mr. duncan, and mr. wilson. you're on my dance card and you'll come up first next time. madame secretary, before we adjourn, i'd like to know that since you've announced publicly you do not intend to serve beyond the end of this term, this is your final appearance to testify on the budget before our committee. i'd like to thank you again so deeply for making yourself available to answer our questions today. and during the past three years and i hope that we have the opportunity to host you again for other testimony prior to the conclusion of your exemplary service. i thank you. meeting is adjourned. >> secretary clinton wraps up her second day on capitol hill testifying on the state department budget for 2013. she was on the senate side yesterday before the senate foreign relations committee. you can see that hearing as well as today's on our website c-span.org. earlier today, the house transportation committee held a hearing on cruise ship safety. two survivors of the costa concordia wreck testified. here's some of that testimony. >> thank you, mr. chairman. first of al

mr. duncan, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and secretary napolitano, i know you have been here a long time, and i appreciate your patience. this is the second roundf of the president's budget requests and budget hearings and i mustt say it is an eye-opening experience for me. i realize that washington wants to talk with flourishes and calls for more bureaucracy when handling the problems. so how can deficit reduction and savings be so at odds with the action. the founding reason of the creation of the homeland security is to establish border security, and you say that, but you have no plans to build milings offense, and it fails to include an alternative standard to measure the alternative effective. in the proposal, the coast guard eliminates 1,000 uniformed active duty personnel, and 772 people from the front line operational units, and decommissions numerous front line operational units which g significantly lessens the addition of illegalle aliens and the capture of drugs, and this will result in the reduction of

mr. duncan for five mithts. >> thank you, mr. chairman and secretary napolitano. thanks for sitting here. i know you've been here a long time so i appreciate your patience and this is my second round of the president's budget request and budget hearings and i must say, it's been an eye-opening experience for me. one thing that i'm reminded of is that washington loves to talk with flourishes, but generally calls for more bureaucracy at the answer to the problems. so how is it that the public rhetoric of deficit reductions and savings is so add odds with the actual action? budget request states that guarding against terrorism was the founding mission of department of homeland security, and remains our top priority. you state the importance of border security, but cbp has no plans to build any additional miles of fencing. it does not use operational control as a measurement and it fails to include an alternative standard to measure its effectiveness. in the budget proposal, the coast guard eliminates 1,os 56 personnel including 1,000 uniformed active duty personnel a

mr. duncan. >> thank you, madame chairman. let me just pause to say thank you for arranging a tour of the port of baltimore recently where i had an opportunity to witness some of the things that the ranking members are talking about with scrutiny of manifest, looking at country of origin, stops of the ship that's carrying the containers, possible interdiction, multiple places along the then the active screening there at the port for radioactive material, chemical and biological issues. and so when you think about the number of ports in this country and the number of containers that come in, i'm amazed that we're able to do as well as a job as we do. i commend the gentlemen that are doing that, implementing the policies of this country every day to keep us safe. so thank you and thanks for educating me. i guess the question i have is that mcaleenan, i wasn't here for the introductions, madame chairman so i apologize. can cbp evetively screen high risk shipments in a way that expedites legitimate commerce? from what i saw, there

mr. duncan: mr. speaker, i ask permission to address the house and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. duncan: mr. speaker, i voted to go to war in afghanistan, but i did not vote for a forever permanent war that has now lasted almost three times as long as world war ii. we should have ended our involvement in afghanistan many years ago, and many young american lives would have been saved. the first war against iraq and kuwait lasted just seven months. now with the recent killings of four more americans and with massive anti-american demonstrations being conducted by hundreds of thousands of afghani citizens, we need to greatly speed up our withdrawal. we need to leave afghanistan. the sooner the better. we have spent hundreds of billions there over the last decade, a great amount of which has been really been just pure foreign aid. we have built schools and medical facilities and helped their farmers. we have trained their police and military and have had

mr. duncan: mr. speaker, i request permission to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: you are recognized without objection. mr. duncan: mr. speaker, tony blair was the prime minister of great britain and was considered to be a political liberal and perhaps his actions didn't always match his words, but i would like to read a statement that he made at one point. mr. blair said, quote, the role of government is to stabilize and then get out of the way as quickly as possible. ultimately the recovery will be led not by the government but by industry, business and the creativity ingenuity, and enterprise of the people. if the measures you take in responding to the crisis diminish their incentives, curb their entrepreneurship, and make them feel unsure about the climate in which they are working, the recovery becomes uncertain. that was stony -- tony blair. thomas donahue, the national president of the -- president of the national chamber of commerce said at a job summit about a yea

mr. duncan. the article of the declaration of human rights everyone has the freedom to conscience and religion and goes on to elaborate. i'm curious to what extent that applies to this case given that we are signatories in that declaration. >> that's an interesting question. i'm not sure i can give you a good answer to that right now. certainly the origin of the declaration of human rights, what were to was the product catholic thinkers and i think the notion -- i'm a little skeptical of the idea that you might be able to find some protection these days in that kind of formulation. we are grateful that the formulation is there and that is as freedom of religion and not something like freedom of worship, which time i had this administration has taken to using the formulation. i think we find more comfort in looking to the more concrete guaranteed and on our own constitution, and i might add to that that when we are protecting freedom of religion we are not merely protecting sort of the rights of i

mr. duncan, for five minutes. mr. duncan: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. duncan: madam speaker, i rise to talk for a few minutes about security. i know that almost no member is willing to vote against something that has the word security attached to it but i wish that most members would consider these words professor l. stig, professor at university of pennsylvania, he wrote several years after 9/11 about the war on terror money feeding frenzy. he wrote this, quote, after september 11, 20 2001, what accounts for the vast discrepancy between the terrorist threat facing america and the scale of our response? why absent any evidence of a serious domestic terror threat is the war on terror so enormous so all encompassing and still expanding? the fundamental answer is that al qaeda's most important accomplishment was not to hijack our planes or hijack our political system for a multitude of politicia

mr. duncan. the article of the u.s. declaration of human rights reads everyone has the right to the religion and goes on to elaborate. i'm curious to what extent that language applies to this case here given that we are as signatories of the human declaration. >> that's an interesting question. i'm not sure i can give you a good answer to that right now. certainly the origin was the product of greek catholic thinkers, and i think the notion that -- and a little skeptical of the idea that you may be doubled to find some protection these days in those kinds of formulations but we are grateful that the formulation there we are grateful it has freedom of religion and not something like freedom of worship which i might add this administration has taken. we find more comfort in looking to the concrete guarantees than our own constitution and i might add to that that when we are protecting the freedom of religion we are not merely protecting sort of the rights of individuals to believe whatever they want to believe in the sple

mr. duncan. >> thank you, madam chairman. let me pause to say thank you for arranging a tour of the port of baltimore with the coast guard to read recently where i and you had the opportunity to witness some of the things the ranking member is talking about. the scrutiny of manifest, looking at the country of origin, scoffs of the shift that's carrying the containers, possible interdiction to read multiple places along the way, and then the active screening in the port for the radioactive material chemical and biological issues. and so when you think about the number of ports in this country and the number of containers that come in and i am amazed that we are able to do as well of each other as we did. and i commend the gentleman that are doing that implementing the policy of this country every day to keep us safe. so thank you and thanks for educating me. i guess the question i have is mcaleenan -- >> mcaleenan, sir tristram thank you pittard i wasn't here for the introductions, madam chairman, so i apologize. kim cdp effec

mr. duncan. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and this is my first real involvement with this, so there's much that i really don't understand, but mr. secretary, i have read this statement from this assessment by the deputy secretaries of the department of transportation and the department of defense, and i assume that's from you? >> yes. >> and it's a very strong statement you put out about three and a half weeks ago, and you say there that you mention that lightsquared had an original proposal, and then they modified it. can you explain to me in layman's terms how much of a change was made in their original plan, and it also tells us in the briefing papers that they're disputing your findings or your assessment. >> i'll be happy to, congressman, and layman's terms is all i'm capable of here, so i'll try to do it in that sense. the original lightsquared proposal of roughly 5 year ago, january of 2011, proposed up to 40,000 ground based transmitters that would effectively blank out the gps signal in large stretches of t

mr. duncan of south carolina. mr. duncan: i want to thank the gentleman from colorado for his leadership on this issue, not only on the committee on energy and commerce, but also as a leader on the house energy action team. someone that understands that there is no national security without nrnl security. it's been said many times by not only members of congress but by leaders from all across the administration this administration and past, and so something i firmly believe in. let me remind the american people that just recently, the president of the united states decided that he was going to kill the keystone x.l. pipeline. a pipeline that would come from our friends to the north in canada, where technology is a-- has allowed him to harvest the oil from the oil sands in alberta, and bring that crude oil down to refining capacity that we have here in this country. that's why the keystone x.l. pipeline was so crucial. not only would we be buying oil from a country that likes us, our largest and best trading partner in

mr. duncan, for five minutes. mr. duncan: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to recognize an exceptional group of students, teachers and parents of the bell street middle school science owe lip add team which -- olynpiad team which won its second consecutive state championship. let me repeat that, 10th science olympiad program. it is one of the premiere science competitions in the nation, providing rigorous standards, face challenges to nearly 6,200 teams in 50 states. science olympiads exposes students to a variety of career choices and gives them an opportunity to meet, participating and practicing scientists as well as the opportunity to have life-changing mentors. science olympiad was began in the 1980's. rosemary wickered, dr. david, a close personal friend and michael mack, they still work in the school district in klenon today. michael mack is a member of the faculty at the high school. and david is the superintendent of lawrence county school district 56. both continue to be active event coaches for the incredibly successful bell street sc

mr. duncan, the balance has been struck already with the first amendment. i think the recent media coverage of the issue has shown that the administration -- i do not know if they are surprised, but they are starting to a knowledge there is a bigger issue here. they think there is a possibility we are willing to compromise a little bit. do you see -- with the balance being struck already, is there any possible way this compromise can come about? they mentioned this "hawaii law ." you said that is no middle ground at all. that is not acceptable solution to this. the hawaii law allows for religious employers not pay far contraception as long as they died their employees to where they can get it. can you talk about whether it is possible to strike another balance? >> the balance looks very much like the first amendment to the constitution. that is the basic answer. this is not respecting our basic american constitutional traditions of respecting people's consciousness. it goes back to the quakers. for oaths we allow po of acclimation. it is why we do not force

mr. duncan. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and this is my first real involvement with this. so there's much i don't really understand, but mr. secretary, i have read this statement from this assessment that says by the deputy sectors of the department of transportation and the department of defense, and i assume that is from you? >> yes. >> and it's a very strong statement that you put out about three and half weeks ago. and you say there that, that you mention that lightsquared had an original proposal and then they modified it. can you explain to me in layman's terms how much of a change they made in their original plan? and also tell us in our briefing papers that they are disputing your findings or your assessme assessment. >> i will be happy to, congressman. in layman's terms is all i'm capable here so i will try to do it in that sense. the original lightsquared proposal of roughly a year ago, january 2011, proposed up to 40,000 ground-based transmitters that would effectively blink of the gps signal pashtun blank out the gps signal and large areas of the u.s. picked it

mr. duncan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman -- the chair: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. duncan: thank you mr. chairman. i thank the gentleman from washington for yielding me this time. i thank him for his leadership on this bill. i rise in strong support of this legislation. this administration, mr. chairman, has a secretary of energy who told "the wall street journal" that we should be paying the same price for gasoline as they're paying over in europe and at the time he said that, they were paying $8 of $9 a gallon. i know that most environmental radicals come from wealthy or upper income families and perhaps they can afford gasoline at $8 or $9 a gallon but most people can't. in fact, mr. chairman, many experts are predicting we're going to be at $5 a gallon by as soon as this summer. i can tell you that's going to hurt a lot of poor and low income and working people if we go to $5 a gallon and it's going to hurt a lot of small towns and rural areas because people i

mr. duncan. the spear pro tempore: the gentleman -- the chair: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. duncan: thank you mr. chairman. i thank the gentleman from washington for yielding me this time. i thank him for his leadership on this bill. i rise in strong support of this legislation. this administration, mr. chairman, has a secretary of energy who told "the wall street journal" that we should be paying the same price for gasoline as they're paying over in europe and at the time he said that, they were paying $8 of $9 a gallon. i know that most environmental radicals come from wealthy or upper income families and perhaps they can afford gasoline at $8 or $9 a gallon but most people can't. in fact, mr. chairman, many experts are predicting we're going to be at $5 a gallon by as soon as this summer. i can tell you that's going to hurt a lot of poor and low income and working people if we go to $5 a gallon and it's going to hurt a lot of small towns and rural areas because people in

mr. duncan. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and this is my first real involvement in this, so there's much i don't understand. but mr. secretary, i have read this statement from this assessment that says by the deputy secretaries of the department of transportation and the part of defense and i assume that is from you come and it's a very strong statement that you put out about three and a half weeks ago, and you say there that you mention that light squared had a and original proposal and then they modified it. can you explain to me in the lehmans terms how much of the changes made in their original plan? and it also tells an hour briefings that they are disputing your findings were your assessment. >> i would be happy to, congressman. layman's terms is all mine possible love, so i will try to get it in. the original proposal of roughly a year ago, january of 2011 proposed up to 40,000 ground based transmitters that would effectively blank out the gps signal and large stretches of the u.s. and some very critical area

mr. duncan. >> i want to thank you, mr.chairman and this is my first real involvement with this so there's much of it that i don't really understand but mr. secretary, i have read this statement from this assessment it says by the deputy secretaries of the department of transportation and the department of defense and i assume that's from you? >> yes. >> and it's a very strong statement that you put out about 3.5 weeks ago. and you say there that -- you mentioned light squared had an original proposal and then they modified it. can you explain to me in layman's terms how much of a change they made in their original plan? and it also tells us in our briefing papers that they're disputing your findings or your assessment. >> i'll be happy to, congressman. in layman's terms is all i'm capable to do. i'll try to do that in that sense. the original light squared proposal of roughly a year ago, january of 2011, proposed up to 40,000 ground-based transmitters that would effectively blank out the gps signal in large stretches of th

mr. duncan, the balance has been struck already with the first amendment. i think the recent media coverage of the issue has shown that the administration -- i do not know if they are surprised, but they are starting to a knowledge there is a bigger issue here. they think there is a possibility we are willing to compromise a little bit. do you see -- with the balance being struck already, is there any possible way this compromise can come about? they mentioned this "hawaii law." you said that is no middle ground at all. that is not acceptable solution to this. the hawaii law allows for religious employers not pay far contraception as long as they died their employees to where they can get it. can you talk about whether it is possible to strike another balance? >> the balance looks very much like the first amendment to the constitution. that is the basic answer. this is not respecting our basic american constitutional traditions of respecting people's consciousness. it goes back to the quakers. it is why we allow for oaths of acclimation. it is why we do not

mr. duncan: what i would like to talk about are these are the president's own words because you he said in his statement and -- because he said in his statement and this is from the white house website, that the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by congressional republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline's impact. now, how long has this been going on that they've been doing the environmental impacts assessment that you talked so brilliantly about? you know, i came to congress last year. this was going on well before i came here. a rushed assessment? and under the obama administration an $800 billion stimulus package and an unprecedented growth in government, don't you think that we have the personnel in the department of energy to deal with this and do the assessment in a timely manner, in order to approve a pipeline that would provide not only american energy independence but north american energy independence? buying oil and natural gas from our largest and best trading partner, our friends in canada, providing good paying jobs in america. but i want america to liste

mr. duncan. >> thank you, madam chairman. let me pause to say thank you for arranging a tour of the port of baltimore with the coast guard to read recently where i and you had the opportunity to witness some of the things the ranking member is talking about. the scrutiny of manifest, looking at the country of origin, scoffs of the shift that's carrying the containers, possible interdiction to read multiple places along the way, and then the active screening in the port for the radioactive material chemical and biological issues. and so when you think about the number of ports in this country and the number of containers that come in and i am amazed that we are able to do as well of each other as we did. and i commend the gentleman that are doing that implementing the policy of this country every day to keep us safe. so thank you and thanks for educating me. i guess the question i have is mcaleenan -- >> mcaleenan, sir tristram thank you pittard i wasn't here for the introductions, madam chairman, so i apologize. kim cdp effec