mr. murphy: mr. president i ask that the record reflect this colloquy and this dialogue be shown in the same place in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: i think that i might not be alone to my good friend from wyoming in suggest you ing that most people probably wouldn't suggest that 11 million people signing up for health care means the law is unpopular. indeed we've seen a reduction by 25% in those across the country that don't have insurance in a year's worth of time. i think that's a pretty stunning uptake and it shows how desperately people wanted insurance. again i ask this same question to the c.b.o. head yesterday and his review of why there has been a slight differential -- it's a pretty small one between what they initially estimated and why people signed up -- is because more companies are maintaining their own health care insurance less cancellations are happening and thus there are fewer people who are uninsured. and so this second argument as to how the sk

mr. murphy: thank you very much, mr. president. i thank the colleague for yielding. mr. president, a good friend from wyoming was on the floor. yesterday i believe he is a frequent critic of the affordable care act. he made a pretty simple point that was reported in the press yesterday. critical of the administration for holding so many events talking about the success of the affordable care act. the suggestion was that we shouldn't be celebrating the administration shouldn't be celebrating the success of the affordable care act in terms of the number of people who are gaining access to it, the stabilizing cost curve of health care expenditures all across the country and the number of people whose emotional well-being is just much better today because they don't have to worry about ever losing their health care simply because they get sick or losing all of their savings simply because their child comes down with an expensive illness. and, mr. president i guess i would beg to differ because i talked to people all across my state of connecticut who are celebrating today be

mr. murphy you are -- [laughter]. >> reporter: traffic is moving fine, no problems, we're clear and dry in anticipation of the messy weather coming, nothing we're dealing with currently. mass transit is on time, dave. >> reporter: storm tracker 6 live double scan is showing us we're starting to moisten up, the first line of precip is not hitting ground if it is it's light and an indication of what's to come. coats for the kids this afternoon they may want extra gear because the wet snow will be falling and it will be chillier. 38 degrees around 11:00 a.m. we're close to the freezing mark in the afternoon. roads today will be wet but slushy later in the day as the temperatures fall. matt and erin. >> thanks, david. >>> new research suggests having companions can help you live longer. being alone and feeling lonely increases one chances of early death by 30%. age and disease are factors. the average age of participants in the study was 66 so more research is needed to determine the true relationship between loneliness and life span. >>> researchers proposing a gadget on all new cars to keep

mr. murphy i want to move to an action i'm going to throw out a motion which is open to motion we don't take a final vote i've heard enough concerns we schedule the final vote at the next board meeting april 14th but contradict the instructor to send the report with the understanding it maybe revised or amended on april 14th i'm open to the motion. >> is there a second. >> second. >> discussion? this update sounds like okay to folks the 14th >> if there's no discussion. >> can i ask a question this may be a fully question could you tell us how you feel about this would you rather i don't know how to deal with this superintendent. >> sorry. >> i just was kind of wondering this might help to influence our vote a little bit we're going to have to take another vote either amend the spending plan or vote toenltd or tonight if we take a vote tonight we're not done. >> yeah. so thank you commissioner wynns for the question so i would say that my recommendation i think the recommendations of the staff would be that the board vote tonight on the spend plan because it is very clear you'll have an oppo

mr. murphy and ms. met suey on mental health and having those benefits be clear and incorporated is extremely important. without understanding the specific case, i think it's a little hard to know. >> but there are, in fact, in some areas where certain kinds of policies are not allowed but that was -- that is based on a new minimum standard correct? >> that is correct. >> and one of the things that i've discussed with some of my constituents, my staff and some of the providers and experts that we pulled together we registered at least over a thousand families, and i personally tried to speak to as many of those individuals as possible. and what was sad is many of them were even scared to be there. they were thinking about this big obamacare dragon that was going to obliterate either their finances or their health care. but what almost to a person every person that got up from once they sat down and figured out what was available to them or what have you had a big smile on their face and they were very p

mr. murphy. >> thanks karen. we're off to a mild start with temperature in the 40's.l be up to 50. might be kind of cloudy. 62 by noon but here's the thing about today. 62 is your high so we're going to hit it by lunchtime and then this afternoon the winds will turn out of the northwest, get very blustery and gusty and the numbers are going to drop. we'll be down to about 51 by 6 o'clock with some sunshine reemerging. satellite and radar looking across the can country looks like texas a little cloudy but not a lot of precipitation. some scattered precipitation in the pacific northwest and there's that system dropping through new york state and parts of new england. florida looking pretty good. and as we check out the big board at the airport it looks like all green aircraft from top to bottom and the only place we've got any precipitation report is there newark and that's very light stuff up to the north of us. it shouldn't be around too much longer, tam. >> thank you david. >>> going on to health check now, the government says 90 percent of people out there now have

mr. murphy. the speaker: members of the escort committee will please exit through the chamber lobby doors. >> mr. speaker, the acting dean of the diplomatic corps. >> mr. speaker, the president's cabinet. the sergeant at arms: mr. speaker, the president of the islamic republic of afghanistan. the speaker: members of congress, i have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you his excellency mohammad ashraf ghani president of the islamic republic of afghanistan. president ghani: in the name of god the merciful and compassionate speaker boehner vice president biden, senate majority leader mcconnell, house majority leader mccarthy house minority leader ms. pelosi, senate minority leader, ladies and gentlemen of the congress, please allow me to thank you for your gracious invitation to address this unique forum of deliberative democracy. above all else i'd like to begin by thanking the people of the united states whose generous support for my country has been such immense value in advan

mr. murphy mr. murphy copper five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome ma'am. you cited a number of examples. i want to run over some of these examples. if you could respond with a yes or no if you are aware. are you aware the partially funded tempo project is $3 billion over budget? >> i am aware, yes. >> future gin project in illinois was discontinued? >> i am aware of that. >> the texas clean energy project is not broken ground yet? >> not exactly up to speed on that, sorry. >> something that was cited in your report. the hydrogen energy project in california uses petroleum? >> no, no, sir. >> the final project the epa cited for providing technical feasibility for coal-fired power plants was hundred no what facility in saskatchewan canada is not a new plant at all but a retrofit? >> i am aware it is a a good example of one that is operating effectively. >> the canadian center for policy alternatives issued reports dating the project was twice as expensive as alternate generating methods which will make it significantly more expensive for families and may jeo

mr. chris murphy. you had a busy week last week.show and filling in for mike jerrick. >> i did all six hours but i loved every minute of it. >> you know why we want to talk to you, right? >> why you ambushed me here in the makeup room, right? >> ml wrote really i love the show, but please, please, put down the spray can. hey chris, who in the world is doing your makeup. wow. chris is orange this morning. all right, mr. murphy what's going on here? >> here's the deal. we do our own makeup as you just saw and i am officially color blind. second excuse it's the dead of winter. i was trying to get the flyers into the playoffs. i was channelling the orange color. >> i'm glad i cleared all that up. aren't you glad you asked? >> a really good guy, a web producer, our website is hugely possible, correct? >> and it's growing because of all of you, our viewers. >> it is growing and it is popular, but there's something about it the viewers are never going to like, correct? >> yes. >> enough with the commercials at the start of your videos. i'm

mr. murphy: thank you mr. president. today is a make or break day for millions of americans who are better off because the affordable care act. the supreme court is hearing as we speak oral arguments on a case known as king v. burwell that will decide whether americans have access to health insurance subsidies through their state exchanges or whether opponents of the law the very same people who continue to push for over 40 votes in the house of representatives to repeal or undermine the affordable care act, the same people who shut down this government last year because of their obsession with repealing the law will win out with a paper-thin legal argument. it would not only be a devastating blow to millions of americans who are currently receiving subsidies for their insurance but it would destroy the individual health insurance market in those states and would represent an incredible power grab by the supreme court that would undercut the impartiality of that court. at the heart of this case is the affordable care act

mr. murphy and ms. matsui on mental health.and incorporated is extremely important. so without understanding the specific case i think it's a little hard to know. >> but there are in fact in some areas where certain kinds of policies are not allowed, but that is based on a new minimum standard, correct? >> that is correct. >> and one of the things that i've discussed with some of my constituents, my staff and some of the providers and experts that we've pulled together, we registered at least over a thousand families. and i personally tried to speak to as many of those individuals as possible. and what was sad is many of them were even scared to be there. they were thinking about this big obamacare dragon that was going to obliterate either their finances or their health care. but what almost to a person, every person that got up from once they sat down and figured out what was available to them or what have you, had a big smile on their face and were very pleased and very relieved and very glad they came. in one instance i was

mr. murphy: thank you mr. president. over the course of the next few days we are likely going to debate a series of amendments relative to the ongoing nuclear negotiations with iran. and it's my hope that over the course of this debate on a handful of amendments that may be offered that the way in which we conduct this debate and the way in which these votes come out is going to unify us rather than divide us. a lot has been made over the partisan division that has been created over the past few weeks with respect to our support for negotiations despite the fact that we have all said, republicans and democrats that our priority, our hope is that we can divorce iran from a nuclear weapons future through negotiation rather than through military action. despite the fact that historically we have all tried to hew close to the idea that politics stops at the water's edge we understand the limitations of our ability to substitute ourselves for the administration when negotiatening foreign policy with foreign powers. and so my

senator murphy: i want to close with a question to you, mr. gates. you're a technology expert as senator daines noted but you also know something about marketing. we're in a position where most americans think we're spending 23 october--% of the budget on foreign aid, the reality is worse than it appears. yes we're spending only 1% but if you go back to the peak of foreign aid, the marshall plan at that point we were spending .3% of g.d.p. on foreign aid. a program that i think everyone agrees has a good deal to do with the world order we're living in today. we got a 94% decline in foreign aid spending as a percentage of g.d.p. since 19 506789 and yet people still believe that it's much bigger, a much bigger share of the budget than it is. what's your quick recommendation as to how we change people east perception? what are the two or three most salient points from a marketing perspective to make people understand, make our constituents understand, that we've got to be dramatically increasing the share of the federal budget, or at least the portion o

senator murphy: i want to close with a question to you mr. gates.'re a technology expert as senator daines noted but you also know something about marketing. we're in a position where most americans think we're spending 23 october---% of the budget on foreign aid, the reality is worse than it appears. yes we're spending only 1% but if you go back to the peak of foreign aid, the marshall plan, at that point we were spending .3% of g.d.p. on foreign aid. a program that i think everyone agrees has a good deal to do with the world order we're living in today. we got a 94% decline in foreign aid spending as a percentage of g.d.p. since 19 506789 and yet people still believe that it's much bigger, a much bigger share of the budget than it is. what's your quick recommendation as oto how we change people east perception? what are the twor three most salient points from a marketing perspective to make people understand, make our constituents understand, that we've got to be dramatically increasing the share of the federal budget, or at least the portion of t

mr. murphy for five minutes. >> thank you. i'll talk fast to get what i can in. and this is for mr. sellman and mr. newman. and thank you for being here. a very informative panel. and the engineers who serve in the rural water district, for example in green county, in southwestern pennsylvania, very rural area, they say the states oftentimes impose their own drinking water requirements which are far more stricter than the epa standards set forth in the drinking water act. could you provide some examples for me where some of the state-imposed requirements in your communities go beyond or differ from the epa standards? >> in mississippi, and mr. sellman can elaborate on this or correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe in mississippi, that our state regulations are exactly the same as the federal guidelines, being no more or no less stringent than the language in the federal act. >> same here, mr. sellman. >> and does anybody else see differences in their communities? >> no. that is correct. i don't think our regulations could be more any more stringent than what the federal act is writt

mr. murphy for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman.lcome here ma'am. >> thank you. >> when the epa came out with their rule on new source performance standards you cited a number of examples to show the epa standards are feasible. i want to run over some of these examples. like you to just respond with a yes or no if you're aware of them. are you aware that the partially funded camper project is a $3 billion over budget? >> i am aware it's over budget, yes. >> and you're aware that the project in illinois was discontinued. >> i am aware of that. >> and you're aware that the texas clean energy project hasn't broken ground yet? >> i'm not exactly up to speed on that one. >> you're aware the california project doesn't use coal but petroleum coke? >> no, sir. >> are you aware that the final project the epa cited for new coal fired power plants was a facility in canada. it's not a new plant at all, but a retro fit? >> i'm aware it's a good example of one -- >> it's a retro fit and not the united states. and the canadian center for policy al

mr. murphy. >> thank you. i'll talk fast to get what i can in. and this is for mr. sellman and mr.ewman. and thank you for being here. and the engineers who serve in the rural water district for example in green county, in southwestern pennsylvania very rural area they say the states impose the drinking water requirements which are far more district than the epa standards set forth in the drinking water act. could you provide some examples for me where some of the state-imposed requirements in your communities go beyond or differ from the epa standards? >> in mississippi, and mr. sellman can elaborate on this or correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe in mississippi, that our state regulation are exactly the same as the federal guidelines being no more or no less stringent than the language in the federal act. >> same here, mr. sellman. >> and does anybody else see differences in their communities? >> no. that is correct. i don't think our regulations could be more zrinkent than the -- stringent than the federal act. >> i note some states require that you have a certain well product

mr. murphy for five minutes. >> i'll talk a little fast, see what i can get in. >> thank you all for being a very informative panel. engineers who serve in some of these water rural systems in my district, for example green county and southwestern pennsylvania, they tell me that states often times impose drinking water requirements. could you please provide some examples for me where these state imposed requirements that you've seen in your community or other communities go beyond epa standards? >> in mississippi, mr. sellman can elaborate on this i believe our state regulations are the same in federal guidelines being no more or no less string enthe than in the federal act. >> does anybody else see differences in their communities? >> i don't think our -- >> efa regulates water quality, some states require you have a certain water treatment plant, storage and pumping capacities, in a lot of cases, those affect small communities. on an engineering basis, they're not justified on how much the water is being used. >> whether you're dealing with things like the waterline extensions, not neces

mr. murphy touched on it quite extensively in his comments is about substance abuse and mental health.achusetts, madam secretary, i see communities on the front lines of a growing devastating opiate abuse crisis. we're looking to the federal government for support. as a prosecutor before i ran for office i saw the impacts 0 this on a daily basis not just in terms of addiction, and people needing treatment but in terms of property crimes personal crimes for folks that are looking to try to find a way to get help. but the treatment options aren't there. there are not enough doctors, not enough beds, there's not enough wrap around services not enough care. i'm hoping you can touch on the importance of creating these incentives through medicaid to make sure the incentives are in place to allow that marketplace to provide that care. >> so the bad news as you indicate there were 259 million prescriptions for painkillers opiates during 2012. that's more than one per adult in the nation. the good news is that i believe there's bipartisan support for us to do something and i believe that's both

mr. murphy:, irregular heartbeat indigestion, other symptoms that might cause a senior or someone with disability to go to the hospital, it probably makes little or no difference in the way that hospital treats the physical condition, but it can make a very big difference in terms of how the patient's pocketbook is cared for. in deed, the effect of being under observation is that the patient gets stuck with the bill for even skilled nursing home that is required for rehabilitative services after the stay at the hospital. medicare would pay for the needed care if the medicare recipient patient is hospitalized for more than three days as an in-patient but medicare will not pay for skilled nursing home care if someone is simply under observation. since medicare has paid nothing, there is also no gap to be covered by medigap and instead of being in a gap like this, folks are left in really a black hole. a medicare patient sucked in this hole will be billed for the entire cost of rehabilitation at the nursing home which can run into tens of thousands of dollars. this practice is happening more and mor

mr. sanders? ms. murphy? mr. wyden? mr. white house? mr. warner? ms. baldwin? mr. kane? restricting? -- mr. king? chairman: the amendment is adopted. next is the sanders amendment. senator sanders: senator toomey hit the nail on the head. let's get rid of all limitations of billionaires can get -- contribute to candidates. who are those people going to be representing? will they represent the middle class and working families? you are going to be a paid employee for the billionaire class. i think enough is enough. we have to overturn citizens united. we need full disclosure when people put ads on television. i would ask for a yes vote. senator toomey: i would observe that the ranking member seems to give little credit to the intellect of the voters. if members of congress were the paid employees of billionaires, i rather think that would be noticeable to voters. they would be quite free to exercise their discretion in not electing someone who was an employee of billionaires. i do not why we have so little confidence in the electorate. chairman: would you like a rollcall vote? call th

mr. chairman. senator murphy? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. general allen, thank you for your service. thank you for your answers to the questions. they are very helpful. he want to build on some questions from senator menendez and boxer on the language that we have before us. a lot of attention has been on enduring between what our offensive forces and what are defensive forces. just so i understand this, you've talked about the potential limitations under the enduring limitation but so long as the presence of troops is considered defensive, there is no limitation in this authorization of military force as to the number of troops or the duration of their time in the conflict area, so long as they are considered defensive forces. >> again, i'm not sponsoring the legislation. but the -- i think your point is correct in that regard. >> i thought your answer to senator mccain's question was definitive. i know you worry, as the president does, that a large-scale of deployment of troops could become recruiting fodder. do you think that that changes

mr. chairman. senator murphy? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. general allen, thank you for your service. thank you for your answers to the questions. they are very helpful. he want to build on some questions from senator menendez and boxer on the language that we have before us. a lot of attention has been on enduring between what our offensive forces and what are defensive forces. just so i understand this, you've talked about the potential limitations under the enduring limitation but so long as the presence of troops is considered defensive, there is no limitation in this authorization of military force as to the number of troops or the duration of their time in the conflict area, so long as they are considered defensive forces. >> again, i'm not sponsoring the legislation. but the -- i think your point is correct in that regard. >> i thought your answer to senator mccain's question was definitive. i know you worry, as the president does, that a large-scale of deployment of troops could become recruiting fodder. do you think that that changes

mr. chairman. >> senator murphy. >> thank kwlu, very much mr. chairman. thank you to the panel for being here today. i just note to the chairman and ranking member, senator mccain was in connecticut yesterday and we held a town hall meeting with connecticut ukrainian-american population. we had an overflow crowd in hartford, probably around 300 400 people. and they raised some of the similar concerns that were raised here today. but they also expressed real and heartfelt appreciation for the fact that if it were not for the leadership of the united states, rallying the international community to the economic assistance that's allowed for the ukrainian government to still stand, if it wasn't for our leadership on rallying the international community towards a policy of sanctions, this story would have played out in a very different way. that is a dire situation in eastern u vain today. but i think many of the people that i represent understand what they eve done thus far. it's important of the ability of ukraine to defend itself to the degree that it can.

mr. chairman. >> senator murphy? >> thank you to the panel for being here today. senator mccain was in connecticut yesterday and we held a town hall meeting with the ukrainian american population and we had an overflow crowd, probably around 400 people. they raised some of the similar concerns raised here today but also expressed real and heartfelt appreciation for the fact that if it were not for the leadership of the united states rallying the international community if it wasn't for our leadership on rallying the international community towards a policy of sanctions this story would have played out in a different way. this is a dire situation in ukraine today. many people understand what we have done thus far and its importance to continue -- i want to talk about some of the concerns many of us have about a policy of providing defensive arms. first is this question of what the budapest memorandum obligates the united states to do. already today, i have heard my colleagues talk about the budapest memorandum obligating the united states to defend or obligating na

mr. murphy, for five minutes. >> thank you all. i'm talk a little fast. see what i can get in.hank you all for being here. very informative panel. he can nears who serve in some of these -- engineers who serve in some of these rural water areas in my district, they tell me that states oftentimes impose their own drinking water requirements, which are far more strict than the e.p.a. standards. set forth in the drinking water act. could you please provide some examples for me where some of these state-imposed requirements that you've seen in your community or other communities go beyond or different from the e.p.a. standards. >> in mississippi, and correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe in mississippi that our state regulations are exactly the same as the federal guidelines being no more or no less stringent than the language in the federal act. >> same here. >> does anybody else see differences in their communities? >> no, that's correct. i don't think our regulations could be any more stranjent than what the federal act is written. that's the way the state of mississippi does.

mr. chairman. >> senator murphy. >> note to chairman and ranking member, senator mccain -- mckeon was in connecticut yesterday we had an overflow crowd, and they raised some of the similar concerns raised here today and they also expressed real, heart felt appreciation for the fact that if it were not for the leadership of the united states rallying the international community to the economic assistance that has allowed for the ukrainian government to still stand, if it wasn't for our leadership on rallying the international community toward a policy of sanctions, the story would have played out in a different way. this is a dire situation in eastern ukraine today but i think many of the people i represent, though they want us to go further, understand what we've done thus far and its importance to the ability of ukraine to continue to defend itself to the degree that it can. i have one specific question, then i wanted to talk a little bit about some of the concerns that many of us have about a policy of providing defensive arms, though i support it. first is to this question of what the budapest me

senator murphy: thank you, mr. easterly. mr. parfitt, would you like to answer? mr. parfitt: i would echo those comments. this is a legal question. i'm not an attorney. senator murphy: a legal question, but the principle of polluter pays, when you do some damage to your neighbor, shouldn't you bear responsibility? as a fundamental principle? mr. parfitt: i think it's a couple located -- complicated question. you have users that have responsibility as well. senator murphy: you don't want to answer the question, that is fine. >> if the utilities and entities -- ms. nowak: if the utilities and entities are following law and regulation, i think it would be a very chilling effect to have been subjected to legal claims. senator murphy: everybody in their first year of economics learns about externalities. image done by activities. -- damage done by activities. libertarians would say, when you do damage, you should compensate. carbon and methane produced in a million different ways, there is no state that does not produce a lot of them. we are seeing a differential and how s

mr. chairman. >> senator murphy. >> thank you, very much, mr. chairman. i know it's been a long day of testimony. some of us are getting our second shot at you today, those of us on the appropriations committee. >> more than any senator should go through. [laughter] >> we had the chance to have a good dialogue this morning about my belief we need to have a more holistic conversation about the way in which your lack of capacity to fight corruption and build the rule of law in and around the russian sphere of influence is preventing us from doing the real work to combat the march across their periphery, and i hope the committee will focus on that. this may be the only chance that we get to talk to you before we have a full debate about the authorization of military force that's pending before congress. so i wanted to just ask you a question or two to try to help us understand some of the terminology in the proposed draft. i think we're having trouble getting our hands wrapped around. you know, secretary gates, i believe, shortly after he left the department

murphy. >> thank you very much mr. chairman and thank you to all of our witnesses.hank you for your extraordinary gestures to come back here over and over again to work with us on this most important question that the formulations committee and congress takes up the question of when to commit u.s. personnel into war. i remain as frustrated as many of my colleagues with these questions over definitions. i think the problem is in part that every different member of the administration we talk to does seem to have a slightly different interpretation of what these words mean and i can't blame them because i think as secretary carter said there's no historical definition of these words, but i think the lack of consistency has hampered our efforts to get on the same page together. and if we resort to just an understanding that these words mean something less than what happened in iraq and afghanistan, then that really is no limitation at all, and i'm barely a lawyer i practiced about four years, but i do remember the concept of statutes being void for vagueness. i fear tha

mr. chairman. thank you all for being here very much. >> senator murphy? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i wanted to follow up on some of the early questions regarding the work that atf is doing surrounding -- following on the law enforcement officers protection act. this was just for the committee's recollection a piece of legislation that was passed in 1986 by 400-21 margin in the house of representatives passed by unanimous consent in the united states senate. and president reagan said upon signing it that there are, quote, certain forms of ammunition that have no legitimate sporting recreational or self-defense use and thus should be prohibited. it's always been tricky work to try to stay true to the act's intention of stopping criminals from killing law enforcement officers with specifically dangerous type of weapons while also preserving the right of sportsmen hunters to enjoy their pastime. but i just want to first thank the atf, you mentioned in your prepared testimony, for the amazing work that they did in and around the sandy hook shooting. but also just relay a story. i was in

murphy. kendall submitted a recipe to mrs. obama about two years ago about healthy living.at team selected kendall's recipe from all of the 50 states of these united states to be the winner. [applause] and following that, kendall was selected last year to be the poster child for the healthy living. congratulations. thank you kendall. [applause] and also i would like to acknowledge another selma little girl. she wouldn't call herself little. jada armstrong. jada wrote a letter to the president this past year addressing the concern about immigration at selma high school. she's a student there, 11 grade i believe. the president responded with a letter back to her thanking her for that letter on immigration. he might even use some of her pointers as he goes on. thank you very much, jada. [applause] and lastly thanks to all of you who have come to selma today my hope and prayer is that each of you will have an enjoyable experience, and you'll come back to selma one day again and you'll have a pleasant and safe drive home. i want to thank the volunteers, and there are many, who w

murphy former u.s. ambassador to syria joins us, mr. ambassador did to have you on the program. what do you make of secretary kerry's comments is he leaving an opening that sood that assad was making amaketo remain as president after four years of war? >> i think he was making an opening, that we are ready to talk to assad. that was quickly pulled back by the state department a day or so afterwards and the position hasn't changed we don't think he can survive as president. >> in the meantime, the turkish prime minister saying this in response to kerry's statement he said you are going to have what negotiation with a regime that has killed over 200,000 people and has used chemical weapons unquote. how can these equivocations if we can call them, to making like turkey who wants assad out of power. >> we don't disagree with the turks about the long term prospects of assad. we did try in geneva a couple of years ago there has to be a transitional regime and at the end of the day he isn't going to be there. that wasn't accepted by assad first of all he's not about to commit political

murphy. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you to all of our witnesses. thank you for your extraordinary gestures to come back to this committee over and over again both in public and private to work on this most important question that the foreign relations committee and congress takes up, the question of when to commit u.s. personnel into war. i remain as frustrated as many of my colleagues over this question over definitions. every different member of the administration that we talk to seems to have a slightly different interpretation of what these words mean and i can't blame them. as secretary carter said, there is no historical operational definition of these words. i think the lack of consistency has hampered our efforts to get on the same page together. if we resort to just an understanding that these words mean something less than what happened in iraq and afghanistan, that really is no limitation at all. i am barely a lawyer. i practiced for four years, but i remember the concept of statues being voided because of the vagueness. i fear this woul

senator murphy: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you to all of our witnesses. thank you for your extraordinary gestures to come back to this committee over and over both in private and public to work with this. that the foreign relations committee in congress takes up went to commit u.s. personnel into war. i remain as frustrated with many of my colleagues over the definitions. i think the problem in part is every different member of the i'm -- administration that we talk to seems to have a slightly different interpretation of what these words mean and i can't blame them. as secretary carter said, there is no historical operational definition of these words. i think the lack of consistency has hampered our efforts to get on the same page together. if we resort to just an understanding that these words mean something less than what happened in iraq and afghanistan, that really is no limitation at all. i am barely a lawyer. i practiced for four years, but i do remember the concept of statues being void for vagueness. i fear that this would suffer that same proble

murphy. >> thank you very much mr. chair. underlying this entire discussion is the challenge we have with carbon pollution methane pollution and the impact it's having across the world. we don't have to look across the world, we can look to my home state of oregon and indeed we are seeing that the fire season has grown by 60 days over the last several decades and a number of acres of forest has been burned, it has increased dramatically. we have an oyster industry that's having great trouble because the baby oysters have trouble forming shells because the ocean is 30% more acidic than it was before the industrial revolution. we have a farming community that's suffering significant, repeated worst ever droughts because the salt pack in the cascades is steadily declining and this year is one of the lowest ever. and while rain earlier in the year can fill a reservoir, if you don't have the snowpack come august, you're in trouble. so as we see this impact on farming and fishing and forestry right now, we're not talking 50 years i

murphy. c thank you very much mr.chair and underlying business discussion is a challenge we have a carbon methane pollution and the impact it's having across the world. we don't have to look across the world. we look to my home state of oregon and indeed we are seeing that the fire season has grown by 60 days over the lateral decades and a number of acres of forest that has been burned has increased dramatically. we have an oyster industry that's having great trouble because baby oysters have trouble forming shells because the ocean is 30% more acidic than it was before the industrial revolution. we have a farming community that is suffering significant repeated worst ever droughts because the soil pack in the cascades is steadily declining in this year's one of the lowest ever. while rain earlier in the year can fill a reservoir if you don't have the snowpack, august you are in trouble. as spc this impact on farming and fishing and forced rewrite now we are not talking 50 years, 100 years into the future. just like d

mr. chairman. >> senator murphy? >> thank you to the panel for being here today.ain was in connecticut yesterday and we held a town hall meeting with the ukrainian american population and we had an overflow crowd, probably around 400 people. they raised some of the similar concerns raised here today but also expressed real and heartfelt appreciation for the fact that if it were not for the leadership of the united states rallying the international community, if it wasn't for our leadership on rallying the international community towards a policy of sanctions, this story would have played out in a different way. this is a dire situation in ukraine today. many people understand what we have done thus far and its importance to continue -- i want to talk about some of the concerns many of us have about a policy of providing defensive arms. first is this question of what the budapest memorandum obligates the united states to do. already today, i have heard my colleagues talk about the budapest memorandum obligating the united states to defend or obligating nato to defe

mr. megrue: we've heard today national security and others. senator murphy asked earlier how to we explain this to the american public. i think part of it is explaining some of these incredible successes, whether it's polio or what we've been able to accomplish in malaria or mother to child transmission or so many others. i think it's getting that message out there that will cause people to step back and realize that making a cut like you're talking about or proposing a cut like you're talking about, this is the wrong time to do it. and that we will be -- the local governments will be picking this funding up on their own as they have been. >> i think it would be politics at its worst. mr. affleck: and really, truly shortsighted. what i have seen personally are people who now have a job that didn't used to have a job. who are moving into the marketplace. it's a model. even more so than 10,000 farmers. you would be destroying a model in its earlier most -- earliest, most nascent phase. that is saying business and investment is strong and powerful aid. it gives