thank you, madame secretary. i look forward to hearing your testimony. >> i thank the ranking member. it is the chair's intention to continue the hearing during votes. and now it is an honor to welcome the secretary to our committee today, the honorable hillary rodham clinton has served as the 67th secretary of state for the united states since january 21, 2009, the latest chapter in her four-decade career of public service. she has served previously as a united states senator from the state of new york, as first lady of the united states, and of the state of arkansas, as an attorney, and a law professor. madame secretary, without objection, your full written statement will be made part of the record if you would be so kind as to summarize your written remarks, we can then move quickly to the question and answer discussion under the five-minute rule and the hope to getting to all of our members before you have to depart. madame secretary, welcome again, and the floor is yours. >> thank you very much, madame chair

welcome, madam secretary. always great to have you here. it's exceptional to me that sometimes you can't win for winning. and even with the unprecedented victories that you and the administration have had in foreign policy area, some people continue to look at it, i guess i would call it the goldilocks game with the three bears. it is always too hot or it is always too cold. i think you got it just right. i think instead of goldilocks you're more like the guy on the ed sullivan show. he used to be up there with the 12 bowling pins juggling them at the same time, bouncing basketballs up and down over his knees and had the sticks with the plates on top and twirling in the air and nothing ever falls to the ground. nonetheless, you seem to have everything pretty much together. i don't want to jinx it, with all of the unprecedented problems in the world that we're facing all at the same time. and i just want to thank you and congratulate you and the administration. three areas, north korea, egypt and iran hot spots

thank you, madam secretary. mr. carnahan is recognized. >> thank you, madam chair and madam secretary, great to have you back. i want to say thank you for following up with the caucus and those concerns we had raised earlier given the fact that they have new government in place we hope that continued u.s. international support can help move them forward. first of all, thank you for that. i also wanted to commend you on their recently announced international partnership, the climate and clean air coalition to reduce short-term pollutants. it underscores the global nature of the challenge as well as advantages to working with partners at the u.n. and around the world. i want to ask has that investment paid off in terms of stronger commitments by developing countries? and can we count on them to continue and fulfill those commitments if we are not honoring our pledges? >> thank you for raising that, congressman. because we continue to believe that climate change and the consequences of climate change pose national secur

chairman and madam secretary for your rv

thank you. >> thank you very much. >> madam secretary, thank you for being here today. i think you earned a well-deserved respect on both sides of the aisle the way you worked with all of us on both sides of the aisle and i thank you for that. i really do. i thank you for coming before a committee that doesn't do authorizing. you are preventing the budget and much of this is to the appropriations committee. there may be a few meetings regarding this, but it's nice of to you come up anyway. we won't impact that in any way. one of the things we did impact was a star treaty. we worked with them to work through the star treaty. i supported the star treaty and we worked closely with the office to make sure all of the compliments of the ty

>> thank you, madame secretary. we're having a little bit of a shuffling here, but we'll get through this. i note that the rate of uninsured in the country was at 17.1% in eleven, which is up about 7% over 2010, and even more than that from 2008. and one of the reasons given for the increased number of uninsured is the number of individuals losing employer-provided coverage. the congressional budget office originally estimated that only some 7% of employees would lose their employer-provided coverage, as the health insurance exchanges were implemented in 2010. mckenzie, the business consulting group, has estimated that at minimum, somewhere on the order of 30% of employees would lose their employer-provided coverage, and it could well be as high as 50 to 60%. and indeed, i think it's easy to see why that's true, because the financial incentives for an employer would create a reason for them to drop their employee coverage and to then require those individual employees to seek their coverage in the health insurance e

chairman, and thank you madam secretary, for being here and for your testimony. and for the tremendous service that you provide to our country. i understand from the budget that for the first time a major focus of homeland security will be grant funding, will be sustainment of capabilities, and just to clarify, and help me understand, does this mean that you intend to focus more on sustainment of capabilities and will this maybe over support new developments? >> it depends. representative, it depends on you know what a particular community needs. it may need to buy something new, but what we have found in the past is that there was -- there used to be prohibition on being able to pay for maintenance, you know, over time. so there was a cost emphasis on buying new "stuff" for lack of a better term. we think now with $39 billion out the door that's time to look at how we maintain those resources as well as on purchasing new ones. >> what you see, the sustainments, as being transitional, or would it be perennial? >> again, you know, with respect to 20 -- the past ye

madam secretary, earlier in the hearings you talked about the increased threats from iran against soft targets, some synagogues and such in new york. a city where we have a large concentration of them. these organizations had been eligible and are eligible for the national preparedness grant program. can you tell me the status of that? >> yes. we have set aside some money in the 2012 grant awards for the national preparedness -- for ngos, excuse me -- under the national preparedness program. our idea or our vision is to consolidate everything under one major grant program and that would be one of the grants consolidated. so to be -- to summarize, there will be a separate car vouts now merged into one umbrella program. >> and this year versus last year, increases? >> i'm not at liberty to say because of the rules of the body require us to provided a quit -- or a certain number of days notice. >> all right. we'll wait for that. all right. thank you. and just another moment. i like your comment, again, earlier the 287-gs were talked about and the cooperation between local departments. as

welcome, madam secretary. the united states is proud of you, but in new york we're especially proud of you. i want to ask three questions. i'll try to do them one at a time. i've just come back from a trip to israel where i've met with people at the highest levels of government. there is a big fear in israel that the united states is adjusting to the containment of iranian nuclear weapons rather than stopping them at all costs. and as you, of course, know, we have said that sanctions work. many in israel believe if we wait too long we'll be at the point of no return and iran will not be stopped at all. can you please comment on that and assure us we are not for a position of containment? >> our policy, congressman, is prevention. our policy is to prevent iran from attaining nuclear weapons capability. we have a two-track policy, pressure and engagement. we are pursuing both simultaneously to that end. >> okay. thank you. i want to speak with you about the balkans. you and i had several discussions in the past

so we look forward to your comments this afternoon, madam secretary, and to talking throughout the year about the state department's priorities. senator lugar? >> mr. chairman, i join you in welcoming secretary clinton to the forum oasis committee once again. we look forward to discussing the administration's foreign policy priorities, and budget requests for fiscal year 2013. since your visit last year, the american economy remains under great stress. the unemployment rate stands well above the standards at 8.3% nationally and 9% in my home state of indiana. at the close of 2011, nearly 14 million looking for work and millions more were underemployed. the united states national debt has risen above $15 trillion, posing extreme economic risk for our country. american families continue to bear the brunt of these economic uncertainties. within this context the administration's request for resources must be prioritized to meet the requirements of budget austerity. while addressing the vital national security objectives, the chairman has so well outlined. this past year has also brought fur

madame secretary, welcome back to the committee. as always, i think you know this, it's a great pleasure for us to welcome you here, to have you here and it's enormously helpful for us to hear your thoughts especially at a time when we are facing so many different challenges and at the same time i think presented with so many opportunities. the demand for u.s. leadership, i think, has never been higher whether because of the issues raised by the arab spring, by nuclear proliferation, climate change, particularly the challenge of iran and the middle east. budget realities, however, have placed a premium on projecting u.s. power. not only effectively will you efficiently. i think that more than at recent moments we need a smart, coordinated and strong budget in order to safeguard the american people and particularly to fund the administration's pursuit of opportunities and to face the challenges that we are all too well aware of. obviously for anyone running for office and i know you know this, madame secretary, cutting foreign aid an

. >> thank you, madam secretary, for being here today. the president's budget cut the flight deck program from $20 million down to $12.5 million. this is an approximate 50% decrease. this program comprised of volunteers who ultimately pay more out of their pockets than it actually costs for them to be an ffdo, to protect our nation. in fact, to provide the protection for each flight deck officer, for each ffdo flight, costs the nation $15. that's how effective -- efficient the federal flight deck program is. i have to believe that is probably one of the most cost effective programs in the united states government. these guys basically volunteer their time and money to be a vital deterrent to our country. quite frankly, they're the last line of defense when it comes to air piracy for flying. my question for you would be, what would you -- what prompt -- did you make this cut? did it come from the president? where did it come from? >> the reduction for the federal flight deck officer program is predicated on the fact the program the not ris

thank you, madam secretary for being before us today. i have two questions for you. the first is that i recently was in the calexico/mexican border. and from the mexican side they have poured cement. they have built new roadways to come over to make another land port, if you will, that i think was, from my understanding, was agreed to by both sides and somehow or another the funding has not come or the cuts in the budget are not making this new land port happen from our side, which is just amazing to see it happening on the other end and nothing from our end. the first thing would be, the locals had asked me to come and take a look at it. obviously, the council people and the county supervisor. so what's going on with that and what can we do because they tell me that it's about three hours standing time if you're a pedestrian to go across that section right now. and i happen to know because i have family in mexicali, so i asked them. what to you think? they said it's taken way too long. two, three hours. sometimes in the summer it's hours out there with no cover. so

thank you madam secretary for being here today. the flight deck officer program was cut down by 50%. this program was made up of volunteers that pay more out of their pockets than it costs to protect our nation. in fact, to provide the protection for each flight deck officer, for each ffdo flight costs the nation 15 dl$15. that is how efficient the federal flight deck program is. i have to believe that is probably one of the most cost effective program in the u.s. government. they volunteer their time and money to be a deterrent and aid our country. they are the last line of defense when it comes to piracy. what prompted -- did you make this cut or did it come from the president? or where did it come from? >> i think the reduction for the federal flight deck officer program is predicated on the fakd that fact -- on the fact that it's not risk based. you'll have an ffdo whether somebody is on a flight or not and we are moving in the tsa to pri risk-based systems. >> i agree with risk based systems but i believe a $15 federal flight

thank you, madam secretary. >> thank you, congressman. with respect to gas prices, i think there is room for considering ways to rein in speculation and gouging. yes, are there events that are happening in the world that raise questions? yes. but to the extent that it justifies or can explain the increase in the gas prices, i don't believe so. so therefore i -- i have long thought that there has to be some market mechanism that can be explored to try to break speculation that is unrelated. now if, you know, the iranians close the strait of hormuz, that would be a real event and we'd have to deal with it, but that would cause the market to obviously react. but right now there's talk in the air about all kinds of things, but there is no event. so i do think it's worth exploring the legislation that you referenced. with respect to manufacturing, this administration has brought more trade action against china, against unfair trade practices, against the theft of intellectual property. and we will continue to do so. because we don't fear a lev

madam secretary, welcome back to the committee. as always, i think you know this to my great pleasure for us to welcome you here and have you here and it is enormously helpful for us to obviously, to hear your thoughts, especially at a time when we are facing so many different challenges and at the same time, i think, presented the so many opportunities. the demand for u.s. leaders, i think, has never been higher, whether because of the issues raised by the arabs bring, buy a nuclear proliferation, climate change, particularly the challenge of iran in the middle east. budget realities come however, have placed a premium on protecting u.s. power, not all the effectively, but officially. i think that more than a at a recent moments we need a smart, coordinated, and strong budget in order to safeguard the american people and particular to fund the administration's pursuit of opportunities and to face the challenges that we are all too well aware of. obviously for anybody running for office, and i know you know this, madam secretary, c

it's a real quick question, madame secretary, and thank you for being here today. with the growing economy and vast foreign reserves, it would seem that beijing has more than enough money to deal with many of the issues that u.s. foreign aid sports like it's own citizens' health issues. borrowing money from the chinese government to spend back in china on health programs seems a particularly bad use of u.s. government funds especially as americans struggle to cover their own rising health care costs. why are we proposing $2 million in support of health programs in china when the chinese hold an estimated $1.2 trillion of u.s. debt? >> well, congressman, the remaining aid that we are asking for goes to what we consider to be transnational issues in which we have a stake. it was united states aid and leadership that finally helped china respond to their own hiv/aids crisis, which does have a positive effect on the epidemic far beyond their borders. when we look at communicable diseases, when we look at the need to try to help democracy, human rights, good governance

welcome, madame secretary. the first question, i have to areas, one in low assistance fuel program, and the other in the make program. first of all, i was just truly surprised and disappointed that the president's proposed budget for the next year advances another major reduction in the low-income fuel assistance by almost $500 million, in addition to the proposed cut last year, that was almost $1.2 billion. fortunately -- $2.2 billion, actually, and the congress restored a billion of that. i mean, this is historically low, you know, assistance for the needy population, certainly in cold weather states. i mean, "new york times" just did a front page story, just a couple weeks ago, on the dire, desperate circumstances so many people fac instance, where the individual offered offered his car as collateral to pay for assistance. maine has gone underesident's a $80 million to a proposed $32 million with this additional cut. i just don't understand it opinion given the insignificant increase in oil prices, which is

now, madam secretary, i hate to break up the conversation between the current secretary and the first secretary but we almost had the trifecta of the three secretaries of the department of homeland security come secretary chertoff wanted to testify at a previous commitment and has filed a statement for the record strongly in support of the legislation. senator napolitano, thanks very much for being here and for all of the work that you and people in the department have done to help us come to this plight of the bill. we welcome your testimony now. >> thank you, chairman lieberman, a ranking member collins, members of the committee, pleased to be here today to discuss the issue of cybersecurity, and in particular the department strong support for the cybersecurity act of 2012. i appreciated this committee's support of the department cybersecurity efforts to be a more sustained attention to this issue and the leadership that have shown in bringing the bill forward to strengthen and improve our cybersecurity authorities. i also appreciate and want to emphasize the urgency of the situatio

chairman, and thank you madam secretary and thank you for the tremendous service you provide for the country. i understand that for the budget the first time, a major focus of homeland security will be grant funded, and will be sustainment of capabilities and just to clarify and just so i can understand, does this mean that you are going to focus more on the sustainment of the capabilities, and will this maybe oversupport new developments? >> it depends, representative. it depends on what a particular community needs. it may need to buy something new, but what we have found in the past is that there was, and there used to be a prohibition of used to being able to pay for the maintenance over time, and so there was a constant emphasis on buying new stuff for lack of a better term. we think now with $35 billion out of the door, there is time to looking at how we maintain those resources as well as purchasing new ones. >> and what you are seeing the sustainments of support being transitional, or would it be perennial? >> again, our with respect to 20 -- the past years allocated and not

i yield back. >> madam secretary thank you for your testimony today. thank you for accommodating our schedule. sorry for the like, we were on the floor voting. thank you for your testimony and if members of the committee have additional questions, we ask you to respond to those in writing. it without objection, the committee stands adjourned. >> thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> at 9:30 a.m. eastern, the senate energy committee hears from energy secretary stephen to. at 2:00 eastern, treasury secretary testifies before the budget committee. you can watch both events live. "washington journal" is next with your phone calls and today's session of the u.s. house. to morning business, members are expected to continue work on an oil exploration bill. in about 45 minutes, we will talk with congressman barney frank and the co-authors of the book "

. >> thank you, madam secretary. and let me transition then to the other part of what i think is our shared agenda for africa, which is promoting america's core commitment to transparency, to rule of law, to democracy, to internet freedom, to human rights. many of us were relieved that senegal's elections preceded without significant violence, but it raises the ongoing question whether uganda, cameroon, equatorial guinea, zimbabwe of national leaders who have either manipulated constitutions or avoided really free and fair elections on a continent where there has been steady progress towards democracy in the last decade. what can we do to encourage and sustain good governance in africa? what priorities are reflected in this 13 budget in that regard, and what can we be doing together that will help bring together these twin strands? one of the most striking things senator isakson and i saw in nigeria is the mobile phone revolution, made possible transparent elections in nigeria in just the same way they're making poss

madam secretary, thank you. i would comment that solution to lack of funding by congress is not for the administration to not request funding. the solution to that problem is continued support, and encouragement from congress to act. as you say, the house appropriate 75 million last year. the senate in the covers? was agreed upon the 50 million. you also are requesting reprogrammings for additional planning money within this years budget. again, the money that is there needs to be spent as quickly as possible. i will be asking you by letter shortly to continue the funding of the $40 million that is available, is appropriate, and now as result of the report filed this week can be spent to complete the federal share on the utility portion of this facility. based upon what i've heard you say and what i've read that you have said, it's not about location. it's not about the site, and it may be about the scope of what will occur. but the utility pad is still important and will be necessary regardless of the scope of

again, madam secretary, thank you for appearing today. i look forward to discussing the budget proposal and work with you to ensure that we keep your nation secure during the difficult economic times. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back. >> thank you, mr. thompson. other members of the committee, i remind you opening statements may be submitted for the record. i remind our witness, your entire written statement will appear in the record. i would ask you to summarize your statement at this time. i recognize the secretary of homeland security, secretary napolitano. thank you, mr. chairman, representative thompson, representatives of the committee for the opportunity to discuss president obama's fiscal year 2013 budget for the department of homeland security. ten years after the september 11th attacks, america is stronger and more secure today thanks to the strong support of the president and of the congress. thanks to the work of the men and women of the department of homeland security and to local, state and federal partners across the h

madam secretary, it's fwood seeing you again. i believe you're going down to my district next week and i hope that actually i'll be in there at the same area you'll be at, so i hope to see you there. again, thank you. i know dealing with a budget is always hard. i thank you for looking at the add mrlt i costs, retuxs, the programs that you had. thank you for doing that, for making your agency more efficient, more effective. the report that came out on march 2011 talked about a 639$64 million that came about because of the elimination of that north american trade agreement country exceptions. it's been going on, i believe, since 2008. there's authorization, there's no thorsization. bottom line is, that's a lot of money that's available if we can use that for -- for border because that came in from the trade issues. what is the status on trying to get that? why can't we get that money out especially in these tight municipal times. >> i don't know sitting here. i don't know whether there's some st

now, madam secretary, i hate to break up the conversation between the current secretary and the first secretary but we almost had the trifecta of the three secretaries of the department of homeland security come secretary chertoff wanted to testify at a previous commitment and has filed a statement for the record strongly in support of the legislation. senator napolitano, thanks very much for being here and for all of the work that you and people in the department have done to help us come to this plight of the bill. we welcome your testimony now. >> thank you, chairman lieberman, a ranking member collins, members of the committee, pleased to be here today to discuss the issue of cybersecurity, and in particular the department strong support for the cybersecurity act of 2012. i appreciated this committee's support of the department cybersecurity efforts to be a more sustained attention to this issue and the leadership that have shown in bringing the bill forward to strengthen and improve our cybersecurity authorities. i also appreciate and want to emphasize the urgency of the situatio

i would like to turn to our honored guest and witness, secretary sebelius. madamecare, you know the drill. your statement's automatically included and we urge you to tell us what you want. you know, candid, direct, and take your time. not too much, but i'll give you enough time so you can say what you want to say. >> well, thank you very much, chairman bacchus, senator hatch, and members of the committee. i look forward to the opportunity to discuss the president's 2013 budget for the department of health and human services. our budget helps to create an american economy that's built to last by strengthening our nation's health care, supporting research that will lead to tomorrow's treatments and cures, and promoting opportunity for america's children and families, so everyone has a fair shot to reach their full potential. it makes the investments we need right now to keep our economy going in the right direction, while rueducing the deficit in the long-term, to make sure the programs that millions of americans rely on will be there for generations to come. now, i

madam secretary, this lunch is a great start. i hope we can match the extraordinary hospitality that the vice president showed me in my four-day visit to china last august. the highlight of that trip for me, mr. vice president, was the time was spent in conversations together in beijing and cheng du, and i look forward to continuing the conversation we started this morning. the vice president has already participated in three meetings prior to this lunch, and they covered a broad range of constructive discussions. and we have a very ambitious agenda in the coming days as well. as vice president i discussed at some length the united states and china have much to do together, quite frankly, because our relationship is literally going to help shape the 21st century. we are not only the world's two largest economies, but we are both pacific powers and everyday the affairs of our nations and the livelihood of our citizens grow more connected. the president and i came in office determined to rebalance america's strategic priorities tow

with that, is it okay if i -- >> madam secretary, i'm just going to ask, we'll submit follow up questions on writing on the issue of foster children. >> absolutely. and it's something we would love. commissioner samuels and our assistant secretary is very eager to continue pursuing this issue. >> good. thank you. >> thank you, madam secretary. >> thank you. >> thank you for being here. with that, we'll recess until further notice. >> at 8:00 on c-span3shgs the history of u.s. space policy. president obama recently released his 2013 federal budget proposal calling for $3.8 trillion in total spending. adding about $900 billion to the deaf it? 2013. in comparison, the 2012 budget requested $3.12 trillion. can you see the entire budget online at c-span.org along with hearings and briefings. coming up next, treasury secretary tim geithner testifies about the president's budget proposal. earlier today secretary geithner made news when he said that the current tax system is bad for business and job creation. and he supports president obama's proposal announced today to cut the current business t

go ahead, finish the answer, madam secretary. >> you're absolutely right, new rules in place will require a far more robust process with 1115 waivers, hearing at the state level an opportunity for comment. the current rules really is the governor and the state negotiates with our department, we are not by practice and statute able to share those negotiations, the governor's office could share. as far as i know there is no imminent, there isn't any imminent waiver decision but i understand what you're saying, we hope to get to the point where this is a much more transparent process in the very near future. >> thank you. >> well came madam secretary, the first question i have two areas, one on low income assistance program and other medicaid program. first of all, i am truly surprised and disappointed the president's proposed budget for next year advances another major reduction on fuel assistance by almost half a billion dollars in addition to the proposed cut last year, that was almost 1.2 billion. fortunately, 2.2 billion, actually, and the congress restored a billion of that. this is hi

madam secretary, i sit on two committees, subcommittees, that both deal wit issue of cargo. the transportation security committee and the board committee that deals with border both lands and of course, the ports. and i am frankly disappointed and concerned about what we have come to in light of the situation dealing with not doing 100% cargo inspection. so my question is, i heard an earlier answer, but i just wanted a clearer understanding. my question is, with the really concern as it relates to air cargo and the lack of 100% inspection, can we and will you set actual time frames of which we can work together as a committee and as your department is working to see what the alternatives are, or, in fact, to see whether or not the 100% cargo inspection is still viable, even if the deadline has been pushed back? >> well, i was talking about scanning in the maritime environment. with respect to air cargo, we are at the stage of 100% for cargo put on passenger planes, leaving from u.s. domestic airports. whether they be leaving on a domestic flight or on an international flight

you madam secretary, valerie janet, one of the president's top aides.cy depaul from the health office on the other side. was that what played out here, the men and women fighting over this policy? >> i wasn't at least part of any battles. i was a part of many discussions about how the best path was to move forward. there were certainly some who argued for a broader exemption. >> did it brake down that way? do men and women have a different perspective on this issue? >> i don't think there's any question that women's health issues have been long ignored in the marketplace. >> i'm now talking about conversations in the oval office. >> well, i think that people expressed their views. and there were men and women, i would say, on various sides of this whole issue. but the president was very firm from the outset. women should have access to preventative healthcare wherever she worked, whether she was a nurse or a teacher or a janitor. her employer should not determine her access to important preventative health. and her income shouldn't determine that. that'

and now madam secretary, i hate to break up a conversation between the secretary and the current secretary. we almost had the trifecta of the three secretaries of the department of homeland security here today. secretary chertoff wanted to testify, had a previous commitment, and has filed a statement for the record strongly in support of the legislation. secretary napolitano, thanks very much for being here and for all the work you and people in the department have done to help us come to this point with this bill. we welcome your testimony now. >> thank you, chairman lieberman, ranking member collins, members of the committee. it is great to be here to discuss the issue of cybersecurity and in particular the department's strong support for the cybersecurity act of 2012. i appreciate this committee's support of the department's cybersecurity efforts. you have sustained attention to this issue and the leadership you have shown in bringing the bill forward to strengthen and improve our cybersecurity authorities. i also appreciate and want to emphasize the urgency of this situation. indeed, t

that, madam president, is the president's record on energy. so how his secretary of the interior could come up and say that their energy strategy shows good results is beyond me. it is completely at odds with the reality and with the facts, madam president. the obama administration is implementing a backdoor, national backdoor energy tax, unregulated precedents of greenhouse gas emissions under the clean air act. president obama specifically targeting the oil and gas industry with new regulations such as new source peformance standards boiler pha*bgt, tier 3 gasoline standards that could drive up the cost of gasoline by up to 25 cents a gallon. the raise of operating costs by $5 billion to $13 billion annually, lead to a 14% reduction in u.s. supplies and force as many as seven u.s. refiners to shut down, the tier 3 gasoline standard the administration is proposing. time after time again opportunity after opportunity missed, this president continues to put policies in place that make it more difficult, more expensive to create jobs in this country and that raise t

madam secretary, i want to echo my colleagues' thanks for all of your effective and hard working service for our country around the world. and i would also like to just echo what you had to say about the role that our embassies play around the world in promoting american trade and business interests. my office had the opportunity to help organize a trade mission to india, and the business people who went on that mission would not have had the same prospects for meetings, for opportunities to do future business without the support from our embassy in india. so thank you very much for that effort. as i look at the top five recipients of u.s. foreign assistance and senator lugar read those earlier, number two on that list is afghanistan, which has been in the headlines in the last several weeks, because of concerns about trust between the united states and afghanistan, certainly on the military side. there have been concerns raised about whether our strategy of being able to turn over security to the afghan forces has been an effective one. and i wonder if you could talk about what you're s

. >> madam secretary, thank you for your incredible service to our country. i remember when you were sitting here for your confirmation hearing and those of us had questions, you have dissipated the questions and have done an extraordinary job. i want to talk about iran. i hope you agree with me that our best peaceful diplomacy tool left to us to stop the march is the vigorous enforcement of the sanctions that we presently have, particularly the central basic of iran. is that the best tool? >> it is personal probably the highest priority tool. we have others, but your characterization is right. >> in that context respect to the implementation of the central barchgz sanctions that begin to take effect tomorrow with respect to non-petroleum transactions, i have concerns about the subjective criteria. that will be used to determine whether a country has achieved significant reductions and purchases of refined petroleum. i would have preferred we had some scale, but we heard arguments why having a subjective criteria may be better. i can presume that in the absen

. >> madam secretary, lady ashton, thank you. the iranian letter refers to a readiness for dialogue, talks at the earliest possibility, and also significantly no preconditions in it for those talks. yet, you seem somewhat hesitant to embrace this. is it that you think the letter is not sincere, and what more do you need to see before you coul you see for those talks to begin? thank you. >> first, as i think we both have said, we are evaluating the response. our unity within the p-5 plus 1 has been absolutely critical in dealing with iran in the past. it remains so going guard. it takes time to consult and to do so in a thorough manner. so we need to give time to our partners in the p-5 plus 1 process to do their own evaluation, but we've been clear about two things that i want to stress. first, as outlined in kathy's october letter to iran, any conversation with iran has to begin with the discussion of its nuclear program and iran's response to kathy's letter does appear to acknowledge and accept that. second, we must be assured

. >> thank you madam secretary, hopefully the mic will pick me up. >> i hear you fine. >> as senator mccall pointsed out, this was the anniversary of the death of agent topada, thank you for all you've done for the family. but we are starting to get inconsistent information coming out of that investigation. if you can keep us up to date on that. despite the overall budget decrease, we are looking at doubling the fee passengers pay from $2.50 to $5 for the tsa, i applaud you for cutting spending, i'm a little concerned about raising taxes, especially when we were not really seeing a need there. we have got the tsa actually working better than it has in the past and we have got a lot of our technology expenditures under control, why the need for increasing that fee? >> thank you and thank you for your kind words about tsa, i think they have made a lot of progress in the last few years. it's a fee, not a tax. that is an important difference, it has not been increased since 200 2002, in the meantime, the congress has appropriated dollars after dollars do make sure we have good technology

welcome, madam secretary. i'll -- hopefully the mike will pick me up. >> i can hear you fine. >> as representative mccall pointed out, this is a one-year anniversary of the death of agent zapata. before i get to the budget, i would like to take a moment for what you have done for the zapata family but we are starting to receive inconsistent information from various agencies about how that progresses and if you could help with that, the zapata family and i would appreciate staying up to date on that. >> all right. >> with are respect to the budget, i know mr. walsh talked about the fact that despite the overall budget decreased, we are looking at the fee that passengers pay. it seems like -- i applaud you for cutting spending but i'm a little concerned about raising taxes, especially when we're not really seeing a need there. we've got the tsa actually working better than it has in the past and we've got a lot of our technology expenditures under control. why the need for increasing that fee? >> well, thank you

. >> reporter: but madam secretary, what's the fear? on the ground, what is the fear of arming the rebels? >> what are we going to arm them with and against what? you're not going to bring tanks over the borders of turkey, lebanon, and jordan. that's not going to happen. so maybe at the best you can smuggle in automatic whens? where do you go? and to whom are you delivering them we know al qaeda, al-zawahiri, is supporting the opposition is n syria. are we supporting al qaeda in syria? hamas is now supporting the opposition. are we supporting hamas in syria? so i think, wyatt despite the great pleas that we hear from those people who are being ruthlessly assaulted by assad, if you're a military planner or if you're a secretary of state and you're trying to figure out do you have the elements of an opposition that is actually viable, we don't see that. we see immense human suffering that is heart breaking and a stain on the honor of those security forces who are doing it. >> reporter: last friday, the u.s. and arab states announced sanct

. >> thank you, madam secretary. firstly, could you tell us what you think about this recent report that details from taliban detainees cooperation between the taliban and pakistan? and then also realize that today the u.n. security council will be discussing the resolution on syria. yesterday the russian ambassador, after hearing your comment, said that the u.n. security council can't endorse the arab league plan in a resolution. if the russians will refuse to endorse the arab league plan as you're calling for, do they bear responsibility for the continued bloodshed there? thanks. >> well, first, with respect to the confidential document that you're referring to, elise, i am obviously not going to be commenting on it. i think that there have already been comments that there's nothing new in what has been released but i'm not going to go into it in any depth. with respect to syria and the attitude of russia, we recognize that getting the security council to act will require continuing consultations with our partners

[applause] madam secretary, i would now recognize myself far an opening statement. time flies when you're having a good time. thank you for meeting with our side of the aisle. ranking member thompson and his members as well. i also want to thank you for the level of cooperation you have had. i know you spoke with commissioner kelly earlier this week. i thank you very much for that. today, we are going to be looking at the president's request, which is almost the same as last year. in this time of budget austerity, i commend you for getting that amount. i believe all the money is required. these are difficult times, but the budget is still there. obviously we have now an emerging threat with hezbollah which i will discuss with you later. anyone who looks and its debriefings note it is a dangerous world we live in. it is important the department has the funding to do the job it needs to do as well as work with local and state governments. i also note that budget money is being cut back is a burden on you. it makes it more difficult to allocate the money. everybody wan

i yield back. >> madam secretary thank you for your testimony today. thank you for accommodating our schedule. sorry for the like, we were on the floor voting. thank you for your testimony and if members of the committee have additional questions, we ask you to respond to those in writing. it without objection, the committee stands adjourned. >> thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> coming up next on c-span house debate on offshore oil drilling. transportation secretary ray lahood testifies about the president's 2013 budget request. then president obama talks about manufacturing jobs in his visit to milwaukee. >> congress has scheduled several more hearings tomorrow on the white house budget. at 9:30 in the morning the senate energy committee hears from energy secretary stephen chu. at 2:00 eastern, timothy geithner testifies before the house committee. watched both of those meetings on c-span3 and c-span.org. >> "book tv" is live saturday from this a fan out book

. >> suarez: health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius, madame secretary, thanks for joining us. >> great to be with you, ray. >> brown: still to come on the newshour: greek protests; the flagging italian economy; shields and brooks; and china's newest american craze. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: the battle for conservative hearts and minds brought republican presidential hopefuls to washington today. at an annual conference, mitt romney tried to allay doubts about where he stands, and defended his time as governor of massachusetts. >> i fought against long odds in a deep blue state, but i was a severely conservative republican governor. (applause) i understand that the battles we as conservatives must fight because i have been on the front lines. and expect to be on those front lines again. >> sreenivasan: former pennsylvania senator rick santorum never mentioned romney directly. but he argued he is the only candidate in the field who will stay true to conservative values. >> why would an undecided voter vote for a candidate