between 16 years old and 24 years old, who are neither in school, nor work in that is a recipe for incarceration,r thatll kinds of behavior has bad consequences for themselves and for their families. it something i care deeply about, because if you look at where we are -- underserved communities have had a resurgence of poverty. suburbs, small towns and rural areas. native american reservations, coal country, this is across america. what we have disconnected young people from a path to a productive life. i think we've got to figure out how we rebuild that. i'm absolutely committed. let me say three things.

i want to support programs like what you described you do, because we've got to get people in the communities -- it's literally a one on one project in many cases. what is it that can be done for john or mary or whomever? we need to support nonprofit groups, advocacy groups, organizing groups, faith communities to do this work. secondly, we have to take a hard look. one of the ideas i have been thinking about -- if we take a hard look at communities where poverty very persistent . for education outcomes, other kinds of indicators of problems education outcomes, the kind of indicators of problems. we have to figure out what works. people of try different things, and a lot of it doesn't work. throwing money at it doesn't necessarily work. building relationships is the work that has to be done.

how do we do that? i don't think the answer lies in washington, although as president, i can be a convener, a coordinator, catalyst, is a order. i think we have to do this in communities. and i want to provide support possible,ces, where to give more people a chance to do that relationship building. we are going to need more ged programs very we need more community college programs. we need more pressure programs. we're going to need more pathways out. and we are going to have to take a hard look at the living conditions and the schooling conditions that a lot of these kids face. i used to have i call that shelti test, when i would go into the school. -- the chelsea test. school and iinto a would spend some time, i would look around and look at the physical facilities, talk to the staff area and i would say what

i want my daughter to go to the school? a lot of times the answer was yes, absolutely. a lot of time, the answer was no. some of the physical conditions in the schools was deplorable. look at the have to housing that a lot of people are living in. a lot of this housing is really substandard. but in dangerous ways. i will end with this -- lead paint poisoning effects many, ,any children in the northeast the mid-atlantic, and the midwest, where we had a lot of old housing. where we have old pipes for water supplies. academic andg is behavioral deficits inducements. off.e end up being worse and we are not doing enough to notice the, to deal with it, to eradicate it. there's a lot i think we have to take a hard look at. and i will

do that. but it will be in partnership with young people like you and the groups you recognize and represent. thank you. [applause] hillary clinton: i see a hand way back there. black and white. >> thank you, secretary clinton. it is an honor. i'm from alabama. i know it is important for candidates to focus on undecided voters in swing states. but for liberals and conservatives -- for liberals in conservative states, we sometimes feel left out. the democratic party in your campaign would go into those conservative states and really push, and give us hope and encouragement. but your platforms will be heard there. i ask you, please don't leave us to the republicans. [laughter] [applause] hillary clinton: i have been

down am twice already in this campaign. best to help my rebuild the democratic party in places where it hasn't been particularly successful in recent years. i think there is a lot we can recommend. i really do. i think that our view about what we need to do to get the economy going again, and fix all the problems that we see with the affordable care act, and get early childhood education -- you know, there is a very inconvenient fact that my republican friends hate when i mentioned. but it is true. our economy does better when we have a democrat in the white house. [applause] hillary clinton: and that is true in alabama, just like it's true anywhere. we are going to make that case, do the very best we can to kind

of get people to recognize that we are all in this together. and getting the economy to work better, getting our government to be more effective and productive in producing results, building on the progress that president obama made it -- remember, he inherited the worst financial crisis since the great recession. and then he had to make sure it didn't fall into a depression. i don't think he gets the credit he deserves for making sure that did not happen. [applause] we are going to make that case. we are going to make that case throughout the country. i hope, effectively. i'm counting on that. the man in the blue vest. honor. is an i'm a retired teacher from massachusetts. i've never been involved in any political aspect. we are about the same age, hillary. wifepect one woman and my

-- one woman in my life, which is my wife. you are the number two woman i respect more than any woman on this planet. since yourhed you early political days. we are both grandparents of very young grandchildren. i'm a little bit nervous here. i just wanted to tell you that there is one thing that has come in the minds of most people -- we have doubts. we have doubt about so many things that we've hoped for, and we've seen evolve. you eliminate doubt for someone like me. you eliminate doubt. your knowledge and your grasp of what's happening, and what you've been through, and what you see -- things that you know that we don't know are what make me feel confident that you were going to be the next president. [applause]

hillary clinton: thank you. thank you. there is a little hand right there, that little girl right there. i like having all of these young people here. >> hi, i know love. -- i am ella. i think there are a lot of people who don't have enough money for college and schools and that kind of stuff you're it how can we help that? hillary clinton: a very good question, ella. [applause] hillary clinton: that is a great question. how many people have student debt, or whoever had student debt? that's nearly everybody here. there are two big things we have to do. first, i want to make college debt-free, so you don't have to borrow money for tuition to go to a four-year public colleges university.

work, because what we are going to do is to focus on it being a compact between the federal government's and state governments, and institutions. i do think that colleges and universities have to take a really hard look at what they are spending money on. so that they make sure what they are spending on is related to helping prepare a student for life, for professional career. i think states have just invested in higher education area a lot of the money that states use to put into colleges and universities has gone into everything from prisons to roads, you name it. we got to figure out how the state does more than its fair share. -- more of its fair share. in order for it to be debt, families above a certain income level will have to continue to fund college. i think that's only fair. and i want students to work 10

hours a week. because i want students to know they are working for their education. in that it is something they really value. [applause] hillary clinton: i want to do more on national service. so more students get big discounts because they will it done national service. military service, civilian service. [applause] hillary clinton: we have a good g.i. bill now coming after 9/11, a new g.i. bill for the new generation of that. -- of vets. i want to make sure they don't get ripped off. sometimes that money is going to institutions that don't really serve them well. we have some work to do to make sure that on right. and i want to help you pay down your debt by refinancing your debt. just like you can refinance a mortgage or a car payment. you ought to be able to refinance or college debt. [applause] hillary clinton: and it really is quite disturbing to me that we have had, as everybody knows

in the last several years, because of the great recession, mostly -- we've had really low interest rates. and yet when i ask students what interest rate they are paying on their debt, lots of them are 7% from 8%, 9%, 10%. some of it private, some of it to the government. i do not believe the federal government should be making up off it off of lending money to students to be able to go get a college education. [applause] hillary clinton: so we are going to make a lot of changes, ella. certainly by the time you get there. hopefully sooner. we will have a lot of good changes you will be able to take advantage of. there's a lady right here. here comes the microphone. >> thank you for coming to portsmouth. i was very disappointed in the last debate that the international agreement on climate that was agreed upon in paris was not even mentioned. , and you comment on that

tell us as president, what you would do? hillary clinton: yes. i happen to think the paris agreement was an historic achievements. i give a lot of credit to president obama's leadership. led,e united states is not would not happen. ,nd i know how hard it was because president obama and i went to the big international climate meeting in copenhagen in 2009. and literally, we could not even get a meeting with the chinese, the indians, the south african tom and the brazilians. led by the chinese, who did not want to have the meeting with us where they might make a commitment to actually doing anything. and so we had to chase them around this big convention center in copenhagen. we finally found them, the chinese guards were preventing the entry in. the president is a lot taller than i am. so he kind of pushed through in

the hands went up and i ducked under and we got in the room. and the president says we have been looking all over for you. we pulled up chairs and we sat down and said look, we have to begin this process. their argument was the typical argument. we didn't cause the problem. it was the developed countries. we said that's fine. but you are now the biggest emitters. and you are going to have to help solve the problem. and they began to agree to do some internal accounting and public reporting. fast forward from 2009, we had a series of climate meeting in cancun and urban. and we made progress. the agreement coming out of paris does, for the first time, include every nation -- regardless of level of development or need more threat of climate change. and now, we have to enforce it.

as president, i would do everything i can, using every tool that i have, to hold other nations accountable. including our own. about what we need to do both to try desperately to move more quickly away from fossil fuels towards clean, renewable energy, to try to at least put a cap on temperature rise and emissions. and try the best we can at the same time to do more on resilience and adaptation, to try and help countries and parts of countries that are particularly at risk. portsmouth is the seacoast city. i know the mayor and is working hard on resilience and you are really taking a hard look great you need a partner in washington and in the congress, as well as the president. in ourre a lot of places country -- alaska has already been hit hard. they had to relocate the villages from the coastline. i know that miami is really facing some big challenges. we have to get serious about this. because it's happening.

we are seeing the results of this drastic increase in temperatures that human activity has not just contributed to, but cause. -- it's time for us to [applause] hillary clinton: deal with the problems. i believe it's also a great opportunity. this is what i have a hard time understanding from my republican counterparts. they all are into denial. and when asked about climate change, typically will say i don't know, i'm not a scientist. the answer to that is go talk to one. [laughter] listen to what the scientists tell you. from my perspective, we have economic opportunities here. that we are leaving on the table. we can do so much more, putting people to work in wind and solar and advanced biofuels.

we can make a difference in the economy with new, good paying jobs are in i will say this. when not in new hampshire, i often in iowa. iowa now produces one third of its electricity from a new levels, predominantly wind. 7000 people now work in the wind industry. turbinesnow assembling in old abandoned factories. they are educating young people in the community colleges to actually work on these turbines. they have gone the whole supply chain good for them. every state should be doing the same. every state has that same economic potential here. [applause] hillary clinton: when we let thatics -- really politics are under the thumb of the fossil fuel industry, and in particular, the koch brothers, decide the future of our country

-- shame on us. we are better than that, we are smarter than that, and we all -- republican, democrat, whatever. are taking on we this challenge, and we are going to make jobs and incomes rise because of it. that, to me, is the right approach for us to be taking. [applause] goodness,inton: oh my so many hands, so little time. when we go with this lady right here. >> thank you. teachinga lot of time art in women's prisons. in the majority of the women i worked with our from minority, low income families. the majority of them are in the second, third, fourth visit to prison. they say it easier to live in that cycle then try to break out of it. how would you approach helping and that cycle? -- end that cycle?

hillary clinton: thank you for working in our prisons. we are still in the midst of the holiday season. for those of us to celebrate christmas, it's good to remove her that we are called upon to care for the homeless and the stranger, the prisoner. the refugee. reminders atortant a time when there is so much political dispute about all of this. i think we have incarcerated too many people. we have 5% of the worlds population. but 25% of the prison population. we actually have one third of women who are imprisoned anywhere in the world imprisoned in the united states. so, we have to begin in a , to deal with the effects of incarceration. perspective,om my

we need to take a hard look at the low level, nonviolent offenses for which people end up incarcerated. we have to take a hard look at our bail system, because we have too many people in jail and prison who haven't even been tried yet. we don't know if they are guilty of anything other than poverty, because they can't meet the bail have been set for them. and we need to do a careful analysis of who can and should be released from prison, while we try to deal with people who don't pose a threat to the community. particularly, the number of people with low-level drug offenses who need treatments, not imprisonment. [applause] hillary clinton: so we have got to look at all of this and -- i don't think that's enough. it was back to the gentleman's question there in the hat . the issue is if we are going to

divert people from prison, what are we going to do? i'm a big believer in drug courts. i think drug courts or a better option than imprisoning people. they should be given recovery, they should be held accountable. i believe there are more programs that are cheaper and better. i want to tell you about a program i visited in reno, nevada. it was a program originally started for alcoholics. people who were found on the street and were picked up, taken to jail. a month later, they are on the street again, taken to jail. or maybe the one that being put into an ambulance, taken to the emergency room, maybe admitted. a month or two later, back on the streets. a really great partnership between the county sheriff's office and cap a charities -- catholic charities said there has to be a better way. it's expensive to jail and imprison people. they built a facility that had small bedrooms, that had work to be done.

that offer this option to people they were picking up saying you can either go back to jail, back to the life you have. or you can try this. got enough people to try it. they tested than three times a day to make your they were cheating. the sheriff said you want to know the best thing about this? i can justify this anywhere. he said the first year the sheriff and the hospital in the jail saved $4 million. they were no longer putting intensive places like jails and emergency room's. now they are moving on to drug addiction. because we've got to think differently about how to help people overcome the problems they confront. and i just don't think that jail is a place for people with substance abuse or mental health problems. and therefore, we need different approaches that will be actually better and cheaper.

so let's try and figure out how we are going to do that. this young man. >> i have a dad that works for people with development disabilities. and i have an uncle with autism. i was wondering what are some of the ways that you can tell people -- help people with disabilities and people with special needs that need help? [applause] hillary clinton: great question. thank you dad for us. is your dad here? thanks, dad. disabilities -- i was very proud of the united states began -- became the first nation in the world to open schools to people with disabilities. i worked on that when i was with the children's defense fund. we went door to door, asking people if you have a school-age child who is not in school. we found a blind kids and kids in wheelchairs and kids of behavioral problems.

we gave all the data to the congress, congress acted, and schools were opened. wonder -- the disabilities -- americans with disability's act was passed. to now we have to do more make sure we provide supportive housing, and we support families. the biggest concern that people talk to me about what i have children with disabilities, particularly with autism, is what happens when they are no longer there to take care of their children, and how will that work out. i am rolling out a plan about autism and about a week, where i talk about all the different we need to do to try and support families and people who are diagnosed along the autism spectrum disorders. how many of you know someone with autism? wow. well you know, the latest data

from the centers on disease control is that one out of 68 children have some feature that would place them on the autism spectrum. so that is something we need to deal with. we will be addressing that. but i guess my bottom line is -- we have communities -- we, as communities need to support families and people with goabilities so that we can as far as their talent, their skills will take them. opportunitiest of we are learning about the we can apply. i will talk about my role this out. i just been told this is my last question. oh my goodness. i should not have said this, this is totally unfair. [laughter] hillary clinton: you got promoters right here. this young man. you have a whole team that is giving you a chance. go ahead. i really do love to call on kids.

that's what this election is actually all about, is their future. [applause] hillary clinton: my name is rightly, i'm from massachusetts. thatther is complaining she does not get much more money than my father. [laughter] [applause] >> my mother is an engineer. a teacher. my father is the engineer. mother isat my working more harder than my -- [laughter] [applause] >> i don't know my grammar. i think my mother is working much harder -- more harder than

my father. and she deserves to have more money. like, get more money than my father. [laughter] >> because she is taking care of children and i just don't think it's fair. that is really: so sweet. [applause] you have anton: great future as an advocate. i do think equal pay for equal work is still a problem. i think the paycheck fairness act, which i supported every year came up when i was in the senate, is really important to arena toen up the pay more transparency.

because right now, if you are doing a job and you ask how much somebody else makes, you can be fired or retaliated against. how are we ever going to know that we get fair pay for not just women, although that is the biggest discrepancy, but particularly, people who are in positions where it is hard to ask for more because of their working conditions. i had a young man here in new hampshire tell me the reason he was supporting me was because i was in favor of equal pay. said becausehy, he he got his first grown-up adult job when he was 17 years old. he went to work in the same store where his mother has worked, and that's how he got the job. he brought his paycheck home and showed his mother and he watched her face fall. you are making more now than i am making after four years on the same job. i asked him what was the reason. andaid i tried to find out

the manager said we like to identify young men who can go far in the company, we want to give you the incentive just ama and maybe get into one of our training programs. they never asked my mom, and she is much more organized than i am. we still have problems, and if you deny those problems, you are denying the fastest way to increase incomes in america. and that is to make sure women are paid what they deserve in the jobs they do. thank you all, very much. thank you. [applause] >> ♪

\ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ hillary clinton in portsmouth, new hampshire, and after the game for about an hour, it will be taking your phone calls and questioner asked about the 20 rate is which issue is most important to you after hearing hillary clinton talking about economic: the working class, and taking questions on a number of issues, and the number is on your screen.

and we have folks on the line and will get right to the cause great joseph, in delaware. joseph: yes, i went to know what they are going to do with the business that are invading u.s. taxes. taxes.ing u.s. host: have you heard anything? joseph: nothing that is standing out. host: and what you think about what you heard from hillary clinton beckwith and mark clinton?- hillary

joseph: it could have been more detail. host: ok, we move on to jennifer -- to jennifer. jennifer: on my mind, the future of purity. ok, social security and medicare, say, jennifer quest and mark jennifer: yes. jonathan: i want to know why others date can be legal for cannabis, and other states are

not. take the money and put it into children's cancer funds or something. it almost seems like we are the divided data of america now. date -- states can, and others cannot. all of that money can go to judes. it seems to me they have a tavern on every corner, and you -- youe beer and whiskey can buy beer and whiskey, but

you cannot i cannabis. s. buy cannabi hillary did say she was going to cannabis, and the other when set i will leave it up to the state. host: what about rand paul? caller: some states can, and some states cannot. why not tax it? if i am not mistaken, the , it was tax people going to schools, and others donate it to childhood cancer. calling.is

go ahead. caller: iwatch or an hour -- i watched this for an hour. what about our borders? what about securing our borders? what about the threat to the united states? she did not address any of that stuff. i thought for a moment she was going to give away free dentures. i have not made up my mind yet am a but come on. host: calling from new york, new york. likeat gentleman sounds has made up his mind, but in the as the secretary of aid, i would like to know how she feels about the refugee

problem in the that that we are -- we are not any accepting any. i would like to hear more about , and i do not think donald trump thinks about it, but she is a woman who thinks. the 2016 presidential race, about the issue that is most important to you, and want , andigh in on spin.com michelle writes about the economy, protecting oceans purity, enforcing a stricter way with guns and getaway of the corporations who lobby and control america, and then you write -- -- then nina right --

what is your topic? what is your issue that you are most interest did in hearing about in the 2016 race to mark our next is from chicago, illinois, a republican. caller: it is not isis area it is when arms you that is the number one threat u.s. sovereignty. hillary clinton has, and i quote, when she becomes president, she is going to sign that. when they put u.n. soldiers on american soil, with the u.n. , i would consider

that an invasion. because that is exactly what is going to happen. the u.n., we do not need them. as an invasion, and we will do everything in our power to repel the invasion. host: democrat line. caller: [inaudible] host: charles, there is a problem with your line. we will try to get that cleared up. donald trump will be at 11:00 a.m. canton time in hilton head,

south carolina, and we will have that on c-span tomorrow morning. eugene is on the line from georgia, a republican. caller: hi. i am a 91-year-old veteran. obama came in, and it was obvious that he was set out to ruin the nation. i could no longer be democrat to help him continue to destroy america. i love america. host: new hampshire, democrat line. : i am a proud democrat, and one thing that sets them apart is that they are not afraid to continue our freedoms.

afraid,blicans are all we have to seal off our borders because they might come in and do something to us. to shut down the internet and answer -- and nsor.r -- ce taking things for granted at some point. if you take away all of those right, you will have to take away their precious gun rights. the second amendment, once we get rid of the first amendment, the second amendment is going to go also. afraid, ande not hopefully we can have some common gun laws that protect the right self-defense without living in fear all of the time. host: tim, you live in new hampshire. do you take part in the process

up there? host -- think they, and i are better than the least bad of the republicans. it scares me how much fear and especiallye is, among certain republican. i mean, i think for example, donald trump. he is entertaining as a reality tv star, but his campaign is so scary. i think it actually does what he goings going to do, he is to destroy the country and the economy. let's look at some tweet. talking about martin o'malley, and even in iowa, just one person who attended, and you can look at more on the hill, and

then donald trump after he appeared and said he did not like the comment of the editor of the union leader, a major conservative paper in new hampshire, and with the washington post saying that hillary clinton takes a massive slide from the roof in stride, and another one, this is a very specific question that she took, it should not be an unaffordable luxury, and she pledged to make hearing aids available on a lighting gale, and then bernie sanders talking about his own on a sliding -- scale, and then bernie sanders talking about his own economic land. isthe line from new york s and othersependent -- james. caller: how are you doing today?

i am tired of donald trump. money. thinks about is he ought to spend his own money on something else, and isis, -- camps in the united date. where did they come from? our president. --is not doing a gang thing dang thing. what we did in vietnam was too late, and it is like playing chess, a stalemate. our country is going to hack because of these issues, taxes going way above, trying to take for peoplesecurity

who have put in all of their lives, and now they want to take it away? host: becky from jefferson city, go ahead. caller: my biggest concern i have to say is the middle east there, ands is over i do not know how we can guard against the trouble over there, and i have many other concerns about the economy. everyday people are not great. know what things she is going to do to help just everyday americans. host: all right, thank you for the call, and the conversation will continue online. you can always go to and weighingc-span in on what we have been talking about. also tonight, we would show you yesterday's rally with bernie sanders. he was in las vegas, and we will

again show you the hillary clinton remarks which just wrapped up in new hampshire. we will show you that at evan :00 p.m. eastern. and tomorrow, we will be joining the donald trump campaign rally. in the last year president candidacy. and from the washington post here to talk about the year ahead and the next year for president obama. he has said he had never been more optimistic. why did he say that? guest: vice president joe biden always says that. they are always optimistic about where they are going.

obama's last year. he has got the weight off of his shoulders of having to run under the campaign and also having to campaign for many other people, so he is kind of a free right now, and he has gained out a lot more, which i think he would not do if it was not his last year. by howbeen surprised willing he seems to be to go out there and push issues that may or may not happen. and excitednergized to get as much done as possible, because you can tell the heels the clock running out. feels the clock running out. guest: he is going to push a very small package.

trade, for example. there is a very big trade package he wants to get past -- ed in congress, and there are also some criminal justice packages and legislation that can work with republicans on. for his --u issues those two issues are huge. moving prisoners from guantanamo bay, cuba, the prison there to a facility in the united states. .hat one is a bit more iffy host: it is a 2008 campaign promise that he made, that he would close guantanamo bay, and huffington post also talked about it.

guest: yes, he has gotten into some scuffles about how to best handle the guantánamo issue. they have consistently said they would put forward a plan, but there is really only so much he can do without congress, and he has a veiled threat, and maybe find a way to close it up with executive action, but it is unclear how and if it is and you can't that that people in congress, some people would be very, very up at about that. but some people would say good for you, because we have got -- this is not the way you're supposed to process criminals, and good for you for acting when congress did not, so that is a hot issue to watch.

host: the trade deal, the pacific trade deal, with the other 12 asian countries. it is rating is below 50%, and you have got hillary clinton and marco rubio and ted cruz on the campaign trail saying they do not like this trade deal, the transpacific one, what about actually getting this through in his last year and in an election year? host: i think you have to separate the campaign trail run congress, and people can say a lot of things on the campaign trail, but they are not governing. they are just talking. has gotrade deal, he some strong supporters in congress willing to do something, namely house speaker paul ryan. he is willing to do something. some republicans like trade deals. abouts will be less

hillary clinton thing she does not like it and about marco rubio -- less about hillary clinton saying she does not like it. a talking point, saying this is something he could done this year if momentum picks up in congress, which there is a decent chance there will. host: the new speaker paul ryan was asked about the relationship between himself and the president. reporter: is there anything you and president obama can do together to lay the groundwork to mark -- groundwork? isn't it part of this environment? ryan: leaders can unify or polarize. reporter: you want to get rid of

his signature health care law. speaker ryan: it is a law that is not working. it is a law that is making emily's pay double-digit premium increases. do you understand that to some, that is just as polarizing as what resident obama has done? how do we get out of it? think we get out of this by being positive, offering solutions, and focusing on making people's lives better and to appeal what unifies us as a country, as we should not play identity politics as conservatives or liberals, which is a liberal tactic that means speaking to people in ways that divide people from one another. that is wrong, in my opinion. aboutwhat do you hear

this? guest: i think paul ryan would like to get done with this president. from a policy standpoint, neither can be more different, and there are things they do not agree on fundamentally, but paul ryan has signaled a certain openness that i do not think his boehner,or, john really showed as much, and trade is a really good starting point for them. i know paul ryan that that is something he is interest did in doing. i think criminal justice reforms are something i can him getting on board with. he iser paul ryan signals willing to work on, can guarantee that the white house will go, ok, we want to do that also. because time is running out on president obama. they are trying to pass in -- -- pack in as much as

they can. whatever paul ryan says, i think president obama is all years -- ears. host: they came together and has -- and past the omnibus bill. addedare things that they the deficit. whether it is raising taxes or dealing with entitlement reform. what do you expect this year with republicans controlling congress? well, i think the critics of the omnibus spending package that just had -- passed -- the fact that they kept the thernment running, that is bar. keep the government unction. never mind deficit reduction and

tax reform, so there was a raw when congress adjourned. hey, we did it via the government is running. good job. but again, there will be people talking about wanting to do something bigger with tax reform and deficit reduction, something more since agile than we have ian, and maybe there will be some little movement here and there, but all of this is happening in the context of a presidential election year, and that just changes everything. the tension ship -- shifts. already thinking of 2015. with hillary clinton, we should be doing things now to set the stage for her to come in. and ted cruz. we want to set the stage for them next year.

cost -- host: what would you like to be on the president agenda? republican, you are up first. caller: am i on? host: you are. go ahead, robert. talking about closing guantanamo bay, some people would like it. it. that is the problem. us, not being together on the issue. that is what makes people like trump. it does matter. you democrats and liberals, all you want to do is brush

everything under the table and make it sound good. that is the reason we are going to vote for trump. get someone in there that is more -- i think the kids are being brainwashed. host: all right. so, donald trump impact on the agenda. guest: again, it is early. in his december 2015. we have almost a full year to go. you are seeing a lot of blustering on the campaign trail now. people talking big, laying out their thoughts. and terms of donald trump, he is leading the pack in the polls. it is not clear if he will be able to sustain that when it comes time to the caucuses and people are voting. he's early has affected the way people talk about things. he has pushed republicans in congress to the right. he has pushed them to be more extreme in the way they talk about things like syrian

refugees or immigration or isis. has taken holdat on the campaign trail has become so extreme that it inevitably has spilled over to the politicians in washington who want to be seen as on message with the people who are popular in the polls. donald trump, certainly, he has affected the rhetoric around washington. , a democrat, you are on next. caller: i think the president will have to continue to work, as he has done in the past seven years. he has been able to -- for, when he came into office, the country was losing 800,000 jobs a month. like 9.8.ieve, was the employment rate is up to 10% unemployment rate was up to

10%. of course, the unemployment rate is now down to 5% and gdp is a plus. he will probably need to continue to do as he has been doing. republicans have no intention of working with him in the coming year. they will do absolutely nothing, like they have done in the past. host: jennifer bendery? guest: this caller has a good point. the e unemployment rate has dropped significantly since obama came into office. it is down to about 5% now. that is something that the white house regularly talks about -- by the way, we saved the economy and unemployment is much better. it is not as flashy as an issue as things like fights about

planned parenthood or the affordable, some of the more hot button issues. sounding,rt of dry but that is arguably one of the publishers.iggest he has stabilized the economy and can point to numbers. working with about republicans, there is some truth in that that some simply don't want to work with him. i think this year could be a little different in part because of his obama's last year, so he is looking for anything he can to work with republicans on at this point. speaker.aul ryan as he really is coming out it with a more fresh focus than his predecessor. he seems more open to try new things and letting his caucus speaking more than him just speaking and telling them where to go. i think there is a potential for something bipartisan. host: on climate change, president obama set out for that

being part of his legacy, striking this deal in paris with more than 100 countries. what effort will republicans make this year to try to undermine that? guest: well, republicans are not the biggest fans of doing a climate change bill. this year should be no different. i think the most we will see this year is president obama using his bully pulpit and using executive action to at least set the stage for where we need to go on climate change reforms. there was this major international deal reached recently. that is something that president obama is proud of and wants to build on, but he will not be here after november to do it. the next person to be president will have to pick up that ball .nd run with it for now, he will emphasize the importance of climate change, which should be important to everybody because the planet will melt down eventually.

he will be speaking out on that issue more than he will be working with congress actually pass the bill on that. i don't think that will happen. guest: what about the fight against isis? congress tolled for debate a new authorization of military force. the president said, i artie sent out language, now the onus is on something.w somet draft guest: that is a great topic. at this point, we have been bombing isis with no new work authorization passed. you have a congress criticizing the present strategy -- president's strategy, while they themselves will not war.orize the bottom line is they are too scared.

they don't want to take a tough vote that could come back and haunt them if the war goes all awry. think whatid, i theld happen this year is -- key person to watch if paul ryan, again. the president is at the point where he is saying, please, congress, this vote -- give me a fresh war authorization so we know we are on the same page with what we are doing. we has begun ryan, boehner saying, we don't need to do that, we already have an old, old war authorization that we can keep using. host: republicans also saying, we do not know what the present strategy is -- president's strategy is. we will not authorize more when he is not articulating. guest: that is true. that is what many of them say.

yet, they are funding the war which is already underway, already happening, they just get the part where you are supposed to off the resident. it is a bizarre situation where they will not vote on the war, as if the war is not already happening. i think the bottom line -- this is not a partisan issue. there are republicans and democrats that are very upset about this. they believe that we need to pass another war authorization. i think the key person to watch again this year is paul ryan. paul ryan seems to be of the mindset that he wants his caucus partyde where the is going. there are number of republican saying, speaker ryan, we want to vote and debate on what the parameters of this war should do that., let us i think he is saying, that is a good idea. he has already set up listening sessions for members to come

together and talk about it for themselves. if paul ryan is on board with scheduling a vote with the new war authorization, president obama is certainly pushing for that. the only problem now is the senate. mitch mcconnell and harry reid has basically said, we are not interested in doing this. but, if you have the white house pushing and paul ryan and democrats pushing it in the house, this year could be surprisingly a year with action do have a debate and a vote on a war authorization. the key percent to watch is paul ryan. host: we have some tough reelection races in the senate and the center for grabs. guest: that's right. there's a real risk for republicans this time around. if you have a bunch of vulnerable -- at least a handful

affordable republicans in the senate coming up in 2016, they do not want to be taking a tough vote about war that could affect their campaigns. unfortunately, something as important as voting to declare war could get sidelined because of a reelection campaign. that is the main reason why mitch mcconnell nor harry reid want to push this issue to the front in the next year. they would rather just let it stay to the side, fund the war without ever debating it. paul ryan sounds interested. that is new and exciting for people who care about this issue. host: we will go to mississippi, an independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. thank you for c-span. for the next year or so, it will be more or less the same on

congress aside, the president 's side until the nation as a whole can come together, it will not change. we are the ones putting the people in office. taking the big money, taking advantage of people who are to keep the wages where they need them, not where the working class needs them. host: a distrust of congress, obviously going what we are seeing in polls -- not very high approval ratings for lawmakers. guest: that has kind of always been the case. congress does not usually poll well. 12% exactly high, believe it or actually high, believe or not. it is such a large group of people with a mix of opinions,

and you see people fighting all the time. why would you tell a pollster that you love congress? you don't feel represented, and you just see bickering. host: olivia, alabama, a democrat. caller: president obama, and the year ahead, he really don't have to do a lot of anything because i think in this lame duck .ession he has done a lot the greatest a-- coalition president obama could have done was obamacare, however anyone wants to term it. if you don't have health care, you have persons in your family that suffer with cancer, and they don't have insurance, and they have to go to be emergency don't care what

anyone has to say, it is not president obama make your payments go out, it is on the doctors. it is the hospitals. not him. host: ok. jennifer bendery? guest: i think this caller makes a very good point that president obama's signature accomplishment is his signature health care law. it is called obamacare. he can walk away from this presidency with that. that is hands down when he is most proud of. it is not over yet just because he became law. votebody has seen congress -- how many times? they voted on pieces of legislation that would repeal parts of the law versus the whole thing. it has been a nonstop effort to chip away at this law ever since it passed. i think a huge priority for obama in his last year is to try to protect it, prevent congress

from chipping away at it. up to 8 million people now are enrolled. if you point to the numbers, and show that people are actually signed up, getting health care, who never had it before, who could not afford it -- he will talk about that all year. once he is gone, he has to leave his baby with the next president and congress, and that is obviously something that he is worried about saving. host: we will go to new york, a republican. justr: yes, jennifer, i heard the previous color talk about how everybody loves obamacare, and if you have cancer, you have to go to the emergency room if you don't have insurance. weeks ago, ialf was diagnosed with stage four cancer. i have been in four hospitals

and every person from the check-in staff to the operating asked and doctors -- i what they thought about obamacare, and said it is terrible. i swear to god, without exception. you think this is good for our health care system? of it, andthe middle i'm lucky because i was able to cancerto find out i had without having to wait until february 14, which is my first scheduled appointment. if that had been me at the v.a., i would be dead by then. host: i'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis. can you tell us about the nurses and doctors, what they said specifically? caller: they said it is absolutely terrible, every aspect of it. they have problems with the that make itcords

impossible to finalize their records without getting an actual signed release form to change testing from people who have no intention of ever responding to them. then, they spend their wheels, and try to deal with that. as healthcts, such care portals and other aspects like that are working wonderfully. i know because my wife is a practice administrator of the surgical institute in new york state. everything about obamacare is not working and bad for the patient and doctor. there are democrats who have conceded, there are fixes that need to be made to the what is the likelihood that they come together and agree on some fixes. guest: if you have changes that people want to make in both

parties -- this is a massive, massive law. if there are people interested in making changes, that could happen. don'ticans, many of them like this law, and have tried to chip away with it ever since it became law. the problem is it is law. you have millions of people who are getting care as a result. some people don't like it, some people really do like it. this is a huge problem for the republican party, for presidential candidates who complain about it. if you don't like it and want to get rid of it, there's a lot of talk about repeal and replace. you hear that all in time. they don't have an alternative. now, we at the point where if you did away with the afford look at tomorrow -- which you cap, but let's say you could --

there is nothing there filling the void, and you end up kicking millions of people off health care, which in many cases it is better for them, or they never had care before. there are pieces of this that have benefited people. what do you do instead? that is the question for people who criticize it on capitol hill and for residents of candidates -- for presidential candidates. no one has laid out an alternative. new: we will go down to jersey. caller: i am kind of hoping that save will push congress to social security and the disability part of it. jersey -- ere in new the insurance company said no, they will not pay for an mri. obamacare has to get fixed

somehow. hopefully they fix the disability part of it. i really don't like them saying, no, the money is stolen and it is gone. host: we will go next to bill, pennsylvania, a democrat. caller: i just want to wait in a little bit about the president. where we were seven years ago, the devastation the country was up against. since the improvements done over the last seven years, without .ny help from the congress as far as the affordable care act, my brother went under the afford look at because he had cancer also. he lost his insurance because the company went out of business. he was able to get insurance and be treated for his cancer at an affordable rate. without the president, he would've had a pre-existing condition and would have been

uninsured, and it would've been a terrible outcome. with congress,rk he will have to do some actions to keep the country moving forward. guest: one area to watch for is can control. -- gun control. actions onely have this. he already has. he passed actions after the new town shootings. .ongress has not done a thing what can he do? he has one year left. this is a huge concern for this country. think as soon as january, we

can expect to see something big, out of the white house. it is an executive action. that does not have the clout of legislation. it can only affect federal government institutions, federal contractors. there is one issue that comes to dod right now that he could effective action on, and that is in current law, there is no definition of -- i think it is a mass gun seller. hillary clinton made an issue of this on the campaign trail. i think in january the president will probably take executive action on that point, which is one area he has not touched on

yet. what could he do on immigration? could this go to the supreme court? his action on immigration was put to a halt by the court? do you expect us to go all the way to the supreme court? guest: i'm not sure it will. these things take years to play out. they go through various courts and bounce around. at this point, that thing is still out there. .he immigration legal case it could. that is a very hot button issue. it has been bouncing around ever since he instituted the executive action. at this point, i would not be surprised. the supreme court has agreed to take it on. host: we will next in florida, democrat. caller: good morning. a previous caller complained about obamacare.

i noticed he mentioned his wife worked in administrative section of the hospital. there are a lot of doctors that have their own diagnostic labs. that is a big conflict of interests. i've had experience with that. obama has always said there is a second part of obamacare that he will go after. that is the high cost of insurance companies, the pharmaceutical drugs, and the cost of doctors and hospitals. eightobama took over -- years of george w. bush, it was a dead zone. i wrote an editorial to our challengednd i republicans to name one positive thing that bush did for america. no one ever gave one. host: we will go on to new jersey, and independent. caller: hello? host: you are on the air. caller: thank you so much.

thent to thank administration for taking care of muslims. i want to advise him to read -- host: we are listening. what did you say? i think we lost him. he thanked this country for taking care of muslims. the president weighing in on that of course after the syrian to come were here. what do you make of the effort? what is to come? there was aa has -- pretty silly argument going on on capitol hill about letting syrian refugees come to the united states because people were worried about isis infiltrating and sneaking in with them. because of the attack in san bernardino, california, it heightened fears on the subject. at the same time, we have refugees fleeing syria with no

place to go. the reality is there is a visa waiver program that has become the focal point of what can be done to help refugees but not block all muslims from coming in the country, which is what donald trump is saying, and various other republican presidential candidates by going echoing similar things. you cannot just say, all muslims cannot come in the country because there was a guy in california who -- two people in california who attacked some people. one of them was radicalized. at first, seems like they weren't jumping on the bandwagon with a more extreme view of this and affected by

donald trumps rhetoric, but they came back around again and took action on something with visa waivers. i do not know the specifics of the program, by know that is considered -- but i know that is considered the better focus. if you want to crack down on the immigration system, that is the program where we should really focus. the: less stringent than process for refugees. new york, david, a republican. caller: yes, good morning. i have a statement and a question for jennifer. i wanted to know about the affordable care act. it was not floated in on the republican side. fixesave been developing and having them to the senate where harry reid did not bring them up to a vote. i believe the democratic party

has been trying to mislead the public. if you're making $60,000 a year, or just over that, the deductibles are very high, the cost is very high. host: jennifer bendery? guest: again, the affordable care act is a massive, massive program. some people have praise for it, some people don't. it is the law. for all the debate about it, it is law, and has been law for .ears this caller is correct, everything will republican voted against this bill. it was honestly not a bipartisan effort. the problem is there is no alternative. when you have millions of people getting health care through this program, and many are happy with the because they did not have all, it is it at

difficult to think about, what do we do now? you cannot get rid of it entirely because then people .ose their health care if anybody could come up with an alternative proposal in congress, then i think maybe the criticism of the informal care act would be taken more seriously on capitol hill. for now, it is just a topic that you see people voting on. it is symbolically only to say, we do not like this, we will vote on it for the 55th time to repeal it. they have to come up with something else to have much credibility. host: what about the role that president obama will play in trying to get a democrat elected? guest: again, it is his last year in office. he is feeling liberated, but also ansi. he wants to melt is for everything he can -- to milk this for everything he can.

i think he will be out there helping whoever the democratic candidate is whether it is hillary clinton, bernie sanders. beyond that, if you have senators -- democrats in tight raises that would benefit from president obama coming to their state and saying how great they are, maybe he would do that. some house races -- he will hop on his plane and find some way to get there. .gain, this is his last year you can see it, he is feeling his time run out. he is looking around and saying, i have to get something done before i'm gone. i have to finish up my legacy. host: more to announcer: later today, it is &a," with the

interment camp during world war ii. watch today at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span two. look atght, a entertainment figures on several issues, including lgbt right and religion in america. here is more from actors. >> there was a time when i thought it would be impossible to be out. ago, with the help of your love and support, i shared my story. and everything changed for me. the x ofstill feeling that moment today. and i know how lucky i am to be in this position. i acutely remember the pain i

was in before i was out, and i have been able to experience things for the first time in the last year and a half. having my arm wrapped around my girlfriend samantha as we walked down the street. holding her hand on the red carpet, kissing her in the ocean while we surfed pay to, she has surf, andto serve -- getting to say in public, "i am in love," -- >> when he writes a check, it is saying jesus is here. we're all counting time. you know what he did?

he died on the cross in the days later rose from the dead. that solves your grave problem, and it takes away your fear of dying. you have got a better story? lay it on me. >> all of the isms, materialism, idealism, naturalism -- trying to get around what i just told you. announcer: that is just part of two event two at ears. see their entire remarks, as well as those from elton john on c-span, and

tomorrow, the road to the white house coverage continues with a rally in hilton head, south carolina, and you can them live on sand. -- live on span. cspan. a look back at all of the issues and hearings and debate that took center stage on capitol hill this year. 8:00 p.m. eastern as we visit mitch mcconnell taking his position as senate majority leader. the historic session with the pope, and the election of paul ryan. the debate over the nuclear deal with iran, and mass shootings here and abroad. gun control, terrorism, and the role of crisis. -- isis.'

thursday at 8:00 p.m. on c-span. announcer: book tv brings you three days of not as authors including a nationally syndicated talk show host on his career. his many books include the crash of 2016, rebooting the american dream, and threshold. then, it economist walter williams. his other books include race and economics. 10:00 p.m.ening at eastern, karl rove, former white house deputy chief of staff looks at william mckinley's campaign in his new book "the triumph of william mckinley." mr. rove discusses the political environment and eight t 96. mr. rove is interviewed by the

senior editor for "national review" magazine. creed -- grover cleveland has seen the country descend into a deep depression and republicans think the election of 1896 is going to be there and he wants to be the nominee, but he's not the front runner. directly following afterwards, join book tv as we attend a book party thrown for karl rove. david marinus will be live with your calls, e-mails and texts. his books include a biography on bill clinton and barack obama, the story. that's book tv, this weekend.

>> earlier today, colonel steven warren announced 10 isis leaders , including some with links to the paris attacks have been killed by airstrikes over the last month. he briefed reporters from baghdad and provided an update on the operations to combat isis. this is one hour. >> without further a do come alive to you, sir. pentagon press

corps. i hope you had a nice holiday weekend. a lot of us you were able to talk to our families and some even got to see the new "star wars" movie. i've had a lot of news for you this morning and i like to talk about ramadi briefly before giving it overview of the rest of the battlefield. i assume we have our opening map up, number one. as you saw yesterday, the iraqi security forces have achieved inseparable success in ramadi. -- considerable success in ramadi. they have raised the flag in the downtown area. the clearance of the government center is a significant milestone and as a result of many months of hard work. the coalition conducted more than 630 airstrikes and july with more than 150 occurring in the last months alone. we trained several of the iraqi army brigades, c.t.s. units and police units who fought there, provided specialized engineering equipment to clear ied's, a

floating bridge to help get, power into downtown ramadi, and partnered with the iraqis to get advice and assistance at multiple iraqi army headquarters. i would like to show you our video of the c.t.s. raising the flag, the iraqi flag, over the anbar provincial government headquarters yesterday. please, rolled a video. -- roll that video. do we have the video? ok, looks like we don't have the video so i will keep pressing. the video is coming up.

this falls into the awkward silence category. ok, tom, if you could bring up the ramadi map next. in green on the ramadi map, our heirs the isf have cleared, the unshaded areas have not yet been cleared. now we go back to the opening map. we have several close fights

ongoing that i will highlight for you today. in sinjar, star number three on your opening map, we continue to keep relentless pressure on isil. when i file lost sinjar last month, they also lost the ability to use highway 47. they were forced in are much slower secondary roads through the desert south of sinjar. on december 25 and 26th, we conducted a series of strikes on the secondary roads in order to further degrade isil's ability to move fighters and supplies the between iraq and syria. let's take a look at one of the airstrike videos so you can see what i'm talking about. let's try the second video. go ahead and roll the second video.

moving to syria, in tashrin,

star number eight to the north west of raqa, successfully captured the dam late saturday evening post up let's take a quick look at that area. pull up the map. this is the first time you have seen this map, so let me quickly orient you to it. aleppo is to the left, number one. two is at the center of the pocket that we sometimes have spoken about. the tashreen dam is number three and raqqa is in the far right-hand lower of your screen. the dam is a hydro electric them that sits about 56 miles east of aleppo. enabled by nearly 26 airstrikes over the last several days, rapidly advanced to seize the

dam, which isil had held since november 2012. losing this dam is significant because it denies isil an important majestic's route between the manage pocket and raqqa. during the four-day offensive to capture the dam, they liberated more than 10 villages and 235 square kilometers. while coordinating strikes that killed over 100 enemy combatants. as i have briefly highlighted, this has been a busy week. as i mentioned before, in addition to our tactical operation, we are also striking at the head of the snake by hunting down and killing isil leaders. over the past month, we have killed 10 leadership figures with targeted airstrikes, including several external attack planners, some of whom are linked to the paris attacks and others had designs on

further attacking the west. this is a long list that i will quickly run through. on december 7, we killed tahir, and external operations facilitator that was killed near raqqa, syra, associated with command and control as well as the handling of transferring of money and equipment. also on december 7, al-weis. the isil emir of cookbook province -- kirkuk province list on december 8, and isil ied facilitator was killed. his death will disrupt their ability to conduct ied attacks

near kirkuk. december 9, the coalition killed abu jadat. isil's deputy finance emir in mo sul, and his death will burden them to find a replacement. december 9 also, the coalition killed isil's deputy emir in kirkuk. it disrupts their ability to train, command, and maintain fighters in the province. december 10, the syrian-based been with as she does bangladeshi was killed. he was an external operations planner who is educated as a computer systems engineer in the united kingdom and he supported isil's hacking efforts, their anti-surveillance technology,

and the weapons development. now that he is said, isil has lost a key link between the networks. december 10, mohamed sayid feris was in isil commander and executioner, killed near his base of operations. december 26 him a abdul hakeem, another isil external operations facilitator was killed in mosu l, a veteran fighter and forgery specialist and had links to the paris attack network. he was part of isil's external operations group who enabled attacks against western targets. his death removes an important facilitator with many connections in europe. on december 27, another external

operations facilitator was killed near mosul. and last but not least, this is your headline, mudain was a syrian-based iso-number with a direct link to abaaoud. he was killed december 24 and was actively planning additional attacks against -- we will continue to hunt isil leaders who are working to inspire attacks against the united states of america and our allies. that said, i will take your questions. whoever's manning the shop for the associate a press, we will start with you. >> thank you for doing this, steve. can you give us a few more details on tuesday? one, do you have any additional details on the death of this isaiah leader who had a direct

-- isil leader who had a direct link to the paris attackers, the one killed on the 24th? and just on ramadi, can you give us some better granularity on any casualties, the number of casualties that the iraqis suffered from any casualties on the enemy side and how many you believe may still remain in and around ramadi as they move to clear it out? >> not too many additional details to present. he was killed in airstrike in syria, and that is really as far as we are going to go on him for now. hopefully, as time goes on, we are able to develop some other things and will be up to get some more information out. on ramadi, tom or jeff, pull up that map.

i will get it here in front of me so i can speak of it. casualty counts are generally low. we don't have exact numbers of casualties for the iraqi security forces. they keep those numbers. but generally speaking, our sense is the numbers have been low, in the low double digits if that. 10, 20. but i don't have a good -- i don't have a good account of that. the numbers remaining. they are small. we don't have a good head count of the enemy in ramadi. but we do believe is the capability is reduced. we think less about numbers and more about what they can do. we don't think the remaining enemy has the oomph to push the iraqi security forces off of their positions. that said, there were several counterattacks today, small, generally take the form of baby

with heavy machine gun or -- maybe with a heavy machine gun or rpg. we have not seen this enemy able to mass any type of combat, any type of real combat power in any type of effort to conduct a counterattack. it doesn't mean it is impossible, just means we haven't seen yet. we believe the majority of the enemy has been dispersed in a smaller pockets. many of move north and east -- in fact, you can see on the map this area we refer to as the shark's fin, where the euphrates river goes north and entrance quickly south. we're seeing a lot of them flow that way. loading up families into their cars. we don't know if it was their family -- their own families or others.

we think it was their families. they will load them up and the cars and move them into the shark's fin area. we will eventually get them rooted out of there as well. as far as downtown ramadi area, we have not seen significant combat power. >> i hope you will provide us with the list that you read from because i did not get all of these spellings, the names that you pronounced. two questions about that, you mention one of the leaders was killed in an airstrike. were any of these isil leaders will direct action on the ground i the u.s. or other forces? two, the broader question, every time we hear about leadership being killed, whether it is isil or the taliban or al qaeda, it is always unclear what actual effect that has on the ability of the group to operate. you know, you mention all of these killings and mentioned they were important for whatever

reason, that can you quantify at all this continued erosion of the isil leadership? what will affect is that having on the ground in terms of defeating isil? >> fair question. so all of the 10 names i read were all killed by airstrikes. i don't have the listing of what platform conducted each strike. many of these are conducted with predators or other unmanned vehicles, but not exclusively. so i don't have the breakout, but they were all done from the air. how do these leadership strikes affect the enemy. they affect them in several ways. first and foremost, i think any organization that sees its middle and upper management degraded in this way is going to lose some of their synergy. it is difficult to command and

control and organization without a command control personnel. that leader is to facilitate the activities, your ability to conduct activities goes down. and i think we've seen some of that on the battlefield, right? we have seen the string -- the successes begin to pile up, right? we saw takrit and sinjar, the kurdish flag pushed toward kirkuk significantly through the fall and now ramadi across the border of syria, strikes in the tri-border area of iraq, syria, and jordan. we're seeing now the dam. part of those successes is a charitable to the fact -- attri butable to they are losing their leadership. we are striking at the head of the snake. we have not severed behead of

the snake yet, and it still has fangs. we have to be clear about that. there's much more fighting to do. but our ability to dismantle the facilitation networks, our ability to dismantle the command ground and control, our ability to take away some of their enforcers, executioners, and extortionist -- that eats away and instills fear is away at their ability to extort money from the population, which of course, reduces their funding. so all of these various factors add up to a key militant effect. i think we've seen that affect with our successes. if i could go on for a moment, the other piece, several of these strikes were external attack planners. these are individuals who are specifically working to strike the west. they want to strike in europe.

they want to strike in our very own homeland. it is important that people understand that as long as those external attack planners are operating, the united states military will hunt them and we will kill them. >> steve, i wonder if you can give an estimate when ramadi will be completely cleared. the army chief was over there last week. he was told by iraqi general they expected it to be completely cleared by mid-january. i wonder if you agree with that assessment? and also, talk a bit about the importance of u.s. airstrikes are in ramadi. there was an iraqi officer quoted as saying 80% of the effort in ramadi was due to american airstrikes. >> well, i would agree probably a to percent of the effort -- i would agree with that iraqi officer who said that 80% of the

effort in ramadi was due to coalition airstrikes. i think that is a fair assessment. we don't kind of keep those numbers. it is more just instinct and feel. but i would not argue with that. the airstrikes of insignificant. we believe over the last six months, in the over 600 strikes which translates to over 2500 different targets that destroyed, you know, 70 truck bombs, almost 300 other enemy vehicles, nearly 800 structures, 400 various types of weapons. this is significant. this is what really facilitated or enabled the iraqi forces to move in. and this is how modern warfare is, by the way. this is no different than any army should fight. using that air power.

how long will it take them to clear the rest of ramadi? too soon to tell, tom. there are still some -- really there are two steps. number one, eliminate the remaining enemy. number two, reduce the obstacles, these ied's, the booby-traps, the entire house is that had been rigged to blow. this will take a while because any house could be rigged to blow. so as the iraqi forces are trying to dismantle these various booby-traps, they still have to be on the lookout for the remaining bands of isil fighters. it will be a process. i'm not one to put a time-honored, tom, because it will be wrong. and it will take some time, i will tell you that much.

>> [indiscernible] the u.s. landed forces in the area of kirkuk. to confirm or deny? >> these reports are fantasies. i don't know where they come from, presumably, they come from individuals who want to try to drive a wedge between the u.s. coalition and the government of iraq. it is ludicrous. if we're going to put some forces somewhere, if we're going to conduct a raid summer, we're going to do that and complete coordination with the iraqi government. period. >> my name is john heinz. thank you, steve, for the information. i was wondering if you could comment on the willingness of the soldiers just an incorporation with a golden brigade and the iaea a little bit.

>> i think the iraqi army is willing to fight is pretty well displayed in this ramadi map. having seized the cap and cleared the neighborhood, having seized the palatine bridge and the anbar operation center, and now downtown ramadi. i think their actions because in any words that i could produce. but keep in mind, all of this is done in conjunction with this devastating air power able to deliver across this battlefield. iraqi forces work well together. the counterterrorist service has been in the lead, in fact, most of these sites. the 10th iraqi division as the northern sector of their by the

anbar. that was the 10th division. the rest was a mix of counterterrorism service and iraqi army conventional forces. but there has been no issues of these forces working together. >> on the strikes -- did the french, did they have any direct involvement in the strike that killed the paris facilitator? and then i have a ramadi follow-up. >> tony, i'm not going to get into that little detail. the french certainly speak for themselves. i will tell you there's a coalition effort in everything that we do here. and i will leave it at that. >> what is the role of the sunni militia -- what has been the

role? have they been attacking or basically holding ground? and can you give a sense of how american training is played out in terms of what you and the army would call combined arms operation in this offensive? >> important question. there's been a lot of discussion i've seen in the news about the sunni fighters. i will take a little bit about that. we have enrolled about 8000 sunni tribal fighters in the program. of those, we are about 5000 of them. the way the training works, they come into a training location for iraqi security forces provided direct training. there are overseen by american forces. so american forces providing guidance, advice, and assistance to iraqi army trainers who are

training sunni tribal fighters. the training consists of some training in a garrison environment. the sunni tribal fighters then move over to the front line, if you will, where they cycle through the battlefield. usually one to two weeks. they then come off the front line, returned back to the training site to finalize their training, figure out what is going on on the front line. and now we have a train sunni tribal fighter who will be used primarily as part of the holding stabilization forces. they're beginning to cycle through where there really at the planning phase now, getting these trouble fighters cycled into downtown ramadi where they will form sort of the bedrock of the holding force in ramadi.

does that answer your question? >> a number of commentators have said sunni trouble fighters have gone in to basically the fight. you get a lot of commentators saying that. that is not what i get from you. they're basically going in after the iraqis have taken -- the iraqi military has taken the territory. >> right. the sunni tribal fighters, as they cycle through small groups for short series of time, they were not a significant player in a frankly, and the seizure of ramadi. they will be significant players in the stabilization and the holding of ramadi, but up until now, their presence, while every man counts, every rifle matters, they have not had a large enough presence to make much of a difference. >> combined arms aspect? how do you view training?

>> thank you for that. i think it is been very important. what we've seen, i believe, something of a validation that training works. some say the army l a time, and we of seen it once again on the ground. remember, the iraqi army that we left in 2011 was an army that had been trained for counterinsurgency. that means checkpoint operations, ied reduction, that type of work. what the iraqi army that collapsed in 2014 was a counterinsurgency. they were not prepared and they were not trained and they were not ready for a conventional fight, conventional assault that isil brought to mosul and beyond. the last year has been a process