Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20150403

That affect the nation. Students were asked to create their documentaries based on the theme the three branches and to demonstrate how it policy law, or action has affected them or their community. Justice best in sparks, nevada is one of our second prize winners. Her entry focused on animal conservation. It affects us all. We are all going to be affected by this. If we live in a beautiful state like nevada, the health of our state. If our land is not healthy, how can we as a people be healthy. It impacts us all. The Actual Health of our wildlife population. To many, the endangered species act is a it is putting the greater thats what we set out to discover. The greater sagegrouse is a declining species, there were over 16 million. Today there are fewer than 200,000. The number continues to drop. The Current Situation with the sagegrouse, the numbers are down to about 5000, the amount of habitat the bird has has been reduced by half since the early 1900s due to development ranching, wildfires, invasive species. They thrive in a sagebrush habitat and they only have half of what they originally had. They have been enlisted on the threatened species list. Last case, they will be placed on the endangered species list. That could really harm the economy here in nevada. Wildfires or invasive species. Wildfire is number one, driven by an invasive grass. Based on the sagegrouse current threats, many believe placing them on the endangered species list will hinder their recovery. One way it might help is that it will bring it more into the spotlight for the general public. People tend to pay more attention when a species is in peril. That might generate more conservation activity. If the bird is listed, the bureau of Land Management will have to do consult with the fish and Wildlife Service on any management activities that occur within areas determined to be sagegrouse habitat, which is a large portion of northern about nevada. There are conflicting opinions on whether or not this will help the bird, or will hamper the bird, because it will slow down the process of restoration. Looking at a species, a single species, is the worst thing we can do for sagegrouse. The worst thing we can do is list it under the endangered species act. In the 11 western states that sagegrouse is in, there have been, in the last 45 years corporate conservation that has been happening across the board between federal Agencies Private landowners, state agencies, and there is a huge momentum built up and my fear for our wildlife populations in general is that a listing of the sagegrouse as endangered will set back cooperative conservation. We have learned how to communicate and get along and work cooperatively, that i would hate to see that lost. The species is a focus of unprecedented range wide conservation efforts. And to prevent it from enlisted under the u. S. Endangered species act within the next three years. For example, the usdas conservation arm has been over 100 million to conserve the species. You need to establish core habitat zones. That is the problem with that is finding the money to do it. We have the Nature Conservancy and they have rehabilitation projects that would be designed to prevent wildfires, to restore areas that have been burned, and to protect some areas. Especially areas where nothing is really going on anyway, no mining, no grazing, to protect those areas. A number one problem we have with these systems is they are surrounded by the juniper trees that have encroached on sagebrush ecosystems. I believe we can have a large impact on improving habitat quickly by treating uplands, removing trees. And reducing the impact predators would have and improving the meadows. We all work together. We communicate, collaborate. We do not set distinct boundaries. We help each other out to do multiple conservation projects for the sagegrouse. I have worked with other species that have been in decline, and i have never seen this amount of collaboration that i have seen with the sagegrouse, and i think it is positive and something that needs to continue, no matter what the listing decision is. If that happens, that is good news for the sagegrouse. There are huge conservation efforts to preserve the sagegrouse. If it is listed, these efforts may be halted. The people of nevada will be impacted greatly. It will end up on the list if we do not do something. To learn more about our competition, go on to cspan. Org. Tell us what you think about the issue this student addressed on facebook and twitter. On thursdays washington journal, the daily beast editor discussed policy in washington. This is 45 minutes. Host we have gone to the offices of news organizations to find out about their organization and how they cover news. The focus today, our cameras take us to the offices of the daily beast, which can find online. Dailybeast. Com. John avlon the editor in chief joins us. Guest good morning. Host how do you define what you do to other people when they come to your site . How do you set your sights set yourself apart from others . Guest we are essentially a politics and pop culture site but we do it back with real reporting. We are the alternative to particular partisan sites and content forums that you see some much today. My friend, the journalist to pass away a couple years ago says there are three great beats in american journalism. Politics, hollywood, and war. That is what we cover at daily beast and the key for us is we focus on scoops, scandals, and secret worlds. We love confronting bullies, bigots, and hypocrites. That is what gives us alive in fighting as a lean and hungry beast. We are aggressive and we like to do real reporting and have fun doing it. Host what kind of stuff do you have and are they committed to find these kinds that you are looking for . Guest absolutely. Here, we have about eight reporters from politics and National Security. You will be talking to some of them later in the next couple hours. In new york, we have a team considerably larger than that. We are lean and hungry compared to some outlets. The key for us is to realize and it has been key to our growth we grew 50 at the end of last year. We are majority mobile, and our audience is 75 millennial or genx. People will respond, particularly young people, to real news if it does deals with exec medicine. Balancing the edge and attitude of online news brands with the quality and credibility of legacy newsprint. When you combine the two, you get the daily beast. You can make a difference and a dent in online conversations. We grew over 230 in the social commedia last year social Community Last year. You say go out there, have fun be fair, and all of a sudden you can get a real response. It is counter to a lot of the commodity news people have come accustomed to. Host if you go to the pages by now, there is a story about finding irans secretive drone. Theres a story about Monica Lewinsky and bob menendez. How do you decide what goes to the front page or the top for readers to get to . Guest you look for the best story there is. You look for a good vibrant high low mix. Theres a story about discovering a secret iranian dronebased and the indictment against bob menendez and the whole culture of corruption in new jersey. A funny smart piece that stacks up the complaint against menendez but the legacy of corruption in the garden state. And then a look at Monica Lewinskys resurgence. He got eric a young, feminist icon who really criticized Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s and she apologized saying she was essentially wrong to engage in a political pylon that was disparaging to Monica Lewinsky at the time. You look for the right mix and you always want to respect your audiences intelligence and time. If you get the right vibrant balance between politics and pop culture, if you break real news that makes a dent in the conversation, you have a great story mix. That is what we have been able to achieve at daily beast and it is a constant process. We say today our best, tomorrow better. We are under no illusions that we have arrived. We need to say hungry and aggressive and work to get better. The growth we have seen is a vindication of the effort. Host numbers are on the screen if you want to talk to john avlon about the daily beast. There are two goats behind you, dont be boring, dont be stupid. How do they play into the daily news work of the daily beast . Those are our key editorial rules. We like to keep things simple and strong. Dont be boring and dont be stupid area and that is a quick and punchy way of saying respect your audience and their time and their intelligence. Particularly for younger generations, the dumbest thing you can do to appeal to millennials is dumb it down. People are smart. You need to respect the fact. Write headlines and stories that you would read and your family and friends would read. Make sure you are adding value. Dont be stupid. Dont bottom feed in an attempt to broaden your audience. It will not work. Focus on edge and differentiation that respect to audience. The other point about dont be boring there is an ascension that some legacy news brands have that goes under the veil of commodity news. Essentially everything is watered down and the voice is stripped out of it. I think that is a death sentence is what. People really want to see voice particularly in online reporting. I am a former columnist and i still write when i can. The column is a good form in general but for the daily beast, you want reporting done with a lot of voice so you add value to the conversation. There is a sense it doesnt taste right medicine. What we have found is particularly in the rising tide of social media, so many things get commoditized. So many sites just rewrite other people stories. Even opinion can be commoditized. If you break real news and add real value, it can resonate. Outside of social media it can make a mark. They cannot taste that it cannot taste like medicine. One of the complaints that makes me frustrated in the world of news, particularly in tv news is on summit he says that is really important but it doesnt reign. When you to understand and take response ability for the fact that if something is important it is our job to make interesting. If we cannot do that, we have failed in our jobs. That has an urgency to as we go through this massive change. More and more readers are getting their news via the social media feeds so you need to punch harder to resonate out. You can do it with quality and credibility but it cannot taste like medicine. It cannot be boring. Host we will spend our day at the daily beast talking to several of the reporters and the editorinchief john avlon. First call for you is from mark in st. Paul, minnesota. Go ahead. Caller i am wondering one of these News Agencies going to report on the overpayment to legislators in d. C. They get a huge salary, unlimited sick days, you work under 100 days a year and get lifetime benefits after being in office for three terms. Guest i am making a point generally about the dysfunctional culture and their Lifetime Appointments in congress . Host he left us but i think that is his point. Guest one thing you should know about the beast in our political perspective is it was very fashionable around a decade ago to put forward partisan news sites. Partisan new sites have hurt the credibility of journalism overall. One of the things we do here is make sure we are not partisan and not neutral not partisan and neutral. We punch left and right and that gives us unpredictable. We are voices ranging from liberal to libertarian. That degree of partisan predictability kills credibility but it compounds the problems we are seeing in washington. In my own writing, i have zeroed in on the dysfunctional nature of washington dc because of the unprecedented polarization. People are right to be frustrated. 90 to recognize and we need to recognize that partisan media has had a really compounding effect on the problems in washington. We have the opportunity to be correct and independent. That is one of our key values. One of our key phrases that we use inside the beast to remind us who we are and how we are different is that we are independent, irreverent, and intelligent. That is a promise to ourselves and our readers. Young people are sick of partisan media. There is a region a majority of millennials self identify as independent. They are sick of the partisan straitjacket they get put in that leaves our country to dysfunction rather than being able to solve albums. Solve problems. Host linda you are our next caller. Go ahead. Caller you said your audience is mostly millennials but yet recently i saw a poll that said millennials dont know much of anything. I am hoping or i would like to know how your site would increase the knowledge of young people that they dont seem to be getting through the education. Guest there is a tendency in all generations to look at the rising generation and say we are going to hell in a handbasket. These kids today. That impulse is understandable but it is rarely accurate as history will show. The key to appealing to millennials which is half hour audience is to understand a couple of key facts. It is the most diverse generation in American History. They have a real distrust of organizations and institutions which leads to a high degree of political independence. These are young folks who are massively news consumers on mobile devices, which is why it is significant we are mostly mobile. That has huge implications for the industry overall. They are getting a lot of their news through social media feeds. I really do believe the dumbest way you can appeal to millennials and younger readers is by dumbing the news down. They will reward intelligence and integrity as long as there is punch and energy and attitude to it. That is what we can provide, and that is our obligation. It is a big mistake to write off a whole generation. It is a mistake most generations have fallen into. I understand the temptation but it is ultimately proven wrong. The trick to proving it wrong is to offer them something other than dumb celebrity gossip 24 hours a day. That will not scratch the itch. They are more interested in a wider range of things. In the last six months or so, we have seen our top two verticals be world news and entertainment. They run the and neck they run that connectin neck. The diversity of this generation is one key to understanding that. The most diverse generation in American History for a news is not foreign because it involves real stories and real time. If you can bring that drama out rather than make it look like dry copy, you will get a real response. Host on our democrat line, here is richard. Go ahead. Richard from new york, good morning. Caller i just have a criticism of the news media in general. Hopefully a suggestion of how to help. I noticed a move to sensationalism and entertainment and news and a visceral entertainment rather than an educational slant. I think it is important for everybody in the country and i think one of the problems is the lack of education. We can see it in the television shows. They are much less substantive in terms of education about science. I dont know if your member shows like quantum leap. We need to have more educational substance. That will help people make better decisions when they are voting. I understand it cannot be boring. I have worked in the school system. You have to engage people on an emotional level. I wanted to emphasize science and math in addition to politics and entertainment. Guest first of all, i appreciate your point and i appreciate the quantum leap reference is a High Water Mark of american television. The key is to entertain while you educate. You to be able to do both. If youre only serving up hardcore math and science allday any wonder why no one is visiting your new site, it is probably you. If you can entertain while you educate, you get the best of both worlds. At the end of the day that is what is at the heart of a high low approach to news and new sites. You want to offer people both because it will have a greater resonance. It is our obligation and our commitment to educate while we entertain our readers. That will make sure a larger number of folks read it. That is the name of the game at the end of the day if you want to raise the level of civil discourse. One thing about science and math and technology, one of the verticals we have had Great Success with over the last year and change is the tech and health vertical. We got rid of a business vertical. It was too broad. We decided to focus on tech and health and intersection between the two. We have seen real success in that vertical because there is a real interest particularly among millennials. You see it getting picked up on referral sites and training on social a lot trending on social a lot. The key to making it work is not to just publish a bunch of dry academic position papers and wonder why no one gives a damn. Host youre putting a lot of content on the web, what is your editorial process like . Who looks over the copy that eventually makes it onto the web . Guest in many ways, we have a traditional newsroom structure. We are freed from some of the restrictions and legacy obligations that can stop legacy organizations from embracing the full potential of the web. We have a meeting every morning at 10 00 a. M. And we have an afternoon editorial meeting or we catch up on what news has broken during the day and what is coming in. We have editors on essentially 24 hours a day so we are able to keep updating the cheat sheet which is one of our most popular products which allows breaking news with a point of view and direct links back to the original source. We are constantly updating the site. There isnt the solution of turning on a site and it is the equivalent of a paper. 3 the idea was that from inception. There is a wild west quality to the state of online news right now. That is about opportunity. Quality controls of having editors and reporters in fact checks and a real system of rigor to ensure highquality is in place at the beast. Host from rochester new york here is andrew. Good morning. Caller morning. It is cold but it is always called out here. Guest cold and beautiful sound like rochester. Caller you ever been out there . Guest yeah i sure have. Upstate new york is beautiful. Caller who does Rush Limbaugh work for . Guest it works for his radio syndicate for whom he is wellpaid. I will take that ball and run with it for a second. First of all, if you pull back for a second and look at the forces that are transforming news media over the past decade in change and change, there have been essentially three revolutions within have my lifetime. You happy days when there were essentially three sanctioned networks that were repository of all news knowledge and perhaps as many magazines and change. Then you have the rise of talk radio and partisan media which was designed in the eyes of the people who advocated it. They believe the implicit bias of Mainstream Media required explicit bias to balance. Then you had the fragmentation in the media environment with the rise of online. What you had was a bunch of Business Strategies about appealing to narrow but niche audiences. In that environment, we saw the rise of partisan news and the way you cap the audiences entertained was to keep them infused. Rush limbaugh has become a very wealthy man pursuing a formula. That are a couple of fundamental problems, most of which you are seeing with partisan media particularly on the right. You are seeing an aging demographic youre appealing to. The average age of rushs listeners is often midsixties or higher. You can sell those folks a steady diet of resentment and agitation and nostalgia for a past that never was. You can get rich doing it. From over the every Political Movement becomes a business and ends up as a racket. We are aiming to be a correction to the impulse. You high watermark of media has been already hit. If you look at the demographic changes for millennials is they want more independence. They distrust predict ability predictability. We can be part of the push back. That is part of what we mean by calling bs on belize and hypocrites. On belullie and hypocritess. It is our opportunity and obligation to cut through that and be independent and unpredictable. To hit left and right where it is appropriate. The folks who have gotten rich off of ginning people up with distorting data and news, those are the folks we are competing against. Host when it comes to the business side, who are your backers . How do you make your money . What are some of the names attached when it comes to backers . Guest we were founded and owned by the Ic Corporation which is owned by barry diller. He founded the site in 2008 with tina brown. I succeeded tina when she left in the fall of 2013. We are focused on millennials and mobile content marketing. We have seen a dramatic increase in our deal size over the past year. We have seen dramatic growth in the content marketing format which will be a real way publishers can look to provide premium content and work with advertisers. We are careful about not blurring those lines. One of the revolutions that is occurring right now is advertisers understanding they need to do something more than simply pitch if they want to engage premium audiences. It is about quality of audience that can engage. You have a bunch of different competing models and we are in a dw griffith moment. We are making new rules in realtime and we are all aggressively experiencing. What i will say about the business side is that none of us have the luxury to treat the business side of someone elses problem. We all need to think entrepreneurially. If i can get on my soapbox for a second, journalism is the only profession that is mentioned in the constitution. If we cannot figure out together this generation has an opportunity in opposition to do it how to make journalism work as a Business Model, ultimately, democracy is in a bit of trouble. There is a moral urgency bigger than ourselves and our Company Behind coming up with Business Models that work for journalism today. Im confident we can crack it. We are making great progress. Is an exciting time. Host we are visiting the d. C. Bureau of the daily beast today. On thursday, april 9, we will be at the daily caller. Our next caller from south carolina, go ahead. Caller thank you john for what you said concerning Rush Limbaugh and that entire segment. It made me feel much more at ease. I like the beast. I have read it several times. I am a democrat in a largely republican area. It is good to hear that these are the things you want to do. One of the things i want you to clarify is that you sent news has to be interesting. Has to be factual. I come from the old groups that watched the three stations. Has to be factual. Who cares about what is being said, it has to be true. That is what we have gotten away from. Limbaugh has spent 20 years terrifying old people and people like him. It has to be thats the other side has to be truth and not hollywood. That is where news has gone wrong. Everybody wants to put on a cute outfit and go out there and look and sound cute. Guest i think you are confusing one with the other. The obligation to make what is important interesting is about engaging people. It is about being realistic about the Human Experience but it does not mean and i am not advocating turning news into essentially a farcical game show. One of my favorite quotes is from senator Daniel Patrick moynihan that everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts. We call a lot of bs on the Snake Oil Peddlers who are trying to put Media Solutions that are simply cookiecutter color by numbers. The one thing about truth, that is about our goal. We have to be truthful to be credible. When you to avoid falling into the trap that you believe your team in the political sphere has a monopoly on truth. Neither party has a monopoly on virtual vice. Media becomes essential as someone who can call balls and strikes. Who can call left and right when the folks color outside of the light. One of our top stories is about the indictment of a democratic senator. There are a lot of democrats rallying around him today than he to look carefully at that indictment and follow the process realizing that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. He cannot flinch from that are select the facts. The two things the collar raised are not crossed at all. When they become a steady diet, we are opposed to that. I do not believe you have to choose between being interesting and covering important news. You can do both. Host looking at the story about bob menendez, i have only seen the headline. Guest what is your problem with that . Host goahead. Guest headlines have always mattered. They matter more in an era of social media. They matter enormously. The key for the daily beast is that we want our headlines to be conversational and clever and clear. We want to balance attitude with accuracy. We want to engage we want to dial up the edge in attitude without sacrificing accuracy. With that piece is about is the incident with menendez and our reporter put in a larger context about the tsunami of sleaze that ends up affecting the tristate area politicians and new jersey in particular. That history of corruption and indictments and that culture that ends up derailing so many major politicianss careers. Is that a visceral headline he would not read in the New York Times or ap, you are doing right . Host from texas, go ahead. Caller to the former caller Weekly Standard is owned by murdoch. Crystal is nothing but a paid propagandist who hasnt made a profit since the magazine opened. Let me get to mine. Last time i called, they said the bush family did not own the drone and the spying program. With has made a lot of money and theres oversight. The pentagon has video of children being raped at of a great there are three mass graves in falluja. Host what would you like our guest to address . Caller hcc holdings reinsurance on the 20 hours. Walker had reinsurance on the twin towers. Guest first of all, i am an independent. Our work for Rudy Giuliani when he was mayor of new york and probably so during 9 11. I wrote a book regarding there is a need for accountability journalism. That should be the end of all journalism. Too often it is not. Part of accountability journalism and calling bs is confronting conspiracy theorists who have gotten big megaphones in political debates and distorted them as we have seen critically during the obama era. Some folks coddle and encourage than others call bs and confronted. That is what we do here. Host clemson, south carolina. Jordan go ahead. Caller i was calling in because the host spoke about the facts and data and that is reasonable and respectful as a journalist. However, a lot of my commentary comes from the fact that interpretation of facts and data is where a lot of people have the curiosity and dispute. Data is raw, but the interpretation of the implications is where a lot of these alternative folks get their lines from. I wanted to see what the host had to say about that. Guest i am a former columnist. I coedited a book with two others. I love opinion and analysis. I dont think that alone is sufficient. Analysis needs to be levied with facts. At the daily beast, we provide a range of writers. There is a vibrant balance between reporting and opinion that does engage people in deep ways. Ultimately, what engages people, especially right now is news sites that are willing to show the courage to do something a little bit different. To not only report and have opinion but to take real stance. Real stance. When the Charlie Hebdo attacks occur, we reposted some of the covers out of solidarity. We work up with them just after six ago km a lot of just after 6 00 a. M. A lot of legacy sites were reluctant to do so. We were also engaged in the sony hacked emails when a lot of legacy brands were reluctant to do so. You can do that with the voice and analysis. Analysis should be part of any news digest. Ultimately, it is the decisions you make, the stands and fights you choose to engage, a new balance real reporting with fiber opinion that is a protectable. That you have something that is a fascinating site that engages readers and a deeper way. You create real lasting relationships with those readers. That is where the real value comes from. Host you talk about the effect of millennials and dealing with politics. What is your 2016 strategy . Guest in terms of covering . I think the daily beast will be the break real news to cover all the candidate with a lot of voice. There will be an impulse to flood the zone with minutia. There is always an impulse to engage in the process story pursuit of the day where everyone piles on a process story that is fairly irrelevant to the actual state of the race. It is our obligation to do something different. We will look for moments of courage or hypocrisy. We will cover candidates with a lot of voice, a skepticism that never slides into cynicism. It makes a beast story feel and read different. We will always go to our core principles. Host Hillary Clinton a story today talking about a relationship with the wife of builder basile of new york mayor bill de blasio. How often do you post new stories . Guest constantly throughout the day. The idea that a new site flips in the morning and that is the days edition is a total hangover from a newspaper era that is irrelevant to how things actually work today. It is a 24 hour cycle. That was a revolution with cable news. Newspapers used at multiple editions throughout the day. They constantly updated. A site should do that. That is a nobrainer. We update constantly throughout the day as news breaks. We have a major flip in the Early Morning and then midday and evening. That is so uncovered throughout the day with constant adjustments. We are looking at data and analytics in real time. There are huge opportunities. When you look at a time of major transition, there is a tendency the specially for legacy brands to focus on the obstacles rather than the opportunities. The tools we have at our disposal for my Business Analytics and editorial side for what i do on a daytoday basis they are extraordinary in terms of being responsive to readers. To see what they like and what is working and what doesnt. That way they will provide real value. Has to be a dynamically for our process or youre doing it wrong. Host richard in virginia, go ahead. Caller i have a question that will come out of this discussion. You to had a video about two months go depicting a series of news broadcasters around the country, maybe 16 or so. The terminology they all used was identical. Even buzzwords. With six corporations in the individuals owning the national media, can we not say relive under controlled media . Guest you cannot, especially with news media online. You make a fair point about media businesses and conglomerates controlling a large percentage of news media. I want to be cautious about the anecdote you offered suggesting there is somehow a scripting being handed out that people read from. That is not true. To hammer the point home, having worked in government and news media, the ultimate check on conspiracy theories is that people are not organized. We have a lot more outlets than ever before. There is a broader diet and more alternatives than ever before. It should be said that one of the things we are about here is we arent independent company. We are not owned by a larger news conglomerate. Independence is one of our core attributes of that reinforces it really this is a dynamic time in news. When youre selecting in his diet, the key is to make sure you are not stacking at all on one side of the deck. You can use that provides different perspectives and elements and you find out who you connect with you. Host what is your news diet . Guest obviously the daily beast when a four hours a day the daily beast 24 hours a day. As a younger man i read the economist in high school along with Rolling Stone and all that. I think they do extraordinarily well. One of the interesting things you are seeing is these legacy brands had a leg up had a hard time transitioning to digital but i thought the economist doesnt credible well. The new yorker is a paragon of quality and always has been. My professional respect for David Remnick as an editor and writer an extraordinary artist. Vanity fair is a print product and remains vibrant and has made a lot of strides on their digital side. Buzz feed news is an isolated vertical. It is doing a lot of good work with a lot of good people. We are competitive. That is part of what hope to succeed and grow. In the larger sense, we all to appreciate anyone who is trying to engage original online journalism minor. There is a certain element of those was for doing original reported work amid what was a sea of partisan media and online content forums that rip off other work, we have a degree of common cause. We try to reinforce quality and original work. Host michigan, democrats line, karen hello. Caller i have not seen any news person or any politician talk about the fact that we have had Nuclear Weapons in this world for 70 years, and the only time is ever been used is 71 years ago and we were the ones that used them. Now at seems like the right wing is attempting to push us into a war over Nuclear Weapons. We have some pretty kooky people in charge of Nuclear Weapons in this world. We have north korea and pakistan and india. I probably dont even know how many countries have Nuclear Weapons. Not one, no matter how much power they want, has used them as a weapon. Now they want us to go to war over a Nuclear Weapon. I think iran will find that if we spend all this money and time devoted to a Nuclear Weapon and dont dare use it, they must have 10 Nuclear Submarines weaponize all over this world. What do they think will happen to the country that detonates a Nuclear Weapon against their enemies . The country will be annihilated. Guest your guest is responding to the ongoing Iranian Nuclear negotiations, which has been a real subject of debate for years now but has really come to a point. In the cold war, the strategy was called mad the insured no one would use the Nuclear Arsenals they built. The theory makes about as much sense as the acronym suggests. We have come a long way as a World Without a Nuclear Detonation since hiroshima. One of the real problems of our time is nuclear proliferation. You have a lot of state actors trying to gain security of Nuclear Weapons, many of whom are state sponsors of terrorism or exporters of weapons. That is a nightmare scenario for the western world. Iran having Nuclear Weapons becomes massively destabilize. Not only for the region, but also for the world. It is dangerous given the history as a state sponsor of terrorism. You wonder why foreign news resonates now and it doesnt feel like something remote being done in geneva. People have a visceral response from the rise of al qaeda and the attacks of 9 11 to the rise of isis and iran and the blurred lines throughout the middle east today. It is one of the reasons why our middle east coverage and our foreign coverage has resonated. Which are to focus and differentiate our foreign coverage. Focus on dictators and terrorists will recover them and break them with real news and move the ball forward and not slide into any artisan defense of one predictable approach or another whether it be republican or democrat. These are issues of life and that death. President obama certainly talked a lot about Nuclear Weapons at the outset of his term and was attacked for it even though his position now is similar to ronald reagan, ironically. This is an issue we all should engage in. It is not merely some elses problem. This is our time to be stewards of this earth and Nuclear Weapons are one of the things that could bend the arc of history dramatically and negatively. We want to engage in that debate and not just fall to preordained scripts. Host john avlon is the editorinchief of the daily beast. We are visiting he talks about new rules regarding governments use of civil asset. And the executive director of the becket fund for religious liberty. The executive director of americans united for separation of church and state discusses how liberty is defined, and we will take your calls. Washington journal live at 7 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Next, a discussion about the debate on religious freedom laws and what they mean for the republican party. The senior politics editor was our guest on washington journal. This is 25 minutes. Washington journal continues. Host we are back at the d. C. Bureau of the daily beast with Jackie Kucinich. Guest good morning. Host can you take a look at events in indiana and arkansas and tell us your take on the political nature of what has been going on in those two states . Guest i think in indiana just a couple minutes ago, they started to release draft information about that law which makes it clear that they cannot use the law to discriminate against the lg bt community. That is one of the fixes they have made. They did that under pressure from business groups, mostly from business groups, and this Huge National backlash that came from mike pence signing this into law. In arkansas, you have the governor there come out and say he was not going to sign this into law the difference between the two, if he does not sign it, that does not mean it cannot become law. It will become law in five days anyways. He did not say could not be vetoed. He asked them to go back and fix it to make sure it is not something that can be used to discriminate. Host political pressures on both men from different aspects to make decisions about these laws. Guest absolutely. We have also seen in extend into the 2016 field. You saw many of the president ial contenders on the republican side and Hillary Clinton to an extent, but she has less of the cultural battle and her party the republican contenders weighed in on this and pretty much all of them supported mike pence and said that he was protecting religious freedom and that was a good thing. Yesterday you saw jeb bush say i still support mike pence and i am not secondguessing him, but it sounds like at the end of the week, they will have this ill in a better position. I think that is the difference between someone who is coming from a position he was a governor and he understands that sometimes compromises need to happen. You see someone like ted cruz who was going to be on the right of the field the entire time. He will say or double down saying they do not have to change the law. We are seeing this evangelical and more establishment part of the party and you are seeing this play out again through this particular issue and it is a theme that we are going to see over and over again as the cycle continues. Host there was a piece of the new republic out recently saying that rand paul and Chris Christie not weighing in on the same. Why not on it. Why not . Guest if i am remembering correctly, he kind of took the middle position as well saying that he is not undermining might pence but they have to mike pence, but they have to work it out. Rand paul has not waiting, but i think if he does has not weighed in, but i think if he does he will take the middle of the stands. Host on march 31, you said Indiana Republicans were warned about this bill. Can you give us context of the piece . Guest lgbt activist fixing the, members had given edmon meant to add very minor language into the bill to make sure it would not discriminate against the Lgbt Community and they were rejected. They sounded an alarm saying this could be used to do this. From my wording, they were basically ignored. Then the firestorm happened. Some of the language will go into it is similar to what was presented in the amendments. They really could have avoided the Republican Legislature and mike pence couldve avoided a lot of the problems. Host our final guest this one from the daily beast. 202 7488001 is the line for republicans. 202 7488000 is the line for democrats. 202 7488002 is the line for them independents. Guest this has not been good for him. I covered mike pence when he was in the house of representatives and he always is very calm, cool, confident legislator. We have seen them in more of a defensive position in the last week, and that is not normal for him. His political future, this has been a really bad week for him. You have to wonder if that will play out. He probably built up his conservative credentials more, but with the business community, they are not happy with them. He was seen as a dark horse for this cycle. I dont know if that will happen anymore. He is young, you never know. It is his first term as governor, but this was an unforced error on his part. Host our first call for you is josie from jacksonville, for the. Caller it is my understanding that the draft from the Indiana Republicans is not does not include reductions for lgbt. Guest it does not specifically say lgbt in the legislation and i have only seen a doctor as well but it doesnt stipulate that this law cannot be used to discriminate i have only seen a draft as well, but it does not stipulate that this law cannot be used to discriminate. Recently, neither side is happy with this compromise, but that is the nature of compromise. Host from new york, cken. Go ahead. Guest good morning. Caller hello. I just think how is this constitutional to let the state discriminates against me as a gay man. This is just not ok. Guest i think that is what you are hearing a lot of activists in indiana say and in arkansas. There has been so much pressure, particularly in indiana, and i think that is why you are seeing this change. People do not think it was fair. Host Jackie Kucinich, as far as the topic of samesex marriage goes, is this the 2016 topic because of the event even though most states are changing their lost in most attitudes are changing on the topic . Guest i think it depends on what the Supreme Court says. If the Supreme Court decides that gay marriage should be illegal everywhere, thats all set. You might see some culture wars. Once that ruling comes down, i think it will take a lot of arguments off the table. Host michael from maryland. Go ahead, please. Caller good morning. I just want to let you know that i do not agree with the Republican Point on this religious freedom thing. The daily beast i am just learning about you guys and you brought out a number of folks and you guys are very impressive. The only question i have is, is there any color in your senior host i totally apologize for that. Please, forgive me. Lets talk about other events. He talked about 2016, talk a little bit about what we expect in the next few weeks. We have had announcements coming up, marco rubio hosting an event soon. What do you see forthcoming in the next weeks . Guest we have rand paul who will announce next week in kentucky and the following week, marco rubio will announce. You will see these organizations really start to rev up. They will do tours, iowa, new hampshire, south carolina. They will build up their organization and launch into fullfledged campaigns. We have seen it under the radar and people saying things like, oh, maybe i will run and maybe i will dairy these guys look like they are running. Hillary clinton. A foregone conclusion for quite a while, but we are expecting that perhaps sometime in april. You never know. She has the luxury of being able to wait a little bit longer because of her name. She will raise money and she does not really have anyone to her last who has been able to really catch fire. It does not seem like it is going to be competitive at all. On the republican side, it is close at the top. The front runner people like jeb bush, scott walker, marco rubio and there is not a lot of room between them. Host we occasionally hear Martin Omalleys name. What is your take on him . Guest it certainly looks like he will run, but he is also suffering from a lot of from a lack of name id. He was not even registering in the polls last month, so we will see if he can drum up a little bit of us. A little bit of buzz. But Hillary Clinton will be very tough for anyone to be on the democratic side. Host mike from myrtle beach, go ahead. Caller real quick, observation as the right he comes more entrenched on these social issues, they seem to be affirming the rights of those who are on the other end of the culture war and they are kind of fighting for these affirmations even though they are trying find their own identity. How can the right, from your viewpoint, identify and i farm identify and confirm when their viewpoint ended up on the wrong side of this culture wars . Guest you will see this play out on the right. I am not a strategist so i cannot tell them what to do, but i can tell it just from observing that you see more and more and you saw this in the last cycle the right wing of the party and this sort of chamber of commerce establishment really going against each other and that will not be any different this time. It might be more pronounced because you have stronger players on the right. Host when you say going against each other, you mean how . Guest im side, you will see them in debate for example. Challenging themselves challenging each other on social issues. Something like gay marriage. You will see a lot of friction even immigration, common core these are issues that the right wing of the party and establishment wing of the party dont agree on. It will be really interesting to watch and see where they end up in what kind of nominees we are looking up. Last couple of years, the establishment has won out but there are a lot of conservatives not happy with the candidates they have had. This year, they do have some strong people on the race. These are people who should be taken seriously. Host kathy from oregon. Republican line. Caller thank you for taking my call. I have been so very surprised because of the reaction that the mayors of the many cities have had. Sanding the public money to be spent on government business fannin the public money to be spent on government business. There needs to be an investigation into this. How can that be . I must say, please remember president obamas breakfast. Freedom of religion, the right to practice how we choose, to choose our state if we choose to practice no faith at all. To do so, free of persecution and fear and discrimination. So please remember that. That is extremely important and i think there needs to be an investigation into all of these states because it is not for the good of the people to stop the business of going to indiana. Thank you for taking my call. Host Jackie Kucinich. Guest i think what she is referring to is governors alike governors like in connecticut that government travel will not be paid for it they go to indiana. I think that is what she is referring to. If you talk to people on the left to do not agree with this law, they are going to say that this is not about religious freedom. This is about this committee against the Lgbt Community. Of course they support religious freedom, but i think from the perspective of the Lgbt Community and a lot of advocates that this law was not there and they did not want to endorse it by doing business with indiana. Host the Associated Press talks about this new language saying that the amendment to the act for of its Service Providers from using the lot of Legal Defense on refusing to provide goods, services, and that seems wide range, give your take. That seems like a wide range, give your take. Guest you are really what i am reading and i think when you talk to the advocates for the Lgbt Community, they are saying it wont be enough and the conservative right is saying it will go to far. At the end of the day, no one will really be happy, but that is legislating. Host robert from tennessee. Democrats line. Caller hello . Host go ahead. Guest hi. Host robert, go ahead, please. Guest i can hear you. Caller suppose i am a christian and i decide i am only going to serve christian people. I decide not to serve a jewish person, would that be all right under this new law . Guest again, i think that was one of the concerns. No, but that is not all right. I think that is one of the concerns they wanted to address. Various states are protecting class. Under indiana law, the state law, lgbt are not a protected class under civil rights laws. Certain municipality like in indianapolis is a state law and that is one concern that it was not a protected class, therefore, they could be discriminated against. Host actually, we will go to lori in tennessee on the republican line. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host go ahead. Caller this country was founded on people coming from england to have a right to religion based on god and jesus. Where has everything been changed . Where are my rights to that belief and while they going to be taken away . Host that is lori from tennessee guest i dont know what the question was there. Host one of the stories that came out yesterday, senator bob menendez a democrat from new jersey. Talk about his future. What happens now, the charges against them . Pink that picture for the folks who do not know that story in full yet. Guest Robert Menendez had 14 count indictment come down last night. This is something he largely expected. This was not a surprise. However, he has said he will fight and not step aside from his seat in the senate. However, they did say that he has stepped aside as the Foreign Relations Ranking Member temporarily. I have to note that i cannot think of an example and if your college hobbled, tell me, of an example of someone who has stepped aside and resumed that position. These indictments tend to go on for a long time and he says it is not true. When you read the indictment it does not look good for bob menendez. There has only been 12 senators in the history of the senate to be indicted with results. This is very serious and we are going to see this legal battle play out over the next couple of months and years. Host there is a picture about the senator bob menendez. One of the several stories will find that the daily beast. Jackie kucinich covers politics. Talk a little bit about how life has changed for you and the previous incarnations that you have done at other publications. What it is like a reporter and your particular place at the daily beast. Guest the difference between the daily beast is quote the daily beast is that we have a lot of boys and we can engage with our readers and a way that more established publications to cannot. That is one of the great freedoms of being here versus other publications which are all wonderful, but i happen to like this one the best. Host as a political person talk about what you expect the commerce the congress to be tackling when they get back. Guest first off, it is how medicare reimbursement doctors and right now they are in limbo because the senate decided not to pass it. House passed it in the senate has not taken it up. Each side is blaming the other on how this happened. You are having republican senators asking that it is offset because it is Something Like over 100 billion that would be spent as a result. I think you will have to see the senate take that up in pretty quick fashion. Host also on the senate side, the story this morning from the Washington Post is quote about a backandforth against senator dick durbin and senator shuman. What is going on . We saw harry reid endorse Chuck Schumer and what is going on behind the scenes . Guest this site has started because senator durbin and his staff say that Chuck Schumer when harry reid stepped out, said he would support the durbin in keeping the current position. They say that did not happen. You rarely see these interparty disputes spill out into the public which is what makes it fascinating. Kind of in the middle is patty murray, senator from Washington State who is maybe looking at durbins job. The rumor was that Chuck Schumer was going to endorse murray even though it was a he said, she said, who said. I think the most notable thing about this is that you do not see these disputes and this does not usually happen. Chuck schumer and dick durbin lived together for 22 years, so this is a personal fight. It is pretty nasty of their right now. We will see what happens as this plays out going forward. Host bill from fort pierce, florida. Go ahead. Caller good morning. The reason for my call is that the law that was passed in indiana usually when the law passes, it is my understanding that there is a compelling reason for it. In other words, there have been incidents within the state court something has happened to cause this. In listening to governor pence and other legislators, i have not heard anything, specific things that happen within the state. I just wanted to know what this what she thinks. Guest that is one of the arguments you have been hearing that there have not been any insistence. On another site, they said there were no instances on anybody being discriminated against as a result of the law another state. There is a push and pull in indiana right now. This has done a lot of damage within the state. There is a lot of bad feelings right now. Host when it comes to other issues involving the senate, the one thing we keep hearing over and over for the last two weeks is the future of the red a bench as the future of loretto blynch. Guest she was held up because of the antihuman trafficking law or bill. Because of the language having to do with abortion, it has been stalled. It seems like she is caught right now in a political fight and she is being used as this bargaining chip between republicans and democrats. It sure is a mess and not sure how it will go forward. If she she will probably be confirmed for a vote that she has been in limbo the longest to be in the position. Host senate definite its so definite as far as the boat . As far as the votes . Guest no, not yet. Again, we are spending our day at the daily beast in washington dc, talking to reporters and editors about the content and process of what they do there. Jackie kucinich as one who follows politics, what is it like being a reporter on capitol hill for an online publication versus the paper version that you used to work for . Guest there is not much of a difference, i will be honest. One reporting on capitol hill is one of the great privileges in my career. You are indisputable building with important people and get to meet people from different states who are coming through and touring. It is a fascinating place to work. There is no real difference between online publication and a print publication. You are still looking for the truth, you are still looking to report things out. It is working on capitol hill working on capitol hill is such a great experience and privilege. Host do you have to post more frequently now . Guest no. [laughter] guest i feel like they have revved up in the digital age over the last 15 years or 20 years now. I think everybody has to post more. The good thing about the daily beast is that there is not so much pressure to post every update from every story. We are allowed to assess where things are going and call it like we see it rather than the breathless coverage you see. Host sandra from indiana. Go ahead. Caller the Lgbt Community seems to be pulling the religious community in my view. How can we protect our religious views without offending the Lgbt Community . Guest i not a politician and i can just tell you what is going on in indiana and arkansas. I can tell you that from the business community, they did not think that this law in indiana was going to be fair and that is all i got. Host one recall from california. Independently, dave. Go ahead. Caller i would just like to ask if you can hear me . I would like to know when george bush went into iraq and lie to congress and it seems like the reporters do not say anything. Like they dont really care because the guy that prosecuted Charles Manson said that if he lied to congress he should be brought up on murder charges and the media does not ever discussed that. I was just wondering why . Guest there sure was a lot there, but i can tell you that the menendez indictment has to do with whether the senator took bribes and may have had a corrupt sanction with someone. The indictment is pretty is worth the read. Host what are you working on now for the daily beast . Guest we are continuing on this menendez indictment. Just following the 20 the 2016 field. We are starting to see a lot of financial disclosures, and how much people raise. Ted cruz raise a couple Million Dollars and a couple of days. He is the first declared candidate on the republican side. We are monitoring what he is doing and it will be interesting as voters and donors speak with their pocketbooks who starts to emerge as the money leader. I sure hope there are surprises. Host Jackie Kucinich on washington journal, david smith, officer of the Asset Forfeiture office. And christina arianga of the becket fund for religious liberty. Discussing the concept of religious liberty defined. We will take your call and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Washington journal live at 7 00 eastern on cspan. Coming up on cspan, the response to the deal with iran over its Nuclear Program. President obama speaking at the white house, then remarks by eu representatives and the secretary of state john kerry. Friday, the Atlantic Council examined the Iran Nuclear Framework deal. Former secretary of state John L Imbert will be among the panelist. You can see it following washington journal. Here are some of our featured program for the Holiday Weekend on the cspan networks. On cspan saturday at 8 00 eastern, former texas senator wendy davis. On the challenges facing women in politics. Easter sunday at 6 30 p. M. Eastern, golfing legend jack niclaus received the congressional gold medal for community service. On cspan2s book tv, activist and author cornel west on the political thinking of that Martin Luther king jr. Sunday at noon, a threehour conversation with former Investigative Reporter for the Washington Post and New York Times bestselling author ronald kessler. He has written 20 books, including escape from the cia, and the first family detail. On American History tv on cspan3 saturday, East Carolina University Professor Emeritus Charles Calhoun on a conscious made by accomplishes made eye ulysses s. Grant. And Patrick Schroeder takes us on a tour of a courthouse in virginia, the sign of confederate surrender in 1865. Tomorrow night, former president bill clinton, moderating a discussion of young entrepreneurs in the health industry, including a venture capitalist who started a hotel company. It is part of the annual Clinton Foundation health summit. In this portion, Health Insurance Company Founder Joshua Kushner talks about how the Industry Needs to be more like the tech industry. President clinton what do you need to happen that is beyond your control for your Business Model to have a good chance to succeed . Panelist great question. So i think it is mostly about incentives. There is a lot of things that we are doing that are very differentiated. To go back to the question you asked before, how does Technology Impact our businesses , or the industry, i am of the believe that if you are not a Technology Company in the next decade, you will not be a company. I think this is an unprecedented change in the world where everyone either needs to adapt or just move on. But there is so much that we can do. For example, amazon and google know when a woman is pregnant almost immediately based on what she is searching for. A Health Insurance company does not know until a claim is paid three months after birth. [laughter] you yeah. [applause] panelist so our ability to understand what is happening in the system in realtime enables us to actually take something that israel is real. We cannot prevent someone getting sick, but we can understand what is happening. Former president bill clinton moderating a discussion with a panel of entrepreneurs in the health care industry. Tomorrow night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. President obama talked about the framework for a deal on Irans Nuclear program, calling it a good deal that makes the world safer. His remarks from the white house rose garden are about 15 minutes. President obama good afternoon, everybody. Today, the United States together with allies and partners, have reached a historic understanding with iran, which, if fully implemented, would prevented from obtaining a Nuclear Weapon. As president and commander in chief, i have no greater responsibility than the security of the American People. Im convinced that if this framework leads to a final comprehensive deal, it will make our country, our allies, and our world, safer. This has been a long time coming. The Islamic Republic of iran has been advancing its Nuclear Program for decades. By the time i took office, iran was operating thousands of centrifuges, which can produce the material for a nuclear bomb. And iran was concealing a covert nuclear facility. I made clear we were prepared to resolve the issue diplomatically, but only if iran came to the table in a serious way. When that did not happen, we rallied the world to impose the toughest sanctions in history. Sanctions which had a profound impact on the iranian economy. Sanctions alone could not stop Irans Nuclear program, but they helped iran to bring to the negotiating table. Because of our diplomatic efforts, the world sit with us and we were joined at the table by the worlds major powers, the United Kingdom france, germany, russia, and china, as well as the European Union. Over a year ago, we took the first step toward todays framework with a deal to stop the progress of Irans Nuclear program and roll it back into key areas. Recall that at the time, skeptics argued iran would cheat, that we could not verify their compliance, that the interim agreement would fail. Instead, it succeeded exactly as intended. Iran has met all of its obligations. It eliminated its stockpile of Dangerous Nuclear material. Inspections of the iran program increased, and we continued negotiations to see if we could achieve a more comprehensive deal. Today, after many months of tough principle diplomacy, we have achieved a framework for the deal and it is a good deal that meets our core objectives. The framework would cut off every pathway iran could take to develop a Nuclear Weapon. Iran will face strict limitations on its program and it has also agreed to the most robust and Intrusive Inspections and transparency regime ever negotiated for any Nuclear Program in history. The deal is not based on trust. It is based on unprecedented verification. Many key details will be finalized and nothing is agree to until everything is a great. But here are the basic outlines of the deal we are working to finalize. First, iran will not be able to pursue a bomb using plutonium, because it will not develop weapons grade plutonium. The core of its reactor will be dismantled and replace. Spent fuel will be shipped out of iran for the life of the reactor. Iran will not build a new reactor and it will not reprocess fuel from existing reactors, ever. Second, the deal shuts down irans path to a bomb using enriched uranium. Iran has agreed that it will be shutdown by two thirds. It will no longer and rich uranium in the advanced centrifuges for at least two years. The stockpile of an rich uranium will be neutralized. Estimates indicate it is only two to three months away from potentially acquiring the Raw Materials for a single nuclear bomb. Under this deal, iran has agreed they will not stockpile the materials needed to build a weapon. Even if it violated a deal, for the next decade at least it would be a minimum of a year away from acquiring enough material for a bond. The limitations would last for 15 years. Third, this deal provides the best possible defense against their ability to pursue a Nuclear Weapon covertly. Inspectors will have unprecedented access. From uranium mills to the centrifuge production and Storage Facilities that support the program. If iran cheats the world will know. If we see something suspicious we will inspect it. Their past efforts to weaponize the program will be addressed. With this deal iran will face more inspections than any other country in the world. This will be a longterm deal that addresses each path to a potential bomb. There will be strict limits on their program for a decade additional restrictions on building new facilities or stockpiling materials will last for 15 years. The transparency measures will last for 20 years or more and some will be permanent and iran will never be permitted to develop a Nuclear Weapon. In return for their actions, the International Community has agreed to provide iran with relief from certain sanctions. Our own sanctions and those imposed by the United Nations security council. The relief will be phased. If iran violates the deal, sanctions can be snapped back into place. Meanwhile, other sanctions on iran for the support of terrorism and human rights abuses for the Ballistic Missile program will continue to be fully enforced. Let me reemphasize, our work is not done. The deal has not been signed. Between now and the end of june negotiators will continue to work through the details of how this will be fully implemented and those details matter. If there is backsliding on the part of the iraqis, if the verification and inspection mechanisms do not meet the specifications of our experts, there will be no deal. If we can get this done and iran follows through on the framework our negotiators agreed to, we will be able to resolve one of the greatest threats to our security and peacefully. Given the importance of this issue i have instructed my negotiators to fully briefed congress and the American People on the substance of the deal. I welcome a robust debate in the months to come. I am confident that we can show this deal is good for the security of United States, for our allies and the world. The fact is we only have three options for addressing the Nuclear Program. First, we can reach a robust and verifiable deal like this one and peacefully prevent iran from obtaining a Nuclear Weapon. The second option is we can bomb the nuclear facilities, starting another war in the middle east and setting back the program by a few years. In other words, setting it back by a fraction of the time that this deal will set it back. Meanwhile, we would and sure they would race ahead to build the bomb. Third, we could pull out of negotiations and try to get other countries to go along and continue sanctions that are currently in place and hope for the best. Knowing that every time we have done so, iran has not capitulated but instead has advanced the program. In short order, the breakout timeline would be eliminated. A Nuclear Arms Race could be triggered because of that uncertainty. In other words, the third option leaves us quickly back to a decision about whether or not to take military action because we would have no idea what was going on inside iran. Iran is not going to dismantle its program because we demand it do so. That is not how the world works and that is not what history shows. Iran has shown no willingness to illuminate those aspects of their program that they maintain our for peaceful purposes. Even in the face of unprecedented sanctions, should negotiations collapse because we rejected what the majority of the world considers a fair deal, what our scientists and Nuclear Experts suggest would give us confidence they are not developing a Nuclear Weapon, it is doubtful we can keep our Current International sanctions in place. When you hear the inevitable critics, ask them a simple question, do you really think this verifiable deal, if fully implemented, backed by the world major powers is a worse option than the risk of another war in the middle east . Is it worse than doing what we have done for two decades with iran moving forward with its Nuclear Program without robust inspections . I think the answer will be clear. I have always insisted that i will do what is necessary to prevent iran from obtaining Nuclear Weapons, and i will to that also know a diplomatic solution is the west way to get this done and it offers a more comprehensive and lasting solution. It is our best option by far. While it is always a possibility iran may try to cheat on the deal with future, this framework of inspections and transparency makes it far more likely that we will know about it they try to cheat. I or future president s will have reserved all of the options currently available to do with it. To the iranian people, i want to reaffirm what ive said since the beginning of my presidency. We are willing to engage you on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect. This deal offers the prospect of relief from sashes imposed because of irans violation of international law. Since irans Supreme Leader has admitted a fatwa against the development of Nuclear Weapons this framework gives iran the opportunity to verify that is program is in fact peaceful. It demonstrates that if iran complies with its international obligations, it could fully rejoin the community of nations. Thereby fulfilling the story talent and aspirations of the iranian people. That would be good for iran and the world. This deal alone, even if fully implemented, will not and deep divisions and mistrust between our two countries. We have a difficult history between us. Our concerns will remain with respect to iranian behavior so long as iran continues its authorship of terrorism, its support for proxies who destabilize the middle east, its threats against americas friends and allies, like israel, so make no mistake, we will remain vigilant in countering those actions and standing with our allies. It is no secret the israeli Prime Minister and i do not agree about whether the United States should move over with a peaceful resolution to the iranian issue. If in fact by mr. Netanyahu is looking for the most effective way to ensure iran does not get a new we weapon, this is the best option. I believe our Nuclear Experts can confirm that. More poorly, i will be speaking with the Prime Minister today to make clear there will be no daylight, there is no daylight when it comes to our support for israels security, and our concerns about irans destabilizing policies and threats towards israel. That is why i have directed my National Security team to consult closely with the Israeli Government in the coming weeks and months about how we can further strengthen our longterm security operation with israel and make clear our unshakable commitment to israels defense. Today, i also spoke with the king of saudi arabia to reaffirm our commitment to the security of our partners in the gulf and i am inviting the leaders of the six countries who make up the gulf cooperation council, saudi arabia, kuwait, to meet me this spring to discuss how we could further discuss our cooperation, while resolving multiple conflicts that have involved hardships in operations. It is finally worth remembering that congress has, on a bipartisan basis, played a Critical Role in our current iranian policy, helping to shape the sanctions regime that apply so much pressure on iran and ultimately forced them to the table. In the coming days and weeks, my administration will engage congress once again about how it can play a constructive oversight role. I will begin the effort by speaking to leaders of the house and senate today. In those conversations, i will underscore the issues at stake here are eager than politics. These are matters of war and peace. They should be evaluated based on the facts and what is ultimately best for the American People and for our National Security. This is not simply a deal between my administration and iran. It is a deal between iran, the United States of america, and major powers in the world, including some of our closest allies. If Congress Without offering any reasonable alternative, then it is the United States that will be blamed for the failure of diplomacy. International unity will collapse in the past will widen. The American People understand this, which is why solid majorities support a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian Nuclear issue. They understand its sting to leave the words of president kennedy, who faced down a far greater threat of communism, and said, let us never negotiate out of of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. The American People remember that at the height of the cold war, president s like nixon and reagan struck Historic Arms control agreements with the historic union, a far more dangerous adversary, despite the fact that adversary not only threaten to destroy our country and way of life, but had the means to do so. Those agreements were not perfect. They did not end all threats. But they made our world safer. A good deal with iran would do the same. Today, i would like to express my thanks to our International Partners for their steadfastness, cooperation, and i was able to speak early today with close allies, chancellor merkel, to reaffirm that we stand shoulder to shoulder in this effort and most of all, on behalf of our nation, i want to express my thanks to our tireless secretary of state, john kerry, and our entire negotiate and team. They worked so hard to make this progress. They represent the best tradition of american diplomacy. Their work, our work, is not yet done. Success is not guaranteed. But we have a historic opportunity to prevent the threat of nuclear opportunities in iran and do so peacefully. With the International Community firmly behind us. We should seize that chance. Thank you. God bless you, and god bless the United States of america. House Speaker John Boehner release a statement on the agreement. Saying my immediate concern is the administration signaling it will provide nearterm sanctions relief. Congress must be allowed to reveal all the details before any sanctions are lifted. Next, remarks by the european representative at the iran talks. She spoke for about five minutes. Ms. Mogherini i am going down to read the joint statement that we have agreed on with the foreign minister and all the others that have been negotiating. We, the European Union high representatives and the foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of iran, along with the Foreign Ministers of the china, france germany, russian federation, United Kingdom, and United States, met on 26 march until 2 april, 2015 in switzerland. As agreed in november 2013, we gather here to find solutions towards reaching a comprehensive resolution that will insure the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian Nuclear program and the comprehensive lifting of all sanctions. Today weve taken a decisive step. We have reached solutions on key parameters of a joint comprehensive plan of action. The political determination, goodwill, and hard work of all parties made it possible. And let us thank all the delegations for their tireless dedication. This is a crucial decision laying the agreed basis for the final text of the joint comprehensive plan of action. We can now restart drafting the text of the joint comprehensive plan of action, guided by the solutions developed in this days. As iran pursues a peaceful Nuclear Program, irans enrichment capacity will be limited for specific durations and it will be no other enrichment facilities. Irans research and development on centrifuges will be carried out on the scope and schedule that has been mutually agreed. A site will be converted from an enrichment site into a Nuclear Physics and technology center. International collaboration will be encouraged in areas of research. There will not be any fissile material there that will produce weaponsgrade plutonium. There will be no and spent fuel will be exported. A set of measures has been agreed to monitor provisions of the including implementation of the modified code 3. 1 and provisional application of the additional protocol. The International Atomic Energy Agency will be permitted the use of modern technologies and will have access to agreed procedures, including past and present issues. Iran will take part in International Cooperation in the field of civilian nuclear energy, which can include supply of power and research reactors. Another important area of cooperation will be in the field of Nuclear Safety and security. The European Union will terminate the implementation of all nuclearrelated economic and financial sanctions, and United States receives the application of all nuclearrelated International Sections simultaneously, with the of its key nuclear commitments. A new u. N. Security Council Resolution will terminate all previous related nuclearrelated resolutions and incorporate certain restrictive measures for the mutually agreed period of time. We will now work to write the text of a joint comprehensive plan of action, including a technical detail in the coming weeks and months at the political and expert level. We are committed to complete our efforts by june 30. We would like to thank the swiss government for its generous support in hosting this negotiation. And let me personally and put on behalf of everybody also thank you all, journalists, media from around the world, for having followed our work and somehow worked with us over this difficult but intense and positive week. Thank you. Secretary john kerry also spoke. His marks are 15 minutes secretary kerry well, good evening and excuse me thank you all very, very much for your patience. And i want to start by expressing an enormous thank you, merci, danke, to the people and the government of switzerland for their incredible generosity. The way in which they have welcomed us and the amount of effort is really extraordinary and were very, very grateful to them. And throughout this entire process, certainly over the past week, the people of switzerland have gone above and beyond in order to facilitate these negotiations, and i dont think anybody could imagine a much more peaceful setting in order to pursue a peaceful path forward. I also want to thank the very many other nations that have provided a home for these negotiations over the past couple of years people forget that, its been going on that long and that includes austria, which was incredibly generous in hosting our delegation in vienna for a long period of time, oman, which has not only hosted a number of important meetings, but also played a Critical Role in getting these talks off the ground in the first place, and then, of course, we say thank you to turkey, russia, kazakhstan, iraq, and my home country, the United States. I particularly want to thank president obama. He has been courageous and determined in his pursuit of a diplomatic path. And from the day that he took office, president obama has been crystalclear that a nucleararmed iran would pose a threat to our security and the security of our allies in the region, including israel. He has been just as clear that the best and most effective way to prevent that threat is through diplomacy. The Journey Towards a diplomatic solution began years ago. And i can tell you that ive personally been involved for about four years, beginning from the time that i was serving in the United States senate. Others have been on this journey, and some of the others in our team, for even longer than that. But as foreign minister zarif and high representative mogherini announced moments ago, today we have reached a critical milestone in that quest. We, our p5 1, eu partners, and iran have arrived at a consensus on the key parameters of an arrangement that, once implemented, will give the International Community confidence that Irans Nuclear program is and will remain exclusively peaceful. And over the coming weeks, with all of the conditions of the 2013 joint plan of action still in effect from this moment forward, our experts will continue to work hard to build on the parameters that we have arrived at today and finalize a comprehensive deal by the end of june. Now we have said from the beginning i think youve heard me say it again and again that we will not accept just any deal, that we will only accept a good deal. And today, i can tell you that the political understanding with details that we have reached is a Solid Foundation for the good deal that we are seeking. It is the foundation for a deal that will see iran reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium by 98 percent for 15 years. It is a deal in which iran will cut its installed centrifuges by more than twothirds for 10 years. It is a deal that will increase irans breakout time, which was confirmed publicly today to be two to three months, and that is the time that it would take iran to speed up its enrichment in order to produce enough fissile material for one potential Nuclear Weapon. And that will be expanded now, under this deal, to one year from those two to three months. That is obviously as much as six times what it is today, and what it has been for the past three years. Id like also to make one more point very, very clear because it has been misinterpreted and misstated, misrepresented for much of this discussion. There will be no sunset to the deal that we are working to finalize no sunset, none. The parameters of this agreement will be implemented in phases. Some provisions will be in place for 10 years, others will be in place for 15 years, others still will be in place for 25 years. But certain provisions including many transparency measures, will be in place indefinitely into the future. They will never expire. And the bottom line is that, under this arrangement, the International Community will have confidence that Irans Nuclear program is exclusively peaceful, providing, of course that the provisions are adhered to. And if they arent, we have provisions that empower us to deal with that. Ultimately, the parameters that we have agreed to will do exactly what we set out to do make certain that all pathways to make enough fissile material for one Nuclear Weapon have been cut off, including the uranium pathway at natanz and fordow and the plutonium pathway at arak, and, of course, the covert pathway. Now we, our partners, and iran have agreed that the only uraniumenrichment facility iran will operate moving forward will be the facility at natanz. And even that one will undergo dramatic changes. The vast majority of the centrifuges and their infrastructure will be removed. And for at least the next 15 years, the stockpile will remain at 300 kilograms. And any uranium that is enriched at natanz will be capped at 3. 67 percent, which is a typical level of enrichment for civilian nuclear power, but doesnt even begin to approach the enrichment level necessary for a weapon. We have agreed that the facility at fordow will halt all uranium enrichment, period all uranium enrichment, and in fact, there will not even be any fissile material present at the site and no enrichment r d. Instead, the facility will be converted into a Nuclear Physics and technology center. We have also agreed that iran will redesign and rebuild its heavywater reactor at arak so that it will no longer produce any weaponsgrade plutonium. And the United States will be able to sign off, certify, the reactors final design redesign. And through International Cooperation, it will be transformed into a reactor supporting only Peaceful Nuclear research and nuclear medicine. And the calandria, as you heard earlier, will be taken out and destroyed. We have agreed that iran will ship all of its spent fuel from the arak reactor out of the country for the reactors lifetime. And iran has agreed to refrain from building any additional heavywater reactors for the next 15 years at least at least means still open for beyond that period in the course of the next three months. And we have agreed that iran will face regular and comprehensive inspections, which is the best possible way to detect any attempt to covertly produce a weapon. Not only will inspectors have regular access to all of irans declared facilities indefinitely, but they will also be able to monitor the facilities that produce the centrifuges themselves and the uranium that supports the Nuclear Program. And they will be able to do that for at least 20 years. This critical step will help to guard against diversion of those materials to any clandestine location or plant. In addition, iran has agreed to allow iaea to investigate any suspicious site or any allegations of covert Nuclear Activities anywhere. So these are just a few of the key and i mean a few of the key measures that will make up an extraordinarily comprehensive monitoring and transparency regime when and if it is finally signed and