Transcripts For CSPAN Washington This Week 20140802

The u. S. Mexico border tomorrow at 6 00 eastern on cspan. This weeks q a. She was so beautiful and smart and also so witty, she was just always irresistible to men. , her 80thd age birthday party, and richard is that this party. Is that thishen party. They were sitting together and she starts to stroke his beer. He said, heavens. I have never before met an 80yearold and i wanted to leap into bed with. She had a vampish quality all her life. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern and pacific on cspans q and a. Debate, analysis of the in congress over Immigration Reform from today washington journal turco. Host crystal Williams Joins us now. After a busy week after dealing with the situation on the border in congress, i want to start with this plan that was passed last night by House Republicans and get your reaction. Guest yeah. Well, the house passed it and thats the beginning and end of it. The funding is, first of all, inadequate and second of all in the wrong place. Its basically military and Law Enforcement funding in response to a humanitarian situation and that just seems very misplaced. What it doesnt do is provide Adequate Funding to take care of the children while theyre waiting for their hearings. Nor does it provide Adequate Funding to provide the hearing. Congress has already starved the Immigration Court system of resources and with this additional strain on the court system, its going to starve its all the more. So its just wrong funding. And then on top of the wrong funding is wrong policy. There is a statute in place, the trafficking statute from 2008 that provides appropriate protections for children and last nights bill would essentially strip those protections from the children. And then on top of that, tells the president that he cant take care of and he cant attend to the immigration status of the people who are here and have been here for many, many years who came here as children many years ago. So its just a completely inappropriate piece of legislation. Its political theater and nothing more and nothing less. Host what is the right amount of funding needed here . Has your group supported any of the bills that have been discussed . Guest the fact is, we find all the bills to be wrong funded. Probably the president s bill is the closest to Adequate Funding but recognize that congress is probably not going to allocate that amount of money. The senate had another money that we think allocated a little bit wrong but that also went nowhere. Host so what does the Immigration Lawyers Association do . Guest were an organization of about 13,000 lawyers around the world who represent clients in the field of Immigration Law. So, for example, going to the border, a number of our members are actually volunteering at the border now trying to represent some of the children who are being put into removal proceedings right now. Otherwise, they represent families, individuals, companies who are trying to navigate our very, very complicated immigration system. Host a complicated system that some Immigration Lawyers have criticized for yearslong backups before decisions are made. But in the wake of some of these recent proposals, also criticisms of decisions that also come too quick. What is your comments on the process and proper screening . Guest it depends on the individual situation. In some cases, a quick move through is all it is because the person is removable. But in a number of cases, particularly with what were seeing right now, there needs to be time to develop the case, to get the evidence, to elicit the story. What we find, you interview, particularly children, the first questions you ask the child, theyre going to be telling you what they think you want to hear and also what they and often what they think you want to hear is not the fact of the case that would enable them to get protection in the United States. You have to build trust. Once you do that and once you get their story, their story alone is not enough. It wont get you far in court. In order to establish a case for, say, asylum in court, you need to get the evidence to back up the story of what they said. And usually when a gang has threatened your life, they dont leave a paper trail. So it takes some time to put that together. So usually its going to be several months to finally put together a case so the standard in some of the Immigration Courts around the country, five years, three years, thats ridiculously wrong and thats the evidence of the system starved for resources, but 21 days is not enough. And you said part of the process is ensuring that every child has a lawyer to represent them in the proceedings. How would that work and how much would that cost just to do that component . Guest it probably the president had asked for 15 million for representation. It probably would cost about double that. But in addition, its not just paying lawyers. Theres a lot of volunteer lawyers already working on this. There are nonprofit organizations that can leverage the skills of other lawyers. So its not just about paying lawyers thousands of dollars. Host were talking with crystal williams with the over recent weeks on this issue. Well start with catherine calling in from new york. Good morning. Good morning. You know, i want to go direct to whos funding, its going to be the taxpayers money to fund these lawyers and everything else. But the thing, you know, who is giving this money to these people to come over . Okay. Because i know that a lot of them tried to find out, a lot of the groups, they get to be involved in it and they get the money from the nations, from tv stations, radio stations, spanish channels, and they send them money over there to have these kids come over. So you should investigate that. Host anything that your group has lookd into . Guest what we do find is theres a whole network of smugglers. And a lot of what has happened in Central America is that the smugglers have been telling families that if you go now, if you get to the United States by the end of june, that you can get a permiso to stay in the United States. So if you pay me 5,000, i can get your child to the United States and hell be allowed to stay. And so there is a whole criminal network in the countries that the children are coming from that are exploiting the fear thats going on there by telling them, oh, pay me and ill come. Where the money comes from, thats the annual income for a lot of the families that have sent people here and theyre saving the money, getting the money from their own families. Some of those family members are here in the United States and theyre wiring the money home. Theyve been working hard here in the United States or they have been working hard in their home countries or other countries, but they are scraping the money together because they are viewing this as their childrens future, mistakenly in a lot of cases. Host this is from twitter, what about funding from the countries to deal with the problems that the kids are running from. Guest that was actually a big part of the president s budget, supplemental request, and that is extremely important because what is going on in all three countries that are the main sending countries is extreme violence and the governments inability to control the violence. And that, first and foremost, is the best cure for this. Interestingly enough, nicaragua, were not seeing children and families coming here from nicaragua, yet, nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America. In fact, theyre going many are going to nicaragua. And the reason is that nicaragua does not have the crime and violence that honduras, el salvador, and ecuador are seeing. So there needs to be some level of care and attention given to controlling the crime in the three countries that theyre seeing this from. Host good morning, burt. Guest okay. My question was i wanted to know who was funding all these illegal aliens be they children or grownups coming across the board. I would like to know why dont you think the money is sufficient to lawyer up all these people because, you know, when youre illegal and youve already broken the laws and youve already come into the country. Why dont they call them illegal aliens as they always have until lately, until the democrats got ahold of the problems. Now they want to call them undocumented immigrants. Host can i ask you, when you ask whether the money is sufficient, are you talking about the house bill from last night. House bill from last night. The democrats and the liberals always want more money but when you talked with the guest in the last hour in the hole already. Host ms. Williams. Guest well, the fact is, we cant just pretend this isnt happening. We cant just say here are a bunch of children and were not going to do anything with them. Weve got to address them. Its not a simple matter. We have treaty obligations. We have obligations as human beings to take care of children who we find within our border. And the interesting part of all of this is most of these children and families who have been coming in, theyre not sneaking in. They are coming to the border and saying here i am. They are presenting themselves. Theyre turning themselves in. In fact, they are trying to follow the law as they understand it. And they think that by coming across the border and turning themselves in, that is what the system is. And the fact is theyre here. We cant just say, oh, go back across the border. Theyre children, theyre fairly helpless, and theyre running away from compelling situations. This is our moment as americans. This is our m. S. St. Louis when in 1939 america turned away a ship of jewish refugees. A quarter of those people died on that ship back to europe. So shameful in americas history. We cant send children back and watch them die and call them a good christian nation. This is our motion and we have to step up to it. Host one place where i understand you wouldnt support a lot of funding is new detention efforts. You have a piece in the hill newspaper saying help not detention is needed in the border where you say that children and families should not be detained except in rare circumstances. Can you explain in guest detention from a fiscal point of view is a bad use of resources. It costs much more money to detain somebody than to release somebody. 92 percent of people who have attorneys turn up for hearings. So if you release someone who has an attorney, thats a better way to get them to their hearing. Host what about those who do not have lawyers and are detained . Guest we dont know yet because thats still in the works. Obviously those who are deta detained, obviously theyre there. In new mexico, there are 700 people detain there had in basically a make shift situation. The officers there are doing the best they can with very little but the fact is its not sustainable. People there are getting sick. Its, like, a school but imagine living there. And once one child is sick, 700 children are sick. Host so where do you put these people if not detain them . Guest the fact is most have been released to family and to foster care or to shelters which are not Detention Centers but are shelters that often are run by churches. There are other places that they can go. And, in fact, many of the children have been sent to exactly those places. Host cathy is up next from montgomery texas on our line for republicans. Good morning good morning. A responsible government keeps order in their country. This is why people issue passports. People like you and barack obama are allowing this invasion and you know the 2008 law is being abused. And let me tell you something else, why dont you tell all you liberals who love all of these illegals who are taking all of us sick by the way coming in here illegally, set up some tents inside of the white house, you and barack and everybody else go feed them and educate them. We dont want to do that anymore. Guest obviously the caller feels very strongly. First of all, the children are not making us sick. Theyre children. Yes, theyre going to get some childhood illnesses, but your child that you send to summer camp is going to get the same illnesses from summer camp. Again, we have an obligation as human beings to take care of the people who seek help. And call me liberal for wanting to care for children. Ill wear the badge proudly. And i do not understand the hatred that is pouring out for people who are just trying to escape a bad life, who are trying to escape violence and are trying to find something better. Host crystal williams is the executive director of the american Immigration Lawyers Association here to talk to us about the situation at the border and recent legislation that has been moved. You can check them out i dont know line at aila. Org. On the line, we have joyce from florida. Good morning. Good morning. First id like to say good morning, ms. Williams. I think that you are doing a terrific job in caring about these children. And for someone who get on the phone and holler about their country, this world belongs to god and were supposed to look out for everyone and if the problem is the children coming over here, then maybe the United States needs to go over there and see whats going on in their country to make things better for them there where they wont have to come over here. Maybe we need to actually look at some other opportunities for these children because they are kids and they need help. We call ourselves the greatest country that ever is, then why do we have so many problems helping these kids. This world dont owe to anyone. It belongs to god and were supposed to show mercy and compassion to all mankind. Guest thank you. I couldnt agree more. Most of the people that our members are working with are home sick already. They dont want to leave their homes. Its just that they feel forced to leave their homes. And what we can do for them in their homes would be so much better than trying to deal with it after the fact. Really, that region needs to be stabilized. Those governments need to be stabilized, and crime needs to be gotten under control in whats calmed the northern triangle, the three countries were seeing the influx from. Host peg has a question specifically about arizona. Why did arizona turn away attorneys who volunteered for the help with the process . Guest im not familiar with that situation. Host okay. Heres a question from twitter. Can the guest comment on how many of the migrants do not want to be citizens and what should the u. S. Do with them . Guest i dont think anyone is even talking about citizenship at this point. Theyre just trying to find re refuge. For them to become citizens, they have to get a lawful status in the United States first and keep that status for five years. And our laws are very restrictive as to who has that status and who can get it. What congress should have passed last night is Immigration Reform so the system works better so people who want to contribute and can contribute and have ties to the United States are able to get legal status and eventually become citizens. This is really no way to run an immigration system, what we have right now. Host jim is up next from florida. Good morning. Good morning. Okay. My question is, its an honor to speak to this beacon of compassion. If she could just hear me out and maybe answer when im done. First of all, why am i wrong . I feel like this is just a work project for you attorneys. Its in your interest to take long. What percentage of these children are actually children under 14 . How much did you make last year . How much did you personally make last year off of this . And why cant i just look at you as opposed to an ambulance chaser, youre just an immigrant chaser. Guest first of all, i want to point you to a group of lawyers in new mexico right now who paid their own way down there, are putting up in hotels that theyre paying for themselves and have spent the last week working 12 hours a day for free representing all of the trying to represent all of the detain knees in that detention center. I want to point you to a big law firm, jones day, took 20 of their lawyers away from their corporate clients and donated them to representing children in texas. I want to show you attorneys who work for close to nothing in order to represent families and children seeking a better life. Immigration lawyers are among the lowest paid lawyers in the United States. But they work and do the work they do out of passion and compassion in many, many cases. Never has there been a situation as critical as this where Immigration Lawyers have stood up. Weve had over 600 volunteers to give their time for free to pay their own way to these Detention Centers in order to represent the people there. So dont tell me that Immigration Lawyers are making a lot of money out of this. It is quite the opposite. Host american Immigration Lawyers Association is online at aila. Org. Well go to mississippi with mary. Good morning. Hello. I would just like to find out, i think its the whole scenario is very strange. First of all, where do these people who come from the socalled poorest countries in the world get 5,000 . Okay. Another thing. What kind of decent parents would put their very small, Young Children on a train, unprotected, and send them over . And you see these poor kids in the Detention Centers crying. I think theyre crying for their parents. Another thing is i believe that somebody else, some other system, some other entity paid, if the money was there, legitimately paid for those kids to come over here. Their timing is very odd. Host several questions in there. Guest yes. Go to a Western Union Office Anywhere where theres a high level of immigrant population and you will see people who are here working who are wiring money every penny they can gather back to their families. A lot of the money is coming from the people who are picking onions in georgia, picking toe tomatoes in alabama, building houses in florida, nannys taking care of American Children here sending that money back in order to pay to get their children or relatives to the United States or at least get them out of those countries. People who have been working their whole lives in honduras, nicaragua saving every penny just as American Families save to send their children to college, these families are saving to send their children to safety. When you hear about somebody who has been told join the gang, carry these drugs for me or i will kill your child, youre going to put your child on that train. That train is safer for your child than your home. Its heart breaking for the child, the parent. And when you hear these stories, when you talk to the children, you understand what it is they have run from. It is inconceivable in america what these folks are running from and coming here to escape. Host we have about 15 minutes left with crystal williams. Robert is calling in from charleston, south carolina. Good morning. Id like to say i did watch the committees report and im disgusted. Okay. What a shamble. That was totally 150 percent lip service. Twice, the aides had to give people to the people who were supposed to know the bill so they wouldnt keep digging their hole deeper and digging themselves out. That was disgraceful. First of all, the bill has no chance of passing. The senate has already gone home. What a disgrace. Host are you talking about the rules hearing yesterday . Yes. Host okay. Go ahead. They were supposedly supposed to pass Immigration Reform. What a joke. When their aides knew more about the bill that they changed three times during the committee. I just im ashamed. Host ms. Williams. Guest political theater. Unfortunately, our congress is broken. And the result is the fiasco that weve seen in the last two days in the house. A broken political system. I would have laughed if it werent for shameful, if the results were not so horrible. Congress has got to get to work. And they have to work positively and constructively. Every so often, theres a glimmer that perhaps they can do that. Then they run for cover. They let the most extreme sides of their parties dictate as they did last night and they could because they knew that this irresponsible bill would never become law so they could be as irresponsible as they wanted to be and get away with it. Im embarrassed for my nation over whats gone on the last two days in the house. Host one thing you proposed is provide a lawyer for each child moving through this process. How much does having a lawyer affect this process . Some recent stats from the wall street your honjournal says tha children who are apprehended at the border in 2013, just 1600 were physically removed from the u. S. So how much more of a difference would having a lawyer make . Guest well, in this situation where the administration is determined to remove as many of these children as they can, another shapeful moment, the fact is having a lawyer can make all the difference in the world. There is a nonprofit Legal Organization in texas who has interviewed 500 of the children and they found of those 500 children, 63 percent, nearly twothirds have a basis in law for getting protection here in the United States. And if they can get them to an attorney, every time they have referred a child to an attorney, theyve had 98 percent success rate in getting Legal Protection for the child. And its not because the attorneys have anything magic up their sleeves. Its because the attorneys have experience in getting the childrens stories out. And then taking those stories and showing how they fit into the provisions of the law. They the treatise on Immigration Law is about this thick. Its a very complicated set of laws and at least half of that is discussing the kinds of protections that would be available to children. But children, laymen, cant understand it. You really need an attorney to explain it and to put the facts in the law. Host all right. Milo is on the line. Good morning. Good morning. Yes, i got a question for the lady. And i i used to be a liberal so i do understand some things that go on. But i would like to know, you absolutely went right over the question that the one lady called in about. I just want to ask you straight up, have you hea heard gathering money and sending it to these people or not. You talk about disgraceful. You went over it. Host lets let crystal williams jump in guest im sorry. I did not hear that part of the question. I have not heard that at all. Maybe theyre gathering money to help the children. But i can assure you that they would not be funding the movement of migrants. That is not what they do. I know this organization. I know it well. They are trying to take care of the people who are here, getting them clothes, food, shelter. Thats what we all should be doing. Thats what our churches are doing. Host we have a special line as we did earlier this morning for those in border states. Houston, texas is next. Annie is waiting. Good morning, sir. Im going to have a heart attack listening to this woman. I dont understand you, maam. First off host are you still with us . We lost annie. If you want to call back, well get your question. We now will go to john from gulfport, mississippi. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you very much for cspan. And id like to say to the lady there, how she can sit there and talk and be so and not shed tears. Is just beyond me how so many people can be so ill to our kids. Im 83 years old. Retired from the military. And ive seen a lot in a lot of places and surely, surely we can do better down there to support texas. Thank you very much. Guest i shed tears every night. I have never seen in my 35 years in this field, i have never seen a situation like this. And it is heart breaking what the children are going through, what these families are going through, what they have been through, and what they face is appalling. And thats why i feel strongly that we as a nation are obligated to provide shelter for those who are in trouble, for those who are fleeing violence and crime. Host we showed our viewers earlier in our program some of the members on the floor during the debate yesterday and last night. One more i want to show you tom cole, republican from oklahoma talking on the floor asking members to step back and look at the realities of the situation on the border. Heres what he had to say. I think we need to step back from the emotion a moment and look at the realities of the situation. Number one, anybody that seeks refew gee status in the United States can go to any of the embassies in their country and request it. They dont have to travel here. Number two, the president of the United States has said the vast majority of these children will be returned. Thats not us. Thats the president. He has said that. Were trying to do it and in an expeditious way because we think sooner is better. Three, were not returning them to the criminals. Were returning them to the custody of their government, their officials who are probably better suited to make these decisions than we are a thousand plus miles away. So lets be real. Nobody is stripping rights away from anyone. We actually have a law from 2008 where a loophole is being exploited by criminals and were trying to stop that and discourage people from giving thousands of dollars of their hardearned money to criminal cartels to participate in that. Thats the effort thats underway here. Nobody would have fewer rights than people that are currently here from mexico or canada. You would still have the ability to adjudicate issues. The process would be faster. Host your response to those comments. Guest actually, i have the greatest respect for mr. Cole. I think that he has a good heart. But hes made some factual errors there. First of all, you cannot just go to an embassy and get refuge. Thats not how the system works. One thing that our administration has started and needs to do more of is starting just now refugee processing in those countries. Up until this moment, that has not taken place at all. So thats a good first step. But the presumption that any one of the people who come here could have just gone to the embassy and asked for Refugee Status is not how it works. Second of all, yes, the president has said that the majority will be sent back and i have to argue with the president on that, with both mr. Cole and the president. If the law works the way the law should, if we follow the law, im not even talking about the 2008 act. If we follow our asylum provision, most of the children will obtain refuge here in the United States. That is not a loophole. That law was written intentionally to give protection to the children and make sure they get a fair hearing. That is what that law was for. And it was written at a time where we were not in distress over migration. It was written at a time when people were thinking dispassionately. This is the moment that, that law should be in effect and is in effect and it should not be gutted when we need it most. Host i also want to get your reaction to the front page of the washington post. Ideas could legalize millions. One number cited in there is that the number could reach as high as 5 million. I know details of this are still coming out, this just being heard from law makers and groups that work for the president. What do we know about this . Guest we know they are looking at what they can do legally with a broken congress trying to act while congress is broken. And there is a great deal of leverage of discretion that the executive branch has to do a great number of things. Many of the things that they can do are not big. They are small but theyre incrementally can build up. But there are also larger things they can do. Will they do the larger things . I dont know. This administration has tended to when given a choice of immigration to go big or go small has tends to go small. I hope that theyre looking at that as a model for doing something to help many who really do need protection and help in the United States. Host well try to get to as many of your calls as we can. Julie is in new york. Good morning. Good morning. I was just i have a few questions. The first main one is why are we spending so much money shipping them all the way up to, like, up state new york . I think thats if theyre just here temporarily, they should not be shipd that far away from the border itself. Also, why arent we showing this kind of compassion for veterans, Homeless People here, why cant we focus on that . Thank you. Guest its not an either or. We should be showing compassion and help for our veterans, homeless, unemployed. But we also has the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth have an obligation to assist children and those seeking refugees. Refugees from syria are going to jordon and other countries that do not have our weather or power. And theyre taking them in. Actually sending them around the country spreads out where theyre being held. Takes advantage of different communities. Doesnt concentrate people into one area. And remember if they wind up being deported, its not like theyre going to be put on a bus and sent across the border. They have to be sent back to a country that they have to fly to meaning they are going to have to fly to anywhere. So really keeping them by the border where facilities are limited doesnt make sense. This really, oddly enough, is one of the most Cost Effective things that can be done which is to send smaller groups out to different areas of the country. Host connie from new jersey is next. Good morning. Good morning. I want to ask the lady something that really bothers me. We have many nationalities of spanish people, myself, im from spain. And the lady said before in 40 something years never heard Something Like this. I remember quite well when the cubans came here. Now, what bothers me and i dont understand this and we have senator cruz whos father came from cuba in 1967. We have rubio from florida in the same situation. We have i dont know how many cubans in florida in the house of representatives. And i guess the children, when they came with their parents, their dogs, and whatever you name, they went on social security. They get all the benefits as citizens and they keep their mouths shut and rubio and cruz want to throw them out . Its something that i dont understand and i want this lady, could you please explain to me this . Guest you raise an excellent point. I remember i dont remember them, i was a child at the time, but i do know of the flights from cuba where parents put their children on a plane and sent them to the United States hoping they would find homes and a better place in the United States. And many of those children are now in the u. S. Government. Many of them, some of them are sitting in congress. There was a very similar situation, as you note, years ago from cuba. And most of just ironically, politically, most of the cuban refugees from that era are now prominent republicans. And i dont understand understand why they are opposing doing for Central America what was doing for them several decades ago. Host we have debra. Good morning. The issue is we have laws that need to be followed and what were doing is supporting criminals. We are giving them money to get these children here. I dont know if you listened to all of the hearings. I have. Ive also listened to the hearings of some of these children, socalled children who are mostly teenagers. All i heard was complaints, complaints about being cold, complaints about the food, complaints about their living. I saw some of their living conditions. Theyre certainly far better than many of our homeless, our foster children. We need to stop this foolishness. Its not about a lack of compassion. Its a lack of following the rules. Host ms. Williams. Guest im going to refer you again to that big treatise on Immigration Law. There are judges from one district to another who disagree with what that law says. There are Immigration Lawyers who go to our conferences and spend days arguing about what that law says. That law is so complicated. The problem is nobody knows how to follow the law. The law is difficult to follow. Laymen have a terrible time know what the law is. Lawyers, judges, have a terrible time knowing what the law is. We cant be absolutist on oh, if they didnt follow the law, they must be criminals. My next door neighbor grills with a gas grill on his balcony. Thats illegal in the district of columbia. Hes not evil. That is what we need to look at. That is where we need to show some compassion and some understanding. Host marks withbeen waiting the line from missouri. Good morning. I just want to make a comment. I believe that our country, the United States of america is a very compassionate company. However, we have a nation of laws and we have major problems right now and i think weve created them ourselves. There are laws he enforces and others he doesnt. Hes created this problem because hes pretty much just invited south america to come here. And weve already we dont have just a few of these people coming in. We have millions of these people coming in. Host all right, mark. Guest first of all, its more like thousands than millions but im not going to quibble with that. What i would quarrel with is the idea of inviting people to come here and were a nation of laws. Laws are not rigid things that dont take into account the human factor. Our Immigration Laws are so incredibly broken that they pretty much cannot be followed and we have a congress that has been unable to fix it for a decade now, they have known that its broken but have been unable to fix it. And it is incumbent on any president to do the best that they can to make a law work when it is as broken as it is and when a congress, when an entire branch of government is as broken as it is. Host crystal williams is the executive director of the american i she was so beautiful and so. Mart and also so witty she was just always irresistible to men. Even in old age. At her 80th birthday party, Richard Cohen was at the party and they sat together after dinner having coffee and at one point she began to stroke his beer. Heavens, i he said have never met an 80yearold who i wanted to leap into bed with. Qualitythis seductive her entire life. The life and career of claire booth luce. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern and pacific on cspan q and a. A the Committee Held confirmation hearing. They heard from the ambassadors from the costa rica and brunei. This is over 30 minutes. Our nomineesof have impressive records of accomplishment and i look forward to hearing their priorities for advancing u. S. Interest rate of our first is close ally toa the United States. It has made close investments in military and health care. Education and health care. There are challenges in terms of having the secondhighest highest hiv aids rate in the world. There are reports of marginalization of some peoples. Earl miller is a Foreign Service offer serving as consulate general in johannesburg and is knowledge of the region and previous skill will allow him to bring strong contributions to the mission. Next week consider cobb over at has cabo verde, which strong lower middle class ally to the United States. There is a sizable cabo verde timidity in the east side which we have been long familiar. He currently serves as the director for Consular Affairs piece office. Officerd as a principal in mexico and gate regional expertise as the acting director of the state department of west african affairs. We consider brunei, a small country in southeast asia. It implemented a new penal code with a strict interpretation of sharia law, which includes the Death Penalty for adultery and homosexuality. These new restrictions will apply to all citizens, including the 20 who are not muslim. I hope our next ambassador will encourage the country to protect the freedom and rights of its people. Of four states at once the tp should be ttp. Passengersative our skillfully managed bilateral relationships in order to achieve but regional goals. Craig allen spent three decades living and working in asia. Of he recently served as Deputy Assistant secretary at the department of commerce. Deputy commercial officer in beijing and tokyo. I would like to invite my colleague to make any Opening Statement he would like to make before i invite our nominees to make their Opening Statement. Thanks for being here. And i have met with the cool of you in the last little bit. Thank you for your service. Welcome ourike to nominees and encourage you to take the time to introduce your families and friends, who we all know are an essential part of your service to government. We are grateful for their sacrifices as well as yours. Mr. Heflin . My honor to be here as the president s nominee to be the next u. S. Ambassador for the republic of cabo verde. Im grateful for this tremendous vote of confidence and this opportunity to come before you. I wish to it knowledge my daughter, sarah who is here with us today. She is currently a junior in tennessee and lived in six countries growing up. Was at six oring so. My parents were not here today. The 10 islands that make up a republic of cabo verde are off the west coast of africa. History ofnbroken civilian rules and independence since 1975. It is a story of progress, political stability, and democracy. Cabo verde and the United States have enjoyed warm relation since we first opened our consulate their 200 years ago. There are more than 450,000 who 450,000 americans who are cabo verde in origin. They participate fully in the life of our great country and many of them wish to invest in a prosperous future of cabo verde. The United States and cabo verde our partners on a number of important matters. Among them, transnational crime and Maritime Security are key. Cabo verde supports counternarcotic maneuvers. Cabo verde is a model in the region for strategic partnership. If confirmed, it is my goal to maintain and enhance the interagency cooperation. s economiccabo verde is bearing fruit. It was essentially completed in 2010, producing grains gains in its products. Improvements in transportation networks. Second, improvements in Water Management and soil conservation. Andd, support to cabo verde microfinancial institutions. Tois hoped it is my hope consolidate these gains. Continue Strong Performance resulting as a selection as the first country in the world to qualify for a second millennium challenge compact, which began in 2012 and is focused on carrying out farreaching reforms in the Land Management sectors. The overallt National Development goal, transforming it from dependency to a private sector growth. Private assignments in africa have equipped me with the cultural, regional, and language scares skills. I will draw upon my 27 year career in the Foreign Service, experience in mexico, to lead the mission in cabo verde. I look forward to mentoring the officers who staff the positions in the embassy. If confirmed, my number one priority will be to promote the safety and welfare of citizens american citizens and cabo verde. Mr. Miller . Chairman, members of the committee, it is a great honor to appear before you today as president obamas nominee to serve as the next ambassador to the republic of botswana. I appreciate the confidence placed in meet by putting my name forward for your consideration. I am grateful for the support of my wife and sons who are back in johannesburg. My first overseas assignment in the Foreign Service was in botswana. During my 27 years in the service, i had the privilege of serving at a Senior Leadership positions at a variety of posts. Over the last three years in johannesburg, south africa, i manage the growth of our busiest Regional Support and training center. Our consulate general in johannesburgs is now larger than many embassies in africa. Chairman, botswana is one of africas Great Success story. It is one of the continents longest any multiparty. Engagement in botswana across a range of issues underscores the countrys regional and in some instances Global Partner for the United States. Our global effort to combat hiv aids has made a world contribution on hiv treatment and prevention. If confirmed, i would be a strong advocate in botswana. A partnership between our two nations that trains Police Officials from 34 african countries. Botswana hosts National Broadcasting bureaus, the voice of the americas relay station. Botswana has worked with us to support human rights and Good Governance. It has taken stance on this issue in the United Nations and the Southern African Development Committee great botswana has a Strong Military to military relationship of the United States. Force isana defense u. S. Trained and one of the continent washed strongest supporters. They have a reputation for transparency, stability, respect for the rule of law, and generally favorable investment conditions. Development committee is headed in if confirmed, i will recognize isional integration essential for the longterm prosperity of Southern Africa. Botswana confronts serious challenges. Hiv prevalence is second highest in the world. The decline in diamond reserves, the country must find an alternate source of revenue or i could upend the rys economy. Hiv ande affected by genderbased violence is a serious problem. The United States is interested reliableining a strong partner. Botswana is an example of what can happen in africa and why it matters. I would support the country as it addresses economic am a environmental, and Health Challenges to the benefits of both of our nations. They key for the opportunity to appear before you today. Thank you. Chairman, ranking members, thank you. It is an honor to appear before you today. Before beginning my testimony it is my privilege to introduce to you my family, my wife, my two children. And my proud 90yearold mom, betty allen, my brother, and my nieces. A veteran Foreign Service officer, i want to thank my family for their flexibility, patience, and sacrifices. I would like to thank my wife, who has forsaken her own career for our family, given me the opportunity serve the American People overseas. 1850. Still in effect today, this our close underpinned cooperation for 160 years. Aited states and brunei have history of working together to promote peace, stability, and development. If confirmed i hope to continue that tradition and strengthen our relationship for the 21st century. The United States relationship with brunei rests on two central pillars. Andomic partnership, expanding regional cooperation. In 2000 13 American Companies exported 559 million worth of goods and services to brunei. We enjoyed large bilateral trade surpluses. 600 millionased worth of u. S. Military and civilian aircraft. Cooperation is demonstrated by rapidly including investment, 160 Million Dollars of American Investment in 2012. As you noted, brunei was a Founding Member in the launch of tpp negotiations. Part are they are a key to establish an agreement for the 21st century. The second pillar of our relationship with brunei concerns regional issues. Brunei successfully chaired last year. They have been an important member of the region. The United States and brunei have cooperated on a number of matters of great matters to southeast asia. We have launched a joint english Language Enrichment Program for a 25 billion fiveyear initiative. Room night in indonesia joined us in founding the u. S. Apprehensive energy partnership. Comprehensive energy partnership. In addition, we have an active and growing defense cooperation relationship highlighted by active participation in annual exercises with the u. S. Pacific fleet. When i has hosted large humanitarian assistance exercises ringing together service members. There are challenges, as you noted. Causeds sharia law has serious concerns. The first phase went into effect on may 1. We are concerned it criminalizes freedom of religion. We are concerned over the punishments that have been announced for future implementation. Criminalncerned that a law of samesex conduct between adults, freedom of expression, freedom of religion are fundamental human rights enshrined in the declaration of human rights. Why we understand no physical punishments have been implemented under the current phase, brunei should ensure its law prohibits torture or Inhumane Treatment or punishment. While officials have offered assurances the standards that will be applied under the sharia system will be so exacting that it will be impossible for there to be a conviction that would result in sentences such as stoning or amputation, the threat of such punishments raises concern. We communicate with brunei regarding andamental human rights encourage them to uphold international commitments. We are watching closely to see how the law is being implemented. Ank you forn, thin inviting me today. I am pleased to answer any questions you have. Thank you. We will start with fiveminute rounds. Questions numeral numeral two questions. Economic investments and diplomatic relations, there is a community in new england. What do we do to successfully engage the africans in the United States, which is a critical advantage . The cob ofr area and right now the skys the limit. Trade figures are fairly low. Orts are 2 million. Those could go dramatically up. I intend to work on fostering trade ties. There is also an interesting proposal on the table from one tothe new england colleges prepare cape verde students. Will push that there. Presuming confirmation, about what we can do to engage the communities. On Maritime Security, you iserenced narco trafficking a major concern in addition to illegal fishing. Could you explain the extent of the cooperation between the United States and cape verde battling illegal trafficking . Onwe have had engagement Different Levels with different agencies between the United States and cape verde. They conduct exercises down there. ,e have given them three ships that they put to good use. Their problem is in the ceilings between them and west africa. Traffic coming over from south america and heading to europe. We help them start a command center. They have formed an Interagency Group to start to get control of their water, which african have problems over economic losses from their waters. It is a small and able coast guard navy. We have worked with them. They have been a good partner. Referenceler you botswana is one of the most cable militaries. We have a close Police Training relationship in botswana. They are a strong supporter of. Ffer con afrikaans what more can we be doing to combat wildlife trafficking . Botswana has historically done well. Issues its neighbors are preventing longterm success preview have a longterm challenge in wildlif trafficking. Ive seen the devastation caused by the increasing;y sophisticated increasingly sophisticated forces. Regarded, well respected defense force. We have a number of programs in place to assist the bd f. Classes on antitrafficking investigations, money laundering, investigative forces to strike at the root of syndicates behind many of the trafficking outfits in the region. We are strong supporters of establishing a Wildlife Enforcement network for Southern Africa in botswana. The only we will solve this global is througha c a approach. Thank you. Thank you to your families as well for the sacrifices they have made and continue to make. It is quite a commitment. I spent one year overseas. I look at that and think, the difficulty that is to have one child away from cousins and parents, grandparents, everything else. You have done it many times. Our service is appreciated mr. Heflin, with regard to cape what did we learn in the first iteration . What lessons are we taking forward . How can we make sure we expand . Villainy and challenge corporation is not finished its report on the second compact. It is coming along nicely. Once that is done, will we move onto construction and overspending. And other spending. Trade surplus is a good surplus. We have how much of it traditionally is the military equipment . Planes . Is that typical yeartoyear . Thank you. The trade surplus and trade numbers are volatile. Last year we delivered several aircraft and that skewed the numbers. We have a number of aircraft deals in the pipeline. I would consider a rising trend in the exports to brunei foreseeable future. Aircraft, oil equipment, food, and other commodities. How much longer are they looking to revive it for as long as they can . They are certainly looking forward diversity. That will be your role and why they have interest in the tpp. We appreciate their leadership. I hope that is a thing congress can give the president the tools to give effect to. There is diversification. What are they doing . I share your sentiments with regard to tpp. Week releasedhis a report suggesting bruneis gdp would be trending upwards towards 6 . This year and next. Their economy is doing quite well. In terms of diversification, they are trying to move developam in petroleum, tourism and service exports, and develop other segments of their economy that employee more brunei citizens citizens. Thank you. I have spent time in botswana. A year in namibia. When i gotd back to college i wrote my masters theses to explain the electorate. Weve determine what that hold is. Brute force. All of us are trying to explain the hold he has on the rest of africa. It has been very disappointing count the other countries what has gone on in zimbabwe. Botswana was the one country to be somewhat critical, initially. It then fell in line with the other Southern African countries. Ok and you do in your role to make sure that there is the standingte stand taken up to what should not be counted . The president has taken as a proponentds of human rights across africa, including zimbabwe. He supported the political agreement and sent a delegation to zimbabwe for recent elections. He was critical with the keep two failing to standards. Aboutna is not shy criticizing what it sees is a violation of human rights. I would take every opportunity to engage with the government of botswana on issues of human rights. I look forward to working with Bruce Wharton on regional human rights and Good Governance issues. Thank you. In most cases, sadek has good governing principles. All we need to do is make sure these countries stand up for. Heir own standards botswana has been more willing to do so than others. Please pass on our thanks for that. Hopefully we can foster that. The standards, human rights confounded. Dek has. Hank you all for your service i have no doubt you will serve the country well. Thank you. I have a few more questions for mr. Allen. If you would, speak further about how you will address the issue of sharia law and the challenges that may create for us in terms of further progress on ttp. Thank you chairman. Exactlyyour sentiments on sharia penal code. The first thing we need to do is monitor implementation. Atch very closely they are in the early stages of this. Closely. O monitor we need to increase our dialogue on the importance of human rights and our expectations of human rights in brunei. We need to remind the government of brunei when it becomes necessary of their International Human rights obligations. We need to speak out in favor of our principles. I will not be shy in upholding our principles with the government, and the people of brunei. Usefulgard to tpp, it is to note that brunei was a Founding Member. Important to note way trade is an important to broaden support for the universal values that we hold dear. We have not used trade agreements in the past to address religious concerns. I would refer you to usg are, which is leading those investigations. I look forward to be a partner with them to ensure the passage of tpp and that our views on human rights are now. Respected in brunei. Given your long career and service, i would be interested in how you view intellectual Property Rights. And how essentially you think in tradeg for a regime that respects and protects American Intellectual Property Rights, how central you think that is. Thank you. It is absolutely essential. Intellectual Property Rights are to our our economy and future economic growth. Brunei, there are still some property right problems. They were lifted off the special watch list recently, indicating some progress. I enter stand there are still problems and i look forward to working with the government to further clean up and improve the protection for intellectual Property Rights. Tppin the context of ppp , those are ongoing and very important to our future Economic Prosperity and growth. Thank you. Any further questions . With that i would like to thank our nominees today. I would like to thank mr. Thanks daughter sarah, mr. You for your support. We are grateful you stuck with us. Is there another panel . Ofn we will keep the record this panel open until noon tomorrow. I will recess for a third. Obama discuss the economy and Economic Opportunities for americans. Representative greg walden who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee gave the republican address. He talked about the republican agenda and tension Republican House candidates running around the country. Hi, everybody. My top priority as president is doing everything i can to create more jobs and more opportunities for hardworking families to get ahead. On friday, we learned that our economy created over 200,000 new jobs in july. Thats on top of about 300,000 new jobs in june. Were now in a sixmonth streak with at least 200,000 new jobs each month. That hasnt happened since 1997. All told, our businesses have created 9. 9 million jobs over the past 53 months. Thats the longest streak of privatesector job creation in our history. Because of you because of your hard work and determination america has recovered faster and come farther than almost any other advanced country on earth. The economy is clearly getting stronger. Things are clearly getting better. And the decisions we make now can keep things moving in that direction. Thats whats at stake right now. Making sure our economy works for every working american. Making sure that people who work hard can get ahead. Thats why ive been pushing for commonsense ideas like rebuilding our infrastructure in a way that supports millions of good jobs and helps our businesses compete. Raising the minimum wage. Making it easier for working folks to pay off their Student Loans. Thats why ive been pushing for fair pay and paid leave. These policies have two things in common. All of them would help working families feel more stable and secure. And all of them have been blocked or ignored by republicans in congress. Thats why my administration keeps taking what actions we can on our own to help working families because congress is doing so little for working families. House republicans actually got together this week and voted to sue me for taking actions on my own. And then they left town for the month without settling a bunch of Unfinished Business that matters to working families across america. The bottom line is this weve come a long way these past five and a half years. Our challenges are nowhere near as daunting as they were back then. But imagine how much farther along our economy would be how much stronger our country would be if congress would do its job. Ill never stop trying to work with both parties to get things moving faster for the middle class. And i could use your help. If you see your member of congress around home this month, tell him or her whats on your mind. Ask them why they havent passed bills to raise the minimum wage or help with Student Loans or enact fair pay for women. And when they return from vacation next month, instead of trying to pass partisan bills on party lines, hopefully we can come together with the sense of common purpose that you expect. And in the meantime, i will never stop doing whatever i can, whenever i can, not only to make sure that our economy succeeds, but that people like you succeed. Thanks, and have a great weekend. No matter where you stand on the issues, this much is clear something has gone terribly wrong in washington. And americans have good reason to be fed up. For nearly six years now, weve had an administration that trusts government more than you, that spends rather than saves, that believes change comes from desks in washington and not kitchen counters like this one. Republicans have sought to do things differently. Weve focused on solutions to rein in big government, and help grow our economy. The house has passed more than 40 jobs bills, but the president and his party refuse to give them a hearing. Especially when we have an economy leaving people behind, a debt bigger than the size of our economy, a humanitarian crisis at our southern border, the irs targeting americans for their political beliefs, the rolling disaster that is obamacare. And the president denies his failures instead of learning from them. Hes disengaged when he should be leading. The president is so unwilling to challenge or even manage the big bureaucracies that our government cannot provide basic services to our veterans. These are the problems he promised to solve, but instead hes become a part of them. We all hope things will get better but in 94 days, we get to do more than just hope. We have the chance to deliver the accountability that cannot come soon enough. Its an opportunity and an obligation that we take seriously. As representative of oregons second district, i hear from folks every day who are about at the end of their rope. And as our campaign chairman, i can tell you our candidates for the house are people just as frustrated as you are; they are leaders who are ready to serve. In arizona, we have martha mcsally, a retired air force colonel and the First Female Fighter Pilot to fly in combat. Shell fight for women in Congress Just like she did in the uniform. In texas, will hurd is a former cia agent and successful businessman whose district is seeing firsthand the consequences of president s failure to secure the american border. Up in minnesota, Torrey Westrom is talking to minnesota families and farmers about the antienergy policies and taxes that are making it harder for them to get by. And in florida, theres carlos curbelo, a son of cuban exiles, a Miamidade County school board member, and a fresh voice washington sorely needs. These are just some of our great candidates, and i invite you to visit nrcc. Org to learn more about them. Because this is one of those moments when americans can seize the initiative for ourselves. Yes, this election will be about jobs. It will be about our economy. And it will absolutely be about obamacare. But it will also be about Holding Washington accountable. This november, americans can reject the complacency and the incompetence, and begin to restore a government that works for us and not against us. Were all in this together, and if we pull together, we can set on our nation on a hopeful, more prosperous course. With that, i thank you for listening. On the next washington journal nicholson. With thea curtis latest on the afghan president ial elections. Alie khedery. We will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Sunday, former republican from texas, ron paul. His latest book is the school revolution. He takes your tweets and calls 2. Cspan it wide range of topics, including the middle east, marijuana, and covering book fairs and festivals around the country. Book tv, television for serious readers. Cspan, greeted by americas Cable Companies 35 years ago and brought to as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. This week we are talking to members of Congress Deal with communications issues. Joining me first, a republican of ohio. I want to start with what the house did just recently. That was reauthorize the Satellite Television extension and localism act