violence goes up and goes down, part of what acting assistant secretary beth jones was referencing in this memo is, this is a new -- is this a new normal? and the secretary does personally oversee the decision to order departure or shut down posts and it it is important to take that ultimate responsibility very much to heart which i did. but i think that there was no recommendation to do that. and again, i was following it, i was watching it, i was trying to make a very well reasoned analysis but i was also listening to people both on the ground and with a lot of experience who had served in iraq, afghanistan, pakistan, yemen, other places like that, and there was no recommendation. >> secretary clinton, what i'm trying to make a distinction between is the decisions that you made with respect to benghazi and decisions that your staff made with respect to benghazi. but i'm running out of time. i want to get back to $20 million that we talked about. on numerous occasions, the finger's been pointed at congress for not properly funding the security -- the funding not being available for t

on august 17th there was a memo from beth jones the acting secretary of state describing a spike in violence characterizing it as perhaps a new normal. it is very clearly something that we were following as i have said throughout the hearing today. it said that the international committee of the red cross had withdrawn personnel from benghazi and mizrati and continued to work in the rest of libya and also pointed out that there is lack of effective security and that the transition, the kind of transition we wanted to see for the people of libya and particularly in benghazi was not as forthcoming from the libyans themselves. i think that the description here is certainly something that we were aware of and a list of recent violence in libya is something we were aware of. and the ongoing monitoring of the situation in libya is something we took very seriously. i can tell you that these kinds of assessments were not uncomfortabuncommon for dangerous and unstable places and even war zones where we were also operating. >> would you characterize those descriptions as highly vulnerable? >> well, i

on august 17th, there was a memo from beth jones the acting secretary of state, describing a spike iniolence and characterizing it as perhaps a new normal. it is very clearly something that we were following as i have said throughout the hearing today. it said that the international committee of the red cross had withdrawn personnel from benghazi and misrata but continued to work in the rest of libya. it also pointed out that there is lack of effective security and that the transition, the kind of transition we wanted to see for the people of libya and particularly in benghazi, was not as forthcoming from the libyans themselves. i think that the description here is certainly something that we were aware of. and a list of recent violence in libya is something we were aware of. and the ongoing monitoring of the situation in libya is something we took very seriously. i can tell you that these kinds of assessments were not uncommon for other places, high-threat, dangerous, unstable places, even war zones, where we were also operating. >> would you categorize those type of descriptions as

on august 17th there was a memo from beth jones, the acting secretary of state describing a spike in violence and characterizing it as perhaps a new normal. it is very clearly something that we were following as i have said throughout the hearing today. it said that the international committee of the red cross had withdrawn personnel from benghazi and misrata but continued to work in the rest of libya. it also pointed out that there is lack of effective security and that the transition, the kind of transition we wanted to see for the people of libya and particularly in benghazi, was not as forthcoming from the libyans themselves. i think that the description here is certainly something that we were aware of. and a list of recent violence in libya is something we were aware of. and the ongoing monitoring of the situation in libya is something we took very seriously. i can tell you that these kinds of assessments were not uncommon for other places, high threat, dangerous, unstable places, even war zones where we were also operating. >> would you categorize those type of descriptions as

on august 17th, there was a memo from beth jones the acting secretary of state, describing a spike in violence and characterizing it as perhaps a new normal. it is very clearly something that we were following as i have said throughout the hearing today. it said that the international committee of the red cross had withdrawn personnel from benghazi and misrata but continued to work in the rest of libya. it also pointed out that there is lack of effective security and that the transition, the kind of transition we wanted to see for the people of libya and particularly in benghazi, was not as forthcoming from the libyans themselves. i think that the description here is certainly something that we were aware of. and a list of recent violence in libya is something we were aware of. and the ongoing monitoring of the situation in libya is something we took very seriously. i can tell you that these kinds of assessments were not uncommon for other places, high-threat, dangerous, unstable places, even war zones, where we were also operating. >> would you categorize those type of descriptions a

. >> beth jones? >> i'm sure she was. >> bill burns and thomas nods? >> i have no specific recollection of any of the names you have given me because when i left i knew i would stay in touch and i do fought know how long anybody else stayed at the state department. >> what time did you learn that sean smith had died? >> earlier in the evening. >> before you left. >> yes. >> and what about ambassador stevens? >> before i left. >> and what about his confirmation of his death? before or after you left? >> we knew that, yes. >> what about the recovery of his body? before or after you left? >> we got word that we had a sighting -- >> confirmation? >> well, i'm trying to tell you what we knew and how we found out because it was something that we were trying to determine and we had mixed signals about what we learned. and it was our understanding and certainly by the time i left that he was most likely not alive but i'm not sure exactly when we were able to confirm that because it depended upon getting first-hand information from a libyan contact. >> where we

. >> beth jones? >> i'm sure she was. >> bill burns and thomas nines? >> i have no specific recollection of any of the names you've given me, because when i left i knew i would stay in touch, and i do not know how long anybody else stayed at the state department. >> what time did you learn that sean smith had died? >> that was earlier in the evening. >> that was before you left? >> yes. >> what about ambassador stevens? >> it was before i left. >> what about his confirmation of his death? before or after you left? >> we knew that, yes. >> what about the recovery of his body, was that before or after you left? >> we got word that we had a sighting of -- >> confirmation. >> well, i'm trying to tell you what we knew and how we found out because it was something we were trying to determine, and we had mixed signals about what we learned. it was our understanding, and certainly by the time i left, that he was most likely not alive. but i'm not sure exactly when we were able to confirm that because it depended upon getting firsthand information from a libyan

. >> beth jones? >> i'm sure she was. >> bill burns and -- >> i have no specific recollection of any of the names you've given me because when i left i knew i would stay in touch and i do not know how long anybody else stayed. >> what time did you learn that sean smith had died? >> that was earlier in the evening. >> that was before you left. >> yes. >> what about ambassador stevens? >> it was before i left. >> what about his confirmation of his death, before or after you left? >> we knew that. yes. >> what about the recovery of his body? was that before or after you left? >> we got word that we had a sighting of -- >> confirmation. >> well, i'm trying to tell you what we knew and how we found out because it was something that we were trying to determine and we had mixed signals about what we learned and it was our understanding -- and certainly by the time i left -- that he was most likely not alive. but i'm not sure exactly when we were able to confirm that because it depended upon getting firsthand

. >> beth jones? >> i'm sure she was. >> bill burns and -- >> i have no specific recollection of any of the names you've given me because when i left i knew i would stay in touch and i do not know how long anybody else stayed. >> what time did you learn that sean smith had died? >> that was earlier in the evening. >> that was before you left. >> yes. >> what about ambassador stevens? >> it was before i left. >> what about his confirmation of his death, before or after you left? >> we knew that. yes. >> what about the recovery of his body? was that before or after you left? >> we got word that we had a sighting of -- >> confirmation. >> well, i'm trying to tell you what we knew and how we found out because it was something that we were trying to determine and we had mixed signals about what we learned and it was our understanding -- and certainly by the time i left -- that he was most likely not alive. but i'm not sure exactly when we were able to confirm that because it depended upon getting firsthand

. >> beth jones? >> i'm sure she was. >> bill burns and -- >> i have no specific recollection of any of the names you've given me because when i left i knew i would stay in touch and i do not know how long anybody else stayed. >> what time did you learn that sean smith had died? >> that was earlier in the evening. >> that was before you left. >> yes. >> what about ambassador stevens? >> it was before i left. >> what about his confirmation of his death, before or after you left? >> we knew that. yes. >> what about the recovery of his body? was that before or after you left? >> we got word that we had a sighting of -- >> confirmation. >> well, i'm trying to tell you what we knew and how we found out because it was something that we were trying to determine and we had mixed signals about what we learned and it was our understanding -- and certainly by the time i left -- that he was most likely not alive. but i'm not sure exactly when we were able to confirm that because it depended upon getting firsthand

on august 17th, there was a memo from beth jones the acting secretary of state, describing a spike in violence and characterizing it as perhaps a new normal. it is very clearly something that we were following as i have said throughout the hearing today. it said that the international committee of the red cross had withdrawn personnel from benghazi and misrata but continued to work in the rest of libya. it also pointed out that there is lack of effective security and that the transition, the kind of transition we wanted to see for the people of libya and particularly in benghazi, was not as forthcoming from the libyans themselves. i think that the description here is certainly something that we were aware of. and a list of recent violence in libya is something we were aware of. and the ongoing monitoring of the situation in libya is something we took very seriously. i can tell you that these kinds of assessments were not uncommon for other places, high-threat, dangerous, unstable places, even war zones, where we were also operating. >> would you categorize those type of descriptions a

had the opportunity to meet one of those financial planners months ago, few beth is a financial planner who works for edward jones in my hometown of gainesville, georgia. she took the time to come to washington and meet with me in her elected officials because she was scared about the impact of the fiduciary rule would have on her ability to do her job. she told me the administrative rule prevents her from helping people. beth told me that financial advisors should always provide advice in their clients' best interest, but the rule places unnecessary and burdensome requirements on both advisors and clients. . that's not what we're about as a country, mr. speaker. we're the world's greatest economic engine and the land of hope and opportunity. because we believe in ingenuity and hard work of people. our founders believed in people. they were on their team. and they created a governmental structure that is for the people and by the people. and frankly, mr. speaker, that's what this republican majority stands for. the people who get up every day looking to how they can make it better. the republican majority's for p