>> yes, absolutely. congress has contributed to the problem over the years to a substantial extent. we need to then it all out. absolutely. wait for the microphone. >> my name is everett. i was acquisition executive during the 1980s for the navy. the system can be made to run. but it has two modes, effective and disaster. right now you can see the effective mode, very

successfully run program, and disaster mode in the lsc and f35. those decisions were all made by all. i am very refreshed at your comments this morning. you are on the right track. i have been part of the acquisition system for 30 years. years i have had the opportunity to study it in detail. i am currently with the mccain institute. my job there if acquisitions. where do i sign up? >> of note has already been made. i am serious. i am not just saying things when i say we will need you all to help. whether it is experience in the past, experience in the

industry, whatever it is, this cannot be a congress comes up with the answer sort of things. what we have to do is not come up with an answer you try to impose on the system. we have to understand what it is like in the system. andwhat those incentives rewards and punishments are. get at the root causes that will alternately prevail. we need all the help we can get for that. i appreciate that. thank you. >> let me piggyback on that a little bit. andquestion often gets wet -- written into the way contracts are done. unfunded -- unfortunately one good solution becomes everyone has to do it that way. you have to watch out for successful incentives becoming a requirement.

guarantee. for those on the web, if you would like to e-mail your bring your question to auto in the third row. >> auto chrysler. 20 some years of covering you folks. congress doesat to make it worse. one was 10-15 years ago you did the attack on the pentagon shoppers. 25% cut in dod acquisitions. that turns a lot of the over to theprocess contractors. did not work out particularly well. as far as expediting picture meant, every time anybody suggests beating up the process, gets in theress

and says you are going too fast, we need to regulate and slow the whole thing down. problem, we have discovered the enemy, and it is us. how do you get those contradictory things that if you turn the industry loose, they ,nd up complicating the process and how does congress get out of y?e way to go ga >> anand gao. is i thinkthe first you are right, we contribute to the problem. the first thing is to understand how we contribute to the problem. beginning of finding solutions is understanding. secondly, i think it is a really good point, and i do not know if

this analogy works or not, but walmart tolerates a certain , becausee of shrinkage if they absolutely prevented shoplifting from everyone of their stores they would frisk you coming and goings, and it is not worth the stores -- not worth the cost. we had to get to the point that we are willing to accept some amount of risk that someone will do something they should not do, but at the same time we have to have the transparency and accountability that goes with that. but thegement accountability for decisions that were made. you probably recover, the lady in the army that work and said she was astounded at how little decision-making power that the program managers in the services actually have versus outside.

so we have to empower them. and understand there is some risk that someone will not take a good decision. give them more power, but hold .hem accountable i think that is a least an approach we need to move for. >> you mentioned the hearing that the committee held three weeks ago looking back at the past 25 years, essentially back to the report of the packard commission and the undersecretary of defense for acquisitions. there are those that would argue those 25 years of packer commission reforms have failed. others would say they have never even been tried. finding the right person, putting them in charge, clear requirements and resources they need to do the job in setting out the goals and holding them accountable to it. is that something you can legislate or do you reward that by finding examples of success

and making them visible? congress has quite the role to play in terms of highlighting and eliminated success. >> i think it takes both. there is an eisenhower quote that says the right system does not guarantee success but the wrong system guarantees failure. i kind of think that applies here. all of these barnacles of legislation and regulation that have built up over time, then good people trying to make the right decisions are hamstrung and cannot do it. if you get rid of the barnacles, does that guarantee the right decisions? not necessarily. you encourage people to make decisions. that is our chance. you may not get a perfect system am of course, but you can have a lot better one than we have now. examples, it has been over 30 years since the

congressmen join their names to .he non-mccurdy requirements the basic idea, too much cost growth it has to be canceled or has to re-baseline and certify that this time we will not overrun the cost. the idea they had was it would lead to more program kills. at least in terms of cost for performance would be canceled. the reality is not many have been canceled. is this early the problem of congress as well, and how do you change the incentive structure in congress for at least tolerating or signing up to termination of programs? >> i do not underestimate the weblem am a but i agree what tend to do is stretch things out, make it more expensive rather than making difficult decisions. a lots of that responsibility does rest with us, although i

would certainly push back on anyone that suggests congress job is to automatically go along with whatever cancellations the pentagon proposes and there are lots of examples where that has not worked out. but i think it does get back again to the questions we ask along the programs pass, and we ofd to do a better job watching for cost growth, but also understanding why it happens. that gets back to the requirement things. >> you have your own intended structure as a member of congress. row.stion on the third consultant. , acquisitionocess process, is a very acquisition -- very expensive acquisition

for the services. for example, a few years ago the army had 6000 ps officers tied in the acquisition corps. why not contract the whole thing out? i think you are spending taxpayer dollars, so there has to be some federal oversight of how the dollars are spent. do we need to have the number of federal people that we have? i am not sure. i hear is how many people contractors have to put on the payroll to meet the needs of all of the checkers and the oversight people, and then it gets to be this escalating overhead burden that weighs down the system.

initial thought, and we need you all to help on , fewer people more empowered to make decisions and the system to hold them accountable for the decisions they make is a better model to move for, rather than outsourcing out the whole thing. if i could come up couple of observations on the value of u military career officers as acquisition and procurement personnel. you will.luses if o a bridgeou want between the operators and the acquisition community. the operators being uniformed military will use the equipment and services at the back end. at least the practice has been active duty officers will tend

to have the operational focus better than you can right into a contract. you have two right into flexibility that is very difficult to write in. secondly, you need someone in the room when the general is making the decisions to say there is a reason you cannot do it that way. contractors will not typically be in the room when you do that. they need to be treated not as second-class citizens. i think we have another question right next to you. >> thank you very much. congressman, you mentioned several times in your remarks this morning and powering crow -- program managers and helping them to become better at what they do. i would encourage you not to focus too narrowly on program managers, but also those that work room -- equally hard at the pentagon. fairthink it is a very

point. that is one of the reasons in the process we are trying not to look too narrowly at the regulations for the small acquisition but the requirements and budgeting and how the whole system comes together to operate. i appreciate the point. >> a couple of questions from the web. in these cases, i am not clear that i will identify who asked them. to what extent is it a valid assumption that contractor profits can be used to motivate the performance of the acquisition systems? you mentioned the example -- example of the billion dollar cost only half $1 billion profit. can you extend that costs? can we use profits as a motivation? something that is politically

acceptable as well? >> i do think we can put in the to make a profit and ideas on whatrary is fair and right as that goes, because that certainly -- if you get reimbursed for your overhead cost, what is your incentive? to increase the overhead because you get the money back. i was interested in frank kindles comments. there did not seem to be the are avenueserence we need to understand better.

we need to make sure we have the the agile system to changing world environment. i have no doubt that contractors will adjust to whatever system we set up. if that means they make a bigger profit than someone wants them to make, that is the way it works. >> there is a wall street side of this as well, the financial community. in days past defense contracts were a little bit different, if you will, then the rest of the publicly traded firms. increasingly the financial market looks at is the same. you do not get bonus points for patriotism or serving the needs of the military. you have to meet the return on

investment and return on capital. how do we take that into account? in many cases a short-term focus, a very narrow focus on shareholder equity. does not necessarily have the needs of the nation from the military point of view. fair point. i am struck by the number of people that point out that we do not really punish contractors who do not do a good job, as far as future contracts go. shouldng that i think we at least ask about, if you do a good job, how does that enhance the ability to get more jobs? if you do not do a good job, what effect does that have for your ability of doing a good job? back to whether the company will be successful or not, rather than companies that just play the game. back to me,at gets potentially underbid the cost

knowing you will end up with the maintenance cost, knowing that will be bigger over the next few years than the acquisition. you intentionally do that. those are the things we need to understand better. on the other hand, we are not responsible when we buy services from a plumber or go purchase kitchen appliances. we are not responsible for maintaining a network of plumbers that will be around. again, we will not solve all of the problems of the world, but the whole industrial base issue here at home is something that i think we need to be thinking about. talking aboutere several times at the reagan defense conference, might not we

want to have some dod programs designed with the purpose of maintaining an industrial base as it shrinks? i do think that is something we have to look at. >> you mentioned data in the prepared remarks today. 13% increase in the cost and so on. about five years ago congress passed the weapon systems acquisition reform act. created a whole new set of requirements to do a better job of identifying cost, created a assessments and looking at some of these things. has it taken this long for some of the reforms to take root or maybe the numbers you cited show it did not go far enough? >> the interesting question is we already have defenses of opinion about that.

some people say it is making a positive difference. other people say it is not making that big of a difference. the hard part is proving what it would have been like without that. if it is making a positive difference, and even if we have not fully realized the positive extent, things are getting worse. to me, it is not enough. that is the bottom line. >> i think the one thing you can be certain of the problems you have been asked to work on are not going to fix themselves. they are going to be around for a while. you will get the opportunity to work on them for the full two years of your effort. we want to thank you very much for coming here and sharing your thoughts. we will do everything we can to make you successful going forward. lex thank you. [applause] -- >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> jeremy herb, staff writer for the hill, the senate beginning debate on the defense program built. the general said earlier he wanted the bill done by thanksgiving. how likely is that? >> i think it is still an open question. we are hearing from senate aides they do not think they will be able to finish the bill. it authorizes more than 600 ilion in defense spending and to have -- has a number of controversial proposals this year that seems like it makes it unlikely we will get it done before thanksgiving. of the are a couple

proposals? >> the biggest one might be over sanctions. six world powers are sitting down with them to reach an agreement on the nuclear plant. the senate wants to push new sanctions and tougher sanctions that the obama administration is warning could derail the whole talks. the plan from republicans was to push them on the bill. on friday, leadership aides were suggesting there would not be time to finish the defense bill and have a vote on the sanctions. david bidder who held up the bill on last week over his obamacare mms says reid was trying to turn him into a scapegoat in saying there would not be enough time. >> another issue is sexual assault in the military. who is leading the effort, and how is it expected to be handled during the debate. a very vocal issue. democrats on both sides that are

leading the charge. kristin angela brandt is leading a proposal that would push the issue of prosecuting cases outside the chain of command. the measure has ordered a seven senators, including ted cruz and rand paul, as well as most women's democrat in the senate. it is opposed by senate mccaskill and leaders of the senate armed services committee. it is really one of those debates that is not falling along party lines. what are the other issues that could come up. >> one of them is by carl levin, an easy number of restrictions on transferring detainees out of guantanamo. republicans waited during committee to debate those but said they will try to pass an amendment that would strike the provisions out of the bill. fightl probably see a over the nsa spying programs. back in july the defense

appropriation bill was back on the floor. it would strip the nsa of the old clone data collection. we do not know for sure if it would come up, but likely to see some sort of nsa mmf. about the minimum wage debate? >> it will be interesting to see how these debates and up. they are worried if the senate does not come back from the two-week recess, the house is now supposed to be adjourned for the year on december 13, which gives them almost no time to conference of the with the house and get it finished. >> jeremy herb covers defense policy for the hill. thank you. >> congressman tim murphy of pennsylvania will talk about congressional oversight of the health care law. congressman tim murphy will chair a hearing on the part --

problems with the health care website. then tom daschle, president obama's first choice to head the human -- health and human services department will give us a look at the law. then, a look at how the new federal exchanges are different from those created in massachusetts under then governor mitt romney. john kingsville who ran the program for massachusetts. vewashington journal" li every morning at 7:00 eastern. >> there are some serious dollars in women's studies. most departments include their ideological, academic courses. ideologically fervent to statistically challenged hard- liners set the tone. all that i have ever seen.

a change of plans. conservative women's, moderate women, libertarian women, religious women left out. >> late century contentment is him -- feminism have led critics to label her as antifeminist. sunday, december first, your questions for the author. 54 three hours beginning at noon eastern. looking ahead to the new year, join mark levin january 5. in-depth, the first sunday of every month on c-span2. >> every weekend since 1998, book to be has brought you the -- non--fiction authors. > the fact that such women

exist, it is not the way i would do it. i took 20 of maternity leave. i feel like that is the growing number -- that is the kind of woman that there can be space for. the fact that there are some stay-at-home dads and do not entirely live in portland, oregon, that is ok, too. >> the only national television network devoted exclusively to non-fiction books. throughout the fall walked -- marking 15 years of c-span two. welcoming the changes taking place in cuba. doing more to protect human rights.

withdiscuss u.s. relations latin america, climate change, and trade. his remarks at the organization meeting forstates about 30 minutes. thank you. >> mr. secretary general, thank you very much. thank you for a wonderful welcome on this beautiful fall day, as pretty as it gets and one that is quickly prompting all of us to ask why we are at work today. i am privileged to be here.

thank you for the ambassador of the invitation to be here. thank you for inviting me to speak here, and as always, wonderful to be here and this wonderful, remarkable, historic holding. a few minutes ago, we were down below in the atrium, and the secretary general to me over to see the peach tree president than 100 yearsre ago. it is over mark boal tree. a testimony to the deep roots of oas, the quintessential the latinal entity of americans and has origins dating back to even before the peach

tree was planted. i was tempted to tell a story about william howard taft, the famous introduction, but i will spare you that particular story. i am delighted to be in the company of carla hill. great to be here with you. i am particularly proud to be here with our assistant secretary roberta jacobson who does such an outstanding job with respect to all the western hemisphere's. i just came back from china, dialogue in >> i have had the privilege of speaking in beautiful rooms like this in about 30 countries around the world. i cannot tell you how nice it is

to speak in one where i get to drive for two minutes instead of fly for 12 hours. it makes a difference. that this is a very important moment for all of the american states. ago, president kennedy spoke about the promise of the western hemisphere. become, sadly, his final address on foreign policy, resident kennedy expressed his hope for a hemisphere of nations , each confident in the strength of its own independence, devoted to the liberty of its citizens. if he could only see where we are today. in the half-century since he spoke, more and more countries are coming closer and closer to realizing his vision and all of our hopes. when people speak of

the western hemisphere, they often talk about transformations that have taken place, but the truth is one of the biggest transformations has happened right here in the united states of america. in the early days of our republic, the united states made a choice about its relationship with latin america. president james monroe who was also a former secretary of state , declared that the united and aswould unilaterally a matter of fact act as the protector of the region. the doctrine that bears his name asserted our authority to step in and oppose the influence of european powers in latin america . throughout our nation's history, successive presidents have free in forced that doctrine and made a similar choice. made ahowever, we have different choice.

the era of the monroe doctrine is over. -- it is worthp applauding, it is not a bad thing. [applause] seekelationship that we and that we have worked hard to not about a united states declaration about how and when it will intervene in the affairs of other american states . it is about all of our countries viewing one another as equals. sharing responsibilities, cooperating on security issues and adhering not to doctrine, but to the decisions that we make as partners to advance the values and interests that we share. lathe old proverb says,

in thece la fuerta. union's unity is strength. in our shared commitment to democracy, we collectively present a vivid example to the world that diversity is strength. , thatnclusion works justice can reject impunity and that the rights of individuals must be protected against government overreach and abuse. we also prove that peace is possible. you don't need force to have the vision that we share for our countries is actually within our grasp, but we have to ask ourselves some tough and important questions in order to secure our goal. first and foremost, will we, together, promote and protect

the democracy, security and peace that all the people of the americas deserve? seize the chance to advance prosperity throughout the western hemisphere and educate the young people who will drive the economies of the future? , together,will we meet a responsibility that requires more strength and thus more unity than ever before and thereby effectively address the threat posed by climate change ? how we answer these questions will determine whether or not we will actually become the hemisphere of nations that president kennedy and visions, each country existing side-by-side, strong, independent and free? question is actually answered by the broad protection of democratic values that have become the rule and not the

exception within the western hemisphere. in a few short decades, ationratic represent has, for the most part, repressed the power of dictators. -- coming time will overcoming poverty and improving social inclusion. last summer i traveled to brasilia, and as i was leaving my meeting with the foreign minister i was greeted by a group of protesters. now, i don't speak portuguese. my wife does, i don't, but i do understand the four letter words that they yelled, because they were in english. [laughter] and as jarring as it can be sometimes, that moment was actually the picture of a healthy democracy. today, it is our shared

democratic values that have challengesto whether to understandable concerns around surveillance disclosures. concerns that prompt us all to figure out how we are going to get through and filled a stronger foundation for the future based on our common democratic values and beliefs. depend on democracies all citizens having a voice and on respecting the voices. all governments having the courage and the capacity to listen to those voices. proud, i immensely think, of this hemisphere's democratic trajectory and of the institutions that we built in order to hold ourselves to the future and to be accountable. to holda difference and or sell to the oas charter.

we also express our concern when democratic institutions -- when democratic institutions are weekend, as we have seen in venezuela recently. in march of this year, the united states joined with many of you right here and this very room, as a matter fact, to affirm the independence and the mandate of the inter-american commission on human rights. tohave also joined together support the oas electoral observation missions are out the hemisphere, including the one for the election in honduras next week. all of the sea have an opportunity to help assure that this election is inclusive, peaceful and fair. and that the process is one that the honduran people can actually to expressorder their will. we, all of us, must do everything that we can to

support the oas efforts to provide assistance and impartially observe the elections. there is no better expression of our strength in unity than following through on that effort . we also know well that the critical ingredient of a successful democracy is how we provide for our security at home for all our citizens. safe streets, safe neighborhoods, safe communities really do depend on upholding the rule of law. in june, i went to want them all a and i met with attorney paz. she is made extraordinary progress in protecting women in prosecuting human right federations. bogota and acai

remarkable demonstration of colombia's sacrifice and progress in the fight against illegal drugs and violence. the fight, which has actually made it possible for president santos' courageous effort to achieve sustainable and just undeniablehink it is what our unity of purpose is. making ourp democracies stronger and our people more secure and guatemala and colombia and throughout the americas. for the most part, i think you will agree with me that western hemisphere is unified in its commitment to pursuing successful democracies in the way that i described. but one exception of course remains -- cuba. since president obama took office, the administration has started the search for a new beginning with cuba.

when said just last week, it comes to our relationship with cuba, we have to be creative, we have to be thoughtful and we have to continue to update our policies. our governments are finding some cooperation on common interests at this point in time. each year, hundreds of thousands of americans visit havana and hundreds of millions of dollars in trade and remittances flow from the united states to cuba. we are committed to this human interchange and in the united states we believe that our people are actually our best ambassadors. they are ambassadors of our ideals, of our values, of our beliefs. while we also welcome some of the changes that are taking place in cuba, which allow more cubans to be able to travel freely and work for themselves, these changes should absolutely not blind us to the authoritarian reality of life

for ordinary cubans. in a hemisphere where citizens everywhere have a right to be able to choose their leaders, cubans, uniquely, do not. in a hemisphere where people can criticize their leaders without fear of arrest or violence, cubans still cannot. soon, itoes not change is clear that the 21st century will continue unfortunately to leave the cuban people behind. day, andorward to the we hope it will come soon, when the cuban government embraces a broader political reform agenda that will enable its people to freely determine their own future. the entire hemisphere, all of us, share an interest in assuring that cubans enjoy the rights protected by our inter- american democratic charter. united into stand this aspiration.

country, including the united states, each day that we don't press forward on behalf of personal freedoms and representative government we risk sliding backwards and none of us can accept that. even as we celebrate the democratic values that have spread throughout latin america, we must also acknowledge where those values are being challenged. after all, timely elections matter little if they are not really free and fair, with all political parties competing on a level playing field. a separation of powers is of little comfort if independent institutions are not able to and the powerful to account laws that guarantee freedom of the press, freedom of expression and freedom of religion are of little consequence if they are

not enforced. democracy is not a final destination, it is an endless journey and every day, all of us must renew our decision to actually move it forward. we are no less immune to that reality here in the united states than anywhere else and in fact in recent days, perhaps even more susceptible to it. , gotve also, all of us important decisions to make about how we bring about shared economic prosperity, the prosperity to which we all aspire. to start with, educational opportunity above all must be a priority. available with widely high-quality education that our workforce, the workforce of the hemisphere, will be equipped for the jobs of the future. education as we all know opens

up other doors as well. as former senator j william fulbright said, having people who understand your thought is much greater security than another submarine. that is the idea behind the state department fulbright exchanges. it is the idea behind president obama's 100,000 strong in the americas initiative. is aimed at increasing the flow of exchange students in both directions here in the western hemisphere. but, my friends, education as we know it is only the first step. we must also press even harder to help create jobs and economic opportunity for our young people for the day after graduation comes and goes. our hemisphere is already, as

the secretary-general mentioned in his introductory comments, a thriving market of nearly one billion people. over the past decade economies of latin america and the caribbean grew at a rate of four percent a year. the united states is proud to play a role in this. just last week we announced more than 98 minute -- more than $98 billion in private financing for 4000 small and medium-sized businesses throughout the hemisphere in order to encourage this energy and create a stupid move and peering is the kind of growth that the region is soundencing, fueled by economic policies, innovative social programs and increased international trade and investment. that growth has to radically improved the lives of all of our citizens. , ashe past decade alone trade has grown between the united states and latin america, nearly tripled, more than 73 million people as the secretary-

general mentioned have been lifted out of poverty. think about that. that is more people than live in canada and argentina combined. it is an extraordinary story. it is a story of success. it is the story of policies that to berking that need grown, not moved away from. imagine what is possible if we continue to open up trade and investment in our children's futures. when i was a senator i was very proud and pleased to vote to ratify oath the columbia and the panama promotion -- trade promotion agreements which president obama signed into law. we are already seeing the growth that these agreements made possible during the first year of the u.s. colombia fta, nearly 800 colombian companies of all sizes entered the u.s. market for the very first time.

these new exporters sold their goods and services and more than 20 american states. today, vice president biden is traveling to panama to visit the trade expansion project. under president obama's leadership, we have also helped expand the region's participation in transpacific partnership, taking it the on chile and peru to include canada and mexico. we have redoubled our commitment the greatest single step toward prosperity in this hemisphere, which i'm pleased to say i voted for the time when people remember it as my contentious and difficult. us know we can rest on those agreements alone. we know we need to do more. and if we do more, the western

hemisphere will continue to be a leader in the global markets for decades to come. opportunities that is taring at us that i just mention a moment ago, one of those opportunities is a $6 trillion market and has 4 billion users. about the new energy market. the biggest market in human history. the market that created such extraordinary wealth in the where in the united states , every single quintile of american income earner in the bottom right to the top, everybody saw their incomes go up. a time when weis balanced the budget three years in a row. it was a time of extraordinary growth.

the market that drove that marketwas a $1 trillion with one billion users. the high-tech, home computer model, that was the market. technology. the energy market is six times that market. the 4 billion users today will grow to 6 billion, ultimately 9 billion between now and 2050. it will help us to answer the third and final question that i mentioned, whether or not we will leave to our children and grandchildren a planet that is healthy, clean and sustainable. actually, this is not so much a question as it really is a compelling challenge, the challenge of a generation, maybe even the challenge of the century, maybe even the challenge of life itself and the planet.

, if you die just adequately everything that science is telling us today. more than two decades ago i visited brazil as part of the u.s. delegation to the rio summit. this was the first time that the global community came together united to try to address climate change. it was also the trip where got to know an amazing portuguese speaking woman named teresa, who three years later would become my wife. so i like rio, it is a good place. i still talk about a young 12 year old girl from vancouver named severn suzuki who took the stage at that summit in order to, as she put it," fight for 21 years later i still run what you said about

climate change. i am only a child, she told us, yet i know we're all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal. severn understood something that a lot of folks today need to grasp, something still missing from our political debate like the saying goes that i said a hace lago, la union fuerza. we need more than ever with climate change. decades later we still have a lot to learn from that young woman. the americas have become the new .enter of our global energy map onehemisphere supplies fourth of the world's crude oil and nearly one fourth of the world's cold. what that means is that we have the ability and the great responsibility to influence the way that the entire world is

powered. to do this, it will require each of our nations to make some very fundamental policy choices. we need to embrace the energy future over the energy of the past. , i have beenre through these battles in the united states senate. i know how tough it is. i know how many different industries and how many powerful interests there are two pushed but we, people, all of us have a responsibility to push back against them. climate change is real. it is happening. if we don't take significant it wills partners, continue to threaten not only our environment and our communities, but as our friends from the caribbean another island nations know, it will threaten potentially our entire way of life, certainly there's. irs. the climate of costed --

the climate of client because of climate change will cause a far more. the investment we need to make today to meet the challenge. every economic model shows that. and yet we shy away. our economies have yet to factor in the monetary costs of doing nothing. or doing too little. the devastating effects that droughts can have on farmers the hefty price tag that comes with rebuilding communities after every catastrophe, after every hurricane and tropical storm tears tour leaves instruction in its wake. fires thatry cost of didn't burn is ferociously and as frequently as they do today because of the increased dryness , the increasing signs of loss of water for the himalayas as the glaciers shrink and therefore the great rivers of

china and other countries on one side and india on the other are threatened as billions of people see their food and food security affected. these are real challenges and they are not somewhere in the future. we are already seeing them now. for all these reasons, combating climate change is an urgent priority of president obama and myself. we know that we are one of the largest contributors to the problem. about 20 nations that contribute over 90% of the problem. that is what president obama unveiled a new climate action plan to drive more aggressive domestic climate policy on climate change than ever before. , the agenda hes is put together as one designed specifically to be able to be done by administrative order so you don't have to wait for congress to act. many other nations in the western hemisphere are also asking hard to do their part

well. i am proud to say that as part of the energy and climate partnership of the americas, the united states has collaborated with more than two dozen , latin america and the caribbean in order to support to addressrograms the reality of this grave threat. if we take advantage, my friends, this is not a threat where there is not a solution. we have a solution. a number of them. staring us in the face. we just don't make a political decision because of these forces that push back. we know what the alternatives are. we know the advantage of the enormous breakthroughs that are happening in clean energy. and applye expertise new technologies throughout the theon, if we connect electrical grids throughout the americas, then we can share and sell power to each other at different points in time in

different ways with a more vibrant marketplace. if we harness the power of the wind in mexico and the biomass in brazil, the sunshine in chile and peru, the natural gas in the united states and argentina, then the enormous benefits for local economies, public health and of course climate change mitigation could reach every corner of the americas and beyond. this is what a new interamerican partnership is really all about. the brazilian novelist one of the most widely read authors in the world wrote, when we least expect it, life sets out a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change. so the question for all of us is , will we have the courage to make the tough choices and willingness to change 50 years from today on the hundredth anniversary of president

,ennedy's call to the region will recall the nations that he dreamed about become a reality echo many years ago the united states dictated policy that defined the hemisphere for many years after. we have moved past that era. today we must go even further. all the things that we have talked about today, the future of our democracies, the strength of our democracies, the development of those democracies, the inclusion of all of our people in a system with accountability and without impunity for the defections, our shared prosperity and all that brings us, the education of our children, the future of our planet, our response to climate change, all of these things do not depend on the next administration or the next generation, they depend on us now. the question is, will we work as equal partners in order to

achieve our goals? courage and ae willingness to change. but above all, it will require a higher and deeper level of cooperation between us, all of us together as equal partners in this hemisphere. that is the way we will make the difference and that is the way we will live up to our responsibility. thank you very much. [applause] >> the senate foreign relations committee look at the un's inonse to typhoon haiyan the philippines earlier this month. later, law enforcement and regulatory officials will take questions about digital currencies such as the pit

corning. a senate banking subcommittee will hear about the benefits and the risks of virtual currencies. at 330verage starts eastern, also on c-span3. >> and tonight on c-span3, we will have coverage of outgoing fed chairman in bernanke whose term ends in january. he was picked up the national economists club i've at seven eastern. -- live at seven eastern. murphy of pennsylvania will talk about congressional oversight of the health-care law. he would chair a hearing today on the technical problems with the health care.gov website. former senate majority leader tom daschle who was president obama's initial choice to lead the health and human services department will give his take on the health-care law. later, a discussion on the health insurance exchanges

created in massachusetts in 2006 under then governor mitt romney. our guest is john king still who ran the outpatient program for massachusetts. we will also take your calls, e- mails and tweets. andy look at today's news. and a look at today's news. ♪ >> good morning, it is the "washington journal" for november 19. president obama will meet with the select senate legionnair les today. several stories in the paper talk about the status of those discussions. president obama will also sit down for an hour long interview with wall street journals gerald side. that at c-span.org. it is the 150th anniversary of the gettysburg address