▶ 0:00:00everyone to this morning's hearing. Uh, thank you to our subcommittee members and to Secretary Lenik for being with us today for a good while. The fiscal year 26 budget request comes at a time of continued pressure.
▶ 0:00:21Uh we must ensure every American taxpayer dollar is used efficiently and continue to uh work to reduce duplication across agencies uh and throughout the government. The Department of Commerce's budget request totals 8.4 billion uh a $1.8 billion or 17% decrease from the current level.
▶ 0:00:49The budget request uh includes funding for targeted investments in tools to address unfair trade practices and emphasizes important initiatives such as American manufacturing and trade enforcement.
▶ 0:01:08Specifically, it includes a 50% increase for the Bureau of Industry and Security to counter threats China and protect America's competitiveness. The budget request also includes a 20% increase for the Census Bureau to continue providing reliable statistics.
▶ 0:01:35Overall, the Department of Commerce is charged with protecting supply chain security, economic growth and job creation, weather research and response, and economic data analysis. All keystones imperative to American prosperity.
▶ 0:01:55On the international front, the department plays an important role in protecting our industries from one-sided trade practices and strengthens supply chains that are key to ensuring our economic security and global uh leadership. I've always been a big supporter of the Department of Commerce.
▶ 0:02:25Uh the department's core initiatives are vital to smalltown economies across the country, including my district in eastern Kentucky. One of the most critical components of revitalizing America, is expanding access to high-speed, reliable broadband.
▶ 0:02:47In far too many places, a lack of broadband access is not just an It's a barrier to education, job creation, entrepreneurship, and even basic health care.
▶ 0:03:03From EDA's emphasis on job creation and expanding economic opportunity to Noah's local weather forecast offices that work around the clock to send out alerts during times of severe weather. The department's wide responsibility requires clear prioritization and accountability. We look forward to hearing from you, Mr.
▶ 0:03:32secretary on how this budget request furthers our shared goals of reducing wasteful spending, ensuring global competitiveness, expanding broadband, and driving economic development. Let me now recognize my ranking member of the subcommittee, Miss Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you very much, Mr. Secretary, for testifying today.
▶ 0:04:01Again, as a fellow New Yorker, congratulations. Uh, we met today, we meet today to discuss the Commerce Department's fiscal year 2026 budget request. At the same time, I must express my strong disappointment that we are still awaiting the complete details of the budget request. We are also awaiting the full legally required details of the Commerce Department's fisc year 2025 operating plan.
▶ 0:04:29Despite the fact that such details were legally required to be sent to our appropriations committee more than a month ago, these delays are unacceptable. They are also disturbingly a pattern that we have seen over the last four and a half months. A pattern of significant and often illegal actions by federal agencies including the Commerce Department.
▶ 0:04:52In most cases, we have learned of these actions not from the department itself, but from news media reporting and from grant and contract recipients whose critical grant funding and contract extensions have been delayed or frozen, often in direct violation of the Empowerment Control Act 1974. We have also heard from numerous federal workers who have been fired without any good justification.
▶ 0:05:21The National Weather Service has taken a huge hit under this administration. Hundreds of meteorologists and other weather service employees were fired or felt pressured to sign up for Elon Musk's deferred resignation program. As a result, the National Weather Service has been scrambling to keep a minimum staff at weather forecast offices around the country.
▶ 0:05:48This staffing shortage has also forced the weather service to reduce its deployments of weather balloons, which have long provided critical information for accurate weather forecasting in local areas. This is all happening, by the way, right when both hurricane season and wildfire seasons are just beginning.
▶ 0:06:09The weather service announced earlier this week that it is moving its limited resources around, which will only change the locations that are experiencing staffing shortages. It has also announced that it has received permission to hire 126 new employees. But this is obviously far short of the number of working employees the weather service has lost since February.
▶ 0:06:36It is unclear when these new employees will be onboarded, let alone when they will be fully trained to the level of performance of the recently departed weather service employees. Five former directors of the National Weather Service who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations wrote an open letter last month expressing their strong concerns.
▶ 0:07:01They wrote that National Weather Service staff quote will have an impossible task to continue its current level of services. Not only are there fewer forecasters, but there are also fewer electronic technicians responsible for maintaining the critical NEXRAD radars. Our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of life.
▶ 0:07:27The administration is also holding back various emergency designated fiscal year 2025 commerce department funds. This is funding that Congress appropriated to support weather forecasting create and preserve American private sector jobs and protect our national security. Holding this funding back is unacceptable and the administration should issue the required emergency designations immediately.
▶ 0:07:56The administration and the commerce department have released some initial details regarding their fisc year 2026 budget request, most of which I find greatly concerning. For example, the administration is proposing to end funding for the Economic Development Administration or EDA. Contrary to your testimony at your Senate confirmation hearing in which you answered that you would maintain the programs at EDA.
▶ 0:08:26As you know the EDA helps create jobs and economic opportunities and distress communities across the country and historically twothirds of its budget has helped create jobs in rural areas. The administration is also proposing to end funding for the Minority Business Development Agency or MBDA. Again, contrary to your testimony uh in which you answered that you did not support dismantling MBDA.
▶ 0:08:57In addition, contrary to the Trump administration's stated goal of bringing manufacturing jobs back to America, the Trump administration is proposing to eliminate funding for the manufacturing extension partnership program, a successful bipartisan program that helps small and medium-sized US manufacturers in every state grow and improve their operations and create jobs.
▶ 0:09:24Furthermore, the budget request further effectively cuts the operating budget of the National Weather Service in 2026. It creates a real risk of a future gap in critical weather satellite data. This needless needlessly risks lives, property, and public infrastructure around across the country. We're discussing these and other concerns at today's hearing. And again, thank you very much, Mr. Secretary, for your testimony today.
▶ 0:09:54Thank you, Miss Ming. Uh, I would now like to recognize our witness, Secretary Letic. Am I pronouncing that correctly? Let me uh for an opening statement. Thank you. Without objection, your written statement will be entered into the record and we hope you can summarize uh in five minutes. I'll do my best. Thank you, Chairman Rogers, Ranking Member Ming, and the members of the subcommittee.
▶ 0:10:22It is an honor for me to join you today. America is once again the most attractive destination for investment in the world. Under President Trump's leadership, the Department of Commerce is strengthening American industry from the most popular to those industries that have been long ignored.
▶ 0:10:43We are focused on building in America and driving our economic growth which will narrow the deficit and we will deliver a new era of American innovation. Businesses are no longer looking overseas. They are choosing to invest in America first.
▶ 0:10:59Through the president's executive order establishing the investment accelerator in the Department of Commerce, we have already secured trillions of dollars of new commitments from worldclass companies and sovereign wealth funds eager to build and invest in the United States. This surge in investment paired with renewed commitment to fair and reciprocal trade is reigniting Americans manufacturing base. We are bringing car manufacturing back to Michigan and Ohio.
▶ 0:11:29We are reopening steel mills in Pennsylvania. And just last month, Arizona welcomed the largest semiconductor investment in the United States of America, thanks to an investment of TSMC. The first chips deals that we are improving have now have commitments more than doubling the $300 billion of investment in America. And that's without spending any more taxpayer dollars than those CHIPS funds that you've already approved.
▶ 0:11:57So our commerce department is driving substantial investments across America and benefiting the American taxpayers. Critically, the president's America first agenda goes beyond just economic growth and investment. The president is taking concrete actions to protect American workers and our national security.
▶ 0:12:18Under section 232, the Commerce Department is conducting numerous investigations to protect, to reshore, and to revive manufacturing capacity across our critical industries here in America. The Trump administration is imposing tariffs and ending loopholes. In April, we ended the dimminimous loophole which allowed foreign companies to avoid paying tariffs on small shipments which basically undercut American small business.
▶ 0:12:48New export controls are protecting cutting edge technologies and finally protecting our critical industries and protecting American innovation. In fact, the Bureau of Industry and Security, working with our partners in the Department of Justice, we've secured 22 criminal convictions, 32 arrests, 38 indictments, 231 detentions, and and seized more than 185.5 million, and then we did other types of seizures for another
▶ 0:13:18$40 million. Under this administration, the US Patent and Trademark Office is tackling a mountain of unexamined patent applications left by the Biden administration. Almost 800,000 unreed patents uh applications, successfully reducing the inventory backlog for the first time in four years.
▶ 0:13:39In the past four months alone, we have removed 50,000 fraudulent goods and services from the trademark register that block the use of legitimate products by American businesses. Many of these purported trademarks came from what they call specimen farms that are fake websites displaying products that don't really exist.
▶ 0:14:00At Noah, we are transforming how we track storms and forecast weather with cutting edge technology to improve the understanding and prediction of how hurricanes and testify intensify. This season, Noah's research centers will deploy new small aircraft drone systems and additional underwater colliders. This year, the National Weather Service will be running an experimental AI based forecast system and all data we will make publicly available.
▶ 0:14:27Today, this commitment to innovation means earlier warnings and increased accuracy for Americans, no matter where they live. For far too long, Americans have been unfairly treated by foreign nations because we allowed them to take advantage of our markets to the detriment of our own industry and Americans.
▶ 0:14:45Thanks to President Trump in this administration's efforts, we are reversing this trend by reassuring critical manufacturing, eliminating unfair trade barriers and practices, and investing in our American workforce. With your help, we will deliver growth and prosperity across our great nation. I deeply appreciate you inviting me here today, and I look forward to answering your questions and talking together.
▶ 0:15:13Thank the secretary for those words. Uh we have a full complement of members of the subcommittee with us this morning and for that reason we will do our questioning under the five minute rule. So Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here.
▶ 0:15:31I yield myself uh five touched on this somewhat already, but I wanted to ask you about uh the Chinese Communist Party uh and their effect in this country and our concern.
▶ 0:15:55From economic warfare to technological threats, China uh is seeking to obtain advantage of our uh our people and our companies at all possible opportunities.
▶ 0:16:13Um, again, summarize what we're doing to strengthen our ability to counter China's unfair trade practices, protect American intellectual property, and secure critical supply chains and emerging technologies.
▶ 0:16:39Chinese Communist Party uh seeks to become the dominant culture of the world and it uses our knowledge, our innovation and our entrepreneurial spirit against us. It sends hundreds of thousands of students to train and learn here in order to build up their capacity to grow. They copy uh our innovations.
▶ 0:17:10Uh for example, if you see their airplanes, gosh, they look just like the F-22. Um because they've copied our models and our systems. They are trying to copy our technology. And in the race for AI supremacy, they are behind us, but they are working with a central government out to get us right to beat us so that they will have intellectual superiority over us.
▶ 0:17:38There is an AI race and BIS, our bureau, is at the heart of protecting America. And that's why we've sought an increase in the budget. Even though we're decreasing our overall budget, we need to arm the Bureau of Industry and Security to protect us and to help us keep key industries away from the Chinese so that they can't just copy us all the time.
▶ 0:18:10The budget request for BIS does not specify any specific initiatives related to increasing oversight of entities posing a threat uh to US national security. Uh why is that so?
▶ 0:18:31I' I'd be happy to uh detail it either here or in writing, but the idea is to add enforcement agents, agents who carry weapons, agents who go and examine warehouses, examine those people who are exporting, examine the imports, find the particular items and make sure we have export controls are rigorously enforced.
▶ 0:18:59So that is the specific use of the funds is more people to protect and defend our export controls. The policies the government make need to be rigorously enforced and we're trying to increase the enforcement capacity because we just don't have enough enforcement agents to do a great job.
▶ 0:19:27Let me uh switch gears and ask you about the National Weather Service. Um Kentucky has been the target of floods and hurricane, tornadoes, and everything else. In fact, they we lost 20 people two weeks ago in my hometown and the joining area.
▶ 0:19:53Um, I'm concerned about the implications local weather forecast offices operating at reduced staffing levels. Take for example the Jackson, office, which is currently operating with multiple vacancies and no permanent meteorologist. What can we do about uh about that?
▶ 0:20:21What steps are being taken to ensure Noah's local weather forecast offices have the resources, the technology, and staffing to issue timely, accurate warnings and protect lives in high-risk communities. All weather collection technology is in full force in effect.
▶ 0:20:48Our satellites, our balloons, all sources are in full force and effect. The National Weather Service meteorologists. Less than 130 took early retirement. Uh it is fake news and inappropriate to suggest a single meteorologist or hydraologist was fired. That is preposterous and silly.
▶ 0:21:18less than 5% chose to retire and we using these responsible commerce department sought and were were granted the ability to hire those uh people the same number. So we will have no no reduction in force. Our national hurricane center has full staff. And I want you to understand just the last portion what you said.
▶ 0:21:46We have numerous regional offices which are generally small and you know they usually have three or four meteorologists and these exist because the data is locally hardwired into old computers with hard drives and green screens. If I showed it to you, you would be embarrassed.
▶ 0:22:12The idea is to automate that to put it on the cloud so that the 2100 meteorologists we have and the hundreds of hydraologists that we have can forecast the weather from central locations and back up each other and be more appropriate. So I think the technological advancements we will make over the next year or two years will totally change these things. But I want to be crystal clear.
▶ 0:22:41Every single person, the National Weather Service, we are at full staff. We have full capacity and we will have the best forecasting capacity that we possibly can to protect Americans. And I will not sleep if that were not true. That is required of you, of me, and of America that we deliver that for American people. and I promise you we are.
▶ 0:23:13thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I'm I'm glad to hear the status update of the regional local uh weather offices. Uh, it's very your testimony and the numbers are really different from what's been reported in the press. We just want to make sure you know whether it's New York, my home state or states like Kentucky which have uh gone through such horrible circumstances and our condolences to your constituents and their families. Mr.
▶ 0:23:43Chair, um we want to make sure that uh our local communities can be prepared. Um would I know that you're saying it's inconsistent from the reporting. Would you or your team be able to provide statistics and just more uh accounting of what has happened where there are uh retired or layoffs just so we can all be on the same page if you do think it's inconsistent with the press
▶ 0:24:13Sure. There were no layoffs. As I said, there were less than 5% retirements and we have the authority to replace them, but that turnover is historically lower than it has normally been. As you can imagine, people are entitled to retire who've worked at the uh the department, but I'd be glad to give you very specific details. Um be my pleasure. Okay. Thank you so much. Uh I wanted to switch gears and ask about the Census Bureau.
▶ 0:24:41In April, uh, NPR reported that the hiring freeze and recent Census Bureau staff departures, including those of five division or office chiefs are raising concerns about whether the Census Bureau can continue producing reliable statistics for this country. Acting Director Ron Garman also recently noted that the bureau lost more than a thousand employees in recent months.
▶ 0:25:04We've heard warnings that the reports of Elon Musk and the Doge team accessing sensitive personal data of Americans at other federal agencies could also undermine public trust in the Census Bureau. Mr. Secretary, uh what are you doing to address these Again, my capacity to communicate uh throughout this administration has made the Department of Commerce uh well situated.
▶ 0:25:34We are not losing staff in ways that we don't want to under any circumstances. We are able to fulfill all of our mission at uh the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau is one of the great statistical places in our government. our capacity to analyze and statistically think things through.
▶ 0:25:55If you couple that in its full the Bureau of Economic Analysis, right, where we where we live and we do GDP, that is a great center of statistical capacity and I think so we have sought to add to the Commerce Department, the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
▶ 0:26:14So that CPI I mean shouldn't we have all of the great statisticians in the government working together again these are the same concepts which is use technology use automation I mean the idea that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has enumerators calling around and asking for data when technology makes that amazingly capable and we could do so much better.
▶ 0:26:39So, we are seeking to use technology, but I can promise you the census is both well staffed and more importantly, brilliantly covered by statistitians who are great at doing their job. And I am really excited for the structure of how the census will work going forward. But you won't hear anything about weakness in accuracy. I'm not saying the fake news doesn't like to just say these things, but it's just not true.
▶ 0:27:05and I'll happily send you those statistics as well because uh you'll be very comfortable with the Department of Commerce. Thank you. And just to follow that uh follow up with that um recently you uh terminated the three advisory committees. Uh there are also scheduled only two major field tests in 2026. Can you provide us an update on the field tests? When are they scheduled?
▶ 0:27:32uh and uh what are the changes to the questions about race and ethnicity? Uh and also talk about the advisory committees. The advisory committees was were set up uh again many of these things were set up long ago and they've sort of run their course and we didn't really understand what type of advisory committee we need to understand how to do a census. It didn't seem logical.
▶ 0:27:59Uh with respect to the questionnaire, we have not considered that as of yet. So I don't we just not have we have not spent the time thinking about those topics. Uh the dennial census is quite far away and we have plenty of time to think about that uh going forward. Thank you. I yield back. Judge Carter. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome, Secretary.
▶ 0:28:28Uh my district in central Texas has become a leader in semiconductor production thanks to strong partnerships between the state uh political organizations, the industry, the universities and the workforce training centers including programs tailored for veterans and military families.
▶ 0:28:53How is the dep the department supporting these types of locally driven efforts? What more can be done to accelerate the pipeline of skilled American workers entering the semiconductor industry? Workforce training will be a centerpiece of the Trump administration and I have been tasked to uh be part of the team to build that.
▶ 0:29:19So if the trillions of dollars that the Trump administration is bringing in to invest in America to build and to operate those gigantic production facilities to reshore manufacturing, we need to train great Americans to be uh you know we say HVAC technicians. You realize these factories have have these really high-tech closed loop cooling systems. Amazing.
▶ 0:29:47But training our workforce to do this uh is really a key part of the administration. I think we'll train 5 million Americans for these great jobs that are coming just like that semiconductor plant in Arizona. I mean 3,000 jobs for each plant and they're building 10 of them.
▶ 0:30:07So these are just great jobs coming and Texas I know is going to have a great uh participation in that and both you use the schools and I think it will be uh an extraordinary outcome for Americans. Well Samsung is being a good neighbor in my district and I'm real proud of what they're doing.
▶ 0:30:25Um, as a member of the defense appropriation subcommittee, I remain deeply concerned about the national security risk tied to our reliance on foreign made semiconductor components. What step is the department taking to reduce our dependence on overseas manufacturing, particularly for chips that support critical defense systems.
▶ 0:30:54Taiwan produces 90% of the world's wafers which you then chip apart and that's becomes chips. So, the United States has demand for 10 million sort of high-end wafers and we uh with the increase of a hundred billion dollar investment that the Trump administration was able to bring in uh from TSMC uh we will get to about 12%
▶ 0:31:24production. woefully inefficient. And I think what you're going to see is the Trump administration is going to be very, very focused on bringing chip production to America and the full supply chain to America. That's going to bring in probably between 500 billion and a trillion dollar investment. And you're going to see that across the United States of America.
▶ 0:31:46and and the Trump administration is very very focused on trying to get up to 5 million wafers during this administration which will be a record-breaking speed but I think it's very important for exactly uh the topic you raised that's that's fantastic uh I'm encouraged uh we are encouraged by the launch of the United States Investment Accelerator and appreciate your continued focus on revitalizing
▶ 0:32:17American manufacturing. Can you share more about how the roll out of this new office will take shape and are there other or any other any early projects we can expect particularly those that support the development of critical defense related semiconductor technology?
▶ 0:32:40It has been too slow the process to build a great factory and a great advanced manufacturing facility in America generally has taken three plus years from start to finish.
▶ 0:32:56And so the idea of the investment accelerator is exactly that to assign if you're willing to invest more than 10 billion dollars, assign your direct contact that will help you with permitting regulation and and be a onegovernment uh response to help you take that from three years.
▶ 0:33:15Let's try to get it to 18 months so we can double our building capacity focused on semiconductors of course but across all industry and that's how we've been able to uh recruit over just the department itself over $5 trillion of investment commitment and that we are taking care of how quickly they can build in America. Fantastic. I yield back Mr. Ivy. Thank you, Mr.
▶ 0:33:46Chairman. Um, good morning, Mr. Secretary. I um wanted to join quickly with the comments from the uh chair and the ranking member regarding Noah. And I hear your point about fake news and numbers, but I I'll say this. I mean, I have two Noah installations in my district and headquarters is I don't know, just a couple miles across the line. and I heard a very different story than what you're saying about people being forced out of there.
▶ 0:34:14But I I look forward to getting the answers that you provide here. Also saw um your comments with respect to uh Senator Van Holland yesterday. I look forward to to seeing your responses to his questions too. Wanted to ask you about MBDA uh which the ranking member raised as well.
▶ 0:34:31During your confirmation hearing on January 29th before the Senate Commerce Committee, uh, Senator Blunt Rochester asked, "Yes or no, do you support dismantling the MBDA?" And you said, "I do not." Now, I got this the skinny budget numbers here. Um, and it's got EDA and MBDA combined, uh, with a cut 624 million.
▶ 0:34:56Um and in the narrative connected with that it says that um MBDA the agency is fully eliminated. So I want to ask you what changed and what's the status of MBDA at this point? Uh MBDA is not being fully eliminated. That's inaccurate. We are reducing it to its statutory minimum size as as is appropriate.
▶ 0:35:25The problem I see with MBDA, could I ask before you move on? What does that mean? Statutory minimum size. I means it is required uh by law to be a certain size and we will have it be a certain size. What what size is that? It was 65 people. I think that's less than 10 people. Okay. And why are you These are both small size.
▶ 0:35:47The problem is the GAO gives me a report that says there are 80 uh other programs and 80 institutions that are so much larger, 10 times larger that's that achieve the same outcomes and we are just too small and too inefficient to do it correctly. So I think we are better served well other programs. I apologize. I got a couple area other areas to hit. I'd love to see that GAO report.
▶ 0:36:16I want to know what those 80 other entities are because I'm not aware of them. Maybe SBA has an overlap with the MBDA mission, but the other I don't know what those other ones could be. But, uh, I look forward to to hearing back from you on that. Um, because I think it's an important agency. It's statutory, so it needs to be maintained certainly at some level. Um, and there's a lot of benefit from it.
▶ 0:36:42I would also mention the Congressional Black Caucus sent you a letter on this issue and asked for a response by April 18th. I don't think we've received it yet. So, I would ask that you provide that response as well. Let me move quickly to quantum um technology. This this is kind of a a a quicker point for me, but um quantum computing. This chart shows basically funding by federal by governments.
▶ 0:37:10China, as you can see, far outpaces the United States. We've got a couple of other I couldn't see it, but I was guessing the top bar. Yeah, I didn't need to see the words. I I got the point. Fair enough. Fair enough. Well, here's here's the question. Um because this is concerning, obviously, and you touched on this a bit in your opening testimony.
▶ 0:37:30You only talked talked about the enforcement side of competition with China and clearly they are stealing a lot of our data but they're also committing a lot of engineers, scientists and resources to outpacing us um on the legitimate side of this too from the competitive side. Um I don't see that being reflected in not just the commerce department but the overall US budget. Ion Q is a company in my district. It's a spin-off from the University of Maryland's incubator.
▶ 0:38:00We have a lot of those across the country. Uh quick point. Oh man, I'm out of time already. Um the cuts that are being made and there's a article I'll submit for the record here. Um world scientists look elsewhere as US labs stagger under Trump cuts uh New York Times cuts in research in scientist brain drain. as we pushed these people out, I mean, you can shake your head if you want, but I went to visit Ion Q.
▶ 0:38:29Um, and one of the things that came up was I was like, "How many of these people are from the United States?" And he said, "Not many." And I said, "Why is that?" And he said, "Well, in part because the pipeline isn't supplying these here in the United States, so we go overseas to get many of them." Um, and one last quick point on this.
▶ 0:38:47a venture capital firm I had a chance to meet with said that they invest I think there about 30 of these they invest in they've started setting up shop in Canada because they can get their engineers and scientists from overseas quicker over there they don't have to go through the immigration piece so we're losing money on that front so look forward to hearing from you on that Mr. Chairman I apologize for the overrun and I appreciate your your uh con your uh your generosity Mr. line.
▶ 0:39:17Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, I appreciate you being here. As you've highlighted concerns about the potential for unfair treatment of American tech companies in the EU, which could potentially force them to make costly operational changes, can you share with us some of the steps the US government's taking to promote a level playing field and prevent discriminatory practices like excessive fines and force business model changes under regulations like their digital markets act?
▶ 0:39:44Uh this is a key topic for us in our trade negotiations with the European Union. Um we have a huge trade deficit in goods with the European Union, $235 billion. So they are just getting great advantage of us. And so part of our reciprocity is uh they also attack our great technology companies because they don't have them.
▶ 0:40:08So they write these bills, but basically they could just write America in the bill because they're only attacking great American companies. And it is the Trump administration's view uh that that is unacceptable. That if you want to have a trade deal with us, you're going to take your foot off of the necks of the great American companies and treat them with respect, especially if you're taking this much advantage from us.
▶ 0:40:33So we are looking at that as a one combined way of thinking and that's why we get calls from American companies that say thank god someone is finally looking out for us. Can you elaborate on what steps the US would take if the EU tries to regulate American AI through DMA or other regulatory means?
▶ 0:40:54I think the president has made it clear that he views trade and that they have a $235 billion trade uh surplus with us and he will say, "Well, if you're going to treat us poorly, we're going to treat you poorly." And and if you want to treat us well, we'll treat you well. Let's be reciprocal in how we treat each other. You're taking advantage of us.
▶ 0:41:19And I think the president will make sure since we are the inventor of all of the leading AI chips of the world. We America are the inventors. We create it all. We make them in Taiwan. That's another topic. But we invent it all. We need to protect our intellectual property and we need to make sure our compute power is here in America. Mr. Secretary, in your testimony, you mentioned the removal of more than 50,000 fraudulent goods and services from the trademark register.
▶ 0:41:50Can you expound upon your efforts to counter tra uh trademark fraudsters, especially those that are foreign entities? What is common is that uh a great American company puts a trademark out or even a young American company and these uh other companies and I and generally China is the leader in it, but they're not exclusively. They then file thousands of trademarks modifying it slightly all around it and sort of circle you and circle you and use our laws against us.
▶ 0:42:20And so the idea is for us to bring technology to the patent office, find them all and get rid of them so that we can protect our American companies trademarks and make it proper instead of being sort of surrounded by these AI created trademarks. And that's the technology we're bringing to the patent office. The commerce department is going to be so much more technologically capable when we are done with this administration. You won't be able to recognize it as compared to what was there before.
▶ 0:42:50Let me ask you about the bead program. Uh yesterday you told our Senate colleagues that states must choose the cheapest option under the bead program. Um under the previous administration, we know mismanagement and misguided attempts at policy outcomes like rate regulation significantly slowed the implementation of that program. Can you comment as to what steps you're taking to deliver on on what the previous president was unable to do and can you clarify how you define cheapest option? Sure.
▶ 0:43:16The Congress uh authorized broadband access to uh cross America and uh I want to make sure we get the benefit of the bargain which means there's three ways you can do it. You can do it by uh fiber. You can do it by what's called fixed wireless like Wi-Fi. We all understand. And of course, there's satellite. Whichever is the most efficient option to get somebody broadband. That should be the only rule. Let's have the outcome be the determiner.
▶ 0:43:47And if it's a tie, then of course we don't care at all which one you pick. But don't run fiber. They had they had proposals where they were running a $100,000 fiber to a house that was uh appraised at $100,000. That's silly. So whichever is reasonable. So what we've asked all the states to do is uh re rebid just with reasonable technology and then we'll get the money out the door.
▶ 0:44:15In the calendar year 2025, the Biden administration had 30 months and they got zero out the door. So that's the difference between the Trump administration and the Biden administration. We will get the money out the door. Thank you for keeping the taxpayers in mind. Appreciate it. Yield back, Mr. Morelli. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling us together and thank you, Mr. Secretary. Also, as a fellow New Yorker, I congratulate you on on your appointment. I you mentioned earlier the mission of the US Commerce Department. You said nothing will take away from our mission.
▶ 0:44:44How would you in a sentence describe the mission of the Commerce To protect, to defend, and to enhance business in the United States of And the mission according to the commerce department is create the conditions for economic growth and opportunities for all communities. Do would you agree with that definition as well? Sounds excellent. Okay, great. Um, and I apologize.
▶ 0:45:12Uh, you know, five minutes is so little time. We could have a much longer conversation. I hope we will have the opportunity to do that. Uh, I want to also just, um, reiterate what people have said. This is not your choice, but I would pass along to the president that doing budget hearings when we don't have a budget is really hard to do. It's hard to drill down on numbers we don't have, priorities that you have. I appreciate you being here. I appreciate you defending the administration's approach, but it is really hard to do.
▶ 0:45:40So, I just you don't need to respond to that, but um I would love um if you would provide to whatever detail can the trillions of dollars of investment that have been made during the last couple of months and how we were able uh to achieve the commitments of those trillions.
▶ 0:45:56I will do do note because this this subcommittee uh had a fair amount to do with the chips and science act that I suspect much of the chip investment being made whether it's in Texas or whether it's in Arizona or made in upstate New York uh in Syracuse uh is partly by the bipartisan chips and science act. I hope you'll continue uh to uh continue those efforts.
▶ 0:46:16I have to say that in talking to uh folks uh both in my region and upstate New York, but but throughout the state and other folks in the business world, what I hear about most is the need for predictability.
▶ 0:46:32And I have to say that most of the commentary that I hear from CEOs is the lack of predictability caused largely by the tariff situation has made it nearly impossible whether you're a business large or small to make judgments about where you'll deploy capital and where you'll deploy workforce as decisions are made to advance tariffs sometimes reciprocal sometimes and mean and then retrench and then put them back in place retrench again that what I'm hearing and this is different clearly
▶ 0:47:02than what you're hearing because I feel like we live in maybe an alternative reality that u many people are not making decisions at all on investment because they don't know whether the president intends to follow through even the most recent um announcements that there's another 90-day pause. During that 90-day period, people are saying, "I I don't know what this means. Should I move ahead? Should I not move ahead? Are we going to pull back? Are we going to advance? How do what what should I be telling them about predictability which is so important?
▶ 0:47:31I mean you're a CEO, former CEO, you know this in your business world. Predictability and what you can expect both from your government and from the markets is so critical in making decisions about investment policy. We had a bad deal in America that produced a 1.2 trillion trade deficit. So fixing that will take some time. It will not take a lot of time, but it will take time.
▶ 0:48:01I view letting the greatest deal maker that the United States has, who's in the Oval Office, let him make the deals. He is making the deals. I'm working on them all the time. The deal for America will be opening access to markets that have been closed for hundreds of billions of dollars and then charging and protecting industries which have been attacked by foreigners like steel and aluminum where the foreign governments they give
▶ 0:48:32you imagine a a steel blast furnace. You think how that melts but they give free they give free or very cheap energy and they make it unfair. So, we're just going to get to a better deal for America, and it won't take that long, but it's a better deal for America. Well, I look, I I appreciate I think many people would not agree with your assessment that the occupant of the White House is the greatest dealmaker ever. And I'm certainly not the greatest dealmaker ever. I've never gone bankrupt in businesses that I've been involved in.
▶ 0:49:01So, I'm not sure I I rely on that, but I also don't want to rely on a single individual. But to my point, the advancing of tariffs and then bringing them back and causing but how that goes to the predictability issue. I don't know how people can rely on what the tariff situation is going to be even when the courts in the United States have said emergency powers expressed by the president are well beyond what was envisioned by the Congress.
▶ 0:49:26Um so on predictability, I would just say because I think we'll probably agree to disagree. I I would just leave you with what I'm hearing from people is not making investments, not being willing to make decisions because they don't know what to rely on. And frankly, I don't want to get into name calling. I know what people have said about the president and the whole thing. That's not important to me. What's important to me is advancing American interests. And look, that's what we were trying to do in the past. for all the criticisms of the previous administration.
▶ 0:49:54Both Congress and the administration were interested in investing in core industries that were so vital to our national and economic security. I'd love to talk to you further whether in settings like this or offline uh because I really do think we all want to advance American interest. So, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Mr. Gonzalez, uh thank you, Chairman, and and thank you uh Mr.
▶ 0:50:18secretary's breath of fresh air to have a uh non-bureaucrat come up here and not give bureaucratic answers uh on very complex situations. So, thank you for that. You have a great team. Harry's doing a great job for y'all. You've built a wonderful organization. Uh I applaud the administration in a very short period of time. President Trump is making America great again and he's doing it through executive orders. I look forward to uh working with my colleagues here to make sure we codify those long term.
▶ 0:50:46I I'll start off with a softball on trade. Um uh you know, I represent nearly uh nearly half of the overall southern border. Um I I appreciate the work the administration is doing to ensure our foreign partners are aligned in the same direction when it comes to strengthening our economic and national security alliances.
▶ 0:51:04In particular, communities in my district district, which spans over 800 miles, are dependent on strong, reliable partnerships with Mexico and our Latin community, our Latin American countries to strengthen national security, public safety, and and promote economic prosperity. Uh, how can we leverage the relationship between US and Mexico to strengthen our North America footprint to compete against our foreign adversaries like China?
▶ 0:51:35Mexico uh is our is a huge trading partner of America. Um what has happened is NAFTA allowed you know corporate chieftains to take their factories out of Michigan and out of Ohio and move it to where there's cheaper labor. So they attacked American workers for the benefit of of corporate profits. Now Mexico has amazing assets. They've got great energy. They've got great people.
▶ 0:52:05So, the idea is let's figure out together with Mexico the businesses that they should be in. They should be in the mining business. They should be in the refining business. There are enormous businesses that would really sit well in Mexico. And so, what we need to do is sort of rethink the relationship so that we harness their assets. But they don't we don't do it by stealing ours.
▶ 0:52:31It's illogical that we're making cars in Mexico for Americans. That's just illogical and the president calls it out. But there are enormous things that we can leverage and lean on our great partner uh just to our south in Mexico to enhance their business and of course then enhance the ability for us to import and to do business together. I think the relationship will be great.
▶ 0:52:56It just needs to be reimagined in a way that takes care of American workers and doesn't just hard, you know, give them a hard time. Yeah. Part of my conversations with uh with Mexican leadership is we're always going to be neighbors. Always, right? I want us to be partners and I want us to be working together on some of these same issues and find, you know, when Mexico's strong, we're strong. When we're strong, Mexico strong. And and vice versa.
▶ 0:53:20when things are rough, I don't want to have security issues along the border that spill over because they're in a tough economic situation. I look forward to talk, you know, working together and finding, you know, how we can find these industries that really can that they can lean on. My my next question is on autonomous vehicles. The United States pioneered the development of of of autonomous vehicle technology.
▶ 0:53:42We're home to Tesla, whose leadership and and driver assistance uh system position leads us to to lead the world in full autonomy. As the Chinese Communist Party aggressively ramps up its own AV development, we can't afford to fall behind.
▶ 0:53:59I understand that on January 16th, 2025, the Department of Commerce, BIS, which you spoke about earlier, issued a final rule to safeguard our national security by restricting certain ICTS trans transactions involving foreign adversaries, including those related to connected vehicle systems and automated driving software. What other actions is the Department of Commerce taking to ensure the United States maintains the global leadership in autonomous vehicle technology?
▶ 0:54:30I would just point out that January 16th is a running out the door policy by the Biden administration. So uh the department of commerce is deeply considering working closely with industry to make sure we are enhancing both our EV industry and importantly that you spoke about the connection between AI and really manufacturing bringing those two together that includes both advanced manufacturing and of
▶ 0:55:00course like autonomous vehicles which is another example of that. So, I think we are very focused on that and you're going to see new rules coming out of the Trump administration that would be more along the lines of what you would hope uh which is industry and government working closely together to make sure we're the winner. Good. Because this is the future. This is where we're not we're not uh we're not reading it in a book. We're living in it and we need to lead on that. I certainly uh look forward to continuing to working with you. Thank you again for your testimony. Chairman, I yield back.
▶ 0:55:31Mr. Dean. Uh, thank you, Chairman Rogers. Thank you, Ranking Member Mang. Thank you, Ranking Member Deloro. Uh, and thank you to you, Secretary Letic. Thanks for being here today. I want to pick up on what Mr. Morelli was talking about, and I'll use the word stability. Uh, and I think you know this from your many years in business. Uh, and that's what I thought about as I was preparing for today. The importance of stability or as he said, predictability. Stability is the foundation of economic growth.
▶ 0:56:02I think you've lived it. Uh businesses need clear and predictable rules to plan and to invest for the future. Given this administration's claim of being pro business and progrowth, I am so baffled by the discussions around trade deficits and the president's belief around trade deficits and the president's uh beliefs around tariffs and the chaotic tariff policy. They're on, they're off.
▶ 0:56:27Many of the tariffs are punishing uh creating a level of instability and uncertainty in our economy that we haven't seen since COVID. I hear the same thing over and over from constituents uh from small businesses, from bankers in my area. They can't figure out how to plan, how to lend. Uh businesses can't figure out how to expand, how to grow, whether to hire, whether to not hire.
▶ 0:56:51Uh and I'd heard just literally this morning uh from a very large American retailer, first word out of the woman's mouth was uncertainty and the last thing she said to me was uncertainty all surrounding uh tariffs. Uh the lack of predictability. I also serve on the foreign affairs committee. Was recently in UK and Denmark. Met with the American chamber in both countries. Confused, uncertain, they can't figure it out.
▶ 0:57:20What in God's name is going on? We cannot plan to grow businesses. We cannot plan to grow growth and jobs. So, I am baffled, absolutely baffled, uh, by this administration's talk around trade deficits and tariffs. I fear the administration lacks a basic understanding of what a trade deficit is. I think many economists take issue with equating a country's trade deficit with any one country and its economic well-being.
▶ 0:57:49Uh some economists actually view a trade deficit uh as a sign of a country's economic health because it means we're purchasing more. For me, I have a pretty large trade deficit with my lo local groceryer or my hairdresser. Uh it's a good thing. It means I have money enough to get my hair done once in a while and to keep food on the table. It tells nothing about my overall financial position.
▶ 0:58:14Do you know when this country actually uh had a trade surplus secretary? Um the president likes to speak about uh before historically when did we have a trade surplus? That's the I'm not talking about the president. I think uh early about uh about about 100 years ago.
▶ 0:58:42It was the Depression. It was a sign of what was going on. It was during the Great Depression. That's a direction none of us wants to go. Tariffs, it's 90 days. We're going to have 90 deals in 90 days. Then there's a 90-day pause. uh many of these tariffs, as I say, punishing uh tariffs on things that make no sense whatsoever. Uh where are we going to go with the remaining deals?
▶ 0:59:09I know of one deal that has been apparently resolved with the United Kingdom. We got 89 more deals to do in just a few more days. Where are we on those deals? We are in the midst of negotiations with uh dozens and dozens of countries. We could sign deals, but they're only going to get better as we negotiate them. That's just simply not true because as I told you, the American Actually, I promise you it's true because I am doing it. So, I promise you it is true.
▶ 0:59:38And I'm here testifying in front of you and I promise you it's true. And Mr. Trump promised to bring down the cost of goods day one. And what he has done through his trade deficit fixation and his tariff chaos uh has nakedly uh increased the cost of goods. The estimates are that for consumers in my area, suburban Philadelphia, $2,000 at least a year increases on goods. I'll give you an example of one. Bananas.
▶ 1:00:08What's the tariff on bananas? Americans, by the way, love bananas. We buy billions of them a year. I love bananas. What's the tariff on The tariff on bananas would be uh representative of the countries that produce them. And what what's that tariff? Generally 10%. Correct. 10%. Walmart has already increased the cost of bananas by 8%. As countries do deals with us, that will go to zero.
▶ 1:00:36As countries do deals with us on the American consumer now and on the businesses with the confusion. Now, Mr. Secretary, I believe you know better. I believe you recognize that a trade deficit is not uh something to fear. I believe you know that predictability, stability is essential for businesses. I wish you would show that truth to this administration and I yield back. Time of the gentle lady is expired. Would you mind, Mr.
▶ 1:01:04Chairman, if I make one quick comment to the end? Would that be okay? I'm sorry. Would you mind if I make one quick comment to the representative? Please. Uh, there is no uncertainty. If you build in America and you produce your product in America, there will be no tariff. We can't the concept building in America and pay no tariffs. Very very clear. We cannot fight bananas in America. Time of the gentle lady has expired. Mr. Clyde.
▶ 1:01:34Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and uh thank you, Secretary Lutnik, for appearing before the subcommittee today. Um, first I uh want to um mention that as I read your biography uh I noticed that um uh you have been awarded the Department of the Navy's Distinguished Public Service Award.
▶ 1:01:55And uh as a 28-year Navy officer myself, I want to congratulate you as this public service award is the highest honor granted to non-military personnel by the Navy. So congratulations, sir. Job well done. Thank you. Last November, the American people decisively elected President Trump with a mandate to restore common sense in Washington, including the mission of reducing the size, scope, and cost of the federal government.
▶ 1:02:23Thankfully, President Trump's fiscal year 2026 budget delivers on that promise by charting a course to reign in federal spending. It proposes a 22.6% 6% reduction in non-defense discretionary spending, a $163 billion cut from FY25 levels. As a member of both the House Budget and the Appropriations Committee, I strongly support this effort and remain committed to restoring fiscal sanity, ensuring that future generations are not burdened by Washington's reckless spending addiction.
▶ 1:02:53And that's right, I say Washington has an addiction problem. It's an addiction to opium. That's other people's money, OPM. Washington needs to go to rehab for this spending addiction. And I was encouraged to see that your budget request reduces the Department of Commerce's footprint by 1.75 billion, a 17% decrease from the FY25 enacted level.
▶ 1:03:18And your proposal rightly eliminates duplicative programs within the Economic Development Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency and curtails over a billion in federal dollars that the Biden Harris administration funneled into radical climate initiatives, research, and grant programs. So, thank you for that. The Department of Commerce's budget request also includes a historic investment in the Bureau of Industry and Security.
▶ 1:03:44Now, that bureau is also responsible for a rule issued in April of 2024, an interim final rule which makes permanent the pause on firearm export licenses, severely restricting US manufacturers from export exporting firearms, ammunition, and components. This rule shortens license durations from four years to one and requires case-bycase approval. It also revoked around 2,000 previously approved export licenses, forcing companies to reapply.
▶ 1:04:14So, Mr. Secretary, does the Department of Commerce have any plans to resend this Biden administration interim final rule? How are you going to handle that? Yes, we're looking into it now and and I find that inconsistent with our views. So, uh we're examining it now and you should expect us to uh comment on it uh shortly. Thank you. Thank you very much. I I encourage you um in every way uh to resend that rule.
▶ 1:04:41Um I think it's very very damaging to the firearms industry and um I think that uh uh you know that's a a very important industry in this country because it has to deal with our constitutional rights. Um now I'd also like to address the tariffs and and give you an opportunity um to talk about that. For far too long, the US has been disadvantaged by countries ac across the globe due to unfair trade practices.
▶ 1:05:08These long-standing trade imbalances have led to the offshoring of manufacturing and have undermined critical supply chains which uh have resulted in some of our defense industrial base becoming dependent on foreign adversaries. Ultimately, the status quo trading system that we currently have has failed our workforce, threatened our national security, and left small town America behind.
▶ 1:05:30Thankfully, President Trump is bringing countries across the globe to the table, ensuring that our economic policies remain America first and ensuring everyday America workers and families do not continue to be disadvantaged. Can you speak to your role and that of the department in the trade negotiation process? And could you highlight the successful trade agreement that was previously mentioned uh with the United Kingdom that President Trump recently secured?
▶ 1:06:00My role is to assist in opening markets for our ranchers, for our farmers, and for our manufacturers so they can sell their goods in markets that were always procluded from our uh manufacturers and our farmers having access. That's number one. And number two, to break open the barriers that these countries put up to keep us out even without tariffs. So if we break them down and we open those markets, America will flourish.
▶ 1:06:28Remember $1.2 trillion of us buying from them means 4% of annual our GDP the largest country in the world we're giving to other countries if we had that domestically produced our growth rate would be 6% our deficit would go away by math and we would be the winner in the world and that's what the president's all about. Well thank you Mr.
▶ 1:06:55Secretary, it's nice to see a successful businessman in charge of the Department of Commerce. And with that, I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Murvin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Mr. Secretary, it's a pleasure. I I reside I'm uh represent Northwest Indiana, the steel top steel producing capital within uh the nation. Uh with that, uh giving credit where credit's due. Section 232 helped our steel industry, our steel workers, and also our trades in the first administration.
▶ 1:07:25Now, as we go through this, so they're happy, right? Your constituents are happy. The market goes up and down, as you well know, in the steel industry. No, they are they were happy with section 232. That's why I said I give credit where credit's due. Thank you. Yes, sir. So my underlying question is ultimately we want to make sure we have a level playing field and capacity in foreign countries such as China. They subsidize their steel. They flood the market.
▶ 1:07:55Then my steel workers and people within my community lose their jobs. I'm going to give you an opportunity to talk about the 50% steel tariffs that are in place now. And I also want to talk about the concern that I have for downstream industries specifically. you had talked about in many different areas reshoring domestic manufacturing. I am on board and have advocated for reshoring domestic manufacturing.
▶ 1:08:21The time it takes to invest those trillions of dollars and build up for capacity to build the as you had mentioned cars are being built in Mexico for America. How are we going to invest or how are you one the impact of the 50% tariffs? if you could discuss that with me and then how is it affecting downstream industries and what is the plan to make sure that those individuals who work in those plants that are downstream of the steel industries are going to be protected.
▶ 1:08:50So foreign countries subsidize the power which is the the biggest cost energy. And so China can produce steel at $450 a metric ton. And our price was generally just below $1,000. So they were basically put 40 uh blast furnace companies out of business. So they basically were crushing steel in America.
▶ 1:09:17and Donald Trump came in and said, "Look, it's a subsidy." So, we put on 25% and that moved the price up to about $900. And then it started to drift down because the Chinese are producing it at $450 because they don't pay for power. Right? And so, the president said, "I've got to protect domestic steel." Because his view is, you can't fight a war unless you can make steel. You can't fight a war unless you can make aluminum.
▶ 1:09:44And the steel workers and aluminum workers of America are happy because they're being protected. Their reasonable price point is where we are right now, which is just below $1,000 a metric ton. We are going to build tens of billions of dollars. Have been committed because of that to building plants, mills. Can you give me examples of the promised investments? Hyundai promised $7.5 billion. Hundai. Hundai, you know, the Korean Hyundai. Sure.
▶ 1:10:14uh $7.5 billion plant. Um there were uh a variety I met with a variety of steel makers who uh offered us about $6 billion of two new plants. Um Nippon steel 14.1 billion of new investment. That's a whole another five minutes. But yes, I believe you. But those are commitments that we have.
▶ 1:10:34And in auto, we have $250 billion of commitments because of the tariffs to build and reshore in South Carolina, in Ohio, in Michigan, in Tennessee. These are all coming in because of our tariffs. Okay. So along with tariffs is the enforcement that you talked about.
▶ 1:10:58So what I one of the reasons why I wanted to be in this committee is to be able to make sure that the enforcement side of it the ITA has the capa has the resources necessary. Are you here making a commitment that there won't be cuts to the ITA that will reduce the resources that they need to make sure that the enforcement of the the products that are coming into our country that we could track that importing exporting are key roles
▶ 1:11:28that we will never cut. We will only enhance. there are a whole variety of areas within these bureaus that you would agree with me um are just not necessary. So we are re examining what is important and putting the resources on that which is most Okay. Um I will wait for the second round to talk about nippon the nippon deal. And just one very quick question.
▶ 1:11:58Were you in the room in the CPHAS committee for the NIPON deal? Yes. What was your recommendation? My recommendation was it could be approved with mitigation change. Okay. On my second round and I'm um I would like to continue that conversation. Thank you. With that, I yield back. Mr. Strong. Thank you, Chairman Rogers, Ranking Member Ming for holding this hearing today.
▶ 1:12:25I'd also like to thank the subcommittee staff for their hard work. Secretary Lutnik, great to be with you again. Thank you and your staff uh for being here today. Each of you have had a full 48 hours. Uh I commend you for your efforts to prioritize President Trump's America First Trade Agenda. Uh during your Senate budget hearing yesterday, you highlighted Alabama's role in the automotive industry and noted your uh department's $250 billion commitment uh to reshore that sector.
▶ 1:12:54In my district in Alabama, we're honored to be uh home to Mazda, Toyota, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing, where 66% of all combustible engines uh for Toyota North America are made in our district. 4,000 every 24 hours. Mr. Secretary, what other sectors are you prioritizing investment in beyond the automotive industry to reduce our dependence on foreign suppliers for critical goods?
▶ 1:13:21We have examinations in pharmaceuticals, right? Too many of our pharmaceuticals are antibiotics. You can't fight a war and need to ask your adversary to send you the antibiotics. So, we need pharmaceuticals to be reshored to America. We need semiconductors which we've already uh discussed. Reshorten America. Those are two big items. Aircraft parts is another place that we think there's focus, right?
▶ 1:13:50And of course, as we've discussed, automotive is uh is vital to America. Steel and aluminum, which I just discussed. So, those are the kind of topics that we're focused on bringing and making sure that we're reassuring for national security reasons in America. Thank you, Secretary Lutnik. My home, Alabama's fifth congressional district, has over 400 companies developing and deploying technologies with various national defense, space exploration, and homeland security applications.
▶ 1:14:18Your budget request includes a 60% increase in funding for the Bureau of Industry and Security. How does your department plan to utilize this funding to protect and bolster domestic companies? And how would this funding be used to improve our economic competitiveness and national security? export controls, making sure that our adversaries don't get our best equipment, our most cuttingedge ideas.
▶ 1:14:45So if we don't have enough agents, you know, we have two agents in China, that is just come on. So we just need more agents to protect and defend our policies. And that is what the request is for. Let's grow our agents in the field to enforce the policies that we make at home. Totally agree. And that leads to my next question.
▶ 1:15:12We're seeing increased sophistication from bad actors to circumvent US trade laws. China is producing goods domestically and routing them through other countries to avoid the made in China labor. A label. Your department has asked for funds to address unbalanced trade through increased uh anti-dumping and counterveailing duty investigation. How will this funding help combat China's uh circumvention of America uh American uh tariffs and what tools or technologies are you leveraging?
▶ 1:15:43Unfortunately, it's not just China. There are numerous countries whose governments subsidize their industries and therefore create a an uncompetitive environment and then they basically at below cost try to export to America which creates our trade deficit. So we have anti-dumping counterveailing duties. That's the idea.
▶ 1:16:07We need to study them and we need to enforce them and that is a key role of the department of commerce and we need to augment that and we need to defend it for exactly the point that these for example steel and aluminum they're crushing our industry trying to put us out of that business. What I loved is that the UK had one blast furnace left. They sold it to the Chinese and the Chinese then got all their customers and shut it. I mean and then they have no steel industry.
▶ 1:16:37Uh, Secretary Lutnick, in 2024, the Census Bureau selected Huntsville, Alabama as one of six cities to participate in the 2026 census test run. The 2026 test is an opportunity for the census to refine its operations in uh a city like Huntsville, which is experiencing fast population growth, making it harder to accurately count.
▶ 1:16:59Secretary Lutnik, what will you do to commit to advocating for a for full funding this year and next to carry out this 2026 testing program, including the Huntsville site? And will you provide a clear timeline uh to the states so they can begin preparation without delay? And also your thoughts about consistency from stateto state not allowing non US citizens to be counted in the United States census. Consistency makes sense.
▶ 1:17:29Commitment to doing the absolute best statistical analysis of the census is easy for me to commit to. We will focus on it and we will deliver uh the structure to have the greatest census with the best statistical analysis uh ever in the United States of America. And that's what we're going to get from the Department of Commerce. Mr. Secretary, thank you for bringing it home to America. Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Mr.
▶ 1:17:56Laurel, thanks very much, Mr. Chairman. My apologies. There are a lot of uh appropriations, markups, and uh hearings uh today. So, I apologize for being late. And with that, I would like to uh ask unanimous consent to put my opening remarks in the record. I can thank you and good morning to you all. It's good afternoon. Now, Mr. Secretary, let me just follow up on something that my colleague, Mr.
▶ 1:18:22MVN was asking about and that was the International Trade Administration which helps to increase our exports of American products and services, protects American producers against trade cheating by China and others. I think it's important to note uh to my colleague Mr. Murvan um that there has been a almost a 30% cut to the ITA 183 million. Uh that's for uh below what was proposed for uh uh 2025.
▶ 1:18:53Uh so it was going to cost American jobs. Uh decimates ITA US commercial service operates out of US export assistance centers and US embassies abroad. Works to maintain and increase the exports of US products and services. So the agency which is meant to to protect if you will uh our our our our exporters etc and um is now being decimated.
▶ 1:19:21I think one has to be uh look at what has been cut. Uh there's the MEP program that I believe has been uh eliminated. One needs to go carefully through each of these areas and get a sense of in fact uh what is uh being um cut back and you know facts are funny. You got to deal with the details and with the facts. You just can't speak about it and make general statements.
▶ 1:19:50And when you cut back on agencies and the way that you have and slash and burn, if you will, then we're not going to get to where we want to go. I want to focus a second on um two quick areas. One is um transparency in government because it's critical. Uh Americans need to see where their tax dollars are going and since 2022 we've had in place. Uh I say that and maybe self-s serving.
▶ 1:20:19I worked hard on this issue and we got bipartisan biccameal agreement to make sure that the executive branch and I made sure that was in with a democratic administration. They are legally required to publicly post budget documents. That is how and when uh uh how and where taxpayers dollars are being spent. They're called aortionments. Put that aside.
▶ 1:20:46It's about saying how the money is going to be uh uh uh spent and that is online. Now this information is legally required. It's binding on a federal agency. The Office of Management Budget uses the information to tell agencies how and when they can spend the funds that Congress has appropriated. Beginning in March, OM stopped posting these documents.
▶ 1:21:13This is illegal and it's a slap in the face to the principle of transparency, accountability, and government spending which this administration claims to champion. Mr. Secretary, I'm going to ask for your commitment to once again making the specific budget documents, aortionments, how and where US tax dollars are being spent by the Department of Commerce and its bureaus publicly accessible.
▶ 1:21:42Will you commit to doing that? It's my understanding uh that my department is following the CR with precision as is required. No, you're and you are inaccurate because I'll get to spend plans. We do not have details on the spend plans which the CR requires and it hasn't happened. We have a lack of specificity uh on this is at more than five weeks after the legal due date.
▶ 1:22:11We do not have a detailed span plan as required by the law. Let me go back. Will you commit to getting online how and where the American taxpayers dollars with regard to the Department of Commerce are being spent as is required by the law?
▶ 1:22:34I will of course follow the law, but it is my understanding as I've been advised that we have filed precisely according to the CR's requirements. I do not know who you got your advice from, but this is the appropriations committee. We're looking at every span plan. And let me just tell you, the barebones spend plan was three weeks late. Uh surely in that time, you must have had time to put together a more detailed spend plan. This is this is false.
▶ 1:23:03The law sets out the timeline and the level of detail you are. This is what is happening is illegal and in contravention of what this committee does and it puts together. And if you can't make a commitment, I take that is no, you will not commit. So that the public has no idea no idea of what any agency in this administration is how they're spending the taxpayers dollars and where those dollars are going. I yield back and wait for a second round. Thank you, Mr.
▶ 1:23:33Chairman, for your indulgence, Mr. Moore. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Secretary Lutnik, for being here. Really appreciate it. Um, a lot of your comments are just so spot-on. Um, just a little while ago, we heard something pretty interesting. The idea that trade deficits are good. Uh, we heard an example of, I guess, a banana.
▶ 1:24:00the price of a banana at a Whole Foods outside of suburban Philadelphia going up. I I can tell you in West Virginia what the generational price has been for the degradation and destruction of our industries in the state of West Virginia over the last several decades, 40 years of it. It has destroyed us. It's destroyed us. And you talked about this blast furnace switcheroo that they had there in the UK.
▶ 1:24:30That happened to us in West Virginia. So Cleveland Cliffs and the United Steel Workers Union had requested tariffs on template steel from the Biden administration. We didn't get it. We didn't get the tariffs on the template steel and we shuttered that steel plant.
▶ 1:24:51We have lost thousands of jobs since then and now there's only one blast furnace left in the whole United States that makes tin plate steel and I would appreciate it if the commerce department would take a look at that because that is a national security issue and it's terrible for us. I mean we used to be known for manufacturing steel. It was hugely disappointing by the last administration not taking any action on that.
▶ 1:25:21But I do want to ask this uh just shifting gears real quickly. Is BIS specifically and you've talked about plusing up that budget. Have you all looked at uh and this is during the Obama administration. We went through the export control reform initiative. This is where they created the 600 series and the ECCN's um and then expanded E99, right?
▶ 1:25:48So, there's a lot more items that can go out without a license under that. Have you all looked at going back and reviewing that? I I actually worked here when we were going through that process and it seemed I guess to make sense at the time, but you do see that has created at times in my view some gaps as it relates to critical technology.
▶ 1:26:14Have you all looked at perhaps reviewing that export control reform initiative happened about a decade ago and maybe trying to tighten up some of those export controls specifically on critical do use a very uh very thoughtful point. Uh right on the point and uh we are on that topic. We are on Yeah.
▶ 1:26:36It it just it occurs to me particularly when we created the 600 series which is essentially like a United States munitions light series within the Department of Commerce under BIS. This is how some of our defense technology gets out there. Um and it's It's very disappointing. Obviously, this is not the idea is that, you know, we wanted to increase export capacity for defense manufacturers and others out there.
▶ 1:27:04But specifically around some of this off-the-shelf technology, A99 uh items that are getting exported, I I would really like if you all would take a look at this and the way this was set up back then and trying to tighten those controls. BIS is I mean really the the last stop in protecting our technology. Um, could you talk though just briefly, you talked about the steel industry.
▶ 1:27:31Could you talk about from a national security standpoint why it is so important? You touched on it a little bit, but why it is so important to the national security of the United States to have a vibrant steel industry. You cannot fight a war unless you can make the munitions. Period. You can't make a missile without steel, aluminum.
▶ 1:27:57You can't produce anything in defense without steel and aluminum. You must have a domestic industry. The president has made it crystal clear and I think it is obvious when I say it and we need to protect it. Just like you said in West Virginia, they didn't protect you and you lost the business. That cannot continue and the Trump administration will not allow it to. Yeah. And then they just raised the price of Template Steel right after they acquired it. So after they crushed it.
▶ 1:28:26Um last real quick question. One issue that I'm concerned about is transformers in this country. Um which we don't have a great domestic capacity in terms of manufacturing. There's actually one manufacturer of electrical steel in the United States right now and one maybe a couple that uh can actually manufacture uh transformers. Myself and others in the steel caucus. A few of us sent a letter, obviously not your department, but asking for defense production act to be invoked around that.
▶ 1:28:55Is this something that your department's looking at at all as it relates to transformers? We are now. Okay, that's a great answer. And with that, I yield back. Thank you. Thank the gentlemen. Uh, Mr. Secretary, the results are in. You're a hit. Uh, they they want an encore Uh, are you available for a few minutes more for the members that may like to ask another question?
▶ 1:29:25I'm at your service, Mr. Chairman. We promise you we'll be brief and on time. Thank you, sir. I yield myself five minutes. Mr. Secretary, rural communities, uh, which are often ignored by Washington face unique challenges. One of which is access to reliable broadband.
▶ 1:29:49How's the department planning to continue addressing broadband gaps and prioritizing expansion into unserved areas? The Congress has launched the bead program for broadband access. Um under the Biden administration, it gave out no money after 30 months. Our objective is as follows. Within the next 90 days, I think we're going to put it out on Friday.
▶ 1:30:19Basically saying if you are state is willing to just be technologically agnostic, meaning produce the right access at the lowest price or at the if it's a tie, I don't care which one you pick. make that application within 90 days and then this department will put out the money by the end of the year.
▶ 1:30:43So we will go from not having given any money under the Biden administration to having the full program funded and distributed provided they're technologically agnostic by the end of 2025 all the money will be distributed so that broadband access can be built by the states. That's my promise. Well, broadband is vital as you well know.
▶ 1:31:07Uh and of course the places where it is not in being really are the rural areas where it's not profitable for a utility to go into which is an age-old problem that we've faced before. Uh let me highlight another important initiative to uh rural America. That's EDA, Economic Administration.
▶ 1:31:37Uh particularly the one to uh have assistance to coal communities. My district as was West uh have a had a complete breakdown of the industry over the last 10 years. I lost 15,000 jobs in my district alone.
▶ 1:31:59But EDA has been a a crutch for us to to use to help revitalize and bring back into nature rural areas. What do you what do you think about EDA? So, first I'll address that the administration wants to revitalize clean coal. We think it's vital to America.
▶ 1:32:28And so, for both yourself and the representative I just spoke to, um, you should rely on this administration to bring back clean coal because it is vital. The country needs power. We need power and we will do that. And uh, with respect to EDA, the same thing. There are many other ways to do it better than to have a reasonably small group inside uh the commerce department. We will stick with disaster relief.
▶ 1:32:57We will stick with our tech tech hubs. But the concept of uh providing that kind of program I think is better served with bigger more sophisticated programs. Well, there are rural areas that are not dependent. U what about those I I'd be happy to meet with you offline and go through it together.
▶ 1:33:27Um, you know, I am tasked with being efficient with taxpayer dollars. And when I get a GAO report that has 80 other programs, I just think it's more efficient to do it uh in a more practical way than do it in a small way in my department. Not that I don't enjoy doing things, but efficiency is my objective.
▶ 1:33:51And I think it was important that I show a budget that was substantially lower that proves that we can do our great job with less taxpayer dollars. Well, we want to work with you on this subcommittee. We want to see you succeed because when you succeed, the country and the president succeed.
▶ 1:34:10Uh but uh we have our priorities as well as it relates to offering jobs back to keep our people from having to move to another local. So, I hope we can work with you. Of course. Uh, Miss Bing. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And let me fix microphone. All right. Don't need it.
▶ 1:34:40Um, I want to piggyback off a little bit about Representative Dean's banana example and how it affects the cost of living for our constituents all across America. You know, I have heard from many Asian-American business owners. They own restaurants. They own supermarkets. They own uh well-known supermarkets like 99 Ranch and HMart.
▶ 1:35:06uh they are really concerned about the rising costs of goods like anything from basmati rice to the bo root uh to different sauces that are utilized by the Asian-American community, fastest growing community uh in this country.
▶ 1:35:23Uh I know that you mentioned you know due to the tariffs the price will eventually come back down but I just wanted to you know make an observation that the cost of living for Americans uh as we know is already high and it's hard for them to be able to afford these goods and these products that they are using today.
▶ 1:35:46Uh, and the restaurant owners, the supermarket owners, small business owners are really in a bind because they don't know if they have to raise their prices and pass on the higher cost to consumers uh or to eat the cost themselves and coming out of a pandemic where they barely survived uh they are now worried that because of these high costs that their businesses, you know, may not survive.
▶ 1:36:13So, I just wanted to highlight this issue that's happening in my district uh and I'm sure in many other districts across the country about a lot of these products that uh are largely not produced uh here uh in the United States. The inflation under the Biden administration was very very difficult and created a very difficult time for Americans across the country. Well, the prices have gone up recently starting this year.
▶ 1:36:43Fortunately, inflation as the last numbers were very low in the in the low twos and back to uh toward the level that the Fed says is their long-term goal. So, that's very promising. But I will tell you in our trade deals, our expectation is for unavailable natural resources, a banana, right?
▶ 1:37:03uh other spices and and the roots the things you've suggested your expectation should be there will not be a tariff but when we give that to a country right like coffee right when we say to to Ghana okay we will not charge you a tariff on coffee or cocoa but you will open your market to allow our farmers to sell soybeans because you're blocking us on soybeans why do you expect to sell us coffee
▶ 1:37:33and cocoa and not let us sell soybeans. It seems unfair. Let's make that fair. And that's an example of a trade deal. Granted, these are small countries, but that's the kind of model that when we're done, we will not have tariffs on unavailable natural resources, but we will have market access for our farmers and our ranchers. You know, our chicken and and pork and beef are traded are treated horribly around the world horribly.
▶ 1:38:03That has to end. And if we use that by saying you can export coffee to us, but you need to treat us better for our agricultural products back to you, I think that is fair trade. No, I appreciate that. Do you have a sense of a timeline?
▶ 1:38:20And I appreciate that the cost will eventually come back down, but when my constituents, you know, just average individual consumers, uh, or small business owners are asking me when the prices will come back down, prices that have gone up only in recent months, uh, after this new Trump administration. Uh, what can we tell our constituents? The president has set out July 9th as the date by which he expects most transaction deals to have occurred.
▶ 1:38:50If they don't occur because of of back and forth, the president can just set the agenda and say, "Here's your offer and set that trading deal in place and your expectation should be by July 9th." I appreciate that. And I just in my 30 seconds left I want to uh align myself with the concerns um made by the chair about EDA. Uh we this is a program that is very important.
▶ 1:39:17You know programs from tech hubs the recompete program the good jobs challenge. So many programs are meant are important to our rural areas to job creation. Uh we know that in your confirmation hearing you pledged to maintain these programs. Uh, and we we hope that that will continue. Thank you. I yield back, Mr. Offer. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair, and I apologize for missing the first round.
▶ 1:39:42I just literally ran back from the House floor doing a speech, but that's that's our job and I need to get in shape. Um, anyway, thank you for being here. You're doing such a great job and uh we're we're proud to have you in that position. Um, I I want to I know all the good questions have already been asked and answered, but I want to talk about the tariffs just a little bit. You know, the Democrats doubted these, the media doubted it, the pundits doubted it. A lot of people made fun of the tariffs, didn't like them, but they're working.
▶ 1:40:12We've already seen the results. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office now estimates the proposed tariffs will reduce our federal deficit by $2.8 trillion. That's a success story. Secretary, what is the strategy behind these? Is it simply a negotiating tool? Is it the art of the deal or does the president mean it when he says it about these tariffs and why are they being so successful so far?
▶ 1:40:43Build in America in the greatest economy in the world. Remember, America is the consumer of the world. 20 trillion dollar we consume every year. So if you want to sell here, build here. And if you don't want to sell here, pay to come into our market.
▶ 1:41:05We are receiving a run rate of billion a month to the Treasury of the United States of America because of tariffs. So, anybody who says that tariffs aren't working can't count to 34 billion. Want to talk about the funding for Noah and the National Weather Service. You know, Missouri has gotten hit pretty hard. We have a lot of tornadoes. We had a bad spring and it's still going on. There was a lot of damage in my uh district just south of Kansas City.
▶ 1:41:35We have a regional Noah center in Pleasant Hill, Missouri. It's a smaller center like you were talking earlier. Um and and I heard you talking about what's going to be happening in the future to some of these centers. Are centers like Pleasant Hill uh which they already have some vacancies. Are those regional centers in danger of closing at any time in the future as you as far as you know being replaced by automation and AI in a centralized location?
▶ 1:42:02I I'll give you an example uh in in Missouri which was um we have all these research people in uh in Noah but they were separate from operational. So we started putting them together to take that research and start using it. And what it did is it produced an analysis that showed that we had horrible tornado conditions in Missouri.
▶ 1:42:24And so two hours earlier than the record ever in Noah, we gave those warnings and saved 120 people. Got them out two hours earlier. So we are totally on it. But the concept of having four people and one of them has a baby and one of them's out sick and somehow we're not able to do it 24 hours a day is seems silly that we should have if we have 2100 meteorologists.
▶ 1:42:51I promise you we can cover the United States of America 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and we can have better technology. Right? We used to have human beings would launch a weather balloon, right? Like I could imagine like someone just going whoop on a come on. We do it's called auto saunders. We now do it in an automated fashion. So I don't need the person to launch the balloon. So because I can automate launch the balloon. I've been inside the center. It's pretty cool.
▶ 1:43:19And and I used to be in television news uh there in Kansas City. A lot of my friends are meteorologists at these stations who have personal relationships with the people at Noah and NWS. I think they're a little concerned and I I will these centers be closing but the information which is also life-saving be coming from a centralized location. I think it'll be both. I think there'll be many centers that will stay and will augment and be bigger and stronger and more powerful.
▶ 1:43:46But the concept is we've got to be able to automate ourselves and back each other up. This concept that the data just stays in Missouri and is not available to be analyzed by Nebraska or other meteorologists is illogical. That needs to change. If I showed you the technology, you drop your head embarrassed to be an American. When we're done in this commerce department and I'm done with my term, I promise you, you will be proud of the technology in the Department of Commerce. Mr.
▶ 1:44:16Chair, if you would indulge me for one more question. Uh, I want to talk about the bead program. Also very important to my state, very rural state. Um, uh, Biden administration put in 42.5 billion dollars and not one home hooked up. It's a disgrace, I think. Um, you you talked about tech agnostic approach and you talked about the three options. It's got to be uh, a fix. What are those three options again? Fixed wireless, which we all know is Wi-Fi. Right. Right. A fiber, lane cable, or satellite.
▶ 1:44:47any of those three serve broadband and we should be agnostic to which one. So some of those some of the folks in my district are and state are concerned that uh we want to get everyone hooked up and it's got to be the right system. Satellite is not going to work all over Missouri. So so we're going to get the system that actually works right for our money. All right. Yes. I hear the light tap of the chairman Gavl. I will yield Mr.
▶ 1:45:15Laurel, thank you very much. Uh, Mr. Chairman, Ju just a couple of things. I um I I I I gather and I'm just going to assume that it is a no that uh you're not going to post uh how and where, how, and when American taxpayers dollars are being used for what programs. That's the issue of the importment, which is again legal. So there's it's a legal issue there.
▶ 1:45:40you're not responsible, but you can get back to your OMB friends and tell them that they are liable for penalties when they come contrary to the anti-deficiency act food for farmers. Let me just um uh what you said there, US food aid programs across USDA um uh purchased roughly $1 billion worth of grain from farmers across the the country. One farmer from Illinois said to kill that program is a disaster.
▶ 1:46:07It's morally bankrupt and it hurts the farmer's bottom line. USAD spends $2 billion annually on US grown agriculture for humanitarian aid. Losing even a portion of that has already been a disaster uh for farmers. Um um I I want to talk about the spend plan because lest you know this is this is the public law.
▶ 1:46:32This is it uh which uh requires you in the CR to provide a spend plan detailing detailing how you will use taxpayer dollars at the program project and activity level. You provided a bare bones spend plan with only account level numbers, no details, no transparency for the American people. You are out of compliance with the law. I'm asking you when are you going to come into compliance with the law with the spend plan?
▶ 1:47:03Uh as as I said, as far as I know, we are in uh compliance with the CR, but I will happily go back and No, no. I'm right. I please and if we please let us know when we are going to receive the details that we uh that we need uh for this uh uh for this effort in order to be able to do our business. This is an appropriations committee. We need to know how much, where it's going, what are the specific programs.
▶ 1:47:32We just can't make a decision saying this is the pot of money we need, but we have no specificity about where it is going. And I just might add, you're not the only agency that is not in compliance. So I I I just I'm going to ask you, give us a time frame when you can get back to us with the detail. I will take it under advisement. I will talk to my adviserss and uh Okay. What I would just say, Mr.
▶ 1:48:01Chairman, I believe we need to have an answer on when that data is coming before we decide what it is that we are going to spend uh and appropriate with regard to the Department of Defense. Um I I was listening on on trade deals, etc. And this is I I will just state this. We have we're deal looking at doing a trade deal with Lutu. Whoa. Uh, I know they have a lot of penguins. Uh, I don't know. We're not spending time on that. Don't worry about it. No.
▶ 1:48:28I Well, yeah, but I I I think it's important to note that Mr. Musk, who's now gone, I don't know if his contract is gone uh for Starlink in Lutu. Let's just talk about what these deals are beginning to look like. Trade uh uh uh and and tariffs. Uh at one point you said about uh about the the whether or not the cost would go up. Um, you said that's quote silly. That is silly.
▶ 1:48:57Uh, that they will not go up. I think Congresswoman Dean and I were at the same meeting this morning where the National Retail Federation is beside themselves with the uncertainty and what the struggle of of of what's going on uh with small 99.6% of businesses have fewer than 500 people. 40% they provide 40% of the wages are paid by small businesses.
▶ 1:49:24They will struggle if they're high in a higher uh uh uh tariff environment and that the question of uncertainty looms large on their um tariffs taxes on the American people. Let's let's face it, American people are desperate for help with the cost of living. These trade policies are in fact causing it further.
▶ 1:49:46The Yale Budget Lab estimates that tariffs will lower American households purchasing power an average of $2500 this year. $2500 most households who live paycheck to paycheck do not have. Mr. Secretary, $2,500 is not a lot to billionaires, but it's a hell of a lot of money for Americans who struggle with groceries, with health care, and with housing costs. This administration, the president said that costs would come down on the first day.
▶ 1:50:17What the administration is doing is making it worse. And the level of uncertainty is providing chaos. It harms our economy. It jeopardizes small business. And it stifles the investment that creates jobs. We need to know what you're doing, how you're doing it. I thank the chairman again. But it can't be, you know, God's in his heaven all right with the world.
▶ 1:50:41You need to face the facts and be truthful about what's happening with the trade policies and other areas that this administration is engaged in. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I disagree. I'm sure you do. Mr. Strong, Secretary Lutnik, Huntsville, Alabama is home to the National Weather Service forecast office. Could you elaborate on your plans to deploy an experimental AI based forecast system? Sure.
▶ 1:51:06The way we've been doing it is we've been taking data in and doing it consistently over the last 20 years. AI systems can then take the weather patterns of the world, examine how they respond to each other, and do much better and be much more efficient, much faster, and much more learned.
▶ 1:51:26So, we're going to take research, technology, and the enormous amounts of data that we collect and we continue to collect, and we are only going to continue to collect more going forward, and we will just become much, much better at forecasting uh dangerous conditions to protect Americans. We definitely know about those dangerous conditions and we've seen it in the last couple of weeks across uh the Southeast.
▶ 1:51:52How can we work with you to ensure that my district's existing expertise and capabilities are leveraged to support and collaborate with you during this significant uh effort? I look forward to meeting with you offline. I'd be glad to go through that and uh and help you do it together. Sounds great to me. Thank you. Recent reports by Noah and other federal agencies have highlighted significant concerns regarding China's uh distant water fishing fleet.
▶ 1:52:17Notably, in September of 2024, Noah denied US port privileges to certain Chinese flag longline vessels due to their involvement in illegal, unreported, and unregulated IU fishing activity. Mr.
▶ 1:52:32Secretary, given these recent developments, what specific measures is the Department of Commerce implementing to enforce trade restrictions against Chinese food products linked to IU Under the Biden administration, we we were not even allowed allowing our fishermen to use our 200 miles of exclusive fishing zone for ourselves. And of course, when we weren't out there fishing, guess who was out there fishing, right? Our adversaries just go in.
▶ 1:53:00If you're not there, well, they're going to fish there just the same. So, the idea was first we allow all of our fishermen the maximum usage they possibly can because we protect and care about American fishing. Uh we care about it. And second, we are going to hold accountable anybody who poaches, who breaches, who is is in our space or near our space. We're going to go and make sure they cannot have access to our markets if they do so.
▶ 1:53:30Thank you. Uh Mr. Secretary, the American farmer is suffering. Commodity prices are low. Uh many countries have taken advantage of the American farmer. Uh it appears uh that we're buying beef from other countries rather than buying from the American cattle farmer. What is the number one thing as secretary that you can do to help the American farmer? We in trade deals can open the market.
▶ 1:53:57beef in the UK, ethanol, uh um corn right in the UK, cereals in the UK, in Europe, in India. India won't buy a bushel of our corn. If they buy ethanol, right, then that will help our corn farmers. So, we've got to open these markets, beef, poultry, pork.
▶ 1:54:22You won't believe how poorly we our farmers are treated, our ranchers are treated, and our fishermen are treated. We weren't allowed to sell lobster in the UK. And you'd say, "Oh, come on." If you read the way we are treated so badly, you would understand why the president is on these trade deals. Make it fair for our people. I always lead with agriculture because we're just treated so badly. if you read it, you would just keep shaking your head.
▶ 1:54:52I I can't believe it. I didn't know it when I wasn't here. And when I first read it, I said, "Oh, come on." And it's it's all sort of old rules that are just not true anymore. And we're blasting those open. And that's what I'm going to do for our farmers, our ranchers, and our fishermen. I'm thankful for what you're doing. And uh these trade agreements have got to stop where America's being taken advantage of. And I commend you and your staff for what you're doing.
▶ 1:55:18And I know it's a lot of hours being spent, but we're in a process of resetting America and the American farmer and the American automobile industry will be better because of it. Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Mr. Ivy, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I wanted to follow up uh Mr. Secretary, with respect to the uh the chair's questions about EDA.
▶ 1:55:40Um, you mentioned 80 programs with respect to uh what sounded like this maybe the same 80 programs you were talking about for MBDA. Yeah. From the GAO and I'll send you that report. You've asked for it. I will find it and I will send it to you. Okay. I appreciate that. Um, real quick point, you know, the the prices will come down point with respect to the impact on small businesses and retail and the like. I just want to say that, you know, I've got a lot of small business.
▶ 1:56:08I'm sure there are plenty across the country who can't wait. You know, they're they're they're really up against the wall right now. The wolf is at the door. They're they're businesses are at risk of being shut down. Um so, the faster this resolves, the better. I know you mentioned July 9 with respect to the tariffs and that can't come soon enough.
▶ 1:56:31And I hope that whatever happens on July 9, there is some effort to pay attention to what's happening to these businesses in the country. They're multinational, you know, corporations, they'll survive, but smaller businesses on that that are really, you know, struggling to make ends meet. They don't have that luxury. They don't have that kind of margin.
▶ 1:56:54real quick on um NIST and you heard him I think from both sides of the aisle with respect to the need for a budget that gives more detail. Um and actually I just saw you you testified I think you said you're reviewing all that I don't think it was FEMA but it was Noah and you said you're reviewing all of them.
▶ 1:57:21And so someone who's gonna All above $100,000. Okay. Someone who pays that level of attention to detail when you were a CEO, I'm sure that you demanded something better than the skinny budget when you were making corporate decisions for your business. You had to.
▶ 1:57:38And I know that when you go through these contracts in the way that you are, that's the attention to detail that we want to actually provide in our roles here in Congress and in functioning and carrying out our aspect of the appropriations process. So please give us that level of information so we can do our job carefully and closely too. And then real quick point with respect to NIST.
▶ 1:58:02Um again in the skinny budget there's a $325 million dollar reduction under that category. I don't really know where the money's coming from but NIST is a critical agency as you know with respect to cyber and quantum and the like.
▶ 1:58:20You got a letter from I guess in in concern about this software and information industry CCIA, ITIF, center for data innovation, a bunch of private industry leaders, technet raising questions about um where these cuts are going to come from and what's being done with them. Uh the work done in this is not just a matter of maintaining technical excellence.
▶ 1:58:47It's a direct investment in ensuring that American industry continues to set the global benchmark innovation. And we emphasize that N work represents a high value investment that directly contributes to US economic growth, competitiveness, and technological leadership. We caution that downsizing NIST or eliminating these initiatives will have ramifications for the ability of the American AI industry to continue to lead globally.
▶ 1:59:16So, I I share those concerns. I'd like to add to the record uh this article, Eric Geller, and this loses key cyber experts and standards and research. For the record, um this is playing a critical role in our competition with respect to AI for quantum across the board.
▶ 1:59:35I don't know what cuts you're talking about making with respect to them uh because of the the level of or lack of detail with respect to the budget, but please be careful and the cuts that you make here. I don't know that any of them are justified necessarily. I can't really tell. But cutting this at this time and I that chart I tried to show you that you couldn't see um the quantum competition. We need all hands on deck.
▶ 2:00:05This is a critical time for the United States right now making cuts to those industries uh or or to those aspects of the government. They're such key players with respect to the industries. This couldn't be a worse time to do it. So I appreciate your leadership on this and hope that you will continue to make sure that the United States can take a leadership role in in these industries. We are not cutting in quantum.
▶ 2:00:31We are not cutting in AI but there are old programs that need to be re-examined and that money can be used better. And the last thing I would say is we keep talking about small businesses. 90% of our businesses uh are American businesses and we keep talking about 10% that import. If you build in America, you're being protected by the tariffs. It's good for small business in America that build in America. 90% of them build in America. Not all businesses build in America as you just heard from 90%.
▶ 2:01:02Time of the gentleman has expired. Mrs. Dean, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thanks for hanging around for a second round. Uh I wanted to first Mr. Chairman just offer for the record uh some articles and documents. Uh the first is a Washington Post article of this week entitled we are witnessing the suicide of a superpower.
▶ 2:01:26The second is uh as uh ranking member uh revealed uh the report from Yale Budget Lab titled the state of US tariffs June the 1st of this year. One of the highlights, American consumers face the highest average tariff rate they have endured since 1938, the Great Depression. The next one, US trade document, uh, US trade representative titled reciprocal tariffs calculations and the flawed formula.
▶ 2:01:54I'm sure you know this formula very well, Mr. Secretary. It is incoherent and flawed. I enter that for the record. Uh and a New York Times article uh April 7th, the Trump White House cited my research to justify tariffs. It got it all wrong. And the final one uh which was uh uh revealing of my uh use of the banana here. Bananas to car seat to car seats. Walmart warns of price rise due to tariffs.
▶ 2:02:23For the record, without objection. Thanks so much. Uh I want to ask you about uh I was interested in what you said to Mr. Morelli in terms of the mission uh and some of the language you used to the mission of your department to protect, defend, and enhance business in America. That was a good summary. Sounds good. I I think that's what you said. I tried to write it down fast. Still sounds good.
▶ 2:02:48I just wonder uh did your department did you personally or your department whose mission that is have any problem with the president's recent trips overseas or uh the development of his business and his family's business around Bitcoin memeco memecoin uh fundraising or uh investor raising dinners any worry with the department of commerce with the president and his family growing their own business while on the Bob,
▶ 2:03:19my my trip to the Middle East was extraordinary in that came home 5.1 trillion dollars of investment in America. It was amazing. Mr. Lutnik, I'm asking you, did the question of conflict of interest come up for the leader of the free world? No. I think you ought to have a team of lawyers take a look at that. It is grotesque the way this president is using his office to enrich himself, his businesses, and his families.
▶ 2:03:50That ought to be something you're interested in. I want to tell you something. I agree with you on uh and I agree with the president on the closing of the dimminimous loophole. You're absolutely right. It hurts retailers when stuff comes in here package after package, order after order, under $800, no tax, no tariff, no review. It hurts retailers.
▶ 2:04:11But I know the other reason that I believe the president uh is interested in that is in tackling the precursors of fentinel and making sure these packages don't come in uh unabsorbed, unknown, and then off to Mexico uh to only come back manufactured and to kill our children. So I want you to know, I want the president to know that's a good thing. And I hope it brings great revenue to our treasury. It should.
▶ 2:04:39We have passed on that at the expense of our children and at the expense of retailers. Thank you. So, please take that back. Uh, and finally, I guess I want to tell you, do you know when we met? I don't know if you remember, we met once in Davos. We had a very interesting conversation. Uh, and you told me some of your backstory. And this goes back to where I started with stability. Uh I think it is very well known that uh when you began college, your father died.
▶ 2:05:09Uh and what a trying time that must have been because your mother had predescased uh and you were at Herford very near my district and Hford College uh said stay. You stay get your education and you did and you they offered you that stability at a time when you must have needed it most. I had a similar experience. My father died when I was in my third semester of college suddenly of a heart attack. Difficult.
▶ 2:05:37We were all wobbling uh for quite a while. But his company offered scholarships to kids who lost their parents. Uh and I got a scholarship to go to law school, offering me stability that I had no idea I would ever lean upon. I take you back to that because what have you done in the meantime? You rewarded Havford. You're making sure that other kids get that stability. Please take that back into your work in the Department of Commerce.
▶ 2:06:06You know, stability is what our consumers, our constituents, our businesses, our banks need. This is not stability. It is an incoherent tariff policy. Uh that is costing every single one of us. Mr. Mvin, Mr. Secretary, during our first exchange, we talked slightly about Nippon. Uh my first question will be is uh with that deal you said uh you agreed and I don't want to put words in your mouth.
▶ 2:06:37Were you in the room or at the table for the cifhious agreement? What was your recommendation? Uh I I can't really discuss the particulars but generally um we came to the view that the deal would be good for America.
▶ 2:06:52the president came to the view it would be good for America and we are discussing how to make sure uh that that protects uh the USA and America and and those discussions are ongoing in the beginning the administration uh when he was a candidate was against the deal well the terms of the deal uh did not protect America and he's interested in making sure the terms of the deal protect America and I agree so I represent Northwest Indiana Gary Indiana one of the top steel producer producing
▶ 2:07:23one of the concerns with the uh the USW the union is to specifically make sure that the investments that have been that have been agreed upon uh that those you can say promised how about that see that's my concern you're right promised based on market conditions so these are real life individuals my father came over from Czech or grandfather came over Czechoslovakia ended up in northwest Indiana worked in the steel mills families everywhere around my district it is our economic You have passionately
▶ 2:07:53talked about how it is a national security issue, right? So with that, many promises have been made. First and foremost, to my steel workers, just a recommendation. The USW wants a seat at the table because they are concerned about disinvestment in their union blast furnaces that will go to non-UN shops in other parts of the country.
▶ 2:08:16So in my district, which I'm here to protect, that our concern level is to make sure that the administration hears the voices very loudly, loudly and clearly from my district that we want asurances not based on market conditions that this investment, promised investment will protect steel workers jobs and tradesmen who provide uh the back uh the the maintenance on those blast furnaces. So, what are you going to do specifically?
▶ 2:08:47Not not broad scro broad strokes of what's going to happen specifically. What are you going to do to protect those jobs in my district? I agree with you. My understanding is the president agrees with you and I think the end result of the transaction with Nippon will agree with you. What are some of the specifics?
▶ 2:09:10Or can I get a commitment from you that the USW union representation leadership will have a seat at the table to protect their interests in US Steel? I think the best I can say is that the president understands their concerns. I understand their concerns. I have met with the steel workers union and I understand their concerns.
▶ 2:09:35Do you understand that this creates uncertainty, unpredictability for families who want to make sure that they have a secure income, healthcare, secure pension? That that uncertainty causes uh great disbelief in what is going on and specifically what are you going to do to protect those jobs? I understand you agree with me.
▶ 2:10:01We agree that a $14 billion investment on top of a regular $14 billion investment, that's pretty good. But what are you specifically going to do to protect those steel workers jobs? President of the United States flew to Pittsburgh and I saw the press conference. I've got a minute. What are you specifically going to do? I saw what I saw the press. I saw it. I saw the rally specifically as What are you going to do?
▶ 2:10:30The president of the United States will direct what he wants to do and I will assist him in doing so. He knows the steel workers union concerns and he I think they will be very happy with the outcome. Okay. So time is of the essence. They want a seat at the table so that there's not disinvestment in my community and investment in other parts of the community which would have cheaper labor. I want to make sure that I articulate that to you.
▶ 2:10:55Then ultimately uh I also want to ask about uh with the Nippon deal if there is reshoring manufacturing and there's a 50% tariff around the world on steel. Correct. Nippon now is an investor in US steel. Please tell me if they are going to be able to circumvent that 50% tariff and and ship no steel. No. No. If they make it in America, you don't pay the tariff.
▶ 2:11:25If you make it anywhere else but America, anywhere else, you're going to pay. But the Do you Are you following me? A foreign country is investing in American company to circumvent those policies or to the tariffs. If you hire Americans and you build it here, you don't pay the tariff. If a if a foreigner builds, good for them. Okay?
▶ 2:11:48But in America with American know that I just want to close in saying know that I agree a$ 14 billion investment in the infrastructure of our steel industry is a good thing but understand how vitally gravely important it is to the steel workers to my community to my economic development or my economic engine you stand up for those jobs. Thank you chairman. Mr. Secretary, you have been so generous with your time.
▶ 2:12:18I'm sorry that we went over what we had intended timewise, but it was worth it from our point of view. We look forward to working with you uh to be sure that you're a success uh and uh we're very impressed with your exuberance in the work that you're upon now. So, good luck to you. We wish you well and we want to stay in touch with you to try to help be sure everything works out.
▶ 2:12:48A number one. Uh so that concludes today's uh hearing. We want to thank our witness, Secretary Lutick, for being here and sharing with us his plans for the future. Without objection, members may have seven days to submit additional questions for the record. The subcommittee stands in adjournment.