it is a bit controversial to include in the numbers people who have signed up but not completed payment. >> maggie, i think numbers are consistent with enrollment numbers, that massachusetts reported, and that we feel are the most accurate. payment is not due until december the 15th. one of our concerns is that would give you the most reliable information and we are trying to make sure we cross-reference this with our insurance partners, but we know that some people may enroll in a plan temporarily and then decide to switch plans when they find out more information, so are going to give you the best numbers we can, but it is not broken down by numbers. by the 15th of december we will be able to begin to tell you how many people actually have eight for the first month of coverage. >> great.

next question, please. if you would like to ask a question you may press star one. just a moment, please. >> thank you for taking the question. it looks like in florida that about one 1000th of the eligible insured population has accepted a plan. i'm wondering what you would say to folks to encourage them to keep trying i'm a particularly not beene who have waiting all those years for insurance that you want to entice to enroll. >> i would say a couple of things. there is no doubt that particularly the early experience with healthcare.gov frustrating, but it is getting better every day, so i encourage people to visit the

site. one of the issues that would be helpful to share with your readers is if they are not going to be eligible for a financial subsidy or for medicaid, they don't have to shop only in the application on healthcare.gov. they could go to healthcare.gov by state pull up option, shop for a plan and directly contact the insurance carrier they are interested in. so people who may be frustrated with filling out applications and verifying information are really only those who need to verify income for eligibility for a tax credit. so there are two different routes to go. they havehink that inl center options 24/seven both spanish, english, and up to 150 languages. as well as navigators and a

sister's on the ground -- assisters on the ground. there are folks with a number of community organizations in florida like the university of south florida that is writing a very significant project with our reach. there are lots of ways to get information, and take advantage of plans. again, paying by december 15 means your coverage starts january 1. people have all the way until the end of march in 2014 to sign up and be covered in a new market. >> next question, please. >> i'm just wondering how confident you are that the website will be up and running, and also if you can give us a better sense of what vast

majority means, because there really hasn't been an operational equivalent or a number attached to it. >> i would say first of all, it is running right now. every day, people are coming to it and getting enrolled. the experience today on november 13 is significantly better than it was on november 1, and quite a bit better than it was in october. i would love your help in reminding people, don't wait until the 30th of november. the website is very much operational and is very much open for business. had 948,000we individuals in both the state and federal market, but about 61% of those are in the federal market who have completed applications, gotten eligibility, and are shopping. so hundreds of thousands of people are getting through. step one.

the statement about the vast majority of people, he recognize the fact that first of all their raw always be outlier cases, complicated immigration situations or somebody might be a citizen and somebody might not, where we know that people are going to need additional help and support. what we want is an experience for the vast majority of consumers that is easy to use and gets them from start to finish without locking them out or timing them out. we have added hardware, we had software on a regular basis and up eight that. i can guarantee that after the 30th of november, we will continue to make improvements on the site, but it is very much up and running. >> next question, please.

>> scott horsley, national public radio, your line is open. >> you pointed out e-mails for people who had had trouble creating an account. since then, i have been trying to create an account and have not been able to do so. i'm just wondering if my experience is an anomaly or if you have a sense that a lot of people are still stumbling on the threshold step. >> scott, all i can tell you is, i don't know what's going on with your situation. haveknow that we certainly people everyday who are coming on the site and not only creating an account but going all the way through the process. we are currently not where we want to be. i know we have improved significantly from where we were, at one point we were measuring three of 10 people

being able to get through. but i would urge you to try again, but i think every day we are seeing people come on, create accounts, make their way all the way through the system, and we do want to invite back people who started the process early and have not been able to or been outside the system, to come back in and try again. >> just to add onto what the secretary said, i would say that your case is likely an isolated one. we know that well more than 90% of people who try to create their account are now successfully able to do so because of the fixes that we put in place to that part of the process. think we have time for about two more questions for the secretary. >> thanks very much, madame

secretary. i have two questions. -- doesre the problems it include a guarantee for the insurers that it will also be working smoothly for them, that they will get the data and the applications that people file? secondly, can you tell us anything about the mix of enrollees? healthy people are enrolling versus older, sicker people? >> the first question, prioritizing and ensuring fixes has been at the top of our punch list because not only do we want to make sure that when people complete the process we get to the companies and names of individuals who want to enroll in their plan, but also we are of directet a process asap,ment up and running

so that is certainly part of the commitment to make sure that people are transferred easily to insurers and that we actually have a process where insurance companies can be very much the enrollment process, and that has been at the top of the list. we have made some real progress. we are not where we need to be quite yet, but again, it is a very high commitment. in terms of demographics, i would say that we intend to put out more detailed information as we go forward. i have said this all along, we wanted to give you reliable information about the snapshot and we felt we could verify be certain about, both at the state and national level. as you see, we are still missing some state data, and we have been prioritizing for the first report metrics that give a

enrollment market activity at this time. we are going to add additional want to bet we accurate about what we are doing and make sure that the metrics are a timely you snapshot of where we are. for the first month, this is what we felt confident in putting forward as real numbers and we are able to confirm them and scrub them with insurers and our state partners. >> we have time for one more question. >> los angeles times, your line is open. >> thanks very much for taking the call. think onlytary, i about a third of the people who are being -- deemed eligible to buy products on the market places would qualify for subsidies. i wonder if that is different

than what you had anticipated and is that a cause for concern that presumably those people may be paying higher prices and are less likely to actually buy a plan as the december 15 date approaches. >> what we may be seeing are people who probably had insurance coverage before in or ifay, shape, or form, they did not find it to be choices they have never had before, and they are likely to be first in the door. for some of the uninsured and lower income underinsured, we still have outreach and education efforts to go. a lot of what our folks tell me on the ground is that as they ,alk to potential consumers some have a pretty low financial

literacy and are going to take several steps before they really come into the market. but i don't find it is urging at this point that people have gone through the process and not chosen a plan, since you don't have to pay until december 15, insurance is very different than buying a toaster. people want to make sure their doctor is in the network. they want to see what kind of benefits they have, they want to check out options, they want to talk to people. we saw inat massachusetts is people visited the site multiple times before they finally made a decision, and i am anticipating for this first month, we had a lot of people who came in, wanted to get an application, wanted to know what they were eligible for, and now will spend some time doing shopping. will we convert 100%? thinkly not, but i don't that was ever the expectation.

i think a number of the people who are currently in the shopping mode at the end of the day will certainly enroll in coverage. representative dave camp responded to the administration's announcement, saying the enrollment numbers are inflated to include those who were just shopping for a --n, adding more congressional reaction now to the announcement of hammy people have signed up for health insurance. for the next 10 minutes you will hear from rick public and senators from north dakota and maine as well as democratic senator joe manchin of west virginia and amy klobuchar of minnesota.

>> the enrollment numbers for the first month of obamacare have come out and they are not very good. -- 27,000000 people people in the first month. how worried are you about the way things are going? it is an unacceptable situation, you have a website that is not working and people do want to sign up and get their health care this way. wereumbers that we saw significantly better at the then 975,000and people who have actually completed their application and are ready for -- ready to shop for their plans. the president has pledged to change this. one of our minnesota companies is trying to fix it, and i'm

very hopeful tsignificant improe made speople can sign up. minute, this idea of the exchange was a bipartisan idea. the health-care bill wasn't, but this idea was. the notion that individuals and small businesses should be able to pool their numbers, leverage their numbers so that they can get rates like corporations get, because they were paying nearly 20% more for insurance. that is the simple idea behind the exchange. as we have learned, the implementation is not that simple, and the hope is that these improvements will be made so people can sign up for their health care. >> i have to respond a little bit, because i think that we are going to find that the problems with the website are the least of the problems with the affordable care act. memall businessman called

whose insurance had been canceled because it does not comply with obamacare. he is facing a 54% increase in his premiums. another constituent contacted me because her insurance also had been canceled, the insurance that she liked. she has a 19-year-old son with cystic fibrosis, who has been treated his entire life at boston children's hospital. under the new plan that the exchange is offering in the state of maine, she can no longer take her son to the doctor who has treated him his entire life at children's hospital. going to finde that there are far bigger problems with obamacare than just the website. been someone who has

putting forward alternatives, patches him if you will, i wonder what your reaction is to this. >> there are people that are i wasotally opposed, and not there when it was passed. john hoban and i are very good friends, the governor from north dakota. i just think we can do better as a nation than have people who are one illness away from being bankrupt. or person who was born with a defect, or god forbid, they have had a serious ailment, and now because of weeks is to conditions, they are not insurable. there are so many good things that we can all agree on, but people who want to repeal, we

cannot even agree on what time of day it is anymore. only thing i have said, when this thing rolled out in the problems we are having, i went through this when i was governor. we did a thing where we rolled out a new plan to pay our vendors. said you were saving gas and did not want to have a carbon footprint. anyway, what i have said is, the delay, i'm not asking for a delay of implementation. don't put a crime or a fine to januaryislation until 1, 2015, so we can work transitional he. if you're truly wanting to try to -- there is a working period of time. we will get through all of this. it might have to be tweaked and

changed a little bit. we might not be able to afford certain aspects of it every but we can do a lot better than we have done. in a constructive, positive mode, trying to fix things. as a governor, that is what we were expected to do every day. >> you were just talking about the enrollment numbers and they are well within what was initially hoped for. i know you have been voting to repeal the affordable care act and various pieces of legislation lately. on the republican side of the seee, it is good to camaraderie. i think indignation is the word around the aca. there used to be a call to repeal and replace. do you feel like there is any movement on finding a viable alternative for the aca? >> joe and i are good friends.

we work together for more than leastars as governor, at six years as governors and we were together in many issues. we worked together in the senate , and he is a good guy to work with. in response to your question, i think that from the viewpoint of our side of the aisle and most conservatives is that this really is a law that doesn't work, so it does need to be repealed and replaced, because it takes us a government run health care. we just believe that individuals should choose their own health and insurance. it shouldn't be a system where everything is funneled through the government and government exchanges. it is a fundamental disagreement in how health care should work in this country. >> do you think there's momentum

actually to develop whatever the alternative is? >> i do. i think it is based on competition and choice. it goes to things like expanded health savings accounts and bind with high deductible policies. it is things like tort reform, more competition across state lines, reforming medicare to create the right incentives. right now the medicare program pays more for higher priced operations regardless of outcome rather than incentivizing lower- cost outcomes. i know joe agrees with me. also for situations where you have pre-existing conditions am a really empowering the state high risk health care pools. in north dakota we have comprehensive health insurance of north dakota. ofstates have these kind pools.

how about the federal government works with those state pools to be more for people with pre- existing conditions? the step-by-step, comprehensive approach like that is what we advocate for. spoke about several health-care proposals being considered on and off the floors of the house and senate. >> today health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius announce a number of people who had had enrolled, and that figure released earlier this afternoon. david dropped her is just -- david drucker is joining us from capitol hill. is it a good or bad thing? we will need millions and millions more americans in the

exchanges in order to subsidize expanded coverage that the law mandates. that it perspective will go up from here, we could say it was a rough start that will be remedied once the website is fixed and people become more comfortable with the law. >> the hearings tend to focus on the launch of healthcare.gov. the legislative action in the arena seems to be turning to letting people stay or remain on their health care plans and not have to change them over. tell us about what is coming up later in the house this week. >> on friday, the house will vote on a bill that would allow americans who purchased health care in the individual market to keep the plan they have if they want to through the end of 2014. insurance companies who have been transitioning to the new obamacare, the law demands a

upgrade the coverage. so they have been transitioning to this new regulatory regime and phasing out the old plans. the bill would allow insurance companies to continue to offer these plans for another year. ave already been canceled, but house republicans are trying to answer concerns from their constituents. voters are worried about losing .heir plan in the senate, one bill goes expand here it it would it indefinitely and force insurance companies to continue to offer plans that are available now unless they want to exit the individual insurance market altogether. there's no indication yet that -- the danger to

there is that fiscally it could undermine how obamacare finances all the expanded coverage. you cannot have a lifetime cap and things of that nature. we need all these people in the new exchanges in order to finance that. that is what we're going to see at least on the house side this week. harryate majority leader reid saying that senate democrats would meet with white house officials on thursday up on capitol hill. what is expected to come out of that meeting? >> senator reid did not want to talk too much about health care at the weekly news conference and was very candid about that. he said he was not going to answer any questions. when both sides of

,apitol hill are very concerned the website has been a concern, issue, the fear among americans whose plan has -- in terms ofed their concern about the policies in the short term. toy want to do something assure the public that they are doing something, and so far they are not satisfied with the administration's response to this. what tomorrow's meeting is about with the administration is to say where are you with the website, what is the government going to do about the fact that we have this problem? not only what are you going to do, but when are you going to do it? how long do you have to take a

beating for lyrically in the press over how this is going down? >> david drucker, follow him on twitter and read his reporting at the washington examiner.com. david drucker, thanks for being with us. >> on the next washington journal, we will talk with representatives henry cuellar about several issues facing congress, including the health care law, budget negotiations, and immigration reform. you will also be able to call in with your questions about those issues to wyoming senator john .arrasso then we are joined by stephen kahle, founder of voice of the people. washington journal is live on c- span every day at 7 a.m. eastern.

the senate banking committee tomorrow morning here's from janet yellen, president obama's choice to head the federal reserve. she is vice-chairman of the board of governors and will replace ben bernanke. that is live on c-span three at 10 a.m. eastern. >> if you are a middle or high school student, the student cam video competition wants to know what is the most important issue congress should address next year? sure to include c-span programming for your chance to win the grand prize of $5,000. with $100,000 in total prizes. the deadline is january 20. >> the white house hosted leaders and president obama spoke to the group for about 15 minutes. >> thank you. [applause] thank you, everybody.

everybody, please, have a seat. thank you, karen, for the kind introduction. a couple of people i want to introduce, or at least acknowledge. first of all, give it up for our outstanding new secretary of the interior, sally jewell. [applause] we're joined by several other members of my cabinet, which reflects how much my administration values your partnership, the partnership with your communities. i want to thank the members of congress who are here. i want to give, also, a special shout-out to one of my closest advisors, one of my oldest friends. but he's also a great friend to all of you, and he doesn't get a lot of credit because he hates credit; he just likes to work behind the scenes. but he worked with many of you when he worked in the senate. he has been a key advisor on native american affairs for me throughout this process, and i could not be prouder of him --

mr. pete rouse. so give mr. pete rouse a big round of applause. [applause] now, most of all, i want to thank all of you, especially the tribal leaders who are here today. and i understand, actually, we've got more tribal leaders here than we ever have at any of these conferences. so it just keeps on growing each year, which is wonderful news. [applause] you represent more than 300 tribal nations, each of you with your own extraordinary heritage, each a vital part of a shared american family. and as a proud adopted member of the crow nation, let me say kaheé -- welcome -- to all of you. now, after i became president, i said that given the painful chapters and broken promises in our shared history, i'd make sure this country kept its promises to you. i promised that tribal nations

would have a stronger voice in washington --- that as long as i was in the white house, it would be your house, too. and for the past five years, my administration has worked hard to keep that promise --- to build a new relationship with you based on trust and respect. and this new relationship wasn't just about learning from the past. it was also about the here and now --- recognizing the contributions that your communities make to enrich the united states every single day. native americans are doctors and teachers and businessmen and women, and veterans and servicemembers. and they get up every morning and help make america stronger and more prosperous and more just. and i want to build on our true government-to-government relationship as well. so i'm proud to have native americans serving with dedication in my administration, including assistant secretary of the interior for indian affairs, kevin washburn of the chickasaw nation; my senior advisor for native american affairs, jodi

gillette of the standing rock sioux tribe -- our [inter]governmental affairs office, we've got charlie galbraith of the navajo nation. and i look forward to -- so they worked so incredibly hard to make this conference possible, and i look forward to it every year. i had the privilege of some of you coming to the white house yesterday. as we made clear in the executive order earlier this year that established the white house council on native american affairs, we have a unique legal and political relationship, one that's been affirmed many times in treaties, in statutes and in the constitution. that's the unique relationship we honor today. that's the relationship we're called upon to sustain for the progress of all of our peoples. and while we should be proud of what we've achieved together in recent years, we also should be

focused on all the work that we still have to do. i know we've got members of the iroquois nation here today. and i think we could learn from the iroquois confederacy, just as our founding fathers did when they laid the groundwork for our democracy. the iroquois called their network of alliances with other tribes and european nations a "covenant chain." each link represented a bond of peace and friendship. but that covenant chain didn't sustain itself. it needed constant care, so that it would stay strong. and that's what we're called to do, to keep the covenant between us for this generation and for future generations. and there are four areas in particular where i think we need to focus. first, let's keep our covenant strong by strengthening justice and tribal sovereignty. we've worked with you in good faith to resolve longstanding disputes like establishing the land buy back program to consolidate indian lands and

restore them to tribal trust lands. we've reauthorized the violence against women act, so tribes can prosecute those who commit domestic violence in indian country, whether they're native american or not. [applause] i signed changes to the stafford act, to let tribes directly request disaster assistance, because when disasters like floods or fires strike, you shouldn't have to wait for a middleman to get the help you need. [applause] but there's more we can do to return more control to your communities. and that's why i'm urging congress to reauthorize the native american housing assistance and self- determination act -- because your communities know your affordable housing needs better than washington does. [applause] it's why we'll keep pushing congress to pass the carcieri fix, so that more tribal nations can put their land into federal trust. [applause] and we've heard loud and clear your frustrations when it comes to the problem of being fully reimbursed by the federal government for the contracted services you provide, so we're

going to keep working with you and congress to find a solution. [applause] that's all going to be part of making sure that we're respecting the nation-to-nation relationship. now, second, we've got to keep our covenant strong by expanding opportunity for native americans. we've created jobs building new roads and high-speed internet to connect more of your communities to the broader economy. we've made major investments in job training and tribal colleges and universities. but the fact remains native americans face poverty rates that are higher by far than the national average. and that's more than a statistic, that's a moral call to action. we've got to do better. so i said to some of you that i met with yesterday, growing our economy, creating new jobs is my top priority. we've got to stop the self- inflicted wounds in washington. because for many tribal nations, this year's harmful sequester cuts and last month's government

shutdown made a tough situation worse. your schools, your police departments, child welfare offices are all feeling the squeeze. that's why i'm fighting for a responsible budget that invests in the things that we need in order to grow --- things like education, and job training, and affordable housing and transportation, including for native american communities. and we're going to work to make sure native american-owned businesses have greater access to capital and to selling their goods overseas. so we've got to build the economy, create more opportunity. number three, we've got to keep our covenant strong by making sure native americans have access to quality, affordable health care just like everybody else. that's one of the reasons we fought hard to pass the affordable care act, and we're working overtime to make sure the law works the way it's supposed to. for native americans, this means more access to comprehensive, affordable coverage. it permanently reauthorizes the

indian health care improvement act, which provides care to so many in your communities. and let me just give you one example of how this law is already working for tribal nations. thanks to the aca, the puyallup tribal health authority in washington state created the country's first tribal family medicine residency program. patients are cared for in a culturally sensitive way, often by native american staff. and we're seeing results --- a young physician caring for a revered tribal elder; a doctor who has delivered babies in the community for years, and now his son is also doing the same. and that's creating more quality health care, but also sustaining bonds between generations. that's progress that we need to build on. and then the fourth area that we've got to work on is, let's keep our covenant strong by being good stewards of native homelands, which are sacred to you and your families. i saw the beauty of crow agency, montana, when i was a candidate for this office. next year, i'll make my first trip to indian country as president.

[applause] the health of tribal nations depends on the health of tribal lands. so it falls on all of us to protect the extraordinary beauty of those lands for future generations. and already, many of your lands have felt the impacts of a changing climate, including more extreme flooding and droughts. that's why, as part of the climate action plan i announced this year, my administration is partnering with you to identify where your lands are vulnerable to climate change, how we can make them more resilient. and working together, we want to develop the energy potential of tribal lands in a responsible way and in accordance with tribal wishes. over the last four years, we've more than doubled oil and gas revenues on tribal lands --- a big reason why the united states is now more energy independent. so we're working with tribes to get more renewable energy projects, like solar and wind, up and running.

your lands and your economies can be a source of renewable energy and the good local jobs that come with it. so standing up for justice and tribal sovereignty; increasing economic opportunity; expanding quality health care; protecting native homelands -- this is the foundation we can build on. this is the progress that we can make together. and we don't have to look far for inspiration. some of you know, monday obviously was veterans' day, a time to honor all who have worn america's uniform. [applause] i know everyone here is proud that native americans have such a high enlistment rate in our military. and we've seen generations of patriotic native americans who have served with honor and courage, and we draw strength from them all. we draw strength from the navajo code talkers whose skill helped win the second world war. [applause]

we draw strength from woodrow wilson keeble, who many years after his death was finally awarded the medal of honor for his heroism in the korean war. [applause] we draw strength from -- and i want to make sure i get this right -- lori piestewa, who during the iraq war was the first known native american woman to give her life in combat for the united states. [applause] and we draw strength from all our men and women in uniform today, including two pilots i rely on when i step onto marine one --- major paul bisulca, from the penobscot nation, and major eli jones, of the shoshone bannock. and those guys are carrying me around, keeping me safe. [applause]

so on this veterans day week, even though it's technically not veterans day, i want to ask all the veterans in the audience --- including several legendary navajo code talkers who are here if you can, please stand, accept our gratitude. [applause] for generations, these men and women have helped keep our covenant strong. so now we've got to keep strong what they've built, for this and generations to come. it falls to us to keep america the place where no matter where you come from, what you look like, you can always make it as long as you try, as long as you

work hard. and i know that that's what -- all of you are working hard. that's what you represent as leaders of the communities that are represented here from coast to coast. i want you to know that's what i'm working for. that's the partnership that i cherish, and i will cherish as long as i have the honor of serving as your president. so thank you. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. thank you. [applause] ♪ >> attorney general eric holder spoke to the white house tribal nations conference for about 20 minutes on his -- on violence and tribal crime and tribal

communities. [applause] >> good morning, and i want to thank you all for such a warm welcome. it was amazing to hear those also amazing to think that he is actually there for speech thatistoric attorney general kennedy gave. i would also like to thank secretary sally jewell and her colleagues for hosting this very important conference today. members andbinet leaders throughout the administration welcome such a distinguished group to .ashington dc it is a privilege to stand with so many good friends, so many inicated tribal leaders reinforcing the ties that bind

us to one another and renewing our commitment to working with equal trust and respect to address shared challenges and reaffirm our dedication to fulfill the great promise of our government's relationship with sovereign tribes. i want to personally commend every participant in the assures tribal nations conference for taking the time to be here and moving our nation closer toward ideals ofreasured opportunity and justice under law. especially in recent years, alice tribal leaders both in and beyond this room have stepped to the forefront of our efforts to preserve cultural values, to enforce treaty obligations, and to secure the rights and benefits to all american benefits you are entitled. through many generations you and your predecessors have facedown tremendous adversity, standing up to those who once sought to terminate the federal

relationships -- federal government's relationship with tribes. to have a seat at the table before major reforms are enacted. immobilize tribal nations to win passage of long overdue laws, not simply to regulate tribal affairs, but to allow all native people to fulfill their own promise, to chart their own path . as the ranks of your partners have grown, you have raised awareness about obstacles to tribal sovereignty, and with the assistance and support of public servants like my ferry distinguished predecessor, attorney general robert f entity -- robert f kennedy. gather for this year's tribal nations conference here in our nations capital during american indian and alaska native heritage month, i think it is important that we

celebrate these and other momentous achievements, but it is also necessary that we acknowledge that our relationships have not always been so constructive. far too much of our history has been defined by violence and by deprivation. far too many promises have been broken. far too many tribes have been told that their lands, their religion, their cultures, and their languages were somehow not theirs to keep, that their rights could be abridged or denied without the guarantee of they could notat vote, and that the only course of action available to them would be to move on, to give up, and quite simply, to forget. today, we declare that we must never forget. in just aver deny step for decades upon decades was inflicted on native peoples, and we affirm that this painful path has given rise to a

sustained time of cooperation. the nation confronted a new frontier. 50 years ago in bismarck, north dakota, attorney general kennedy addressed the national congress of american indians. at the time, just as it is today, ncai was the largest intertribal organization in the country. it was a key partner to the justice department. robert kennedy spoke of the vision that he and his brother, president john f. kennedy, saw for a more equal and just nation . in what would become a historic speech, he told the assembled crowd that he stood before them and what he called a turning in the tide. america, he said, is moving forward more rapidly and in more ways than ever before. moving toward the fulfillment of its destiny as the land of the

neithernation in which indians nor any other racial or religious minority would live being underprivileged. more than half a century later, is clear that his vision has yet to be fully realized, but it is the elite apparent in the last two decades, and especially the last five years, have been marked by significant steps forward, to keep a nations promised to reclaim the bottle future that all of our citizens deserve, to confront the urgent challenges, to move forward to shared aspirations, and to bring about the remarkable progress forward so many have been fighting for so long. that which began in the new front tier must continue with increased vigor into this new era for which we are all responsible. me,president obama and for this is always been more than a professional obligation, it is a

personal priority. as you heard during the video presentation when i return to the justice department has attorney general in 2009, my colleagues and i made a priority to to listen to and learn from and partner with tribal leaders. this new commitment to cooperation has yielded results i think we can all be proud of. since january 2009 i'm of the department's civil rights division, working with u.s. .ttorneys offices the division has also been active in enforcing the voting rights of american indians including country, the right to access voter information in native languages. we have prioritize the protection of tribal resources and the revolution of long- standing legal dispute. the department of justice and the interior reached a historic than $3nt totaling more

billion, and approved by congress as well as the federal courts, which resolve a class- action lawsuit that had been pending for a decade and a half hearing more broadly, it would have worked to protect water rights and after resources on have vastly and we expand our outreach to in our cooperation with indian tribes across the continent, institutionalizing ways to seek input, holding extensive training and listening sessions and targeting precious resources to the areas where they are needed most. through our -- we have streamlined the process allowing tribes to secure federal assistance. of tribal an array decisions, they are intervening ,n the lives of at risk youth and to explore alternatives to incarceration. but they are only the beginning.

know from experience that it takes more than financial support to combat crime. our ability to ensure just outcomes will always depend upon the sustained efforts of investigators and victim service professionals on the ground who work closely with and genuinely understand the community that they serve. u.s. attorneys whose districts -- this is being strengthened every day by the tribal liaisons in each of the , ands. attorneys offices by our dedicated fbi agents and victim specialists working full- time's on tribal land, involving tribal nation leadership council

. also to advise future attorneys general on issues of concern. in july 2010, president obama bolstered these efforts and strengthen tribal law enforcement to improve substance .buse and treatment efforts it ensured the office of tribal justice will be a permanent part of the united states department of justice. changes,ether, these along with programs like art national indian country training initiative, which has trained thousands of federal and tribal criminal justice professionals and resulted in significant it advances, and our prioritization of close cooperation between u.s. attorneys offices and tribal leaders has brought about a notable increase in overall law enforcement in indian country. in fact, in just the last season, u.s. attorneys with

responsibility for indian country prosecutions have seen their caseloads of prosecutions for crimes committed on tribal land increase by more than 54%. this is an extremely promising indication. yet there is no denying that a great deal of work remains to be done. if we are to seize this opportunity to build on the progress that we have seen, every person in this room must resolve here and now, as robert kennedy and his contemporaries once did, to market not merely as an occasion for reflection, but as a moment of renewal, a time of action, and a time for positive change. recommit ourselves to collaboration on an unprecedented scale. together thate despite everything that has been achieved, we will not rest as long as crime rates in so many tribal communities continue to exceed the national average.

the shamefulccept fact that american indians are disproportionately likely to become victims of crime and violence, and we will not tolerate a world in which only half of all indian women and rape,have experienced physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, and where indian women are murdered at a rate that in some places is more than 10 times the national average. it is simply not acceptable. cannot stand for such an unjust and unacceptable status quo in a longer. [applause] this must be changed, and we can change it. as our record proves, we will not stand for it and we will ask for that change. ,ast year, i was route

extremely proud, to join president obama at a ceremony where he signed the newly reauthorized by litigants women act into law. it took us too long to get to the point where the president signed that bill, but it was signed. thanks to the hard work and fierce advocacy of many of the people in this room, this reauthorization included tribal jurisdiction or visions to help tribal authorities combat violence against native women, whether the perpetrators are indian or non-indian. that distinction is gone. those provisions were drafted and publicly proposed by the justice department, but they could never have become law without your staunch and strenuous support. for that, i applaud you. [applause] as the president noted on that day, it represented a historic step forward in tribal

sovereignty and jurisdiction. all of us will keep forward -- moving forward together. on the recommendation of the national task force on children exposed to violence, the default -- the department has launched a brand-new task force dedicated to addressing the unique challenges faced by children in indian country. a working group of federal officials estimate real progress in improving educational and programmatic services in these facilities in indian country. today, i am pleased to announce a have selected a new advisory committee members who will help lead this new task force, including the distinguished cochairs. both of them are here with us today. [applause] preparations are underway for the advisory committee's first

public hearing to be held in bismarck, north dakota, on december 9. as the task force moves ahead, they will continue to work closely with a range of federal leaders to support and strengthen the work you are doing through tribal lands. as a result of these partnerships and the efforts of everyone here, our nation is poised to open a new era in government to government relationships with sovereign tribes. 50 years after robert kennedy stood before a similar group of leaders, i have the great honor to join you and pledging to take this were two new level. i'm proud to announce that the justice department will adopt a new statement of principles to guide all of the actions that we take in working with federally recognized indian tribes. statement will codify our determination to serve not as a patron, but as the partner in fighting crime and enforcing the law in indian country. and it will institutionalize our

commitment to indian tribes, serving as a blueprint for reinforcing relationships, performing -- reforming the criminal justice system and aggressively with enforcing the law and civil rights protections. it will be meaningful only to the extent that it is crafted in consultation with leaders like you. that is why we will make our draft available today on the justice department's website, justice.gov. we will share it with the leaders of all federally recognized tribes so we can gain expertise andyour your goals and aspirations. then and only then will we be in a position to finalize the statement and publish it by early next year, thereby establishing the core principles by which we can try -- chart our future course. i realize our future will be shaped and our progress determined not only by the

values that guide us, but by the individual men and women that work to translate these values into action. men and women who choose not to accept the world as it is, but fight to make real their vision of the world as it should be. in order to support this work and to inspire and cultivate a new generation of public servants to carry it forward, it is also my privilege to announce the creation of a new component of the attorney general's honors attorneyknown as the general's indian country fellowship. i firstof you may know, joined the department more than 35 years ago as a young attorney in that same honors program. throughout my career i've seen just how important it can be in attracting skilled bloggers to careers in public service and developing leaders at every level of the justice department. under our new indian country fellowship, highly qualified law school graduates will have the

chance to spend three years working with indian country cases i'm a primarily the u.s. attorney's office, but also with in the offices of tribal prosecutors. this will create a new pipeline of legal talent and expertise in federal indian law. tribal law and indian country issues. it will help to build the capacity to combat violent crime and bolster public safety in each of the jurisdictions represented here today. this, after all, is our chief obligation. not to deny our past but to rise above it. not to minimize our tumultuous history, but to write a new chapter. not to accept a reality that is short of the ideal that we envisioned and the justice that our citizens deserve, but to stand together and speak with one voice in order to bring about the changes that we seek. as i look around this room today

, there are so many passionate leaders from across the country. i can't help but feel confident in our ability to do just that. to fulfill the commitments that we have made, to ensure that good words are backed up by good deeds, and above all to keep moving forward in common cause with mutual respect and with shared purpose. i am grateful and i am humbled to count you not merely as colleagues but as essential partners in the considerable work that lies ahead. i will always be proud to stand with you and to fight alongside you in the struggle for tribal sovereignty, self-government, self-determination and the civil rights and equal justice. i look forward to all that we will do and all that we will achieve in the months and years to come. this is my pledge and this must be our common endeavor. thank you very much.

[no audio] -- [applause] >> during wednesday's confirmation hearings for jeh johnson to have the homeland security department he and arizona senator john mccain talked about border security. you can see the entire hearing at c-span.org. here is part of their exchange. >> your predecessor, i want to talk about the border with you -- your predecessor stated frequently, the border is more secure than ever, citing the production and apprehensions as a proof of that progress being made. she said it for a number of years. do you agree with that statement? >> senator, i have seen the same numbers. i noted that the numbers are going down. it might be a recent trend upward.

one of the things that if i am confirmed i'm going to look at is exactly how we should do fine border security and whether those numbers are inaccurate reflection of border security. last twolity, over the years, there has been a 20% increase in apprehensions along the border. when your predecessor made those statements, i used to just -- i can't tell you the frustration that i felt. i knew and those of us who are familiar with the border new that the real reason why those apprehensions were down was because the economy. now that the economy is getting stronger, opry happens -- apprehensions are up. the border is less secure. to complete this comprehensive immigration -- which is stalled in the house, and one of the major reasons why it is stalled is because of the lack of confidence in border and members of the

house of representatives. for years, the secretary of homeland security said, apprehensions are down -- up. so the border is more secure because there was a reduction in apprehensions. now the apprehensions are up. faced with a situation where the border is still not secure. when we were trying to develop this legislation, we went time after time to the department of homeland security to get what was needed to get the border secure. what measures needed to be taken? we never got that. never. we had to go directly to the border patrol and got some very good information which we can include in the legislation. specific sector by sector, the technology that was needed. and you tell this committee that you will not repeat what happened to us, the frustration that we experienced?

i want to know, what is required for us to have 90% effective control of the border? can you assure this committee of that? >> i will commit to you to working with you -- >> i am not asking about working with me. i want to know if you look at this committee the exact metrics that are needed, sector by sector, so that we can obtain 90% effectiveness on the border. not working with me. answer yes or no, please. >> i am inclined to give you what you need. >> i am asking for a yes or no answer. i don't think that is a lot to ask. we have our responsibilities here. one of them is to have a secure border. unless we get the right and youron from you, bureaucracy, we are not able to ascertain how we can secure our border. as much as i admire and appreciate you, unless you can tell me that you will give me

the information which this committee has the right to have, i cannot support your nomination. >> i am inclined -- >> i am not asking -- let the record show you will not give me a yes or no answer. therefore, i will not support your nomination until i get a yes answer. this committee and members of congress particularly those of us on the border have the right to have that information. it is our responsibility and our obligation to our constituents. i have constituents in my state who every night, there are people crossing the border illegally. i have constituents that every smugglers are going across their property and their homes. they certainly have the right as citizens to know what measures need to be taken in order to have a 90% effective control of the border. i will ask you one more time. will you or will you not give that information to this committee?

>> i have been through this process enough to know that i senator asked a question like that and somebody afterward is going to tell me six reasons why i shouldn't do it. in those instances, i have said senator, i think you know this from me, the senator really needs it. we are trying to get to the same place. but give it to him. he for i commit unequivocally to your question, pardon me -- part of me very much wants to do that, i think i need to talk to people at dhs to better understand the issue. i have read the letter you wrote in february. i am strongly inclined to give you what you need, senator. i think you know that from my track record at armed services. obligation have an to the citizens that i represent. right now, in their view, our border is not secure. without your cooperation as to informing the congress as to

what measures need to be taken in order to assure 90% effectiveness, i cannot serve my constituents and i would hope you understand that. >> senator, you will have my cooperation. >> i am not asking for cooperation. i am asking for information. mccain -- let me just make a suggestion. months ago, earlier this year, senator mccain was good enough to host me in his state. we spent a lot of time meeting with his constituents along the border, talking to folks from the department of homeland security border patrol. i would urge you to spend some time there especially in arizona and the eastern part of texas. it was illuminating for me. i think it would be for you as well. >> could i thank the chairman for traveling down there? i thank dr. coburn who also has

traveled and spent extensive time down there. both of you understand very well the frustration that my constituents feel when they live in an environment where nightly, people are crossing their property. ranchers have been killed. this is not an academic exercise. it seems to me that an obligation to the congress of the united states would be to provide us with information that we couldn't get. we had to go directly to the border patrol to get the required information. i was told that that was because the white house had said that department of homeland security shouldn't provide us with that information. how can we carry out our functions of oversight if we don't get the kind of information we need to make the decisions that this committee is responsible to make? >> this weekend, book tv looks back at the life and death of our 35th president on the 50th anniversary of his assassination. saturday at 1:30 p.m. eastern

with martin sandler, ira stoll, jeff greenfield and robert -- theauthors panel relives date. it is all part of book tv. "book tv book club for november wants to know what kennedy books you are reading. >> the obama administration announced wednesday that in the first month that sign-up has been available, more than 100,000 people have enrolled for health insurance through state and federal marketplaces. another 846,000 have completed applications. statistics released by the department of health and human services also show that 1.5 million people applied for insurance. or than one million are eligible for coverage. sebeliustary kathleen spoke with reporters in a conference call. thanks and i want to start by donna,g mike, julie,

nancy who you will hear from in a minute and will happy -- be happy to answer your questions. today we are releasing a report with data for october 1 through november 2. the numbers i am about to run through tail two very important stories. our country, of americans are interested in the affordable health coverage that is being offered through the marketplace and through medicaid. even with the issues we have had, the marketplace is working and people are enrolling over the phone, on paper, in person and online. and statealthcare.gov websites. , 100 this first period 6000 americans have enrolled in qualified health plans through the marketplace. have learned they may be eligible for medicaid or chip. 975,000more, upwards of customers have made it through the process of applying and

getting an eligibility determination. they are currently still shopping for a plan. again, the marketplace is working. people are enrolling. rarelyell you, there is a day that goes by when i don't need someone who has gone 2, 3, four years or in some cases their entire lives without insurance. they tell me how anxious they are to get covered. maybe they are living paycheck to paycheck or have been locked out of the market because of a pre-existing health condition. we see their interest reflected in the numbers of people who were seeking information and shopping for plans. healthcare.gov and state sites have received 26.8 million unique visitors. both national and state call centers have received more than 3.1 million calls. second, we can reasonably expect that these numbers will grow substantially over the next five months as they did in massachusetts which enrolled only .3% or 123 people in its first month.

experience in the baystate that people tend to research and consider their options, talk things over with their families before making a purchase. this data represents only a month into a sustained six-month enrollment and outreach effort. we are confident that as more people across the country learn about their new options, more people will find a plan that meets their needs and their budget and more will enrolling coverage. as we continue this outreach effort and as we make continuous improvements to healthcare.gov, we have every reason to expect more people will enroll. more this first period, than 1.5 million americans applied for coverage, submitting more than 846,000 applications for themselves and members of their families. 98% of those who apply for coverage through federal and state marketplaces, approximately 1.4 8 million people, have received an

eligibility determination. in other words, they learn whether they are eligible for the marketplace and whether they qualify for lower cost. or whether they are eligible for medicaid or chip. almost one third of these consumers have already signed up for plans or are eligible for medicaid or chip. as more people shop and talk things over with their families, we expect these numbers to rise. day, thed of the promise of quality affordable coverage is increasingly becoming a reality for more and more americans. a 24-year-was with old woman in austin, texas. she recently started a new job. while her employer didn't offer health insurance, they offered to subsidize insurance purchased on the individual market. shertunately, the plans found run between $500 and $700. even with help from her employer, it was more than she could afford. once the market place (she was able to enroll in coverage for

only $140 a month. the help she is receiving from her employer, her monthly out- of-pocket premium will only be about $70 a month. we are determined to create more success stories like this. we are committed to pushing forward so we can do just that. i am going to turn the call over to julie. you, madam secretary. thank you all for joining us. as secretary sebelius just noted, we fully expect these enrollment numbers to grow over time. not only as we continue to make fixes to healthcare.gov, but also as we continue our aggressive outreach and education efforts. we are working 24/7 to make improvements to healthcare.gov. we are making progress. i the end of the month, the site will be working smoothly for the vast majority of users. this means that by the end of november, users will be able to move faster through the system, see fewer error messages, experience less timeouts and be

able to complete their applications and enrollment in one sitting if they choose to do so. as of today, the site's ever iste is down -- error rate down to less than one percent. this is a dynamic online environment and a process that will be ongoing. we will continually be making enhancements, adding features and delivering new content so we can best respond to ongoing consumer demand over time and ensure the best possible consumer experience. >> republican representative dave camp responded to the administration's announcement saying -- with a capitol hill reporter about several health-

care proposals being considered on and off the floors of the house and senate. >> today, kathleen sebelius announced a number of people who enrolled in health care according to the health care law. that figure released earlier this afternoon, david drucker is senior congressional correspondent with "the washing -- washington examiner." 106,000 sign up for obamacare in the first month, is that a good or a bad thing? >> it is not good from the they neede of millions more americans in the exchanges in order to subsidize the expanded coverage and all of the new benefits that the law mandates. , howthe perspective that many can go up from here? presumably, we could look back on this as a rough start that was later remedied once a website was fixed and people became more comfortable with the law. onthe hearings tend to focus

the launch of healthcare.gov. the legislative action, the arena seems to be turning to letting people stay or remain on their health care plans and not have to change them over. tell us about what is coming up in the house this week proposed by fred upton of michigan. >> on friday, the house will vote on a bill that would allow americans who purchase health care in the individual market to keep the plans they have if they want to through the end of 2014. more precisely, it would give insurance companies who have been transitioning to the new obamacare regulatory regime as the law the demands they upgrade their coverage due to new standards for minimum coverage. they have been transitioning to this. bill would allow insurance companies to continue to offer these plans for another year. it wouldn't mandate that they do it. there is nothing in this bill

that really helps people whose plans have already been canceled. house republicans are trying to answer concerns from their constituents. we have a lot of stories from voters that are worried they are losing their plans, the prices are going up, the they are not going to be able to see the doctors. in the senate, mary landrieu goes farther. it would extend the obamacare indefinitely. it would also force insurance companies to continue to offer plans that are available now unless they want to exit the individual insurance market altogether. there is no indication that democrats want to give this thing a vote. the danger there is that fiscally, it could undermine how obamacare finances all the expanded coverage and manages to whereing conditions

you can't push people out of insurance. you can have a lifetime cap and things of that nature. you need all these people in the new exchanges in order to finance that. that is why the democrats are nervous. the best we're going to see on the house side this week where the debate is -- >> harry reid saying earlier that senate democrats would meet with white house officials on thursday on capitol hill. what is expected to come out of that meeting? want toor reid didn't talk to much about health care at his weekly news conference. he was very candid about that. he said he wouldn't answer many questions beyond discussing the fact that the meeting is scheduled. we know that on both sides of capitol hill, democrats are concerned. in some ways they are concerned about the website and that has been a concern, but i think the issue of the canceled plans and fear among americans whose plans

haven't been canceled that they will be affected, this seems to have lit a switch underneath democrats in terms of their concern about the politics of this. they want to do something. they want to show the public that they are doing something and so far, they are not satisfied with the administration's responsiveness. is tok tomorrow's meeting say, where -- what does the president want to do about the fact that he broke his promise about the canceled plans? mary landrieu has everett said the promise was made and broken. that is why she has proposed her bill. what are you going to do and when are you going to do a? >> david drucker is senior congressional correspondent for "the washington examiner." read his reporting.

david drucker, thanks for being with us. >> thanks a lot. >> we go now to this hearing where the white house chief technology officer says healthcare.gov is capable of handling up to 25,000 euros or's -- users at one time. officials from the health and human services department and the centers for medicare and medicaid services. this hearing on the status of the rollout of the health care website is a little more than four hours.

>> americans have a right to know the money the government takes involuntarily from them is well spent. second, americans to serve an efficient government that works for them. our duty on this committee is to in fact protect these rights. our solemn responsibility is to hold government accountable to taxpayers because they have a right that the money government takes from them is well spent. it's our job to work tirelessly in partnership with citizen watchdogs to deliver the facts and bring general reform to the bureaucracy.

>> three and a half years ago in a partisan vote, they have passed the affordability care act. it gave them three years to implement, unlimited money, and ensure they neither need to come back to congress ever again. and created their own rules. the 2400 pages were passed into law and they now represent tens of thousands of pages of regulation that were created

based on how this administration wanted a law interpreted. meaning that legislation created was still being written in late september. it included a website, health care.gov. these were supposed to make it easy to have an online marketplace. it was in fact an attempt to duplicate what hundreds, perhaps thousands, of insurance companies, do well every day. they said it would be as easy as buying a ticket on kayak or buying a television on amazon. this is an insult.

on the day of the launch, president obama should have known the harsh wisdom we have all learned from. they were not ready. they were not close to ready. this was a monumental escape to -- this was a monumental mistake to go live and effectively explode on the launchpad. for american people, obamacare is no longer an abstraction. it is a lot more than a website. is millions of americans, it about losing insurance the president promised you can keep. for many americans, it is about premiums going up. you were promised they would go down by $2500. big businesses lobbied and

received an obamacare waiver this year. however, the individual, the taxpayer, the citizen, the only real recipient of health care did not. still have to pay a penalty if they don't have insurance that meets a federal standard, a standard of what your government, your nanny state believes in fact you must have. effectalty is still in and even if new exchanges don't function. the penalty is in effect even if you plan on keeping the health care you wanted and discovered it is now gone. .r, have yet to discover ultimately, if you are on an employer plan, you may not yet have found out that your employer either cannot afford or cannot receive the health care you have grown accustomed to. the specific reason we are here

today is a narrow part of this committee's oversight and legislative authority. it is in fact do examine the failures of what should have been an i.t. success story. million, 3.5 years, is larger than kayak ever dreamed of having to set up their website. it is larger than ebay spent in the first many years of a much more complicated site that auctions in real-time, millions and millions of products a year. we are here to examine the failure of technology not because the technology was so new and innovative, not because this was a moonshot, not because toneeded a lockheed martin come in and invent some new way to propel a ship to the moon, but because we have discovered

and will undoubtedly continue to discover that efforts were taken to cut corners to meet political deadlines at the end. for political reasons, rules were not created in a timely fashion. in fact, the rules that should have been created at the time of the passage of the law were shortly thereafter in many cases, were still being given to programmers in september of this year. i recognize that there are divisions on this committee as there were when obamacare became law. many members including myself believe that there was and is a health care crisis in america. it is a crisis of affordability. insurance is simply a way to score what that affordability is, not to drive down the cost. many members including myself oppose this new law because we thought it wouldn't work and it had no systems to actually reduce the cost of health care

from the provider. my friends on the other side may --rectly note as i will hear are that many americans benefiting from obamacare at the cost of trillions of dollars over a 10 year period, i certainly hope so. or not taxpayer money taken and pushed back out to needy who are trying to afford health care is not the subject today. unfortunately, during the first two years of the obamacare law under speaker pillows he, there losi, there waspe no oversight. oversight was shut down during the first two years of the obama administration and the minority pointing out anything was ignored. under my chairman, we have tried to correct that. we have been disappointed by continued obstruction by the minority on this committee

defending the administration even when it has failed to deliver the relevant documents they find themselves objecting to hearings. they constantly engage in petty downplaying of what in fact is a serious problem. the minority today will undoubtedly point out that this must be political. we are not here because only 1100 people at a time could get onto a website before it crashed. to get on itneeded because it was a law and they were mandated. we are not here for that reason. we are here because this is political. this committee on a bipartisan basis has offered legislation that if the senate had taken it up and the president had supported and signed it and it had been implemented in this project, undoubtedly, many of

the mistakes made we would find would not be made. in fact, the lack of budget authority for a single point on a project of this sort conducted and overseen by somebody who had a success story in similar operations rising to the level of a $600 million multi committee, multistate website, if that person had been there and in charge, i have no doubt that person would not be with us today because that site would be up and running. on october 10, i joined with senator lamar alexander, a member of the minority in the senate it finds himself unable to get answers, asking secretary sebelius to provide documents related to health care.gov. one month into obamacare, i was forced to issue a subpoena

because of a lack of response from the administration. to date, hhs is not produced a single responsive documents of this committee. in contrast, the committee has received far more cooperation, transparency, and document production receiving over 100,000 relevant documents from the private sector, from contractors working on this project, the very contractors who were blamed on day one as it being their fault, not a single political appointee's fault, not obama's fault. i know the ranking member and i could fill an entire hearing with discussions about our differences and i have no doubt in short order he will air many of them. but for this hearing, i think we can find agreement. the agreement would be simple. whether you like obamacare or not, taxpayer dollars were

wasted, precious time was wasted, the american people's promise of obamacare, in fact, does not exist today in a meaningful way because best practices established from the government were not used in this case. now, our government must quickly grasp the lessons of what happened here in obamacare's health care.gov project a better and more effectively implement underlying policy changes so that this won't happen again. the investigations this committee received testimony and documents indicating many problems that led to this disastrous failure to launch on october 1. the committee has learned that numerous missed deadlines and ignoring of integrated security testing requirements are still a problem for the system. the ranking member gave to me,

and i will put in the record, a letter very concerned that some of the documents we received from contractors, if they got in public hands, would be a roadmap to the security flaws that exist in obamacare's website today. it is our committee's decision that those documents will not be released. we will carefully ensure that any material given to us by anyone that would help hackers discover more quickly the flaws in obamacare's website are not made public but let's understand the ranking member's statement in that letter says more than i could say. and that is, on the day of the launch and even today, there are material failures in the security of the obamacare website meaning, even though we may not put out the roadmap,

hackers, if they can get on a website that only accommodates 1100 people at a time, they may have already or may soon find those vulnerabilities. they may soon find your social security number or your sensitive information because there was no integrated security testing before the launch. they pointed this out in time for the launch to not have occurred on till security concerns were properly vetted. the last known security test conducted by the records we have been given, given by contractors because the administration has failed to be in any way honest or transparent and producing documents, showed that in mid- september, at least as to the federal marketplace segment of the site emma they identified significant findings of risk, documents from a contractor

identified a chaotic testing environment. according to mr. henry chow, the top operational officer for the marketplace administration delays issuing regulations in a compressed timeframe for building the i.t. infrastructure. we know that hhs did not issue any regulations in the three months prior to november 2012. it seems sad you pass a law in the first few months of an administration and yet it seems regulations came to a halt so that they would not be out there in the marketplace during the president's reelection. two years is too long after ray law but has a mandate to before you go and tell the american people and the website producers what they must do.

this committee has learned that a complete integrated security testing did not occur meaning testing the pieces but do not test the entire product. that was one of the faults of the launch. it heightens the risk of unauthorized access, non- encrypted data, and the loss of personal identifiable information. this is not the committee's opinion but testimony. he was not even aware of some of the testing results that showed serious security problems in the weeks before the october 1 up date. he testified the result should have been shared with him and said the situation was disturbing. hhs offered no further explanation for nearly two weeks until after the committee made a redacted version of the key memo

public. at a briefing last week, the cms chief information officer told investigators that he normally signs the authority to operate memos to launch cms i.t. projects and in this case, however, he determined that he would not sign the health care document that required a less qualified and obviously erroneous signature to occur on that document. that is kicking it upstairs because you know it isn't any good. although i appreciate the cio not signing a document for a site that was not ready, at the same time, we must realize that there should have been public objection to her signing that document for a website that clearly was not ready for prime

time. additionally, today, we're hearing from a distinguished panel of witnesses and i recognize that some of the witnesses, particularly mr. to get this site operational. but since we have been in a neighborhood of six weeks since the launch, i trust that hundreds, or if necessary, thousands of the right people have most of their marching orders and that it's time for congress on any committee of jurisdiction to look over the shoulder of the administration to ask you both what went wrong and, today, not just ask if you promise on november 30 to make it right but vill you in fact commit to the changes in law that would ensure this does not happen again?

i don't hold this committee hearing today to sell i.t. reform. this committee has already done its job to sell i.t. reform. however, it is essential that you understand that when mr. cummings and i make public billions of dollars of failed i.t. programs, the american people often get a small snippet in the newspapers. today, i think the american people should know this is not the $600 million unique event. if it were, this would be a different hearing. this is part of a pattern that occurs due to failure to adhere to the private sector's world- class standards for web production. this is a pattern that includes political appointees being more involved than career professionals. this is a pattern that has to stop. our witnesses today, among them

will be mr. dave hower, a government accountability officer and an expert in what those practices should have been and what failed on health care's website. he is a career professional, nonpartisan, and an individual who does not work for me, does not work for the ranking member, but works for the american people. i will do the rest of my introduction when the time comes. i now yield to the ranking member. >> thank you, mr. chairman. good morning to everyone and welcome to our witnesses who are here with us today. i want you to know that i appreciate your service and on behalf of a grateful congress, we thank you. i thank you for your dedication to ensuring that millions of americans who do not have health

insurance will be able to obtain quality affordable coverage going forward. this is an incredibly admirable goal. thank you for everything you are doing to make it a reality. unfortunately, not everyone in this room shares this very important goal. republicans oppose the affordable care act in 2009 and voted against providing health insurance to millions of americans. over the past three years, they have voted more than 40 times to repeal parts or all of the law and eliminate health insurance for people across the country. since they failed in these repeal efforts, they block the request for full funding to

implement the law. this forces federal agencies to divert limited funds from other areas. republican governors refused to set up state exchanges forcing the federal government to bear more of the workload and to make a political point against the affordable care act, republican governors refused federal funds to expand their medicaid programs to provide medical care for the poor increasing the burden on their own state hospitals. to me, this is one of the most inexplicable actions i've ever witnessed from elected representatives against their own people. these are the people who elected them, their neighbors, family members, the grocer, the mortician. after all of these efforts,

house republicans shut down the entire federal government for three weeks in october. three weeks. they shut down the government. they threatened a default on our national debt unless we repealed the affordable care act. again, this effort failed. now they are attempting to use the congressional oversight process to scare americans away from the website by once again making unsupported assertions about the risks to their personal medical information. let me be clear. the centers for medicare and medicaid services and its contractors failed to fully deliver what they were supposed to deliver and congressional oversight of those failures is

absolutely warranted. but nobody in this room -- nobody in this country -- believe that republicans want to fix the website. for the past three years, the number one priority of congressional republicans has to been to bring down this law and that goal, ladies and gentlemen, has not changed. today, they complain that their constituents are waiting too long on the healthcare website to sign up for insurance but is there a solution to fix the website? no. it is to repeal the affordable care act and eliminate health insurance for millions of americans. repealing would reduce waiting times on the website, it would

increase waiting times in our nation's emergency rooms. instead of working in a bipartisan manner, he politicizes the issue by repeatedly making unfounded allegations. in my opinion, these statements have impaired the committee's credibility. for example, on october 27, he went on national television and accuse the white house of ordering cms to disable the "anonymous shopper function" for political reasons to avoid "sticker shock." that allegation is totally wrong. we have now reviewed documents and interviewed cms officials

who made that decision. it was based on the contractor's work and not on a white house political director is. last thursday, a press release was issued with this glaring in- line quote. "health care.gov could only handle 1100 users the day before launch." this claim is wrong. you apparently base your allegations on misinterpretations of documents we received which relate to a sample testing environment. i believe the witnesses will be expounding upon that today. most troubling of all was your allegation against one of our witnesses today, todd park. the chief technology officer of the united states of america. you went on national television

and accused him of engaging in "a pattern of interference and false statements." mr. park is widely respected by the technology community as an honest and upstanding professional. in my opinion, your accusations denigrated his reputation with absolutely no legitimate basis. as i've said in my letter to you on monday, i believe your statement crossed a line and i think you owe mr. park an apology, not a subpoena. the unfortunate approach of this is that we may miss an opportunity to do some very good work. our committee has done significant, substantive, and bipartisan work on federal i.t.

reform. i applaud you for your leadership in that. i go back to the word -- bipartisan. we join in to do what this committee is supposed to do. we look at the facts, seek the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, and bring about reform. under the leadership of you and our democratic information technology expert, mr. connelly of virginia, last march we passed the federal information technology reform act that would increase the authority of agency cio's and provide them with budget authority over federal i.t. programs including hiring. we did that together. we did that in a bipartisan way. we put politics aside, rolled up our sleeves, and we worked

together to constructively address these challenges. i hope that is what today's hearing is all about. again, i think our witnesses, who i know are working very hard, to achieve these goals. with that, i yield act. >> members have seven days to submit opening statements and other extraneous materials. i now ask that my entire opening statement be placed in the record, without objection so ordered. i asked about the letter dated to me be placed in the record, without objection so ordered. i will now go to our panel of witnesses. we welcome them. the director of information technology issues of the government accountability office. mr. henry chao of the office of

information services and centers for medicare and medicaid services, and deputy chief affirmation officer at cms. mr. frank bateman is the chief information officer at the department of health and human services. mr. todd park is the chief technology officer of the united states. mr. steve vanroekel is the chief information officer of the united states. and pursuant to the rules, as many of you will see, i was asked that you rise to take a sworn oath. please raise your right hands. do you swear or from the testimony you are about to give away the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? let the record reflect that all

answered in the affirmative. this is a large panel. it is going to be a long day. witnesses will be asked questions by both sides of the aisle. i would ask that since your opening statements are placed in the record verbatim that you adhere to the time clock and come to a halt as quickly as possible when it's red. yellow is not an opportunity to start a new subject. it is an opportunity to wrap up. with that, we will go to our distinguished guests. >> we appreciate the opportunity to testify. in july, i testified before the sub committee on failed i.t. projects and other troubled

projects. now we are facing one with a more visible i.t. projects in healthcare.gov. we should report that seven successful i.t. acquisitions and will allow them to be successfully, i would like to highlight best practices from that report and others that would have made a difference with healthcare.gov. i would like to start by highlighting the chairman specifically, those sections that increase cio authorities and practices. starting with accountability. executives need to be accountable with appropriate business leaders responsible. this includes the president cio. transparency, the i.t. dashboard

was put in place in june of 2009 to highlight the status and assessments of approximately 700 major i.t. investments across 27 departments. about $40 billion was spent annually on these investments. public dissemination of each project status is intended to allow omb and the congress to hold agencies accountable for results and performance. surprisingly, recent assessments on healthcare.gov, per merely show a green rating. interestingly, in march the rating was red and something was wrong of that time. omb, department and agency -- and are sure that they are effectively mitigated. we have each reports on tech stat sessions highlighting the

importance of these meetings and the excellent results. we are not aware that healthcare.gov was subject to a tech stat review. it is important to project success the program stats have the necessary knowledge and skills. engineering, architecture, systems integration, and testing. program management. several best past practices increase the likelihood that i.t. acquisitions will be delivered on time within budget, and with the functionality promise. the starts getting your requirements right by involving end-users, having communication with contractors throughout the acquisition process, and user acceptance. there are a number of key

questions that can be asked of any i.t. acquisition to ensure the appropriate accountability, transparency, oversight, and program management is in place. these pertain to healthcare.gov. these include, what role is omb playing in ensuring that his major acquisition is on track, and how involved is the federal cio? is the acquisition status timely and transparent as displayed on the i.t. dashboard? are omb and agency oversight and governments appropriate. was there appropriate follow-up. does the agency have the appropriate expertise to carry it out? in the case of healthcare.gov, a question is whether cmf

has the abilities to act as systems integrator. as the program office, drop the acquisition lifecycle, starting with how the project is defined to how it is tested and employed for operations. this would include security testing, assessment, and authorization. in summary, omb can do more to ensure the government's annual 80 plus billion dollar investment in i.t. has the appropriate accountability, oversight, transparency, and best practices to deliver vital services. this concludes my statement. thank you for your continued oversight. >> thank you. mr. chao. >> good morning. since the passage of the affordable care act, cms has been hard at work to design, build and have secure systems that ensure americans are able to enroll in the affordable health care coverage. i serve as deputy chief operations officer, and i'm

career civil servant with 20 years working at cms on medicaid systems of varying scales. of te marketplace of element and implementation to facilitate a marketplace eligibility systems and the data services. i work closely with the private sector's, contractors, building these i.t. components. i work closely with my colleagues who handle other id and policy aspects, including the center for insurance oversight, which manages the business operations and makes policy decisions. the chief information officer that oversees the account creation on healthcare.gov through management of a shared