mr. schneider is speaking to the? >> i think there certainly are and as you have identified and the state department has identified, there are religious community leaders in c.a.r. who are already on their own initiative attempting to pass messages of reconciliation and peace building and trying to calm down the interim religious tensions. the leaders with whom you've yourself have spoken and represent the main tree organized religious communities, the protestant community and the muslim community that's already an incredible start. is that enough? probably not enough to reach all of the populations that are affected by the current filings and in fact in the last few weeks as the violence has increased or in early december we found a very worrying pattern in which they were threatening some of these religious leaders and in one case according to the news reports that intervene to sort of protect one the country's muslim community leader who would. so that is certainly worrying and more broadly the civil society groups

mr. schneider: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in strong support of h.r. 1992, the israel qualitative military edge enhancement act and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. mr. schneider: i want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for working so diligently with my office and congressman doug collins to bring this important legislation before the house floor. i want to personally thank my friend and colleague, mr. collins, for all the work he's done and we have done together to make sure this bill becomes reality. israel stands at historic juncture in a very dangerous neighborhood. israel must -- must have the capabilities to deal with a broad spectrum of potential conventional and asymmetric threats. with the united states negotiating with iran over its nuclear weapons program, it is vitally important that we continue to give israel the tools necessary, all of the tools necessary to address a growing list of threats. th

mr. schneider mentioned?we have three here and only one of them seems vaguely appealing and it requires all of these murky political figures to reduce engagement in accelerating violence. >> that is correct. emergedthe anti-groups monthsthe last several since mid-2013, seemingly initially as semi-spontaneous and decentralized reaction. a reaction to among christian communities that commanders in the field were targeting christian communities disproportionately and perhaps reportedly or allegedly protecting muslim communities, as they did so. even though the origin of this loose network that individual groups may have very little to do with one another, at the same time, especially during the 5, it seemedcember from news reports and reports on the ground that some anti- factions that attacked the capital on december 5 were deploying relatively sophisticated armaments and were acting in a relatively strategically communicated fashion. that along with other developments has raised suspicions that some factions m

mr. schneider: thank you. i think it's critical to emphasize the bipartisan aspect of the support in congress for a sanctioned regime and the security and protection of our allies, in particular israel. as my colleague mentioned, in october, i with luke messer authored a letter to the president calling on him to push forward with sanctions. there were 78 members of the freshman class who signed on to that letter, republican and democrat, standing shoulder to shoulder, saying we must be strong. again this can't be -- the interim agreement cannot move to anything near what is a permanent agreement. more importantly, it cannot lead to the collapse of the sanctions regime. we've worked too hard and come too far to let that happen. in my opinion, i think we need to ensure that the architecture of the sanctions are reinforced, are wrodened, are deepened and hardened so that six months from now, if iran fails to live up to its commitments and the consequences are sufficiently severe, iran understands that the likelih

mr. schneider of illinois. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i thank the witnesses for your time here. also critically for the service you give to our country. i want to we pete what some of i want to repeat some of the sentiment that's already been shared. the supreme disappointment in president karzai's approval to refusal to sign the bilateral security agreement and game playing with it at a time as ambassador dobbins you said, time is of the essence here. it has an ongoing impact. being the last, one of the last to ask questions, ambassador dobbins you mentioned the war in afghanistan is not yet over. mr. sampler you said it most eloquently, we either do it right this time or we do it all over again. and the goal, the reason we have invested so much in blood and treasure, is to eliminate a threat, but also long-term to make sure we have a stable government that is working for the prosperity of its people and justly and regional security. that's critical. what struck me listening to that testimony today is that a common thread that you-all touched on. mr. sampler, you said, continue

mr. schneider of illinois. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i thank the witnesses for your time here. also critically for the service you give to our country. i want to we pete what some of -- i want to repeat some of the sentiment that's already been shared. the supreme disappointment in president karzai's approval to -- refusal to sign the bilateral security agreement and game playing with it at a time as ambassador dobbins you said, time is of the essence here. it has an ongoing impact. being the last, one of the last to ask questions, ambassador dobbins you mentioned the war in afghanistan is not yet over. mr. sampler you said it most eloquently, we either do it right this time or we do it all over again. and the goal, the reason we have invested so much in blood and treasure, is to eliminate a threat, but also long-term to make sure we have a stable government that is working for the prosperity of its people and justly and regional security. that's critical. what struck me listening to that testimony today is that a common thread that you-all touched on. mr. sampler, you said, co

mr. orr today gave us some peppermint, knowing he has taken away the democratic process through this bankruptcy. he and governor schneider. and let me say to the nation that's looking at detroit as if somehow it's some unique situation. stay tuned. it's coming to your community next. when you look at the 125 cities around this nation that are at the brink of bankruptcy, detroit is the case model for that. there was also, ed, another report that was done by the think tank which portrayed and gave evidence that the finding of bankruptcy of detroit oh was premature. that there were alternatives that could have been held. i encourage people to get that. we are not in this situation uniquely. chicago is there. minneapolis is there. l.a. is there. cincinnati is there. >> you believe, dr. anthony, this will be the model. >> it is the model, ed, because everybody and his mama and daddy were waiting to see what's going to happen in detroit. >> mr. gatees, let me ask you. what does this ruling mean for average citizens like yourself in the city of detroit? >> ed, as a taxpaying resident of detroit, you know, i am paying for servic