bring the economy back for everybody. with these to deal issues that keep families up at night. the most important one is the appeal and hera one abduction. keep in mind this is an opportunity to do something with our republican friends because isis so widespread it killing their voters, too. and i'm not being frivolous. this is encouraging. if there are doctors or pharmacists thinking the law, should they be prosecuted? yes. the people who are suffering should be treated like the public health problem they are and we cannot do it until we have one mental health coverage and treatment is so with ease. -- more mental health treatment and coverage.

hillary is the first person who do more,ut we need to as she tried when i was president for places that are left behind. where unemployment is too high. i was up in northern new hampshire the other night, a place where you with bank, given the geography of this campaign, she would have no chance. in a town called claremont. to city manager was there endorse her. he said, i tell you why i am endorsing her. it would because when i lived broken,is building was with pigeons and everything else. now it is beautiful. clinton did that, i want someone who does things like that again. we have got to do something about the opiate epidemic. foundation was brought into play because the son of a

good friend of ours who was working for hillary at the time went out with his girlfriend, drink a few beers, took some oxycontin, got a buzz, fell asleep and never woke up. i want to tell all of the young people here, do not do that. even if you are not a dig to do it deadens a part of your body that can tell your brain to keep breathing while you were asleep. we worked on a project for 3.5 years. a has approved the use of miracle drug and a spray form. we need to get it to every police department, every first dorm,der, every college every school, so we can save more lives. have got to do this and we have got to do it together. we've got to do is keep the new president from rolling back the things the

president has done. we do not need to re-up the books on health care, we need to keep going until we get everybody we can help by medicaid and then we will help 5%-seven present more. druged to work to get the prices down so they are closer to other countries. we need to keep going. we need to protect the gains that have been made in gun safety. --y want to reinforce them reverse them. look, chelsea spent her early years and arkansas. when i was 10 years old i had a .22 shooting cans of a fence post. when i had -- was 12 years old, i had a shotgun. there's not a single thing president obama has proposed that will undermine people's rights to hunt, should, and defend themselves. you know that. thatis all about the fact

actually a slightly smaller percentage of houses have guns the and used it, so in order for the sales of the gun manufacturers to keep going up, they first needed liability protection, so they became the only and history in america that you could not sue. they had to keep everybody in a constant state of paranoia so the same households bought more and more guns that they do not need. then they contested that the president would be at their door, personally, and a blackout that to confiscate all their guns. listen, i have been there. i have done that. people that do not have anything in life but hunting and fishing worry. tolary knows how to talk them and we have got to get going. we cannot backup up on gun safety, on gay rights. on any of these things.

and the final thing you need is somebody who can keep this country safe. without sacrificing the constitution of the united states and the are of america. look, it is a dangerous world out there. canif you want to know who rebuild the economy, deal with the social issues, stop the presidents progress from being repealed and keep the country safe, this is not a trick question. hillary was the first senator ever on the armed services committee. there, she worked with lindsey graham who was a republican candidate, to get health care for the national guard in iowa and elsewhere if they fought abroad in afghanistan and iraq. she worked with other republicans to make sure people injuries and brain posttraumatic stress disorder were properly cared for.

she worked with john mccain and took reluctant republicans around the world including to the northernmost village in america, alaska, to have the as comeau's tell them how their way of life was ending because of climate change. everything she did, she tried to work with other people. one day when i was in the congress on foundation business, toad a young officer come up me in his uniform and said, mr. president, you do not know me but i represent the pentagon on capitol hill and i thought you would like to know that we believe your wife knows more congress inber of either party in either house about what these families are going through and what they need and we thank them. applause] mr. clinton: we need that. democrats want to defend that country to, we just want to of that country we are defending still be there when we are done she will also do something

to heal our political system, beginning with making good appointments to the supreme court. the next president will get and three. so, that is my pitch. let me just say one other thing. hillary is great at finding common ground. all these mean things republicans have said, don't take them seriously. they just don't what you to talk to her. they are smart. they know what they're doing. if you go to the headquarters, you will see all of these pictures of republicans and what they said about her when she was not running. if you nominate her, you will get a chance to see those quotes again. , she was on a committee with him to plan the military of the 21st century and guess what they recommended? pretty much what the president is doing now.

special forces, local people, if they are willing to fight for their own future, we can help them. we should not carry the ball, but we can help them. withhas this got to do where we are? hillary cannot be president if you do not nominate her, and if you do nominate her, i do not think they can stop her from becoming president. [cheers and applause] clinton: so, in my lifetime i have never had a chance to vote for person who by experience, accomplishment, knowledge, and temperament was more well-suited to meet the needs of america at a difficult, but as the president said, basically hopeful time. we have to seize the promise of the 21st century and deal with the problems we have now. we have to be strong at home and strong abroad. we have to go after people who are trying to kill us but we need a world with more friends

and fewer enemies. we have to do these things together. you will never have a chance, the young people here, if your experience is anything like mine you will be lucky if you have another chance in your lifetime to vote for a person who is so nearly qualified to meet all of the challenges we face today. [cheers applause] mr. clinton: so, i want you tonight to become a precinct leader, a volunteer leader on caucus night. i want you to take some time in these last 16 days or so, 15 knockto go out there and on doors or call people on the phone. tell them what you heard tonight. of them a reason. thing about iowa is neighbors still talk to neighbors. people still listen to each other. they can have a conversation.

tonight, two dodge degrees below zero. and all of these people showed up, they just wanted to talk. we are in good shape. the president told us the truth. that is not the truth many of our fellow americans are living right now. if you want somebody who is strong enough to stand their ground and great enough to find common ground, who remembers that to abraham lincoln sound the university act and the homestead act while he was prosecuting the civil war, standing his ground and searching for common ground, you will never have a better chance. after that 11-hour fiasco of a hearing where hillary shut his she strong enough to be president -- applause] mr. clinton: i called her and she said, what do you think?

and i said, you know, i will vote for you. what do you think? let's go when this thing! -- win thishing thing! [applause] ♪ [indiscernible] >> good job! you!od to see

[indiscernible chatter] >> mr. president! president! [indiscernible chatter] him to sign that? sign this?

[indiscernible] >> thank you, mr. president! [indistinct chatter]

>> can you sign my book? [indiscernible] ♪ chatter]ct

>> c-span takes you on the road to the white house. att access to the candidates town hall meetings, speeches, rallies, and meet and greets. byre taking your comments twitter, on facebook, and by phone. and as always, every event we cover is available at c-span.org. >> monday is martin luther king jr. day. c-span, at 11:30 a.m. eastern, live coverage about trump fromban donald their country in the u.k. parliament. at 6:30n two book tv p.m. eastern, a university theessor and his book about

march on washington and the forgotten history of civil rights. what martin luther king was going to organize, everybody said, you better get martin luther king, you better get his support. he went to martin luther king and martin luther king said, i will support you but let us expand the goals of the march. it is fighting employment discrimination and about winning the right to to vote in the south. and an author recalls his involvement in the civil right movement. history tv, on c-span3, at 2:00 p.m. eastern, an international professor talks about iran's cold war partnership with the united states. drags you do not have to look to a third power to preserve its

sovereign independence against the imperialism of britain and russia. the 1930's, britain went to germany to play that role and at thate war, they look as a country that had no imperial ambitions and no history of colonialism in the region. onouncer: and then at 8:00 america, martin luther king on how mahatma gandhi influenced his work. for the complete schedule, go to c-span.org. iran nucleare agreement went into effect this weekend. president obama spoke from the white house about the implementation and he also spoke about the release of americans who were being held in iran. this is 15 minutes.

morning. obama: good this is a good day, because, once again, we're seeing what's possible with strong american diplomacy. as i said in my state of the union address, ensuring the security of the united states and the safety of our people demands a smart, patient and disciplined approach to the world. that includes our diplomacy with the islamic republic of iran. for decades, our differences with iran meant that our governments almost never spoke to each other. ultimately, that did not advance america's interests. over the years, iran moved closer and closer to having the ability to build a nuclear weapon. but from presidents franklin roosevelt to john f. kennedy to ronald reagan, the united states has never been afraid to pursue diplomacy with our adversaries. and as president, i decided that a strong, confident america could advance our national

security by engaging directly with the iranian government. we've seen the results. under the nuclear deal that we, our allies and partners reached with iran last year, iran will not get its hands on a nuclear bomb. the region, the united states, and the world will be more secure. as i've said many times, the nuclear deal was never intended to resolve all of our differences with iran. but still, engaging directly with the iranian government on a sustained basis, for the first time in decades, has created a unique opportunity -- a window -- to try to resolve important issues. and today, i can report progress on a number of fronts. first, yesterday marked a milestone in preventing iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. iran has now fulfilled key commitments under the nuclear deal. and i want to take a moment to explain why this is so

important. over more than a decade, iran had moved ahead with its nuclear program, and, before the deal, it had installed nearly 20,000 centrifuges that can enrich uranium for a nuclear bomb. today, iran has removed two-thirds of those machines. before the deal, iran was steadily increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium -- enough for up to 10 nuclear bombs. today, more than 98% of that stockpile has been shipped out of iran -- meaning iran now doesn't have enough material for even one bomb. before, iran was nearing completion of a new reactor capable of producing plutonium for a bomb. today, the core of that reactor has been pulled out and filled with concrete so it cannot be used again. before the deal, the world had relatively little visibility into iran's nuclear program. today, international inspectors are on the ground, and iran is being subjected to the most comprehensive, intrusive

inspection regime ever negotiated to monitor a nuclear program. inspectors will monitor iran's key nuclear facilities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. for decades to come, inspectors will have access to iran's entire nuclear supply chain. in other words, if iran tries to cheat -- if they try to build a bomb covertly -- we will catch them. so the bottom line is this. whereas iran was steadily expanding its nuclear program, we have now cut off every single path that iran could have used to build a bomb. whereas it would have taken iran two to three months to break out with enough material to rush to a bomb, we've now extended that breakout time to a year -- and with the world's unprecedented inspections and access to iran's program, we'll know if iran ever tries to break out. now that iran's actions have been verified, it can begin to

receive relief from certain nuclear sanctions and gain access to its own money that had been frozen. and perhaps most important of all, we've achieved this historic progress through diplomacy, without resorting to another war in the middle east. i want to also point out that by working with iran on this nuclear deal, we were better able to address other issues. when our sailors in the persian gulf accidentally strayed into iranian waters that could have sparked a major international incident. some folks here in washington rushed to declare that it was the start of another hostage crisis. instead, we worked directly with the iranian government and secured the release of our sailors in less than 24 hours. this brings me to a second major development -- several americans unjustly detained by iran are finally coming home. in some cases, these americans faced years of continued

detention. and i've met with some of their families. i've seen their anguish, how they ache for their sons and husbands. i gave these families my word -- i made a vow -- that we would do everything in our power to win the release of their loved ones. and we have been tireless. on the sidelines of the nuclear negotiations, our diplomats at the highest level, including secretary kerry, used every meeting to push iran to release our americans. i did so myself, in my conversation with president rouhani. after the nuclear deal was completed, the discussions between our governments accelerated. yesterday, these families finally got the news that they have been waiting for. jason rezaian is coming home. a courageous journalist for "the washington post," who wrote about the daily lives and hopes of the iranian people, he's been held for a year and a half. he embodies the brave spirit that gives life to the freedom

of the press. jason has already been reunited with his wife and mom. pastor saeed abedini is coming home. held for three and half years, his unyielding faith has inspired people around the world in the global fight to uphold freedom of religion. now, pastor abedini will return to his church and community in idaho. amir hekmati is coming home. a former sergeant in the marine corps, he's been held for four and a half years. today, his parents and sisters are giving thanks in michigan. two other americans unjustly detained by iran have also been released -- nosratollah khosravi-roodsari and matthew trevithick, an iranian -- who was in iran as a student. their cases were largely unknown to the world. but when americans are freed and reunited with their families, that's something that we can all celebrate.

so i want to thank my national security team -- especially secretary kerry. susan rice, my national security advisor. brett mcgurk. avril haines. ben rhodes -- our whole team worked tirelessly to bring our americans home, to get this work done. and i want to thank the swiss government, which represents our interests in iran, for their critical assistance. and meanwhile, iran has agreed to deepen our coordination as we work to locate robert levinson -- missing from iran for more than eight years. even as we rejoice in the safe return of others, we will never forget about bob. each and every day, but especially today, our hearts are with the levinson family, and we will not rest until their family is whole again. in a reciprocal humanitarian gesture, six iranianamericans and one iranian serving sentences or awaiting trial in the united states are being

granted clemency. these individuals were not charged with terrorism or any violent offenses. they're civilians, and their release is a one-time gesture to iran given the unique opportunity offered by this moment and the larger circumstances at play. and it reflects our willingness to engage with iran to advance our mutual interests, even as we ensure the national security of the united states. so, nuclear deal implemented. american families reunited. the third piece of this work that we got done this weekend involved the united states and iran resolving a financial dispute that dated back more than three decades. since 1981, after our nations severed diplomatic relations, we've worked through a international tribunal to resolve various claims between our countries. the united states and iran are now settling a longstanding iranian government claim against

the united states government. iran will be returned its own funds, including appropriate interest, but much less than the amount iran sought. for the united states, this settlement could save us billions of dollars that could have been pursued by iran. so there was no benefit to the united states in dragging this out. with the nuclear deal done, prisoners released, the time was right to resolve this dispute as well. of course, even as we implement the nuclear deal and welcome our americans home, we recognize that there remain profound differences between the united states and iran. we remain steadfast in opposing iran's destabilizing behavior elsewhere, including its threats against israel and our gulf partners, and its support for violent proxies in places like syria and yemen. we still have sanctions on iran for its violations of human rights, for its support of terrorism, and for its ballistic missile program.

and we will continue to enforce these sanctions, vigorously. iran's recent missile test, for example, was a violation of its international obligations. and as a result, the united states is imposing sanctions on individuals and companies working to advance iran's ballistic missile program. and we are going to remain vigilant about it. we're not going to waver in the defense of our security or that of our allies and partners. but i do want to once again speak directly to the iranian people. yours is a great civilization, with a vibrant culture that has so much to contribute to the world -- in commerce, and in science and the arts. for decades, your government's threats and actions to destabilize your region have isolated iran from much of the world. and now our governments are talking with one another. following the nuclear deal, you -- especially young iranians -- have the opportunity to begin building new ties with the world.

we have a rare chance to pursue a new path -- a different, better future that delivers progress for both our peoples and the wider world. that's the opportunity before the iranian people. we need to take advantage of that. and to my fellow americans, today, we're united in welcoming home sons and husbands and brothers who, in lonely prison cells, have endured an absolute nightmare. but they never gave in and they never gave up. at long last, they can stand tall and breathe deep the fresh air of freedom. as a nation, we face real challenges around the world and here at home. these will not be resolved quickly or easily. ay's progress, americans coming home and an iran that has rolled back its nuclear program and accepted monitoring of that

program, these are reminders of what we can achieve when we lead with strength and wisdom, courage, resolve, and patience. america can do big things. we can leave this world and make secure for our children and grandchildren for generations to come. i want to thank once again secretary kerry, our entire national security team, susan rice, i am grateful for all of the assistance we have received from our allies and partners very i hope this signals the iran toity or ir -- for more cooperatively with nations around the world to advance their interests and the interests of people that are looking for peace and security for their families. thank you so much.

god bless you and god bless the united states of america. >> members of congress are reacting to the news on iran. he released the statement that impart reads -- others also commenting on twitter. senate minority leader harry reid thinks that the president and his national security team are showing how strong u.s. diplomacy can make the world safer. the ran'stweets missile tests, human rights violations, and support for terrorism and arms rogue rams it will not go unpunished. a representative from kansas put a, obama trying to positive face on empowering the largest state sponsor of terror with billions of dollars. still really bad iran deal.

monday night on "the communicators" the fcc communicator discusses key topics being considered by the fcc including the speed of broadband deployment across the u.s.. by the "washington post" technology reporter. >> broadband is one of the key drivers of technology growth. the really has been a democratization in the 21st century. montana,x falls to people using that broadband connection to build businesses, they either have to migrate to one of the coasts or go online. it is something that is really powerful, especially in rural america. >> watch "the communicators" on c-span2. >> coming up next from

"washington journal" u.s.-mexican cooperation in fighting the mexican drug cartel. later, republican presidential candidate ted cruz meets with voters at an event in new hampshire. , the mexican institute director at the wilson center. thank you. i asked the question earlier, why is he called "el chapo?" >>'s guest: someone -- guest: someone who is "el chap"" in mexico is a short the, and -- shorty and that is the alias pizza can't. all of those bosses have a great nickname like that. host: he was captured over one week ago. what was the significance? guest: very important for the mexican government. the mexican government has been humiliated since july of last

years since he escaped from prison. they had announced his first capture and the drape of last year as being a sort of landmark event and that they had done what other governments had been unable to do. because of that, they had announced that they would put him in prison and keep them there and refuse to exit that came the united states. they said that it would be unforgivable if you would escape from prison and he escaped. in the six months or seven months since he has escaped, they have been trying to save face and they managed to do it and that is important at this time, to show they do have the capacity, of course, working alongside u.s. security forces, to bring people back to justice. host: and also involving sean penn, but right now, the headline -- mexico's new blood politics, forget "el chapo" with another generation of druglords killing the country's mayor.

how is this spreading throughout the country? guest: we have seen almost 100 elected officials taken out by organized crime. there is constant intimidation at the local level. aat we see is that there is bribe from organized crime or they come after you and your family. this is not true at the federal government and in all states, but at the local level in mexico, it is a widespread phenomenon. party aer of this new couple of weeks ago, it is one more event that highlights how far organized crime has infiltrated politics. host: what is the level of cooperation between the u.s. and mexico with regard to the cartels? an extraordinary transformation has taken place. prior to 2000 seven, the two countries worked in a very kind of informal way. there was some exchange of

information, but we cannot say it was institutionalized security relationship. we are seeing right now that since the initiative was signed back in 2007, the two countries have developed a new corporation. there is the intelligence the sharing of technology and equipment with mexican security forces, and the two sides have come to understand each other in a way that was not the case 10 years ago. at the escape of "el chapo" in july of last year, they had brought the two countries even closer, despite the risk that caused at the beginning because u.s. intelligence security forces were curious that "el chapo" have been allowed to escape. host: sean penn will be on "if the minutes" this evening with charlie rose and he will -- "60 minutes" this evening with charlie rose and he was about his meeting with "el chapo" and the reaction. >> we had met with him many

weeks earlier on october 2. in the place nowhere near where he was captured. >> as far as you know, you had nothing to do with his recapture? >> here are the things we know -- we know that the mexican government, they were clearly very humiliated by the notion that someone found him before they did. nobody found in before they did. we are not smarter than the dea or mexican intelligence. we had a contact upon which you were able to facilitate an invitation. >> to you believe the mexican government released this in part because they wanted to see you blamed and to put you at risk? >> yes. >> they wanted to encourage the cartel to put you in the crosshairs? >> yes. host: your reaction to sean

penn's comments? >> first of -- achievedrst of all, he what other people have been trying to achieve, and i don't mean the u.s. and mexican governments, but other journalists. hollywood producers were reaching out to "el chapo" and trying to get some way to learn about his life story and get the rights to his life story. who waso" is a man thinking about his legacy as much as anything, and he reached out to the mexican actress kate castillo, who knows sean penn, and worked out with "el chapo" that this would be the right kind of person to bring been to meet with "el chapo" and to begin to write down the story. whether or not that second part has any truth in it, is the mexican government tried to put him in danger? i would doubt that, but are they trying to discredit him and save face and say? they knew about the meeting -- they knew about the meeting?

maybe but we will never know. host: this is from the post, about how mexico launched a crackdown after the meeting with sean penn. they described him shooting from helicopters and all in the belief that "el chapo" was in that location. had mobilized enormous resources since july of last year. they covered most of mexican territory and they have focused on this area known as the golden triangle in the northwest of mexico. that is where "el chapo" would have or what he did had to, because that is his home state and where he had the networks, local communities to protect him. going after the local communities, intimidating weaponryng high against them, that is something which is an extraordinary story

and not the first time it has happened. havean security forces overreached in the past, but it does not fit with what they have done in the sense of looking for drug kingpin's. that has been much more about isolated gunbattles in specific locations. host: our guest is duncan wood. our phone lines are open. (202)-748-8000 for democrats. for republicans. our guest is part of the wilson center. should we be focused more on the public health issues of drugs versus the ongoing battle we have to keep drugs out of this country? guest: i think there are a couple of issues, the first is the classic sovereignty argument that the united states has the right to determine who comes and crosses borders and what products. of terminalquestion justice. ande are illegal substances

you want to try to stop the use and to stop those organizations ringing them to the country. the third one is the public health, and that is where you want to focus on the united states side of the argument, which is that there is enormous demand for the products here. in mexico, countries of central america, and the southern americas, they are really providing product for a u.s. consumer. something on the public health side is one way to go. a lot of researchers suggested that the advantage we made in tobacco use, it is not enough to say no and it is about educating people about alternatives and how they can use this. host: what do you think the mexican government should be doing that it is not doing, if anything? guest: the mexican government has delayed the implementation

of a justice reform that has been pending since 2008. june of this year, the deadline for implementation and they think they will not meet the deadline. if you do not have a functioning justice system, it is ethical to make serious roads for crime. of course, the prison system. it does not work, it is corrupt and it needs to be fixed. lastly, you have to deal with policing. police at the local level across the country, we talked about infiltration in local politics, but local police are subject to this also. gary int's hear from new jersey, line for independent. good morning. this?you with go ahead. caller: what are the obstacles in extraditing "el chapo" to the united states?

guest: the question of exhibition has been on everybody's mind this week. it turns out that it is a complicated legal process in mexico. the is interesting is that legal system in mexico works in his favor. it is a multi step process texted back someone from mexico to the united states. the steps that we just reach is that "el chapo" has been informed by mexican authorities that they have begun the procedure. this now has to go through a series of legal steps, in particular, ending up in the courts. that is where his lawyers will play a big role. because he is a man of significant resources, he was on the forbes list and probably has one point $2 billion, he can afford fancy lawyers. those lawyers will know what to do to slow down the process because it is the last thing

that he wants, to be extradited. he learned that there was a chance of being extradited last year and it was shortly after that first request was made by the united states that he escaped. he knows that if he has a chance of getting free again, he needs to stay in the mexican prison to work his way out again. we are expecting this will last anywhere from a few months to maybe one year. some people saying he will not be extradited before the end of this year. last time, it took them slightly less than five months to actually escape from a mexican prison. if it is over 12 months, the mexican government will have to take all your cautions needed to make sure he stays. host: steve has this point on will the cartels bring their wild gunplay to the usa if "el chapo" is in a fed pen? guest: we have noticed over the past decade, intense grunt --

intense gun violence in mexico has not spread across the border. we have had isolated incidents in the southern border of the united states where we seem some presence of organized crime and a little violence now and then, but it has not spread across in the same way. of el is the twin city paso, texas, and it was one of the most dangerous places at the end of the last decade. el paso is the second place in the united states. that reflects the importance of much stronger policing and judicial institutions in the united states. the fact that organized crime in the u.s. as an important market, it does not operate the same way in u.s. cities as it doesn't mexican cities. host: another viewer same, it is not our business. mexico should handle "el chapo"

and stop wasting our money on a non-us citizen. that's go to market, virginia, republican line. caller: good morning. do you have any idea of what drug industry far as a percentage of our gdp? a good question. so many analysts are trying to work out what this is. i assume you are talking about illegal drugs. that forome estimates mexico, there is somewhere between sort of 20 and perhaps $4 billion and $50 billion that goes back to mexico from the sale of illegal drugs in the united states. we imagine that most of the drugs that get here come through mexico, so it is mexican cartels that are receiving that. we can put the overall year 55, $60e between 25 and

billion. that is how much it is worth. of course, some of those drugs have much better markups than others. you begin to see that cocaine, for example, has been one of the most profitable drugs for cartels. marijuana much less so. into an interesting conversation about we have seen with to criminalize nation in the united states -- decriminalization in the united states. a lot of them are moving out of the marijuana and cocaine business because cocaine is seen as a drug out of fashion. other drugs are rising in popularity. we have seen her wind, a very dangerous drug, has become the main thing of crime groups and in particular, "el chapo" and his organization grow a lot of hair went in the northwest part of the country and export that. that is a very high profit

export for them. they have been reached -- wreaking havoc in u.s. cities because of that. host: our conversation is with duncan wood of the wilson center. this is from a gene in ohio and he says, you must be kidding. mexican drug cartels and gangs have been operating in ohio cities for years. guest: we have to drop a distinction between organized crime groups from mexico and this to be should networks they have in u.s. cities. often, what happens is that mexican organized crime groups and a deal with local gangs local distributors. this can be quite the close relationship. it is a question of semantics. are these people part of a different organized crime group or are they individuals trying to make money by so -- by selling the goods? we have interesting transcripts from a few years ago of "el chapo" speaking to distributors

in the united states. distancehat it is the relationship and they are not part of his organized crime group and he is not commanding them, but he is quite close to them because he recognizes the important business relationship between them. whether you consider them to be part of the same cartel or part of criminals associated with the cartel is something we leave to you to decide. host: we are talking about the capture of "el chapo" and we welcome duncan wood. we welcome our listeners on the potus channel, 124. allen joining us, good morning. caller: good morning -- you are particular call. it is not about the drugs, it is about the money. drug war ins in the the mid-1990's and let me tell you what i saw. i thought the former chairman of through $50s,

billion into the mexican financial market because goldman sachs had lots of mexican stocks and bonds. salt, -- commander of southwest all the same intelligence reports that i did that you'd the mexican government was up to their ears, and he was the clinton drug source that certified mexico was full of partners in the drug war. host: we will get a response. guest: first of all, following the money is an important element of the equation. you are talking about the money that u.s. financial institutions of the u.s. government is pumping into the mexican economy or lending to the mexican government. part of an important the bilateral economic relationship for the past 25 years. it is clear that the two countries have a highly interdependent economic

relationship and that makes it a necessity at a certain point in time. in terms of drug money and stopping the laundering of money and sending back of money from the united states to mexico, that is something the two countries are working together on perry to be honest, they have not had an enormous success because the money gets across the border. sometimes through electronic is bolds and mostly it cash transfers with people driving south of the united states. but we have not seen is a concerted effort on the part of mexican authorities to stop that .oney going into mexico we have not seen an effective approach from u.s. authorities trying to stop the money going out and work moving that many. when you have this kind of interdependent relationship and you see all kinds of legal trade, which supports thousands, thousands of u.s. jobs, it is

difficult to work out if it is illegal or an illicit movement. host: to alex's point, this is a piece in the huffington post -- the u.s. trial for "el chapo" could expose more than some americans wanted. let's go to shane, new hampshire, democrat line. haser: my statement is, drug education programs over there worked? it is the rhetorical question i have to ask. i see the curiosity in our young is pretty much like a daredevil aspect, where you tell a kid not to jump off from bridges, and a lot of those young people are going to jump off into the water because they want to be daredevils. guest: good point.

the question that i guess we come down to is, do we go for prohibition, which has really failed, or do we find a better way of educating, not just young people, but people in general about the dangers and the social cost of consuming drugs? of large and lot successful approaches to that. we know that prohibition, incarceration has not worked. certainly, health treatments dealing with addicts in a different weight may be one way to go about it. all of these options are incredibly expensive. they will probably not reap the rewards in the short term because they take a long time, but this is something we have had to accept over the past 10 years. is a shared responsibility between mexico and the united states because mexico is sending the drugs or should be the drugs in many cases to be united

states, but it is american citizens who are consuming them, and u.s. governments have to play a much more active role in trying to reduce that consumption. host: there is a story online about the recapture of "el chapo" and what it means for u.s.-mexico relations. lewis is joining us from alabama. good morning. haver: here in alabama, we medical marijuana, and i am 66 years old and we take oxycontin and other drugs like that, and i wondered, if a person is 66 and they tell me my kidneys are going back from taking these drugs, should i be able to have an option of using marijuana for medical purposes if i don't want to take these drugs like this to keep on lesson with my liver and kidneys? host: that is a little different than the topic, but we will get a response. guest: i wish i was that kind of

doctor to help you, but you have to talk to your medical position to try to work out what the best alternative would be for you. unfortunately, what you are seen with the drugs you are using, samely, are some of the health issues defined with illegal drugs. what we do know is that all of these substances have their health consequences. no differently than alcohol, of course, so you can limit your consumption of those drugs without damaging your health, that is an option you have to pursue. host: christopher joins us from england. this is carried on the bbc parliament channel. good morning. caller: good afternoon. i hope you are very well. host: fine, thanks. quick question. caller: i will keep it brief. here is an idea. drugs,out legalizing the

knock it out for next to nothing , to get rid of the capacity of the cartels because within a decade of doing such, you could and ithe cartels out would alter the mexican economy theificantly and help with potential illegal immigration issue into the united states because mexico would have a lot more money and people would benefit and they would therefore stay in mexico, and then you wouldn't have a more even trade -- between the train the united states and mexico people and you could even have some sort of facebook free -- visa work system. so you would have a win-win situation by getting rid of the money trade and what would you think on that premise? a really interesting

suggestion. we are beginning to see how that plays out with the legalization thedecriminalization of united states. x can organized crime groups have moved away from marijuana into other substances. were to legalize everything, nothing is off the table, you allowed heroine, crystal meth, etc., what other public health consequences? honestly, i don't know the answer, but would be "see -- testing the wave of drug addiction throughout the society? would receive a huge jump? we do not know, but we would probably see a temporary spike and everything would be just the same as before. your question is, would we make money for this? if the state could tax it, that would be a source of income, and it could be but i don't think that will be the silver bullet for mexican development.

remember, this is an anonymous economic relation and more than half $1 trillion a year, more than $1 billion a day flows between the two countries already, so it legalizing the traded illegal drugs will not make that much of a difference for the trade relationship. host: tom from florida, about one minute left. the heroine problem is so dramatic and inner cities, under this president, why would he not enforce that more? wouldn't that be the most immediate and cost-effective way to limit some of the drugs coming in and making it harder? it seems the president is working against the will of the inner cities that are getting affected the most. guest: the border is always brought up in connection with the movement of illegal drugs. one of the questions, what would you do at the border differently? if you build a

fence, people go under and over it and there are many ways to get drugs into the country. the best thing to do is apply technology in a more proficient with border crossings, so that you allow the things that you want to come in the country to come in and those that we do not, out. host: our guest i >> on the next washington journal, they talk about the ongoing investigation into hillary clinton's e-mail. what the former secretary of state's presidential campaign. the implementation of the iran nuclear agreement it we take your calls and look for your comments on facebook and twitter . washington journal live everyday on seven -- 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> monday is martin luther king jr. day and with congress not in

session, we have featured programs. a.m., live1:30 coverage of the british house of commons debate on whether to ban donald trump. a.m.,2, at 6:30 university of wisconsin professor and his book, the march on washington. >> went a philip randolph went to organize this march that he called off, everybody said you better get martin luther king. he went to martin luther king and king said i will support you, but let's expand the goals of the march. the march is not just about winning equal access to jobs. it is also about winning the right to vote in the south. -- march,wis recalls

book two. and 2:30 eastern, the international history professor on a -- on iran's cold war partnership with the united states. >> iran had to look to a third power to preserve its independence. moved to30's, iraq germany to play that role. no history of post-colonialism in the region. , at 8:00 on real america martin king junior and his nonviolent approach to civil rights. how mahatma gandhi influenced his work. for the completely holiday schedule, go to c-span.org.

>> monday night on the communicators, the public and fcc commissioner discusses the topics being considered about fcc, including the speed of broadband deployment. he is joined by brian fong. deployment is one of the key drivers of job creation. one of the things i found threatening is there's been a democratization of entrepreneurship. i see people who are using that broadband connection to build businesses. they would have had to migrate one of the coasts. because of that connection, there able to innovate. that is something that is powerful, especially in rural america. >> watched the communicators, monday night on c-span2.

>> the house veterans affairs committee looked at steps to the a has taken. they testified about the implications of the new electronic system they say has reduced the number of backlog claims by 90%. the hearing is one hour 40 minutes. -- we're going to address these electronic claims processing system. it is supposed to help expedite benefit claims decisions to eliminate rating inconsistencies and errors and enable a more efficient claims processing.

it did not work as it intended. over 75,000 of which were pending more than 100 25 days which is what v.a. defines as a backlog in the system. i'm going to address that definition just a minute. voting despite congress -- providing such -- providing resources.

to help the a meet its goals. initially congress has allocated more than $1 billion to the bms although the estimate in 2009 580.d the bms at the projected cost has jumped to $1.3 billion and there is no guarantee the v.a. will not need more money to assistance -- four systems in the future. history may be repeating itself again. the cost overrun for the bms -- after six years and development, it is not able to support disability claims. it only ask as a document repository for appeals. that brings me to v.a.'s

definition to what constitutes backlog. as of april 1 of 2013, they had an appeal inventory of 200,000. as of january the first of this year, that number had ballooned to 400 33,000 -- 433 thousand appeals which are not counted as a backlog. with the large increase, it makes no sense to the a has not insured the pms ability to s ability topm process appeals. it will certified 630,000 appeals in this year 2017. -- i aman comparison alarmed that according to a report between january 2013 and vbms suffered from

various crashes. it was off-line for three full weeks. i expect the a to argue that any disruption caused by the imitation of the system have been outweighed by the program's benefits. and gal recent oig investigations, i am not sure i agree. .here are many other factors moreover, the gao reports criticize the department for not setting clear benchmarks for developing and implementing vbms. of course without concrete deadlines for the sister rollout, it is impossible to hold management accountable. a heard week -- a word we hear a lot here. if the veteran benefits

management systems was performing perfectly, there are still management issues that add to processing time. -- due to this delay and scanning. i would like to draw your attention to the image above which demonstrates the extent of improperly stored and combing -- andteran information -- and comingled.

i'm going to explore this and other issues, outlined in my statement during the course of his hearing. report, icheerful yield to the ranking member for her opening statement and wish her a happy new year as well. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you for holding this here it -- this hearing. appearing title interesting. we have spent trillions of dollars on wars since 1988. as you would expect, those wars have come an increase in veterans claims and backlog. we need to remember taking care of the veterans is a cost of

war. let me repeat that. we need to remember taking care of veterans need to be figured in as a cost of war. since our engagement in operation iraqi freedom. which i voted against, we have seen v.a. continued to be inundated with work, as vietnam veterans grow older and become ill. as our newest service members return home injured, the a workload has risen to record high, year after year. at the height of the v.a. backlog, the decision was made and encouraged and funded by congress to eliminate the backlog by 2015, by implementing a transformation. the v.a. backlog has been

claims from over 600,000 to 75 plus claims in less than three years. v.a. has reduced the backlog by nearly 90%. complete andsion the changes been significant. we need to continue to work to reduce that backlog. our florida veterans, the average day pending at the height of the blog was 248 days. now it is 92 days. we look forward to hearing how much of this reduction is due to the investment that we have made in moving from an antiquated paper processing system into an electronic line. what more is needed to be done to provide timely outcomes for our veterans that deserve decisions today and not

tomorrow. like the force of the iraqi war, surely the veterans benefit management system could and should cost less than it has. i hope to hear how the v.a. plans to improve its cost in budgeting. we need accurate numbers in terms of investment and veterans benefit management system. i am also concerned that the ig findings regarding florida's , i hope to hear from the v.a. on those efforts to address see aig gao and recommendations. i hope to hear that in the report. fighting for our veterans is a team effort. it costs a war.

the a has had remarkable progress in reducing the act log, more is needed. let us all get to work. i yield back the balance of my time. chairman: i ask that all members way the opening statement. joining us in our panel are mr. beth desha miss beth mccoy -- miss beth mccoy. she is accompanied by don on tempo. assistantn, the deputy chief information. mr. thomas murphy, the director of compensation. , mr. brent area onto a, the deputy assistant inspector general for the office of the ig.

he is accompanied by mr. michael bowman, the director of information technology security division of office of inspector general. and finally the director of information, technology at the united states government of accountability office. thank you for being with us. your complete written statements will be entered into the record. ms. mccoy you are recognized for five minutes. ms. mccoy: good morning. thank you for recognize -- thank you for recognizing those who accompany me today.

the system is a web-based application primarily used i veterans benefits administration employees to process disability claims. vbms has supported more than 30,000 unique users including those from the veterans health veteransation, and our -- vbms has a view of the electronic file full -- electronic folder support. vbms enables us to receive service treatment records electronically from the department of defense which is something we could not do before vbms. historically, pba claims processes used a paper intensive process to deliver disability benefits to america's veterans. at the end of fiscal year 2012, vbms was only in five regional

officers with a limited number of users and 1000 claims completed. vbms was rolled out to all 56 regional officers and it was done six months ahead of schedule. in november, 2014, we processed one million veterans claims and vbms. 10 months later in september, 2015, we reach that milestone of 2 million veterans claims processed. reports bothao provided recommendations related to the scoped and cost of vbms. scoop and cost increases were planned and approved to move beyond that electronic claims folder. to a point of an automation enhanced claims processing platform. vbms has delivered 17 major software releases and 56 minor

releases in four years. and has implemented thousands of this is requirements. the bms currently has over 1.9 billion images. through modern tools and improved processes, vbms -- one key element is multiple users can view a veterans electronic folder at the same time. so that there is claims actions can be done in parallel, at the same time, rather than sequentially. illuminating delays when for that one paper claims -- eliminating delays waiting for that one paper claims folder. more veterans are receiving faster decisions because of the increase in both production and productivity that vbms has enabled. undersecretary -- as

dbas undersecretary, it worked and the functionality has been added every three months. when i go to regional officers to talk to employees, they tell me they would not go act to a paper-based desk go act to a paper-based process. they're bringing up ideas and recommendations for more things .o do at vbms we're working with our labor partners to make sure we get all of those recommendations and implement as quickly as possible. i am proud of our vba employees. of home -- 58% of whom are veterans themselves. what have they accomplished? year, v.a.iscal reached a milestone in delivery of benefits and services to

america's veterans. of reduced the backlog claims pending to a low of just over 71,000 claims at the end of fiscal year 2015. nearly 90% reduction in backlog. from its peak of more than 611,000 pending in march of 2013. lowest in our history. in fiscal year 2015, we provided disability rating claimed decisions to 1.4 million veterans. that is a record as well. we do not sacrifice quality. in fact, we improved national accuracy scores from 83% to nearly 91% in 2015. that is that the claim level. if you drill down to the individual contention, the individual issue level, we are at overnight 6% in our quality. -- over 96% in our quality.

>> -- quality. our veterans deserve the best possible customer service and vbms is the right tool to support that. whether there is more work to be done, our efforts are generating positive results. vbms is poised to drive improvements. we want to thank the chairman and the members of the committee for their support. mr. chairman, this concludes my statement. we would be happy to answer

questions and thank you for allowing us. chairman: chairman miller, thank you for -- >> chairman miller, thank you for allowing us -- as indicated, i am a company by mr. michael bowman. v.a. continues to face challenges in developing the i.t. systems it needs to support its current systems and goals. have -- our2007, we audits in recent years have shown that i can system -- i.t. system development is a high risk challenge. despite some advances, our reports indicate the programs are still often susceptible to cost overruns, schedule slippages, performance problems

and in some cases, complete failure. in february 2013, we issued a report evaluating whether the a would support sufficient testing. however, we did note the system had not been fully developed to process claims from the initial application to benefit delivery. as of today, some instances, that still the case. in our september 2015 follow-up support -- follow-up report, we focused on whether the a has improved its schedule, cost and performance to support vbms developments. noted the a had stayed on schedule. since september 2009,

total estimated program costs have increased significantly from $579 million to possibly $1.3 billion as of january 2015. this increase was due to inadequate cost controls. unplanned changes in systems and is is requirements and an efficient practices. at this point, the eight cannot ensure an effective return on its investments. cost still remain unknown. according to vba personnel, the st. petersburg regional office had more than 41,000 mail packages and over six and hundred boxes of evidence waiting to be scanned into the

vbms at the scanning facility. that was the picture that the chairman alluded to. the scanning facility shows many boxes containing significant amounts of boxes waiting more .han 30 gay -- 30 days the v.a. contract requiring the contractor to scan all evidence into vbms within five days. has reported significant improvement, we cannot attribute that improvement to vbms. --s was one of more than transformation plan. we have observed and can attribute several practice this several factors. the a spent more than $130 million in mandatory overtime in 2015 and one is a $25 million in

2014. staff thatallocated affect the backlog. while sacrificing other types of claims such as those on appeals and non-rating claims issues. implemented a fully implemented claims process. as for vba's improved rate, this could be related and how they are khaki living rates overall and not specifically to the accuracy of those claims processed and vbms. our recent work continues -- them straight that vbms continues -- taken some actions to for enhanced discipline, -- in support of i.t. programs. it remains to be seen whether meet goals.

giving the desk given the requirements, it will continue to spiral upward. in-state costs remain unknown. mr. chairman, this concludes my statement. we'll be happy to answer any questions. >> mr. melvin, you are recognized. >> good morning. thank you for inviting me to discuss v.a.'s efforts to develop its benefit management system. in september 2015, we issued a report, documenting our study of the system. my remarks today highlight key findings from the study which to, satisfaction with the system. in 2009an developing with the intent of providing automated capabilities to support disability and patient

claims -- in pension claims process. the part -- the department reported spending -- specifically, vbms is not yet able to fully support disability and pension claims or appeals process. while the under secretary for benefits stated in march 2013 that the system was expected to be completed in 2015, and implementation has been delayed and the department has yet to produce a plan that identifies when vbms will be

completed. that is what the department lacks. demonstrate progress when completing the system. further as v.a. continues developing and implementing vbms, three areas could benefit from increased management attention. first, the program lacks reliable estimate. without such an estimate, management and stakeholders have a little desk have a limited view. the program risks that having sufficient funding to complete the system. second, while v.a. has improved availability to users, it has not established system response time goals. without such goals, users do not have expectation of the system response time they can anticipate. management has an -- doesn't have an indication of how well the system is performing.

third, while the program was taking steps to manage system defects, a recent system release uses experiences. continuing to deploy with large numbers of defects with -- defects which reduce folks now take. beyond these concerns, the departments have not conducted a customer satisfaction survey to compile data on how the users view the system's performance. ultimately, to develop goals for improving the system. our own survey of uses found more than half of them were satisfied. officers were less satisfied. providedwhile results important data about the use of vbms, the absence of users satisfaction goals limits their utility. specifically, without

having established goals to define user satisfaction, v.a. for identifying areas where its efforts to complete the element and implementation of the system -- efforts to complete implementation of the system. the -- the department concurred with our recommendations. we look forward to following the department's actions. mr. chairman, this concludes my oral statement. i would be pleased to respond. chairman: thanks very much for everyone testifying. i want to go back to your testimony and specific, your written testimony where you said you closed fiscal year 2015 having provided claims decisions to 1.4 million veterans. first of all, i don't want my

comments to be perceived in any way a bashing the good people who have been out there who have made a difference and dent. where trying to find out why the ball keeps -- we are trying to find out why the ball keeps moving. onle the focus has been eliminating the backlog, we think that is great. there been a two minutes amount of resources into the resort -- given to the v.a. to do that. i think he said something about -- you set a record of delivering benefits to veterans, my question is if a veteran has appealed the decision, is that veteran getting benefits? are they still waiting? >> mr. chairman, thank you for the question commit -- question. the definition has been disability rating claims having more than 103rd -- 100 days.

from that standpoint, we set a record of 1.4 million this ability rating claims. my question is if the veteran appeals, your claim, is that veteran getting their benefits? or are they still waiting in a backlog position? >> mr. chairman, we do have a number of appeals that need to be addressed here and we are working on those everyday. mr. former representative wright: 100,000 more appeals. that is the point. yes, there have been -- there has been progress made. by saying you have reduced the backlog, the inference to the american public is the veterans are receiving the benefits. they are not receiving the benefits yet if they are in a appeals position. >> i appreciate your question and statement. i would point out that 73% of pendingo have an appeal

are receiving benefits and 56% of them are receiving 50% or more. mr. chairman: they are not receiving their entire benefit claim here to >> is important to us that we address those appeals. as we make incremental decisions along the way, there are multiple decisions that are made in the appeals process. if you find that someone is entitled to a benefit, we do pay them along the way. i wanted to point that out. chairman, one of the major reasons for the cost has been due to vba expanding functionality requirements. i understand some need to do that. since 2009, how many times have vba changed functionality requirements?

how much of the $100 billion have been spent can be situated? -- mr. chairman: because of the changes that have been required, it was a $600 million add. what i want to know is what changes were requested? and how much of that $600 million was as a result of those changes? if you do not have the answer today, if you would, for the record, provided. report, bothr

criticized the v.a. for rolling out new software updates without training employees on a new vbms features. my question is did the department develop a plan that included employee training? if not, why not? >> absolutely. thank you very much for that question, sir. we have a training plan. , wedvance of, as we release have software releases every three months. we employ a train the trainer model. the trainers that we talked to in advance of that release a called super users. mr. chairman call thank you very much -- mr. chairman: thank you very much. in your report you said there was not adequate training for the new software updates. i'm going to defer to the ig on that.

chairman: mr. bowman? mr. bowman: in our fieldwork, we interviewed over 90 uses at vbms. we heard quite a few complaints about new releases. an emphasis on pushing up functionality without the end-users of how to use that folks now take. there were a lot of complaints there was an adequate training for them to be up to leverage that fox doughty to help process claims. chairman: my last question is because has risen from $580 $3 billion. a substantial investment has been made. congress has provided those of dollars. it is still not functional after six years. i am sure that can be argued. there's going to be more money required.

what is the current lifecycle estimate for vbms? -- mr. chairman: whether you appreciate the question i, you do not have to say it. >> i do appreciate that your staffers came over a month ago. good conversation. mr. chairman: if you would, just answer the question. >> we will never stop looking for ways to improve our service to veterans. chairman: you will never start or stop? >> we will never stop. as to: it sounds like you will never start -- mr. chairman: it sounded like you would never start. the lifecycle cost is? be turning our

attention to new innovations as a part of the fy 2018 budget. chairman: ms. brown? >> ms. brown: both of these reports are over a year. can you tell me what you have implementdress and this recommendation? >> i would be happy to share that. there have been a number of different things we have done as far as training. back in 2013 and early 2014 when these reports were generated, , in you get a new something think there is that big learning curve that comes up front. it is brand-new, you're getting used to it. there is some change management.

we did work with our employees to get through that change management. we had many different mechanisms to get feedback from our employees. , change management agents in every regional office. we had uses that are involved with testing so there are many mechanisms. we have minute videos that we put up for our employees over the next couple of years. they are videos that help people on their desktops see functionality. if there's something new, they can see somebody using it. this man? ms. brown: let me go to the heart of the question. my question i have is we have a serious backlog. we had how many veterans not getting services? of course, they get in the

system, you give them a certain percentage, or you give them what you cleared. you make it retroactive. there is some cases that are more complicated. can you give us quickly? >> as far as backlog, you know we were at 611000 and 2013. we have reduced that andy percent. thatntly 75 -- we reduced 90%. currently 75,000 claims. those time limits and delivery improvements have been there. -- we have granted more benefits. since 2009 indicates before that, the average compensation paid was 30%.

just in the past three years, it has arisen to an average of 47%. where paying more veterans. -- we are paying more veterans. some of this started when we added three conditions back in 2010 for agent orange exposed veterans. that big extra work. those extra veterans, that was a fantastic thing. system.bogged down the we had to work through that. vbms and other transformation initiatives have enabled us to do that. ms. brown: one of the things -- there are some and the veterans come to me because once they put their abdication in, some of them are simple.

part of the problem is so many ,eterans have several different and so you cannot come in and do a checklist. can you explain that? goal to process every claim. disability rating and 125 days. we won't do that just for the sake of hitting a number. we want to make sure that every veteran gets everything they are entitled to. there are some cases that i'm working complex. veterans living in foreign countries, with radiation exposure. records.ome treatment there are some things that are harder to do. another big reason? if you have filed a claim and midway you add another condition, we don't stop our clock.

we continue to process and make sure you get everything you are entitled to. it may take is longer than 125 days. those are the reasons that are still wanted 75,000 claims pending in our backlog. mr. chairman: you said your claims you processed appropriately -- what was the percentage? 90? for the two into plus thousand people who are now in appeals, how does that factor in? >> we have not found a correlation between quality of initial rating decision and the appeal. people are entitled to appeal anything they choose. there are some folks who appeal things they are not entitled to. they are entitled to that due process and we through every appeal very seriously. look for anything --

mr. chairman: they are disagreeing with your 4%? >> their disagreeing with whatever decision they got for whatever reason. chairman: but you're still saying that it was 96% correct? >> i think the panel for their testimony as well. whenr mccoy, -- ms. mccoy, claims are processed, what could potentially happen to a veterans disability claim? mccoy: we get all of the evidence that is relevant to a claim. we work with the veteran, their representative, and other service providers. other federal records. we do an exhaustive search. >> could happen to a veterans claims. mccoy: if evidence is -- if

something, ass veteran submits something late. a dr. find something in a drawer. we will revisit that claim. >> how long would that take? ms. mccoy: there might be many reasons. that would be a case-by-case basis. >> next question. based on your office investigation, do you agree that -- v.a.'s

>> from july 2014 to the end of december, the average time to process claims jumped 29 points. to say 18,000 documents are not affect claims processing time limits, i don't think anybody could say that. >> are there any plans for the vba to ensure the claims in this backlog were not negatively affected, resulting in denials or claims receiving lower ratings into missing and on processed evidence? >> congressman, we process all of our claims.

in the electronic system. we now have that centralized mail system which was what we went into in july of 2015. >> mr. or ron today, please? are there any plans for the vba notnsure the claims were negatively affected, resulting in denials or claims receiving lower ratings? do you have any information? >> i have no information. are they going to go back and make it right? vba.is a question for i have no knowledge. >> ms. mccoy? >> to the extent possible, we have all of the evidence. the amount of mail that was in 2014.rtal in july

this is a new process for a spirit we were learning from it. st. petersburg was one of our earliest adopters. that were pieces of mail were dropped mail. they were not active mail. they needed to be put with the folder. an example would be and it that's would be a copy of an letter we sent out. it is not evidence but it needs to be with the folder. we had an effort in st. petersburg where we had to get that dropped mail associated. >> how many of our heroes were negatively affected? >> i would say there was some time delay. there was not a delay in a right delay was made for -- a right decision was made for the veteran.

guesson't know how -- i if i find wanted to pieces of mail, i guess i could say that was a mistake. 18,000 pieces of mail echo -- of mail? -- i don'tw how much know how that much mail achilles. >> ms. mccoy, one quick question. out of all of the mail that was in st. petersburg, has everything been scanned and process? >> every thing has been scanned. >> what happened with that was it gets scanned? drop mail that we had scanned was associated with the folder. >> the boxes that we saw, he scanned it, where are those boxes? >> i do not believe all of those boxes that we saw were st.

petersburg. that is not my understanding. once they are scanned, they go to the vbms electronic claims folder. >> what were the boxes that we should the picture of? >> there was a storeroom at the facility where they had training materials and other materials. >> i think there were shipping labels as if they were shipped to be scanned. that information, where is it now? the information that needed to be associated with a veterans folder has been scanned. >> where are those boxes today? >> you're asking about those physical boxes itself. >> it is been sent to a long-term storage facility. >> you still have the boxes of information somewhere?

wax can you find them for us? -- >> can you find them for us? you are making this out as if this is junk mail. it is not junk mail. this committee would like to see what was in those boxes. i know it is good to be difficult. i know the secretary is going to raise cain. i would rather not do it with a subpoena. you have to hold some people accountable. i have yet to hear you say because these people do not create -- did not meet their requirements they're going to be held accountable. >> we have had an additional oversight at that facility. we have worked with the contracted to make sure they understand what our expectations. >> how are they held accountable? >> i do not have that information. >> will you take it for the record? >> i will serve. answer?can we expect an

>> i will go back and i will get an answer. >> i don't want to hear any of it stuff was shredded. >> none of it was shredded sir. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you for having this hearing. certainly, we have to continue to have these hearings until we get it right for our veterans. i will say back in november, i visited the los angeles regional office and met with vba employees. saw the process and met with vba employees without their managers there. i met with them privately. privately to get their feedback on how the transition was going. they acknowledged the process was rocky.

though thes processing now in a paperless fashion is more efficient and accurate. they describe it as a night and day difference. i do think it is important we acknowledge the progress that we have made. there is still more that needs to be done to make sure we are processing these claims on a timely basis across the country. we have a handle on the appeals process as well. service that we can provide to our veterans. obviously these benefits are important to them. they have earned and deserve to them. and following up on mrs. brown's questioning, to ask a few more

specific questions. i know on the implementation timeline, this question is to ms. mccoy. concernse gao's chief is about the timeline for reaching one answer percent implementation. has the v.a. address that concern? ms. mccoy: i will start that her toand i will turn to supplement my answer. vbms,he intended goal of the idea was to create an electronic repository, an electronic file room and we have a compass that. that.have accomplished we rolled it out in 2012. by june of 2013, to all 56 regional office is. they have that functionality. we didn't stop there. we went on to add in automation, because of that made sense.

that was the right thing to do for veterans. if she could add to that. >> i appreciate the opportunity to be able to talk about why vbs is different. it is different because we use agile methodology. that means we can release software every three months and bring high-value folks now the to the field as quickly as possible to serve our veterans. that is a little different than maybe you have seen before. so as a result, once we were able to deliver that electronic folder, a lot of folks were able to look around and say you could do so much more. we turned our attention to what is the so much more that we can do? let me give you an example. one of those is being able to receive the electronic service treatment records from the dod.

another one is the evaluation builders. they take over several hundred pages of documents that look at nearly 800 diagnostic codes that are a part of the rating schedule and they assist with that standardization and consistency across vba to make sure our veterans are served. i appreciate your responses. in terms of the timeline in reaching one answer percent limitation, went -- reaching 100% implantation, when do you one answer percent implementation, when to you expect that? >> when we submitted in our questions, we do understand there needs to be -- we are looking at what a new investment

would be as part of the fy 2018 budget. >> you are working on a goals?me for new new goals being important to implementation and better operational procedures. you are working on that timeline and will have it by 2018? >> 2018 is when we would intend to start a new investment. >> thank you, i yield back. instances.e two the staff is just clarified with me, one is the relation in georgia that we showed a picture of. that was the stacks of boxes. claims -- am i that isin that echo >>

my understanding. >> thank you. still want those boxes. we'll go where they are. mr. costello? questionllo: i have a -- one in honolulu, one in little rock. given these findings, how can we trust the v.a. statistics indicating the department has reduced the claims backlog. can you share with us the methodology so that we can feel confident that the backlog has been reduced? the methodology that

.e use was -- let me back up first of all, in the two houston situations, vba reach out to us. we obtained the data that was manipulated. we took a statistical sample and we tested. we determined the datum and inflation did occur. -- we determined that data manipulation did occur. three employees did resign. our concern is when you clinically data -- when you manipulate data, as long as that corrupt data stays in the system, you don't go back and fix that jackal -- fixed that? that data is going to remain

corrupt until those claims are out of the system. do we believe this had an effect we don'tcklog that go believe all of the numbers are reliable. quirks you don't believe all of the numbers are reliable in relation to how much the claims backlog has been reduced? >> yes. and not just from the data manipulation. if you don't clear the system, the system stays corrupt. if you may let -- it being manipulated thousand claims, to show they were done early or not done at all, that number reduces from the backlog. that is an incorrect number because the data was manipulated. we did a report on vba's claims processing initiative to process claims over two years. what we found was they were touting they cleared all of

these claims when in fact they shifted from the backlog to an end product they used to track claims. that and a product was not a part of the backlog. >> i appreciate your candor. two questions. could it be the claims backlog is higher than is now indicated? forward, willving the focus be on ensuring new claims do not become part of the backlog while simultaneously conceding that those who have already been manipulated, it is to go to go back in and deal with the data that is been manipulated, because those to sit it is impossible through because the data has been corrupted? >> that is better asked of vba.

we're going to look at data integrity. how they capture information for their metrics. want to see how they count their numbers. >> talking about the issue of data integrity. you say you want to look at that. there could be issues there? incidences the six last year.ated there may be a systemic issue across the nation. we're want to test the reliability. >> i appreciate your candor.

it seems based on the testimony, we are not out of the woods yet. >> it would be safe to say we are not out of the woods. >> i appreciate it. i yield back. mccoy, you and your colleagues want to respond to some very serious statements made? a couple of points i would like to make, we have more robust and transparent data system now than we have ever had before. we have played every action that is taken in our system. there is an electronic figure print that is left. we can go back and see who did what. we do not have that in a paper-based world. number two, i do not agree with

mr. -- with the statement that all of those regional officers had a data manipulation substantiated. one example is little rock. a fastickly, there was letter that was released. -- it in second officers was instructing regional -- we do not want to dissuade that's open up a file and say there is a claim in here that someone missed from 17 years ago. we wanted to encourage everyone to mature veterans got everything they were deserving. we said we won't count that. bring it forward. we want to make sure we capture that. we will use a current data

claim. it was a very miniscule number of claims. -- ig found they've changed some of these data claims using the national policy. they kept a very extensive long to go back. they knew which ones and they did. i struggled because eiji substantiated that's because eiji substantiated that these dates were claimed. that is a rock and a hard spot. did they not follow national policy? i disagree there was data manipulation. they were following the national policy. we can agree or disagree about whether it was correct. it has since been rescinded. we do not do that anymore. that is not a data manipulation situation. >> is mccoy, an important take

away is the new capacity of an electronic system versus the previous paper system which existed. initiatedanding is we the electronic system. estimate werest lower. it has cost us a lot more to implement the system. -- and i askt to you to comment on moving forward with all of its flaws. i we better off today than we were on the previous eight years? you.ank we are much better off. veterans are much better off because of the electronic system that we have built.

ball.k behind the eight we were outdated in our paper-based system. we should have done this years ago. the cost of catching up and doing that now has been that there's been a lot of change that our employees have had to go through. there's been a cost to do that catch up. >> you mean to tell me for the entire duration of the previous , that there was no attempt to establish an electronic claim system? >> we had little bits and pieces of our claims that were paperless. there was not a wholesale effort until the last few years. >> the effort to automate started in 2009? >> found basically, yes.

off than far better under a paper-based system with all of the flaws and pickups. costs. mystimated time is running out, what can we do to help? >> ok. >> i yield back. >> you are welcome to answer the question. >> i would quickly say there are a number of things we can do now that we could not do before. we electronically receive records from dod. we don't have to go hunting for those. we can move fluidly around our country and get the full capacity. exceptot do that before

with boxing up paper records and shipping them around. toare able to use automation speed up and standardize the decisions that we make. disability -- from vha that repopulate the system. there are keystrokes that are saved. time, butthe extra the question is what can we do to help? >> i was so excited. i would say the support we have received already has been phenomenal. would ask for your continued support and the interaction we have had for ideas and ways we can improve the system. with his tact.

since i've been chairman, you have received great support, is that correct? you were talking about how the electronic medical records have going on in the last few years, correct? that weted to point out had a paper-based system under the previous administration. the electronic system we are try itsove to with vbms has had share of problems, but my contention is we are probably better off, even with all of the problems. we not have had done this. >> i would concur. >> i am glad that you are interested in what congress can do to continue the process of getting the system to work as it should. >> but it can be pouring more

and more money with no cost controls. that is what the committee needs to focus on is the fact that while he says we cannot tell you how much it is going to cost because we are good to keep it changing. it is been a 147% increase. your time has expired. is one question i would ask why it was the fast letter rescinded? >> there were a number of policy and procedural discussions. we thought it was best to rescinded? >> why was that? could it be that there was some minute relation taking place -- some manipulation taking place? >> we put it out and we learn from that. and we made a decision. >> could you comment?

>> i agree with ms. mccoy that at little rock, they found this information. they corrected the information. the fact that they follow the fast letter. if you go in and change data, regardless if it is good or bad, your data is still corrupt. best letterect the was rescinded. -- it wasted rescinded because it was bad policy because the data with the manipulated. >> thank you. you, mr. chairman. i appreciate the topics and the

reports. it was two years ago that we sat here and heard glowing reports righter parts of the v.a. before the scandal broke and i hope we're not going to her. i want to establish the facts. the backlog data, there is no question you believe it is downved and the backlog is to how many waiting claims? greatlyacklog has been reduced and currently we are what we% reduced from were. >> how many veterans are still waiting? >> in the backlog, this morning it was about 80,000. >> in and they all have an electronic file attached to them? 99 .8% of our disability claims paperwork is paperless. drags at so you should be able

to provide a list of my constituents that are still ?aiting please do that. we know it has been overrun by seven hundred $20 million but we still don't know the final cost for implementation, is that correct? >> i would turn to my colleagues to say that from the beginning where we started was the electronic repository. moving forward, continuing to build up the automation and somethingity, that is we will probably never finish because we always want to make sure we are doing better. idea what it will cost? no, you did not. you do not know what the final cost is going to be. and you are going to go through the appropriations process and say, we want more money but we do not know when it will lend and what the final cost will be

for a very specific project. is that correct? in twome take that parts. in a traditional i.t. project which we call waterfall, we gather that in front and turned it over to i.t. and they build a system and years later you have something delivered that may not a meeting your needs. that is a traditional i.t. project. we used something called it to buildch allowed us it as we go along. it is not meant to be 100% complete on date one. we deliver every three months that high-value functionality. the budgeting process you are referencing, we will look at a new investment to look at new processes. >> how much are you going to ask

for on top of the 580 million that is now at 1.3 billion and you need how much more? are you just trying to tell us, we'll let you know how much we need? >> the budget has been working through the department and as soon as it is released to congress will be happy to talk about it more. this18, that is when project will be completed? you keep talking about 2018. >> 2018 is when we're looking at a new investment to take advantage of what we have done so far and what other things could would bring into that? >> and how do you hold your contractors accountable benchmark particularly the folks in the scanning facility in georgia. at the way, did they lose any money over that? did you punish them financially for all of the records that were sitting there and presumably, i

am guessing some of them might have been lost. rags i mentioned earlier i would check on that to make sure we deliver that. but, there were no records lost and there was no wrongdoing. it was a cleanup effort that needed to be done and we have done that. was one year ago. that picture is from one year ago. >> it does not look like that any longer, etc.. contractorgo to the and say, hey, let's fix this up. if i were you i would be very embarrassed. this is the first time i saw that picture. i assume it is going to shop and a lot of places across the country. your explanation is, you held him accountable how? >> i do not have that information. i up shake that. mr. chairman, you knew about

this one year ago. one folks knew about that year ago. i am disappointed that one your later you cannot say, hey, this has been taking care of and this is why. you assure us it has been taking care of but you cannot tell us what you did with the contractor that failed. that is what i worry about when you say you have a never-ending price tag and a never-ending project and again with it is 580 billion comment now it is in the audience and you say you'll let us know in 2018, by the way, but will be under another administration. with that, i'd yield. are recognize.ou dr. reese: i know your intention is to serve our veterans with the utmost quality and there are

wins and losses and a lot of the interrogation. i'd think we need to take a step the big look at picture. this hearing is about backlog. this is a metric definition that says we do not have resolution on a veterans application for benefits after 125 days. we're going more specific away from the big picture when we focus on one of several pools that we have to help us reduce the backlog. after, you know, many conversation with our veterans, after many attempts in advocacy fighting the system and helping veterans back home and visiting the los angeles regional office to hear from staff and others, we must ask ourselves the simple question, what does backlog mean for our veterans, especially when we try to become a veteran-centered institution of excellence or them.

what does it mean for our veterans when we throw out these terms like backlog. believems that they they have earned are not being answered. what does that do to a veteran? that means they are waiting anxiously. there is more stress. stress affects their health. that means they are not getting the resources or services a need. they are not getting the benefits they believe they deserve. granted, some claims that they are applying for, they are not going to get because they do not qualify under the current requirements, however the worst we have ario as veteran who deserves a benefit and they have been waiting so fromand they are suffering morbidity or whatever economic hardships they are undergoing because they're not getting what they should and it is a

systematic problem that they are not getting the benefit they should and even worse that they should get the benefit but they have been denied a end now they are in the appeals process. what does it meet her veteran? it means their quality of life is not where it should be. that is why all of this is important. is part of a continuum of that process. so, we talked about backlog and their focused on that clung and we're looking at this one backlog much the claims application. but once they get an answer, we say we reduced the backlog because we gave them an answer. just one half of what the veteran is looking for. so then they want to appeal and the actual outcome of this is that they want their benefits. the appeals process should not be seen as a completely, entirely set of different metrics if we're going to look

and experience, the appeals process should be seen as a continuum of that will stop often times, we're looking at cost and we would definitely love to reduce cost and make it a efficient. because cost is part of efficiency that we want to produce the best outcome for the least amount of resources possible. but cost is not stagnant. cost is dynamic. and the reason we cannot predict what the cost is going to be next to her or five years from now is because veterans needs change. veterans it needs are dynamic. our ability to improve our efficiencies are dynamic. those are metrics that are out of our control. so when we have an influx of veterans coming back from the middle east, when we have an increase in our efficiencies therefore allowing us to reach

out to more veterans and process their needs are, for example, in 2006, since then we have had 191% increase and out but, we're moving the pieces so that we can get the veteran the answer to what they need. having said that, looking at the big picture, how can we reform canmetric system so that we take the veteran's experience and look at, are the veterans getting resolutions to their answers and are they getting the benefits they earn and deserve from day one when they fill their application to whatever and point it may be, the appeals process as well. >> you have two seconds. just kidding. please answer the question. >> thank you, sir. i would like to make a couple points. your point, sir, that the number resolve -- i we

want to share a couple metrics and then i will move on. 2006, as far back as we can drill down to the issue-level with our data. while we completed 774,000 twoing claims, there were point 2 million different issues. it was an average of 2.8 issues per claim. this year in fiscal year 2015, we really hit that big number, it was 1.4 million waiting claims completed but within a there were 6.3 million issues. as you mention, that has been a 191% increase in the amount of work with had to do to deliver the elephants. an average of four point six issues proclaim. a claim is not a claim. we doing more work proclaim and we were doing in the past.

as far as the metrics, i with you that from the veterans experience, those this appeal see it as a continuum. i -- to- i struggled with how make it one long continuum because only a certain small percentage file an appeal and only 4%-5% the wealthy way through to violate formal appeal. the majority of those who get decisions do not appeal. within the appeal process, we can much more work than we tackle. it is a broken appeal system and we have talked to stakeholders, partners,ns service congress, we are looking for solutions and we welcome any ideas and solutions. legislativeificant reform for the appeals issue and closing closing the record. the only other alternative i see

as more people and that is not an efficient answer. >> how about using resolution as a metric. thelution from day one to final, final answer for our veterans and looking at that in the whole continuum. >> did i hear you just say the of the a1's legislative approval to close a veterans up the process? youid i just hear you say need the bas legislative approval to close a veterans appeal process? how far did that go legislatively? >> we have introduced it several times it is my understanding, we're still working on that. >> i do not know that you will get this committee to allow the v.a. to close a veterans up deal just because you want to clean your books out.

you, mr. chairman. ms. mccoy, i have heard from a lot of my constituents about the backlog problems in the denver v.a. office, particularly in non-rating adjustment claims. the a's own numbers from last daystake the average depending on non-rated claims at 384 days, over one year. that assumes this data is reliable. -- somethinge ig the ig is skeptical about based on reviews. data manipulation. one constituent was told the weight time maybe two years. dependents to her award, which means in the are not, her children

eligible for benefits. then you explain why some of the simple adjustments could take so long? seems more like a management issue then an i.t. issue given the simplicity of many of them. mccoy: i will speak on the non-rating efficiency. solutionsny different for dependency and it is our agency priority goal for fiscal year 2016 and fiscal year 2017. the rules-based processing --tem, called barbie ps, rbps. can file online and 60% of them are filed within a day or two.

there are some situations where we have tried to put those through the system multiple and added functionality. there are some instances where we are still looking for evidence or information. we're prioritizing. to go to the ig if i could. i wondered if you could comment on this issue. would expect this is a goal for 2016 and 2017 because during the push to reduce the backlog, a lot of resources were pushed to claims. statement,its opening statement, because of in the reallocation of staff to work claims associated with the backlog they have created backlogs in other areas. >> so this is more of a management than an i.t. issue. >> i believe so.

>> of ms. mccoy, according to the 2015 reports, cost for the development increased from nearly $579 million in september 2009 to almost 1.3 billion in january 2015. the costtributed increases to inadequate cost control, unplanned changes in system and business requirements and inefficient contracting processes. those details sound an awful lot like the construction debacle we had with the building of the hospital in my district and the incredible cost overruns. us any specifics in , firstf v.a. employees of all, who is in charge of the day today oversight of the vb ms the stone? -- vb ms system? who was in charge of it? i just want the name of the

individual. i am the director -- ms. mccoy: i am the director. >> are you in charge? that is my question. notyou tell me whether or you are in charge of the day to day development of the system? the i.t. side, there are folks in charge of the day to day operations, and i will defer to mr. fleischman to talk about the i.t.. >> it is important to understand, those are the decisions of the agency in support of the agency's priority goals. >> i am not going to get a clear answer here. has anyone been disciplined. let me put it this way, has anybody been disciplined for what the ig has identified in terms of this mismanagement of the development of the system? >> the cost overruns alluded to

here -- >> can you tell me, has anyone been disciplined? i guess the answer is no. the fact that we have these incredible cost overruns, mismanagement has been identified by the ig, and nobody has been disciplined. it is reflective of v.a.'s culture in terms of the bureaucratic incompetence. mccoy, as you know, there -- not only a claims backlog mr. chairman, yield back. >> thank you chairman. is thisverify progression to electronic records occurred in medicine in about 2008 or 2009. about 30% or 40% of doctors offices.

they were just way ahead of the public sector in doing that. the public sector was behind the private sector. i wish you were here to clarify that. years,been here seven and the claims backlog is better. there is no question that in 2009 we had half a million, or maybe a million, a huge amount of claims. i think the v.a. is moving in the right direction, and i thank you for that. mr. a run today brought up some very interesting comments about decisions.eates bad if you have corrupt data in your system, you cannot tell. that is the problem the v.a. has now,with us -- had with us we can't believe in information. we will hear one thing and when we do an investigation with will find out it was not exactly like that. maybe there is no intent involved.

just be bad information, but it happened because you gave us corrupt data. i know what mr. kaufman pointed million tohe $500 $1.3 billion. this does seem symptomatic. home,embarrassing to go back to east tennessee are people do not make a whole lot of money, or the average incomes are less than $25,000 for families of four. ,hey are working just to get by and i here we have a billion-dollar overrun at the hospital in denver, a $700 million miscalculation here, and really no explanation. it is hard for me to go home as a next -- as a representative when you have a veteran that is waiting on an answer for a claim that has been submitted. i have no answer, and they want to know why. i think that is what we are asking. who is the person responsible?

i knew every time i walked into the operating room, who was responsible, may. it was not the anesthesiologist, the scrub nurse, it was not anybody in there except me. problem, i think the chairman has done a very good job of trying to pinpoint just who is responsible so we can have some accountability. i think that is all we are asking. mr. chairman, i appreciate you having this hearing is probably of the things that you hear and i hear when we go home are claims that people cannot, their claim is out there. dr. reeves was talking about a minute ago, these folks are just waiting by the phone to hear this. if they get this benefit, it changes how they live. these are elderly veterans, widows, people who lost their

husband. one of my best friends in this year ago, less than a and his wife is waiting now still to see if she has any benefits. these are real people in this and i do notcord, know where this happened, but this actually is a picture that looks worse than my garage. it is hard to believe that anything could, but that actually does, and that is embarrassing. if a veteran saw that it home, to think their records were somewhere in that, they would be livid. i think we can do better. >> thank you very much. actually, that is your garage. i was over there last week and took a picture. i know that folks at the department do not relish the opportunity to come testify before this committee.

the doctor said it well. is, if you are going to say something, do it. if you are going to do it, do it right. and if you screw up, admit that you made a mistake and not necessarily today. i am just talking about v.a. in general. i believe that bob mcdonald and sloan gibson are outstanding leaders trying to move the department into the 21st century . it is not going to be cheap or easy. the new buzzword is flexibility. the problem is, there has been misspending of dollars, inappropriately appropriated dollars that this congress is going to be very hard to move in a direction that allows the department lacks ability,

because of mistakes that have been made, budgeting that has been done, lack of accountability. we are asking one simple question on the contractor, has -- a contracteld is written down and sign for a specific reason, and that reason is to hold somebody accountable. the same thing with the employees at the department. to see a little more movement in some instances but any movement is better than no movement. mr. mcconnell was absolutely correct and i appreciate the doctor bringing it to our attention, electronic health records have been a thing of the more recent future, and we are trying to get their. it is very difficult only have a finite amount of money that we are allowed to budget and provide to the agency, and i do

not believe anybody at the department of veterans affairs can quarrel with the money that has been given to the department of the last decade, a tremendous amount of money. increases,ercentile huge dollars. i appreciate you coming and testifying. i appreciate your knowledge in the areas in which you are appreciate, right down to the person that may be a clerical worker making the difference. but i hope you understand that as we sit here and we argue on what the backlog is, i think dr. z said it right, the end outcome is most important to the veteran. thee the media may focus on backlog dropping, if that veteran has not gotten their benefits that they think they have earned, they are still

backlog. ed. to watch this process involved, we are going to consider the oversight responsibility. a partner, but when we ask a question we would like a direct answer. sometimes that is difficult to get, not necessarily out of the witnesses here today but we talked about, i think it was the six areas this morning that the ig had found where there was data manipulation. you immediately went directly to little rock, so you are ready for the answer to that question. interestingly enough, little rock can be blamed on the fast letter, which did allow data manipulation within the system, but we did not talk about the other four or issues about the cities that were raised. interestingly enough, i had staff go and check, and the department concurred with with

the ig had said as it related to the data manipulation in those areas. say, thisll that to committee desires very much to work with the department, but we are going to continue the oversight responsibility the constitution requires of us. as they have asked before, tell us what you need. sometimes the answer from us will be no, but sometimes it is going to be yes. i would ask that all members have five legislative days with which to revise their marks or add any extraneous material. without objection, so ordered. this hearing is adjourned. thank you very much.

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to the white house. best access to the candidates at town hall meetings, speeches, rallies, and meet and greets. we are taking your comments on twitter, facebook, and by phone. every campaign event we cover is on our website, c-span.org. republican presidential candidate ted cruz is on a five-day bus to work through new hampshire. tour through new hampshire. one of the stops included a stop in milford. mr. cruz: thank you for being here, god bless you. great to see you. mr. president. mr. cruz: god bless you.

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>> we want ted! ted! we want ted! ted! ted! [indistinct conversations]

>> ladies and gentlemen, we know we cannot once again listen to campaign conservatives to become elected liberals. we need someone who does not just talk the talk but walks the walk. we need a proven conservative. we need ted cruz. thank you. [cheers and applause] senator cruz: well, thank you, so very, very much. god bless the great state of new hampshire. [applause] senator cruz: i am thrilled to be up here. i am thrilled to be with so many friends. thank you for coming out. thank you for joining us. how about those patriots? [cheering] senator cruz: you guys are playing some football. and by the way, for the record -- tom brady was framed. [cheering]

senator cruz: i'm not willing to pander on much, but on that, tom brady was framed and i have it on good authority that hillary clinton was responsible. [cheers and applause] senator cruz: why else do you think she destroyed her e-mails? [laughter] senator cruz: you know, i appreciate you all's coming out tonight. we are at a time when our country is in crisis. we are bankrupting our kids and grandkids. our constitutional rights are under assault each and every day, and america has receded from leadership in the world, and yet i am here tonight with a word of hope and encouragement. all across the state of new hampshire, all across this country, people are waking up.

there is an awakening and there is a spirit of revival that is sweeping this country. so, i want to ask everyone here to look forward. look forward to january 2017. [applause] senator cruz: if i am elected president, let me tell you what i intend to do on the first day in office. the first thing i intend to do cind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by this president. [applause] senator cruz: just a week ago, president obama signed yet more illegal executive actions, this time trying to undermine our second amendment right to keep and bear arms.

he may have a phone and he may have a pen. but if you live by the pen, you die by the pen, and as you rightly noted, my pen has got an eraser. [applause] senator cruz: the second thing i intend to do on the first day of office -- >> throw obama out? senator cruz: oh, he will be out. and if anyone wants to take up a collection to pay for his greens fees the next year, i think he does far less damage on the golf course. intend tocond thing i do is instruct the u.s. department of justice to open an investigation into planned parenthood and these horrible videos.

the administration of justice should be blind to party or ideology. the only fidelity at the department of justice should be to the laws and the constitution of the united states. senator cruz[applause] senator cruz: the third thing i intend to do on the first day in office is instruct the department of justice and the irs and every other federal agency that the persecution of religious liberty ends today. [applause] senator cruz: that means every service man and woman has the right to seek out and worship god almighty with all of their minds and their souls and their superior officer has nothing to say about it.

senator cruz[applause] senator cruz: the fourth thing i intend to do on the first day in office is rip to shreds this catastrophic iranian nuclear deal. listen, today, all of us are celebrating the return of five americans from iran. let me say praise god and in particular for the return of the pastor. millions of believers across the planet have been praying for the pastor. i have got to know his wife, who i spoke to briefly yesterday as she and her two little kids have lived without their husband for three years.

he was sentenced to eight years in prison in iran for the crime of preaching the gospel. so, we're thrilled he is coming home. we are thrilled the other americans are coming home. but at the same time, let me tell you, this deal that was cut -- releasing seven terrorists who have been helping iran acquire nuclear technology, promising not to prosecute another 14 terrorists -- that is 21 terrorists altogether. it's sadly continued the pattern we have seen from the administration. we saw that with the bowe bergdahl deal. an individual now facing court-martial, and yet the administration released five in -- five senior taliban terrorists in exchange for him, and this is a dangerous signal to the world. it is a sign -- it is frankly an incentive -- for every bad actor on earth to go and kidnap an american.

because what we are telling the terrorists is, hey, if you capture an american it is let's make a deal with the obama administration. these single greatest national security threat facing the america is the threat of a nuclear iran. we need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and say unequivocally under no circumstances will the nation of iran, led by a theocratic ayatollah who chants "death to america," under no circumstances will they ever be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. [applause] senator cruz: and every one of us was horrified last week to see 10 american sailors on their knees with their hands on their head, captured by iranians.

i will tell you, that image will sum up in one picture the absolute failures of the obama-clinton foreign-policy. i will tell you this. if i am elected president, american sailors will never be on their knees to a foreign power. [applause] >> amen. [applause] senator cruz: the fifth thing i intend to do on the first day in office is begin the process of moving the american embassy in israel to jerusalem, the once and eternal capital of israel. [applause] senator cruz: now that is day one. [laughter] senator cruz: there are 365 days

in a year, four years in a presidential term, and four years in a second term. every one of those days is going to be spent defending the constitution. as jfk would say -- [imitates president kennedy] with vigor! [normal voice] by the end of eight years, there are going to be a whole lot of newspaper reporters and editors and journalists who have checked themselves into therapy. in the days that follow, i will go to congress, and we will repeal every word of obamacare.