mr. royce: we go to mr. chris smith of new jersey. chairman of the human rights committee. mr. smith: i believe delay is denial and i believe we have a de facto defensive weapons arms embargo on ukraine. and it's reminiscent to me to the balkans war when we totally misguided fashion ensured that bosnia and the croatians did not have the ability to defend themselves against milosevic's aggression and now we see that aggression to our good friend and ally the ukraine. when you get to secretary of defense carter, james clapper and as one of my colleagues already mentioned and i read his speech and it's an excellent speech that was given by our top military commander, lieutenant general ben hodges, he has made a number of important points, i think, in his speech, perhaps chief of which is while ukraine's defense capability might not necessarily turn the tide overnight or soon when it comes to the military situation, it will make the diplomatic solution more probable probably and that's exactly what happened, as

mr. royce: thank you mr. ingle. we are pleased to be joined by senior presented is from state and treasury. mr. tony blanck and -- he served as the assistant to the president and was principal deputy advisor. he also worked as the democratic staff director for the foreign relations committee. he just confirmed that we will welcome him for his first appearance before the committee. mr. adam steuben is the acting undersecretary for the office of terrorism and financial of treasury. he previously served as the director we welcome him back. without objection, the witnesses for prepared statement will be made and members here will have five calendars days and any questions for the record. we will ask you to please summarize your remarks and mr. secretary, if you would begin. thank you very much. it is a pleasure to be here. secretary blinken: as we speak and as you mentioned, under secretary of state sherman negotiating with the government of iran over the future of the nuclear program. our goal for this negotiations is

mr. royce: thank you, mr. connolly. we go to mr. salmon of arizona chairman of the subcommittee on asia. mr. salmon: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you so much for being here today, ambassador. to date the sanctions that have been imposed on russia have had really little impact on putin's decisionmaking. the administration has stated that additional sanctions are being considered but without the commitment of some of our allies, some of our european allies oto enforce those sanctions or impose sanctions as a body, the likelihood of those sanctions having much effect are not real great. are there other sanctions that the administration is considering and do you believe it will impact putin's decisionmaking in the near ferm? -- term? you stated in your opening comments that what's really impacted them is the price of oil. and that it's really brought their economy to their knees. so i'm wondering if maybe it's time also for us to consider our policy in selling natural gas to our european allies. the process just hasn't moved very quic

as always, mr. royce, the chairman of our committee on foreign affairs appreciates the ranking member, eliot engel of new york's leadership in support of the people of ukraine. last week, march 18, mr. speaker, marked the one-year anniversary of russian president vladimir putin's invasion and occupation of crimea. during the past year, rush has strengthened its -- russia has strengthened its hold over the peninsula, and increased its oppression of the minority tatar population and others who refuse to bend to their ockpigs. putin's success in ukraine emboldened him to expand into eastern ukraine. last weekend chairman royce led a delegation to ukraine and traveled to russia. the many ukrainians that ranking member engel and mr. royce met with wanted to be ukraine's and not separatists yet moscow move to supporting militant separatists in eastern ukraine. today the conflict in the east has resulted in over 6,000 deaths, at least 15,000 wounded, and more than one million displaced persons. this carnage is t

mr. royce: thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. secretary lew, good to see you again. secretary lew: good to see you. mr. royce: we are just back from a trip to india, taiwan. i want to give you a quick read in terms of some of the issues you are working on. we had a good meeting with the prime minister modi and the momentum there is headed in the right direction. last week the indian parliament approved this new bill that raises the ownership caps for foreign insurers, for example, to 49%. while also allowing foreign reinsurers to open branches in india. now, that's long overdue. it's definitely good news. in china, the news is a little more ambiguous and it was clear from our visit to shanghai that american businesses continue to expand in china just as china -- you can read the headlines here -- you know, have that appetite for investment and real estate and even tech companies like lift and snapchat. that continues to rise. but u.s. firms continue to compete on an unlevel playing field in ch

mr. royce: mr.er, i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentleman from new jersey mr. frelinghuysen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. frelinghuysen: mr. chairman i thank the chairman for yielding, for his sponsorship of this resolution with mr. engel and ms. ros-lehtinen. mr. speaker, isil is on the march civil war appears imminent in yemen, libya has become a full-fledged terrorist training center iran moves closer to nuclear capacity every day so it's understandable the attention of the media and the american people seem to be focused elsewhere other than on ukraine. but i just returned a week ago from leading a bipartisan delegation of the defense appropriations committee to ukraine, and i'm here to report that situation there is downright alarming. . vladimir pute season using ukraine as a test bed for a new type of warfare by using proxy insurgents and russia and special forces army troops to carry out his campaign to reclaim ukraine as part of the old

rogers, the gentleman from california, mr. royce, the gentleman from texas, mr. thornberry, the gentleman from california, mr. nunez, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. frelinghuysen, the gentlelady from texas, ms. granger the gentleman from california -- the gentlewoman from california, ms. pelosi, the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer, the gentleman from california, mr. becerra, the gentleman from new york, mr. crowley, the gentlewoman from connecticut, ms. delauro, the jeement maryland ms. edwards the gentleman from new york, mr. engel the gentlewoman from california ms. eshoo the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee, the gentlewoman from california, miss susan davis, the gentleman from california mr. schiff, the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. bolden. vice president biden: friends of the senate at the direction of that body appoints the following senators and members of the committees on the part of the senate to escort ashraf ghani into the chamber. mr. mcconnell, the senator from texas, mr. cornyn, the senator from utah, mr. hache, the senator from wy

inningle and mr. royce on that. what mechanism do we have to enforce any violation? will there be penalties inbedded in the nuclear snivel you can be specific. >> thank you. first i should note that the iaea has said repeat lid the iran has complied -- >> have the hey also said that iran is not complying and is not letting them in also the iaea has asked. >> not. it said under the agreement iran has complied. and outside of the agreement iran of cower -- >> you look at their reports and say, your cherry pick and say the iaea is happy with thus. >> no. >> you should grandfather the to cality of what they have been saying -- >> no, no. >> and how frustrated that agency is with iran throughout the negotiations. >> i want to be clear to answer your question, that the iaea said that with regard to its obligations natural the interim agreement, iran has complied. you're also absolutely correct that outside of the agreement, including the critical question of the possible military dimensions of iran's program in the past or for that matter now it is not complied with what t

but you just said to mr. royce the security council will be having a binding vote on the deal. you will be going to the security council to ask for a vote on the iranian deal, yes or no? mr. blinken: we will be going to the security council because it is an international deal to take note of the deal. rep. engel: -- rep. ros-lehtinen: to vote? no problem. palestinian state would. there have been reports that in order for president obama to continue his temper tantrum toward prime minister netanyahu what we will be doing in the united nations is push in the shadows for a vote on palestinian statehood in order to pressure israel to be at the negotiating table with the palestinians. is that true? is that press report true? mr. blinken: the administration support for israel is unshakable. we have done -- rep. ros-lehtinen: thank you. i'm going to ask you another question on iran. i wanted to ask mr. szubin:. your cuba revisions took a broad view of the ministries and'-- administration'trading with the enemy act. i am afraid they are using cuba as a test case for normalizing relation

mr. royce: this hearing will come to order. the committee here today will continue to invite weight the administrations nuclear diplomacy with iran. the subject of the hearing today. negotiators face a high-stakes deadline next week. we'll hear the administration's case today. it is critical that the administration here's our bipartisan concerns here. debbie secretary lincoln this is your first -- deputy secretary blinken this is your first time before us. i trust you'll be in touch with secretary kerry. to report on the committee's views. i think this is important. this committee has been at the forefront of examining the threat of a nuclear iran. much of the pressure that has been brought on the islamic republic of iran -- and brought them to the table -- was put in place by congress. it was put in place over the objections of the executive rights. that is the executive branch whether it was republican or democratic. it is the house of representatives that has driven this process, and we would have more pressure on iran today

but you said to mr. royce the security counsel will have a binding vote on the deal. you will go to the security counsel to vote on a deal yes or no? >> we will go to take note of the deal -- >> vote on the deal. >> if there are any requirements pure pursuant to the deal. >> congress can wait -- no problem. palestinian statehood. there were reports last night in order for president obama to continue his temper tantrum toward prime minister benjamin netanyahu what we will be doing in the united nation is push in the shadows for a vote on palestinian statehood in order to pressure israel to be at the negotiation table with the palestinians. is that press report true? >> no. the administration's support for israel is absolutely unshakable. we have done more -- >> that is what i wanted to hear. thank you. and i am going to ask you another question on iran for a minute. but first, your cuba sanctions and regulatory regulations took a license authority on the trading with the enemy act and i fear they are using cuba as a test case and will utilize license authority to provi

from kansas, miss jenkins the gentle woman from north carolina miss fox, gentleman from california mr. royce woman from texas miss granger, from new york mr. zeldin. gentleman from maryland mr. hoyer, gentle manuel from new york, mr. crowley, from new york mr. israel gentleman from new york mr. engel, gentle woman from new york, miss louie, gentleman from new york mr. adler. >> obviously a roll call going on john. nbc news is reporting that the iranian foreign minister was caught up by reporters a moment ago and was asked about whether or not this speech would impact the nuclear talks. he answered, quote, well, he's trying to, but i don't think trying to create tension and conflict helps anyone. john? >> again, as we talked about a few moments ago, i think the talks and the quest at the last minute to get a deal after the negotiations has gone on so long to the likely to be derailed by this speech. it certainly injects a note of tension and pressure but i think that the deal is going to rise or fall on iran's willingness or lack of willingness to go along with some of the conditions that the

let's bring in the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee, congressman ed royce of california. mry much for joining us. what's your reaction to the fact that they say progress is being made but they need more time? big deal or little deal? >> well i think the administration is not at the point that they thought they would be at here because these four major issues of dissension. they expected an agreement with iran on these and thought that they would be extending the technical issues. instead, on all four of these issues the iranians are pushing back and, as a matter of fact it looks like we're actually losing some ground. for a while it seemed as if the question of what would be done with the enriched uranium might be one that would be decided by taking that enriched uranium and having it refined in another country, in russia for example, so that we wouldn't have to worry about the stockpile being in iranian hands and, likewise we had a question about the extent of the enrichment. now they've got a new supersonic centrifuge that they developed in the middle of this negotiation w

congressman royce: we go to mr.a rohrabacher of california chairman of the europe european and emerging threats subcommittee. congressman rohrabacher: thank you very much, mr. chairman. let me agree with mr. meeks that this is a very complicated issue and perhaps a lot more complicated than the black and white alternatives that we have been hearing about today. at one point we've heard that the ukraine desperately needs economic help. and i would hope that our goal is to do what's right by ukraine and bring peace to ukraine and not our goal being to basically defeat and humiliate russia for actions that it has taken. because if that's our goal, the people of ukraine will continue to suffer and suffer and suffer. back to the ukraine desperately needs economic help, this whole incident in history started when the government of what you call the rotten regime that preceded the current government of ukraine went to our european allies to ask for help that it desperately needed for its economy and the deal that was offer

chairman of the house foreign affairs committee, republican congressman ed royce of california, is joining me here in "the situation room." mr. chairman thanks very much for joining us. the fact that kim jong-un of north korea is now apparently going to be going to moscow in early may for these celebrations is that good or bad? >> it is bad, and we recently were in negotiations with representatives of the government of china that shared with us and some of their think tanks also shared with us the fact that even china has been very concerned about the direction kim jong-un has taken in terms of this acceleration of his nuclear weapons program. they put pressure on north korea and yet here the russians come in with a lifeline to kim jong-un at a time when even the chinese are trying to get more responsible behavior out of kim jong-un. >> you have a good idea what putin, vladimir putin, is up to right now? because over the past year since his annexation of crimea you see war games going on latvia is a member of nato and if one nato ally is attacked all nato allies are attacked. >> the irresponsibility of the embrace of kim jon

royce chaired the three-hour hearing. >> today we hear from secretary of state john kerry. the secretary is just off yet another overseas trip dealing with issues that we'll discuss here today and mrsecretary your dedication is clear to all. secretary kerry comes to present his department's budget request. needless to say, given washington's chronic budget deficit and wasteful spending is intolerable and even good programs may be unsupportable at levels we would want, but we must also appreciate the many serious challenges we as a nation and the department in particular faces worldwide. these challenges seem to grow by the day. iran and north korea are pursuing nuclear weapons. russia is gobbling up neighboring ukraine. we see beheadings, crews picks and emulation by isis. cartoonists and jewish shoppers are targeted and killed on paris streets. indeed, some days it feels as if the world itself is coming off of its axis. regarding iran, all of us want to see, mr. secretary all of us want to see you get a meaningful, lasting agreement, but the committee, as you know, has real concerns about the direction of these talks. i'm hearing less about dismantlement and more about the perman