i just want to echo senator gillibrand or reemphasize on current active burn pits. some of the process that a led to these being operation operationally necessary, i think, would be very helpful for the committee. thank you for being here. >> thank you very much for your testimony. i'll welcome the second panel to come up. thank you very much. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> now welcome the second panel, dr. anthony szema if, northwell health foundation, mr. tom porter, executive vice president for government affairs, iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, [applause] ross city torres, and mr. steve patterson, combined joint task force, afghanistan 2008-2009. thank you so much, and each of you can give your opening statements. dr. szema, you can go first. >> thank you, chair gillibrand, ranking member tillis, members of the subcommittee, armed services committee, for the opportunity to participate in today's hearing. between 1998-2015 i was at the me call center, northport, new york, and my expertise stems from the following: my team first r

i just want to echo senator gillibrand or reemphasize on current active burn pits. the process that a led

senator gillibrand went to vote. she's probably waiting on the second vote to be called, so kind of curious about when iler will be fully interoperable with dod's lek electronic health record and the v.a.'s electronic health record what's the timeline? >> yeah, the timeline for full capability is 2023. but it is capable now -- >> that's with -- >> -- less limited. >> with the kod electron ec health cold -- electronic health record. so that wouldn't be, it probably would have to track along with their ultimate buildout? >> that's my understanding. enter okay. tell me a little bit about dod-funded research on taking the information that we have about potentially toxic exposure s and making certain presumptions about how that exposure could have caused a bad outcome for a service member. >> sure. >> so-called presumptions. >> sure. with regard to human studies, most of the human studies, human research that we sponsor and continue to sponsor really compares a group of deployers to a group of, a control group of non-depl

porter. >> thank you for having us here, senator gillibrand and senator tillis. appreciate everything you're doing on in this issue. like to introduce my daughter, 13-year-old daughter, elizabeth porter, she's playing hooky from school today, so hopefully she gets something out of this. [laughter] i also, on a more serious note, i want to take this opportunity to say that my thoughts and prayers are with dr. kate hendricks thomas, advocate on this issue. she's going through a very particularly tough time with regard to her burn pit-related illness. so i'm here not only as an iav advocate, but as one who was exposed to a variety of sox -- toxins when deployed. before i went down range, id had completely healthy lungings. shortly after i arrived in kabul, 2010, my lungs had a severe reaction and became infected. it was rolled -- it was controlled with medication, but i was diagnosed with asthma as soon as i got back home a year later. i have to still take the medications to keep my breathing under -- to keep breathing. exposure to burn pits used by the military to

and senators kristen gillibrand, and lindsey graham.ughter] by the way, lindsay used to be a really close friend. i'm going to work on it again. and dick durbin, i'm leaving so many people out, but look, for the folks at home this is what this law is going to do. women are forced to face sexual harassment and assault on the job, and it took that courageous step to report what happened. and some of them when they did, they found out that reporting harassment behavior triggered a part of the employment contract they did not know existed, and that they were powerless to change. a mechanism called forced arbitration. forced arbitration isn't court. in fact, it prevents survivors from going to court. forced arbitration proceedings are conducted in secret, with arbitrators selected and paid for by the employer. the outcomes are usually hidden from the public and employees and coworkers, and they usually can't be appealed or overturned. in some arbitration clauses, you can't even acknowledge that you are bringing a claim. parenthetically, empl

gillibrand: thank you, mr. chairman. chair casey: thank you, senator gillibrand. we're going to move to our closing statements at this time. i want to thank of course ranking member scott for hosting this hearing with me, and the work that he has done on the legislation that we have introduced. so, i want to thank him for that work. i also want to thank our witnesses for their invaluable input. and as we noted earlier, their personal experiences. as we heard today, people with medicare and medicaid face many challenges in navigating the health care system generally, but in particular, these challenges that our witnesses outlined today. this challenge that they face will impact their overall health and their quality of life. so we have work to do. the people that testified today, whether it was jean or dennis were others, -- or others who shared their stories, these stories help us in congress to formulate policy and proposed legislation to make these programs work better. the health care -- their health care system should provide support for them, rather than addi

senator ernst, i'll start with you, and then senator gillibrand. >> well, i don't sit on the judiciary. however, i would say the tone is very much the same as what we have seen over the course of the last number of judicial nomination hearings, especially when it comes to the supreme court. i want to give kudos to chuck grassley who as the ranking member he's doing a great job sorting through all of this. >> senator gillibrand? >> i also do not sit on the judiciary committee, but there were some moments in the hearing that brought me great joy. i really appreciated senator booker's focus on this moment in history for america and how important this nomination is, to not lose sight of that joy and that accomplishment. i thought he really elevated the proceedings in the minutes that he had. and i'm very grateful for that. >> senator gillibrand, senator ernst, thank you both for being back on the show on the heels of that trip overseas. really appreciate your time this afternoon. >> thank you. >> thank you, hallie. >> coming up after the break, how classroom culture wars are in some ways r

here is the home, new york senator gillibrand is warning of renewed cyber threats. >> there is increased risk russia will carry out cyber attacks, particularly against new york state infrastructure and individuals. we must act quickly to strengthen our cyber defenses to counter unwarranted russian aggression here. >> griff: we expect to learn more about the threats, senate foreign relations committee holding hearing today on the hill, we'll hear what they have to say. >> carley: live in washington, thank you, griff. u.s. and moscow relations hit a new low, hope for an american imprisoned in russia. president biden will meet with the family in fort worth today. >> todd: next with their plea for the president. liberty mutul customizes car insurance so you only pay for what you need, and we gotta do it fast. [limu emu squawks] woo! new personal record, limu! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ why is guy fieri in the neighbors' kitchen? it's slider sunday! sliiiiiiiiii-der sunday! these chicken parm sliders on king's hawaiian rolls are fire! slider sunday! i

. >> chairwoman gillibrand, ranking member phyllis and members of subcommittee, thank you for invitingartment to testify for senate armed services committee hearing on military exposure including airborne hazards and both burn pits. fi'm pleased to represent the office of the secretary of defense and have the opportunity to discuss departments actions that addressing airborne contaminants and open burn pits and military operations and potential health effects to service members and veterans. joining me today representing the military department, colonel from the air force, doctor mrsa from the army and captain feltman from the navy. the department recognizes concerns about the potential health impact of burn pits and other airborne exposures. the relationship between burn pit exposure and illness is a topic of active research by the department, the va, national academies of science, engineering and medicine and other research institutions. the department and va continue to support and fund research efforts to better understand health effects that will better informed the healthcare pro

let me follow up on an engagement that senator inhofe and senator gillibrand had with you. i think the discussion with senator inhofe -- like-minded democracies working with us and senator gillibrand asked about engaging with governments could let me just mention the organization of american states is based here in washington d.c. and only multilateral organization that includes every country in the western hemisphere except for cuba and i would point out to my colleagues that in 2020 president trump signed into law the organization of american states legislative engagement at. mr. cardin and i were leaders in this effort just as we have tried to enhance their participation with the european parliamentarians both in and out of majorities of government in europe. do you agree that moving to a parliamentary assembly as the trump law anticipates with the a positive and could promote corporations and a variety of government and security issues? >> center i think increased engagement in the seau wire can be nothing but good. i can only cover so much project apartments that stay

i also want to thank senator schumer and gillibrand. for their kind introductions in recent weeks i have had the privilege and pleasure of meeting 89 senators including all of the members of this committee. each of you ben has been gracious to me and i have so much enjoyed meeting you. our meetings have given me an illuminating tour of the 50 states and invaluable insights into the american people. there are countless family members and friends who have done so much over the years to make this day possible. i am deeply appreciative for their love and support. i want to make one special note of thanks to my mother. i am here as many of you have noted because of her aspirations and sacrifices for both my brother juan and me. mom i am very grateful to the president and humble to be here today. as a nominee to the united states supreme court the progression of my life has been uniquely american. my parents left puerto rico during world war two i grew up in modest circumstances in the bronx housing project my father a factory worker with a t

and we just heard from see gillibrand, the russian foreign minister, who was very cynical saying that it's not true that russia attacked ukraine at russia, invaded ukraine. of course, everyone here will be just appalled to hear those words. but of course we have just to stress how much is at stake their, the lives of so many people in them are you pull in other cities that are under siege and to the main goal. he is for the moment to get them out to get them to safety. are corresponding alexander phenomena reporting there for us in western ukraine in the city. love if, thanks so much you're watching d. w. let's get a reminder of our top headline at this hour. ukraine's foreign minister says, talks with russia, made no progress towards ending russia's war on ukraine. demitra core labor made those comments after meeting with russia. foreign minister survey leverage in turkey. law fraud said russia was prepared to discuss security guarantees for ukraine and the russian president, putin would not refuse a meeting with his ukrainian counterpart, but to calais by said russia was seeking us

greta: senator gillibrand of new york had a word with chief justice roberts before the speech began. she was seen on camera talking to him. this person who covers for political says that the senator urged to justice roberts in that conversation to support the president when they chatted before the state of the union. hopefully he understood what i meant about the pending decision on abortion. the supreme court in the president mentioning his nominee for the court tonight. ketanji brown jackson. she will be up on capitol hill meeting with senators for the first time tomorrow about her nomination to the supreme court. it was a state of the union night but it was also primary night in texas. the ap reporting out that the former congressman from texas and presidential candidate wins the democratic nomination for governor in the texas primary election. from the hill, greg abbott wins texas gop number -- governor nomination. david who covers for political on the texas district, ruben ramirez and attorney john rigney currently lead for runoff slots to face monica delacruz in an 81% hispanic

gillibrand: that is what i want to know. thank you. given the energy drain that current crypto mining practices are, this goes against our goal of limiting climate change. -- the company has connected it to a natural gas pipeline and bringing it to historical capacity to generate electricity for the cryptocurrency mining operation. how can we make sure that the correct regular are in place so we can support the growth of this new technology without sacrificing the important work we are doing to stem climate change? chair behnam: i have asked the climate risk unit, which is a group of staff i informed last year, to look into this issue to see if we can come up with ideas for you to consider as well as the agency. i have also asked staff within the -- to think about this issue. have been engaging with stakeholders and asking them to bring us ideas. my gut reaction without having a conclusive set of ideas is that something that would serve markets well our disclosures. disclosures in the securities markets and all other financial markets.

at home, yesterday nypd press conference gillibrand is warning of renewed cyber threats. >> there is increased risk russia will carry out cyber attacks, particularly against new york state infrastructure and individuals. we must act quickly to strengthen our cyber defenses to capture unwarrantd and unprovoked russian aggression here. >> griff: should learn more today, house intelligence committee are holding hearings hearing from the intel community on the u.s. response to the war in ukraine. >> todd: bill hemmer has more. watch. >> bill: a couple developments here, this shaded area, sean, with the red and white stripe, largely countryside and segments of the russian army moved west from their location toward kyiv. they don't hold the ground, but little resistance, easy for the russians to move. the nuclear plant last week, and there is another nuclear plant north of this location we've denoted here on the map. talk about escape routes. how do you get out of here? everything in yellow is train, everything in blue is roadway. to take that road, have you to go through an area that has

new york democratic senator gillibrand. you returned from poland with a number of colleagues.vladimir putin's objectives have changed inside ukraine? >> i think his objectives have been clear all along. he intended to invade ukraine. i don't think ukraine is the only area or country he seeks to control. i think he has a notion that he wants to reconstitute the former soviet union and his attacks have to be responded to. because i and 8 other senators.to poland and germany was to see troops there to fortify a nato response. also to visit with refugees who have streamed into poland from ukraine. their stories are heart breaking. >> bret: obviously a lot of the talk this week with the president at nato headquarters in brussels will be the response of what is the threshold in your mind for nato action to increase? what happens if russia uses chemical weapons or biological weapons in the ukraine? how many cities are flattened and the changes for a nato response? >> right now nato and the united states are responding aggressively to putin's actions. they put together the most crippl

representatives bustos and representative griffith and senator gillibrand and senator graham. also wanted to note, it's isha ses last day in the briefing room. before -- [applause] thank you for all of your work. and she's going on -- you heard the announcement. i feel like i'm announcing news. it's been announced. to host weekend edition of n.p.r. i look forward to listening to you this weekend. so congratulations and thank you for all of your work on behalf of the american people. with that, why don't you kick us off. reporter: all right. so -- [indiscernible] come out in support of banning russian oil. so why carve out with the argument that putin is going to not benefit from oil? jen: yes. i think i do know what you're trying to say. well, our objective and the president's objective has been to maximize impact on president putin and us. i know you heard me say this a few times before. but we don't have a strategic interest in reducing the global supply of energy. and that would raise prices at the gas pump for the american people, around the world, because it would reduce

. >> senator kirsten gillibrand, a democrat for the new york, and member of the armed services committee, returned from a trip to germany, and poland, where she met with ukrainian refugees, as well as u.s. service members. she joins me now. first, senator, just to get your sense of what you learned on this trip, and what you took away from it in poland, and elsewhere. >> i can tell you, the ukrainian people are suffering deeply, but they are determined, and they are determined to win this fight. they're not going to stop, they're going to keep fighting until the last man. i have never seen more resilience, and more absolute sense of, urgency, for the people of ukraine, to stand, and not give up. they were very direct, we met with four women, who were from ngos, and local government, and they were very specific and what they wanted for the ukrainian people. they wanted more military assistance, and the money that we passed into law, just last week, will pay for hundreds of javelins, and hundreds of stinger's, and hundreds of anti aircraft systems to you need to defeat russia. if you just

. >> thank you, senator gillibrand. senator fischer please be. >> thank you, mr. chairman thank you for your service to the people of this country. during and after the retrograde, president bided touted over the horizon counterterrorism operations as our new strategy to deal with the terrorist threat inte afghanistan. i expressed serious concerns with this approach including directly to you, general mckenzie, for a during that centcom posture hearing last april. was repeatedly told by the administration the challenges associated with this strategy could be overcome. general mechanically heavily conducted any over the drakes against strikes again afghanistan since last year? >> senator we have conducted no strikes in afghanistan. >> would you agree without sustained ct pressure terrorist groups are more able to focus on planning and preparing for external attacks? >> i would agree with that istatement. >> do we have any information on terrorist planning in afghanistan? >> senator i have considerable information and i am prepared to brief you in great detail the cl

i was struck just a few days, i saw senators gillibrand of new york, a democrat, appearing on our network with a republican, both part of a bipartisan delegation to germany and to poland last weekend. is this war, eugene, and america's support for ukraine, a rare opportunity for bipartisanship in an age where we don't see a lot of it? >> yeah. it's an opportunity, but what we have seen is it hasn't actually come to fruition as much as we would like. you talked about how there are members, especially in the senate on the republican and democratic side, coming together, having conversations, going overseas. we had that group of senators who went before the invasion to ukraine, met with zelenskyy and continued to have conversations behind closed doors. you also have republicans after zelenskyy spoke to them in that rare appearance in front of the senate and house members, hitting biden, saying he needs to do more. saying the white house and the administration needs to have a no-fly zone over ukraine. when we know, they know, and president zelenskyy also knows that has continued to be a nonst

kirsten gillibrand of the great state of new york right there.ut the white house still insists as you pointed out, no decision has been made by the president, which is certainly politically expedient when you consider this is never going to be an easy decision to make. the white house has really struggled with this idea of producing more domestic energy, especially as it relates to oil gas. you obviously know a lot about shutting off drilling's places and yes, right on day one knocking out the keystone pipeline. still, when you have it like this , people are paying incredible amounts of money for gasoline. you have basically three ways to go on this. you can develop more energy domestically. you can keep buying oil and gas from russia or you can increase your supplies from, let's just say less favorable sources as the secretary of state anthony blinken, he says the administration is also working with partners and allies to look to a quote, coordinated way of making sure that the prospect of maybe shutting off the spigot to russian oil doesn't tan

. >> senator gillibrand please. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general mckenzie, thank you for your testimony. how has israel's integration into centcom aor improves coordination among u.s. regional partners particularly as it relates to countering iran in middle east and supporting over the horizon counterterrorism capabilities? >> the entry of israel has given us great opportunities particularly any area of integrated air and missile defense which i think is one of the most pressing issues that all of the states in the region confront when you think about iran. i think of israel come into the aor is sort of the operational effect of the other normalization of israeli relations across the gulf and with other states. we're great opportunities here and i would be prepared to talk more about it in a close session. >> as a follow-up have abraham accords which have allowed for economic and military integration between israel and the arab states signatories enhance our ability to counter china's influence in the least or enhanced foreign military sale

and the russian foreign minister, sir gillibrand, also seemingly very happy to see his baterri counterpart here in moscow. he said that they appreciate the help and assistance and support of the country officials and that they are co operation will continue. they also discuss they a future of that nuclear deal that has been stalled in vienna as a result of a certain number of vans made by russians about the sanctions of their now under by the u. s. government. of course, all of this will be further discuss at later a discussions, because the 2 foreign minister said that the dialogue between the 2 countries will continue dorsen doses of water in moscow door silicon, very much deeds for the u. s. and china, of how high level talks in rome, the white house sees the meeting as critically important for the board and ukraine . this, after the u. s. accused russia of seeking military aid from china, autumn rain. he's joining us live from rome. what's the state for china? adam, coming out of these talks well to put it bluntly business as usual. what is it stake according to the national security a

we had senator gillibrand, senator kaine and senator rosen from this committee. so we were able to spend time not only with significant leaders from germany and poland but also with the tremendous men and women of the 18th airborne 82nd airbornern all-american and our armor brigade as well. i want to thank those men and women for being there on the front lines and assisting with your nato mission. bute as we focus on ukraine we also get very concerned about movement with russia and the thoughts that perhaps they would also engage in other countries as well. this is something we really haven't addressed in this hearing yet, but despite the fact that russia is stalling a bit in ukraine, there are a number of russian troops, i believe about 1500 russian troops that exist in moldova. and we're concerned about that, after folks at might be watching out there, moldova is a country in the southwestern border of the ukraine. we are concerned about, about this community, this country as well. so what capabilities or both militarily and perhaps you can speak to humanitaria

where you had gillibrand, senators duckworth and blumenthal and harris all declaring judge kavanaugh guilty before any evidence was laid out. the rest of the hearing has become legend. >> that's right. this is really infused with politics even though it is about how our law, the most important highest court in the country, how our law will play out over not only the years but the decades. but the process is a very political one. and it has become very hyper political since the 1990s. and if there is a political basis to try to stop a nominee, they basically close ranks in a very partisan way and we just don't have confirmation hearings like we once did where the only important thing was the intellect, the competence and character of the nominee. now it's mainly about political affiliation. >> dana: jonathan, what do you look for in a hearing like this as our viewers have been shown a great interest in supreme court nominations. they understand the importance of the role that the supreme court plays in america. and so when we all sit down to watch these from your expertise and point o

executive order from president biden, two new crypto legislations are underway, senator lumus and gillibrand a bipartisan plan which is supposed to clarify a regulatory framework for crypto. congressman steven lynch bruised a bill that's pushing for electronic money not on a block chain. lots of moves to go digital here for digital currency, what's your reaction to the legislative backdrop? >> yeah, i found the last one you mentioned one of the most fascinating. the idea that there's a recognition now that electronic money is probably a good thing and certainly probably a place the united states has to get to eventually, but the idea that do it without a block chain has some interesting disadvantages and advantages. you lose the integrity of block chain but then you don't need the network access. you can even do transfers completely offline of these digital currency presumably over say like a blewtooth connection that's local. that preserves one of the fundamental aspects of cash in an electronic way such that it is 100% private. if you have a briefcase of cash and you give it to someone, ba

i'll now turn to senator gillibrand, who i believe is with us virtually. then we have senator hoven. >> mr. chairman, i understand the crypto currency exchange markets differ from many commodity markets that the cftc overseas for grain or oil, crypto currency exchange markets often welcome individual retail investors. i'm dplad to see these new opportunities will be open to everybody and not just institutional investors, but given the fact that many americans will become involved in this emerging financial market, i want cybersecurity to remain a priority cyber attacks have become a major threat throughout the world and could result in a massive swing in valuation, loss of property or significant market disruptions through hacks or other targeted cyber attacks. how do you view the current ability to oversee the marketplace and prevent cyber attacks? >> thank you, senator. we simply don't have enough authority to oversee the cash commodity digital asset marketplace. i think both regulators and customers would benefit from a traditional market structure, one

and it essentially joni ernst of iowa and kirsten gillibrand of new york want to know when is it goingo get there? the spokesperson said deliveries are happening every day. we are equities at the dieting the shipments as quick as possible. which means it's not as quick as possible. >> brian: brett velicovich over there helping us. fox news contributor. fought in our wars and drone expert as well. he sent the picture over last night. he said all i see is private aid coming in. and he says every commander he talks to, every ukrainian he talks to says they are not getting much of the aid they are getting is not from the u.s. goya. whole bunch of goya products people are grateful for. why just the private sector helping out? where is the u.s. aid that's desperately needed especially in war torn areas skill and armament perhaps and the advice to get it to the areas that need it the most? and there is drones out there that could drop aid into places like mariupol? why are they not doing that? the question is, too, what are we sending? are we sending what they need? it's been said to us that

i want to thank senator gillibrand for leading the fight for years, and i'm glad i was able to work with senators graham and ernst to push this bill over the finish line. by the end of today, we will be able to say the senate acted, the house acted, the president acted, and now forced arbitration -- and now, forced arbitration reform is law. i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: yesterday morning, i hosted judge ketanji brown jackson -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the further proceedings on the qowrnl called be dis-- on the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: yesterday, i hosted ketanji brown jackson, the president's nominee to replace justice breyer on the supreme court in my office. i was glad to meet with judge jackson. we enjoyed a cordial discussion. like i've been saying, republicans fundamentally believe the no