that 2016 in his house is going to look a little bit different. different, he wants to put forward a bold legislative agenda, he wants to tackle the hard issues, he wants his committee chairman to be empowered and move hills through their committees. we could see a different sort of house legislative schedule and calendar this year that we have not seen in the past and to that extent, the pressure could continue for congress to act on some of these things because ryan has set the stage, and how all that works out remains to be seen. >> i think the house may well turn out -- i would not be surprised if a lot of the bills that were mentioned actually passed the house. i think the challenge would be getting them and acted -- enacted. supporters of comprehensive

immigration reform are going to save those changes european policy, a lot of people would not reject them out of hand, but they should be done as a comprehensive immigration reform package, you will have democrats in the senate shoot down some of those things, even some they might agree with, in the name of saying we want this done as part of a broader package and that broader package appears to be a nonstarter in the house. i think the legislative road ahead is difficult, then you had to that people like donald trump on the campaign trail talking about issues like immigration and terrorism, it becomes very to object totors some of these matters, making it into law. >> to that point, the same thing goes with gun control legislation. democrats are added again -- are passing laws that will strengthen resources for people with mental health issues and mental illnesses, that is not

the issue. does it do enough, does it go far enough? democrats have been critical of republicans saying that this is a way of so-called addressing the issue without having to challenge the national rifle and draw fire from the gun lobby. that is going to be something to watch as well. >> the big focus of the next couple of weeks is the spending bill, the government has enough money to operate on, i want to tie these two again. how does the planned parenthood shooting in colorado springs and the planned parenthood debate on capitol hill look to both of you with regard to passing this legislation? >> to answer the question quickly, i think that the issues -- go be onat are

planned parenthood and gun violence at this point. there is the syrian refugee crisis, there are the attacks in paris, there is a campaign thatce writer -- rider senator mitch mcconnell wants that does not have any support from democrat or conservative republicans. now there are many sticking points. >> i think it is uncertain but you still have ryan invested in getting something done, so there will be a lot of pressure over the next week to try to line up those issues or defer them in some way and try to get the omnibus jammed through so people can go home for christmas. >> thank you very much for coming to newsmakers. >> thank you. >> i'm here to voice my strong

support for the courageous people of afghanistan. who have suffered for years under the taliban regime. each and every one of us has the responsibility to stop the suffering caused by malaria because every life in every land matters and all of us can do something to help. after studying first ladies and knowing some of them very well at my own mother, or one that i , is that wemuch benefit our country by whatever the first ladies -- the secondsh is woman in american history to be the wife of one president and the daughter-in-law of another. she became first lady after controversial elections brought her husband, george w. bush, to the white house. inh less than nine months office, the 9/11 attacks occurred.

she helped comfort the nation will continuing to pursue interests long important to her including education, literacy and woman -- women's health. 8:00, onh, tonight at c-span's original series, first ladies, influence and image, investigating the public and private lives of the women who ,ill the position of first lady from martha washington to michelle obama, tonight at 8:00 eastern on american history tv on c-span3. c-span presents landmark cases, the book, a guide to our landmark cases series which explores 12 historic supreme court decisions, including marbury versus madison, brown versus the board of education, miranda versus arizona and rode versus wade.

getting -- includes introductions, backgrounds and highlights of each case, written by a supreme court veteran justice, in cup -- in cooperation with c-span and cq press. landmark cases is available for eight dollars 99's aunts plus shipping. get your copy at c-span.org/landmarkcases. the brookings institution is forumg its annual saban hillaryearances from clinton, secretary of state john kerry spoke at the event yesterday where he talked about the israeli-palestinian conflict and the prospect of a two state solution. regionaliscussed other issues, including the fight against isis, the syrian civil war and the iran nuclear agreement. this is an hour and 15 minutes. [applause]

sec. kerry: thank you very much. thank you, bruce for a generous introduction and thank you ladies and almond -- ladies and gentlemen. i'm delighted to be here. good to see you. thank you for all you are doing. i'm really pleased that i could come here to be with you before i head back to paris, where on

monday we get into the as ministerial. fort ministerial period climate change. as we all know, martin is invested -- has invested decades of his career and exploring ways and turning over every stone to try to help israelis and palestinians to find the path to lasting peace. when you say those words in today's context, a lot of people recoil and say how can you even be talking about those words in the middle of all this? life the cause of martin's and it remains the fundamental quest of all the administrations, republican and democrat alike. i am grateful for the wisdom and insight that martin brought to our efforts.

i want to pay tribute to somebody who wish could have been with us today. sandy berger was a friend to me and many of you. he was somebody who loved every single aspect of the give and take of politics and or and policy. -- and foreign policy. yet a profound understanding of american interests and he worked all the time and wanted our country to do what was smart and right. he will be missed. it is clear that the legacy of his service will truly endure. finally, i want to thank my friends. thank you for your tremendous gift to all of us of this effort. it is nice for me to be able to forratulate them in person

the incredible work that they do to strengthen the relationship between the united states and israel. this form reflects their deep commitment and has become the premier venue for the u.s. israeli dialogue. it is a great place to generate new ideas about u.s. policy toward the middle east. that is why i came here just for years ago and why i'm here today. i consider this an important opportunity to have a critical conversation. states, it is fair to say, has an abundance of programs in the region. everything from rule of law initiatives in jordan to vocational trading in lebanon to public-private partnerships in the west bank. we believe profoundly in the

capacity for rapid progress. i see our good ambassador here6. he is losing weight by the day. [laughter] but for all the right reasons. we are very aware, and he reminds me constantly that the pace of the progress we can make really depends to a large extent on improved security. we understand that. security for the region means security for us, also. it is a major goal of american foreign-policy in the middle east. washington, prime minister netanyahu was crystal clear about the stakes. he stoke up -- he spoke about savageryichie -- the of the terrorist group known as sh, and the turmoil that has

misplaced millions of people across the region. he also spoke about the commitment -- his commitment to the vision of two states for two peoples living side-by-side in peace and security. important thatis that not become a slogan. not become a throwaway phrase. it becomes a policy, which is what it is meant to be. in that same spirit, it is america's support for the builders as opposed to the destroyers in the middle east that informs every single aspect of our policy in the region. this is the glue that holds the components of our strategy together and yes, there is a strategy. criticisms -- i know the criticisms, we hear them, you hear the chatting heads on television.

the negative cells and it -- the negative polarizes and create a self-selecting audience. it does not mean that it is wisdom. there is a strategy that we can work on together, whether mobilizing a coalition against terrorism which we have undertaken to do, or trying to halt the sudden outbreak of violence, which i traveled to israel recently to try to do. or striving to put in place new foundations for prosperity and stability. our goal, how strategy is to help ensure that the builders and the healers throughout the region have the chance that they need to accomplish their tasks. i will tell you, this is a struggle to which we are deeply committed, for the simple reason that the outcome is vital to our security interest. that is why we are supporting transitiondemocratic by helping its leaders reconcile

differences and defend our nation's borders. it is why i was there just a few weeks ago for a strategic dialogue and why we have worked with civil society in tunisia to support democratic procedures and strengthen the rule of law. that is why we are engaged in the vital human led effort to forge a -- michael u.n. led told -- vital u .n. f or. -- efforts. . in order to can be a conference that we can help the people of nation find a purpose and the internal stability they need to cobble together illegitimate government around which we can organize future efforts which are essential to being able to , whichck against daesh seeks to fill the vacuum. that is why we are encouraging all that parties in yemen to

rebecca -- reject violence. it is why we are working for a negotiated settlement and with the parties agreeing on a process of political transition in which all can participate, in the interest and the rights of every single action, it will be respected. that is why we have led the effort to mobilize a coalition of more than 65 countries to fight and the grade and feet daesh. aboutyou all to remember 12 months ago, there was no coalition against them. they had just started to move through baghdad and the president made the decision to unleash our airstrikes and mobilize forces. keepved immediately to faith with our obligations in the region. daeshgency of defeating cannot be overstated.

they are a mixture of killers and kidnappers, smugglers, thieves and apostates who have hijacked a religion and combined in medieval thinking with modern weapons to wage and especially savage brand of war. they have conjured up an important theory -- an orrentanted -- an abh theory that rate of women and children as backed by god is a form of prayer. they have butchered teachers, burned books, destroyed sacred spaces, including the tombs of ophets jonah- pr and darrell. -- this man was 83 years old and he had been in charge of preserving how they were as cultural heritage for more than 50 years -- of preserving

palmyra is -- palm i was -- 's cultural heritage from within 50 years. they are fighting against everything that our ancestors for and stood for through the course of history and particularly, the 20th century. they have a contempt for decency, for liberty and rule of law, the sacredness of an individual and the truth. so it is that they have become an overt, declared threat to the interests of the united states under law-abiding men and women across the globe. their aggression has fueled a refugee crisis that is placing an extraordinary birding -- burden on our friends in turkey, jordan and lebanon and all of europe with a profound impact on europe itself.

in the recent weeks, we have seen in paris, egypt, and elsewhere the evidence of their desire to carry out and inspire murderous acts wherever they can. that is why president obama, at , the moment we saw what they were doing and how they were moving, coming into iraq, he declared that we must defeat. that is why we are now increasing the pace of doing so. the president has defined three missions to achieve our goals. the first is to mobilize our partners to accelerate and broaden the international campaign to eatd -- two defeat daesh. the second is to bring an end to the syrian civil war because every country consistently for the beginning of the revolution has said there is no military solution to this, it has to be a political one. if you are not looking for one,

you will not find it. the third leg of the strategy is to ensure that the instability created by the war in syria does not spread further beyond its borders. , israel,upport jordan lebanon, turkey, any country negatively impacted by it. our respect to daesh, strategy is to attack the organization at its core and a strangled the networks it is trying to establish and other countries. -- in other countries. we have sent from the beginning this will be a multi-your fight, but i'm telling you we can already measure important gains. to date, the coalition has launched more than 800 -- 8200 airstrikes and the number is rising every day. in the past half year, the partners have worked

with iraqi and libyan forces and we haven't -- we have liberated sinjar with the iraqis. we have removed the terrorist commanders on the battlefield. we have cut off supply lines, hitting oil facilities over the course of the last months, including in recent weeks. really 400 tanker trucks were destroyed and we are pushing daesh out of 25% of the territory they once controlled. now we aren't is find the pressure on rob at the -- on ramadi. on finances, recruiting, and propaganda. the british have just begun to launch strikes of their own. germany is stepping up with the run support and we are increasing the president and capacity of the u.s. special forces.

we understand, and i think you do too, that the fastest way to defeat them is to halt the outflow of refugees by bringing an end to this war. that is why the second core element of our strategy is political. a renewed diplomatic initiative which we have led, convening people in vienna within two weeks to create a broader and more action oriented effort in order to isolate terrorists and said syria on the path to peace. the international see -- syrian support group who can together in a great cooperative effort called for negotiations between the government and the opposition with a target date to begin of january 1. just now, driving over here, i was in touch with folks, talking

about what is happening with the saudi's, which we are convening a conference in order to have the opposition choose the negotiating team, their platform and be ready to go to the table. russia and iran are at the table for the first time, joining with us in this communique, which was consensus and unanimous, and which they agreed that there has to be a transition. what shape it takes, we will have to fight about. the governments involved will meet later this month. in new york, in order to continue the move this process, our goal is to facilitate a transition that all parties have stated they support. a unified syria. a nonsectarian syria. a syria which will choose its own leadership in the future by election that they agree will be supervised by the u.n. under the highest standards of international law with fair

transparency and accountability in order for the aspera to be able to vote for future leaders. the purpose of this transition will be to establish a credible inclusive governance in six months. the process would include the drafting of a new constitution and arrangements for an internationally supervised elections within 18. i can't promise everybody is going to make it happen. i can promise you that legitimacy of this effort will exhaust the policy and call on all of us to make the choices we need to make in order to end this war. been well, a nationwide cease-fire will go into effect between the government and the responsible observation -- opposition, assuming they come to this table. imagine what that will do to take the pressure off of refugees and day-to-day turmoil. this step would also further isolate the terrorists and

enable the coalition and its partners to then go after daesh and other violent stream is with greater unity and power. i want to be clear. we are not naive about the obstacles that exist are success in this effort or any other one. nor the one that i will come to in a few minutes about israel. it is difficult, all of it is difficult. if it were easy, it would've happened long ago. this is a conflict that in many ways has been going on for centuries. it is not new. it does not mean it cannot be changed. there remain sharp differences and divisions within the international community regarding syria, especially the role of resident assad. -- of president assad. the process has to be syrian led and him will -- implemented. -- in viennandiana

the need to implement a political transition. i want you to imagine how difficult it is to get saudi irana, turkey, egypt and in the same room at the same table for the same purpose. we have representatives from governments that don't agree on much else except coming together to support this process. we have a lot of work to do, but make a mistake, this is the most promising political initiative that we have had in years. it deserves to be pursued to the fullest. we have worked hard to mitigate theincredible burden that war has placed on the neighbors 11 in, jordan, iraq and israel. today we have contributed more than $4.5 billion to humanitarian relief and we are encouraging other countries to open their own wallets because

even as another winter closes in, they help -- the help that is needed far outweighs the supply. we've also been helping lebanon and jordan to strengthen their ability to defend themselves from external threats. as i said earlier, u.s. policy is to support the builders, not the destroyers. our approach to syria is designed with that goal in mind. there are other element strategy, because if builders are going to have the , they have to be shielded as much as possible from the sources of imminent potential danger, that is why president obama places such importance on achieving a negotiated solution to iran's nuclear program. here andme of you throughout the community and the united states elsewhere, i know

you still have concerns. i understand those concerns. no one is blind to that. we are convinced, based on information and judgment and years of expertise provided to us by our entire intelligence community and our energy department which manages our own -- program,ons from that we have the ability to know what iran is doing, and we have to remain committed to the policy and will remain committed to the policy that iran will not get a nuclear weapon. formal --ago and our when our formal negotiations began, their activities at already roan to more than 19,000 centrifuges. to morelready grown than 19,000 centrifuges. they had a stockpile and were already building a heavy water reactor able to produce enough weapons grade plutonium for a

bomb, two per year. that is what they were already doing. they already had a large stockpile of enriched uranium, enough for a dozen bombs. that is where we were when we began. experts told us that they could obtain all of the material they would need for a nuclear weapon in his little as two month. that is where we began. compare that to where we are now. under the joint comprehensive plan of action, every single one of their pathways to a bomb is locked. it's uranium pathway, plutonium, covert pathway. due to the cuts in their stockpile and reductions in the richmond capacity, all of which they agree to, people forget, we are he had disco and a half years of compliance under the bill because we had the agreement which rolled back their program.

breakout time, the two month we were living with will now stretches to 12 months for at least a decade. because of the president at monitoring and verification requirements that we negotiated, which are an integral part of this plan, we now have 25 years of day-to-day complete visibility on every ounce of uranium that his mind, milk, put into anything -- that is mined, milled, but into anything. -- into anything. i'm telling you we will know if they do, and we have the same -- the reason is that we will know is that if iran did decide to try to get around us, if technicians -- their technicians would have to do more than bury a reprocessing facility beneath ground.

they would have to come up with a complete and completely secret nuclear supply chain from start to finish. the experts of france, germany, britain and nuclearnd russia -- weapons countries -- agreed they would never get away with such deception. and although some of the specific limitations in the plan apply for tenure -- 10 years, my friends, some applied for 15, 20, 25. the basic monitoring provisions are in effect for the lifetime of iran's nuclear program. and under the agreement, iran will be prohibited from pursuing a nuclear weapon forever.