I yield. Sort of like those people who think it might have been a good idea to let puerto rico be independent, mr. Brooks. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ive been pondering American History with europe while weve been listening to your testimony and q a back and forth. And it seems after world war ii for 47 years when there was not a European Community our relationship with europe was good. Then we had the eu created seven years worth of phase in and the Euro Currency comes into play in roughly 1999 and now 16 years thereafter and our relationship has been good. So either way, americas relationship with europe has done well with and without the euro. So to me, the European Union issue is more of a focal point for the european nations and they should be the deciders of their fate. And im curious about a comment that was made that the European Union is better for the usa, quote end quote. And my question is, why . What can you share for us that would help convince me that it is in americas best interest to have a European Union as opposed to not having one in as much as our relationship with europe was good in both contexts. Ill take a swing at it. First of all, the eu, whatever the current problems may be, is a Major Economic bloc in the world and a Major Trading partner. Is that good for us or bad for us . A prosperous european and American Economy one that more can send products to and americans can make money investing. Do you have any data that europe was growing slower before the eu than after . In the 1990s it grew quite well, as did we. Its had problems since 2008. Weve recovered more quickly than europe. Outside the framework of this hearing but do you have any data that backs that up . Since 1945 . So that would be in the neighborhood of 70 years. The lowering of trade barriers throughout Europe Clearly helped stimulate Economic Growth. It allowed for free trade within europe and allowed their economies to grow. The second thing the European Union has been a source of stability within europe and the community was instrumental in helping the transition from communism. Its been a part of the world we didnt have to worry as much post the breakup of the soviet union. There are other parts of the world we are concerned with. And if europe spiraled back toward rivalries, american policymakers would have to spend more time worrying about that than worrying about other problems. And europe is a Strategic Partner of ours for a long time. If jurp preoccupied and increasingly occupied, then when we try to deal with other strategic problems in the world well get even less help from europe than we do now. One of the important aspects of our relationship with europe is our military alliance, particularly nato, and it seems that under the European Union, defense spending the collective of european nations has declined as opposed to when they were a part of the European Union, making them less able to help america than troubled spots around the globe. I mention that as a concern of mine. I want to focus my remaining time on the greek bailout impact on america. Weve had now the third bailout, the first one was in 2010 and then 2012 sand now 2015 and we are hoping this one would stick when the two prior ones did not. What is the monetary exposure to the United States of these bailouts failing . I guess i can take a stab at that. The direct exposure to the United States to the greek bailouts comes through the imf, the 17 percent 17. 9 . And that exposure is about 25 i believe 25 billion. So 17 or 16 or 17 of that. However, as were seeing in the agreement this weekend, actually, the europeans made it explicit they are going to pay give greece the money so they can repay the imf. Which means that very quickly in my remaining few seconds, is the imf involved in the third bailout . I believe it is, yes. And so they will supply funds for the third bailout . It will not increase it because existing loans will be repaid simultaneously. Do you know the net . Sorry . Do you know the net . Is it going up or down. And we have the old and now the new bailout numbers and payoff of some of the old or new. Is it a net up or down . I dont know what the request from the europeans will be, and it depends on the size of the greek privatization proceeds, et cetera. But for the next three to four years, it will be about even after which it will begin to decline quite rapidly. Mr. Chairman, my time has expired. Thank you for the indulgence and the extra 45 seconds. So the United States will be paying for the sum of the bailout because we are part of the International Monetary fund . No, what is it. Yeah, we are. Were 17. 69 is our quota ownership of International Monetary fund so whatever the assets are in the imf and their obligations to greece, since were one of the owners, there is an impact on the United States. So what is your guess then say there is a certain amount of bailout, and how much of that is the United States going to end up paying . Well, the range that was mentioned through this yeah. The range that was mentioned of the agreement over the weekend was 60 82 to 86 billion euros, which is just over 90 billion. Right. And then, however, subtracted from that will be whatever the proceeds, assuming the number of greek government privatization proceeds from stateowned enterprises, et cetera. Now how much of that will be unknown, but the target is 50. I certainly dont believe they will reach 50. But lets say it is 20. That takes you down to the mid70s or 70 billion. So onethird of that would be for the imf to cover. And how much of that is us. Onethird of that is what 25 billion. Give and take. And then 16 of the 22. 16 . Now what does that leave . That leaves us about 5 billion, just about. Something like that. So isnt that wonderful that were getting to bail out greece and our friends over in europe for 5 billion. Isnt that wonderful. But we cant find any way to use that money anyway. Well, it is important to recognize that if the bailout deal were to work, then it is not a handout. It is a loan that gets repaid. All right. So the question is really do you think this is likely to turn greece around, finally allow it to begin to pay off the debts and lead to a restructuring of the debt and we all live happily ever after. Excuse me what about the date excuse me, with a member of the panel here, but the banks, when you talk about were bailing out the european banks, these people are being bailed out said the banks are actually getting the money. Are these privately held banks or are these banks that are owned by the government of france and england and et cetera . Well, in this instance, the current bailout under discussion is not private banks that own the debt. There was that issue back in 2010 where there were clearly some european banks that benefitted from that. They were mostly private banks in france and elsewhere. But clearly, the european government entered into this process because they were afraid that otherwise they would have to bail out these banks themselves and therefore make them so were not bailing out any private this money for bailing out greece does not include money that is going to privately owned banks . No. I mean there are is that right . The other gentleman, is that true . I dont think it is entirely true. It depends on what you mean by privately held banks. Some of the money will help greek banks that have no cash on hand at present. It sort of makes it even worse, doesnt it. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Just wanted to follow up on some of your previous comments about being better for us if the eu stays together. If you could answer the question in the opposite way of talking about how we can measure what the impact on our economy would be if the eu completely dissolved, or if it ends up that the uk ends up exiting the eu, what kind of impact would that have for us . Purely in economic terms, i think that would be a blow to the eurozone and the eu in general. As an economic actor and lead to slower Economic Growth in europe which is already relatively low, but that in turn reduces Economic Opportunities for the United States because if the euro the eu is growing at a half percent a year, then there are far fewer european firms that can sell things or europeans that can buy american products. So we are better off if europe had a vigorous economy and need for american products. Do we have a specificity on what impact that would be. Obviously you are saying there could be some loss. But im trying to look for a little bit more . I cant give you a figure, a Macro Economic estimate, i dont have that, of what the actual impact on the u. S. Economy will be, but anything that hurts the european economy will also hurt the United States, not perhaps as much, but it has a negative effect on our economic prospects as well. It is difficult to put numbers on this, but the United States is now dealing with one states is now dealing with one economic bloc. So when the u. S. Trades with the European Union, it is oneonone. But if the European Union, it is one on 28. There 28 sets of separate Bilateral Agreements the u. S. Has to work out with the countries. And access to one market of 506 Million People and a u. S. Corporation doing business in any one of those 28 countries has access to the entire market. If this breaks down or splinters in some fashion, it adds that much more level of complication in terms of dealing with these entities. With regard to what Prime Minister cameron has before him, what do you assess he will try to renegotiate with regard to britains commitment to the eu . I can take it. What he has it is unclear precisely what hes asking for at this moment from the eu authorities, but what he has mentioned is he would like to have britain exempt from something called the working time directive which is a European Regulation that says you cannot work more than 48 hours a week. Excuse me. And then there are other specific types of eu regulation or eu law that he would like the uk to be exempt from. He may seek to be exempt from the opening clause of the eu treaty which talks about an ever closer union. Which of course would be purely symbolic politics but that is important in a referendum campaign. Thank you, mr. Chairman. So were going to have to go pretty quickly here, and i just want to confirm this, so were talking about, in this bailout, the greek bailout, that about 5 billion americans will have 5 billion coming from our pockets. Would you like to again go back i would like to go back again to who this money is going to. The bailout first of all, is it accurate to say that the bankruptcy can be traced back to policies of greek government . In my opinion, yes. Yes. Okay, so the greek government had policies that put us in a spot where banks now the banks that will be repaid now, because they have been spending this money, to keep the greeks afloat, these banks are youre saying they are not private banks, they are german banks, french banks . No. No, no, this is in 2010. Today the people going to be repaid are in fact the imf itself and also the euro area and a relatively small amount of total outstanding debt. About 20 of debt is still held by private investors. So there is no direct so to speak. So the last bailout we saw private banks being basically being given money bailed out, and they bailed out the greeks but they give it to the private banks. Are those private banks are they profit making or government related institutions . They are overwhelmingly private profit making institutions. How much was the last bailout . Well, the original the total bailout so far is about 240 billion. 240 billion. Of that 240 billion, how much went to the private banks . I think that is i dont have the number off the top of my head, but i would say if you look at the direct exposure that these banks had to the greek debt that was restructured, which should also be known that the banks actually took, as all private debt holders did, a 50 hair cut on this debt in well, it depends on if the hair cut meant they are still making a profit or whether it means they are going to eat into the resource. If a bank or if any other private institution, at least in our society is supposed to be, if you take a risk you are making your money because you are taking a risk in giving your money out. And if the federal government or if the European Union simply bails out anybody who has taken a risk and makes up for it with public funds, i dont see why were why are they making a profit then on this stuff . Youre saying those banks didnt make a profit those years . Well, i mean, im saying that they are profitmaking private enterprises. I would say they definitely did not make a profit on the greek Debt Holdings because they were compelled to take a sizable debt restructuring, a 50 hair cut back in 2012. Well, im wondering, i could see why people are skeptical, regular working people, people who own Small Businesses or whatever whatever. A lot of it going and bailing out really very wealthy people who control the banking inging system. Mr. Meeks, you have one last well, i mean im sorry. It seems as though, from what im hearing, that the risk to the United States as far as us, it is minimal, if anything. It is not substantial. And the likelihood of us having to pay anything, especially with the special fund that the europeans have set up to make sure the imf is paid because the only exposure is through the imf and that seems to be backed up already by though eu in the agreement saying they are going to make sure the imf is paid so that would leave 0 that the United States as far as being is that not correct . Yes. It is very important to emphasize the imf is the super senior creditor and this will be a Firm Political commitment by the creditor to make sure the imf is paid back and the exposure to the United States is close to zero. In fact it is zero. [ inaudible ] you had your time already. And all of the money through american banks that never left our shores at all. And all i know is we had a financial crisis also in the United States in 2008, and we had to bail out banks to keep our economy afloat. The banks ultimately paid things back. So this is not something that is unusual as far as dealing with a current economy. They arent doing anything differently than we had to do. We rebounded and now we have to get the reforms that are necessary and it is a vast cost because when you are looking at the eu as a whole, for us were looking at what is in americas best interest and we have to hope what is in europes best interest but if you look at what is in americas best interest, it is for us to deal with europe as a whole. For example, one of the next big issues that we have to deal with in congress is going to be another trade agreement. It would be best for the United States if we were negotiating that deal and doing it with the eu as a whole because that then gives a greater market for our businesses to try to make sure that we get the best deal to create jobs here, et cetera. Is that not correct. That is correct. Correct. Thank you. We have skeptics over here. Im one of them. Thank you all, mr. Meeks. Thank you to our witnesses. We have a vote so we have to run. God bless you. Thank you. Iran has signed the deal now what is next . Our washington journal, well talk with capitol hill workers about that including daryl issa of california. A member of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee and north africa. Later senator ben carton of maryland, the top democrat on the Foreign Relations committee. Washington journal is live every morning on cspan. You can give yours thoughts by phone and on twitter. When congress is in session cspan3 brings more of the access to congress with live action of hearings, news conferences and key Public Affairs events. And every weekend its American History tv. Traveling to historic sites. Discussions with authors and historian ianians and eyewitness accounts. Cspan3, coverage of congress and American History tv. A hearing on the challenges facing the International Space station. Just last month a rocket on the way to resupply it exploded over cape canaveral, florida. And there were two more unsuccessful attempts to deliver supplies to the orbiter over the past year. Witnesses include officials from nasa and boeing along with a former nasa restaurant whoastronaut who flew aboard the Space Shuttle columbia. This is about 45 minutes. The committee on space will come to order. And without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recesses of the subcommittee at any time. Good morning. Welcome to todays hearing titled the International Space station, addressing operational challenges. In front of you are packets containing the written testimony biographies and truth in testimony disclosures for todays witnesses. I recognize myself for five minutes for an opening statement. Good morning. Id like to welcome everyone to our hearing today and thank the witnesses for taking time to appear be