as president obama stated, the relationship between the united states and china will shape the 21st century, which makes it as important as any bilateral relationship in the world. but this development occurs as new challenges emerge. our newest security issues cover a very wide range. these include economics, regional areas of tension, terrorism, proliferation, interview supplies, piracy, the effects of climate change, and disasters both man-made and natural. our increasingly interconnected world and, demand for resources require cooperation and integrated solutions. since the committee's last hearing on this topic, we have seen several significant developments, some positive, other troubling. many are documented in the secretary of defense's annual report on military powers of people's republic of china. on one hand, we have several positive examples of china's contribution to international peace and stability. we are encouraged by china's support for un security council resolution 1874, and its efforts to support the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. china is also developing an e

it is not just that in the united states, is it? -- the debt in the united states, is it? i am not persuaded that the domestic demand is going to rise in china and brazil and, thus, sustain this. if the u.s. is going to grow at a new level, aren't we going to see commodity prices declined? -- commodity prices decline from these current levels? >> do you want to go first, hans? >> why is it happening? let me first say why it is not happening. many people think that this was happening because of export growth, because of peter manipulation of currencies or through other -- because of peter manipulation of currencies or to other factors, such as stimulation in china, for example, these economies were igrowing by exporting. that is a mystery of the data, in my opinion. -- a miss reread of the data coe out in my opinion. i would say that line of thinking is another danger because the trading system as we know it. we talk about protectionism and we talk about limiting the imports. there's a lot of discussion about rethinking export growth, which could also be against the trading

and people have suggested that he would like to deal with the united states a way similar to the the way mainland china deals with united states. the problem is, of course, you don't have human rights, very give human rights record in cuba and in these from the u.s. perspective it is really don't have democratic elections and i was in the most powerful organizations in cuba right now are the cuban communist party and still the cuban military. cuban generals have made millions of dollars off of the recent increase in tourist trade to cuba and i am not sure what i certainly don't think that those groups want to see a normalization of relations with united states that would in any way threaten their position but once the castros have gone from the scene, events may very well force their hand or just simply be too powerful for them. who knows? i don't have a better crystal ball than anybody else, but i really do think that there are lots of people who wouldn't like to make money in cuba and that capitalist incentive i think over time will become even more powerfu

statements indicate that japan all along was intending to include the united states. w would you discuss the steps that the united states has taken to strengthen the relationship. the various set of relationships with china. the secretary can start there and secretary gregson can follow. >> we are working with the japanese to distract the alliance. secretary clinton met in honolulu yesterday and celebrated the 50th anniversary of the u.s.-japan security treaty. they recommitted to strengthening the alliance. i think it was good news. pars>parse> >> secretary greg? >> penning is the continuation of the realignment with the build up of u.s. forces in guam. the guam program also includes near continuous presence of japanese aviation and ground forces in guam and training. we look forward to rapid implementation size a way to adapt and transform the military and security aspects of our alliance for the new century. >> back to the missile test and this may be for admiral willard or secretary gregson. given the arms sales going through and the context of the missile test, do

this attack took place over the united states soil. hink the handling by the fbi is entirely appropriate and i would like to bring to this committee's attention the fact that the fbi has done excellent interrogation in the past. the subcommittee of which senator kyl and i participated have a former fbi agents testified going back to the 1993 new york city bombings, where the interrogation done by the fbi really brought about convictions of a number of people, including the blind sheikh, people who are serving time in prisons in the united states who were part of trials here in the united states. so i believe the handling of mr. abdulmutallab is entirely appropriate, and i think people should understand that. i am concerned about the no-fly list. i believe the definition of who would go on the no-fly list is highly convoluted, takes a philadelphia lawyer to interpret, and i have been told by director blair that it is being reassessed and hopefully will be redone. petn is becoming the expose of the choice. i suspect we are going to have m

the screening there is not disimilar from the screening in the united states. d the screening that abdulmutallab went through is not dissimilar to what he would go through many of the airports in the united states. what we have added and are adding domestically are more canines, more advanced imaging technology. now, airports in other countries -- or other countries have resisted using some of those items because of other concerns that they have, about privacy, for example. this incident, however, like i said is serving as a catalyst to re-open that dialog particularly with the airports in countries where we have a large through-put of passengers to the united states. >> and i want to come back to that. i'm assuming there will be another round of questions. i want to talk -- just we're going to shift totally off of this just for a second while i've got you here. we all know what's happened in haiti over the last 7 to 10 days. it's been devastating. and that is an understatement. there's an issue about adoption of potential haiti children who have been left witho

the united states. every individual flying here from anywhere in the world who has an itinerary or passport from nations that are state- sponsors of terrorism or countries of interest, are required to go through enhanced screening. the majority of all other passengers on united states deskbound international flights will go through random enhanced screening. at airports throughout the united states, we have deployed additional airport law enforcement officials, behavior detection officers, air marshals, and explosive- detection canine teams among other methods seen and unseen. i want to express our thanks to the traveling public for their patience with the security measures. i want to thank the department, and security personnel who have been engaged on a day in, day out basis to implement them since christmas. i would like to describe to you five of the recommendations that are included in our report to the president. first, there needs to be an evaluation and modification of the criteria and process us

going on to establish a uniform rule of naturalization of the united states. we have nationalization and -- naturalization and bankruptcy laws. to fix the standards of weights and measures to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting of the securities and coin of the united states. this is one of the few constitutional criminal justice things the federal government is supposed to be doing. most laws the federal government has on its books are unconstitutional because we don't have the authority to do them. to establish post offices and post roads. post roads in the founders' time were the highway system so we do have constitutional authority for federal roads. to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times exclusive right to the respective writings and discoveries that means patent laws. we have constitutional authority for patents. to constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court. folks, there's only one federal court established in this document, the supreme court. every single federal court, every federal judge serve

only the united arab emirates tallied the outright majority view of the united states when obama took to the podium and cairo he was talking to a skeptical arab world and in egypt a clear 70% of the public who the unfavorable opinion of the united states 70 percent of egypt according to poll ratings no single speech could eradicate years of trust he told cairo nor could i answer in the time that i have all of the complex questions that brought us to this point*. of course, obama's outreach too not begin in cairo already in january when week after the inauguration obama chose to address the audience by giving the interview on a satellite television station. already he was speaking of a new partnership based on mutual trust and mutual respect and interest and showed a willingness to criticize america's actions and all too often in the united states it starts by dictating and we don't know all of the factors involved in he had knowledge to the depth of the strains in europe -- relations when there was no reason in america could not restore the same respect in partnership america had with

in the united states. every president in the middle east there is for lies. the problem is not to rid al qaeda. everybody looks up to the united states and wishing united states can change that system to make a free democracy so every country. yemen, tomorrow. so mall you. if you remember, all these leaders is dictators and they have a benefit from having organization like this going to keep democracy against them. we need democracy and liberty from the middle east from the leaders not from the people. you watch and see what will be. unfortunately, people in america don't realize it's the true picture in the middle east. not just saudi arabia but all middle east. host: where are you from originally? caller: i was born in egypt but i fought against russia in afghanistan and i don't realize all this is political to me. the problem truly believe me is the leader in those country. presidents are not for democracy. host ho thanks with the call. this weekend "new york times," a list of reuben writing in a clear s

all of them are dedicated to the safety of the united states. as john has indicated, here we simply had a systemic failure. dhs uses the list as the cornerstone of our efforts to prevent suspected terrorists from boarding airplanes bound for the united states. second, we will establish a partnership on aviation screen technology between dhs and the department of energy and its national laboratories. this will allow government to use the expertise of the national labs to develop new and more effective technologies so that we can react not only to known threats but also proactively to anticipate new ways by which terrorists can seat aboard our aircraft. third, we should accelerate the point of advanced imaging technologies so we have greater capability to detect explosives like the ones used in the christmas day attack. we currently have 40 machines deployed throughout the united states. in 2010 we are scheduled to deploy 300 more, and may deploy more than that. the tsa does not conduct screening overseas. the christmas day incident underscores tha

and actually in the united states you don't really have the death penalty. don't. and it is less and less used but the united states together with iran, china and russia and cuba are the only countries in the world that do. none. countries of western europe or canada or others have the death penalty and i'm very happy that in mexico we don't have it and i hope and i will do everything i can to ensure that we don't have it again and not be used. i don't think it is a great idea. chris: the final point the myth he talks about the neighbors can break their drug habit. we are returning out of time but if you want to elaborate on that. guest: i did touch on it a little earlier. the point there being that everyone acknowledges that as long as u.s. demand for drugs remains what it is the supply for the demand will originate somewhere and some of it will come through mexico if only because we share this 2,000-mile border with the united states and we also share a border with the countries or with the region of the world where those drugs are produced. south america,

for the united states recognize east germany as the subject of the international law and member of the united nations. it will be no problem. the problem that soviet union and my father did push through that we are the world leader, and we have our allies and we have to be respected and recognized as equal. and you know that americans not want to recognize anybody as equal, so say no. all the problem as i remember was about who will check american papers. it will be east german official over soviet official? america's will never show our papers to east german officials. and they can quarrel over this forever. so i think murphy was very good diplomat at. [laughter] >> host: i don't think diplomats are getting something. but i think in his mind was it will be better to our relations if khrushchev will come without conditions. and of course, it was really better for these relations when making. and when you talk about this long trips, it was part of the time. i remember each visitor to the soviet union have a long trip around the soviet union. president have to go to the end of his. and i

and drug demand in the united states. is the u.s. willing to send the army into the projects of chicago, into the projects and tenements of new york, in los angeles, to do away with drug consumption there? i do not think so. i don't see any reason to believe this will happen. so the notion that maybe one day the u.s. will do this, and when it does, then the supply of drugs coming through from colombia or even being produced in mexico will dry up because demand has dried up. up. i quite frankly that is an ahistorical, foolish and e ignorant view of history. chris: chapel hill, tennessee, independent line, tony. john: thank you and thank god for c-span. i'm so tkhrad we have it. -- glad we have it. my question is, by the way the people interested there is a back by gary westbound called dark alliance. it will tell you a lot about the drugs passed through the country and within more thing, if we do stop the war on drugs, the sheriff deputy and police department and c.i.a. and f.b.i. won't be able to confiscate people's houses and money

not just the united states. monetary policy was the source of housing increase in the united states, it seems reasonable to expect that international perspective that those houses would have rise as well. is that the case? with the respect of the magnitude of house price increases,economists have found that only a small portion of increase in the housing prices in this decade can be contributed to the housing policy. this can be used in models that make no use of economic theory. to demonstrate this finding in a simple way, i will use a statistical model that summarizes the historical interfaces of the housing model. this model is similar to economists that seek to analyze the evolution of data series over time. the model incorporates seven variables including measures of economic growth, inflation, unemployment and house prices and the federal funds rate, and it's estimated using data from 1997-2002. for our purposes the value of such a model can be used to predict the behavior of any areas studies, assuming th

in the united states we have the high-paying jobs here in the united states. host: how can this be done? caller: i am not certain about how you can do this. it seems that corporate america would rather pay the lower costs, then keeping the labor here in the united states. the government may be able to find a way to keep these jobs here in the united states. host: thank you very much. the "richmond times dispatch." they have a report on the comeback of the stock market, and how the seemed unimaginable. that is one take on the economy. baltimore, you are up right now. how are you doing? caller: i would say the number one policy issue for me is afghanistan. and there is the economy and jobs. i have done quite a bit of reading. this is reminding me of vietnam. i think that this is taking so many resources from the country and it will be hard to address any other problem. we are approaching this in the middle east, and this is not helping to solve the problems over there. more money should be devoted to domestic problems. i would like to see a lot done with public t

s from the united states. in these and so many related ways, i'm proud that the united states has played a leading role, either through our government's foreign assistance programs, or through the programs and examples of civil society like many of you represent. attorneys and businesswomen have partnered with women around the world as mentors, trainers, co-collaborators, to share their practices, exchange experiences, and provide support. in addressing women's access to justice, we realize that raising our voice for equal rights and equal treatment under the law is necessary. but it is not sufficient. passing laws is important, but it is not nearly enough because laws must be backed and enforced by effective and responsible governments. judges and legal practitioners are in critical positions, not only to influence how laws are made, but to help ensure that they are indeed enforced. there is so much we can do to support women who are changing the world for the better through the legal profession. the beijing a

the arts are flourishing in the united states. we have in this country nationwide london has peerless orchestrates. but here in the united states and in small cities and yesterday an economic downturn a lot of those orchestras have been in trouble and in fact have cut back. their suffering. but the truth is these are institutions that buy in larger supported by corporate largess. the whole idea of creating wealth is if you like the good days, if you like ways, if you like concerts, if you like painting, if you like sculptures am if you like beautiful homes. none of this can exist unless wealth is created and accumulated. and then used wisely by people who actually want to support it. the government idea of great artistic expression usually tends to be -- one of the reasons -- one of the things that is so peculiar about the arts was created in 1967 by president johnson. and if you look at the record of great artistic achievement in the united states since 1967, i think they're a very commits are a few of those achievements that peop

guest: the united states is best served by multilateral action. xample, the united nations peacekeeping force in haiti has been let for a number of years successfully by brazil. host: they were there when the earthquake happened? guest: they began the first efforts to help the haitian people. it would be good to work with the brazilian people brazil is an increasingly wealthy country and they have experience in haiti so do not take the american legal the target bring in other countries and work out a common approach, a common policy. host: we are talking about latin american policy and your calls and comments are welcome we will get to your calls momentarily. on the issue of the war on drugs in mexico, an issue that plays out regularly on the screens of american television, one article talks about the spanish quagmire. here's a brief comment in this piece about what is failing but the mexican drug order the mceuen drug war is a costly un winnable and predicated on the mets. there has been distorted statistics to bed history how -- there have been d

you don't want the united states to be attacked. focus needs to be on, why is the system not working right and, are the right people in charge of it and you know, the politics are irrelevant here. after september 11th, you know, i was reporter in new york city covering new york city and covering the giuliani administration and, in weeks and months after that, that i was a reporter and that they were, government, it was this weird period covering what had happened and we were, i was just, sharing information about what had happened. and i think that it's unfortunate when politics sort of interferes with really what's important, which is making sure that the are solid and that we prevent, the next attempt at being successful. >> host: jody in michigan on the independent line, good morning. >> caller: get morning, greta, good morning, eric. thank you for c-span. i had just a few questions i wanted to ask and maybe a solution. we have all these things in place that eric talked about this morning and everybody seems to be having a hard ti

there are people seeking to come to the united states every day. may be. we are certainly not suggesting we set up a fortress america. setting of a fortress america is counterproductive. it is not something of value, and it is not going to make us more secure. we continue to seek the commerce enter the united states. we recognize that people are seeking to come to the united states, and not everyone has the best of intentions for give we are going to continue to work through this period to the extent that this entire process shows there are things we have to focus on to adjust, then we will do so. this is not a static process. the threat shift from this country to some other country. we may adjust our focus based on our assessment of risk, but certainly we continue to welcome people -- >> are you hearing from these 14 countries that apparently the nigerian foreign minister spoke to the ambassador complaining that nigeria was of the list? >> i am not here to go through the list of 14 countries. i could have a quiz. >> the nigeria example in particula

>> the customs laws and immigration laws of the united states. we are a marriage of the two powers and that is where the authorities come from and we prosecute those cases in the united states district court and federal system on the country. >> [inaudible] -- i'm not sure where else they are. >> they are in title viii, title 18 and all of the customs, they, are there, trust me. >> i have another question. [inaudible] mistakes are made. sometimes like you said it's not necessarily i.c.e. putting someone in to removal proceedings. it could be a cbp officer who does that [inaudible] the document to strip some of their liberty. or someone who's picked up on the street. and i wonder and this is something i've raised as a real concern because mistakes are made [inaudible] it can teach years to litigate those cases. this opening up and focus of people who made [inaudible] what safeguards will be in place to insure those documents to don't have the expertise including complicated that someone is watching what they are doing [inaudible] >> welcome the sho

that's a different model and we're willing to share that model with the united states and other countries in the world, facing this common problem of airborne terror. >> the israeli ambassador to the united states, michael oren. >>> with links to the airline bombing plot, is yemen the next front in the war against terror? i'll ask two members of congress who are deeply involved in intelligence, republican pete hoekstra and democrat jane harman. >>> and should democrats be nervous about 2010? i'll speak with democratic strategist james carville and republican national committee chairman michael steele. >>> is the united states looking at a new front in the war against terrorism? after the failed airliner bombing plot, there are new concerns about al qaeda finding a new haven and a base of operations in yemen. joining us now from los angeles, democratic congresswoman jane harman of the homeland security committee. and joining us from grand rapids in michigan, republican congressman pete hoekstra of the intelligence committee. he's just back from yemen. thanks to both of you for coming in. w

and actually in the united states you don't really have the death penalty. re are some states like texas that do and there are many others now a don't. and it is less and less used but the united states together with iran, china and russia and cuba are the only countries in the world that do. none. countries of western europe or canada or others have the death penalty and i'm very happy that in mexico we don't have it and i hope and i will do everything i can to ensure that we don't have it again and not be used. i don't think it is a great idea. chris: the final point the myth he talks about the neighbors can break their drug habit. we are returning out of time but if you want to elaborate on that. guest: i did touch on it a little earlier. the point there being that everyone acknowledges that as long as u.s. demand for drugs remains what it is the supply for the demand will originate somewhere and some of it will come through mexico if only because we share this 2,000-mile border with the united states and we also share a border with the countries or with t

recession because it's the most significant recession that has taken place since the 1930's in the united states. this recession has lasted for 18 months, longer than any other recession since the great depression. this recession has caused a loss of 3.8% of the gross domestic product here in the united states. a greater loss than any recession since the great depression. and this recession has caused the loss of 7.2 million jobs. 7.2 million jobs. the greatest job loss since the great depression. but i think it's important to understand when this recession started. this recession started in 2007. under the policies of the bush administration. and i know the other side doesn't like us to go back. they want to believe that the world began, that this recession began, in january of 2009, but the facts just don't bear that out. so i brought this chart and brought this chart to explain the job loss that has occurred during this recession. and you can see that in the last three months of the bush administration this economy lost nearly two million jobs. in the last three months of the bush administrat

one is the united states and the other is canada. that was done because according to american amok, they could not prosecute people who had committed crimes outside the united states whose victims are not american. the american government in 1977 basically did what i jokingly call the outcome, compromise. the fbi wanted to have him tried for murder so they got an income-tax. it is the same idea. they were asked questions about there past which they falsified so they can be put on trial. but good news it is relatively easy to win cases the tissue and not have to prove they murdered anyone but they live. if you want to become an american citizen, you need good character. if you are born in america you don't. [laughter] if somebody sir john the latvian murder squad it is proven he does not have good character the bad news is the punishment is not commensurate with the crime because the punishment was denaturalization then deportation and have there been a country willing to seek extradition then it would have been okay but the only count

guest: the united states is not as popular as the president is . he united states is not as popular as the president is in some countries. but i think we are holding our own in the region. i think the president's should try to find time to the region. it would be a very exciting visit. in brazil, oden cried, chile, colombia -- are quituruguay, ch, colombia, it would be a very good visit. host: washington, go ahead. caller: are you aware of the president's -- the brazilian president's speech in copenhagen where he said, the problem is the white people in the world. the second question is there is a country -- a company in brazil that is an offshore drilling company that in june, the obama administration gave a $15 billion loan to and i think is quite ironic that in february, george soros bought majority shares in that company. effectively, this administration has paid back george soros for getting elected with taxpayer funds. guest: i do not know anything about the second issue, but i can comment on the first. the brazilian president is a colorful, c

government. -- tribes against the united states government. they abortion water rights among the three of them to over 110,000 acre-feet of water and they draw more than half a billion dollars of the taxpayers of the united states, mainly from the development of those water resources. from the outset, i believe that the controlling issue in approving any of these claims is simply this. is it cheaper to settle out of court to go to trial? to answer that question, we must turn to the attorney general. the attorney general is presummably involved in these negotiations. he commands the legal expertise to judge the soundness or weakness of the government's case. and he's the official of our government directly responsible for representing the people of the united states in this litigation. yet when these bills were brought to us last fall, the attorney general's office was completely silent on that question. in fact, the administration expressed many reservations about the technical aspects of these bills, which leads me to believe that these are no

it was a major problem for the united states. another thing they can talk on, afghanistan is a nation [unintelligible] in 1747, the federation was founded. that makes it an older nation than the united states. it is not a lack of nationhood. it is that it has had a weak central state. there is nothing really wrong with that. the central state has been part of our problem. related to that, the most popular institution in afghanistan, scoring these enormous high numbers was the afghan national army. when asked which institution do you most admire, a 82% say the afghan national army. it is seen as an institution that is really doing good work.

how can the united states pay for this? much when you were at the state department -- how much of the state department's budget went to the western hemisphere in general? can you give us a ballpark figure? >> guest: it's not so much of the budget of the united states. but it's looking overall at the u.s. budget. last year the u.s. bilateral support to haiti was in the range of about $250, $275 million. that will probably -- certainly go up because of the cost of the -- of the immediate emergency support the united states is giving. but more importantly, when in 2004, aristide left the country and there was a change in government. there was a big effort to enlist the international community through the coordination of the world bank through a major donor's meeting. to pledge more than a billion dollars in additional short-term support for haiti. and this is probably what's going to be needed here. in terms of the united states, the u.s. will be an important contributor. but it won't be the only one. it's not going to do this

the united kingdom, britain, was the free trade power in much of the 19th century. the united states it was the free trade power in a good part during second half of the twentieth century. and free trade power is basically the world's largest trader but it also is a competitive trader. it is a trader that is confidence and my point about china is that they could be doing more, could have done more to promote the negotiations and two recognize that no country has a greater interest than china in free trading system. and that's where that particular point, but i think the point increasingly can be generalized. in so many areas. in climate change. china is now the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in the greenhouseç gases. therefore, moving toward on the climate change negotiations will not happen unless china together with the united states, of course, which is the second-largest a major come to some sort of an agreement especially since these two countries are the opposite to in some sense at the opposite side of the spectrum developed and developing. so it's really at the point abou

it is not just that in the united states, is it? -- the debt in the united states, is it? i am not persuaded that the domestic demand is going to rise in china and brazil and, thus, sustain this. if the u.s. is going to grow at a new level, aren't we going to see commodity prices declined? -- commodity prices decline from these current levels? >> do you want to go first, hans? >> why is it happening? let me first say why it is not happening. many people think that this was happening because of export growth, because of peter manipulation of currencies or through other -- because of peter manipulation of currencies or to other factors, such as stimulation in china, for example, these economies were igrowing by exporting. that is a mystery of the data, in my opinion. -- a miss reread of the data coe out in my opinion. i would say that line of thinking is another danger because the trading system as we know it. we talk about protectionism and we talk about limiting the imports. there's a lot of discussion about rethinking export growth, which could also be against the trading

drug trafficking inside it just didn't realize how extensive the mexican drug cartels were in the united states. the u.s. government is already announced that the mexican cartels of people in 230 cities in the united states. in other words, all american cities now that the drug trade is controlled by mexican drug cartels and their associates. they sell the drugs to american gangs or other dealers who may be white, black, or mexican. in any case, the mexican cartels of people to deliver the drugs in every part of the united states including hawaii, alaska, idaho, where i'm from, and puerto rico. it doesn't matter. this was just amazed about how pervasive the cartels were and in el paso especially to realize that my neighbors and people i knew really well all of a sudden told me they were involved in the drug trade. just the extent of it is tremendous. as far as the law enforcement side of it, what i was surprised by was i would go to parties and the people who were agents are dea agents or something like that how often they would tell me that basically they didn't agree with the war on drugs pol

it was a major problem for the united states. of the height of the violence in vietnam, 154 soldiers were being killed every quarter days. that is the number killed last year in afghanistan. policy by analogy does not work in this case. i also agree with the idea afghanistan as not being a nation state is ridiculous. afghanistan is an older nation than the united states. the problem in afghanistan is not the lack of nationhood as an idea. it has had a weak central state. there's nothing wrong with that. trying to impose a top-down central state has been part of our problem. related to that, the most popular institution in afghanistan scoring enormously high numbers is the afghan national army. building that of this hour to get out. when asked what institution you most admire, 82% say the afghan national army. it is seen as not operating in any particular ethnic interest. it is seen as an institution that is really doing good work. the other, and you is that afghanistan is too hard or too violent. this is also completely ridiculous

you know, in the past the united nations-- they have had 13 missions in haiti since 1991. this time they came in 2004 and the united states-- the united nations said we are not going to repeat the same mistake that we did before and we are going to stay. in the first two years we had a lot of problems with some. but this last time when the renewal of the mandate of the u.n. came out, there was no dissent. and i think people in the international community have come to realize that they are putting a timeframe of five, ten years is the wrong way. it is almost like the people who were talking about iraq and afghanistan, how many months before we leave? it did not take five or ten years to put haiti where it is. a began with someone elected in 57 and the country continue down. so if it took all these years to put it where it is today, i think it is going to take a little time for it to get where it is. i don't mean the international has to be there all the time but it least to accompany us to pull together, so i can i give you a timeline. >> thank you. over here. >> good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. my name is rosemary. th

neither can the united states of america. it's time we stand upped and say no to a bill -- up and say no to a bill like this. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from west virginia is recognized. mr. rahall: madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. hastings: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from texas, another member of the natural resources committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. gohmert: thank you, madam speaker. i had the privilege of hearing the esteemed economist, art laffer, who is credited for bringing the united states out of the worse recession than we're in right now by overcoming double-digit inflation, double-digit unemployment and double-digit interest rates and he did it by cutting taxes. art laffer, and, of course, we know taxes are going to jump

what can the united states to? we of a democratic president, lots of people are incredibly excited about him. his least policies look very familiar to the last regime. so is the united states -- what can the united states do about questions of governance in the least because there's a tremendous amount of wealth in the middle east. there's a tremendous amount of private capital in the middle east. what can we do so that our president takes a lead not only fees of the israel and egypt but also some of the large economic paradigms' that are not working so well here recently, and we have a situation in the middle east where young people are not a bomb, young people or not this is unlikely to become extremists, our concern about this is not just about young people becoming terrorists and i think it's important there are fundamental issues we have to talk about and not talk about our interest in that question just because this notion of suicide bombers. >> can i make a comment? this generation and waiting i read a chapte

and what's interesting is that this occurred throughout the united states. s, that had seen wages, real wages dropping before legalization. saw a really dramatic increase in legalizations. again, during the period of economic downturn. and what we then looked for is that over time, the earnings not only helped native workers, but they, as well as, but as well as helping the undocumented. this is very significant again, this is survey results that would, have been well documented and well studied over the last 20 years. the other interesting feature that happens right after legalization, is actually a major dropoff in undocumented migration. and apprehensions across the border. we've spent billions of dollars trying to achieve these types of numbers. these numbers were achieved with the republican president, and a bipartisan support in congress, bypassing legalization. we saw dramatic downturns right after legalization of obviously the flow of the undocumented that sustained themselves up until about '94, when there was the beginning of an economic recovery. t

when asked what is your view of the united states and afghanistan? ng to the bbs, 68% of afghans think that -- the united states and afghanistan is either doing a fair, good or excellent job. when asked the same question about nato staff, 78% of afghans say that nato is doing a fair, good or excellent job. when asked would you be prefer to be ruled by the current government, 82% say the current government and 4% say the taliban. that's not surprising because they have had previous rule by the taliban. 0e7 taliban usually gets % support. who is the threat to your security, 8% say the united states and 82% say the taliban. is the government doing a good job? in 2009 71% said yes. and was it mostly good, again, according to the bbs, was it mostly good or very good that the united states overthrew the taliban. this is last year. 69% say yes. the final and perhaps most astonishing figure, what is your view of the united states military? this is last year, from the bbs. 63% strongly support or somewhat support the u.s. military in afghanistan. i think those

in the 1960's, they were like the united states. they spent more than we did on hospital and physician care. since that time, since they consolidated and had the government get involved, their growth rates and the costs have been much lower than the u.s. costs. but that is probably not a good model for the u.s.. i do not think the insurance companies are going anywhere. we need to look at a mall that involves insurers. there are many models that are good examples. one would be france. france has multiple ensures, but the government does the negotiating and the coordinating of the prices of that they paid to hospitals, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies. germany does not even use government. it has a consortium of insurers to do their own bargaining and then they pass up, and reads to providers. to me, -- and then they pay out, and rates to providers -- and then they pay out common rates to providers. i should mention the safety valve. some can get supplemental coverage which is necessary for political stability although it takes a

this year, the united states renewed funding of reproductive health care through the united nations population fund and more funding is on the way. [applause] the congress recently appropriated more than $648 million in foreign assistance to family planning and reproductive health programs worldwide. that is the largest allocation in more than a decade since we last had a democratic president, i might add. [applause] in addition to new funding, we have launched a new program that will be the centerpiece of our foreign policy, the global health initiative, which commits us to spending $63 billion over six years to improve global health by investing in efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality, prevents millions of unintended heard it sees, and cover millions of new hiv infections among other goals. this initiative will employ in approach to fighting disease and promoting health. it will address into related health challenges together. for example, by integrating family planning, maternal health services, and h.i.v.-aids screening and treatment so that women receiving reproductive care will

secondly, the united states and the west continues to get hit by al qaeda terrorists even after obama said he's going to close it. >> hold on. can we -- [ all talking at once ] >> hold on for one minute. can we stay away from water boarding, please? these are the actions obama took that signaled the cia to back off. one, he restricted the cia's rendition to preempt terrorism. two, he closed secret interrogation center as broad. three, he banned water boarding. four, closing guantanamo. five, he ordered captured unlawful combat anne today be read miranda rights. six, he's trying ksm, khalid shaikh mohammed and other terrorists like abdul abdul an -- abdulmutallab. he issued no protests for italy for con vicinitying 23 u.s. cia and military officials in absentia, our guys. and nine, rather, finally, he unleashed the prosecute bush policymakers for their counterterrorism policy. you want to speak to that? >> yes. i think this absolutely plays into this whole area of modern and traditional confusion that was best summed up by the supreme court during the bush administration that decided p

you see it in places -- other places, what happens when the united states and the meat getsk -- united are trying to get a -- guest: i believe that actually it israel is the first to have this technology. it is something that would be easily duplicated, or could be easily duplicated. it does sort of change the dynamics of how you go to war. i think the concern of some is that it is too easy. it is too easy to push a button and launch a missile. it takes a lot of the document -- a lot of the human calculus out of war. why does the cia used drones so much, why does the obama administration rely so heavily on the dron program? it is in their minds the only solution, because they're not going to send troops into pakistan, because it would not be accepted in pakistan, because it is a sovereign country and yet they have been able to get the pakistanis to approve the drug program because it is seen as a lower risk solution -- approved lothe drone program because it is seen as a lower risk solution. host: a what -- hawaii, a republican lin

d the white house state dinner at the invitation of someone at the pentagon or other agency of unitedt. you claim that this is a misunderstanding or a miscommunication. are you willing to forgo any financial gain that may arise through this incident including appearances, books, bees, or television opportunities such as any reality tv shows? >> i am only compelled to respond to questions are on the circumstances. i respectfully decline that answer your question. >> i think that these witnesses have a right to invoke the fifth amendment against self- incrimination when it relates to criminal activity. something that would incriminate them in a criminal proceeding. i also think that they me be offering the fifth amendment question that do not so involved such jeopardy. i ask that we consider what response we should have to these witnesses. thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you very much. i thank the witnesses for their testimony and the members for their questions p. i would remind the witnesses that the member of the committee may have additional questions for you and we will ask you to

he calls for the destruction of the state of israel, destruction of the united states and he calls for world islamic state under the rules ship of iran. so, that's not what i want, it is not what i think he wants, it is what he says he wants. host: next phone call, chris on the democrats' line. caller: good morning. mr. timmerman, there are many points on which i agree with you, particularly with regard to the persians versus the islamists, but as i look at your background material, it looks to be extremely partisan. the kind of publications you write for, the kind of support that you get, kind of really places in doubt your credibility. i don't know. host: how do you respond? guest: with a smile, obviously. i tell you, the type of publications i write for our publications that allow me to investigate the type of stories i think are important. i worked for "the atlanta constitution," it "usa today." cbs news, abc news, i have written for "the new york times" and "newsweek" and "time magazine." i was fired from "time magazine" in 1994 after investigating a story about the sell off of u.

office of city comptroller of the city of houston of the state of texas and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the constitution and law of the unitedhis state so help me god. >> congratulations. [applause] >> mayor parker, i would like to invite you to the podium at this time. >> council members, would you rise and join me, please? ready? raise your right hand, please. repeat after me. i do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute the duties of the office of city council of the city of houston of the state of texas, and will, to the best of my abilities, preserve, protect, and defend the constitution and laws of the united states and of this state, so help me god. congratulations, council members. come on up and take a bout. -- bow. >> thank you it so much for presiding over the ceremonies. my heartfelt congratulations to all of our elected officials. we are looking forward to your leadership over the next two years. she is originally from mexico where she studies music and acting and dance. after a life-threatening struggle with cancer, she auditioned for the school of music at the university of houston. in 2009, america was

it was because of haiti's defeat of france and their need for cash that the united states was able to buy the louisiana territory, the same as the louisiana purchase, which therefore opened the west to the united states and louis and clark then went throughout the continent. so if you look at it, haiti has had a tremendous amount to do with our development as a nation and so we now owe a responsibility and i believe to our long-standing friends in haiti and so i know that we are on the right track, the congressional black caucus will continue to monitor and to ensure that we have a thorough and an efficient response as we've seen. we're pleased up to this point and we will be at the forefront and so once again let me commend the chairperson of the congressional black caucus and all the members who have all joined shoulder to shoulder to say that we will march until we ensure that haiti will once again be able to come back again. they have the resilience, they have the spirit, they have the determination, so we know that it will come back, but it will have to be with the assistance of

reserve the right through our citizens through the san francisco agreemestrategic agre with the united statests of the members that has been affected during military operations. blackwater is an extension of the military forces of the united states, and we keep them fully accountable for such a crime. >> the judge dismissed the case after finding evidence of misconduct by prosecutors. 17 iraqis were killed in the 2007 incident involving guards working for the company then noe known as blackwater. it prompted a wider debate over the role of contractors in war. but the general overseeing the war effort said the iraqi reaction to the decision demonstrates the triumph of the rule of law. >> it's a lesson in the rule of law. you know, we're a country of rule of law. iraq is a country that's abiding by the rule of law. and that's what protects its citizens in the long run is having a system where you use the rule of law in order to make your determinations, and i think this is the case. >>> now for some news that we like to report about iraq, no u.s. soldiers died in combat in iraq last month. that

what is interesting is this occurred throughout the united states, throughout the united states, even a place like southwestern texas that it seemed real wages dropping before legalization so saw a real dramatic increase in legalization sprigg again, this is during a period of the economic downturn. what we then look for is over time, the earnings not only helped native workers as well, but as well as helping the undocumented. this is a very significant again, serving results that have been well documented and well studied over the last 20 years. the other interesting feature that happens right after legalization is actually a major drop but then the undocumented migration and the apprehensions across the border. we spent billions of dollars trying to achieve these types of numbers. these numbers were achieved with a republican president and bipartisan support in congress bypassing legalization. we saw dramatic downturns of the undocumented that sustain themselves for a period up until 94 when there was a beginning of an economic recovery. the problem is we did not have conditions for

and to recognize the losses suffered by the united states -- united nations. the un has made enormous contributions to haiti over the years. they lost many outstanding people on the ground. we offer profound gratitude and our condolences to the un and to the families of the deceased. we have also felt that tragedy personally in massachusetts with a loss of britney. i know personally the agony of her parents. first, and trying to find out what her fate might be an out and try to recover their daughter's body. the task before all of us remains far from over first, we must continue the ongoing effort to meet patients' immediate need for food, water, shelter, electricity, and medical care. so far, thanks to un peacekeepers in u.s. forces, the security situations have allowed this to go on its helium. we have begun to reverse the poverty that plagued haiti long before this tragedy. we cannot be satisfied to simply restore haiti to the unsustainable conditions of the past. on january 11, haiti was already the poorest country in the western hemisphere. even before the