. >> let's talk about usaid i -- usaid. they reduce their staffing by 80% in iraq yet they have dramatically increased including a new stabilization assistance in the myanmar province. $7 million to support ethnic religious minorities. why do such significant staffing reductions make sense? especially when the programming is going to help small new untested governmental organizations. we only have five usaid staff left in the entire country. how is that going to work? >> i would respectfully disagree with all the numbers you put out there. they are not accurate and i would be willing to talk in closed session about what the numbers actually are and what they were and what we think they will be moving ahead. nobody believes in those programs more than i. i was a huge champion of the assistance to myanmar because i went out to fallujah. yes, we wanted to kill you before but now we want to be partners. i said, ok. if that is the bargain, we will be here to help. that is the partnership we offer. the religious and ethnic minori

. >> let's talk about usaid where reducing staffing again, same theme. they reduced staffing by 80% in iraq. yet they have dramatically increased programming, including a new $100 million stabilization assistance in the >> anbar province. a $$7 million assistance to support ethnic and religious minorities. bringing total assistance to $19.16 billion. >> why do the stafrgs reconductions make sense especially when the programming is going to new untested governmental organizations? we only have five usaid staff left in the entire country. how is that going to work? >> well, congressman, i would respectfully disagree with all the numbers you put out there. they're not accurate. and i would be willing to comen a talk in a closed session about what the numbers actually are, what they were. and what we think they will be moving ahead. but nobody believes in those programs more than i. i was a huge champion of the assistance to anbar because i went out to fluja and saw the tribal shieks sitting in a huge room saying we wanted to kill you before now we want to b

since 2016, usaid's leveraged more than -- 2006, usaid's leveraged more than $22 billion in donated medicines to provide about 2.6 billion -- $2.6 billion in treatments. however, there's much more to be done. especially to build global, political support to fight n.t.d.'s. to that end, this bill directs our flagship global health program, pepfar, to find opportunities to integrate n.t.d. research and care into their existing efforts to fight hiv-aids where appropriate. to lessen the u.s. burden in this fight, this bill also encourages greater participation in the research, treatment and care of n.t.d.'s from the global fund, the united nations, and the other g-20 partners. n.t.d.'s pose a significant threat to health outcomes and have a detrimental effect on developing economies. i'd like to again thank mr. smith for his great leadership on this issue and, once again, to pass something in this house that will save lives is truly one of the most, i think, gratifying experiences that we as members of congress have. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the bal

[laughter] i was given a usaid scout, and told to move down to the district team. helping refugees return to their former homes was a centerpiece in our efforts. particularly so into tone. had 25,000 refugees over the ports of a couple of your spirit refugees have been registered by the government and were given 10 sheets. -- 10 sheets of roofing 10 and very arctic foodstuffs -- various other foodstuffs. our chief did not have a good reputation. himself alding substantial house in the suburbs , and i would not be surprised usaid elder materials went into his house. nonetheless, we got a lot of material out to the people rebuilding their homes around the province. billd an ag advisor named williams. he was a hands dirty, grassroots, corners farmer. efforts, heajor purchased non-heavy-duty crackers capable of breaking up the soil, and literally plowed up. it was hired cruise and pf soldiers. it was mine clearing equipment. and good old-fashioned bayonets. he also introduced the numerical rice that permitted double withing and double yields 120 day growing period. the

that policy within usaid ensures that the services funded by these accounts reach all segments of the population. as i said, this is not a new policy. the antidiscrimination policy has existed for several years, and it's not targeted toward faith-based organizations despite what some of the blogs mistakenly are putting out there. in fact, the complaints that i've heard in my office about single women being rejected for services didn't touch on work that faith-based organizations are doing. so, mr. president, i hope that all of our colleagues in the senate will not allow misinformation about the family planning dollars that are in the state and foreign operations bill to dismantle what has been a very important bipartisan achievement. its impact is too great and its programs are too important to let them be killed by a campaign to try and mislead people about what's in the amendment. thank you. i yield the floor. mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask that the vote that was going to start at 11:45 start now. the presiding officer:

i'm very grateful you pointed out usaid too. i believe that isis materialized because of the withdrawal from iraq under the previous administration which followed the unfulfilled red line. this premature decision based on a time line rather than conditions based led to the reengagement to have to defeat isis isis. with the president's pulling the ta troops, how would this reinforce your statement? >> it's not a peace. keeping force. they're working closely, day in and day out with the sdf to perform a number of tasks underneath that overarching goal and strategy. that's their mission. and they're conducting those operations day by day. >> thank you. and general milley, again, thank you for your service. it's reassuring to military families. you've already cautioned that a re reemergence of isis is possible. can you talk about the potential for a resurgence absence of a u.s. presence. >> my assessment at this point if we do not retain a capability, an intelligence capability that allows us to collect and see and then act with a s

milliamp five usaid, staff left in the entire country. how is it going to work. >> i would respectfully disagree with all of the numbers that you put out there. they are not accurate. i would-be wheeling to come and talk in a closed session about what the numbers actually are and what they were and what we think it will be moving ahead. nobody believes in those programs more than i. i was a huge champion of the assistance of invar because i went out there and i saw these people sitting in a huge room like this and staying yes, we wanted to kill you before but now we want to be partnering with you. and i said okay. if that's a bargain, will be here to help. that's a partnership we offer. religious and ethnic minorities, i can't tell you what a feeling it plans to be in a half destroyed monastery and no that our money is going to restore that from what isis tried to with it. i reminded every single day and things like this that i wear, says the lord news prayer and aromatic. to be sitting in a mass among christians and here then recite this

it reminded us of how much usaid has that into the corruption that exists in afghanistan even among the afghan government. i wanted to ask in the political climate of america first, endless wars, how the us taxpayer dollars that are going to afghanistan can be used in a way that doesn't fuel corruption and illicit trade and trafficking. >> i don't think that is a way -- afghanistan or nigeria or somalia or colombia, the golden child of us company insurgency, to get to a stage that you have 0 divergent and 0 corruption. it would only hit this stage if you had 0 diversion and 0 corruption in systems that have extremely weak institutions and are really based around patronage, corruption is the purpose of government and the essence is disorganized. that said, we can be more diligent, the international community can be more diligent about preventing the most egregious forms of governance. this is where i have been urging of the policy in a while. what forms are most destructive. they exclude geographic groups or corruption that systematically undermines the capacity of afghan security forces

i think if the usaid took a much more rigorous approach to missions in north korea that could be oneng that particular space. the final point i believe global community including the eu must get together. the north koreans are great at divide and rule, divide south korea from the u.s., divide the americans from the european partners but on this particular note, this is where i think the chump administration must really revamp their foreign policy so that the europeans, the south koreans, the japanese, australians and americans all singing from the same sheet of music. let me close by saying, as i said earlier, today is veterans day and i don't think i'd be standing here if it weren't for the fact that 38,000 americans gave their lives with the defense of my country. as a younger postwar generation korean my dad, 92 years old, this is one thing where i think freedom is not just for south koreans, it's also for all of north koreans and at some point in time i really hope and i do believe although it will take many more decades that all of north koreans in south and north korea will liv

think if the usaid took a much more rigorous approach to operational missions in north korea, one way of infiltrating that particular space. the final point i believe is that the global community, including the eu, example for, t get treating. he north koreas great at divide and rule. >>> divide the south korean from the u.s. and this is where i think the trump administration must really revamp their foreign policy so the europeans, the south koreans think just, the australians, and the americans, all sing from the same sheet of music. so, let me close by saying, as i said earlier, today is veterans day, and i don't think i'd be saying anything here if i weren't for the fact that 38,000 americans gave their lives for the defense of my country, and as a younger, i guess, postwar generation korean, my dad who is 92 years old, but this is one thing where i think freedom is not just for south koreans. it's also for all north koreans and at some point in time i hope -- and i do believe all they will take many more decade, that all of north koreans in south and north korea will live as free

in the report, one unnamed executive with usaid estimated that 90% of what the u.s. spent was overkill. the post says it obtained the documents through the freedom of information act after a three-year quest. in response to the piece, defense department spokesman lieutenant colonel thomas campbell said monday, quote, there has been no intent by dod to mislead congress or the public. most of the individuals interviewed spoke with the benefit of hindsight. >> our jim sciutto there with that report. >>> next here, after five decades -- yes, five decades -- the main "star wars" saga is coming to a close. we will show you the lengths some fans are going to, to ensure their spot for the opening of "the rise of skywalker." that's next. >>> it had all the promise of creating real change to combat the current climate crisis. cop25, a summit of climate negotiators from almost 200 countries was tasked with solidifying the rules of the 2015 paris climate accord. but in the end, all that was accomplished was a compromise. well, let's talk about why there were no breakthroughs her

diane feinstein so we were taking those issues of mortality that involved women and girls with the usaid funding is a strategy to keep women and girls in school beyond elementary school all around the world and these are the types of things we feel good about there will always be the outliers and they get the attention from the media but at the end of the day the real work is done by women but knock on wood. and then leading those efforts that is very different than how it's done in the past or in this country. >> starting with the news of the day so we have to talk about that today or right about now holding up a conference to announce the president. >> you have a conservative area how do you weigh what happens in washington at home? >> we are in a unique position that we are very familiar with political corruption. [laughter] is not a foreign concept. [laughter] so the impeachment inquiry at the same time we watch chicago tv news at the same time the sei rated the offices so there's pelosi and donald trump and for my neighbors at all looks the same it is not so foreign or unfamiliar so

first, in biden's case, he personally withheld usaid until the prosecutor he wanted fired was actuallyed. biden received a personal benefit for his official act, namely the ability of his son to continue to collect money from a corrupt ukrainian company. hunter and joe biden had a direct financial stake in avoiding an investigation that might lead to the company's demise. and his gravy train would stop. of course, this is obvious and everybody can see it. there was an article in "the new york times" published in may that stated the following about the ukrainian prosecutor's ouster, among those who had a stake in the outcome was hunter biden. his younger son who at the time was on the board of an energy company owned by a ukrainian oligarch who had been in the side of the fired prosecutor general. and of course, joe biden had a personal interest in avoiding a political scandal involving his son. clearly a requested informational investigation into biden's dealings was justified as an informational investigation into an abuse of power by the previous administration. but of course that re

we are trying, lois and i are co- leading on keeping young girls in education act, making sure the usaid funding, that the strategies in this country that keep women and girls rather in school beyond elementary school. all around the country. all around the world rather. and these are the types of things that we actually feel good about. we want to find those things. they are always going to be the outliers on both sides of the aisle, and they get the attention from the media, but the end of the day the real work being done, i think is being done by women they can get this done. but think about it. [inaudible] two women leading the funding and efforts for congress that's a pretty powerful. >> that's very, very different for helmets been in the past in this country. >> so we started with the news of the day being impeachment so we have to talk about it is our politico and women know. i think today, right about now some of your colleagues in the democratic side it 9:00 a.m. are holding a press conference to announce two articles of impeachment for the president. i want to ask you come from

there are thousands of federal employees who live and work around the world from the state department, usaid. these patriots work in difficult conditions. what message does it send around the world when they see the president and his supporters attack and attempt to reveal the identity of the patriot who took the risk that exposed trump's abuse of his precedency, his abuse of power? what message does it send when the world witnesses the president and his supporters denigrate, disrespect and harass a patriot? this is another example of why the action of this president threatens u.s. national security. the president's defenders shout coup, hoax and demonstrate their 150% loyalty to the president while offer the record acknowledge his wrongdoing. people from around the world understand this as autocratic behavior. they know if they step out of line they might lose their lives or in this instance they might lose their election. the president has forbidden everyone in the administration from guantanamoing even when subpoenaed, leaving the only tool available to us, impeachment. this is not a coup

in the report, one unnamed executive with usaid estimated that 90% of what u.s. spent was overkill.ed the documents through the freedom of information act after a three-year quest. in response to the piece, the defense department spokesperson campbell said, quote, there's been no intent by dod to mislead congress or the public. most of the individuals interviewed spoke with the benefit of hindsight. the military spent years, decades even, rebuilding confidence after what was discovered in the pentagon papers, changing the way commanders were educated. whole host of processes. and to have a similar result on decades later on what has turned out to be america's longest war is deeply disturbing. the political implications, as you know, president trump has spoken about the possibility of pulling troops out of afghanistan. he wants to do it. every time he's gotten right up to the step where he would do that, the military has cautioned him it would be a real mess. how does the president read this, and does that make it more likely troops are gone before the end of his term. >> he will thi

, all the key players in whole of government approach. >> i'm very grateful you pointed out usaid because they play such a vital role. i believe isis materialized because the precipitous withdrawal from iraq under the previous administration which followed the unfulfilled red line. this premature decision based on a timeline rather than conditions based lead to the engagement to have to defeat isis. with the president recent comments about pulling troops out of syria and keeping peacekeeping force, how will this forth the competent any of the six objectives that you and general milley have highlighted in your statement? >> the force, residual force in syria is not a peacekeeping force. it is a force focus on the enduring defeat of isis. they're working closely day in day out with the sdf to form a number of tasks underneath that overarching goal and strategy. that's the mission and their conducting those operations day by day. >> thank you, and general milley, again thank you for your service. so reassuring to military families. you've already caution a reemergence of isis is possible. ca

it also restores the state department's and usaid's staffing to 2016 levels and increases funding for many of our critical partners like the national endowment for democracy, the global fund, the u.s. institute of peace, the inter-american foundation, and the u.s.-african development foundation. the extraneousw, matter carried in the appropriations bill -- i don't think i have to do that now, i messed my pages up. ok. i am concluding now and i thank u for your consideration and i'm very happy to answer any questions for my colleagues. >> thank you very much. ranking member granger. >> tharme mcgovern, ranking member cole, members of the committee, thank you for allowing me to testify on the appropriations packages for fiscal year 2020. i wish we'd been able to pass these bills by the begins of the days fist call year but i'm glad to be here today. i have to take a moment to thank my dear friend, full committee chair nita lowey for her efforts. though we don't always agree, she is respectful for other opinions and works in good faith. i want to thank our members for their hard work and

. >> guest: i was doing an internship in the early 90s in washington dc, interning at usaid today and staying with relatives in the area and i was on the sports desk. so we didn't leave work until the baseball games on the west coast were over so it was usually quite late at night by then and i was driving to and from my own collapse house where i was staying in usa today headquarters and i had my car which had new york plates because i was from new york although i was driving in dc and i was driving home one evening after work probably early the next morning and i hear these sirens blaring in the police pulled me over and order me out of the car and push me to the ground face away from the car and all the rest and said i fit the description of someone they were after without state plates. >> what were you thinking? >> i was terrified. i remember getting back into the car after i left because they seemed to be gone as quickly as they came after they realized i wasn't the right person and sitting in my car shaking i remember i had a standard and i couldn't get it out of gear, my hand w

senator marco rubio said the government as a recipient of billions of dollars of usaid in a and american military assistance. back to you. >> sandra: a lot more information coming in on that, more on this with dan hoffman in just a moment, the former cia station chief who served in iraq. we will hear from him in just a few minutes. >> eric: meanwhile, the suspect in the hanukkah stabbings breezes now facing federal hate crime charges. accused of entering a rabbi's home and seriously injuring five people with a machete. the fbi says they did find several journals of his containing references to nazi culture and hitler as the jewish community is grappling with the rise of anti-semitic violence rising in the new york city area. >> our community is angry. this incident is the culmination of a long period of hatred directed towards the jewish community and specifically the organized community. >> eric: lauren green has been tracking these latest developments and is here with us. >> sandra: while his family pleads it was mental illness charging grafton thomas with federal hate crimes in the at

wanting to impeach these allidents we vote in and the while, i am looking at a website right now, usaidall of you need to get on here and look at this data. sent 500 22,000,600 87,997 divide -- over half $1 billion to ukraine we spent -- sent to them. that is one country. meanwhile, we are sitting here debt and wellion in have indebted every citizen of america over $60,000. a lot of this is sent to foreign countries. meanwhile, we have families that cannot pay their bills. the income gap between business we the worker is so wide and send these politicians to washington to participate in the swamp, they approve all they stayed to foreign countries and set it up to where money flows into their pockets. look at joe biden and his family. pelosi and her family who made millions on their inside information on the visa credit card scheme 10 years ago. it flows through their pockets like these inside deals like joe biden did with his family. host: asking your thoughts on the impeachment process, whether president trump's actions are impeachable. ,e are joined by peter welch democratic congressm

and the term address in usaid feedback explicitly includes ip addresses which can be shared by hundreds or even thousands of people. for the special call detail records program which is one part of section 215, the actual subject of collection has to be somebody recently suspected of terrorist activity but as ben was think the government can then get the second half which is is the phone records of anyone who is called by that terrorist even once. so at the time in 2015 many of us had some concerns that because of the open-ended nature of the sst definition and the second half in the call detail records program, the collection might end up being if not technically bulk collection in the sense of being indiscriminate, still quite bulky in the sense of polling and a lot of information about innocent people. thanks to the transcript provision of the usa freedom act we have some insight into how those concerns have played out. so congress required the government to report the as bit number of targets of collection but also the number of unique identifiers used to gimmick information collect

the close coordination between us and other players in that realm as well whether it's treasury , usaid, all the key players and the whole of government approach . >> they play such a vital role and finally that isis materialized mister secretary because of the precipitous withdrawal from the previous administration followed the unfulfilled red line. this premature decision based on a timeline rather than conditions led to the re-engagement to have to defeat isis. with the president's recent comments about pulling troops out of syria andkeeping a peacekeeping force , how will this force published any of itsobjectives that you and general milley have highlighted in your statement ? >> the residual force in syria is not a peacekeeping force. it's a forced focus on the defeat of isis . they are working closely they in, day out with the stf to perform a number of tasks underneath that overarching goal and strategy so that's their mission , their conducting those operations day by day. >> thank you and general milley thank you for your service.e. it's so reassuring to military families. you'

remain anonymous congressional delegations come and go that live and work around thehe world from usaid what message does it send in the attempt to the have the indignity of those patriots to expose the abuse of power what hamessage does it send he has compromise their ability to fight for democracy and why the president threatens national security they shall demonstrate their loyalty to the president while off the recordsh acknowledging his wrongdoing people from around the world understand this they know they step out of line they may lose the election and it has forbidden everybody from cooperating even when subpoena. this is not a clue it is irresponsible to label it is the responsibility of this committee to follow the constitution. waiting to see if we would hold ourselves to the democratic principles if we demonstrate our ability to hold the leaders accountable how to show it democracy handles the crisis in that it remains strong and the president is the anomaly and no one is above the law and this is what we must adopt articles of impeachment to takeor the first step in the pres

it restores the state department 's and usaid staffing to 2016 levels and increases funding for many of our critical partners like the national endowment for democracy, the global fund, the s. institute of peace, the inter-american foundation and the u.s.-african development foundation. of critical importance, the bill limits the administration's ability to redirect or deviate from congressionally directed spending levels. amid all of these successes, i must note how disappointing it is that in these negotiations president trump and congressional republicans refuse to relent on their counterproductive assault on women's rights and health programs that provide basic health care to women and families here and around the world. madam speaker, i join the appropriations committee because it is the best place to give more people a better chance at a better life. with this bill, we have lived up to that promise by making historic investments for the people. i am so proud that we are able to do so much good for children and families across the country and around the world. i urge my colleagu

delegations come and go but thousands of employees live and work around the world from the state department usaid and they work in difficult conditions what message does it send around the world when they attempt to reveal the id of the patriot that took the risk to expose his abuse of power? what message does it send when the supporters denigrate disrespect and harass a patriot while testifying in public? he is compromise their ability to fight for values and democracy is another example by the actions of this president threaten us national security. r the defenders hope their loyalty to the president without acknowledging his wrongdoing people from around the world understand this autocratic behavior if they step out of line they could lose their life or their election the president has forbidden everyone in the administration from cooperating even when subpoena leaving the only tool available is impeachment it is not a coup it is irresponsible to label a constitutional process a coup it is the responsibility to follow the constitution the world is waiting to see if we will hold ourselves to th