i don't think a gao audit is the best way to do it.ao could play a role in helping congress as but a questions. erik: mark, let us talk about the whole oversight function. if you really do agree on the absurdity of some of the congressional testimony or the theater that it turns into when janet yellen and her predecessors have set before senators and congressmen in there twice annual testimony how would those people do a better job overseeing the fed than they do now? >> they would be better informed. as long as the incentives -- i should poke the media a little bit here. they will go up there and talk about what they want with their three minutes of time. but part of the problem is in my experience most measures of congress don't know where to start in terms of a question about monetary policy. you have seen it rarely back and forth as a a dialogue. we need to break out of that. we are stuck in his political theater. >> i don't see how getting the gao auditors over to the fed immediately after a decision to ask them questions about wh

>> gao when they came out with wording, normally when you see gao come out with a document, i had a lot of experience with them with my proceedings with health care.gov they use strong terminology in the documents that threats are real, they're significant, and need to be addressed quickly because they're real scenarios that could happen. so i think that if someone were to go target these systems, they absolutely could do something that would be catastrophic. >> holy cow. david, we will watch closely. good to see you again i think. >> you, too. >>> what if i told you the american dream, all of it, is now for sale? i mean literally. huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker? i look around this room and i see nothing but untapped potential. you have potential. you have...oh boy. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. this is my body of proof. proof of less joint pain. and clearer skin. this is my body of proof that i can fight psori

i got the gao report was fantastic frankly. and i think it was -- it's nice to see the alphabet soup as my constituents often refer to it and see that there's both recommendation, findings and then response by multiple agencies that have -- to have a tendency perhaps to create extra burden by virtue of requiring sort of uniform processes but not in a uniform way. the uniform preliminary engineering report template i think is a great tool. and i think at a time when our constituents are looking for an efficient effective government this is a good example. and i raise it because i wonder how many more times we could duplicate this throughout the system. one of the frustrations i've seen in the last two years here is not just with epa and usda rural development. certainly in fact there are many others have more. i just hope we could as a house, as a congress, and as public officials at every level look for more of these times of opportunities. the public could go wild. that makes perfect sense. because right now they look at it an

they are both only children which is why they qualify for a second baby but gao is now resigned to hiseing raised without a brother or sister. >> one child is too lonely. i grew up as the only child at home. my father had many brothers and sisters. they get along very well. but our one-child general ray can't enjoy being with brothers and sisters. >> the government has been enforcing the one-child policy for more than three decades, but a social experiment to control population growth has also created a gender imbalance because of the traditional chinese preference for boys. it's had another worrying consequence as well: a shrinking labor force. the health ministry says only 5% of women entitled to have a second child in this city have applied to do so. now, this same ministry which polices the one-child policy, which has led to millions of abortions and sterlizations is appealing to the women of shanghai to have more babies. >> yuhong has a son and wants a sibling. the garage owner has a problem: because he and his wife have brothers and sisters, their child can't have the same. . >>

goldstein about gao's findings and the concerns they raise. miss swenson i hope and ask firstnet will take this constructive criticism seriously and improve its approach to building the network. specifically i urge firstnet to more fully assess the risks it may face. i also ask firstnet to implement a detailed data analysis plan that builds upon the valuable lessons learned from the early builder projects. i share gao's view that without such a plan firstnet might not take full advantage of the sizable federal investment that's already been made in these early building projects. the commerce department's inspector general also recently released a report on firstnet that raised several issues concerning firstnet's ethics and procurement practices. i look forward to hearing what lessons firstnet has learned from this report and whether the ig's findings have been fully addressed. department of commerce also finds itself at a crucial stage of this process. the department should ask itself whether it's being the best partner it can be to firstnet

gao has concerned about managed inclusion. in a report in december we concluded that tsa had not demonstrated that the behavior detection officers can reliably identify high-risk passengers by observing passenger behaviors for those indicative of fear stress, or deception. in response, this past february, officials told us they had revised behavioral indicators and rules for using them. they started pilot testing the approach in a few airports. tsa has not demonstrated the overall managed includes process is effective at providing the level of security. they said testing is underway and will be completed in mid-2016. we are previously reported on challenges the tsa has faced designing along with the established standards. poorly designed studies do not produce reliable results and are not a good use of resources. to ensure the tsa yields reliable results we want the inclusion testing adhere to established standards. the dhs concurred and said they will implement a systematic evaluation of the process. if implemented appropriat

again, the criteria put forward by the gao doesn't say that you have to solve this. it says you're on the trajectory to actually getting it solved. so part of the follow-up that we would appreciate is, who's held accountable? what happens if you don't meet these goals? because some of these are astronomically large. i mean, we're talking hundreds of billions of dollars. if you just take -- you want to wipe out the federal deficit, you just look at the uncollected taxes, and the problems that we have in waste, fraud and abuse going out the door, through hhs. that more than wipes out all the deficit just right there, just those two things. it's not very easily done, but the waste, the fraud, the abuse, and you look at the people who work hard and pay their taxes and they're doing everything that they can, and then they hear hundreds of billions of dollars going out that's either not collected or going out erroneously, and the waste and fraud. they just throw up their hands, you know? their 2,500 bucks means something in their lives. yet the numbers here are so big. i d

when we are looking at the gao's estimate that you are going to need 12 to 47 billion over the next 10 years, how do you think first of all do you agree with those numbers? >> as i said previously i think the gao report has looked at some assumptions and some estimates where they have no visibility to the assumptions that are made. i will tell you early in the process to early folks who are with firstnet along with the board looked at a financial model around some assumptions. we are pretty comfortable based on our experience with the cost structure to do this sort of thing. think the revenue side is harder but we have made reasonable assumptions. we have incorporated that into the lot to say is this even feasible? can we even do this and i thought that was a very important process to go through because why expend federal funds to go down this path only to find out that if they ended it. >> can we do at? >> as we can assuming the assumptions we have our realize which is why the rfp process is so important and that's why i think the public notice i would like to highlight the public not

possibly for gao to look at.here are estimates from epa, for example, that about 38% of the drinking water srfs have gone to small communities. as of 2008. that's the estimate that's out there. but to the extent that it's meeting small communities' needs we don't know that. >> great. well, thank you. are there any reports that show how fast this drinking water funding is spent, by whom and where it goes, including distribution to the neediest communities? >> so one of the things that we are doing at the moment is we do have ongoing work looking at the financial sustainability of the drinking water srf. there we are looking at different ways in which states are managing these srfs and we're hoping to identify best practices that states are using. that report should be coming out this spring. >> great. thank you. mr. stewart, in your testimony you state that epa state revolving fund needs to be and i'm quoting, better managed to meet small system needs. can you elaborate a little more on that? >> when you look at t

can you speak to the impact on gao's ability to audit crisis credit facilities? >> well, in response to that amendment, the gao conducted a complete review of the use of our 133 emergency lending authorities in all of the programs that are created and conducted in audit that was concluded i believe in mid 2011. in addition, to gao has the ability to audit open market operations and discount window lending and we now report regularly all the details or the details of our open market operations and with a two-year lag, our discount window lending. >> so, those are fully transparent and fully audited now, is that correct? >> that is correct. >> second concern i've heard raise by the advocates is the size and composition of the fed's current $4.5 billion -- $4.5 trillion balance sheet. does the fed disclose the types of assets that make that up? >> yes. we have audited financial statements, which i have a copy of right here. we report on a security by security basis. all of the securities that are in that portfolio, they're reported on the new york fed's website. >>

possibly for gao to look at. there are estimates from epa, for example, that about 38% of the drinking water srfs have gone to small communities. as of 2008. that's the estimate that's out there. but to the extent that it's meeting small communities' needs we don't know that. >> great. well, thank you. are there any reports that show how fast this drinking water funding is spent, by whom and where it goes, including distribution to the neediest communities? >> so one of the things that we are doing at the moment is we do have ongoing work looking at the financial sustainability of the drinking water srf. there we are looking at different ways in which states are managing these srfs and we're hoping to identify best practices that states are using. that report should be coming out this spring. >> great. thank you. mr. stewart, in your testimony you state that epa state revolving fund needs to be and i'm quoting, better managed to meet small system needs. can you elaborate a little more on that? >> when you look at

our partnership with the congress consultation with gao and the important support of the ig community over the years has been vital to our efforts. addressing improper payments is a central component of this effort to eliminate waste fraud and abuse when the president took office in 2009 the improper payment rate was 5.2%, an all-time high and since then the administration working together with the congress has made progress by strengthening the accountability and transparency through annual reviews by inspector generals and expanded requirements for high priority programs such as the requirement to report supplemental measures and program information on payment accuracy.gov. as a result of this concerted effort in 2013 we reported an improper rate of 3.53%. during fiscal year '14 we experienced an improper rate increase in major programs including medicaid, fee for service, earned income tax credit and medicaid and unemployment insurance. over the same period other major programs experienced improper payment rate decreases, including medicare part c, supplemental nutrition and assist

connally in sending a request to the government accountability office, gao, requesting a report to ensureits intended recipients. and to get a better understanding regarding our visibility into the large sums of money that we send through the u.n. the syrian humanitarian crisis is not a problem, that is going away any time soon. not until we defeat isil and assad, and assad is removed from power. the u.s. cannot afford to continue to provide billions indefinitely. it is imperative that we have confidence that what we are providing is not subject to waste, fraud abuse or diversion to terror groups so that we can continue playing a key role in responding to this crisis and maximize our effectiveness. and with that i'm proud to yield to the ranking member of our subcommittee mr. deutch. >> thank you, madam chairman. i too would like to associate myself with the chairman's remarks about the tragic death of kayla mueller at the hands of the barbaric isis terrorists. our thoughts and prayers go out to kayla's family and friends during this difficult time. please know that we will continue to ho

this is the gao meeting for march 5, 2015. and i am supervisor yee, the chair of the committee.o my right is supervisor christensen, the vice-chair. the committee clerk is erica major. the committee would also like to acknowledge the staff at sf govtv jim smith and jessie larson who record each of our meetings and make the transcripts available to the public online. madam clerk, do you have any announcements? city clerk: yes, please silence all electronic devices. items will be on the agenda unless otherwise stated. >>supervisor norman yee: can we have a motion to excuse supervisor breed. >> so moved. >> motion passes. do we need any public comment on this. city clerk: would you like me to call the item? >>supervisor norman yee: for excusing? no. okay. madam clerk please call items 1-10. city clerk: items 1-10 are ordinances for the city and county of san francisco. >>supervisor norman yee: before we go into closed session are there any members who would like to speak on items 1-10. seeing none, c'mon up. >> this is our first time here. >> state your name and you have 2 minutes

audits, the gao looks at everything else that goes on within the fed, and i think the fed is a central bank best practice, the global experience shows that giving central banks independence to make monetary policy decisions that they think are in the best interest of the country and consistent with their mandates leads to lower inflation and more stable macroeconomic outcomes. so i feel very strongly about that, but we are accountable to congress, of course, we're ready to provide information that congress needs to evaluate the fed's decision-making in monetary policy and elsewhere. with respect to monetary policy rules, they can be useful, and i find them useful and long have as a kind of benchmark for thinking what might be the appropriate stance of policy, but to chain a central bank to follow a simple mathematical rule that fails to take account of many things that are very important in making monetary policy, for example, i was earlier asked about being against the zero lower bound, which is an important special consideration, that would be a very foolish thing to do, and i oppose

there's guidance, gao guidance best practice. the basic problem that i've seen over the years is there's a lack of discipline to follow good practice. we get off the rails and nobody is held accountable during that period of time. modular development of incremental development cios was one of the basic tenets of the 1996 legislation that helped congress work on that it just has been implemented. i commend this committee for your recent legislation. i look forward to working with you to make sure its successor of limited that it will require congressional oversight, and i look forward to that. >> i will point out as the chairman is an the ranking member knows, when we put together this bill, bipartisan bill, and we said a lot of what we did was codified recommendations that came out of the white house itself. it was not a hostile bill. so hopefully it will be seen that way as a useful management tool and we look forward working with you as we followed and monitor the application because there are enormous savings to be had and som

the gao has now made 14 recommendations to help the faa secure the system and congress is asking theor a full accounting on the status and solutions for securing the system. so far, the faa has not commented on this report. >> hope we are all safe in the friendly skies. thanks so much, trace >>> we are going to end today's real story with some good news. dog rescued after getting wedged between a home and a retaining wall. a dog trapped in a 6-7 inch gap, this happened in west hollywood. rescuers tied ropes around the dog and wiggled him out and he is now back with his owners. see, we ended with good news. >> thank you so much for being part of a news packed real story today. i'm gretchen carlson. here is shep. >>> hours ago, benjamin netanyahu warned the united states congress the iranians cannot be trusted. their proposed deal will help them build a nuke. >> that deal will not prevent iran from developing nuclear weapons it will all but guarantee that iran gets those weapons. >> president obama disagrees saying the israeli leader did not offer up any new options. even as the prime

i want to get back to this gao report.s typically understated. >> they're the green eye shade. >> they report in 2010, 69 reports only ten of them have been fixed. the rest have not. they're a little pissed. a little peeved. >> isn't that good enough for government work? >> not good enough for my taxpayer dollar. >> that's the problem. i think maybe the solution here is subcontract a lot of this out to visa and mastercard. they seem to get our credit card bills right. >> now there's a good idea. and you can at least call them up and say you're having a problem. they listen to you. >> i get through to them. >> that's a good idea. we should take it under advisement. good to see you. thank you for coming on the show tonight. on to another topic. another service provider working well. comcast has one of the worst reputations in the country. even the ceo said it's embarrassing. it's trying yet again to fix the problems. it's tripling the complaints on social media. content editor for consumer reports consumer blog called the co

i'm with the gao. >> host: oh. well, you all are overseeing it, right? the government accountability office. >> we have done our first audit of the firstnet, which is what i'm here talking about today, sir. >> what i'm concerned about -- would it alarm you all that they might not be able to meet the first net needs? as far as personnel? that's all they've been able to hire? >> we understand -- >> maybe i got -- can someone else answer this? >> i can certainly respond to that. the annual report actually has been issueed. there was a time delay but you have access. it requires review and there's -- >> but ten different -- this is what really upsets people. >> you're talking to somebody from the private sector. no it doesn't make sense. i'm not an expert on government process so i'm not -- >> this is national emergency. some would happen can we help each other? creep -- katrina type thing. it was such a cluster -- >> can we help -- >> get firstnet up and running. >> that's the beauty of firstnet -- >> i know that. but i'm saying doubt through the ten differ

---el precio de la gasolina aumenÓ 45 centavos por gaÓ marÍa leticia: el precio marÍa leticia: el precio la tarjeta visa se comenzarÁ a recibir a partir del 1 de abril y la tienda de la visita a los clientes de los nuevos tÉrminos. marÍa leticia: empezamos otra semana laboral y parece que tenemos un buen tiempo. leÓn: tenemos los pronÓsticos del tiempo. >> el sistema que trajo lluvia se aleja, esta baja presiÓn que entrÓ por el norte y comienzan a irse ya hace la repÚblica mexicana, en el pacifico por lo tanto comienza a limpiar california, en esta imagen podemos ver cÓmo se vaya partir de maÑana martes se alejara por completo y declarÁndose california, con buenas condiciones. algunos nublados ligeros y el aumento para la temperatura. maÑana la mÁxima promedio cercana a los 64, ya despejado, cemento del noroeste cercano a las 13 millas por hora, lo queestÁ trayendo todavÍa aire frio por la maÑana. temperatura entre los 48_59 grados pero despejado por completo en los prÓximos cinco dÍas. asÍ pinta esta nueva semana, y las condiciones de san que rica tu nueva sirachi burger. se dice sirach

i'm with the gao. >> oh. you are overseeing it right? >> we have done our first audit of first net, which is what i'm here talking about today, sir. >> what i'm -- would it alarm you they might not be able to meet the first net needs as far as personnel if that's all they have been able to hire? can someone else answer this? >> i can certainly respond to that. the annual report has been issued. there was a bit of a time delay but you should have access to that at this point. it does require significant review. you're correct on that. maybe there's an opportunity to take -- >> but i mean this is what upsets people. >> you're talking to somebody from the private u sector and the answer is no. it doesn't make sense. but i'm not an expert on government process. >> these are things -- if something would happen can we help each other? katrina type thing, it was such a cluster i couldn't even tell you. >> could we help each other in the network? yeah, actually, that's the beauty of first net. >> to cut through the ten federal agency, tell us wh

we answered are they answerable to the gao? they said no. are they answerable to anybody else, to the federal reserve where the money comes through? they said no. i said are they answerable to anybody, accountable to anybody else to commissioners elsewhere? their answer is no. so you are in favor of abdicating your responsibilities as elected officials creating an entity, basically, which they admit that they are answerable to no one. well, i believe as elected representatives we're responsible to our constituents, and if we want to make sure that consumers are protected that we should have an entity or regulators that combine consumer plex with prudential regulations and do it in a thoughtful way that are answerable to us, the representatives. and with that, i will yield now to mr. stutsman for a little under two minutes. 1:40. >> thank you to the gentleman from new jersey and thank you for your comments. we serve on a committee together. and here what the cfpb has been up to they don't share everything that they've been up to and we've bee

we had a thoughtful discussion at the gao committee and introduced [inaudible] to memberoffs the public and insure residence and local business owners who will be the most effected are adequately represented. i see this cac as a fundamental meeting place for a very important project in my district, probably beyond my district and it is really a important project for the city. i hope colleagues i can count on you for your support today to give the neighborhood a strong voice >> thank you supervisor yee. supervisor cohen >> thank you madam president. i have a couple qugz questions for you. your aid came by to brief with my office, that you thank you for that. i am trying to understand the [inaudible] >> supervisor yee, >> sometimes i have to recognize myself. one of the seats for this cac for the bal bowa reservoir project is someone from the bal bowa plan to be on this because we want to make sure there is some strong communication between the 2 bodies. the most area plans are for areas and it gives general concepts to the area and it is note that unusual to have another advisory committ

and thank you president breed for such a you know, detailed summary of the discussion we had at the gao committee we had a very lengthy discussion there and there were actually many many questions that were asked and it was a really good discussion and i want to thank all of the stakeholders that actually showed up for that discussion it lasted for 2 and a half hours but i wanted to also acknowledge as you have, debbie, from the san francisco department of environment because some of the questions that were asked and i appreciate there was a follow up memo basically the answers to many of the questions that were asked and they were very thorough and i could see there shouldn't be any holes for anybody to criticize that we that we shouldn't be doing this and certainly when i asked for examples of timeline, some people may be concerned about whether we can do this in the period that we cited in the legislation, it was pretty evident that from alameda's effort and from king's canyon in washington that this is really really doable and you cited, president breed king's county up in washingto

i them with the gao. >> oh. you are are all over saying it, right? you are the accountability office. >> we have done our first audit which is what i'm here talking about today sir. >> what i'm concerned about what it alarm you all that they might not be able to meet the person that needs as far as personnel? that's all they have been able to hire. >> we understand -- >> and someone else enter this? >> i can certainly respond to that. first of all the annual report actually has been issued. there was a bit of the time delay but you should have access to that at this point and it does require significant review you're absolutely correct on on that and maybe there's an opportunity. >> but i mean this is what upsets people. >> you are talking to someone from the private sector. no simply doesn't make sense but i'm not an expert on government process so i'm not sure. sioux this is a national emergency and that something god forbid should happen that we help each other? i katrina type thing it was such a cluster. i mean with first met up and running? >> a

the incident occurred in the north gao region, so far the crash is being treated as an accident. troops are serving as part of the u.n. peace keeping mission in the area. nigeria's national security spokesman says boko haram are now running with their tails between their legs. a major offensive against the armed group is said to be in i believe's final stages after the military retook two key towns. boko haram's last strong hold in the state while the second largest town was retaken on monday. nigeria has been supported by troops from cameroon, chad. the army chief staff says they have now repelled the group from all but three local districts in the northeast at the start of the year, it controls around 20. two members of a polio vaccination team and a police officer have been shot dead. the attack in an afghan refugee camp near the city, is the latest in a string of attacks on polio workers who some accuse of trying to sterilize muslims. pakistan is one of only three countries where polio is still endemocratic. pakistan remain as major concern can because of a number of cases re

even gao gives dhs positive marks in their latest high-risk report.thank you and keep up the good work. for all that's good in this request, there are some problems. to begin with, 1.5 billion increase absorbs almost 75% of the non-defense discretionary spending available under the limits of the budget control act of 2013. as a result, i doubt dhs's budget will rise as steeply as the request proposes. within fema, a new $38 million climate change is proposed as well as state and local grant programs. across all dhs components hiring front line personnel is not happening in a timely manner resulting in large carryover balances. i.c.e. and secret service aren't keeping up attrition. nppd has major staff shortages cbp continues to struggle. to hire the 2000 officers funded in fy-14, i understand only 700 are currently on board. hiring problems doesn't just have -- doesn't have just budgetary implications. at dhs, an inadequate floor structure could lead to public national security and public safety concerns. mr. secretary, this is a problem we need to fi

by the way 44 of those 47 programs are viewed to be overlapping with one another by the gao. with regard to the programs gao says quote little is known about the effectiveness of most programs so we talked earlier about the need for not just more jobs but better jobs and that's going to come from better training and that's going to come from closing the skills gap. this is an incredibly important way to do it. we are spending $18 trillion a year and we really don't know where the money is going so this is opportunity to improve access to these programs and enhance their outcomes. i would urge all of my colleagues to support the portman kaine amendment on worker retraining. >> oppositional comments? seeing none we can move on to senator merkley. >> thank you very much mr. chair. earlier we had senator kaine's proposal regarding career technical education and deficit-neutral reserve funds. i would like an opportunity to address that. i have a companion legislation that addresses science technology engineering and mathematics. it did include cte but i'm proposing i strike that o

i them with the gao. >> oh. you are are all over saying it, right? you are the accountability office. >> we have done our first audit which is what i'm here talking about today sir. >> what i'm concerned about what it alarm you all that they might not be able to meet the person that needs as far as personnel? that's all they have been able to hire. >> we understand -- >> and someone else enter this? >> i can certainly respond to that. first of all the annual report actually has been issued. there was a bit of the time delay but you should have access to that at this point and it does require significant review you're absolutely correct on on that and maybe there's an opportunity. >> but i mean this is what upsets people. >> you are talking to someone from the private sector. no simply doesn't make sense but i'm not an expert on government process so i'm not sure. sioux this is a national emergency and that something god forbid should happen that we help each other? i katrina type thing it was such a cluster. i mean with first met up and running? >> a

we have been asked by the gao to look at this. we're looking at this as well. certainly all the above from my perspective and the budget reflects that, it means all the above. it means conventional energy as well as renewable energy. we're working on both. >> hydro is not renewable? >> hydro is a renewable. >> by federal definition is it? >> yeah, i think so. >> yes. we have testified it is renewable. we cleared it for everybody. >> it's a good thing. >> not by law it's not renewable. we scratch our heads out in montana. we look at this incredible renewable resource. >> you guys write the laws. >> by law it's not. it's something we have to take a look at. >> thank you. >> i was shocked to learn when i came here that congress overrules the laws of nature and falling water is not a renewable resource. i don't know. we speak a different language in idaho. madam secretary, thank you very much. i want to talk about sage grass of course. you remember the first meeting we had you didn't know what -- you weren't familiar with the sage grouse. now you're a lot more fami

according to a recent gao analysis the pentagon's $1.4 trillion accusation -- acquisition suffers from over $457 billion in cost overruns above original contractor estimates. what i think everybody in this room knows is our military system weapons system after weapon system there are huge cost overruns. furthermore, there has been a lot of fraud associated with the defense contracting industry. virtually, every major defense contractor in this country has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and related settlements in this conduct over the past 20 years. we have the largest agency of the federal government, they dod some $600 billion, huge cost overruns unable to audit this very complicated agency. it is time for an audit. >> there are audits being done. this amendment is in line with the initiatives being laid out by the bipartisan -- letter by the armed services committee. all sides need to be created to greater efficiency. one of the things i did getting ready for the budget was to get a copy of one of the later versions of how federal budgeting is supposed to happen. i thi

gao has this based on their past work and in november of 2013 on the behavior detection and an aussie program they have not demonstrated that they can reliably identify these by those indicative of fear and deception. the officials told us that they have a revised indicator for the program and rules for using them and have started pilot testing a new approach in a few airports. furthermore the tsa has not yet demonstrated that the overall managed inclusion process is effective at providing this level of security. they told us that this is under way and is expected to be completed in 2016. we have previously reported on challenges that they have faced designing studies in accordance with this establish standard. this is important because poorly designed studies do not produce reliable results and are not a good use of resources. to ensure that the tsa planned testing yields results, we recommend that they ensure the managed inclusion testing adhere to established standards. dhs concurred that they plan to implement a systematic evaluation of the process and if implemented appropriately

the gao looks at everything else that goes on within the fed. i think that is a central bank best practice, the global experience shows that giving central banks independence to make monetary policy decisions that they think are in the best insurance of the country and consistent with the mandate, leads to lower inflation and more stable macro economic outcomes. so i feel very strongly about that. but we are accountable to congress. of course we are ready to provide information that congress needs to evaluate the fed's decision-making in monetary policy and elsewhere. with respect to monetary policy rules they can be useful and i find them useful as a kind of benchmark for thinking about what might be the appropriate stance of policy, but to change a central bank to follow a simple mathematical rule that fails to take account of many things that are very important in making monetary policy for example, i was early asked about being against the zero lower bound which is an important, special consideration that would be a very foolish thing to do

even gao gives dhs positive marks in their latest high-risk report. so thank you and keep up the good work. for all that's good in this request, there are some problems. to begin with 1.5 billion increase absorbs almost 75% of the non-defense discretionary spending available under the limits of the budget control act of 2013. mr. secretary, the congress intends to live within the confines of the law even if the administration does not. as a result, i doubt dhs's budget will rise as steeply as the request proposes. within fema, a $38 million climate change is proposed as well as state and local grant programs. across all dhs components hiring front line personnel is not happening in a timely manner resulting in large carryover balances. ice and secret service aren't keeping up attrition. nppd has major staff shortages, cbp continues to struggle. to hire the 2,000 officers funded in fy-14 i understand only 700 are currently on board. hiring problems doesn't just have -- doesn't have just budgetary implications. at dhs, an inadequate floor structure coul

according to the government accountability office, the famous gao, for the last ten years, february '04 to december '14, there were 2233 cases in which a known or suspected terrorist, individuals who are on the federal terrorist watch list at the time, attempted to buy a firearm or obtain an explosives permit. in 91% of the cases, this is not me, this is the gao, 2,043 separate occasions, those known or suspected terrorists were successful in passing a background check. what can be done about this? >> well, senator, what we do now is if someone on the watch list purchases or attempts to purchase a firearm, an immediate alert is sent to the agents who are the source of the suspicion about that individual so they can incorporate that information into their investigation. because known or suspected means it hasn't been adjudicated. it's somebody we're investigating, so we don't want to lower our investigation. >> let me say this.gap. and prevent a known or suspected terrorist from buying a gun or explosives in this country. in 2009 attorney general holder expressed the obama administrati