gao yuan is around a province 1,000 kilometers from beijing.e owns seven restaurants on guijie street and with 400 employees he's become the area's most successful entrepreneur. this is a weekly meeting. it's meant to motivate employees and foster a sense of belonging. his business model has changed drastically over the last ten years. by 7:00 p.m., customers are lining up to get into the restaurant. summer is guijie street's busiest season. the restaurant's most popular dish is cray fish with hot peppers and chinese peppers. he revamps the menu every two months predikcting what customes will want, always taking initiative and setting new trends. this spicy hot crawfish dish was a hot just as he predicted approximate although he's out performed the competition for ten years, he can't let his guard down. although he's out performed the competition for ten years, he can't let his guard down. although he's out performed the competition for ten years, he can't let his guard down. although he's out performed the competition for ten years, he can't l

in 2009 we were removed, gao remove the office of science from high-risk list, and in 2013 gao again narrowed its d.o.e. focused to projects over $750 million in the department's office of environmental management and the national nuclear security administration. the department remains very focused on getting off this list entirely. to meet this challenge the secretary is instituting changes to improve departmental performance on major projects. one of the first actions he took when he became secretary was to create an undersecretary for management and performance to focus specifically on improving project management and providing direct supervision of many of d.o.e.'s most challenging projects. in august 2013 the secretary also established a working group which he asked me to lead to conduct an in depth analysis of project management. this working group was comprised of d.o.e.'s seniormost project management experts. we took a coverage look at the challenges that dod faces, and the group provided opinions as to why projects either fail or succeed in the d.o.e. environment. the worki

cms appreciates the work of the gao. medicare is a large and complex program serving 54 million beneficiaries and working with over 1.5 million providers. we pay over 1 billion claims per year from these providers. while the gao continues to classify medicare as a high-risk program, there is good news to report. the last two years saw the slowest growth in real per capita national health care expenditures on record. the 2014 medicare trustees report projects that the trust fund which finances medicare's hospital insurance coverage will remain solvent until 2030. four years beyond what was projected just last year. there are also promising improvements in the quality of care furnished to beneficiaries. initiatives have contributed to an estimated 50,000 fewer patients deaths in hospitals and 1.3 million fewer hospital acquired conditions. medical review strategies have resulted in over $5 billion of savingings in the last fiscal year. cms is working to transform medicare into a high-value payer with payments based on qual

he was here for gao related testimony and not irs. and i don't know whether he's prepared for the questions or not. we'll find out. i believe that you have agreed at some point he's going to come back before the committee. i was wondering if the chairman might engage in a colloquy with me to make sure that my chronology is correct. i thought the last time the commissioner was in front of us there was a robust discussion about the time period within which he was going to produce e-mails. and he had asked us to narrow the scope so that he could prioritize and get us those e-mails that we had asked for. and of course, as the chairman will recall, we need those e-mails, because the e-mails we do have from lois lerner contain such jewels as lamenting gop, celebrating democrat wins, forecasting gloom and doom, if the gop god forbid ever controlled the senate saying that we needed a plan to overcome citizens united. those were just some of the e-mails that i recall, mr. chairman. and if my chronology holds after the commissioner told us that

denarro, and all the on other gao employees who do a great job. with that, i yield back. >> thank you. i'll hold the record open for five legislative days. we would like to recognize our first witness. comptroller of the united states government accountability office. on behalf of both of us and this whole body, we thank the thousands of men and women who serve in the gao who really work hard to create a work product and present it here today. so, we welcome all. pursuant to committee rules the witness will be sworn in before he testifies. we will also swear in the panel behind him, should their input be needed during their question questioning. so, if you could all rise, please. thank you. rise and raise your right hand. do you sell lemly swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. thank you. let the record reflect all the witnesses answered in the affirmative. now recognize. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. good afternoon to you. ranking member cummings, all members of the

and that, as i say the gao has been referencing this. but then i know that you know last week that our own government allowed some private organizations to do data mining using healthcare.gov customers. they gave out things like ages and they did not give out social security numbers but ages and some of the like their pregnancy and number of people that smoke the ages, the zip code, and it wasn't until this was exposed and we, by the way, have written a letter to ask cms and hhs how many people got. this how can would he be assured that their privacy is being protected right now today about the data that they shared? >> it is appalling. anyway. >> it is. >> representative, thank you. >> we'll keep working on it, thank you, greta. >> and straight ahead. we know president obama won't meet with israeli prime minister netanyahu when he is here next month but did leader nancy pelosi just give a nod and a wink telling democrats in congress to boycott netanyahu's speech to congress? you have to hear what house minority leader pelosi just does y

he was here for gao related testimony and not irs. i believe you have agreed that at some point he is going to come back before the committee and i was wondering if the chairman might engage in a colloquy with me to make sure micronnology is correct. i thought the last time that commissioner koskinen was in front of us there was a robust discussion about a time period within which he was going to produce e-mails. and he had asked us to narrow the scope so that he could prioritize and get us the e-mails we had asked for, and of course as the chairman will recall, we need those e-mails because the e-mails we do have from lois lerner contain such jewels as lamenting g.o.p. wins. celebrating democrat wins. forecasting gloom and doom if the g.o.p. god forbid every controlled the senate, saying that we needed a plan to overcome citizens united. those were some of the e-mails i recall, mr. chairman and if my chronology holds they magically disappeared, and then the irs of course, mr. chairman employed herculean efforts to recover those e-mai

these examples have been positively acknowledged i do gao. and we are engaging with the private sector in new ways to better share information and transfer insights into action the fraud prevention partnership is made up of 38 private federal and state members and continues to gain membership and this has completed studies that have helped us to take substantive action and the presidents fiscal year budget includes a proposal to allow both public and private partners to support this irish partnership by providing funds, see nss made important private sector tools in operation including prior authorization and the use of automated claims and this net hundreds of millions of dollars in savings every year. finally we are focused on moving the medicare program away from fee-for-service reimbursement and by paying the number and we are testing different payment models were provide all is are held accountable for the quality and cost of care and providers have a financial incentive to coordinate care for their patients. and we have sent explicit go

is a growing epidemic that cost seniors an estimated two-point $9 billion in 2010 according to the gao. in maine a long there are 14,000 new reports each year of senior abuse which includes financial exploitation and in as many as 90% of financial cases the seniors victimized by someone he or she knows well. many of these cases the victim is too ashamed to report financial exploitation particularly when it involves a family member. as a consequence the true incidence of this kind of abuse is not known. identifying victims of financial exploitation in my state is particularly difficult because we take a lot of pride in our self-sufficiency. it's difficult for many seniors to ask for help. in addition since victims who have had their assets stolen by family members typically do not want their relatives to be criminally prosecuted, the stolen money is rarely recovered. combating financial abuse of seniors is primarily the responsibility of state and local agencies particularly adult protective services agencies. prevention and response to cases of abuse require coordinated efforts includi

i felt that the way that the resolution was drafted even though it did follow the guidelines of gao and how they weigh in on the grand jury report it's not one i could support and i agreed with and not a question of whether i didn't agree with the work of the committee and the gao. it was about the language in front of me i wanted to make sure was something i could agree with and actually coincide with what i intend to do or could intend to do in the future so it wasn't about not respecting the committee process but what is before us today and colleagues i hope you support the continuance if it's asked for today or support the amendments. >> so you're not withdrawing the motion to move it forward today? >> i would like to move the amendments today. that's what the current motion is before us. >> okay. thank you. okay. you have before you amendments to item number 10. mr. clerk can you please call the roll -- -- excuse me supervisor wiener. >> thank you. i want to respect the work of the committee but in addition someone once introduced legislation about ethics or disclosure or anything

can you speak to the impact on gao's ability to audit crisis credit facilities?iew 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 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. >> by -- number? >> that's right and we have a weekly balance sheet that reports significant

>> i have not seen that gao report. but if i am confirmed we'll find out where the department stands in terms of implementing that goal and if they are off track, try to get them back on track because i think it is a good goal. >> do you think now is the time that we should look at elevating cyber to its own command or even with the commission that we had yesterday, there is a recommendation in that commission for a joint readiness command. when we look at overhead and administrative costs what would be your initial response to those that are promoting ideas for additional commands. >> i'm all for paying much more attention to cyber and think we need to do that. but the creation of new commands and new headquarters in this budgetary environment is something i think we need to look at very closely and cautiously. >> as you know, our chairman senator mccain, is interested as we all are, in gaining more knowledge about the information sharing with regard to our cyber security threats and that is one area that i believe has

can you speak to the impact to the sanders amendment on the gao's ability to audit prices? >> well, in response to that amendment, the gao conducted a complete review of the use of our 13-3 emergency lending authorities in all of the programs that were created and conducted an audit that was concluded i believe in mid-2011. in addition, the 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 a and with the two-year lag our discount window lending. >> those are fully transparent and fully audited now, is that correct? >> that is correct. >> second concern i've heard raised by the audit fed advocates the size and composition of the fed's $4.5 trillion balance sheet. does the fed disclose the types of assets that make up that $4.5 trillion? >> 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 site. >> by number.

this year marks the 25th anniversary of the gao's high-risk list. i have a full statement but in the essence of time i will insert those comments into the record and with my other members to do the same. i would like to recognize the ranking member mr. cummings. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. i'm going to do the same. i want to thank all of our witnesses and i will submit my statement for the record. i want to always as usual thanks you mr. dodaro and the gao employees to do a great job. with that i yield back. >> thank you. i will hold a record open for five legislative days when a member who would like to submit a written statement they would like to recognize our first witness. jean dodaro comptroller of the united states government comptroller office accompanied by a panel of experts and on behalf of both of us in his whole body we thank the thousands of men and women who served in the gao who work hard to create a work product and presented here today. we welcome all. pursuant to committee rules the chairman will be sworn in before he tes

>> i have not seen that gao report. but if i am confirmed we'll find out where the department stands in terms of implementing that goal and if they are off track, try to get them back on track because i think it is a good goal. >> do you think now is the time that we should look at elevating cyber to its own command or even with the commission that we had yesterday, there is a recommendation in that commission for a joint readiness command. when we look at overhead and administrative costs what would be your initial response to those that are promoting ideas for additional commands. >> i'm all for paying much more attention to cyber and think we need to do that. but the creation of new commands and new headquarters in this budgetary environment is something i think we need to look at very closely and cautiously. >> as you know, our chairman senator mccain, is interested as we all are, in gaining more knowledge about the information sharing with regard to our cyber security threats and that is one area that i believe has

gao has 30 the range of career programs to provide assistance as well as what the systems face. what is the funding gap? earlier you gave a combined total? what is the funding for the infrastructure and to how much money does it entail? to make it has estimated the funding gap estimated to be $662 billion and it is based on the next 20 years. >> thank you. obviously the water systems represented on this panel with think the resources are required so reduce support authorization to increase funding available? to talk about gramm's not just blown sand you mentioned that you could always reach the limit for the needed funds. >> absolutely. we cannot even entertain a municipal bond at this time. right now we're only spending a hour budget on repairs we don't have enough for replacement of old infrastructure. so we are looking for funding but it is the struggle. we encourage the refunding of that. >> to support efforts to expand technical efforts. with nt technical assistance that is really a of value. but in terms of technical assistance the relevant role it might play. >> with my e

they found advisers consistently steered customers to the highest fee products. 2013 gao study found the same thing. in other words, the bankers and advisers gave themselves a great deal, while they gave their customers a lousy deal. this can cost customers a lot. even a 1% increase in fees could cost a retiree $100,000 in savings over their career. so what i wanted to ask about, miss shaw, is what can we do to make sure our seniors don't end up investing in retirement -- their retirement savings in funds that benefit the brokers more than they benefit the customers. >> thank you senator. certainly i have supported the position of nasa, north american security administration to encourage securities & exchange commission to adopt uniform fiduciary standard. i would also say disclosure is key as well. disclosure of the fee, disclosure of the information. an informed investor is going to be an investor better protected. certainly working toward including a more robust disclosure of fees, of the product components, products are very complex to make sure that all of that is made perfectly

government itself, that these internal check points are very ineffective, and inefficient in fact, gao study from back in 2008, indicated that one of the primary reasons that it is used to justify these interim check points is that official ports of entry, the border patrol, or customs only attempts to interdict 30% of major illegal activity, so they say they need a second layer of defense inside the country, so that raise it is country, why are they only attempting to interdict 11% at ports of entry, and the racialal is they don't want to -- they don't want to interfere with border commerce and traffic too much. so instead of doing their jobs at the border, they allow knowingly allow of illegal traffic to pass through, so that they don't interfere with the commerce too much. >> that's an entirely -- that's a bit of a different discussion than we are having right now, unfortunately we don't have more time for the one we are having. i do want to mention we reached out to border patrol and did not receive a response, thank you to our guests forry, mar yeah loyola. still ahead, what if yo

ways that these guys can cut waste, fraud and abuse they've ignored it through the decades and now the gao has raised a number of federal programs to 32 including tax enforcement. >> and, mike the reason we're not making any progress in can you get our debt our national debt from what is it now 18.1 trillion dollars is because of this, because politicians in the past have made unrealistic promises to public sector unions. >> the public sector government unions, david have become sort of this form of welfare. i mean, you know, they only have to contribute, for instance 6% of their paycheck towards their social security where if you're in the private sector and you start a business you have to contribute 12%. they get a whole bunch of perks that people if the private sector don't get. so it's de facto welfare system. they talk about belt tight if i think. in the 2016 budget president obama ask adding to these workers by 30,000. >> but, john, he says he's can you get back. >> yeah, their version of can you get back is a big different from ours. the original idea of the federal government was

one of them is 59-year-old doctor gao xiaoping, who first hit the slopes at 56.an avid skiier, she's already planning a ski trip abroad. >> we just bought a magazine featuring the best ski resorts around the world. there are some in new zealand, switzerland, japan, france, and canada too. i think i'll begin with canada! >> as is the case elsewhere, skiing in china is expensive. a daily pass in this resort costs the equivalent of 70 euros. add to that the cost of travel and renting gear -- this is a sport for the wealthy. a successful bid would provide a major boost for wintersports in china. but even more critically, it could help promote the country on the international stage. >> that is all we have time for today. for more information, go to our website. and don't forget our facebook page. thanks for watching, and goodbye. [upbeat twangy music] ♪ >> ♪ world go away >> hank cochran is, without a doubt, one of the greatest songwriters ever on earth. >> ♪ and i fall to pieces >> it's important historically that people know who hank cochran was and what he did, and

it's been very important and we've heard about it from the gao.nt to make sure the american taxpayer is getting fair return. we've had extensive consultations with industry and the proposal streamlines to make process more efficient and provides more certainty on that end. it will also provide more certainty that we'll get the return we should be getting as american people. it's going to depend on the comments. we're focused on getting this done. i think conversing with my colleague, end of the year may be tight given time frame on the comment period. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you madame chairman. i appreciate you and the ranking member holding this hearing today. first, i want to thank secretary connor for the work you're doing the try to help facility with the dakota access pipeline. that's the thank you i want to acknowledge right up front. very important. we appreciate it. i'd like to ask secretary jewell about blm in regard to coal leasing. i was just out in the goal fields and they are moving one of these big drag lines. it's a 10

i am pleased to be here today to discuss gao's latest high risk update.is with the beginning of each new congress to identify areas we believe our highest risk of fraud abuse, mismanagement and the federal government in need of broad-based transformation. our reports today looks that most of the 30 high-risk areas we've had since our last update in 2013. all of the areas we rate according to five criteria to get off the high risk list. you have to have leadership commitment top-level attention, capacity, resources and people with the right goes to fix the problem. you have to have a good corrective action plan that addresses root cause, a good monitor enough or within our milestones and offers to gauge progress then you have to demonstrate you are actually fixing the problem. you don't have to be 100% fixed, but we have to be convinced we are on the right path to rectifying the problem in reducing the risk and eliminating waste and improving government services. other 30 areas 18 have at least partially not authorized criteria in 11 of those have got to u

>> i have not seen that gao report, but if i am confirmed, i'll find out where the department stands in terms of implementing that goal. and if they're off track, try to get them back on track. i think it's a good goal. >> do you think now is the time that we should look at elevating cyber to its own command or even with the commission that we had yesterday, there's a recommendation in that commission for a joint readiness command. when we look at overhead and administrative costs what would be your initial response to those, those that are promoting ideas for additional commands? >> well i'm all for paying much more attention to cyber and think we need to do that. but the creation of new commands and new headquarters in this budgetary environment is something i think we need to look at very closely and very cautiously. >> as you know, our chairman, senator mccain is interested, as we all are, in gang more knowledge about the information sharing with regards to our cyber security threats. that's one area that i believe has broad support. we know there is support not just from members

on gao's so-called high risk of last, we are on a path to get off the list appeared gao has informedan work to address gao's high-risk designation. we have improved the department's responsiveness to congress. this, despite the challenge of how you count 92 committees and subcommittees of congress who claim an oversight role over this department. members of congress on both sides of the i/o, including some of our biggest critics have taken note of our increased responsiveness. finally and this is my favorite one, which i learned about yesterday. earlier this week, and the judgment of the center for plain language, the department of homeland security has gone from worst to first among federal agencies and our ability to communicate and explain the language, one of my personal passions. in these challenging times and management reform is itself a homeland security imperative. here is where we are on the substance of some important missions. i said here a year ago counterterrorism will remain the corners down of the department of homeland security's mission. 13.5 years after 9/11 is sti

.$9 billion in 2010 according to the gao. there are 14,000 new reports each year of senior reduce and as many of 90% of financial cases this year is victimized by someone he or she knows well. unfortunately the full story is worse. many cases are never reported because the victim is too ashamed to report friday and shall exploitation when it involves a family member. as the consequence this type is not known. but to identify victims in my state is particularly difficult because we take a lot of pride in our self-sufficiency and it is difficult for many seniors to ask for help. and then to a mitt they have assets stolen by family members typically do not want the relatives to be criminally prosecuted so the stolen money is rarely recovered. this could undermine the health and financial security of older people. to combat financial abuse of seniors is the responsibility of state and local agencies particularly protective services agencies it requires coordinated efforts including state and local agencies and law enforcement and

susie gao exclusion was enacted, we've had lower inflation. why we would change that now is a mystery to me. >> he and the rest of the fed know they have a fight on their hands. the bill has 31 cosponsors, including majority leader mitch mcconnell. >> peter cook, thank you. the "economist" magazine buttonwood gathering is focused on the future of finance and global economic growth stop the chairman of the u.s. council of economic advisers spoke at the event in new york and joins me here in the studio. it's a pleasure to have you on the broadcast. let's start with greece. what are you telling president obama about the risk to the u.s. economy over the developments in greece if greece does exit the euro? would it do damage to the u.s.? >> there's no question greece faces some very serious issues and it is for greece to work those issues through with their creditors. we are in conversations with all parties, but insofar as you are talking about the u.s. economy we have real domestic momentum and strength. you see it in consumer spending, business

gao yu is in jail for criticizing her own government. in hong kong, mass of protests were among the best covered in history and that made journalists the targets. >> china has been the biggest prison for journalists professional journalists and nonprofessional journalists since years. >> iran has the second most journalists in prison and is the leading jailer of female journalists. later released. hard line clerics and military commanders try silence journalists by accusing them of antigovernment propaganda. this journalist are insisted no journalists were gay. >> i wanted to continue my profession and career. >> and then there's egypt. 11 journalists are still in prison. the egyptian revolution replaced a military leader with a muslim brotherhood leader who was toppled by a military leader. each government, forcing their rivals into prison or worse. peter greste's release is good news. but stephanie and antonio more attempts to silence reporters with threats incarceration or even murder. >> nick thank you. you just heard from delphine a

it why gao think that swept the nation. we are all infected. >> let's embrace it then. let's get wet. >> i thought weed ad it. >>> coming up a professor lives in a dumpster for a year and expwroa anne calls it plan b. here is what is coming up tomorrow on "kennedy." >> hi there hot stuff. lieutenant colonel rail of peters and my -- raffle peters and john stocell. 7:00 eastern and 9:00 pacific. >>> will he riew his tattoo? cameron diaz's new husband, benji madden from good charlotte, one of my favorites marked the two-month old wedding boy putting cameron in curtis on his chest. will it last? some say no and some say absolutely no. i think it will last until death do they part but if the fess mists are benji will be forced to cover it up or say it is a tribute to james cameron. i don't know which is worse. andy, is it ever a good idea to get a tattoo of anyone's name? any tattoo. >> i have one tattoo and no regrets. it is over my heart and it is edward snowden holding a constitution in one hand. >> i thought gutfeld was slandering you. >> i i have -- i have one tattoo an

is a growing epidemic that cost seniors an estimated two-point $9 billion in 2010 according to the gaoaine a long there are 14,000 new reports each year of senior abuse which includes financial exploitation and in as many as 90% of financial cases the seniors victimized by someone he or she knows well. many of these cases the victim is too ashamed to report financial exploitation particularly when it involves a family member. as a consequence the true incidence of this kind of abuse is not known. identifying victims of financial exploitation in my state is particularly difficult because we take a lot of pride in our self-sufficiency. it's difficult for many seniors to ask for help. in addition since victims who have had their assets stolen by family members typically do not want their relatives to be criminally prosecuted, the stolen money is rarely recovered. combating financial abuse of seniors is primarily the responsibility of state and local agencies, particularly adult protective services agencies. prevention and response to cases of abuse require coordinated efforts including st

i thought the gao report was fantastic and i think it's nice to see the alphabet soup is my constituents often referred to it and see that there is recommendation bindings and then response, multiple agencies that have but have a tendency to create an extra burden by virtue of requiring uniform processes but not in a uniform way so the preliminary engineering is a great tool. and i think at a time when constituents are looking for efficient and effective government this is a good example. i raise it because i wonder how many more times we can duplicate this throughout the system. one of the frustrations i have seen in the last two years here is not just with the epa and usda but certainly there are many more but i hope we could as a house, as a congress and public officials look for more of these types of opportunities where the public can go wow that makes perfect sense. right now they look at it and i'm sure you'll do and say to and say you mean i have to hire the engineering firm to do the same thing all over again for another agency? so i guess mainly what i wanted to say is thanks f

protesters carry are pictures of gao yu. and hong kong where chinese authorities exert massive influence, made journalists the targets. >> china has been the biggest for professional journalists and nonprofessional journalists since years. >> iran is the leading jailer of female journalists. reporter yevgeni later released. but hard line clerics and military commanders trying to scare or silence journalists by accusing them of, quote antigovernment propaganda. the journalist who claimed that no journalists were gay. won a press freedom award. >> i experienced the most pressures in prison but once i was released, more determined than ever i wanted to continue my profession and career. >> then there's egypt. the egyptian revolution replaced by a muslim brotherhood leader forcing into compile or imprisonment. peter greste's release is rare good news but the fears there will be more attempts to replace the press with propaganda and silence journalists with murder and intimidation. >>> egyptian court sentenced 183 supporters of t

it's about voter suppression, and if you look at a recent study out of the gao over the summer, someest that it does actually suppress some of the vote anywhere from 2% to 4%. if you look at the states of kansas and tennessee, there was a drop-off from 2008 to 2012, particularly among young voter and african-americans, so there is some suggestion and some proof that this is actually working to keep african-americans and young folks away from the polls. >> is there a sense -- and i grew up in the city, but far end of the city, it wasn't exactly urban, but northeast philly, greater northeast philly. i think there is a perception in the suburbs that in the inner city, there's cheating on voting. they say all we're doing is trying to cut out the cheating. what do you think? you lid the republican party. is there a real perception there's cheating, substantial enough that justifies the bad pr? enough cheating to justify the pr, which is terrible? >> there is a perception, there is some evidence of it. i mean, look, we don't have to go around the country, we is stick in the '94 election, e

additionally the gao found the d.o.d. headquarters they interviewed could not determine how many people they actually needed. couldn't even tell you what they needed and what positions they would have and what they would do. senators before this committee have heard time and again about the need to fully fund service members in the field and we're really concerned about that. but when you have a bloat on the other side that's taking away from the readiness force you're not utilizing the national guard. you're basically not utilizing your reserveists to the point that any sensible person would say i've got people ready, willing and able to do the job, yet i'm hiring all these high priced contractors and there's no auditing going on, we don't know where we stand we can't get weapons to the front in time. we've got concerns. either one of you want to address any of that to whatever specifics, i'd appreciate it. but it's a challenging thing to say. and i think all the senators have touched on this. we need more money, we need

>> i have not seen that gao report. but if i am confirmed we'll find out where the department stands in terms of implementing that goal and if they are off track, try to get them back on track because i think it is a good goal. >> do you think now is the time that we should look at elevating cyber to its own command or even with the commission that we had yesterday, there is a recommendation in that commission for a joint readiness command. when we look at overhead and administrative costs what would be your initial response to those that are promoting ideas for additional commands. >> i'm all for paying much more attention to cyber and think we need to do that. but the creation of new commands and new headquarters in this budgetary environment is something i think we need to look at very closely and cautiously. >> as you know, our chairman senator mccain, is interested as we all are, in gaining more knowledge about the information sharing with regard to our cyber security threats and that is one area that i believe has

the gao general accounting office, named parts of it high risk and identified the following. >> ambiguousolicies, inadequate oversight and accountability, information technology challenges, inadequate training for va stachlt unclear resource needs and allocation priorities. if you took over a company like this, this could could have been in bankruptcy. would it not? >> i met with the comptroller general and encouraged him to put us on the high risk list. we're one of the largest businesses in the country. we have a budget, $170 billion. we run over 150 hospitals. i want to improve. that's what we're working to do with our plan called my va. wait times down 18% nationally. our backlog down 61% nationally. homelessness is down. >> your now being treated like a politician on the hot seat. you got in a heated exchange. here with republican congressman mike hoffman. >> i think that's characteristic of your glossing over the extraordinary problems could be fronted by your department. >> actually, i've been here six months, you've been here longer than i have. i will give you my number and i'll

i wonder if that would have happened with gao reviews in realtime of monetary policy decision making.nce in conducting monetary policy is considered a best practice for central banks around the world. we are one of many many central banks that are independent and academic studies, i think, established beyond a shadow of a doubt that independent central banks perform better the economies are more stable and have better performance in terms of inflation and macro economic stability. >> last brief question, madam chair. you mentioned your community advisory counsel. what are you doing the encourage regional bank presidents to follow suit? >> well, reenlg nap banks,gional banks are actively involved with their communities. they have community development programs and are really trying to address the special needs of their communities. but in washington we also encourage and have oversight of those activities and strongly encourage similar practices. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. chair yellen i would like to use my time going over the igrippa process th