Cspan, cspan radio, and cspan. Org. Cspans road to the white house 2016. We take you there. The head of the u. S. Soccer Federation Said he had suspicions about fifa, the Sports International governing body, before federal prosecutors indicted nine soccer officials. That hearing is next on cspan3. Then remarks from Los Angeles Mayor eric garcetti. Later we hear from gop president ial candidates ted cruz. And then a discussion on the u. S. Patent system. Book tv is television for serious readers. And join us this saturday starting at 11 00 a. M. Eastern for our all day live coverage of the harlem book fair. Author talks and Panel Discussions featuring historian nell ervin painter and pamela new kirk. Author and code pink Medea Benjamin on in depth. Live from National Book festival celebrating its 15th year. And on sunday, live in depth with second lady and senior fellow at the American Enterprise institute lynn cheney on on cspan2s book tv. The senate panel was critical of the way soccer is run by International Governing Bodies and questioned what current soccer chiefs new about corruption in the Global Organization fifa. Well hear from the u. S. Soccer Federation President dan flynn and journalist Andrew Jennings at the Senate Commerce committee. The panel was asked about discrepancies in spending between mens and womens soccer. Senator jerry moran chairs the hearing. This hearing of the subcommittee is now called to order. 3 00 is troublesome to our subcommittee. Well see how this goes as far as how we handle that circumstance when it arises. I would like to first thank the Witnesses Today for participating in what i think is a very important hearing regarding International Soccer governance. Im not one who generally thinks congress should investigate every scandal in the world of professional sports. Neuer do i believe that the topics we are discussing today will lead to legislation that must be enacted. But i do believe this is a significant issue that deserves public attention. By shining light on the corruption bribery and other criminal activity that has been a part of International Soccer for far too long my hope is that the american people, current and future sponsors, and Media Companies that support the games today will better understand the consequences of allowing the organizations governing soccer to continue without reform. Including the tragic loss of life. According to some reports, as many as 4,000 my grant workers will die before the first ball is kicked in the 2022 world cup. That is appalling. Soccer is by far the most popular sport in the world. It is truly a Global Institution that connects humanity across language, culture and continent. Soccer is attracting a wider audience by the day right here in the United States. One must look no farther than the womens world cup u. S. National team winning to see the impact soccer has on lives. Along with this excitement comes billions of dollars of annual revenue from tv contracts, sponsorships and endorsements. Thats why the revelations of bribery atrophy fifa and concacaf are more troubling. Bribery, corruption within International Soccer is so serious that may 27th 2015, the u. S. Department of justice unsealed a 47 count indictment against nine fifa officials and five Corporate Executives charging the defendants with racketeering, bribery, wire fraud, and money laundering. The culture of corruption must be addressed. With the announcement that fifa president blatter prepares to step down. Now it is time for the United States and the Soccer Federation to engage and encourage meaningful reforms and elect a leader atrophy tpa who will spearhead long overdue changes within the organization. The goal is to have a serious and meaningful conversation about how to address fifas culture of corruption, United States participation in the organization, and the Human Rights Violations stemming from the organizations lapses in integrity. Without evidence that reforms are being implemented, we must examine our countrys own participation in fifa and how it can restore integrity to the world of soccer. We cannot, should not, must not turn a blind eye to this issue any longer, especially when human lives are at stake. I now would like to turn to the Ranking Member, senator blumenthal for his opening statement. Senator blumenthal . Thank you mr. Chairman. And i want to thank you for having this hearing and for our witnesses being here. I also want to thank the department of justice for its vigorous and profoundly significant investigation. And i want to note that soccer is a growing and important sport in the United States. And we pride ourselves last month in our World Champion team. I want to congratulate them and say very bluntly that the corruption uncovered in world soccer is a disservice to the game, it is a disrespect to them. It betrays countless men and women. Many of them young people just beginning in this sport. Who have a right to expect better. The fact of the matter is what has been so far is a mafia style Crime Syndicate in charge of this sport. My only hesitation in using that term is that almost insulting to the mafia. Because the mafia would never have been so blatant overt and arrogant in its corruption. The simple fact is that in this indictment more than 100 pages long, shows a Crime Organization a racketeering conspiracy. It has an organizational chart that shows how it was run. And the question is who knew about this criminal wrongdoing when did they know it and what did they know, why did they not act more quickly. And those are the questions that u. S. Soccer federation has to answer today. These are classic questions involved in any racketeering conspiracy investigation. That is why there is no fact an ongoing criminal investigation. We know some of the individuals who were responsible and should be held accountable. At least one of the principals has pleaded guilty already. And others may be cooperating. But the facts show that there had to be either willful ignorance or blatant incompetence on many of the members of this organization. And thats true of u. S. Soccer as well. They either knew about it or they should have known about it. And im not sure which is worse. The recent success of our professional womens soccer team should remind us and all americans that fifa, the international responsible for regulating and promoting soccer, has engaged in this willful and prolonged disgracefully corrupt conduct, including money laundering, fraud spanning two decades. Many of these crimes were committed in the United States. Which is especially troubling. I am saddened by the fact that these corrupt practices over many years have deprived American National teams, our youth leagues and millions of american soccer fans of the full value and integrity of the game they love. The actions of fifas international and regional soccer officials have undermined the very sport this organization was established to serve. And this hearing is an opportunity for us not only to ask these questions about who knew what when and why they didnt do anything about it but also to lay the groundwork for reform. Just as sports scandals in the past have led to fundamental farreaching overhauls in the way those sports are organized and conducted. I want to know what reforms the u. S. Soccer federation is planning to introduce to instill Greater Transparency and accountability in the governance of soccer in america. Not whether but what and when. Because clearly there is an urgent and immediate need for such reforms. But i also believe that Americas NationalSoccer Federation has those serious questions to answer. And i think it has to answer them not only at this hearing but for its fans around this country. Clearly we can no longer indulge the idea of fifa, a multibillion dollar nonprofit. Only those who install Greater Transparency and accountability can shed the necessary sunlight to disinfect this corrupt organization. One proposal is in fact to reorganize it as a Public Corporation or some part of it as a Public Corporation. Im proud that the United States has led the world in bringing these scandals to light and holding individuals responsible. But that job is far from over. There needs to be additional action. And it should involve not only members of the public and Public Officials but also let me emphasize the private corporation that sponsor these events, corporate organizations that sponsor International Soccer like mcdonalds, nike cocacola and visa play their part by ensuring that they stand as guardians of Good Governance. They must do so rather than silent beneficiaries who benefit from opaque governance. And at least one of those corporations is mentioned without making it in the indictment. As my colleague senator moran has just mentioned, these actions have real life consequences not only financially but in potential discrimination against women in the game and potential physical harm to the workers who may have been involved and may be involved in other countries where major physical construction involves Human Trafficking and human rights abuse and worse. The International Community must collectively work to ensure human rights are upheld wherever our athletes compete. The betrayal of trust is no less when Human Trafficking is involved in building the stadiums where our athletes compete. Its a betrayal of trust on the part of those organizations that sponsor the game, and it implicates the entire sport. We should not tolerate the worlds most preeminent sporting competitions being staged at the expense of our most vulnerable citizens. Todays hearing is a first step. And i want to thank all of you for being here today. I look forward to your testimony and to restoring the trust of american fans, trust which has been betrayed but which they certainly deserve. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank the Ranking Member. Our panel today for this hearing is consists of four witnesses, mr. Dan flynn, whos the ceo and secretary general of the u. S. Soccer federation. That is the United Statess representative at fifa and concacaf. Mr. Michael hershman. The president and ceo of the fairfax group, member of fifas independent governance committee. Mr. Barry, advocacy director for the middle East North AfricaAmnesty International. He will testify about findings of the may 15, 2015 amnesty report regarding working conditions. And finally mr. Andrew jennings whos traveled perhaps the furthest to join us. Hes an investigative writer and filmmaker credited with blowing cover on fifa scandal. We will start with mr. Flynn. Mr. Flynn, please testify. Thank you, senator. On behalf of the United StatesSoccer Federation i would like to thank senator moran, senator blumenthal, senator from my home state of missouri and other members of this committee for giving soccer to appear today and answer questions you may have. On behalf of our Womens National team, i would like to also thank president and mrs. Obama, Vice President and dr. Biden, distinguished members of this subcommittee, your senate and house colleagues and the tens of millions of fans in the United States including the Largest Television audience ever to watch a soccer match in this country who supported and cheered this Wonderful Group of women to the womens world cup title just ten days ago. I am daniel flynn, and i have been u. S. Soccers chief executive officer and secretary general for the last 15 years. And im ultimately responsible for the daytoday operations of the federation. We are a Nonprofit Membership Organization recognized by the u. S. Olympic committee as a National Governing body for soccer and by fifa, the worlds governing body for the sport of soccer as National Association member for the United States. As required by fifa we are also a member of concacaf, covers the north and Central America and caribbean nations. For more than 100 years u. S. Soccers mission has been to make soccer a preeminent support in the United States and to continue the growth and development of the sport at all levels. U. S. Soccer directly fields 17 National Teams including the Womens National team which has won three world cup titles and four olympic gold medals and the mens National Team which is in the process of defending its 2013 concacaf gold cup title. We also field the National Paralympics team and numerous aged based boys and girls teams. U. S. Soccer is made up of various organizations including among others our professional leagues, the adult amateur leagues, Soccer Organizations for disabled athletes and the youth amateur organizations. U. S. Soccer is governed by a 15person volunteer board of directors elected by its members which includes independent directors, athlete representatives and directors representing different segments of our membership. Our annual tax returns audited financial statements, business plans, bylaws, policy and board of director Meeting Minutes are all publicly available on our website. In fifa, we are one of 209 National Association members. Fifa members must vote on any substantial changes to the organization. And a vote of every member, regardless of the size, number of players or the quality of their National Teams, counts the same. Until two years ago when our president was elected to the Fifa Executive Committee, the federation did not have a direct representative on that important policymaking body. Although our role and influence in fifa has historically been limited, the federation has been a strong advocate for reforming the organization by among other things improving governance, increasing transparency and strengthening ethics rules. U. S. Soccer supported fifas decision in 2011 to engage experts to conduct a review of its governance structure and then urge the adoption of the reforms after the governance report was released. U. S. Soccer supported the investigation by the Fifa Ethics Committee into the bidding and award processes for the 2018 and 2022 world cups. And publicly advocated for the release of the full investigative report, not just the summary report released by fifa last fall. U. S. Soccer was one of the National Associations which nominated prince ali and then publicly supported his challenge to fifas long standing president mr. Sepp blatter in a recent election. We did so including potential impact on our possible bid, the host the 2026 mens world cup. But u. S. Soccer believes Good Governance and good leadership at fifa is paramount and more important to the sport than hosting any individual world cup. Going forward we believe reform will have to start at the top beginning with the election of a new fifa president in light of mr. Blatters stated intention to resign. U. S. Soccer will look to the new president to lead this reform. We understand many traditional soccer powers also believe it is time for a change. U. S. Soccer will continue to work with like minded National Associations and confederations to promote change and to alter the culture at fifa. At concacaf, efforts proceeded more rapidly. Concacaf appointed a threeperson special committee which includes u. S. Soccers president to help guide through this period of turmoil. And over the july 4th weekend concacaf Recommendation Committee unanimously approved a series of sweeping reforms to discuss governance, and compliance and transparency. Thank you for your time and i look forward to responding to specific questions you may have on this or other s