ms. jones, i wanted to start with you and thank you for sharing your story and being here today to testify. your story actually really resonates with me. all of my brothers and sisters and i went to college on pell grants and student loans to finance our education and i taught young children early on in my career which is actually what got me into politic to pe begin with. but the financial burden of student loan debt is considerably more than when i graduated. so i share your understanding and appreciate your being here. in your testimony you said that you paid over 600 dollars a month to cover your federal student loans. how much was your monthly take home pay at that time? >> at that time my monthly take home was roughly 1,500. >> and do you have any money saved? >> i do not. i've been using my savings to pay back the loans that i've taken out for any under graduate degree. >> when you ran into difficult repaying all of your loans, did your servicer offer any alternative repayment plan, like

with that ms. jones i wanted to start with you and thank you for sharing your story and being here today to testify. her story really resonates with me. all of my brothers and sisters and i went to college on pell grants and student loans to finance their education and i taught children early on in my career which got me into politics to begin with. but the financial burden of student loan debt is considerably more than when i graduated so i share your understanding and appreciate you being here. in her testimony he said he paid over $600 a month to cover your federal student loans. how much was your monthly take-home pay at that time? >> at that time my monthly take-home was roughly $1500. >> you have any money saved? >> i do not. i've been using my savings to pay back the loans that i've taken out from my undergraduate degree. c. when you ran into difficulty repaying all difficulty repaying author loans did your service or offering the alternative payment plan like the income-based repayment option? >>

if colleagues of ms. jones are looking at the challenges of debt and deciding i cannot pursue a path where i have the possibility of that equal to the millstone pulling me down because of the consequences and struggle, that not only impacts the individual but doesn't it impact the future prosperity of our entire society if folks in our own generation do not reach the fullest of their potential and contribution back to the economy? >> behind all the facts and statistics is a broader question is the american tradition of entrepreneurialism and risk-taking. too many people feel they cannot take those risks and cannot start at small business out of the garage and cannot start a family and that something we should think about will stop >> let's think about how this amplifies the inequality of wealth will stop the students try to purchase a home and adding homeownership is the major builder of personal family wealth for working americans, doesn't that amplify the inequality of the society? >> there is a large gap in

stronger privacy protections than you have today on a variety of these programs and my last request -- ms. jones, i followed your good work , we really hit this right and lock-in me privacy your generation deserves. we deal with the refinancing more repayment or whatever is councily and we get the you students who are getting smothered and really facing these problems because there has been so much foot dragging here, i think now is the time and for all of your leadership, i look forward to working with you. >> i want to thank our witnesses for being here today. i want to thank all of our numbers for participating. i think because this is an issue impacting so many economic possibilities, it's one we've thank you tos senator johnson for filling in today. i gave him an a is a former teacher. thank you for all of our witnesses. this is a topic we will continue to have much discussion around. >> we heard a lot during this hearing about student loans. we will take your calls now on the question -- is student loan debt bad for the economy. people buying a house, starting a business -- over the last 1

if colleagues of ms. jones are looking at the challenges of debt and deciding i cannot pursue a path where i have the equal to thef that millstone pulling me down because of the consequences and struggle, that not only impacts the individual but doesn't it impact the future prosperity of our entire society if folks in do not reachation the fullest of their potential and contribution back to the economy? >> behind all the facts and statistics is a broader question is the american tradition of entrepreneurialism and risk-taking. people feel they cannot take those risks and cannot start at small business out of the garage and cannot start a family and that something we should think about will stop >> let's think about how this amplifies the inequality of wealth will stop the students try to purchase a home and adding homeownership is the of personal family wealth for working americans, doesn't that amplify the inequality of the society? gap ine is a large certain simulations of graduates who do have student debt a

ms. [speaker not understood] jones and ms. [speaker not understood] for the preparation for our information today. i'd like to thank deborah newman from the budget analyst's office and [speaker not understood] for their thorough review with our budget. we are in agreement with the budget analyst office with the recommendations to r our office. with just two slides left i would like to move to slide 6. this is about the radio broadcast services. as you are aware, in april the board of supervisors passed a motion directing the clerk to prepare a request for qualifications, process to enable a radio station to broadcast the weekly san francisco board of supervisors meetings for an amount not to exceed 150,000. while it is our intent to allow the pool of pre-qualified firms to inform us the cost of providing this service, the motion included a not to exceed amount of 150,000. since the board made this decision after the budget was submitted, funding for these services is not included in the department's proposed budget. and to rem

dialogue with you and with that, we'll start off with you, ambassador beecroft and ambassador jones and then move to ms. smith. >> thank you very much. i'm honored to appear to you as the president's nominee as the u.s. ambassador to the arab republic of egypt. if confirmed, i look forward to working closely with you and other members of congress to advance the interests of the united states. i'm also pleased to share this hearing with my colleagues. i look forward to working closely with them on the many issues facing the united states in the middle east. mr. chairman, i've spent much of my career working in the middle east, including assignments in syria and saudi arabia and as ambassador to jordan and iraq. my experience has made me aqutly aware of egypt's importance inside and outside the region. as the most populous country, it's an important country. egypt is the third largest market for u.s. goods and services in the middle east, and the united states is the second largest source of foreign direct investment in egypt. approximately 8% of global maritime commerce flows through the suez canal ever

ms. lee: my straightforward bipartisan amendment is co-sponsored by walter jones and jim mcgovern. what this amendment does is prohibit any funding for combat operations after december 31, 2014. even though some of us would have all of our troops returned, the president announced in may that the united states would end the u.s. combat mission in december of 2014. for this simple amendment codifies the president's position and would allow congress to determine and re-authorize any further combat operation in afghanistan should the president deem it necessary, y re-inserting congress' constitutional authority, this amendment would ensure that we last month i nd joined congressman jones and congressman mcgovern to offer an amendment that would have required a congressional vote to continue deployment of u.s. combat troops in afghanistan after december 31, 2014, unform that amendment was not allowed to come to the floor. the republican leadership of this house has failed to allow the american people any say in america's longest war. the afghan public through the afghan parliament has t

with that, we'll start off with you, ambassador beecroft in ambassador jones and then move to ms. smith. >> thank you very much chairman menendez, ranking member corker, other members of the committee. am i to appear before as the president's nominee as the u.s. ambassador to the arab republic of egypt. i'm deeply grateful to press obama and secretary kerry for their support and confidence in if confirmed i look forward to working closely with you another premise of congress to advance the interest of the united states. i'm also pleased to share this hearing with my colleague, steve jones and dana smith. i look forward to working closely with them on the many issues facing the united dates in the middle east. mr. chairman, spent much of my career working in the middle east and couldn't assignments in area and saudi arabia to jordan and iraq. my experience has made me acutely aware featured strategic importance inside and outside the region and the need for effective u.s. engagement with each other. as the most populous arab country, egypt represents fully a quarter of the arab wor

and with that we will start off with you, ambassador beecroft, ambassador jones and then moved to ms.smith. >> thank you very much chairman menendez, ranking member corker, other members of the committee to i am honored to appear before you today as a presence am new to serve as u.s. ambassador to the arab republic of egypt. i am deeply grateful to president obama and secretary kerry for the support and confidence, and if confirmed i look forward to working closely with you and other members of congress to advance the interests of the united states. i'm also pleased to share this hearing with my colleagues, stuart jones and dana smith. i look forward to working closely with them on the many issues facing the united states and middle east. mr. chairman, i was been much but for working in the middle east including assignment in syria and saudi arabia and as ambassador to jordan into iraq. my experience is maybe acutely aware of egypt strategic importance inside and outside the region and the need for effective use engagement with egypt. as the most populous arab country, egypt represent

ms. johnson thank you for coming and sharing your personal experiences. we are going to start with you. >> good morning chairwoman mari senator johnson and members of the committee. my name is brittany jones and i thank you for inviting me today. my story starts as a second grade student at an elementary school and the decision was made i brittany jones self proclaimed mathematician drama queen would declare to the world that i would become the second grade teacher. with little deviation i pursue this plan throughout my studies and is a teacher in turn followed by receiving my bachelor's degree from virginia commonwealth university in early childhood education. during high school when my counselors began the conversations about attending college. they talk to me about the details color shifts in grants and financial awards. naturally i assumed everyone to attend college. it was not as i was accepted and learned the amount of financially they would be offered that i feared i could not attend. after conversations with my financial aid counselor and various chats with my parents regarding the necessity of a college degree i made the decision to enroll with the assistance of student loans and