prospectively, through may 30. would that the an acceptable alternative, mr. majority leader? >> we want to provide a better environment for businesses to hire folks. folks that are chronically unemployed to access the skills necessary to build the job openings today. notsure his district, unlike mine, there are a lot of job openings that are left open because the workforce does not have access to proper training and skills. i look forward to joining with the gentleman and looking towards the future to how we can help those who are out of work get a job. i yield back.

the gentleman for his response, mr. speaker. the question was yes we want to get people back to work. everybody wants to get people back to work. there is no doubt about that. hopefully, we would be at full employment. one defines that whether three percent or four percent unemployment which would be transition employment or unemployment. we want everybody back to work. the issue is if we don't get everybody back to work, 192,000 new jobs this past month -- that is good but not good enough. is why we have continuing 6.7% unemployment. my question to the majority assume forif -- argument that the letter to which he refers is accurate. i don't accept that premise but

accepting that premise but the minute -- with the majority leader be amenable to rather than do what the senate does making a retrospective so that the 3.5 months that would've gone from january 1 or december 29, i suppose, of last year to today and paying that back. simply extending for five months while people continue to look for employment that have been unable to find it because they are three times as many people looking for jobs as there are jobs available and we are's -- we are adding 72,000 people on a weekly basis to the unemployed roll. if we made a perspective, that would save a lot of people of the pain and suffering they are experiencing because they cannot find jobs. i yield to my friend. >> i will say to the gentleman that what we are amenable to is

looking to try to fix the problem. i would also refer the gentleman to the fact that the emergency unemployment insurance that the gentleman speaks of was in place for the longest time, i am told, in history that it was in place for an emergency. as the gentleman well knows, we have in place six months of unemployment insurance benefits for those that out of work. i knows the -- i know that those are out of work were deemed chronically unemployed want most is the opportunity to get back to work. that is where i believe we ought to focus our efforts and really help people get back into a job so they could support themselves, their family, and create a better future. i hope the gentleman will join us in refocusing away from accepting the status quo and instead trying to enhance the prospect for the pursuit of

happiness former people. -- for more people. we are about of an america that have works for everybody. >> i think the gentleman. we have an agenda to do just that -- it is called make it in america. get the kind of jobs that people can make good salaries, have good benefits, and have good security in the long term. there is no disagreement on that. the only disagreement seems to be while we are trying to get we tryne, whether or not to assure that those with fallen through the cracks do not find themselves in dire circumstances because we have eliminated the safety net that we constructed. i would say to the gentleman and this is the longest time in history and we will get a lot of information from members of the committee -- longest time in history we have had this level of long-term unemployment.

one of the reasons for that is obviously the locations of the marketplace and that we experienced the deepest -- maybe that anybody routh is exception -- anybody in this body has experienced. weother words, the last time had this deep of a recession as we have had in the last of the last administration is carried over was the deep depression. you have to be 90 years or older to really remember an experience that. there is a lot of pain out there and i'll i am saying is we agree. there is no disagreement. we want to take action to give people the skills. we have done that bigger sleep and that is as much my fault as anybody. you focus on your skills act. we want to make sure people have the skills to get employment. i would hope that we could look

at, assuming the senate passes this bill, to give relief to some two point 8 million people who are in dire straits. give them some support while we are trying to create the kinds of jobs and skills necessary to get them out of the whole they are in -- hole they are in. e, 193 democrats have signed a discharge position to bring the unemployment insurance to the floor. if i might do one other issue. lastly, we have the sustainable growth rate. we extended it. we work together to get that done. , ihout going into length know the gentleman and i have had discussions about the sustainable growth rate. we put a temporary patch on it. that was the wrong thing to do.

the right thing to do temporarily but it was the wrong thing to do. the gentleman knows that fixing the sustainable growth rate is now less expensive to do then it has been in over five years. that they are working together, we can address this issue sometime before this congress adjourns. we need to fix this and we need to fix this permanently. >> i would say to the gentleman we too would like to see the overhaul replaced with something that works. our caucus on the majority side of the aisle has put a lot of work into this issue together with the energy and commerce committee and have come up with a plan that has bipartisan support. the problem is how to pay for it. the gentleman would

agree, we can't go and continue to incur costs without finding out ways to pay for it and that seems to continue to vex many of the problems around here. trying to discover bipartisan pay for's and we have made a commitment to work with those members who are most engaged in this issue and look for to continue to work with the gentleman to try to find those so we can put in place a long-term plan to get some certainty to our providers under medicare. >> i think the gentleman for his comments and a look forward to working with him. i observe as he well knows and i have discussed with the speaker the paperwork that was completed -- included in the temporary patch. we simply accelerated dollars, we didn't have new dollars. we didn't really pay for it. we simply put the debt off a month or so and collected the money early and pretended that would pay for it.

realer that was any more than doing any of the other options that have been suggested i think is questionable, but i look forward to vote -- to working with the gentleman. i mention it every time but i want to mention it in a slightly different context -- i will bring a comprehensive immigration reform again. the majority later says we all agree on that. we are going to be considering the budget. the budget, we don't think it is paid for. we will have a discussion about that. we think it increases the deficit. but that aside, the comprehensive immigration reform, cbo released its score on our bill which we think is a bipartisan bill. they found it would reduce the billion over the next two decades. including $200 billion over the first 10 years.

therefore, comprehensive immigration reform is not only the right thing to do, it is economically the smart thing to do. in context of a bill that was brought to the floor this week that increases the deficit by nearly $74 billion. it is a bit ironic that during the time of enormous deficits that we have been unwilling to bring to the floor a bill that is scored by cbo as close to a trillion dollars positive reduction on our deficit in the coming 20 years. i would hope that we could look is not only the right thing to do but it is supported across the board. by a 62-38passed it margin, supported by the chamber of commerce, supported by interestsarmers, ag

as well as farmworkers. supported by the faith community across the board and supported people.of the american we could bring a bill that has such positive of fax for human for humaneffects beings, our country, as well to positive economic effect. i would hope sincerely that once we get past the budget and come back after the easter break that we address the comprehensive immigration reform. i yield to my friend. gentlemansay to the as he knows, we reject the comprehensive approach taken by the senate. also, as the dumb and correctly states, we are in favor of trying to fix a very broken, and equated legal immigration system

as well as trying to do something to stop illegal immigration. we just have an issue about the president's insistence on first of all saying it is his way or the highway. secondly, as the gentleman and i have talked before about the growing frustration that many americans have as well as members on our side of the isle about the seeming disregard for the law and selectively implementing laws that have passed, specifically as it relates to the affordable care act. how would one know revisions that would be upheld, implemented, executed in whole or not given the situations surrounding be aca? those are the kinds of challenges we face. i would note that the kinds of things that he refers to -- comprehensive immigration. we reject that notion that the senate bill and we reject

comprehensive efforts that have been undertaken over the last several years because they have not worked so well. instead, we wish it -- we should be looking to try to agree on things. what about border security? border security itself. if we can agree that will be our position, we are not negotiating on a copper hands of bill. we have to take care of that. what about the kids? i am very focused and try to do something that we can agree on but without saying that has to be a precursor to something the president insists or otherwise we can even have this discussion. we have a lot of issues as regards to migration -- i mmigration. i think that we have plenty people that are frustrated given how things have gone with this white house. i yield back. >> i think the gentleman for his comments. whichder security, hr-15 we refer to as a conference of

bill -- comprehensive bill bill chaired by your republican chairman. it was sent out unanimously and included in our bill. on the border security issue, we apparently have a very broad-based agreement on that issue. the gentleman says, you want to do it individually. the gentleman knows the judiciary committee as passed out individual discrete bills dealing with discrete parts of the immigration issue which you say is a broken system. bring out discreetly those bills. the bill that the homeland security reported out unanimously has not been brought to the floor. the bills that have been reported out of the judiciary committee have not been brought out to the floor. they were passed months ago.

if you don't want to do a comprehensive, if that is the view of the majority leader, i would suggest that he bring out discrete bills, individual bills, not comprehensive and see if we can deal with those. thatisappointment also is it was not only the senate bill that was rejected, but the speaker put out some principles with respect to comprehensive -- or immigration reform, i would not call the company and to. -- comprehensive. we received of those positively. we thought that was a positive step. unfortunately, the speakers proposals were rejected apparently i am very large number of your party in and outside of this institution. as a result, six days after the issues of the principles, he said they were not going to be pursued. we were frustrated and disappointed because we thought the speaker had taken a positive step forward. i don't know whether the

majority leader was part of the -- those principles. themy event, we accepted as good faith efforts to come to an agreement and we were prepared to pursue discussions on those principles. unfortunately, the speaker withdrew them. mr. speaker, i am prepared to yield back unless the majority leader wants me to yield to him. >> are yield back the balance of my time. a house armed services committee hearing on intelligence activities. after that, house hearing on passport fraud. >> c-span, 35 years bring a public affairs events from washington directly to you. putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, and conferences and offering complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house all as a public

service. by thec-span, created cable tv industry 35 years ago and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. like us on hd, facebook, and follow us on twitter. reportnew march jobs reveals the unemployment rate remains at 6.7% adding 192,000 jobs with a net job growth occurring in the private sector. the bureau of labor statistics commissioner testified for the joint economic committee. erik paulsen served as acting chairman. this is just over 45 minutes.

>> we will call the joint economic committee to order. vice-chairman club chart is not here yet, but -- chairman brady went to dallas to attend a funeral of ray hutchinson, his friend and also husband of the former senator kay bailey hutchinson. in his absence, he asked me to preside this morning. i was hoping we would have a bit of the minnesota mafia starting off the hearing. senator club which are will be here shortly. the recovery that began in june 2009 is now nearly five years old, yet an nbc news poll found 57% of americans still think the economy is in a recession. this is likely due to persistent weakness in our labor market. the fact that nonfarm payrolls increased by 192,000 and the official unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7% last month is positive news, but it is simply not enough. i agree with janet yellen's recent assessment of our

economy. in a speech on monday she said, there's been steady progress, but there is no doubt that the economy and the job market are not back to normal health. by several measures, the recovery from the most recent recession is far below the average over the last 50 years. here at the joint economic committee, we refer to that as the growth gap. since the recession ended in june 2009, real gdp growth has accumulated 9 percentage points below the average recovery. private payroll employment growth is more than 5 percentage points below recovery. real disposable income of a family of four grew by $13,000 less than it did in average recovery. clearly, our economy is underperforming. we should be doing better than five consecutive years of below average. she cited a number of statistics indicating that our labor market

is weaker than the official unemployment rate would suggest. more than 7 million people are working part-time, even though they would prefer full-time jobs. the falling unemployment rate has not sparked a significant increase in real wages. real average earnings are up by less than one percent since the recession ended. nearly 36% of the unemployed have been unemployed six months or longer. i will say that again, more than one third of the unemployed in this country have been unemployed for six months or more. the labor force participation rate has fallen to 63.2%. only half of this decline can be attributable to democratic factors. some may blame the housing bubble for this persistent weakness. while the collapse of the housing bubble has some lingering effects, it is not the main factor, let alone the only factor.

what is unique about this recovery is the combination of the economic policies the president pursued. from 1982 to 2000, federal spending declined as a percent of gdp and the private sector created more than 37 million jobs. under president obama, federal spending reached a high of 24.4% of gdp, and remains above its postwar average. presidents kennedy and president reagan passed tax cuts. they encourage new business investment. this committee has shown a correlation between new business investment and the creation of new private sector. in contrast, president obama increase taxes on successful small businesses, capital gains, and dividends. reagan and clinton took a balanced approach toward environmental, health, and safety regulations. the obama administration has pursued an aggressive agenda of regulation without weighing costs and benefits.

presidents reagan, kennedy, and clinton have pursued international trade agreements. there are several trade opportunities on the rise and are proven job creators, but the administration has not fully engaged in this issue. there has been bipartisan support in the past. i am confident there is bipartisan support in congress for trade agreements today. presidents kennedy, reagan, and clinton did not burden people with the cost of retirement programs. in contrast, president obama has pushed forward the affordable care act on partyline votes. the health care law has increased uncertainty, raised taxes by nearly half $1 trillion, undermines the medical device industry that is so important to our home state of minnesota, and is causing millions of americans to lose access to some of the health insurance plans they like. the policies america needs now are well known. stable prices, a gradual decline in federal spending, tax reform that encourages new business

investment, balanced regulation, and trade liberalization. it is the best way to strengthen our economy. it is time the administration work together with republicans and democrats. with that, i look forward to your testimony. senator klobuchar. >> thank you very much. sorry i was a few minutes late. i was in a dentist's chair. how much more fun to be here with all of you. it is great to be here. representative paulson is chairing the meeting. as well as the commissioner. good to see you again. i would like to welcome the assistant commissioner for the office of current employment analysis. i am pleased we are having this hearing on the monthly employment situation. i think we know that these hearings give us an opportunity to dig deeper into the numbers. march, as we discussed, saw a gain of 192,000 nonfarm gains. all of the job gains in the

private sector. something we like to hear. recent economic news has been encouraging. the economy has grown for 11 straight quarters. the 2.6% gdp growth over the course of 2013 exceeds the gains of 2011 and 2012. manufacturing, the engine of innovation, it generates 90% of all patents. it has rebounded. adding more than 600,000 jobs since february 2010. exporting has been another bright spot. exports are growing. exceeding the pre-recession peak. all of this is good news. we have a lot of room to go. we also have accomplished much in terms of the private sector adding jobs. i think back to the first half of 2009, when we shed more jobs in this country. we were losing jobs at a rate of 700,000 per month.

we shed more jobs in one month than people in vermont. five years later, we are adding jobs. we have recorded 49 straight months of private sector job growth. with this month's gain of 192,000 private sector jobs, we have regained all of the 8.8 million private sector jobs lost during the recession. this is the month that we finally got to where we were. now i hope we are going to expand from there. the number of unemployed workers per job opening has decreased from seven in july 2009 to 2.46 in january 2014, approaching the prerecession level of roughly two unemployed workers for every job opening. the unemployment rate at 6.7% is down nearly a full 1%.

the unemployment rate is better. 4.8% in the state of minnesota. for most workers, the job market is better today than it has been in years, but we all know the recovery has not reached everyone, particularly the long-term unemployed, those who have been out of work for more than six months. nearly 4 million americans have been out of work. this committee has discussed long periods of joblessness to significant damage to our nation's productivity, and we are pleased the senate is moving forward to pass an extension of unemployment insurance. i hope the house will as well. it will help people like linda and her husband from little falls, minnesota, who lost their jobs and are both over 55. they need some support if they continue to look for work. linda wrote me, encouraging congress to extend unemployment.

she wrote, i feel like the people who are jobless are being forgotten. we have to approach this issue from all sides. obviously there are openings in some parts of the country and certain industries, and we need to make sure the workers are trained to do those jobs. that is a major part of this. skills training. the second part of it is to continually increase our exports. the third part is to get more kids to go into math and science and engineering and technology. the next is immigration reform. it would be very helpful to the economy. decreasing the debt by $160 billion in 10 years, $700 billion in 10 years according to the cbo. one of the things i will ask you is about the unemployment with veterans. with young people, where we are as we move forward. we have made some improvement. with more to go. our focus is on long-term policies that create jobs in the short term. while laying the groundwork for prosperity in the long-term. i am very much looking forward to hearing about the numbers

today. i want to get some analysis from all of you. thank you very much. >> thank you. with that, erica groshen is the 14th commissioner of the bureau of labor statistics. she was vice president of the statistics group at the federal reserve bank of new york, and has been a visiting assistant professor of economics at columbia university. she earned a phd in economics from harvard university. she earned a bachelor's degree in economics and mathematics from the university of wisconsin madison. i was a mathematics major as well. welcome back to the committee. you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. mr. chairman and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the data we released this morning.

nonfarm payroll employment rose by 192,000 in march, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7%. employment increased in professional and business services, health care, and mining and logging. incorporating the revisions for january and february, we can increase employment by 37,000, monthly job gains have averaged 178,000. prior to march, employment growth averaged 183,000. all of the growth occurred in the private sector. which has now exceeded its employment level in december 2007. that is when the most recent recession began. this is a milestone. the private sector lost 8.8 million jobs due to downturn.

it has now gained 8.9 million jobs since the employment level of february 2010. however, government employment is down since the recession began. therefore, total nonfarm employment remains below its december 2007 peak. in march, employment in professional and business services rose. it was in line with the prior 12 month average. within the industry, temporary help services added 29,000 jobs. health care employment rose by 19,000. with gains in ambulatory services. in the prior 12 months, job growth and health care average 17,000 per month. most of the growth was occurring in ambulatory care. employment in mining and logging rose by 7000, led by gains in activities for mining. employment in food and services

and drinking places continue to trend up in march. this industry has added 323,000 jobs. employment continued to trend up in construction in march. it is up by 151,000. employment in other major industries, including manufacturing, wholesale trade, and retail trade changed little in march. average hourly earnings for all employees on private payrolls edged lower by one cent. after rising by nine cents in february. over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.1%. in comparison, from february 2013 to february 2014, the consumer price index rose by 1.1%. in march, the average work week

for all employees increased to 34.5 hours. offsetting a decline over the prior three months. turning now to our survey of households, the unemployment rate at 6.7% was unchanged in march. the number of unemployed persons remained at 10.5 million. the number of unemployed persons who had been jobless for 27 weeks or more was also little changed. these individuals accounted for 35.8% of the unemployed. both the civilian labor force and the total employment increased in march. the labor force participation rate and the employment to population ratio changed little. among persons who were neither working nor looking for work in march, 2.2 million were classified as marginally attached to the labor force. this was little changed. the number of discouraged

workers who believe that no jobs were available for them edged down over the year. to 698,000 in march. in summary, employment rose. by 192,000 in march, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7%. my colleagues and i will be glad to answer your questions. >> thank you. let me start. federal reserve chairwoman janet yellen mentioned earlier this week when she gave a speech , she listed signs of weakness in the u.s. labor market. she indicated that conditions were worse than the unemployment rate would suggest. chairwoman yellen specifically mentioned meager increases in the labor compensation and average of little more than 2% per year since the recession. the large number of part-time workers, more than 7 million who want full-time work.

many more than one would expect when you have a 6.7% unemployment rate. could you explain why the unemployment rate does not convey the same extent of weakness as these other labor market indicators? >> the employment situation contains the release that we released today. it contains over 1000 numbers. all of them give you a different perspective on what is going on in the labor market. there is no one number that will convey all facets of what is the largest market in the country. it is really important for educated users like yourselves to look at many different measures. that is what janet yellen has done. some part of the answer to the

question lies in not only what the numbers have been doing, but how they are compared to what is normal for the economy. that is all the preface. we have had a lot of improvement lately. since the recession was over, but we have not fully returned to pre-recession levels. so, for example, the number of people who are part-time for economic reasons, who would like a full-time job but do not have one or had their hours cut, has come down dramatically since the recession began. but it is still much higher than prerecession levels. this is a measure of underutilization of labor in the economy. that continues to be high. the unemployment rate is still

much higher than its prerecession levels. >> do you have thoughts on why those indicators might be weak? >> i guess we are more about counting the way things are. than on dividing this up. but we know that the labor market is large and complex. what happens when you have this big decline in aggregate demand is that this underutilization of labor goes into many different ways. it goes into people working fewer hours. it works into people being unemployed. it spreads throughout the labor market and it takes a while for all of these different parts of the labor market to return.

>> maybe you could explain the linkage that exist between private investment and economic growth on the one hand, and then you have labor demands and employment. and the labor force participation rate. >> well, we know we have had a lot of, during the recession, the biggest hit in the recession immediately was a big increase in job destruction. we had a huge number of layoffs of workers. at the same time, we had a slowing in hiring. we now returned to normal in the job destruction rates by most measures, but we have not returned to normal in job creation rates. job creation rates have not been high enough to absorb all of the

slack that has remained in the labor market. >> is it fair to say that the slower economic growth is the root cause of the problems? the unemployment rate has been declining because more people are disengaged from the labor market? >> going to the labor force participation, the estimates are about half of the decline in the labor force participation is due to demographic factors. that would not be associated with the slowdown. half of the remaining part, and this is what we have done largely at the federal reserve. rather than at the bls, estimates are that half the remaining part is due to changing behavior of various demographic groups. for example, young people

enrolling in college. staying in high school longer. women no longer increasing their labor force participation. the remaining quarter seem to be associated with a downturn in the economy. there is an assumption that as the economy improves, that part will generally go away. we will see a slower decline in labor force participation. so it is not that much of a decline by these estimates. due to the slower economy. >> thank you, commissioner. >> thank you very much. welcome. we have talked about how there have been some improvements over the last few months. we have looked at our weekly and monthly report. they have been affected somewhat by the cold weather. did that have a negative impact

the last few months, as i look at 10 more inches of snow for minnesota this morning? >> yes. we see some evidence that is consistent with the weather having an impact on the last few months. particularly in hours. we have now in march for covered most of the decline in hours that we have seen. that is the clearest part. the impact on job creation is harder. >> i think it had a very temporary effect. the recession was especially tough on younger workers. we know that. they have faced high levels of unemployment. older workers have faced longer durations of unemployment. what is the unemployment rate for workers who are 20 to 24 years old? how about the long-term unemployment rate?

>> the unemployment rate for 20 to 24-year-olds declined over the year from 13.3% to 12.2% in march, and of those people in that age range, 31% were employed. >> you may not have this right now, but what it was previous to the recession, the year before the recession, that age group? >> much lower. see if i got it. >> we will get it. it clearly has to be a focus. older workers, what is the rate for workers 55 and older? >> 4.7%. >> did that improve over last year? >> yes. it was 5.5% a year ago. >> did you know how that was pre-recession? >> no. >> women now have more about

500,000 more jobs since the recession began, while men still need to add one million jobs to return to the december 2007 level. is that right? >> yes. >> they called it the man-cession? i still think we have an issue, and i touched on this with the long-term unemployed, and issue with some of the wages that people make, even though they have jobs they are not able to support their families. and one of the ways we know works is education. the two-year or four-year college degree makes a big difference. what is the unemployment rate for college graduates now? >> ok, let's see. let me see if we got -- ok. >> that is ok, you can give it to me later. i am just trying, i would always

ask this every month to find out where we were. >> here we go, unemployment rates for college graduates. 3.7%. >> ok, and do you know what it is for high school or people who did not complete high school? >> 7.5% for high school graduates with no college, and 11% for those without a high school diploma. >> have there been any trends on that over the last two years? >> all of these have been declining since the recession was over. >> how about the veteran unemployment rate? we have had a focus across the country on private employers focusing on trying to employ some of our post-gulf war ii veterans and make sure we are getting people employed that left, especially while the numbers when they left, the numbers were high, and the recession happened, and then we had trouble getting them employed. where is that for veterans?

>> focusing on the unemployment rate for gulf war veterans, that is 6.9%. >> do you know where was before? >> last month it was 9.2%. this is a huge drop, all these drops could be that these numbers are volatile. >> i was meeting more over the long term it is improving. for many years, it is around the same as our nation's unemployment rate. that is a big shift. for a long time it was a number of percentage points above the nation's unemployment rate. this is some of the best news of the report. thank you very much. i think i am out of time. i had one last question. rural areas, is there a difference in unemployment numbers between rural and urban? >> yes, there is. and i think i have that. ok.

yes, the unemployment rate for urban areas was 7.5%, but for rural areas it was 6.7%, so lower in the rural areas -- >> than urban areas. surprising. thank you very much. appreciated. >> you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you very much. there is a purported education or skills job gap, and it's just -- it is suggested it poses a hindrance to employment and may relate to a decline in labor force participation rates in the employment to population ratio. when the economy is growing at a healthy pace and demand for labor is strong, our skill differentials is as great as a factor as getting a job offer as when there is an excess of labor? perhaps that is a subjective question -- it is, but if you have any idea, i would appreciate it.

>> generally speaking, the lower skilled people have bigger increases in their unemployment rate during recessions than higher skilled people. the wages of higher skilled people and employment of higher skilled people are preserved much more than lower skilled people during recessions. >> using that suggestion, do you believe we have a long-term structural problem with in terms of what senator klobuchar referred to in terms of matching the skills up with education, and, therefore, is it something that is structural in a way that we have to respond to differently than we are, and are many of these people permanently displaced? do you see some change in that? is a growing economy helping,

whatever you think? >> sure. so generally speaking bls does not have data about specific skills required for job vacancies that employers are trying to fill. however, we would say that from what we can see there does not appear to be a larger than normal mismatch between the skills employers are seeking and those that jobseekers have. one of the reasons why we say this is because we have not seen an increase in wages, and that is what you would expect if you had a big, sudden mismatch between what employers were demanding and the skills the workforce had. you would see an increase in wages for workers who had those skills. we are not seeing that.

>> there may be other reasons as well. you are talking about basic supply and demand. wage growth has been stagnant even in areas of decline. >> but if you had employers, a group of employers who really wanted to get workers with a certain skill, you could expect they would start poaching each other's workers and the response would be employers would raise wages to retain them. >> do you think there has been some conversation about -- there is a population in our country that has not been well prepared for retirement. we know that. even young people going towards -- 55-year-olds, we have seen a lot of elderly people who might

otherwise wish to be retired or not engaging in the labor force. there is also a suggestion there is a displacement of that for younger people who might enter that same workforce, for those same jobs. can you talk about that, do you think that is the case, or what that maybe look like on the ground? >> the increase in labor participation among older workers seems to be -- an important part of that is the jobs that they are in our increasingly ones that one can do later in life, so they are less likely to be blue-collar jobs or where the physical demands become difficult for people at older ages. this is seen as an important factor in an increasing participation.

>> the ones that people entering the workforce would also be likely to take? >> usually, the sort of crowding out that people think about has not been seen as that much of a factor in whether or not you have overall wage employment growth. when you have a growing economy, then you can accommodate all workers. >> growth helps everyone. thank you. >> mr. cummings, you're recognized for five minutes. >> commissioner, the unemployment rate, the unemployment rate among african-americans had been declining, last month it increased to 12.4%, and why did

the rate of unemployment for african-americans increase in march? do you have any idea? >> while it did increase, our point estimate of it went up, this was based on a smaller sample that is not significant. i suggest this is noise around a high level. clearly, the unemployment rate for african-americans is high, but this particular tick up is probably noise, although it will take another couple months for us to see if it sticks or goes higher. >> when we look at the situation with latinos, we see the unemployment rate has gone down significantly. is that accurate? >> not in this particular month. >> but overall?

>> the change over the years, a decline of 1.3 percentage points, whereas the decline for black and african-americans is .8%. >> so today's report says in march the unemployment rate for hispanic workers is 7.9%? >> right. >> and 5.2 percentage points lower than the peak? >> let's see. >> the peak was 16.8%? >> for hispanics, i have a decline of 4.3% since january 2009. >> that is significant, is it not? >> yes. >> do the numbers tell us anything? >> this is consistent with what has been happening throughout the labor market, and since they had a particularly large

increase in unemployment over the course of the recession, you would expect them to have a larger decrease when the labor market returns to normal. >> i was at the university of maryland law school, which is where i went to school, and they were telling me that law schools throughout the country are having less and less people apply. and they said there were reasons for that. and one being people did not have the money. and, two, they do not see the jobs. i will ask this question when you all come in. somebody watching this right now, they do not have a job, what would you tell them? certain areas of the country that are doing well, what areas might one graduating from high school or getting ready to enter college want to go into, because

i think more and more people are concerned that when they get out of college they will not have a job. so based upon the numbers -- i know you do not give a lot of advice, but putting the numbers out there, what would you say to young people who are trying to figure out their way and who do not want to go back and live with their mother and father after they get out of college? >> the main thing -- main advice i would give them is to get a good education, that there is one thing that is under people's control and has a very important role in determining people's unemployment rate is how much education they have. so that would be the main thing. then that choice of industry makes a difference. we project that occupations and industries related to health

care will add the most new jobs over the next 10 years. so we think health care and social assistance jobs -- we project them to add nearly 1/3 of all new jobs, 15.6 million new jobs between now and 2022. we also project large gains in construction jobs, primarily to reflect recovery from the very severe downturn we had in construction jobs. >> are there any regions of the country that you would tell them that they might one to travel to? >> of late, the regions that have had the most job growth have been in the south and the west. for instance, the average -- let's see -- the average change

in the employment in the south has been adding about 49,000 jobs per month from january 9 to february 14, and the west has been adding 32,000 jobs per month. these are the areas where we see most of the job growth regionally. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you, commissioner, for being here today, to provide what i think is a positive report with a fair amount of evidence that things are getting back on track after a winter slowdown. there was some very good news in the numbers reported, some good things to build upon. my question is keeping with my friend and colleagues, more direct questions as opposed to advice, is trying to disaggregate some of this data. do you compile any analysis of

how jobs break down between low-, middle-, and high-skilled in terms of their profile? those are subjective categorizations, that do you disaggregate your data, and you observe any trends that are relevant? >> ok. let's see. i am looking for -- >> or while you're looking for that, i will add another question, which is the concern i have is the headline in unemployment number and subsidiary numbers that flow from that are largely affected by choices people are making about the type of jobs they want

to pursue. do you compile any data about trends in the standard of living of average jobs, which would effectively be an aggregation of the low-, middle-, and high-skilled composite, if you will? >> yes. so, we've -- let's see -- ok. >> if it is easier, you can get me the information after the fact. >> right. we have been finding the largest over the year employment increases have come in professional and business services. these industries have relatively high earnings -- >> and high skills. >> that is right. >> so those are growing.

>> the next highest gains are in industries that have the lowest average hourly earnings, leisure and hospitality. >> would that lead us to conclude that we continue to see this barbell job creation where we are creating high-skilled jobs at a decent rate, reflecting the country's competitive position in industries like technology, medical devices, etc., and that the income driven by those high-skilled jobs is creating an amount of low-skilled jobs, but we continue to see a hollowing out of middle-skilled jobs? is the data suggesting that is accelerating or decelerating? >> yeah, i would say it is continuing, certainly by industry. it is a little more mixed by occupation, but --

>> got it. you talked about this ratio, the framing the job distraction rate over the job creation rate. the impact of technology on the workforce here is obviously fairly profound as it relates to those two statistics, the job creation rate and the destruction rate. you have a few on what that ratio is, based on -- is technology creating more jobs relative to the numbers it is destroying, or is it going the other way? do you have a view on that? >> the simplest question is that by and large it is now on -- it is balanced. any net change we have seen for the economy as a whole, the

amount of churn in the u.s. in the dynamic u.s. economy is very high. for every job, every net job we create, we probably destroyed eight or nine jobs, and we have a huge number of -- at the same time we have a huge number of jobs created. getting back to one of the questions you have, the stem jobs, if we want to focus on those, have grown touch faster than total employment during this time. they grew at 5.1% between 2009 and 2013, while total employment grew by just 1.5%. certainly, our demand for stem jobs is much faster than for

other jobs. >> we may follow up with more specific questions on that. thank you. >> thank you, commissioner, for taking the time to testify this morning, and i know we are getting ready to head back to several inches of snow in minnesota. we thank everybody for being here this morning. the committee is adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> after the release of the jobs

numbers, john boehner issued a statement saying "i am glad more americans have found work, at our economy still is not created jobs for the american people at the rate they were promised." harry reid said its incursion but we need to do more to insure every by in nevada and across the country has a fair shot at the american joining. >> the house subcommittee activities. hearing on passport fraud. then house majority leader eric cantor and steny hoyer discuss the schedule for next week. >> mr. speaker, an irs agent testify under oath the taxpayers that fight about are told and i quote "sue us, go ahead and prove we are wrong."

ourk about it, after taxpayers are hit by unnecessary tax bills heavy enough to cause a hernia for the jolly green giant, they are told if you do not like it, sue us. this is not hearsay or romar. this is an exact quote of an irs agent who also said, "beware congress, they will tell you these are isolated events." this is not true but standard policy. i say it is time for congress to shut these illegal practices up the assets of the irs. the irs has been created by congress. and mustd this problem solve this problem and must change the burden of proof. not keep same prove it, sucker, prove we are wrong. i yield back. >> the gentleman's time has

expired. >> find more highlights on our facebook page. created 35 years ago and broke today as a public service. -- and brought today as a public service. >> next, intelligence officials appearing before a house armed services subcommittee regarding the 2015 defense authorization request for intelligence activities. the president's budget includes 45.6 billion dollars in funding for national intelligence programs. among the witnesses testifying, defense intelligence agency lieutenant general michael flynn and n.s.a. deputy director richard legend. here are their opening statements. the rest of the hearing was closed behind closed doors. this is 30 minutes. you can come to order.

today is the first of two 2015 defense intelligence budget. today we will hear from the undersecretary of defense of intelligence as well as heads of n.i.a. and nga. next weak we will hold a hearing with senior officers from the military services plus special operations command. armed services committee continues to be focused on making sure our watt fighters have the best possible intelligence support. d.i.a., n.s.a. and n.g.a. are each combat-support agencies and we asked them to describe today their efforts to support current military operations as well as to help d.o.d. anticipate and prepare for future conflicts. each is part of the intelligence community and has responsibilities to both the larger u.s. government and department of defense. that is a delicate balance and

both are critical to our nation. over the past year we have been presented with numerous additional challenges, whether it's the current crisis in ukraine, ongoing military operations against terrorist groups or mitigating the most serious compromise of classified information in u.s. history, intelligence and protection of that intelligence continues to be one of the most important parts of our national defense. let me yield to the distinguishing ranking member for any opening comments he would like to make. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank our witnesses for being here today 0. especially chairman thornberry for orking and putting together this very important hearing. i hope today's discussion will be both productive and constructive as we continue to exercise this subcommittee's new oversight spoments relating to the intelligence portfolio for which the armed services committee has responsibilities for. first and unfortunately foremost, of course, i continue to be concerned about the

implications and ramifications to the department from the leaks of the n.s.a. contractor. i have read the information review task force report. it was an essential assessment and very sobering one indeed. however, i would like to get a better idea of what we know now and what we don't know and what we're going to do about it. after all, as d.n.i. clapper testified before the intelligence committee, the vast majority of the information comprised has nothing to do with n.s.a. surveillance and collection but instead has dire impacts directly on dod. i'm very concerned about the damage assessment and practical effects of these leaks on our men and women in uniform who are at risk each day. just as important is the way forward on mitigation. we certainly don't need to scrap

every operations plan but we need to look at shifting some department priority and policies and i appreciate you speaking to the magnitude of what we will have to face in the coming years. i'm also interested in the progress of the defense clandestine service and its ability to meet strategic efense priorities. i know it is not new to the i.a. but under general flynn's direction and that of secretary vickers has enhanced its capabilities and looking forward to getting an update on that. there have been growing pains but i strongly believe the d.o.d. must maintain a clandestine human capability, which i have to say is sometimes challenged in the intelligence committee. how is d.c.s. progressing on improving capabilities, refining its requirements, moving

officers into places where they can be most ee -- effective and integrating with others in the intelligence community. for a budget perspective, money above the budget control act levels, the bipartisan budget act was given back largely to the services. this points a particular strain on agencies like yours. we will have to take some risk but there's a breaking point. as your partners on the little, we would like to help you avoid that breaking point and manage your risk wherever possible. we would also appreciate the benefits of your perspective on particular cuts and other parts of department that can impair why are active -- activities. finally, and fittingly, given today's hearing on the q.d.r. -- yesterday's hearing on the q.d.r., i would like to discuss the overall defense strategy of vocations to intelligence. when department looks out over the next decade, is the defense intelligence apparatus correctly

postured to meet our operational priorities? d is it correctly aligned to cover the globe, operate where we need and operate to sustain our counterterrorism operations? for, that mr. chairman, i would like to thank you for holding this important hearing. to our witnesses thank you for your appearance today and service to the nation. i certainly look forward to continuing a productive relationship as we work together to ensure the best intelligence posture for the nation. thank you, i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman. i want to welcome our witnesses, dr. michael vickers undersecretary of defense for intelligence. general michael flynn, intelligence agency, miss director long, and mr. richard leggett, the deputy director of the national scuft agency. we will start with unclassified opening statements from each of our witnesses.

and reconvene in a classified setting next door, where each witness will be able to make brief classified remarks ollowed by members' questions. >> chairman, distinguished members of the subcommittee, i appreciate the opportunity to come before you today to discuss the fiscal year 2015 budget requests for defense intelligence. i'm especially pleased to be here with mike, tisch and rick. betty sapp, our director of the national reconnaissance office testified yesterday before the strategic forces subcommittee. while the unclassified nature of our opening remarks keeps us from discussing in detail many aspects of defense intelligence, we look forward to meeting in closed sessions to discuss these topics more fully. intelligence is major search of u.s. advantage. it informs wise policy and enables precision operations. it's our front line of defense.

the challenges we face, however, increasing and becoming more complex and our resources are declining. it's imperative, therefore, we make the best use of available resources given the challenges we confront. as usdi, i'm the program executive for the military intelligence program and have oversight over the related programs that comprise what we call the battle space awareness portfolio. the department's fy-2015 budget request for base appropriations is 13.3 billion, which does not include overseas contingencies operations funds. the portfolio includes significant additional resources. defense intelligence collectively enencompasses the defense portion of the national intelligence program, the m.i.p. and b.a. portfolio. my close relationship with d.n.i. clapper enables d.o.d. and intelligence community to work seamlessly to manage

resource and apply our intelligence capabilities in pursuit of our national security objectives while avoiding duplication of effort. we have five defense intelligence operational priorities -- countering terrorism, particularly countering the threat posed by al qaeda. countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and associated delivery systems. countering the actions of oppressive governments against our people, such as in syria. countering state-on-state aggression and countering cyber threats. to address the intelligence gaps that exist within these operational priority areas, we're focused on enhancing defense intelligence capabilities in five areas. enhancing global coverage, improving our ability to operate in n.i. access, aerial denial or a2ad environments. sustaining counterproliferation capabilities.

continuing to develop our cyber operations capabilities and strengthening our counterintelligence capabilities and reforming our security clearance all four of us are committed to working with congress to continuing to deliver the intelligence advantage to our war fighters. i give for the subcommittee to you for the chance to address the subcommittee. thorne, and members of the subcommittee, on behalf of the men and women of the defense intelligence agency, i want to say thank you. i support the priorities in the remarks. as you have heard, from the admirals and generals, the need for more timely and accurate

intelligence continues to grow. crises in the middle east and recent developments in crimea, central africa, and asia underscore the drumbeat for officers with special insight and understanding. we have a responsibility to the men and women to make smart decisions in these austere times to take risks. -- maintainand those investments that will ensure our security. changes to manage risk. to make the choices we need to -- i will highlight for critical 40's in our request. , collection processes and career broadening experiences.

how we have received much of our business practices. intelligence collection operations, ensuring the defense cleansing services is a priority for the defense department and intelligence community as a whole. your oversight has helped us mature. measurable progress in support of defense equities. in all measures, tradecraft, professionalization, and the quality and quantity of recruitments, have experienced a marked increase in performance. in terms of counterintelligence, this is another critical investment for dia. events remind us that accepting too much rescue -- risk can come at an unacceptable cost. our budget request focuses our investments on the holistic strategy that addresses can judicial -- traditional counterintelligence.

a security conscious colter within our workforce. analysis issource one of the largest portions or budget. we are implementing solutions to mitigate global coverage risks, particularly by forging closer relationships with the five intelligence integration centers. we use this to maximize enterprise support. while only in their first year of operation, are combined performance in response to the crisis in ukraine, less point in the south china sea, and stability in sub-saharan africa, and the civil war in syria highlight the usefulness of into ration and collaboration. we have increased our workforces in our

professional development programs as well as career broadening experiences. in terms of professional 27elopment, we consolidated offices into one academy, realizing a cost savings of $3 million. through our office of defense intelligence, we have enhanced training. of career broadening experiences, this past year, we -- 225 to 25 personnel personnel overseas and plan on using 320 more. anprepare the workforce for uncertain future, we have consolidated three of our military reserve offices and 1200 reserve the let under one component. this has seen an improvement in analytic production, a decrease

in contract instructors, and an increase in the number of mandates we get. toare taking steps significantly improve our contracting business processes with a start small scale fast fail cheap strategy. this reduces risks, shortens delivery time, and mitigates the trap we typically get ourselves into. we are particularly proud of our work with small businesses, which are generating the original ideas we need for the future. the federal government average of contracting is less than 25%. but i dia, we have doubled our investments in small businesses, reaching a high of 31%. and now nearly one in every three dollars we invest is vested in small businesses. we have maybe hard choices. the right investments to make sure our defense intelligence team of skilled professionals is trainingwith the right

and technology strengthened by partnerships across the government and around the world. we will continue to provide all source defense intelligence whenever and wherever required. i thank you for your continued support. >> good morning, chairman. ranking member. and distinguished members of the subcommittee. thank you for the opportunity to discuss the program. and the budget request. in my more than 30 years of working in defense intelligence, the collaboration geospatial intelligence is the analysis of intelligence from a number of sources. that described, assess, and

depict physical features and geographically referenced activities. we have always been integral to military operations around the world. it is one of the drivers for intelligence integration. everything in the world is someplace at some time. as the lead federal agency, in g-8 provides critical information to the defense decision-makers, troops deployed in harm's way, and first responders. the content analysis and services enable mission operations,mbat strategic warnings, precision targeting, counterterrorism operations, counter gps navigation, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response. sustains global

aeronautical and safety of neck vacation -- navigation information. updatingrt includes electronic records on more than 45,000 airfields. charting 16,000 square miles of ocean. maintaining information on topographic features. the bottom line is, without this information, our ships would stay in port. fly.ilots would not our ground forces would not leave garrison. the second example of our contribution is the view of the battlefield that nga provides read by identifying threat for relationships, and infrastructure, it helps commanders hold adversaries at risk. to support these types of

missions, personnel deployed all over the world, embedded alongside our military and intelligence personnel. missionticipate in planning and follow-up. the intelligence that nga provides is critical to intelligence agencies and military units fighting to protect all americans. terms, thedest vision that drives nga's workforce is putting the vest need a in the hands of our soldiers, sailors, marines, and coast guard. we seek to provide new value for war fighters, whether through a map, or specialized interactive product. the budget request includes funding for expanding our analytical capabilities and is next to generation collection strategies to anticipate evolving national security threats.

shaping and retaining a skilled in the divorce -- and a diverse workforce. in keeping our people safe. these investments are aligned with a number of long-term strategic initiatives. to improve our contributions to the war fighter. better intelligence integration. providing better access to our data, especially for the war fighter. enhancing analytic trade craft discover key unknowns hidden in the masses of data. in addition to these initiatives which focus on the long-term success of the agency, we have kept a close eye on the more immediate risk from russia and the ukraine to iran, north korea, and china, syria, afghanistan, and counterterrorism. nga's progresson towards financial audibility. we are undergoing the first

our 2014 financial statements. the results from this audit will help us to defy areas requiring additional remediation as we move towards our goal of achieving an unqualified opinion. on behalf of the women and men of nga, thank you for your support. >> chairman, ranking member, distinguished members, thank you for the opportunity to address you. and the outstanding men and women of the national security agency, thank you for the support. that you give to nsa/css. your support makes it possible for us to provide actionable intelligence. especially the combat and combat are said -- combatant commanders . with your continuing support, we will continue to do all we can

to protect the nation and its allies. our 2015 budget reflects hard ensure critical national security issues are addressed. the security landscape will newme more complex and face challenges. cyber attacks will allow adversaries to overcome conventional military power. the nation will cut -- depend on nsa's analysis to understand communications. we must support our work for others -- were fires -- support our war fighters. our fiscal year 2015 budget, while excepting risks, keeps us on the path from accomplish

these goals. we have recruited and trained a talented workforce. the 2015 budget allows us to preserve this. we are leveraging human capital with providing sophisticated and innovative capabilities. investments will expand to meet the speed of action required. nsa executes three distinct funding streams. the logical program. -- crypto logical program. and the military program. let me briefly describe our areas in each of these. allows the global capability of the crypto logical system to bear. the global intelligence capabilities and trade, havetional infrastructure,

resulted in the delivery of mission requirements. i look forward to providing some specific and recent examples great in the classified session that will follow. plan provides security solutions that keep pace with a fast-moving technology sector and adversaries. the cyberspace environment and its risks am a profession -- risks, protecting information. we are continuously refining our strategies to provide know-how and technology to suppliers and clients and measurably improving the security of critical operations.uring -- focuses on providing

responsive and reliable signals ourlligence to make sure deployed forces can succeed and are prepared to respond to future threats and technologies. miff continues previous investments. providing support for our deployed services. operability, your commonality, and monetization. css will continue to support an --ective doing technical joint tactical system. strengthen the departmental's ability to address challenges. the investment will focus on a strong cyber workforce and

intelligence gathering in cyberspace. these initiatives will provide cyber command, personnel training, and threat support. we will continue investing in the research and development of solutions that provide actionable signals intelligence. we will provide support to the development of operations plans and theater campaign lands as chairman of the joint chiefs. i will conclude by concluding that the budget request request betweenthe balance today's fiscal realities and our support for the joint war fighter. thank you for your support helping us containing -- maintaining world-class capabilities to read -- capabilities. >> we will immediately reconvene next door.

the opening hearing stands adjourned. -- imagine how much money we could save if you stopped collecting information. we will lock you up for disturbing a public building. >> we are asking questions. >> i was just asking a question -- >> we have been fighting for the people. >> we are fighting for our constitutional rights. apparently, they are not doing a very good job. the nsa is not doing a very good job here equipped they are fighting -- [indiscernible]

>> during this month, c-span is pleased to present our winning entries in this year's studentcam video documentary competition. studentcam is c-span's annual competition that encourages middle- and high-school students to think critically about issues. students were asked to create their documentary based on the question, what's the most important issue the u.s. congress should consider in 2014? ben wolman is one of our second prize winners. he attends palisades charter high in pacific palisades, california. he based his video documentary on the issue most important to him, nasa funding. >> ♪ i was strolling on the moon one day ♪ >> ♪ in the merry, merry month of ♪ >> ♪ december >> may. >> ♪ may when then much to my surprise ♪

>> nasa's proposed budget for fiscal year 2014 is the lowest it's been since 2007, with a mere .44% of the annual federal budget. nasa is a huge asset to the united states, bringing not only spectacular photos and information about our universe, but also spurring technological innovation and development here on earth. the organization's impact on both our country and our planet is unjustly downplayed due to its comparably meager funding. >> i think the investment we make at nasa also benefits us over and over again, not just on what nasa does, but the byproducts of that investment, whether it's in the medical area, which we've seen where hospitals are using some of the technologies that came about from the nasa programs, or new enterprises, new businesses in this country spun off because of the breakthroughs and the research that's done with nasa itself. >> i go to schools and i describe to students my connection, personal connection

to nasa technology, and i describe the car accident that i had, where that airbag that saved my life was nasa technology. >> nasa is encountering some new competition, raising the question of whether private space agencies will enhance our exploration of space or detract from the current predominance of governmental space organizations. space x plays a leading role in the new establishment of private space businesses. >> if you look at the private companies, they're doing a great job supplementing nasa now, from lower earth orbit, but there are things that are done with nasa's pioneering work, in other words, a lot of scientists, a lot of know-how came from nasa, and the funding is still ultimately coming from government. most of it's governmental. >> private space industries do seem to be worthwhile developments then, especially with nasa having a central role in many of the companies' operations. but there is one major flaw if private space agencies are to ever overpower and replace

governmental organizations -- money. >> the other thing is that some of the things will just never be profitable, and private companies are doing things that are profitable. and they do these things more efficiently than any government organization ever could. but there are a lot of things such as basic science that will just never pay off in terms of making money. >> you won't make a profit by sending two rovers to look for a formerly habitable environment on mars. and you won't make a profit on a multi-billion-dollar mission to the moon. >> there may not be profit to private shareholders, but studies actually show for every $1 given to the organization, the american people receive as much as $7 to $14 back from spinoff technologies and increased employment. in my city of los angeles, california, almost 10,000 aerospace engineers are employed through companies that work in tandem with nasa on various projects. >> increasing funding for nasa and for space exploration could have an enormous benefit for southern california as a whole,

los angeles county generally, and the city of los angeles particularly. >> i am standing in front of teledyne reynolds, a business only 20 minutes away from my house that has supplied nasa with interconnect systems for projects such as the hubble telescope. boeing, another company close to my house, has long worked with nasa and is the prime contractor for the international space station. as you can see from the stuff in my room, the organization has also had a much more personal impact on people. nasa has always inspired me in particular, and i credit it with giving me a sense of fascination and interest in science. i remember playing nasa games on their website and watching the shuttle launches from home. i also had the privilege of watching nasa's nearby jpl for its annual open house, which was cut last year due to sequestration. with the current state of funding, kids are being deprived of experiences that could hugely impact their lives and future careers. >> not only did the united states win the race to put

people on the moon, but the cold war is over, the soviet union has collapsed, the competitive argument, whatever virtue it may once have had -- sputnik and yuri gagarin certainly scared the united states -- whatever merit it may once have had is now gone. and we have to ask, what exactly is the function of human space flight? >> we just have it in our dna to explore. it's our destiny. it's our mission. but too often that gets lost in d.c. >> enhancing man's knowledge -- i should say person's knowledge -- about outer space is extraordinarily important as to what it does for the state of knowledge, the enticement of young people into knowledge, the pursuit of new frontiers. >> and i think we need to increase the nasa budget for exploration, for example,

robotic exploration of mars and orbiters around saturn. i'd have a robot around every planet, because i think what we learn out there ultimately about tells us about our planet and what we need to survive on earth. >> if you cut your research budget, you literally cut your future. those are the future industries, the future technologies. and if you do not maintain that, whether it be space people or not, then you do so at your own peril down the line. >> if you're not a scientist or technologist, you will value that activity. >> we'd be investing in our future. >> yes, and that in the 21st century are the foundations of tomorrow's economies, and without it, you might as well just slide back to the cave, because that's where we're headed right now -- broke. >> nasa's reach extends beyond geographical boundaries, partisanship, and nationalism. nasa has long inspired not only americans, but people around the globe. each scientific achievement is not simply the accomplishment of

one country, but of the entire human race. other countries are steadily ramping up their space programs, and congress must realize that giving nasa proper funding is a responsibility to both the u.s. and the world. in this new year, america, the world's richest country, should lead the way, take off, and explore the unknown. ♪ >> to watch all of the winning videos and to learn more about our competition, go to c-span.org and click on studentcam. and tell us what you think about the issue this student wants congress to consider. post your comment on studentcam's facebook page, or tweet us using the hash tag #studentcam. next, a house hearing on passport fraud. steny hoyertor and

discuss the schedule for next week. >> on the next washington reporter will discuss the unemployment and job numbers from march. the editorial director will offer advice to those preparing their federal taxes. yourways, we will take calls at you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" on c-span. >> assistant homeland security alex burson said an alarming number of countries provide little or no information to a stolen or last passport manage by interpol. he testified before the sub committee on border and maritime security. candace miller said she intends to introduce a national station require more countries to share

data about lost or stolen passports. preventd the bill would travelers. it has gained attention in recent weeks after it was revealed that two iranians boarded malaysian flight to 370 with a stolen passports. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> the committee on homeland security, subcommittee on border and maritime security will come to order. the subcommittee is meeting today to examine the issue of passport security. we're certainly pleased to be joined by mr. alan bersin who has been with this committee in the past and resort appreciate his attendance her here today. his thesis is negative or international affairs at the department of homeland security. mr. john wagner, excuse me, it's also been before the subcommittee for. we pressure his attendance today. is the deputy assistant director of the u.s. customs and border protection and brenda sprague to as the deputy assistant secretary for passport services at the department of state, and mr. shawn bray was the director of interpol washington. united states national central bureau. i will more formally introduce

them in just a moment. but let me recognize myself for an opening statement here this morning. and first of all of course let me start by saying all of us must and prayers are with the families of those killed and wounded at fort hood, a terrible, terrible incident that them in in my ranking member's state of texas. and certainly as we begin the very to school -- difficult task of what went wrong with be mindful to support the men and women who wear the uniform not only been overseas but certainly when they get, when they return home as well. this morning we're going to be talking about travel document security which is the cornerstone of the united states' effort to secure our homeland, it's integral to pushing our borders out, the building of terrorists and others who seek to do is harm hinges in large part on the building into trouble. if you make are for terrorists to cross our borders without

being detected, future acts of terrorism hopefully can be prevented. and i want to begin a committing the department of homeland security of the department of state for the great progress made as we have strengthened the so-called out a ring of border security. today we conduct more vigorous vetting, early in the process. we stationed dhs personnel and high-risk countries to prevent persons of concern from boarding a plane are getting a visa and where using biometrics to detect visa fraud. and in the past three years is subcommittee has actually held six areas hearings on visa and document security because we sorely understand the importance of the 9/11 commission's recommendations, and one of the conclusions actually as they said that for terrorists, travel documents are as important as weapons. vulnerabilities in our documents security can be exploited by those who would do us harm so we must have robust measures in place to deter and to ultimately detect those traveling on false

documents. to that end we would certainly dismayed to from press reports that two of the passengers on the malaysian flight 370 bordered the aircraft using stolen passports, and while of course as been reported we don't have any reason to believe that these individuals were involved in an act of terrorism, it sort highlights the vulnerability in the aviation systems abroad. our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who are still waiting to learn what has happened to their loved ones and which would hope and pray that that plane will soon be found. in the united states for the work of the department of homeland security, we've made the necessary changes to keep the flying public secure, and the building of passengers to board a flight bound for the united states with known, lost or stolen passport is very, very low. in the years after 2001 the international committee through interpol created a lost and stolen travel document database that is -- send information to a central repository and check

against that database to make sure no one could enter a country or board a plane with a known, lost or stolen passport. unfortunately, only three countries in the world routinely check flight manifest against that database. the united states of course, the united kingdom and the united arab emirates. so there is no question that more countries should follow our lead, otherwise international travelers, including americans who travel internationally, are at risk. according to interpol, in 2013 travelers bordered international flights more than a billion times without having to passport numbers checked against the database. tools are in place to determine if the passport has been reported missing, and we should use every avenue at our disposal to encourage countries to do the right thing, including offering technical assistance where appropriate. in addition to not consistently checking the lost or stolen passport database most countries

are not consistently sharing lost and stolen passport information with the interpol database. the overwhelming majority of the 40 million records in the lost and stolen database comes from visa waiver program countries. in large part because it is condition for visa free travel to the united states. however those countries do not routinely check their flight manifest against the database. and as a result i will be exploring and introducing legislation and legislative solutions to encourage countries within the visa waiver program to do so. because without time reporting of lost or stolen travel documents become straight difficult for cbp through the advanced targeting system to determine if someone is lying on a false document before they present themselves to a customs officer at an airport. if a terrorist is intent to hijack an airplane, it might be duly. and even though the united states has a robust screening in vetting process for travelers, it doesn't mean our work in this

area is done. i understand cbp just recently began to check passengers on outbound flights against the lost and stolen database. we certainly are interested in hanging from our witnesses today why that wasn't done before. finally, i want to get an update on the work that the department of homeland security and cbp and the state department, and interpol, done since 9/11 to prevent those with lost, stolen and fraudulent passports from getting on a plane bound for the united states. while americans should be confident that teach-ins is doing good work vetting all of the appropriate databases, we can and should work with our international partners to strengthen aviation security for americans who travel abroad. this subcommittee stands ready to assist in any way that we can. and the chair would not recognize my ranking member, on the subcommittee, a gently from texas, ms. jackson lee for her opening statement. >> thank you very much, madam chair. good morning to the witnesses. thank you so very much for your

presence here today, and thank you again, madam chair, for reminding us as i intended to do of the tragedy that occurred in my home state, my neighbors at fort hood, texas, and to again offer to those men and women who have been brave enough to put on the nation's uniform to fight in faraway places, our deepest concern and sympathy, certainty for the families have lost their loved ones who, as i indicated, are willing to serve in the united states military, and certainly those who were injured. this is the second time that this tragedy occurred at fort hood, and second time that we've had to embrace those who, as i said, are our neighbors. i mourned with them in 2009 and will continue to do so now. i hope this committee will have an opportunity to address the question of protecting even as this is a military issue,

protecting our men and women while they're on domestic soil, and view it as a cause for zero tolerance for these kinds of incidents on the nation's domestic military bases. again, my sympathy do not only the men and women at fort hood and the leadership, but also to the people of the state of texas. this is another tragedy that we are facing, trying to find solutions, and i would make mention that even as this has gone into many, many days, that we still express our concern for the families of the passengers of malaysia airlines flight 370. i hope that it will not be their final and as there's been no determination as to what occurred to that particular flight. but today i am appreciative that we are holding this hearing as i spoke to the chairwoman in the immediacy of the hours of determining that there were passengers on that flight that

have fraudulent passports. survey there have been continuing investigations and whether not we have concluded that there was no connection, we do know that passengers traveled with fraudulent passport. and as well but american citizens were on that flight. while many questions remain unanswered regarding the tragic disappearance of flight 370, we do not know as i indicated what connection those two passengers may have had. to its demise, if any. to iranian nationals were allowed to come using italian and an australian passport -- posturing passports had been injured in interpol stoler a lost passport database. reports suggest that these individuals were not criminals or terrorists but rather a asylum-seekers hoping to reach your. nevertheless, the fact that at least in certain countries travelers can readily board aircraft using passports that do not belong to them is a cause for concern. if a couple of asylum-seekers

can do it, so can terrorists or criminals. and after 9/11 and even in other countries before that, we know that we live in a different territory with different actors and different reasons for their actions. in fact, they are known examples of terrorist comment on fraudulent documents. according to interpol, master money the 1993 world trade center bombing in new york committed his crimes after traveling internationally on a stolen passport. also the so-called white widow of a london july 2005 suicide bomber is wanted in kenya and currently at large with aliases linked to a fraudulent passport and a passport reported stolen. evidence that this is a problem. it is my understanding that the u.s. is ahead of most of the rest of the when it comes to preventing individual talent a loss, stone or fraudulent doctors.

department of homeland security systematically checks all travelers documents against appropriate lost and stolen database. these checks yield results. for example, in fiscal year 2013 u. fiscal year 2013 u.s. customs and border protection, cbp, reviewed 17,710 possible hits against lost and stolen databases resulted in 496 individuals being denied from boarding planes to the u.s. already in fiscal year 2014, cbp has reviewed 10,806 possible hits resulting in 159 individuals in denied boarding but i also want to thank homeland security and the various agencies relevant to the issue of our border security for the extended perimeters and improved security that we've had post-9/11. we are clearly, as i've often said, in a better place than we were. thank them again for the service at what we've been able to benefit from. since flight 370 incident, not

just arriving passengers but also those departing this country. while overdue, this step should post our remaining -- should close the remaining loophole applied to or from this country. hope to hear from our dhs witnesses debate about why the party passengers had not really been included in their checks and whether any analysis have been done such going to determine whether passengers have been departing the u.s. on documents that do not belong to them. i also hope that we will be able to embrace and declared the airline industry as we move forward on a number of ways to ensure the safety and security of the traveling public. hope to here from all over what this is about how we can encourage our international partners to follow the lead of you as an handful of other countries that regularly check travel documents against intervals database. it is my understanding that traveling on loss, still are otherwise fraudulent travel

documents has already come place in certain parts of the world. doing so is made possible because fewer than 20 of interpol's 190 countries systematically check passports against s. ltd. although the flight 37 incident has focused attention on the vulnerability was already known to interpol. in fact, speak at the seventh annual world summit in february just before flight 370 incident, interpol secretary-general noble lamented that only a handful of countries are systematically using sltd to screen travelers. when that technology and device is available, leaving our global security apparatus vulnerable, exploitation by criminals and terrorists. the world is getting smaller. traveled from all over the world to all over the world, this is simply unacceptable. helped her from her witnesses debate about w we can encourage other countries, particularly those would work

closely with on aviation security matters to begin regular screening passengers or doctors against interpol's the database. it is in that then i will be looking to draft legislation dealing with the enforcement aspect of this particular aspect of aviation travel. the security of the traveling public including u.s. citizens traveling between foreign countries can well be at stake as well as those traveling from foreign countries to the united states as well as americans leaving our soil and traveling elsewhere around the world. again i think chairwoman miller for holding today's hearing, and the witnesses for joining us. at this time i ask unanimous consent to allow mr. swallow, a member of the full committee, to sit and question the witnesses at today's hearing. >> without objection. >> i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman. other members of the committee are reminded that helping statement might be submitted for

the record. we are pleased today to have as an agent for very distinguished witnesses joining us today spent allow me to indicate that am called to be part of a quorum in a market and i'll be away for just a moment. i think the chairwoman for her courtesy. >> certainly. a busy morning here on the hill and we will be having votes a little after 10 so we will move a long. mr. alan bersin is the assistant secretary for national affairs and chief diplomatic officer for the department of homeland security. previously mr. bersin service commission for u.s. customs and border protection. mr. john wagner is acting deputy assistant commissioner for the office of field operations in u.s. border protection. mr. wagner from serve as executive director and passenger programs was responsible for all travelers admissibility related policies and programs. ms. brenda sprague served as deputy assistant secretary of state