but wait because there's even more injuries in this corruption saga see the head of the house armed services committee as california congressman buck mckeon. this guy is a war hawk if you ever seen one not only does he defend wasteful military projects but he's been practically begging i mean begging everybody out there to stop sequestration cuts designed to save five hundred billion dollars for our country's budget check out a clip of this shameless tear jerker featuring an appeal from buck himself at the end. contracts of this nature. could radically valley would mean a loss of business will mean a loss of jobs nobody can defeat us from outside but if you don't so. we have to protect against them. now the olympics are in for another few weeks but i fear mongering wasteful spending where events save to save him again would take on two gold medals the summer and we can't campaign coffers well they are brimming with defense contractors gratitude as a result she according to the center for responsive politics northrop grumman has donated fifty thousand dollars to the congressman's campaign funds just th

she's written a letter to house armed services committee chairman. >> there have been 35 instructors have been implicated in a scandal. many trainees have been forced to have sex with them. >> she's spoken on the floor of the house about the epidemic of rapes in the military, authoring the stop act last year to protect victims of mst, military sexual trauma. >> this would require a separate office be established where complaints can be filed and evaluated and investigated and prosecuted. >> the office is investigating several bay area cases and this is including that of kaidy -- katie webber. she is one of many telling their stories in this powerful documentary. >> very young and into the military. wanted to make a career of it. was raped viciously. she tried to complain about it she was discharged from the military and the reason on her discharge papers states she had a weight problem. which was not the case. >> congress woman speier and katie webber will be attending the debut tonight at 7:00 to answer questions. for more information you can log on to our web site and look under se

to representative make thornberry of texas who also happens to be vice chairman of the house arms services committeereplay, thornberry said billie was still listed as missing in action in the national archives. >> didn't feel it was right that he just went off to war and didn't come back. end of story. >> reporter: billie's cousin alton harvey grew up with this mystery. >> you need to know what's happened to him. >> reporter: so a few years ago he decided to try to get to the bottom of it for peggy. he started by requesting billie's military records. and that's all it took. >> i said that can't be. never dawned on me he was there. >> reporter: few missing soldiers have ever been easier to find than billie harris-- here in more to -r mandy, france, at the world's most famous cemetery along its most well-traveled path the answer has been lying all along clear and sobering as a white marble cross. so why, then, as late as 2005 was peggy's congressman still telling her her husband was missing in action? turns out there are no records of representative thornberry ever even checking with the national arch

congressman adam smith, ranking member of the house arms services committee has a couple of panels and he's made the point that by jawboning this whole thing, don't worry. we don't have to worry about the initial intent senator graham and others, i don't need to worry about it. he says the other point and the biggest supporter of the military as he is fort lewis and his district, they're not interested about worry budget defense budget. they're worried about whoopths to the -- their retire am incomes and they're worried about medical care and when the senator was talking, the issues he brought up about the guard and everything else. the chief of staff, the air force, the secretary of the air force made difficult decisions on cuts and active duty. both the house and the senate, you can't touch the air national guard. so, again, everything's going to have to be put on the table. how do you convince the american people how serious this is? >> let's take this other question, too, and go down the panel. >> hello, i'm matt keen from the observatory group. this is a question for steve bell. l

about 45 minutes, we will talk with democratic rep and snooki saunders, a member of the house armed services committee

. >> the republic chairman of the house armed services committee congressman buck mckee hand who hadsed to the repeal of don't ask, don't tell will not attempt to reinstate don't ask, don't tell under a new administration. >> jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. thanks. the next time cops catch you using a cell phone while driving in certain states you may have to pay up in a big wra. let's go to new jersey where lawmakers are debating whether to hike a fine for any hand held cell phone use behind the wheel from 100 to 200 bucks for the first offense nine other states and the district of colombia banned all from using hand held phones. ban texting while driving. states should improve drivers education programs but one lawmaker, a democrat in new jersey says and i quote. our goal is to have people stop injuring each other. before it was a slap on the wrist. what people need is a slap on the face. some black bears simply cannot be contained regardless of how many times you try. tonight, the story of one particular black bear who managed to make its way back to civilization after pack

congressman buck mckeon, the chairman of the house armed services committee, is mad about the $1.2 trillionending cuts barreling at our economy like an 18-wheeler at full tilt on the turnpike. half of the cuts will come from the defense budget. we've been eagerly awaiting talking to the chairman ever since last week he said this, why don't we just sit down now and say, look, we're not mature enough, we're not adult enough to solve this, so going to just kick the can down the road. earlier today i spoke with congressman mckeon, his first television interview since that comment. i asked exactly what he meant by that statement. >> my position is the same as in my speeches and in my votes. i think we should address the issue right now. that is the point i was trying to make. >> you're saying -- you were say that in frustration, not that you wanted to kick the can down the road, but you're so darn sick of everybody not working together, so that's how it's going to be, gosh darn it, do it. >> that's -- my position is it should have been done earlier and it should be done today, not let's wait bec

. >> and, you know, representative bob mckee an, chairman of house armed services committee was talking about those defense cuts and he said, quote, let's get together now and just say we're not mature enough to handle this. we've got to kick the can down the road now. now, i'm sure he would say, and i'm going to be talking to him soon, but he would say, look, i'm just being pragmatic here. i've got to do what i've got to do. but is this where we're going to end up? >> i certainly hope not. and we don't have to end up there. you know, the house passed the budget that would not have these kind of cuts. i introduced a budget in the senate that had rebroad support. when i was on the super committee, i imposed a framework that included revenue and spending reduction that is would have avoided this entire sequestration. we could still go back to any of those three. but for us to say we just can't help ourselves, we have to spend without limit, i think that's a disaster. and we just can't go there. >> when you talk about the super committee, obviously, you're frustrated with its results. so a

she's a member of the house armed services committee. she's okay with mckeon's idea of kicking the can down the road. >> well, think it's wrong. we've known about sequestration now since last august when the majority of republicans proposed that and put forward that for a vote and it is the law. we have known that the super committee didn't get its work done now since before january. and so we've had plenty of time. i've asked plenty of republicans on the committee. sit down with us. talk to us. work with us to find the extra cuts we need to find. i don't think there's another $500 billion or $600 billion to be cut from defense. but i do believe we can still find some more money. >> where? >> i agree with him in the sense that we're already on a path of cutting about $480 billion even prior to that. >> right, where would you find the $500 billion that doesn't come from defense? >> excuse me? >> where would you find $500 billion to replace the defense see quest they're doesn't come from defense? >> well what some of our proposals have bee

in support of the shaheen amendment which i cosponsored in the senate armed services committee markup, today i wrote a letter to house majority leadership expressing my concern for this issue and asking that it be addressed immediately. the senate armed services committee recently considered and passed the national defense authorization act for f.y. 2013, and it awaits full consideration of the senate. as we all know, our troops need the tools and resources to complete their mission. it's imperative that it gets brought up right away. as a member of the committee, i join with members of both sides of the aisle in supporting this amendment which would ensure that women who serve in our armed forces and their families are provided access to abortion services in cases of rape or incest. sadly, sexual assault of women service members has been recently exposed as far more prevalent than anyone previously thought. as a matter of fact, the pentagon believes such crimes are vastly underreported. and there's evidence that there are as many as 19,000 assaults committed every year. that's approximately 50 each day. furthermore,

to representative mack torn berry of texas who also happens to be vice chairman of the house armed services committeeted as missing in action in the national archives >> didn't feel it was right he just went off to war and didn't come back. end of story. >> reporter: billy's cousin, grew up with this mystery >> you need to know what happened to him >> reporter: so a few years ago he decided to try and get to the bottom of it for peggy. he started by requesting billy's military records. and that's all it took >> i said that can't be? never dawned on me he was there. >> reporter: a few missing soldiers have ever been easier to find than billy harris. here in normandy france at the world's most famous cemetery along its most well traveled path. the answer has been lying all along. clear and sobering as a white marble cross. so why then as late as 2005 was peggy's congressman still telling her that her husband was missing in action. turns out there are no records of representative thornberry even checking with the national archives. if he had as we did, he would have seen it says right there,k. i.a., kil

it's a pleasure to be back in front of the house armed services committee. i also want to talk about an important subject, the afghan national security forces. i'm delighted to be appear with michael o'hanlon of max boot. i'd don't discussed for years i truly admire and thank them for their contribution to the national security. as you know from submission to the record, i've done for assessments in afghanistan the last 18 months for commanders at last was for general mattis and general allen in january. i think it's a dramatic time the forces down a platoon and company level and the afghan national security forces who are their counterparts. i want to say up front that we've had much success in this situation since we apply to search forces and particularly in the south, which was a priority of forces that we have just begun to turn the momentum in the east, the frustration is we don't have the force generation because of the pullout of forces in the south and southwest a thing to be able to achieve the same kind of and save. also, the other thing is i beli

florida congressman alan west who serves on the republican study committee and the house armed services committeeing us now. congressman, welcome, good to have you here. >> thanks for having me, martha. martha: what is your initial reaction to what you've heard so far? >> well, this just came across my blackberry about 20 minutes ago as i was coming down to the studio, and it reminds me of a very important maxim that says, surprises are only for birthdays. so the fact that we are getting this. we are not in session, i think this once again is an example of an executive branch or administrative over reach to have an unelected bureau cat in janet napolitano coming out about a policy citizen which will affect residency in the united states of america. this is why we have oversight committees. it should have been brought up as legislation with the homeland security committee both in the house and senate, been debated, gone through a process where it would be refined and amended and brought up before the house floor and also to the senate floor for final approval. that's how we do business in the unit

also on the house armed services committee.his story has him pushing to ban same-sex ceremonies at military facilities. he wants to ban them. welcome. >> hi, carol. thanks for having me on today. >> thanks for being here. this was a commitment ceremony. it wasn't a marriage. it wasn't a civil union. it was a commitment ceremony. so if your mind, what's the problem with it? >> well, there are several problems. first of all, carol, the state of louisiana does not recognize a marriage between two men or two women. it's unlawful to do that. that passed into the constitution of louisiana by a vast majority of louisianans. >> this ceremony wasn't a legal binding union since the chaplain was a military chaplain and army approved it, pentagon cotold ust approved it, if it's not civil union and not a legal marriage, what's the problem? >> i think you have your facts incorrect. the base commander was not even aware of it when it occurred. the head chaplain had no knowledge of it. this was done by a chaplain and two individuals who did it

proposed 2013 budget that is come forward has already been taken up by the senate armed services committee and the house committee as well in terms of the authorizing committees. that will be a cut of $487 billion of spending reductions over the next ten years. and there are some pretty tough choices in those initial spending reductions. but our defense leaders and secretary panetta have testified before the senate armed services committee about the choices made in those reductions and they're difficult but doable. what we're here talks about today is an additional 500 to $600 billion in across the board fashion that will come in january of this -- 2013 because of the supercommittee's failure to come up with savings. it hits both defense and nondefense. my focus today will be on the defense end. that additional $500 billion, gets close to $6 munn billion when you incrude interest. it's done in an across the board fashion so everything gets cut. there's no strategic thinking to the way it would be implemented and therefore we do everything insufficiently and if you listen to what our military leaders say

as i close them i would like to thank the house armed services committee and this subcommittee for the opportunity to appear before you today, for your continued support for our men and women in uniform, and for your support of the afghan security forces. without your commitment to funding and resourcing the afghan forces, we could not achieve progress over the last three years that. i look forward to your questions and your insights. thank you. >> thank you, david sedney. thank you for your testimony. we now look forward to the testimony of stephen townsend. >> chairman women, congressman andrews, they give you the opportunity to appear today and discuss how the afghan national security forces are doing. our bottom line up front is that we are on track to achieve our strategic objectives of afghanistan. a sustainable and sufficient transport is part of our mission. the ansf continues to grow and maintain on track by the end of 2014. 350,000, that come about as a mechanism for defeating the insurgency. the ansf continues to meet or exceed the recruiting objectives this year with army a

as i close i'd like to thank the house armed services committee, and the subcommittee, for the opportunity to appear before you today. we -- for your continued support far men and women in uniform, and for your support to the afghan security forces. because without your commitment to funding and resourcing the afghan forces, we could not have achieved the progress of the last three years. i look forward to your question, look forward to your insights. thank you. >> enka, thank you so much we test with. we now look forward to testament of major general steven townsend contract of the pakistan-afghanistan coordination cell. >> chairman wittman, congressman andrews, members of the subcommittee, thanks for this opportunity to appear before you today to discuss how the afghan national security forces are doing. our bottom line up front is we are on track to achieve our nation strategic objectives in afghanistan. a sustainable and sufficient ansf and transition are two linchpins of our strategy. and to echo what mr. said he said, ansf continues to grow and improve and remain on track to assume t

congressman added smith, ranking member of the house armed services committee has made the point thaty jawboning this holds thing, don't worry, we don't have to worry about the initial intent of senator graham and others. .. how do you convince the american people how serious this is? >> hello, i'm from the observatory group this is from steve bell. let's suppose for the sake of argument that an agreement is not possible in the lame-duck session on the sequestration to avoid the automatic cuts? to what extent does the a administration have discretion in terms of the timing of how serious it implements the amount of cuts because i've read that they may have some discretion in terms of how much the appropriate to the various agencies. >> if you could flesh out a little abo this idea that you had to avoid it. >> there are two acts you have to keep in mind. when a scud united efficiency act, and one is something called the and impoundment control act. in between those two things it said you can't spend money you don't have appropriated to you. it's a felony. and you cannot in count money

last week i called for the house armed services committee to hold a hearing on the widespread sex scandal at lackland air force base in san antonio, texas. no hearing date has been set. the charges of rape, assault and sodomy are astonishing. one instructor is accused of raping or assaulting 10 victims. and another confessed to having sexual relationships with another 10 victims of his own. yesterday we learned that 12 instructors are under investigation for sexual misconduct with trainees and that a criminal investigation is ongoing on four different air force bases now. like many cases of rape and sexual assault, the perpetrators are not denying that they engaged in sexual misconduct. they simply contend that the sex was consensual. it comes down to the word of the accuser and the accused, the instructor against the trainee. in the military this means the perpetrator gets off or receives a disproportionately small punishment and the victim endures an arduous and humiliating legal process with little justice at the end. everyone wants to know what is being done about it. this scandal is

as i close, i would like to thank the house armed services committee and the subcommittee for the opportunity to appear before you today, for your continued support for our men and women in uniform, and for your support to the afghan security forces. without your commitment to funding and resource and the forces, we could not have achieved the progress of the last three years. i look forward to your questions, your insights. fenty. >> fenty so much for your testimony. we now look forward -- and thank you so much for your testimony. when i look forward to the testimony of major general townsend. >> chairman wittman, congressman andrews, members of the subcommittee -- thank you for this opportunity to appear before you and discuss how the national security forces are doing. our bottom line is that we are on track to achieve our nation's strategic objectives in afghanistan. is stable and efficient force are major parts of our strategy. to echo what mr. sedney said, the national forces are on track to assume the lead in security by 2014. we remain focused on building a cable nasf of 250,000 that

follow a series of hearings, the house armed services committee added provisions to the f.y. 2013 national defense authorization act, that this body passed a few weeks ago, to change nnsa's approach and reduce its personnel. this amendment is consistent with these provisions. this will be added personnel and nnsa should reflect this. my amendment moves fund from the nnsa regulatory arm to a place where they puts boots on the ground and support cleanup. while i very much appreciate the work of the chairman and the ranking member of the entire committee in this area with their commitment to cleanup, it's my hope, mr. chairman, that i'd be able to emphasize through our distinguished leaders managing the floor of the dire situation that needs attention in new mexico and around the country. with that, mr. chairman, i urge adoption of this amendment and yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. frelinghuysen: mr. chairman, i rise to claim time in opposition to the bill. the chair: the gentleman is recognize

representatives, sir, i am writing to inform you that i am taking a leave of absence from the house armed services committee effective immediately. should you have any questions or concerns, please contact my chief of staff. signed, sincerely, c.a. "dutch" ruppersberger, member of congress. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the >> such rights will be protected. racial profiling will not be tolerated. senate bill 1070 is equally committed to upholding the rule of law, while ensuring that the constitutional rights of all in arizona are protect including prohibiting law enforcement officers from sol considering race, color, or national origin in implementing this provision. in fact, under my direction, senate bill 1070 was amended to strengthen and to emphasize the importance that civil rights ar protected. arizona is prepared to move forward. to enforce this law that we have fought so hard to defend ever mindful of our rights, ever faithful to the constitution. and ever worthy of the blessing of god, who has given us that. that we share together as

. >> i want to call to order the house armed services committee on oversight and investigations. a subcommittee convened a series of hearings related to the afghan security forces. we will receive testimony from what theyporexperts about are using to train them. our panel today includes the senior fellow for national security studies at the council of foreign relations. welcome. and the director of research at the senior fellow a foreign policy program at the brookings institute. thank you so much for joining us today. >> we look forward to your testimony. my views have been informed by a recent trip to afghanistan. i have several opportunities to talk with folks and provinces and will leaders. i had the opportunity to talk to our commanders on the ground to provide their impressions of the level of support that will be needed to create a self sustaining af. i hope our witnesses can provide some further context i want to highlight the efforts. these brave men and women conducted daily combat operations against the taliban and al qaeda networks. i saw their sacrifice first chance.

both the senate armed services committee and the house pushing measures prohibiting the military fromnvesting in or buying alternate energy if traditional sources, they say, like coal and oil are cheaper, bearing in mind that energy companies finance our politicians to subsidize the very energy in question. the white house is fighting this, so too is the defense chief. leon panetta saying our drive is to be more efficient and environmentally sustainable. we learned from our navy veteran seals on security and that is their number one mission. we have to have the potential to transform the nation's approach to challenges we are facing in the environment and energy security. that from the defense chief. bob dean with us from the nrdc action fund. he's also author of "reckless, the political assault on the american environment." . my first question, bob, is who is the donor financing jim imhoff out of california who is trying to intervene a pentagon-led effort to in the wn stability. the number one contributor and oil and gas companies. i can think of no more sinister and disgusting and p

house press secretary jay carney denies the charge calling the suggestion grossly irresponsible. senator feinstein the democratic chair of the intelligence committee and carl levin the chairman of the senate armed servicescommittee are considering a joint hearing on the issue. >>> the boy scouts of america agreed to consider a plan that would let individual unit as point gays as adult leaders. a scout leader from the northeast proposed the idea last week. currently the boy scouts ban gay men from leadership positions. a spokesman says a review of the idea will be completed next year in meantime, no plans to change policy. >>> giants' manager says as of now sandoval will return to the stars line-up next tuesday he has been questioned by police after being accused of sexual assault last friday. he has been on the disabled list for a hand injury. bochy says the decision is based on sandoval's recovery. >>> first, tupac. now a hologram of elvis will entertain music lovers, soon. the company that created the hologram of tupac has announced plans to create a similar hologram of the king. the digital domain media group says the hologram will appear in shows, films and other projects. elvis died in 1977 but rem