mr. mccain: mr. president -- the presiding officer: morning business is closed. under the previous order senators are permitted to speak for up to ten minutes. the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that i be allowed such time as i may consume as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: mr. president a lot of us are deeply concerned about the situation in the middle east, in ukraine in china, which we have paid very little attention to as they expand their territory. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that i be engaged in a colloquy with the senator from south carolina. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: mr. president there is a huge credibility gap and this morning's "washington post" probably said it better than -- than i probably could. it's entitled "a credibility gap,"" the washington post "by fred hyatt editorial page editor february 22. it says if the negotiators strike an agreement next month we

mr. mccain, in early december the members of the intelligence committee sent secretary hagel a classified letter about the guantanamo five. i can't discuss the contents of that letter here. but it's been almost two months now. we'd like to receive a response to that letter, before proceeding with mr. carter's confirmation. can you talk to the secretary and see about getting us a prompt response to that letter? >> sir, certainly. and i know the answer should be coming shortly. for reasons that are not clear to me, though the letter was dated in early december, i think we only received it in the department about three and a half weeks ago. >> okay. mr. rasmussen, you said in your opening statement that anti-american incitement or statements does not necessarily equal recidivism or reengagement. does it violate the memorandum of understandings that we have however, with the receiving countries? >> i can't speak in this session about the specific understandings we have with our -- with the partners, countries with whom we have worked to transfer detainees. but one of the key features of any o

mr. mccain, in early december the members of the intelligence committee sent secretary hagel a classified letter about the guantanamo five. i can't discuss the contents of that letter here. but it's been almost two months now. we'd like to receive a response to that letter, before proceeding with mr. carter's confirmation. can you talk to the secretary and see about getting us a prompt response to that letter? >> sir certainly. and i know the answer should be coming shortly. for reasons that are not clear to me, though the letter was dated in early december, i think we only received it in the department about three and a half weeks ago. >> okay. mr. rasmussen, you said in your opening statement that anti-american statements does not necessarily equal recidivism or reengagement. does it violate the memorandum of understandings that we have, however, with the receiving countries? >> i can't speak in this session about the specific understandings we have with our -- with the partners, countries with whom we have worked to transfer detainees. but one of the key features of any of those agreem

mr. mccain you said earlier to senator graham that the united states, they're barred to bringing guantanamo detainees to the main land. it's barred without releasing them for 30 days congressional notification. why should people believe that will be more respected than the prior notification was last year? >> sir, the lack of notification in the bergdahl case has not been repeated. i don't expect it to be repeated. >> my point is all laws are created equal. there was a law that required prior notification. it was violated. this administration has a habit of surprising the american people in national security matters. what assurance can we receive that there will not be a guantanamo detainee on our shores tomorrow morning? >> senator what i can say as to the 30-day notice issue, our lawyers believe we had a valid legal reason for the action we took and we'll get you that explanation. on the issue that you're asking, we are focused on transfers in the prb process. i'm not aware of any conversations not to follow the current statutory bar. >> okay. now i want to explore the so-called risk bala

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator mccain. mr. chairman, you've mentioned flexibility a couple of times here in your statements. and in the report it says that the force may benefit from a flexible retirement system that incentivizes them to remain in service longer than other occupational specialties when with regard to doctors, cyber personnel. do you have specific proposals? i'd like to dig down a little bit into this. do you have any specific proposals that the commission recommended? and do you see each service setting a different requirement there? and if so, do you anticipate any problems? do you see competition among the services? >> thank you very much, senator for the question. i'm going to ask commissioner zycom to respond to the specifics of your question, first. >> thank you, mr. chairman. senator, as you know, each of the services has different types of benefits to keep them on. our proposal does not tell the services how they need do it. what we're trying to do here is give them maximum flexibility so that if there

mr. mccain's home state of arizona, and his statement coming out just now. let's talk quickly, richard, about the air strikes from jordan. we know there was a new propaganda video released by isis where they used this journalist to convey their message of destruction, what they believe is an effort to win over as many like to say hearts and minds, but we also know that jordan has used its own media and national media quite honestly, international media to convey that they are ready to i believe their words were destroy isis at this point. >> reporter: the group isis has been using hostages for very different purposes. they have used american hostages and british hostages for tools of terror. they have taken their americans out and their britains out, dressed them in orange jump suits and beheaded them on camera and then released horrific videos. european hostages french and italians in particular, they have been selling, raising hard cash. in the case of kayla mueller, it was unclear what their goal was with her. they were allowing her to communicate with he

mr. mccain: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business and as much time as i may consume. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mccain: mr. president today i rise to speak on the clay hunt suicide prevention for american veterans act. a most important piece of legislation and i'd like to thank senator isakson in particular for expediting this legislation through the veterans' affairs committee. i admire his leadership, i admire his commitment to the veterans of america and it's really been a pleasure to know him and to serve in the senate and advocate for our american veterans. i'd also like to thank senator blumenthal whose partnership i have been with for a long period of time and without his leadership and support, this legislation would not be coming to the floor. mr. president, every day approximately 22 american veterans commit suicide totaling over 8,000 veteran suicides each year. i repeat -- 8,000 veteran suicides each year. it's evident

mr. mccain: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. a senator: mr. president i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. senatorshaheen:thank you mr. president. can you tell me what the status of the floor is? the presiding officer: the senate is in morning business with 20 minutes a piece. mrs. shaheen: thank you very much. despite the fact we are days away from the department of homeland security shutting down, we don't yet have an agreement to fund a clean bill to keep the department of homeland security operating. unfortunately, we haven't heard from the majority that there is interest in addressing this issue this week. i think that's very unfortunate. we're ready to work to pass a clean full-year bill to fund the department of homeland security. last week we actually asked unanimous consent to take up and pass the clean bill that senator mikulski and i introduced t

mr. mccain: mr. president i ask unanimous consent to address the senate as if in morning business.the presiding officer: the senator -- the senate is in morning business. the senator from arizona is recognized. mr. mccain: i rise today to mourn the tragic death of 26-year-old humanitarian aide worker kayla jean mueller of press scott arizona who had been held which isil terrorists since august of 2013. we and i are heartbroken for the mueller family at the loss of their beautiful beloved kay lavment the thoughts and prayers of the people of her home state of arizona the country and the civilized world are with the mueller family at this terrible hour. i want to take the time today to share a bit of kayla's story. this wonderful young woman represented the best of us. she had a remarkable impact on the lives of so many people who never had the honor of meeting her and her story will forever be an inspiration to us. kayla attended high school at tri city college prep in arizona where she was recognized as a national young leader who received the president's award for academic excelle

mr. leader, senator mccain, how search all the -- counselor grijalva.n honor to be with each and every one of you on this special day. a special day when we gather in statuary hall to welcome -- to honor gary -- barry goldwater back to the capital. [applause] as our speaker said, these statues are sent from each of the 50 states. the statues in this collection are more than a catalog of people who have shaped our history. they celebrate the full breadth of ideas that have blossomed in america's democracy. today, we honor the statue of a loving father, grandfather, and legendary dedication. we are honored to have so many of goldwater's family members here today. thank you very much for being here. [applause] here in the heart of our democracy, we unveiled the statue of an army air force pilot who served our country during world war ii. a public servant to serve the people of arizona and the united states senator for 30 years. an outspoken and uncompromising champion for what he believed. as a student, i had the privilege of meeting him at trinity college

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator mccain. mr.xibility a couple of times here in your statements. and in the report it says that the force may benefit from a flexible retirement system that incentivizes them to remain in service longer than other occupational specialties when with regard to doctors cyber personnel. do you have specific proposals? i'd like to dig down a little bit into this. do you have any specific proposals that the commission recommended? and do you see each service setting a different requirement there? and if so, do you anticipate any problems? do you see competition among the services? >> thank you very much, senator for the question. i'm going to ask commissioner die cam to respond to the specifics of your question, first. >> thank you, mr. chairman. snasht senator, as you know, each of the services has different types of benefits to keep them on. our proposal does not tell the services how they need do it. what we're trying to do here is give them maximum flexibility so that if there are, as you pointed out

mr. mccain, -- mckeon, in early december senator hagel sent a letter about the classified five. it's been almost two months now. we would like to receive a response to that letter before proceeding with mr. carter's confirmation. can you talk to the secretary and see about getting us a prompt response to that letter? >> sir, certainly. i know the answer should be coming shortly, for reasons that are not clear to me, although the letter was dated in early december, i think we only received it in the department about 3 1/2 weeks ago. >> mr. rasmussen, you said in your opening statement anti-american incite mentment or statements does not necessarily equal resid virms or re-engagement. does it violate the memorandum of understandings we have with the receiving countries? >> i can't speak in this session about the specific understandings we have with the partners with whom -- the countries with whom we have worked to transfer detainees but one of the key features of any of those agreements is monitoring ongoing activity by the detainee covering a wide threshold constitute reengagemen

mr. mccain -- mckeon in early december senator hagel sent a letter about the classified five. it's been almost two months now. we would like to receive a response to that letter before proceeding with mr. carter's confirmation. can you talk to the secretary and see about getting us a prompt response to that letter? >> sir, certainly. i know the answer should be coming shortly, for reasons that are not clear to me although the letter was dated in early december, i think we only received it in the department about 3 1/2 weeks ago. >> mr. rasmussen, you said in your opening statement anti-american incite mentment or statements does not necessarily equal resid virms or re-engagement. does it violate the memorandum of understandings we have with the receiving countries? >> i can't speak in this session about the specific understandings we have with the partners with whom -- the countries with whom we have worked to transfer detainees but one of the key features of any of those agreements is monitoring ongoing activity by the detainee covering a wide threshold constitute reengagement

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator mccain. mr. chairman, you've mentioned flexibility a couple of times here in your statements. and in the report it says that the force may benefit from a flexible retirement system that incentivizes them to remain in service longer than other occupational specialties when with regard to doctors, cyber personnel. do you have specific proposals? i'd like to dig down a little bit into this. do you have any specific proposals that the commission recommended? and do you see each service setting a different requirement there? and if so, do you anticipate any problems? do you see competition among the services? >> thank you very much, senator for the question. i'm going to as the commissioner to respond to the specifics of your question, first. >> thank you, mr. chairman. senator, as you know, each of the services has different types of benefits to keep them on. for example, nuclear engineers get special bonuses in the navy and so on. our proposal does not tell the services how they need do it. what we'

mr. ambassador, senator mccain overstating things?nd the administration's caution here, but it's time for the administration to change its policy and provide defensive arms to ukraine. i was with a group that visited ukraine in january. we had three days in kiev meeting with military authorities and then we went out to the field headquarters for the operation in eastern ukraine. and they are asking for mainly nonlethal help, what they need in the defensive arms category is light anti-armor weapons. these could have been very useful last week. >> why do you think president obama refuses to provide the weapons. >> the administration's concern is in the united states provides weapons to ukraine, do the russians then escalate? certainly the russians have lots of possibilities to escalate. i would make two points in response to that first of all, of the ukrainian also bear the risk of that escalation. they understand those risks and what we heard very clearly when we were there in january is give us the weapons we are prepared to resist. t

mr. mccain: mr. president i rise today joined by my friend and colleague from rhode island, senator reed in supporting the nomination of dr. ash carter to be secretary of defense. i am confident that senator reed and i feel we have had a very good nomination hearing and that dr. carter is qualified to be the secretary of defense. i've known dr. carter for many years during his lengthy service in washington. he is one of america's most experienced defense professionals, respected by republicans and democrats alike. he has served as assistant secretary of defense for global strategic defense under the secretary of defense and most recently as accept secretary of defense. i have known him to be an honest hardworking and committed public servant. i've had the opportunity to work together with dr. carter on several issues of shared concern, especially those trying to reform the defense acquisition system, improving financial management of the deployment and repealing and rolling back sequestration. i was

mr. mccain, and indeed it was. and he as well as the other americans in captivity would endure years of torture. the big four mr. speaker, was name, rank, serial number and date of birth, and these men would be tortured for additional information. and every american -- i say every person, at least everyone that i know, has their breaking point and certainly american p.o.w.'s are no different. . they set up a military operation. jim stockdale sent word out that they were if they were broken to give no additional information next time. that tap code system that you heard the gentleman from texas talk about the five by five matrix, a b, c d e f g h i k. first the row and then the column. b is first row second column. and the way they did it is shaving the hair cut two bits is how you started this conversation. if you give the rap, they're going to respond with, and that's when you knew there was an american on the other side of the wall. if they got a different response they knew it wasn't an american and therefore, t

mr. ambassador, senator mccain overstating things?well, i can understand the administration's caution here, but it's time for the administration to change its policy and provide defensive arms to ukraine. i was with a group that visited ukraine in january. we had three days in kiev meeting with military authorities and then we went out to the field headquarters for the operation in eastern ukraine. and they are asking for mainly nonlethal help, what they need in the defensive arms category is light anti-armor weapons. these could have been very useful last week. >> why do you think president obama refuses to provide the weapons. >> the administration's concern is in the united states provides weapons to ukraine, do the russians then escalate? certainly the russians have lots of possibilities to escalate. i would make two points in response to that first of all, of the ukrainian also bear the risk of that escalation. they understand those risks and what we heard very clearly when we were there in january is give us the weapons we are p

mr. chairman. >> thank you senator mccain. mr.man, you've mentioned flexibility a couple of times here in your statements, and in the report it says that the force may benefit from a flexible retirement system that incentivizes them to remain in service longer than other occupational specialties, with regard to doctors cyber personnel. do you have specific proposals? i'd like to dig down a little bit into this. do you have any specific proposals that the commission recommended? and do you see each service setting different requirement there? and if so, do you anticipate any problems? do you see competition among the services? >> thank you very much, senator, for the question. i'm going to ask commissioner zikime to respond to the specific of your question first. >> thank you mr. chairman. senator, as you know, each of the services already has different types of bonuses to keep people on. for instance, nuclear engineers and specialists get special bonuses from the navy and so on. our proposal does not tell the services how they sho

. >> senator john mccain wants to give mr. do what he needs to do to defeat isis. would you agree with senator mccain the president should do that or does he need congress' permission to lay out his strategy whatever that might be in your mind? >> he doesn't need congress' permission to lay out a strategy. i think it's important that he connect with the american people and tell them what the strategy is so that they can understand how we're going to defeat this not only isis -- isis is just one component of a greater issue. the american people don't understand because he hasn't articulated but it's congress' job to give him the where with all to do it. he's asking congress right now to reduce the where with all that he currently has and we're concerned about that. we wonder why would he ask for less authority than he currently has if he really has his heart in defeating this global terrorist enam i? >> i can kind of answer that question. he says we need to be onboard at a time of crisis. everybody in this country needs to be o

heroes comments from senators jeff flake and john mccain. mr. flake: mr. president, i want to take this opportunity to express sorrow both mine and that of the people of arizona at the news that one of our own kayla mueller prescott has died at the hands of isil. kayla's entire adult life cut short at the tender age of6, ha dedated t her entire adult life was cut short at the tender age of 26 and has been dedicated to the service of others and in ending that suffering. when she was taken hostage in 2,013 she was leaving the doctors without borders hospital in syria had been in the region working with syrian refugees. she once said that what inspired her work was that she found god in the eyes -- guarding the suffering eyes reflected. if this is how you are revealed to me this is how i will forever seeking. regardless of the exact circumstances surrounding her death, the fact remains that have militants not kidnapped the sparkling young woman she would still be with us today. her death can and should be laid squarely at their feet and is yet another example

mr. speaker senator mccain said yesterday that the -- he asked a question, isn't that the definition of insanity? the same bill over and over? do you believe the senate democrats should be called out for -- do you believe they are trying to shut the government down? second of all, what should senator mcconnell do after this third -- >> i'm the speaker of the house. not of the senate. i'm not going to suggest what the senate should or shouldn't do. all i'll say is this. the house did its work. we won this fight. now it's time for senate republicans and senate democrats either come together and hold the president accountable. i'm with all those democrat senators who made comments in opposition to the president's overreach with regard to executive action continuing to vote to block debate. talking about amendments on the bill. they are not even going to allow a debate to occur. it's time for them to get their act together. >> nancy pelosi just told us regarding an a.u. match she'd like to see something about scope. boots on the ground time, repeal of the 2002 iraq one, what would you like to see fr

our conference the republican conference will meet for a discussion led by senators corker and mccain. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant democrat leader. mr. durbin: mr. president i'm standing in today for the democratic leader, senator reid, who is absent for a medical procedure. and he was with us yesterday and will be returning after the break. we wish him a speedy recovery. he's gone through quite a bit with the accident that he endured on january 1. we wish him the very best and a quick recovery. mr. president, we're going to have a chance to do something this week that's important: to fund the department of homeland security. this was a department created after 9/11 for obvious purposes. we never want america to be vulnerable again to that type of extremist terrorist attack and all the death and destruction it brought with it. and so on a bipartisan basis we created this department. 22 different agencies were merged into one so we would have a common effort to keep america safe and secure and the department of homeland

mr. chair. >> senator mccain. >> thank you to the witnesses and thank you all. i did the math and this is 156 years of service at the table in military capacity. and we ought to also listen to you. i voted with enthusiasm and there were 42 nominations for lieutenant colonel and colonel and not one woman among the nominees. and they were nominated and part of the qualifications and that was a fact of interest and i just wanted to make sure that the committee pays attention to that. the sequester voted in august august 2011 and i think some of your testimony indicates that everyone wanted that to happen and all agreed that a sequester path would have exactly the kind of consequences that you have testified to today. since august of 2011 as you have testified to the the world has gotten simpler. we have seen the rise of isis and the of bulla virus threat north korea cyberattacks, devastating syrian civil war decline in the situation in libya and other nations in africa, flexing of muscles by chinese and by the iranian and vittles and the challenges have only gotten

mr. putin. senator mccain went to ukraine and spoke in favor of protestors who said mr.anukovych made a mistake when he tried to force them off the square using police methods. the kremlin sent advisers who advised the use of force against peaceful demonstrators. and after ukraine, the people of ukraine got angry at yanukovych for allowing snipers. the kremlin then began a covert war in the east. host: william good morning. caller: first of all, could you tell me what fluent languages your -- you are comfortable with? and secondly, go back and replay the issue of the -- the e u. association agreement and the putin bailout. guest: sure. i am fluent in russian. unfortunately, i'm not fluent in ukrainian. at one time i was fluent in arabic. host: and what's the difference between ukrainian and russian? guest: they are as distinct as french and spanish. they have many similarities but they are quite distinct. regarding the origins of this crisis. when yanukovych was still in power, he was negotiating a trade agreement with the e.u. starting in -- and this is something they w

mr. president i join senator mccain and not only commend him for his leadership but also to express my strongupport for the nomination of dr. ashton carter to be the 25th secretary of defense. dr. carter is uniquely qualified to lead as when henry kissinger said before the armed services committee the united states has not faced a more diverse and complex array of crises and sand of the second world war. dr. carter was born and raised in philadelphia. he received a bachelor's degree in physics and medieval history from yale and a doctorate in theoretical physics where he was a rhodes scholar. during his career dr. carter had held three critical positions in the department of defense assistant secretary of defense for global and strategic affairs in the clinton administration, under secretary of defense for acquisition technology and logistics from 200922011 and most recently deputy secretary of defense from 21,122,013. he is well aware and astarte been deeply immersed in many of the significant challenges facing this nation and the defense department. as deputy. as deputy secretary of defense

mr. chairman. and chairman mccain. the system we have devised includes the incentives, flexibility, and choice that people want in the force. we feel at its essence, it is going to be a very powerful retention tool. when we look forward at how this system will operate over time, our belief is supported by our analysis. in this case it was a model which was the dynamic retention model used. we believe this will -- our proposal will exactly model the current force profiles and we will have the tools within it, including a continuation page, thrift savings plan, which is currently not offered today. it will include the tools that will draw people through the 20 year career, much like the defined benefit as today, and into a large extent because defined benefits is retained under our proposals. about 80% of that. these new tools and flexibility along with defined benefits, we believe we will operate very effectively and the modeling we have done will support that. >> on the issue of health care how does this incentivize be

mr. chairman, for a very productive hearing. thank you. >> well, i just can't hold the witness any longer -- >> senator mccain, i think he's running around the ante room to this entrance. i would expect him to pop through in about ten seconds. >> senator lee. welcome. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. you've been very patient today and answered a lot of questions and i just wanted to talk to you briefly about religious freedom within the military. i think the ability to believe according to one's own belief system and to express those views appropriately is of utmost importance to the morale ofto all of our servicemen and women as to their families. i think something somewhat of a pillar of our society something that we have always expected would be tolerated, diversity of religious viewpoint and religious expression. certainly one's religious freedom should never be curtailed merely because one decides to serve one's country in the military. i was concerned late last year to hear about a situation in the army in which a chaplain in the course of some suicide prevention training was reprimanded for sharing his faith, talking about ho

mr. obama is not only one all twisted up, so is his friend mccain, national parks by the way senator mccain are under the jurisdiction of department of interior not homeland security, mccain seemingly companion senator lindsey graham also so eager to fund dhs and the president's executive fiat. >> they texas district court judge ruled it unconstitutional, put our energy to supporting court case, for god's sake don't shut down the premier homeland security defense line called defense of homeland security, if we do, as republicans we'll get blamed. lou: senator gramm did not make it clear did he on how a they could mutt -- they could support that court case, republican senators, all suggestions they prefer a clean dhs funding bill. leaving the president's amnesty fiat to the court. it is hard to believe that these senors those folks failed to comprehend the matter of executive fiat pro sents this nation with a constitutional crisis there is though shrinking from it our constitutional republic hangs in the balance. >> our photo of quote of the evening on the imperial presidency. that is increa

mr. senator for your willingness to send -- spend an hour and half with senator mccain and still come to the hearing. >> i'm a patriot, mr. chairman. >> you will be rewarded in heaven, i can assure you. >> director, thank you so much for sharing your insight with those and please carry back to your employees how grateful we are for the employees nctc at and the work they do. >> the hearing was adjourned. [indiscernible] >> oregon democratic governor has announced his resignation. amid allegations that his fiancee uses relate -- her relationship to enrich yourself. he says is like the donation will be effective on wednesday. in a statement, he says he broke no laws but apologized to the people who helped him get reelected in november and supported him for the last three decades. john kitzhaber has consistently maintained that he and his fiancee, sylvia hayes, worked hard to avoid conflicts between her public and private roles. here is a portion of the audio statement that was released. >> i am announcing today that i will resign as governor of the state of oregon. it is not in my nature to

see the chairman of this committee, senator john mccain, giving his opening statements to the committee and to mrsome of what he said for you already. he expressed his condolences for the jordanians because of the pilot's brutal death at the hand of isis. he also said that president obama and the administration isn't doing enough to defeat isis. he plans to send a full letter to president obama expressing those thoughts and, as you can see, he's now continuing on with his comments. a little bit more about ashton carter for you. he's known as an independent thiler sitting right there looking at john mccain. carter is a master it's said when it comes to budgets and wech pons acquisitions. with isis and other problems what will it look like? danny mcknight provided the inspiration for "blackhawk down." good morning, sir. >> good morning, carol. >> first, your impressions of ashton carter. >> well when i look at his background i see, of course, he's a deputy secretary of defense before he was named to be the next secretary of defense and that background seems to be covered with things associated with

mccain. dworcher mitt romney and ben stein and rosie o'donnell and the great senator from kentucky mr. rand paul and a special thanks to all of my guests in the studio mary katherine hamm and tv's andy levey and joanne nosuchunsky and lou daabs. that does it for me. i'm greg gutfeld. see you next time. >>> hello everyone i'm dana perino along with kimberly guilfoyle, bob beckel, eric bolling and greg gutfeld. it's 5:00 in new york city and this is "the five." >>> the obama administration thinks that america is on the right track to destroy isis. >> i believe we are on the road to yes, i absolutely do. i think the evidence is not in my saying it but in the facts of what is happening. >> but lieutenant general michael flynn intelligence chief does not see it that way. >> today what you are seeing on a map like that is a doubling of the enemy. what i have -- >> a doubling of the enemy? >> a doubling or more.

mr. president? >> democratic leader. >> let me again state words that i didn't make up. john mccain, he is, i think actually paraphrasing what albert einstein said. a true definition of insanity is someone that keeps doing the same thing over and over again with the same result. that's what john mccain said. is that the definition of insanity voting on the same bill again and getting the same result? jim inhofe, i think three's enough. jeff flake, i don't think we're fooling anybody. another republican, i wish we could take no for an answer. mr. president, there is bipartisan support to move forward on a free-standing bill that sends homeland security directly to the president. we want to do that. that's what should be done. that's regular order and if you and the rest of the republicans -- i say this to the presiding officer -- want to come and debate immigration we're willing to do that and that's what my consent agreement calls for. >> mr. president? >> majority leader. >> as my good friend the democratic leader, reminded me for eight years the majority leader always gets the las

mr. obama also said he admired nemtsov's courageous dedication to the struggle against corruption in russia. u.s. senator john mccain of more blunt saying "that boris' murder occurred in a secure part of the russian capital raises legitimate questions about the circumstances of his killing and who was responsible. there must be a full investigation of boris' murder, and those responsible must be held accountable. the world will be watching." >>> now to other news we're following. after some back and forth between lawmakers, the department of homeland security will keep running at least for now. congress passed a measure late friday to extend funding for seven days averting a partial shutdown of the agency. soon after, president obama signed the extention. here's dana bash with the details. >> reporter: less than two hours before the clock was set to strike midnight and the department of homeland security would lose its funding from congress, they actually voted finally to extend that funding just for seven days. it did not come without incredible drama, nailbiting suspense and a lot of chaos on capitol hill. the hou

mr. snowcroft, thank you for your service to your country and for your agreeing to be here today. let me commend general mccain for calling this hearing as a series of hearings for looking at the challenges which he outlines the challenges that he articulates here today and this hear la guardia provide us an opportunity to hear from leading experts and military commanders and key leaders in our country about the national securities issues that we face and i welcome a chance to take this broad perspective and broad view. the number and breath of the challenges seems unprecedented from russia's destabilizing and breakdown in the middle east and in europe. threaten the integrity throughout the region to iran and the nuclear program and the risks with that, to the growing assertiveness of china regionally and globally and to cyber threat prs the north korea and other malign actors. we would be interested in hearing of your perspectives on each of the challenges and the principals you believe should guide us in addressing them. they include, and this is not an exhaustive list but it is a lengthy list, with regard t

mr. chairman, for a very productive hearing. thank you. >> well, i just can't hold the witness any longer -- >> senator mccain, i think he's running around the ante room to this entrance. i would expect him to pop through in about ten seconds. >> senator lee. welcome. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. you've been very patient today and answered a lot of questions and i just wanted to talk to you briefly about religious freedom within the military. i think the ability to believe according to one's own belief system and to express those views appropriately is of utmost importance to the morale ofto all of our servicemen and women as to their families. i think something somewhat of a pillar of our society something that we have always expected would be tolerated, diversity of religious viewpoint and religious expression. certainly one's religious freedom should never be curtailed merely because one decides to serve one's country in the military. i was concerned late last year to hear about a situation in the army in which a chaplain in the course of some suicide prevention training was reprimanded for sharing his faith, talking about ho

mr. chairman and thank you. thank you for your willingness to spend one hour and with john mccain and come to this hearing. i am a patriot you will be rewarded in heaven. you will assure you director. thank you so much for being here today. sharing your insight with us. please carry become to your employees how grateful that we are for the great work that the employees from nctc do. thank you so much for having me the hearing is adjourned. if members would take their seats we are going to begin this hearing and i will ask all members to take their seats at this time. this morning the committee will ten our focus on the growing threat of isis and of course the hearing will take only added significance as yesterday the president requested that the congress formally back military action against this jihadist organization. an organization that has beheaded americans and has sold and raped thousands of women in syria. this is not a new threat for the members of the committee one year ago this committee took testimony from one of the few administration officials and sounding the isis alarm that was ambassador br

senator mccain's is challenging some of us to sign a plan. mr. president, help us. we cannot do this on our self. we need the commander-in-chief to write and into informed the american people that the sequestration cuts are unacceptable, not just on the defense side. are you familiar with the foreign operations account under -- the 150 account? the foreign aid account? are you familiar with what we do? do you agree that that is a viable program for national defense all on its own? have you looked at what happens under sequestration at our ability to be involved and look at problems like ebola and health care in other nations? >> low. >> have you? >> we understand what that could mean to stability. >> in you need to take a look because the military has been the strongest advocate for a robust foreign assistance account. if you think sequestration is a problem or you, you are to look at what it does to our state department. do you agree that once we get sequestration fixed and right whatever that turns out to be, that we should reform our benefit, pay, and sustain pac

mccain on the floor tearing up. >> ah. >> senator, more importantly, mr.at our strategy is on isis. the president said he was going to destroy, degrade isis. bob woodward reporting this morning on the show that the generals in the pentagon say they don't see a strategy there. what's the view on the hill? >> let me start with kayla. i mean obviously, an extraordinary young woman who represents all that's good in this world, and isis. isil, daesh, whatever you want to call them all that's bad. that's really what this is all about. isn't it? today at 9:00 the president will send over his seeking of an authorization for the use of military force, and that's the first step. that's the tradition step where the president sends over and seeks that. that puts it over in the legislative cord, and so now this is oversight. this is what we do here. so over the course of the next period of time joe what we'll be doing is seeking to understand what strategy the white house and the administration has to deal with isil. that's a very important role for us. >> chairman, do

mr. reid: let me again state words i didn't make up. john mccain, actually paraphrasing what albert einstein said. a true definition of insanity is someone who keeps doing the same thing over and over again with the same result. that's what john mccain said. is that the definition of insanity voting on the same bill over and over again and getting the same result? jim inhofe, i think three is enough. jeff flake, we can go through the motion but i don't think we're fooling anybody. another republican senator i wish we could take no for an answer. mr. president, there is bipartisan support to move forward on a free-standing bill that sends homeland security directly to the president. we want to do that. that's what should be done. that's regular order. and if you and the rest of the republicans -- i say this to the presiding officer -- want to come and debate immigration we're willing to do that, and that is what my consent agreement calls for. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: as my good friend

mccain critical of the obama administration's handling of the fighting of isis just a short time ago asked tough questions of ashton carter. let's listen. >> i believe i understand our strategy at this time mrhe intention again if confirmed to make it my first priority to go there, to talk to our leaders, military leaders there -- >> what do you understand the tragedy to be? >> i think the tragedy connects ends and means. our ends with respect to isil needs to be its lasting defeat. i say lasting because it's important that when they get defeated they stay defeated. and that is why it's important that we have those on the ground there who will ensure they stay defeated once defeated. >> we'll keep an eye on this hearing throughout the hour for you. >>> showing the reality of terrorism or spreading propaganda is the demate manybate many newsrooms are having. cnn decided not to air any of this video or still photos of the pilot's death. that's not the decision being made by other media outlets. joining me now from atlanta, the executive vice president and managing director for cnn international. good morning, tony. >> good morning, carol. >> so first of all, walk through the process of decidi

. >> general mccain, and members of the committee, it is a great pleasure and honor for me to be here with mr. steward and we are here to update you on some, but not all pressing intelligent -- intelligence and security issues facing our nation. they were classified issues that we discussed on tuesday, that we will not be able to discuss as wholesomely in this hearing. in the interest of time, i will only cover some of the wave tops on both of us -- one unpredictable and is the new normal. the year 2014 saw the highest rate of political instability since 1992. the most deaths as a result of state-sponsored mass killings since the early 1990's. and the highest number of refugees and displaced persons since world war ii. roughly half of the world's stable countries are at a risk of instability in the next two years. the second overall is that is pervasive uncertainty makes it harder to predict the future. 2014 and 2015 saw a number of events that illustrate these difficulties. the north korean attack on sony, the most serious cyber attack against the u.s. today, the ebola epidemic and the small

centered mccain's opening statement be submitted and my statement be submitted to the record and at this time, call on the panel for their testimony. then we will begin a round of questioning. with that, mr. rasmussen, are you prepared to go first? go ahead, mr. secretary. >> members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the detention center on guantánamo bay. on retaining detainees and related issues. in 2009, president obama signed executive order 13492, which ordered the closure of the detention center of guantanamo bay, cuba. pursuant to that order a task force was set to discuss the detainees and determine the possibility of their release. through that rigorous effort, a certain number of detainees were approved for transfer and review and a certain number for detention. since then, pursuant to the executive order signed on march 2011 for fiscal 2012 a periodic review board has begun to review the status of those detainees not currently eligible for transfer except for whom charges are pending or judgment of conviction has been entered. when the president came into office six years ago, there were 242 detainees at guantanamo bay. today, because of the t