also speaking is representative eliot engel. this portion is about 35 minutes. >> so i just wanted to say, i go back and forth -- to the border in turkey, the southern border with syria and come back and i have often seen this gentleman both here in washington, and on the ground doing tireless work, in terms of trying to push for as much assistance as possible for the syrian people directly on the inside. there are different sorts of frustrations in the things that you do, there are many people in the united states government and state department who are pushing the envelope in the right direction. mr. mark ward, the senior adviser to syria one of these guys. he spent most of his time the last 16 months -- working in southern turkey, with a team of 25 people who work day and night, to facilitate all types of aid and essential aid at that, to reach across the border to our brothers and sisters in syria. without further ado, i would like to introduce mr. mark ward, who will come and give us some opening remarks. [applause] >> than

[applause] >> congressman eliot engel is no introduction. he has a long record of commitment to human rights and democracy. the congressman was a leader in the west to end the ethnic cleansing in kosovo. he worked to end child labor throughout west asia and he has supported the democratic aspiration of the peep hole of the middle east. congressman engel has also been committed to standing up to the assad regime. in 2003, when not many here in washington were talking about the assad regime or syria, the congressman, congressman engel offered the syria accountability and lebanese sovereignty restoration act, which in those penalties and restrictions on the assad government, aimed at forcing their withdraw from lebanon. over the past three years of conflict, congressman engel has never shied away from taking the responsibility for the united states to protect the people of syria. i'll call upon the president to do more every single time. in 2013, the congressmen introduced the free syria at in the house of representatives. the aim of which was

myself and eliot engel and mr. ted deutch and others had an opportunity last year to travel to israel to see the effects, see the efforts by israel to counter the rocket attacks that come in from gaza by hamas. had an opportunity back during the second lebanon war, back during the war with hezbollahering -- hezbollah, to actually see the effects in august of 2006 of what was happening with rockets firing into a city on a daily basis. the city was under siege. there were literally 600 israelis, jewish israelis, arab israelis, jews israels, who were victims of these attacks from the communities who were in the trauma hospital and every day these rockets were rain down. now, this was not just the handy work of hezbollah. and of hamas that we saw last year. no. this was with rockets provided by iran, by iran and syria. and in the rocket attacks that i saw in 2006, those rockets, every one of them, in the cone of those rockets had 80,000 ball bearings and they would be fired on schools, on homes, on the hospital itself

on the democratic side, the ranking member on the house foreign affairs committee eliot engel said the international community should help ukraine return to political and economic health. he said, quote, the united states and our allies must be ready to help which is why i support a robust international economic assistance package, and the administration's proposal to provide u.s. loan guarantees and other assistance to ukraine. house republican speaker john boehner says the obama administration's, quote, acquiescence and in some cases silence in dealing with putin in the past several years has imboldened russia to take more aggressive action, greg? >> molly, thanks very much.>>> now, rain is soaking southern california's drought-stricken ground. creating serious concerns for flooding and dangerous mud slides. dominick is live in hard-hit glendora, california, southern california. dominick, you know, look, california has been hit with an extreme drought over the last several years. and, of course, government action has diverted some of the other water to save the smelt. but, look, how

eliot engel of new york for his opening remarks, the ranking member of the committee. royce, thank you for calling this hearing on the taiwan relations act. i am a big supporter of taiwan and have traveled there many times. most recently with you last year on your first kordell as chairman. i want to agree with everything you just said about taiwan. march the 35th anniversary of the taiwan relations act. the act passed in 1979 and is the cornerstone of the relationship between our two nations. it has been instrumental in maintaining peace and security across the taiwan straits and in east asia. it serves as the official basis of friendship and cooperation between the united states and taiwan. i'm proud to be a leads bonds with you, mr. chairman, on a dress for 94 which reaffirms the importance and relevance of the taiwan relations act three decades after its adoption. taiwan is a flourishing multiparty democracy of over 20 million people, with a vibrant, free market economy. it is a leading trade partner of the united states alongside much bigger countries like brazil

in the "crossfire," representative eliot engel, a new york democrat, and adam kinsinger, an illinois republican. who is making the u.s. look weak on the world stage? obama, putin or the republicans? tonight on "crossfire." >>> welcome to "crossfire." we're going to continue cnn's breaking news coverage of the crisis in ukraine. i'm van jones on the left. >> i'm s.e. cupp on the right. in the "crossfire" tonight a democrat and republican from the house foreign affairs committee. it's been a big day of breaking news. armed men hassled the u.n.'s eni have to ukraine today before forcing him to leave crimea. secretary of state john kerry met with the russians and the ukrainians today in paris but couldn't get them to talk directly to each other. and kerry had this to say. >> ukraine's territorial integrity must be restored and must be respected. >> but we're all still unclear about how the u.s. will enforce that. yesterday president obama said putin was pausing. today putin threatened to confiscate u.s. and european assets if we impose sanctions. when will we learn to take putin seriousl

i am pleased, by the way, to have worked closely with ranking member eliot engel of new york, and withll of the members of the committee to produce this strong, effective and much-needed bipartisan bill. and i look forward to its passage today and to working with our senate colleagues to have the president sign the bill into law as soon as possible. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. engel: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. engel: i rise in strong support of h.r. 4278, the ukraine support act, and let me begin by thanking the chairman of our foreign affairs committee, mr. royce, for his strong leadership on ukraine. as always, he's working with us in a bipartisan and constructive manner. it's very important -- on this very important and timely bill and i'm pleased to be the lead democratic co-sponsor. i'd like to thank my other democratic and republican colleagu

i am pleased, by the way, to have worked closely with ranking member eliot engel of new york, and with all of the members of the committee to produce this strong, effective and much-needed bipartisan bill. and i look forward to its passage today and to working with our senate colleagues to have the president sign the bill into law as soon as possible. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. engel: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. engel: i rise in strong support of h.r. 4278, the ukraine support act, and let me begin by thanking the chairman of our foreign affairs committee, mr. royce, for his strong leadership on ukraine. as always, he's working with us in a bipartisan and constructive manner. it's very important -- on this very important and timely bill and i'm pleased to be the lead democratic co-sponsor. i'd like to thank my other democratic and republican collea

. >> congressman eliot engel, thank you so much for your time. greatly appreciate it, sir. >> thank you. >>> a dramatic day and new security concerns in the oscar pistorius trial. a witness now says he is receiving threats and the judge now reportedly has been given new security detail. this as two witnesses are accused of collaborating on their testimony. we're going to take you live to south africa. >>> plus, shocking video of rescuers saving a family after the mini van ended up in the ocean. witnesses say the young children inside that vehicle were screaming for help and police are now investigating exactly what happened there. >>> in calling the race for me tonight, i've become only the second female democratic gubernatorial candidate since ann richards. >> and the showdown in the great state of texas. democrat wendy davis will take on republican greg abbott in the race for governor. our first read team says primary night was a good night for establishment republicans, not so much for the tea party. mark murray will join us and we'll get mark

in light of that, and i agree with ranking member eliot engel, we know the young people of iran want to live in a non-tir ran anythingal society. why shouldn't we be reinstituting and pushing for harsher sanctions for what just happened in the last sfwheek. >> sfwheek. >> well, as you know, we do sanction iran for other activities other than nuclear. there's nothing to suggest that we shouldn't take a step with respect to that. we sanction them for state sponsor of terror and they're already sanctioned under that and this fits under that banner, obviously. so we're not -- we haven't said no. you know, we're still trying to get -- we have to get to the bottom of what's in it, how much, all this kind of stuff, where it came from, tracking because you have some fairly rigid standards that have to be applied legally when you make that determination, but that said, let me come back to a comment you made about the ship and the overall issue of iran and not trusting them. i've said before and i really want to emphasize to everybody here, nothing that we're doing with respect to this negotia

eliot engel from new york, and then any other members seeking recognition to speak on the bill. we will then proceed to consideration of a manager's amendment. then to an en bloc package of bipartisan amendments, and then to any free-standing amendments that may remain before the committee. now let me make the observation that russia's armed intervention in ukraine and its illegal annexation of crimea have created an international crisis. and the danger, obviously, is far from over. president putin has deployed russian forces on ukraine's borders, and may yet attempt to carve off additional pieces of eastern or southern ukraine. if we wish to prevent him from further aggression, then the united states and our allies must take immediate action to strengthen ukraine's sovereignty, to strengthen their independence, to target responsible russian officials and others, in order to give the russians second thoughts before they take any additional action. this bill provides much-needed assistance to ukraine's struggling democracy, which will be tested in the presidential election that's

i am pleased, by the way, to have worked closely with ranking member eliot engel of new york, and with all of the members of the committee to produce this strong, effective and much-needed bipartisan bill. and i look forward to its passage today and to working with our senate colleagues to have the president sign the bill into law as soon as possible. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. engel: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. engel: i rise in strong support of h.r. 4278, the ukraine support act, and let me begin by thanking the chairman of our foreign affairs committee, mr. royce, for his strong leadership on ukraine. as always, he's working with us in a bipartisan and constructive manner. it's very important -- on this very important and timely bill and i'm pleased to be the lead democratic co-sponsor. i'd like to thank my other democratic and republican collea

kaptur: i want to thank the esteemed ranking member of new york, eliot engel, a dear friend, for yielding time in support of ukraine support act, h.r. 4278. and for his leadership from the time we traveled to ukraine together and to congressman royce, the chairman of the committee, to reaffirm america's strong support for liberty and the people of ukraine at this really critical time in world history and the history of central and eastern europe. the assistance that is contemplated here is in the form of a loan guarantee, and will aid ukraine's efforts to recover its own missing assets to pay the money back. ukraine is fully capable of earning its way forward. it's already the third largest grain exporter in the world. this is nothing that can't be repaid. in addition, the bill authorizes $10 million for international broadcasting to ukraine. i can guarantee you i did an interview with voice of america about a week ago. i received emails from people in ukraine. they are waiting to hear the song -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. kaptur: pass this legislatio

the ranking democrat is new york representative eliot engel. live coverage on c-span radio and c-span3. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. we bring public affairs events from washington directly to you. putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings, and conferences. and offering complete coverage of the u.s. house. a public service of private industry. created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us in hd. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. "washington journal" continues. host: we welcome congressman republican of wisconsin. he sits on the budget committee. president obama unveiled his proposal for 2015 on tuesday. he was talking about it yesterday as well. he is out rallying support. what was your reaction? all budgets, you are making a statement of values. he is making a statement of values. it is more of a campaign document it seems. the budget agreement signed into law a few months ago by the hegress and the presid

chairman rogers and ranking member lowey and the ranking member of the foreign affairs committee, eliot engel, with whom i worked particularly closely in trying to advance the values of vaclav havel and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. moran: mr. speaker, we want to thank mr. royce, the chairman of the foreign relations committee, for introducing this resolution and promoting the idea of having a bust of vaclav havel in the u.s. capitol. and we completely agree with his motivation and the words that he has shared with us today and with that we would yield back the balance of our time and we would urge unanimous support for this resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from michigan is recognized. mrs. miller: mr. speaker, i would simply close by saying vaclav havel passed away on december 18, 2011, in the czech republic. he was 75 years old. what an incredible life this man led, and i think certainly displaying this bust in the united states capitol is

massachusetts, for his work on this resolution as well as our ranking member of the committee, eliot engel of new york, and also recognize the long hard work that congresswoman marcy kaptur of ohio and mr. gerlach, mr. gerlach of pennsylvania have put in to their engagement on this issue with the ukraine. i would also add that if we do not recognize that russia is using energy as a weapon, we are missing what is really going on in eastern europe and central europe. it was in part ukraine's reliance on russia's energy that pushed the now deposed ukraine president to abandon the trade deal with the european union. it was that attempt to pressure him, and he was tempted by promises of discounts on natural gas. he was pressured by the threat of turning off the valve on that gas. he was pressured to turn toward russia instead of the european union. we believe that ukraine should have the right to trade with russia and the european union, trade east and west and north to poland and south to muldova. this should be the decision of the ukrainian people, and i believe the administration must do far

eliot engel from new york. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. administrator alexander deputy assistant secretary singh thank you for appearing before the committee today and your tireless efforts in the last couple of months in your support of ukraine and let me thank chairman of royce for holding this hearing on this issue that is in the forefront of all of our minds right now. since 1991 the u.s. has strongly supported democratic prosperous sovereign ukraine in keeping with this commitment we support a peaceful negotiated resolution pic as hundreds of thousands of ukrainian citizens came out in the streets of kiev to express their desire for more democratic and just stayed. the recent selection of new interim government signal ukraine is back on the path towards stability and economic health but instead of welcoming this event is in the case of u.s. and europe president putin has reacted in a very different and disturbing manner so let me be clear president putin's aggressive military actions in crimea flagrantly violated territorial integrity

kaptur: i want to thank the esteemed ranking member of new york, eliot engel, a dear friend, for yielding time in support of ukraine support act, h.r. 4278. and for his leadership from the time we traveled to ukraine together and to congressman royce, the chairman of the committee, to reaffirm america's strong support for liberty and the people of ukraine at this really critical time in world history and the history of central and eastern europe. the assistance that is contemplated here is in the form of a loan guarantee, and will aid ukraine's efforts to recover its own missing assets to pay the money back. ukraine is fully capable of earning its way forward. it's already the third largest grain exporter in the world. this is nothing that can't be repaid. in addition, the bill authorizes $10 million for international broadcasting to ukraine. i can guarantee you i did an interview with voice of america about a week ago. i received emails from people in ukraine. they are waiting to hear the song -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. kaptur: pass this legislatio