Until diane found a something affordable and what i thought was at least fairly reasonable, i didnt camp on the couch for a couple of weeks. I did camp on the couch for a couple of weeks. Now i am in a little apartment across town, so to speak, and the rent is still high, but manageable. Bill do you get home to louisiana and your district every weekend . Rep. Abraham almost every weekend. There may be two or three times at most where i stayed at in washington over the weekend. I prefer to go home of the week and it has i get to see the people i represent. The week that we get off during each month to go back in the district is a favorite week of the month for me. Bill what is it about washington where people who are not washington insiders that they should know about how it runs . Rep. Abraham in todays day and age, there is still a lot of bipartisan support. We passed 80 80 5 of bills coming down from leadership. This 80 85 of bills coming down from leadership. We could not it without help from our democratic colleagues. There are certainly some ideology and some issues that we will never agree on. Again, let us go back to the founders. That is what they wanted. We wanted to debate. If we did everything all the time, there would be no need for us to be up here. We have to represent our people and that will cause divisiveness sometimes, but more often than not, we get along better than most people think we do appear. Bill do you find more or less bipartisan than you imagined . Rep. Abraham a little more. I knew there are be some there would be some, but i have been surprised refreshingly that there has been a little more than nine dissipated. Then i anticipated. That is a good thing. We are able to do business with the nation and good business. Bill you talk about your habits and the three committees you are serving on and the amount of reading you have to do. Before we started our conversation on camera, we were talking about an epa hearing. Do you find you get enough time to get your questions answered in those hearings . Rep. Abraham no, i will say that quickly. We get five minutes, of course, to answer, ask, say a statement, what ever we want to do. I wish there were times that i had 30 minutes. Of course, when you have 10 or 15 people on a committee, that is not doable. You simply just cannot. Bill you are often being yanked out of those hearings for some sort of vote on the house floor. How many times have you found yourself going to the house floor and not knowing what the vote is about four Steve Scalise has to fill you in on where youre headed . Rep. Abraham every morning, i my staff brings me a list of what we will vote on that day. We have actually discussed that in prior week to what is coming up. As far as knowing what we are voting on, i read every day. If there are amendments that may have an undertow that i need to seek leaderships opinion on, i can go to scalise or mccarthy. There always on the floor and i can go to those people. I look at the louisiana delegation. We have very good congressman who have been here a while and they know the issues. I will talk to them from time to time and say, hey, fill me in on what we need to do here. Bill what are some of the items that have been working on in the early part of the 1 14 . Rep. Abraham for louisiana, it has been issues with fema. The epas water rule goes back to my foresters and how the epa is affecting their livelihood. They expect me to push back, express their interest, and be a representative. And that is what we do. Bill those issues concerning fema is that a fallout from katrina . Rep. Abraham they want to do a fiveyear plan instead of a 100 year plan. We do that in louisiana because we are low level line state. Of to 40 of louisiana would suddenly be in a floodplain. We cannot let that happen. That goes to insurance rates and being able to build structures. These are things we have to the on guard against because these things come up sometimes. It is try to slip under the radar so to speak. Our job is to watch the gate and close the gate when it needs to be closed. Bill you mentioned your flying experience with the reserves and the Mississippi National guard. You are a highlight. What do you like about piloting an airplane . Rep. Abraham theres nothing i do not like about piloting an airplane. It is a feeling that those who do fly understand. If im not working here or down in the district, im usually up in the clouds and flying. I do fly for the Civil Air Patrol auxiliary. I get to use my skills and a good way. I just enjoy it as a passion. Bill as a military and civil aviator, what are some of your policy concerns about Civil Aviation . Does the issue of drones concern you, for example . Rep. Abraham lets go back to my agricultural district, we have crop dusters flying right now as we are speaking every day. And they are flying head height over the crop. Should they hit a drone, which could be possible, it would bring them down and probably kill them. We do not want that to happen. The faa has issued some rules for drones right now that are being talked about, debated, but we have to have airspace issues with the drones. The drones are here to stay. They offer some wonderfully good potential. For mapping, agricultural sites, irrigation sites. I think the potential is unlimited, but we have also got people who are flying these aircraft in this airspace and there is this talk that i hear of reagan and dca that if a drone popped up on one of those big jets coming in bringing passengers and, and hit a windshield, trust me, it could do some major damage. The faa has its task cut out. We had people we saw just recently who stop fires from being quenched, because drones were in the way of delivering water to the area. It is got to be worked out and worked out pretty soon because they are becoming very popular. Bill there are all kinds of caucuses in the house, is there an aviation caucus . Rep. Abraham there is an aviation caucus. Bill is there a veterinary caucus . Is that an unusual move for someone who is a veterinarian to be a physician as well . Rep. Abraham there are a few, not many. Im not sure the exact number, but there are some that move from the physician to a veterinary profession. I consider anyone remove it for a lateral move. For me, it was more difficult to get into that schooled in medical school. The competition was much higher when i was applying for that new school. Fortunate to get in and stay in secondary school is difficult, in Veterinary School is difficult, too. It is a very hard course. Medical school to me was a little easier. Bill and continuing to do farming work, that comes in handy. Rep. Abraham definitely pick i was on a tractor a few weeks ago and i could do anything on a farm that needs to be done as far as raising a crop, growing a crop, gary getting a crop, and harvesting a crop. Bill what is bush hogging . Rep. Abraham that is where you take a large bore a clear pastor. Bill going back to your wall and reading the constitution, this is a letter that you have on your wall from George Washington to the sultan of morocco. Where did you get that and why did you want to put it up . Rep. Abraham my wife found that at a rummage sale and she loves to go to them. She was able to pick that up somewhere in the district. I wanted it up here because it goes back again to our founders. Even back in that day, washington understood, as most of our founders did, the potential of this nation and how great it probably would be. Even at that point, washington was reaching across the pond, across the borders to other nations saying, hey, we are growing. Were going to be a force to be dealt with and we want you to be a friend and part of our growth. This is what this letter is about i think he even sent a copy of the constitution with that letter to the sultan of morocco. Again, it goes back to our history. That is what im afraid we are forgetting a lot in this country where we came from. We came from some good stock and we have to keep that stock in place. Bill what he think the best play you read it every quarter. How to get people to read those documents more quickly . Rep. Abraham in my district, i was there last weekend and talking to a large group of church people. I hated constitutions out and i handed constitutions out and declarations of independence out. When i go talk to any Educational Group or young students, theyre going to get a copy of the constitution and a copy of the declaration of independence. I tell stories about it so that it will at least entice them to open that first page. Once they start reading, when i go back and say, hey, did you actually read this . They say they did. The verbiage that was used in those days is not unlike any we see these days. The prose that they used, the wording that they used, its just phenomenal. People recognize and appreciate that. Once they start reading the constitution, or specially the declaration of independence, which is such a wonderful document, they are pretty well hooked. Bill commission ralph abraham, louisiana fifth district, thank you for being with us on cspan. Rep. Abraham thank you. President ial candidates heading to the iowa state fair. It will have live coverage of the des moines registers candidate soapbox. Tradition where president ial hopefuls each get 20 minutes to speak to voters. Former arkansas governor republican mike i could be will be live here on cspan. Thats 11 11 30 a. M. Jim webb is live at 2 00. Later, democrat martin omalley, former Maryland Governor speaks to the crowd at 5 00 p. M. Eastern. After each of the candidates speak, we will get your reaction to what they said. Thats all here on cspan. The general has to buy advice as he prepares to step down as our mission with staff friday. He says Islamic Forces are not making good progress. The u. S. Should consider embedding american troops with the iraqis. He spoke at the pentagon for about 45 minutes. Good afternoon. Gen. Odierno i would send my prayers out to those killed in afghanistan this week. A member of the special forces group. We have ours that soldiers around the world doing dangerous and important things every single day. That is a reminder of the sacrifice they made. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. I want to thank the press for what i believe to be a positive relationship over the last 15 years for me as i have worked around the world and here in the pentagon, i really do appreciate the work you do. Ive reshoot the candor and dedication that you have, especially how you recover the army in many different parts of the world. I always found it important that the press raises issues, keeps us honest, helps us to work through tough issues that we have, and i truly appreciate the relationship we have had. Enjoyed the time i had with the press. Thank you very much for that. Ready to go out the door, couple of points i would like to make. In aneve this nation is important flexion point, specifically regarding national security. The security environment remains uncertain and dynamic. On we all know that based what is going on in Eastern Europe with russian aggression and Chinese Military increased investment in the military, increased aggression by china in the pacific. We continue to have a middle east that shrouded increasing instability. Faisal isil, the underlying conflict in the middle east. I believe these are longterm problems we will have to deal with for the for seeable future. We continue to have to work our mission in afghanistan to ensure that that government is able to survive and maintain itself for many years ahead. Important that we stay engaged in afghanistan. We have to be concerned with the growing movement of global terrorism, whether it be in north africa, central africa, and other parts of the world. Always, we have an unstable, unpredictable provocative north korea that we have to be concerned with. As i quickly summarized, there are a lot of issues out there, i didnt name them all. Those are the major ones. The problem we have today is we have a dynamic environment where we have increasing requirements requirements are military while we continue to have decreasing resources. This is of great concern to me personally as we continue to move forward. About is we are sacrificing a longterm viability of our military to meet current environmental requirements. I worry about decreasing readiness over time, i worry about reduced modernization in our force and the impact that might have two to five years from now. Many of the problems i listed are going to be persistent problems. They are not ones that will be solved overnight. There are a couple of things that we are doing in the army, and i would say in the last 18 months, we have an aggressive and publishing documents that are helping us move to the future. We published an army vision which is trying to give us a strategic advantage in the complex world of we live in. To identify what are the unique roles the army will play, there are each key characteristics that i see in the army in the future. It must be an army that is incredibly agile, we must be expert. What i mean is leaders of great character, competence, and commitment. We must be innovative, we must be interoperable with our allies as well as other services and joint force. We must be expeditionary, we must be scalable in order to meet probably simultaneous requirements around the world across several different continents. We publish a Army Operating concept the really looks to the future of what we need to look at in 2025 and beyond. Challenges we will continue to look at. This will help us to synchronize and integrate our efforts as we decide what we want to do in modernization, what we need to do in developing future leaders, and what we think is going to be required of them. To also look in new areas. We significantly increase our investment in cyber, both in the force and are modernization technologies, we are developing new readiness models. They will help us to deploy forces when needed on time, and we must increase our efficiency and the ability to deploy quickly. We increased and develop a new total force policy that uses the entire force in a way that we can sustain over the long time. These are just a few of the things that are working now, and with that, i will open it up for questions. General, first of all thank you for doing this and i think we all appreciate the amount of time you have spent both here at and that smaller gatherings. We hope you encourage your successor to do the same. I wanted to ask you there are two women that appear they may be completing the ranger course. We have been told they have gone through the hardest part. Im wondering if you can take a step back and look at that as you view your career and how things are changed . And whether or not you think they should inform the armys decision on whether or not to open the infantry to women, and what your personal views are on this as you leave, because your name may not be on the recommendations to the secretary. Would say as we continue to move forward as a military, the most important thing i was talking about Talent Management in order to best. You have to pick the best people that will conform to the establishment of the standards we have established in army. Meet themen can standard, they should be able to go. I think thats how we want operators move forward. If you can meet the standards weve established, you should be able to perform in that mos. I think that is where we are headed. We have not made any final decisions on infantry or army and, by think those are coming very shortly. We have really collected some significant analysis, we done incredible studies over the last two years. Weve integrated women in tall formations and again, it is about can they meet the standard or not. Lean towardsan, we the fact that it would be good if we allowed them to serve. I dont know how it is going to come out, you never know. There are several days left yet in ranger school. But the feedback ive gotten with these women is how are. Dibly prepared they the effort they put forward has been significant. They have impressed all that they have come in contact with. They are clearly motivated and frankly, thats what we want out of our soldiers. I think this has been a great effort. We will probably run in other course in november that will be integrated. That is where we are headed right now. And then we will make a decision after that on whether we make it permanently open to women. Given the fact that you have tours in iraq as anybody, can you reflect a little bit on your perspective and your solutions that you see out there. Do you think a nofly zone would make any sense . And do you think it is time to put u. S. Troops, soldiers on the ground with iraqi forces even potentially with syrian rebel put u. S. Troops on the ground into an bed with them and help them further train on the feasible . It even gen. Odierno as i look at a rock iraq and ive said this before it is frustrating to look at what has happened inside of iraq. I believe that a couple of years ago in 2010 or 11, we had it in a place it was heading in the right direction. Violence was down, the economy was growing, the politics were ok. We turned it over to them it. The by the agreement that weve made back in 2008, that they would take full control of this in 2011 we would leave. As it is turned out, they were prepared to handle that. I think it is more politically than it was anything else. The political factions just simply werent able to Work Together. And based on that, people became frustrated, and when people become frustrated, they tend to turn to violence because there is no other way to get their point across. Isilallowed a group like to exploit the fissures that were occurring inside iraq. The same thing happened in syria. When you have now are two countries are annexed which other the have the same kind of problems. Fairly gave them a significant piece of ground that enable them to build their capabilities. Off, i absolutely believe the region has to solve this problem. The u. S. Cannot solve this problem for the region. Theyve got to get involved and be a part of the solution. I truly believe that. I have said before, we could probably go in there with a certain amount of American Forces and defeat isil. The problem is we will be right back where we are today six months later. For me, its about changing the dynamics, the political dynamics, the economic dynamics. It has to be done by those in the region. It is important for us to andort that by training trying to develop capabilities and capacities. I believe that if we find it in the next several months that we are not making the progress that we have, we should absolutely consider embedding soldiers and see if that would make a difference. It doesnt mean that would be fighting, but we would be embedding them in moving with them, as an option we should present to the president when the time is right