▶ 0:11:28e e
▶ 0:12:01you can have M the committee on house administration will come to order I note that a quorum is present without objection the chair May declare a recess at any time also without objection the hearing record will remain open for five legislative days so members May submit any materials they wish to be included therein uh thank you ranking member melli members of the committee uh and our Witnesses for participating today uh today the committee house administration Begins the oversight of the legislative branch for the 119th Congress
▶ 0:12:31we have a duty to the American people to ensure their tax dollars are being used efficiently and effectively by all house committees committee work is a critical part of our job here in Congress it is where we discuss legislation debate issues and most importantly hear from Americans who are experts on issues that impact them directly over the next two days we'll hear from the chairs and ranking members of each committee on what funding they need to accomplish their goals for the 119th Congress it's our goal to increase transpar with this process and show show the American people
▶ 0:13:01how their tax dollars are being are working for them I look forward to speaking with each of the Committees leadership to determine how we can ensure that no taxpayer dollars are being wasted we'll continue our mission of being an open and transparent committee and we welcome every other committee to use this platform to do the same look forward to hearing from each of the Committees coming before us today I'd like to thank our Witnesses for joining us today discuss the important topics with that I will yield uh to the ranking member Mr melli uh to offer opening
▶ 0:13:32statement uh thank you Mr chairman U uh for uh yielding to me and also for convening this series of hearings uh the committee funding process is truly one of the more unique aspects of house administration's uh duties and I look forward to hearing from our fellow committee leaders today and tomorrow as we undertake uh this important process uh the committee system is the Hallmark of the United States Congress the Committees are where we exercise critical oversight where we craft and debate
▶ 0:14:02uh policy proposals and where we decide what to recommend to the broader house for consideration the work is often times not glamorous uh it is certainly not easy it is however fundamental to our system of representative government article one of the United States Constitution is clear about powers granted exclusively to Congress including the power of the purse Article 1 Section one all legislative powers here in Grant Ed shall be vested in a Congress of the United States
▶ 0:14:32Article 1 Section 7 Clause 1 all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives Article 1 Section 9 Clause 7 no money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of Appropriations made by law it is important to remind the American public the executive branch and even some of our colleagues here in Congress that unless the Constitution is amended Congress is still the only authorizer and appropriator of federal public money and as an appropriator and I share
▶ 0:15:02that with a number of members here uh we take this to Heart we've witnessed over the past three weeks federal agencies that Implement our laws are under an unchecked assault of questionable legality and while assault is ongoing it's important we give house committees the resources they need to execute their responsibilities while what little separation of powers remain for years the bipartisan select committee on modernization and our own subcommittee on modernization LED ay by
▶ 0:15:33my friend Miss B Bice has documented congress's desperately needed infusion of resources capacity and expertise whatever you believe about the Supreme Court's decision to end Chevron Defence in a series of decisions last year if you like me think it's a uh badly misguided or others who feel it's appropriate you cannot avoid the impact uh of um and and how it impacts our work here in the Congress these decisions together with what seems like
▶ 0:16:03an endless assault on the federal government's regulatory Authority in the last several weeks makes adequate committee funding even more imperative um you'll recall experts from across the ideological Spectrum stressed at a hearing before this Committee just a few months ago relative to Chevron that Congress must now craft laws with more technical expertise than ever before effective lawmaking is dependent upon this expertise and it does not come with without significant uh investment committees also need to be adequately
▶ 0:16:33supported in their exercise of legitimate oversight oversight jurisdiction is one of the most effective tools we have in affirming the co-equal branch and status of the legislative article one responsibilities I personally still believe in the powers and responsibilities of the Congress which is why I'm glad we're having these hearings today and tomorrow though the federal government is being systematically dismantled by an unelected billionaire and the foundational principle checks and balances erods more by the day I'm hopeful we will stop it
▶ 0:17:04not as Republicans and Democrats but as public servants and members of Congress who swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution with that I yield back the gentleman yields back without objection all other members opening statements will be made part of the hearing record if they're submitted to the committee clerk by 5:00 pm today uh today we'll hear from the chair and ranking member of 11 committees uh beginning with the Foreign Affairs committee uh for each panel we'll Begin by recognizing the chair for five minutes the ranking member for five minutes uh and then we're going to do
▶ 0:17:34questions five minutes total for the majority five minutes total for the minority uh as we ask questions we'll do it a little more casually on our side I'll defer uh to the ranking member uh as he navigates uh the five minutes for the minority will keep everything reasonably tight it'll be a little bit of a different structure uh but I think it'll move us right along uh through the hearing uh I now welcome our first panel of witnesses chairman mass and ranking member Meeks uh on the committee on foreign Affairs I'll recognize chairman Mast for five minutes or an opening statement
▶ 0:18:05thank you chairman Style thank you ranking member melli members of the house administration committee thank you for the opportunity to testify on the funding needs of the Foreign Affairs committee for the 119th Congress along with my friend ranking member Gregory Meeks the Foreign Affairs committee is a great authorizing committee our role in helping craft foreign policy it is essential as we all see around the globe we literally have the power to declare war and to end
▶ 0:18:35War we conduct oversight of the state department usaid the United Nations Millennium challenge the development Finance Corporation and other agencies and bureaus that make up America's foreign policy infrastructure we manage export controls which is everything related to chips we approve weapons sales to include in basically every weapon system engine modifications aircraft Navy vessels you name
▶ 0:19:05it that may be sold to any one of our allies and in the 119th Congress we will conduct the First full state reauthorization since the year 2002 this is our mission and it's more important than ever reauthorization is the only way to ensure the state department is accountable to Congress under any Administration right now only 15% of the state department is strictly
▶ 0:19:35authorized by Congress on the state Department's organizational chart there are nearly 66 offices that Congress has not authorized and that does not count the nearly 40 special envoys appointed during the previous administration a full reauthorization is the only way to ensure that there's no wasteful spending within the state department or usaid or any of the other arms of foreign ass assistance for this reauthorization to succeed it has to be just as serious as how the house arm
▶ 0:20:05Services committee conducts their ndaa and as such we have worked to model everything that we need off of what the house arm Services committee has done since this has not been done in so many years with the Foreign Affairs committee the needs are to hire a budget director to review every dollar that state department has received and will send out the door build out new Amendment tracking system for reauthorization that will mirror the one used by the house armed services committee for the ndaa and hire and
▶ 0:20:35retain staff with the expertise necessary to ensure that every dollar and every Diplomat that we authorize does in fact put America First the world is a dangerous place at this very moment we all realize this more than ever we have Iranian back terrorists looking for their next Target in the Middle East we have a war raging in Ukraine throughout Europe we have China Pro probing every facet of America and our allies for weaknesses yet these dangers have increased over the
▶ 0:21:06past four years as our foreign assistance system has lost sight of its Mission conducting oversight of this system is not easy that's why it hasn't been done in 20 years however the state department alone has nearly 80,000 employees some of them are based right here in Washington but a large number work out of the nearly 300 embassies in consulate America has across the globe in comparison the house Foreign Affairs committee has at most 59 employees who are responsible for doing this
▶ 0:21:36oversight that's why we are respectfully th48 for the year 2025 and 12, 6936 193 for the year 2026 this increase reflects the need for added staff again modeled after how the ndaa is conduct conducted with the armed services committee who will be tasked with performing diligent oversight of regional issues and conducting again that
▶ 0:22:06full State Department reauthorization it also reflects the committee's addition of a new task force focused on foreign military sales that will add to our workload and require additional highly skilled professionals to oversee the increasingly critical foreign policy function we have a constitutional duty to conduct rigorous oversight over America's vital foreign policy institutions and ensure that every dollar and every Diplomat is working to Advance America's national security interests
▶ 0:22:36I'm asking for your support to help us carry out this Mission and I thank you for your time and I do look forward to answering any questions you may have thank you very much chairman Mast ranking member Meeks your recognized five minutes thank you chairman steel ranking member Morelli members of the committee on administration thank for you thank you for this opportunity to appear for the committee with chairman Mass my friend in support of the house committee on Foreign Affairs budget request for the 119th
▶ 0:23:07Congress in the 118th Congress the Foreign Affairs committee conducted unprecedented oversight and pushed an ambitious legislative agenda including several pieces of legislation supporting America's ability to win the competition with China addressing crises in Haiti and Sudan the war in Gaza and Putin's illegal invasion of Russia this year chairman Mass
▶ 0:23:37has expressed through the committee oversight plan and the budget request and intention to pursue State Department authorization bill as he just described in this Congress which I know from my own experience as chair of this committee and the 117th Congress is a diff is a difficult and time consuming task it is however an important
▶ 0:24:07undertaking that will that will require significant staff resources chairman Mass has also put forward an oversight agenda that includes seven subcommittees and has indicated he will establish a task force to review the armed sales process and potentially others this work will require new technology and new resources an additional midcareer and Senior staff
▶ 0:24:38I look forward to this work and believe an increased budget would enable the Staffing and supporting resources required to maximize the quality and output of our efforts America's national security interests are squarely at the center of this committee's jurisdiction at a time when Global challenges will continue to require our most skilled staff and thinking we know Wars
▶ 0:25:08are easier to start and much more difficult to stop it is the work of this committee that helps us do the latter and whether it's the war in Ukraine or Gaza strategic competition with China addressing Newfound Global challenges in the rates for AI Domin Min and deepening our diplomatic engagement in our Hemisphere and on the continent of Africa this committee will be on the Forefront of addressing
▶ 0:25:38these challenges the minority in the 112th Congress and by pass practice controls onethird of the committee budget and I appreciate the fact that chairman Mass intends to honor that practice and allow me the autonomy to use the minority budget to best meet the unique needs that come with being in the minority unfortunately because of a smaller budget and staff allotments in the minority my staff have taken on more responsibilities
▶ 0:26:09without the increased compensation that they deserve they are highly skilled policy staff and lawyers with the technical skills required to meet the demands that come with the work of the committee people with both Regional expertise but also with experience in the agency sees this committee overseas this budget increase would allow me to compensate the staff for their work hire additional staff to cover the additional issues
▶ 0:26:40outlined in the committee oversight plan and importantly retain talented employees the work of this committee is consequential to our national security if we are to leverage diplomacy to avoid conflict counter global threats expand our soft power and increase America's competitiveness in global standing there is no Committee of Greater importance
▶ 0:27:10than the house Foreign Affairs committee having the resources to do the important work the American people expect us to do requires a budget that can support the high expectations we have set thank you for this opportunity to speak and testify before this committee and I look forward to answering any questions you may have thank you ranking member Meeks uh I'll begin our questions on the majority side of five minutes just raise your hand if you'd like to jump in we'll keep it a little bit casual
▶ 0:27:40uh as we go I'm going to ask the same question of all chairs and ranking members today um out of the gates which is relates to cyber security will you uh Mr chairman mass and ranking member Meeks uh commit uh to having your systems administrator meet with the house CIO team uh in the first quarter to discuss cyber security absolutely absolutely thank you very much um first question chairman uh chairman Mass a lot of conversation about oversight in particular as it relates to usid in your jurisdiction we
▶ 0:28:10think about the role of committee funding uh in a real opportunity uh to utilize that funding to actually save taxpayer dollars um looking through your oversight plan you feel that you have the resources you need uh knowing the the heavy work you have in front of you in particular as it relates to recent Revelations at USA given the oversight plan that we gave you for the future yes we specifically pinpoint the individuals that we need to conduct that one example would be somebody that is has a specific expertise in looking at the budgets
▶ 0:28:40of the state department to be able to see where those dollars have been and have been uh tracked and not tracked in the appropriate way which is very difficult when you consider the way foreign aid is doled out often going to a foreign company a foreign country a foreign NGO who may send it on to one two or three who may send it on to one two or three more thank you very much I think it's a really important part of the work of your committee uh ahead I'll recognize um Vice chair Miss Lee Mr chairman in your testimony you
▶ 0:29:11mentioned standing up a new task force that was focused on US Government process for weapon sales to foreign countries could you tell us more about that task force and the types of staffing needs and cost you think will be associated with standing it up that foreign military sales task force which will also be looking at export controls we'll be dealing again everything that falls off the wing and of aircraft out of the belly of an aircraft something that's fired out of a weapon system something that helps any foreign militaries even Engine Systems uh you know down
▶ 0:29:41to to small arms and even things when you're talking about export controls like chips that we see as so vitally important it's important that we understand what are going to be our controls that are needed uh to make sure that we do not have China advancing past us as one example but to make sure that we have the capabilities to make sure that we're running faster than every other country not hindering our industry as well uh specific individuals professional staff members that will be working uh for that new task force
▶ 0:30:11uh along with who will be the chair uh Ryan ziny representative Ryan ziny great military experience tends on bringing that to the table to to make sure uh everybody is up to date on the weapon systems what they need to know and which individuals should be receiving them so that America is not sending them to the wrong place thank you Mr chairman I back representative bis is recognized thank you Mr chairman and thank you chairman mass for being with us this morning um in your uh your submission you mentioned a specific reauthorization software that your committee is
▶ 0:30:41looking to purchase can you talk a little bit about that and why the need uh for that specific application so when you look at this reauthorization again we looked at specifically many conversations with the har arm Services committee to understand how they do it well year after year after year having not done it in a uh full scope for so many years we didn't want to reinvent the wheel we wanted to base it upon something successful so we're looking at something known as the dextera system uh and one of the primary reasons to put forward on this is to say there will be thousands of amendments
▶ 0:31:11that come in as it relates to doing the state department reauthorization you have to be organized in order to conduct that properly track the changes that are made the last minute changes that are made right before you bring these items to the the committee for a vote you name it and to not be organized in that system would be set it to to set ourselves up for failure so it's the Dex Terra system to look to uh to advance that into the the Modern Age so that we can do it right are you familiar do you have any perspective on the cost of that particular software application the specific cost of the Dexter system
▶ 0:31:41I have it on my uh system here and it does go with other things as well uh literally the committee has to replace every server uh as one the last time our servers were replaced were in 2012 so that is a uh requirement the Dex teror system uh I believe is at 140,000 right here and a few other 110,000 labeled under Avatar datam system software
▶ 0:32:11great thank you very much Miss vce's back um I'll ask one maybe final question if there if there's time we can continue um you're new as a committee chair but house or the Foreign Affairs committee uh uniquely has members that represent other committees Mr Meeks and I both serve on the financial Services committee for example um have you been utilizing the deconflict Tool uh and do you have experience in that and and how has it been working for you we have been utilizing the deconflict tool it's important to us you mentioned the house Financial Services committee that's the best example
▶ 0:32:42to use for my committee uh as we all know sometimes members are wavered onto committees I have more waivers than anybody probably to the attune of about seven or eight more than any other committee and seven of those individuals that are on waiver to the house Foreign Affairs committee come directly from from the financial services committee so that's an easy one to identify as the need to deconflict seeing none um I will now uh yield five minutes for questions to the to the ranking member thank you um first
▶ 0:33:12of all thank you uh Mr chair my partner in Optics and photonics in our caucus thanks for your work and good luck to you and your new assignments and to my dear friend from Queens thank you for being here I also want to acknowledge our newest member on this committee is also a member of the Foreign Affairs committee so um Miss Johnson is doing uh double duty in that regard um I do want to ask and I think uh uh the ranking member mentioned this the 2/3 1/3 split which is traditional here um that the minority
▶ 0:33:43uh be given unrestricted access to the resources they need out of that allocation uh I noticed Mr the ranking member mentioned this in his comments uh Mr chairman are you uh fully uh in accord with that absolutely that's the way the committee will function very good thank you um I uh I would join uh with the uh chair in regards to concerns about cyber security issues um so I'm grateful for that um I did want to ask a question related to
▶ 0:34:13security we've seen a number of member threats uh and they continue to increase uh something our committee is is uh intimately involved in as the oversight committee over Capital police uh and this may not be something Mr chair that you can answer right now in your new responsibility but certainly as we move in the future um we want to make sure that the committee is receiving the necessary security support from United States capital police sergeant of arms not only when you're convening here in
▶ 0:34:43DC but if you do field hearings uh and as you travel about uh please make sure that the chair and I are aware of of any uh lapses any concerns that you have we're very very focused on uh member security so uh I don't know if you want to speak to it now or uh or or withhold your comments but this is something that's important to us Mr ranking member I'd speak to that on two fronts we do not have a large budget for field hearings really less than $50,000 it's not a big part of the Foreign Affairs committee our foreign travel comes through
▶ 0:35:13a a different bucket when we're conducting Congressional delegations abroad uh but there are probably few that deal more uh with foreign terrorist organizations uh cartels foreign interests in a number of different ways that absolutely puts our members at a a risk posed by International actors that in many cases are trained at a high level uh to conduct Espionage uh to conduct attacks to conduct assassinations uh to harm individuals not just as the principles
▶ 0:35:43but our staffs and our families as well and this something 100% that we take seriously if ask the ranking member to comment as well yeah that is extremely important because we've seen because of the issues that we that are coming before this committee members have had threats on a consistent basis telephone through emails even individuals demonstrating before their homes or threatening and graffiting or doing other uh uh activities that endangers members and their families that make them
▶ 0:36:13feel insecure so that members security uh at this point in time where we are with all that's going on around the world is extremely important for both sides uh to make sure that we secure uh the the the members and to the degree uh their homes and their family that becomes really important and i' just encourage you to keep us posted of any concerns that you might have I would ask uh Miss Johnson if you have any question mic on however
▶ 0:36:44there we go um I noticed that there's a lot of vacant um positions here on the employee roster do you have anticipations of filling those slots some slots we have removed individuals from uh we want to make sure that any indiv idual is the best fit capable of doing work at the highest possible level uh and in the end not have anybody on that's not let's say pulling their weight so we will make sure that every person that we bring on is vital to accomplishing
▶ 0:37:14the mission and not have individuals on that we do not need to accomplish the mission so if those funds are not utilized for staff then what happens to that I don't know if we can literally return the the F and what the mechanism is for literally returning but if it's not used more than happy to return any unallocated funds trying to understand I don't know okay you back chman y's back we we thank our Witnesses uh for appearing before us today uh we look forward to your work this Congress we'll pause while the
▶ 0:37:44uh our next panel arrives you thank
▶ 0:38:24you I welcome our next panel of witnesses chairman Wahlberg ranking member Scott uh of the education Workforce committee um I'm going to we're moving right along we're going to manage our time five minutes for questions each five minutes for opening statements I'll recognize you uh chairman Wahlberg for five minutes for the purpose of an opening statement thank Mr chairman thanks to the well chairman style ranking member melli thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify
▶ 0:38:54on behalf of the committee on education Workforce ranking member Bobby Scott who also is here today and I share a view that the committee is one of the most important in the House of Representatives because of its jurisdiction not only affects American but also because the issues uh Americans are most concerned about fall into our committee for example the committee has jurisdiction over Rissa and Welfare plans for 156 million
▶ 0:39:25workers retirees and dependents these plans solvency and dependability are vital for many and the committee plans to ensure that Arisa F funds are safeguarded the committee has shared jurisdiction over Health Care high quality lowcost Health Care is one of the most important issues for Americans and it's a PRI priority uh in Congress the committee also plans to work alongside the Trump Administration to return control of Education to the states
▶ 0:39:56it's critical this is done so in a way that supports students teachers parents and not bureaucrats one approach we will use to gather information needed to make important legislative decisions is to hold multiple field hearings for example the committee intends to use field hearings to gather information uh about our nation's K12 schools including discrimination uh declining academic achievement and successful Career and Technical education
▶ 0:40:26and apprenticeship based programs also the committee May hold field hearings to shine a light on the academic rot and anti-Semitism at colleges uh that continue to refuse to uphold the law and protect their Jewish students faculty and staff information gathering is not the only way the committee intends to strengthen its toolbox uh the committee will be working to replace approximately a dozen staffers who left to join the Trump Administration the committee also recognizes the speaker of the house
▶ 0:40:57as issued a pay order to raise maximum annual salary to a rate equal to level two of the executive schedule effective January 1 2025 as such the committee will need funding to remain competitive in maintaining employees who have policy expertise oversight experience or both Additionally the committee anticipates the creation of several new positions including a health care policy director to help Shephard crucial legislation uh
▶ 0:41:27now that a Republican Senate may increase the likelihood that a greater number of bills may be favorably considered in both Chambers filling Staffing vacancies and motivated uh with motivated and experienced employees adding new positions to meet anticipated expansion and legislation that will be sent to the president increasing the number of hearings and markups and holding multiple field hearings will require additional resources it is for these reasons that we respectfully submit the committee's budget request
▶ 0:41:57and I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have thank you chairman wallberg ranking member Scott you're recognized for five minutes thank you chairman style ranking member melli and members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today as ranking member with chairman Walberg to speak on in support of our bipartisan budget for the house committee on education and Workforce I want to thank chairman wallberg for developing our committee budget and supporting the request for the 119th Congress which represents increase over
▶ 0:42:27the last Congress although I believe the committee deserves more I think the increase is sufficient enough to carry out the committee's legislative and oversight responsibilities moreover I support Mr walberg's desire to hold more remote hearings in members districts where our issues have an acute impact Mr warberg and I want to continue to be role models for our colleagues on how to work in a productive bipartisan manner in short we want to show how you can disagree without being disagreeable
▶ 0:42:58and per the past practice onethird of the budget will be allocated to the minority is when the practice of the committee to proide to provide the minority with autonomy over its budget allocation I'm confident that chairman wallberg will continue to honor the committee's tradition moreover the committee allocation will allow minority to continue its work with the highest level of professionalism and expertise as you know the committee has jurisdiction over matters that impact all walks of life children students
▶ 0:43:29workers and older Americans by having jurisdiction over all forms of Education Workforce including civil rights and employment and pensions health care and other issues such as Juvenile Justice Child Nutrition and the older Americans act as such it is imperative that we attract and develop and retain a diverse highly talented and credential staff who can develop evidence-based policy to improve the lives of the American people during the 118th Congress
▶ 0:43:59our robust staff worked to present 62 committee hearings report out 54 bills from the committee passed 32 bills through the house and ultimately five bills signed by the president moving forward the minority moving forward in the minority committee Democrats and our will not rest we pledge to work with Mr Walberg to find areas of commonality especially in areas of Workforce Development Juvenile Justice promoting transparency and Health care billing
▶ 0:44:29and hopefully many other areas but we will press for the protection of workers rights to organize earn livable wages and work in safe environments free from harassment and discrimination we'll continue to promote equity and education so that students can learn in a safe welcoming environment and access high quality public education that prep prepares them for the modern economy will also promote food security policy as an expansion of
▶ 0:45:00affordable health care in some the minority on education and Workforce remain committed to our legislative responsibilities to build an economy where everyone can succeed so I join chairman will wber and asking the house administration committee to support our request and thank you for the opportunity to testify happy to answer any questions and I yeld back thank you very much ranking member Scott uh each side will have five minutes for the purpose of asking questions and I'll be yielding uh to my colleagues on our side I recognize myself
▶ 0:45:30for five minutes um quick question out of the gates so we're asking all chairs uh in ranking members uh as it relates to cyber security and it's uh asking will you commit uh to having your systems administrator uh meet with the house CIO team in the first quarter uh to discuss to discuss cyber security issues yes thank you very much um first question uh to you chairman Wahlberg um I was reading through in notice that you created new positions for healthcare policy um could you elaborate on how those
▶ 0:46:00positions will further the work of education and Workforce well in the past in the past while we had dealings in that area we had no one specifically given toward attention to that matter we know that uh working with the Senate the opportunity to move things forward in that area we'd like to enhance our ability to compete and not be seen as the uh um second cousin in the process we want to expand our capabilities
▶ 0:46:30we want to give intentionality to it and frankly want we want to make the uh the Senate deal with the people's house in a way that they haven't had to in the past uh working with the chairman over there who I respect and have had a friendship over Years yet he's a doctor we're going to have to stay ahead of the game ourselves thank thank you very much let me let me now yield uh to representative Miller good morning chairman you wrote about resurrecting field hearings in the 119th
▶ 0:47:00Congress and your request includes a substantial travel budget of 1.1 million why do you think it is so important that committee members conduct hearings outside of Washington DC can you please elaborate on how these hearings will help you further your top agenda items for the committee thank you for that question I think it's absolutely a necessary thing to go out where the issues are our school schools aren't here in DC specifically in in the halls of Congress
▶ 0:47:31uh what's going on in our our colleges and universities with anti-Semitism we took aggressive action on that last year in the committee uh and we we achieved some significant results but I think there are students as well as um trustees administrators and hopefully some faculty that want us to see the reality of what's going on I think the same is true in the workplace uh where are the workers they're back in the districts and I think for us to
▶ 0:48:01uh not simply bring in um expert Witnesses who we hear often from here around the halls of Congress but to hear from practitioners in the field will be extremely important that costs something we understand that and we'll use it expeditiously but I think it would be important for uh both those uh individuals involved in education and in Workforce areas to see us come to them and hear directly from them great and I hope to see you in Illinois
▶ 0:48:32uh would you please describe the process for putting your budget submission together what was the biggest Factor you took into consideration when preparing your budget request I think reality of what we're contending with I mean if you look at the fact that we've lost 12 individuals from our committee to Administration we get that um it's an exciting time with opportunities and they're looking for the best people and we think we have the best people but we have to replace that and so we look at
▶ 0:49:02what it's going to cost and when the Speaker of the House UPS the anti Ane with the pay maximum pay level we have to go to that puts a reality in place and so that's what we're looking at we're not trying to pad uh we're trying to just do what's necessary even as we're attempting to be more efficient with with um electronic voting to be able to work better with committees um it's time to upgrade our our efforts in the trenches as well and I
▶ 0:49:32hope that the recent increase and the speaker's pay order will help you retain your staff and thank you and I yield back uh I will now yield to Mis Lee Mr chairman one of the things we do in the committee on house administration is try to help committee chairs schedule hearings and do it in a way that's efficient and uh effective and I note in your testimony uh that you mentioned that the deconflict tool was not particularly useful could you share with us how we could improve that and make it
▶ 0:50:02a better tool for you I didn't hear what what did I say wasn't helpful uh the deconflict tool for Committee hearing scheduling how could we improve that so that it's more helpful to you well um I think it it comes down to Chairman understanding that that's an effort to make things happen more efficiently I think we have to accept the fact that while uh Bobby and I believe that this is an a committee and it's most important for our people to be there we're dealing with life
▶ 0:50:32situations we have to conform to the the necessities of each committee that's why we've gone this year to electronic voting we'll be trying that tomorrow for the first time in committee so uh committees uh chairman can work together and say you give me 30 minutes I'll have that done you give me 20 minutes I'll have that done we'll get your people back to your committee thank you very much um I now recognize the ranking member Mr M for 5 minutes for the purpose of asking questions thank you
▶ 0:51:03thank you uh first of all congratulations Mr chair uh as a former member of uh your committee I'm um excited for the work that you uh you both do all the members do and um I'm happy to hear about your uh thoughts about expanding some of the work that the committee does on healthc care policy which I think is uh is uh uh very very necessary so so so uh good for uh for you for for taking that on both of you um I do want to go back to something
▶ 0:51:33I think uh the ranking member my friend Mr Scott mentioned which is the two3 one3 split um Mr chair I just want to uh make sure that uh I understand whether or not you're prepared to give unrestricted access to the minority for the dollars that they control in the budget I believe that has been the policy over the years and I don't plan to change that I think Bobby and I number one we're good friends yeah and we're good friends enough we can agree to disagree at times but we can also agree
▶ 0:52:03to work together very good and and uh Mr Scott do you are you comfortable that that's that's the arrangement you have that's been the tradition of the committee and I don't I don't expect a change good um I would uh like uh you both to comment a little bit I know that the Administration has talked about dismantling the Department of Education clearly something that comes under your jurisdiction if you could just talk a little bit about how the resources here will help ensure adequate oversight uh of administrative policy when it comes particularly
▶ 0:52:34to the Department of Education we're article one we have the most significant powers in the Constitution we're not going to relinquish that we'll take all the help we can resources from the outside uh new new eyes on the subjects new capabilities using AI algorithms whatever but in the end uh I'm committed as chairman of this this committee to make the decisions based on a reality of what we can
▶ 0:53:04do with House Representatives and uh while I may share some of the similar U goals and ideas of this Administration I understand in the end 218 votes are needed here in the house and then the Senate has the challenges well so what what can we do to Foster education and Workforce in the most positive way in the reality that we have Mr Scott do you have any thoughts on the subject of adequate oversight whether
▶ 0:53:34you other resources say I'm sorry say again whether you feel there's adequate resource to conduct appropriate oversight I would would rather have more but um I think we can fulfill our mission with um with the budget as it is good uh and Mr chairman thank you for your comments on article one responsibility something uh that I think we all need to be really mindful of at this point um just I want to close my uh questions um particularly in light of the fact that you intend to do
▶ 0:54:04many field hearings I want to just make sure that you feel you have adequate security support from the United States capital police uh and the sergeant of arms uh I've asked this of the previous and I'll ask each of the chairs and ranking members uh and in in this case uh Mr chairman you haven't had uh any field hearings yet but I I would urge you to just make sure you stay in close contact with chairman style and myself we have oversighted with capital police and I'm increasingly concerned about threats against members and staff
▶ 0:54:35uh both here in DC and as we travel so uh I would just ask for your commitment to stay in touch with us particularly as it relates to to security I appreciate the offer and we indeed will even having uh issues in in my district this week where we've had to deal with that security issue on several occasions yeah we're g we're going to do what's necessary to make sure that our team that goes out is as safe as we possibly can be and if we can't be assured of that we we won't
▶ 0:55:05be going out very good um I'm not sure miss Johnson uh Mr chairman I just want to applaud you on um bolstering Health Care policy in the committee I think there's a lot of a risk of Reform that can happen in that regard and I I applaud your assertion of the priority of the house of over the Senate I think that's outstanding um I do have a quick question um in I see that you have a Civil Rights Council as a vacant position do you intend on fulfilling that
▶ 0:55:36role the Civil Rights Council yes sir position yes sir um we will do what it's necessary to administer appropriately civil rights issue and concerns including using the justice department as necessary as well yeah you have a budget item to hire a Civil Rights Council in the budget and I was just wondering if you planning on hiring and fulfilling that role I I think that's up to the administrative committee if you give us the resources to do that we will do that okay thank you I yield back
▶ 0:56:07gentleman yields back uh concludes our questions chairman Wahlberg ranking member Scott we appreciate uh you being here today uh we look forward to the really important work of your committee uh we'll pause uh while the panel exits and the new panel
▶ 0:56:37so it's Christmas of do you have any idea where Mr hman is I think we should dock the committee I think we should dock the committee or
▶ 0:57:08more that's fair that might be fair hard for me to I said do that might didn't say the
▶ 0:58:55e e
▶ 0:59:48152 hearings and 21 full committee markups we also passed over 90 bills on the house floor many of which were bipartisan bills that went on to become law last Congress we also had held 14 field hearings that's the most of any house committee including a field Hearing in Guam Where We examined the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the indopacific region a critical uh discussion as Congress worked to reauthorize the compacts of free association with the freely Associated
▶ 1:00:19states of pal the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshal islands in the first 19 days of the 119th Congress the natural resources committee has already moved 16 bills across the house floor yet while we are historically at the top of the list for the legislative activity and have jurisdiction spanning from the Arctic Circle to the mar Mariana's Trench and across all 50 states and territories we fault the number 12 amongst committees when it comes to funding levels we're requesting
▶ 1:00:49a budget increase of 10% uh for this 2-year period based on authorized levels for this funding will allow the committee to attract and retain talented staff fund a robust agenda of field hearings and site visits and replace our two committee servers which is estimated to cost $100,000 natural resources has 69 staff positions for majority minority and nonpartisan staff our extremely hardworking and ambitious staff has expertise on issues vital to
▶ 1:01:19our nation including energy and critical minerals production Forest management catastrophic wildfires management of our nation's fisheries and ocean resources and the federal government's trust responsibility to Indian tribes having the means to recruit and retain dedicated staff as Paramount to our work on behalf of the American people and to the committee success a priority for me this Congress is for the natural resources committee to continue bringing Congress to the people issues involving natural resources are ones you really need to
▶ 1:01:49experience outside the Beltway we have our first field hearing uh scheduled for April 4th in Oklahoma City Oklahoma to examine matters relating to health care and economic development in Indian Country the best way for Congress to make good policy decisions is to get in the field and understand matters on a local level with jurisdiction spanning from uh forest all across the country to the deserts of the Southwest and from the North Slope of Alaska to the far off islands of the South Pacific robust
▶ 1:02:19funding for travel is needed to implement our ambitious ambitious agenda and afford as many committee members as possible the opportunity to participate maintaining an aggressive legislative agenda supported by skilled staff and executing the committee's field agenda will require investments in both the committee's personnel and travel budgets thank you again for the opportunity to develop and explain this budget request you do have a critical task and your decision will impact the work we do at the committee on natural resources ask for your favorable consideration
▶ 1:02:50and look forward to answering any questions you may have on a y bag thank you chairman Westerman ranking member Huffman your Rec recognize for five minutes thank you Mr chairman ranking member moral members of the committee I am glad to be here with chairman Westerman to ask for your support for our natural resource committee's budget for the 119th Congress uh I am honored to take on the new responsibility of serving as ranking member of this important committee it is difficult to overstate the importance of the work this committee does our jurisdiction is vast it includes
▶ 1:03:21vital issues that go to the heart of so many people's lives we oversee the people's public lands and Waters including uh for conservation Recreation development and the prevention and management of wildfires we are stewards of the sovereignty of the tribal Nations that were here long before this country was founded we have the responsibility of promoting the self-determination and well-being of the US territories and the freely Associated States we're at the center of the federal efforts towards environmental
▶ 1:03:51justice and we are a vital component of any response to the climate crisis crisis our committee oversees national parks Wildlife refuges Fisheries our water resources in places of severe drought we conduct oversight of The Endangered Species Act the National Environmental Policy Act and an array of other Bedrock statutes and as you see in our budget request we also value the importance of traveling to communities that are impacted by the decisions that we make and to see for ourselves
▶ 1:04:21the lands and the waters that the American people have entrusted to our steward ship I'm also cognizant that our funding resources come from taxpayers and we should use them efficiently our committee is usually one of the most active on legislation in the Congress uh in my short time as ranking member I've already managed two bills on the floor and two sets of suspensions the members and the staff of this committee are are incredibly productive and work very hard although um and this will not
▶ 1:04:51come as a shock uh chairman Westerman and I have some disagreements on policy uh strong ones uh but we do agree on the importance of our shared work and that sustaining this level and quality of activity requires a full roster of majority minority and nonpartisan staff we want to attract and keep the most knowledgeable skilled and dedicated public servants and the budget resources we're requesting will help us to do the best possible work that we can for the American people I also know Mr Westerman
▶ 1:05:22understands the importance of resources for the minority having himself been ranking member previously um so we have a lot of work ahead of us I want to thank you again for allowing us to present our budget request today chair Westerman and I are pleased to join together in this request and thank you for your consideration I yel back thank you very much we appreciate uh both of your testimony um I'll recognize myself for five minutes for the purpose of asking questions I'll ask one question out of the gates before I yield uh to Mr Carrie uh one question we're asking all chair and
▶ 1:05:52ranking members as it relates to cyber security is will you in the ranking will you chairman Westerman and the ranking member uh both commit to having your systems administrators uh meet with the house CIO team in the first quarter uh to dis to discuss cyber issues yes we're we're already doing that we're working with the uh house cyber security team members and we welcome the opportunity to meet with the CIO or anybody else when it comes to cyber security thank you very much ranking member you agree
▶ 1:06:22as well I would welcome that Mr chairman thank you thank thank you very much uh I'll now yield uh to Mr carry thank you Mr chairman um one of the things that you mentioned uh in your question here and I'm just trying to go through it was the uh field hearings and the onsite educational opportunities with the uh increased oversight with the visits among some of your highest priorities and and I would agree with this because I think if you're looking you know having been in the mining industry myself not being able to be on the
▶ 1:06:52ground that's something that you just can't teach in a class room so I think it's really important so but one of the things that uh when I was going through your testimonies are there any additional resources that your committee your committee would need to perform some of these onsite functions at all well thank you representative krie and the main thing is just funding to get more people out into the field than to do more uh more field
▶ 1:07:23visits you know we're not always doing a field hearing when we go to the field a lot of it's educational we did a trip last year where we went and we went to the Yale forest and spend a day out in the in the forest uh learning about good forestry practices we travel and have um we we pick up information that's U beneficial to US formulating policy but when we do have field hearings the only thing I can think
▶ 1:07:53of uh that we would need extra is as with the house recording studio to have the house recording studio there uh gives a very um much higher quality video stream than if we're trying to to make do uh and when we're in in session weeks and we have a field hearing it's tough to get the uh House recording studio to to get out in the field and get set up for the hearing so if there's some way to uh to bolster the resources of the House recording
▶ 1:08:23studio that could help us out yields back uh recognize yield to Dr Murphy thank you Mr chairman just a a question just about field hearings because I think your committee among some of the others are most your main about going out and seeing what's going on into the uh into the in the country and into um our beautiful land do you guys have any plans to go out and look at the California wildfires the the conditions that made them worse etc etc just as a something
▶ 1:08:53to help prevent disasters again in the future Dr Murphy we actually had a field hearing at yose um in in this previous Congress and we find ourselves in California quite often because there's so many resource issues out there um don't have anything on the books uh to go to Southern California right now but it's certainly an opportunity that we if if the need came up we would welcome going out there I'm more focused on going to areas
▶ 1:09:23that haven't burned yet and looking at ways to to keep things from happening like happened down in Southern California excellent thank you Mr chairman he back gentleman yields back um I'll now recognize uh the minority M Johnson uh for five minutes for purpose asking questions thank you Mr chairman um one of the things that uh we're just wanting to confirm is the 2/3 onethird split uh to make sure that the minority will have full unrestricted access to the resources
▶ 1:09:53that you need and will you both commit to that yes and as uh ranking member Huffman said I've been in the ranking member position before and I know the uh it's important to have funding when you're in the minority and I wouldn't want to set a a precedent for something in the Far Far distant future and I I have received that assurance and I I believe Mr Westerman so uh we're we're happy with it not happy with it I mean we're three three
▶ 1:10:23seats short of a majority here and uh we're getting oneir but we'll live with it um the other issue is when you have your field hearings we just want to make sure that you are safe and secure and that you will advise the committee on your needs of Capitol Police to make sure that you have adequate safety when you're out and about um and unfortunately we don't live in the safest of times we have people out there that want to do us harm and we just want to make sure that you keep the committee apprised
▶ 1:10:54and that you advise of any security needs that you may have yeah that's that's very important and we coordinate with uh Capitol Police and usually with um various amounts of local law enforcement uh you know if we're on in a national park you got the Park Service police but then you've also got local law enforcement in the areas that we go we're very cognizant of that and we'll continue to coordinate with the committee and capital police on that yeah but I applaud you for getting out and about you know it's I think
▶ 1:11:24too often we're there's a huge disconnect from the country in DC and it's it's great that so many of the Committees are wanting to expand their field hearings and I think it's the role you do in particular is is that's fantastic so thank you Mr chairman I yield back gentoman yields back appreciate you both testifying before us today you have very important work on the committee on natural resources and appreciate uh you coming in with us today uh we'll pause uh while the the witness panel uh exits
▶ 1:15:53e e
▶ 1:16:27start with you uh chairman green for minutes sounds good uh thank you chairman style and uh ranking member Morel and members of the committee and I thank my ranking member for the work that he's put in um over the years 20 how many years you've been in on this committee since it was created so been a while um I want to thank you for the leadership to this committee and the work that you guys do to
▶ 1:16:57make the business of the people's house possible uh the decisions you make have a real and tangible impact on the ability of all congressional committees to carry out the legislative duties of this house and your efforts are greatly appreciated by all of us at the house committee on homeland security in the 119th Congress the committee on Homeland Security will build Upon Our work from the previous Congress to oversee and improve the federal government's thirdd largest Department the Department of Homeland Security and its component agencies including Customs and Border
▶ 1:17:27of protection the Coast Guard cyber security and infrastructure Security Agency the Transportation Security Agency our Administration the uh Secret Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement play critical roles in securing the homelands land Maritime and cyber borders countering terrorist threats combating transnational criminal organizations and responding to Major disasters across all of these agencies and support components DHS has over employees and a budget of more than $70 billion
▶ 1:17:58in addition to nearly 40 billion in disaster relief and supplemental Appropriations for FEMA and FY 2024 alone the threats to the Homeland are ever present and come from many different actors in just last year we've witnessed major cyber attacks such as salt typhoon an assassination attempt that nearly took the life of President Trump in Butler Pennsylvania last months terrorist attack in New Orleans and devastating natural disasters that have destroyed homes and communities in North Carolina Florida California and in my home state of Tennessee
▶ 1:18:29by supporting the homeland security committee you will enable the committee to take an active role in overseeing and evaluating the efforts of DHS to safeguard the American people in the 118th Congress the homeland security committee held a total of 87 hearings and ordered 57 bills to be reported with a favorable recommendation over the next two years the committee plans to continue its agenda of developing and advancing legislation on issues ranging from border secur and counterterrorism to strengthening our cyber Workforce and
▶ 1:18:59protecting our nation's critical infrastructure the committee's budget request focuses on recruiting and retaining critical talent to support an aggressive agenda of legislative and oversight activities across the committee's jurisdiction Additionally the committee on homeland security requires resources to travel to engage with DHS Personnel serving on the front lines of operations to protect the Homeland in a variety of roles and agencies and we are planning an active schedule of site visits and investigative travel to inform our legislative
▶ 1:19:29work with the observations and information gained from these visits furthermore during the 118th Congress events such as the attempted assassination on President Trump and Butler and the aftermath of H hurricane damage in North Carolina necessitated site visits to be arranged at short notice for members of the committee staff in order to further the committee's oversight responsibilities following these situations investing in the committee on Homeland Security will equip the committee to carry out its critical legislative role
▶ 1:19:59with with respect to the important mission of DHS in a world where the United States faces serious and complex threats to the Homeland this mission to protect the American people requires a strong commitment to ensuring that the Department of Homeland Security is prepared to carry out the responsibilities entrusted to it by Congress and act as a sound Steward of taxpayer dollars as we pursue this task we will manage our resources responsibly with an aim toward maximizing the value that we contribute
▶ 1:20:30to Congress and the security of the American people thank you for your consideration of our funding request and I look forward to answering any questions you may have about this request thank you chairman green uh ranking member Thompson you recognized for five minutes thank you chairman style and ranking member melli I appreciate the opportunity to come before you to speak in support of the committee on homeland Security's funding request I've been on the committee for over 20 years what was started in 2003 as a temporary
▶ 1:21:00select committee formed to oversee the newly created Department of Homeland Security has matured into a standing panel with broad oversight and growing legislative responsibilities in the committee's earliest days our work was primarily focused on bolstering security and information sharing to prevent future attacks by Foreign terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda today with the threat landscape far more divisive and complex
▶ 1:21:31our oversight responsibilities have expanded to include dhs's efforts to detect prevent and respond to threats posed by domestic violent extremist transnational criminal organization and hostile nation states cyber security the security of our air land and seab borders the security of air rail Mass trans hit pipelines and all other Transportation modes emergency preparedness response and
▶ 1:22:01Recovery nucle biological radiological chemical and explosive threats we've conducted site visits throughout the country including visits to the Border we've also held fear hearings in various members District this congress with additional resources we are well positioned to build on the committee's long-standing record and to increase our oversight of dhs's efforts in the field as well as International engagement
▶ 1:22:31with foreign Partners we know that we cannot predict when the natural disaster or terrorist attack on our soil will occur so increased resources will improve our ability to conduct timely robust oversight in the field when necessary I can say with certainty that Democratic members of the committee are concerned about border security and will travel to the border to speak with local stakeholders and border patrol agents also given a recent
▶ 1:23:02terrorist attack in New Orleans the committee must have more oversight of soft taret targets vehicular attacks and terrorism inspired by ISIS further given the devastating disasters such as tornadoes in North Carolina and the wildfires in California the committee will need to continue to direct its attention to oversight of disaster recovery and response Mr chairman and Mr Ranken member this year marks the 20th
▶ 1:23:32anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and Disaster Response and resiliency is still an ongoing issue in many areas of the country including my district which is still rebuilding from a tragic storm that occurred in March of 2023 I hope the committee can contribute to creating more Pathways for Equitable response for disasters on the legislative front an increase in budgetary resources will help ensure the committee
▶ 1:24:03has adequate resources to advance timely legislative initiatives going into the 119th Congress we'll be looking to build upon achievements from previous congresses I do not need to tell you that it takes a lot of staff and resources to carry all the great oversight and legislative work we do those staff deserve to be compensated appropriately for their work with respect to CHS I'm fortunate to have hope
▶ 1:24:33going lead to talented and diverse professionals who make up the Democratic staff thank you for allowing me to testify in support of the budget proposal chairman green submitted the resources s are critical to ensuring the committee can continue to effectively carry out its responsibility as the primary authorizer of the nation third largest federal department with that I yield for any questions thank you very much gentleman yields
▶ 1:25:03back appreciate both of your testimony chairman green ranking member Thompson um I'll begin uh I yield to myself for five minutes for the purpose of asking questions I'll be yielding uh amongst my colleagues um out of the gates I've asked every chair and ranking member the same uh the same question which is can you both commit uh to having your systems administrator meet with the house CIO team in the first quarter uh to discuss cyber issues well that's a great question thank you for asking it and uh the answer is an absolute yes cyber security is one
▶ 1:25:33of my uh big issues in in this current role and uh a big concern for me I often consider it our nation's uh I guess fifth border fourth border um it it is critical and obviously we've had congressmen compromised before with the Microsoft hit so we will work very closely with CIO thank you yes also Mr Thompson yes thank thank thank you
▶ 1:26:04um chair green I want to I'm gonna want to dive in uh because You' have a lot of travel scheduled you've also done a lot of travel um last Congress uh and I want to get your uh feedback on your experience and the importance of having boots on the ground not only to inform uh staff but members as well about the issues uh that are taking place at the US Mexico border uh could you share with with us some of your perspective of the importance of having uh boots on the ground uh both at the staff and member level yeah absolutely it I'm informed by my years in the military of the leader
▶ 1:26:34reconnaissance uh going to the ground looking at the ground before you plan the mission uh obviously you can't sometimes in the military so you rebuild the sand table or you rebuild the building and and do your models in order to train and prepare for what you have to do there is nothing replacing the leader boots on the ground and I I can cite a very specific example when it came to the butler uh assassination attempt you know standing where
▶ 1:27:05the president stood and looking at that building every single person and it was a huge group of us from the committee that went Republicans and Democrats standing in that site going oh my gosh this was a a massive failure and so in our oversight and in our policy UH responsibilities to the to the country being able to stand there and look at it is critical we did a field hearing at the border that was one of our first activities uh last Congress and it was very helpful
▶ 1:27:35and here in a few weeks we'll be doing a a trip to paa Alto for cyber security so thank you very much I'll yield to representative Bice thank you Mr chairman um in your request you mentioned that it would be helpful uh if the house provided more committee specific type of training as most the training that is put on is actually geared towards personal offices what type of committee training would you be interested in seeing one of the challenges for us and say
▶ 1:28:05for example and I this is just an example cyber security is AI and how AI is being used to put pit machine against machine and so our staff both on uh you know the right and the left have to Grapple with how AI is being utilized right so we we could bring committee or Witnesses in and the staff get educated that way but it would be really good to be able to send folks to the MIT course uh the the four to six week course at M uh these types of trainings
▶ 1:28:35make a huge impact for the staff for two reasons one it makes them better at doing their job and two it helps us retain them when we invest in our people they want to stay on the team and uh so and I I believe the ranking member would agree with me on that so that's one example of some committee specific training that could happen for our folks thank you with that I yield back uh is is we should we we could have a broader conversation but some of the adjustments
▶ 1:29:06we've made uh inside the reap May provide some of that funding opportunity uh as it relates to staff which I think is a real reason that we're making those types of adjustments uh to make sure that we have adequate funding uh for staff training uh before our time expires I'd just love to touch base um in particular on the importance of of the pay scale in particular when we look at the administration maybe as we've seen in other committees maybe it's the case in your committee as well where members of your committee experienced staff members are now joining
▶ 1:29:36uh the Trump Administration on how that compensation piece is impacting your ability to retain staff well it's not just the the new Administration or the the the change over there it's you know there is a labor workforce shortage in the country and folks who work on uh committees I've I've discovered this in my time my few years here came in with you of course and we're going on seven years now but our committee staff seems to be more broadly
▶ 1:30:07developed and our I'm sorry our our Congressional staff our committee staff they become experts and they become highly sought after and so their salaries have to adjust to keep Pace with you know what's happening in Corporate America uh so not just the administration although that is an issue we have a challenge because we have experts in fields that become very marketable for salaries that are are much higher than what what we probably could ever attain but you know that buffer
▶ 1:30:38becomes service to the country but at some point an individual goes gosh this could be life-changing for my family I've served I'm going to go work so the more competitive we can make it the better folks we get to keep thank you very much uh I'll know recognize the ranking member Mr merley for five minutes to ask questions thank you uh thank you Mr chairman thank you Mr ranking member for uh being here I want to start with the I know the traditional split among committees is 2third majority onethird minority um but I also
▶ 1:31:08uh am cognizant of the fact that uh most committees uh allow the minority unrestricted access to their funds and I want to make sure Mr chairman that that's something that you'll continue to recognize absolutely and Mr uh uh Mr Thompson are you conf confident have an agreement with Mr the chairman we have agreement is that well um I'd like to ask you both to just comment on the requested budget providing you with the adequate resources to be able to enhance and build
▶ 1:31:39oversight capability there's a lot going on in terms of Homeland Security as you both rightly identified and uh I continue to uh want to make sure that our article one responsibilities of oversight are protected our prerogatives are protected as a congress and we're doing everything we can to make sure that adequate oversight exists so if you could just talk about within your budget request uh how comfortable you feel uh that you have the resources to continue to to uh provide that article
▶ 1:32:09one oversight responsibility I I the the budget request we put in this uh cycle uh is reflective of uh a great deal of oversight that that happened last time and we are committed to continuing that same level of oversight um so and it's informed by what we did last cycle so I think uh the answer to that is yes we'll be very aggressive in that area I wonder if the ranking member has any comment uh in in that regard
▶ 1:32:39well you know we have a standing oversight committee uh it's staffed uh but in conjunction with that uh sometime members and staff need to go out in the field see what's occurring and some of it it occurs with respect to disasters which we know will happen we just can't predict when but we need to have the resources to do the necessary oversight especially with disasters but uh with cyber coming uh
▶ 1:33:10nonstop uh we need to have the responsibility to be as fast and Nimble uh in that response very good um last thing um as it relates to and you've done a number of field hearings um I I want to make sure that you feel comfortable uh first of all with security arrangements for members and staff traveling it's been increased threat assessments that we've gotten from us Capital police as well as the sergeant of arms uh any concerns about
▶ 1:33:40that and uh if not um just an open invitation to make sure you communicate uh both of you with the chair and and with me so that we can make sure that members and staff as you travel around the country very safe and I don't know if you wanted to comment on that at all no I I I can't thank you enough for that question uh and let me apologize for mispronouncing your name at the beginning um but uh yeah no I can't thank you enough for that question we think about that all the time
▶ 1:34:10but you know your security posture should be driven by the threat at the time and so I think if either of us have a concern we're going to come talk to both of you um and and get the resources that we very good um I want to I I I I meant to identify Miss Johnson is also a member of the homeland security committee she's very busy our newest member here uh she's serving on three different committees I want to make sure that she and Miss Torres have uh if they have any
▶ 1:34:42questions um I don't have a question I just want to say um thank you both for the work that you do I was once a member of the homeland security I like to sleep at night I just I like to talk about my work so I left that committee because I just did not like being in classifi briefings um you have to work really hard to keep us safe in the Homeland and I hope that this is one area where we can work in a bipartisan way thank you again um chairman and and ranking member Thompson now y
▶ 1:35:13back um I just want to make a comment on the importance of the field hearings I had the privilege to go to New Orleans on a field hearing a a mission just inspector Super Bowl and I found it immensely helpful I learned so much uh to meet with all the various law enforcement agencies to see how hard they're working to keep us safe and the security there and and it came off without a hitch you know just it was very informative for me and so I just to say
▶ 1:35:43how significant these hearings are and I'm looking forward to uh go getting to the border and some of these other issues but I I just think they're really important I'm really glad that you Mr chair chairman and Mr ranking member are you know facilitating those opportunities for us we have our border boot camp for any member uh all the new members will get to go a personal invitation but any really anyone who wants to go can go and that's um March 17th or 19th so a yeld back M
▶ 1:36:13Jim y's back we appreciate uh your testimony chairman green ranking member Thompson uh really important work uh before you this Congress we appreciate you being here we will pause uh while the witness exits nor you going to be here for a few minutes um minutes I'm sorry I
▶ 1:36:43that for the
▶ 1:37:52for for
▶ 1:38:53you e
▶ 1:39:51it's fun I talk to her be
▶ 1:40:55and we are joined by our next panel uh space science and technology committee uh we welcome you uh chairman Babin and congratulations on your chairmanship uh ranking member lren welcome back to the committee on house administrations hearing room uh it's good to have you here we miss you uh uh here on the committee on house administration um we are uh we'll recognize each of you for five minutes for an opening statement uh then we'll do five minutes of questioning on each side uh and then yield between uh our colleagues I'll now recognize
▶ 1:41:26you chairman Babin for 5 minutes for an opening statement thank you Mr chairman I appreciate it it's good to be here with you all appreciate it and ranking member of Meli it was good to sit next to you at the inauguration the other day too sir yes sir uh with chairman style ranking member mlli thank you so much for the opportunity to testify today regarding uh the budgetary needs of our house uh committee on science based and Technology also known as SST and uh it's a privilege to serve as chairman of a committee dedicated
▶ 1:41:56to advancing America's leadership in science in innovation in space exploration and I appreciate your consideration of our request for increased funding to support our committee's Vital work going forward I wanted to uh Begin by thanking uh my colleague ranking member zo Lin from California for her cooperation and building out the SST budget request uh thank you to you and your staff uh for working with us uh our shared commitment to ensuring the
▶ 1:42:26committee operates effectively is essential and I deeply appreciate her partnership under my leadership I will absolutely maintain ranking member lran and the minority uh that they will have a full one-third share of the committee's budget and staff allocations SST oversees Federal research space policy and energy Innovation critical areas for National Security and economic competitiveness and when I look at the uh at your at your membership up there I know there's a lot of folks that are interested in those
▶ 1:42:56in those issues uh to fulfill our mission we must recruit and retain highly qualified staff conduct thorough investigations and engage with Nationwide one of the most pressing challenges that we face is the need to offer competitive salaries uh to attract and retain the top talent especially in the fields that we have jurisdiction over staff with science engineering ing research backgrounds demand higher salaries and the
▶ 1:43:26job market for these individuals is highly competitive the reality is without appropriate compensation this committee will lose experienced professionals to the private sector or over to the executive branch which specifically carves out special compensation packages for individuals with these backgrounds our committee must be able to recruit and retain qualified staff with the expertise necessary for policymaking and oversight failing to offer competitive
▶ 1:43:57salaries will weaken sst's ability to legislate effectively on extremely complex issues a key component of our budget request for funding is funding for increased travel including two field hearings per subcommittee for the 119th Congress given the rapidly evolving nature of this committee's issues we also plan to retain funding for two additional fields hearings so that committee can promptly respond to an emergency
▶ 1:44:27or to a critical event I strongly believe that firsthand engagement is critical especially as we work to inform and include new members of the committee field hearings allow us to interact directly with scientists engineers and Industry leaders providing deeper insights into challenges and opportunities from Research Laboratories to commercial space flight facilities travel is vital to have effective oversight as
▶ 1:44:57chairman I am committed to being a responsible Steward of our taxpayers monies every request that we make is based on a clear need to enhance the committee's ability to be accomplish our mission and that is to serve the American people we are not seeking additional funding frivolously but to ensure that we fulfill our oversight and legislative responsibilities at the highest standards the issues within the science Bas and Technology committee's jurisdiction
▶ 1:45:27are more pressing now than ever before rapid advancements in artificial intelligence space exploration Quantum Computing energy Innovation require proactive legislative efforts to keep up with our uh our enemies if you want to say these fields are not just about technological progress they are about National Security they're about economic prosperity and maintaining America's leadership in Global
▶ 1:45:58Science and Innovation and for these reasons as laid out by my formal budget submission I respectfully request an increase in the budgets uh in the committee's budget this investment will allow us to retain top tier staff conduct essential travel and field hearings and provide the necessary resources to advance American leadership in science and techn technology I appreciate so much your time Mr chairman and members of the of the committee
▶ 1:46:28and look forward to working with you all to ensure that our committee has the resources necessary to continue the impart of work that we do and so with that I would welcome your questions thank you chairman Babin uh ranking member lren you're recognized for five minutes thank you chairman sty and ranking member mlli it's good to be back in the hearing room where we had so many wonderful experiences at the outset I'd like to say that um chair Babin and his staff collaborated with me and my staff in formulating uh this request
▶ 1:46:58and I fully support it uh because we're in agreement I will keep my remarks brief the science committee bore the brunt of some very steep committee budget cuts from the year 2010 to 2013 the committee's budget was cut by over 26% and that's not even accounting for inflation although in recent years uh the house admin committee has tried to consistently increase the science committee's budget which is very much appreciated the science committee's budget in real
▶ 1:47:28dollars has only just begun to recover from those cuts last year was the first year where our budget was as high as the budget in 2010 and that's in real dollars not adjusted for inflation the budgets of the federal agencies that the science committee oversees have seen very large increases in recent years through increased regular uh appr uh Appropriations uh while I was a strong supporter of this increased funding we need to be good stewards of the taxpayers money for these programs
▶ 1:47:59and quite frankly I think that would be hard to do without bringing on additional professional staff uh to the committee to conduct oversight uh I the last point I'd like to make and it's the same that our chairman has made is that the quality of the staff is also a factor in our ability to conduct oversight due to the highly technical programs the science committee overseas we need the people with specialized expertise and I'll say the majority of my staff have advanced degrees
▶ 1:48:29in the OR backgrounds in the technical fields that they oversee we simply have to be able to offer candidates competitive salaries if we want to retain our current staff and attract qualified professionals to the science committee as just one example uh as the chairman has mentioned we're heavily focused on the issue of artificial intelligence this is a very serious competitive priority for our country with regards to communist China bringing on qualified staff who understands this issue is not cheap
▶ 1:49:00but it's vital for us to ensure our public policy Keeps Us competitive in this field the budget that chairman Babin and I have jointly submitted would allow the committee to fully staff up and conduct the skilled oversight of the technical programs within our jurisdiction and has been mentioned would also allow for increased site visits to our nation's various laborator iies and field centers which is critically important for Effective oversight the minority side alone has nine new members
▶ 1:49:30this Congress and it's important for members and staff to undertake oversight visits to Government research facilities and Laboratories under the jurisdiction of the committee it's been years uh since members of Staff have visited some of those facilities and it's important that our policy initiatives be informed by an understanding of the actual work being undertaken at our federal Laboratories and and research universities I want to thank you for allowing me to testify I'm happy to answer any questions and I yield back
▶ 1:50:00thank you ranking M Lofgren we'll now take five minutes each for the majority and minority for questions yielding uh between our colleagues I'll not recognize myself for five minutes for the purpose of asking questions um a question that I've asked every chair and ranking member simple yes or no uh as relates to cyber secur um will you uh commit to having your systems administrator meet with the House's CIO team in the first quarter to discuss cyber security issues absolutely yes yes thank you very much I will yield to Dr
▶ 1:50:31Murphy thank you Mr chairman and uh congratulations Dr Babin uh you'll do a great job I miss my days back on Science and Technology actually given my past I love I love a good science thing um cells a as you guys move forward we've seen the request more and more you've asked for 1.7 million you used $100,000 last session can you tell us a little bit more about why you see why you feel this is needed what you plan to do Etc absolutely
▶ 1:51:01um you're asking me right I I you are the chairman I I the we are absolutely in in need of More Travel uh last um last Congress on the in the 118th um our uh committee chair uh was injured severely by Bull and uh I don't think that we took a single Congressional Delegation trip I'm not sure I think we might
▶ 1:51:31have had some hearings uh but the travel was absolutely basically zero and you can confirm that if if you would but um we we need to with with what is going on worldwide when it comes to space when it comes to science when it comes to the tech the technological technological developments and advancements by searching I said enemies a while ago by adversaries uh we certainly
▶ 1:52:02need to get out and travel and find out weather meteorology uh satellites you name it we have to go uh and and get our get our our feet on the ground and talk to the folks that are necessary to uh get this information to help it's vital information that that need that is Security thank you Mr chairman I'll you all gentlemen y's back anybody else I I'll jump in let me follow
▶ 1:52:32up with you on that um chairman bavin sure um in in ringing mber LOF welcome to join in here when we think about retaining staff in particular in the space of AI um I think that's an area that is absolutely critical and it's an area you're studying um it's a challenge to find uh staff members uh with expertise in that space how do you think about retention of Staff uh in that regard Well I this is something is extremely important we addressed it in our our opening statements Mr chairman
▶ 1:53:02uh I think that U uh this is a this is a cuttingedge uh development that if we if we fail to take the lead uh and or keep our lead I should say I think we're in the lead right now uh but we have adversaries that are absolutely intent on on replacing and supplanting us as the number one power and AI is going to be huge uh so we have to have the Personnel working for us that that can
▶ 1:53:32can can address uh these developments and so that we can keep a breast not only a breast but out in front uh of these developments we have very uh very good staff members uh we have uh members who sit on uh on our committee who are well versed and a AI I'm not going to tell you that I'm an expert in AI uh but I can tell you that I'm I'm well aware of the importance of it uh as we move forward
▶ 1:54:02and we use AI every day most people don't even realize uh you know what the things that we we do in everyday life uh that absolutely has that uh has has that function uh so we got to we got to keep the right people working at the committee Mr chairman and and members U and so that's why we have asked for this increase in our budget thank you very I would just add that on the minority side we have individuals with Advanced degrees um
▶ 1:54:33on the area of AI Quantum as well as Fusion which are the three uh elements where we're in a race with uh China uh they love the work they're committed to public policy but they also have to you know support their families so we have to at least have a stab in the direction of competitiveness they could all earn a lot more in the private sector and I'm glad that they're willing to stick with us and I will say our staff's work very well together and
▶ 1:55:03um the Republican staff is also very uh very skilled and and thank you thank you very much I yield back I recognize the ranking member for five minutes thank you Mr chairman and um thank you uh Mr chair congratulations and I did indeed spend appreciate uh the time we got to spend together on inauguration day as a uh as a member of CJs on the Appropriations Committee this is uh you we have many Mutual interests I appreciate that and of course it's always
▶ 1:55:33great to see my friend and the former chair of this uh committee here in Miss Lofgren um I want to just uh quickly some questions I've asked each of the committee chairs as it relates to and I think Mr chairman you mentioned the two-thirds one3 split just want to make sure that you're uh going to continue the tradition of of allowing Independence of the minority to uh spend their money in the way that they feel is appropriate yes sir thank you um I am interested I I I talked a little bit about our article one responsibilities as oversight
▶ 1:56:04uh clearly in the case of the administration with um uh particularly someone who is very very involved in the space uh space space space uh with SpaceX who is also uh now a special governmental employee whether you feel you have adequate resource in the committee to discharge your article one responsibilities of oversight uh and I know there could be conflicts and challenges but do you feel this adequately funds your ability to
▶ 1:56:35dispense our responsibilities as Congress for oversight of the administration particularly in the and the critical areas you mentioned our I think our budget is sufficient for that yes very good um Miss Lofgren you this ranking member have any comments well we've had kind of a fire hose experience here these last few weeks um I I do think that um the the training we were recently offered on whistleblowers is very helpful
▶ 1:57:05because uh certainly there are people who wanted explain what they're seeing inside the science Enterprise um we have not we've had a hearing on um just last week and we're having another one tomorrow uh on where we are in the Enterprise I would be lying if I didn't note that I have some grave concerns uh about some of the activities in the last few weeks and their impact on our competitiveness we are in a race with
▶ 1:57:35the uh Communist Party of China and um kneecapping the science Enterprise is not going to help us win that fight um but I do think you know I'll say last in the last Congress I'd say all but one of the bills in the committee was passed unanimously um we worked very uh closely to have bipartisan agreement on each and every matter and uh the chairman and I talk frequently and we have every hope that
▶ 1:58:05that past experience was not just the last Congress but Decades of bipartisanship in the committee will be able to be uh sustained in this Congress although I'm sure there will be challenges yeah well I than you both for that and I there's no question particularly in the area of AI and the emergence of quantum Computing when those two technologies sort of come together that's an incredibly powerful Tool uh and we have to be the ones to harness that before any of our adversaries uh do that's
▶ 1:58:35a clearly a GameChanger so I appreciate that um the the last question I have is just as it relates to field hearings um and you may not have had run into this yet but I guess this is as much an invitation as it is a request for information we are increasingly concerned with um threats against members and staff uh and so as you're uh planning your field hearings we would love that you communicate with the chairman and myself we have oversight over the
▶ 1:59:06Capitol Police and the sergeant of arms we want to make absolutely certain members staff have resources they need and that we've thought about field hearings to protect people uh there's a little more protection just built into being here in DC although it's not without risk um but certainly as you're moving about uh we want to make sure that you have adequate security and and frankly if there's any concerns you have now would be the time to express it but certainly moving forward uh I would urge you to continue to communicate with us absolutely
▶ 1:59:37um and and if you don't mind can I can I take a take a dig at that if if you don't mind uh yes I think I think today we have uh increased threats all around the world and and of course some of the uh some of the ISS issues and subjects that we're we're going to be looking at uh absolutely have to do with those types of threats uh and you had uh one of y'all had mentioned a while ago we want to go not only to have field hearings in our National
▶ 2:00:07Laboratories NASA centers uh but um our these National Labs have AB we we I don't think I've visited one oh uh quite frankly and uh we we have neglected that and we want to make sure that we go there's been great developments that have happened at our National Laboratories we want to stay on top of that and as to do our duty in in oversite uh I think it's imperative that we uh we we take these field hearings to this and and some of our subcommittees
▶ 2:00:37will be doing so here again could I flag just one potential issue on the Third Street Southwest entrance to the Ford building which is where the minority staff is housed um has been closed for several congresses and what that means is that the staff has to walk around the building stand in line especially during inclement weather that's not fun but it's to enter the building and it has an impact on staff morale and I don't think it's the very safest way for cleared staff
▶ 2:01:07to get in either opening the door at least in the morning uh so people can get in what might be a good help and if someone could take a look at that I think that would be super okay y back thank you yes I yeld back than gent yields back agree more than happy to look into it and good to see you still have a little house admin uh going on in the brain that's great we we miss you here on the committee um we will pause uh while the uh the panel exits uh and the next panel arrives thank you thank you thank you allk
▶ 2:01:56arrival like come to the back at time oh I was looking and I didn't I didn't even read the labels my yeah okay
▶ 2:02:39I could be here for another 25 minutes you want I welcome our next panel uh to the committee uh chairman mullinar
▶ 2:03:10uh ranking member kishna morthy thank you both for joining us here today uh we'll recognize each of you for five minutes for an opening statement we'll have 5 minutes on the majority and the minority for question uh shared between the members uh in in total and so I'll now recognize you uh chairman Muller thank you chairman style and ranking member melli and members of the committee uh we appreciate this opportunity to testify on the funding request for the select committee and the select committee's recent authorization by the Full House
▶ 2:03:40reflects the reality that Chinese Communist Party represents an unprecedented urgent threat to our national security our economy and our values and I'm proud of the work that my teammate ranking member Raja Krishna Mory and I have advanced to combat this threat on behalf of the American people and Raj's cleare eyed recognition of the CCP threat coupled with his courage and creativity make him the ideal ranking member and uh through close
▶ 2:04:10collaboration and diligence we have leveraged the full range of available tools to investigate conduct oversight develop actionable policy recommendations and inform the American people of the high stakes involved our work is Illuminating the true nature of the CCP and its dangerous actions forging bipartisan consensus and resulting in critical steps to safeguard our nation our funding request for the 119th Congress
▶ 2:04:41reflects this strong Foundation it also reflects a vision for further delivering on our mandate to counter the economic technological security and ideological threat posed by CCP as we carry out our mission the ranking member and I are committed to being faithful stewards of our resources and doing right by the taxpayers through efficient and effective operation of the select committee our budget request for this new Congress has the benefit of experience gained in the first two years
▶ 2:05:11when we built a new committee from scratch what we learned last Congress about our scope of work Staffing demands and operational Rhythm has helped informed to request that responsibly meets the committee's operational requirements this includes having a bipartisan staff with specialized expertise and robust experience in the relevant areas which comes at a higher cost in salaries to attract and regain retain Talent additionally this year and next our investigative
▶ 2:05:42work Central to the committee's Mandate will increase in scale scope and complexity the request therefore accounts for necessary personnel and related resources including some new investigative tools with the resources provided to us we will work diligently to hold the CCP accountable for its threatening actions including fent fueling the fentanyl crisis and engaging in malign Trade Practices two stem
▶ 2:06:12the flow of American Capital and Technology boosting Chinese buildup three strengthen deterrence against the CC P's military aggression four address the ccp's brutality and human rights abuses and five position the United States to win the competition against the CCP this task is a significant one but I'm confident that we have the members the staff plan and Partnerships with the standing committees of jurisdiction to help
▶ 2:06:42deliver National Security wins for the American people so in closing let me also Express deep appreciation on behalf of the select committee for for your vital work under your leadership important tasks such as making our legislative branch more cost effective and efficient our incapable hands and I want to thank you for your time and your consideration of our funding request and I look forward to answering any questions you might have thank you chairman mullar and at this time I recognize the ranking member chrisna morthy for five minutes
▶ 2:07:12for opening remarks thank you madam chair and thank you to all of you for your distinguished um I want to thank my good friend and colleague uh chairman John mullinar for his um bipartisanship and just the way he's conducted this committee so thank you so much for everything you and thank you to your staff as well and thank you to mine uh the Mandate Mandate of this committee as written in the house rules package is to help study investigate and make policy
▶ 2:07:43recommendations on our strategic competition with the CCP I'm proud to say that over the course of the last Congress our committee conducted 18 hearings produced five groundbreaking investigative reports three bipartisan policy recommendation reports and significant legislative measures that meaningfully advanced our strategic competition but our work is not yet finished in fact the recent salt typhoon attacks and I hope that all of you pay close attention to this particular
▶ 2:08:13issue um only remind us of how we must prepared even more so now now than ever for the competition ahead as well as aggression on the part of the CCP technologically economically and militarily with the evolving work in mind we work very closely with the chairman and the majority staff on a host of issues including this budget to have it reflect the demands of the work ahead as we work together to meet the challenges and the Mandate posed to this committee
▶ 2:08:44I'm very pleased to join chairman molinar in supporting this funding request and I believe that it reflects the sobering reality ities of the threats posed by the CCP this competition will be the defining geopolitical challenge of the 21st century from unfair Trade Practices and supply chain vulnerabilities and thank you to ranking member Morelli for pointing out some of these challenges in his own district and he's worked very closely with our staff and thank you so much
▶ 2:09:15to intellectual property theft to human rights violations we must remain Vigilant in defending American interests protecting workers and upholding our values at the same time our approach must continue to be measured strategic and solutions oriented strength rooted in strengthening America working with our partners and allies and always taking a powerful position in defending America the CCP poses major economic insecurity threats to our nation as
▶ 2:09:45well as to democracy and prosperity throughout the throughout the world those dangers are illustrated by the ccp's threats to Taiwan its escalating posture in the South China Sea and its numerous human rights abuses including the weager genocide which again I respectfully request all of you to pay close attention to it's something that uh chairman molinar and I talk about at every possible venue using the resources provided to this
▶ 2:10:15committee we will study and develop the policy tools we need to continue to protect our nation and outcompete the pr RC by rebuilding our industrial capacity upscaling our Workforce cooperating with our partners and countering the ccp's nonmarket policies that hurt American workers we will pursue this agenda while rejecting the dangers of xenophobia and Division and thank you chairman molar for your strong condemnation of any kind of xenophobia
▶ 2:10:45discrimination hate or Prejudice toward anybody uh including the tasks before this committee are significant but chairman mullar mullar and I know that the budget that we have proposed will enable our committee to continue to deliver the actionable policy recommendations necessary to ensure security and prosperity for our country I want to say thank you again to Chairman Style thank you to ranking member Morelli to all the distinguished members of this committee and thank you to our staffs
▶ 2:11:16uh and I yield back thank you thank you ranking member Kish morthy uh chairman for being here we'll now Take 5 minutes each between the majority and minority I'll recognize myself uh for five minutes we've asked every chair in ranking member uh the same question yes no as it relates to cyber security um will you commit to having your systems administrator meet uh with the House's C uh in the first quarter of this year uh to discuss cyber security yes yes thank you thank you very much um I'll yield to
▶ 2:11:46um representative Bice thank you Mr chairman and I don't think that there is a more important committee for U over or working together with our CIO to uh ensure the safety and security of your systems than this particular select committee um if I can just jump in you are requesting a 20% increase to uh your budget and you noted in the budget request that you intend this funding increase to be a one-time bump um and didn't took really to correct
▶ 2:12:16the Baseline can you briefly let us know why that increase is necessary sure you know when when the committee was established um you know and the scope was established you know the the starting point was let's build a team and uh these are some of the areas we want to be involved in but over time we've learned uh the importance of these investigations so for instance on the fentel investigation that we did that you know required people
▶ 2:12:46who spoke Mandarin investigating Chinese websites uh people who understand our intelligence operations and so the experience in a Vari variety of areas um has become very clear and so I think the initial estimates uh did not reflect the the expertise that's required for investigations and knowledge of whether it's the financial markets or trade policy
▶ 2:13:17such a broad range of things that this committee is looking at that this is really a a correction if you will thank you I yield let me let me build on that a little bit uh chairman Mard because the work you and ranking member Kish morthy are doing is really important um inside this grown jurisdiction as it started with then chairman Gallagher working with uh rank member um what else are you utilizing uh in this broader jurisdiction trips field hearings investigative work site visits
▶ 2:13:48uh in addition to the staff yes we have done different field hearings uh we've done round taes in different uh sectors because one of the key things is to understand whether it's the automotive agriculture biotech even entertainment you know we spent some time talking with uh film producers about how they're self-censoring uh just so that they can you know show their movies in China but then also
▶ 2:14:18the threats of retaliation so each of these areas the automotive sector was very revealing considering what China is doing to subsidize their automotive industry um and and these trips around our country that have these various sectors have been very very key thank you very much uh I'll yield back and recognize the ranking member uh for the purpose of asking questions thank you uh Mr chairman and Mr ranky member for being here and for all the
▶ 2:14:48great work that you do and and a special thank thanks to both of you for uh uh the conversations we've had relative to uh U liquid Crystal displays and other uh uh forms uh most of which now are being uh produced in China uh whereas I think 12% a decade ago now over 50% are and You' both you've both been kind to uh listen to the thoughts that I have about it I appreciate all the work you do um I want to start uh generally committees follow a two3 1/3
▶ 2:15:19distribution this committee does as well uh Mr chairman are you committed to allowing Independence of the democratic side when it comes to spending uh their third of the budget absolutely right and Mr CHR Murthy are you confident that you've got an agreement with the chair on on that subject yes very good thank you um I do want to you know you're the select committee is interesting in that most of the Committees that have jurisdiction authorizing jurisdiction within the Congress are to
▶ 2:15:49some degree siloed but you're crosscutting you go across many different areas uh when you talk about competition with China so trade policy tariffs um question of military Readiness um supply chain um there's a lot happening right now uh even within the the uh the executive departments that will touch on these subjects do you feel you have adequate resource to this budget to make sure your article one responsibilities of oversight and the implications
▶ 2:16:20of of the decisions being made Visa China that that those are adequate I believe with this budget request that will meet the needs and and I to build on your point this is going to require an All handson Tech house senate White House working together for a bipartisan united front uh and addressing this threat so I believe oversight is going to be very important um you know I
▶ 2:16:50feel that this committee has been probably the most bipartisan um effort that I've been involved in here in Congress and and with the goal of winning this competition and we need kind of our our best foot forward so uh I believe this this request meets the needs it it is an increase as you as you pointed out but I feel based on what we've learned these past two years and to be a force multiplier for the uh Committees of jurisic
▶ 2:17:21in each of these specialized areas I think uh this is a good goal um Mr Chris Mercy do you any thoughts about oversight responsibility I think so I that the answer is yes and the and and I think part of the reason why the budget increases request is because I think the Technologies the emerging Technologies so um I mean they're just outside the norm of what we're normally dealing with in Congress whether it's
▶ 2:17:51uh you know um the Deep seek technology that we're all hearing about in the news right now you know first we have to translate first we have to get Mandarin speakers who can actually understand um what's going on with the underlying AI model and then you know we have to be able to have some AI Specialists we actually have an AI specialist who on staff who's working with the modeling um to understand what are the risks um
▶ 2:18:21and and and as far as oversight yes we have the sufficient staff for that um and I think this budget will allow us to um do more of that going forward as of course Mr you know just the point export controls where did they fail what what chips were being used was was there an end
▶ 2:18:51round and then you look at what deep seek did to try and influence the markets and so then you're talking about the whole uh stock market and and that misinformation manipulation and so to to do a comprehensive look at this it requires a lot of varied expertise which which is uh why I asked the question and I'm I'm really worried as I'm sure you are with the convergence I mentioned this to the previous panel which is science space and Tech uh chair and ranking member that the convergence of AI and Quantum
▶ 2:19:22Computing when that happens is really a game Cher in the world no one's achieved it quite yet but getting closer and this is one we can't uh afford to lose so I appreciate uh both your comments uh in this regard um and look I you know without taking specific views or or on what the administration is doing there are a lot of implications some of the intended consequences and then there may also be unintended consequences and it's uh your responsibilities uh both and your committee members to
▶ 2:19:52to continue to observe and to uh to to provide that oversight last thing I just want to do and I apologize if I can just indulge for a second this is just more of an invitation uh for both of you as you do your field hearings um while uh the chair and I continue to be concerned about uh threats against members and staff uh which are on the rise here in Washington we have a little more control when you do field hearings uh we'd like you to coordinate with us to make sure that you have adequate support feel protected when you're out um
▶ 2:20:22doing whatever hearings you do so I would just offer that invitation thank you much thank you a yield back gentlemen yield back uh chair molar ranking member Kish marthy appreciate both of you being here today the committee will pause while the witness panel exits thank you thank you I'm sorry I know I don't
▶ 2:20:56a new look
▶ 2:21:28Mr Aron
▶ 2:22:05I now welcome our next panel of witnesses the chair and ranking member of the committee on transportation and infrastructure uh Mr Grace Mr Larsson we appreciate you being here today um we'll give you each five minutes for an opening statement uh the ranking member and myself will each control five minutes total for questions will be yielding uh between the members and so we appreciate being here and we'll recognize uh you Mr chairman chairman Graves for five minutes thank you chairman steel and ranking member Morel I appreciate it very much the opportunity um obviously to
▶ 2:22:35share with you the committee on Transportation infrastructures budget request for the 119th Congress the in consultation with the ranking member the committee has requested a 7% uh increase over funding levels for the committee last year and those levels are an Inc those levels reflect an increase it's going to provide the committee with the necessary resources to tackle an aggressive agenda that we have in the 119th Congress on the legislative front we've already begun discussions on reauthorizing several major
▶ 2:23:05agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction these include Coast Guard reauthorization pipeline andh safety materials uh Administration uh reauthorization the committee also plans to undertake the regular review of the Army Corps project s and programs and other uh infrastructure water infrastructure legislation the committee's biggest undertaking is obviously going to be the reauthorization of the nation surface Transportation programs which are set to expire October 1st of next year
▶ 2:23:36equally important the committee has to provide oversight over the many laws and and U uh funding that was passed in the Cong in this last Congress including the following we had implementation of 5-year FAA reauthorization worda 20 24 um reauthorization of the economic development agency which I might point out was successfully reauthorized for the first time since 2008 and our public buildings reform efforts to ensure that efficient utilization of federal real
▶ 2:24:06estate as part of developing our robust infrastructure agenda the committee plans to travel extensively to conduct field hearings we're going to do roundtables uh listening sessions Across America and provide opportunities to visit and review infrastructure projects and programs infrastructure impacts every corner of the country and each Community has diverse needs we intend to get out there and see firsthand what we did in the 118th Congress in addition the budget accounts for the fact that the staff's salary cap has raised again
▶ 2:24:36and the committee is lucky to have many long changed staffers and vast institutional knowledge our proposed budget will help the committee with staff retention but also allows us to be competitive and bringing on new staff to deliver our agenda as Congress particularly on the majority side we're having to compete directly with the new Administration with the new Senate majority and bring in and retain top staff um this is in the best interest of the house for both sides to continue
▶ 2:25:06to have strong teams uh that are so necessary for the important work that we obviously do with that I look forward to answering your questions and yield back the balance of my time G gentlemen yields back uh ranking member Larson you're recognized for 5 minutes thank you chair chair ranking member and other committee members of the committee appreciate the opportunity to join chair Graves and presenting the committee's uh budget request for 119th the transportation and infrastructure committee has a long history of bipartisan cooperation with both sides realiz the importance
▶ 2:25:37of investing in our nation's infrastructure ensuring the safety of our transportation system and creating jobs chair Graves and I can will continue this tradition that we started in 118th we passed the bipartisan legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration which provides critical safety enhancements grows the America's Aviation Workforce by creating good paying jobs invests in resilient infrastructure at US airports of all sizes sets clear priorities for advancing Innovative Aviation Technologies
▶ 2:26:07and provides robust protections for airline customers we also pass the sixth consecutive bipartisan Water Resources development act or worda which invests and protect communities from flooding and droughts restores our environment mment and ecosystems and keeps our Nations our nation competitive by supporting our ports and harbors worda 24 included Provisions to grow the economy and create jobs as well by reauthorizing the economic development Administration improving the operations of the general Services
▶ 2:26:37administration's public building service and redistributing $1.8 billion in unused funding from the Department of transportation's tifia program to Local transportation projects as chair Graves has noted we do have a full legislative agenda for 119th first and foremost is the uh that surface Transportation programs expire in September 26 and the committee needs to act on that we also intend to reauthorize the US Coast Guard Maritime Administration the federal Maritime commission and the pipeline and hazardous materials
▶ 2:27:07safety administration's pipeline safety programs so for us to do our jobs for the American people we request to fund the committee on transportation and infrastructure uh request of a modest increase of 7% over the funding levels from the 18th this funding will ensure that we can retain the oversight and infrastructure Specialists who can help us achieve our objectives and accommodate as well an increase in travel cost we have a robust and bipartisan travel plan to include both domestic and international travel that will inform our legislative agenda and allow
▶ 2:27:37for greater oversight of the projects and programs under the jurisdiction of the committee as in the past the committee will continue to provide a 2third of the Personnel budget to majority and onethird of the minority the non-personnel budget like the travel budget will continue to be shared fairly between the majority and the minority so I look forward to uh continuing a strong partnership with chair graves in the 119th Congress and with your help I know the committee um on transportation and infrastructure will achieve our shared objectives and be one of the most productive committees in Congress
▶ 2:28:08so I want to thank you for the opportunity uh to appear before the committee today and happy to answer any questions you might have thank you very much gentleman y's back uh we'll each take five minutes uh for questions I'll I'll start with myself yield myself five minutes um if I I'll start with you uh chairman Graves you you referenced some of the work that you've done before on reauthorization you have a robust agenda on reauthorization um in this Congress uh you have requests as it relates um to additional software necessary to do this could you could you provide a little color on that
▶ 2:28:38request so we we utilize new technology when it came to setting up the portals um to allow members to be able to um access or or uh provide us with their their priorities and their projects and their sorts of things um in FAA reauthorization and in worda um we had some pretty robust I mean literally hundreds of requests from from Members we expect with the surface Transportation reauthorization it's going to be even more um robust and so
▶ 2:29:09this just makes this process so much easier for both members doing it and then us putting the legislation together uh in the uh you know in the process so um yeah we're going to be using techn know it quite a little bit thank you very much I'll yield to representative BCE thank you Mr chairman and thank you chairman Graves and ranking member Larson for being with us this afternoon um I hail from the great state of Oklahoma and my district actually has what I would consider to be the crossroads of America running through it I40 I35 and i44
▶ 2:29:39so literally east to west north to south uh you can get anywhere from my State uh by truck in about two days so I really appreciate the opportunity for you all to do f visits because I think that does really give a um Hands-On view of what's happening in our states and I certainly know that um the uh there's been lots of conversation around the FAA over the last um you know couple of weeks I would um be delighted to host you in okl city for rev view of some of the infrastructure in my district and also to visit the
▶ 2:30:09Mike Monon Aeronautical Center uh which is located in Congressman Lucas's District to see the work firsthand uh on their training center uh capabilities so thank thank you for the work that you're doing I look forward to working with you both in the future and with that Mr chairman I yield gentleman y's back um if I can jump on a question I think Builds on uh what representative Bice was speaking about the the travel budget but also uh the expertise of the staff um and the speaker's pay order has adjusted this it's a highly
▶ 2:30:39competitive labor market right now in particular uh I know on the on the the majority side where many individuals are choosing to go into the administration uh or private sector jobs for both the majority and the minority uh could you comment we start with you chairman Graves uh on the the impact that the pay order may have or how we should be thinking about that from the committee standpoint yeah and it is you know it probably more so than even when it comes to the administration or the Senate it's a private sector and it's just hard to
▶ 2:31:09uh to compete with that and so without that uh ability and and that help we're going to lose all of this incredible talent that we have on both the minority and the majority side uh being able to uh being able to move forward and so th this is important as anything else and we do have a lot of long-term uh tenured staff on our committee and I don't want to lose that um I don't want to lose that and you know right now if you look obviously our increase is going to be spread all over but the fact of the matter is 95%
▶ 2:31:40of our budget goes to staff salaries and so um you know we have again we have to compete that's the bottom line we have to compete R remember Lar you want to comment briefly yeah just know that obviously it might be obvious to say the pressure is a little less on the on the um minority side but still uh an important pressure about um going off um um off the hill uh to work and uh like uh the chair said we also on the minority side have a um uh long tenure
▶ 2:32:10staff whose expertise we don't want to lose and we don't want to lose it we have because we have a lot of work to do I think one of the successes of the of the bipartisan ship on our committee is not just that Sam and I work together but the staffs take that message and work together as well and uh we need to continue to have the expertise on both sides of the aisle among staff who also have great relationships uh off the hill uh to produce the kind of legislation do the kind of work that we've been doing thank
▶ 2:32:40you very much um you'll back recognize the ranking member for five minutes for questions uh thank you Mr chair I may have um uh miss this but I I think uh we've been asking each of the chairs and ranking members uh on the issue of cyber security did you ask that question I apologize if you did I didn't think you did but um whether or not yeah whether you not you'd make available the staff uh Administration on both sides to meet with the uh CIO to talk about cyber security issues and make sure that
▶ 2:33:11we're doing everything we can to uh uh to make sure that we're secure absolutely yes I make the commitment as well great thank you um the um I think this is directed more to the chair the standard of 2/3 1/3 split between the Committees um just want to make sure that uh the Democratic site Mr LaRon has Independence over his third of the budget whether you'd commit to that sir yeah that's that's given Rick and I um look we worked great together uh we came in together
▶ 2:33:41a long time ago but uh um you know I I don't have the least bit of worry about any of that or problem um and I'll just note uh ranking member we've had have a problem with it as well we probably work more together the staff side than some committees do good that well thank you for that um I wanted to just pick up a little bit I think U Miss Bice may have mentioned at the um some of the things that have happened obviously regard to FAA uh and the
▶ 2:34:11tragedies that uh have occurred recently um one of the things I want to make sure that we're all focused in is on article one responsibilities that Rel relates to oversight uh the administration there's a lot going on people have different opinions on whether it's appropriate or not but we still have a job to do and I want to just ask whether or not you feel you have adequate resources to do the uh the job necessary of of and carrying out our article one responsibilities and like you both comment um so oversight's obviously
▶ 2:34:41a very big part of what we do when we do reauthorizations and you know I'll be honest with you what my concern is and it isn't um Administration related in terms of you know Democrat side or Republican side what I see as the problem are the the lifelong bureaucrats that move from Administration to Administration that try to change what we do as Congress in their eyes and what they want to see rather than what the intent of the law is now we wrote
▶ 2:35:12the FAA Bill we got very technical in for that reason because we got I got frustrated at the fact that the FAA didn't Implement a lot of the stuff we did in the last um fa reauthorization you know they drugged their feet or they changed what the intent of the law was I believe in legislative intent and Congressional intent and I want it followed and so that's where the focus of a lot of our reform or our oversight will be uh is just making sure they they follow the letter of the law and what we decided
▶ 2:35:42um as a congress the legislative body um what we decided it should be not what they think it should be well I agree m yeah I think one of the benefits of the work that we've done on the committee is that we have produced largely bipartisan products and and the fa bill as one of those and because it passed 387 to 26 uh out of the house and then I think some number for against in the Senate uh we know we have a strong bipartisan um uh direction that we
▶ 2:36:12gave to the fa regardless of who is there and to bring it closer to home over the last couple of weeks we've produced bipartisan statements on you know on the horrible tragedies that have taken place on the support we want to show the fa and and the NTSB to do its job uh but also because of the fa bill there's a list of things that we directed the fa to do to improve its operations to improve technology investment uh to improve its safety oversight it has the to-do
▶ 2:36:42list um the fa has the to-do list that we've created for it and so part of that um oversight will be to certainly strongly encourage it be a nice way to put it strongly encourage fa to to take care of that list right um one last point which is uh less a question and more I guess an invitation as you uh not only hold hearings in DC but field hearings um the uh level of uh member threats has gone up considerably our committee has oversight of the United States capital police
▶ 2:37:12and Sergeant arms would just invite you to communicate uh with the chair and myself to make sure we have adequate security security and we we're paying particular attention uh to making sure that members and staff uh are secure as they travel and as you do hearings around the country well that's something I do appreciate from this committee and and looking out for all members um and I agree and I've seen it personally uh is the uptick in U
▶ 2:37:43uh you know in threats and security issues and so I appreciate what you all do to keep us safe right thank you both are yeld back jent Yi's back we appreciate you both being here with us today you got big work at the committee uh on Transportation infrastructure look forward to your work this Congress uh for members of the committee uh momentarily we'll we'll recess subject to call of the chair we're going to reconvene by 1250 sharp that's 10 minutes ahead of schedule uh for the financial services committee with a hope of getting through as many of the committees as we can prior to
▶ 2:38:13uh votes being called on the house floor so the committee house administration uh stands in recess subject to call of the chair thank thank you both thank
▶ 2:54:17e e
▶ 2:55:14need a regulatory framework for digital assets that will protect consumers and invest investors while maintaining America as a leader in Innovation and ensure that agencies in the committee's oversight jurisdiction are focused on their core statutory directed missions there are also items that are in the committee's jurisdiction that simply must get done in the 119th Congress first the reform of the national flood insurance program something that's been on its uh ongoing continuing resolution now I think for six
▶ 2:55:44years and a reauthorization of the export import Bank the last time we did that was in the first term of President Trump the committee must also work that it's prepared with the relevant appropriation subcommittees and the Trump Administration to ensure that any negotiation over the capital replenishments or accompanied by significant and much needed reforms for our multi uh National multilateral development Banks and the international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the international
▶ 2:56:14monetary fund additionally I've asked the committee to be prepared for Black Swan events such as the longtailed impact of quantitative easing severe fiscal spending and the resulting inflation the refinancing risk associated with commercial real estate in the United States and a as a result of the declining need for space and increased interest rates the risks associated with treasury's refunding challenge of a $2 trillion do unsustainable annual budget deficit and the other International
▶ 2:56:44shocks brought about by collapsing growth in Europe and significant Deb debt and structural weakness elsewhere such as in the People's Republic of China the committee also must be prepared to consider reform and restructuring proposals related to the mortgage government sponsored Enterprises Fanny May and Freddy Mack should this become a priority of the Administration in order to accomplish this broad set of objectives and necessary tasks I'm requesting a 10% increase in funding for the committee's budget from the previous
▶ 2:57:14Congress this increase would put the committee in line with the his iic average in the 118th Congress we were the eighth highest funded committee this is a decrease compared to the7th and 116th congresses when the financial services committee was the fifth highest funded this increase would allow the majority to fully staff 57 allotted slots in the previous Congress the majority had 42 uh Personnel on staff I'm seeking to recruit Talent so
▶ 2:57:44that we can fulfill and deliver what was promised to the American people currently there are two subcommittees that only are staffed by two people as we look to properly hire for these positions it's critical that we're not forced to cut staff elsewhere or limit our hiring in some of the other subcommittees Additionally the committee has created a new task force examining both monetary policy and the treasury markets particularly in light of the decisions during the past few
▶ 2:58:15years as it relates to both monetary and fiscal I'm proposing to hire a chief Economist to oversee this effort as well as in policy analysis to work in our work across the committee uh in light of the Loper decision and the decline in the Chevron difference we want to make sure we have the cost benefit economic Talent on board our committee as well this task force will be critical in examining the mistakes uh of the past of the American people were not struck with stubbornly
▶ 2:58:45high inflation as a result of furthering misguided monetary policy decisions finally I've requested an increase in travel as demonstrated by the recent success of the house Ways and Means Committee field hearings will be critical at getting our positive message uh out to the American people I'm encouraging all of our subcommittees to take advantage of these opportunities to fully demonstrate the committee's effort on behalf of our citizen by meeting outside the Beltway the financial services industry helps Drive
▶ 2:59:15economic growth supports small business and is at the Forefront of innovation in our country it's imperative that this committee can thoroughly examine the policies affecting this critical sector of the economy I'm grateful Mr chairman for your time the consideration of this uh request and I'm prepared for your questions thank you very much uh chairman Hill I we're tight on schedule as moving things around so if ranking member Waters joins us we'll allow her to have five minutes when she arrives uh but in the interested time uh I'll yield to myself five minutes for the purpose of asking questions
▶ 2:59:46a question I've asked every chair uh in in ranking member today uh is that will you commit uh to having your systems administrator meet with the House's CIO team in the first quarter to discuss cyber security issues absolutely this is a problem facing everybody in the house and everybody in the private and the public sector thank you very much um next question you you re you were talking about Staffing up about building areas of expertise this is absolutely essential when we think about digital assets we think about uh chairman Powell coming in tomorrow uh he has a a robust
▶ 3:00:16staff of PhD economists you're looking to in particular to hire an economist what are the the challenges you'd face u in Staffing up in particular uh with an economist role when the economists rooll I think particularly in light of the Chevron Defence and the Loper decision I know that all the Committees both authorizing and appropriating are thinking about how are they staffed in order to push back uh and ensure that the Committees under the agencies under our jurisdiction are fully compliant with Congressional
▶ 3:00:46intent and statute one of those is clearly analyzing cost benefit analysis in the financial supervisory area both in banking and in Securities and insurance cost benefit analysis is uh frequently been undone or not done at all when we are trying to consider those ramifications when we have people testifying I think the chief Economist will bring a great deal of clout to the committee and its analysis right now we call around and try to put together economic assessments
▶ 3:01:17from outside groups but we don't have somebody on the staff that's an expert in econometric analysis or economic analysis to provide that benefit to our members and then as you noted in the Humphrey Hawkins uh testimony which is the semiannual report of the Federal Reserve System to the committee we want to get behind those numbers as chairman hining did several years ago and really analyze what we believe the right course of action should be for monetary policy and how that monetary policy and the unsustainable budget
▶ 3:01:47deficits that the Congress is currently incurring uh can also be dealt with and we think that kind of macroeconomic experience would be helpful there and you're right I'll take one Economist for the 750 PhD economists over at the FED I think that will really help our members we begin to get a better ratio uh appreciate I'll yield to our uh Mutual colleague on the financial services committee as well as house administration Mr lder thank you Mr chairman Mr chairman I'm very excited to uh start my fifth term on
▶ 3:02:17finance Services committee and uh especially uh again serving in the oversight and investigations um subcommittee um over just the the tenure that I've had on financial services and especially over the the past four years we've seen a significant increase in what I would call Mission Creep by a lot of the areas of jurisdiction that we have sec going outside of his constitutional boundaries cfpb that's just the nature of their business of of uh going after areas that they are not legisl
▶ 3:02:47atively empowered to go after so there is a lot that I think that oversight and investigation could be looking into as well as uh abuse of power just want to kind of want to hear what your priorities were and do you feel that you have within this budget the necessary resources to conduct that oversight yeah it's a it's a real good point you know some some committee chairs will describe to you their style of the committee would be they have one big objective for the two-year Congress that they want to drive through their committee and it could be big and complex or could
▶ 3:03:18be very straightforward and my Approach is is different I think with the advantage of the Trump Administration being in office and and and sharing our political party and having Tim Scott chair the uh Banking Committee in the Senate gives us a unique opportunity in this Congress in this two years to make progress uh across all of our subcommittees and that really accounts for the core of why I've made the request that I've had chairman McKenry in the last Congress emphasized digital assets
▶ 3:03:48he staffed up for that he delivered on privacy and digital assets legislatively but in each of of our subcommittees including oversight we've given them robust legislative agendas and I want to make sure they've got the talent on those sub committees to do it so in quick we talked about digital assets that's a continued priority it's a priority for the Trump Administration it's a priority for the majority leader Mr scalise that we get a a a dollar back stable coin Bill and a regular at framework for
▶ 3:04:18digital assets accomplished in this Congress we also want to make Community banking great again and we do that by tailoring regulations and I would remind the committee we have not had a bipartisan banking bill in this Congress signed into law since 2018 when Mike kpo then chairman of the senate had s2155 which got strong bipartisan support in both the House and Senate and so we believe tailoring that regulatory approach in community banking is critical so those are just uh two of
▶ 3:04:48our big priorities and we have those across all our our subcommittees Gman y back I yield back recognize the ranking member for five minutes thank you uh Mr chairman for being here congratulations on uh becoming the chair of the committee um I want to uh first start of as I've asked each of the chairs the normal 2/3 1/3 split between majority and minority uh just want to make sure sure that uh you're
▶ 3:05:19going to uh afford the minority uh Independence when it comes to the expenditure of their third of of the budget in terms of of um both personnel and whatever other resources they intend to spend thank you Mr Mell for your question and I'm delighted to be joined by my ranking member the ever distinguished former chair of this committee Maxine Waters of California she is a tremendous defender of her third of the budget uh and I don't think you'll have any question that we'll
▶ 3:05:49work together to make sure that she has the resources that are uh needed for her to carry out her Mission as ranking member we've also uh want to collaborate on uh this idea of our members having an opportunity to as I said in my testimony do field hearings be out with our citizens around the country I really I want to reiterate I think that's an important part of the work we do in here in Washington needs to be out with our citizens and I don't think the while Ways and Means Committee has done a good job of that I want
▶ 3:06:19to make sure Financial Services members are having that opportunity as well yeah I uh I will say back in uh my service in the State uh legislature in New York I chaired for number of years the committee on insurance which is not banking but certainly is part of the financial makeup in New York and um and just as it related to oversight and your your comments you know I remember and I was the chair during 20078 during that crisis and um
▶ 3:06:49uh AIG which was a obviously significant insurance company in New York um you know you the challenge it seemed to me when I was in my responsibilities was striking the balance between consumer protection that was appropriate and also freedom for people who had Capital to be able to use that Capital to uh help people who needed financing and also to build great companies and to try to continue to maintain that balance and I I wanted to ask whether or not you feel you have adequate resources here to do the job to
▶ 3:07:19protect both interests the consumer's interests as well as I mean there's a lot of talk about deregulation and um and the regulatory framework and I appreciate that but some of it is legitimately necessary to protect the interests of individuals particularly in a world where uh Financial products and you certainly know more about this than I do both of you uh have gotten much more sophisticated have gotten uh much more nuanced and there are many more financial products now than there would have been two decades ago so just
▶ 3:07:50uh be mindful and I want to ask whether or not you feel you have adequate resources in this request to uh to do that oversight to make sure you protect both the financial interests of companies but uh equally important some would say more important the consumer interests uh of people who use these products and i' I'd love to ask both of you to comment sure I'll be brief so my ranking member can provide a comment as well the answer short answer is yes look there's nowhere in our economic Society uh
▶ 3:08:20that's more statutorily driven on investor protection consumer protection and yet at the same time to try to provide orderly and efficient safe and sound banking insurance and capital markets and that tension uh exists both statutorily and in oversight and in the supervisory process and I believe on in our committee that we have uh excellent staff that understand that responsibility in each of the subcommittees
▶ 3:08:51and I I'll say that all the members recognize that balance between um adequate robust consumer protection and at the same time you know letting the marketplace operate as well and it's constructive tension but let me turn to my my colleague for answer to your question thank you well thank you very much uh Mr chairman and members um I'm pleased to be here with chairman french hill uh to make our requests uh for uh to basically cover the work that we do
▶ 3:09:21uh he has more than adequately explained to you um the seriousness and the bread of our committee and um from time to time when I've talked to people about the financial services committee and had them to understand uh that we have oversight responsibility for everything from the World Bank and the international monetary fund to HUD and housing and there's a big difference in all of
▶ 3:09:51that uh but he's absolutely correct uh we have to be concerned about our citizens and their ability uh to know uh that we are dealing with all of the cops on the Block in financial services and looking out for Consumer interest as well as understanding the markets and what must be done uh to give support or find gaps uh because of the that is impacted uh by the market so I'm very pleased
▶ 3:10:21to be here I don't know exactly how much um our chairman has asked for uh for our budget I do know what my staff told me but I said to my staff I think that 10% or whatever he's asked may be adequate but is it appropriate for me to say but we need a more and so um we have talked about it I Labs have been together on it and we would appreciate uh your
▶ 3:10:51support for our request um thank you very much uh Miss ranki member before I yield I just want an invitation as you're doing your field hearings one of the things uh that the chair and I are very concerned about is uh member threats so you know we have oversight with the capital police sergeant of arms uh just invite you to share with us information about where you're doing field hearings so we can coordinate to make sure members and staff are safe wherever you go thank you for that U admonition
▶ 3:11:21it's one we take seriously it's also one reason why the budget request is what it is we recognize that we've got a a security component for traveling members and we don't take that at all for granted and we know that in order to provide transparency we've got the C-SPAN component as well in the right kind of location and so we'll meet that commitment and we're very sensitive to making sure our members and our staff are in a safe condition as they travel you if the ranking member will give me consent just to Reas the first question
▶ 3:11:52we appreciate you joining us ranking member Waters I've asked all chairs and ranking members uh just a yes no question as relates to cyber security that you will commit uh to having your systems administrator meet with the House's uh Chief Information officer and their team in the first quarter to discuss to discuss cyber security issues thank you very much uh we appreciate uh both of you being here today uh obviously a number of us are members of the financial services uh and so we appreciate your time and effort and um the committee will
▶ 3:12:22pause while the next witness panel assembles thank you very much appreciate your support thank you very much
▶ 3:13:16yeah for
▶ 3:13:47chairman Williams ranking member ofas thank you for joining us today um we have been uh nav doing a series of these hearings obviously today you're our next witness panel for the um committee on small business appreciate you being here um we'll give you each five minutes for an opening statement the ranking member and I will each take five minutes uh for questions and then we'll be yielding that during that time uh for our members and so we'll start with you uh chair Roger Williams thank you Mr chairman and thank you ranking member appreciate it I want to thank uh all of you for having
▶ 3:14:18us uh I'm here today to tell you I don't need more money if you want our committee to be small and inefficient uh but let me tell you we're in anything with that and if I can keep some of the other committees from stealing my employees it'd be a lot easier but uh uh over the past two years the ranking member and I have taken the committee on small business to I believe the next level last Congress the committee marked up 41 bills 23 of which passed the house the most committee activity in over 20 years we issued
▶ 3:14:48the first subpoenas in more than a decade when the SBA failed in respond to our investigative efforts we also issued four substantial committee reports or our major investigations including the sba's election arean efforts in M Michigan and their improper interference in a key Battleground state for vice president Harrison Democrats government entities using third parties to harm the revenue of small businesses because of their speech preventing them from competing fairly online the sba's lacked luster efforts to recoup reported $200 billion
▶ 3:15:18doll in fraud in pandemic uh lending programs uh including the sba's decision to collect on certain pandemic loans wor $70 billion and the overly burdensome regulations from the Biden Harris Administration that hurt America's job creators now on top of that we held 59 hearings uh which Amplified small business voices which simultaneously holding the Biden Harris Administration accountable to Main Street our committee has one of the greatest Returns on investment for the house I believe RI is important
▶ 3:15:49in order to continue to grow these efforts in the 119th Congress we're asking for a $1.3 million increase over two years now The Logical question is why do you need this money well we want to take this committee to the next level I just walked through this last year's highlights but we want to show how we plan to go even harder this Congress first the committee will focus on reauthorizing the SBA something that has not been done in 25 years the reauthorization is necessary because as we all know there's
▶ 3:16:19been unmitigated waste Fraud and Abuse at the SBA over the last few years and we conducted important oversight last Congress to find this money and attempted to force the SBA to claw it back now we need the to reform the SBA not to only get back those taxpayer dollars but also ensure this sort of abuse does not happen again and this incredible effort will continue additional it will require additional staff with wide ranging knowledge and expertise which leads me to my second point the cost of doing business has totally increased in order to hire and maintain the most qualified staff
▶ 3:16:49we need to increase staff compensation to compete with the private sector and the larger committees now while the committee has sufficient staff slots available 29 slots for the majority and 14 slots for the minority the budget has never been high enough to hire the people to fill all of these slots in fact we average about 18 full-time staff during this past Congress in order to hire the right people uh the committee has been forced to hire fewer staff to ensure we can offer a competitive salary so we're going backwards now this problem is confounded by the fact
▶ 3:17:19that the pay ceiling for staff increased allign other committees with greater funds to increase their pay of their staff we will be un unable to do this unless we get some additional funds as a small business owner myself I understand that more people and money does not always equal more success however I also know that getting the right people with the right experience and expertise on staff will ensure that this committee can further president Trump's Pro business and deregulatory agenda and thirdly we know how important it is for this committee to get on the ground in Main Street America many of our members
▶ 3:17:49have expressed interest in holding field hearings in their districts to do do just that and as the committee fighting for Main Street often times the best way to reach these con constituencies is by going directly to them you take the product to the people and very few of our members are within driving distance of Washington so these hearings would be an additional cost but also successful our nation's entrepreneurs and innovators deserve a strong Advocate fighting on their behalf in Washington and increase the committee's budget will have to continue to amplify the voice of
▶ 3:18:20small business across this nation and forth this committee's uniquely positioned to help push president Trump's deregulatory agenda the regulatory flexibility act requires all agencies to consider the economic impact of their rules on small businesses Nationwide last year our investigation found that many agencies skirted the requirement with some ignored it entirely our investigations helped lay the foundation for removing overly burdens and regulations on small businesses with we can actually begin to do under President Trump
▶ 3:18:50and finally we all know how important it is for small businesses to have access to funds to rebuild after a natural disaster strikes as we saw after the North Carolina hurricane the disaster Loan program at the SBA ran out of money ran out of funds and failed to get necessary Aid to small businesses in a time in a timely manner the California wildfires are the most destructive in their States history we know it will be years before these small businesses can recover fully so unlike what happened during the covid pandemic which broke the SBA we uh want
▶ 3:19:20to make sure the SBA is properly equipped to step in when disaster strikes this Congress we want to be on the ground conducting oversight Main Street in California North Carolina Etc so this oversight will help uh inform the disaster lending portion of the SBA reauthorization we will need to hire subject uh matter experts uh to ensure we conduct the most robust oversight of this program and produce legislative Solutions we need experienced people so I want to thank all of you for allowing me to be here and I look forward to working with the ranking members
▶ 3:19:50as we move forward CH Williams uh thank you for being here I think that's the first time you and I have spoken for five minutes and you didn't try to sell me a car uh so that's good uh R last question you still got time on the clock R member lesz you're recognized for five minutes uh thank you Mr chairman and ranking member and all the members of the committee for having us let me Echo what I have said time and again in this forum in others small businesses are the backbone of the American
▶ 3:20:20economy that was proven during the Great Recession and again during the global pandemic these businesses ranging from Mom and Pop shops to startups employ nearly half of the private sector Workforce and are responsible for a significant portion of economic activity beyond their economic impact small businesses build community ties contributing to the Vitality of neighborhood across the country the committee on small business
▶ 3:20:50has the honor of ensuring the stability of the nation small business community and the many jobs they support in our local communities even during times of Crisis our committee has responded quickly to create several historic emergency programs the largest in history to be a Lifeline for businesses of various sizes and even nonprofits our staff one of the smallest in the house worked tirelessly during and
▶ 3:21:20after the pandemic to do right by small employers our work has continued since then to oversee each of the of those programs in conjunction with authorized SBA programs to protect taxpayers dollars the chairman and myself are committed to overseeing strengthening and modernizing these programs and the many others as at SBA but commited not only has jurisdiction over the SBA we are often relied
▶ 3:21:51upon by our nation small businesses to avocate for their best interest in other areas from health care and taxes to energy and Capital Access Contracting and trade these are just a few of the issues that chairman Williams and I along with our members must delve into and I am committed to working with the chairman on these issues and more but this work does require an investment by Congress the committee needs to be funded at such
▶ 3:22:21a level where it allows us to do our work with sufficient resources and without having to sacrifice our staff historically this committee has been underfunded nevertheless the committee continues to keep operational expenses at a minimum all the while being on staff the slots are there but the funds simply are not I am proud of the work we have been able to do these last few congresses and E and it is even
▶ 3:22:51more of an achievement to have done so much with so little we have operated efficiently and effectively but I do ask for a minimal minimal increase to ensure we can properly overseas this program which will require years of work it goes without saying that chairman Williams and I along with our committee members plan to continue working together in a bipartisan manner to fulfill our jurisdictional responsibility we
▶ 3:23:21know the task at hand that you have in reviewing the numbers but we ask that you do so with the utmost consideration please don't wait until another crisis hit the country to discover that there is a small business Committee in this Congress a very modest increase that the chairman is requesting will go a long way in helping the committee highest staff upgrade our oversight Technologies and restart our field hearings and on the
▶ 3:23:51ground disaster assessment to meet the needs of our Collective small Employers in every District thank you and I'm happy to answer any question you may have thank you very much we thank both of you uh I'll be I recognize myself for five minutes I'll begin with questions we'll keep these reasonably short because we're going to also try to get hipsy in uh before votes um if I can just ask one question I've asked every chair and ranking member uh it's a simple yes no question uh is that will you commit to having your systems administrator meet with the House's CIO
▶ 3:24:22team in the first quarter to discuss cyber security yes thank you very much um I'll just ask you one question here uh chairman Williams we'll we'll do it briefly um the SBA uh committee I don't I don't think had any field hearings last Congress uh you're now looking at doing a series of them um what what's driving the the shift in your perspective of the committee resources well we haven't been out like anything else we got a you want you want to check your mic real quick
▶ 3:24:52Mr chairman what's up he then everybody on the live feed can get the sales pitch for the cars as well well they never been cheaper than the art of day I'll tell you that but look it it's like anything else we got a product to sell we we have a product to sell and we're not able to go out and sell it to Main Street America and when you get out in Main Street America and they talk hear about the small business committee that's what they want to hear from we just want to take our product to the people let and find out exactly what how main Street's feel and how we can fix
▶ 3:25:23it thank you thank you very much I yield back and I'll recognize the ranking member for the purpose of asking questions thank you uh thank you both chairman Williams and ranking member of alasas thanks for all you do and for your leadership um first and foremost I know that the Committees have a uh uh tradition of a 2/3 1/3 split I just want to make sure Mr chair that you're uh you intend to uh give the ranking member Independence when it comes to her third of the uh of the committee budget absolutely
▶ 3:25:53um I also because I'm going to follow the chair's lead and appreciate you being here and I know we're we're a little before vote so we want to get moving but um just an invitation as you begin these field hearings which I think are critically important the chair and I are very focused on uh threats to members and staff uh we've seen the rise of them it's a challenge here in Washington but it's even more of a challenge when you get to field hearing so we'd love to coordinate with uh with you and your staff to
▶ 3:26:23make sure that we have adequate resources and we've taken every precaution to make sure that you and and your staff members are safe and secure when you when you do feeli HEI thank you yeah thank you you back chman y's back we appreciate both of you being here really important work for the small business committee ahead this Congress and so we'll pause uh while the witness panel exits and the new panel assembles thank you for joining us thank you
▶ 3:27:27chairman Crawford ranker member heims thank you for joining us today uh we've had a series of panels uh we'll give each of you five minutes uh for opening remarks uh the minority and majority will each have five minutes total for questions uh we'll be yielding uh amongst ourselves our goal is to complete this before votes uh so do not feel obligated to use the full minutes but obviously you may uh we'll recognize you first uh chairman Crawford thank you Mr chairman I appreciate that chairman Morel thank you for giving us opportunity to testify in support of the budget request for the house permanent select
▶ 3:27:57committee on intelligence I'm joined by my ranking member Congressman Jim Hees The Proposal we've submitted includes $19.2 million over the next two years 9 and a. half million of which is planned for expenditure in 2025 and the balance in 2026 first thing I want to note is that we are the only house committee to operate entirely within a sensitive compartmented information facility or skiff as a reminder a skiff is a vault-like structure built to protect classified information entry requires a security clearance and everything that passes through our doorway must be
▶ 3:28:27specifically approved for use in a skiff this requires a lot of our equipment to be physically modified for example we can't have any devices in our committees with wireless Bluetooth or similar capability and as you know virtually all technology today has some kind of Wireless feature this presents unique operational challenges and therefore raises costs for the current budget request the first area I want to highlight is the significant amount of funding we're seeking to complete critical security improvements to our skiff this work was partially funded in 2024 the specific
▶ 3:28:57improvements to our facilities cannot be discussed in Open Session but we are happy to provide details and address any questions you may have in an appropriate setting in addition our budget funds the final stages of enhancements to our internal classified Network work on this network began in the 118th Congress and completion is one of my highest priorities as a reminder hipsy operates the House's largest and most sophisticated independent Network maintaining this unique classified network is a costly Endeavor particularly as we are committed to meeting or exceeding the standards associated
▶ 3:29:27with national security systems we have divided the remaining work into two phases phase one deploys a new SharePoint farm and phase two involves enhancements to overall security posture of the network the anticipated cost of the major work in 2025 and 26 is $431,000 another significant cost cut Center an area of funding growth during the 119th Congress is personnel as the new chairman of hipsy I'm undertaking an aggressive effort to achieve full Staffing in our request we do not seek an increase in our position cap which you
▶ 3:29:57generously increased last Congress instead we seek the required funding to completely fill each of those positions previously authorized like other committees pay is our greatest cost driver hipsy competes for highly specialized talent and must offer wages competitive with the Executive Branch the requested funding will enable us to recruit talent to conduct aggressive oversight related to Black programs and activities which by their nature we uh are designed to circumvent scrutiny I want to take a moment to underscore that our people are our differential Advantage
▶ 3:30:27experience has proven that recruiting personnel with security clearance alone is not enough to achieve oversight success it can take several years to fully develop the skills to become an expert at the complex programs and activities we oversee to give us an advantage we seek out compatible professionals with experience working within those programs and activities as you can imagine the pool of available candidates with such experience is highly limited however at the proposed funding level I'm confident that we can acquire this talent in fact I'm pleased to report that since our budget submission to you we have recruited and are in the process of
▶ 3:30:57onboarding several candidates with exactly this kind of specialized experience another Factor impacting our budget is the establishment of a sixth subcommittee the new subcommittee is charged with overseeing open source intelligence collection use and dissemination which has been a growing conversation Topic in recent years it's important that the committee gain a deep understanding of the intelligence community's use of Open Source intelligence enabling us to legislate on the topic in an informed Way the final thing I would like to mention is that hipsy will be improving our support to the house by reforming how we share classified information with
▶ 3:31:28standing and select committees Our intention is to do a better job of supporting our colleagues this effort is reflected in changes to hipsy rules and is being undertaken with the support of the speaker once again thank you chairman style ranking member Morell and members of the committee I look forward to your questions thank you very much uh chair Crawford uh ranking member heims your recogniz for five minutes chairman style ranking member Morel uh members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to discuss the house permanent select committees on intelligence budget request for the 119th Congress I'm pleased to support chairman Crawford
▶ 3:31:58in his budget request chairman Crawford was uh cons consultative and transparent with the minority in the preparation of the committee's request the request we have jointly made to the administration committee would put hipsy on a strong footing to accomplish the critical priorities we have set out for the 119th Congress hipsy is a unique Committee in many respects not least because of the agencies we oversee they operate nearly entirely in secret unlike other committees which can benefit from the expertise and research of outside experts journalists and others we can rarely turn to those resources meanwhile
▶ 3:32:28the task before the committee is vast and growing the committee oversees 18 IC elements and tens of billions of dollars authorized each year a task that is done with a staff smaller than many house committees that oversees smaller agencies that are far less opaque to perform the functions of the house and the to perform the functions that the house of the American people expect of us the committee requires a specialized and experienced group of professional staff as the committee's budget submission reflects additional resources for professional staff members ensure the
▶ 3:32:58committee's ability to bring on highquality staff including those with technical backgrounds in high demand in the private sector as the chairman described the committee skiff underwent significant renovation which created additional desks for staff I hope the administration committee will provide us with the resources to put those desks to good use and ensure robust oversight of the intelligence Community the chairman well covered uh the um uh the it needs that are particular to our committee so I won't repeat it but I will just close by saying once again I'd
▶ 3:33:28like to thank chairman Crawford for his collaborative approach and preparing the committee's budget submission and I would urge respectfully the house administration committee to support this request thank you yieldb thank you very much ring member Hees chairman uh Crawford uh yield I I recognize myself for five minutes for the purpose of asking questions uh one question I have as every uh chair and ranking member is whether a minority majority and minority uh will commit to having your systems administrator meet with the House's CIO team uh in the first quarter to discuss cyber security
▶ 3:33:58that conversation probably look a little different for you uh on on hipsy then maybe other house committees uh but will you still make the same commitment for the meeting absolutely yes thank you very much um I'll be succinct I know votes have been called so we want to be timeful so we make it to votes uh we are told uh that they're going to gavel it 20 minutes in we'll see if if that's true but we'll we'll run on that assumption um chairman Crawford um I think one point that's really important you noted uh that all of your staff must maintain top secret security clearance with seci access uh
▶ 3:34:28and obviously you're operating completely within the skiff um when we think about the speaker's pay order we think about retaining staff uh how does that present unique challenges uh in are you able uh to acquire the talent and staff you need uh knowing the the of the the house pay scale well it is a challenge um a lot of the reason is just the onboarding process can be lengthy for folks that don't already have a security clearance so obviously we want to we're recruiting from a a finite pool and we're bumping
▶ 3:34:59up against the executive branch uh but we're making pretty good progress despite the fact that um you know there's a lot of talent out there that's being recruited by the executive branch but we are making progress thank you very much I'm going to be mindful of the time then appreciate uh you both being here uh and I will yield back and recognize uh the ranking member for 5 minutes uh thank you uh both for your leadership for your contributions uh you're lucky we've been grilling every other committee uh chair and ranking member so
▶ 3:35:29you'll avoid that but I did have one question um the uh traditional 2/3 onethird split uh Mr chairman are you uh committed to allowing Independence of the minority to to hire as they see fit on uh out of their budget certainly very good uh the other thing I would just say is if you do field hearings and I don't know that intelligence really applies but we're very mindful of threats against members and staff and we just want to stay in close contact if both you're in DC but certainly if you do conduct
▶ 3:35:59field hearings or if you move around uh we would love to be informed of that so we could help coordinate to make sure that uh all the threats against members uh we're aware of and can take precautions so AB that's an invitation for bringing that up yeah great thank you both we thank you both for being here that your committee has incredibly important work always but uniquely so I think in this Congress uh as we continue to see global threats targeting uh the American people so we appreciate the work that you do that your committee and staff members do uh and we'll be
▶ 3:36:30uh keeping that under consideration when we review uh your request for funding appreciate you both being here the committee uh will stand in recess subject to call the chair uh we'll plan to reconvene immediately following votes for Ways and Means I suggested we cut their funing just
▶ 3:37:09because don't know what to doce same
▶ 3:37:40everybody you look at immediately know is now people your name mine I get it a lot too
▶ 4:09:42e e
▶ 4:10:48how are you it's good to see you I'm like hoping for a snow day I know I know I know he's Wisconsin but we're Alabama Florida
▶ 4:11:35committee and house administration will come back to order um we now welcome our next panel um of witnesses chairman uh Jason Smith uh ranking member uh Neil from the Ways and Means Committee we've been uh navigating through different panels throughout the day as you know uh we'll give each of you five minutes uh for an opening statement we will have five minutes uh of questioning in total from the majority uh and minority will be yielding uh between members uh for those committees um I'll now recognize uh the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee uh
▶ 4:12:05Jason Smith for five minutes thank you chairman it's a pleasure to be with you um it's good to see so many familiar faces from the ways Means Committee on on here and also um my good friend from Florida um uh ranking member Morelli um he's not here but we're glad that um he's on his way thank you for the the opportunity to appear before the house administration committee um to testify about our funding request at the Ways and Means Committee for the 119th Congress
▶ 4:12:35when I previously testified um at the start of the last Congress we had before us a robust agenda at the Ways and Means Committee much of that work was to prepare for what we face today particularly when it comes to America's economy and the needs of our Nations workers families farmers and small businesses I don't have to remind everyone here that if Congress does not act to extend the existing tax policies
▶ 4:13:06that's just the current tax policies in the coming months every American will face a tax increase every single American American simply put it will be the largest tax increase in American history the average taxpayer will see a 22% tax hike on average 26 million small businesses will face a top rate of over 40% you've got two million family Farmers right now that are wondering if they need to get an estate Planner on the phone to deal
▶ 4:13:36with the possible return of a much higher death tax making the tax cuts permanent will also unleash hundreds of billions of dollars in small business in small business and Manufacturing driven growth and upwards of a million small business jobs being created every year Congress needs to act and act quickly to that end the Ways and Means Committee will need to ensure we have the resources and flexibility to preserve these key tax provisions and prevent a massive
▶ 4:14:06tax increase on every American our committee also has important priorities to address when it comes to America's trade policies if the past few weeks are any indication we can expect the Trump Administration and Congress to be spending a tremendous amount of time and attention on ensuring our trade policies put the interest of American workers and businesses first despite achieving bipartisan Victory last Congress in the reauthorization and monitorization of our child welfare programs
▶ 4:14:37there's still a lot of work that needs to be done to weed weed out waste Fraud and Abuse abuse in welfare and to safeguard resources for those families truly in need and promote the Dignity of work we must also make sure that more of our fellow Americans can access quality affordable health care especially those who live in rural areas and lack even basic medical services and that our seniors have a retirement
▶ 4:15:07they can depend on President Trump has made it his long-standing commitment to protect Social Security and Medicare and our committee will continue our work to secure those benefits and ensure reforms to the system including the recent repal of web and gopo are carried out in a timely and orderly manner an integral part of the committee's work last Congress was the 14 filled hearings held outside the halls of Congress where we heard directly
▶ 4:15:38from workers families farmers and small businesses across the country about the challenges that they face and the solutions that we need to deliver the input provided by these hearings is informing the work we are currently doing particularly as it relates to tax reform coupled with over 120 tax team events held across 20 States the committee and our members have utilize the resources
▶ 4:16:08at our disposal to reimagine how Congress carries out our responsibility and it has been working for these reasons and to ensure the committee maintains our ongoing aggressive oversight agenda to protect taxpayers and to hold Bad actors accountable the committee requests a 17.9% increase in our budget for 2025 an additional 2.4% increase in 2026 additionally we are requesting an increase in our allocation
▶ 4:16:38of Staff slots from our current of 94 to 130 which would bring the committee in line with other Committees of similar size and scope of jurisdiction to ensure parity we we hold sacred our responsibility to the American taxpayer and our committee will respect the resources that they give us to carry out our duties thank you for your time Mr chairman thank you very much chairman Smith uh chair ranking member Neil you're recognize for thanks Mr chairman I'm pleased to
▶ 4:17:09uh acknowledge there are five members of the Ways and Means Committee here we got a shot uh so I'm in accord with what uh chairman Smith has suggested as it relates to committee Staffing proportions I also want to point out that he did consult with us which I think is helpful as well we appreciate the opportunity to have been given that input and we are certainly working together to do what is best for our stared committee we've have a long history of splitting the allocation 2/3
▶ 4:17:391/3 and we would report that that will remain the practice this has been the one place where both sides can come to an agreement and it's fundamental to carrying out our work on behalf of the people I am pleased that the chairman did note that U he was concerned about Healthcare in rural areas all the more reason for us to defend the purpose of Medicaid which overwhelmingly is the major source of funding for those rural areas the majority is requesting a substantial increase in staff ceilings we would be supportive
▶ 4:18:09of that we want to use the increase to fill some of the open positions on the minority side we would also use the opportunity to give staff well earned increases we have been in the last few weeks talks that consider the president's agenda most of which will go through the Ways and Means Committee and we want to certainly be prepared on the monity side for this eventuality this budget will ensure that the prestigious ways of Means Committee has the resources to tackle these important issues facing the American
▶ 4:18:39people we take our stewardship of taxpayer dollar very seriously and the solemn responsibility that ACC companies in we appreciate your consideration of our request and we hope that this will be the position that you will rest on as well thanks again for having me and thanks chairman Smith for working with us in consultation thank you ranking member Neil uh at this time we will proceed to questions we will start with five minutes in total of questions from the majority uh and then we will have five minutes of questions from the minority uh with that
▶ 4:19:10I recognize my colleague Mr Carrie uh I want Tok thank the chair and I I just want to say for the record this is a really strange position for me to be in because normally I'm sitting a lot lower than both of you so um but I want to thank you for joining us today Mr chairman starting off I noticed that you mentioned recruiting and retaining staff as a challenge for our committee due to them needing very particular expertise as the work of the Ways and Means Committee is crucial to serving our country you both
▶ 4:19:40outlined that I'm curious if you think think that the increase of Maximum pay rates in the speaker pay order has had any impact on the hiring or the retaining of of our teams Mr Cary it absolutely has made a a significant impact um what the speaker did with the pay raise um to basically continue to hold on to some of the best staff that that you could imagine a lot
▶ 4:20:10of our staff could leave the hill in heartbeat and make double and maybe even triple of what we can pay them but um this this allows them to at least um feel more valued and have a competitive Advantage all right thank you Mr chairman I also noticed in the budget request that you've asked for 36 more staff slots uh which would bring the total number of these staff slots for the committee to about 130 uh can you explain why the committee requires the
▶ 4:20:40additional staff also did you end up using all of your staff slots in the 118th Congress sure great great question um during the 118th Congress we did in fact utilize all of our available staff slots um the Ways and Means Committee currently sits at 94 and we are requesting an increase um to 130 slots which would bring us in line with other committees um specifically the Energy and Commerce Committee with similar size and scope of jurisdiction
▶ 4:21:11this is important to Ure parity um among committees but it will also be vital to making sure that the Ways and Means Committee is able to address the the various pieces of our robust agenda as quickly and efficiently as possible as you've seen in the last three weeks trade and tax has been the discussion and we have a lot of work to do in tax trade again thank you Mr chairman is there anything else that you think
▶ 4:21:41is important for us to keep keep in mind when considering your budget requests for the 119th Congress just remember um the committee you serve on and that's a great thing great thing to do Mr Carrie um and and with that I would just like to say that uh this is probably the first time uh and I have to both the the the chairman and the ranking member um for those of us that sat on ways and means they were the two members that actually stayed when I would actually get to ask my question so I want to thank you for that with that Madam chair I yield back the gentleman yields back at this time
▶ 4:22:11the chair recognizes uh our ranking member m suul for five minutes first of all I want to thank the chairman uh chairman Smith as well as ranking member Neil it has been my great honor to be a part of the Ways and Means Committee for the last uh five congresses and want to say thank you for um the the yman effort that you all do this yman job um so I my question is I've asked the same question so um I'd like to uh Begin
▶ 4:22:41by checking in with the chairs and the ranking member on the allocation to the minority generally committees follow the 20 uh 2/3 1/3 split with some exceptions and I know uh you are here in agreement with uh the proposal but I'd like to just confirm that if fully granted the minority will have unrestrict unrestricted access to the resources that they need absolutely the same that we've done in the past awesome how does your requested budget um provide you with the ability
▶ 4:23:11to enhance and build your oversight uh capabilities I wonder why I asked about oversight it is it is terrific to have you as the ranking member of oversight um our committee is better off with you in that place um uh the staff allotments I think is extremely important we're at 94 and we're just trying to be at the same parody of Energy and Commerce which uh is a lesser committee we know
▶ 4:23:42that was for the record by the way I had to refrain from saying that um you guys have trained me well I would not disagree with anything you've said so far um but uh it would definitely help we we're going to be extremely busy um moving forward with um especially tax and trade um and health care for that matter so um it would be nice for both the minority staff and the majority staff to have an additional allotments
▶ 4:24:13um I think it'd be very helpful are you proposing um more field hearings just wanted to say that I attended several and thought that they were really helpful and I'm assuming that it will still be bipartisan absolutely um the field hearings I'm I'm extremely proud of our very first Committee hearing was in West Virginia in Petersburg at a lumber yard that's now closed and so um we've gotten out to real American whether it's staden Island port or whether it's the Iowa State Fair or Native American
▶ 4:24:43reservation in Arizona or the homeless shelter in Chicago um and you're hearing from Real Americans and we'll absolutely be continuing to to do that um to help make us better better legislators I think it's extremely important awesome um is your committee receiving the necessary support from the US capital and the Sergeant at Arms as there something that we could be doing better they have been very good they've been um very helpful and um
▶ 4:25:13really protect our members whenever we're traveling great I wanted to give the ranking member uh Richie Neil an opportunity just to say What U within the budget I assume the probably the most valuable is to make sure that we have good staff as well are you okay with the increase in the number of Staff sure in fact I'm pleased the uh ways of mean staffers are the best on Capitol Hill I would say that to ENC if they were here without any uh hesitation uh smart polite and always uh I think loyal
▶ 4:25:43to the committee and I think that's terribly important the ways a Means Committee is a special designation in Congress it always has been tax trade tariff Social Security Medicare tax side of Medicaid pensions welfare and management of the public debt whoa that's extraordinary for a relatively small uh working committee but I think it's reflected in the staff and also the quality of the members that sit on that committee I uh have sharp disagreements with them but never once would I question their motivations I think that uh the committee has always since I've been on it which has been for a long time
▶ 4:26:14U I think there's been an amicable if not always publicly amicable relationship privately well great um it's a pleasure as I said to be a part of the Ways and Means Committee and it's because both you gentlemen take seriously your roles and we really do appreciate that with that I'll yield back to the chair gentlewoman yields back this time I'd like to thank the chairman and the ranking member for your testimony and for appearing before us today without objection each member including our witnesses will have five legislative
▶ 4:26:44days to insert additional material into the record or to revise and extend their remarks if there is no further business I thank the members for their participation and without objection the committee stands adjourned thank you
▶ 4:27:25yeah I could have blown the whole thing apart right I so I figured they send it to you not e