mr. chairman. i yield three minutes to the gentleman from alabama, mo brooks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from alabama is recognized for three minutes. mr. brooks: thank you, mr. speaker. i have a chart before me and i hope everyone will look at it. it's based on congressional budget office numbers. if you go to fiscal year 2001 you see that we enjoyed a $128 billion surplus. at that time we had a republican house, republican senate, and a democrat president. then if you notice, looking at the bottom, that we had a republican congress and a republican president and we had the beginning of a series of deficits, $158 billion in f.y. 2002 which is immediately after 9/11 and the ramp up as a result of our efforts to protect americans from terrorism. then we go to f.y. 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 you can see how the deficits have increased to a peak of $413 billion. then the republicans start getting things back under control. $161 billion is the deficit that america suffered in f.y. 2007

mr. chairman? mr. chairman, i -- i'm not certain what's going on here, but to some degree the witness is entitled to an opportunity to try to respond or if the chairman or any member does not agree that's responsive, certainly were entitled to its members to try to extract as best of answers as again. but at this stage i think you are preventing the witness -- >> okay. the gentleman has not been recognized. let me just say i will take that to be that you refuse to answer my question. >> no, i'm not not. i'm happy -- >> so either answer my question or move onto the next one. because you are not answering the question i am asking you. >> all of the money that we have that comes out of the trust in interest goes to our mission. none of the money is taken out of any of the premium -- >> mr. rand, let me say for the third or fourth time that is not the question i asked. i asked what is that about. i will take that to be that you are refusing to answer my question. and i will move on -- >> now that i understa

mr. chairman. >> please. >> mr. chairman? >> yes. >> ester chairman, according to the release on march 25th, it to commit britain comments as long as they follow set forth as an advisor. is that correct? >> yes, that is correct. >> and compliance to any organization, is that correct? >> that is correct. >> and so, mr. chairman, with that the weather witness before us today, aarp? >> now, our witnesses today have had an opportunity to submit testimony because they've already had that opportunity. >> can i respond to that, mr. chairman? >> well, again, aarp has had their opportunity to submit their testimony and submit for the record so that sardi ben edited out. >> it is my understanding that the report is 26 pages long with 243 footnote that was released on wednesday. this will not finish on time for aarp to have written comments. they should have the benefit unvested point to get all of our questions answered. >> i mentioned the gentleman we mentioned with aarp two weeks ago and went over this report with them so they've had

mr. chairman. it's hard to see how someone would define saving the social safety net by ending the medicare guarantee for seniors, by slashing medicaid by over $750 billion, a program that disproportionately helps seniors in nursing homes and disabled individuals. it's really hard to understand that is preserving the social safety net. it reminds me of that strange statement we once heard that you have to destroy the village in order to save it. now, let's understand what happens under this budget to medicare. this budget ends the medicare guarantee for seniors. it doesn't reform medicare. it deforms and dismantles it because it forces seniors off of the medicare program into the private insurance market. and it does nothing as it dumps the seniors into the private insurance market to control the rate of increase in health care costs. and instead it transfers to the seniors all those risks and all those costs. seniors will pay a lot more while the insurance companies will get all their medicare pay

mr. chairman. i want to commend you and all of our colleagues that's worked on this budget. if it's a bold vision for our country and it's inspiring to have the opportunity to participate in this reform. as we heard many times over the past several couple of weeks to govern is to choose, and last year as the nation well knows the choice of our friends across the aisle was to do no budget at all. the democrats failed in their most basic responsibility. now, continuing in this line of inaction, the president gave a speech yesterday with much preceding hype but, again, the defining aspect of his speech was no plan. our president decided to take the two biggest drivers of our national debt, medicare and social security, and take them off the table. his solution to addressing health care costs is further empowering the independent payment advisory board to ration health care instead of dealing with structural reforms. what this all means is that we have a stark choice, a choice of two futures. one futur

mr. chairman. we are turning back the clock. we're turning back the clock on progress and we're turning back the clock on -- the chair: the chair notes a disturbance in the gallery in contravention with the rules of the house. the sergeant at arms will remove the persons responsible for the disturbance and restore order. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. chairman. the chair: the house will be in order. the committee will be in order. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. chairman. what the republican budget does is turn back the clock on a fair deal for the american people. every person in this body today loves this great nation of ours and believes it's a special place. we have to maintain the exceptionalism of this country. we see different paths and make different choices to accomplish that goal. the chair: the chair notes a disturbance in the gallery in contravention of the law and rules of the house. the sergeant at arms will remove those persons

mr. chairman. mr. mr. vitiello, you mentioned earlier in your testimony that in carrying out various responsibilities, that you consult with the tribes. how was that working out? is that running is you would want to run? >> we have within our public lands liaison apparatus, people designed to do liaison work the leadership also pays attention to the relationships that exist for the indian nations there the active borders. >> i'm very happy to hear that. some time agencies tend to forget article i section 8 of the constitution says congress shall have the power to regulate commerce with indian tribes. that is a constitutional basis for that. and with any group, called upon to work with the indian tribes, it all works well as in michigan, there are 12 tribes in michigan. and it works there up well. you can find it working well in your area also. your area is very broad. somali, the relationships are constant maintenance. there is an ebb and flow, but we understand the import of our relations is there and the

mr. chairman. we are turning back the clock. we're turning back the clock on progress and we're turning back the clock on -- the chair: the chair notes a disturbance in the gallery in contravention with the rules of the house. the sergeant at arms will remove the persons responsible for the disturbance and restore order. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. chairman. the chair: the house will be in order. the committee will be in order. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. chairman. what the republican budget does is turn back the clock on a fair deal for the american people. every person in this body today

mr. chairman. we are turning back the clock. we're turning back the clock on progress and we're turning back the clock on -- the chair: the chair notes a disturbance in the gallery in contravention with the rules of the house. the sergeant at arms will remove the persons responsible for the disturbance and restore order. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. chairman. the chair: the house will be in order. the committee will be in order. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. chairman. what the republican budget does is turn back the clock on a fair deal for the american people. every person in this body today loves this great nation of ours and believes it's a special place. we have to maintain the exceptionalism of this country. we see different paths and make different choices to accomplish that goal. the chair: the chair notes a disturbance in the gallery in contravention of the law and rules of the house. the sergeant at arms will remove those persons

mr. chairman. thank you. >> thank you. mrs. davis? >> thank you, mr. chairman.hank you all for being here. i certainly apologize for the time. i know that you are all extremely busy and we respect greatly what you do and respect your professionalism. i wanted to also express my condolences to general casy and certainly his family and i also wanted to acknowledge, i know he had been here just a little while ago and we acknowledged the fact that might be his last hearing and thank you, general, for being here as well but i know that as we look at the timelines that we're working with on don't ask don't tell after the training and the opportunity to move towards implementation i wondered if you could just comment, general, to general casy's comment i think to the chairman that the force would be about half trained before the time to actually certify. and i wonder whether general dempsey has been involved in this process and the current training agenda and whether you think that he is up to speed on the process and do you see any changes in trying to conclude the tr

mr. chairman. thank you, mr. secretary and mr. chairman. first, i hope you would convey to the men and women under your command how proud we are of them, how grateful and how supportive. second, to each of you, particularly you, mr. secretary, thank you for providing a very artful example of candor and duty at the same time. we appreciate and admire the way you conduct yourself. mr. secretary, if you came to us for your posture hearing in february of next year and you reported to the committee that the strategic mission in libya had been a success, not just the military side but the entire strategic mission had been a success, what would that look like? >> well, i think -- i think a policy success would be the removal of the gadhafi regime and at least the beginnings of the emergence of a more or less democratic government in tripoli. >> admiral mullen testified a few minutes ago that at present, i think i have this right, that the gadhafi forces still maintain a military capability superior to that of the rebels. if that condition were to p

mr. chairman. >> i thank the gentleman. we now recognize the younger of two identical twins here and present today. i tell you apart mostly by your ties, both of which are stunning, but your father, i think it's you out a little on the ties. >> thanks much. i will have to catch up with him on my haberdashery. let me applaud, mr. guffey, for the comprehensive and thoughtful testimony you submitted to this committee for today's hearing. i think it shows a serious commitment that the atw you has to work in partnership with the u.s. postal service to address the challenges that it currently faces. and i stand firmly in support of -- with working with our families in the postal unions, and i have committed to supporting the postal services reorganization to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. however i am very concerned with some of the elements of this area. this congress in 1970, through the postal reform act, took action in essence to take politics out of the postal service. and also gave work

mr. chairman? mr. chairman? >> i'm not certain what's going on here, but to some degree, the witness' entitled to an opportunity to respond. if the chairman or witness does not agree that's responsive, then we are entitle to as members to extract a best answer, but at this stage, you're preventing the witness to answer or responding. >> the yesman has not been recognized. i will take that to be that you refuse to answer my question. >> no, i'm not. >> okay, then either answer the question or move on to the next one. you are not answering the questions i'm asking you. >> all the money that we have that comes from the trust goes to the mission. none of the money is taken out of the premiums. >> mr. rand, let me say for the third or fourth time, that is not the question i asked. i asked what is that amount? i will take that to be you're refusing to answer my question, and i'll move on. >> now that i understand the specifity of your question, over the years interest earned from the trust which is aarp's trust is --

mr. chairman. mr.ross, the commerce department as you know hired more than 140,000 temporary field employees to work 40 or fewer nontrivial production hours in excess of $80 million. what can be done in 2020 to avoid this waste of tax your money? >> well, we look back and diagnose some of that. this occurred first of all the aat's figures they don't doubt. a lot of that occurred in the early operations. let me tell you what happened. we actually underestimated the ability to recruit, hire and train people that did a good job and stayed with it. we use productivity models from the 2000 cycle where the unemployment rate was much lower than it was in the 2010th cycle. we were able to hire people who really wanted to work and put in a lot of hours. they were very good. they finish the work faster than we thought. so one of the problems is getting -- looking forward, getting good estimates of product to the next time that takes into what the labor market conditions are. we undershot with the product did he

mr. chairman.ck the clock. we're turning back the clock on progress and we're turning back the clock on -- the chair: the chair notes a disturbance in the gallery in contravention with the rules of the house. the sergeant at arms will remove the persons responsible for the disturbance and restore order. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. chairman. the chair: the house will be in order. the committee will be in order. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. chairman. what the republican budget does is turn back the clock on a fair deal for the american people. every person in this body today loves this great nation of ours and believes it's a special place. we have to maintain the exceptionalism of this country. we see different paths and make different choices to accomplish that goal. the chair: the chair notes a disturbance in the gallery in contravention of the law and rules of the house. the sergeant at arms will remove those persons responsible for t

mr. chairman. to go back to a point that mr. cooper made, one thing that moved it up on the food chain was a unanimous resolution in the united states senate on march 1st, bipartisan sponsorship, calling for us to execute a no-fly zone. so in addition to all the other voices from the u.n. and the arab league, congress actually was joining in in terms of calling on the executive branch to act. you know, andyou can get whiplash. >> i would just add, mr. courtney, including both republicans and democrats in the house calling for a no-fly zone as well. >> thank you. i mean, when -- this hearing should be happening and there should be questions asked that, you know, something this big deserves all the scrutiny that we can give it. but you can get sort of whiplash around here trying to keep up with the positions of some people on it. one thing i think we could do that is very useful is to pass a defense budget for the rest of 2011. and, again, i think you were a little gentle, mr. secretary, in terms of saying the impact on the defens

mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee on the whole house having had under consideration h.r. 658 directs me to report that it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chairman of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration h.r. 658 and has come to no resolution thereon. on behalf of the majority and minority leadership, the chair announces that the official jecktures for the private calendar for the 112th congress are as follows. the clerk: for the majority, mr. smith of texas, mr. sense brenner of wisconsin, and mr. poe of texas. for the minority, mr. serrano of new york, mr. nadler of new york and ms. edwards of maryland. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? mr. mica: there being no further business before the house, at this time, mr. speaker, i move that the house do now adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say

mr. chairman, john barry. in the past there have been times when fiscal policy has tightened and the federal reserve has chosen to ease its policy and response partly to the extent of the economy at the time. congress appears intent at this point in cutting spending significantly, might restrain the economy as it appears to be doing in britain where they are following a similar path. is there anything the fed can or should do if indeed there are large budget cuts sometime in the next 18 months? >> first, let me say that addressing the fiscal deficit, particularly the long run unsustainable deficit, is a top priority, and nothing i would want to say would be construed as saying that anything other than a temporary. it is very important that our leaders address this issue. i would say that the cuts that have been made so far don't seem to have had very significant consequences for short-term economic activity. my preference in terms of addressing the long-term deficit is to take a long-term perspective. it's a l

mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. wilson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for being here today. general, my sympathy to the casy family. we certainly have just the highest regard for general joyce casy and his service. as we are proceeding, i share the concerns of chairman mckeon that there were hasty decisions made in december in regard to passage of this law. in fact, it is really bizarre. it was a lame duck session of defeated members of congress who have made this change in the law. normally, you would think of a representative democracy that people would be representing their people but these were people who had actually been rejected by the voters of the united states and then they changed this law. i find that i find that really just undemocratic. it's also shocking to me that these are the same people who did not pass a budget, and that's what we're facing today. but it's amazing that they could have made such a decision and that makes it even more important as to the certification effort that every effort is made to look into morale, unit cohesion, good order, disciplin

mr. chairman. i'll make a quick comment. i have a question. think you gentlemen have answered all the pertinent questions in the opening statement. to the chairman's questions, is it a fair process, is there time to implementment it. you seem to be working through it. it seems to be better than expected. we'll see what happens. there was not a rush to judgment. we didn't automatically repeal don't ask, don't tell. part of the way we put it in place the way we did was to give you a gentlemen a chance to do what you're doing now. it ultimately has to be approved by the joint chiefs. the comment on unit cohesion and effectiveness, i would imagine there's a fair number of things on a day in, day out basis that challenge unit cohesion and you have to pull together to make it work. i think you ask the question in a survey do people have concerns. they may very well express them. if you follow up what happens on numerous occasions in the military part of the job, you have to do a lot of difficult things. have you to do things but they come together an

mr. chairman . >> at this time, i'll yield five minutes to mr. mcclinic tock. >> thank you, mr. chairman . >> history walks with us as we begin our work today. fortunately it offers some guidance as well. history offers not a single example of a nation that has ever spent and borrowed and taxed its way to prosperity but it offers us many examples of nations that have spent and borrowed their way to economic ruin and bankruptcy. and history is screaming this warning at us that the nations that bankrupt themselves are not around very long because before you can provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare, you have to be able to pay for it and the ablingt of our nation to do -- ability of our nation to do so is now in grave danger. throughout these hearings, economists from every part of the political spectrum have warned us that we have at best just a few precious years left to avoid a sovereign debt crisis and potentially the financial collapse to have united states government. forge fortunately history also offers us lessons of what to do and whatnot to do. we

mr. chairman, members of the board. as is our custom, we will lead off a special recognition awards for three of our talented and a valued employees. the first award will go to -- of the transit services division. will you please go to the podium? [applause] -- is a transit operator and has been with the agency for over 20 years. he has operated for over two decades without acdent,no public service relations complaints, and he maintai an excellent teance record. healways has a smile d a professional attitude toward his duties and his interactions with his customers. he is also praised by his supervisors for his demeanorand approach to his duties. when asked to go the extra mile, he says,no problem the director of transit services will present the award. >> congratulations. on behalf of the board of directors and the entire mta, thank you for your great work through the years. before the meeting, -- attributed everything to -- but we appreciate your service to the city. >> he would like to make a short speech because he

mr. chairman. mr. mr. vitiello, you mentioned earlier in your testimony that in carrying out various responsibilities, that you consult with the tribes. how was that working out? is that running is you would nt to run? >> we have within our public lands liaison apparatus, people designed to do liaison work the leadership also pays attention to the relationships that exist for the indian nations there the active borders. >> i'm veryappy to hear that. some time agencies tend to forget article i section 8 of the constitution says congress shall have the power to regulate commerce with indian tribes. that is a constitutional basis for that. and with any group, called upon to work with the indian tribes, it all works well as in michigan, there are 12 tribes in michigan. and it works there up well. you can find it working well in your area also. your area is very bro. somali, the relationshi are constant maintenance. there is an ebb and flow, but we understand the import of our relations is there and the leaders

mr. chairman by you as a member and mr. reichert as a member or by you as the chairman using the resources of the ways and means committee. speed is the gentleman objecting or not objecting? >> reserve the right to object. >> the gentleman is recognized. >> there is no debate on this report and if we were supposed to consume at so we could respond today we certainly were not given much time. are you telling us, mr. chairman in the very simple question this is like any other report this committee asks for and the people who worked on it would pay their usual salaries, nothing more, nothing less, there was no external force used -- >> the gentleman -- we need to move on with this hearing. >> we don't need to move on unless -- >> we aren't moving until we get an answer. >> what is so complicated? spec i remove my unanimous consent. >> reserving t right to object. i removed my unanimous consent request and. >> your staff prepared the to prepare the report and you have an understanding that we are not clear who prepared the repor

mr. chairman. thank you, mr. secretary and mr. chairman. first, iope you would convey to the men and women underour command how proud we are of them, how grateful and how supptive. second, to each of you, particularly you, mr. secretary, thank you for providing a very artful example of candor and duty at the same time. we appreciate and admi the way you conduct yourself. mr. secretary, if you came to us for your posture hearing in february of next year and you reported to the committee that the strategic mission in libya had been a success, not just the military side but the entire strategic mission had been a success, what would that look like? >> well, i think -- i think a policy success would be the removal of the gadhafi regime and at least the beginnings of the emergence of a more or less democratic government in tripoli. >> admiral mullen testified a few minutes ago that at present, i think i have this right, that the gadhafi forces still maintain a military capability superior to that of therebels. if that condition were to persist, a

mr. chairman. it provides details about my home state's rules for hydraulic fracture being of. in wyoming, we have been producing oil and gas for a long time. the left mentions over 46,000 of these procedures from 1999 to 2010. we take this issue very seriously. i appreciate senator boxer's comment about wyoming doing it right. it is about both our environmental stewardship and about jobs. the state demonstrated this when it updated its rules just this last year. the changes include increased transparency requirements for hydraulic fracturing. industry is required to disclose all of the chemicals used before and after fracturing. most of america's gas is produced with fracturing, without it, the resources will be remained locked away and it's a threat to our energy security, financial security, and our national security. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. we will now turn to our colleagues as our first panel will start with senator cornyn. >> thank you, chairman cardin. thanks to chairman boxer,

mr. chairman. on mr. ranking member, members of the committee that i serve on a couple of things as he is a private-sector person. he and his brother established an expanded a very successful private business in southern vermont. he has been on the frontline of creating jobs and having to pay good wages and good benefits and do with the practical realities of keeping the business going day in and day out, expanding and growing and being an employer. he also served in our citizen legislature first in the house of representatives and then for several terms in the state senate and peter, as the president pro tem of the state senate, the desert senate leaders served more years as senate president than any other moderate in history. so he comes to his job with legislative experience with private turks parents, with the obligation to pay bills in the trains run on time. he is now serving as governor of vermont after being a lack did in this past election. just to give you a sense of how vermont operates, he won

mr. chairman. mr. secretary, we are hearing reports that published reports that the rebels are in virtually full retreat right now. is that correct? >> they had retreated toage c j ajdabi ajdabiya, and whether they retreated beyond that, i don't know. >> and the situation in misrata as reported by cnn that i just looked at again is of severe hardship and suffering because of the long period of siege that that's the city has been under, and you agree with that i'm sure. so, when the rebels are being beaten badly, misrata is under incredible duress, we choose that opportunity to remove our assistance as far as air support is concerned. will our ac-130s and a-10s continue to conduct operations? >> let me ask the admiral. >> as we continue to transition over the next few days, senator mccain, they are available to the nato commander. >> they are not flying now though? >> i could not tell you whether they were flying today, no, sir. >> so, is there any other assets that our allies have that have capab simil

mr. chairman. , mr. ranking member, members of the committee are probably serve on, it's my pleasure to introduce peter shumlin of vermont. first of all, a couple things about peter. as a private-sector person. he and his brother established and expanded a very successful private business in vermont. he's been on the front line of creating jobs for having to pay good wages and good and fits into what the practical realities of keeping the business going day in and day out, expanding, growing to be an employer. he also served in vermont for many years, first in the house of representatives and then in the state senate. and peter is president pro tem served four years as senate president than any other vermonter in history and that's 10 years. so to his job with legislative experience, obligation to pay bills and make things run on time, he is now serving as governor amount after being elected in this past election. just to give you a sense of how vermont operates, she won a primary with four other democra

mr. rush: i thank the gentleman the chairman. i thank the gentleman for yielding me for this discussion. mr. speaker, i'm opposed to h.r. 910, the upton-inhofe dirty air act because this bill is an extreme and excessive piece of legislation and it's simply bad public policy. this bill will ignore the warnings from the respecting scoin tific community simply because policymakers do not like what that science is telling us and it will face earnings and profits above protecting the american public. i applaud the obama administration for making the clear and unequivocal statement yesterday that the president would veto this bill if it ever made it to his desk. mr. speaker, every respective, every notable scientific organization, including the national academy of sciences, the american association for the advancement of science, the american geophysical union, the american meterological society, the u.s. global change research program as well as the intergovernmental panel on climate change, are all in agreement that man made greenhous

mr. chairman. thank you, mr. secretary and mr. chairman. first, i hope you would convey to the men and women under your command how proud we are of them, how grateful and how supportive. second, to each of you, particularly you, mr. secretar thank you for providing a very artful example of candor and duty at the same time. we appreciate and admire the way you conduct yourself. mr. secretary, if you came to us for your posture hearing in february of next year and you reported to the committee that the strategic mission in libya had been a success, not just the military side but the entire strategic mission had been a success, what would that look like? >> well, i think -- i think a policy success would be the removal of the gadhafi regime and at least the beginnings of the emergence of a more or less democratic government in tripoli. >> admiral mullen testified a few minutes ago that at present, i think i have this righ that the gadhafi forces still maintain a military capability superior to that of the rebels. if that condition were to persi

mr. chairman. mr. verdi, your organizations made a few requests in the past, and i guess over the years you've had some adequate responses and inadequate responses. my question to you is based on your experience, have you seen an improvement in the last year for your foia requests, or has it been declining or stayed the same? >> sadly, we have maintained a 100% noncompliance rate or the agency has a 100% noncompliance rate with requests in terms of meeting statutory deadlines. there's nor an improvement or degradation in the response. >> these are based on grammatical errors or substantive errors, or why are the requests not granted in a timely fashion? >> they simply vice president responded -- haven't responded to the request or exemptions outside the period we had to challenge through the administrative process, but in any case, we did not receive documents prior to the 20-day working day deadline. they violated deadlines in appeals and the agency missed its deadlines to answer a lawsuit. >> so, in

mr. chairman. mr. wilson, i would comment that when i have been to south carolina, charleston, i have enjoyed myself in that area. i would also point everyone to the fact that i live in the atlanta, georgia area, which is the transportation hub of the southeast. we have the world's busiest airport, high capacity. we have quite a few military aviation facilities. we have got one of the country's di largea jst diaspora communities from africa, support to help the military's communication needs. world-class educational institutions, a joint attack, emory, the atlanta university center -- world-class educational institutions, the atlanta university center. it would be a great thing. ambassador andrew young is interested in africa command choosing to locate its headquarters in atlanta. i certainly join in bad desire. -- i join in that design. someplace in georgia would be great. i want to congratulate you, general ham, for your new assignment. four weeks in, i know you are still trying to get adjusted. it s

mr. chairman, i yield back. >> thank you. mr. runnion? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank both of you for coming here again today. many of my colleagues may not know. i know chairman does. i had a visit out there and i said earlier in mid-march, understand my colleagues' frustration but i also know that this -- there's a reason why these people are here. because of precisely what you're very upset about and what we're all frustrated about. and just kind of touch on that. i think we touched on that when i met with you out there but has there been a dramatic turnover in the work force since you guys took your positions? >> sir, since we've taken over, we have had 15 individuals who have retired or transferred to other positions. but we have also as part of the manpower survey we have -- we're told there's 57 more people that we really needed to run the cemetery effectively and efficiently. we have managed to hire 22 more individuals. we have 24 active recruitments on the street to bring in the new team to run arlington. >> and of your knowledge, since you were either o

mr. chairman. i express my appreciation to mr. pascrell to not just this amendment and i voted for the amendment and i thank you for your kind note in response. however, we are now on a new day the e are faced with context of a $1.6 trillion deficit. served as a mayor before coming here and i share the same concerns and challenges that you did when you served as mayor. i certainly walked in those same footsteps. no decision is ever easy for arson executive particularly at the local level but we make them and move forward in the best fashion we know how. i was proud to cut taxes in my city but also prioritize like we do here today and i was able to increase funding to police and fire but cut taxes and protect property taxpayers. when we started this hearing this morning, if you calculate the amount of debt we have accumulated to now it is about a billion dollars. it is in that context that i think we need to consider every unding recommendation in this budget. when i looked at function 450 and function 750, i noticed a couple of in

mr. chairman. this has alrdy been said. we all know what we're here today for and that is to coider a budget draft that i believe is a courageous first step in getting our country back on a sound financial footing. the fact all of us know but some of us are denying is that our nation is on the brink of a financial crisis. america is $14 trillion in the red, and thanks to the big spending of washington, d.c., the tidal wave of debt is coming unless we stop it now. i came to washington not to score cheap political points or throw bombs. i came here to find solutions to the problems that threaten the very greatness of this country. i look at my six grandchildren, and i want them to have the same opportunities that i had growing up. and i believe that this budget is a start on getting us there. but the truth is if we don't leave our grandchildren and our kids a better future unless we act like adults today and have a real conversation aboutour future economic growth. let's start with the basic premise

mr. chairman, i yield back. >> thank you, mr. coffman. mr. runyon. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i know some of the other members may wonder why i'm sitting down here. i'm a member of hask but also chairman of the veterans committee, disabilities and memorials. oversight of our scemeteries an arlington is one of my primary issues i deal with. colonel koch, thank you for your service and thank you for sharing your story with us. you know, it was literally my second month in office and i had a similar constituent complaint much like you had. i've since been over to arlington and it was fixed rapidly. i think many people in this complete comforted in knowing i think we're moving in the right direction. and i look forward to their testimony, but in the situation i would like to smair the stwenlt i had. i had a gentleman reach out to my office the first of march that his nephew came down to visit his grandfather's grave site athere was a different headstone on the grave site. it was shocking to hem. i reached out to arlington, they fixed the problem, identified the problem, and it was

mr. chairman. mr. secretary, we are hearing reports that published reports that the rebels are in virtually full retreat right now. is that correct? >> they had retreated toage c j ajdabi ajdabiya, and whether they retreated beyond that, i don't know. >> and the situation in misrata as reported by cnn that i just looked at again is of severe hardship and suffering because of the long period of siege that that's the city has been under, and you agree with that i'm sure. so, when the rebels are being beaten badly, misrata is under incredible duress, we choose that opportunity to remove our assistance as far as air support is concerned. will our ac-130s and a-10s continue to conduct operations? >> let me ask the admiral. >> as we continue to transition over the next few days, senator mccain, they are available to the nato commander. >> they are not flying now though? >> i could not tell you whether they were flying today, no, sir. >> so, is there any other assets that our allies have that have capab simil

mr. chairman. i want to follow up, mr. willis. my understanding is you shared with our staff that there is a pool of video available of suicide bombers and the like that could be used to study. and i would expect that if t.s.a. were operating the right kind of way that would also be used for training. so, i'm a little confused by your answer and i want to be clear. do we have video, both from ourselves and perhaps from our international partners, that we could use to assess the techniques that have been developed and the questions, the assessment questions that have been developed so we can make sure we have a program that is working as effectively as we know it can work? >> we don't presently have a sufficient number of videos to conduct scientific tphaplanalys. we are attempting to work with our partners in the u.s. and internationally to gather them. but being a research we do not have the ability to compel operational organizations much less international ones to provide with us that video. what we are doing is attempting to c

mr. chairman.'ll make a quick comment. i have a question. i think you gentlemen have answered all the pertinent questions in the opening statement. to the chairman's questions, is it a fair process, is there time to implementment it. you seem to be working through it. it seems to be better than expected. we'll see what happens. there was not a rush to judgment. we didn't automatically repeal don't ask, don't tell. part of the way we put it in place the way we did was to give you a gentlemen a chance to do what you're doing now. it ultimately has to be approved by the joint chiefs. the comment on unit cohesion and effectiveness, i would imagine there's a fair number of things on a day in, day out basis that challenge unit cohesion and you have to pull together to make it work. i think you ask the question in a survey do people have concerns. they may very well express them. if you follow up what happens on numerous occasions in the military part of the job, you have to do a lot of difficult things.

mr. chairman -- >> are you aware of that, yes or no. >> mr. chairman, if i can say how the trial modification works because des important to have all the facts on the table. the trial modification provides a three month payments in which payments are lowered temporarily, and during that time, we have to determine whether or not someone qualifies for a permanent modification. what we did at the outset was we allowed people, allowed servicers to accept people into trial modifications on stated income. you could basically raise your hand saying this is how much i make, i qualify. because it was a terrible crisis -- >> i understand. i read your editorial. the point i'm asking -- okay, and i know you're trying to go through all this. i understand how this works operationally. i want to make sure you understand how this works so when you're given that verbal modification, this temporary modification, does that hurt your credit? >> mr. chairman -- >> you're not answering the question. it does or it doesn't. if it doesn't hurt your credit, i think -- >

mr. chairman. >> thank you, governor. governor sheldon. >> thank you so much, chairman issa, ranking member for this invitation today in on members of the oversight and reform committee in particular thanks to my friend and congressmen, peter welch who does an extraordinary job for a start in washington. thank you for the warm welcome. it's great to be here also with governor walker. as governor walker mentioned, we met at governor's school out in colorado and i don't want to give you any ideas of congress people running for governor, but if you do get to the school made a wonderful dinner together and governor walker and myself and his wonderful wife share common challenges we are among the biggest cause of governors in america and we share a very challenging job. in fact, i say to governor walker earlier if they told us to be governor's school, the message we were taking over, we might have rethought it, but it was too late. but we are dealing with some extremely tough economic times as you know. i hope to make governors

mr. chairman. assistant secretary miller, on our second panel today we will hear from the treasurer of fmc, a large manufacture, manufacturing company here in the u.s. who has grave concerns are going to his testimony about the excessive regulations mandated by dodd-frank. his testimony indicates that these regulations will increase operating costs, making it more difficult for his company to both create jobs and manage risk. do you believe that fmc manufacturing company end user is a type of company that should be regulated under dodd-frank? and the treasury had any concerns about the potential consequences of dodd-frank derivatives regulation on job creation? have you done any work in this area? >> thank you for the question. we've heard a great deal from end-users, nonfinancial and financial comment in the markets. and i think that there's sufficient flexibility in the dodd-frank legislation to work with a company like fmc in terms of providing flexibility under derivatives regulation. >> in oth

mr. chairman. and to mr. wilson, i would comment that when i've been to south carolina, charleston, i've enjoyed myself in that area, but i would also point everyone out, or point everyone to the fact that i live in the atlanta, georgia, area which is the transportation hub of the southeast. we've got the world's busiest airport, high-capacity. we have approximately quite a few military aviation faciliti facilities. we've got one of the country's largest the aspera communities from africa. superb infrastructure to support the military's communication needs. world-class educational institutions, georgia tech, emory, the eggplant university center, high quality of life for personnel who were assigned or who would be a sign to that area. and i think that it would be a great thing. i know that ambassador andrew young is very much interested in the africom choosing to locate their headquarters in atlanta. and i survey join in that desire. if not atlanta then someplace in georgia would be great. but i want to also

mr. chairman. and as i mentioned earlier, i am disappointed that tsa isn't here because i think there are a number of questions that actually go to things like training protocols and other aspects of the spot program that they would have, you know, really useful information to share, and so i look forward to working with the chairman and the committee. this committee about who needs to appear or not is not a decision really for the administration, congress determines under its constitutional authority who appears before the committees and what the jurisdiction is. so i do share that concern. i want to go to this question, though, of profiling -- >> would the gentlelady yield? >> yes. >> appreciate your comment. you took up about almost a minute with that, and i'd like to give you an extra minute on top of that. [laughter] i don't want to charge you. >> i appreciate that, mr. chair. >> i'll give you an extra minute. if y'all would start the clock again, please. >> thank you. thank you again, mr. cha

mr. chairman. mr. deas, in your testimony today, you warned that regulators could impose cost on companies that would inhibit their ability to produce goods and hire workers in the united states. the chairman has begrudgingly, i would say, agreed to make some accommodations for companies that use derivatives to hedge their business risk like yourself. but he also argues that doing so, and i quote, only benefits wall street and doesn't benefit main street or the corporation that provides service to america. do you you a he -- agree with the chairman's assessment here? >> no, sir. i don't. as i've indicated in my testimony, we are manufacturing the goods that were consumed in the u.s. and we've been able to export them successfully overseas and we do that -- >> helps you compete, doesn't it? >> yes, sir, it does. and it helps us offset risks that we can't otherwise control. >> and the consequences, i think you alluded to it earlier, what would be the consequences of imposing unnecessary regulatory burdens

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator mccain. admiral? >> chairman, ranking member, members of the committee, thank you. it's a pleasure and honor to be with you here and also a great chance to be with bob kehler for his inaugural testimony as you pointed out. i want to take a moment up front to mention some of the things we're down at u.s.-european command in three categories. one is military operations. one is partnering in training with allies and friends, and the third is something i think is very important which is engaging with the inner hags. -- inneragency. i'll conclude with a word about libya, but i'll start with afghanistan. at any given time, about 80% of the 45,000 non-u.s. troops who are in afghanistan come from europe. at this moment, we have 12,000 u.s.-european command soldiers who are deployed. we very much focus on afghanistan from u.s.-european command and try our best to support general jim maddis and of course, general dave petraeus, our nato and u.s. commander in afghanistan. like general petraeus and, of course, he

mr. chairman. and mr. chairman s.file and ranking member tierney and i know ranking member grijalva is probably on his way. i find speaking on the floor. thank you for giving me an opportunity to be here to lend my comments to the very important work you're too respective committees are doing. i guess one of the first points i want to make an underscore is oftentimes we that represent border districts and those that are like did to leadership positions in the border area get frustrated because decision made here at the federal level off and impact the communities and the relationship between communities and the customs and border protection and other law enforcement agent fees that have very important work to do to secure the nation. so i want to tell you how much i appreciate the opportunity not just to be here this morning, but i actually was part of a field hearing you did in brownsville, texas, where the community had a chance both to testify, and also to observe a hearing in the process. just last week the commit