also hope to see a start of a comprehensive dialogue to build could cohesion and address critical issues. following the elections, the rebels have engaged in rhetoric, declaring themselves as independent from toaine and threatening expand the territory under their control. a full mobilization including of local armies and security forces was also announced.

borshenkoe, president a special status for the rebel controlled areas that been offered as fulfillment of a key tenant of the protocol. also on 5 november the prime minister announced the pensions would be halted to areas under rebel control. november, hostilities in the east reignited with the undermineto further the agreement. situationthe security almost rivals the pier preceding the agreement of 5 september. citing credible threats from the rebel leadership that they would offensive, on 4

november the president ordered army reenforcement to key cities southern and eastern ukraine. there's no military solution to notconflict that it would attempt to retake rebel areas held by rebel forces, the stated objective is to protect ukraine's territory from further incursion. this past weekend particularly of 9 november, hostilities were reported to be months. worst in with a heavy exchange of artillery and shelling. a similar level of fighting was reported today. continue to be lost daily, including two school children as result of shelling on 5 november. the upsurge in fighting comes amidst regular reports from o.a.c. of an influx of large

weapons, tanksy and troops flowing into rebel held areas. nos connection there is doubt that a failure to secure the russian-ukrainian border is that continues to impede the path to peace. meanwhile the situation in somes to deteriorate areas w. the onset of harsh ofter condition the number i.d.p.s is expect toipped crease. if there's a return to full fighting the numbers could grow exponentially. brief newssador will more detail as to the situation on the ground, one thing is clear. cease-fire of 5 september is under continuous and serious strain. prevailingnt, the hostility, if the prevailing minskities continue, the agreement could be in jeopardy.

the triconsultations of lateral group have not been the self, while of --imed leaders have signaled they would not participate in further consultationings. appointing persons of less place.ty in their the ambassador will provide further details on this issue. with these agreements, while these agreements have been andhed in various respects, are fragile, it is critical to unilateralo side has abdicated. in recent days there have been towardsll steps implementation such as a meeting between the general staff of the russian and ukrainian military of --ine although no agreement was

time, sent talks are to take place.

with nearly a million people displaced by this conflict both within you crane and to neighboring countries, the humanitarian agencies continue up their presence and respond to the growing leads. the united nations is also leading a comprehensive recovery assessment toding conflict affected government ukraine.s in eastern that also includes participation from the european union and bank. continuation of the secretary general's good undersecond general is slated to travel back to ukraine penningew future formation of the new government. mr. president, in conclusion, premise of a new world and

sword southern ukraine's problems in the recent threatens to be overshadowed by the worsening security situation in the east country. nonetheless, the prospect that a oriented rule coalition will be formed, thewering it to move country closer to the path of peace and stability provides an avenue for all to support debilitatingf this conflict. agreement ink question and uncertainty over how much strain the cease-fire we are deeply concerned over the possibility of a return to full scale fighting. alternatively the conflict may simmer in this way for months, sporadic low level battles marked by period of increased furtheries and casualties. aile either scenario would be

catastrophe for ukraine, a third concerning prospect is that of a or protracted conflict. that would en trench the current in southeastern ukraine for years or several come.s to it is our collective responsibility to ensure that none of these scenarios take hold. the only alternative is for the fighting to end, so that all ukrainians can rebuild their lives in a stable and secured country. with ukraine's sovereignty and integrity preserved. the road to the solution is commitment by all concerned parties to the minsk agreement and shared their fullity for and urgent implementation. the united nations also stands ready to support this process in any way deemed appropriate. for your attention.

>> i thank you for your briefing to i now give the floor ambassador -- >> mr. president, i am pleased to have the opportunity to speak council about the current situation in ukraine. monitoring mission has since operated throughout implemented the tasks such as monitoring human .ight, basic freedoms, this month it also includes a dialogue and consultation the regional level. the mission has been designed as observer mission with a political mandate which has approved by 57 participating states. adopted this right from the

start. we welcome the minst documents and the efforts to implement a cease-fire. theecent days, however, level of violence in eastern ukraine and the risk of further escalation remain high. continuedserved s.ghting in many location artillery and mortar shelling often hit presidential areas, causing casualties among civilian population. monitors have on three separate occasions observed trucks, heavy weapons, tanks in areas controlled by groups.

maximum of to the 500 monitors in accordance with our mandate. consistson currently of 266 international mission members from 32 participating states. these 170 are deployed in two regions. mr. president, we have been communicating with all those involved in the process related minsk protocol. ukrainian authorities, representatives of ukraine and engage in the gccc as representatives of certain areas. contacteen in regular colleague.tinguished

security zone would be minsk memd by the memorandum. this has not been accomplished yet. it's a bilateral initiative, entirely separate -- however, strong political will needed to make this structure work. minskf implementing the documents also is to secure the ukrainian-russian state borders. the stretch of the border beyond forces is ukrainian

around 400 kilometers long. in order to increase this capability, they have u.a.v.'s.ivilian since they started operating on 28 october, they have encountered jamming device and have been shot at once. mr. president, now i would like to emphasize the heavy toll which this conflict is taking on the civilian population. are more than 430,000 internally displaced persons inside ukraine, including those from crimea. humanitarianthe crisis, particularly as winter approaches. mr. president, the plan and the minsk documents provide a road normalization.

elections oftary 26 october have brought about a atmosphere.tive this will foster the empowerment of society. ae secure environment remains significant constraint. constant cord nation to ensure proper security personnel. the

they will continue to monitor regions.astern of ukraine. but also to entire regions, up to and at the state border between ukraine and russian federation. to --ey continue a sustainable cease-fire can only be reached by all involved. will continue to cooperate nations onceed

again, we need maximum restraint . monitoringontinue and objective reporting. we ask all concerned to commit implementation of minsk bringnts designed to peace and stability to ukraine. thank you, mr. president, for your attention. >> i thank the ambassador for his briefing. the floor toe ambassador tagliavini. you.ank mr. chairman, lady and gentlemen, i've been in the of ukraine.

the documents of 19 september 2014 continue to be and binding. the two political and legal instruments on which the cease-fire in eastern ukraine and other issues related to the upon.fire are being based it must be acknowledged that fight has stopped by document. but there continues to be fighting at some strategic locations. of them the outskirts of the minsk airport much this fighting

is severe in the use of happy weaponry. is costing the lives of servicemen and civilians. together with many persons severely injured on an almost they basis, not to mention losses in terms of andastructure, facilities, personal property. everything.with there are many who fear even the worsening of the present situation, as we are receiving reports about continuing -- the status of the implement of cease-fire. the question is what must be done to overcome the obvious shortcomings. it goes without saying that the central issue now is to make all signatories are

keeping their commitments, doing good faith. the full respect of the so-called line of contact, forcesing the opposing as the signature minsttories of the documents have also committed to the withdrawal of illegal arm formations.

in this context i wish to underline with all clarity that so-called elections held in certain regions on 2 november of this year were unacceptable and of valid by the government ukraine. and the large majority of the community.al while another signatory of the of respectinge the expression of the will of the population, would you going any further. clear fromn, it is the implementation process of ni --cuments signed in minsk is now at a cross road. one side we have the along someholding sectors. also there's been no new major thetary operations since signing. among further positive results,

the release of hundreds of hostages and illegally detained besons which need to continued. are faceder side, we with examples of blunt disregard commitments. we see the continuation of fighting at a number of places which are covered by the cease-fire. lot ofave also been a proper understanding if not open certain political minsk documents. it is against this background the i repeat my call for strict observance of minskionings of the arrangement. i i also invite all parties to the conflict to join me in an to further develop the peace process by agreeing to

additional elements, .mplementation one of these elements should be dialogue,ve political which may also include discussions with a broad spectrum. urge ebb need for a comprehensive economic evenilitation program, and more so for providing thenitarian assistance to conflict zone population. and last but not least i wish to point out that the sustained cease-fire between the opposing forces will hardly ever be achieved without the complete and firm control of the enter ander between ukraine russia and that additional efforts are needed to reach this

provisionings the of the minsk documents. in completing my remarks, mr. chairman, let me reiterate my firm belief that the conflict in eastern ukraine can be served only by -- peaceful means and at the negotiation table. we see the two agreements signed minsk as milestones on this way. thate effort to achieve implementation i feel united with my friend and distinguished chief monitor of the special monitoring mission. thank you, mr. chairman. >> i thank the ambassador for their briefings and i now give the floor to members of the security council and the first speaker is the united states. >> mr. president, thank you for convening today's session on the ukraine.risis in

assistant secretary general, we thank you for your clear and briefing. are gratefulwe both for your speaking with us today and for the brave and important role of the osce is continuing to play on the ground. security council's 26th meeting on the current crisis in ukraine. message and the message of other countries today on the deteriorating situation in eastern ukraine sound familiar, it is for good reason. haswhile the situation evolved the root of the problem remains the same. flagrant violation of ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity. and again russia has made commitments and failed to live up to them. subsequently offered explanations to this council that it knows are untrue. the most recent example involves the join commitments made by

russia, the separatists it supports and ukraine on minsk.er 5 in includes withdrawal of forces and equipment from ukraine and the release of hostages and prisoners. these have russia or the separatists lived up to their word. minsk all side committed to an immediate cease-fire, yet rather than observe the cease-fire, the separatists have taken advantage of the agreed upon pause in fighting to try to their territory beyond minsk lines. meanwhile ukraine had had full cease-fire along the agreed lines as it defend its forces and population separatists push for more. over the last few days, haveatist attacks increased significantly, including on positions around

the airport and of course near mariopol. at minsk all sigh committed to cease-fire, yet russian back separatists have signals tog interfere with its team members equipments using supplied by moscow. at minsk all side agreed to theanent monitoring at ukrainian russian state border and the creation of a security border, yet rush tohas done nothing reestablish control of the border. russia continues to flowt air space with its helicopters and uav's. it also continues to send so-called humanitarian convoys, not allowat will customs authorities or international monitors to search. all side committed to immediate free all hadn'ts and illegally

persons, yet russians continue to hold approximately 500 captives, including ukrainian pilot and film weretor, both of whom capture by separatists on ukrainian soil and illegally their will against to russia. tominsk russia committed remove all illegal mel trying ukraine, yetom rather than withdrawing military forces from ukraine and rather than cutting off its support for separatists, russia is instead surging more forces and border.t across the the russian military has maintained a for presence in theern ukraine since cease-fire took effect' we have information indicating that a wasian air defense system operating near one of the separatist convoys. russia has not provided this air defense system to separatists to date, suggesting that russian forces were convoy.ng the on november 9 the often s.c.

special monitoring mission reported two convoys of 17 unmarked frein trucks moving line.oward the cease-fire yesterday november 11o.s.c. monitors observed the missouri 43 unmarked military vehicles on the eastern outskirts, five 120-millimeterg howitzers and others multilaunch rocket systems. the columns of russian air defenseanks, systems and combat troops pasting ukraine over the 48 hours. the list goes on, but the pattern is clear. made russia has commitments it has failed to meet them. negotiated a peace plan and undermined it at every step. talks of piece, but it keeps fueling war. backedmber 2 russian separatists held illegal

elections in areas they controlled. the elections contra conveniented the law and sovereignty. if, instead the world saw theylectionings for what al, a shameless attempt to date -- validate territories seized at the point of a gun. rather than condemn the separatist sham election like international community, russia encouraged it. the foreign minuter tried to that the elections were part of the minsk agreements elections thought the be local and conducted in accordance with the law of ukraine. russian and separatist actions in ear ukraine currently have nothing to do with improving the humanitarian situation there or decentralizing power as called for in points 3 and 8 of the protocol. a recent associated press report

the rebel held town, part of the territory that recently fromred independence ukraine, revealed the town was lowed, wholocal war goes by the name of daddy. daddy's power is maintained by a armed cossacks. and four tanks outside his office fly russian and rebel flags. asked where his authority came from, daddy told the a.p. reporter, quote, we are an i believe organization and we don't depend on anyone. i'm answerable only to president putin and our lord, end quote. neighboring village, rebel leaders preside over the kangaroo trials of people accused of crimes. defendants are not given lawyers and their judges are whatever members of the community show up who vote by a simple show of hands. this is what the separatist looks like. we continue to see similar repressive tendencies in russian occupanted crimea where members of the minority have been

the free please murders el. --contrast the free press muzzled. the ukrainian people have chosen leaders who call for deescalation over escalation. first in the presidential election and then this elections.ry ukraine has also put in motion critically important reforms to and grantruption greater authority to its regions through constitutional reform. sought to maintain a cease-fire along the lines established at minsk. the united states continue to support the peace process and its fullto call for implementation. we remain prepared to roll back stops,ns if the fighting the foreign forces equipment are withdrawn and hostages are released. we've said all along that there this military solution to

crisis. the solution, as has been said by the o.s.c. here today and the united nations must be political. with minsk we have a row map to reach that solution. the problem is, can you not reach a political solution if only one to forging it.ed and you cannot effectively implement a road map with who, like the russians and the separatists they back, so squintly fail to keep their word. book.e seen russia's play so the question is not with a russia will try to do in eastern ukraine. is what we the international community will seek to do to prevent yet conflict inen europe, manufactured by russia.

are all that matter. and actions alongside these intentions. the airport has come under attacksy and arms fire four times in the last 24 hours. and in the last day ukrainian are being shelled near near -- places. the actions are not only a threat to the immediate vicinity but also to the international order. you. >> i now give the floor to the of the russian .ederation >> first, i would call upon

colleagues of the security not go beyond council farces. turning them to we carefully listen to the briefings of the a.s.g. on issues.l hang him for the information. -- we thank him for the information. monitorthank the chief thehe o.s.c. as well as representative of the -- we were interested to see the evaluationings of those who are directly working on the ground. and every day make efforts to the easte situation in of the ukraine. however, we think that bringing international players to secure totallymeetings is not appropriate. this distracts them from their andct obligation politicizes practical activities.

of the invitation was actually this, as confirmed by statementsrd in today by a number of council our -- who used mr. president the situation remains tense, of course. the cease-fire regime is not fully being compliant with the of heavy weaponry and begun.nt hasn't on the contrary, over the past period the cease-fire is actually turning into a concentration of ukrainian front andng the indeed this con send -- of ukrainian forces is being done where the are forced to protect. as a result there are clashes

between the parties and killed every day, in particular in territories controlled by the you'd yainian -- ukrainian armed forces. pier theshelling airport. from this region a mine was and this was confirmed by monitors and it it fell to a soccer feed at a school where two children were killed and wounded. in the russian language there is only one truth, it only occur in the plural form, however lies do. and given the ignoring of the it's actually logical that rebels would seek to

strengthen their positions in are constantly under attack from armed forces. suchuld seem that there is that --f rebels in kiev (inaudible). declarations about russians sending weapons and members of the regular army. we are also hearing broad nato regardingom the sending of convoys and russian fighters from russia. but that isn't actually reflecting the situation on the ground. statements and the usual -- in the current conditions the subject of the attention and is easily amongstd from space other things. unfortunately we have to

recognize that we're discouraged the lack of a response o.s.c. mission. and other regions who have their own fathers or daddies. to whom they are .ccountable group ofe) again a armed forces on 7 november from tanksstern area, 32 , 15 antiaircraft, six

volley fire.ems of a tank convoy entered. are these things not being talked about. there'so be clear that a lack of information about this in the o.s.c. report. rectified.s will be sir, we believe there's a need for full and careful compliance to the minsk agreement. critical issues stating genuine cease-fire, which would be complied with by both side. s. equal importance are thee items regarding inclusive dialogue, measures for improving the humanitarian and economic situation. but here the ukrainian authorities are doing nothing. concerned about the

president's decision to annull a special status for certain regions. pin of thee lynch minsk agreement, which now have been totally nulled. hadlaw wasn't ideal and it a legitimate limitation. election, 7 december, wasn't agreed upon with representatives and was in violation of the constitution of ukraine. however, the law could have become a foundation for further talks between kiev and the rebels. kiev also didn't implement an of thent provision agreement, an amnesty law. not enter into -- asking for an annulment of the law.

instead of measures to rebuild, hasukrainian government decided on a new order, financing for the budgets and pension payments. all of these things were actually just canceled. could the average, what kind of trust could the average have in the goch when they are daily being bombed and resist.wed to and here we reswrek any allegations against russia regarding the sending of humanitarian convoys with food and medication. materials.g these are just strained given the situation. convoys are sent the contents are always reported fully and completely. and unfortunately the people in thee regions depend on convoys and the people don't seem to be concerned for the

all.nment at now regarding november's elections, a number of delegations have expressed strange emotions about these elections, as if they weren't democratic. but i'd like to underscore the following. the russian federation respects demonstration of the will of the people of the southeast. organizedonings were and there was a high turnout. most important is that the representatives received a mandate for resolving tasks,.l there's no threat to the minsk this process. and there's an opportunity for between theialogue authorities and representatives. speak comprehensive political solutions and dealing with the backlog of disagreements. there's no alternative to

dialogue, in a respectable basis. was spoke about in spring, it's time for them to uphold obligation, all the more so that there are frameworks for negotiations, thank you. >> i thank the representative of the russian federation for his statement. i shall now make a statement in my capacity as the representative of australia. our briefers today. including from the o.s.c.e., in great confidence for its indispensable monitoring wee on the ground and welcome ukraine's permanent representative. the assistant secretary general told the protocolsat the minsk were not being fully impolicemenned and that the being violated regularly, causing vile loss life. the securityhow situation was hampering the return and settlement of

persons,y displaced which was becoming increasingly usual ebt with the onset of winter. report was of concern then, that the situation in eastern deterioratedow much further. as the assistant secretary general has just told us, and i quote, the cease-fire is under serious strain. minsk is in jeopardy. one of of aambassadors spoke of thebulb disregard for commitments under take then minsk. of russiann reports supplied reenforcement including heavy weapons and tanks moving the front lines in eastern ukraine. the chief minister, chief monitor has just described three sightings by o.s.c. monitors of such convoys. we must also be seriously concerned that these further escalations in eastern ukraine

russia's ongoing violations picturely --ol, particularly its refusal to personnel.s and the osce has been prevented monitoringed akuwaitly the russian troops again appear to be massing in big numbers. the border isure a threat to peace. this is all ominously reminiscent of the situation prior to russia's purported annexation of crimea. seen this positioning before. these recent developments come against the back drop of so-called elections in eastern ukraine. swritment sue do -- electionste psuedo rejected.

australia welcomes the parliamentary let ex-s that were held on 26 october. forward to working with the new government of ukraine. it is wrong of course that people in crimea ask many in the separatist controlled territories in eastern ukraine were unable to exercise their right to vote. and we commend ukrainian efforts to for their en franchise as many people as nobl these difficult circumstances. the jordannian represent itch a few moments ago mentioned the risk from the deteriorating security situation to access to the m817 crash site.

that australiae remains determined to do all it can to bring those responsible downing of ma17 to justice. a are committed to making full international return to the mh17 crash site, when it is safe company ofd in the our dutch and malaysian partners. we appreciate russian president putin's confirmation to australian prime minister abbott meeting ings beijing, of russia's commitment resolution,il's 2166 which we all adopted in july, including its support for full, thorough and independent international investigation interest the cause and for ensuring complete access for international experts to the crash site. this can, however, only happen if russian backed and russian separatists come fly with the cease-fire. more broadly, adherence to the pier and commitments made in the minsk protocol is

move to a lasting political solution in ukraine, which must be base on respect ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. but without general gin engagement from russia this plan will obviously come to nothing. rootbrings us back to the cause of the deteriorating security situation in ukraine. russia's persistent campaign of deliberate destabilization. actions are continuing to fuel the unrest and are undermining ukraine's territorial sovereignty. the russian economy is already paying a heavy price for that action. any further actions can only inevitably lead to even greater consequences for russia. there is a clear path forward to end the violence in eastern ukraine. withdraw all support to the separatists, remove all fromersonnel and assets ukraine and engage in genuine dialogue with you'd yain. and the -- ukraine much and the osce must

beyond andto do its monitor the border. russia's continued refusal to heed the international community's call to deescalate crisis can only lead to russia's further isolation. thank you. i now resume my function as president of the council. and i give the floor to the representative of ukraine. mr. president. distinguished members of the security council. i would like to start by all the, for all the politicaln, from your observation and to my colleagues him i would like to thank the secure council for oning responded to my letter november 7 and convened today's ming.

in this letter i drew attention dangerously deteriorating security situation this the east ourkraine that threatens territorial integrity and has a transform the conflict and thus continues to be a challenge to peace and stability in europe and beyond. i would like to use this of younity to thank all for your solidarity you demonstrated today and before, , and --constant support remains devoted to the settlement of the conflict means. diplomatic the senior representatives of --aine, this group held several meetings including those in minsk.

agreements reaped aat these meetings, of 5 and st september respectively were supposed to become an important step towards sustainable mutually agreed secureire, a russia-ukraine border and return ofpeace and stability ukraine with the establishment of a special zone which is to be a strong local self government under the ukrainian law. agreementsto implementation was confirmed during the high level meeting in milan on the 17th of october where the present russian federation participated. despite the claims the separatists and the russian sponsoron as their continue to grossly voil late the provisions of minsk agreementings. the u. n. secretary general expressed his disappointment and called on them to fulfill their

obligationings. agree with russian colleagues the, thetold about not have adoes plural as well as the wore lie. a multiface feature. in this regard i would like to draw your attention to a few major points concerning the minskion of the agreements. point, we agreed in minsk about peed bilateral cease withdrawal of illegal armed groups, military equipment as well as fighters and the territoryom of ukraine. ?hat happened instead

since the 5 of september and civilianses have been shelled over 2,800 times. killed, andere wounded. there have been at least 65 lost their lives. many of those inspired by russia set up thefforts to touch line and still conduct trying tooperations extend the area under their control. recruitment and training of militants takes place in the areas which are out of ukrainian government control,. offensive is expected in number of location as long the touch line. we cannot exclude an attempt to corridor from russia crimea.rarily occupied the other evidence of the violation of the agreement is the large amount of heavy

and low risk personnel in field which after 5 september entered ukraine from the russian territory. armngerous group of illegal amount supplies from russia was and during ukraine, the last couple days. ukrainianmber, authorities have detected a large scale movement of heavy the russianm ukraine. to 16 howitzers and 30 trucks with and ammunition. november, a, two columns of 50 fully headed almost every truck had utility point in tow. transported --

day, three carried radio location stations across border. yesterday they received a report of 43 trucks. rocket was spotted in one town. withal russian convoys heavy weapons are registered littery every day. delegation previously insisted that their government not provide any military assistance to the separatists in ukraine. that someone else state, tanks, guns

and supplies to the illegal armed groups in ukraine. means that somebody else in russia has aircraft and planning to and are vile late our state air border. russian delegationings copy saying that russian armed forces neverlitary equipment crossed the borders of ukraine much does this mean that it is government of russia who control their side of the joint border, but someone else who permit crossing of military convoys. andear many times, here from moscow about the readiness to move the troops from the ukraine. today we have all of the cause it.o but ukraine is surrounded by a

of arm amounts and the troops. we demand from russia now and to explain why they need to keep our borders, 200 tanks, 1,600 vehicles. unit.e artillery 191 attack aircraft. 171 attack helicopters. never got ane him.nation it's also a matter concern for ukraine. , for officialed

consent of the ukrainian site, it completing the necessary procedures. result, coordinating with the international committee and base ofy the representatives. the last so-called humanitarian the state border of ukraine on the 31st of november, 4th november much we demand the usingn federation to stop the military aid as a cover for supplies for troops, mercenaries weapons. do observepaganda this cease-fire regime, they exert every effort to use military actions and use weapons case of attacks.

waronly reason why the open of ukraine hasn't staryted -- started yet is because of ukraine's restraint. russia to do the same. to ensure the monitoring and the cease-fire, of the we also agree to ensure the theanent verification of ukrainian-russian border. creation of -- alles inas rendered assistance for the special monitoring commission in ukraine to implement this mandate. russia supported mill tan did guaranteessecurity to the o.e.c. person mel to all areas they control and systematically disrupt the monitoring activities. more over in order to high

theirville layingses, russian military used cutting end electronic warfare to jam the drones. those efforts in spite of the minst agreements. the rur shan side also refused to join the con send shus on the opposed extension. the whole length of the border in the area.

why such a stark difference in ukraine's and russia's approaches can play in the current situation? ukraine is open to transimportant monitoring and control. russia and their pockets are not. third point. the agreement moves to adopt a law of ukraine provisional arrangement in some areas. more on the special status. nd to ensure the improvisions, the mentioned law was adopted by ukraine parliament on 16 september. according to this law local areas >> scheduled for december 7. and were intended to produce legitimate local governance which would make proper use of

enhanced powers engaged into the dialogue and ensure reconstruction the loss severely suffered from military activist of armed groups. saying that ukraine rejects any rumors about alleged additional agreements on that issue. what was agreed was signed. what was signed was published, including the oec press releases. on the 2nd of november russia-backed terrorist held elections. these elections were conducted in violation of ukraine and legislation and international standards and contrary to articles 3rd and 9th of the mincic protocols bifment opting to recognize the illegal and i

will legitimate elections, choose to violate time and again the norms of international law. fundamental principles and commitments. change to act in breach of the mincic agreements. we are very much concerned by the position of the russian federation which manipulates with the rights of the people's self-determination. crimea in it has as the and now the one and only priority to create conflicts in sovereign states as well as interests. that is why ukraine as well as the international community will never recognize the elections in the area. d whatever outcomes of these elections. ukraine has already expressed

its deep concern of violation of the agreements and ring leaders it controls in the east of ukraine. as gal elections continue well as a sharp increase in illegal supplies by the russian federation of weapons and equipment across the border has seriously undermined the peace settlement. it signals the crush of those significants who do not keep its word. nevertheless kiev continued to obvoif the ceasefire in line with agreements and called all involved in the process to safely resume settlement efforts. we tried to make use of full possible mechanisms to forge a position. we call on russia, e.u., and the united states to meet together in the geneva format in order to give a clear and consolidated message as well as

strong interest to parties involved to strictly add here to the letter and spirit of the agreements. however, we will not yield to russia's attempt to induce recognition of the arena of ring leaders by inviting them to this meeting. we keep demanding the russian federation to stop backing illegally armed groups, to strictly comply with the agreements by withdrawing its military forces, establishing joint customs and border control as well as releasing all ukrainian hostages captured by russian forces and their proxies. we keep calling on this council to finally assume its charters for the peace and security. so as to putin. i thank you, president.

>> i thank the representative of ukraine for his statement. the representative of the russian federation has asked for the floor to make a further statement and i give him the floor. >> thank you, mr. president. i don't want to engage in controversy with the p.r. of ukraine, but i do want to call attention to a few things. and i repeat, of course the ceasefire normalization of the situation, leads to a key task, but there needs to be trust for this. and so here is the deal. when we hear statements from your representatives who have been in the end of october, the beginning of november, recent days, we're sure that kiev is committed to a diplomatic solution of the conflict. or not. from the very beginning it seems that the kiev authorities

have made no secret of the fact that the ceasefire would actually be used to regroup armed forces and result in military tasks. there's only one truth, i would like to quote two quotes, the first from your advisor to the president of the ukraine on 24 october. that was before the elections. on the road the ukrainian radio, his words. the ceasefire and achieving peace are going to work in our favor. the four tank factories are working around the clock. several hundreds of armed vehicles have entered the anti-terrorist operation area. the ceasefire regime is something we need to receive high-tech equipment and financing from the west. the adviser to the head of the federal securities services

also on the national radio and on 7 november, earlier or later, which we're going to have to enter into very active activities so as to resolve the situation that three or four years are going to be needed. we can win this war based on he croatian scenario in 1990 croatia began the war and it ended as a result of special operations. as we can see there's not a single word of the implementation of the agreement, just about a victory on the battlefield. the second thing i would say, some activities or actions do not help the situation from your side. for example, it's a very serious matter about the limitations and territoryal

agreement is about 80%. and then in october with the signing of the paper the ukrainian representative general demansic annulled this. was was 80% of the clash agreed upon and then annulled. and then directly here and right now asking for the answer to the question, why hundreds -- several hundreds of units, equipment, military equipment -- of russia is being concentrated on the border. i can't answer first because i don't know if that's true. those are horrific numbers. they're very striking even to me. i could respond to that question in a more specific manner, but you will agree that the equipment enforce -- and forces, which the russian armed forces have armed the territory

of my country and they are not threatening yours. they are not moving from my country. and so inciting such emotions on the security council as if there's going to be some huge attack on ukraine, that really doesn't help our constructive discussions which we are all advocating here. thank you. >> i thank the representative of the russian federation for his statement. and i think the representative of ukraine has asked for the floor. >> thank you mr. president. i don't want to continue any kind of a dialogue because it is going nowhere. just to remind the russian colleague in russian. think of one of the famous russian writers. >> there's one truth for everyone. everyone has their own truth.

but real truth, there's only one. >> the problem is that you have .uoted two of advisers to and about the trust. i don't have the quoteation but all of us do remember three of the times your president promised the whole community, even the last time it was the decision to with draw the roops. lying about what's going on, from where the arguments are coming from, from the rebel russian army or from somebody else in russia. this is the question that i must think about the position of your leadership. why, despite the promises, the around 39,000 people alongside the ukrainian borders, they are still there

despite the promises. this is about the trust. how we can come back if we lost the confidence. advisers to ship setting something. but your leadership promised, and here we are still there. i will give you the figures. they are not secret because they are coming from different sources. and please, you may brief your colleagues in any format convenient for you but this is what we have. from different sources. and the question is, that o.e.c. keeps demanding within agreements your part, too, in all of this that we are to inform about the exercise zone. what the troops are doing, they're exercising since february or march this year. and no explanation.

this is about trust. thank you. >> i thank the representative of ukraine for that statement. there are no more names inscribed on the list of speakers. before concluding i would like to thank assistant secretary general and ambassadors for their briefings, especially given the late hour in kiev and the demands on both of them on the ground. thank you. the security council has thus concluded the present stage of its conversation of the item on its agenda. the meeting is adjourned.

>> bob la follow et is probably the most important figure in wisconsin history and one of the most important in the history of the 20th century in the united states. he was a reforming governor. he defined what progressivism is. he was one of the first to use the term progressive to self-identify. he was a united states senator who was recognized by his peers in the 1950s as one of the five greatest senators in american history. he was an opponent of world war one, stood his ground

advocating for free speech. above all, bob was about the people. in the era after the civil war, america changed radically from a nation of small farmers and small producers and small administerers, -- manufacturers, and by the late 1870s, we had concentrations of wealth, we had growing inequament, and we had concern about the influence of money in government. so he sfent later part of the 1890's giving speeches all over wisconsin. if you wanted a speaker for your club or your group, bob would give a speech. he went to county fairs, he went to every kind of event that you could imagine and built a reputation for himself. 1900, he was ready to run for governor, advocating on

behalf of the people. and he had two issues. one, the direct primary. no more selecting candidates at convention. two, stop the interests. specifically, the railroads. >> health and human services secretary testified at a senate hearing about the federal government's efforts to prevent the spread of the ebola virus and protect americans from the virus. a new york doctor who worked in west africa was recorrectly released -- recently released from the hospital. this hearing is 2 hours, 45

minutes. [ gavel bangs ] >> good afternoon, everybody. the full committee of the appropriations committee will come to order. the purpose of today's hearing is on the united states' government response to fighting ebola and protecting the united states of america. today, we will hear what we are doing and we will hear what resources are needed to do that fight. first of all, the -- congratulations are in order to some of our checks who have won

we want to acknowledge senator reid and senator con's victory and on this side, we want to acknowledge the victory of senator cochran and senator collins and we want to congratulate them and note the -- note their victory. today is a day where we really have to pay attention to an international and national challenge that we are examining. a look at an infectious horrific disease that is wasting a key continent in west africa and also threatening the united states of america. but for me, this will be the last full committee hearing that i will chair. before we go into the substance and i make my statement, i want

to thank senator shelby and his staff for the wonderful way that we have been able to work together and though we will exchange gavels, we will also continue to exchange the views in the way we have. i have found in senator shelby and on the other side of the aisle, always a tone of civility and candor and an ability to, in this committee, to try to try to work together and find common ground to deal with america's problems in a way that achieves sound results and to do it in a way that's affordable. i think that's characteristic of our committee and i hope that as we move ahead, that we will continue to do so. i would also particularly note senator cochran, who chaired this committee before and who also, during the time of senator inouye's passing, was a very

important bridge to help me as senator shelby and i both moved into new rules and senator, i'm going to acknowledge your graciousness and wisdom. so, we are about to, on january 3rd, change who controls the united states senate. but until now, this committee's chaired my me and i look forward to working with my colleagues to deal with really moving what i hope will be an omnibus and that we, on december 11th, will not be voting on a cr, but be voting on an omnibus that meets our fiscal 2015 responsibilities and also deals with the urgent need that we are going to hear today. i'm deeply concerned about ebola and, of course, so is all of america, both at home and abroad. i think there's a national consensus that agrees that we need to contain the disease and we need to eradicate it. and also, face very clearly the

fear that it generates. now, the epidemiology tells us that there have been 13,500 cases of ebola in west africa. here in the united states of america, there are currently no cases of ebola and we look forward for that to be ratified or correct by our esteemed panelists. however, the united states of america has treated nine, n-i-n-e patients with ebola, two have contracted it in texas, the west africa. eight have recovered, one, regrettably, has passed away. so, there have been nine in america, 13,500 in west africa. the situation is serious. and it means that all of government has to respond in a way to do so.

my strong suggestive principles are this, first, we must fight the disease at its epicenter in west africa, in liberia, guinea and sierra leone. we also want to look at the countries contiguous to these three areas that has not spread beyond these three countries. we want to use the expertise of the department of state, usaid, cdc, dod, nih, fda, any government agency that can play a role in making the world, west africa safe and us safe is where -- what we want to do. the second principle is we must protect america and we must do it at your points of entry. and finally, in looking at our country, we need to utilize the best science and employ our public health and public health safety agencies in a way that's effective that's the center for disease control, state and local health departments and

scientists developing vaccines and treatments at nih and approving their safety and efficacy at fda. as we look at what government's going to do, i want to thank the people, both in our own country and all over the world, that have really been working on this. doctors and nurses, lab technicians, disease detectives, aid workers, soldiers from our own defense department, working shoulder to shoulder in africa and also working at our border, and our ports of entry here and in our own country. in these important agencies, usaid, state, cdc, hih, fda, ever and of course, our ever had-ready military. there have also been very wonderful volunteers that were willing to go to the danger zone and we want to thank them for their role that they played in west africa. we also want to thank those in

our own country who though not called upon places like university of maryland and johns hopkins in my own community were ready to be able to deal with this. i'm glad today to have witnesses from our major government agencies to present testimony. ordinarily, protocol calls for the most senior cabinet member to testify first. in my usual kind of out-of-the-box way of thinking, i'm going to deal with the problem rather than focus on protocol. you know, sometime in the senate, there's a lot of pomp and circumstance. i'm gonna dispel with the pomp and get to the right circumstances. so the way we have organized the testimony is to really start internationally to hear from the department of state and then mr. lumpkin from the department of defense, then going to our ports of entry, then with silvia burrell, who will be here to talk about hhs. we will hear from deputy

secretary of state heather higgin bottom, accompanied by nancy anymore berg of usid who will tell us how are we going to do this in west of a nick ka and how are we going to do it not only in those three countries but in the contiguous countries. we are then going to turn to assistant secretary of defense, mr. michael lump kin. we know that's the official ebola coordinator designated by secretary hagel and he's accompanied by major james laravair. then we will hear from secretary jeh johnson to discuss america's ports of entry. then from secretary health and human services, silvia burrell, accompanied by dr. freiden of cdc and dr. anthony fauci of nih. and then we say to drs. fauci and friedman, mr. lindberg, vet good general who's here, we will ask you to join us after they testify to be able to answer

questions from really this robust participation that we have. opening statements will be from the four witnesses. now, we have before us an administration request to contain and fight ebola. an emergency spending request of $6.2 billion. because the ebola, in my mind, meets the criteria for emergency spending. it's sudden, unanticipated, unforeseen, urgent and temporary. the request includes funds from the state department and u.s. id for $2.9 billion. the department of defense to develop technologies to fight ebola and shorten vaccine development, $112 million. the department of health and human services to contain ebola, both with cdc in west africa and remember, cdc is both here in our country and also in west africa. to also fortify, strengthen domestic capacity to treat ebola

with treatment centers available in every state and the appropriate personal protective equipment for caregivers, like our very valued and treasured nurses. we also have money in here to develop new tests for treatment and vaccines, which would be a total of 3.12 billion for hhs. so, state is talking about 2.9 billion. hhs 3.12 billion. 112 for department of defense and right now, homeland security says it's okay but it needs a lot of flexibility. now the reason i talk about my colleagues to focus on not only the money, but on funding in an emergency, i say to my colleagues, we face infectious disease emergencies before. one under president bush in 2006 and the other in 2009 under president obama. we worked on a bipartisan basis

to do this. in 2009, we were faced with the h 191 -- h1n1 flu epidemic. we provided 6.4 billion and designated that as emergency spending. the bipartisan emergency response in 2009 mired what he we did to help president bush, again, bipartisan basis, when we faced avian flu when at that time, congress responded with 6.1 billion in emergency funding. so, we have done this before when we have been faced with an emergency related to infectious disease. i would hope that we would follow the models that we have used in the past. today, we live in a world that's free from smallpox, that cut polio cases by 99%.

now we have to tackle the new diseases and we have to have a strong worldwide public health effort, vaccines to prevent diseases, therapeutics to treat diseases, the people and the infrastructure to do that. we have also invited, in addition to government, we have asked for the american hospital association, crucial ntos, and also schools of public health, like the bloomberg school and may own state of johns hopkins to submit testimony. i want to acknowledge that we have got 56 submissions already and we will definitely pay attention to them. the common themes are sustained investment is needed in public health, both at home and abroad and emergency money is needed in the short term. so, that kind of lays out the framework for the hearing. i look forward to the testimony and now i turn to my colleague, senator shelby. >> thank you -- thank you, madam

chair. today as the chairperson has laid out, we will discuss the administration's $6 billion request to address the ebola outbreak, both domestically and in west africa. given the size of the request, the slow progress in detaining plans for how the money will be spent and some of the missteps made so far, careful oversight and scrutiny. as we have seen in recent week, the vast majority of american health care professionals have little to no experience with this virus. the appearance of the disease on our shores can have devastating consequences for our health care system and our society at large. consequently, it is the fundamental responsibility, i believe, of the federal government, to respond effectively to this crisis. every prudent step must be taken to protect the american people. instead of an effective

response, what we have witnessed, i believe these past few months from various agency has been confusing and at times contradictory plans. for example, the cdc's guidance to hospitals has been a moving target. this uncertainty may have exposed health care professionals to unnecessary risks. the administration also has sent mixed messages on the issue of quarantine. while the president has discouraged straight quarantine rules, defense secretary hagel has prudently put in place a 21-day mandatory quarantine for troops returning from west africa. in addition, the administration did not call for enhanced airport screenings for travelers entering the u.s. from west africa until months after the epidemic became severe. it still remains to be seen whether these cursory screenings will be effective. not surprisingly, americans have been frustrated by the lack of

clarity and coordination within their government. even though the president has named a so-called ebola czar to coordinate a response, all reports indicate that he has no actual authority to direct government agencies here. from the beginning of this outbreak, the administration has appeared to be preparing for only the best case scenario. competent crisis planning must include contingencies for the worst case scenario as well. therefore, i think we should not rule out any reasonable options to prevent the reintroduction of ebola in the u.s., including travel and visa restrictions. if the history of disease outbreaks has taught us anything, it is that things can change quickly and without warning. therefore, federal agencies must be ready to aggressively implement a clear and organized strategy. it is my hope that today's

witnesses can assure this committee and the american people that the president has a plan, that the funds he has requested are necessary to execute it, but we will wait our testimony. thank you, madam chair. >> mr. shelby, thank you. ms. higgin bottom, i'm going to ask you to start and then we will go down the line. >> chairwoman mikulski, ranking member shelby and distinguished members of the senate appropriations committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the u.s. department of state and u.s. aid emergency request for assistance to combat the ongoing ebola epidemic. i'm pleased to be accompanied by nancy limb bourg, usaid assistant administrator for the bureau of democrat circumstance conflict and humanitarian assistance who is helping to lead usaid a response on the ground. madam chairwoman, i have submitted to the committee a detailed statement for the record and in the interest of

time, i will briefly summarize my statement here. the ebola epidemic in west africa has already resulted in over 14,000 ebola infected persons and over 5,000 deaths. while liberia, sierra leone and guinea have borne the brunt of the epidemic, we have also seen cases in mali, nigeria, senegal and spain. and of course, isolated cases in the united states highlight the u.s. national security implications of this national epidemic. the department of state and usaid are working in concert with agencies represented at this hearing today and alongside our global partners to stop the spread of the ebola virus at its source. the state and u.s. aid strategy to eradicate ebola in west africa rests upon four pillars, controlling the epidemic, managing the secondary consequences of the outbreak, building coherent leadership in operations and ensuring global health security.

state and u.s. aid have taken immediate action within existing resources to begin implementing this strategy. u.s. aid deployed a disaster assistance response team or a darth team to lead the u.s. response on the ground in all three affected countries. secretary kerry create and ebola coordination unit to drive our diplomatic efforts to raise international contributions. over $1 billion in bilateral commitments and near lids 800 million commitments to the u.n. have already been made as a result of these efforts, alongside our colleagues across those of government, we are beginning to see results but it is important to recognize that the epidemic is not yet controlled and that the number of cases will continue to grow. it's clear that we must intensify and scale our efforts to eradicate the epidemic and to do so will require additional resources. the department of state and usaid are jointly requesting $2.9 billion to end the epidemic

at its source in west africa, including $2.1 billion in base funding to meet immediate needs and $792 million in contingency funding to address emerging requirements as the epidemic evolves. $1.3 billion in base funding will be directed to the first pillar of our response strategy, controlling the outbreak. these resources will support the construction, staffing and operation of up to 20 ebola treatment units and establish and staff up to 150 community care locations in ruralal and hard-to-reach areas in the region. this funding will also be used to scale up contact tracing, train and mobilize health care workers and safe burial teams and remen nish vital logistics and supplies, including personal protective equipment. our base request also includes $388 million to support the second pillar of our response strategy, mitigating second order impacts.

ebola has decimated the health system's infrastructure within these three countries and has wreaked half vong on local economies. we are particularly concerned about food security. the usaid funded famine early warning systems network has issued an alert that a major food crisis is expected to occur in 2015 if the epidemic proceeds through march. our funding request seeks to counter these destructive consequences, which if left unchecked, will undermine our efforts to combat ebola at the source and could create instability in the region. our base request includes $77 million to support the third pillar of our response strategy, coherent leadership and operations. these funds are critical to expanding the department's medical support and evacuation capacity in the region and for supporting key diplomatic operations, such as ebola coordination unit and the usaid staff engaged in the ebola response. finally, our base request for the fourth pillar of the

strategy, ensuring global health security in west africa includes $62 million to support pandemic preparedness and strengthen public health systems in liberia, sierra leone and guinea and 278 million to prevent the spread of ebola to other vulnerable nations through the global health security agenda. in sum, our emergency request will allow state and usaid to scale up our existing efforts across all pillars of the response strategy. we are seeing some promising signs on the ground, but it is clear that the epidemic is not yet controlled. these resources are imperative to eradicating the ebola outbreak at its source, which is the most effective way of protecting americans here at home. thank you for your time and i look forward to your questions. >> mr. lump kin? >> chairwoman mikulski, ranking member shelby and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today regarding the department of defense's role in the united states comprehensive ebola response efforts, which is

a national security priority in response to a global threat. due to the united states military's unique capabilities, the department has been called upon to provide interim solutions that will allow other departments and agencies the time necessary to expand and deploy their own capabilities. the united states military efforts are also galvanizing a more robust and coordinate international effort, which is seeming to contain this threat and reduce human suffering. before address the specific elements of the dod's response efforts i would like to share my -- and increasing response. after recently visiting liberia, i was left with a number of overarching impressions that are shaping the department's role as we support usaid. first, our government has deployed a top-notch team experienced in dealing with disasters and humanitarian assistance. second, the liberian government is doing what it can with its

very limited resources. third, the international response is increasing rapidly due to our government's response efforts. fourth, i traveled to the region thinking we faced a health care crisis with a logistics challenge. in reality, we face a logistics crisis focused on a health care challenge. fifth, speed and scaled response matter. incremental response -- responses will be outpaced by this dynamic epidemic. finally, the ebola epidemic we face is truly a national security issue. absent our government's coordinated response in west africa, the virus spread brings the risk of more cases here to the united states. i'd like to now turn my attention to dod's role in our nation's ebola response efforts in west africa and here at home. in mid-september, president obama order the department to undertake military operations in west africa in direct support of

usaid. secretary hagel directed the u.s. military forces undertake a two-fold mission. first, support usaid in an overall u.s. government effort and the second is respond to department of state requests for security or evacuation assistance if required. great patient care of ebola exposed patients in west africa is not part of dod's mission. secretary hagel approved unique military activities falling under four lines of effort, command and control, logistic support, engineering support, and training assistance. in the last eight weeks, dod has undertaken a number of synchronized activities in support of these lines of effort to include designating a named operation, operation united assistance, establishing an intermediate staging base into senegal. providing strategic and tactical airlift. constructing a 25-bed hospital in monrovia.

constructing 12 ebola treatment units in liberia. training local and third country health care support personnel, enabling them to serve as first responders and etus, ebola treatment unit, throughout liberia. in all circumstances, the protection of our personnel and the preservation of any additional transmission of this disease remain paramount planning factors there is no higher operational priority than protecting our department of defense personnel. dod has also increased support to the departments of health and human service and homeland security, the league agencies for ebola response in the united states, by activating a medical support team that can rap midly augment the centers of disease control convention and capabilities anywhere in the country. we have longer term assignments to combat ebola, requesting $112 million for the defense advance research project agency, darpa,

in this emergency funding request. the $112 million for darpa will support intermediate efforts aimed at technologies relevant to the ebola crisis. this includes new research focused on utilizing the antibodies of ebola survivors to provide temporary immunity for infected patients and the accelerated development and testing of new ebola vaccines and diagnostics. these efforts complement existing development at the national institutes of health and the defense threat reduction agency. with more than 50 years of experience successfully developing technology to develop seemingly impossible goals, darpa is uniquely positioned to fulfill a critical role within the whole of government response to contain and eliminate the ebola outbreak. because darpa's approaches to these research and developments die verge from conventional avenues, they have a real potential to produce game-changing advances in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of ebola. in conclusion, we have a

comprehensive u.s. government response and increasingly, a coordinated international response. the department of defense's interim measures are an essential element of the u.s. response to late necessary groundwork for the international community to mobilize its response capabilities. with that, i would like to introduce my colleague behind me, major general jim laravair, the joint staffs director for political military affairs with regard to africa. the general and myself look forward to answering your questions. thank you. >> secretary johnson? >> thank you, chairman mikulski, senator she will business you have my prepared statement. let me just mention a couple of things in my five minutes. first, we all agree that the thing necessary to -- that the key priority is ensuring the safety of the american puchbl i agree with chairman mckulski that first and foremost that

means fighting the disease at its epicenter. let me mention a couple of things about screening we are doing with regard to passengers who may come to the united states from the three affected countries. first of all, we have the authority to issue do not board orders to air passengers who may seek to travel here from the three affected countries. we have, in fact, used that authority on occasion to prevent people from leaving the three affected countries to come to the united states. we have, in fact, used that authority already if we have reason to believe the person might be infected with the virus. the second thing i would like to mention is that in the affected countries with our assistance and advice, they have put in place screening to screen outbound passengers from the three affected countries. that includes taking temperatures and other

mechanisms. fourth, we have worked with the airlines that fly from those countries to our country. i have personally engaged airline ceos about the ebola virus. i know that cdc issued guidance to the air lines about flight crews and cleaning cargo and cargo personnel. there are no longer any direct flights from the three affected countries into the united states. there was at one point, there is no longer. to fly from the three affected countries to the united states, you have to get on one of a handful of flights that go through transit airports, mostly brussels, paris and morocco. at one point in may, the number of flights leaving any of these three countries to any place in the world is over 400. some data to suggest that month to month, it is about 600. it is now down to about somewhere between 100 and 150 flights in an entire month from

those three countries to any place in the world. the number of passengers daily that fly from those he affected countries into the united states used to be an average of about 150 per day. that is it fluctuates significantly day to day, some days, i look at the numbers daily, some days, it's as many as 100 or 75 or a little over 100. some days, like today, for example, it's just five or six much the averagesing? now about less than 100 on handful of commercial flights. we have set up enhanced screening at the five airports that were receiving approximately 95% of the itinerary passengers coming from those three countries. they are newark, jfk, dull less,

atlanta and chicago. that enhanced screening, as you probably know, involves a passenger declaration, enhanced questioning and taking their temperature and asking for and looking for symptoms of the ebola virus. that screening, to date, has received approximately 2,000 passengers. we have also identified through our questioning by our customs inspectors, a number of people who have flown indirectly from the three countries. they, too, have been submitted for enhanced screening. and on october 22nd, we used our authority to effectively funnel everyone coming from the three affected countries into those five airports that are conducting the enhanced screening. the other thing i will say is that at every port of entry at this point, land, sea or air, we are prepared to engage in

secondary screening. if we identify somebody from the three affected countries who may have the ebola virus, guidance has gone out to our customers personnel. we have put in place protocols for people who may be arriving by vessel. we have authority to identify people from the last five ports of call if any of those are from the three affected countries. we put in place protocols there. we continually evaluate whether more is necessary. so i look forward to your questionings. thank you very much. >> thank you. secretary burwell. >> chairwoman mikulski, ranking member she will business thank you all and committee members for inviting me here today to discuss the department of health and human services response to the ebola epidemic and our request for funding. as you know, we are deeply focused on domestic preparedness and since the first cases of ebola were reported in west africa in march of 2014, the

united states has mounted a whole of government approach to protect the american people and to contain and eliminate the epidemic at its source. at hhs, this response involves close coordination and collaboration of the national institutes of health, the centers for disease control, of the food and drug administration, of the office of global affairs, the office of the assistant secretary for preparedness and the office that has the u.s. public health service commission corps, which i think everyone knows has deployed to the region and i'm blessed today to be joined by both dr. freiden and dr. fauci today, who will join me as part of the questioning. we believe we have the right strategy in place, both at home and abroad. and the strategy is designed around four core principles. the first is to strengthen our domestic preparedness and while

we may see additional cases, we are confident that we can limit the number of cases in the united states. second, to stop the epidemic at its sources in west africa, as my colleagues have discussed, that, in turn, will protect our homeland. third, we need to alaska sell rate the research and development of vaccines, rapid diagnostics and theraputics so that we work on the crisis right now as well as think about preventing future crises in the future. and fourth, we need to invest in our public health capacity around the world through the global health security agenda. this is something that was started before the ebola epidemic but it is something that i think we see the incredible importance of right now. this preparation, in turn will help prepare the u.s. as part of the strategy, the administration is taking a number of actions and some of

these actions are delivering results. for example, we are hearing encouraging news from the hospitals that have treated ebola patients, as was reflected in the chairman's testimony, eight of nine individuals treated so far have survived. second, we have seen signs that our screening and monitoring system is working. recently in oklahoma, north carolina, oregon and maryland, individuals were identified with potential symptoms. those were reported to local authorities through the correct protocols. they, therefore, were transported through appropriate protocols that did not expose anyone. we are very fortunate. those cases have all been negative in the past weeks. but this is the kind of thing that is part of this emergency funding. we need to continue and support the local and state efforts as well as cdc and efforts to do. last week, there was also an important milestone. those sides will have been monitored in ohio and dallas came off of their 21-day incubation period. and they are no longer being

monitored. we need to make sure that we support state and local public health officials to be able to continue to do this kind of work. to date, more than a quarter of a million health care personnel have been trained by the cdc and the assistant secretary for preparedness and response, doctors, nurses, emts, fire departments, but we need to continue this training and make sure that the training is getting through. in west africa, the strategy is showing some positive results but as we saw in mali and learned last night there are additional cases there. while the u.s. government's response to ebola outbreak to date has resulted in progress, additional funding is needed and that's what we are here to talk about today. our department request is $2.43 billion in emergency funding. first, the funding will allow the department to enhance our ongoing preparedness here in the united states and our efforts to ensure that states and localities are prepared.

for example, it will be about the purchase of ppe, that personal protective equipment, training of thousands of health care workers. second, the emergency request will further strengthen the department's i don't going work to contain the ebola in west africa. we will continue to work with communities, governments and other partners on the ground in west africa to ensure that people are promptly diagnosed, effectively treated and if they die, safely buried. third, this request will expedite the research, development, manufacturing, production and regulatory review of the vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics to combat the virus. finally, with an eye toward detecting and preventing outbreaks of this magnitude in the future, the emergency request will strengthen our global health security around the world. and this means providing that there are safe and secure laboratory capabilities to fight

the diseases and emergency response capability in countries if these diseases occur. i understand americans are concerned. ebola is scary and it's a deadly disease that is new to the united states. we have taken active steps here and abroad to protect the public health and safety of the american people and this emergency funding request is vital to continuing that work. i want to just conclude by recognizing the health care workers who are on the front lines of this response, both here at home as well as abroad, including the more than 650 department -- from our department at hhs who have deployed to either west africa or served here in the united states. we are proud of these brave and dedicated men and women across our department. i also want to recognize the men and women who are health care workers in this nation who have treated the parents that are here. and also recognize those who are suffering right now in the three west african countries where

this is the worst. members of the committee, thank you for inviting me. i look forward to your questions. thank you. >> thank you very much, secretary burwell. now, in order to get to questions, we limited the number of people testifying we don't limit the number to people who can answer questions. each one of have you been accompanied by really experts and esteemed witnesses, so if they could come up and join the table, doctors freiden and fall chill, the good general, the coordinator usaid, ms. lind berks you-all want to come up and get there so that, you know, we can have wide open discussion and wide-open questions. i'm going to go to the first

question, wait till the general gets settled. and everybody a he is got their names. before i get to actually to my question, first of all, i'd like to thank, again, all of you at this table and at the tables you have in why you are respective agencies here and around the world. i really want to say that as we have watched this unfold in both west africa and here, i want to thank you, because i know many of you worked a 36-hour day. and i know many of you worked a ten-hour workweek. so think we need to say that as we evaluate what does it take to be able to respond in an effective bay? it was a crisis, which calls for the need for maintaining a critical infrastructure and our critical public health infrastructure. i also want to particularly acknowledge those institutions in states that really stepped forward to treat the patient,

emory university, the university of nebraska and of course, the nih special clinical studies center, all three that were there to meet the needs of the american people as they returned home that needed our help, our prayers and quite frankly, our medical advances. so, we want to thank them for that. you know what it shows was, you know, these weren't red states or blue states, these were american states so as we look forward on solving this, it has to be looked that the way. now, let me get right to my question, which is this. my job as united states senator and i know at this table is to protect the american people and also, protect the people that are protecting us. and this, therefore, goes to the people who render hands on service or those that were concerned about doing this work. so, let me go to secretary burwell, to you. in your testimony, you talk

about domestic preparedness and thank everyone for the gallant and generous and dedicated work of health care workers here. but i was also really wore rained wasn't only really worried but so were the national nurses united, i receive adler from them that really articulated my concerns. what they said to me, and now i quote them, is that the president needs to invoke his executive authority to maintain uniform national standards and protocols, that all hospitals must follow safety-protected patients or health care workers and the public. they then go on to talk about the personal protective equipment needed, particularly hazmat equipment, and they identified the actual osha standard number. my question to you, secretary burwell, is do you feel confident that now in the way we are responding, that the doctors and the you were ins who are actually touching patients have the protective equipment that th