president, smart schumer of new york and i are working to ensure that the departments of defense and the veterans affairs department continue to study and evaluate the harmful effects of the garbage burn pits at our base in bhalad in iraq. now, this has gotten some attention in the express it is horrible of what we're seeing is that when our troops are exposed to these toxic fumes by these open burn pits, well, we see the consequences in their health that turns up later and obviously is not only a diminution of the health of our troops, which we ought to first and foremost protect -- but, of course, that's a continuing cost to the u.s. government. because years later, what we're finding is -- and this comes out of the first gulf war experience with those open burn pits, we have determined that serious health problems could be traced back to the breathing in of those toxic substances because the troops were exposed to the fumes coming out of those burn pits. and so what this amendment does -- and it should not be controversial -- requires a study be designed to take a look at those bur

the bill improves the management of defense business systems by strengthening the authority of the department of defense's chief management officers in the investment review process and ensures that this process covers existing systems as well as new ones. the bill adds $43 million to enable the department of defense i.g. to provide more effective oversight and to help identify waste, fraud and abuse in defense programs, especially in the area of procurement. in light of the budget constraints that we face this year, the committee worked hard to keep funding increases of any kind to a minimum. we added the following items: $66 million for unfunded requirements identified by military leaders. $90 million for investments in programs like the d.o.d. i.g. and corrosion control that have high pay back rates. $66 million for critical investments in intelligence and cybersecurity improvements. $497 million for increased funding needed to ensure the efficient execution of ongoing department of defense programs. and $270 million for a handful of broad-based competitive programs needed to help us keep

since the department of defense estimated that only 15% of victims actually come higher, we can assume the number is much higher, upwards of 19,000. the department of veterans affairs has reported similarly disturbing figures, more than 250% of female service members say they were sexually assaulted or harassed during their service. let me that i can this clear. we know the vast majority of men and women serving in our military would never be involved in sexual assault. they have the toughest jobs out there, on the front line every day. but when we have a problem, we can't just put our heads in the sand and pretend it's not happening. in 2008 alone, v.a. medical personnel alone reported more than half a million encounters that focused on the one hand sex -- sexual assault. the idea that an american in uniform who is out there on the front lines serving our country may also suffer the physical and emotional trauma of sexual assault is simply unacceptable. and it is also unacceptable, mr. president, that the records of that assault would be destroyed. according to the v.a., women who exp

department of defense and its prime contractors. the reality l that3 and the entire defense industry faces is that components are increasingly said -- increasingly susceptible to to risks -- obsolescence and counterfeiting. with the significant levels of counterfeit -- these issues are exacerbated by the service lives of fielded defense weapons systems being extended well beyond their original plant life cycle. furthering the challenge of the ever shortening life cycles of electronic components being driven by commercial technology changes. l3 has been proactive in managing obsolescence and risk mitigation. procedures and processes are in place to manage both of these areas with improvements being driven to use date counterfeit threats. supply chain management techniques have been implemented to limit the number of distributors seconds sell parts to l3. significant methodologies are emplace and training and education of personnel as ongoing. l3 will continue to improve its mitigation programs through strict adherence to corporate pro

of defense. a member of the joint chiefs may make recommendations to congress come up with it into the department of defense after first informing the secretary of defense and looking for which the testimony at the joint chiefs of staff as they provide more information on the role that the joint chiefs play in the national security, how the interests of the army and air national guard are addressed by the joint chiefs and not the chief of the national guard bureau faces split the joint chiefs of staff. the national guard bureau is a joint at tbd at the department of defense. by statute, it is a channel of communications on all matters pertaining to the national guard, the army national guard of the united states in the air national guard of the united states between the department of the army and department of the air force in several states. the chief of the national guard or is the principal adviser to the secretary of defense through the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff on matters involving non-federalist national regard forces and other matters as determined at the secretary of defense.

of defense. a member of the joint chiefs may make recommendations to congress relating to the department of defense after first informing the secretary of defense. i am looking forward to the testimony of the members of the joint chiefs of staff as they provide more information on the role that the joint chiefs play in our national security, how the interest of the army and air national guard are dressed by the joint chiefs, and how the chief of the national guard bureau interfaces with the joint chiefs of staff. the national guard bureau is a joint activity of the department of defense. by statute it is the channel of communications on all matters -- pertaining to the national guard, the army national guard of the united states and air national guard of the united states between the department of the army and the department of the air force and the several states. the chief of the national guard bureau is a principle adviser for the secretary of defense through the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff on matters involving non-that relies national guard forces and on other matters determined by th

, the department of defense, the justice department, d.h.s., the office of director of national intelligence, and the office of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. and they together review a case of a person who could be held forever without trial, without charge, and they can deliberate on the kind of threat this individual continues -- you know, they're people, they're in guantanamo, or i should say who were in guantanamo who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. and that's possible for an american as well. and everything we're all about is to see that the system is a just system. this is not just. and particularly not for united states citizens and i don't care who they are, they have certain rights under the constitution as a united states citizen. why should we place the department of defense above the unified judgment of five other departments on what is at its heart a question about the legality of continued detention, the assessment of the threat a detainee poses, and the options available

jay johnson, the general counsel to the department of defense, who came from the "new york times" as general counsel for "the new york times," not a career department of justice -- defense attorney, said this before the senate armed services committee: "the question of what happens if there's an acquittal is an interesting question. i think as a matter of legal authority, if you have the authority under the laws of war to detain someone and the hamdi decision said that in 2004, that is true irrespective of what happens on the prosecution side. as a matter of legal authority, i think we have law of war authority, and pursuant to that authority, congress granted us with the authorization for the use of military force as the supreme court interpreted it, to hold a person provided they continue to be a security threat and we have the authority in the first place." so again he's saying if you're not acquitted, that they can be held if they continue to be a threat. secretary of state hullry clinton on "meet the press" november of last year, "mr. gregory: but my question is, are we committed

the legislation will improve the operation of the department of defense. it will strengthen congressional oversight of the department, and it makes fiscally responsible -- but very difficult -- choices in order to meet this year's budget caps. as a member of the senate armed services committee, i urge all of my colleagues to support this important bill. mr. president, i'm particularly pleased that this bill fully authorizes the navy's budget request for shipbuilding. while shipbuilding accounts for fewer than $1 out of every $10 of the navy's budget, it is a critical component to the strength of our national defense. the chief of naval operations has testified that a fleet of 400 ships would actually be required to meet the unconstrained demands of the combatant commanders. due to budget constraints, however, the navy armies for a fleet that equals 313 ships in the future. but, mr. president, the navy today has only 285 ships. the ddg-100 program, the ddg-151 restart, the virginia-class submarine and other ships in the shipbuilding budget will help to close

in this case this was a department of defense specification. but i'm sure there are others. >> who follows up on that? we brought you all in here to basically check to see if this type of a scam was going on. we found it was not just ongoing, it was flourishing. it seems to me get back to the source. if we are writing the specs, why would you let it get that far? you could shut that down in a heartbeat. >> i'm not aware of who's supposed to follow up, but i do know the specification does exist. >> does anybody in the department of defense, have you report -- brought you report to dod? >> no, sir. >> they didn't request it at all? >> yes, sir. >> if i could interrupt. this is a very specific report that we asked the gao very recently to try to go onto the internet and to see what parts would show up when they put in orders, and the cheapest parts that showed up, they are all from china. so it turned out to be counterfeit, all those have been tested and some of the numbers that were given to them were totally fake numbers. they had just been invol

the armed services committee ongoing investigation into counterfeit electronic parts in the department of defense, dvd supply chain. you will probably hold at least one additional hearing to discuss what the department is doing to keep counterfeit electronic parts out of defense systems. we have three panels of witnesses today so i expect that the hearing may continue into the afternoon. and i also expect that we will break for lunch and this will all be determined by how long these first two panels take. we also have a vote scheduled i understand for 1215 thymic which also could affect that decision. i want to thank senator mccain for his efforts in this investigation. i want to thank our staffs, investigative staffs for their very, very hard work. the systems that we rely on for national security and the protection of our military men and women depend on the performance and reliability of small highly sophisticated electronic components. our fighter pilots rely on night vision systems, enabled by transistors to identify targets. our troops depend on radios and gps devices, microelectronics that

occurred in those ten years, two-thirds went to the department of defense. so if the problem here is excessive spending, 65% of the excess spending was done by one department and one department only. the department of defense. that doesn't mean we should do anything to harm the training and equipping of our troops and making sure they have what they need if we send them into battle but it does mean the department of defense shouldn't undergo an audit. it is the only department that could not undergo an audit because they don't have their books in order. that doesn't make sense. everyone has to be more responsible. >> thanks again. >> thank you. >> let's bring in john avalon, senior columnist. good to see you tonight. going big. that's what bacerra wants. you're hearing probably not. >> we're hearing a lot of cynicism in washington but cynicism passes for wisdom in washington. i think there are folks holding out hope. i liked that he said they could make a deal. maybe bigger than $1.2. although that $4 trillion that you seem to be referring to seems to be too

department of justice has said that approximately one-third of the terrorists charged in federal court in 2010 would be subject to mandatory military detention absent a waiver from the secretary of defense. well, mr. president, taking the justice department at its word, there have been approximately 300 terrorist cases in federal court over the last ten years, or about 30 a year. one-third of that number would be just 10 cases a year in which the executive branch officials would have to make determinations of coverage and, if necessary, exercise their waiver authority. even that number appears to be exaggerated. cases of attempted al qaeda attacks on american soil have been highly publicized and received extensive scrutiny understandably in congress. we are not aware of more than half a dozen cases total over the last decade. the reason that the debate on this issue always seems to come back to the same handful of cases appears to be that there are -- that there only are a handful of cases that are covered by this provision potentially. now, the administration contends in her next quote that the mandatory military custody is unwise because our allies will not extradite terrorist suspect

of defense. a member of the joint chiefs may make recommendations to congress relating to the department of defense after, 1st informing the secretary of defense. i'm looking for to the testimony of the members of the joint chiefs of staff as they provide more information on the role that the joint chiefs play in our national security, how the interests of the army and international guard are addressed by the joint chiefs, and how the chief of the national guard bureau interfaces with the joint chiefs of staff and national guard bureau is a joint activity of the department of defense. by statute, it is the channel of communications on all matters pertaining to the national guard, and our national guard of the united states, and the international guard of the united states between the department of the army and the permit of the air force in several states. the chief of national guard bureau is a principal adviser to the secretary of defense through the chairman and joint chiefs of staff on matters involving non- federalized national guard forces and on other matters as determined by the secretary o

after extended debate and discussion, this bill which authorizes $662 billion for the department of defense and national security-related aspects of the department of energy was passed unanimously out of the senate armed services committee. this committee was in a difficult situation this year, considering our nation's fiscal crisis. as i have firmly believed all along, everything, including defense spending, must be on the table to address our fiscal circumstances. in the midst of intense budget negotiations, i am pleased that we can offer up and debate a bill that addresses the real need to reduce government spending in a responsible and calculated manner. as several of my colleagues have already stated on the floor, the national defense authorization act cuts a considerable amount from the defense budget, as requested by the president. it is $27 billion less than the administration requested and $43 billion less than the amount appropriated for 2011. these were very difficult decisions to make, but they were the fiscally responsible thing to do, given our nation's fiscal situation. i am

the second issue that we really have to come to grips with, working closely with the department of defense, is what the size of the marine corps will be. we can now and we support that we will not be over to douse an -- we know and we support that we will not be over 200,000. we know that we need to be a crowd of 186,000-187,000 to be properly structured and man and ready at all times to operate. over the next year or so, working closely with the department of defense, talking to people on the hill, we will get resolutions. host: lowry, a democrat from indiana. you are on with lieutenant- general richard mills. larry, you there? i think we lost larry. quincy, illinois. troy, retired marine. caller: good morning, sir. i'm a retired gunnery sgt. ipad retired -- i have been retired for about eight years now. i saw something on the news this morning that the secretary of defense was going to cut military and retirement benefits, and i wanted to get your take on that and see what that is about. guest: semper fi, marine. again, that is a great question. i know potential cuts to anything is of vi

the second issue that we really have to come to grips with, working closely with the department of defense what the size of the marine corps will be. we can now and we support that we will not be over to douse an -- we know and we support that we will not be over 200,000. we know that we need to be a crowd of 186,000-187,000 to be properly structured and man and ready at all times to operate. over the next year or so, working closely with the department of defense, talking to people on the hill, we will get resolutions. host: lowry, a democrat from indiana. you are on with lieutenant- general richard mills. larry, you there? i think we lost larry. quincy, illinois. troy, retired marine. caller: good morning, sir. i'm a retired gunnery sgt. ipad retired -- i have been retired for about eight years now. i saw something on the news this morning that the secretary of defense was going to cut military and retirement benefits, and i wanted to get your take on that and see what that is about. guest: semper fi, marine. again, that is a great question. i know potential cuts to anything is of vital

you mentioned the department of defense. e department of strategy because what i keep waiting to hear from any of these candidates is a vision for where they think the united states needs to go. is this a knee jerk reactive view. it's this pugnacious, damn the rest of the world unilateralalism that they think sells with the american public but it's very, very dangerous to having this kind of commentary out there. >> let me go. robin, churchill said there's two kinds of success, initial and ultimate. would that be a successful policy for israel to go to war with iran? because attacking them would be an act of war. >> reporter: this is a much more complicated question. the fact is, how much knowledge does iran have already. we don't know the answer to that. but if they are at a point that many people fear, there is a danger that even a military strike would not eliminate the knowledge that they have accumulated at this the point. remember, that the shah reportedly wanted a nuclear program, as well. this is something that produc

at the federal level, this includes the department of defense, the fdc, federal reserve board, the fcc, the occ, the fdic, the department of education, the department of justice, and most recently, the bureau for financial consumer protection. accordingly, i don't believe there's any shortage of regulators. the real challenge is making sure that regulation keeps up with change and technology and changes in the marketplace. in particular, i'd like to hear today whether new forms of lending to our military such as online lending present any new difficulties for enforcing consumer protections for military personnel. i'd like to know whether more can be done to ensure that our military personnel and their families receive the information they need to exercise all of their rights available to them under federal laws such as the civil members release act or scra. recently, banks settled claims under the servicemen's civil release act because they fore closed on members of the military while they were on active duty. in my view, that's the sort of problem no military member should have to wor

have worked well and people have paid for them, medicare, social security, or whether it's department of defense which had the largest increase in spending in the last decade and the li lion's share of spending and growth has come from the department of defense or whether it's the issue of taxes because we've seen the largest contributor to these deficits over the last decade have been the bush tax breaks. all that have should be on the table for discussion, and we should all be prepared to give a little bit. and i yeah, i don't think it's a lack of desire on the part of anyone, including the house democrats, to put things on the table. it's a matter of having a balanced approach, and we can get there because we saw two commissions, the four co-chairs of those two commissions come to us, bipartisanly, two democrats and two republicans, say not only can you do this, but can you go big and be balanced, include revenues, include savings on the entitlement programs and at the same time make reductions in the department of defense because it seems such a large increase in spending over the last decad

the department of defense has to acknowledge that in the last ten years, the increased spending that occurred in those ten years, two-thirds went to the department of defense. so if the problem here is excessive spending, 65% of the excess spending was done by one department and one department only. that doesn't mean we should do anything to harm the training and equipping of our troops and making sure they have what they need if we send them into battle but it does mean the department of defense shouldn't undergo an audit. it is the only department that could not undergo an audit because they don't have their books in order. that doesn't make sense. everyone has to be more responsible. >> thanks again. >> thank you. >> so, let's bring in john avalon, senior columnist for the daily beast and "newsweek." good to see you tonight. going big. that's what bacerra wants. you're hearing probably not. >> we're hearing a lot of cynicism in washington but cynicism passes for wisdom in washington. i think there are folks holding out hope. i liked that he said they could make a deal. maybe bigger

there is no authorized distributor, that whoever is supplying those parts be certified by the department of defense the way they currently are by one part of the department of defense, the missile defense agency as being a reliable supplier. we have had too many cases of missiles and of airplanes that have defective parts on them. the lives of our people in uniform depend upon these parts being quality parts, and we're not going to accept the status quo any more in terms of counterfeiting, mainly from china, and we're taking this strong action in this bill now following last night's action to make sure that this status quo is reversed. we have over 96,000 u.s. soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines on the ground in afghanistan. we have 13,000 as we speak remaining in iraq. there are many issues upon which we disagree, but every one of us knows that we must provide our troops with the support that they need and deserve as long as they are in harm's way. and senate action on the defense bill will improve the quality of life for our men and women in uniform, it will give them the tools that they need t

money gone on of the largest recipients of federal dollars for the green energy program is the department of defense. in the 2010 memorandum of understanding with the department of energy department said and i quote energy efficiency conserve rounds de force multiplier increasing the range and endurance of the forces in the field while reducing the number of the combat forces averted to protect energy supplies by reducing long-term energy costs. in addition we are developing the green jobs here at home. the institution estimates that in my home state for example the green jobs and place some 43,000 to wondered seven residents an average of 44 bills and $790 per year which is higher than the median salary in my state. at a time when the middle class state is shrinking, these figures are the news. finally, we are going to remain competitive in the global economy we must be willing to make investments going forward. according to the report by the charitable trust in march, china and the leading green energy investments and other countries like italy, mexico and argentina are rapidly increasing their in

if you have been sexually harassed, what message does it send when you have the department of defenseorts of sexual assault cases and sexual harassment cases that are reported and wide numbers of one that aren't. regardless of good legal work he has done on other cases i think is another situation in line with how flawed cain's campaign has been. >> you know there are so many women out there. i have been practicing 21 years and i have seen thousands of them. what he is saying, if you are going to make these allegations make sure you have the information and documentation and don't make allegations without having the supporting documentation. >> based on sexual harassment, you think twice, you think four times, you have friends thinking four. the majority of women who are sexually harassed should not be dumped into a smaller number of cases where people are making false accusations. >> i feel that herman cain who was running for president, the allegations against him. he is entitled to a defense and entitled to the best defense possible. lynnwood who is renowned as an attorney, let's g

at the federal level, this includes the department of defense, the fdc, the federal reserve board, the scc, the occ, the fdic, the department of education, the department of justice, and most recently, the bureau for consumer financial protection. accordingly, i don't believe there's any shortage of regulators. the real challenge is making sure that regulation keeps up with change in technology and changes in the marketplace. in particular, i would like to hear today whether new forms of lending to our military such as online lending present any new difficulties for enforcing consumer protections for military personnel. i want to know whether more can be done to ensure our military personnel and their families receive the information they need to exercise all of their rights available to them under federal laws such as the service members civil relief act or scra. recently, several banks settled claims under the servicemens civil relief act because they currently fore closed on members of the military while they were on active duty. in my view, that's the sort of problem no military me

. >> and the department of defense announced the death of a national guardsman. the 21-year-old died wednesday in afghanistan. the daily bee says he died by indirect fire. he was assigned to 185th military police bat at that timin out of pittsburgh. abc 7 was there in december. he shipped out with his fashional guard unit. the second guardman to be killed in action in afghanistan. >> working off an anonymous tip, sheriff deputies seized a million dollars worth of marijuana, cash and packaging materials from a warehouse in watsonville. and found 130 pounds of pot. being used -- scribed as one of the largest pot busts in years. two men are under arrest for possession and cult vacation of marijuana for sale. >> and coming up a growing backlash. social media evolves to be a store front for advertising. >> police reopen the natalie wood drowning case. investigators said about her husband, robert wagner. >> and one local hospital sends in clowns to cheer sick children. the news continues in one minute. >> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. >>> los

gentleman in the back. >> my name is chad and i am with the class of 2009 and i work with the department of defenseort of you mentioned green collar in your book. one of the things we're looking at in the department of defense is going green. one of your takes is based on the power of the purchase in the largest consumer of energy that if we challenge the market to produce results in about two or three years the argument is about putting money in the infrastructure to say to both to produce a result and we draw the market. >> well, you know, there is a whole group green hawks in the pentagon and i think that there is nothing more valuable than rather than going down the solyndra ridge of commercializing technology we need to race to the top just as the pentagon says whoever comes up with a new generation -- and making this up -- that gives 50 miles to the gallon, we will buy them all. you have the market. whoever comes up with this level of efficiency in the solar panel we will buy them all and put them on every base in the country. shall we should be using our buying power when we are buying power

. >> there is an effort going on within the department of defense. i think it will find its way here to congress. that effort is informed by the future security environment. what do the next two decades portray? what does it tell us that the threats are that are out there? we talked about that this morning in our testimony. based on that, what do we need to do to navigate -- to mitigate those risks and how much we can afford? it gets informed by the fiscal realities. we are in that process right now. the national strategy is a process where all part of. i want to give you the confidence that this is being done the right way as we approached this. we're just not ready yet to say precisely what is it you will not be able to do but clearly there will be some things we will not be able to do and that will have resource implications for procurement and operations and maintenance. >> thank you. i was out at the national ground intelligence yesterday afternoon and some of the things they were considering is here is the capacity and here's what it does and i

. >> we are still calling it the department of defense, aren't we? t you have to build case for u.s. interests -- not that we don't have an interest in israel, but isn't the -- can we just attack another country that's a -- i'm sorry, i forgot we did it twice. go ahead. >> i great completely. this is where the possession is deeply concerned, what happens in the aftermath, and what threats do you then have to begin defending against as well, because çiran, whether it's through its allies, hezbollah in lebanon, allies in iraq, other factions in the region, begin to take actions that that you also have to build up your forces for, this is much more complicated than mitt romney made it sound. >> steve, i think the israeli people are trying to figure out the consequences of any action, even if highly successful in surgically removing the atomic threat from iran for maybe 4, 5, whatever years. they're not stupid. romney seems to be here. he's not a stupid man, but stupidly making an assertion that we're going to do something without even weighing the conse

we also have partnerships with the administration for children and families, the department of defense, the department of justice, and the veterans administration, and hrsa, so that we deal with trauma across the board. we want it to be in primary care settings. we want people asking about it. and then we want to make sure we have a workforce that's skilled enough to begin to do something about it. and we are very glad that you have enlightened our audience related to this topic. i want to remind our audience that national recovery month is celebrated every september, and we're hoping that you engage and be visible and vocal during this month by hosting events and also be engaged, not only with the family, but with those that are in recovery. i want to thank you for being here, and it was a very good show. thank you. for a copy of this program or other programs in the road to recovery series, call samhsa at 1-800-662-help, or order online at recoverymonth.gov and click multimedia. every september, national recovery month provides an opportunity for communities like yours to raise aware

. >> well, we are still calling it the department of defense, aren't we? u have to build a case for u.s. interests, not that we don't have an interest in our ally, israel, we have it as much as with any other country. isn't the department responsible for defending the united states? can we just attack another country that hasn't attacked us at all? sorry, forgot we did it twice. your thoughts. >> i agree with you çcompletel. this is where the pentagon is deeply concerned about what happens in the aftermath. and what threats do you then have to begin defending against as well, because iran, whether it's through its allies, hezbollah, and lebanon, allies in iraq, other factions in the region began to take actions that you also have to build up your forces for, that this is much more complicated than mitt romney made it sound. >> steve, i think the israeli people right now are trying to figure out the consequences of any action, even if the action is highly successful in surgically removing the atonic threat from iran for maybe four, five, whatever years. the

the department of defense has awarded nearly $270 million for the two military hospitals. walter reed national military medical center and fort belvoir community hospital. here's the breakdown of improvements. in fairfax county near fort belvoir, $180 million will go toward widening route one. around walter reed and montgomery county, $89 million worth of improvements. now, nearly half of which will go toward building a metro access tunnel under route 355 and four other intersections around the hospital will get the improvements. lawmakers from our area in both virginia and maryland have been fighting for funding and overall improvements, highlighting the fact that serving the nation's wounded warriors and veterans are vital but first you have to get to people to these hospitals. lawmakers are saying it is definitely a win-win situation right now. back to you. >> all right, surae. a win-win situation how long do we have to wait to feel the victory? >> that's the catch. obviously it won't help with today's traffic or even the months to come. this tunnel at the metro station

the department of defense is cutting off supply routes, up threatening to become much more -- threatening to become much more uncooperative but unless the united states except responsibility for this attack. >> to some extent this is highlighting the fundamental problems, right? pakistan is saying we will not cut off the relationship, but they are holding out the threat that they might do. americans are saying this is a great tragedy, not totally apologizing. we have are really great disconnect. >> within the pakastanis vulnerable, but we need the minimum amount of cooperation from pakistan. the fundamental issue is we want them to cooperate on al-qaeda, on cross border infiltrations. the pakastani public in particular is very upset about unilateral u.s. action within pakastani territory. they feel this is a violation of their sovereignty. >> the state department is saying pakistan may not attend a security conference in germany next week. is pakistan does not attend, there's not much point in having a conference, right? >> absolutely. there has been over a year of investment in that conf

lawmakers are saying that this is a win for improvement down the road and that's because the department of defense has awarded nearly $270 million for two top military hospitals. they are walter reed national military medical center where we are. that's now in bethesda here on the naval medical center campus. they moved out of the district all for the base realignment project. the second fort belvoir community hospital. here is the breakdown of improvements. in fairfax county, near fort belvoir, $180 million will go toward widening route one. around walter reed and montgomery county, $89 million worth of improvements here. nearly half of which will go toward building a metro access tunnel. under route 355. there are four additional intersections around the hospital here at jones bridge road and 185, 355 and cedar lane and jones bridge and also west theatre lane. lawmakers in both virginia and maryland including congressman jim moran and chris van holland have been fighting for the improvements and finally, they're getting them but it might take a couple of years if not longer for all of the improv

the department of defense has now given nearly $270 million to help keep us moving. surae chinn reports from bethesda. one of the routes is getting help. >> i can't get out of the street. >> delores knows just how the base realignment project has changed people's lives, including hers. she lives across the street from the new walter reed national military medical center in bethesda. >> your habits have change and so has everybody else on the street. >> it is a lot different. it just sits and sits and sits. >> gridlock. gridlock between tree and sixth. >> but there is relief. tens of millions of dollars will improve the roads around these two top military hospitals. fort belvoir community hospital in fairfax county received $180 million to widen route one. walter reed gets $90 million, more than half of which will go toward improving four intersections. the rest will go into building a metro access tunnel under route 355. >> lovely. i really nice. i can approve of that. >> i'm an optimist. hopefully it will get better. >> i don't know in what way will it ease. i don't

. >> we already are making the department of defense take $465 billion worth of cuts. , to put another 600 billion starting in 2013 on the department of defense, i think would be devastating. do we have a little to give the super committee? maybe. i've been one of those people trying to give them some idea, trying to figure out with secretary panetta what it looks like, this 465 billion we are cutting this year, but we don't have a lot more after that, honestly. >> congresswoman, what we are hearing in the national journal today that members are embracing this idea and it was out a little bit earlier, this discussion, taking the savings from both of the wars and counting that toward the require respect that the super committee has. is that a gimmick? >> well, first of all, we will be out of iraq by december 31st of this year. but, again, we have to find $465 billion in this fiscal year. having started october 1st going through this next september 30th. a lot of that is already accounted for. and also remember, we have these troops returning. they are going to have a lot