. >>> the chairman of the house armed services committee buck mckeon joins us to discuss defense cuts by obama administration including decreasing the eyes of the army and marines and the the affect that could have on the military. >> people are just starting to understand how serious this is. i mean, they are just starting to come to grips with the 487 billion that's being cut out of the president's budget that we're dealing with right now, starting into. then you add another 500 to $600 billion on top of that that's just across the board cuts that no thought, no planning, no nothing. in fact, when we have the secretary of navy and the cno and marine commandant in week before last in hearings, i asked them, i said, what are you doing to plan for sequestration. they said omb ordered us to not even think about it. totally irresponsible. >> mr. panetta did say yesterday that come summer, he would consider planning. >> well, somebody better. in the meantime, i am. >> you can watch newsmakers with house armed services committee buck mckeon sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on our

. >> we want to welcome back buck mckeon, a republican of california. donna cassata covers defense for the associated press. and colin clark. >> sequestration, we know you hate it, we know you want to change it. this morning, your ranking member, mr. smith, suggested that by allowing the tax cuts under mr. bush to expire in december, this would solve the problem. republicans would not have to vote for a tax increase. you guys could march forward. what do you think? >> adam is a good friend and we worked together on this. our committee is bipartisan. i really tried to work because we look at our responsibility as protecting the men and women in uniform. defending the nation of the country. however, we have had many hearings and i've expressed my opinion. he has expressed his. my opinion is that our responsibility, my responsibility, is to look out for the defense of the country, to make sure that men and women in uniform have all of the training, equipment, tools, leadership, then they need to carry out their missions and return home safely. i do not thi

it is an honor to be with you today, chairman mckeon, ranking member smith, distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss our operations in afghanistan. it's a pleasure to be here with my friend, dr. miller, the acting undersecretary of defense for policy, and chairman i ask that m y entered into the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> thank you, sir. let me begin by expressing my gratitude to all of you on the committee for the support that you provide our men and women in uniform every day, that they are well equipped, well trained and well-leds a great testent to theests of this committee and the great work of this congress on behalf of the troops and their families, i want to thank you for that. the past eight months i've walks the ground of afghanistan with many of those troops. along with my friend and partner ambassador ryan crocker and my nato compatriot, the senior civilian representative, ambassador sir simon gas, i've met with the leaders of most of the or 49 nations that serve along side us in the inte

>> chairman mckeon, ranking member smith, members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today. i'm very pleased and honored to be here with outstanding commander, general john allen. i ask that my full remarks be enters into the record and i would like to summarize them. >> without objection, so ordered. could you pull the mike a little bit closer, please? >> mr. chairman, the united states' objectives in afghanistan remain to deny safe halve tonight al qaeda and to deny the taliban the ability to overthrow the afghan government. this administration is committed to meeting these core objectives. while we have faced serious challenges, our strategy is succeeding. our counterterrorism efforts against al qaeda have been successful. the job is not finished, there is no doubt that we have severely degraded al qaeda's capacity. as a result of this surge launched in 2009, we have broken and reversed taliban momentum in afghanistan. in the afghan national security forces are increasingly capable, and increasingly in the lead. mr. chairman, our forces are performing extremely wel

. >> your chairman of the armed services, buck mckeon was on our news program last week and one of the things he said was that the armed services committee was a bipartisan committee and that we work together would you agree with that statement? >> i have only been on the committee for three weeks so it's hard for me to make that assessment. i think that the committee has a history of working together. i want to make sure that we work together on military sexual trauma as well. >> traverse city, michigan, mary, democrat, thanks for holding, mary, you're on with jackie spear. >> no problem, i'm a patient person. i just want to say first i am incredibly impressed because most of what we see on botching in the house and the senate. i had no idea that we had people like you in there and if we had, we would have more done, that's obvious. in michigan, we knew about things being bad long before the country did and we have tried to buy michigan, we have tried to buy america, usa and when you were talking about buying the steel from china, any time there's a bid that's going to be from some ot

senator buck mckeon, thank you for being our "news maker." >> thank you for having me. >> and we're back with our few reporters. colin, let me begin with you. you asked the first question about sequestration. what did you hear the chairman say? what happened on this issue? >> not much. i think we're probably going to see him try to bring as many republicans onto the letter he cited, the 80 to 100 signatures. if the tea party folks sit in the back beating the drums, i don't think he's going to get very far. >> no action before december? >> i would be surprised. >> what does that mean come december? donna? does sequestration happen? >> i think it all comes down to what happens on election day and what happens in lame duck. the inclination among members to address this issue after an election whening in something might be -- someone might be in their last few weeks of their term. >> i'm willing to bet something big happens on december 23. >> probably. in the meantime, the defense budget, he's trying to get more monday for the pentagon. is it possible that he can, donna? >> it is going to be

that is just one bit of news from congressman buck mckeon is, republican of california, in an interview taped for c-span's newsmakers program. the half an hour program airs sundays at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern time. back in a minute with more "washington today"? >> if you had said in 2006 that the world would be begging for the united states to use force again in the middle east within three and a half years, everybody would have said you were crazy. >> brookings fellow robert kagan is not only an advising to the romney campaign but also serves on secretary of state's clinton's foreign policy board. >> what i've been writing for years is that there's a lot of continuity in american foreign policy, more than we expect, a lot of broad consensus. i think what you're seeing here is the kind of consensus that is exists com in the foreign policy community and probably there is a lot of overlap. >> more on the latest, the world america made sunday night at 8:00 eastern. >> welcome back to "washington today." another day of testimony by the fed chairman ben bernanke. yesterday he testifi

mean lockheed martin if you look at where most of their political donations go to they go to buck mckeon who is the chairman of the house armed services committee that has oversight on a lot of the programs that they have an interest in within the federal government and it's that way on the. appropriations committees on the senate appropriations subcommittee on defense it's like that all over the federal government they know exactly where to put their dollars to get the most results and they don't care about your political party by the way they'll give to whomever is sitting in those chairs that has decision making capabilities over the money that they have an interest in lockheed martin is is great at navigating the system that exists between staffers wanting to get pentagon jobs in pentagon employees wanting golden parachutes when they get out of the pentagon they make a place for them on lucky boards and in their various offices around the country lockheed martin knows how to entice and seduce these people to get exactly what they want and i think the numbers that you have they're jus

a group of students join the players at mckeon pavilion when they found out to the midwest as no. 17.inst purdue. coach randy bennett knows in this game anything can happen. 5, 6, 12, those are 50/50 games, and we know that. we were prepared for that. we knew that going in. to get where we're at we have to play some of those games. >> i know purdue's program and i know matt paineer, a great coach with great tradition. we know how to play them. it's a little like we played southern illinois, that is their style of basketball. we're in the competition. this is what you play all year for to get in this tournament and that is where we're at, and so, now it's time to compete again. >> the top-seed is north carolina followed by kansas, no. 2. georgetown, 3 and michigan, 4. first-round win by st. mary's would most likely earn the gaels a second round match up with kansas. the selection committee didn't think much of pac-12. colorado had an automatic bid and everyone else was waiting to see if an at-large bid was in the making. cal bears have a record of 24-9 having lost to colorado in the pa

. >> buck mckeon, chairman of the armed services committee, discusses the defense cuts planned by the obama administration, efforts to shift the role in afghanistan, and the nuclear plant in iran. >> even a person who is a senator, even a person who is president of the united states, faces a predicament when they talk about race. they face the fact that there are an appreciable number of americans who are racially prejudiced. they face the fact that a much larger portion of the american populace wants to deny that reality even now. >> the former law clerk to justice thurgood marshall on racism, politics, and the obama administration. the rhodes scholar is the author of five books. he will answer questions for three hours, live on "in depth." republican presidential candidate mitt romney continues to campaign in ohio this weekend. it is one of 10 states holding contests on super tuesday. next, the former massachusetts governor takes part in a town hall meeting in dayton. ♪ ♪ >> wow. what a turnout. i have a question for this crowd. do you believe we cannot afford another four years of

can see the full interview with house interview with house armed services committee chairman buck mckeonday evening at six eastern on c-span. interior secretary ken salazar defended his department's 2013 budget request before the senate energy and natural resources committee earlier this week. president obama's $3.8 trillion proposal includes $11.4 billion for that department. mr. salazar said it is a good budget but requires the agency to do more with less. several senators asked the secretary about high gas prices and tapping into the strategic petroleum reserve. this is about an hour and 50 minutes. >> okay, why don't we get started? this morning, the committee is reviewing the president's proposed budget for the department of interior for fiscal year 2013. we are very pleased to secretary salazar act with us in his old committee room. the department's proposed budget of 11.7 billion appropriate funds represents a slight increase over current funding levels. in my view it's a reasonable proposal and reflects the difficult choices the president is required to make given the current fis

willis, most importantly of my high school history teacher john mckeon who introduced me to history, introduced me to the study of history, study of historical writing. very important figure in my intellectual development. >> host: how many african-americans attended that school? >> guest: not many. in my graduation class of 70 there were probably seven black american students. when i began there were fewer but more came over time. there were not that many. there are more now. but when i was fair there were not many black students. it was an extraordinary intellectual environment. absolutely extraordinary. st. albans really did inculcate a notion of public mindedness. we debated all of the public issues of the day that were the wide range of ideological positions that people took. we were encouraged to speak out. we were encouraged to write down our views. to this day i have very fond feelings toward st. albans and very fond feelings towards my teachers. >> princeton? >> guest: i went to princeton university between 1973-1977. gained a wonderful experience again of a host of teachers

chairman mckeon, ranking member smith, distinguished members of the committee. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss our operations in afghanistan. it's a pleasure to be here with my friend, drcht miller, the acting undersecretary of defense for policy, and chairman, i ask my verbal remarks be entered into the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> thank you, sir. let me begin by expressing my gratitude to all of you on the committee for the support that you provide our men and women in uniform every day. they are well equipped, well trained, and well led is a great testament to the efforts of this committee and to the great work of this congress. on behalf of those troops and on behalf of their families, i want to thank you for that. in the past eight months i have walked the ground of afghanistan with many of those troops. along with my friend and partner, ambassador ryan crocker, and my nato come pratt, the senior civilian representative, ambassador sir simon gas, i met with the leaders of most of the other 49 nations that

>> you know, let me respond by first saying that congressman mckeon as it was trying to make a good-faith effort to do something to avoid sequester and i commend them for that. but it also told him personally that the approach of simply going after the civil service side of it, particularly when it came to defense, we do have almost 700,000 civilians who work in the defense department alongside the military men and men in uniform, that it could impact on our ability to implement our mission, particularly with regards to the area you have just described. what, i was director of the cia -- the cia is made up of civilian workforce and these are people who every day put their lives on the line in order to protect this country. it isn't to say that obviously some savings can't be achieved here, but i think to just put it all on the backs of the civil servants in this country i think would be not a wise step. >> thank you, mr. secretary. let me ask you a question with respect to your auto workforce and the defense department over the years, the defense department remains the federal agency that

i want to thank the house armed services committee chairman, buck mckeon, as well as ranking member adam smith and their staffs and i want to note the 116 colleagues, republicans and democrats, all the democrats on the armed services committee and a substantial number of republicans on that committee, for their support. this kind of consideration is just the way this house should behave and should act. i'm glad we were able to do it on this bill. today is an important day for the city of salem an for the national guard an for local residents like larry conway and many others who have been advocated for this designation for years. designating salem as birth place of the national guard will pay tribute to those who first organized to defend our country almost 375 years ago an will also honor those men and women who continue to serve in the national guard today. we're working closely with our senate count paths to ensure that that chamber acts quickly in time for the 375th anniversary next month. it won't recount all the details which my colleagues were so kind to enumerate but the bill its

german mckeon, ranking member smith, distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. to discuss our operations in afghanistan. it's a pleasure to be here with my friend, dr. miller, the acting undersecretary of defense for policy. chairman, i ask that my remarks be entered into the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> thank you pilat let me begin by expressing my gratitude to all of you on the committee for the support that you provide our men and women in uniform every day, that they are well equipped, well-trained and well fled as a great testament to the efforts of this committee and to the great work of this congress. and on behalf of those troops and on behalf of their families, i want to thank you for that. in the past eight months i've walked the ground afghanistan with many of those troops. along with my friend and partner, ambassador ryan crocker coming into my nato country the senior civilian representative ambassador sir simon gas five met with of the leaders of most of the other 49 nations that serve alongside of us in t

eastern, "newsmakers," with buck mckeon. and at 6:30, a discussion with "game changed," co-authors. >> if you had said, in 2006, that the world would be begging for the united states to use force again in the middle east, everyone would have said that you were crazy. >> robert k. in is not only an advisor to the romney campaign, but also serves on the clinton secretary of state of advisory board. >> i have been writing that there is a lot of continuity, and much of the consensus here exists in the foreign policy community. >> more with robert k. and on foreign policy and his latest, tonight at 8:00 eastern on q&a. >> the senate foreign relations committee on thursday questioned state department officials on the escalating violence in syria, where an estimated 7500 people have been killed since the start of anti- government protests. last week the secretary general put in new reports. >> this hearing will come to order. thank you. i apologize for being late. i was a little delayed their. senator casey will chair this morning.

but a new accident southbound 680 at mckeon might show slowing over the next 15.stroyed it. the community rebuilt it. we'll show you the new san jose war memorial at 11:00. see you in 30. >>> here back on this try day friday with "today's style." did you ever wonder what your wardrobe would look like if your man in your life picked it? >> they were shocked at the great taste men have. >> show-stopping outfits. the fashion director of "redbook "magazine is here with us. >> you were surprised. >> pleasantly. >> you were expecting lots of cleavage. >> yes, we were terrified when we embarked on this, skin tight, see through, up to there. >> enough about hoda. >> hey, hey, hey. >> our first trend, all white. we have alissa modeling the look. >> here comes alissa in all white. one of the things we dils covered is these are not complicated creatures, men, and if you give them a lot of patterns and crazy colors they get confused. >> keep it simple. >> simple is the way to go. with guys, they totally get it. she looks chic and polished. it just looks amazing on her. it's l

. >> house armed services committee chair howard mckeon criticized president obama's budget request wednesday, saying it will cost soldiers to get pink slips is that it is tickertape rate. he spoke about nationals national segui challenges, defense department budget cuts and the danger of sequestration at the ronald reagan presidential -- the defense budget request for 2013 is $525.4 billion, a 1% decrease in discretionary spending. this is about half an hour. [applause] >> thank you very much john for that warm introduction and thank you for inviting me to this beautiful facility. reagan and his people knew how to do things right. the setting and the beauty of this whole structure is phenomenal. you just can't help but think about president reagan while you are here and it's timely, given the political season that one of the most famous campaign ads in history was president reagan's bear in the woods add. during the race, the reagan campaign was having trouble explaining their peace through strength foreign policy that the american people. the electorate at the time seemed to prefer walter m

. >> you can see that entire interview with buck mckeon honor newsmakers program on sunday here on c-span. another former chairman on appropriations announcing his retirement at the end of his term. the daily briefing from the white house is coming up in about 10 minutes or so. we will have that live when it starts. host: "politico covers the issue this way on its front page. they write -- host: senators rebuffed in an attempt for the contraceptive mandate. this spill brought on to the chamber floor. let's listen to some of roy blunt from one state as to talk about the amendment on the floor. [video clip] >> this would allow more conviction to be an important factor in whether or not people compare -- people comply with new health-care mandates. there's a difference. now that we have health care mandates that could apply to these institutions, all this amendment does is extend the same privileges to them and others who have a religious belief or moral conviction. host: here is how the vote turned out with coverage and "the washington post." host: a quick look at some reactions on editoria

on july 19 of 2011 i wrote a letter to the house committee on armed services chairman, buck mckeon, on the troubling revelation of a possible u.s. military sale to the government of egypt. it stated in my letter, it has come to my attention that the defense security cooperative agency notified congress on the first of july 2011 of a possible military sale to the government of egypt for 125 m-1 a-1 abram kits for production and associated weapons and kits and parts, training, and logistical support. america must continue to stand with the egyptian people and encourage them to build their own democracy with new political parties and freedoms. however we must exercise caution with regard to military sales and support to the egyptian government until the government is formed absent of the radical elements of the muslim brotherhood that would maintain an active peace with israel. speaking of the muslim brotherhood, mr. speaker, i would like to quote to you directly from a former supreme guide of the international muslim brotherhood. in december of 2005, muhammad said, the brotherhood is a g

. >> earlier this week, buck mckeon criticized president obama's plan. the budget request for 2013 relies on a 1% decrease in discretionary spending. >> reagan and his people really know how to do things right. the setting, the beauty of this whole structure is phenomenal, and you cannot help to think about president reagan what you are here, and it is timing the one of the most famous campaign ads in history was the bear in the woods at. the reagan campaign was having trouble explaining their foreign policy to the american people the electorate preferred walter mondale's simple, deferential approach to the soviet union, so the campaign team did when reagan was the stepped. they simplify the the message. in the enad there was an ominous reference to the soviet union in the advertisement and as the narrator gravely warned that there is a bear in the woods. the point was that unpredictability was a dangerous -- of a dangerous enemy was a threat that must be taken seriously. today's world is ripe with the unpredictability and america's 21st century strategi