summary discussed on the first few pages of the protocol. that is sort of a summary of the eligibility requirements. claimants inwith an eligible in meeting the proximate cause standard that the admission switch caused the accident. challenge because of the age of the claims, some of them, but we will work with claims and their lawyers, who have been very helpful here, in trying to do the right thing. .ompensation there are three, in the protocol , summarized, categories of compensation. compensate eligible

death claims. innocent victims will die. victims not a factor. we will compensate individual victims of the accident who are eligible. we will category, compensate eligible catastrophic injuries defined in the protocol . allegiance, paraplegics, permanent brain injuries requiring continuous amputees, pervasive or in victims with burns over their entire body. these are the types of catastrophic injuries that are a as defined inry

the article. the third category of compensation, less serious and more moderate physical injuries requiring either hospitalization -- hospitalization within 48 hours, or those moderate injuries where the of the accident did not even go to a hospital or stay patient medical treatment, a third category of compensation. the true priority categories for this program, clearly a priority, the individual death claims and the catastrophic injury claims. these are the individuals and families mostly in need who want

to try to get the compensation out as fast as we can. victim with the 9/11 compensation fund, which was the singlent we used every individual filing a death claim, or a catastrophic injury claim, may choose one of two paths to compensation in the protocol. is the agel we need of the victim, how much she or he was earning at the time of the death or catastrophic injury, or, if here she was going to school, we go and come up with a number as if he were working at the age of 25.

at age five or 10 in this school, we have the formula included in the program, and whether or not he had any independence. know.s all we need to withn meet privately individual family members. that is fine. but under track a, if someone the age ofrevived us the victim and how much the victim was earning at the time of the accident, that is all we need to calculate a track a award based on national statistics of what that person would earn over a lifetime. it does not have to file track a. quick claimant wants a and prompt processing of his and her claim under track a for

death or catastrophic injury, they can do so. we can add to the claim, in addition to what ever economic losses calculated, we will add $1 million in pain and suffering under track a for the victim, surviving000 for any the calculation . examples. these are presumptive examples without regard to any individual claimant. i want to give you an idea of the scope of compensation under track a for death or catastrophic industry -- injury.

economic, and noneconomic loss. a 25-year-old, married, two children, lord -- earning $46,200 a year, $4 million. under track a. a 25-year-old, employed, earning $75,000 a year, married, two children, died. $5.1 million. examples under track a. whoindividual family member a,s not want to use track

but wants to come in under track otherd explain extraordinary circumstances that should be brought to my attention, the numbers that apply, we look at the individual claim submitted under track b, see what other extraordinary claims exists just like we did in 9/11, and these numbers will not apply. we will consider track the. catastrophic, or track a. two examples. if you go track a for catastrophic injury, a 10-year-old individual young .erson, no earnings, paraplegic $7.8 million. if you go track a.

paraplegic earning $70,000 a year, married with no paraplegic, $6.6 million under the fund. again, the reason i can just project the numbers is that it is simply based on national averaging. it is the bureau of labor statistics providing us the data. any individual family member or this, who does not like the track a presumptive model, and would rather have a tailored track the consideration of extraordinary circumstances, glad to do it. of9/11, we had a series track be extraordinary circumstance cases.

mr. feinberg, my daughter was going to be married next week. andwas our only daughter she giant -- she died in the world trade center. we recognize that as track be. we lost oath our children in the world trade center. we recognize that as track be. in the general motors matter, i represent a client who, 10 years ago, was driving when her for 10nd was killed and, years, she thought she was the reckless driver. it destroyed her life. we want to go track be, of course. of course. individualk with

family members to try and develop track a or track be for death or physical injury. then there is the third category. injury.ious physical this, want to know under we do not want to be flooded with less serious physical injuries and medical records and doctors reports. builds on the virginia tech program we established and one fun boston marathon we established. we just ask a couple of questions. eligible,ing you're how long were you in the hospital?

hospitalization is a good surrogate for seriousness of injury. how long? overnight observation? $20,000. overall month? $500,000, in between a sliding scale. did not go toi the hospital or i went to the emergency room or i went home. originally, we were not planning on including that is eligible. such pushed back by so many people, plaintiff lawyers, center for auto safety, and others. the protocol does permit eligibility for outpatient thatal treatment, cap $20,000.

injuries,ess serious there is a prerequisite. forme want is the claim filled out with a simple letter from the hospital or your doctor confirming medical treatment, hospitalization, within 48 hours of the accident. why not a week or a month, as some suggested? the priority here of the death and catastrophic industry -- injury claims, we want some contemporary documentation that people received immediate treatment. so, it is 48 hours. if you received outpatient medical treatment and three weeks later, you went in the hospital, that is fine. as long as there is an initial hospital treatment or medical

treatment within 48 hours. then the sliding scale of protocol kicks in. that willthe amounts be paid. i will agree as i did with 9/11 and the boston marathon, as we did with virginia tech, aurora, colorado, and newtown, connecticut. anyll meet rightly with family member who wants to chat with me about their lost loved one, about needs, about life's unfairness, whatever they would like to chat about, my door is open and i will meet with them. if -- it is without a doubt the of thisficult part assignment. meeting privately with family members. it is very stressful, but it is

essential. there are family members who want to be heard and want to have their voice heard, and i'm the fellow who is the administrator and i am willing to meet and chat with them about anything they want to tell me. designed to help claimants. it is not designed to punish general motors. damages, want punitive if they want to use litigation to go after general motors, then voluntarily, they should not submit a claim to me. if you submit a claim to this program and we reward a certain amount of money, you eventually have to sign a release that you will not sue general motors. youot sign the release if

want to seek satisfaction or sue general motors. remember, the program is do not have toou decide whether or not you want to participate in the program until we offer a resolution. amount, track a, track b, hospitalization, outpatient medical treatment. only then if you are satisfied with the program will you releaseate and sign the . many family members will want to see me personally before they agree and i welcome the meetings. that is the program. two final points and then

questions. fund, 97% of all the eligible families who lost a loved one came in. money.llion, taxpayer bp, 92% of all eligible claimants came into the fund. these are tough statistics to match. boston, 100%. virginia tech, 100%. newtown, connecticut, 100%. these are tough statistics to match. we will work with the lawyers, the families, to try to do this. say, in a way, it is a poor substitute.

i say this all the time on these programs. poor is a pretty substitute for loss. you could give people 20, 30, $50 million. it is a poor substitute. it is the limits of what we can unfortunately. it is the best we can do. it is pretty poor. hopefully, the program will work. test, how many people participate in it. world toe words in the not matter at the end of the day. at only thing that matters the end of the day, how quickly did you get money out the door. that is the only test. when people say to me, it sounds this way and that way, i have heard from some lawyers, we will

see. i agree with that. we will see. start the ready to process. august 1, we will be ready. i am ready to take questions. >> based on your conversations with general motors and the victims families, do you have a sense of how many victims? tol it be over 50 or close 100? >> i will not speculate. i have been asked many times and i have not got any idea. speculation at this time. we have to look at what people are submitting. i will not activate. >> have you talked with victims families as you have put the

program together? >> no. i spoke with many lawyers representing victims families. i did not impose myself. i did not think it was appropriate. it is not my place. if victims families, as a result of this conference today, want to meet with me on the phone or in person, wonderful. i am glad to do it. me when you tell ask a question who you represent? >> thank you. with cnn. -- 13ce over and over deaths over and over again. a key question throughout all of to victimsve talked families, will death be accounted for in the backseat of a car? >> absolutely. >> even if they did not die as the result of an air back? by sid does not matter. a relevant. a person, and eligible vehicle, the driver, passenger,

pedestrian, occupant of another vehicle, or the airbag might have deployed. does not matter. eligible. >> side bag crashes? >> eligible. from reuters. >> yes. thank you. said,f the families have they feel that will bring gm further to justice. why should they take what you are offering? >> they should not. >> if a family member wants to bring general motors to justice in their mind by seeking punitive damages, they should not come into this program. they should sue.

i will say this about litigating to general motors. it is one thing if someone wants to litigate to get additional monetary punishment of general motors. victims. to compensate i sometimes hear victims tell me we want to litigate because it is the only way we can find out what really happened. i would be careful about that argument. there are other available to sue andor avenues find out the facts. i read in the newspaper that u.s. attorneys and the department of justice are very interested in finding out what really happened. there are other avenues to pursue to do that. that drives money

the punitive damage avenue, then this program is not for you. generous, ifry propensity very is what you see, and to use other avenues to find out what happened, that, to me, is the way to go. >> to be clear on something, is the money you pay, in addition to actual expenses the person might have incurred, or is it designed to be total? >> total, we are not netting out other expenses. we are calculating damages on a link slate and paying total award. we are not factoring in fees or other costs.

son --paying the loan the lump some all in. spentt you have already is litigation costs, or expert investigative reports, yes. spent ouru have medical expenses, we will see about that. in the protocol, we look at the very last paragraph of the protocol. we will work with the claimant to ensure the claimant gets a lump sum payment and we will make sure we work on the lump sum problem. >> i am the birth mother of mariemurray rose -- amber rose.

i have found 165 deaths. i have the information in my hand. would you like it? >> i would indeed. i would like not only that information, but i would be glad to meet with you and family .embers privately would love to sit and chat with you at your convenience to learn more about what you think. >> we have evidence in a few cases that it looks like the driver actually managed to get the vehicle on a second or two before impact. >> i would be glad to consider anything you have. relatively rare

example like that, at least i would like to hear what you have to say absolutely. >> thank you. i appreciate your time. >> you should direct your question to general motors. gm told me it is not just the ignition switch problem. it is the whole contest in which the recall occurred. the inability to disclose it, the fact that gm should have disclosed it. not an automotive engineer, but gm told us over and over again that this is a unique problem with gm that arose. it is not simply the defect itself but the context in which

it arose. decided, this is the limitation of the authority i have on the program. >> absolutely. it gets tricky. program, as wehe always do, we will have an audit , an executive summary, how many in,ms were eligible, aggregate dollars, etc.. we have to be careful we do not disclose at any time the confidential submissions of families. they do not want officials to know they filed or how much money they receive. we found out all these programs, 9/11 and other programs, that in participation,ze

confidentiality is critical and many people just do not want that information enclosed. let me say another thing before i forget that i neglected to say. a tip of the hat to the center of autosave the, joan and clarence. us wasber one issue with noticed. how do you reach people and tell them about the program? how do you know people around the country and elsewhere, canada, will know about the program? we are notifying by letter 2.6 million people who are the subject of the recall. we are notifying by letter hundreds of people who already

notified gm that they think they were involved in a death claim involving the ignition switch. we will send a letter to them. we also, at personal urging, we former owners of the formers, so vehicles who traded their vehicle in, or sold it, if they were subject to death or physical injury, they could file a claim. expedience of notice of a program as we can come up with. this was a big issue. remember this also. this program is limited to physical injury or death.

newspaper all sorts of lawsuits. --ue of the auto milk beals automobiles involved, that has nothing to do with this program. we are not in any way involved in any economic property damage lanes. -- claims. this is strictly individual. >> thank you. when calculating the money that would go to the victims, i know you're looking at labour statistics. when you're starting of the of one million or the hospital stays, who came up with these numbers? how did you reach them? these familiesl be told to keep silent if they do sign and take the claim?

>> entirely up to them. if these families decide they want to call a press conference in taking -- then taking this money is entirely up to the families. i would not begin to impose any other conditions on the families. i have learned over the years it is not my business. they can do whatever they want. that is not my business. are not gm's numbers. these are number is -- numbers that our team of economists, we came up with these numbers. -- not economic laws, $1 million for a claim, it may , weck b nder crack - decided the number should be higher than 700 $50 average.

we went to $1 million. and texasn detroit and other lawyers as well, colleagues, in texas, all said if, even on a presumptive award, it ought to be more than that, $1 million. much more than the 9/11 average as well. >> looking at what you have done in the past with the oil spill and 9/11, they are different as it was very clear who died as a result of the explosion or of 9/11.

aboutcan you talk to us the process? families -- be talked about having to expeditious in getting the money out. in some of these cases there is a lot to go through. -- do you make that >> it is difficult. it is a challenge. do not be misled into thinking we had the same problems as 9/11 and bp. we did. in 9/11, the statute creating the program said that physical injuries had to occur -- occur in the immediate vicinity and that medical treatment had to be immediately thereafter. problemsto a storm of

with first responders to lay medical treatment. deaths, you are right. they were traumatic deaths, much easier in 9/11. bp, we have huge problems not with deaths but whether or not the economic damages were caused by the oil spill. this is a challenge. it is a challenge. haveain problem we will here, and we will work right in the protocol to cure deficiencies, is that so many of these were cured long ago. the car is gone and we have got to, with circumstantial evidence. all of the ways you would do that are laid out what you are right that the will be while peoplere collect information. it will be a challenge, no question. >> i just wanted a little bit more on the interaction with gm.

i know they will also be able to give you information. themou going to meet with and sit down and talk about your orhodology coming up to it just sending them a claim? >> good question. the section in the protocol that gives both the claimant and gm the opportunities to be heard. the claim information does not go to gm. it goes -- it stays with us. we will notify gm of the basic a spreadsheetek, that says these are the claims. if gm has any information they think would be helpful to us, fine. side, as to either long as we are not exchanging anything confidential.

here is the key. in this protocol. make a decision, eligible scholars, the protocol gives us final discretion to do that. gm may not challenge it in court. it is fine but you have to honor it. they have to pay the claim. they cannot refuse, under the protocol, to pay any final determination we make on the grounds it was a mistake. respect you, gm, we your right to disagree, we decided it, and that is the end of it. yes, sir. >> several members of congress

investigating gm have taken an interest in the compensation fund. did you meet any members and brief with them? >> i met and briefed one of the oft visible members congress, senator blumenthal. extraordinarily helpful. letter to the a justice department urging compensation. he expressed certain views about helping claimants and suggestions he hoped i would follow up on, which i have. input, or any suggestions from members of congress -- members of congress and other senators, and i would be glad to meet with them as well. >> a quick question with general motors. how much did you talk with her

when setting this up? >> i spoke with her two or three times. almost all of my conversations involve other people in congress but i did meet her two or three times. 100% cooperative peer we want to the right thing. general motors is a great company and we want to do right by those who are innocent victims. general motors has been extremely helpful. i thought it very important not to limit our input to just general motors. i went to various lawyers around the country and what they thought about the protocol and the center for auto safety in washington. i must say, general motors, at no time, they do not agree with everything in the protocol. they signed on to it. they are paying the freight on this. debate, very open

and transparent discussion. i give general motors a lot of participating in this program. no caps on the aggregate amount of money erie that is so important. i found when there is an aggregate cap, inevitably, a claimant will say, you are giving me less is you have to save more to pay somebody else. it is human nature. with no aggregate cap, i could tell every claimant you do not have to worry about it and you will get what you are entitled to. contributeors waving agreeing, no negligence, we're opening old claims and allowing the program.e into general motors using the bankruptcy bar to undercut notorious claims.

i cannot speak to the history of a problem but i can certainly speak to the last three months and i must say mary barra and her colleagues at general motors absolutely 100% cooperative. >> there is a section in the data talking about seatbelt inhibitors. does that mean if somebody is wearing their seatbelt, you would be notable? -- ineligible? >> it depends on the case. so far, all i have seen, seatbelts do not work either. issue. an engineering i do not think it is likely that the airbag did not deploy, so you are ineligible. we will have to see based on the claim. i think that is right.

for a microphone. >> you are next. >> will all the awards be lump sum or structured settlement? >> that is up to the individual claimant or lawyers. any conditions about how individual claimants want to see this money, i advise you to do any thing they want. dataank you. you consulted from federal agencies. granted that no amount of money will really compensate but dot $9.1 million for

the value of a life. i would like to know, did you consider that when you arrived at your protocol? i have not ready yet. >> you have not? no. i do not believe we did. i do have an overall policy answer to that, which is very important. lawyers around the country constantly remind me about it. whatever that presumptive number might be in the individual case. if the claimant or her. her or his lawyer is uncomfortable with the number, they have the option of going track b, presenting information result, inhat will

their mind, of raising the overall value of their word. and examine at it it, and meet with the claimant of his lawyer and try to work that out. if the number is deemed by any claimant to be insufficient. david. >> is it accurate gm told to they had over 3500 individual claims that could be linked to this? >> no. i do not think that is accurate. group.st said it is a >> anything about a car or accident. words, roughly 3500 people may have written in to gm claiming injury or death, but no evidence yet it is an ignition

switch failure or anything like that. we are just combining statistics and we will take a look at those. be any car whether it is eligible or not. >> any other questions here? yes, sir? >> with the new york times. i just have a question about the second category of injuries. more moderate. it looks like the death claims and catastrophic injuries have catastrophic compensation associated with them. is that the case with the lower category of injuries? >> no. if you lost 10 or more and i, and you could not go to work,

these less serious injuries are limited to how long you're in the hospital and that is all. if you lost an arm, and you do not think you could go to work, three months, or six months, and you are in the hospital for 36 days, you will get a flat amount of five or six dollars, and that is it for the hospitalization. didn't certainry cases prevent you from going back at all, -- >> you may opt out of the program if you think it is too little, and litigate that claim. any other questions? ok. everybody.hank i appreciate this. it is a complex program. it is easy to apply and, after this press conference, if anybody has any questions about the --hanics of how we will fire

file online or by mail, what is expected, where can we go to get one 800 information, my colleague will be here and be able to answer those questions as well. thank you all very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

[indiscernible] >> thank you for coming. >> thank you. >> i look forward to this meeting with you. >> thank you. >> we will do an interview now.

>> that event happened earlier today. reportingated press moments ago general motors is recalling seven point 6 million more vehicles over ignition switch problems. this is a live picture from the right -- the white house rose garden, where we it's -- we expect to hear from obama -- president obama on immigration. john boehner is not going to this year. president obama will act on his own to make changes to immigration policy. a white house official said the president decided to bypass congress after house speaker john banner informed him last week they would not -- the house would not vote this year. jeh johnson and attorney general eric holder to present him with executive axis -- access he can take without congressional approval by the end of the summer. joining him in the rose gardens afternoon will be vice president

joe biden. we expect this to get underway in a couple of moments. it is expected at 2:50. we will have live coverage on c-span. president obama later today will announce a new nominee to take over the veterans affairs department here at former ebay ceo robert mcdonald will be president thishe afternoon. we will have that announcement live today on c-span. the supreme court handed down a decision on a case involving a country opposed to the contraceptive mandate -- contraceptive mandate. that hobby lobby had the right to reject contraception because it violated their religious beliefs. in decision was 5-4. the white house had this reaction today. joshis spokesman jocks -- earnest.

>> that might be your first question today. the supreme court ruled today some bosses can now withhold contraceptive care from health knowledge. based on their own views that employees may not even share here it president obama believes women should make kit -- choices for themselves rather than their bosses for them. as millions of women know firsthand, contraception is often vital to their health and well-being. that is why the formal care act ensures that women have coverage for contraceptive care as well as other forms of care like cancer screenings. we want to make sure anyone affected by this decision will still have the same coverage and services as everyone else. president obama believes strongly in the freedom of religion. we have taken steps to ensure no religious institution will have to pay or provided -- provide for contraceptive coverage.

we have made nominations for rise -- on religious grounds. the owners of for-profit companies should not be allowed to assert their personal religious views and deny employees benefits. we will continue to look for ways to approve -- to improve americans health by helping women have more and not less say by the personal health decisions affecting them and their families. christ can you talk more about the options you are considering question mark >> i am not in a position to do that right now. legal still assessing the implications and assessing what practical implications there are from the decision, including what companies there are. the ruling referred pretty i described in my

original statement there are a range of other treatments in different ways. we are also taking a look at what kinds of health care choices they have. as we gather more information, tomay be in a position better consider a range of to our available president. it is our view congress needs to this.ctions to resolve >> that was earlier in the day. decided employees are not required to pay dues required by some companies. "we are disappointed the supreme

court carved out home care workers who provide critical support to the elderly in their own homes. we are alive in the white house rose garden, where we are awaiting a statement by president obama on immigration. it appears house speaker john banner will not ring a vote on immigration to the floor this year. the associated press is going to pursue immigration on its own. expect the president here in just a moment live on c-span. >> again waiting for president

obama to make a statement on immigration. while we wait, a segment from this morning's washed in journal on gridlock in washington. >> here to discuss, how do we end political gridlock in washington dc, the former member of congress. thank you for joining us. you work at the bipartisan policy center. tell us about this. were bipartisan senators who started the organization and this particular commission i have been on for the last year has been made up of a good and strong bipartisan group as well. peoples, house members, from private academic. we want to consider strong recommendation to try to get congress out of the ditch. the ratings right now are in the tank. the last figure i saw was eight percent or nine percent. if you figure in a margin of

error of plus or minus five, we are approaching zero. it has become dysfunctional. both sides would agree on that. there is a well respected senator reported in the newspaper yesterday that he is now living through the most unproductive time in his life. things have changed a lot since the middle of the last decade. we wanted to come up with common sense ideas as to how to restart some of the productive years that congress enjoyed in previous decades. have changedhings a lot in the last couple of years. what is your sense as to why? >> the country has changed especially because of the economic challenges we have had in recent years, the recession. it brought out a lot of strong feelings on both sides across the country. members of congress reflect the attitude of the country.

they do not just show up here, get off an airplane, and say i am going to be difficult and hard to work with. they get an earful when they go back home. during previous years when it was a time of high salaries and the economy was booming, nobody really got worked up about what was happening in washington, d.c., but since the recession occurred and people became more concerned about entitlements, about spending, and all of those issues, suddenly the emotions started to percolate. i think that is the genesis of what we have today. host: the bipartisan policy center has released a number of recommendations. what are some of the highlights? guest: people have to understand that compromise is important. people compromise in their own homes, churches, and places of business. some of the recommendations we have come up with need more compromise to occur. we strongly recommend that

instead of policies and bills being resented by the leadership on both sides, they get back to the process of letting members of congress and senators work these bills through the system. it is called regular order in washington. it is similar to what you see in the workplace and many areas. employers who allow employees, empower them to give the job done, generally have a more productive, happier system in place. this is similar. i remember sitting through many markups in committee, as they are called, and negotiations with senators over the years. we thought it was difficult back then, but at the end of the day, it was productive. when you return to that order, you wind up making relationships you would not have had otherwise. i am a republican, but some of

the strongest allies and friends over the years were with democrats who would sit there until 1:00 in the morning, sometimes later, working these bills through, going to conferences for the senate. if we return to regular order, rather than having policy dictated from the top on both sides, we would go a long way towards fixing this. another thing we suggested was having five-day work weeks, which a lot of americans go -- what, five-day work weeks in washington? we recommend that three weeks out of four that the house and senate synchronize their calendar so that they're in session at the same time. right now, the calendars seem to be set by their leadership on the house and senate side without any real consideration as to what the other side is doing. how can you be productive if half the team as out-of-town? so we say let's work for five days at a time for three straight weeks. that also means that you probably have to stay in washington a little more. then you take one week off to either go back to your district and work with your constituents in your state or you can take family time, whenever you need, and then come back. you are elected to be a full-time senator or house member. so this is something else that we strongly recommend.

host: our guest as henry bonilla, a former congressman who served through 2006, representing texas. the number for republicans is 202-585-3881. for democrats, 202-585-3880. independents, 202-585-3882. i wonder if you can talk to us a little bit about how your recommendations are being received in congress? guest: we have not had any strong feedback yet. sometimes it takes a while for messages to get back to leadership offices. i know the former senators that have led this on their side have already communicated with the senate leadership, but no strong reaction yet. same on the house side. but we're hoping that at least someone listens to us, because at this point we're not aware of anyone who has put together a set of recommendations like this anywhere. if half of them are implemented, that would be a huge success. we're realistic about this. most of us who are working on this have been in this town for a long time, and we understand

reality. host: there are a lot of really interesting ideas here. but given that things are so polarized, how do you actually get them to come to pass and get people to agree on anything? >> we are on the outside now. a lot of leaders on this commission have a reputation that they can at least get this in front of the right people in congress. host: the first call is from north carolina, cecil on the line for independents. caller: yes, i enjoyed the program c-span, and at my age of 83, born in 1930, my dad was the single proprietor of the family. everybody was in the same circumstances, but the problem we have today is it takes two people to earn an income to put a roof over your head. and out of the depression, i have had situations where i had to help my dad after school. he got to the point where he was only working two days a week,

and we worked things out. now recession development and the way this country has so it got to the point he waswe only working two days a week and we worked things out. now recession development and the way this country develop wes last century was when made our fortune. we found out he can make a lot of money. we have an idea of two people earning an income in the family, which is not exactly right because it should be as it , and working out of the depression, we became development.t new products came out of the war. so i think things have changed

in this country, not for the best. i appreciate your comments. not sure what your question was. this commission was set up to to work through the difficulties. the gentleman worked things through as a family. some of the parallels can be drawn from family interaction in washington as well. this is not an institution made up of a bunch of buildings and bureaucracies. people run this operation in washington. i think a lot of principles can be learned from families who have had to get it done over the years. >> talk about the policy went through to create the report with public input. had meetings over four different locations to hash through the ideas and there were disagreement even in the group.

volunteered to do this. sometimes we had heated discussions about political fundraising. conditions we made is to limit political fundraising to only three packs for the leadership. senators and members mdc because if i now you find yourself was still in congress spending close to half of my time just fundraising for the political action committee, for your campaign committee, for the congressional political action committee you have to support for your republican national committee, democratic national committee, sometimes the states come in as well for fundraising. so you are calling all the time, doing dinners every night. you were supposed to be a legislator. there are leadership packs i

hear that are being formed already by members who have not been elected yet. i think it has gotten a little bit out of control. good morning. thought is we have a themeral legislature with senate and house. there have been apparently over 230 bills the house has passed that have not yet and will not receive a vote up or down by the thete, and i would contend senate is running very well for president obama. that is a valuable tool. that is the number one motivation at the end of the year. housecond thing is in the , she has offered 29 amendments to bills in the house gop, and

in entire senate the gop has offered nine since 2010. that is a dramatic difference inquiries and between the house come a gop and democrats there versus the senate where harry .eid roles with an iron fist -- rules with an iron fist. guest: the senator i quoted has -- happens to be a democrat and mentions it is the most unproductive time in his life. it has been a change and culture in terms of what amendments are on the house and senate side. her fourt levels of moments in the senate. so you're white to talk about the dysfunction that does not allow bills to be voted on. i do not care what party you come from we are --

good afternoon, everybody. senatorsago this month of both parties with support from the business community, labor, law enforcement, faith communities came together to pass a commonsense immigration bill. thatendent experts said bill would strengthen our borders, grow our economy, sharing our deficits. -- rank our deficits. there are enough democrats and republicans in the house to pass the immigration bill today. i would sign it into law today. would solve a problem in a bipartisan way. yearor more than a republicans in the house of representatives have refused to

allow an up or down vote on that senate bill or any legislation to fix the broken immigration system. themd off on pressuring for a long time to get the speaker the space he needed to get his fellow republicans on board. a yearle, here is what of obstruction has meant. resources tofewer strengthen our border. it has meant more businesses free to game the system by hiring undocumented workers, which punishes businesses that play by the rules and drive some business for hard-working americans. it has meant lost talents from the best and brightest around the world coming to study here but are forced to leave and then compete against our businesses and workers.

it has meant no chance for 11 million workers to come out of the shadows and earn a citizenship if they pass a background check, pay their fair share of taxes, learn english, go to the back of the line. it has meant the heartbreak of separated families. that is what this obstruction has meant over the past year. that is what the senate bill house allowedhe it to go to a vote. country and economy would be stronger today if house republicans had allowed a simple yes or no vote on this bill or for that matter any bill. they would be following the will of the majority of the american people who support reform. againd they have proven and again that they're unwilling to stand up to the tea party in

order to do what is best for the country. the worst part of it is a bunch of them know about it. we now have an actual humanitarian crisis on the border that underscores the need to drop the politics and fix the immigration system once and for all. seen ant weeks we have surge of unaccompanied children brought to the border brought here by smugglers and traffickers. is unbelievably dangerous for the skids. the children who are fortunate enough to survive it will be taken care of while they go through the legal process, but invokes -- most cases that process will lead to them being sent to come. if you are -- i have sent a clear message to the parents of other countries not to put their kids through this. i have recently met with vice president biden to find ways to address root causes of this.

secretary kerry will meet with those leaders tomorrow. areinternational partners taking new steps to go after the smugglers that are putting thousands of children's lives at risk. today i sent a leader to congressional leaders asking that they work with me to address the urgent humanitarian crisis on the border and support immigration of border patrol agent who already apprehend and deport hundreds of thousands of documents every year. understand for the most part this is not a situation where the children are slipping through. they are being apprehended. the problem is our system is so folks doo unclear that not want know what the rules are. understand there are a number of republicans who are willing to work with us to pass real

commonsense immigration reform. i want to thank them for their efforts. are a number of republican leaders in the senate who did excellent work and deserve our thanks. and less visibly folks in the house who have been trying to work to get this done. it does notbecause always help me to praise them. i have expressed to them how much i appreciate the efforts they have made. i believe the speaker when he says he wants to pass an immigration bill. i think he genuinely wants to get something done, but last week he informed me the republicans will continue to block a vote on immigration reform am at least for the remainder of this year. the house republican

caucus are using the situation with unaccompanied children as the newest excuse to do nothing. i want everyone to think about that. the argument seems to be because the system is broken we should not make an effort to fix it. it makes no sense. it is not on the level. it is just politics. lame and simple. there are others in the republican caucus and the house who are arguing they cannot act because they're mad at me about using my executive authority to broadly. this also makes no sense. i do not prefer taking administrative action. i would rather see permanent fixes to the issue we face. certainly that is true on immigration. i have made that multiple times. -- made that clear multiple times. i would love nothing more than

bipartisan legislation to pass the house and senate amanda my desk so i can sign is. that is true about immigration, the minimum wage am a that is true about equal pay -- there are whole bunch of things where i would greatly prefer congress actually do something. i take executive action only when we have a serious problem, a serious issue in congress chooses to do nothing. situation the failure to pass a darn bill is bad for the security, that for the economy and bad for our future. so, i will continue to push house republicans to drop the excuses and act. and i hope their constituents will, to. america cannot wait forever for them to act.

today i am beginning a new effort to fix as much of our immigration system as i can on my own without congress. as for step i am directing the attorney general to move available resources from the interior to the border. criminals has been and but we willop focus refocus efforts to make sure we do what it takes to keep our border secure. secretaryo directed johnson and attorney general holder to identify additional actions mike administration can take with them might own is in my existing legal authorities to do what congress refuses to do and fixes much of the immigration system as i can.

i expect a recommendation before the end of the summer. i intend to adopt the recommendations without further delay. even with aggressive steps on my part, administrative action alone will not accurately address the problem. the reforms that will do the most to strengthen our businesses, workers and entire economy will still require an active on breast. reforms theese are support of the american people. it is very rare you get labor, business, evangelicals, law enforcement all agreeing on what needs to be done. at some point, that should be enough. the point of public services to solve told -- public problems and those of us love their probe

which to serve have the responsibility to keep american safe and keep the doors of opportunities open. not only if -- if we do, maybe our security will be better and people will come here and stay here. maybe companies that play by the role no longer be undercut by companies that don't. maybe more families living here for years who citizens are often u.s. citizens or our neighbors -- who are our neighbors and friends and neighbors are kids friend to go to school with them , maybe those families will get to stay together. happens if this only americans continue to push congress to get this done. speaker that even can take those steps that i

within my existing legal authority to make the immigration system work better, i will continue to reach out to house republicans in the hope they deliver a more permanent solution with a comprehensive bill. after theill be midterms when they are less worried about politic. maybe it will be next year. whenever it is, they will find me a willing partner. i have been consistent in saying i am prepared to work with them even on a bill i do not consider perfect. the senate bill was a good example of the capacity to compromise and get this done. do is standng i can by and do nothing while waiting for them to get their act together. i want to repeat what i said

earlier. it house republicans are really concerned about me taking too many actions, the best solution is passing bills. bill.he solve a problem. -- pass the bill. don't just say no on something that anybody -- everybody agrees needs to be done. bill that we pass a will supplant whatever i have done administratively. we will have a structure their that works and will be permanent. people can make plans and businesses can make plans based on the law. there will be clarity. both hear inside this country and outside it.

let me close by saying friday is the fourth of july. the day we celebrate our independence and all the things great.ke this country so each year michelle and i host a few hundred service members and wounded warriors and their families right here on the lawn for a barbecue and fireworks on the mall. some of the servicemembers coming this year are unique. they signed up to serve to sacrifice, potentially to give security offor the this country, even though they were not yet americans. that is how much they loved the country. they were prepared to fight and die for an america they did not yet fully belong to. i think they have earned their stripes in more ways than one. -- why friday

morning we will naturalize them in a ceremony at the white house. this independence day will be their first day as american citizens. the things we celebrate friday, one thing that makes this country great is we are a nation of immigrants. people come from every corner of the globe. that is what makes us special, makes us unique. throughout our history we have come here in wave after wave , understanding there was something about this whole wase the greater than the sum of its parts. the different cultures and ideas and energy would come together and create something new. we won this country's freedom together. we built this country together. we defended this country

together. it makes us special, it makes a strong, it makes us americans. it is worth celebrating. just -- not i want just house republicans but all of us to remember. thank you very much. >> president obama announcing some steps on immigration, in particular to deal with the influx of immigrant children of the border. and marking also just about the one-year anniversary of the senate passing the immigration bill. we're asking you should the president take executive action on immigration echo here are the numbers for republicans. democrats. independents and others. turn down your television or

radio and listen to the phone when you get on. we will get to your calls momentarily. you can join the conversation at facebook. we're asking you the same question. just a note on a couple of those executive actions what the president is doing. the e writes about that. verse directing jeh johnson and attorney general eric holder to shift immigration resources from the interior section of the united states to the border. administration officials to send him resources on additional action he can pursue without the blessing of congress, suggesting obama once by the end of summer. they write about some of the things that led up to this. bleak sides of the ideal. saying two leading house lawmakers to cleared efforts to overhaul the nation's immigration system all but dead for the year.

the result of pardoning tea party opposition and rowing mistrust of president obama among congressional republicans. we have not heard from the speaker yet. he and president obama spoke last week and the speaker spokesperson. he hasaker said what been telling him all along, the american people and elected officials do not trust him to enforced the law as written. until that changes, it will be difficult to make congress on the issue. fromords of michael steele the speaker's office. likely we will hear from the speaker on this. let's hear from you. looks like we may have lost our phone lines. going to dave and lawrence, kansas so i can get our studio folks. go ahead. system dave. thank you for taking my call.

opinion is this. it is time. it is time where everybody lays everything aside and put themselves in their shoes come in and let's get on and get this country strained out and going in the right direction. thank you. >> republican view from long beach, california. hello there. >> my name is kevin, and i am against immigration. i believe the president is taking the wrong steps. congress is the one who makes the laws. he is already illegally appointing visitors. he just lost a landmark case in the court against hobby lobby, and now he is trying to go and give you legal immigrants children the right to stay here

and stuff. this country was built on immigrants, but immigrants who come here and the legal way. >> thank you. but get reaction from members of congress. talking about the u.s.-mexico border is the result of house republicans doing nothing on immigration reform. indiana. he said listening to the president talk about the need for congress to pass a bill, the house has passed over 500. he has only signed 121. >> i am very distressed about the fact that the house of onresentatives has not voted the bill and.net passed on immigration. they seem to keep holding up all the legislation. when they do that, it is costing taxpayer because bills are not

stablenacted to create a economic atmosphere. >> what does it mean in your area that immigration reform has not went through, or can you tell? >> i think it is meant less diversity, hurt the workforce because we do not have the immigrant tuner milley -- who normally work in certain areas to work in different areas. we also do not have -- we have a businesses in our area and do not have the talent. >> manufacturing businesses or things like that? >> yes. and somering professional businesses in this area that would greatly benefit through the ideas that could be brought by people from other

countries, people who want to become americans. the and action is what is costing every taxpayer out here. i don't know why the tea party is involved in this because they claiming they are against big taxes and that sort of thing. yet the house of representatives through all of this stalling and inaction is costing tax money. skip in illinois. are you there? >> mr. obama speech was disappointing to say the least. he has been rebuked time after time for the power he is trying to uphold on the taxpayer. the problem of the border is obama's problem. he created this with his ofction and total lack

american values. a lot of sympathy for these people who want to come to america. yusef president obama created the problem of the border. why do you think that? >> he is the one that welcomes the immigrants, telling them they should come here. he advertised the dream stuff with the kids and this and that, and when they come in these poor people trying to cross the they die in the desert and stuff. i blame the deaths and criminal activity on mr. obama and democratic party. clear that wee it have laws and you have to obey the laws, something mr. obama seems to have problems with, then we will have more and more

of these deaths. take a look at some of the comments on twitter and some of the other news about the event. president obama speaking in the penalizing some of what he said. $2 billion in emergency funds to slow border crossing, speed deportations. for more than a year in public and have refused to allow a vote on any legislation to fix the broken immigration system. lou in newxt to mary jersey. >> good afternoon. thank you for c-span. this man does not have the right to take executive action, and anyone listening to your program right now, i want to tell you you need to be extremely afraid of what this man is intending to do with immigration. there are not enough jobs right now in this country for legal immigrants a natural born american citizens.

all these kids coming over, you people that have children out they cannot get into college because these kids are getting into college. these kids that do not belong here will get the choice jobs. this is a disgusting situation, and something needs to be done about it. this man is performing you legal acts and somebody needs to stop it, even if we have to do a massive march on washington. >> era some of the reaction on washington. -- here is some of the reaction on facebook. facebook.com/cspan for more. ashley in clarksville, tennessee. ashley, this is on the independent line. >> thank you for c-span.

with the speech of the president, i do not believe he should be able to take executive action for what is going on on the border. we have laws right now that are on the books that are not being enforced. we have an immigration border protection service that is being trampled by young people, children and parents with across thelking border and turning themselves in because they know they will not be deported or the process for deportation will take at least 10 years. if you have a 10-year-old walking across the border with the mother or relative, 10 years from now 20 years old and will otheris child knows no country except for america, we need to make them legal. >> vice president biden joined the president and president

mentioned the vice president had several of the central american countries from which most of these immigrants are coming, honduras, guatemala, el salvador and that secretary kerry would be in those countries as well. next up, honolulu. catherine on the republican line. >> my name is catherine. thank you for having this open mind because i think it is important that people say what they believe. is anot believe this monarchy or whatever. he is a real false sense of power and what he is expected to do. the man has as far as i am concerned taken to max -- too much action on his own without respecting congress needs to be the one that gets together. is not allowing any

interaction between the senate and the house. the house has tried to send bills to the senate several been, and nothing has ever discussed. i think that is what is wrong with the senate. they have themselves in the power reach. they have stopped all the things the republicans try to offer and continue to try to offer. the house is sent to the senate. >> another view on how things by going from capitol hill senator ben cardin. our immigration system is broken. still waiting for a vote in the house. thember of days until senate bill passed.

henry who is in las vegas. independent line. go ahead. >> thank you for accepting my call today. i have never heard so many misinformed people in my life. it is obvious some kind of conspiracy is going on out the border. what they're doing is dropping the weight on obama. i believe a republican would have to be behind the situation going on there because all the sudden thousands of people are rushing over here and accepting and motivating them to do that, other than just a natural immigrant trying to get across the border. >> this is " the dallas morning news" --

let's get one more call from winchester, idaho. this is patty on the republican mine. thank you. the first step to fixing immigration is to secure our border. canout secure borders there be no immigration policy because you cannot enforce it without a closed border.

until the border is secure, we cannot have an immigration policy until it is secure him and nothing will stop. it is disingenuous when the kids to stand there. he has to work with congress and stansberry talks about republicans need to do this and that. he needs to talk to mr. reid in the senate and let him bring this to the floor. would havepeople really. until that is fixed, there cannot be immigration policy. thehe president making comment. not back until next tuesday. you can continue the conversation always online.

asking so the president take it action on executive immigration. the president expected to name ofert donald, ceo colgate-palmolive to head the veterans affairs department. later on tonight, a look at the rapidly growing e-cigarette industry. portions of recent senate hearings that focus on the issue. we will take your phone calls, hear from you on facebook and tweets as well. all about getting under way tonight at 7:00 eastern. until we go back to the white house, i want to show you the comments from the new head supreme court -- supreme commander of nato, he spoke at the pentagon on issues involving ukraine and violence in iraq and syria.

>> thank you for being here today. i look forward to the conversation and really look forward to the questions and answers after. i am only here for a short time. especially because of the recent changes wrought by russia. i am very pleased with president obama's announcement of the reassurance initiative. the $1 billion pledge will help effortain the persistent in europe and assist us in protecting our own national security interest while

reassuring allies and partners of the u.s. commitment to article five. it is too early to lay out what the details of what we would do, and would cover increased and enhanced training. it wouldn't cover -- would cover enhanced facility treatments we would need in order to conduct readiness with all of our allies and partners. this is in support of nader -- nato allies that now fall under the umbrella of operation atlantic result. in this operation we will continue to demonstrate our continued commitment to the collective security of nato and dedication to the enduring peace and stability in the region. in light of the russian intervention in ukraine specifically. operation atlantic result will continue to demonstrate the

solid commitment to the collective defense of all nato allies. as has been true since we signed the washington treaty in 1949. we will respond to the territorial integrity of the dialyzed. we will also have built constructive security and defense of cooperation with ukraine and other members of nato's partnership for peace over the past two decades to help the old europe that is whole, free and apiece. our ability to respond quickly to reassure the european allies and partners was enabled by our forward station forces and the four structure we have in place now. i believe our force levels in europe are about right. even absent the latest developments in the ukraine and should take no permanent reductions to the existing for structure. in fact, we may need to add additional rotation forces to cover the sustain persistent presence we are now envisioning.

there are other issues on the stove as well. we are supporting other combatant commands through all our forward presence in europe, and monitoring of the unrest in north africa, centcom in and out of afghanistan and monitoring of the situation on the ground in iraq and syria. om in support missions as well. a recent highlight in these efforts is that the k break will be arriving tomorrow to fromform serious weapons the danish vessel and then transfer to international waters to neutralize the chemical agents in a safe and environmentally sound manner. concurrently we have been engaging in ongoing operations with nato in defending our partner in turkey and commitment to the defense of israel.

make no mistake, our operational temperature had but the spirit and morale is high as well. every airman, soldier and murray i have had the opportunity to meet with is fully up on the mission and eager to do their job. every partner i meet is all -- also eat quickly enthusiastic. we are proud carriers of a legacy that began just over seven years ago on the shores of normandy. that legacy has endowed us with the nato alliance and steadfast relationships with incredible allies and partners to a pot alongside us and almost every conflict. additionally by hosting u.s. forces forward him a they enable us to be more responsive and ready for issues in and around the continent. it is indeed a momentous time in europe but with support of our partners and allies he will face the challenges likely have in the past, together and build a safer, more secure europe. so thank you and the first

question goes to bob. >> question for you on ukraine. i was wondering your thoughts on the latest developments, including the temporary cease-fire. you think the conflict has reached a turning point? >> i think i what about the actions on the ground to speak for themselves. there is good rhetoric. there are good words about a cease-fire and peace, but what we see is continued conflict, continued support of the conflict from the east side of the border. until we see those things turn around, i think we need to watch with a wary eye. russian troop levels? >> i think what you have been told is we have seen seven plus battalion forces on the border. helpfulnot a development.

>> i might follow up on the russian posture. when he was a nato last week, secretary kerry said the ukrainian helicopter had been shot down with the russian weapon and a number of aircraft lost in ukraine. what is the latest information on russian supply of arms to the separatists, and do they include anti-air weapons? >> to your last specific question, they do. what we see in training on the east side of the border is a big antiaircraftks, capability, and now we see those used on the being west side of the border. >> on the aircraft shut down recently, you think they were likely shot down with russian weapons? >> i think we need to be sorting the facts out before i report it. i would say it is a very good

likelihood but we have not tied the string directly together yet. >> al qaeda in europe. you have the rise of the fighting in iraq and both of those countries, the al qaeda elements joining together and especially al qaeda in lemon. all of them looking to bring them to be so waiver countries and send them back out. what are your concerns specifically about al qaeda operatives moving through europe, potentially attacking eastern or u.s. interest there and coming back through your rep attack the united states? at a littleto speak bit broader terms rather than label al qaeda fighters in europe. let use the term foreign fighter flow into europe. that is a great concern to me and a great concern to our european partners. just recently we have seen a

then strike in belgium and arrested in france. what does this tell us? foreign fighters can return to these orions and affect an attack some sort of problem for the nation and then moved quickly across borders into other nations. this worries all the nations of europe about the capability of foreign fighters returning. so the flow from all of these areas, yemen as you have talked about and more importantly to the european union's -- europeans, the flow from western iraq into syria is a very distinct problem and we are working to address that. i will very briefly follow up on the yemen point. that is a country where it is well understood and known that the al qaeda elements has the innovate airport

security and all of that. concerns about the developments of those types of weapons and what it could mean about the vulnerability of airport security in europe and the united states? >> i would not use the word new because this has been a concern for some time. we remain concerned about the capability of some of these elements to develop efforts that could be thwarted by our current security systems. >> bloomberg news. what is your assessment of russia's motives -- motivation for going into iraq at this point when they're quite busy in the ukraine? is it to send a signal to serious? out think that is a little of my area of operations. so i think what i would say is int our concern right now

nato and as a european commander is what is happening along the turkish border. this is an ally that if we have to, we will defend. that has been stated very quickly -- clearly. concerned about all of the nations and the border that would cause anyone to cross it or increase the flow of foreign fighters or anything that could affect us in europe. >> the internationalization of the white could ripple into your region with turkey being an example. about therrently spillover into her turkish partners. >> given the concerns that you mentioned, mainly what is going on with the turkish border, do you think nato could play a role in the future? as you may know, the influence

of extremist movement, mainly isis, is growing. >> i think nato has been very clear there is no mission to go into serious or nato forces, but what it has also made clear is we will defend turkey. as you know right now in turkey we have three nations from nato with pictures as a part of defending the ally from the possibility of attack by these intermediate range missiles. we have been very clear as we are defending the i like him it is a nato mission. as far as a nato mission on the other side of the border, there has been no call for that. >> i want to ask you assessment of the russian strategic forces. have you seen money diverted away from them due to the operations in and around ukraine? >> i have no evidence of that. for somet russia has

years embarked upon a fairly ambitious reinvestment program and all across the forces and to specific question of diversion from strategic forces to finance what they're doing tactically, i have no indication of that. go back to an earlier comment you made about rotation divorced forces, what types of forces would you be interested in? >> i think the most important first part of the question for the question you did not ask abdul answer anyway. first and foremost we should now pause and determine, should we continue with any of the program reductions that are in the plan for europe? as a result of budget and sequester there are already reductions on the books. so i think the first step in the process is that we develop a

mechanism by which we stop, relook as planned actions for europe. i have been on record numerous times a saying i believe we have infrastructure that can come down, and therefore completely support the eic, and i think it is headed in a good direction. as far as force structure, i do not think we can take anymore reductions. that question is answered, better understanding of what we would need as far as additional forces. as you know, we have forces all over europe now. european forces that are part of our immediate response measures. we will need to keep this up

into the future. based on what happened with the overall force structure, we would need to then rotate your sister be able to do the missions which are now required in the residence in europe? >> does that change or a question -- equation on what needs to stay in you, as well as -- how do you present that? >> i think is a great question. we have all often worried about what is the force we should plan for. we have been looking at russia as a partner, making decisions about force structure, and basing investment am looking to russia as a partner. is a verye see different situation. i think it was illustrative to just take for example what happened on the ukrainian border just some weeks ago, 28

, combinedtask groups arms force with air and land forces integrated well. that gives us a good idea to think about what we might face in the future and gives us a baseline and the conversation about the capacity and capability, both inside nato and u.s. forces in europe. >> i am with air force magazine. i wanted to know when we can expect the eic to be completed how much more the air force can expected to be impacted? >> i would not want to answer when it is going to be completed. and i have seen some of the planned preliminary results.

as far as the changes for europe, i think the budget details have been released and of looking at reductions assets in europe, and i think that's as much of the detail i would want to go into in this forum. >> nato released some images of tanks going into the ukraine. i was wondering if you have an update on whether you believe they are still operating there, if they have sent tanks and and what other details you may have on supply for them. release of has been nato data on tanks. i believe there are other armored personnel carrier. i've -- we have seen them training in the western part of russia etc..

i think there are several types and capabilities of heavy weaponry that are moving across that border. >> you believe they are moving across the border? >> i do, absolutely. >> earlier this year there were a handful of incidents where russian warplanes came a little too close to comfort to u.s. warships in the black sea. since those instances, have there been any other kind of engagements right that in this area and due to those sorts of close calls, have you given any thought to changing the operating procedures and rules of engagement in case another instance like that happens? >> there have been at least two instance and the black sea. one area early on where a ship's where they moved close to our ships and aircraft making low passes, provocative passes on our ships. what i would say is that while

they are not good and are not the kind of behavior we would like to see, none of them got outside of the norms of this sort of things that happens on the sea. there are other things happening. we had an instance with the where iteet recently was declared a training zone, fighting at the targets. russian trips became involved. we had a couple of aerial instances, on the west coast and east coast and pacific command region of responsibilities. so while i would not characterize any of them as extremely outside of the norm, the frequency of them has certainly picked up. >> has the frequency prompted any possible change in taking on theses. responses to

instances if they occur again? >> we will continue to conduct ourselves in a professional manner in accordance with the weight the u.s. navy has a was done it at sea and u.s. air force has done it in the air, to then we used those venues pass our concern back and forth. been -- no changes have been made to the operating procedures. >> what impact are you seeing tactically from the vehicles on the western side of the border? when you talk about anti-air, are you talking about man times, and have you assessed that level of training? not seen any huge, drastic tactical impact of these vehicles. clearly in the situations where they have been used by the separatist forces. had what i would call a

decided tactical impact at that moment. as far as an operational impact to what is happening in the east, nothing to speak of yet. do not know whether the first shoot downs were man pads or vehicle bone -- vehicle borne missiles. again, i like to report when i have faxed. i will tell you we have not tried that string together completely as to which was used in which situation. we have not seen training of man pads but vehicle borne capability being trained. you said you feel like the force levels in yukon, that you're relatively helpful with -- relatively happy with that. i was wondering how you could tommy how the other nato partners are viewing the

response to russian tensions and what might be the value -- do you see any value in the discussion of raising that current force level on a permanent basis? >> thank you for the question because i am quite proud of the way european forces reacted. when we first decided to do the reassurance measures, i would pass the nato commander to develop a series of reassurance measures in the north, center and south, and in each location to do air, maritime and land capability as applicable. hard to get maritime presence in the middle of europe but in the north and south whittle those capabilities. u.s. was thehe first to respond. less than 24 hours, much less than 24 hours from the go to show with fighters in lithuania, shifts into the black sea, almost immediately and how you shifts into the black sea

very quickly. now you see them in romania and the south. the point is, i think what we set out to do, which was two things on a reassure our allies and also, set the example and encourage our nato allies to come alongside of us in those nations, that happened immediately. second, as you know, with the exception of the ships that were under nato control at the time, all of the forces on the ground and air that have immediately responded come from the european command. later in october, forces from the united states will begin to rotate in and be a part of this presence mission in europe, but right now it was those foreign-based european forces,

forces that were first to the situation. so i think that is one of the enduring reasons why we need to make sure we have the right for structure in europe so that we can respond >> you talked about some of the heavy a committee going over the border from russia to ukraine. what about russian special forces? i know you mentioned it was evident some of the separatists were not really separatist but acting more like special forces and russian operatives. correction have heard me say before the following litany which remains today -- russian regular forces are very active along the border of ukraine. facilitating the movement of forces come equipment, and finances across the border. russian irregular forces are very activsi