higher education. women today are more likely than men to attend and graduate from college. it is also a reminder of how much more work needs to be down three women are still more likely to live in poverty in this country. this is especially troubling because we know that to compete with nations around the world, these are fields in which we need to harness the talents of all of our people. that is how we will win the future. today, women still earn on average about 75 cents for every dollar of man earns. that is a huge discrepancy. at a time when folks across this country are struggling to make ends meet, and many families are just trying to get by on one paycheck after a job loss, it is a reminder that achieving equal pay for equal work is not just a woman's issue. it is a family issue. it one of my first acts as

president, i signed a law so that women who have been discriminated against in their salaries could have their day in court to make it right. but there are steps we should take to prevent that from happening in the first place. that is why i was so disappointed when an important bill to give women more power to stop pay disparities was blocked by just two votes in the senate. and that is why am going to keep the fight to pass the reforms in that bill. achieving equality and opportunity for women is not just important to me as president. it is something i care about deeply as the father of two daughters who wants to see his world -- to see his girls grow up in a world where there are no limits to what they can achieve. i have seen so many girls passionate about science and other subjects that were traditionally not as open to them. we have a science fair. the white house where i yet -- and met the young woman named amy chyao.

she was only 16 years old, but she was actually working on a treatment for cancer. she never thought that science is not for me. she was just interested in solving the problem. and because someone was interested in giving her a chance, she has the potential to improve lives. that tells me how far we have come. but it also tells me we have to work even harder to close the gaps that still exist, and to uphold that simple american ideal -- we are all equal and deserving of the chance to pursue our own version of happiness. that is what eleanor roosevelt was striving toward half a century ago. that is why this report matters today, and that is why on behalf of all of our daughters and our sons, we have got to keep making progress in the years ahead. thank you for listening. >> this is lisa murkowski. our hearts and prayers are with the people of japan in the wake of friday's terrible earthquake and tsunami.

the memories of the devastating 1964 quakers to with this. we're just beginning to complement -- comprehend the magnitude of this quake. we share the president's support to help recovery and we commend the actions he has taken so far. this tragedy as well as the upheaval in the middle east and north africa serve as stark reminders of how intertwined at our world economy is, how world events beyond our control can affect all of us. it makes it all the more important that we control those things we can. i want to speak with you today about one of the threats that we are experiencing personally -- rising energy prices. i want to share some of the steps the republicans are ready to take right now, steps that will protect america from international conflict, create thousands of new jobs, reduce our budget deficit, and help bring energy prices back down to earth.

nationwide, prices have risen by 40 cents by the past month and have doubled since january 2009. a gallon of gas is heading north of $4. that is not just pain at the pump, it is crippling for anyone with bills to pay, groceries to buy, or a loan to me. when gasoline prices go up, families and businesses are stretched thin, budgets are harder to balance, and jobs are destroyed. it energy prices keep climbing, our nation couldst brief slip back into recession just as we are emerging from the last one. the worst part is that our own government deserves much of the blame. international events have pushed prices higher, but our own shortsightedness and restrictions have also played a critical role. some in washington believe higher oil and gas prices driven even higher by proposing taxes are needed to make americans

behavior the way they think they should. higher energy prices are there explicit goal. they do not realize or care about the damage to the economy, the pain to a mom and she fills the minivan, or a farmer as he tries to bring in a harvest. america imports 11 million barrels of oil every day. last year long we spent more than $330 billion on foreign oil, much of it from countries that are not our friends. we do not import oil because our domestic reserves are exhausted. not even close. since 1919, people have claimed that america is running out of oil. it might surprise you that we are still the world's third largest oil producer, and we can find more whenever we actually look. republicans know that it is past time to produce more of america's oil. my home state of alaska alone has estimated resources in excess of 65 years' worth

imports. republicans would in the defacto moratorium in the gulf of mexico and parts of the west, and we need to put people back to work. it is also time to show -- shall the bad ideas. democrats have repeatedly sought to increase taxes will slow in the permitting process. the what -- does not solve any problems but it will mean less production, more imports, and higher prices. to boost production we need to cut red tape and streamline regulation. both supply and demand up that oil prices and that is why republican support both new production and alternatives to reduce consumption. but we are also thinking about what comes next. we are committed to making progress on cleaner energy. that is not our only goal. we also want energy to be affordable, abundant, the verse,

and domestic. for far too long, our nation has lacked a coherent energy policy. for too many decades, opponents have argued against long-term policies because it will not produce instant gratification. we have ignored the tremendous benefits of american oil production, jobs, money, and security. and now we're facing the consequences. republicans believe that americans deserve better, and we believe the federal government can do better. we're ready to make meaningful progress on energy and we're hopeful that our democratic colleagues will join us. >> sunday on "washington journal," to reporters discuss though latest congressional negotiations on a bill to fund the federal government through september. then the cato institute represented on cutting foreign

aid during the second -- this economic downturn. after that, the success and struggle of health care coverage. plus your e-mails and phone calls. "washington journal" live sunday at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c- span. tomorrow, house homeland security chairman peter king's hearing examining the radicalization of american muslims. witnesses covered both sides of the issues. testimony from congressman keith ellison, the first american muslim to serve in the u.s. house, followed by two men who related their accounts of family members recruited by islamic radicals. >> one-quarter of mortgages are under water this morning. a fit of all of our wealth was

quite out. you cannot draw on that farm policy, given the financial realities. >> john hulsman advises governments and businesses about the political risks of the world today and tomorrow. this sunday, his insight on the intersection of farm policy and money. now, microsoft chairman bill gates talks about his philanthropic organization, the bill and melinda gates foundation. his career at microsoft as well as education and global health care. this took place at the economic club of washington, d.c. and is about an hour. >> we are very pleased and honored tonight to have bill gates as our special guest. as i said at the outset, this is in the 25 years of the club, the biggest turnout we have ever had. i don't think it is because the

interviewer skills were so great. i think it's because everybody wanted to hear bill gates. i think the reason is because of his extraordinary accomplishments over so many years. i don't think he needs an electorate introduction, but i would like to make a couple of points. today, bill is essentially the biggest and greatest philanthropists in the world. he has given $30 billion of his own money to his foundation, and that foundation has to date given away about $24 billion to causes we will talk about, including k-12 education in the united states and health care in the developing world. he has become not only a big donor to these causes, but someone actually committed and knowledgeable about the causes and brought to with the intelligence and dedication and focus he brought to his business career earlier. his business career is also

legendary. he left harvard in the 1970's and started a company later named microsoft. he built it into the largest technology company in the world. at one. it had the highest market valerie of any company in the world's history. he revolutionized the computer system that we have in our country and revolutionized software, and everybody here, i dare say, has used the products of his company, microsoft. he served as the ceo from 1975 to the year 2000 when he stepped down as ceo. he managed to become in addition to a very successful entrepreneur and businessman and ceo, the wealthiest man in the world, and today he is one of the wealthiest men in the world. force today said -- force today

said he is only the third wealthiest man in the world with the modest income of $49 billion. it would be $88 billion if it were not for his philanthropic work. it is one thing to make a lot of money and another thing to give it away. bill gates has managed to keep his feet on the ground, his ego in check, and he has made himself a very humane and personable person and made himself a accessible to people. what people admire about him is not only his extraordinary accomplishments in philanthropy and business, but also the person he has become and the person he has let so many people know. what i would like to do tonight is not only talk about the foundation and its philanthropic work but also some of the things that make him so human and so interesting to talk to. let me start by saying thank you

very much for coming, bill. i wonder if you ever thought what you could have made of yourself had you finished college? [laughter] is very legendary they dropped out of harvard. but seriously, every parent wants to know if you would recommend your own children to drop out of college. was the dropping out of college two years early that made a difference? >> paul allen, who is my co- founder, and i saw the very first kid computer on the cover of a magazine. we had been talking about the miracle of the chip for three years by then. we were saying this is going to happen without us. we have to get involved, this is so important. when that product was announced , we felt like we had to go do

it right away. school did not stand in the way of that. i am actually on leave from harvard right now. >> what did your parents say? you had gotten into harvard, you were a brilliant student. what did they say when you said you were dropping out? >> my parents were used to strangeness. i had been breaking them then, slowly but surely. my senior year of high school, i skipped because there was a job that i was being offered, which was an amazing job, to work on a very complicated computer project. i got to work with some really brilliant people, so i got to learn a lot more. the people i worked with said i should skip college and go and get a ph.d.

i went to my parents and said i think i am going to skip college. they said actually, you should go to college. that was good advice, because in terms of social development, i never finished my social development, but it helped. [laughter] >> i am tollner when you are in high school you prepared a program that enables you to get in classes with mostly girls. is that true? >> they were nearby, and they tended to be the better looking girls, for some reason. i decided when the classes would meet, who was in the classes. it was a semi complicated software problem, and they were super nice to let me do it. soy gave me money to do it, that was a great position.

>> a couple of years ago, you were given an honorary degree at harvard, and you said that you always told her parents she would go back and get the degree. in your speech, he said that you were assigned to live in what is called the yard, and he wanted to live there because there were more girls in that part carper, and you thought it would give you a better opportunity, that you would outshine the rest of the geeks, but he said it didn't really work. >> the first year i lived down in the yard, but they had a great 50-50 ratio. that did not do anything for me, but again, at least it was a better background. >> when you started your company, did you ever have an ambition to build such a large

company? did you have a business plan that led to something like microsoft becoming what it became? >> the interesting thing is that we always had a contradiction in our plan. we said there would be a computer on every desk and in every home running microsoft software, which is a plan for a very big company. i would constantly be saying no customer pays me for a year, could i meet the payroll? i always had enough cash on hand. other first 13 customers, eight of them did not pay us in full. radio shack, apple, a few months got on that early list. -- a few good ones got on that early list. when someone said what is your plan, but i would say my plan is to double.

clearly we can double. i said that we had 100 people, 500 people, 5000 people. in a way, we were actually being very realistic about what we needed to do and what the income would be. i remember once when the forbes four hundred list came out. i thought it was interesting, if we double a few more times, we might even be on this list. let's just plan the next doubling. >> did you ever consider starting the company are building anywhere other than your hometown area because it was not been considered a center for this type of activity? >> are very first customer when i dropped out of harvard was in albuquerque, new mexico. i learn how to spell that, and

then we were hiring people. it is not the easiest place to hire people. then that first customer got bought by a california company so we knew we had to move. the choice was to move to silicon valley, and we were worried about the traffic and employee loyalty, or to move to be next to dfw airport, because we are doing so much business in asia, are going back to seattle. everybody in the company wanted to go back to seattle. we eventually decided that would work, we could create a loyal group there. the computer game traditionally was on the east coast, boston was the biggest part of it, and the new game was almost entirely in silicon valley.

>> you mentioned forbes. when you went public in 1986, he became the youngest self-made billionaire in the united states at the age of 32. >> when we went public, within a few years the value kept going up. >> when he became a billionaire at a relatively young age, how did it change your life, and did you find people treating much differently? did your parents treat you differently? [laughter] >> no, i would order cheese on my cheeseburger. i was talking to my dad once, and he was saying it must be tough for paul allen's dad, his son makes more money than he does. i did not answer him, and he

said ok, you make more than i may. i was the best customers in his law firm at the time. i have done very well for the legal profession. i was fanatical. between ages 18 and at least 30, i was just totally focused on microsoft. i did not believe in vacations. i let other people take them along a bit. and you everybody's license plate. i knew when they came in in the morning and when they left that night. i was so excited and so thrilled by the work we were doing, i wanted them to stay in front of it. the full of notion of what the company or the stock was worth was not that interesting. sometimes there was an article about giving it away, and i remember reading it and thinking

it was something out have to think about someday. i was 38 when i got married, and then i did have to think about it. >> you marry someone who not only had two college degrees, she had the advantage of having them from duke. now as everybody knows she is your partner in the bill and melinda gates foundation. how does that work in the foundation? do you both have to agree on every gift? had you sort through the gifts and decide what your areas of focus are in the foundation? >> she is an equal partner in this whole thing, which is a lot of fun to have a project that is deep and complicated. she knows when i get over excited about something. maybe i have gone so 4 -- 24. she thinks about the people. how -- maybe i have gone too far. we do a couple of trips a year where we go together.

we will go off to india for a week together, and then we do three or four trips where each of us will go somewhere and then we get back together and explain what we saw there. it has worked very, very well. she knows some of my weaknesses and is very helpful with those things. she got to ride on air force one before i did. >> when you got your foundation off the ground in a significant way, it contributed $20 billion at the outset. what was it like to write a check for $20 billion? >> the year 2000, microsoft was valued at over $500 billion, which was a kind of unusual number. i thought, this is a good time to give some stock away.

stock certificates within to the foundation, and over time those were actually sold. what happened was, my dad was retired from his legal career and a microsoft executive also retired, and they were talking about working together. i thought ok, given that i am still so focused on microsoft and i don't have that much airtime between microsoft and family stuff, these two will do a pretty good job. i started learning about vaccines and help underfunded they were and what a miracle they were and learn about reproductive health. when you create a foundation, in the year 2000 we had to ramp up

pretty quickly to spend that 5%. >> so now he retired from microsoft essentially in 2008, i guess, and you are still the non-executive chairman, but 100% of your time is in philanthropy now. how did you decide that the two areas you want to focus on networking k-12 education in the united states and worldwide health care? >> we decided that our main focus would be something that affects life in a very big way. that is why we picked global help. we saw that because the poorest people don't create a market, there is not much research. if you get those vaccines, they can be delivered anywhere and they are delivered on every place on the earth.

they have an above the 90 iq because they have had infectious disease that means their brain does not fully develop. that holds those countries back in a huge way. and then parents to have healthy children, the master switch of all problems is if you have too many people, everything that counts is impossible. that is what global help kmart number one priority. then we said we should pick a problem in the united states because it really has an incredible education system and it really is the american system that allowed linda and i to

learn. we give a little over a quarter to u.s. education just because we wanted to have a global cause and a domestic cause. we have added things that help poor people in agriculture and sanitation. >> everybody you see must be asking you at this point in your life for money in some clever or so away. you must have gotten used to that, and how you respond to so many people? >> there is a lot of interest in raising money. if you really tell people what your focus is, if it is about global health and poor children, saving their lives, we are very interested. it is about improving the u.s. educational system. it is out of those areas, it is

very likely that somebody else should go do that. even a foundation our size has to have some degree of focus to build up expertise and see where we are going wrong becaus. you can do them with more of measurement or more of a learning clarkerf. it works out ok. i can say no. warren buffett taught me how. >> you mentioned warren buffett and berkshire. let me get to that. you had a relationship with warren buffett for a number of years, and one day he called you up and said i want to contribute to your foundation. how did that come about? >> a very unusual set of circumstances. i met warren in 1991. a mother said she had warren buffett coming over and i should come meet him.

i said i am busy, mom. i said that you are a lot about a lot of things. i was still in my fanatical stage at that point. she said no, you have to come by. i said mom, he buys and sells stocks. that is not really add to human welfare. but she said i should come. so i went and met warren, and he started asking me questions about why it didn't ibm do what i did, and how would affect different things. these are questions i had always wanted somebody to ask me. then i talked to him about things about the businesses he knew. so we became pretty good friends.

then tragically, his wife died in 2004, and his plan was that he would make the money and she would run the foundation, and that she would outlive him and have lots of time to do it. when that was not going to be the case, weren't completely to our surprise decided to form a five foundations. it was fantastic but completely unexpected. >> when he called you that day and said i am going to give you $30 billion, what was your reaction? >> it was, wow, he is really serious about this. [laughter]

about a year after his wife died, he said the logical thing to do would be to give this money to your foundation. but he was not suggesting it would happen. he was suggesting it would not happen, but he was just brainstorming. then three months later he called and said i am actually doing that. i said you are doing what? he said i want to give a large part to your foundation because i like to delegate things. [laughter] seriously, warren had very clear principles. in terms of giving money away, he picked various foundations. >> did he say i would like to have my name on your foundation? >> first usa needed not even

want to be a trusty -- first he was saying he did not even want to be a trustee. then he said the kind of would like to be a trustee. he has been just totally supportive, gives advice and helps us think about some of the tough issues we face. it is a lot like the trees the managers in his business. he knows they are going to do their best. because they admire him so much, they want to do good work for him, and they know he is available to provide guidance. >> you have obviously had a great career in business and out in philanthropy. how you compare the level of excitement you get out of the two different types of

endeavors? >> there was the microsoft phase, the first 10 years, where i got to ride a lot of code. nobody wrote a line of code without me looking at it, no one hired an engineer without me. that had a certain perfection to it, that everything had to be in the right place. that was very cool. but then i could not keep that up if i wanted to do a lot of products. i had to step back and not write code and manage and take strategies. i had to kind of a just to zero lesser way of contributing, and there are a lot of mistakes you can make when you start doing that. the foundation is very similar. there are scientists working on a malaria vaccine. it can take a decade to know if

they are going down a dead-end or not. there are issues with education that finally will be decided politically. some things are more of an engineering type thing and the market will tell you if you get it right or wrong. on some of our science stuff at the foundation, is more like that, where the and you either have it or you don't. if you invent a way that teachers should be, some big compensated -- if you invent a way that teachers should be compensated. >> you wrote code for a long time and you are obviously a software expert. i always wondered about two

questions. why is it when i turn on my microsoft software, to turn it on i have to have three fingers, alternate, control, and deadly. what was the theory behind having three different buttons you had to push? i never could figure it out. [applause] >> when you want to start of the computer, you want to know there is not some funny piece of software in their that is looking at everything you are doing and just pretended is real software. the actual process is in the keyboard, that when it gets that sequence, it does a hard reset on a computer, so you know that is the boot software. we could have picked a less obscure in sequence, but we don't want it to be confused

with normal keystrokes. we came up with that. maybe we could have done it better. [laughter] >> why cannot have software where if i send an e-mail to you but i don't want you to send it to somebody else, you cannot forward it? right now if i send an e-mail to you, it can go all over the world. can you prevent that? >> if you configure microsoft exchange the right way, you can have two things. you can have the mail that cannot be forwarded. you can have email that can be afforded, but the originator sees the trace of every forward and every fourth of every forward. the originator can see exactly what is going on. you have to notify people that it is a traced email. to some degree, as soon as you

send somebody an e-mail, in an extreme case, they can take a full grasp of their screen and put that in a scanner and e-mail that photograph. once it is in their brain, you cannot guarantee information does not leak out. so there is never a perfect system, but there are systems that make a lot easier to stop people from forwarding things. >> when ibm was looking to have somebody provide software, i think you were selected. what was it like to get ibm to select you? were you competing with a lot of other people, and why did they not say they want to own the software that you produce for us? why do you think they did not want to own that software? >> they were not curious about personal computing. ibm became a company with many

engineering locations and laboratories. one of those laboratories was raton.hanboca some genius up at headquarters decided, we take four years from when we conceive of a probleprot and when we get it done. we should get that down to a shorter time period. let's see if we can get it done quickly. they took bids for new methodology. boca get a bid where they said they would use outside vendors and get a product done in two years. the forecast was to sell 200,000 of them. their bid was accepted.

it was not a major project, it was just a thing never doing. -- it was just a think they were doing. the group at boca raton was a fantastic group. what happened is, this was in november 1981, and it sold like mad. he quickly sold over 1 million machines. there was a group that did low in business computers and a group that did work processing. they said they are selling the machine cheaper than ours and messing up our market. so they both bid to take over the personal computer division. they said remember, these guys are morons.

they actually took the guy who ran the pc division and put him in charge of the other two divisions. in some ways, like many companies, ibm was fairly enlightened about a lot of keep stuff and a lot of other stuff they were not. we were very explicit that if anybody else does computers, we need to make more money than we were making. we have to be able to sell it to other people. they understood that we had kept that up side. there was one guy at ibm who objected to their concept.

he was overridden. >> had he not been overwritten, that was the most expensive decision ibm ever made. >> the ibm pc was not guaranteed to be successful. there were lots of personal computers, commodore, apple, radio shack. need thatgenerational the group decided to move up to a slightly more powerful machine. it became a template. it is hard to go back and .onsider those other software's ibm made a lot of money on personal computers and did very

well. eventually they sold off that division. >> had apple licensed its software to people in those days that did not have open software -- open systems, open architecture, do you think that would have made a difference in your company? >> we actually told apple -- we had applications that ran on the macintosh. strangely, we made more money and mcintosh was sold and when an ibm pc was sold. the dominant work processor and spreadsheet on the macintosh -- we kept telling them, please licensure software. the irony is that they fired their ceo, they brought steeg back, they kept building on their software.

you can do it on your own, but it is just a different model. the microsoft model is for all the hardware companies. >> when you wrote your first book about your company and your life, i don't think you mentioned very much the internet in that book. maybe i am wrong. did you foresee the internet coming along, or did it surprise you, and how important it became as part of the whole computer generation? >> yes and no. it is easy to sound not humble. the book talks all about the information superhighway, which sounds stupid now. the internet is a mind blowing think that has completely changed the world forever. there are some elements levitt

-- elements of its, while all sorts of people in the industry talking about it for a long time. we kept expecting it to happen, and it never happened. then all of a sudden it took off. i don't think any of us sort of realize why it did not happen for the five years before it did. then once it did happen, it is one of those unbelievable phenomenon. the more people that wanted to be connected got connected, and the stuff kids cheaper. the investors completely over invested in these internet companies. a few of them actually survived, but the net return on the money between 1996 and 2001, building infrastructure and website, 90% of them were laughable.

it is like a sock puppet type thing that people invested hundreds of millions of dollars in. that phenomenon was mind blowing, because it had such a powerful dynamic. some of these applications were what we were doing the personal computer in the first place. >> in your current position, you can see almost anybody in the world. i assume you are not turned down for a lot of meetings. who would you say are among the most impressive government or business leaders you have met over the years, or the people that stand out as being so talented or farsighted that you can remember what they said you are you were very impressed with them? >> i think warren buffett probably gives me the best advice about the world of business and how things are going. i am constantly learning from war and because he is just amazing, and he puts things in a

simple to understand that fashion -- i am constantly rren.ing from wa and i think this is unbelievable in sight and personality, and that applies to lots of things. i still have a soft spot for scientists, people who spend their time teaching a problem like designing a new toilet. you can have a huge impact on humanity, designing a better wheat seed, designing a plan that makes its own fertilizer. in some areas people will toil

their whole life and some work out and some do not work out. i love finding someone like that who is doing great work. >> you have met a lot of political figures. has it ever occur to you that you could do their job better than them, and have you ever thought of running for office? >> no, i could not do their job better than them. would draw myit best talent out, it is very important. the country has been very well run. whenever you look at politics, you have to say it has always worked out before. doesn't this just happened to be the time it looks like it is not going to work out? toyou probably wouldn't have spend all that time raising money if you got into politics.

you are 55 years old. that is relatively young for somebody to have the worldwide stature that you have. you are one of the most respected men in the world, one of the most influential in the world at 55 years old. what would you like to see as your legacy, and what would you like to do for the next 25 years of your active life? what would you like ultimately your legacy are legacies to be? >> the global health area i love, because it is so concrete .nd so impact wilful last year, all little under 9 million children die before the age of five. in the next 25 years we should be able to cut that down to about 2 million.

that has a huge effect in terms of reducing sickness and reducing population growth. all it takes is about 10 new vaccines getting developed industry rooted out to a lot of people. that will be most of the rest of my life i will be working on that global help condition. there are some wonderful milestones along the way. in the next three or four years we think we can achieve polio eradication. that is the thing i am spending the most time on today. it means taking sure that even in tough times, the money gets raised. there is still little bit of scientific work that needs to be done. there will be very neat things along the way that will happen. in education, education today is not much different than it was

50 or 60 years ago. if you take almost any endeavor, engineering or medical understanding, whatever you want to take, the last years have been incredible. in education, that is not the case. if he said the best teacher was from 1960, nobody could prove you wrong. if you actually analyzed why an amazing teacher is so good, it could be a lot more like them. having an evaluation system and having technology come in so that a student can have the world's best collector -- best lecture. i would love to see big success

in helping the world's poor. i would like to see big success and education. outside of my family life, if those things can be achieved, that would be worth the next 50 years. >> you have three children. what would you do if your son or daughter went to college and said i want to drop out and start a company? how would you face that kind of situation? >> i would be able to say no, but i think it is an exceptional situation when it is logical to not complete your education. i would probably resist as much as my dad did, and hopefully the kid has a passion. if your parents objection makes you say ok, i will go back to school, then you probably were not meant to start a company.

>> how do you keep your family live relatively normal? when you are driving down the streets of seattle, do people stare at you when they see it in a car driving? >> no. everybody is just focused on their kids when i get to school. meat and lots of families. -- me and lots of families. learning things with them, that's lots of fun. i am envious. if they are curious about something, you can find out about it. you can go watch a youtube video. when i was young -- they said, hey, we do not have an answer.

>> do you limit the amount of time that your kids spend on the computer? >> i would if they showed signs of extreme behavior like i did. [laughter] you want them to do sports. you want them to do things with friends. achieving that balance is a hard. that is why that tiger mother thing is an interesting thing to have round. what is too much? what balance should a kid have? so far, none of my kids have shown that such tendencies. >> warren buffet famously said he was not going to give his children any money. he was going to give them the foundation to monitor and minister. do you up plans for how much you are going to leave your children? what are you going to do?

>> again, my wife and i will end up giving them a very, very slim percentage. [laughter] >> a small percentage is still probably a lot. [laughter] >> you want to give them enough so they can do anything, but they cannot do nothing. i am sure we will think about it. it is a tricky problem. every kid, their friends and associates should think of them -- but then again, they do get a great education. and they are getting one of the best deals in live. and then time for from time, they will say, "reminded me why you are not giving me any money ?" [laughter]

we have got the bidding really a low here. [laughter] >> are you ever short of cash? do you need credit cards? when you show a credit card, do people say "oh, sure, that is really do." >> my name is william h. gates iii. when i was young that, my card would say "jr." and i would show with and they would say i was too young. and i would say, no. it says "jr.." i do not have a problem. [laughter] >> all right. we have some time. one last question. you said your foundation would probably not stay around too many years after your wife and

you leave the earth. is there a reason? what is your thinking? >> carnegie and some other foundations -- the rockefeller foundation has many times picked people out of the mainstream, a medical research, they just did it incredible work. i aspire to that level. i do not think though -- of perpetual foundation makes sense. there are serious problems today -- education, and people who are rich today and have energy and can focus their resources and should focus on those problems. there will be rich people in the future.

and they will know what those problems are. and so the foundation has to give most of its money to one county. it is very hard to predict consistently what will happen in any future. i think the foundation will last 20 years after the last of us will go because some of the things we're involved in -- we built a team and we want to have continuity. but when you think of a timeframe when a particular mission will end, then that mission should be for someone else. they can form a new foundation. >> ok. any questions? anybody curious to ask a question? all right. we have one back there. some get a microphone. you stay out of politics and now.

you do not endorse politics? >> i tried. >> [unintelligible] you retired at an early age -- [unintelligible] >> well, the antitrust experience, i do not recommend it. [laughter] all the other governments in the world say, oh, great, now we can really go after them, too. you are just lying in a field, bleeding with every vulture coming to get you. no, i would not say it necessarily affected my timing. i always knew that microsoft was a company -- whether it was leading in technology strategy

-- should be 50 or over. so i decided to retire earlier in my 50's. i was in that range. i felt like both my impacts and my ability to learn a lot was higher at the foundation then at microsoft. we had a great team at microsoft. i made the change. >> other questions? here? go ahead. >> can you please talk about the relationship between agriculture and the extent to the new leadership in congress who want to the fund global agricultural development? -- defund global agricultural development? >> we did not talk much about

the agricultural things we do for the poorest, but none of the big things we do is to make sure farmers have access to seeds, fertilizer. over 70% of the poor people in the world, farmers with a very small plots of land who have a hard time beating their families. -- feeding. . . there is potential to give them the tools, but information, and do with variability and get enough output to have the above subsistence. there was a so-called green revolution. s and 1980's, the so-called green revolution. it was a miracle. we more than doubled the output, and in many cases tripled the

output, of farmers. now we need to do that again. even in asia, we need to get yields up. and the u.s. government has funded some of this and was definitely talking about increases, made a few increases. now there are things that are kind of up in the year in terms of the overall budget picture. is that something that will be maintained or will it be cut? there is a proposal that it may get maintained. . . . . . . >> what is your golf handicap? >> i was with some friends at a dustup last week. i go once a year -- i was with some friends at augusta last

week. i go once a year. 24 handicapy have a when it is all said and done. >> but they just give you the putt at the end? [laughter] >> we only have a $1 bet. >> right here? >> and wonder if you could comment on the recent election year as a resident of the district of columbia. the outcome was very disappointing with regards to the education. i would like to hear your 2 cents on that. >> washington, d.c. is a system of contrasts. in many ways, it is one of the worst school districts in the country. it is also an area with a lot of

charter schools, and a lot of this charter schools are quite amazing. and the charter schools are not only offering a great education. they have been laboratory to learn about if you have kids from the inner city, if you have a very tough background, can you do well with them? and when kids achieve 90% of their kids going to four-year colleges, spending about the same rate as other public schools, that is phenomenal. kidsre really getting the involved in strong relationships. those are key things that had been difficult in the normal public school system. i think it is a huge contribution. we put in a teacher evaluation system. we were supportive of that. we believe over time, they can

use cameras in the classroom, data, a student interviews, ways to create a system that is fair and create improvement and increase the compensation, somewhat on a seniority basis. it turns out what is going to happen is they will continue to drive forward in terms of evaluations, really running the system on about half of the kids. it will be interesting to see. around the country, there are a lot of school districts trying not teacher evaluations. in colorado. the simon partnership with unions. they've been a good partner in places. i think we will get greater evaluations. i think the d.c. experience will contribute to that.

>> i have one more question. be a time for one more. right here if someone can bring a microphone. sorry. >> you talked about having great concrete goals to focus on, in recognizing k-12, higher education, and that is a little more political or more challenging. with 25% or so of foundation resources focused in that area, and interested to hear more about what are the concrete goals that you use to define success in that arena for the foundation? >> some of the goals -- that is, how much do we understand rate should -- great teachers?

how did they help the kid who is behind? how did they engage the kid in the back? there are all these great things these people do come up and you should be able to submit your video to a website and have someone critique. point out how those things are done well. teacher retention -- it is amazing how little has been done on that. over the next two years, that will get done. people can take advantage of it or not, but that is a key goal. the key to being in the classroom and helping kids know where they are, there is a huge opportunity there. that is something we can make sure happens. there is a web site called k hnacademy.org, where if you want to see the progress -- it is a

great website. it is an amazing thing. if you want to be reminded of anything about math or science, if you want your kids involved, i highly recommend it. and the idea of what a personal system as. that can be designed. two questions are very diagnostic as to how good the teacher is. ask the kids, does the teacher used the time in the classroom well? and when you are confused, does the teacher held straight up? -- does the teacher help st. new -- straighten you out? then we have goals like reducing the dropout rate, making sure more kids and united states get some kind of post secondary

accreditation for a field they want to go into. we have very ambitious goals there. if you ignore the technology, those trend lines are all in iran direction. as budgets soar, the funding for higher education and k-12 are where that comes out to. pennsylvania today as just an example. they cut their higher education funding by 50%. we really need magic to achieve those goals. we need technology. we need to make sure -- whether it is by increasing revenue or being smart about health care -- that we do increase funds in our investment in education. it is tough.

we feel very directly responsible. >> thank you. i want to thank bill very much for giving him -- for giving us an hour of his time this evening. i want to thank you for everything you're doing for our country and citizens around the world. thank you. but me get them now. -- let me get them now. a small token of our appreciation. this is a reproduction of the map of the district of columbia in 1791. [laughter] and this is a flag that flew on the capitol today, and banks from congressman dingle and debbie dingle. [applause] thank you up for that. i appreciate everything you have

done it this evening and everything else you were doing for our country. thank you very much. [applause] thank you, all. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> coming up, first lady michelle obama and secretary of state hillary clinton host the annual international women of courage award ceremony. later, australia and the prime minister julia gillard addresses a joint meeting of congress. tomorrow, house representative peter king examining the situation of muslim americans.

that is followed by a man who related their personal accounts of family members reported by islamic radicals. that is sunday at 10:30 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> one-quarter of mortgages are under water. one-fifth of all our wealth was wiped out in the great crash. you cannot run an expensive new conservatives -- neoconservative do everything everywhere policy. >> the financial risks of the world today and tomorrow. his insights into the intersection of money and foreign policy. >> first lady michelle obama and secretary of state hillary clinton hosted the annual international woman of courage award ceremony at the state department. afterwards, to award winners spoke with reporters, a

prosecutor from afghanistan and a journalist from cameron. this is about 30 minutes. >> good afternoon and welcome to the department of state. i am pleased to do -- pleased to greet you on the 100th anniversary of women's state. today, secretary of state clinton was awarded an international courage award with special guest michelle obama. this is a prestigious award that annually recognizes women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women's rights and empowerment. let me talk a little bit more about the event today, more about their own personal stories.

we have today a special press briefing, and we have the 2011 international woman of courage awardees ekwe ebongo, publisher of "bebela" from cameroon, and maria bashir, a prosecutor from the herat province of afghanistan. >> good afternoon everybody. we had a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of international women's day, and also having secretary clinton and the first lady bestow the international courage awards on remarkable women who were honored today. there were 10 honorees. two could not come because there were not allowed to leave their country.

the others were all here, and among them was the president of tristan -- of kyrgistan. i have with me two honorees, one from afghanistan, maria bashir. who is a prosecutor general in the attorneys -- attorney general's office in herat. and from working under the taliban, she serves secretly by secretly -- she served by teaching young girls at home, under risk of reprisal. in 2006, she was appointed prosecutor general for herat, the only woman to hold such a position in afghan history. her high-profile work and relentless pursuit of justice

has come at a tremendous personal cost. her house was set on fire. a bomb exploded in her front yard. her own life and her children's lives have been threatened with endless taliban at night letters. despite all these threats, she has waged a determined campaign against crime and corruption. she stands out as a champion of transparency and women's rights. also here we have a fellow journalist, for all of you, a political activist from camero on. she is one of the most experienced and influential journalists in her country. ekwe ebongo has spent a lifetime of advancing and press freedom, human rights, and good governance, and gender equality, from the struggle against the dictatorship in 1980 to the struggle against corruption and

injustice in recent years. she has refused to be silent, standing up for justice and the rule of law. she has paid a price. she has been imprisoned. she has been threatened. but she goes on in her commitment to the great democrat and values. i just want to say additionally that this morning in addition to the first lady joining the secretary, we also had the prime minister of australia. she made an announcement, the first female prime minister in australia. she made an announcement and talked about the value of education. her announcement had to do with the commitment of additional resources to educate girls in afghanistan. additional to that, there was an announcement from the goldman sachs foundation. they have got a program called 10,000 women, which helps educate women entrepreneurs with

world-class business and management training. the announced 100 scholarships, the first of which will be deployed to help women in indonesia and haiti. these will be in conjunction, working with our embassies to target women for the specialized training. given the role that women play as accelerators of economic growth, particularly women running small and medium-sized businesses, who often face great barriers, yet are critical in driving gdp in their countries. that is the sum of the event. we just participated in it. now i will ask our to honor -- two honorees to please come up here. each of them may want to say words. and then we'll open it to

questions. >> thank you, good afternoon. i am a journalist from central africa, cameroon. we have many problems in my country of democracy, free elections, and corruption. the american embassy has done a lot of the beginning of the democratization. there were part of the process. they were the ones who demanded the government put some ministers and heads of big companies under arrest. i have been doing this in a climate of repression, under the military code and all these things. thank you. rabic]eaking a

>> my name is maria bashir. as was mentioned in my biography, i am from the province of herat. i am a prosecutor. you probably have some information that was written before, but i would be happy to, if you have any questions -- of would be happy to share with you about the situation and the plight of afghan women. >> with that, we will open it up for questions. >> getting to the defense of women in afghanistan after the

taliban -- what will house the woman been given so far? >> [speaking a foreign language] >> the situation of women in a

consistent is improving, in spite of a lot of challenges we face. a lot of challenges still remain. i can tell you that a large number of women having access to education and employment for a government officers -- we are hopeful. there are challenges that remain, but the situation is improving. >> [speaking a foreign language]

>> at the situation remains vague and not clear, as you mentioned before about the afghan women's situation. with the afghan government, the constitution of afghanistan needs to be implemented and remain. this is of course the situation. we are optimistic. at the same time, challenges still remain. >> next question. >> if i may, i want to put the question is so she can understand. [speaking arabic]

>> the first question is -- you are working in herat as a prosecutor. what are some of the cases you are working on? what are the biggest problems and challenges. at the same time, what does this award mean to you? what is your sentimental feeling about this? >> [speaking dari]

>> of course, being a prosecutor is a challenging and daunting task. mostly, our office is focusing on corruption, on eliminating violence against women. at the same time, we are trying to reach out to a lot of families and women. as i said, this is challenging. hopefully, we will be trying hard to make sure we are able to accomplish, and we are optimistic in that regard.

>> [speaking dari] >> this was an inspiration for me, being a mother. i have a daughter, and this is something that will be an inspiration for my daughter. we are thankful for the state department for providing this opportunity.

it is very important for women of courage to be determined for their work to be known around the world. this is something i'll cherish. thank you very much. >> come much is the government doing as far as the women's condition after the telamon? finally, how do you feel about the mission of the women after u.s. forces leave? do you want them to leave or do you want them to stay?

>> [speaking dari] >> answered your first question, the government of afghanistan has been trying to help the plight and condition of the afghan women. there has been a lack of security and stability.

the answering your second question, do afghan women feel alarmed about this, as far as the constitution is being observed, as far as we strengthen the national army,

and some other institutions of the government, that of course would be something that is very important. but right now we are talking about the withdrawal of the nato forces. the afghan women have some concerns. >> regarding iran, what challenges have you faced, especially regarding the representative from iran? did you have any difficulties? who took part? >> we did not have anyone from iran. there were 10 honorees selected from almost 90 nominations from our embassies around the world. obviously, we are deeply concerned about the situation for women in iran, which manifests itself every day.

at this point, we have not been able to have any of those direct links except for others who are working their -- working there. the honorees that were accepted -- we had almost 90. there were women in every country that deserve this award. in iran, there were many. we based it on the nominations we got through our embassy. >> following the reports about the situation that is going on, we heard about terrible situations with repression, and

what is going on in the north of africa. what is your message to all the women in those territories who suffer this kind of oppression? what can you tell us, especially what is going on in this country? >> the people of cameroon are interested in what is going on in magreb and egypt. we did this 20 years ago. we had this movement which lasted six months. i think that our government was supported by friends, but the opposition did not succeed. the youth prepared to continue this kind of demonstrations.

but women, there is a special problem, because women were really involved at the beginning of the democratic process, but when it came to the elections, the men took all the good positions to be elected and women were not represented. now we have 80 mps, but only 22 women. nothing has changed in the presentation of women. many took part in corrupt ngos because there were encouraged by the minister of development. the united nations decided this would be important for

development and for aid, and so on. there are no longer outstanding women in political parties. they are just told to applaud, to dance on time. one was a leader of the opposition party. we had many parties bring in women for political education. we have a problem with the imf. there would not come to the talk. women are interested in running their own business, but most women do not give a damn.

>> my name is gary. i have two questions. we are celebrating today the international women's courage award. in the democratic republic of congo, many women have been raped. you recently traveled in the congo. what is your message to all those women? also, what is the position of the united states to work all those people who are continuously committing this crime against women? i have almost the same question, but i would like to send a message to all the women.

[speaking in french] >> it is indeed a very difficult situation. we were following up two weeks ago on secretary clinton's trip of next -- of last june. there has been a considerable effort being made by the united states government, as well as work in conjunction with multilateral organizations like the u.n. and other countries to address many of the challenges, and there are many. we have been working on a wide range of issues that have to be addressed.

we need to ensure the soldiers are properly trained, to the united states that the use of force is deployed in a way that protect civilians. as you said, we keep seeing these attacks of unprotected women. to strengthen the ngos, there is a feeling among the women, and i have felt a lot of time in the eastern part of the country to resource and enable the ngos who are filled with talent, many women who are fully capable of making the meet -- of making a difference, including those who do not -- who want to go from feeling the pain to exerting their power to begin to address their immediate problems. working with them and others,

they should be provided with services to do with the consequences that are going through and to give them the skills and the empowerment they need in order to be able to address some of these issues. the justice system is anemic at best. we have been doing considerable work with the de arce -- with the drc in hopes of getting a mixed chamber system established. there have been some attempts to apprehend some of the soldiers involved in the new york day brutality, and some of the top commanders to the secretary mentioned when she was in the prc -- in the drc. in terms of the conflict minerals, there is action on every button it that has to be

pushed to be able to bring about the kind of change and and to this conflict, and most particularly in terms of the political discussions within the country and regionally. there is an election coming up. i think it would be very important to ensure that is a free and fair election, that citizens can boat safely, but they are not intimidated and undermined in that process. that has to be something that gains not only considerable attention and support from us in terms of civic attention, but from the broader international community. there are a range of challenges, all of which we are really working very hard to try in some way to address so that we do not have an ongoing situation that you just described. >> [speaking french]

thank you. it happens that the gender coordination for the international federation of journalists for central africa -- the federation of journalists in central africa is led by congolese from the drc. i work with female journalists. we have all this information in the eastern part of the country. what i can say is a message is that the women must continue to organize. i know they are really organizing themselves in civil society. there are many associations and ngos that are dynamic. i think there should be help and support from the international community to put an end to this massive rate.

i am a woman. there has never been a big award since the independence of cameroon. but i know what is going on in drc and other countries. women are the first victims of civil war. [speaking french]

>> thank you so much. this concludes on the briefing. it will be followed in a few minutes by the assistant press secretary. >> sunday on washington journal, laurel knuckler discusses the latest congressional negotiations on a bill to fund the federal

government through september. then the cato institute on cutting foreign aid during this economic downturn. after that, a member of brandeis university's massachusetts health policy forum talks about his state's program. "washington journal "go live sunday, here on c-span. tomorrow, house homeland security chairman representative peter king to a hearing regarding the radicalization of american muslims. witnesses cover both sides of the issue. there was testimony from congressman keith ellison, the first muslim-american to serve in the u.s. house, followed by two men who recounted personal stories of family members recruited by muslim radicals.

>> one in three americans has no savings of any kind. one-quarter of mortgages are under water and one-fifth of our wealth was wrapped upper in the latest crash. you cannot do everything in foreign policy, given that reality. >> an advisor of governments and businesses speaks about the political and financial risks in the world today and tomorrow. insights into the intersection of money and foreign policy. >> australian prime minister and juliet to large -- julia gillard addressed a joint session of congress. she spoke about the security treaty signed in 1951, solidifying the alliance between the u.s. and australia. other topics include afghanistan, the global economy, the g 20, and global trade.

this is about 35 minutes. >> mr. speaker, the prime minister of australia. [applause]

>> members of congress, i have the privilege and honor of presenting to the honorable julia gillard, prime minister of australia. [applause]

>> thank you very much. mr. speaker, mr. president pro tem pour, distinguished members of the senate and house, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, i am the fourth australian prime minister to address you. like them, i take your invitation as a great honor. like them, i accepted on behalf of australia. since 1950, australian prime ministers, have come here speaking for all the australian people. through you, to all the people of the united states, they each came with a simple message, a message which has been true in war and peace, a message which has been true in hardship and prosperity.

in the cold war and in the new world, a message i repeat to you today. distinguished members of the senate and the house, you have a true friend down under. the defining image of america was the landing at normandy. your boys risking everything to help free the world. for my own generation, the defining image of america was the landing on the moon. my classmates and i was sent home from school to watch the great moment on television.

i always remember thinking that day, americans can do anything. americans helped free the world of my parent's generation. americans inspired the world of my own youth. i stand here and i see before me the very same brave and free people. i believe you can do anything still. there is a reason the world always looks to america. your great dream, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

inspires us all. those of you that have spent time in australia know that we are not given to overstatement. we are iconic speakers and by conviction we are really quick thinkers. in both of our countries, real mates talk straight. we mean what we say, so let me say this to you. you have an ally in australia, an ally through war and peace, an ally through hardship and prosperity, an ally for the 60 years' past, an ally for all the years to come. geography and history alone

could never explain the strength of the commitment between us. rather our values are shared and our people are friends. this is the heart of our alliance. this is why in our darkest days we've been glad. glad to see each other's face and hear each other's voice. australia's darkest days in the last century followed the fall of sing apour in -- singapore in 1942 and you were there with us. under attack in the pacific, we fought together side by side, step by bloody step. and while it was australian soldiers at the bay who gave the allies our fifth victory on land in the pacific war, it was american sailors at the battle of the cold sea who destroyed the fear of an invasion of australia. distinguished members of the senate and the house, australia

does not forget. we will never forget. the ultimate expression of our alliance was not signed until 1951. but it was anticipated a decade earlier. in the judgments, the clear, frank and accurate judgment of an australian prime minister. and in the results. the extraordinary resolve of an american president. in the decades since, we've stuck together in every major conflict. from korea and vietnam to the conflicts in the gulf. your darkest days since pearl harbor to 10 years ago in

washington and new york and we were with you. my predecessor, john howard, was quite literally with you, and he came to this capitol when you met on september 12 to show you that australians will be with you again. and after 50 years under a new prime minister and a new invoked. within australia's democracy, john howard and i had our differences, but he was and is an australian patery ott, a -- patery ott, a man that was moved during that terrible september. he was and is a friend of america. when john howard addressed you here in 2002, we were already with you in afghanistan and we are with you there still.

i want you to know what i have told australiaa's -- australia's parliament, what i told general petraeus, what i told president obama in the oval office this week, australia will stand firm with our ally, the united states. friends understand this, that we will stand firm with you, but perhaps more importantly our enemies understand this, too. we must be very realistic abouting afghanistan's future, australia firmly supports the international strategy led by president obama and adopted in lisbon last year. australia is doing our part

across the whole of afghanistan. the government of afghanistan must play its part, too. we know transition will take some years. we must not transition out only to transition back in. we must not. from my discussions with your country's leaders in washington, my meetings with generals in afghanistan, and my time with our troops this is my conclusion, i believe we have the right strategy in place, a resolution, courageous commander in general petraeus, and the resources needed to deliver the strategy. i am cautiously encouraged by what i have seen. for a moment i want you to see afghanistan through the eyes of corporal ben roberts smith. ben is australia yeas most

recent victoria cross winner, our equivalent of your medal of honor. then is a veteran of five tours of afghanistan, and first went there in 2006. when we met recently, his words to me were compelling. he said, it's not the same country i wept to five years ago. we are making a difference. friends, there are hard days ahead. i flew to your country the day after attending the funeral of a young australian who served in afghanistan. jamie lashingah, was from my home state of south australia. from a small community with the most perfectly australia yain

name, kangaroo island -- australian name, kangaroo island . his ambition was to serve his contry. he was a long way from home when he made the ultimate sacrifice. we will remember. i know very many young americans who serve their country and lost their lives in afghanistan, too. as a friend we share your grief. as an ally we share your resolve . afghanistan must never again be a safe haven for terrorism. just as our security alliance is one for war and peace, our economic partnership is one for hardship and prosperity. in hard days we work together.

our societies share a deep understanding of the importance of work. we believe life is given purpose and direction by work. without work there is corrosive aimlessness. with the loss of work comes the loss of dignity. that's why in each of our countries the great goal of all we do in the economy is the same, that great goal is to ensure that everyone who can work does work. in turn, this is why each of our countries talk early -- took early and strong action in the face of the greatest threat to the world's economy since the great depression. and we did not just act locally or individually, we worked hard together when we -- we worked together when hardship came. it was difficult but we did it together. new global realities and the

emerging economic weight of countries like china, india, and brazil meant the vital forums, the global response with the g-20 nation. my predecessor, kevin rudd, worked hard to ensure this was so. the world needed a global response to the economic crisis, and global leadership was vital. together the g-20 coordinated $5 trillion in fiscal stimulus for the global economy. while there has been very real pain, the global response averted true economic disaster. economic stimulus has been crucial. to limit the worst effects of the downturn, economic reform is crucial now to deliver the best hope for a strong recovery. like you, i'm a leader in a

democracy, i know reform is never easy. but i know reform is right. the general economic outlook remains fragile and uncertain. global economic balance and we must address them or risk future instability. your leadership in the g-20 is still needed to ensure we make the reforms which will keep the global economy on the path to strong, sustained, and balanced growth. and that is the path to growth in america as well. we worked hard with you during the global economic crisis to resist protectionist pressures. our decades working together to promote free trade in the world. i know many of you worked hard to achieve the australia-u.s. free trade agreement. can i say each of you today,

thank you. our free trade agreement shows the benefits of free-throw and we aim for even larger benefits from the transpacific partnership which is a great economic opportunity for our two countries and seven of our regional partners. and we have other opportunities to promote trade and jobs as well. i'm looking forward to your country hosting the meeting later this year. we will work closely together there. australia is also working for an ambition and balanced conclusion of the w.t.o. doha round as soon as possible. and we look forward to your congress passing a 2012 farm bill that advances free-throw rather than distorting it.

and through free-throw creates jobs. we know the equation is simple, trade equals jobs. a very simple equation. our society shares a deep understanding of the importance of work, and our societies share a deep commitment to the value of education. we understand education's transformative power. we know education is the future for every child who learns. we also know education is the future for our economy. our future growth relies on competitiveness and innovation. skills and productivity. and these in turn rely on the education of our people. australia and america are partners in a globalized world where open societies flourish and competitive economies thrive.

that's why i went to a school until wakefield, virginia, with president obama this week. the president and i not only saw children learning, we saw the future of your people and the future of your prosperity as well. australians are deeply grateful to your greatest generation for their mighty deeds. this week i have seen a new generation of americans. i genuinely believe they can be greater still. achieving prosperity while sharing its benefits requires farsighted educational reform. in the same way achieving growth while caring for our climate requires farsighted economic reform. breaking the link between

economic growth and emissionings growth is a difficult challenge for our economies, and we conal -- can only achieve it by working together. our cooperation in key international forum and research and development is making an important contribution. we must work together to acheeve an his tork transition -- historic transition to high technology, high skills, clean energy economy. shared values are the basis of our security alliance, and shared values are the basis of our economic partnership as well. through hard work and education, we can deliver a strong economy and opportunity for all. americans are great optimists, and australians will always have

a go. so conceived in the pacific war and born in the cold war, adapted to the space age, and invoked in the face of terror our indispensable alliance is a friendship for the future. it is this year the 60th anniversary of the signing of our treaty. it is because of that i have the opportunity to speak to you today. for that i'm grateful. as i said to president obama, it is an alliance 60 years young with so much future to share. and this is a timely opportunity not so much for reflection on the past as a discussion of our future. the bipolar world in which our alliance was signed has long since disappeared. i'm not sad about its passing. hundreds of millions of people have a better life today.

democracy and human dignity has spread wide in the world in the last 20 years. we have seen this from eastern europe to east asia in recent years, and we have seen the hope of it in the middle east right now. we understand that nothing is certain. there is still much for the people of the middle east to do. and the governments of the world will be there to help them do it. yet i believe what we are seeing is unchanging realities of human nature, finding a new expression in a new light. for australia's part, we will do what we can and work with you to support orderly transitions to democracy. to foster human rights and religious freedom within the countries of the middle east. and to secure lasting peace between them. a peace where no nation threatens another.

which is why we join you in condemning iran nuclear program. and we also strive for peace, a peace where israel is secure and where palestinians have a state of their own, which is why we join you in calling on all parties to negotiate in good faith. our lives were signed 60 years ago in the cold war and released in a new world today. and the changes in the middle east, i believe it is in the asia pacific where the global order is changing the most. we admire india's example as a

true democracy. we never forget indonesia's transition to create the world's third largest democracy in the world's largest islamic country. and we applaud china's lifting some 500 million people out of poverty. the global, strategic, and economic weight is shifting to this region. the rise of the asia pacific will define our times. like you, our relationship with china is important and conflict. we encourage china to engage. and we ask where difference does lie. my guiding principles is that prosperity can be shared. we can create wealth together. the global economy is not a zero sum game.

prosperity there is no rein for chinese prosperity to detract anywhere in the world. america has always understood this principle of the economy that everyone can benefit when everyone competes. and for 60 years your leadership in the asia pacific has showed this. your commitment to free trade and investment fuels the growth. your presence, a net work of allies ensures the stability. you were indispensible in the cold war and you are indispensible in the new world too. so your growing engagement with key countries in the region like japan, india, south korea

and indonesia, is enormously welcomed. we will work closely with you to strengthen the fabric of these relationships and underpin regional stability. strengthening regional institutions so that the countries that the asia-pacific increasingly manage the friction of a growing and changing asia-pacific. that's why your nation's decision to join the east asia summit is such good news. the summit brings the leaders of the region's major powers together and has a mandate to deal with the whole range of economic, political and security issues our countries face. our relationship is evolving to meet these new challenges. from defense and intelligence to diplomacy and trade. australia and the south with south korea and japan to the north form real asian-pacific

relationships with the united states. regional stability. an alliance which was strong in the cold war, an alliance which is strong in the new world. in both of our countries, true friends stick together. our nations do this and our people do this as well. nothing better tells this truth than the story of two firefighters. many australians and americans work together in the late 1990's to be ready to protect the 2000 sidney olympics from possible terrorist attacks. one spent two months in new york training and working, including a long time with new york's fire department rescue one. they worked hard together and became more than colleagues. they became meats. so -- they became mates. so when it was time to go home,

the australian commander gave rescue one chief his australian army hat and the chief presented the australian with a battled scarred fire helmet. december, 1998, and signed by members of the rescue one crew, including kevin. three years later, kevin was one of the hundreds of new york firefighters killed when the towers came down. kevin led his people. his remains were never found but his helmet was in australia. an aussie firefighter rob frey found kevin's sons. jane is one of new york's bravest. a firefighter, like his father before him. patrick is wearing his country's uniform in afghanistan. rob came to america to give

james the helmet his father signed, a precious possession, a last link to a father lost. and i give you their story of precious position too. these two men are here today, rob, james.

rob, james, we are so proud of what you represent. your story about the friendship between australia and the united states. together in the hardest of times, friends for the future. when our alliance was signed 60 years ago, the challenges of the space age was still to come. the challenges of terrorism was still to come. for 60 years, leaders from australia and the united states have looked inside themselves and found the courage, the courage to face those challenges. and after 60 years, we do the same today, to protect our people, to share our prosperity, to safeguard our future. for ours is a friendship for the future.

it has been from its founding and it remains so today. you have a friend in australia, and you have an ally, and we know what that means. in both our countries, true friends stick together. in both our countries, real mates talk straight. so as a friend, i urge you only this -- be worthy to your own best traditions. be bold. in 1942, john curtin, my predecessor, my country's great wartime leader, looked to america. i still do. this year you marked the centennial of president reagan's birth. he remains america's symbol of great optimism. the only greatest symbol of american optimism is america

itself. the eyes of the world are still upon you. your city on a hill cannot be hidden. your brave and free people have made you the masters of recovery and reinvention. as i stand before you in this, this cradle of democracy, i see a nation that changed the world, a nation that has known remarkable days. i firmly believe you are the same people who amazed me when i was a small girl by landing on the moon. on that great day i believed americans could do anything. i believe that still, you can

do anything. thank you.

the speaker: the purpose of the joint meeting having been

completed, the chair declares the joint meeting of the two houses now dissolved. the house will continue in recess subject to the call of the chair. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> the house returns monday at noon eastern for speeches and tuesday for a legislative business. on its agenda, another federal spending bill, expected to extend government funding for three more weeks. current funding expires march 18. also, to measures that propose to end foreclosure assistance programs, and ohio congressman dennis kucinich plans to offer a war powers resolution that would require president obama to withdraw all u.s. armed forces from afghanistan by the end of the year. follow the house live on c-span. the senate returns tuesday.

at 4:30, the take up the nomination to the u.s. district court of the district of columbia. at 5:30 p.m., members take their first votes of the week on the nomination and a vote to move forward with the reauthorization of small business administration programs. live coverage of the u.s. senate when members return, only on c- span2. >> right now, you can listen to c-span signature programing. there is a story of the day, washington today, the latest books and authors, people in the news, and interesting conversations on a variety of podcast sprint everything is on line at c-span.org/podcasts. >> the un estimates that 15,000 women were raped in eastern condo last year.

kondo was the subject of a hearing held by the house foreign affairs subcommittee. you'll hear testimony from the state department, and later actor and activist ben affleck. this is it little over three hours. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] witnesses are state department officials and actor ben affleck and senator mccain's wife, cindy mccain. >> >> thank you for joining us on this very important hearing of the democratic republic of congo in this juncture in its history. this critical juncture in its history. as one might conclude from the significant media interest

evident in the room, we have a special guest witness with us today to spotlight attention on the democratic republic of congo. i am grateful for ben after flekt to agree to be here to share his aspects and the initiative he has founded. he is active in contributing his time and talent and fame to bring attention to the needs of the people who have suffered far too long and in a great deal of obscurity. i would also like to recognize ms. cindy mccain who is with us today. she is a founding member of and investor in the eastern congo initiative and share's mr. affleck's dedication to end the suffering in this region. she also has dedicated her time and energy to other worthwhile projects. for example, she serves on the boards of directors of several nonprofit philanthropies including operation smile which provides reconstructive surgery

to children with facial deformities and the land mine removal group, the halo trust. mr. affleck and his organization are making a major contribution in focusing political will on resolving the crises in the drc and bringing constructive recommendations to the table. but just as importantly, he is setting an example for all of us as to the need to direct whatever resources and influence we may have to help those who are less fortunate and without a voice to help themselves. his presence respective of an example for that, and the subcommittee is most appreciative. i am also grateful for our distinguished witnesses who are here as well. we look forward to examining the administration's current strategy for and involvement in the drc with principal deputy secretary of the bureau of african affairs mr. ambassador donald yamamoto and the deputy

administrator for the district of africa. and we will hear about the catholic relief services in the drc as well, and addressing the abhorrent and widespread practice of sexual violence as a weapon of war and from the sexual and gender-based advisor francesa dewalsh and this subcommittee welcomes john pendergrass of the project in the region on conflict minerals. he reminds us boldly in his testimony that the conflict minerals in provision one requires the administration to develop a strategy for establishing linkages in the conflict minerals, armed groups and human rights abusers in the eastern congo by january 17th. this strategy has not yet been submitted, however, i hope it is coming soon, and that will be an obvious question for am bos das

yamamoto. an ambassador from the drc was invited, but arrangements could not be made in time. i am certain that we will hear from the drc citizens and activists at a future hearing. my friends, i have had the privilege of traveling to the drc in 2008, and i still have vivid memories of the suffering and the courage of the congolese people. a highlight of my visit was meeting dr. joe and lucy, founders of the healer hospital in south congo. and i met men and will who were subjected to severe sexual violence and spoke to many women who are in the process of healing an recovery. the courage, the resilience and the resolve of these victims to overcome all that it had affected them was truly astonishing. and the meticulous care and

compassion of the hospital staff was absolutely remarkable. i am pleased to note that u.sai has given prevention in the drc in the heal african and tanzi hospital. in 2010, i authorized legislation to help with the fistula in the countries, and this legislation passed the house, but not the senate for unrelated seasons. however, the administrator of health agreed to bolster usaid's funding for the fistula funding together with thousands of women around the world have benefited as a result. as a prime sponsor of the ri victims protection act of 2000 and i hope that the administration witnesses will

address this about the drc tier 3 ranking as egregious violator when it comes to human trafficking. has improved since the human trafficking report was submitted and what has been done to reintegrate child sold yoers. we know that the congo has an abundant of aerial water and minerals. making them a leader of prosperity on the continent, but like too many of to neighbor, it faces too many challenges. the people there have endured ongoing violence and bloodshed for decades and often not paid attention to, and again, why i think that ben affleck and the appearance today finally brings such, much needed often-neglected attention to the drc. the country has been the scene of one of the longest and deadliest manmade crises in the world, characterized by two major civil wars involving seven

neighboring countries, multiple cross border conflicts fighting by and among foreign proxies, militia groups and rebel movements. illicit active thes including the exploetation of mineral resources and absence of governance and human rights atrocities committed against civilians and all parties including the predatory congolese military and the unreliable u.n. peacekeeping force which i am told is getting better. many people in the drc have died of war-related injuries and many have been displaced by the compounded of human rights abuses committed against innocent women and children. the country as a whole faces enormous challenges. the drc is one of the five poorest countries in the world with 80% of the people living on just $2 a day. corruption is rampant as evidenced by the drc's ranking

164 out of 178 countries surveyed by transparency international's 2010 corruption perceptions index. the country is tenth among the world's 22 high burden tuberculosis countries and malaria accounts for 35% of the deaths of children under the age of 5. life expectancy is 51 years. an estimated 8.2 million or 1 of every 8 people in the drc are orphans and vulnerable children. clearly, this country and the surrounding region are in desperate need of peace and the coordinated efforts of the world community to prevent a complete loss of the people's hope for the future. the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in november render this a particularly critical time to focus our attention on the u.s. strategy for addressing the many issues confronting the congolese people and government. given that today is international women's day, this

is a particularly appropriate ooccasion to recognize the courageous women of the democratic republic of congo, and related to the hardships that impact the women in conflict and underdevelopment, the women of the drc have had to endure years ofutal victimization of rape and other sexual violence used as a weapon of war. an estimated 200,000 women have been raped there since 1998. their physical and psychological suffering has been compounded by the ongoing absence of measures to prevent future attacks, the impunity of which the perp trayer or thes continue in the communities or the military and the stigma wrongly placed on the victims by congolese society. a recent report by the u.n. panel detailed interviews held with victims of sexual violence in the drc, and while the plight of all of the victims is heart wrenching the interview with

those who are still experiencing ongoing armed conflict are worth emphasizing. these women are desperately in need of the most basic necessities, medical care, housing and a means of supporting themselves and their children. but when asked what they would like to have done to restore their lives and regain their dignity virtually everyone responded that peace and security is their first and most immediate need. they pleaded with the panel to convey this message to the world, because without peace and security anything else that they might acquire could be lost again at any time. a prior may goal of this hearing is to answer these women's plea. i'd like to now turn to my good friend and colleague mr. payne, for any opening comment tas you might have. >> thank you very much. let me congratulate you, mr. smith, on assuming the chairmanship of this committee, and certainly look forward to our continued working together on these issues of mutual

interest and concern that we have had over the years. certainly, i want to also welcome the new democratic members to the committee. he's not here right now, but mr. carnahan is a former chair of the subcommittee that in the last congress had jurisdiction over human rights which as you know our committee has expanded that, so he will certainly bring in experience there. and as dedicated advocate for the rights and the needs of refugees and displaced persons, women as passionate about assisting child soldiers as well as empowering women as peace builders, mr. carnahan's commitment to africa runs in his veins. his grandfather a.s.j. carnahan became the first american

ambassador to the newly independent sierra leone in 1961, so he has a strong interest and has had a number of conversations with me about africa. we are also pleased to be joined by mrs. karen bass she is not only new to the committee, but new to congress. however, this former speaker of the california assembly, the first african-american woman to hold a speaker's gavel in the history of this nation, and so we are very pleased and honored to have her as a member of our committee, and so she's no stranger to legislating. i welcome the opportunity to help ms. bass turn her experience in women's health, and economic empowerment into policies that can benefit the enterprising women of africa and their children. i'm excited to have this small,

but powerful team with us here on our committee. i want to also recognize representative mcdermott, author of the bipartisan conflict minerals act which is an important tool for accomplishing long-term stability and economic growth, and he's also the authority of the agoa act. we call him the father, but he is older so now he is the grandfather of the agoa act. so i'm happy to have my classmate mr. mcdermott here today. it is fitting, mr. chairman, that we begin our subcommittee business for the 112th congress by highlighting a foreign policy challenge that resonates in the hearts and minds of so many members of congress, democrats and republicans. the crisis in the eastern congo has captured the attention of thousands of americans from all waus walks of life. our commitment to solving this

problem exemplifies that americans care deeply about these issues and really want to see a resolution. a as former teacher, i know that we must understand the problem before we begin to tackle it. we must understand the history of the congo and the great lakes region, perhaps the richest most fertile area on the continent. many here today will talk about the ravage militias that terrorize the eastern parts of the country, and i want you to understand that the ravaging began in the late 1880s when king leopold of belgium savagely and gruesomely sought out to strip the congo of the vast natural resources, which continued to be a source of conflict in that country back then. and continues on today.

leopold's nightmare reign in the congo left 5 to 8 million congolese dead. and even more maimed. the atrocities that we witness today are the vestiges of leopold's bloody enterprise. for decades this region's wealth washed ashore in ships and ports. congo's loss became leopold belgium's gain. as destructive as their rape of the congo was on the country's natural resources, the impact on its people is immeasurable, and still plays out today. yet, its impact is still misunderstood and underestimated. as we contextualize the gruesome violence in the congo, we know that the gruesome history is no excuse for the ugly reign of terror that armed groups such as the fdlr and the lra have

perpetrated gaeagainst the peop of the congo. there is no excuse for the impunity of the the humanitarian crisis of the congo has captured the attention of millions of americans across the country. rape and sexual violence are used as a weapon of war in numbers that are simply unimaginable. in addition to the large resistance army led by joseph coney continues to wreak havoc on parts of the drc. the drc continues to face insurgency from armed major groups and major humanitarian crisis continues, especially in the eastern congo fueled by a resource grab. the integration of many former domestic rebels from the cndp into the congolese army has presented serious challenges with professionalizing the security sector. the current reconfiguration of the congolese army units in the

kevos and in an apparent effort to eventually drawdown the u.n.'s peacekeeping operations have the potential to leave civilians in some areas of the east at the mercy of the fdlr and other non-state armed groups. all of this is compounded by the troubling political developments and turmoil if conchassa and the upcoming scheduled elections in november. the american people and indeed the world are not willing to watch idly by as women and children of the drc are victimized time and time again and again and year after year. they have advocated over the last few years or we have advocated bipartisan legislation such as conflict minerals bill in the lar legislation. americans from red, blue and purple districts come together for the people of the congo. that's a united effort.

the people of the congo deserve to see first-hand the resounding impact that our relatively small foreign aid investment can have on the world's most vulnerable populati populations. indeed, while the human needs are enormous, the required economic commitment is minuscule when compared tod to $100 bill committed to afghanistan and trillions we have spent in iraq during our course of time there. and the potential impact is monumental and the united states must leverage the goodwill that the american people have for the people of the eastern congo by devastating and having a coherent and a focused policy towards the congo. that is what i hope that we can have as a conclusion of these hearings as we move forward. i must close by saying that it is fitting as mr. smith mentioned that this hearing is on the 100th anniversary of the international women's day, ending sexual violence as a

weapon remains one of the greatest challenges to the protection of women's human rights while the survivors in as can be as young as a girl or her grandmother, we must do all we can to end this scourge. the whitehouse, and the state department, and capitol hill and the american people all understand the importance of reducing violence in the eastern congo, this means regulating the trade, and regulating the trade and conflict minerals that act as economic fuel to the the conflict to create the political will to reform the congolese national army from predators or making them from predator to protector and tackling impunity for war criminals and illegal actors who continue to enable those most responsible for mass atrocities. the united states in its role on the united u.n. security council recently demonstrated strong leadership on the passage of

u.n. resolution 1960 which requires the council and member states to honor commitments to combat sexual violence in conflict and investigate abuses and hold the perpetrators to account. i encourage the united states to continue to lead on this issue by developing a strategy to tackle the root causes of sexual violence and other human rights crimes in the eastern congo. the united states is the largest contributor to the united nations mission, and the first country to pass a law monitoring publicly-traded companies using minerals mined in the congo or its neighbors in the effort to reduce the direct or indirect financing of illegal groups. the department of defense and state are engaged in initiatives to build capacity through military professionalization and justice training. we must also ensure that we continue strong programs and policies that give women in the congo back their dignity. we all want to see a day when the women of eastern congo are

able to feed their family, earn a decent living and protect and defend their communities and sit at the peace-building table with the men. thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate this meeting and look forward to our very distinguished panel of experts. thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. payne. the chair recognizes the vice chair of the subcommittee jeff fortberry. >> thank you chairman smith for convening this important hearing and it is poignant to note that today is the women's day anniversary. and we hold a hearing for the 200,000 women of the republic of congo who have been heinously victimized. and last year alone, 16,000 cases of sexual violence were reported from the country and thousands of which reported against children and that does not reflect the women who must remain silence, but today, this hearing breaks that i ssilence.

the tragedy in the congo weighs heavily on all of us. while signs of progress have been seen, civil strife has reached an unfathomable high in especially the central part of the country. there is a recent study that said that rape has increased 17fold within the country. in the last congress we made two significant strides to mitigating two sources of the the conflict by passing the lord's resistance disarmament, and as well as the conflict minerals resistance in another law and we donated millions of dollars in conflict to the victims of sexual assault and gender-based violence. but aid cannot keep pace with the staggering number bes of new rape victims e each year. sexual violence in the democratic republic of the condo

is the worst in the world in both the pernicious scope and the brutality. the rape is especially prif lent in the kevoo provinces where we saw a monstrous systemic rapes by rebel groups. we later learned that the vicious attacks were committed less than 20 miles from the u.n. peacekeeping base which learned of the attack a week after their end. since that inexcusable lapse, the u.n. with the congolese government and other non-governmental organizations successfully brought the trial and convicted nine fdr ac soldiers and their commanderser of rape. i join the united states government in this conviction, because the rule of law did prevail, but there are many, many more perpetrators who elude justice, but flout the basic notions of humanity through the brutal acts of extreme violence

towards the daughters of the congo. but our human rights concern lie not only with the scourge of gender and sexual-based violence in the drc, but child conscription by rebel forces, but purportedly by the congolese military itself continues. unicef released a new report this past friday warning that despite the reintegration of as many as 500,000 former child soldiers, forceable child recruitment is an ongoing problemment as we give attention to the victimized women and girls of the drc, we must give special consideration to the plight of girl soldiers who are often victims of grotesque sexual slavery and violence as well. these girls are stripped of innocence and dignity face heartbreaking sigma and challenges as they seek to reintegrate into the families and the community. so today, mr. chairman, i e do look forward to hearing the u.s.

state department and the usaid's department's plans for peace in this country as well as unique ground perspective of the catholic relief services and the other projects. thank you for coming today and i look forward to the important hearing. >> thank you. i yield now to ms. bass. >> thank you. thank you, chairman smith, and ranking member payne. since this is our first subcommittee, our first subcommittee meeting i wanted to start by expressing my sincere enthusiasm about serving on this committee of african global health and human rights. it is also an honor to serve with chairman smith. i know that you are committed to improving lives around the world and particularly passionate about preventingis ex trafficking, and i look forward to learning about your legislation and working with you. to ranking member payne, and representative payne is well

known in hi district in los angeles and i represent a district of my section of the district known as little ethiopia and i have a number of african residents who live in the district, and mr. payne is well known there as he is throughout the country for his effective leadership and ability to move policy that makes a significant difference around the world. i'd like to than the witnesses for your dedication and establishing peace and prosperity in the drc. your work truly keeps people alive and contributes to the global security. the state department and the usaid have played an important role in generating progress toward stability in the drc, but the united states mustt continue to increase our strategic leadership in the congo. secretary clinton's visit in 2009 was a great start. but the severity of the violence and instability requires heightened and focused u.s. engagement. in fact, u.s. leadership is needed now more than ever as we approach the november elections

and we express, and we expect president ka bee la to lift the ban on conflict minerals in the east as early as march 10th. i want to join my colleagues in the now acknowledging international women's day. it's been referenced several times the consequences of the rape of women and girls, but one of those consequences is that women make up a significant majority of hiv infections in the country with little access to basic health services. usaid has led the effort to provide health care and services to congolese women and children. unicef coordinates effective programs for women and girls that release infant, child, maternal mortality rates an improve access to clean water an sanitation and krin increased py school enrollment for girls who are often denied equal access. in the face of grave atrocities in the drc, we must ensure

ongoing investment in the prom grass. i look forward to hearing the testimony of the witnesses today to learn more about how we can best support the congolese people in addressing the hardships an ultimately transform their potential into prosperity. thank you very mucht. >> anybody else on the subcommittee who would like to be heard? mr. mcdermott is with us and i know it is a breech ach of the rules, but i would yield to him. >> thank you, mr. chairman. in 1987/'88, i lived in cko conchassa and i saw the beginning of the aids epidemic as well as the conflict that ultimately led to the leader leaving and followed by all that has followed. i have many friends out there, and the lucys are people i have known and a friend of mine from los angeles that i went to college with has been one of the big supporters of that organization and i have been

there several times and i'm really came to listen today. so thank you. >> thank you right now and i would like to listen to the two distinguished witnesses and leaders in the field who have done much. ambassador yamamoto is no stranger to the committee having been before us many times in the past. he has served since 2009 as the principal dep si assistant secretary for the bureau of african affairs for the u.s. department of state and he has verved as u.s. ambassador to ethiopia from july of 2006 to 2009. and as deputy of secretary of state of the bureau of african affairs in 2008. and also, we have a guest who has ser zfed as the deputy assistant min stray or the for african since 2010 and in this kas ti, she oversees sue pdan

programs and also has experience at the department and i would like to introduce both of your bios into the record. >> thank you very much. it is indeed a great honor the appear here before the committee and i wish to express my congratulations to you, mr. chairman, on the appointment, and also to the great work that your predecessor congressman payne and also before this, distinguished members of the committee. president obama, secretary clinton and this administration have demonstrated a firm commitment to the challenges in this region. the violence, the human rights abuse, and the suffering over the people in congo and exploy toyota of minerals and other resources are unacceptable and none of us should tolerate it, and we will not accept it. the work raised by the good works by your witnesses mr. ben affleck and ms. cindy mccain are testament to what the power of individuals can do in the great

lakes area. i noticed that my friend john pendergrass and other ngo groups who are here wloz work has helped a great deal in moving this process along. let me tell you, mr. chairman, that the united states continues to play a significant role to make a difference in the lives of the people in the drc and wherever there is suffering and tragedy. in the tense years following 2003 we led an international effort through our tribe parte peace process to address the causes of violence and to end the tragedies that promote violence. i was honored to help lead the process for nearly four years making some two dozen trips to the region. secretary clinton traveled to the drc in 2009 as have many senior officials in the last two years. our overall arching goals and objectives in the drc to resolve it lies in governance and security. you need to have a government that is accountable to the people, and you need a security which is reliable and dependb

and not part of the problem. the u.s. has focused first and foremost on the complex security challenges facing the dnc and the shocking incidences of mass rape and human right abuses are tense factors that fuel violence each of which requires its own responses. one key factor is the continued presence of violent armed groups. among the most notorious are the democratic forces for the liberation of rwanda or the fdlr or the lord's resistance army or the lra and retain a violent corps capable of brutally attacking civilians. the u.s. government has provided significant diplomatic and programmatic support for dearming these groups. the the capacity of these groups have been significantly reduced in the last two years, but much more slowly than we wished it to happen. the forces of the former national congress for the defense of the people or the

cndp remain only partly integrated into the congolese army serving under the effective command of known human rights abusers and retaining in the rang significant numbers of children soldiers. the drc security forces compound the threat to civilians. developing an reforming these forces is a massive undertaking to take years of persistent support. our assistance in this effort aimed at both long-term and short-term progress an including a training of the vetted congolese battalion of the justice institutions and training to officers on the principles of leadership, civil military relations, human rights and command responsibility. the illicit trade in minerals and other natural resources also encourages violence and the effective congolese response and regional and international resources by governments and industries are key to resolving these problems. the united states is focused on

helping to develop civilian crisis capability, an disarm groups in the region and incorporating due diligence with the support of regional and national mechanisms to certify and trace the minerals trade. we appreciate the support of the congress that has provided these efforts and where we are consulting with the securities and exchange commission as you have directed, mr. chairman, a set of regulations to incorporate rigorous due diligence. underlying every element of the international's community response to the drc's security challenges is min nus coe. under the leadership of the former u.s. ambassador roger meese, they have taken welcomed steps to effectiveness in the protection. and we are encouraged by the improved relations of men