mr. duncan for fi minutes for questions. >> thank you mr. truman and i think we've done a good job of exploring this topic today and i want to thank the panelists for being here and for your service to the nation in your various capacities. i will take a different line of approach becauset is a topic that is interesting to me. i know th we've talked about many times on the committee of homeland security and that is the issue of the international terrorist organization of hezbollah and its involvement with the mexico drug cartel. many believe the international terrorist organizations of the mexican drug cartels have been working together for years and the drug cartels have cooperated in countries in western africa, south america, central america most importantly gullickson the form described the team of international terrorism or for more disciplinethan al qaeda best financing from the government of iran and syria and the global network of operatives who could be called on to watch an attack at any time. just last year in july of 2010 we saw

mr. duncan to introduce the next gentleman who has i understand had something to do with perdue university. i would like you to introduce him. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks for giving me the opportunity. it is my distinct pleasure to introduce one of my constituents and someone from my alma mater, clemson university. jim bottum is vice provost for information technology at clemson university. he leads efforts focusing on high-performance computing and communication as well as collaborating with state and national government entities. under his leadership, they appear at no. 60 in the world's top 500 computing sites alongside clemson's computational center for mobility systems ranked at 100. he serves on the advisory committee for cyberinfrastructure and c r p a assessment and internet 2 board of trustees. he was the first c ip and vp for computing at perdue where he was responsible for planning and coordinating information systems across the university. he has also served on other committees and national laboratory boards providing consulting services for universities across the unite

mr. duncan, for five minutes. mr. duncan: request permission to address the house and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized. mr. duncan: madam speaker, i rise along with others this morning to note the 10th anniversary of our seemingly endless war in afghanistan. this is a war that long ago became much more about money for the pentagon and defense contractors than about any real threat to the american people. and unfortunately just yesterday we authorized spending at a level of $118.7 billion for the coming year in iraq and afghanistan. we have turned, madam speaker, we have turned the defense department into the department of foreign aid. and the american people are tired of it. they want us to stop rebuilding iraq and afghanistan and start taking care of our own people. we have spent and are spending billions and billions, hundreds of billions that we do not have. that we are having to borrow on people who do not appreciate it unless they are on our payroll. i know

mr. duncan for five minutes for questions. >> thank you mr. truman and i think we've done a good job of exploring this topic today and i want to thank the panelists for being here and for your service to the nation in your various capacities. i will take a different line of approach because it is a topic that is interesting to me. i know that we've talked about many times on the committee of homeland security and that is the issue of the international terrorist organization of hezbollah and its involvement with the mexico drug cartel. many believe the international terrorist organizations of the mexican drug cartels have been working together for years and the drug cartels have cooperated in countries in western africa, south america, central america most importantly gullickson the form described the team of international terrorism or for more discipline than al qaeda best financing from the government of iran and syria and the global network of operatives who could be called on to watch an attack at any time. just last year in july of 2010 we

mr. duncan for five minutes for questions. >> thank you mr. truman and i think we've done a good job of exploring this topic today and i want to thank the panelists for being here and for your service to the nation in your various capacities. i will take a different line of approach because it is a topic that is interesting to me. i know that we've talked about many times on the committee of homeland security and that is the issue of the international terrorist organization of hezbollah and its involvement with the mexico drug cartel. many believe the international terrorist organizations of the mexican drug cartels have been working together for years and the drug cartels have cooperated in countries in western africa, south america, central america most importantly gullickson the form described the team of international terrorism or for more discipline than al qaeda best financing from the government of iran and syria and the global network of operatives who could be called on to watch an attack at any time. just last year in july of 2010 we

mr. duncan. he helped with tremendous improvement for the chicago public school system. the foundation he put in, mayor emanuel is now leading. this is the number one issue in chicago. much of what romney is doing doesn't fit this he's either. it was a unique situation of f.b.i. investigation into corruption. what mayor emanuel is doing, as well, is fairly unique. i think arnie should have the ability to sign off on it. i think it is a very good amendment. i would say let's call this the duncan employment strategy, because i think arne duncan does have the ability to do it. >> i don't see anywhere in the amendment where arne duncan is guaranteed a lifetime appointment of secretary of education. i am very sympathetic of this, and i honestly don't know how i'm going to vote, and i would like to continue this discussion . yes in rural minnesota, a lot of the options don't work. >> we have provided additional flexibility in the bill to rural districts. >> right. and that is to provide whole school reform. but whole school reform has been something that's been proven to work

mr. duncan of south carolina is recognized. >> thank you madam chairman. back in the spring of march or april, the deputy assistant security advisor was talking about a libyan involvement. he said this. "we are enforcing a resolution that has a very clear set of goals which is protecting the libyan people, averting a humanitarian crisis, and setting up a no-fly zone. that involves kinetic military action on the front end, but the nature of our commitment is that we are not in an open-ended land invasion in libya." according to global intelligence, we have helped finance regional military efforts to capture lra commanders where we have spent $497 million strengthening the ugandan army. presently the lra is estimated to have somewhere between 204 hundred fighters, which lacks the numbers or the weapons from what i understand for sophisticated insurgency. as we delve into this, i have asked you all today, before deciding to deploy of possibly 100 u.s. military personnel, is the amount -- did the administration received a request to provide this assistance? >>

mr. duncan had for the whole country.have to develop an innovation industry in this country, which has to include one quarter of the students of this country which are latinos. these students have to graduate from university. 20 years ago, this country was a leader in access to the university. we have a great number of people with university degrees, but the rest of the world has increased that level and we haven't. our greatest challenge is to achieve enrollment and graduation among hispanics latinos. first of all, they must learn english at such a level that they can have access to all subjects. this shouldn't be something that isolates them from access to learning math, technology engineering, anything like that. we also must make sure that they don't lose their spanish. united states exports mainly to mexico, 50% more than what we export to china, so it's an enormous advantage to conserve your spanish, to preserve your spanish. that way, people will learn two languages. people who know more than one language are more

mr. duncan: thank you. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of 2273, the coal residue reuse and management act. as i see it, the three main problems facing american economy today are the uncertainties coming from taxation, regulation, and litigation. this tone deaf administration continues to propose new forms of taxation on american job creators to the detriment of our workers and our economy. the administration continues the threat of litigation in the form of the unprecedented and unconstitutional attacks from the national labor relations board against my hometown state of south carolina. and we see the e.p.a. creating costly regulations that are forcing businesses not to make decisions on an annual or quarterly basis but having to make decisions to comply day to day. fortunately the house has worked to turn back some of these actions but there's much work left to be done. the house recently passed two bills, h.r. 2681 and h.r. 2250. these bills seek to prevent a pair of excessive regulations from going into

mr. duncan: mr. speaker, in the current issue of the american spectator magazine, robert merry, the former c.e.o. of the congressional quarterly, has a great article i wish everyone would read. it is an article about the presidency of andrew jackson but it applies lessons of history to modern day issues and problems better than almost anything i have read. mr. merry said the republican party should not follow the big government conservatism of david brooks, william crystal, or presidents like thee door roosevelt or george w. bush who he says, quote, expanded the size and scope of the federal government and pursued the global goal of remaking other cultures in far-flung regions. he asks who among past republicans should republicans turn to for lessons and guidance? the answer he says is andrew jackson who would have slapped down the notion of american greatness conservatism, i.e. big government conservatism, with utter contempt because he believed, that is jackson believed, the country's greatness ema

mr. duncan. >> it's been co-sponsored as well, so it's a bipartisan issue.ant to remind ambassador brownfield we talked about this last week and talked about the triborder region, the southern border, and named a number of countries, and you remappedded me, let's not -- remined me, let's not forget vens venezuela, one of your past posts, so i wanted to remind everyone of that as well. how do links between terrorism, drugs, arms trafficking increase the ability to attack? >> the point, congressman, that i was making earlier was that what's new here and what we have found in the last few days is a renewed interest by elements within the iranian government to carry out attacks on the u.s. soil, but in the hemisphere. we saw it in earlier times. >> but it was also a backup plan in buenos aires again from what i've heard. the last attack and largest attack prior to never in this hemisphere happened in buenos aires with that attack on the israeli em bay sigh. -- embassy. >> that is true. in terms of what's happened, there is a case before a federal court at the mo

mr. duncan. mr. meeks is recognized. the ranking member on the subcommittee of europe and euroasia. >> i see colleagues concerned about terrorism, ect.ment one of the i thinks we can all agree is that president obama has been focused and doing a very good job in fighting terrorism and terrorist coming in here and getting rid of al-qaeda and a number of the others. i mean, i think his record speaks for itself, and most americans even in the recent polls argue about it is one thing, but one thing they agree on is president obama is a focus in the way he's utilizing intelligence to make sure he keeps america safe. now, i love this hemispherement you know, i was sitting and listening, and i believe we must, indeed, examine the topic much today's hearing, but we must do so without the polarizing rhetoric remanent of policies a decade looking at the region through the cold war prism and chose our allies and interventions on that basis alone. we made poor decisions when driven by fear with a single and narrow focus in those day

mr. duncan to introduce the next gentlemen, who had something to do with perdue university.ince i went to notre dame, i would like you to introduce him. [laughter] >> thank you. this morning is my distinct pleasure to introduce one of my constituents. he is also someone from my alma mater, clemson university. at clemson, he leads efforts focusing on the high performance communications and collaborating with state and national government entities. under his leadership, clemson univ. has appeared at no. 60 in the world's top 500 competing sites, alongside their computation center for mobility systems right at number 100. he currently serves on the advisory committee for cyber infrastructure, the advisory committee for assessment, and for the internet to board of trustees. he was the first vp of computing at perdue, where he was responsible for coordinating all information systems across the university. he has also served on other committees as well as national laboratory boards, and provide consulting services for major universities across the u.s. he has worked on cloud compu

mr. duncan of south carolina is recognized. >> thank you, madam chairman.is hemisphere that quds force and hezbollah, the arm of iran, use the mexican drug

mr. duncan of south carolina is recognized. >> thank you, madam chairman. back in the spring and march or april, the deputy national security advisor, benrhodes was talking about a libya involvement and he said i think we're enforcing a enforcement which has a very clear set of goals which is protecting the libyan people and averting a humanitarian crisis and setting up a no-fly zone which it involves kinetic military action particularly on the front end but, again, the nature of our commitment is that we are not getting into an open-ended war, a land invasion in libya. and according to global intelligence, since 2008, the u.s. has helped finance regional military efforts to capture lra commanders where the u.s. has spent $497 million strengthening the ugandan army. presently, the lra is estimated to have somewhere between 200 and 400 fighters which -- for a sophisticated insurgency. as we delve into this i have to ask myself and ask you guys today before deciding to deploy approximately 100 u.s. military personnel, did the administration receive a request

mr. duncan. estimates before the panelists for being here. this is a very timely discussion today don't think that anyone that's followed the southern border and hezbollah and the mexican drug cartel i don't think it caught us by surprise that the quds force would utilize the mexican drug cartel as a conduit to him for wanting to bring god knows what into this country and canada heinous crime and in the united states of america. we were lucky and there's a saying i would rather be lucky than good in the day but american needs to realize we were extremely lucky that the person that they contacted was the dea undercover agent posing as a member of the track cartel as an assassin the contacted about helping them across the southern border. let me just remind the committee and others that iran is a growing influence of western hemisphere. they've opened six embassies in the last five years in this hemisphere. we know the venezuelan connection. but keep in mind that if this plan hadn't gone forward or a backup plan or additional plan was to commit

mr. duncan of south carolina is recognized. >> thank you, madam chair.nk what we're doing is enforcing a resolution that has a very clear set of goals, which is protecting the libyan people, averting a humanitarian crisis and setting up a no-fly zone. that involves kinetic military action, particularly on the front end. but again the nature of our commitment is that we're not getting into an open ended war and land invasion in libya. and according to the strap for global intelligence, since 2008 the u.s. has held efforts to capture lra commanders where the u.s. has spent $497 million strengthening the ugandan army. presently the lra is estimated to have somewhere between 200, 400 fighters which lacks the numbers i think, or the weapons from what i understand for sophisticated insurgency. so as we delve into this i have to ask myself, and ask you guys today, before deciding to deploy approximately 100 u.s. military personnel, did the administration receive a request from uganda, drc, cra, the african union to provide this assistance? and i'll ask ambassad

mr. speaker, it is my honor and privilege to pay tribute to a leader and a warrior, general duncan j. mcnabb, commander of the united states transportation command. general mcnabb is retiring after honorably serving this great nation for over 37 years with the distinguished career. general mcnabb graduated from the united states air force academy in 1974. as a command pilot, he has more than 5,600 flying hours in transport and rotary ring aircraft. in addition, general mcnabb has held command and staff positions at squand ron, group, wing major command in department of defense levels and is considered the finest mobility and logistics expert in the department of defense. i've had the pleasure of working with general mcnabb from 2005 and 2007 when he assumed command of the air mobility command at scott eyre force base in the congressional district that i am privileged to represent. and, again, when he returned to scott air force base in 2008. u.s. transcom is part of our military operations. it provides the coordinated transportation, distribution and sustainment which projects and mai

mr. diaz whose story has never changed. why are they coming out with this? i don't know. were their hands in the cookie jar? megyn: you have a member of congress duncan eric holder saying you need to set the record straight why two years imprisonment is the proper punishment for this agent. >> if you are law enforcement you have to basically be away from the general population because they become a target and especially if you are a border patrol agent, you become a high-risk target. for their safety they have to spend 23 hours a day, 7 days a week, for him it's now 8 months. diaz scenes was convicted was ordered into custody. 8 months in a 6 x 12 foot cell. 20 minutes a week with his wife. no other contact except with guards. he's cut off from the world completely. megyn: when did he start serving this sentence? >> upon conviction. so it's 8 months. we are talking february. megyn: he has over a year to go. >> they are saying because of time served he will do another 6 months in a facility, then he will go for 6 months to a halfway house. he has a daughter that was born in march who he has never even held. so i mean imagine how he's feeling going thr

mr. chairman. first, i'd like to endorse virtually everything that lamar alexander said. second, i want to thank secretary duncan for responding to the communities in this country that are asking for relief from the laws that exists today. you know, people have been critical of that. but i think as we observe that waivers have been asked for by 37 states. yet an administration is responding to the local level. and i think it's important we acknowledge that response. i'm very glad we're legislating now because i think it's important for us to do our work and respond to our local communities as well. third, i think it is important to have a discussion. we're having it in this committee about what the appropriate federal role is and what is appropriate to do locally. i used to say when i was superintendent no kid in denver would remember when he was superintendent when they were there. my job was to make sure is they remember their teachers as favorably as possible. my own view is our job ought to be we expect more of our states and our school districts. we should assist them, but we shouldn't be telling them how t

mr. chairman. and iranian political and terror ethos, there's a new enemy, israel but there's also the far enemy, united states of america. is iranian -- so i commit my colleague jeff duncan for his bipartisan resolution to include a certain area of focus the western hemisphere in our nation's counterterrorism efforts. i think it's very, very important. hezbollah, the party of god, is a shia terrorist group highly committed to violent jihad. hezbollah acts as a proxy, as a pawn, as a tool for venezuela, syria and iran. hezbollah has a presence estimated to be between a few hundred, to achieve thousand pashtun to a few thousand in latin america. hezbollah, also has a presence in 15 american cities, including four major cities in canada. we were told in previous hearings that while the confirmation of hezbollah's presence in north america is indisputable, that we shouldn't worry, that they are just here for fund-raising activities. hezbollah, a terror group committed to violent jihad, i don't make the distinction between fundraising and terrorist activity. fundraising for terrorist activity than any terrorist activity. i believe in buffalo, new york, and i know from terrori