democratic in my voting, but what i want to convey, this ssue with the legalizing the -- you know, the immigration, legalizing these illegals is going to hurt, and i president is trying to get the hispanic vote, etc., but it is a way to hurt the democratic party. most people do not agree with legalizing 5 million people. i know it is not amnesty. the details, whatever, that people will stay here and it will be hard to get them out. i really want to hear what you have to say. thank you.

guest: they are here, working, and it would be in our interest as a country to bring them online. they need to learn english and pay a fine and pay taxes, which will help contribute to the economy and solidify programs like social security and medicare. i think these are all net benefits for why we should allow them to work their way into the country legally. there is no way we will round everybody up and throw them out of the country. that makes no sense. there is no way to do that and we shouldn't. the reality is they are here, and what will we do to resolve this situation? we need to sit down and have a thoughtful discussion about that. you need to learn the language and pay a fine for violating the law, and start paying taxes. if you do that, you will now be a contributing member of society and over several years, you

start achieving some of those objectives, come into the country, welcome to america. host: new jersey, democrats line. caller: i am concerned about income inequality, a very real problem. my fellow democrats, unfortunately, seem to ignore one of the main causes, which is illegal aliens and the unscrupulous employers who hire them, because it is cheaper than hiring americans. the meat packing industry is notorious for this. it holds down wages for everybody who is unskilled or semiskilled. there are laws against it. when it is enforced, they do it the fines, because

employers -- it off as the cost of doing business. i do not think anything will change until these corrupt employees are put behind bars there it what i am concerned about is the executive amnesty we are hearing about. the president grants amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. while he also in effect the giving amnesty to employers? guest: i think that if the argument for a comprehensive approach to dealing with illegal immigrants, instead of having the president have to go off by himself and trying to resolve this problem. i think you are absolutely right, these employers know when they are hiring an illegal immigrant. they know it. they should be hammered for it because that ultimately will stop the flow. the people who are here, it is important for us to understand, we need to work them into the system, like i said, learn a language and pay a fine and pay taxes here. the issue about income inequality is important.

income inequality, at the levels it is at today, is bad for the economy. you cannot have economic growth and have this much disparity between the wealthiest and the poorest. there is no way, if you do not have a strong middle class. you do not have people to sell products to, consumers who have enough money in their pockets to be able to go out and purchase things in the economy. so inequality is bad for economic growth. getting back to the first question, what do democrats stand for? we stand for growth. you get growth by reducing the levels of inequality. that means making sure we have a strong minimum wage. when you begin to legalize citizens and they start to make a minimum wage, that will drive wages up for other people. investments in roads and bridges. you want to put construction to work? the society for engineers says

we have a $3 trillion to $4 trillion transportation deficit, investments that need to be made to get our infrastructure up to par. that will put people back to work. then you start getting money circulating in the economy again. these are the investments we need to make. how do we take down dilapidated homes in major cities? knock them down and reinvest back into our cities and make sure we clean up our brown fields. how do we incentivize manufacturing in the united states, jobs that pay more and have more secure pensions and better benefits? those are the kinds of jobs we need. how do we continue to grow manufacturing jobs in the united states? this is not, we can put a little phrase on a bumper sticker and say, that sounds good. smaller government, less taxes, and everything will take off. we tried that and it did not work. economic development is complicated. you need a public willing to make investments.

in youngstown, ohio, we have a billion-dollar steel mill that just went up. people thought they were never be a new steel mill in ohio but there is one. we used about $20 million from the stimulus bill to do some site preparation work and work closely with the state. without that money, the deal is not going down. then, the president put tariffs on chinese steel tubing dumped in the united states. the chinese said we will not make this investment and less we know our government will help level the playing field. we do those two things, and boom, a billion-dollar investment, putting construction trades to work for a year and a half to two years. that is enough to start saying, i will go to community college because of the work i had over the past couple years. we do this one thing, and the economy will take off, saying that is a real mistake because it simplifies otherwise complicated work we have to do. but it takes all of these other strategic moves that need to be made.

you do not score a touchdown on a football field without saying, ok, we have to get the defense to go this way and trick them and come back and make a block. you have got to do 10 things to score a touchdown. economic development is the same thing. you need a good, strong strategy in a variety of areas to make things work. host: let's hear from new york, a republican line. caller: i know that you sincerely think that everything you just said and you sincerely believe it. but the rest of us don't. when you talk about the 5 million immigration problem, you're talking about bringing people in and taking low-paying jobs and paying social security and everything else. but we have to subsidize them.

-- them because they are being paid such low wages. it goes on and on and on. all we see is people coming in from outside the country, taking the jobs, not paying their way, and what about all the people who waited online for many years, to become citizens? that is what these people will be given. they will be given all the rights the citizen has and probably eventually become citizens. guest: we have a problem we need to fix, and we have to be realistic about how we fix it and how to be fair. as i said before, i think it is important these folks learn the language, pay a fine, and start paying taxes into the programs so we are not subsidizing them anymore, so they are self-sufficient, and can try to experience the american dream and create value.

part of our responsibilities is, i think, is to make sure other countries, primarily in mexico, have a strong economy. when we passed nafta, we put millions of mexican workers and farmers out of work. we devastated their economy. now folks are coming over the border. they're very desperate. just think of the desperation you have to be living in if you are willing to take all the risks to come to the united states. things must be bad. and i think things like nafta that we passed exacerbated the problem and in many ways created him a to where we have so many mexicans who want to come over the border and come into the united states. reevaluating exactly how we approach our geopolitical strategies and even the strategies in our hemisphere, i think that is important that we don't have to have the same

issue in the future. but we also need to be upfront with what is happening in immigration so we can process people quicker payroll some of the, immigration is a good thing for the economy and helps grow the economy. if we are not making investments that will put our building trades to work, that will make reinvestments back into the united states, invest into america, grow the economy, and we will continue to have this divide with issues like inequality and immigration. host: the agenda for democrats and the upcoming congress, that is the topic for our guest. tim ryan is on the budget and appropriations committee. 50 lawmakers in the house are signing a letter asking for language to keep the president from moving on immigration and tying that to the bill that will keep funding past december 11. aside from that, where are we in the process of the bill as december 11 approaches? guest: we just got done here last night so i may just to hear exactly what the plan is today. we have got to fund the government, and i think the republican strategy will be we will find it until we get back in and we have a majority in the senate. strategically for them, i think that is the move they will make. i imagine there will be

something done to move that forward. i am not sure what they plan on doing with immigration, but i do not think we should tying the president's hands right now. this is politics. they are trying to handcuff the president on this issue and trying to use their muscle as far as the incoming majority. this will be very interesting political science over the next few months. host: you see some type of bill happening by the 11th? what gives you confidence in that? let's go next to stanley, virginia, alan on our independent line. caller: good morning to you. i would like to make a couple of comments. if you look back in 2010 and compare it to 2014 as far as the democrats controlling everything, they made a lot of the same mistakes republicans made earlier.

on the other hand, if you look at the agenda for the last six years under obama and look at the success, for example, you talk about benghazi, v.a., you talk about the economy, the list goes on and on. they were ineffective. the issue with immigration is a very serious issue and what the senator says makes a lot of sense, but the point i would like to make is this has been going on for six years. where have republicans been? where have you all been? we keep talking, and the burden is put on the taxpayers of america. there is never a real good -- they cannot seem to come to a good and sensible agreement that would benefit the people as a whole. no one is against immigration, but why we cannot enforce the laws we have i do not understand. if you would comment on that, i would appreciate it. thank you so much.

guest: well, it is a difficult situation. it is difficult to enforce, and enforcement, for illegals. -- it is difficult to enforce, and i think we need to beef up enforcement, for illegals. i know a lot of people call the president deporter in chief because of the high level of people he has deported. people want to change that story a little bit. you have a family of united states, you go through some sort of process very it gets back to a gerrymandering issue, where we have extremely conservative republican districts not just in ohio, but across the country, and immigration is not an issue most republicans really want to deal with. they are afraid they will get a primary election next time. that to me is what the holdup has really been. had democrats kept the house and

the senate after 2010, we would have seen conference of immigration reform. host: chicago, illinois, democrat line. caller: good morning. for the first time in 30 years, i am thinking about becoming an independent. cowardice on the part of the democrats. running away from the president, the leader of the party? you alienated everyone. everyone who stuck by the president and seen the tremendous things he has been able to accomplish coming out of the great recession. i do not know why democrats do not use that term. all recessions are not equal. for many of us, that was a depression. you do not talk about the long-term unemployed at all. no mention at all of people over 50. i am talking people with

advanced degrees with multiple years experienced, supposed to be in the prime of their careers. you do not talk about us. you do not talk about the murder of black kids. you do not discuss those things. those are important to the black community. guest: he hit the nail on the head. you have a democrat talking about moving to be an independent because we were not speaking to his issue of, what am i going to feed my family? if you do not talk to folks on how you will help them and their family, you will lose them. we need to be very firm in talking about growing the economy, why we are good at it, how we have done in the past, how we have just got done doing it in trying to climb out of the great depression we just had,

and how we will do that with the next us moving forward. in youngstown we have the president's manufacturing initiative, where he is doing manufacturing innovation. we have the first one for additive manufacturing. we have corporations from all over the country, boeing, siemens, that are working on public-private partnership to help grow the new industry, not just globally, but it will also have benefits in youngstown, ohio. that is the kind of hard work, public-private partnership it will take to help grow the economy and exploit and take advantage of this whole new sector of the economy that is growing. how you compete in manufacturing and advanced manufacturing, it will not just happen. you need to set up these incubators that can help facilitate and grow the public-private partnership. we need to talk about how democrats are a lot better at doing that than republicans are. host: the head of the democratic

national committee says she will form a committee to do soul-searching, taking a look at the last election. what kinds of questions would you advise her to ask? guest: i think we know. it is always good to get input from folks, but what is the issue we can all talk about regardless of what congressional district you go into, regardless what region of the country you go into, what is the common theme we can all talk about as democrats? what does it mean to be a democrat? i think it means, how do we create an environment for those folks to thrive, how do we create an environment where warner people can do extraordinary things, and have an opportunity to climb the ladder, start a business, make sure you're healthy,

well-educated, and you have both of those things without being bankrupt or too much in debt, so you can go out and create. how do we create an environment in the country where we have a skilled workforce and are reinvesting in downtowns, river walks, amphitheaters, high quality of life -- that is what this is all about. why did my grandparents love -- >> good afternoon, everyone. let me start by saying we have a new member of our senate leadership team, senator wicker, who has been elected of the national senatorial committee who will be speaking here in a few moments. i have been very disturbed about the way the president has proceeded in the wake of the election, whether it was his neutrality, on net his apparent decision to move ahead on immigration with

executive orders, the rather ridiculous agreement with the chinese under which they basically have to do nothing for the next 16 years while we are losing jobs in this country as a result of epa's overregulation. maybe naively hoped the president would look at the results of the election and decide to come to this medical center and do some business with us. i still hope he does at some point. but the early signs are not good. let me tell you who did get the message, and that was senate democrats. they got the message on the keystone pipeline, and that is why you have seen the current in the credit majority of the senate have an epiphany and decide to allow a vote they have been blocking for literally years. our leader on the keystone pipeline from the beginning to the present has been the senior

senator from north dakota. i want to call on him to give you his thoughts about going forward on keystone pipeline, which it looks like we will be able to do in both the house first and then the senate next week. john? >> thank you. appreciate it. to take a minute to talk about the game plane on the keystone xl pipeline. we have a bipartisan bill and have worked out a vote for the house which will also be tomorrow, friday, and we will vote on it in the senate on tuesday. this is a bill that is bipartisan, but it has all 45 senators on board. this is an issue we have been pushing for quite some time that we believe we have strong support for. is about jobs, energy.

it is about building the right kind of energy plan for this country, which is important for national security as well. the american public overwhelmingly supports it. we had working to get a vote for some time on this bill. clearly, the house will pass it overwhelmingly tomorrow. then we will vote on a tuesday. have all 45 republicans on board. all 45 republicans are cosponsors of this legislation. need 15 democrats. we will see what happens on tuesday. we hope to have 60 votes. we will see. the point i want to make is all along we anticipated we will win on this issue because the keystonepublic wants xl approved. in the new congress, if we do not get 60 votes on tuesday, in the new congress, we will have 60 votes. if you just go to the election results, not only did the people speak, that when you look at the candidates, we have 60 votes for the bill.

then it is up to the president. you have seen his comments. one of his spokespeople that is traveling with him in asia said that he was not fond of the bill, and it sounds like he may veto it. if he vetoes it, then we will have the ability to bring it back, and catch it to broader energy legislation or maybe an appropriations measure that we think he will not veto. this is about what is good for the american people. tohink we have a good plan pass keystone, and i want to thank not only our leaders, but our whole caucus for getting behind this important legislation. thanks, leader. excited with the new majority that will be sworn in in january to do important things on behalf of the american people. and to get americans back to work again. pipeline hasxl been something the senator from

north dakota has been working for and have been advocating for the last couple years. something that would add about 42 thousand jobs, the kind of think we ought to have been doing years ago, but we are grateful to have the chance to vote for that on tuesday. given the opportunity we have in an emerging bipartisan consensus, that the american people are more interested in us getting to work again, solving problems on a bipartisan basis, that they have to live with day in and day out, i cannot think of anything more discouraging doing, likesident what senator mcconnell mentioned, which mentions his executive amnesty order which disregards the law and the balance of powers and the constitution. the about it. if you are some -- think about it. plays bye someone who the rules and immigrates to this

country legally, we naturalize almost one million people a year. we are a nation of legal immigrants. how unfair, how much more unfair could it be for the president to issue this order and it essentially bump all of these new folks ahead of those who have been waiting patiently and trying to play by the rules and doing it the right way? i hope the president will heed the request of people like senator angus king, who said he hopes he delays this. i hope he delays it permanently. at least i hope the president would give us the adequate time to be able to work together to ay to begin to build bipartisan consensus on repairing our broken immigration system, but if he does that, it will make it much harder, not easier. i want to start by thanking my colleagues in the senate for the opportunity to serve his leadership team again.

i can't tell you who will continue to speak directly to the american -- i can tell you we will continue to speak directly to the american people, to strengthen the middle class. we believe the president's policies and the policies pushed by democrats in the senate have been harmful to the american people. we believe there is a better way. thesel start by taking up bills, many of which have languished on harry reid's desk that are conducive to creating jobs and growing our economy. we will work hard to protect the american people from government areas where so many it is adding significant burdens to the economy and making it more difficult to create jobs. we will draw contrast with the democrats in areas where we believe there is a different direction, better direction for the mac and people, and we will talk very directly to the american people about those differences. we hope the president and democrats will work with us. it will be up to them, the ball

will be in their court. obviously, we are pleased to have the opportunity to serve as the majority in the united states senate, and we look forward to hopefully bipartisan cooperation, because we think it is in the country's best getting for not only the senate working again, beginning washington, d.c., and the people's government working again for the american people. i also want to thank my colleagues for giving me the opportunity to continue as the chairman of the repugnant policy committee. we are committed to policies that will put americans back to work him a focus on jobs, the economy, affordable energy, affordable health care. there are many bills that a bipartisan way in the house significant numbers of democrats also on board. those are the things we will work to try to pass through the united states senate. we are for the message loud and clear from the voters, and that is that we have now been given

an opportunity to help try to change the direction of the country. i believe that is not just an opportunity, but an obligation, and we are focused and committed to focus on the economy as well as getting people back to work, strengthening the middle class. >> joining in what my colleagues have said, there is a lot of work out there to be done. i am optimistic. we have the rules of the senate that allows us to do it, if you will just follow those rules. i'm also optimistic there are a lot of things beyond the keystone pipeline that there's tremendous agreement on if we andd just get to that work, i believe the new majority leader is absolutely committed to see that we get this worked on. senatorlegislation, as barrasso just set them up for things that produce good jobs that take care of families in ways that a families would like to be able to take care of

themselves, and friendly, the president is going to engage one way or another. the last four years, not much reason for the president to engage with the senate or the congress. in the next two years, he will either have to engage the day that bill winds up on his desk. at that point, his choice is to sign it or veto it or decide to engage earlier in a way we might be able to do hard things together. i think the american people have sent a clear sign they want the government to do what the government is supposed to do and do it better than it has been doing it, and they want the government to get out of the things that they could do better than themselves. that is a challenge for this congress and president. i hope the president decides now that this is a good time, divided government, to do hard things, and we did to get those hard things out of the way so that we can see more good, private-sector jobs to provide good take-home pay for families. ll, lets they begin by

reiterating what i've been telling my colleagues the last hour or so. i very much appreciate the opportunity to represent the republican conference in the 2016 campaign. i also want to congratulate dean heller for a gentlemanly, friendly campaign. we made it clear, dean and i come all along that this was a contestween friends, a decided among friends, and we began it and ended it that way. i congratulate him on a very fine race. i also want to congratulate jerry moran and rob portman for the wonderful job they did leading this committee over the last two years. let me just say we are that we build on the for thewe had in 2014, 2016 cycle. that includes detecting our 24

incumbents, increasing our majority, and making it possible to reflect a republican president in 2016. -- two elect a republican president in 2060. the american people sent a huge swing in the united states senate. listening to that message begins with good government of the united states senate, and so i am so pleased with the agenda that leader mcconnell set out today. the american people want us to return to regular order, to bring up issues of concern to them, to protect minority rights as they have not been protected over the last several years, and to send to the president of the united states and an act into law changes that benefit the american middle class and american families. winning in 2016 begins with good government, with good legislation, and i'm glad to be part of this team for that reason. leader,, will you be able to

follow through with your pledge to have no government shutdown if the president goes ahead with this immigration -- [indiscernible] we will not be shutting the government down, threatening to default on the national debt. >> [indiscernible] >> we will not be shutting the government down. care, mentioned health and i wanted to get you and anyone else to weigh in on the iteos of this man, what does tell you, anything new, and is a change the way you planned to approach obamacare? >> what he said, i think you all have heard the definition of a washington gaff, when a politician mistakenly tells you what he really thinks. we were subjected during the obama care debate to a whole lot of stuff that we all knew was

not true. not even close to true. sayingt this insider is confirms that they were spinning tales from beginning to end because they do they could not tell the truth about obamacare have a chance to pass, even with a democrat at senate with 60 votes. people hate and detest obamacare. would likell of us to see it pulled out root and branch. we understand the president is not sympathetic with that point of view, but we will be voting on these issues, both the overall obamacare issue and the various pieces of it, like the individual mandate, the medical device tax, and trying to restore the 40-hour workweek. >> you talked about [indiscernible] by the president --

to addressgress do this, and what you congress do next year once republicans have the majority in the senate? >> we hope the president is not going to do that because there is a lot of interest among republicans in both the house and senate in passing and immigration reform bill. i do not think there's anybody in our conference who does not think the current system is a mess, and we would like to improve it. the president has been told over and over and over again, and we are telling him again today, do not do this because his executive actions are not permanent changes. they will not necessarily be there under the next president. if he really wants to improve the immigration system we have in this country, he is stuck with a congress that he does not like.

and president reagan never had the house in eight years, clinton did not have the house or senate for six of their eight years, and they understood the american people had elected divided government. we would like for the president to recognize the reality that he has the government that he has, not the one he wishes he had, and work with us to find a way to improve our immigration system. >> [indiscernible] >> we will let you know. thank you. mcconnell andch other senate republican leaders in the capitol. live coverage on c-span. mcconnell came the senate majority leader when the new congress convenes in january, fulfilling a long-held ambition, according to an associated press article.

the senate republicans had only one contested leadership race, according to the ap, and selected roger wicker of mississippi to chair the campaign committee. he defeated dean heller from nevada. you heard senator wicker referring to that. earlier today, senate democrat's reelected harry reid as their leader in the next congress, where he will serve as minority leader in the gop-controlled senate coming up in january. now we are going to take you olsewhere live in the capita for a briefing by the house democratic caucus. aey are expected to hold briefing for reporters in a few moments. we will have that lies. the house is in recess today so

party caucuses can meet. there are weapons earlier today having held their leadership the house gop tweeting out that house republicans have elected -- reelected john to serve as the speaker of the house in the 1/14 congress -- 114th congress. they have also reelected kevin mccarthy as the majority leader and steve scalise who will serve as majority whip for the 114th congress. the cuts not expected to hold -- democrats not expected to hold their elections until sometime next week, although we expect to hear from members of the democratic caucus in just moments, live on c-span. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

the house is in recess. members will be back later today. they will start work on a bill that authorizes the keystone xl pipeline. house republicans and democrats

holding meetings. republicans electing their leaders for the next congress, including reelection of house speaker john boehner to serve as speaker again in the 114th congress. we are waiting for house us briefingcause c to begin. before it gets started, from journal," toington talk about net jollity. -- net neutrality. put apresident obama video they're asking the federal communications commission to adopt new rules that would preserve a free and open internet. some people use the term net neutrality. here is a bit of the president's video. [video clip] have arnet providers legal obligation not to block or limit your access to a website. cable companies cannot decide which online stores you can shop at or which streaming services

you could use. they cannot let any company pay for priority over its competitors. to put these protections in place, i ask the fcc to reclassify internet service in theitle ii telecommunications act. i am asking them to recognize for most americans the internet has become an essential part of everyday communication. host: that is president obama there this week. what does net neutrality mean? rewe ready?

good afternoon. week, we should hold our leadership elections, and we will have the official slate of leadership elected by next week. for now, we just finished a meeting of the democratic members of the house, both those of us who are here as part of the 113th congress, to conclude the work of the hundred 13th during this lame-duck session, and also we had the opportunity to be joined by our incoming members from throughout the country who will join the and discussaucus, moving forward as the 114th congress for the next two years. we are pleased to have several of our new colleagues join us this afternoon at this press conference. i enjoyed by dththe vice

chair of the democratic caucus from new york. i want to say this, once again, if you are joining the democratic caucus, you are joining the most diverse group of elected representatives in any body in the world. 2/3 of the incoming democrats to the house of representatives are women. among them, many people of color, and they come from as diverse a background as you can imagine. we are proud of all the incoming members of the house democratic caucus, and we are looking forward to welcoming all of them into the caucus as we proceed forward in the 114th congress. we still have work to do in the 113th. we believe the people of this country expect us to get done the work of the 113th in these last two months before we ended the ye the year.

we need to make sure there is a budget in place a we do not have this shutdown scenario, where you lose billions of dollars of economic capability and hundreds of thousands of americans cannot go to work. a lot of us believe over the next month we should be able to wrap up the work of getting a budget for the fiscal year 2014 2015 in the books. we are hoping in the congress we are able to see the senate move forward with a confirmation of a number of very important positions, or it might be the attorney general position, or do not forget, we still do not have a surgeon general who has been confirmed to the senate at a time when ebola has been such a big concern for so many, including politicians, who actually ran campaigns on the issue of ebola. we have not seen the senate yet have an opportunity yet to confirm the surgeon general for

this country. there are a number of important measures and nominations that must work their way before we end the 113th. we believe if we heard the public right in this november election that we will stick to try to help as much as possible all those families that have survived the difficult times as a result of the wall street crash, and we will focus most importantly on the middle class. we can build on the more than 10.5 million jobs created over the last 54 months. we can hope to continue that progression of more than 200 thousand jobs created per month for the last nine months. we continue to see more americans have the health security that many of us here in this room take for granted. we learned recently that we have highest rate of high school graduation in our country ever.

and we saw in this election that five states, four of them red, the people and no state said we should give americans who work for minimum wage a raise. into the american people have spoken to us, and if we are listening, it is all about helping the middle class and those who work very hard make it, and if you do that, than everything else will find its place. we are ready to do that. we are pleased to welcome our colleagues who are here to do that with us. let me introduce them quickly. , nowe joined by alma adam i fully sworn in member of congress from the 12th district in north carolina. we're joined by congressman-elect -- from the california,t from brad ashford, and ted lew from the state of california as well.

with that, let me yield now to the vice chair from new york, joe crowley. >> let me thank the chairman for his service to the 113th .ongress and to the caucus he has done a great jobs in terms of steering our caucus through some very difficult times, and those difficult times come,e for some time to as we look forward to the 114th congress. i look forward to working with the chairman. i would also welcome this wonderful and diverse incoming freshman class of the democratic caucus, something that we have been known for before, but right now reinforcing what this incoming freshman class -- before i turn it over to them, i did as many of you have heard me say before, with all the natural calamities that have happened around the world, have been happening here in the united states, some of the more

man-made calamities like war itself and what we have seen ukraine,th crimea, what is happening in the middle east, all the uncertainty that exists, adding to that another natural calamity in terms of ebola, and the uncertainty that has created for the make people, the american people are looking for more stability coming out of washington, d.c., something they have not had quite frankly over the past two years. we have seen again and again the creation of man-made instability, like shutting down our government, like threatening not to pay our national debt. we hope those things are behind us, that we can pass a clean the 113the we leave congress, that we can have tax extenders that makes sense for the small business community and entrepreneurs of the country, that we can pass terrorism risk

is importantich not only to my city, but to the whole country and being able to conduct business. those are ways in which i think our republicans colleagues can demonstrate they are here to work on behalf of the american people and not just their political self-interest. i look forward to working in a bipartisan spirit to make those things happen. i look forward to this incredible incoming freshman class. havingthe distinction of the opportunity to introduce to you first the most senior of the incoming freshman class. you know that seniority means just about everything here. , adams from north carolina, -- alma adams from north carolina. >> thank you. i join with all my colleagues and thanking them and look forward to not only working with them, but the entire democratic

caucus, and the republicans as well. i come from north carolina. been -- we have made national news there, but i'm happy to be here finally to represent the citizens of the 12th district who have had no representation now for 10 months. that is close to as year. i'm happy to be here to get to work toward them to work with and be swornngress in again to the 114th congress. it is unique for me. it has been a double all the way. twod to bank primaries, elections, so i will be sworn in a second time. it is been a wonderful expense 100 11 in thehe 113th congress.

with that comes with responsibility, not only representing working families, workers, and for middle-class families. i am an educator i training. taught 40 years and served for 30 in public office. i'm here to work. i have the experience to do that. i am looking forward to making a difference, not only for the 12th district, but for the citizens of the united states of america. it is good to be here. thank you very much for the opportunity. and i would like to introduce now my colleague from california, 31st district, guilar.s one-elect pete a >> thank you very much. as the vice chairman said, we are envious of her position starting off with seniority. it is my honor to be here. take you, mr. chairman -- thank you, mr. chairman. my name is pete aguilar. i am currently the mayor of the city of redlands.

during this campaign, we talked about a lot of things, chief among them being a middle-class initiative, a return to discussing issues that are so of inlandmiddle class southern california, creating jobs, supporting investments in education, making sure we honor the commitment to our veterans and our seniors. these are going to be the focuses of me and my colleagues in this caucus under great leadership. we are already talking about those issues that affect our communities. i want to thank them for the opportunity, and i look forward to this orientation, a process where we continue to learn and grow and get ready to deliver for our constituents come january. we will be getting ready to deliver and to work together on both sides of the aisle. as a local mayor, have a track record of working to composting, and i look forward to continuing those efforts. it is my pleasure to introduce another one of my colleagues within the 114th congress,

congress member-elect from the rask a -- from nebraska, brad ashford. >> thank you, and thank you, chair and vice chair, and congresswoman adams for being the 100th woman. i heard on npr about that a few days ago. i am proud to be able to meet you. i have never been to a caucus meeting. i have been in the nebraska for 16ral legislature years. we do not have caucuses or parties. this was interesting. this was a whole different deal. i am convinced -- i also when i was running for office, the first thing i was going to do was fined 25 friends. i have gone over that. -plus.otten 25 so much confidence and enthusiasm.

hopefully, if i can just a little bit add to the nebraska tradition of nonpartisan like we have in nebraska, hopefully we can do that. thank you for the opportunity, mr. chair and vice chair. >> all right. congressman-elect -- we can go now. we are finished. punishment--- conga spun-elect -- lew.essman-elect >> i have been here less than 24 there are no coat checks in southern california. i am excited be here. the democratic caucus is amazingly diverse, and the freshman class is reflection of that diversity, and we are very of thatat nearly 1/4

class are veterans. i serve active duty in the air force. i'm in the reserves. i look forward to working with my colleagues across the aisle, and it is clear voters want us to work together, and i believe we can get agreement on areas such as transportation and infrastructure funding, and protecting privacy of americans from unreasonable surveillance. there are going to be areas where we will not agree, and those areas, we will fight to protect those core values. we will protect a woman's right to choose, social security and medicare, and we will fight for the middle class. and those areas where we will agree, we will agree and cooperate. those areas that hurt the middle last, we will fight to oppose them. i look forward to working with everybody to help make our country stronger and safer, and i'm glad to be here. thank you. >> thank you very much. you can understand why we are proud of the incoming members of the democratic caucus. minority, andor

it continues the tradition and democratic caucus of continued --lecting individuals who electing individuals who represent america today. we're proud of that. with that, we will take any questions. a a report that the present wife on immigration reform by taking executive actions. i am wondering if you had gotten a heads up on any of this or had any chance of reading these reports. >> i have any chance to read the same reports, but i know nothing about their veracity. under the president was very clear months ago, and he was clear last week in a lunch with the house and senate them credit and republican leadership that he was going to take action, since congress had failed to do anything to fix a broken immigration system, that he was going to try to do what he could

to make no law, the immigration laws, work as well as efficiently and intelligently as possible. my sense is he will act, and he is committed to act before the end of the, but more than that, i do not have very >> you just read the reports -- >> certainly he did not say in our luncheon when he would act. he said by the end of the year. all the questions about what the president might do to make a broken immigration system work better were opposed by republicans. so the president was responding to their inquiries. i know he was hoping we would have more time during the lunch to discuss the economy, jobs, some the present issues like but insyria, and iraq, response to questions, he made it clear he had thought about this quite a bit, and was looking forward to seeing congress act, but shirt of

congress acting, given for six years he has been president and congress has not acted, he would see what he could do to make a broken immigration system work better where he could under the law. >> durham and position on immigration reform, especially executive action, we had several republicans saying there could be an explosion if they did that before the c.r. omnibus is passed. is there concern we could be going down that road that we did last fall, if the president moves this ahead of time, and that really, gates the c.r.? >> i would say this. week weomorrow, next could dispose of the need for the president to take any type action onve immigration if the house of representatives would unstick its gears and let us vote in the

house as we are supposed to improving our laws. for more than a year and have come a year and a half, the house has had sitting in its chamber a bill that was a bipartisan bill passed by 60 votes that would fix the broken immigration system. my sense is the president would like to see the house republican leadership act, weather on the senate bill or anything else, but to see us do something. short of that, i think the president is prepared to do what he can using his a can of -- using his executive authority to theretize what is out to make the immigration system work as best as possible. it is hard to understand why any member of congress would complain to the president about trying to make things work it is in the full purview of those same members to bye the law work right

making the changes necessary. we could act and we could dispose of the need and the president should not do anything. >> if it comes to that, however, wouldn't this be different where they say, wait a minute, the president took this action and created this problem and then maybe in the court of public opinion, it is different than the standoff last fall? >> i will others respond, but i will say this. to paul's -- to impose ultimatums at a time when the president said let's work together i think would be a bad way to start a new session of congress and continuing the laden duck session. the president said if congress acts i will stand down. i would not need to act. but short of congress acting, and in six years conga's has not acted. republicans blocked votes on immigration. he is prepared to do what he can, as he did two years ago when americans said made a lot

of sense in the fraying deportations. all we have tot do is see congress do its job and act and we will not have to worry about the president trying to act through his executive powers. to start with ultimatums, if you do not do this our way, we will not let you do anything else. that to me would be a bad sign. let me ask any other colleagues to respond. >> i would only add to that. again, talking about threatening to shut down the government because they do not get their way or because the president is not trying to improve the way in which the laws are carried out, i think his childlike them a quite friendly. moreed to stop creating uncertainty. this is no secret, the president

talked about executive order for quite some time. we know this has been coming down the path. also not the first time the president has used executive order to carry out major events in the history of the united .tates quite frankly to add to that, if and when i believe the president will carry through with issuing the executive order on immigration, it still will not address every issue that needs to be addressed. the congress still needs to come back here and fix what is a broken immigration system. that does not change. it is about time that republican congress and the house and senate take charge. the responsibility will be squarely upon them to act upon this issue. >> what is your position right now? >> we will have an opportunity to see the bill.

it was brought in on us. ask the way you typically handle legislative policy where all of a sudden a bill comes before you for consideration and debate. a closed rule, which is another sign we are not having full transparency and democratic action. amendments will be permitted so members will not have an opportunity to fully express themselves to try to make changes to a bill that we just barely stall and try to improve it or perfect it. so if the process is flawed to begin with. this is an important issue that has been on the minds of members for quite some time. in my particular case, my wantst concern is someone to make money by extracting petroleum from shale in canada. type it -- pipe it through the u.s. to get to the ports in the

goal to have it exported to who knows what country or what place to sell at probably a pretty good profit. guarantee an american will benefit one dropped from the oil transported to our turf by the company in canada getting ready to make money by exporting the oil out of her ports in the gulf. so what is it good for americans? especially since if there is some kind of catastrophe or leak of the oil it will happen on our turf and my understanding is the proposal before us would exclude the company shipping the oil through the pipeline from any liability should there be a spill, which does not make sense. .e get the ill effects the contaminated -- the

contamination, the cleanup and the company sending the oil through the land is getting all of the profit. that would concern me greatly if americans will not benefit from a pipeline going all the way across the country north to south so that some company in canada can make profits by selling oil to people outside the u.s.. i have concerns and will go to heaven at -- have a debate and amend that but the bill and process by the republican set up in the house will not allow that so that i have real concerns about moving forward with the legislation as is. given the results of tuesday's election, give us an idea of the color or tenure of the meeting about sending the

same leadership team back to the field for 2016. >> here is where i think it would be nice to hear from the newer members as well. i have learned after 22 years an election is an election. we should not take anything for granted and any collection, district or otherwise. an election for leadership in the democratic caucus or republican caucus is no different. you still have to come up with the votes. i do not believe anyone will be served unless he or she deserves the opportunity to lead. so we will have the opportunity to have discussion and debate about who should be the leadership team. i fully respect and will abide by the wishes of the colleagues of the colleagues for how to move forward on an agenda that

will work for all americans. at the end of the day it is the votes that count. we will find out pretty soon who members of the democratic caucus vote for to be the leadership. see -- the folks at your theme before it is because they have are in the votes again. >> this may be for the new members, something that they will experience, the collective wisdom of the democratic caucus. that is what i have based been and will continue to have faith in. >> thank you for that. some of the new members are looking for is leadership that is responsive to members and shares our values. chief among them is commitment and investment to the middle class. those are things i hear

discussed in the community and the caucus room. that is what i am looking for with leadership and the discussions in the future to willsure the leadership reflect the values of the democratic caucus and reflect the values that is important to grow the middle class, invest in education. that is what i want to seattle caucus and leadership. i would comment a little bit on the issue of the pipeline. we spent a considerable amount of time debating and discussing where the pipeline should go through the state. as most of you know, the aquifer, the largest deposit of underground water in the world is located down through oklahoma. there is a great deal of concern that it be protected and should be a concern of the entire nation. is when there is a

decision made, and we have decided in nebraska generally that if the pipeline is approved it should be approved pursuant to the rules and regulations that we in nebraska have defined for that particular project. as of now, in nebraska we have not finally determined the process for approving the pipeline. that is now up to the nebraska supreme court. expect there will be a decision soon. we respect the process in nebraska, which i think will be finalized fairly soon. that would be a concern i would have as a representative of the state of nebraska. >> i would've might you to stay to any of the members as we conclude the press conference. to discussfree

anything and ask anything like as we conclude the conference. all of thehank colleagues for not only getting elected and getting ready to do great work for participating in the conference today. thank you. >> the house democratic caucus briefing live from the capital with leaders introducing new and

incoming members of the democratic caucus. the house and recess. meeting and electing party members for the 114 congress today. results of thee elections. they have reelected kevin mccarthy. cathy mcmorris rodgers as republican conference chair and greg walden as the nrc see chair for the 114 congress. we expect leadership election sometime next week. on ars will start work bill authorizing the keystone pipeline. the housecomments on

democratic caucus briefing we just watched. wait for the has to come back some other events on c-span. showing you nancy below seized briefing from earlier today. briefing fromi's earlier today. >> good morning. the good news of the morning is talks..-china this is the recognition by china that this needs to be addressed and is very significant. it is the argument that some have said we're not doing anything unless the chinese do something. well they are and it is quite

remarkable. when china and the u.s. deliver on carbon pollution reduction, hopefully will make similar commitments. they no longer have the excuse. china is not doing it in people in the congress no longer have the excuse. i think it is pretty exciting. recall, thatu may was a very important issue for me. i established the climate crisis and energy independence headed by ed markey so we are very excited about the agreement. immigration, and later today we will have a press conference but some members who are urging the president to act to use executive authority to improve the situation.

we have had this conversation calle, and i will again your attention to the op ed that we wrote that not only has the legal authority to act, but also the precedence of the president before from eisenhower, kennedy, nixon. most of them before you were .orn nixon, carter, reagan. reagan on any number of locations. president clinton and george w. bush. they have taken executive action. presidents before him has authority to act. i joined the chair on this. signaturesr 100 today. calling upon members to join them in urging the president.

that will be exciting to see and the scope of that. modern do know is every president -- modern-day president before obama has used the executive authority. we are excited about the new members. 100 for this congress is pretty remarkable. there were 12 when i came to congress. now we are at 65.

that case is not good enough. a source of pride. two thirds of women and minorities for veterans. we're very proud of them. you will see more of them as they go through orientation here. we're very proud of what they are doing. again, i've regret the loss of the members. nine will not be returning. three long-standing members. independent representatives of the districts. reelected.t get six members of the freshman class to who had been before and now came back. carol porter and excellent members of congress into renew members in illinois, brad

schneider and, in general. joe garcia and pete gallego in texas. one more actually. so while some call it the big respects democrats when he think about the waves in terms of the house, 54 lost in the first election after the election the of 1994. 54 democrats lost their seats. a further wave when president thea was elected and then way that gave the majority to the republicans. altogether about 12 members,

lost their seats and three who did not seek election. in california probably picked up a seat. we have not lost at sea since 1994 in california. they wereion year targeting california, i don't know why but they were targeting california we will either break even or gain a seat. that is why the number of people we lost are mitigated by the one. we service and leadership cannot quantify it. nonetheless we are ready to get going.

we will have a real voter engagement, using the inspiration for what people could for the right to vote. now we will have the 50th anniversary. that inspiration and education helps to give us a purpose, a reason to register, reason to vote and i think you will see a massive return to the field of politics of elections. i went them engaged and to vote. two thirds did not vote in the selector and that is not a good model to the world. with that, i will take any questions you may have.

>> speaker boehner made it clear last week they would have this in health care. they are possibly having hearings to talk about what he meant. tell me how your side engages on this issue in a different way. does it give you more opportunity? it sounds like the battle over and over. >> you gave me an interesting thatf observations but one you skipped is the comments were a year old and has backtracked for most of them. have it in your

narrative. that hereally important is not advocating that position that he was at a conference instead. i do not know who he is. he did not help write the bill. with all due respect to the question, you have the person not writing the bill commenting when we were writing the bill when we have withdrawn the statements that he made. let's put him aside. that isfurther question more important, with or without him that republicans will try to undermine the affordable care act and we recognize that. the fact is it is projected to be in 9.5 million people will have access to health care with this enrollment who did not have it before or did not have it in the manner in which they have it count allat does not

of those going onto the expansion of medicaid. we're very proud of it. how do we approach it? with great pride and a clear message to people who have access to a quality affordable health care and the liberty to changee job they have or jobs or become self-employed or start a business that it will not be taken away from them and if you are a woman, a pre-existing medical condition for being discriminated against for getting insurance and if you are graduating from college no longer will you be pulled off your parents insurance. if you have a pre-existing medical condition no longer will you be discriminated against or charged astronomical rates. the message is really what this administration has meant to the lives of the american people. clearly there has been a

tremendous amount of misrepresentation about it but you saw in the campaign there was less use of it as a campaign issue because the proof of the pudding is in the policies that people now have, the protections, the patient rights. will speak to it with pride and the factual basis. >> you expect a lot of skepticism in the past about the project and whether it will create jobs so i am wondering what you think about the decision to hold the boat on it and on your own leadership after democrats lost seats in the election, i am wondering if you gave any thought to stepping down as a leader and what you thought. >> why don't we start with the second question because i have heard it from you a number of times. what i said recently when they said you have lost now three times, why don't you step aside.

anyid what was the day that of you said to mitch mcconnell when they lost the senate three , lost makingw progress and taking back the senate three times in a row, aren't you getting a little old? have you ever asked him that question? have any of you ever asked him that question? i don't understand why that question should even come up. i am here as long as the members want me to be here. schedule, on on a anything except a mission to get a job done. i am so proud of the confidence the members have placed in me. my life and to im am is not dependent on being here so i have the liberty of if you want me to be here, i am proud to be here and it's not, i am proud to be here.

a is just as interesting as woman to see how many times it is asked as a woman and how many times it is never asked of mitch mcconnell. that thinking i have a mission for women on this score. largelywon the house, i started in 2000 to take us to a place where we would win the house, that was a big thing. isn't that a curiosity that the republicans when, on the front of time magazine. is there a pattern here? who i am does not depend on any respect toh all due you. as a woman there is a message here?

keystone, here is the thing about the boat -- vote today. i just know what is happening here. they met yesterday and the boat tomorrow on a bill on the keystone's highflying. what is important to know about the legislation is if you were 100% for the keystone's highflying, you would have to have a problem with the legislation on the floor because canadaxempt -- the trans highflying the initiative from the oil spill liability trust fund. in kalamazoo, michigan, 2010, there was a leak. compensated because they had paid into the oil spill

liability trust fund. there had been trust funds that compensated for that. this is even though the tar sands that are highly corrosive will be going through the you know there are cases in nebraska about this right now, should there be a will beanscanada exempted from paying into the oil liability trust fund even though the components of what they are transmitting is highly corrosive. god willing there would never be a leak but if there is, they are totally off the hook. discussion of any about the keystone highflying is how many jobs it creates the subject of oil spill liability trust fund. reason i think he will see people who may be on both of the keystone pipeline

itself voting against it. why would they do that? why do you think they would accept them? highly controversial issue. ony have said the impact hamerman. -- they will send investment money against republicans for tax renewal. this is a pattern. a publict made statement about the pipeline but i do make a public statement about this bill.

yes, ma'am? [inaudible] do you expect that to happen? do you see a big fight? how do you make sure the government does not shut down? >> i do not think they should do that. saying to the president don't use your executive authority. they are saying don't use the legislative authority. he has his authority to perhaps veto such bill but i did not think we need to go to that place. we wanted to what we do whether it relates to energy in such a people and ahe healthy environment. why are we going down this path

when this congress can prevent it by happening by passing the senate bill? 500 days since the senate passed the immigration bill. a couple of years since the speaker has been saying over and over again we will pass the immigration bill in the house. may not be the senate bill. congress is going to prevent them from doing executive action by legislating on the subject at hand i passing the bipartisan senate bill that passed over 500 days ago. we have heard a lot of

different things about that. voting for one year extension. republicansts of who wanted it to the renewed. >> they're having conversations now on this. the senate has passed a bipartisan committee bill, which is a good place, i think, to start and i think and. there are certain equities to be balanced. one is that we have to have revenue reform. but when you make so many things permanent in the bill like this you diminish the beverage from .ne part to another

decreased revenue so we can deficit. decrease the i would hope they can come out with something that reflects the passed billartisan in the committee. the problem i have with permanent aspects of it is that it is impediment to doing real reform, which we need to do to simplify, to be able to close loopholes, lower the corp. rich so that we can have a better tax system. the problem with one year is it is retroactive. that does not get you much. if you're thinking in terms of wind or solar or any transaction you want more lead time than

anyone month. the fact is two years at the least and then next year to be with fullbate transparency and put everything on the table. get it done so we come over the corporate rate, make permanent some of the issues that should be made permanent but do so in a more comprehensive frame. make it moreto him transparent in the tax bill. we will see when they come forward what they have. yes, ma'am. >> what about the discussions withobama agrees legislative action on this? we have to look to see -- different things happen

in different places. members come back and we're getting a different view. you are on the ground what happened in a specific district remains to be seen until we see a certain pattern. i don't know and cannot say the president delaying executive action -- i do think with two thirds of the electorate not is something other than the president's action timetable on immigration. why they want to use and rights act byng having that inspiration, education to encourage people to vote. this is nonpartisan education and registration. pay attention and make sure the people you are voting for know what is important to you.

most peoplertant to is financial stability and good paying jobs and affordable education for their children and those types of issues that the republicans have avoided and increase participation of the electorate will improve the climate for debate. i think one of that oppressors to voting is big money in campaigns. whatever it is the issues important to people's lives are

being so mischaracterized. another chunk said i would -- i was busy with work and school. another related to time as well. all of that adds up to it was not important enough. you cannot stand in line for long hours. people have deterred the vote by reducing hours and days and the polling places and machine. of things that contribute to that. the overarching think is not it was really important to their well-being that they vote.

the republicans called it as a base election. they cut out the base. all of the negative stuff. the strangulation of the is soes by big-money undemocratic. that is why i thought the supreme court for the citizens united decision. we will talk more this afternoon and we will talk a little bit about immigration. i cannot say the whole time because i have a lot of work to do about who will be the chair -- the people who want to come in to talk about those kinds of subjects. thell not be able to stay whole time. the chair of the energy and commerce committee and am very .roud sometime in the course of the legislative life a person comes

along that is a perfect fit to take us and the future. i think that is who she is. she has amassed a tremendous amount of support. some of them is fewer than 20 have thought what he thought of that or why have not asked about it just because i have not but i have spoken to a few. those who ask me or those that are clearly not assigned to one person or another. a very lovely man who was terrific. anyone or him i respect their decision, friendship and support.

not had any conversations of that kind, only in conversations when the subject has come up. trying to anticipate anything that comes to the office. i heard yesterday i made the choice. i was about to announce it. 24 hours before did not have the faintest idea i was interested. callu want to know, and me. thank you all. the giants. how about the giants? all of the taunting before, and now 10, 12 on the 14th -- every other year world champion san francisco giants. remember your enthusiasm? i should have brought down the

rally rag, the pendant, headlines. what i do think is we might want to just go in the blanks. reallyevent, i am to kansas city ribs. sign the handsets. -- the panda. madison bumgarner. how about that cut a the and? was that just great? we are very proud of the giants. i said to the commissioner of the game, can you believe we

have two teams in the world series that are wildcards? how id that is commissioned it. there you are. becauseteresting to me before it was nothing. perhaps i should've brought in the rally rag or the pendant. when we have the first leadership meeting last week i had the headline, mad about the bomb, yes, yes. rain a victory. dynasty. you are not getting enthusiastic at all. the coach got a good article the other day that was nice. i wanted an orange and black series with baltimore.

we did not get that. inc. you. -- thank you. >> the house has been in recess for the past several hours for republican leaders to meet and elect party leaders for the 114 congress that begins in january. the democratic caucus also met and we heard from their members. when house members return, they will start work on authorizing the keystone xl pipeline. more on that from the hill this afternoon. supporters of the oil pipeline hearing 60 votes in the senate ahead of a vote next week on whether to approve the project with passage of the pipeline built in the house all that is short. isy landrieu says she confident she can rally the 60 votes needed for a filibuster proof vote in the senate.

the keystone debate has wrapped up and midterm election politics with landrieu and her opponent in the louisiana senate runoff, bill cassidy, taking the lead on legislation. the house is set to vote on the keystone bill friday. earlier today chuck hagel and chairman martin dempsey updated the house armed services committee about the administration's military strategy to combat isis. that's great president obama ruth lasted 5.6 billion in funding to combat isis and authorize the deployment of an additional 15 million military personnel to train, advise and assist iraqi and kurdish forces. we will show you as much of this can until the house returns to session.

>> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. before we begin i would like to say will not tolerate herbal disruptions. i want to thank you at the outset for your cooperation. we have a hard stop at 1:00 because of a house organizational meeting. therefore, after consultation i ask unanimous consent that each member shall not have more than four minutes rather than the usual five to question the panel

of witnesses so we can get to as many members as possible. thank you. the committee meets to receive testimony on the administration's military campaign and strategy for syria and iraq. i would like to welcome secretary hagel and general dempsey. we appreciate you being here to address the very consequential issues. strikes have not yet begun. this hearing is critical to the understanding of the progress made by the president strategy and to hear from leaders on what else may be needed. we receivedmendment

monday afternoon pays for the air campaign and advisers but any not appear to reflect changes in strategy. however we know targeting and airstrikes are getting harder as isis changes tactics and eliminating will not help iraq can syrian trained opposition. the president has doubled down on the policy of no clothes on the ground, despite any advice you have given him. my fundamental question is how can you successfully execute the mission you have been given to degrade and ultimately destroy isis when some of your best the table? taken off mr. secretary, both of your that wesors have stated

need boots on the ground if there is to be any hope of success in the strategy. k, a west point graduate and very successful basketball coach at duke told an army conference last month that the clearing we will not use ground forces is like telling your opponent you will not play your best players. we may very well be considering a new strategy in the future. i will not support sending the military into harms way with arms tied behind their backs. lastly, the risk to the forces increases. this is chief among them. there are reports of former gitmo detainees returning to the

fight and recruiting militants for isis. despite the disturbing trends we have seen an increase in notifications regarding transfers from gitmo. you shoulder an immense responsibility each time you concur on these releases. tond you are under pressure release even more but roughly the 100 50 detainees r the worst of the worst. to continue these is unwise. mr. secretary and general dempsey, again, thank you for being here today. this is likely the last hearing we will have together. all of the issues that bring us together are never easy. i have always appreciated your friendship and candid conversations and your service and dedication to this nation.

not bese of us that will here in the 114 congress, let me express our gratitude to you for leadership, service and above all, devotion to the troops. ms. sanchez. , mr. chairman. mr. smith could not be here this rating hisi will be statements. so again, these are not my words. probably very am different than a lot of the thoughts going on in the .ommittee he would like to thank the witnesses for appearing here today. congressdent notified he had authorized central command to undertake airstrikes short monthstwo

ago on september 23 the administration provided a war powers notification of strikes in syria. since that time, the u.s. has taken hundreds of strikes in syria,nd substantially impacting the ability to sell oil to fund the operation and driving the leadership underground which complicated the ability to command and control forces. the dod has the troll 1400 troops to protect the embassy and advise and assist in iraqis security forces including the army, counterterrorism services and the president has announced another 1500 would go. we have also airlifted substantial stocks of ammunition and weapons to this. kurds fighting and the liftedtration has somewhere -- and listen somewhere around 15 countries to fight. a number have undertaken strikes

in iraq and. somehow volunteered to send special forces to help. congress approves temporary training andbegin equipping elements of the syrian opposition to fight isil. in other words, we are come along way in a short amount of time. thank you to the two of you for the leadership in arriving at most of what i just mentioned. even thoroughly we have made substantial progress there remains to be done things. without question plot and plan attacks about the west. -- ase all a green as great as we have seen what they have been doing as the , executions. i am paris raising in order to make this short.

mr. chairman. going forward we have many decisions to make about combating isis. the president has requested congress authorized the use of military force against the group other than relying on the 2001 al qaeda. i agree congress should debate and pass but i am skeptical we can assemble a majority to do so. a two reauthorize this. trained and equipped authority. again, these are the words of mr. smith. i will end, and i was like unanimous consent to put the -- let me endnt with the last paragraph. going forward, prosecuting the campaign against isil will be extremely complex and

terrorizing. iraq and syria are complex, messy situations where perfect outcomes are extremely unlikely. whatever course of action we andrtake to take years dedicated effort and we will have major disagreements with about and partners desired outcomes. russia's role in syria will be challenging. all we seem to have overarching interest, the outcomes do not align and clearly do not have the same overlapping interest in syria. all of which is to say the situations will be messy and require constant attention and management. correctlyy, managed we have a real goal of degrading isis. eliminating leadership curtailing the ability to strike at allies and at us. i hope the panelists here will hope to explain to us and the american people the strategy. i ask unanimous consent to put it forward into the record.

lex without objection, so ordered. -- >> without objection, so ordered. mr. smith 10 days ago had surgery on his hip and is recovering. we had the meeting working on the bill. technology made it possible that he was in the room with us and totally engaged. one other thing i would like to mention at the outset. with uswhile not being next year. some retired and some lost the election. thank eachhink -- me of you for your service and commitment to the committee. it is much of initiated. this committee has always tried

to work in a bipartisan manner. enough said. mr. secretary. >> chairman, congresswoman sanchez and members of the committee, thank you. [yelling from audience[ the meeting will be in order. i would ask that they be removed immediately. thank you very much. capital policee for restoring order. mr. secretary.

chairman, obviously your last hearing is not going unnoticed and unrecognized. so we shall proceed. as i was saying, i very much appreciate, and i know general dempsey does, the opportunity to come back and update the committee on what we're doing and how we're doing it and why we're doing it. has not been the only communication we have had with this committee. things had many great with your staff. many i have spoken to directly. opportunity to bring together and do some conversions of explanations of what we're doing and why and how, i very

much appreciate. your leadership and service to recognizedy has been many times appropriately. will continue to be recognized. i want to thank you personally for your support and friendship. i have value that. i will miss you personally. i know that this committee will. there are so many very able and dedicated people right next to you that will carry on. i did not want this to go without me expressing my thanks and best wishes to you and your family and the next chapter in that of many new

adventures that lie ahead. this morningoined by the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, martin dempsey i to have appreciated his wise counsel and leadership as we have dealt with some of the most complex and difficult issues that i think this country has faced in a long time. i know general dempsey service as your well. he has played a critical role over the past six months especially on shaping and developing a strategy along with the centcom commander along with commander austen. i want to thank them. mr. chairman, president obama and chairman dempsey and austin

and all of our leaders and i have been clear that the will be against isil long and difficult. we are three-month into a multiyear effort. as we enter into a new phase of the effort, working to look with and trained or says in iraq and serious, we will succeed only with the strong support of congress and the strong support of the committee. since i testified before the committee two months ago our campaign has made congress. the parts -- the advance in parts of iraq have installed and in some cases reversed. they continue to represent a serious threat to american interests and allies in the middle east. as president obama has said,

defeated not be through military force alone. sustaining a broad-based regional and global coalition and strengthening local forces on the ground. it also includes undercutting the flow of resources. countering the messaging, constricting the flow of foreign fighters, providing humanitarian assistance and intensive regional and global debt -- diplomatic effort. toh more needs to be done achieve political reform. we are seeing steps in the right direction. in the years of polarizing iraqi primethe minister is leaning forward by engaging all of the diverse communities. he has appointed a sunni defense minister. after that post was left vacant for more than four years.

he is moving to create an iraqi national guard, which would empower local forces, is freshly in sunni tribal areas of the province with aligning the central government. you may have noticed yesterday it was announced he would replace 36 of the most senior commanders. the iraqi security forces with more senior sunni leaders. this is essential to strengthening not only the iraqi security force that strengthening a central , a government that can build trust and confidence of the iraqi people. we built a global coalition to support local forces in iraq and syria. over 60 nations that

are contributing assistance ranging from air support training to humanitarian assistance. as i testified here, 16 nations have joined the military campaign against isil. the first air strikes involve coalition partners have carried out 130 air strikes against isil in iraq and syria. last week, canada launched its first air strikes in iraq bringing the total to 12 nations participate manage strike operations in iraq and syria, as additional partners provide tanker command and control and intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. coalition nations have pledg