congressman thornberry, thank you very much for joining us. we just heard from jennifer palmieri, the white house communications director about the president's plan, among other things, to expand the economic b recovery so that it reaches more americans including working class middle class americans. why isn't that a worthy goal? >> well, it is certainly a worthy goal to grow the economy and expand the recovery so that everybody is included in it. but unfortunately, the president's proposal is not serious. it would have been the same as if george w. bush had come to congress in 2007 when the democrats had just taken control, and said, i propose a $320 billion tax cut. he knows that this congress will not consider it. so he's trying to make political points. really, we need a president who will rise above that sort of politics and really try to solve the problems that are facing this country, including anemic economic growth. >> woodruff: what would you like to see done to expand this recovery to the middle class? >> well, a key thing that the

mac thornberry went into the congress 20 years ago in 1994, two years after i went in.times you spot somebody when they're new and you recognize what they're capable of and will make a tremendous contribution to the nation's interest over time because of their judgment, their integrity, their willingness to work, and their charity, their understanding that congress is a place of people with different views and you have to understand how to persuade people on their terms about what's important for the country. and this is the man we have with us today. i'm not going to praise him too much because it will just embarrass him. but it's wonderful that he's chairing the armed services committee. it's gracious of him to be willing to make remarks and to share his time with us today. and without any further adieu i'll introduce my friend and the new chairman of the house armed services committee, mac thornberry. [ applause ] >> well, thank you, and i appreciate your words and i appreciate you and your colleagues here at aei hosting us today and as well all of you all's contribu

we are back with congressman mac thornberry of texas, new chairman of the house armed services committee. what can you tell us about this woman, hayat boumeddiene, because there is a lot of sense from what we're hearing she is not just a girlfriend she was very very directly involved in these terror operations. >> yeah as we get more information about her, we are learning more about her role particularly in goading the others on. i think what's key is that these three or four people are just the tip of the iceberg, because thousands of people from western europe and even some from the united states have gone into iraq syria, some to yemen as we know for training and now they have come back and all of those with western european passports of course can come to the united states without a visa. so that's part of the reason i think so many people are so concerned that we may just be seeing the first of these folks who have gone to those safe havens, trained and are now coming to launch their attacks against us. >> because in france they are saying these terror cells have been activated, som

at 10:00, mac thornberry on the agenda for the 114th congress. the house returns for general speeches. the house takes a a resolution condemning the terrorist attacks in paris. coming up, a discussion on the process for president writing the state of the union address. at 8:45 a.m., we will preview the tax reform proposal and congressional action. host: among the people sitting the first lady's books night at the seated communion are a doctor who survived ebola and immigrants from the u.s.. tonight, stated the new -- a state of the union coverage starts at the clock. you can watch on c-span. 32 million people watched the speech last year.

pursuant to clause 4 of rule 1, the following enrolled bills were signed by speaker pro tempore thornberry on thursday, december 18, 2014. the clerk: h.r. 1068 h.r. 2901, h.r. 3608 h.r. 4030, h.r. 5771. the speaker pro tempore: without objection h.r. 647 is laid on the table. without objection in accordance with house concurrent resolution 125, the chair declares the second session of the is 113th congress adjourned sine die. host: could you tell the folks how one becomes the dean of the house? >> the first requirement is longevity. the dean of the house is the longest serving member in the house of representatives and he has the distinct honor on opening day on january 6 to swear in the incoming speaker of the house which is a constitutional office. so even though the present speaker of the house is going to be the same one, he will still have to be sworn in again. that's where i come in. host: so for -- you'll do that job today to swear the speaker in. tell us a little bit about the longevity aspect of it. you come to this position taking over from representative dingell. tell us a littl

. >> congressman mac thornberry thanks so much. >>> coming up we'll hear from the democratic side congressmanill join me live to talk about the president's address. >>> and cnn's coverage of the president's state of the union begins right here tonight at 7:00 eastern. >>> in other news why is there a russian spy ship docked in havana harbor? our cnn reporter is inside of the ship and is going to explain its connect to thawing u.s./cuba relations. (cough, cough) mike? janet? cough if you can hear me. don't even think about it. i took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. yeah...but what about mike? he has that dry, scratchy thing going on... guess what? (cough!) it works on his cough too. what? stop, don't pull me! spoiler alert! she doesn't make it! only mucinex dm packs 2 medicines in one pill to relieve wet and dry coughs for 12 hours. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. meet the world's newest energy superpower. surprised? in fact, america is now the world's number one natural gas producer... and we could soon become number one in oil. because hydraulic fracturing technology is

also house armed services committee chairman mac thornberry without their agenda -- lays out their agendaors will continue to debate the keystone xl pipeline with amendments likely to occur later in the afternoon. >> produce a five to seven minute documentary on the theme, the three branches and you for a chance to win. from washington journal, this is 20 minutes. host: we are showing our viewers live images from the national monument, the national martin luther king junior memorial there. we will head down to dallas, texas where we are joined eddie bernice johnson. dr. king was in selma, alabama for what would be known as the beginning of the selma marches. in what place does selma occupy its place in the civil rights movement? guest: i think it was really important because it was some thing specific for a specific reason that we can relate to that reminds those of us who were living and remember that so well. we still have a lot to do. we have overcome a great deal of an obstacle because of that march. i'm able to vote. i'm able to serve in congress. there were people before me. i serve

bill: you scene letter to that man right there max thornberry, your colleague. what are the recommendations? >> when it comes to hostage negotiations the fbi is in charge. the fbi is in charge if the hostages are in afghanistan. you have the department of defense, special operations, a big cia contingent. there needs to be somebody in charge within the department of defense so there is one person one point of contact you don't let people fall through the cracks and we have to make sure we have a consistent, coherent policy. it's confusing right now. bill: let's take it a piece at a time. why is it this way? who is in chang and where is the charge looking? >> that's what we are trying to find out. that's why we wrote the letter. who made the decision to say an islamic combatant is sent back to the battlefield while we have marines and soldiers on the battlefield? is it a department of defense decision? we want one more islamic terrorist to fight or was it a department of justice decision where eric holder is complicit with obama's non-policy on hostage negotiatio

mike thornberry is here to talk about this. sir, welcome.ment allowed us to go after al-qaeda in that country. and iran is backing those who led the charge against the government in yemen who now control it. what now for the u.s. interest? >> well first is to learn the lessons. remember, president obama sited yemen as the model we wanted to follow in other parts of the world. so we getter make a sober reevaluation of what happened there especially before we try to duplicate it elsewhere. i think you are exactly right. this increases the danger to us from al-qaeda terrorist attacks because if we don't have a partner on the ground then al-qaeda is freer to plot and plan and carry out attacks. but the other thing it does is increase the influence of iran in the region. it is pretty amazing that a single event could help terrorist and iran at the same time but that is what is happening >> we will show the viewers a map as to what you are saying. but in 2009 the president of yemen was quoted saying ruling yemen is like dancing on the heads of sna

also tuesday, house armed services chairman mac thornberry land -- outlined his focus on defense policy and national security issues. that is here on c-span. dr. anthony fatty, our guest this sunday on q&a, is on the frontline battling against infectious diseases. >> we have drugs right now that when given to people who are hiv-infected, if someone can send, i can shade the dichotomy. in the early 80's it someone came in with aids, the median survival would be 6-8 months. half of them would be dead in eight months. now, if tomorrow when i go back around on friday and someone comes in to a clinic who is 20 plus years old, relatively recently infected, and i put them on a combination of three dads -- drugs, i can accurately predict and say we can do mathematical modeling to say if you take your medicine regularly, you can live an additional 50 years. the reverend al sharpton held an annual breakfast honoring martin luther king jr.. speakers included housing and urban development secretary julian castro and health and human services sylvia burwell. this is one hour and 45 minutes. >> good

thornberry boehner. tiberi, boehner. tipton boehner. titus pelosi. tonko of new york. tonko of new york. torres pelosi. troth -- trott boehner. tsongas, pelosi. turner boehner. upton, boehner. valadao, boehner. van hollen, pelosi. vargas pelosi. veasey pelosi. vela pelosi. velazquez. velazquez. visclosky, pelosi. wagner, boehner. walberg, boehner. walden, boehner. walker boehner. with a lors key, boehner -- walorski boehner. mimi walters boehner. walz pelosi. wasserman schultz pelosi. maxine waters. maxine waters. watson coleman, pelosi. weber of texas, gohmert. webster of florida. webster. welch of vermont. welch of vermont. wenstrup boehner. westerman, boehner. westmoreland, boehner. whitfield, boehner. williams, boehner. wilson of florida pelosi. wilson of south carolina boehner. wittman, boehner. womack boehner. woodall, boehner. yarmuth, pelosi. yoder, boehner. yoho yoho. young of alaska. young of alaska. young of iowa boehner. young of indiana boehner. zeldin, boehner. zinke, boehner. the clerk of the house: the clerk will now call the names of the representative