>> the 114th congress of the united states.

floor strength yen and inspired by the support of our colleagues. the constituents and the love of our families. my special thanks to all of you my children en, nine grandchildren, and the family for their support. the people of san francisco. the continued honor to represent them here. my heartfelt thanks to my colleagues for extending to me the honor of being nominated to the speaker of the house. thank you very much. said to his constituents and this congress with honor for 25 years. peaker john boehner.

in his story we are reminded of the enduring exceptional promise of america. this hardworking son of an ohio bartender and owner who grew up to be the speaker of the house of representatives. john boehner talked about the american dream. john boehner, you are the personification of the american dream. as you-all know, speaker boehner was a formidable spokesman for the republican agenda. my republican colleagues, i'm sure you know and i can attest

to the fact that he was always true and loyal to the members of his caucus in any negotiations we ever had. although we had our differences, and often, i always respected his dedication to this house and his commitment to his values. thank you, john, for your leadership and courage as speaker. your graciousness as speaker extended and was reflected in your staff under the leadership of mike summers whom we all respect. thank you to john boehner's staff. i know i speak for everyone here, democrats and republicans, when i thank you for making the visit of his holiness, pope francis, such a beautiful and meaningful

xperience for all of us. today we extend our thanks and congratulations to debi, your daughters lindsay and trisha, and the entire boehner family, now including grandson. let's hear it for the family of ohn boehner. ebb behalf of house democrats and personally, i wish you and your family all of god's blessings in the glorious years ahead. last month we witnessed something truly special when pope francis made history addressing a joint session of congress. standing right here pope

francis called on us to speak hope, peace, and dialogue for all people. and reminded us of our duties to find a way forward for everyone. a good political leader his holiness said, is one who with the interest of all in mind seizes the moment in a spirit of openness and pragmatism. with that -- with the interest in mind of all. pope francis echoed the principle of our founders that placed at the heart of our democrat -- democracy the saying so many one. the founders could ever have imagine how vast our country would become, how diverse and many we would be ethnically, gender identities, beliefs, and priorities, but they knew we had to be one. every day in this house and across the country we pledge allegiance to one nation, under

god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. this is the beauty of america that for all of our honest differences, prospeck tiffs, and priorities, aired and argued so passionately on this floor, we are committed to being one nation. despite our differences, in fact respecting them, i look forward to a clear debate in this marketplace of ideas, the people's house of representatives. so my fellow colleagues we have a responsibility to act upon our shared faith and the greatness of our country. we have responsibility to be worthy of the sacrifices of our troops, our veterans, and our military families. we have responsibility to make real the promise of the american dream for all. there is important work before

the congress and we must do more to promote growth, decrease the deficit, create good-paying jobs, and increase the paychecks of america's working families. page is this house a turned, a new chapter has begun. today the gavel passes to a proud son of wisconsin. the first speaker from wisconsin. paul ryan has had the full breadth of experience on capitol hill from young staffer , tore waiter, should i say that again, tortilla coast waiter, to congressman, to being a sincere and proud advocate for his point of view as chairman of the budget committee, as a respected leader and chairman of the ways and means committee, and in a minute he will be the speaker of the house of representatives.

on behalf, mr. speaker to be, on behalf of house democrats i extend the hand of friendship to you. congratulations to you, paul, to your children, your mother who is here, how proud she must be. the entire ryan family whom we all know mean so much to you. mr. speaker, god bless you and your family and god bless the nited states of america. this is the speaker's house. this is the speaker's -- this is the people's house.

this is the people's gavel, and the people's name it is my privilege to hand this gavel to the speaker of the house, congressman and honorable paul ryan. the speaker: thank you very

much. thank you. thank you. thank you, madam leader. before i begin i would like to thank all of my family and friends who flew in from wisconsin and from all over for being here today. in the gallery i have my mom, betty, my sister, janet, my brothers stan and tobaccoin, and more cousins than i can ount on a few hands.

most important, i want to recognize my wife, jana, and our children, liza, charlie, and sam. i also want to thank speaker boehner for almost five years he led this house, for nearly 25 years he served it. not many people can match his accomplishments. the offices he held, the laws he passed, but what really sets john apart is he's a man of character, a true class act. he is without a question the gentleman from ohio. so please join me in saying one

last time, thank you speaker boehner. now i know how he felt. it's not until you hold this gavel, stand in this spot, look out and see all 435 members of this house as if all america's sitting right in front of you. it's not till then that you feel it. the weight of responsibility. the grambity of the moment.

you -- graphity of the moment. as i stand here i can't help but think of something harry truman once said. the day after franklin roosevelt died, truman became president and he told a group of reporters, if you ever pray, pray for me now. when they told me yesterday what had happened, i felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me. we should all feel that way. a lot is on our shoulders. so if you ever pray, let's pray for each other. republicans, for democrats, and emocrats for republicans.

and i don't mean pray for a conversion, all right. pray for a deeper understanding because when you're up here, you see it so clearly. wherever you come from, whatever you believe, we are all in the same boat. i never thought i'd be speaker. but early in my life, i wanted to serve this house. i thought this place was exhilarating because here, you can make a difference. if you had a good idea, if you worked hard, you could make it happen. you could improve people's lives. to me, the house of representatives represents what's best of america. the boundless opportunity to do ood. but let's be frank. the house is broken.

we're not solving problems, we're adding to them. and i am not interested in laying blame. we are not settling scores. we are wiping the slate clean. neither the members nor the eople are satisfied with how things are going. we need to make some changes, starting with how the house does business. we need to let every member contribute, not once they've earned their stripes but now. i come at this job as a two-time committee chair. the committees should retake the lead in drafting all major legislation.

if you know the issue, you should write the bill. let's open up the process. let people participate. and they might change their mind. a neglected minority will gum up the works. a respected minority will work in good faith. instead of trying to stop the majority, they might try to become the majority. in other words, we need to return to regular order. now, i know this sounds like process. it's actually a matter of principle.

we are the body closest to the people. every two years, we face the voters and sometimes face the music. but we do not echo the people, we represent the people. we are supposed to study up and do the homework they cannot do. so when we do not follow regular order, when we rush to pass bills that a lot of us don't understand, we are not doing our job. only a fully functioning house can truly represent the people. and if there are ever a time for us to step up, this would be that time. america does not feel strong anymore. because the working people of america do not feel strong anymore. i'm talking about the people who mind the store, and grow the food, and walk the beat, and pay the taxes, and raise the family.

they do not sit in this house. they do not have fancy titles. but they are the people who make this country work, and this ouse should work for them. here's the problem. they're working hard, they're paying a lot, they're trying to do right by their families, and they're going nowhere fast. they never get a raise they never get a break, the bills keep filing up and the taxes and the debt. they're working harder than ever before to get ahead, yet they're falling further behind. they feel robbed. they feel cheated by their birth right, of their birth right. they're not asking for any favors.

they just want a fair chance. and they're losing faith that they'll ever get it. then, they look at washington and all they see is chaos. what a relief to them it would be if we finally got our acts together. what a weight off their shoulders. how reassuring it would be if we actually fixed the tax code, put patients in charge of their health care, grew our economy, strengthened our military, lifted people out of poverty and aid down our debt. at this point, nothing could be more inspiring than a job well

done. nothing could stir the heart more than real, concrete results. the cynics will scoff. they'll say it's not possible. you better believe we're going to try. we will not duck the tough issues. we will take them head on. we are going to do all we can do so that working people get their strength back and people not working get their lives back. no more fares for the few. opportunity for all. that is our motto. you know, i often talk about a need for revision. -- for a vision. i'm not sure i ever really said what i meant. we saw problems -- we solve

problems here, yes. we create a lot of them too. but at bottom, we vindicate a way of life. we show by our work that free people can govern themselves. they can solve their own problems. they can make their own decisions. they can deliberate, collaborate and get the job done. we show that self-government is not only more efficient and more effective, it's more fulfilling. in fact, we show it as that struggle, that hard work, that very achievement itself that makes us free. that is what we do here. and we will not always agree. not all of us, not all of the time. but we should not hide our disagreements. we should embrace them. we have nothing to fear from honest differences, honestly tated.

if you have ideas, let's hear them. i believe that a greater clarity between us can lead to greater charity among us. and there's every reason to have hope. when the first speaker took the gavel, he looked out at a room of 30 people. representing a nation of three million. today, as i look out at each and every one of you, we represent a nation of 300 million. so when i hear that america doesn't have it, we're done, we're spent, i don't believe it. i believe with every fiber of my being that we can renew the american idea. now our task is to make us all

believe. my friends, you have done me a great honor. the people of this country, they've done all of us a great honor. now let's prove ourselves worthy of it. let's seize the moment. let's rise to the occasion. and when we are den, let us say that we left the people, all the people, more united, happy, and free. thank you.

i am now ready to take the oath of office. i ask that the dean of the house of representatives, the honorable john conyers jr. of michigan, to administer the oath of office. mr. conyers: if the gentleman from wisconsin would please raise his right hand. do you, sir, solemnly swear or affirm that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith

and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you god? r. ryan: i do. the speaker: thank you. thank you. for what purpose does the gentleman from california, mr. mccarthy, seek recognition? mr. mccarthy: i offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker: the clerk will

report the resolution. the clerk will first number the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 503. resolved, that the clerk be instructed to inform the president of the united states that the house of representatives has elected paul d. ryan, a representative from the state of wisconsin, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker: without objection the resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid pon the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from california, mr. mccarthy, seek recognition? mr. mccarthy: mr. speaker, i offer a privileged resolution ask for its immediate consideration. the clerk: the clerk will reminority resolution. the clerk: house resolution 504, resolved, that a message be sent to the senate to inform that body that pall d. ryan, a member

from the state of wisconsin, has been elected speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: without objection -- the speaker: without objection, the resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. >> newly elected speaker of the house paul ryan on thursday, today he has made appearances on several sunday morning new shows. on nbc's meet the press, he was asked about the top items on his agenda. the presidential election and immigration. families are falling behind,

the economy is stale, poverty is up around -- 46 million people are still living in policy -- in poverty. we have to offer alternatives. thatat the disaster obamacare is continuing to be. we own the american people a specific agenda for how we will do things differently on these issues. >> will donald trump leave the room republican party -- leave the republican party to victory? >> you know i will say neutral on that but if you are asking me if anyone would be a better president than hillary clinton, the answer is yes. favor told me you were in of in a stash of a path to citizenship. >> i have written extensively about my views on immigration, but on immigration, i don't think we can trust the president on this issue the president has proven himself as -- untrustworthy on this issue

because he tried to rewrite the role himself -- rewrite the law himself. he has proven himself to be untrustworthy. if we reached consensus on something like order security, that is one thing, but i cannot believe we should advance comprehensive immigration legislation with a president who has proven himself untrustworthy. other interviews, speaker ryan mentioned his desire to keep up with his outdoor activities like hunting and camping, even while serving as speaker. this morning he posted this picture of his bow hunting tree stand. c-span, the best access to congress with live contest coverage of the congress and senate. here comments about the house speaker election. >> excellent photographic makes c-span look like espn. why yes, as a matter of fact,

i am watching john boehner on c-span. does this surprise anybody who knows me? a, verying from a study inspiring speech, politics and our country is very broken and competitive -- combative lately. >> how could a member of the minority party run for house speaker? cap my c-span on, keeping an eye out for colorado representatives. of the speaker vote, i am watching c-span on a plane. this is the future. >> the best access to congress is on c-span, c-span radio, and c-span.org. go behind the scenes by following our capitol hill producer. >> on thursday, treasured -- treasury secretary jack lew

commended lawmakers on the budget agreement, calling it a step over it. his comments came at the bipartisan policy center is all the panel discussion with former senators and former representatives ben weber. this is about 45 minutes.

>> thanks to the bipartisan policy center for hosting this event today. for nearly a decade, the bipartisan policy center has been an important forum discussion across party lines on a variety of complex issues. i want to thank the center for the important work that they have been doing on the debt limit, highlighting the contribution of the hogan and steve bell, and take a moment to recognize senator conrad, congressman nichols, for the leadership. the last time i was here, i spoke about our country's progress over the previous several years. grog -- jobor growth for strengthening, the auto industry was making a strong comeback and deficits were on the decline. at that time, i also called for leaders in washington to be part of the solution, to end the brinksmanship and manufactured

crises that imperiled our economic progress. we find ourselves at another pit of -- pivotal moment for the nation. today is a fitting time to be speaking here. congressional leaders have reached a significant bipartisan compromise on the budget that is good for the country. would fund the government for two years and raise the debt limit so that we can continue to meet our obligations. it's an agreement that reflects our values. keeping our country safe. the core public sector investments are necessary to create a strong environment for business and economic growth and provide certainty that gives government -- companies confidence to make the decisions on the cutting edge. analysis of previous estimate suggests that this budget agreement will lead to 300 or 8000 additional american jobs in 2016 the loan. these investments would be fully paid for in a balanced way by

-- andg that organizes pipeline companies and private equity firms a the taxes they oh and by cutting billions of dollars in wasteful spending. it avoids harmful cuts to medicare and social security and protects working families. this would be a significant a compliment, and it's a step toward ending a pattern of short-term legislating that has become too much the norm in our country. i urge congress to move its we is possible to provide stable funding for the government and raise the debt limit. in order to continue our leadership in the world, i also urge congress to implement a 2010 imf won't on government reform. failure to act threatens u.s. leadership and influence over the decision-making process and causes other nations to question our commitment to the imf. the administration remains committed to refining the legislative vehicle

fragmentation of these reforms as quickly as possible. congress is also making bipartisan cut -- progress on reauthorizing the export import bank. important tool for american jobs that helps level the playing field for businesses. last year, xm supported 154,000 american jobs in nearly 90% of transactions drug supported american small businesses in 2014. now is a particular time for this action, sales or other strongest levels in 13 years. jobless claims are close to 40 year lows and the economy has created 13.2 million private sector jobs. consumer confidence is strong as small businesses are planning further increases in their payroll. we should be working together to continue this momentum. 12 progress is encouraging, time range short to act on the debt limit.

the treasury has only one week before we run out of borrowing authority to meet obligations. the congressional leadership black, but it is important that we do not lose sight of that time frame. i am encouraged by recent elements and i urge congress to act as early as possible. what that, i thank you and look forward to answering your questions -- with that, i thank you and look forward to answering your questions. >> is this an opportunity to look at the debt ceiling, is there any way you elect to see a change or altered so it's not this game of brinkmanship going forward? if this agreement

passes, it will be about future administrations, the debt limit does not make sense as a way of controlling spending or policies. congress makes commitments, we then implement those commitments and the debt limit just determines whether or not you are authorized to pay for them. every reasonre is to look at how we handle the debt limit. now may not be the moment to do -- it faces the prospect of not being able to pay our bills. if the debt limit could be voted on and it was easy, it is just another step in the process. if it becomes a regular event of brinksmanship and getting to deadlines where we see interest rates starting to reflect and confident starting to reflect it , it starts to do harm. clearly, we have a lot of policy

that is appropriate to negotiate over, and that's what this budget agreement reflects. it is the kind of give and take you get in a bipartisan agreement. paying our bills is something that should not be bargained over. we should care about the full faith and credit of the united states. [inaudible] -- to go beyond november 30, will you be able to provide any kind of market reassurance or guidance? >> i have been clear with all of the dates we have given, that it would be irresponsible for the government to operate without any borrowing capacity. many, wetainties are have done our very best to share information so that independent

analysis could be done as well as our own. it all confirms that we are going to confirm -- run out of borrowing capacity when we say ability toof the fund the operations of the government. we cannot go there. they should not be the first time -- this should not be the first time. given that part of the stuff that made this deal possible was speaker boehner's lame-duck status, how do you feel about moving forward in the future in regular order and not having any more debt ceiling crises? >> i think he does go year agreement provides a path where congress won't need to act on the debt limit until 2017, where they will be appropriation caps

in place for this year and next and the appropriations committee will go to the work of writing bills which is what they do. there wasbe clear, still have to be appropriation bills that have bipartisan support and that can be signed into law, which means they have to be clean bills. they can't be the kind that create the confrontations that could put us back in a very difficult situation. there is a month or more for that process to work through. what's important about this the recentnd all of bipartisan agreements is that when you let a majority work its will in congress, you actually still can get bipartisan agreements to do things. that is an important principle to remember, this agreement is being completed as congress moves forward.

>> any additional questions for the secretary? >> your previous question cap -- you said there should not be any appropriation -- is there any amendments that would repeal part of the act? do you believe the president should veto those appropriation bills? onwe have been very frank these things that have been central to rebuilding the economy and maintaining that in place is critically important. we would very strongly oppose any effort to undermine the core provisions of it. there has not been any ambient -- ambiguity of our view on this , and we look forward to working with congress on the kinds of appropriation bills that can get bipartisan support. know there's not

going to be in a social security cuts -- cost-of-living increases, can you report anything in the way of health, going forward? agreement,ook in the there are provisions that address the medicare premiums, which would have been very substantial increases for some people on social security. that is spread out over a longer. -- a longer period of time. our focus is to make sure that we can continue to run all of the other aspects of government that provide critical services to all people, young people, working people. things that get turned upside awn if you have either shutdown or a default crisis. there are a lot of things we do in this country that are important to the american people.

agreement is passed, they can continue in orderly way. thank you mr. secretary. thank you to the bipartisan policy center for staying focused on the issue that people pay attention to periodically. we appreciate that there are experts here who are partners, even when it is not any headlines. -- not in the headlines. [applause] hope -- we have time for a few more questions. i realize it is 4:30, almost. we have a ballgame coming up tonight but i don't think you can make it to kansas city, tonight.

time, i willst of not go through the bios on these distinguished public servants but let me simply highlight that all three have had long and distinguished careers in the u.s. congress. senator nickles and congressman -- and senatorr conrad, bill worked tirelessly on many of the budget issues that remain elevated, today. i have a couple of simple , andions for each of them we will open it up to you to query them. one question that has already been asked, but i will ask it again of the distinguished guests here. let me begin with the house of representatives, where this bill is originating. weber, you were in the house leadership, you know

how the house functions. would this agreement have been possible had speaker boehner not agreed to give up his position? >> no. >> could you elaborate? >> i thought you wanted to get to a ballgame. i've known speaker boehner for the last months, maybe -- he has lived under this threat of the motion to vacate the chair, which any member can bring up and defend the speaker not there and at that point yet to get 218 votes to remain speaker of the house. the anger against boehner on the right with the freedom caucus and the far right of the party, it was his rebellious. , and we cansifying talk about why that was, but it was clearly the case. if he had delivered this agreement, they would it finally acted on this threat to vacate the chair. i believe they would've had enough votes to prevent him from getting the 218 on the

republican side. i will defer a little bit too tent, but i can't imagine the democrats coming to the rescue of a public and train wreck at this point. i don't think he could of done it. i think it's a good thing that we did it and that he did not. once he is out of this job, he will get a lot of credit for showing leadership at a critical time. >> thank you. conrad, any comments about what the secretary had to say? you had a chance to look at this proposed agreement. is this a good deal? >> none of these deals are perfect, but this deal is important. it is important because it avoids what could have been a disaster. meet would have failed to the requirements of the full faith and credit of the united

states, if we had put in jeopardy the full faith and credit, that would have been a very serious thing. it would've have been a serious thing for the credit markets of the united states and a very serious thing for the equity markets. i think everybody knows, we would've seen sharp selloffs and we would have seen american -- america in a much weakened position financially, at a time we cannot afford to be weakened. unrest all with across the middle east. mostthreatening the barbaric kinds of actions. this is not the time for the united states to have a self-inflicted financial wound. >> thank you. we are speaking as though this agreement is law. [laughter] senator nickles, you were number

chose go -- you were number two in senator leadership. of remain a close leader majority leader mcconnell. what is your prognosis on this budget package being adopted quickly in the senate, given that there are a number of republican senators who are up , as well as those seeking the presidency next year? what is the outlook in the senate, assuming it makes it over from the house? >> i want to complement speaker boehner, but also senator fornnell and the leaders coming together. it is important to do it. there has been little bipartisan work. secretary lewis -- lou said we needed a clear debt limit but the debt limit brought people

together and i think john boehner would have gotten this deal done. i think paul ryan would've gotten this deal done. debt limits do make you closer, they get your attention, they get the administration's attention. -- johnnistration boehner gets credit for this and nobody gives them credit, but he was responsible for the deal in 2011 that brought spending down significantly. i heard the president try to take credit for it. he passed a chilean dollar stimulus and health care bill and the 2011 agreement which was basically amended to a debt limit extension and was the spending.g to curb that was premised on negotiations that the speaker

led that was tied to the debt limit. sometimes it is -- it does influence things. i think it will pass the senate and the house. i think the presidential a couple ofh members in the senate who are now campaigning may try to get some headlines from it, but i don't think they will prevail. >> irrespective to be respecteded? -- you -- you expect it to be filibustered? -- inon't think they have the senate you have to be able to cooperate in get things done to be effective and i don't think a filibuster on this package -- this package does a lot of things -- it does curb entitlements and we had not been much of that.

entitlements by their definition, you have to pass them through both houses, which means you need bipartisan support. i think it will pass the senate and my compliments to the leadership and there was some communication between the right house. the white house has not been reaching out to congressional leaders. deals toto make some make this town work and make government work. >> i will come back to the disability insurance program, but let me get back to congressman weber. you are a friend of the speaker to be, mr. ryan, the freedom caucus had a list of nearly 21 demands. any of them that call for wide range of changes in the house rules. how do you think mr. ryan will fair with that caucus, or will

he be subject to the same tensions that play does -- that plagued speaker weiner? -- speaker weiner -- boehner. tired ofk he got dealing with the freedom caucus and choate the last several months. he was quite public in saying critical things about them. procedurals is not or rules driven, it is about personalities, and paul ryan starts with the goodwill of folks on that end of the party spectrum. that is why he got the support of 70% of the members of the freedom caucus. they trust him and think he is an honest man. they had come to the conclusion that they did not like john boehner. you want to be hopeful, in my

judgment, it's more because of the personality changes and maybe a honeymoon period that paul ryan ought to inherit that exists because he does not have to deal. we should not make the mistake that there are underlying dynamics that have caused they are not-- fundamentally changed, and brian will have to show a lot of ill in leader -- and leadership moving forward. we have a chance now, my great fear is that if he became speaker and had to deal with this right off, maybe he would have succeeded, but maybe not. a hard timead dealing with all sorts of other things coming down the pipe like tpp, which requires a huge effort -- bipartisan in my view. conrad, mike had a bit of a difference of opinion.

congress seems to operate under these guns of the head a lot, recently. sequesters, cliffs, is this the standard order of legislating, today? do either parties benefit from these kinds of things? we have to have these self-imposed crises to get governments to work? >> is -- it was my great hope when i was there that we could do angst that needed to be done without these kinds of self-created crises. -- i'm show sure anymore not so sure anymore. in this climate, especially with the house as it is, it seems get the only time you across the finish line is to have a deadline. a deadline that has real consequences to it.

we were involved in simpson bowles, some of us thought there was the opportunity for the grand bargain to get the country wouldn a fiscal path that get our debt down, that would put us in a much more sustainable but at the end of the day, we could not get that across the finish line, despite five years. of effort. this is could say that just a passing phase and we will get over this -- i am not sure. limit,spect to the debt i confess, i used the debt limit to get paul since. that is how we got the commission made. never never threatened -- -- not to extend the debt limit.

we were arguing about how long the debt limit would be extended. we never would put the country in a position of default. that is a disaster for everybody. if there is one thing we should be able to figure out is default ing is not an option. >> i hesitate to race this, but is there deficit reduction in the package? you know, the acoustics are very bad. i do not see this as a deficit reduction package. this is a package that reorients deficit reduction already done. frankly, deficit reduction, to me, that was not done well. sequester led to deficit reduction -- as senator nickles

indicated, we have gone from ,ebt that is 26% of gdp spending at 26% of gdp to less than 22%. that is a substantial reduction in spending. we did it all on the domestic side -- or virtually all on the domestic side. which will be at a 50 year low. we did not do it on the side of the budget, which is really seeing growth. that really has to be reformed. that is the entitlement that counts. to me, this kind of reorient's a little. it does take a nick on the entitlement, which is a positive development. hopefully it opens a broader discussion. if we will be series of our getting the country back on track, we will have to be able to reform entitlements and the taxes of this. if you sat down and said we some design a bad tax up

-- taxus system, it would be hard. taking the cut side of the discretionary budget was never a good idea. maybe it was the only way we could get by. but he knows the budget better than anyone i know. if he says there is not necessarily a budget, -- airports the direction. it tells congress you can not hack away at discretionary spending what that is not the problem. seed of theting the future when you deal with those problems. i want to pick up a little and give a little bit of a shadow to -out to thet bipartisan policy center. we had it a team that worked the that focusedt half on ssdi.

a difficult issue. i think you're correct. there are major proposals and plans and this package going forward. i think there are some elements. and in the agriculture area here that our touch upon on this package. nickles, you have been on this for quite a while. some people would say that the meal has been eaten. pay the bill. of thewalk out restaurant. argue, as you have heard, that the only way to get the attention of the president -- you have made this argument -- is to have this gun at your head. where are you coming -- are you still on that particular position? that this would not have come about had it not been for the debt limit. sen. nickles: this deal would

have never happened if you did not have the debt limit. no way. and can't and i go way back in the senate. i have looked at the debt limit and the votes. the toughest vote i ever had in the senate was the first time i voted for a debt limit extension. i remember ronald reagan calling me at home. hey, got to have you on this one. i was conservative as anybody. -- i remember really being troubled on that. i was 32. i did not want to increase the debt limit. i look back and i voted for a -- voted for it a lot and voted against it a lot did it dependent on what was happening. denies i grew and leadership in capability, i found it a great tool to appear we passed the congressional review act. amendment toaws an the debt limit. we passed a big legit act in

1997 that did a lot on the budget act. on the debt limit extension. major pieces of legislation sometimes have been carried by the debt limit. because we all know, at the end of the day, the responsible legislators know we will pass it. .t was never a question it was a question of what can we get it that can get signed. secretary lew says now they have to pass the appropriations bill. that is hogwash. the constitution says congress shall do the appropriations. members of congress have to negotiate, what can we get in there? we will not give the administration, from the republican standpoint, everything they want. congress gets to write the appropriation bill, but they have to figure what can we get the deal eventually signed. you have that give and take. is the negotiation.

maybe you do not negotiate. you find that it is vetoed. the defense authorization bill was vetoed for the first time in my memory. my guess is that fixes this. my guess is he will sign it. my guess is he will sign it and he is not going to be happy with what is going on guantanamo. because that restriction has been in there for years. this idea of the administration -- thatg it, he is pre-negotiation, it is not going to fly. congress will not give him that kind of authority. >> i assume that because of this agreement, in seeming -- assuming that it is enacted and the president signs it, that we will not face another government shutdown in december? >> one of the best things about this is that congress, for the past six years, has not really done the appropriations process. i will complement the senate.

out of every bill committee -- the first time that has happened in years. they are ready to go. there will be plugged up's and changes and they figure out what 302bll the 12 -- allegations. give you those up and come up with it. i think almost every bill out of the's -- out of the senate were done in a bipartisan way. those will go. but they are not clean. they have lots of things. was -- not offended, but congress will pass those bills and the president may or may not veto them. it and some department is not open for some time, congress will have to go back and say will we fix it or not fix it. but that is good. it will be good to see congress

working and the legislative process working not just for this year but for next year. i was not an appropriate except for a brief period. invited a lot to the appropriations committee. but i have never seen a clean appropriations bill. you do nott having like on it. but all of the appropriators, they put the things on that they want to achieve. the secretary wants to set the ground rules here. but we all know that congress is going to pass appropriations that with things in their you ma'am are not agree with. the question is, what happens at the end of the day? at the end of the day, the president has to sign this. >> or vetoes. >> a positive aspect of this is

it is two years. meaning we are moving toward something a lot of us have a post for a long time. that is what we have been doing. and we got this beyond. i want to open it to the audience. i know it is late in the afternoon. will haveourself, we a couple of questions. back here. >> high, zach israel. regarding theion steagall act. if you're watching the democratic debate, this issue came to the forefront. i know the two senators voted to repeal that in 1989. repeal last siegel -- g lass-siegel. gret having done that? they are not running for president. >> i believe you both voted in

favor of repealing glass-siegel. >> i would have to do more homework on it. on the financial side -- and i do not even remember that vote -- i should. fiduciaryiar with the role of the administration -- my first trip to d.c. was on an aricept. they are trying to rewrite it. congress and the house are trying to stop it. >> that could be a writer -- rider on the appropriations. it should be. the administration is trying to redefine fiduciary. i was for do syria the defense plan. i know something about that. i know something about the responsibilities of a fiduciary. what the administration is trying to do -- i do not like executive branch legislation.

that is clearly what they are trying to do. i would not be surprised if you see a rider on an appropriations bill. bill: senator conrad, do you remember your vote on glass-siegel? sen. conrad: i do. because i had quite a debate and internally, when i was deciding how to vote. there were other things involved in that legislation, as you know. that was not an easy call. i am not, now, seeking office and do not intend to again. i really have not devoted the kind of study that i would want how i would vote if it were just a question of glass-siegel. you will recall that, when we go back to those days, we were dealing with an entire package.

there are real issues that are enormously complex. that involve our financial system. i will want to spend a lot of time and hear a serious debate before i reach the conclusion again. bill: other questions? over here. is dave to trust. i was wondering, the legislation , the provisions that seem to be the hot button issues, are the planned parenthood, obamacare, and some environmental riders, specifically for the gentleman with gop backgrounds. do you see the agreement perhaps making people willing to get a long?

or do you still see this as flashpoints as far as vetoes. >> i do not think we eliminated flashpoints. we have may be taking a small step in the direction of comedy and bipartisanship. but a small part. fightwill be a small about planned parenthood. i am glad it was not fought in the context of the debt ceiling. there is going to be a fight over it. people feel strongly about it. i think they would be ready to allow a part of the government of timefor a period because of the importance that issue holds for them. in each appropriations bill, you have democrats and republicans that work on those issues a lot. i was on an appropriations committee for some time before i went to the finance committee. in those areas that you become

is your domain, you spend a lot of time. democrat and republican will work to try and figure out how can we get it? most of the bills in the finance committee were out was pretty good bipartisan votes. mainly because the chairman and ranking members, no matter who was in control, usually work well together. chairman ofi was finance, and he was -- , but we woulds work them out. we knew what we could get through. we did some things may be the administration did not like, but we knew what could be signed. you also know what cannot be signed. sometimes, you test the limits. more often than not, you work it

out and some way. because you work all year to pass this bill. you want it to become law. you do not wanted to be featured vetoed not go anywhere. it may be that the issue is so hot it needs to run that to happen. that is part of the legislative process. it is a good process. it is not perfect, but it is a good process. i am glad it will finally work. laws andpasses a few then they raise some money and spend a whole lot of money. they have meant -- they have not been doing that last portion. it has been on automatic pilot without the committees really working. now the committees have a chance to work. there will be a lot of amendments on the floor. andsume speaker ryan certainly leader mcconnell, they believe in regular order. that means you will have

appropriations bills with lots of amendments. i think that is a healthy process and will be a good process. i think most of the bills will be signed, maybe some of them will be vetoed. so what? the defense authorization bill, my passes -- looking a crystal ball about the affordable care act, four to five years from now, will be country stop complaining about it? will there be significative revisions, or will we still find about it? seedo your prognostications the future of the affordable care act? i think it would be significantly changed, maybe no matter who is president. if a republican is president, i do not know if it would be repealed and replaced, but he would be close to that. it would be significantly

rewritten if a republican is elected. as long as it takes away the employer mandate. >> i think the penalties, the co-ops, -- there is a lot of disasters in the works. >> it is hitting close to home when you talk about co-ops. senator conrad, that was your provision. sen. conrad: yes. i thought the co-ops were good. you know, the co-ops have a proud history in my part of the country. we have health care cooperatives usually successful. even health care cooperatives under the affordable care act. a guy in me from montana, part of a health care cooperative there, says we are doing well. subvertedy, they were by subsequent steps in what has been implemented on different

things. on the affordable care act, i think it is with us in substantial amount. the affordable care act never had the chance to go through the regular legislative process. to goer had a chance through a conference committee, come back to the house. it never had a chance to go through the whole house process. because as you will recall, senator kennedy died. so there are lots of things that need to be fixed in the affordable care act. i am a democrat. i voted for it. proud to have voted for it. believe it was a step forward for american health care. millions of additional people covered. i think it has played a role in keeping down increases in health care costs.

problems are lots of with the affordable care act, whether you are a democrat or the republican floor against the original -- or a republican for or against the original. see anill be fun to amendable form in the senate appeared because it did not have a chance. the senate never did have a vote on individual mandates are being able to keep your health care plan if you like it, or the excise tax on devices. they have or those votes on a bill going through. it would be nice to see that happen. maybe not a markup on the floor -- but you can see it will be if thatn significantly chance prevails it in the future. i think it will be rewritten but not all at once. -- dumbestdump us

thing i heard in the health care debate as we will solve the health care problem once and for all. we never will. donink a little more than does that it is getting institutionalized. i do not think it will get worked out. but we adjusted every year. we are going to be legislating about health care -- about the affordable care act, just about every year or congress, because things change. , finances, technology of the country, and everything else. we elect a-- if republican, republicans have to vote on something that looks bee repealed, but it will quickly replaced in many measures, because it has become institutionalized to a substantial extent. and by the way, the first co-op in america was in my congressional district. >> thank you.

i think we asked you to comment on an afternoon. i appreciate you taking the time. thank you, senator, congressman. i want to end with a quote with lincoln because i am an optimist. i am and all -- i have to be optimistic have a bipartisan agreement and that we are going forward. thank you for being here. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] brady"newsmakers," kevin talks about his interest in replacing paul ryan as chairman of the committee, as well as tax issues, and the congressional agenda under new speaker ryan.

"newsmakers" at 6:00. why should my husband's job, or yours, prevent us from being ourselves? i do not believe that being first lady should prevent me from expressing my ideas. [applause] betty ford spoke her mind, was pro-choice, and was a supporter of the equal rights amendment. she and president ford openly discussed her breast cancer. confronting her addiction defined her post-white house years. betty ford, tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on "first ladies: influence and inmates." nfluence and image."

tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span 3. >> defense secretary ashton carter and chair of the joints steep -- joints chief of staff joseph dunford discuss u.s. strategy in the middle east at a hearing of the senate armed services committee. they talked about the fight against isis and russia's involvement in the syrian civil war. senator john mccain chairs this three-hour hearing.

sen. mccain: good morning. the committee meets today to receive testimony on u.s. strategy in the middle east. i want to thank our distinguished witnesses for appearing this morning and for their service to our nation. likee i proceed, i would to remind our witnesses, our committee rules require written testimony be submitted 24 hours in advance of a hearing. toould like our witnesses try to adhere to that. the tragic loss last week of joshua walker,nt a veteran of 14 combat deployments, reminds us of the high-stakes of our mission in the middle east. and how grateful we are to those americans serving there. we need a strategy worthy of

those who carry it out, and unfortunately, we don't have that. what is worse, it appears the demonstration has not even defined the problem correctly. isil first fails to understand that isil is actually just a symptom of a deeper problem -- the struggle for power and sectarian identity now raging across the middle east, the epicenter of which is iraq and syria. that is my isil exists today -- that is why isil exists today with the strength that it does. this problem will only get worse the longer this conflict rages on. we hear it said all the time, "there is no military solution to this problem." which is it sure was them. but that is also misleading. the real problem is there can be no diplomatic solution without leverage, and there is a clear military dimension to this problem.

secretary kerry can take all of the trips he wants the geneva, but unless the military balance changes on the ground, diplomacy, as has been proven will achieve nothing. , changing those conditions is what the administration has consistently failed to do. instead, it is assumed our nation could withdraw from the middle east and avoid the conflict at its heart. mower over on those occasions , where the administration has felt compelled to respond after -- the use of chemical weapons or with the rise of isil, and now amid the worst refugee crisis since world war ii, the administration has merely addressed the symptoms of the underlying problem rather than the problem itself and made that problem worse. there no clearer example than -- of this than the syrian train and equip program. start, the administration said the fighters in this program could only write

forces,t assad's which have slaughtered more syrians and displaced more syrians then isil has. the administration made no commitment until only recently to provide these forces with any meaningful military support was -- once they return to syria. after millions of dollars and months of effort, the program failed to come to the department's original expectations. the president has expressed surprise about this failure. it was not a surprise. it was completely predictable , and many of us here did predict it. only someone who does not understand the real problem, the underlying conflict in syria and iraq, or does not care to, could think that we could recruit and train large numbers of sunni syrians to fight only against isil, with no promise of coalition assistance if they came under fire from assad's forces.

problem,an fixing the the president suspended it. this is tantamount to killing the program, because it is destroying trust our syrian partners have left in us, to say nothing about partners like turkey and jordan who have invested their own money and interest into this program. the president now says, incredibly, the failure of this program -- his program, the president's program -- proves he was right for not wanting to do it in the first place. harry truman must be spinning in his grave. if there is an opposite of commander-in-chief, this is it. the training effort in iraq has its own challenges. indeed, it is deja vu all over again. we don't have enough u.s. forces to train and advise iraqi units. at the rate levels. we are still not providing sufficient support to sunni

tribes, which are the center of this. we are looking the other way as shia militias go on the offensive in the iraqi heartland. we complain iraqi forces have no will to fight, but we are prohibiting u.s. forces from bolstering their will to fight by advising them in combat or calling in airstrikes. we have learned these lessons just a few years ago. apparently we have to relive the failures now. the administration has tried to extract america from the middle east. instead, we created a massive power vacuum that has been filled by isil, al qaeda, and affiliates on one hand and he round its proxies on the other. into this vacuum has stepped vladimir putin. his intervention in syria began in the ukraine. the administration's failure to impose greater cost on russia, by allowing defensive arms to the ukraine allowed russia to annex the crimea and then pivot

to syria. it is confirmed putin believes the administration is weak. to putin, weakness is provocative. the administration's response of the spar to russia's intervention into syria has only made this problem worse. it urged russia not to build up its forces in syria. putin ignored these. the administration then tried to deny russia the airspace in syria. and failed. putin responded by bombing moderate syrian forces, many partnered with the united states. what has been the result? the number of airstrikes has dropped. the train and equip program was halted just as it was starting to show battlefield results. the administration scrambled to deconflictiond agreement with the russians that spells out more of what we will

not do in syria. this agreement means the united states is now moving out of the way and watching as russian aircraft, together with the iranian, hezbollah, and assad ground forces, attack and kill brave syrians, many are nation -- many our nation has supported and encouraged. this is not only harmful, it is immoral. what we must do to hasten the end of conflict, in particular we must stop assad's use of air bombs. we must establish areas in syria where civilians can be safe. and do what is necessary to protect these areas on the air and the ground. we need to recognize that putin is not interested in a negotiated solution in syria that favors u.s. interests. we should impose real costs on russia, not just in syria, but everywhere we have leverage to do so. and as general portray us recently said we must devise a

, strategy to confront iranian power and designs in the region rather than acquiescing to them. that wel object of cannot bear the cost of these actions. but consider the costs of our current inaction and half measures. mass atrocities will continue. our allies and partners in the middle east will be put at greater risk of existential danger. europe will continue to be destabilized and consumed by the internal challenge of managing the refugee challenge. the cancer of isil will will grow more potent and spread across the middle east, africa, and asia posing a greater threat , to our national security. iran will be emboldened in its pursuit of maligned regional ambitions. putin will establish russia as a dominant military power in the middle east for the first time in 4 decades, and all the while ,america's credibility and

influence will continue to erode. make no mistake, this is the course we are now on. this will be the consequences of our current policy. no one believes there are easy answers to the underlying problems in the middle east. but this much should be clear. we cannot go on pretending that we can somehow avoid these that a current approach of trying to treat the symptoms of the disease rather if only cause will work we give it more time. it will not pay it policies of gradual escalation never do. senator reid. reid: thank you mr. chairman. let me join the chairman of welcoming back the secretary of defense and secretary asked and the joints chief of staff. the hearings altering the situation in the middle east includes a massive wave of refugees fleeing the continued

violence on the ground in syria and iraq. theirployment of operations in syria. the suspected issa attack that killed hundreds of injured hundreds more. during a peace rally in ankara. of generalloyment mcfarland. secretary kerry's recent meetings with the foreign and otherof turkey countries. the hearing comes weeks before the g8 20 summit where these issues will be at the forefront. general mcfarlane has been at the front of operations for ittle more than 45 days p it understand he use this time to evaluate the situation and maybe recommend changes to the campaign. his arrival comes at a critical time as the coalition campaign requires a reevaluation of our strategy. in syria, the collation faces and tamiko conflict, including the cancer isil fight a syrian , civil war, proxy war between the gulf states and iran, shia

-sunni conflict, terrorism fight, and with the intervention of russian aids, a power struggle. it is important we continually assess the u.s. military and help bring about a condition of a sustainable settlements. in iraq, a recent visit by general dunford and austin focused the attention on the effort to train iraqi security forces. but taken as a whole, the i.s. as has not shown the will to make necessary advances in the operation to take ramadi. for example. political leaders in baghdad have not made progress in addressing long-standing grievances. the recent operation by forces inshmerga northern iraq, despite the tragic losses of one of our finest soldiers, demonstrated

that such targeted efforts can have success in protecting innocent civilians and degrading isil. these operations can also result in critical intelligence to support the broader campaign against isil. while these are obviously without -- not without risk, the time may have come to evaluate whether they can be increased and whether our troops can play a more active role, including by accompanying air forces when direct contact with the enemy is unexpected. according to reports, the kurdishns support of forces have shown success in northern syria. it has come together in the form of a syrian-error of -- it shows promise for placing additional pressure on isil in surrounding areas. i am concerned the decision to

suspend the progress over the train and equip program may not allow us to -- my understanding is that the task force had recently recalibrated a program based on lessons learned and later graduate to have been direct impact in the fight against isil. the coalition cannot succeed in syria without a reliable sunni force on the ground to hold territorialany gains. building the force will take time and require the building of trust and contact between the coalition and our new partners on the ground. i hope the secretary and the general will provide reasons to reengage in vetting individuals or small groups. the deployment of russian individuals and -- have the it potential to set up another wave of refugees. russia's military operations

have complicated the coalition air campaign and have the potential to draw the attention of opposition forces away from counter isil operations. russian operations have negatively impacted the demonstration of humanitarian nonlethal aid to the syrian people. i hope general mcfarlane will be given the operational flexibility to implement modifications to the campaign against isil. secretary carter and 10 dunford, i would be interested in your recommendations for how to ensure general mcfarlane receives the flexibility and support needed to be successful going forward. thank you and i look forward to your testimony. sen. mccain: welcome the witnesses. secretary carter. sec. carter: thank you, mr. chairman. members of the committee. thank you for inviting us to come here and discuss the counter iso-program and address the concerns you raised and to share with you senator, read --

with you, senator reed, the plans we are formulating fort iraq in syria. the first time, for me, appearing before this committee alongside chairman joe dunford. who was just in the region last week. i am grateful to joe to asking my and the president's call to step down from what every marine knows is a higher position, commandant of the marine corps, to become chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. and to this committee for confirming joe, thank you. i am happy to have you here today. before i return to the subject of the hearing, i want to reiterate, as i have said consistently since and continue march to believe, washington needs to come together behind a multiyear budget deal supports -- of that supports our defense strategy the troops and their , families, and all elements of american's national security and strength.

i understand significant progress was made on this overnight, and i'm looking forward to reviewing the details. i welcome this major positive development and applaud the members of this committee for what you are doing to help us get there. the middle east presents a kaleidoscope of challenges. there, as everywhere, our actions and strong military posture are guided by what is in america's interest. that is our north star. amid this region's complexity and uncertainty, those interests are to deter aggression, bolster the security of our friends and allies, especially israel, and share freedom of navigation in the gulf to check iran's malign , influence, even as we monitor the implementation of the plan of action, and to degrade in -- and ultimately defeat isil. this last one, isil, poses a threat to our people and to

friendly countries, not only in the middle east but around the world. i will first outline the changes in the execution of our strategy that we have considered, and are now pursuing militarily. to gather battlefield momentum in the fight against isil. i will address what russia is doing in syria and why we will with ourt interfere campaign against isil. when i last spoke to this committee about our counter-isil campaign and its nine lines of the central and nonmilitary effort i made three things clear about the military aspects. that we will deliver isil a lasting defeat. that truly lasting success would require enabling capable , motivated local forces on the ground, recognizing this will take time and new diplomatic energy.

that our strategy's execution can and must and will be strengthened. all of that is still true. our determination is unchanged, even as the situation continues to fall and we continue to adapt to execute our campaign for more effectively. i would like to elaborate on the third point. explain how we are adopting our campaign to do more. we in orson what we know works. the changes we are pursuing can be described by what i call the three r's. raqqa, ramadi, and raids. explain, let me know that i took actions to streamline command and control of the counter-isil military campaign by assigning the entire effort to a single general officer. general mcfarlane. where several layers were added to the general officer already

in iraq. raqqa, isili stronghold and military capital. we have been clear for some time we need to keep up pressure in raqqa, and we will support moderate syrian forces fighting isolate have made territorial gains. some are in 30 miles of raqqa today. syrian-arab coalition will work overtime to push towards raqqa. to the south, we plan to further strengthen jordan pay from these guys above, we intend to intensify our air campaign, including the addition of u.s. and coalition air craft to target isil with a more heavy rate of strikes. and its oil enterprise, a

critical pillar of bicycles a critical-- pillar of isil's financial infrastructure. part of this includes our new approach to the syrian train and equip program. , like president obama and members of this committee was , disappointed with that program's results. we accordingly examined the program and have since changed it. ," not the word "changed "end." the old approach was to train and equip completely new forces outside of syria, before sending them into the fight. the new approach is to work with embedded leaders of groups that are already fighting isil and provide equipment and training to them and support their operations with their power. -- with air power. this approach builds on successes that local syrian arab

and kurdish forces have made along the syrian northern border to retake and contain territory from isil. we intend,concert as all of these actions on the ground and air should help shrink isil's territory into a smaller and smaller area and create new opportunities for targeting isil. denying this evil movement any safe haven in its supposed heartland. the second r is ramadi. the capital of the anbar province, which serves as a critical example of the government's commitment to work with local sunni communities with our help to retake and hold ground from isil. and in turn build momentum as we go to words mosul. under prime minister abadi's leadership, the iraqis have begun to use american f-16s to support counter operations and have empowered commanders to

step forward. as we see more progress to wards assembling capable blog. forces under baghdad's control and including sunni elements, we are willing to continue to provide more enabling and fire capabilities support to help them succeed. however the iraqi government and , security forces will have to take certain steps militarily to make sure our progress sticks. we need to see more in the direction of multi-sectarian governance and defense leadership. we have given the iraqi government to ban battalions worth of equipment for mobilizing sunni forces. as we continue to provide the support the iraqi government needs to ensure it is distributed effectively. defeats in anbar will be

temporary if not. the third and final r is raids. signaling we will not hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against iso-or conducting in those directly whether from the air or on the ground. last week's rescue operation was led by iraqi kurdish forces. with u.s. advisors and support. one of those accompanied advisors, master sergeant joseph wheeler -- joshua wheeler heroically acted to ensure the , overall success of the mission. and lost his life in the process. the death of any service member is a tragedy. as i told his family and teammates of this weekend, we offer our condolences to master sergeant wheeler's loved ones. while our mission in iraq is to inin and provide assistance those operations we want to , support our partners and we will.

raid, thee time, the strikes, these should serve notice to isolate another terrorist leaders that once we locate them, no target is beyond our reach. as we have looked at how to gather momentum and adapt to the changing battlefield, some have discussed putting a buffer zone, humanitarian zone or no-fly zone , in syria. we analyzed various options in the political and military requirements of each. these are complex and raised some challenges which i am prepared to discuss. let me turn to russia's involvement in syria. to be clear we are not , cooperating with russia. and we're not letting russia impact the pace or scope of our campaign against russia in iraq and syria. while we sent a document of

safety, we do not align ourselves more broadly with their military actions. ofause o instead singularly attacking isil as they said they were going to do , they are primarily attacking the syrian opposition as the chairman as noted, which fuels the tragic civil war there. their actions suggest a doubling down on their long-standing relationship with assad, in in attackings moderates who oppose the regime and are essential to syria's clinical transition. it appears the vast majority of their strikes, by some estimates up to 90%, use dumb bombs, which increases the possibility of civilian casualties. restaurants and a coalition of two with the run at its side, the united states will continue to strengthen our 65 nation global coalition. even as we have reached an

understanding with the russians on safety protocols with coalition pilots over syria, we will continue to keep prosecuting their campaign and abated. we will continue to support the syrian spirit and consistent with our strong, balanced approach to russian aggression, including nato and ukraine we will keep the door , open for russia to contribute to efforts towards a political solution, which in the final answer, analysis is the only answer of the syrian conflict. i have discussed the military judge and accompanying campaign, but before i conclude, i remind the committee to defeating isil and protecting america requires or needed -- requires coordinated efforts across all of the nine lines of effort. enhancing intelligence collection, disrupting isil's financing, countering icicles

messaging stopping the flow of , foreign fighters, providing humanitarian support, and protecting our homeland where other departments and agencies of our government have the lead. thank you. gen. dunford: chairman mccain, ranking member reed, thank you for the opportunity to discuss our challenge to the middle east and the military dimension of our campaign against isil. i have been in my position for just short of four weeks and spent much of that time reviewing our counter isil campaign. i followed up on a commitment i made in my confirmation hearing to visit the region early in my tenure.-- in my i visited israel, jordan, and iraq. i was impressed on the commitment of our soldiers and rains and airmen and sailors. thoughts, isil's primary source of strength is

its claim to be a caliphate. to be successful, a coal issue must reduce icicles territorial control, destroyed its war fighting capability, and undermine its land and aura of invincibility. critical element of a military campaign. conduct strikes against isil targets. to interdict their lines of communication and denied them sources of revenue. the second element of it military campaign is to support partners on the ground, to seize and secure isil held terrain. before i became the chairman of -- before i became leadership leadership across the board , recognized the need to increase pressure on isil. as with any campaign, we are continuing to examine ways to enhance of the effectiveness of our operations. we all recognize isil is a trans

regional threat requiring a broader strategy. the answer was to bear down across syria and iraq simultaneously. on the ground present unique challenges and opportunities. the end the state is to defeat isil. without a partner on the ground, syria has presented the most difficult challenge. no one is satisfied with our progress to date. moving forward we must continue , to work with our turkish partners to secure the northern border of syria. we must do all we can to enable embedded security forces will fight iso-and we must be more aggressive on strikes that will deny isil access to oil revenue. the secretary has addressed the adjustments to the syrian train and equip program. i support the refined approach. there will be challenges. we will support groups that already demonstrated the will to fight iso-.

we look for opportunities to support unfettered opposition groups in the north along the border with jordan. -- wereial efforts operating under difficult conditions. i would like to thank them for their hard work. due to their efforts, we have it that her idea of the operating environment and opportunities. last week, we struck a major storage facility for isil. centcom will accelerate broader agency efforts against isil's economic means. withal command will work turkey to secure the border in northwest syria. we still have work to do. in iraq, we have been frustrated with the pace of operations. that said, there have been recent progress, movement around

ramadi, and the peshmerga have have made progress in the north. after talking to the commanders on the ground, we will have an opportunity to reinforce iraqi for us in the days ahead. to be successful in syria and iraq, in addition to the issues i mentioned in those outlined by the secretary we also need to , continue to improve how we leverage our intelligence capabilities. and cut the flow of foreign fighters. those will be a priority for me. we will also look for ways to increase the effectiveness of operations and the tempo of the campaign. the secretary and president made it clear they expect me to bring them all of the options that may contribute to our winning the fight against isil. i made a commitment to do that and i will completed. in closing as i complete my initial assessment of the campaign, we have identified and started to implement the initiatives to move the campaign forward. we are not satisfied or

complacent about where we are . and we will not be satisfied until isil is defeated. thank you for the opportunity again. mr. mccain: thank you very much , gentlemen. secretary carter, the president's spokesman, after it was clear that the arm, train, and equal by the dod program failed. the president spokesman said the president felt vindicated that this program had failed, because he never supported it to start with. this was a program that we invested $43 million, at least, of a $500 million program. i'm not sure how many young people were killed in trying to implement this failed program. did you feel vindicated when this program failed? sen. mccain: -- sec. carter: mr. chairman i , thought that the effort, i want to repeat what the chairman said, the general given this program, which was conceived

last summer -- sen. mccain: the question was whether you felt vindicated are not. sec. carter: i was disappointed in it. i wish it had turned out differently. however, we are learning our lessons from that. and therefore our new approach , differs. i can describe the difference between the old and the new, but we think we have -- learning lessons from that. sen. mccain: you don't feel vindicated the program failed? sec. carter: i was disappointed the program failed. sen. mccain: president felt vindicated, according to his spokesperson. in this change, we're seeing the changes, does that mean that we, these young people that we train and equip and send in to fight that we are going to protect them from being barrel bombed and attacked by russian aircraft? sec. carter: we have conveyed

the same obligation last time i was before you. sen. mccain: as we speak russian , aircraft are bombing moderate syrian forces in syria while we de-conflicted. do you believe we should be there believe we should be protecting those young people that go -- young people? secretary carter:: we have an obligation to protect them. they have not come under attack forces or thed's russian forces. mr. mccain: i am asking about the moderate syrian forces that are there, some of whom we trained. i am asking the question about some of those we train and equip, moderate syrian forces, that are now being bound by russia. secretary carter: with respect to the title x courses that the department of defense trains and equips