rohrabacher: go right ahead. that's fine. ambassador nuland: first of all, in the fall of 2013, the reason that folks went to the maidan was not because money was taken from russia. it was because former president yanakovich that he was promising his people. mr. rohrabacher: have you read that agreement? ambassador nuland: i have. mr. rohrabacher: do you believe that agreement was superior to what the russians were offering? ambassador nuland: let me speak to that. so in the same period in the fall of 2013 when yanakovich was talking to the association, he was working on an i.m.f. package similar to what is offered later and what we have now. i was working, as the u.s. government's representatives to him to try to get him to meet i.m.f. conditions. i had more than 30 hours of meetings with him. and he declined to meet me. mr. rohrabacher: i only have 25 seconds before they cut me off. ambassador nuland: let me speak to the weapons issues. congressman rohrabacher: it's not your time. they'll cut me off in 15 seconds. i hope th

congressman rohrabacher: go right ahead. that's fine.toria: first of all, in the fall of 2013, the reason that folks went to the midon was not because money was taken from russia. it was because former president yanakovich that he was promising his people. congressman rohrabacher: have you read that agreement? victoria: i have. congressman rohrabacher: do you believe that agreement was superior to what the russians were offering? victoria: let me speak to that. so in the same period in the fall of 2013 when yanakovich was talking to the association he was working on an i.m.f. package similar to what is offered later and what we have now. i was working, as the u.s. government's representatives to him to try to get him to meet i.m.f. conditions. i had more than 30 hours of meetings with him. and he declined to meet me. congressman rohrabacher: i only have 25 seconds before they cut me off. victoria: let me speak to the weapons issues. congressman rohrabacher: it's not your time. they'll cut me off in 15 seconds. i hope that what we're doin

rohrabacher: thank you very much. i hope everyone pays attention to that wonderful idea that has just been given to us. these special orders are -- play a role here in that we do permit ourselves the opportunity to hear from people with a little bit more than one minute to talk about it, who have issues that are significant and would like to bring them to the attention of the american people and of course to their colleagues here in congress. today, i intend to bring the attention of the american people and my colleagues to a threat to the well being of the american people. a major threat that has gone unrecognized and could well change our way of life and change the way of life for our children and destroy one of the basic rights written into our constitution in order to protect the prosperity and security of our country. i'm talking about changes that are being proposed in our fundamental technology law, in our patent system. and i know that sounds very boring to most people but the fact is, without a strong patent

rohrabacher three minutes. the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized for three minutes. mr. rohrabacher: thank you very much. let me just note that there has been some laudable cooperation in the science committee this year. we try -- which i dreeply appreciate. and -- which i deeply appreciate. and the gentlelady and i have actually co-sponsored some very needed legislation. i think this particular bill does demonstrate, however, that as much as we can try to work together, that there are some fundamental differences between the two parties here in congress, dealing with scientific issues. it is much to the chagrin of many of us to see, i've been a member of congress now since 1989, that the integrity of america's -- and especially our federal government's science programs have been brought into question by what appears to be a very cynical manipulation of the scientists by various elements in our government and within the political system who would like to manipulate science for their own benefit

representative rohrabacher: the only way we'll prevent these bad guys from having the nuclear weapon -- we keep saying iran. we don't really mean iran. the people of iran are nice people. an fact, i understand they like americans more than just about any other country in the world. it's the mullah regime, the bloody mullahs supporting terrorism around the world repressing their own people. isn't the real answer trying to make ourselves partners with those people in iran who want more democratic country, a more democratic country, and has not this administration passed up time and time again the opportunity to work with the people of iran to free themselves from these mullahs? mr. blinken congressman, i think : you're exactly right, that the actions of the regime are the problem, whether it's destabilizing activity friday in -- activities in the region. support for terrorist groups, and if their abuse of rights at home. it's exactly why across the board, whether it is standing up for those who are trying to get greater rights in iran, pushing back on proliferation and non-support for

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 offered by our european allies was not sufficient and in fact much less than what the russians offered them instead. and when that deal was taken by the rotten regime that you

. >> chairman rohrabacher. >> thank you very much and i want to thank our witnesses. thank you all very much for being with us today. general allen, your last point about large deployment sometimes actually destabilize rather than stabilizes a situation was very well taken. and i hope that my colleagues understand the significance of that point. and to the degree that you've outlined a strategy that does not require a large deployment of american troops on the ground ground, is something that i think we should all take very seriously and make sure we see how it works because this is a strategy that does work in the long run. let me ask you about letting the mobilizing the local forces which is what you're outlining for us today. you were involved in the anbar province and the efforts of their -- >> deeply involved, yes, sir. >> so are the sunni tribal forces that enabled you to succeed there, are they currently involved in a struggle against isil? >> anbar remains as you know a very contested area at this particular moment. >> that's correct. >> i have met with many o

rohrabacher: i give you an a plus in terms of focusing people's attention on the negotiations dealing with the ability of them to manufacture a weapon. i would give you an f-when it comes to whether we can get rate of the threat by helping the people of iran institute democratic government there. this administration from day one, in order to -- frankly, the irony is, i believe this administration is bending over backwards not to try to threaten the mola regime in order to get a nuclear deal which will not make any difference at all because it still leaves them the right to possess and own a nuclear weapon they did not manufacture themselves. mr. blinken: i assure you they will not have that right. >> can go to the ranking member of the sub committee on the western hemisphere. >> thank you mr. chairman. you can understand how concerned we are that we do not seem to be part of any negotiation. we seem to be bypassed. i remember when he secretary was here, we talked about cuba. they said, nothing was going on. now we have a situation similar to what we had in those hearings. one of the q

senator day no rohrabacher from california. >> thank you, mr.ecretary, and although we asked pointed questions, we wish you the best of luck and are very proud of the hard work that you're doing, even though we may have some disagreements with specific policy. it seems to me about the opening statement when you talked about how complicated the world is right now compared to the greatest generation. i believe the difference was was not that the world wasn't so complicated. but the greatest generation knew how to set priorities. reagan exemplified that in the cold war when he said what's your goal with the soviet union who is our primary enemy at that time. he said, we win, they lose. and he knew that that was his number one goal. and by the end of his administration, we had eliminated the cold war without a direct confrontation -- military confrontation with what we had been at war with in the cold war. i think that today we should set the priority, which is who is our primary enemy. who is the primary threat to the well being and security of our

i was with some others who met with, dana rohrabacher, steve king, we met with iaea representatives, inspectors who have been inspecting iran and it left me extremely concerned about how quickly easily, and covertly iran could go ahead and move to the next step even beyond five or 20% enrichment as iran has got . but here's this article from katy pavlik. march 16. in part she says, according to a report in the times of israel the national intelligence agency delivered a report to congress that scraps iran and hezbollah from the terrorism list citing the country's work against isis as one of the reasons why. mr. speaker, if this administration is scrapping taking iran and hezbollah off the terrorist list, then the last thing we need this administration doing is negotiating with these terrorists. the terrorist regime trying to work out a deal because anybody that would say iran and hezbollah havest not a terrorist country and terrorist organization should not be negotiating anything for the united states of america where the vast bulge, thank god, of the american people -- vast bulk, t

rohrabacher. mr. sherman. >> thank you. i know we'll get into it in closed session but i'll reiterate that i'm confused. on the one hand we tout the failure of isis to provide governance. their inability to provide for the people under their control. then at the same time, the iraqi government helps them provide governance with free electricity, setting salaries, et cetera. but what i want to deal with in open session is whether the aumf should include assad, or whether it should be limited to isis. now in the absence of isis, and before the beheadings, this country wanted to have as little military involvement in the middle east as possible. now americans see this as a problem that we have to confront but we have to confront it carefully. on the one hand we have to go after isis for what they've done. on the other hand there is this war between shiites and sunnis and it is not our role to be on one side of that or the other. the most evil element of the shiite alliance is assad. he hasn't beheaded anybody on youtube, but h