not relegated to myth, these ideas of having an actual conference committee. i would remain cautiously optimistic. i am more encouraged now that the president has weighed in. i was encouraged when the president's administration initially put out their housing white paper. i became discouraged when it was allowed to gathered dust for roughly 2.5 years. there were a number of conversations with secretary geithner and i was convinced by the sincerity of wanting to move forward and why it never happened. i don't have a clear picture. i am encourage the presidente is weighed in. he seemingly wants to get something done and option one on his housing white paper, to a great extent, encompasses much of what the path act as. i list to his comments carefully the other day. his wind down for fannie mae and freddie mac is similar to what we see in the path act. having said that, i have frequently, in my career, found myself agreeing with 80% of what the president says. i find myself agreeing with 80%

of what he does. -- disagreeing with 80% of what he does. >> another question -- there are a number of things in your path act proposal that deal with dodd frank. is there a likelihood that as a result of this ross us -- of this process that we might see dodd frank reform? >> i am encourage. it is clear as a conservative republican, i have not been a fan of dodd frank although i certainly have a great amount of respect for its author, chairman frank, who is clearly one of the smarter people i have met which does not mean he is right or correct. you would have to ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle -- i fear some have a

more religious adherence to the brands then perhaps the named authors of the act have. when you look at what the regulators have done with qm, what is calm -- contemplated by qrm, i think that is unsustainable. i do not know how you could ultimately sustain a housing finance market if you cut the number of mortgages in half and doubled the price on the others. that clearly could be the outcome, perhaps the worst case scenario. i think there are a number of democrats in the house financial services committee although they are committed to the fundamentals of dodd frank, are certainly looking for room for improvement. i have been in congress for a few years. if you're not an optimist it is not the job for you. i prefer to remain optimistic

about these matters. >> chairman, thank you for your generosity of time and i hope you enjoy the rest of the time in your home district which you prefer to washington but we look forward to having you back there for the important work ahead. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national >> on satellite corp. 2013] the next washington journal, the that end challenges facing the country. we will talk to robert bixby. and as part of our cargo ship from kaiser health news, julie appleby on the administration's to station is to delay limits on out-of-pocket expenses for people buying health insurance. and a ruling on the nuclear .egulatory commission's review in washington correspondent of

the las vegas sun. "washington journal," live at 7 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> what is interesting about washington in this age is that once you have that title, even if it is a very short title, even if you have been voted out after one term, you can stay in washington and be a former chief of staff, a former congressman, a former chief of staff to congressman x or y. that is marketable. you are in the club. that is a striking departure from the days in which people would come to washington to serve, serve a little bit, and then go back to the farm, which is how the founders intended it. there is a lot of dynamics with the money and resources available for the people who do very well here. >> tonight, mark leibovitz shot with an insiders look at government, politics, and the media in washington at 8:00 on

c-span's "q and a." sexual assault prevention and response initiative. >> good afternoon. eliminating sexual assault remains a top priority for the military. every service member deserves a safe environment where they are free from the threat of sexual harassment and assault. the secretary will continually evaluate and improve our programs. in may, the secretary designed to strengthen our programs in

the areas of accountability, command climate, victim advocacy, and safety. today he directed the implementation of the following additional measures to improve support and strengthen pretrial investigations, enhance oversight, and make prevention response efforts that were consistent across the services. first, creating legal programs that will provide legal representation for victims throughout the process, next, ensuring that all pretrial hearings of charges are conducted by jag officers, third, inviting commanders with options to transfer service members accused of sexual assault in order to eliminate continued contact while respecting rights of victims and accused, requiring that the first flag

officer within the chain of command received reports on sexual assault incidents in responses, directing dod inspector generals to evaluate closed sexual assault investigations, standardizing prohibitions on inappropriate behavior between recruiters and trainers and trainees across dod and developing and proposing changes to the manual for courts-martial that would have victims giving input during the sentencing phases of the court-martial. all of these measures will provide victims with additional rights and protections and legal support and help ensure that sexual assault-related investigations and proceedings are conducted thoroughly and professionally. the department of defense has established an independent panel in accordance with the national

offense authorization act for 2013, and this panel is reviewing and assessing the systems used to investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate crimes involving sexual assault and related offenses under the uniform code of military justice. secretary hagel has met with members and will review the recommendations when complete. sexual assault is a stain on the honor of our men and women who serve our country, also to the threat of discipline and cohesion of our force. it must be stamped out. secretary hagel will meet weekly with the senior leadership team to personally review efforts and ensure that directives and programs are being implemented effectively, and the department will continue to work closely with both congress and the white house on eliminating sexual assault in the united states military. we are all accountable to fix this problem. we will fix it together. with that, i will turn it over

to my colleagues. >> good afternoon. i am the acting undersecretary of defense for personnel readiness. let me emphasize that secretary hagel understands the problem and understand the concrete actions are important not just words. as you heard from mr. little, the secretary directed immediate implementation of additional measures to gain greater consistency of effort across the military services. these measures will incorporate the best practices of the services and make them common throughout the armed forces, enhance the quality of the investigative and legal process, and improve victim support. we are committed to a dynamic and responsive sexual assault prevention program. through the multidisciplined

program, we constantly work to andidentify new ways to prevent sexual assault as well as respond effectively and appropriately should a crime occur. our prevention and response efforts are not static. aswe continually evaluate our programs and seek ways for the department to improve them. the department and military leaders at all levels continued to assess the current policies, identify the need for change, and seek methods to improve prevention and response efforts. there is an unprecedented level of senior leader engagement on these issues, and we are committed to seeking feedback and incorporating those improvements to the victims, from front-line responders' unit commanders as well as members of congress and the commander in chief. this is the bottom line. the bottom line is sexual assault is not tolerated, not

condoned, it is not ignored, and everyone in the department, from the newest enlistee to the secretary of defense and everyone in between are responsible to uphold our values and continue an environment of respect for all. thank you. >> good afternoon. thank you for the opportunity to address you today in this important topic. sexual assault and a range of inappropriate behavior associated with it is a problem in the military. it erodes the trust that is the bedrock of our profession. sexual assault is a crime. it demands appropriate accountability. we are fully committed to combating sexual harassment and sexual assault in our ranks. the chairman, service chiefs, and commanders have taken swift action to reduce the incidence, to improve victim support, and bring perpetrators to justice.

we are taking more action today and we will continue to assess and adapt in the future. the secretary of defense initiatives announced today improve our ability to combat the assault by standardizing support and protection. this elevates oversight and improving investigations. it provides our commitment to improve our ability to prevent and respond to sexual assault. over recent months, we have looked frequently in dod taking best practices from our communities. where we found best practices, we have moved to make them common throughout our services. these initiatives are a product of that process. in particular, our collaboration with the senate and house armed services committee and other members of the senate and the house provides constructive direction. a number of these initiatives are also represented in the

ongoing congressional efforts. let me say these initiatives are part of a continuous, comprehensive campaign, and they are the latest effort in our drive to raise standards to himempower commanders to protect items and to improve accountability. thank you, and i look forward to your questions. >> first, for the general, the secretary released a memo to top leaders talking about command influence. i was wondering if you could talk about how big a problem you think [indiscernible] and do you think this memo offset or affects undo command influence? [indiscernible]

the secretary has spoken to [indiscernible] can you address whether or not the department thinks that canceling an exercise that has not happened since 2009 is any motivator at all, do you think, for the egyptian military? >> if i could, i would go to your question for me first. as you know, the comments made by the president resulted in an impact in the cases that were ongoing and the judges involved. as a result, we believed it was necessary, as the secretary did, to make a statement that they act independently based on merits of the case and to ensure that there is no taint in any of the jurisdiction that takes place or the cases that are ongoing. as commanders, we have a responsibility, and we understood that, and we know that.

this is to act independently on the merits of the case and ensure due process, both for justice, for the victim, and due process for the subject. i think it is as simple as that. the letter is clear and has gone out to everyone, and i do not expect any issue. commanders will act independently in line with our justice system. >> let me try to get the easier question of the way. the bright star exercise, as you heard from the president today, was canceled this year. the secretary agreed with that decision. the secretary and the minister spoke at length a while ago about this and other matters. canceling this exercise was a prudent step and a signal to the united states' strong objection to recent events, including

violence against civilians, and we encourage the government of egypt to take measures to move toward a political transition that emphasizes inclusivity, emphasizes freedom of assembly, and to take steps to exercise restraint from violence. we believe this was the right decision at this time. you saw the secretary's statement a short while ago about our desire to maintain cooperation with the egyptian military, which we have enjoyed for some time. we are watching to see what happens next in that country. >> [indiscernible] is canceling the exercise -- is that a motivator for the egyptians to change their ways? >> canceling the exercise is a clear signal, we believe, to

egyptian authorities that we are deeply concerned about recent events in the country. i will try to bring this back to the sexual assault initiatives that we are announcing today. i will take one or two more questions. >> [indiscernible] you mean the past several days? we have been calling around today trying to find out what specific aspects were going to go over for bright star, only a few weeks away? there were thousands of troops heading over. it gives us the impression that

maybe there has been a plan to not conduct bright star for weeks. >> they have been saying it was taking place and the decision was made yesterday -- and you heard the president announce it this morning -- to cancel the exercise. i would take exception with the notion that we had not been planning for bright star. >> [indiscernible] >> we can try to follow up later. we will focus on the sexual assault initiatives today, and maybe one more on egypt. >> you provided a readout of the call between the secretaries. it said that the secretary urged for the egyptian military not to engage in bloodshed. yesterday was a massacre in cairo. did the secretary feel the minister was being straight with him? does he feel there is a loss of faith since the bloodshed has occurred? does he feel there can be trust going forward with it military going forward after the bloodshed? >> you heard the president say earlier that the united states

is deeply concerned about the violence. the secretary believes maintaining an open line of communication with the minister is important for many reasons, to convey this government's views about recent events. these are egyptian government decisions. we expect contact to continue. secretary hagel is not the only official who has been in contact with egyptian option authorities. secretary kerry and others have also been in contact. we emphasize the need to move toward a peaceful political transition, to provide security in the country, and refrain from violence. i would expect contact to continue and for us to continue to urge egyptian authorities to choose the right course for the egyptian people. let's go back to the initiatives today. one more and then we will move on. >> [indiscernible] >> i'll do one on egypt and then on the topic du jour.

>> members of congress are calling for a cutoff of the military aid to egypt. can you walk us through what your actions are and if you can give consideration to turn off the spigot of aid? >> the secretary has sent in his written statement and the president has said earlier tod y -- there are a number of factors that have gone into our relationship with egypt. that is to be sure the military and other factors about at the political and economic levels. it is a complicated set of factors. i am not going to discuss what our internal deliberations may or may not be about at this stage. let's return to the topic of the day. any other questions? >> i have a question about the topic of the day. this is a small factual question.

i'm trying to get a background of secretary hagel's directive to report sexual assault investigations up the chain of command to the first general or admiral. didn't secretary panetta do something similar, but said it had to be reported up to the 05 or 06 level? didn't the department do something like this a year or two ago? >> secretary panetta's directive was at the point of determined prosecution, it would be the special court-martial convening authority which is a colonel in the army or a captain in the navy which would take that action. they took the decision to prosecute at a higher level. this requires across the

services -- this initiative raises oversight, in other words, reporting at a minimum to the first general officer in the chain. it ensures oversight at a higher level, general officer, flag officer rank. >> it has to report it to them, but they do not have to take action or prove anything? >> they will not necessarily take the concerning prosecution, etc. this is to ensure immediate oversight at an experienced level for the actions that take place from the point that we know of the report and beyond, to include at times later that will be determined that they may look at it in a holistic sense as a review to ensure that not only from the point of the report, but actions after it are appropriate. and in following our procedures. >> if i can just add to what the general said, there are steps that the sexual assault coordinator and commander have to take, and those steps that are if someone is involved in an

unrestricted report, they need to identify the command for that investigation to take place. as the general explained, as the notification goes to the first general officer, that oversight will also ensure that the commands are following all of the correct depth for the victim to make sure that they get medical treatment, to make sure that the military investigation command is contacted to start the investigation. that is one of the issues. >> was there a problem? >> no. in fact, what these initiatives really do, these are best practices that we have garnered from all of the services. and as the secretary reviewed the best practices, he wanted to make these a common standard for all of the services. so a lot of the services were doing these initiatives, but he

decided, because they were considered best practices, that he should make it a commonality across the services that all services will do these things. >> if i could, i could expand. one of the instances and was the initiative that requires a judge advocate to hold the article 32 investigation to see whether this would then be prosecuted. for instance, although not mandated in the past, many commanders -- when i had a very complex crime, sexual assault, or a complex criminal issue, i would typically go to one of my sja's to hold the article 32 because they have the background and could do it best with greater efficiency. we have had commanders see that in the past. -- do that in the past.

we felt that in this case for sexual assault that it is a good initiative to make common. >> you mention raising the oversight level to the general flag officer level. can you address the concerns of some of the victims who have lost trust in the military, that that may not be enough? raising the oversight level at the time when one of the most notorious cases is a brigadier general, can you understand why victims did not have trust in that military oversight? >> our soldier and sailors note -- know that today there are 10 avenues for them to report, and they also know when they do report, it goes immediately to a military investigation office in law enforcement and it is handled by them. they know that is outside the

chain of command of their commanders in the unit they are in. there is a number of initiatives that have been taken to make sure that those who will have concerns, we have begun to take action so that their procedures are outside the chain of command in terms of how we conduct the investigation and when we prosecute crimes. for instance, the victim advocacy program today gives them a disciplined team with a lawyer that is an advocate for that victim. those are things we are doing to address some of the issues we trust. -- of trust. we have to attack that. frankly, we want increased, unrestricted reporting. we can only get that if we get more trust from our victims. i'm confident we are making a difference. if you look specifically in this last year, the focus, the energy of the chain of command, our service members know we are

serious about this. >> [indiscernible] some of these take place in the foreign country and local women are involved. do you inform those local countries, local jurisdictions, and how do they follow the rules? do they follow the u.s. rules or the local rules? >> we have agreements with countries we are with that are specific to each country and the -- act in agreement with a specific set of rules. as a nation, we represent our ideals, the ideals of our country. while we ensure proper prosecution of our members, if that is appropriate in a given instance, we also follow those values and we let countries that

we are dealing with no doubt-- know about instances that happen. that was the case in afghanistan. with each country it is a little different in the procedures for we are america's services. [indiscernible] accordance with agreements of the country involved. one or two more questions. >> senator gil brandt put out a brand -- l a gillibrand put out a note lauding what you're doing, but we hear over and over that the victims do not trust the system enough to report. what is your response? we have been working with

senator jell-o brand -- gillibrand. looking at every possible idea, practice out there to see what might help us get after this problem. we have been working very closely with her. we believe there is merit in many of the legislative issues. some of those out there, we are still considering. if we believe we can make a difference in this problem set, we will look strongly at enacting other initiatives. correlationa strong with these abuses and abuse of alcohol. to what extent are you looking at taking the scientific measures to ensure that all of these underage folks are not having access to alcohol, which

seems to be such an aggravating factor? is there any consideration to banning alcohol in basis -- on bases? >> i can speak from my experience. you're right, there is a strong correlation between the use of alcohol and these crimes. we have taken steps to limit alcohol in the barracks, to have our noncommissioned officers and officers enforce those standards in terms of the sale of alcohol and post. in many posts, we would have our 24-hour shop that can sell alcohol. when places would close down off post, troops would come on post and purchase more alcohol. many posts of gone to a restricted time frame on alcohol sale after a certain time, some as early as 10:00 in the