contitinuing our conversation with representative mac thornberry, the cehairman of the house on servicesttee. he's working with the pentagon chief on an effort to reform how the military develops and buys weapons. the goal is to producuce itiatives that can garner support from lawmakekers. i asked what his key tenets for reform and what he wants the effort to accomplish. >> well, what i would like to see is a more efficient use of taxpayer dollars to get more defense out of the money we spend, but also, a simpler system that gives more authority but also more accountability to the people who are making the decision. the thing i hear more than anything is, "this has been tried before. what makes youhink you will be successful?" i think one element that gives us a chance is the fact that mr. kendall and other folks at the pentagon as well as s people on both sides of the capital and both sides of the aisle agree that we must make this effor by this have you at the house and senate and pentagon together, go through the statutes as well as the regulations to thin out and simplify w what we h

. >> congressman thornberry, thank you for rex plaining the report to us. >> generally speaking, youthe next election by changing your policies and announcing new initiatives but not by changing the allahlessly. this is what you do in a banana republic. if the law is a black board on which obama writes any number he wants and any delay and provision. it reached the point where it is so indemic no one notices or complains. >> that was charles krauthammer. >> he believes that the white house will have to cancel the employer mandate altogether. john is director for super pack. and marjorie clifton former advisor to obama campaign. welcome to both of you. do you agree with charles krauthammer that the employer man date is so meddle system to the administration they will scrap it altogether? >> no, i feel like it is government efficiency. and this is government functioning like a business. consumer and corporate america needs more time to figure it out. the reality 72 percent of those who are insured are insured by large scale businesses and not impacted and the smaller businesses need a

thornberry and i came on with the armed services committee at the same time. in 1992, but i did not get onto the covidien my first term. we came onto the committee at the same time, we sat next to each other for many years now. i've had the opportunity to watch them, visit his victor, see how he relates to the people in his district. i see how he relates to the other members of the committee. he is very articulate, very smart. he has good leadership skills, very serious. member -- been a member of the intel committee for a long time. i think he would make an outstanding chairman for the house armed services committee, and i strongly support him. i could give you many more reasons, but if you know that facts, you know he competed the last few times, and i only beat him by, well it was close. he is the one that is ready, he is been my vice-chairman now for five years. have i been chairman five years? [laughter] time flies when you're having fun. we do not train chairman, you just compete for the job, and then you find out you get the job, and you start trying to

thornberry and i came on with the armed services committee at the same time. i was elected in 1992, but i did not get onto the covidien my first term. we came onto the committee at the same time, we sat next to each other for many years now. i've had the opportunity to watch them, visit his victor, see how he relates to the people in his district. i see how he relates to the other members of the committee. he is very articulate, very smart. he has good leadership skills, very serious. he has also a member -- been a member of the intel committee for a long time. i think he would make an outstanding chairman for the house armed services committee, and i strongly support him. i could give you many more reasons, but if you know that copy you -- the facts, you know he competed the last few times, and i only beat him by, well it was close. he is the one that is ready, he is been my vice-chairman now for five years. have i been chairman five years? [laughter] time flies when you're having fun. we do not train chairman, you just compete for the job, and then you find

. >> why do you support representative thornberry as your successor as armed services chair? >> did i write that one? that one is an easy question. thornberry and i came on to the armed services committee at the same time. he is from texas. he was elected in '94. i was elected into '92 but i didn't get on the committee during my first term. we came on the committee at the same time. we sat next to each other for many years. i have had the opportunity to watch him. i visited his district. i have seen how he relates to people in his district. i see how he relates to other members of the committee. he is very articulate, very smart guy. has good leadership skills. very serious. he's been also a member of the intel committee for, for a long time. i think he would be an outstanding chairman for the house armed services committee and i strongly support him. i could probably give you many, many more reasons but i think if you know mac, you know that he competed the last couple times that this came open and, and i think i only beat him by, it was very close. he's, the one that's read

chairman of the house, buck mckeon and congressman thornberry. >> the armed services subcommittee on intelligence, emerging dressing capabilities just concluded a briefing on the defense consequences of the snowden compromise. needless to say, this is very highly classified area and that makes it very difficult to say much or answer questions. but i do want to say that while it is difficult to discuss the details of what we learned, it is fair to say that members left the briefing disturbed and angered. snowden's information that's what i'll be on programs associated with the nsa or data collection. the majority of them majority of information he transferred had nothing to do with nsa, but instead specifically works to compromise the military capability and defense. this information will put our men and women in uniform at greater risk, could cost lives and will certainly cost billions to repair. that of course is part of our responsibility and working with the department. his actions or espionage, plain and simple. alternative chairman. >> thank you i am buck mckeon, chairman of the

, a number of house republicans including armed services committee chairman buck mckeon and mac thornberryf taxes, chairman of the emerging threats subcommittee are being briefed, security briefing on capitol hill. they will respect reports at about 4:00 eastern. we will plan to have that live for you at stores. turning overseas, associated press reports saying at least 34 people were killed in kashmir and scores injured in five bombings around the iraqi capital of baghdad. according to the united nations, 2013 was the deadliest year in that country. already for the month of january this year, 618 civilians and 115 members of the country's security forces have been killed. the house foreign affairs committee held a hearing looking at the rising threat of al qaeda in iraq and republican guardsman dana rohrabacher expressed his outrage at the recent string of suicide bombings, questioned the current u.s. involvement in the country. here's a portion of the hearing. >> let me just say that the idea that we're talking about camp ashraf seems that fundamentally you are suggesting our approach to