework. secretary kerry and mo niece and secretary lieu, there to brief

the gulf partners. we were encouraged by the statements that they released expressing support for these negotiations. yes, you bet. we're going to stay in touch with them. >> is there any particular plan for that? >> i think we will stay in touch with them at all level, both at the state department here at the white house and obviously using the specific equities if they have questions as the framework is negotiated down to the technical details. we'll be sure to make sure they stay briefed. i would also point out that yesterday the participants found this engagement to be so fulfilling and rewarding that they've announced they're going to meet again next year under a similar set of circumstances. thank you. bill? >> republicans on the house intelligence committee say the five guys that swapped for sergeant bergdahl have been --

they want the president to pressure cutter not to give them passports and release them when their term is up at the end of the month. will he do that? >> i don't have an update for you on that. i will tell you when this arrangement was negotiated with cutter, we negotiate strong and stringent security protocol to make sure that these folks don't return to the battlefield. this was done only after a unanimous vote within the president's national security council. but i don't have an update for you on any of those decisions. >> -- expires at the end of this month, in other words a few weeks. >> i haven't seen the letter of report you're citing from house republicans. i'm happy to look into it. but i don't have an update of any decisions pending before the administration. thanks. julie? >> on the defense bill that passed this week there was a

bipartisan amendment that called for a hostage recovery coordinator. we've been hearing all sorts of concerns about the way that american families of captives held overseas are treated and coordinated with. so i'm wondering what the president's position is on that whether you think that's something that should happen and whether that would be something that you would want to see stay in the defense bill in the version that you all support. >> thank you julie. we have been engaged with a number of members of congress on this, and we're going to continue to look at ways to synchronize and reinforce our respective initiatives in the interest of ensuring the improved coordination of hostage recovery efforts as well as family engagement. i don't have a specific position for you on that piece. i think it's important to note that as part of the ongoing review we're looking at better ways to be communicating with these families. one option that i've heard discussed here is the creation of an interagency fusion cell

which would ensure a government response to yofr seas hostage events. this would include a permanent group of subject matter experts including the fbi, the department of defense and state and the intelligence community in order to stort of streamline communications with these families. >> can you envision that having one coordinator on top of the group? >> i do want to be clear that this policy review is still ongoing. i don't want to get ahead of where we are on that process. but i do think that streamlining those communications are an important piece of the work they're doing right now. >> and just to follow up on the president's comments earlier today. he talked about needing to support and provide the resources for law enforcement officers. is he thinking of any new investments that need to be made beyond what is in the budget to step up the level of investment in some of the communities he's talked about needing a lot more help and a lot more resource to

combat pofty and repair the relationships between the departments and the citizens there that they're looking at? >> i think if you look at the president's budget you'll see a good guide on the investments that the president wants to make, not only in law enforcement but also in a lot of the underlying issues that, as you point out, the president has been talking about recently. that includes the conversation he had earlier this week here in washington on poverty. that includes investing in some of our more challenging neighborhoods and communities. that include protecting and defending civil rights of all americans. that includes making sure young people have a chance to go to college. president believes the surest path out of poverty is a job. and the best way for that is an education. that's why the president is committed to these proposals. i don't have new programs to announce today. >> specifically on police resources. he seemed to be talking about --

and the gentleman who introduced him talked about how they need more resource to do what they do and to be supported in that. what is the president going to do about that? >> i think there are a number of proposals in the president's budget that speak to this. this is directly related to the monday event where the president is going to go first hand to camden. see for himself the strong work that has been done there. this is a community that was dealing with a severe gap between law enforcement and the community, but they have a remarkable story, remarkable turn around to bridge that gap and string then the relationship. that did involve some investments. i know -- in technology, for example. so we're going to have an opportunity to discuss this on monday. thank you. to lou. >> yesterday the president said about the two-state solution that it seems distant now. he also made some comments about

the governing coalition that prime minister netanyahu has put together. is the president disappointed in the governing coalition that's been put together? has he expressed those same comments that he made publicly privately to the prime minister? >> i don't have any private conversations between the president and prime minister netanyahu to raid out to you. the government was only formed about 24 hours ago. i think broadly speaking the president looks forward to working with the prime minister and his new government. the president did 'ememphasize that we place great -- it reflects the deep partnership between the countries and reflects an understanding that israel's stability and security is in the national security interest of the american people. we continue to look forward to continue on a range of issues. and yes the importance of

pursuing a two-state solution. >> it seems distant now. is that sort of a concession that this is not going to happen before he leaves office? is he sort of conceding that the two-state solution is not going to be part of his legacy? >> i think it's a concession that some of the members of the new government are not necessarily in favor of the two-state solution. that's what the president was speaking about. >> just to follow up quickly about chicago. >> yes. >> moody's downgraded something to junk status earlier this week. the city is going through a pretty tough financial situation. it's the president's hometown. he's going to have his presidential library there and it's the biggest city to be downgraded to junk. has the president been briefed on this? does he have any thoughts on the development? >> i don't have any specific conversation of the president. he's generally made aware of these sorts of situations. i do know that the treasury's

office has been monitoring the financial situation in chicago as well as briefing senior firnls about these downgrades. i would refer you to treasury and maybe the city of chicago which has a savvy press office. >> does the president have any reaction -- just yesterday he was saying -- he was reiterating his call to end the short term measures the house putting down a bill. >> again as my boss pointed out several times, republicans ran hard to get control of both the house and the senate. there was a lot of money spent. a lot of resources spent for them to have majorities in both of those chambers. i believe the leaders of both of those chambers penned an op-ed that talked about getting congress moving again. now we're a few months into

their tenure and not only have they stipulated they can't pass the full six-year transportation bill, but it looks like they might not even get the short-term one down. we believe that would be a dereliction of their responsibility. that they should not leave town before doing that. if they were to leave town on recess, i can't manual being a member of congress and going back to their district and explaining to some of the workers why the projects are no longer on track. >> i want to ask you about comments the president has made in light of things that are being said on the campaign trail. the president called the situation in iraq a dumb war. we're hearing similar comments about the -- from 2016 candidates that it was a bad idea. what they're saying, some of them more generally speaking is that it's a bad idea or it was a bad idea knowing what we know now. the president in the 2008 election was essentially saying please -- this is what i'm

asking. please correct me if i'm wrong. it was a bad idea knowing what we knew then. is that an accurate representation of what the president was saying in 2008? >> yes. >> and one last one. we go sometimes into president as sports fan and chief. will he be watching the romney holy. field fight tonight. >> i just saw a's thor on the television and i had no idea that was happening. i was dumbfounded by the imagery. i don't know if the president plans to watch. >> does he have any advice to evander holyfield on how to beat mitt ram any? they both suffer -- romney has a height advantage over both men. >> that is true. i have not spoken to the president about this. i did not even know it was happening. kevin. >> that's too good to pass up. thank you were eric. appreciate pit. i want to follow up on ramadi

very quickly. the general characterized the latest games there as propaganda. he said these things typically continue materialize into long term gains. does the white house agree with that assessment? >> i think it's our understanding that isil is again attempting an offensive in the city of ramadi. that's why they're supporting the brave citizens of the anbar province province. we've talked about a couple of times now that the coalition forces continue to provide air support in isil held and contested areas throughout iraq. i would note today that the coalition launched numerous air strikes in ramadi. but i'm going to refer you to the iraqi government for the latest on their forces. >> one on gcc and the summit.

it seemed apparent that that of the partners were looked for a far mallized pact to come out of that. broadly speaking or as a general matter with, can you sort of explain why that didn't happen and might that be a focus on the follow on summit to come next year? >> you're already looking forward to next year's. this year's was so much fun. there was a lot of speculation leading up to the summit. i think what you'll find was how relieved and how heartened and encouraged they were by both the discussions yesterday over the past few days and the commitments that the united states made to the security relationship between the united states and those countries. >> stated but not written and formalized. >> i think there was definite concrete commitments made.

i think you saw the communique that was released yesterday but i'm happy to review some f those. that includes expanding our military exercises and assistance to meet the full range of conventional and a so metric throats, prevent the flow of foreign fighter and increased enforcement to prevent terrorist financing. we're going to redouble our efforts to counter violent extremism including online and expand our cooperation on maritime security. i would draw you to the specific piece of the joint statement where the leaders pledged to further deepen the united states and gulf relations on these and other issues in order to build a stronger comprehensive strategic partnership aimed at enhancing regional disparity and prosperity.

>> tpa seems to be moving in the right direction from the president's perspective. but i would like to get into what is probably a real disappointment. and that is, how is it that his former secretary of state didn't weigh in on tpa and more broadly tpp and how much does that bother him? he went to bat for her when it was political inconvenient vis-a-vis the e-mail server scanned. it is too much to ask that she would step up on his behalf on a tough issue and she simply hasn't done it? >> kevin i will refer you to secretary clinton's able team. i think they also have a pretty savvy press department. >> debatable. >> not in my mind. and i would tell you that our focus has been on the united states senate and the united states house of representative. that's where the votes are.

that's our people we are trying to persuade in order to support the president's agenda. >> could nts he throw him a bone and at least say hey, hey's got the right idea. i mean really. is that too much to ask in he es done a lot for her. pick up the phone, go out there and help me out. >> i don't have private conversations to read out for you between the president and the former secretary of state. our focus has been on getting these through congress. thank you. mike. >> thanks. why is it important for the president to make a distinction that the use of chlorine was not historically a use of a chemical weapon. and is there a concern at the white house that the assad regime is using that distinction as a loophole to further victimize the opponents of bashar al assad. >> i think the president was talking about that chlorine by itself as a substance has a

whole range of uses. what is prohibited is the use of it as a weapon. that's what the president was trying to get at in terms of the classification. thank you. chris. >> eric in the country of gambia there is continued hostility about the lgbt groups. the president threatened to slit the throats and the human rights campaign and robert kennedy center are calling on the white house to speak out. will you condemn the president's actions and anti-day rhetoric? >> i haven't seen the comments so i don't want to directly respond from here without having read them. but the president has a strong record of speaking out for human rights and equal rights in countries around the world. victoria. >> does the white house agree with the former inspector general of the national security agency who is saying today to nsa employees that u was a

strategic blunder to keep secret the nsa's data collection of all american's phone records and that this has greatly harmed national security? do you agree with him in. >> victoria i'm going to be honest with you. vi not seen the inspector general's comments or if he issued a report today. >> both. do you agree with that in. >> i think the president has been very clear that the bulk collection that has been going on at the federal level needed to be reformed. that's why the president put forth a number of first set up a team to take a deep study into a lot of these issues, then announced a bunch of reforms. one of which is the usa freedom act. to make sure that the intelligence needs of federal law enforcement are still met while better balancing privacy concerns. and that's why the united states congress should go ahead and pass the bill.

>> so his point is the keeping it secret was not in the strategic interest of the united states. that it didn't serve any operational interests. so that what i'm wondering is, if that's the case, are there perhaps other programs that are being kept secret that are simply not in the interest of the united states to be kept secret that you could in fact tell the united states public about that it wouldn't hurt us to know? otherwise we're going to find out from edward snowden at some point. >> none that i'm ready to talk about right here. >> we'll just wait. >> we'll give you the last one. >> earthquake in nepal, what many nepalese are asking they're seeking one time some kind of resolution from the president so they can go and visit their loved ones and help

them. and if the president is thinking that it is the time for the nepalese to get one-time visa or waiver or something or thm. and also, this will be the first time that never ever a u.s. president visited nepal and president obama could be the first one to visit. >> we have a year and a half left. i don't have any skenling announcements for you. i also don't have a response to that request which i was not aware of previously. i will say and i think the president noted this earlier in his remarks that the department of defense has now confirmed that the wreckage of the u.s. marine helicopter miss in nepal has been found and the crew of six u.s. marines and two nepalese service members are presumed dead. our heart and prayers go out to all of those love ones who were lost. i do think that it's important to note that we think our indian and nepalese partners who assisted in the search for the helicopter, we mourn this loss

but we have resolved to continue this humanitarian relief efforts in nepal which suffered so much through two recent earthquakes. >> recently u.s. ambassador to india, he was here in washington and speaking at carnegie institute. now he's going around town or around the globe including now in china. so where do we stand as far as the u.s. is concerned. he has been in china and germany, now going to south korea for the summit. >> i don't have an update on that for you. clearly this is an issue we ear focused on. we're specifically focused on the tpp arrangement right now. and especially getting trade

promotion authority through congress. i do have a week ahead if anyone is interested. it's robust. on monday the president will travel to camden, new jersey to meet with local law enforcement. the president will hear directly about the effort of the camden police department to build trust between their department and the community they serve. camden was recently designated as a promise zone which as some of you know leveraged federal grants to increase economic opportunity, reduce crime and improve public health. the president is going to take this opportunity to discuss how these kind of partnerships and community investments are a crucial point of creating ladders of opportunity for all americans. we will have fut details about the trip in the coming days. on the tuesday here at the white house attending meeting. on wednesday traveling to new london connecticut to deliver

the commencement address at the coast guard academy. he will also attend a dnc event. further details about that trip will be available in coming days. on thursday the president will hold the white house. this visit will underscore the united states' long standing friendship with tunisia, commitment to strengthening our partnership with the new government, and our support for the tunisia people following their historic 2014 democratic elections. in the afternoon thursday the president has a cabinet meeting here at the white house. and on friday, the president travels to congregation israel, one of the largest congregations here in washington to deliver remarks in celebration of jewish-american heritage month recognizing jewish americans to american society and culture. in the afternoon friday the president african-american first lady host a reception for the diplomatic core here at the white house. with that, i hope y'all have a wonderful weekend.

thank you. this sunday night at 8:00 eastern on "first ladies," we'll look into rachel jackson, emily donaldson, and angelica van buren. one called a bigamist, and she died an apparent heart attack before he became president. his niece becomes hostess, but was dismissed after fallout from a scandal. later, his daughter-in-law is the white house hostess. rachel jackson, emily donaldson, and angelica van buren, that's sunday night, "first ladies," examining the public and private lives of the women who filled eded position of first lady from martha washington to michelle

obama on c-span3. as a compliment to the series c-span's new book is available "first ladies: presidential historians on the lives of 45 iconic women" providing lively stories of the fascinating women, creating an entertaining and inspiring read, available as hard cover or e-book through your favorite bookstore or online book seller. this week the house financial services committee held a hearing on protecting consumers' financial data. it's partly in response to high profile data breaches at banks and retailers. congressman chairs the three hour hearing.

financial data security in the age of computer hackers, given that the pa just turned on, it is a testament to the fact to members welcome home. i assume we have many of our colleagues who are furiously running from hv 201 as we speak for our witnesses and for the audience. we have been nomads since the beginning of the year so you will notice a few changes in the room. this rep vags was caused by an upgrade of the audio/visual systems, although i did not specifically request it i now

notice there are twice as many microphones in our hearing room as before. i wish to notify members that does not mean they can speak twice as long. that does not go along with the microphones. in addition, you notice our witnesses are quite a ways away, that we have less room for the public as hearing rooms are renovated, they must be made and should be made compliant with the americans with disabilities act. this room complies with that ada statute, which means every row has been enlarged, which means we have lost part of our gallery, but the overflow room is still alive and well. in addition for those who've

moved into a new home or new apartment, there is such a thing known as a punch list. for some, you may kicked out of the room in the next five to seven days as the punch list is attened to. another change in our committee room. if you will look over my left shoulder, you will see our -- the portrait of our most recent chairman spencer baucus. for those with tenure on the committee, myself and the ranking member, to have barney over one shoulder and spencer over the other it seem like old times. we certainly know of barney's fierce intelligence, but i hope people remember spencer's gentle and kind leadership of this committee and sometimes when

emotions and passions start to run high let's remember the example he set for us respect and decency and yes, humor and somehow in any moment, i expect for these two to carry on one of their classive debates. we'll see if that actually happens or not. i believe that is all i need to say about the hearing room at the moment. in which case the chair now recognizes himself for three minutes for an opening statement. today's hearing will be focused on protecting consumers and their private financial information in an age of computer hackers. the world has experienced a technology revolution, one that's brought remarkable benefits to consumers and the broader economy but it's also increased some risk on consumers by making the theft of their personal financial information a profitable enterprise for cyber

criminals and computer hackers. in the era of big data, large scale security breaches are unfortunately all too common. in every breach, consumers are exposed and vulnerable to theft, fraud, and a host of other crimes. we have certainly all read about the high profile headline grabbing breaches at target and home depot. according to the identity theft resource center there were 783 data breaches in 2014, and increase of more than 27% over the prior year. the center for strategic and international studies estimate that such attacks cost the u.s. economy $100 billion billion with a b, annually. american consumers rightfully expect their personal information to be protected by their financial institutions, by their retailers, card networks payment processers, and, yes, by their federal government. consumers should not be let to hope and pray their personal

information is saved every time they swipe their debit or credit card and enter information online. they deserve protection, so, today, the committee will hear from representatives of organizations whose members constitute the major participants in the payment system. we welcome their expertise and insight. my hope is that this hearing affords members on both sides of the aisle an opportunity to better understand what security measures are currently in place to prevent data breaches. our consumers are notified following a breach, what types of emerging technologies will help reduce frequency and severity of breaches, and what steps are taken by the merchant and financial services communities to address the problem and where additional federal legislation will be warranted. i hope we engage in a thoughtful, constructive dialogue on a bipartisan basis

and on that regard, i thank the chairman and mr. carnrgs ey for starting this dialogue, by introducing the bill to address this important problem. it will now yield back the balance of my time and recognize the ranking member for three minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman. americans are increasingly reliant on electronic means to communicate, shop, and manage finances, while new technologies bring stop sign opportunity they bring a range of new vulnerables, massive attacks on our nation's largest retailers and financial institutions are impacting virtually every sector of our economy and our national security. consumers are not the only ones who pay the price of a breach. the cost of recovering losses by retailers and card issuers can

be extensive and weigh particularly heavy on small community banks and credit unions. we all know companies face a number of challenges in determining how best to secure customers financial and personally identifiable information. in addition, we know that there are significant costs to complying with various state laws and providing notice after a breach. however, as we consider setting national standards for safeguarding consumers' personal information and ensuring timely notification, we have to acknowledge good work of those states that, for years, have been at the front lines of this fight. i believe that any federal preemption should compliment state's protections and ensure, at a minimum that state attorneys generals continue to play and important role in