but preparedness measures that w of usaid has provided over the ho years. i would like to provide an overview of our response and share how we've leveraged effic investments inie disaster risk reduction over the years to y ensure the most effective and efficient response.ide then i'll turn it over to my colleague who just returned fromoned nepal to provide an overview of u.s. the next steps and initial plans for recovery. $47 as you mention, to date the u.s. h government provided nearly $47 uding million in humanitarian we assistance. the funding is being used to address priorities including emergencyrink shelter. we've got some plastic sheeting right here, safe drinking watermen an food improved hygiene protection of survivors especially women and children, and quite a broad spectrum of respon assistance. within hours after the earthquake hit, we deployed a disaster assistance response team. thisxper included 20 usaid disaster experts plus the search and rescue teams from fairfax and los angeles and their famous now 12 rescue k-9s. here's a photo of two f

but preparedness measures that usaid has supported has helped save lives. i want to provide an overview of our humanitarian response and how we have leveraged to ensure the most effective and efficient response. and then i'll turn it over to my colleague, who just returned from nepal to provide steps. as you mentioned the u.s. government provided nearly $47 million in humanitarian assistance. it is addressing priorities including emergency shelter. we got some plastic sheeting right here. safe drinking water, improved hygiene, protection of women and children and quite a broad spectrum of assistance. within hours after the earthquake hit, we deployed a response team. this included 20 u.s.said disaster experts and the search and rescue teams from fairfax and los angeles and famous now nine canines. and two members and i think we got it there somewhere. we have learned from previous disaster responses based on initial disaster assistance we promptly requested assistance from our colleagues in the department of defense to provide logistical support so since ma

usaid is working in several countries. gender based violence and prevention and the response program for gender based violence initiative. we are also looking to end child early and forced marriage. we are working in ethiopia specifically to do a combination program community outreach. trying to address the barriers that the cost of education has. and also, help families understand the issue and the importance of keeping adolescent girls in school. through the economic growth programs, we're doing in africa it's a priority for the united states. and we'll continue to work because women are the backbone of opportunities. target this year's summit will convene 150 up and coming women in youth entrepreneurs from around the world for official pre-summer event in nairobi. this will connect emerging youth, women entrepreneurs and global change makers, thought leaders, policy leaders, investors and experts. africa is a very diverse and large continent. and the work that the u.s. government does tries to span all the different cou

usaid is working in several countries. gender based violence and prevention and the response program for gender based violence initiative. weaver also looking to end child early and forced marriage. we are working in ethiopia specifically to do a combination program community outreach. trying to address the barriers that the cost of education has. and also, help families understand the issue and the importance of keeping adolescent girls in school. through the economic growth programs we're doing in africa it's a priority for the united states. and we'll continue to work because women are the backbone of opportunities. target this year's summit will convene 150 up and coming women in youth entrepreneurs from around the world for official pre-summer event in nairobi. this will connect emerging youth, women entrepreneurs and global change makers, thought leaders, policy leaders investors and experts. africa is a very diverse and large continent. and the work that the u.s. government does tries to span all the different count

we have heard from susan that usaid is working on that. and many mozambique, we are partnering with usaid and other organizations to fight about this outrage. this is a phenomenon, embedded in local tradition. and customer relations, empowering girls and women to decide about their own life. women rights as human rights cannot continue being ignored. they must be addressed. women deserve to be part of the education systems and technology revolution. to be able to render their contribution to a peaceful, stable and sustainable world. the agenda 2063 is a road map for africa. and women can play a parliament role in preventing the diplomacy that's guaranteeing peace building. i believe that this road map will enhance women's participation. and gender is one of the eight priorities of the au commission. it has been mainstreamed across other priorities. very often, after any conflict, women gather around organizations to rebuild not only socials issues destroyed by the war and care for external displaced people and they care through their parti

usaid deployed a disaster abo assistance response or dart team search and rescue dogs to nepal withinrs. the teams urban search and mi rescue personnel some based in el nearby fairfax, virginia spent weeks working miracles pulling survivals out of the rubble in kathmandu. i look forward to hearing more es about their heroic activities and how preparation such as the dart's readiness helps in nepal. cr i've also heard that the u.s. u.s. bilateral connections are playing an important role in the crisis response. our partner nations in the region are leveraging u.s. ee capabilities to help shoulder more of the burden. i'd like to inform the committy on whether this may be an he indication that future disaster nt of responses in thede region might be pr less reliant on u.s. agencies. the department of defense supported these efforts by providing air lift and other support at usaid's request though dod does not take the lead in comprehensive disaster coun support such as this without their support, such efforts would be impossible. our military is the most significant strategic presence th

some claim the disaster was partially mitigated by advance preparation of usaid and others through its 60-year presence in nepal, engaging in disaster risk reduction. mr. salmon: today we discuss efforts to alleviate results of the disaster in nepal. we expect our witnesses to highlight successful preplanning efforts but i also expect an honest assessment of the assessment for rebilling vulnerable communities. i'd also like to hear about what we can do to make our foreign aid efforts more efficient. the united states has committed nearly $47 million for response and recovery efforts in nepal. we're working with a dozen other nations in cooperation with the united nations as well as thousand offs -- thousands of foreign personnel on the ground in nepal assisting with our projects. our efforts have been particularly concentrated on search and rescue, shelter, water, and sanitation but we have been involved in nearly every aspect of the response to some degree. as far as -- as far as usaid were concerned, they deployed a disaster assistance response team the day of the event sending over

we'd been following the elite usaid disaster assistance response team all morning. is there really a chance that someone is still alive under this? >> well, you know, what, until the person's found and we can confirm that they are not, we will give it every shot, and we are hoping that they are. >> reporter: moments later andrew olvera, a veteran of the los angeles county fire department, got the call. >> copy that. >> reporter: and took off running. andy, you can tell me what we're doing here? >> right now what we're doing is i'm trying to get a general area where they heard the voices. >> reporter: the rescue would take several more hours. ( applause ) before the hundreds who had gathered could cheer. >> this is a great feeling. it's a great feeling. you feel like you won a war, you know. to save a life, to save a life is a great thing. >> reporter: this evening, we found the 15-year-old at an israeli-run field hospital. "i'm not on the land, i'm up in the sky," he told us. as he snacked on oreos he explained how he survived eating a buttery type food he found cal

if you're interested in actually donating visit the usaid government website to get the list. harris? >> a 101-year-old man rescued all these days later. you bet there are miracles on earth. >> absolutely amazing. >> another u.s. citizen has come home and that's where we're getting a lot of the details. >> that's right. her name is daniel banks. she was actually hiking on mt. everest when the earthquake hit which caused an avalanche. she was up there and her family didn't hear from her for two days. a gut-wrenching 48 hours. they didn't know if she was dead or alive after four americans had been killed while on mt. everest. she just returned to texas and had a heartfelt reunion with her family. she plans to go back to nepal next year to continue a missions trip that she was just on. harris? >> carl is following-- will carr thank you very much. >>> neurosurgeon dr. ben carson telling a local tv station that he's running for president. a formal announcement he says will come together. >>> also a crowning moment in british history. england's newest princess receiving a lot of att

the spokesperson for usaid said the team was prepared to demobilize and come home. while three members did make it on a plane. 54 members are still in nepal. some living in a hotel in kathmandu and others in a base camp. we're told they are safe and healthy and conducting rescue missions. in addition, the rescue team is conducting structural assessments. so far more than 125 buildings and bridges assessed by this team. coming up at 6:00 i'll tell you what the team moments after this morning's deadly after. >>> developing right now prosecutors describe the attack as a torture session. new at 5:00 the intention testimony from one of the victims. >>> you spend a lot of money on baby food but the question is. are you getting what you pay for? we'll look at some labels and let you decide next. >>> a year ago george mason said good by to a rower who fought a heroic battle. now they race in her honor. >> people couldn't really believe that there was one thing in her life that was >>> the health food craze trickled down to baby food now with ingredients to kale and quinoa.

corruption and they're not improving it federal law says the only way they can continue to receive usaid is it that the secretary of state grants them a waiver which hillary clinton did. so again you could look at one of these and say maybe that's a coincidence that you find that repeated over and over and over again. and with regards to the caller's question about the foundation they give about 10% of their money to other charitable organizations. the clinton foundation model is incredibly unique. you look at the web site andy c. bill clinton and chelsea and hillary clinton holding children in africa or asia but the clinton foundation really doesn't do a lot of hands-on work with those countries. they partner with other organizations. they function kind of as a middleman. the world needs its middleman but it's not like doctors without borders or american red cross were some of the other organizations that are actually doing the hands-on work to the clinton foundation is more like a management consulting firm working in the area of charity. this is the reason why for example charity navi

personnel are taking part in the usaid missions in nepal. a refugee crisis is growing in southeast asia. more than 1000 immigrants came ashore in thailand and indonesia today. most of them were a muslim minority from myanmar who were denied citizenship there. thousands of migrants are believed to be stranded in traffic or's ships, waiting for any country to take them in. alix: mr. carl icahn is rising the stakes in the battle between uber and lyft. icahn has put $1 million in -- $100 million in lyft. consumer confidence has fallen by the most in two years. news at the u.s. economy had stalled in the first quarter shook a lot of americans outlook. the increasing price of gas since march has hurt and people are more worried about losing their jobs than at any other time since 2009. alix: in columbia, the government has defied u.s. cocoa spraying has been going on for more than two decades. health officials have said the herbicide used to spray colombian cocoa probably causes cancer. chinese hackers have forced penn state to unplug the computer

as well as, usaid that also has regular stock piles kept in nepal because of the monsoons. that aid also its not reaching the various areas as well. seems it is caught up in something of a bureaucratic, logistical nightmare. the minister of information was trying to justify the slow pace of aid reaching areas by saying, "look, us, the government, we are victims of the earthquake as well. we are doing whatever we can. nepal is a resource poor country. we don't have the resources to get the aid out as quickly as it need to got to some of the areas." having actually been there ourselves. there are ways to get out there. we did see aid arriving in some places. but this was not government aid. this was not international aid. natalie, this was aid basically thrown in the back of a truck by kind samaritans, local groups, civilians who just decided they had to do something. they were getting aid out to some remolt areas. if they can do it. there really isn't a good enough excuse why the government and international organizations here can't. >> absolutely. neighbor helping neighbor.

you know we had a great guy unfortunately, he's leaving usaid, his name is raj shaw. he's taken a personal interest developing the relationship with africa. usaid has a large trade focus but much of its work is geared toward helping small businesses in places like stands aniyah grow their exports. this is good. it's a good thing to do but they should be working at higher level to improve the trade activities of these economies as a whole. they can do this by working with our african friends and helping them prepare for a broader trade relationship with the united states either by helping them identify how they can improve their agriculture safety regulations or general private property rights. to that end, our amendment authorizes usaid to use its appropriations to help implement the strategy that will be developed under this amendment. the senate just just reauthorized agoa for ten years. we should be considering bun or more free trade agreements with our partners in sub-saharan africa. in our amendment senator coons and my amendment will help this become a re. our g

we work closely with the dreams initiative usaid and others to intervene here to fundamentally change the course of the girls' history. investments in hiv tb, and malaria over the past decade bring a positive effect on overall health systems as well including responses to ebola. i was recently in sin gal, and women were trained to go door-to-door in malaria, going door-to-door to prevent and fight ebola. how do we achieve the lofty goals of building resilient health systems in societies? through partnership. the goebl fund is probably the world's largest public-private partnership. we are the public-private partnership arm of the u.s. government's response to the diseases, and we work closely with ambassador burke's president's malaria initiative and others. for every dollar the u.s. crypts to the global fund, we leverage $22 from over 25 countries european commission, private foundations, corporations and the faith community. as part of the funds new approach to financing we require countries to match what we invest in what we invest in and lock resources. so far we have leveraged 3.

we were there when an elite usaid disaster assistance response team got the call that teenager's voice was detected coming from the rubble. for hours we watched and wonder understand it was possible that someone could survive for so long. he is finally free 120 hours after this earthquake. >> later we found the 15-year-old in fine teenage form snacking on oreos at a hospital. andrew of the los angeles county fire department was involved in the rescue. >> amazing to see somebody be freed, amazing to be part of that. it is a miracle. >> but miracles are few and challenges many. aid groups struggle to reach the most remote regions. u.s. marines were brought in to manage log jam of supplies and families living in tents wonder where to go next. despite the destruction, there is a sense that life here has to go on. there are signs of recovery small vendors have appeared on the streets again and small shops have started to reopen. eight days after this earthquake struck this country is limping back to life. for "face the nation," this is seth doane reporting from kathmandu, nepal. >> schieffe

[inaudible] i was serving with usaid in afghanistan in 2009 when richard holbrook came in as the special envoy there and was pretty much throwing that china and the cutlery and everything and happen to be sitting in the cafeteria one evening and he started talking. there was a guy that had worked for you in the senate and i'm sorry that i had forgotten his name. and they said well too bad, we didn't get george bensel instead. but what if they had sent richard holbrook to the middle east. [laughter] and so i think it was the right way. but as someone who followed in your footsteps, and followed in the 70s i was on the senate aging committee staff when you're briefly on the committee. and it's terribly upsetting to see what has happened to the house and senate and it just seems as though there's more concept of [inaudible] and kenny see any way out of this situation? >> i do not perceive any change in the immediate future. and i say that there is regret because i share the common assessment of how unfortunate it is that there is such a parent dysfunction in the congress. and one of the fir

we work closely with the dreams initiative usaid and others to intervene here to fundamentally change the course of the girls' history. investments in hiv tb, and malaria over the past decade bring a positive effect on overall health systems as well including responses to ebola. i was recently in sin gal, and women were trained to go door-to-door in malaria, going door-to-door to prevent and fight ebola. how do we achieve the lofty goals of building resilient health systems in societies? through partnership. the goebl fund is probably the world's largest public-private partnership. we are the public-private partnership arm of the u.s. government's response to the diseases, and we work closely with ambassador burke's president's malaria initiative and others. for every dollar the u.s. crypts to the global fund, we leverage $22 from over 25 countries european commission, private foundations, corporations and the faith community. as part of the funds new approach to financing we require countries to match what we invest in what we invest in and lock resources. so far we have leveraged 3.

[inaudible] i was serving with usaid in afghanistan in 2009 when richard holbrook came in as the special there and was pretty much throwing that china and the cutlery and everything and happen to be sitting in the cafeteria one evening and he started talking. there was a guy that had worked for you in the senate and i'm sorry that i had forgotten his name. and they said well too bad, we didn't get george bensel instead. but what if they had sent richard holbrook to the middle east. [laughter] and so i think it was the right way. but as someone who followed in your footsteps, and followed in the 70s i was on the senate aging committee staff when you're briefly on the committee. and it's terribly upsetting to see what has happened to the house and senate and it just seems as though there's more concept of [inaudible] and kenny see any way out of this situation? >> i do not perceive any change in the immediate future. and i say that there is regret because i share the common assessment of how unfortunate it is that there is such a parent dysfunction in the congress. and one of the first per

usaid is a traditional organization. as far as we can tell, you have dso, which was funded to the tune of $800 million that accomplished nothing other than spend a lot of taxpayers dollars. it was so bad in coordination. they were required to courtney. we were told in our latest audit -- they were told to coordinate. we were told in our latest audit -- we have a number of audits and investigations dealing with it. it was a good idea, but it was poorly executed. host: mark, fort lee, new jersey, a republican. caller: listen, someone has written a book about hezbollah and at some point they intercepted some money that was being sold as counterfeit american currency. skid loads of it, billions of dollars. billions it or millions, anyway. when they found out it was election currency, it was not counterfeit at all. we were spending so much money there, throwing it away. all of our foreign aid is being funneled into the pockets of cronies and patrons and nepotism and everything else. this is a do-gooder's view of the world, an

groping so that's important in the other would expand to technical assistance programs at the usda and usaidhank senator roberts for working with me. i also senator wyden want to thank you. even though we are in different places on this my and i will not be supporting tpi or shade the work you have done on transparency and enforcement. for me the bottom line is we want to export our products not our jobs and when we look at the global economy we have a choice of creating a system where there is a race to the top with opportunities to strengthen not only our middle-class but the middle i suppose around the world or race to the bottom in terms of lower wages and shipping jobs overseas. i don't see the toughness that i need for a yes vote and certainly we'll talk more about current to later. i appreciate there is some kurianzi -- but it is not strong enough to be enforceable and i think it's incredibly important that whatever we do has enforceable standards and a going forward. i appreciate the opportunity to say a few words and we will certainly have more discussions. >> thank you senator stab

usaid is your traditional organization. apparently neither of them talked to each other and the organization funded to the tune of $800 million expended taxpayer dollars. they were required to coordinate that we were told in our latest audit that the ambassador didn't learn about some programs until the afghans came up and talked to him. we have a number of audits and organizations dealing with them. it may have been a good idea but it was poorly executed. guest: mark, republican, hello there. caller: listen someone has written a book about hezbollah and they intercepted some money that was being sold as american counterfeit america can dollars and when they examined it, they found it wasn't counterfeit at all and spending so much money over there. throwing it away. all our foreign aid is being funneled into the pockets of cronies and patriot rons and this is a do-gooders of the world. our roads and bridges are collapsing. jobs that are paying pennies. this is disgusting and turns my stomach and tired of these people that w

usaid nobody's tried to influence me by helping you. >> reporter: during a tour of foundations in africa bill clinton came to his wife's defense. the former president said they have never done anything knowingly inappropriate with the ten os of millions of dollars they receive from foreign donors. he also said he would continue to give paid speeches which in the past averaged half a million dollar. >> i've got to pay the bill. >> reporter: they have revealed instances where its foundation and affiliates were not as transparent as promised and it maybe taking a toll of candidate clinton already. in a cent poll 61% say honest only describes her slightly well. >> when you vote for clinton, you get a lot of good things but in the package also comes something bad which is ethical transgressions. >> reporter: clinton will call for a full path to citizenship and will say anything less is second class status. norah, from here she heads to california for a series of fund-raisers. >> all right julianna. ing that you so much. >>> former mike huckabee will announce his candidacy again. huckabee will

working for usaid on foreign aid matters. he was a wonderful man and had a wonderful -- and has a wonderful family. across the last several years i work ved closely with his wife and his family in helping them try to influence our government to find warren. and the one thing i realized across the last several years, working on these matters that even though we have incredibly dedicated men and women who work at the f.b.i., who work at the c.i.a., to whork at the state department who work on -- who work at the state department, who work on hostage recovery matters, these efforts are not nearly as well coordinated as they should be. we do not have someone on point who wakes up every day with the mission of finding american hostages that are held in the middle east. and this amendment does this. by appointing and creating a hostage recovery coordinator, we will have that single person on point who will be able to take all of the resources of the u.s. government our technological resources, our intelligence resources, our militar

in in usaid report they found, as expected, there were fewer errors and those schools. they are realizing what an advantage that can be and because they do not have to spend time on paperwork, the savings they get on the administrative side can be reinvested. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. >> senator casey. >> thank you very much and i want to thank the ranking member for having a searing. it is good to have a gathering on these issues. i want to say 1st we have two major concerns when we talk about these programs and food insecurity. in pennsylvania we have not only a lot of children participating in both school lunch and breakfast fiscal year 14 over 1 million children in the school lunch program and a little more than 346,000 the school breakfast program. at the same time, almost a half million children in poverty. this is a great urgency and concerned that we get this right. i i have been a believer that these programs, like a number of others can help us not only in sure more children have a measure of food security and get the nutrition they need, but i

usaid is a traditional organization. as far as we can tell, you have dso, which was funded to the tune of $800 million that accomplished nothing other than spend a lot of taxpayers dollars. it was so bad in coordination. they were required to courtney. we were told in our latest audit -- they were told to coordinate. we were told in our latest audit -- we have a number of audits and investigations dealing with it. it was a good idea, but it was poorly executed. host: mark, fort lee, new jersey, a republican. caller: listen, someone has written a book about hezbollah and at some point they intercepted some money that was being sold as counterfeit american currency. skid loads of it, billions of dollars. billions it

we have $4.3 billion for state departments hiv-aids program $330 million for usaid, hiv-aids programs$128 million for hhs yeahs and hiv programs through the cdc, and $451 billion for nih global research. how are we doing on coordination? how is everyone doing talking to each other to make sure that everyone doesn't raise their hand and say there's a problem, and we all agree there's a massive problem, how's the coordination of the dollars going. >>> does everyone have their does everyone have their lane doing their job or do we see duplication? anyone who wants to jump into that, have at it. sen. shaheen: mark and i can answer that together. it's interesting how you put it dr birx: mark and i can answer that together. it's interesting how you put it together. thank you for framing it that way because you talked about our boss, because we both were in tony's lab at one time. and the way we work with both the nih and the global fund and how we leverage. so we work very closely obviously with nih. they both support scientific development and capacity development in africa with us as well

we have $4.3 billion for state departments hiv-aids program $330 million for usaid hiv-aids programs, $128 million for hhs yeahs and hiv programs through the cdc, and $451 billion for nih global research. how are we doing on coordination? how is everyone doing talking to each other to make sure that everyone doesn't raise their hand and say there's a problem and we all agree there's a massive problem, how's the coordination of the dollars going. >>> does everyone have their lane doing their job or do we see duplication? anyone who wants to jump into that, have at it. >> mark and i can answer that together. it's interesting how you put it together. thank you for framing it that way because you talked about our boss because we both were in tony's lab at one time. and the way we work with both the nih and the global fund and how we leverage. so we work very closely obviously with nih. they both support scientific development and capacity development in africa with us as well as key research that we need and they thank goodness are working on hiv vaccine and are a meeting this week on tha

virginia task force one in partnership with usaid is always at the ready to answer the call when tragedy or natural disaster strike at home or abroad. nepal was devastated by two major earthquakes resulting in the loss of over 8,500 lives and virginia task force one was there to help. with their incredible skill and teamwork they were able to rescue a 15-year-old boy trapped in the rubble for five days and when the second earthquake hit they saved a 41-year-old woman trapped in a four-story building. they also medically treated countless others. when they returned home on saturday morning they were enthusiastically greeted by relatives and families. those families also endured countless hours of worry while their family members and loved ones are halfway around the world in unfamiliar and dangerous circumstances. mr. speaker, the members of virginia task force one are truly fabulous, wonderful ambassadors for our commonwealth of virginia and our country. it is an honor and privilege to thank them for their courageous service to the people of nepal and to the work they do every day in our

according to the "usaid today" story, ramadi is the capital of the anbar province. the story noting that the militants had seized control of much of the area last year, held by us-led airstrikes. fighters have made gains against the islamic state elsewhere in the country, it including re-creating the city of tikrit. some of the data of u.s. efforts overseas in iraq and syria. let's go to sam waiting in michigan, line for democrats. good morning. caller: two quick things. first, while we should never have gone into iraq in the first place, i am tired of carrying iraqis on her back against isis. we should get out of there and let the chips fall where they may. the second thing i would like to ask, rhetorically, perhaps representative graham, is when does criticism stop? i'm not sure that we need a representative slamming the president quite so hard. they can criticize him, but they are talking sedition, as far as i'm concerned. host: we will get back to calls in just a second. we want to update viewers on what is happening this week on capitol hill. to do that, we are

usaid is a traditional organization.s far as we can tell, you have dso, which was funded to the tune of $800 million that accomplished nothing other than spend a lot of taxpayers dollars. it was so bad in coordination. they were required to courtney. we were told in our latest audit -- they were told to coordinate. we were told in our latest audit -- we have a number of audits and investigations dealing with it. it was a good idea, but it was poorly executed. host: mark, fort lee, new jersey, a republican. caller: listen, someone has written a book about hezbollah and at some point they intercepted some money that was being sold as counterfeit american currency. skid loads of it, billions of dollars. billions it or millions, anyway. when they found out it was election currency, it was not counterfeit at all. we were spending so much money there, throwing it away. all of our foreign aid is being funneled into the pockets of cronies and patrons and nepotism and everything else. this is a do-gooder's view of the world, and

associated with the military and the loss related to that helicopter crash but also those who are with usaid, also those who are there with various other organizations that are in service and doing what they can to make a difference. i want to close by thanking all of them for being there on the ground. and i also heard someone representing our military this morning when speaking of those who were there as a part of that military effort and those who lost their lives, there was a request for prayers. there was a request that we would pray for those who are injured and those who have lost their lives. i believe in prayer. i do believe that it has a positive impact. i believe it can make a difference. i believe that there are times when there are no answers available to people. when you cannot explain what has happened. when the inexplicable is confronting you. at those times many people turn to prayer. because prayer can provide what words cannot explain. prayer can give you the hope that you need to go forward. prayer can give you the sense of i can, the believe that i will, the believe that

i think president putin would love to see this program go away the way usaid has left the region. see how city councils work and school boards work and see the united states with state legislators and judges. the program belongs in the legislative branch because peer-to-peer relationships do work. the program reaches out to all 50 states. more than 23,000 rising leaders have been hosted by the united states government since the program's inception. 80% of those have met with members of congress and visited their congressional districts. this is a very robust exchange. and i had a group in my district and one of the visitors had been a member of the duma and told me he had been invited by our country to be here about a dozen times but only visiting communities and seeing local government in action did he really understand what democracy is all about and not just learned visiting washington or taught in the classroom. the value of hands on from the ground up diplomacy is the lesson that can't be learned from a book. open world experiences show these participations that democracy is