wife of mckeon, mckeon. jerry with the buffalo news and chairman of the speakers and past president of the national press club. skipping over the speaker for a moment, pat host, reporter, defense daily, and speakers committee member who organized today's events. bob simmons, staff director of the house armed services guest of the speaker. matt leatherrer, publisher of and stripes. westing, united states navy, retired. john don ollie, editor of c.q. roll call executive briefing defense and chair of the national press club, freedom of committee. [applause] congressman buck mckeon, chairman of the house armed guestes committee, is our today to discuss the u.s. effort in afghanistan. gallup poll says that for the first time in the nearly more americans, think the 2001 invasion was a think it was, than think it was the right action. the unitedsays states' duties in afghanistan are far from complete. obama has notent disclosed his true plan for focusedtan and has elsewhere. he's also been critical of president oba

patricia mckeon, wife of chairman mckeon. jer,jerry zeremski, chairman ofe committee and a past president of the national press club. skipping over the speak per, pat host, reporter, "defense daily" who organized today's event. bob simmons, staff director for the house armed services committee and guest of the speaker. max letterer, publish of "stars and stripes." kevin wessink, united states navy, retired. john donnelly, editor of cq roll call's executive defense and chair of the national press club's freedom of the press committee. [applause] congressman buck mckeon, chairman of house armed service ofs committee, is -- arm serviced committee, is our guest today to discuss the u.s. effort in afghanistan. a recent gallup poll says that for the first time in the nearly 13-year-old war, more americans think the 2001 invasion was a mistake than think it was the right actionment but mckeon says the united states' duties in afghanistan are far from complete. he says president obama has not disclosed his true plans for afghanistan

[applause] thank you. >> thank you chairman mckeon. what can congress do to ensure that afghanistan stays secure? what can you do legislatively to challenge the president's role-playing -- withdrawal plan? >> those are things that we're working on every year. we pass a nice little defense authorization act of and we will be addressing those issues i am sure in that bill this year. we have the secretary of defense going to the nato meeting this week. he is going with a number of troops we would leave behind to continue on the mission of supporting the afghan troops. i think it would have been much better if the president had made the decision, and given that number. i visit with many of our nato allies, they ask me where do we go from here? they have already made commitments, they need to have that number established. i think congress can address that in our bill, and i think we can continue to apply pressure. we want the same and, we want the same goal, we want the safe, secure, free afghanistan. we are just whining over -- fighting ov

[applause] thank you. >> thank you chairman mckeon. what can congress do to ensure that afghanistan stays secure? legislatively to challenge the president's role-playing -- withdrawal plan? >> those are things that we're working on every year. we pass a nice little defense authorization act of and we will be addressing those issues i am sure in that bill this year. the secretary of defense going to the nato meeting this week. ofis going with a number troops we would leave behind to continue on the mission of supporting the afghan troops. i think it would have been much better if the president had made the decision, and given that number. i visit with many of our nato allies, they ask me where do we go from here? they have already made commitments, they need to have that number established. can addressress that in our bill, and i think we can continue to apply pressure. we want the same and, we want the same goal, we want the safe, secure, free afghanistan. --are just whining over fighting over the strategies of how that happens. your s

buck mckeon is here live to explain. >>> and the so-called villain of jeopardy is back. winning streak alive? alive? ll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. alex chu [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagin how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 3years or mor so maybe we need to approach things dferently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ and a hotel is the perfect place to talk to you about hotels. all-you-can-eat is a hotel policy that allows you to eat all that you can. the hotel gym is short for gymnasium. the hotel pool is usually filled with water. and the best dot com for booking hotels, is hotels.com. it's on the internet, but you probably knew that. or maybe not, i don't really know you. bellman: welcome back, captain obvious. captain obvious: yes i am. all those words are spelled correctly. >>> lawmakers on capital hill are getting ready to take on the irs and streamline the audit process to stop the targeting of gro

. >>> in a press conference wednesday, house arms services chairman buck mckeon spoke about a briefingthat detailed the damage done to the u.s. by nsa leaker edward snowden. >> no matter what opinion the american people hold of the nsa's data collection programs, they would be shocked and outraged to learn that a substantial amount of the information has nothing to do with the nsa. the damage he has done to our military and national defense programs is not the mark of a whistleblower. he has given our enemies an edge and put our war fighters at risk. >> you have to look at this. a high-speed police chase in north carolina came to a dramatic end when the suspect crashed his vehicle into two other cars, he jumped out, tried to make a run for it and was tackled to the ground by police. a gun and various drugs were found in his car. >>> the political battle over judges. "american idol's" clay aiken wants to be in congress. that's coming up next. look! mo'! (cat screech) you feel that in your muscles? i do... drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches let's us give you great

congressman, buck mckeon says we are trying to solve our financial problems on the back of our military. that can't be done >>> the international manhunt for ousted ukrainian president, victor yanukovych is on. the president of ukraine was fleeing under the cover of darkness on friday night. a warrant issued for his arrest along with other members of his government accused of mass murder. a new footage appears to show some of the shooting was organized, disciplined and deliberate. police firing on protesters for 30 minutes under orders from a general. russia is defiant. it's foreign minister is calling the t.i.d.e. of change armed mutiny. >>> the united states is examining its relationship with uganda. it criminalizes homosexuality and makes it illegal not to report gays or lesbians to authorities. first-time offenders could face 14 years in prison with a possible life sentence for repeat offenders. the united states and countries around the world call it a serious setback for civil rights. >> instead of standing on the side of freedom, justice and equal rights for its people, today, re

. >>> buck mckeon and mack thorn bury spoke about the detail of the damage done to the u.s.edward snowden. >> no matter what the opinion, the american people hold of the nsa's data collection programs, they would be shocked and outraged to learn that a substantial amount of the information has nothing to do with the nsa. the damage he has done to our military and national defense programs is not the mark of a whistle-blower. he's given our enemies an edge, and put our war fighters at risk. >> a high speed police chase this north carolina came to a dramatic end when the suspect crashed into two other cars before coming to a stop. he tried to flee was tackled to the ground by police you see there. a gun and various drugs found in his car. >>> american idol winner runner-up clay aiken is hoping for your votes if you live in north carolina. he will run as a democrat in the state's heavily republican second district against congresswoman renee ellmers. >>> a new app called name tag is being developed that could allow total strangers to i.d. you along with all of your information.

as buck mckeon points out you can get rid of everything. it is not going to touch the deficit running through the road. it is the 17/18 trillion dollars, the entitlement programs that are automatic out of our accounts. >> he went on to say, buck mckeon, that we have to find cuts but there is no courage to touch these in washington. >> this is a hard number to say it is so gigantic. >> it is massive. >> in 25 years it has gone up four times. >> the defense spending, close to $85 billion decrease in the past five years, it is not as though we're in a peaceful time right now. it's staggering. you have colonel oliver north quoted as saying we've backed into this budget. they're setting a budget where they want to cut not where they should be cutting, and they're backing into it and creating a plan nationally, globally to try to fit that. it's backwards. >> if you look at the strategic decision that barack obama made when he selected chuck hagel as secretary of defense, he knew all along he would one day ask military to get out a meat cleaver an

major republicans, contributors, that generally give money to republicans, with andrew cuomo led by mckeonto give andrew cuomo. why are we interested in the story. why do we leave in new york? this is huge wall street component. this more than republican financiers. this is wall street financiers. people work on wall street tar guested by andrew cuomo. the list is interesting. hank greenberg, former aig chair, to be targeted as part of this thing. they had some port sort of event a meet-and-greet with andrew cuomo earlier in the week. from what i understand, cuomo made a beeline to hank to put an arm around him and bring him in the group. from what i understand, hank is non-committed right now. another major figure, they're targeting, john whitehead, goldman sachs chairman. one. nicer guys on wall street. a huge player for a long time. john whitehead is still non-committal but being wooed by them. the other guy i keep hearing, david malpass. if you know dade, he has been on this network. a economist over at bear stearns. also rand for, i believe he ran for u.s. senate seat against christia

mckeon said that he has committed this year to making sure that his committee's work on the defense authorization bill get done by october 1. it would be the second time in the last decade they have been able to get the budget bill done on time. we will see. there is usually plenty of fights not just tween dod and congress but the house in the senate. >> you can read his work it armytimes.com. thanks for the insight. >> thanks for a much. eric holder will address attorney generals from around the country at their annual winter meeting tomorrow. he is expected to touch a number of topics including recent settlements with the mortgage loan industry, human trafficking, and mandatory minimum sentences in drug cases. live coverage at 10 a.m. eastern. later in the day, the house and senate veterans affairs committee will hold a joint hearing on disabled military veterans. we will have live coverage at 2 a.m. -- 2 p.m. eastern. told as students and as a nation in terms of popular imagination is there is all kinds of citizens in marches and demonstrations that occur but they are done by these famous icon

. >> both scales and mckeon suggest the president's silence on afghanistan demonstrates he would actually prefer to leave at the end of the year. despite what his commanders want. general dempsey, a proponent of standing, left afghanistan today without meeting karzai, bret. >> jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. thank you. more on this with the panel. >>> in nigeria, hospital officials say a 16 yoerld boy has died of gun shot wounds following an extremist attack on a school raising the death toll there to 59. the attack was carried out by a militant group whose name means western education is forbidden. >> syrian state media reports government troops killed 175 rebels today in an ambush south of damascus. if confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest attacks in the three-year-old civil war. the state news agency said most of the dead belonged to an al qaeda linked group. >> vladimir putin has ordered massive military exercises along his border with ukraine. the russian defense minister said troops will check readiness for action in crisis situations. russian officials deny any plans t

chairman of the house, buck mckeon and congressman thornberry. >> the armed services subcommittee on intelligence, emerging dressing capabilities just concluded a briefing on the defense consequences of the snowden compromise. needless to say, this is very highly classified area and that makes it very difficult to say much or answer questions. but i do want to say that while it is difficult to discuss the details of what we learned, it is fair to say that members left the briefing disturbed and angered. snowden's information that's what i'll be on programs associated with the nsa or data collection. the majority of them majority of information he transferred had nothing to do with nsa, but instead specifically works to compromise the military capability and defense. this information will put our men and women in uniform at greater risk, could cost lives and will certainly cost billions to repair. that of course is part of our responsibility and working with the department. his actions or espionage, plain and simple. alternative chairman. >> thank you i am buck mckeon, chairman of the

mckeon, and that is this, if you are going to order our troops into battle, mr. president, commander-in-chief, you owe them their you are support for them and their commission. you can't say you support the troops without supporting their mission. and that needs to be articulated by our commander-in-chief. you can't support the troops unless you support their mission. you have to articulate that mission and let them know that the sacrifice is worth it and why the sacrifice is worth it. if you don't think so, you have to give a different order. now i take us to egypt and this is a foreign policy discussion and we can go a whole year and not have a debate on foreign policy. throughout the middle east. egypt, libya, lebanon and israel are countries that i visited with a small delegation of members right before christmas, so it's fairly fresh. in egypt, it's an interesting stop. the things that i learned there doesn't match up with our state department view which is i think is a reflection to mirror the president's view. in september, when we met with the interim pre

remarked,he day, california congressman buck mckeon at the national press club, the chair of the house armed services committee and he is expected to talk about the current situation in afghanistan as well as the obama administration's plans about withdrawing u.s. forces later this year. 1:00 p.m. eastern also on c-span. coming up next, "q&a" with former congressional staffer talking about his book of washington politics. 7:00 a.m. eastern, "washington journal" live with your phone calls in the latest news. later this morning, a discussion hosted by the brookings institution of the future of u.s. ground forces. live at 10:00 a.m. eastern. ♪ >> this week on "q&a," retired congressional staff member mike lofgren discusses his recent review of former defense secretary bob gates' memoir along with his own book, titled "the party is over." >> mike lofgren, author of "the party is over," in bob gates' book, he writes congress is best viewed from a distance. the farther, the better. up close, it is truly ugly. how many years in your life did you spend working for congress? >> i spent 28 years

d remarks from congressman buck mckeon. he is the chair of the house armed services committee and will talk about the obama's administration's plans for ithdrawing forces. >> if this deal is completed, it puts comcast at the center of every major policy debate we are going to have. i don't see them being in the public interest. i think it's why we have antitrust laws to prevent these kind of deals and for most americans, a deal like this seems unthinkable and it's gotten this far and being debated and it says a lot. for me, there is no condition that's good enough to let a deal like this go through. >> transactions are used as a way to shape markets. so there are a lot of conditions that could be placed on the internet service provider, be it the low-cost offering or a buildout to schools for the president's initiative to upgrade internet access. there are a whole host of things that are similar to things that comcast agreed to when it bought unversusal. it could be something they would approve, but with a lot of conditions

buck mckeon said the president hasn't done enough to rally public support for the war. >> i understand that politics can affect judgment, but placing politics above duty is tragic. it is tragic, and it is unforgivable. the american people and our armed forces deserve better. >> put simply, there's not going to be an uprising in congress if the u.s. walks away from afghanistan completely. yes, folks in the military will be upset, and in the intelligence community, about losing a base of operations. there is concern that al qaeda, the taliban, could fill the void left by american troops. but without a bsa and without a credible partner in the afghanistan government, it's tough for any lawmaker to make the case that we should somehow stay. speaking of political fights, military cuts have long been a flash point for congress, but that may not be the case this time. this week, defense secretary chuck hagel detailed what he described as difficult choices to reduce military spending and cut back the overall size of u.s. forces. among the proposals in the defense department's 2015 budget, shri

-- over on c-span, also scheduled at 1:00, the chair of the house armed services committee, buck mckeon, he'll be talking about the u.s. mission in afghanistan and the withdrawal of troops by the end of the year. we'll bring you that live from the national press club. and congress is back from their presidents day recess. the house will be in tomorrow. the senate in today at 2:00 eastern time. angus king of maine will be delivering the annual reading of president washington's farewell address. and at 5:00 they'll be taking up debate and a vote on a u.s. district court mom nawtion. you can watch live coverage of the senate here on c-span2. >> if this deal is completed, i think it puts comcast at the nexus, the center of every major media policy debate we're going to have. i don't think the fcc -- i don't see it being in the public interest, i think the fcc should block this merger. it's why we have antitrust laws, to prevent these kinds of deals. and i think for most americans a deal like this seems unthinkable and that we've reached -- that it's gotten this far, it's being debated, i th

chairman mckeon said that he has committed this year to making sure that his committee's work on the defense authorization bill get done by october 1. it would be the second time in the last decade they have been able to get the budget bill done on time. we will see. there is usually plenty of fights not just tween dod and congress but the house in the senate. >> you can read his work it armytimes.com. thanks for the insight. >> all that briefing at www.c-span.org. looking at the u.s. capitol. the house will dabble in in about 10 minutes. inthe house will gavel in about 10 minutes. the 2015 budget now, with jason furman, the chairman of the council of economic advisers. he spoke this morning about some of the proposals announced next week in the budget. here is some of what he had to say. >> first, in his budget this year, the president is writing the discretionary levels to what was agreed in the ryan-murray agreement. one of the levels is just how hard and painful the choices are to write a budget to that level. for that reason, in addition to writing a budget to that level, the pr

buck mckeon spoke about those lands and the war in afghanistan today at the national press club in washington you can see his remarks at 8:00 eastern on c-span. this is the time for reality. next year's proposed pentagon budget would eliminate a 1970's jerett program, retire older naval cruisers and close some bases. and today he was joined by the chairman joint chiefs of staff. >> good afternoon. first let me acknowledge and and vice rman dempsey chairman winnefeld, our chiefs, our secretaries ho are here as ell as our comptroller and our acting assistant or deputy secretary of defense christine fox for the work that they have it in over the last few months in particular together at this point where we have a budget that we are going to present the congress next week. i want to talk a little bit about that today. chairman dempsey will also add his remarks, but i am very grateful. i know president obama is very grateful to these men and women who have spent an awful lot of time and the people that they epresent and their services in putting this together. i think you want to know that the com

[applause] >> thank you, chairman mckeon. i don't know if it is going to be retirement, but we wish you the best for the future. >> thank you. >> thank you for being here today. we are adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> if you missed any of this, you can watch on our website www.c-span.org. >> we will hear more about proposed budget cuts and scaling u.s. armyize of the on washington journal. americans for tax reform president, grover norquist, will ieigh in. way you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. washington journal is lied each morning on seven eastern on c-span. chuck hagel announced that the pentagon will reduce the size of twoarmy from 522,000 the 2015s part of budget cuts. dempseygel and martin spoke for about an hour. >> good afternoon. let me ignore to thank chairman dempsey and the vice chairman and the cheeks and secretaries who are here as well as the and our acting assistant deputy of defense. the work the

[applause] >> thank you, chairman mckeon. i don't know if it is going to be retirement, but we wish you the best for the future. >> thank you. >> thank you for being here today. we are adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> if you missed any of this, you can watch on our website www.c-span.org. we move on to a press conference with press secretary chuck hagel and army joint chiefs density. chief dempsey. they will grow significantly a sequester level cuts return in 2016. if our reforms are not accepted, or uncertainty levels over budget cuts continue. as i have made clear, the scale continuedne of sequestration level cuts would require greater reductions in the military's size, reach, and margin of technological superiority. undersecretary chin spending sequestrationer spending levels, we would be gambling that our military would not be able to respond to multiple contingencies at the same time. that is why our recommendations beyond fisca

[applause] [inaudible conversations] >> congressman buck mckeon of california spoke at the national press club here in washington yesterday about the proposed pentagon budget cuts and the u.s. mission in afghanistan. you can see his comments in their entirety on our web site. go to c-span.org. here's a quick look. >> as we speak, defense secretary hagel is unveiling a budget proposal that will shrink the army to its smallest size since before world war ii, eliminate the a-10 is attack aircraft and cut several other programs. what do you think about secretary hagel's budget proposal? >> we had a meeting the morning, and e went over those things. i'm surprised any of you are here. i thought you'd all be over listening to his speech. but i have been talking about these cuts for several years now. there's no secret if you cut a trillion dollars out of defense, you're going to start cutting manpower, you're going to cut programs. and these things are important. in the last few years, we've changed our strategy that has stood us well since world war ii that we should be able to be equipped, rea

live to capitol hill, a number of house republicans including armed services committee chairman buck mckeonnd mac thornberry of taxes, chairman of the emerging threats subcommittee are being briefed, security briefing on capitol hill. they will respect reports at about 4:00 eastern. we will plan to have that live for you at stores. turning overseas, associated press reports saying at least 34 people were killed in kashmir and scores injured in five bombings around the iraqi capital of baghdad. according to the united nations, 2013 was the deadliest year in that country. already for the month of january this year, 618 civilians and 115 members of the country's security forces have been killed. the house foreign affairs committee held a hearing looking at the rising threat of al qaeda in iraq and republican guardsman dana rohrabacher expressed his outrage at the recent string of suicide bombings, questioned the current u.s. involvement in the country. here's a portion of the hearing. >> let me just say that the idea that we're talking about camp ashraf seems that fundamentally you are suggest