announcer: outgoing secretary of state rex tillerson delivered a statement on president trump's decision to fire him. he promises an orderly transition for cia director mike pompeo from the president's choice to replace him --pompeo, the president's choice to replace him. this is about 9 minutes.

mr. tillerson: good afternoon, all. i received a call from the president of the united stat to whitehave spoken house chief of staff kelly. what is most important is to assure an orderly and smooth transition during a time when this country faces significant policy and national security challenges. i'm delegating all

responsibilities of the office of the secretary to secretary of sullivan.uty stainal day of secretary of 31.ill be march will move and an orderly and smooth transition for secretary mike pompeo. i am ordering those confirmed and in acting positions to stay up there po -- stay at their posts. i will be meeting some members of my front office team to thank them for their service. they have been extraordinarily sion whichto our mis

includes promoting values that i see as important. accountability, which means treating each other with honestly and integrity --honesty and integrity, address recently to issues of sexual harassment within the department. i would like to speak to our interagency colleagues and partners at dod and the joint chiefs of staff particularly. to my foreign service officers and civil-service collies, we ought to be famous of all the -- service colleagues, we all took to same oath of office, tofend the constitution, t faithfully discharge the duties of our office. as a state department, we are

bound by that hope. we remain steadfast here in washington and at post around the world. the world needs selfless leaders like these. ready to work with long-standing allies, new emerging partners and allies who are struggling as casesacies and in some are dealing with human tragedy, crisis of natural disasters and barely crawling themselves out of those disasters. these are experiences that no lecture hall or academic environment or think tank can teach you. only by people going to the front lines to serve can they develop this kind of talent. uniform,n and women in i'm told for the first time in this people's memory, the department of defense and department of state have a close

working relationship where we all agree u.s. leadership starts with diplomacy. the men and women in uniform at the department of defense under the leadership of secretary mattis and general dunford protect us as americans and our way of life daily at home and abroad. military,olunteer they do it for love of country, they do it for you and they do it for me and for no other reason. as americans, we are all eternally grateful to each of them and we honor their sacrifices. the rewarding part of having leadership and partnerships in place is that you can actually get some things done. and i want to give recognition to the state department and our partners for a few of their accomplishments under this administration. we exceeded allies,

the expectations of almost everyone with the dpr pressure campaign. --the air of strategic patience we increased the scope of the sanctions. the department understood a global campaign to bring partners and allies on board with every country around the world. at every meeting i have had throughout the year, this has been on the agenda to discuss. the adoption of the south asia strategy, with the conditions of his face military plan is that the condition to get the taliban to do peace talks with the afghan government. finally, our military planners with a strategy they can execute instead of a succession of 16

one year strategies. is military commitment attracted the support of allies broadly. progress has made, been made we know you've saved thousands of lives. there is more to be done in syria, particularly with respect to achieving peace and stabilizing iraq and seeing a healthy government involved. a campaign to defeat isis. nothing is possible without allies and partners. much work remains to establish a clear view of the nature of our elation ship with china. how should we deal with one another over the next two years -- the next 50 years and ensure

prosperity for all peoples free of conflict between two powerful nations? much work remains to respond to the troubling behavior and actions on the part of the russian government. russia must assess carefully as to how its actions are in the best interest of the russian people and of the world more broadly. continuing on their current trajectory is likely to lead to greater isolation on their part here in a situation with this not in anyone's interest. to my colleagues in the state department, much remains to be done to achieve our mission on behalf of the american people, with allies and partners. i close by thinking all for the privilege of serving beside you for the last 14 months. importantly, to the 300 plus million americans thank you for your devotion to a free and open society.

to acts of kindness toward one another, to honesty and the quiet hard work that you do every day to support this government with your tax dollars. all of us want to leave this place a better place for the next generation. i will now return to private life, as a private citizen is a proud american. proud of the opportunity have had to serve my country. god bless all of you. god bless the american people. god bless america. mr. secretary can you say what the future of a rant will be? -- future of iran will be? >> earlier today the senate energy and national resources emitted holly hearing regarding

budget request for the interior department. you can watch the entire hearing tonight at 10:00 p.m. here on c-span. ♪ >> c-span's washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up wednesday morning, mike thompson discusses gun legislation in congress. francis rooney on secretary of state tillerson's hiring. andy discussion on russian efforts to interfere on elections. marshall. be sure to watch washington journal live at seven eastern wednesday morning. join the discussion. sunday on c-span's q and a,

colorado college professor john cronen discusses his book. >> i think a reading of major is enablingssics and empowering in terms of this country stands for something stowe, harper lee, all of these people are storytellers saying that our tribe once to be something special. not a city on a hill but a city that cares and looks one another. understanding politics is indispensable to bringing about progress for as many people as possible. >> q&a sunday night at eight eastern on c-span. this weekend, the debut of

our series 1968, america and turmoil. for nine weeks we will that 50 years to that turbulent time marked with war, assassinations and the space race. andn's right, racial strife the rise of the political left and right. sunday, the vietnam war from ager military, political and diplomatic developments. jim webb.s the memoir, i heard my country calling. in pulitzer prize winning journalist david marinus. war and peace, vietnam and america. 1968: america and turmoil. journaln's washington and on american history tv on

c-span3. today debated the bill,alled right to try allowing terminally ill patients to try new drugs. the bill failed to reach the required amount of votes. the debate is about 40 minutes. purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and insert remarks extraneous materials in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: thank you. i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. speaker, i rise today on