mr. johnson. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for allowing me as a nonmember of this subcommittee to ask questions today. i appreciate it. and greetings, gentlemen. mr. sedney, you've -- can you characterize for us the evolution of the afghan security forces, readiness, over the last decade and basically tell me when did they start turning the corner to become a force to be reckoned with in afghanistan. >> i can. i actually was on the ground in afghanistan, deputy chief of mission at our embassy on may 1st, 2002, when the first u.s. special forces arrived to begin training the afghan army a little over ten years ago. from that very, very i will have to say discouraging start when we had not enough money, not enough trainers, not enough trainees in windowless, bombed-out buildings to what we have today, we've made incredible progress. i would also say that for too long the effort in afghanistan was underresourced, both in terms of money but also in terms of level of training and support that we were able to give the form

mr. johnson, mr. hyman, mr. powell, mr. euro ergan, isn't it strange the child can be watching the sprout channel's caoiu on the same television and the same living room and the way the programming got from may have been subject to different rules depending on whether it was provided by sky angel, netflix, a cable company or dish? shouldn't the regulatory or non-regulatory treatment not same? mr. johnson, we'll start with you. >> well, we're asking for a level playing field. we have the same access to the programming that our competitors do, and because there is the definition of mvpd is up in question. >> right. >> we have not been able to have the access to that programming. >> mr. euro began. >> in i would say yes in general, the rules should be the same. to the chairman's earlier point, if you're going to be an mvp provider to get all the rules or eliminate them for the current incumbents. there are cases where things are different between the technologies and i think you have to look at it on a case by case basis. cabl

mr. johnson when he was majority leader and mr. mansfield. mr. johnson -- the hard driving type. type who would twist arms, cojole, threaten, plead and drive. mr. mansfield was just the opposite. he believed in letting every senator go his own way, make up his own mind. he didn't attempt to twist arms. i did the floor work. mr. mansfield was back in his office reading the press, papers, and books and so on. so they had their different styles. both were good leaders. that's the picture that was taken in the rose garden -- and mr. johnson... at the time he was president and there's the late speaker mccormick is there. the late hale boggs, congressman boggs and carl albert, who is speaker at that time. mr. mccormick was then the whip, i believe. then there's george smathers who was then the senator from florida. there is the late hubert humphrey. and there is mike mansfield with his back turned and his head turned and mike was walking away. and that picture was given to senator mansfield by the late president kennedy who wrote on it something to the effect, "to mike mansfield who kn

mr. johnson? [ inaudible ] >> when you say content you mean local programming or cable channels? >> any content that you -- >> no, we expect and have been paying for the content, yes. >> mr. hyman? >> all we do is pay for content. >> this is something that already occurs. i want to ask mr. barrett, you all own other channels, is that correct? >> correct. when you're negotiating with different video distributors, is that a free market? do you all sit at a table or are there copyright laws or retransmission consent agreements that have to happen? >> we negotiate on behalf of hearst television for consent rights and are not involved with negotiations with the cable asset. >> i want to ask you about commentious made on the opening statement. on page 9 and 10 you had specific reference to hr-3675 in which you say cable and satellite providers, first, they would turn back the clock to a time when cable and satellite providers would lose without obtaining broadcasters' consent. i would suggest to you that my legislation does not do that. i would hope you've read the secs that not only re

mr. johnson. the ability to get the capital so that you can invest and get into all of these different sectors. look, the way that the country is going with science, technology, engineering, and manufacturing, i think that when you look at the trillions of dollars of capital sitting offshore in the united states of america, we should allowoffshor allow the capital to be repatriated back to the country so we can get products and manufacturing. small minority businesses and private equity, get. opportunity to get into some of these technology fields as well. but you're right. we've got to talk about the opportunities that are out there. you know, what is amazing to me is, there ain't no power in the black community when it comes to sports guys. no problem when you talk about singing and dancing and all this stuff. so why are we not in the energy sector? and why don't we have more, you know, people in the defense contracting side? when you think about all of the, you know, african-american generals t

mr. johnson: madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. johnson: i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and i make a point of order that a quorum is not present. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. smith: madam speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4223, the safe doses act, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 393, h.r. 4223, a bill to amend title 18, united states code, to prohibit theft of medical products, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. smith, and the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. smith: madam speaker, i ask unanimous

mr. johnson, mr. allison, and their staff, side by side with the department of human resources. only one of them went to arbitration over a somewhat minor, non-monetary items. i think at this level of compensation, more or less all of this city employees got the same deal, which is reasonable. but nevertheless it did put the budgets -- the budget out of balance. i am here to report to you on how we are proposing to balance the budget again. moving on to the next slide, there have been changes in our favor. they did not all go in the other direction. there have been changes from city hall, changes we have initiated with departments. a few of them went the other way, about 1.5 million to our benefit. that is a little bit of good news. moving on to expenditure changes, one of the things that we found, you will recall, a theme of this budget was investing in the maintenance of the transportation department. particularly muni. what we have budgeted for, or intended to, was that these physicians would start in january of the first fiscal year and be the equivalent of half of the full-

mr. johnson knocked on the door. you may have figured it out by now. to us, he was still the great dark man. a mythical man or object to desire. it was probably why we jumped to attention. jesus. tucking the incriminating evidence. wait. let this go down first. >> why? i don't know. seems rude. ben widened his eyes at me. did you learn that from miss manners. i hid myself. this probably made me look grand. that somehow seemed preferable. men opened the door. he was standing there. i'm sorry fellows. come on in. our visitor shot a quick glance. can we get you something to drink? remaining seated. there's a soda machine. no thanks. did you have a hard time finding us. i'm michael i said. finally standing. this is ben. he shook our hands. i'm patrees. i am worried that it might make me squirm. i found it hospitable. that it put he more at easy. we're glad you came. patrice smiled. ben caught my guy. he began to rearrange the forskin. it seemed to swell. when he removed it, he said, i open it's okay. i'm sort of a kiss pig. no problem. as i caught my breat

johnson. >> well, the last two vad walls have arrived mr. charles payne and dr. art laugher. after this i'm going to have to talk to them about how we run things in the military. when you come in late to a briefing with the general. it is not a good thing. that whole personal responsibility thing. it is a pleasure to have each and every one of you here. we have the spot to you here everyone knows i'm congressman west from florida district 22. and we are going to get right to the meat of why we are here. i think this is a critical topic of what we have to talk about. i have this little book here and every now and then i read it. it is called rediscovering black conservatism. i think very at the beginning chapter one it talks about over the past 30 years billions of dollars have been poured into black communities around the country into a host of problems including failing schools in adequate housing and crime and drug abuse. despite the efforts of many local institutions agencies, school leaders glass root organizations and community residents, the problems remain. problems ha

mr. johnson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. hnson: i move the quorum call be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. johnson: mr. president, i rise today to talk about the critically important piece of legislation currently before the senate. the agricultural reform food and jobs act, but first i want to thank senators stabenow and roberts for their great work they have done to get us to this point in the reauthorization process. the bill as reported out of the ag committee saves taxpayers more than $23 billion over the next ten years and will support millions of jobs. with this bill, we're taking several important steps in making our farm support system more responsive to actual need rather than sending payments to producers no matter what they grow. we are long past due in eliminating direct payments. at the same time, we're maintaining a strong crop insurance program and creating a new system that makes assistance available to producers when they actually experience loss. another important area of reform in t

mr. johnson? i would be very interested in nothat phase 2a report. reports from the citizens' advisory committee? >> good afternoon, commissioners. we have had a great six months since i have taken over as chair. i spoke to use three months ago and we were in a little bit of a desperate situation. we were five members short of our full board. through the efforts of some people i would like to thank, we have five new members. now that we have 16 of our 17 possible seats filled, we should have no problem meeting and conducting the business. bieber having troubles with meeting quorum and that was greeting -- we were having problems meeting quorum and that was a problem. i have a formal couple of pages. does this work? the five crewmembers, -- the five new members. we only have one vacancy left, which is the mayor's appointment for a large water users. that would be wonderful if anybody knows a large water users that would be willing to step up. as we look at these issues that might pertain to large water users. it has been vacant for about 18 months. it

mr. johnson's points, as to whether or not people like to even forego treatment because of some of the cost increases that he was talking about. if pu could hone in on that. >> what we heard in our focus groups on the medicare benefit package was that in fact, there is a lot of apg sight about their ability to afford and take care. and they also find the exsiting medicare payment structure to be quite confusing. and the combination of those thing things and i think we can relate to that? and another important finding to our focus groups. there is a bit of confusion of the way that people look at these issues. they are a little bit more willing to say i'm prepared to have co payments at the point of service in exchange for a lower premium. they make those trade offs more readily. whereas current when fishiaries -- >> there is a little fear connected with it around this change and is there work being done to help ease the concerns? >> we think the most important work to be done is to make it simpler and provide catastrophic coverage. that is what the focus groups tell us. and i want to switch

mr. johnson? i would be very interested in nothat phase 2a report. reports from the citizens' advisory committee? >> good afternoon, commissioners. we have had a great six months since i have taken over as chair. i spoke to use three months ago and we were in a little bit of a desperate situation. we were five members short of our full board. through the efforts of some people i would like to thank, we have five new members. have five new members. now that we have 16 of our 17

mr. johnson, thank you for your remarks. thank you for provide that behind the scenes perspective of don't ask, don't tell. before we begin our discussion, i'd like to take a moment to provide a brief introduction of our panelists. when i finish these introduction, i think you'll see why we are extremely pleased to have the men and women seated in front you have this afternoon. our first panelist is surks e fulton. she's a 1980 graduate of the first class of women. [ applause ] >> she served on active duty for five years. her tours in germany included platoon leader, staff officer and company commander. after leaving the army, sue worked in brant management at procter & gamble. she also took two years to work in perish renewal programs for the archdiocese of new york. she serves as the executive director of nights out and the communications director of out serve. it's a mouthful. i know. i say most recently served because we pulled him out of there just after his change of command that took place late last week. he's headed

mr. johnson on this theories on that. policies and regulations that negatively impact businesses. and we want to know about the role of government. and will probably be the key issue in november's election. look i looking at policies, programs legislation in place that might need an over hall and we are going to talk about plans of action that need to be taken. the kind of legislation that works without any sort of kinks and also, what the panelists plan to do to follow up from today. so if i could, i heard robert johnson say he was going to leave. quickly, because you strict a nerve on a few things, you said right now if someone owns 51% of a business, certainly 10%, even 10% the tax breaks, how will the rest of america feel, we saw this fed survey wherever i one's income is down. >> very quickly, because i want to let the other panelists speak. the issue is this, you cannot have the fastest growi ining democratic group in the country being unemployed or under employed. there is no way for the country to completkocompete. american people are compassionate on economic issues we ha

mrs. johnson for her opening statement. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, and good morning. we are pleased to have this second hearing with dr. holdren to the committee. as you know, every year we invite the director in the office of science and technology policy to appear before the committee to help us understand and not just that this year's budget, but others as well. we live in an increasingly complex world, and the -- sorry -- the challenges we face will be both impacted by and hopefully alleviated by science and technology. as americans, we should celebrate the fact that a highly respected scientist such as dr. holdren has the ear of the president and is truly part of his inner circle of advisers on matters of science and technology. we in congress also can benefit from good advice on matters of science and technology policy, and i'm looking forward to the testimony today. the truth is that the ostp has been asked to do a lot by both congress and the president. in addition to our more visible initiatives, i know that you have to carry out necessary interagency coordin

we're going to lose you, and if miss johnson was here i'd recognize her. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. >> yes, you do. more discerning about your women. so dr. holdren, thank you for all you do. we put a lot of importance on your office and we expect a lot and we get a lot. how is the united states stacking up as compared to the rest of the world as the science and technology in the policies that we put in place and feel free to tell us where we can do better. first of all, i would say that the united states continues to lead the world in science, engineering and innovation across a very wide array of crucial fields of fundamental research and applied research, the united states leads the world. we remain by far the largest funder of research and development around the world. the sum of our expenditures on rnd and the public? private sector is over $400 billion a year and that's in the vicinity of 30% of all of the world's expenditures on rnd. we continue, as well, to lead the world in space although sometimes the contrary is asserted. our planetary exploration programs have

mr. johnson and others around the room, i had the laundry list of all the civilian benefits we are now working on getting or we have some. if you want that list, i'll be glad to e-mail to you. it might be helpful and it is available. what i really want to talk about today is what we, what each of us can do in our own day-to-day lives to make a difference. first of all, an most importantly, we need to be as visible as we can be. everybody has a different comfort level. everyone is in a different place. let me encourage you to be as open and honest as you can possibly be. why? first of all, we have straight allies, colleagues and friends who absolutely support us. one, because it's the right thing to do and second because they have loved ones, friends, neighbor, sons, daughters, who they want to know more about their life and we may be the bridge to helping them understand that. help us be the bridge to our straight allies. we civilians, for those of you in the room and on in tv land out there, we have military colleagues who are not yet comfortable about being more open. we as civilians have a

mr. johnson. everyone knows i'm congressman allen west from florida's congressional district 22.nk you. and we will get right to the meat of why we are here because i think this is a critical topic that we have to talk about. and i got this little book here that every now and then i go back and read, and it's call rediscovering black conservatism, it was published in 2009, and written by lee h walker. over the past 30 years, billions of dollars have been poured into black communities across the country in hope of curing a host of well-documented social economic problems, including failing schools and inadequate housing, crime and drug abuse, black on black killings, unemployment and more. despite the efforts of many local institutions agencies and school leaders, grass root organizations and community residents, the problems remain. in many instances, these problems have grown worse. i believe it will take new ideas and new voices to find solutions. and that is exactly why we are here today. we are here today to talk about economic freedom as opposed to economic dependancy, we ar

mr. johnson. >> ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the judge will tell you in his closing remarks and his instructions that mary surratt is presumed innocent. the judge will tell you that the prosecution has the burden of proof -- has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. and as she sits here now she is presumed innocent. the fact of the matter is, your honor, the fact of the matter is, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, three months ago or in 1865, president lincoln was assassinated. and the passion and anger that his murder aroused enveloped everyone. in this courtroom we are not allowed as american citizens to surrender to that passion and anger. we must decide this case on the facts and evidence. the facts and evidence that we hear in the courtroom. we have heard an introduction by this prosecutor. we have heard an introduction that was no more than an attempt to evoke that passion, that was no more than an attempt to get you to ignore what the facts are in this case, that was no more than an attempt to try to mislead you and lead you away from what we are here for. wh

mr. johnson. the $4 billion that is projected to be necessary to support that smaller force of 230,000 ansf in 2017, that represents about 20% of the afghan current gdp. if we assume that afghanistan will experience economic growth and improvement in governance, maintaining that force will, of course, require substantial international contributions. what steps are being taken to get commitments from international donors? , to progress have been made? >> -- how much progress have we made? >> last year, former secretary of defense gates proposed that our isaf partners contribute 1 billion euros. we have been working very actively with our nato and other partners, including countries in the middle east and asia. i would say we are very close to that goal right now. some of these discussions are still in diplomatic channels. i am not in a position to give you the details. we've got a very positive response. countries are willing to make multi-year commitments. the commitments that were made in chicago

mr. johnson? >> i won't be redundant in what i've already said. but how many of you know a place in your community that makes the best fried chicken you've ever had? that's not a rhetorical question. i'm serious. how many of you know a place in your community that makes the best fried chicken you've ever had? you know that's not the best selling business in that community. what is the difference between them and kfc? kfc markets better. and the challenge that i'm seeing is that the religious right has marketed christendom better than you. and if you want to deal with how do you stop the christian right from being able to bamboozle the folks that are around you, it's by being aggressive with your message. and what you believe and what you want. they are not afraid to say what they believe. they aren't afraid to say what they want and they aren't afraid to tell you you're wrong. you preach bible but they say they are the bible. and so if we are going to be serious about not allowing the religious right to define the narrative about what it means to

mr. johnson is recognized for five minutes. >> on may 12th, the house passed the commerce appropriations bill. this is a part of the ryan budget. and it tries its best to eviscerate and neuter the ability of the jusz tis department to protect americans as it is supposed to do. you can't operate without money. and the bill in its attempt to neuter the department cuts funding for financial and mortgage fraud enforcement. it prohibits funding for enforcing the requirement that licensed firearms dealers report multiple sales of rifles to the same person. it prohibits funding to bring actions against states for their voter identification laws. among other things. the bill will cut funding for the general administration line on the d.o.j.'s budget request from $81 million to $45 million. -- excuse me, yes, $29 million less than requested. the d.o.j. program for asset foritture has been cut. the number of u.s. attorneys you'll have 1,000 unfilled positions. you've already lost attorneys, 850 staff since the hiring freeze that would you say instituted in january of 2011 and has gone since that w

mr. johnson and others -- was the national or local tax -- will those be national or local? there will be differences because of that. >> mr. powell? >> i largely agreed. you are having the continued challenges of convergence, which technologies increasingly bring sameness to the ratings are provided and is targeted. that said, i would not make the hallmark of suggesting that things are similarly situated just because they can produce the same content, the same show. there are different business models, different terms, different technologies underlying it. you can spend $186 billion over a decade to optimize high- quality content. that is very different from the same content being sold on itunes for $2.99 in a model largely designed to sell ipads. you have to be cognizant that these different business models are pursuing different central objectives. just because they have the same content does not make them identical. but as we look at a new statute, i do think that there should be more since then there is today. >> my time has expired. we're trying to get to the part of th

mr. johnson said, a lot of them are having issues with tax. but one of the biggest issues that we are seeing is uncertainty about future federal policies that will impact their businesses. >> this is for all businesses? >> this is all business. so you're seeing them held back. but for black businesses specifically, i think the reason you're seeing less small businesses is the education component first and foremost. how do i start a business. where do i go to access the capital. what is an angel investor. where can i go to get venture capitalists investment. those are some of the issues. and we're beating up on sba today. but i have to give props for sba for one of their main focuses, and that's entrepreneurial development. they offer free advice in their partnerships with small business development organizations and score centers which stands for service core of retired executives. and there are private partnerships all over the nation that a lot of black entrepreneurs have no clue about it. i'll give national urban league props as well becaus

mr. johnson, thank you for your testimony. we look forward to following up with some questions. we'll now turn to gigi saun, president of public knowledge. we look forward to your comments. >> chairman walden, ranking member eshoo, members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to talk about the future of video. there is widespread agreement that we are currently living in the golden age of television. but despite all the great programming and groundbreaking devices, americans are still locked into a tv business model that limits competition and choice, keeps prices high for video, and limits technology and online video from achieving their full potential. this business model was made possible largely by an outdated regulatory structure created by incumbents to gain competitive advantage. it is time for policy makers to revamp this regulatory structure so that new video competition can thrive, giving consumers greater options and the ability to watch video whenever they want and on the device of their choosing. this will result in lower prices, better services and more f

mr. johnson. >> thank you, mr. chairman for allowing me as a nonmember of the subcommittee to ask questions today. i appreciate it. greetings, gentlemen. mr. sedney, can you characterize for us the evolution of the afghan security forces, readiness over the last decade, and basically tell me when did they start turning the corner to become a force to be reckoned with in afghanistan? >> i can, actually was on the ground in afghanistan, the deputy chief of in may 1 of 2002 in the first u.s. special forces arrived to begin training the afghan army. a little over 10 years ago. from that, very stark discovery, where we have not enough trainers or trainees, bombed out buildings what we have today, we have made incredible progress. i would also say that for too long, the effort in afghanistan was under resourced, both in terms of money but also in terms of the level of training and support that we were able to give them. the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, edward mullin, described that very graphically. [tal

mr. johnson. there are variations. >> to the commission upheld status of the beneficiaries that were involved in that decision? >> yes. >> could it be the beneficiaries are just doing treatment and procedures determined by the dr. based on their health needs instead of just going to the hospital? >> we believe that the evidence shows that the increased use in service from a supplemental coverage is especially large in the discretionary services. so if you look at the effect of supplemental coverage on hospital additions the effect is relatively low because most hospital admissions are not discretionary. there is a much larger increase in services in the areas the more discretionary. are there any concerns that some beneficiaries don't have supplemental coverage that they might pull treatment procedure until this too late when the cost is much higher than it could have been? >> we think that when you take into effect, take into account all of the different effects that in opposing what the suppleme

mr. johnson. we'll start with the second round. for some panel members interested to do that. i will follow-up on mr. johnson's question and that is looking at the underlying assumptions of where we are trained to shame with arghandab as he spoke of three to 52,004 structure by the end of 2012 in transitioning the 232,000 by the end of 2017. i guess my question is, what are the assumption and analysis that went into determined i was a proper four structure at that time. how does that coincide with the drawdown of american troops over isaf troops during that time. ethic and a speaker for the thought process has gone, where it has been, where we are today and how we came to that number of 230,000. i know there's obviously a resource element associated with that comes at a strategic element with that. other tickets you are assessment on that. >> first of all, to 352,000 was the result of a lot of analysis to include wargaming in that kind of thing to allow us to defeat, allowed the arghandab ansf to defeat the taliban. there has been a lot to sustain that through 2015 as you know

mr. johnson this is a truly saddening day and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. mr. nugent: i yield to the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. lankford. plankford: this has sunk to the level of now concealing documents. never has an attorney general been held in contempt of congress because every other attorney general has turned over documents to congress when they were requested. this attorney general has not. now, just compare this whole controversy on the secret service scandal from several months ago. they put everything out, released all the documents. done. the g.s.a. scandal, released all the documents. done. even the a.t.f. put all their documents out. put all their people out. done. as soon as we get to the department of justice, it's slow, it's delay, it's delay, it's delay. the question is why. why this matters that we get to the department of justice and documents -- in the phoenix office, everything was organized in the phoenix office. then was approved by the u.s. attorney in the phoenix area and then we

mr. johnson, much of the advantage the wealthyiest tax payers get is the result of the fact that we tax capital ordinary income at rates up to 35%. this loophole is the key reason why mitt romney only pays about 115% of his income in taxes. so here is a modest suggestion. eliminate the capital gains differential, tax all income the same way. this is hardly a radical idea. as you heard, the ronald reagan supported it, and the bipartisan bowles-simpson commission did as well. the argument rolled out by those givens this is we need to create an incentive to get people to invest. but there is no evidence at all to support their view. none. they are simply wrong. hence reagan's support for our view. those who take the other side are like the russian economist who opposes an idea by saying it works in practice, but it doesn't work in theory. well, they are wrong in practice and theory. and here is a little data point that proves it. even with all the incentives we've given to those who control capital there is only 2 trillion-dollar sitting on the sidelines not invested. the so-called job creators ha

mr. johnson, thank you for your remarks, and thank you for providing that behind-the- scenes perspective't ask, don't tell." before we begin our discussion this afternoon, i would like to take a moment to provide a brief introduction of our panelists. when i finished these introductions, i think he will see why we were extremely pleased to have these men and women seated in front of you this afternoon. her first panelist is sue fulton, a u.s. army veteran. a 1980 graduate of the united states military academy. the first class of women. she is one of six -- [applause] she is one of six presidential appointees to the 2012 west point board of visitors. she served on active duty for five years as a signal corps officer for pours in to germany including platoon leader, staff officer and company commander. after leaving the army, sue worked in a brand management at proctor and gamble. she also took two years to work in parish renewal programs for the archdiocese of new york. she currently serves as the executive director of nights out in the communications director of out serve. our second pan

mr. johnson embarked on this sweeping change? >> herb? it's interesting you say that, peter, because he came from apple where there was no consumer research for the most part where steve jobs pretty much did what he thought consumers wanted. you wonder if that's what he was doing here. let me ask, at some point do you think you'll be a buyer again? >> here's the thing. you're right about apple. but remember he was also involved in target. and if you look back carefully at all the recounts of his successes and you read that with a critical eye this time asking yourself is there any evidence that they've done just traditional marketing research? something like what mcdonald's would do, if they're going to launch a new product, you can absolutely be certain that they're going to test the heck out of that before they launch it -- >> peter, are you saying ron johnson is not the genius everybody makes him out to be? >> i'm saying that it would help us tremendously understanding his strategy if they would release the details of the type of marke

mr. robert johnson, ceo of sky angel, us, llc. thank you for being here. we appreciate reading through your testimony and look forward to your comments. just for all the panelists, if you haven't used these microphones, you really need to get pretty close to them, make sure the light's on. >> chairman walden, ranking member eshoo and members of the subcommittee on communications and technology, it is my pleasure to have this opportunity to testify at your hearing today on the future of video and thank you for inviting me to participate. my name is rob johnson. i'm one of the founders of sky angel and its chief executive officer. sky angel was founded for the purpose of providing american families with a high quality and affordable video distribution service in their homes that would offer exclusively family-friendly programming. today offers more than 80 channels that are live linear programming networks, many of which are familiar in american households such as the hallmark channel, fox news, the nfl channel, bloomberg and the weather channel, to name a f

mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. now more than ever the president and congress need to cut spending and pass legislation that promotes job growth. instead the government is just months away from enacting a job-killing tax on medical devices that will drastically harm our nation's medical industry. an estimated 43,000 jobs could be lost and could force these american factories to relocate overseas. president obama wants to implement this harmful tax as a way to pay for his nearly $2 trillion health care law. this is insane. the government has a spending problem. american taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill for the disastrous law, and businesses shouldn't have to fork over more of their money to pay for washington's reckless spending spree. it's time to promote real solutions. let's cut spending, repeal obamacare, and protect hardworking taxpayers from these destructive taxes. americans want, need, and deserve real solutions and we can take action now and vote this week to eliminate this tax. yield back. the spea

mr. johnson: thank you, madam speaker. most of us just returned from a week talking with our constituents back home. in the third district of texas, folks only had one thing on their mind -- the president's disgraceful decision to grant amnesty to a million illegal immigrants. americans across the country are outraged. amnesty rewards people for breaking our laws and encourages others to do the same. entry into the united states is not a right. it's a privilege. since taking office, the president has time and again taken reprehensible steps that weaken our border security and undermine the rule of law in america. by sidestepping congress, the president is now single handedly rewriting our immigration policies, violating the trust between the congress and the president to uphold the laws of this land. just did it again today. enough is enough. this administration needs to stop putting politics ahead of the rights and privileges granted to him in the constitution. i yield back. spoipt chair will remind members to refrain fro

mr. johnson? >> regarding our service i would say no. >> thank you. >>no. >> getting there, yes. >>make that three, yes. >> yes. >>no, not yet. >>yes. >> we have a split amongst the panelists here. mr. barrett, i appreciate the work he do -- one of the hearst affiliates. who do you not qualify for compulsory licenses? >> limited right from our networks with respect to how we may transmit their signal to other distributors. >> limited rights. >> yes. >> mr. ergen, your company is opposed to paying access for content. >> know, we are not opposed to paying for content. >> mr. johnson? >> will use the content do you me local programming? >> any content -- >> we have been paying for the content. >> all we do is pay for content. >> this is something that already occurs. i want to ask mr. barrett -- you own a stake and a7e, lifetime, other cable channels. >> correct. >> when you are negotiating with different distributors, is that a free market? do you sit at the table? are there any compulsory laws that have to happen? >> will negotiate on behalf of hearst telelvision and are not involv

mr. johnson was assistant director in the gaos' 'homeland security and justice team. he spent a year detailed to the house of representatives, and security committee. he worked on border security and immigration issues. mr. johnson graduated summa cum laude a from the university of maryland with a degree in business administration. you may proceed and we will go on to a second panel in which larry sampler will be testifying. you may proceed with what time you may choose to consume. hopefully around five to 10 minutes. >> thank you. thank you for inviting mr. johnson and i to discuss the accountability and oversight of u.s. funds to assist afghanistan. gao has issued 100 reports on u.s. efforts including those managed by usaid, dod, and stayed. to help secure, stabilize, and rebuild afghanistan. our work complements that of the inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction and the inspector general from dod, u s t id and stayed. our focus is on u.s. aid and three key areas. our reports has shown they face systemic challenges that has hindered its management oversigh