▶ 0:06:58e e
▶ 0:07:38beginning with the committee on agriculture uh for each panel uh we'll recognize the chair and ranking member for five minutes each uh then the majority and minority will have five minutes total uh to ask questions we'll be yielding uh amongst our colleagues I now welcome our first panel uh Witnesses chairman Thompson uh ranking member Craig of the committee of Agriculture and I'll recognize you chairman Thompson for 5 minutes well good morning chairman uh ranking member morale members of the committee thank you for inviting ranking member Craig and and me to to share
▶ 0:08:09the committee on agriculture's bipartisan proposed budget for the 119th Congress as chairman I commit to ensuring the committee maintains its sto stored history as an effective and financially responsible body uh we are here today to ask for what we need not necessarily what we want um and I and to me that's important that's the guiding factor in agriculture as well during the 118th Congress the committee on agriculture conducted
▶ 0:08:39expansive oversight of farm bill programs through hearings in Washington DC filled listening sessions across the country and countless stakeholder and member engagements this work culminated in the introduction and committee passage of HR 8467 the farm food and National Security Act of 2024 the funding increased PES authorized by the committee on Administration and adopted by the house for the 118th Congress were vital and supporting the substantial staff travel and
▶ 0:09:09administrative needs of the committee in carrying out this work while Congress was unable to enact a comprehensive Farm Bill reauthorization during the last year a one-year extension was enacted in order for us to complete our work our committee has planned an equally extensive workload to ensure a five-year farm bill one that meets the needs of our producers and our nation's entire agricultural value chain is enacted as many of you know Farm bills require a tremendous effort ongoing
▶ 0:09:39evolving impacts related to supply chains instability abroad trade and fluctuations and commodity prices and input costs further complicate our work highly qualified Personnel are imperative to our preparation and execution of hearings listening sessions roundtables program Audits and accounting legislative Drafting and economic modeling and forecasting as we have shown the reauthorization process also requires extensive travel on a bipartisan basis
▶ 0:10:10including Farm Bill lisening sessions across the country among other activities outside of the District of Columbia additionally there are multiple reauthorizations and legislative priorities outside of the farm bill including but not limited to budget reconciliation instructions commodity Futures Trading cor uh commission uh reauthor authorization uh grain standards act reauthorization development of legislation related to digital assets and oversight of usdh delivery of over $30 billion in economic
▶ 0:10:40and Disaster Assistance each of these responsibilities required required talented staff and extensive travel outside of Washington DC to hear from the individuals impacted by every decision we make from Farm to nutrition research to rural development as shared excuse me as shared in the committee's questionnaire we are seeking a 5% increase for staff salaries and related activities these additional resources will allow both the majority and the minority
▶ 0:11:11to attract maintain and reward staff something of extreme importance to both of us the institutional knowledge of the committee and its members relies heavily on the expertise education and diversity of the staff serving it despite recent increases committee budgets have not kept pace with our outs ized inflation this continues to plague our ability to attract and retain highly specialized employees we certainly have a lofty agenda ahead and we'll work tirelessly to enact
▶ 0:11:41that agenda with tenacity and fiscal responsibility we appreciate your consideration of this request and I'm happy to answer any questions thank you very much uh chairman Thompson ranking member Craig you're now recognize for five minutes thank you so much chairman style ranking member melli and members of the house administration committee I'm grateful to be here to talk to you about the house ad committee's 119th uh Congress budget request I look forward to working with chairman Thompson on all of the work that we had have ahead
▶ 0:12:11of us here in the Congress as you all know and have heard from the chairman this morning we need to work together to pass a farm bill uh after a couple of extensions we also expect work on reconciliation and as chairman Thompson has uh expressed work remains on the CFT and legislation surrounding digital assets as we all know our staffs are Key to Our Success in this institution to that end as we shared with the committee we request a 5% budget
▶ 0:12:42increase these resources will allow us to attract and retain experienced and knowledgeable staff I also appreciate the increase that uh the committee received last Congress but our work has not L up we still need to pass a farm bill uh we also expect some more Farm bills listening sessions to adequately inform our work and it's incredibly important to me that we do those on a bipartisan basis I appreciate the long-standing history of the majority working with the minority on sharing resources
▶ 0:13:12for the minority to accommodate our priorities and hope that relationship continues in the 119th Congress we appreciate your consideration of this request and I look forward to any questions and with that I yield the remainder of my time thank you ranking member Craig at this time we will go to questions uh we will have five minutes for the majority uh and then five minutes for the minority in total uh I'll start by recognizing myself uh we are asking each committee that comes before
▶ 0:13:43us the same question as it relates to cyber security uh Mr chairman will you and the ranking member commit to having your systems administrators meet with the House's CIO team in the first quarter to discuss cyber security issues uh absolutely uh my team is ready and willing to meet with the house of CIO team about cyber security for the record our it team also participate in weekly meetings with CAO and and other committees to discuss technology updates
▶ 0:14:13and cyber security concerns uh the IT team responds promptly to all alerts from house cyber security ensuring issues are addressed without delay and our committee staff complete annual cyber security training to stay informed about the latest threats and re Force the best practices in cyber defense thank you and ranking member Craig will you also commit to that meeting with the CIO to discuss cyber security in the first quarter absolutely we'd be happy to meet with uh in the first quarter and our staff
▶ 0:14:43as well take cyber security incredibly important and we also participate obviously in those weekly meetings today with the c CAO thank you at this time I'll recognize representative Miller thank you I want to note the hard work that the agriculture committee does to support such a vital piece of our country's excuse me of our country's economy and well-being and chairman Thompson I appreciate that you call us a America in your budget
▶ 0:15:14request you mention that additional funds are necessary to recruit and retain highly talented staff this must be a challenge with the new Administration and the FDA attracting staff how do you plan on utilizing increased funding to recruit or retain these qualified and talented individuals well Congressman I appreciate the question and and you're spot on with your observations um you know when it comes to uh uh the talent
▶ 0:15:44uh of Agriculture I think the the staff within both the majority and the minority are among the best in the nation and um so uh with any Administration coming in highly recruited and so the the increase that we re requested will allow us to to to fund raises for existing staff and and fill our vacant slots in several areas we have senior staff that have already departed for the administration um and and this nation will be well served by them having Administration
▶ 0:16:14but leaves a a big vacuum uh within the within our committee staff and so to fill these slots with similar experience or institutional knowledge is this may require recruiting for the private sector at a at a senior level uh this is not a time to when we're losing senior staff to um uh unfortunately and given the I I think the timing and the necessity of getting this fiveyear farm bill and digital assets across the line and all the things that we have
▶ 0:16:44before us you know recruiting in a it's it it it is may require recruiting from again at a senior level thank you I noticed that you are requesting 438,000 for TR travel which is over twice the amount the committee spent on travel last congress with travel being a main priority for the for the committee this Congress what do you hope that you and other members of your committee will gain from these Farm Bill listing sessions
▶ 0:17:15well it's uh it's significant um our farm bill is U to approach things in what I call a triartisan way we we need to be working together and I think a ranking member myself and our teams collectively do a really good job of that but we also need to bring the voices of Rural America quite frankly every American because of the nutrition perspective of the agriculture committee to the table we need those perspectives in order to determine what what American agriculture what Americans
▶ 0:17:46maybe not what they want but what they need um our work the farm bills in particular are created from the voices of stakeholders outside the Beltway uh often we need to travel to places to see crop and livestock University issues facing Forest Health and Wildfire visit research facilities and landr institutions and we have 13 members on our committee collectively who are new to Congress and many others who may not be aware of regional differences in farm and resource production it's important for them to
▶ 0:18:17uh ditch their their dress shoes and put on their work boots and see firsthand the challenges in and uh Rural America or as you know I like to call it a cenal America uh we need continued engagement with Rural America during All Phases of the farm bill process drafting markup floor consideration and Conference and just as important we need to engage stakeholders directly during implementation of the new farm bill um so lots of work ahead of us uh additionally members and staff will need continued
▶ 0:18:47engagement at conferences and meetings across the country uh as noted this goes well beyond the farm bill as we have many other policy priorities including uh digital ass ass sets legislation thank you chairman and I yield back the general lady yields back at this time I recognize ranking member melli for five minutes thank you uh Madame chair um Mr chairman you can't always get what you want but uh if you try sometimes
▶ 0:19:17well you might find you get what you need so you've come to the right place so welcome and to the ranking member my good friend Miss Craig thank you uh for being here um I want to start um the tradition in the house has been the dividing of dollars 2/3 one3 uh Mr chair will you continue to commit to uh making sure that Miss Craig has access um independent access to the one-third budget uh that she's entitled to yeah absolutely our our committee follows the
▶ 0:19:47two3 and one3 split for payroll budget and the majority controls the operating budget and we have never had an issue with obtaining supplies or equipment for either side uh Miss Craig uh are you comfortable that I'm comfortable with it and can confirm uh that GT and I are off to a great start and the staff's work very well together and we feel well supported great thank you uh I would say I know it's a surprise sometimes to people I'm not sure why this is the case but uh New York State the number one industry is
▶ 0:20:17still Agriculture and if you come from upstate New York as I do it is a very very significant part of what we do and I appreciate you mentioning also the nutrition programs which may not uh you know be on the top of Minds as it relates to agriculture but it's certainly a big part of what you do as well as um uh regulating the Commodities markets and and and and the financial aspects uh of those um instruments that that bear on your responsibility so you know given and I spoke to this yesterday and I won't go
▶ 0:20:47into a long thing here but you know it is really critically important for us to assert article one responsibilities here oversight we are the policy makers under the um uh Supreme Court's ruling on the Chevron Defence uh which really puts greater responsibilities uh on the Congress to be much more um uh detailed in policies as we pass them and not to give difference to the various agencies um tell me how your
▶ 0:21:17requested budget um provides you with the ability to uh to make sure you're doing both policymaking in a detailed way uh in line with uh the Chev decision uh as well as article one responsibility for oversight well Mr ranking member I I to me uh when it comes to performing our duties and responsibilities under article one I I really don't care who's in the White House I I I take I'm very proud to to be uh a
▶ 0:21:47part of the of the of Congress and under article one we in the checks and balances that our great nation has we you know uh oversight is an incredibly important role and and we plan to maintain the robust oversight activities of the 118th Congress uh as chairman I've I've given all of our subcommittees the responsibility of overseeing the areas of their respective jurisdictions they uh to me U what better place to place oversight uh these individuals
▶ 0:22:18when they're placed on this committee uh as they prepare to perform their duties they become the experts in these different areas of jurisdiction I think they're the in the best position to really have a meaningful uh uh oversight uh per performance of their duties because of that instead of siling oversight into one corner of the committee uh the responsibility is spread out to the issue area experts and so with uh um and certainly with the Chevron difference uh that
▶ 0:22:48you know that's a a part of uh uh as we go forward to see what uh what now becomes uh any necessary changes or anything that has changed as a result of that Supreme Court ruling would be caught up in that oversight um and with the additional excuse me with the additional funding to hire more staff I will will be adding to the oversight capacity of the committee thank you uh Miss Craig any thoughts that you have on the subject uh simply bet that I think we have to accomplish our goal of
▶ 0:23:18oversight of USDA and that includes ensuring that congressionally appropriated funding is distributed by USDA which of course there are some challenges right now with yeah thank you um and I just in closing uh uh Mr chair um particularly in in regards to miss Miller's question about uh hearing field hearings and moving out around the country uh as you've done it so far uh have you been comfortable with the coordination with the United States capital police and Sergeant arms
▶ 0:23:48because we're obviously both sides of the aisle here very concerned about the threat levels against members and staff no absolutely um our our members are are not going to be able to perform their constitutional duties if they don't feel safe and so our our committee staff works with capital police on all local security issues uh to ensure our meeting space is secure um properly prepared you know no blocked exits all the considerations that quite frankly the um
▶ 0:24:18the Capitol Police and and uh our sergeant of arms can guide us in and uh um to to Really to secure our meeting space uh ensure our meeting space is secure and that we follow all suggested uh security protocols we also work with them in the sergeant of arms office to ensure our members and staff are safe at field hearings listening sessions uh they've done a great job coordinating with local law enforcement and uh and pre assessing our
▶ 0:24:49any uh our security circumstances but assessing also um any security threats for our members well and before I yield I'm sure uh the chair and I would both like to be appr prized if there are any challenges that you have in that regard uh something we obviously spend a lot of time talking about and thinking about here so thanks so much a back thank you thank you both for being here in particular just like to thank you for your the coordinated work between the agriculture committee and the financial services Committee in particular in the digital assets space uh subcommittee
▶ 0:25:19chairman uh Johnson and ranking member uh Davis uh have both been engaged in that and appreciate the cross committee work uh we appreciate you uh and your testimony today we'll pause uh while the witness panel uh exits and the new arrives all right thank you very much
▶ 0:26:26we now welcome our next panel of witness chairwoman Fox and ranking member McGovern uh from the committee on rules um we are giving five minutes to the chair and to the ranking member then we'll do five minutes of questions total for the majority of minority yielding amongst our colleagues and so we'll Dive Right In recognize you chairwoman fox for five minutes is it on yes it is I think um thank you very much Mr chairman uh ranking
▶ 0:26:56member melli and members the committee thank you for inviting us to testify on committee funding for the rules committee for 119th Congress I thank ranking member mcgoverin for the welcoming kind words afforded to me since our organizing even more I thank him and the staff for the staff and for the constructive professional and business first approach that they have maintained during the transition I'm humbled and honored to serve as chairwoman of the committee on rules I thank speaker Johnson
▶ 0:27:26for placing his trust and faith in me to lead this esteemed committee as I said at the time of my appointment the American people gave president Trump and Congressional Republicans a mandate in November to turn our Republic around and move towards a brighter and more prosperous future our Republican majority in the people's house will achieve that end will deliver upon speaker Johnson's and president Trump's agenda with diligence and expediency and we welcome our Democrat colleagues to join us the rules committee on both sides has a long documented
▶ 0:27:57history of resp respect for the house and its TR traditions we respect each other as committee members despite what one might see in the middle of a hearing the foundation for this posture can be found in the very dynamics that we talk about in this hearing in short the ranking member and I together requests a 2 and a half% increase in funding for the rules committee this Congress this comes on the heels of a flat funding request last Congress and to be crystal
▶ 0:28:27clear this translates to an annual increase of just $100,000 a couple of media Outlets insist insinuated that we're seeking an $8 million increase that figure is actually the total budget figure for the 119th Congress it's simply a case of sloppy reporting as you all know the committee on rules retains one of the smallest budgets in the House of Representatives this is the case despite
▶ 0:28:57the fact that without the rules committee the House of Representatives would be rendered inoperable the business we conduct would be at a standstill indeed everything from the creation of the rules at at the H of the house to the creation of select committees to the week's legislative agenda to the granular decisions of minutes of debate on an amendment it's all predicated on a fully functioning rules committee and so while we may have a small scale
▶ 0:29:28in terms of budget Manpower our workflow is immense and the timelines prove to be intense as you all know the agenda for the week can turn on a dime a national emergency or an environmental catastrophe or a matter of National Security may bring emergent measures to the floor with little notice however we cannot retain the flexibility or nimbleness required without capacity meaning capacity to keep staff and resources
▶ 0:29:58on hand for eventualities payroll continues to serve as the committee's main factor reflected in our budgeting in addition to tackle the unique workflow the committee invested in a custom automated system without the system our ability to process the thousands of amendments we receive over the course of a Congress would Grime to a halt much of this maintenance is build hourly and we're limited in our ability to predict
▶ 0:30:28maintenance cost for this workflow to give you a picture of the needs of this workflow this committee processed over 13,900 amendments in the last Congress 118 this is well over the nearly 8,700 processed in the 117th Congress a historic 62% increase while the increase we're seeking might be modest it is necessary necessary
▶ 0:30:59our ability to deliver the House's business as well as the Republican conference's commitment to maximum inclusiveness in the legislative process is fully at stake please understand that as a notoriously Frugal member of Congress this budget request came with the requisite diligence and thoughtfulness that you might expect from a fox chairwoman ship thank you for your time and consideration and I'm pleased please to answer any questions
▶ 0:31:29you may have thank you I you back you are notoriously Frugal but that is a good attribute uh chairman Fox ranking member McGovern you are recognized well thank you Mr chairman ranking member melli and members of the committee on house administration I'm I'm pleased to be joining chairwoman Fox today and presenting our request for funding for the committee on rules for the 119th Congress and I can't believe I'm about to say this but I agree with her um and um uh our committee is unique our primary
▶ 0:31:59mission is not to write laws nor conduct direct oversight but rather to facilitate the work of all other committees uh and of the house itself we take the responsibility of keeping this institution functioning very seriously and I believe that we have succeeded in being a res resource for all members and staff serving here and a big part of that success has been our ability to hire and to re retain our extraordinary staff on both sides of the aisle we have also Al succeeded by keeping our disagreements
▶ 0:32:29where they belong on matters of substance when it comes to the logistics of running the committee and working within the budget allocated to us I look forward to continuing our long tradition of being good partners across the aisle I'm also grateful that chairwoman of fox is continuing our committee's long tradition of providing the minority full control over onethird of our overall budget I strongly support the request uh of this committee from the uh chairwoman that we be allocated 2.5%
▶ 0:33:00more funding for each of the next two years as we were provided in each of the last three years these fundings are vital to allow us to continue supporting this institution from its leadership to its committees to the staffs of every single member um while that may sound like a sizable increase it really isn't because of how small our budget is to start with our budget is less than half of the average committee budget uh and the committee uh with the highest budget has a budget nearly four times
▶ 0:33:30ours so we requested and receive flat funding for each of the past two years because we crunched the numbers and did not actually need more to do our work but now we do and since we last received an increase other committees have had their budgets increase by an average of each we're now asking for about a tenth of the increase that other committees have already received over the past three years as ranking member melli and and congresswoman Torres know from personal experience and as representative Griffith
▶ 0:34:00will now get to see up close our work does not run on a schedule Limited by business hours we know long days and late nights uh better than anyone else uh in these halls but further our workload has grown significantly in recent years and looks to continue continue growing the chairwoman mentioned that in just one Congress we saw a 62% increase in Amendment submissions what's even more striking to me is that prior to that increase the rate of submissions had already doubled since
▶ 0:34:30I first became ranking member our committee has made major modernization and efficiency improvements over the past few years to be able to handle the incredible Amendment volume on a clerical level but we still need adequate professional staff to be able to actually review all of these ideas and make quality recommendations to our members about how each should be treated last Congress we used every dollar of our minority allotment if we are flat funded our inflation adjusted budget will be 7% less less than it was three years ago we simply can't recruit
▶ 0:35:00and retain the staff we need to support the legislative functions uh of the entire house at that level with the vital functions we perform for the house and every other committee depending on our fast and accurate work this is a very modest and reasonable request and a necessary one I I thank U each of you for your time and attention and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have and defer any hard ones to the chairwoman we thank thank you both uh for your testimony um I yield to myself for five minutes
▶ 0:35:31for questions um one question we have asked every chair uh in ranking member is will you uh commit uh to having your systems administrator meet with the House's CIO team in the first quarter uh to discuss cyber security absolutely yes thank you um I will yield uh to uh Mr Griffith also a member of the rules committee uh for questions thank you very thank you very much Madam chair you covered this in your statement but I do think think it's worth underlining the rules committee's request for
▶ 0:36:012.5% budget increase can you tell us how much that is in real US Dollars it's just over $100,000 as I said somehow or another Press uh has not reported accurately what our request is and I'd like to make sure that it is out there correctly all right now the rules electronic data database is crucial for submitting and processing amendments for consideration on the house floor
▶ 0:36:32and you noted in your budget request that it could use some improvements what potential updates to the electronic database could addition additional funds address uh thank you Mr Griffith and we're glad to have you on the committee and uh I think you will see this as uh Mr McGovern said um the committee utilizes a very specific and unique database to assist in managing our workflow the system is called committee on rules
▶ 0:37:03electronic database or the core database we refer to it simply as core and while core has proved very effective and extremely valuable there's ample opportunity to improve it the most acute change that the staff is exploring is allowing for multiple editors to work congruently and in real time time core lacks that functionality now but gaining it would increase efficiency
▶ 0:37:34considerably Additionally the committee will continue to look of at ways to integrate core with the pipeline of Technology products like xpub and seek to refine our database management capabilities to ensure the committee can handle the massive increase in amendments we've experienced and of course that cost a little bit of money to do the upgrade I think everybody understands that thank you madam chair can you tell us as you
▶ 0:38:04were putting the budget submission together the process and what the main consideration was uh when you were preparing this request well again we need to be able to process the Amendments that are coming in as Mr mcgoverin says we meet at many different times of the day and night and the main thing is to serve the other members as efficiently as we possibly can nobody likes having
▶ 0:38:34to be working late at night and if we can use technology to make it better for everybody that's what we're interested in doing yes ma'am and of course you want to keep uh the good staff that you have absolutely and I I have to tell you Mr chairman I've been very impressed with minority staff uh I make comments on the weekend and they've got it ready for Rules meeting to uh you know know push back and I just have to say I enjoy uh debating uh it's not personal
▶ 0:39:04uh but the committee has some some really good intellectual debates and I appreciate that and with that we yeld back to you Mr chairman jman yields back um I'll recognize the ranking member for five minutes for questions uh thank you uh chairman Fox uh and ranking member of my government for being here I'm only sorry that Mr Griffith and I didn't get a chance to serve on the rules committee together but I um I hold out the four years that I served on the rules committee as um uh a joyous time to
▶ 0:39:34be in Congress I enjoyed every minute under the leadership of um then chair McGovern and ranking member uh Cole uh and I I mean this sincerely it's an amazing opportunity to your point Mr Griffith uh just a give and take and and not being limited to five minutes um in in the discussion and I think is really an opportunity to learn a great deal about legislation before the house um I will say something I don't have much in the way of questions because Mr McGovern has already um referenced
▶ 0:40:04one of the questions I ask which is whether the minority will be given the independence to spend their third of the budget uh as they see fit and in many ways the article one responsibilities of oversight and authorization doesn't really apply to rules because you have a unique role in the house I would say this and I I I'm probably unique I think the rules committee probably needs a bigger budget um now maybe next year you'll come with a bigger one I think given the number of amendments now being submitted and I don't
▶ 0:40:34know I'd I'd love to ask and I don't know Miss Fox if if you have the historical data but uh I think even just my four years the the growth in the number of amendments submitted to the rules committee was growing I think exponentially um and I don't know if you have the even as I recall I think it was the ndaa and uh in particular if anybody has the number of amendments submitted for instance on the ndaa in the last several years um I I'd be just curious for the record if you know that or if you just know it in
▶ 0:41:05total how many amends Amendments have been submitted well I just say a few years ago as I mentioned my statement the number number of submissions doubled and it's gone up like 67% since then and we get you we can get you the exact exact numbers but I yeah so 20 years ago was about 100 amendments on average on the ndaa now it's over a thousand and look part of I I think what we're both saying here
▶ 0:41:35is that uh you know we are blessed with Incredible staff Mr Griffith acknowledged that um on on both the majority and the minority side these people work unbelievably hard in long long hours we want to retain them I mean it's important to have people who have an Institutional knowledge of the way this place works um and you know we and and I again we want to keep them here it's a value to all of us uh so uh any you know again I I would Echo what the chairwoman said that
▶ 0:42:05I mean this what we're asking for is very modest but it is necessary yeah and I I'd like to express my agreement with Mr McGovern today you're getting us to agree again on the staff and we'll get you Mr melli the exact numbers but um I agree with what Mr mcgoverin said it's gone from a very small number like a around 100 to over a thousand and uh we'll get you the exact uh and I I I use it
▶ 0:42:35primarily just to make a point here which is you know at a time when we are I think as Americans and it doesn't matter which side of this debate you're on but it is clear that the role of Congress Visa the executive um not just because the current occupant of the white house but the Supreme Court in the ler bright decision among other decisions last year knocked out the Chevron Defence which means Congress is going to have to do more work it's not only going to be able to send up and I'll have to I have to say I'm sorry
▶ 0:43:05I'm taking more time than I usually do Mr chair but I just make a point because this is such an important Committee in my view but when I came from the state legislature to Congress I was frankly surprised at how much detail we had worked on when I was at the state level in legislation it was very specific often giving powers to the Commissioners which is like the secretaries here but much more detailed I was frankly surprised when it came to Congress how much latitude was given to agencies on rule making now that's you know I all think gets one side
▶ 0:43:35or the other that's just and sheffron Defence the lack of it now means that burden will fall more to Congress than it ever has before so in order to do that as members uh who engage in the process need to make amendments on legislation uh needs to be considered by you and I agree it's an amazing staff um that I um have high regard for but institutionally and I have no power to do this so I'm just using my five minutes to make a paid political advertisement um I do think
▶ 0:44:06for our responsibilities as an institution we need to equip people with more resources to be able to do their job adequately to protect the interest of the American people whichever side of it uh we're on I just think this is really important so hopefully next year we'll be looking at numb in fy20 um there on the depart on the ndaa 683 am amendments were um submitted in FY 24 it 1,558 it's astonishing in some way and and I agree and I want to Echo what you just said so if you want to
▶ 0:44:36give us more uh you can beyond beyond my Powers my mere Powers as Immortal but I just think it gave me a chance to make a speech too so I always appreciate that but uh with that thank you both for being here I yield back remember yields back we appreciate both of your testimony today it helps guide us through uh the budget allocation process um we'll the committee will pause uh while the witness panel thank you Mr chairman and I really want to memorialize what Mr mlli said about the role of Congress and oversight of the executive branch I think that
▶ 0:45:06has been sat we we've had difficulty with that and it's so wonderful Mr melli to hear you express those comments I love all this agreement yeah I know you're you're welcome back to the committee on house administration
▶ 0:46:25e for
▶ 0:47:22L you more words
▶ 0:48:25for for
▶ 0:49:10we reconvene as we welcome our next panel of witnesses chairman Arrington ranking member Bole we appreciate both of you being here today uh I know it's a uniquely busy day on the committee on budget uh obviously today we're talking about the allocation of funds to fund the committee uh to do their work so budget but in in a different context we're giving each of you five minutes for an opening statement the minority and majority will then have five minutes in total uh to ask question yielding uh between our colleagues uh we'll get moving right away and we recognize chairman Arrington for five
▶ 0:49:40minutes uh I thank the chairman and the members of this committee I will keep this uh short and sweet except for the fiscal State of Affairs for our uh nation and the people's government is not sweet it's bitter it's extremely bitter by the way uh we're robbing the private sector of $2 trillion doll now annually that's the deficit and that's a massive drag on our
▶ 0:50:10potential jobs wages all affected by that it is also uh massively upward pressure on inflation which absolutely is the most regressive tax on Working it also keeps interest rates High long-term interest rates specifically so people are going to that that American dream of owning a home becomes more and elusive
▶ 0:50:41it's evaporating before our eyes because of the uh degeneration of our fiscal strength which affects the economy and then lastly let me be clear if we don't change the current fiscal trajectory we are on with wartime level deficits pandemic levels of deficits at 7% GDP surpassing World War II levels of indebtedness at over 120%
▶ 0:51:12gross debt to GDP and interest payments on the debt at almost a trillion dollars which is more than we're paying out both to fund the defense department of the greatest military in the world world and more than we're paying out for Medicare benefits to our blessed fellow Americans who happen to seniors we cannot sustain it if we don't
▶ 0:51:44now then really bad things will happen and the biggest thing that I'm concerned about is a sovereign debt crisis where those who lend us that 2 trillion annually that's now 36 trillion in debt they won't lend us that money anymore to pay for all these programs and promises that we've made to the American people quite frankly it affects the things that I care the most about like we have to defend our country's interest
▶ 0:52:15we have to provide for the common defense but even my Democrat colleague has interest in programs that are in Jeopardy because of our uh fragile fiscal situation ation so the time is now for us to begin turning the ship we cannot dig out of a 36 trillion doll debt hole overnight but the biggest issue is not the dollars and cents that I'm throwing at you right now it's the moral question
▶ 0:52:45that our first president and father of this uh commented on emphatically in his in his uh farewell addressed do not put on another generation of Americans a debt you're not willing to pay for so it is a issue Mr chairman of of morality and so therefore um we have to lead
▶ 0:53:15by example and I think the last few years at least the last Congress we've asked to keep our budgets flat even though the activities have gone way up um we've passed more bills collectively with my friend and ranking member to fix the broken budget process than any budget committee since the 1974 budget act that created this committee so we're doing good work together we have certainly disagreements and some
▶ 0:53:45strong disagreements but we're doing the people's work to make this process work so that the outcomes are more uh responsible so that we are all more accountable to what we're doing to our children and what we're doing to the to our fellow Americans country and their future so I request we keep this flat we will keep the ratio that we've agreed to in the tradition of of working
▶ 0:54:16together um and that's my request Mr uh chairman thank you very much not so short of a of a a of a testimony but you reserve 15 seconds Mr Arington yields back uh Mr Bo is recognized yeah thank you um Mr chairman Mr ranking member I have to leave in uh literally one minute by the way that's a practice I would recommend to all of you for your future Witnesses if you want to keep them short make sure they're scheduled when they have to be somewhere
▶ 0:54:46else uh in in approximately a minute so I'll just say this because we're going to have there's a lot that my good friend jod our chairman um who I know is working very hard uh right now and as a passionate believer in those things in which he believes there's a lot of what he said uh that that I would like to respond to I won't uh take that opportunity here because I think we're going to have plenty of time uh together um spend some quality time together tomorrow but I will say I'm very proud of the friendship and
▶ 0:55:16the relationship that we have built we came into the committee with a pre-existing friendship but have really gotten to know each other excuse me very well over the last two years and we have vigorous disagreements I think you will see that uh on display tomorrow but at the same time even with that I agree with the chairman we had more U pieces of legislation pass our committee last term than I think in the history of the budget committee which dates back exactly a half century uh it's
▶ 0:55:46a credit to his leadership as chair I hope can uh take uh part of some of that credit as ranking member and I I hope and believe and other members have said that we have set a tone of seriousness and civility even while uh we both um have passionately held uh views I uh accept um that again we will have a flatline budget year-over-year I'm confident that we will be able to
▶ 0:56:17uh exercise our responsibilities as a committee a a committee that really has increased in terms of its activity relative to where it was um at any time that that I've been here and finally let me um say this I really want to thank my staff director Greg wearing the majority staff director Gary andrece um Paige Erica and the entire Republican and Democratic staffs they work very hard I know they're working very hard right now and will be over
▶ 0:56:47the course uh of the next couple days uh it's a pleasure to work with them uh I think we have built a a great camaraderie on this Comm committee and uh I'm very proud of the work that we've done and with that I'll yield back gentan yields back I'll recognize myself for 5 minutes for asking questions I know the the ranking member needs to step out um I've asked every chair and ranking member um one question out of the gates which is a simple yes no um no you're good um
▶ 0:57:17quick yes no question uh for for you and the ranking member we'll submit it to the ranking member but whether or not you're willing to commit to having your systems administrator meet with the House's CIO team uh in the first quarter to discuss cyber security issues absolutely and of course um in your budget um you as you noted uh you're putting your money where your mouth is 0% increase um the ranking member and I have had conversations about the importance of Chevron Defence about making sure that the house is doing its job and uniquely
▶ 0:57:47in this Congress where not only will you have the work of the of the the traditional work of the budget committee uh but with a heightened attention with reconciliation coming forward do you believe that you will then have the resources knowing uh the extensive expertise required amongst your staff uh without uh a budget increase um I believe we have the resources from our committee and our committee operation what I'm not sure is that we have the political will yet but I will report that out
▶ 0:58:17I think in venue and so so maybe maybe to to build on that there's a a handful of vacancies uh currently at the committee du you anticipate filling those out by the by Mr chairman by the way when I say political will that's not from the staff that's from the members absolutely do let me I'll I'll follow up on the question there's a handful of of vacancies on the staff staff slots um there's two aspects of that right there's the staff slots and then actually whether or not those are filled which obviously
▶ 0:58:48impacts the budget do you do you anticipate that those staff slots will be filled throughout this Congress are you facing any challenges we see this with the the administration picking people up private sector um often we find it difficult uh for commit it's hard to keep good talent um with what we pay versus the private sector we have to have the the resources like any operation any organization to make sure that we are buttoned up that the numbers are accurate that we're executing and that goes for the
▶ 0:59:18ranking member and myself and look when you commit to holding things flat um for the last few years here that would be two years and then going forward for another four by the way if we held discretionary spending flat for four years we'd save trillion over the next 10 years we hold the people's budget flat for two years and it's half of that over a half a trillion
▶ 0:59:48dollars so uh we want to lead by example and if that means we have to make some difficult choices on Staffing we will do that that but you got to have the team work to make the dream work right so we and you got to have the right Talent so we'll look at we we'll look at that among other ways to save money but we won't do it at the expense of being able to execute on on uh the activities that we've been entrusted with absolutely I look to my colleagues if either would like to ask a question yield to Mr Griffith
▶ 1:00:18I'm going to go historical on you you referenced Washington's comments do you think that he made those comments because uh the greatest crisis we ever had with our finances occurred under the Articles of Confederation when the Continental became worthless and we had a hard time paying our debts we did eventually get him paid but Washington would have witnessed all of that do you think that's part of why he made the comment referenced certain I'm certain of it in fact he referenced that when you are in times of War uh you have to take on some debt
▶ 1:00:49to fight for your freedom and for the uh s you know the pers the uh preservation of the Republic and he foresaw that that might happen again in the future but he said when when that time has come and gone you must quickly shed that debt L you put on the Next Generation a debt burden you're not willing to Bear yourselves I see 36 trillion in debt I see 21 trillion added to that that's the projections from CBO over the next
▶ 1:01:1910 years we are doing exactly what George Washington warned us against the the level of deficit to GDP is wartime but we're in relative peace and prosperity what if we have a shock to the system another pandemic a conflict a major power conflict I'm very concerned Now's the Time to get us in a position of strength not just for and
▶ 1:01:49uh the generations today but those uh who are counting on us to pass this down better than we than we found it Mi M Mr Griffith yields back um I yield back I recognize the ranking member for five minutes for questions thank you uh Mr chairman for being here I'm sorry Mr uh Bole had to leave I was my first question was going to be I wondered how long it would take to wipe the smile off his face after the Eagles win but I guess he's not here to answer that so we all just have to suffer uh for the uh I can only hope that that win
▶ 1:02:20we we have goodwi carried over to our uh budget resolution markup tomorrow let's hope let's so I appreciate you being here I had the great privilege of serving uh on the budget committee for my first four years here uh in Congress under uh chairman Smith and I certainly wish you uh continued uh good luck and good fortune as we work through this I I did want to just because it's brought up and I appreciate your reference to um General and then President Washington at a
▶ 1:02:50time uh when the world was very different I think we would all acknowledge that and and at the time the US dollar was clearly not International currency and and the reserve currency that it now is and so some degree of of um of issuing bonds to help Finance World activities is is critical but I I share your real concerns about growing debt uh the amount that we pay on debt annually which as you rightly point out exceeds our uh defense
▶ 1:03:20budget and you know the notion that we could spend a trillion dollars uh on other things um instead of the debt or even a significant portion of that hundreds of billions we could do to uplift people in this country so I I I share with you uh your concern and you know for those who aren't concerned about it I think um it is important to know when insurance rates rise as we have seen that means we pay more on that debt uh war and natural disasters are harder to fund when you've already stretched
▶ 1:03:50your ability to do it um so I think there are real concerns I will say this um as you're dealing with this since you're here um you know I think any reasonable person would Rec would recognize that if the United States government is spending five six s trillion dollars a year pick a number I mean it's roughly six trillion I think outlays last year that even as a rounding error there are things that we could do which save significant amount of dollars in the course of doing that uh I'll just editorialize I think the slash
▶ 1:04:20and burn that's going on right now by Mr musk and uh and and and some of his uh cohorts is not the way to do this but I think there's clearly place where we could all agree that there would be savings I also think that a reasonable person would conclude in the time of enormous debt and real pressures that even as we're reducing the increase in expenditures or even get to Flat funding potentially if we could weed out things that perhaps aren't essential that cutting uh the rate of
▶ 1:04:51revenues at the same time uh could lead to disaster as well and I think what what in my mind and I'm not in charge of anything here so just make an observation that are coming together of both sides in a real way to look at the long-term interest of country um which include a disc real discussion about both revenues and expenditures so that we get to a point where as measured against GDP which is really the best way to measure you've you've raised that we're now at roughly
▶ 1:05:21122% yes sir I think of GDP um that you need to look at both elements about what's in the interest of the American public and how do we move forward so I just thank you for your comments and I'm wildly off topic because that's not my job here today but since you're here and since you raised it um and I do want to ask whether or not given the role and someone we I think the chairman referenced and we've been talking about Chevron deference and the fact that it's gone now um and in in in in in
▶ 1:05:51light of that decision it really requires more of Congress Congress rather than less and we're going to have to do more do you feel you have adequate resources as it relates to your role in making sure that we're uh a able to fulfill those obligations in light of the ler break decision to remove Chevron Defence uh thank you Mr ranking member um we have resources um the issue like many in Washington I think you might agree with this is
▶ 1:06:22is not do we have the resources or do we have the Solutions the policy reforms but do we have the political will to restore article one by by Leading and being responsible for our oversight for the powers of the purse and acting responsibly I can't write that in the legislation the American people have to hold discountable that but but in terms of Financial Resources I I agree and and let me if I may just to respond to your
▶ 1:06:54earlier the long-term unfunded liabilities think about this the long-term 30-year unfunded liabilities on top of the the highest level of indebtedness today 36 trillion is $125 trillion we'll never make that if we don't intervene most of the big things that we have to do to resolve these matters and to return to a sustainable level of debt to GDP we're going to need to do together with with
▶ 1:07:24with Republicans and Dem Democrats and that kind of like Ronald Reagan did with tip O'Neal you know that was the last big deal that was done to to put us on that sustainable path so um but no but know this we can't have 1.8% growth rates and get there either so to take the pressure off the reduction in spending we got to get back to two and a half three% growth rates 1% of growth over
▶ 1:07:5410 years from where we are at 1.8 is $3 trillion in additional revenue or savings towards the deficit we also need to work together on that thank you appr than you rank M Yi back gentleman yields back chairman Arrington we appreciate you being here and what's an incredibly uh busy day and busy week for you um the committee will pause while the witness panel exits thank you thank you Mr chairman
▶ 1:08:25e
▶ 1:08:56I now welcome our next panel of witnesses uh chairman comr ranking member uh Connelly uh from the committee on oversight and government reform uh we're using this committee to to have a conversation about every committee's budget as we go through the allocation process we've had a lot of conversations about the ending of Chevron Defence about how we make sure our committees are robustly staffed uh to make sure that we're providing proper oversight uh no committee uh more important on the oversight side uh than this committee uh we'll recognize each of for 5 minutes
▶ 1:09:26uh for opening statements we'll have 5 minutes for questions total on the minority and the majority side yielding uh amongst our colleagues we'll Dive Right In I'll recognize you chairman comr for five minutes well thank you chairman style and ranking member Morelli for holding this committee funding hearing today ranking member Conley and I are pleased to submit the house oversight and government reform committee's budget request for the 119th Congress our budget requests seek an appropriate amount to facilitate the oversight committee's important mission of rooting out waste fraud and abuse in federal
▶ 1:09:56government programs the committee also has key legislative jurisdiction over items such as the federal civil service if accepted our request is only for a modest increase of less than 10% not adjusting for inflation compared to the budget of 118th Congress this budget will operate the full committee and its seven subcommittees including the recently formed subcommittee on delivering on government efficiency ranking member Conley and the minority will receive 30 33% of the budget and staff
▶ 1:10:26Physicians to use at his discretion as I mentioned earlier our committee's purpose is to protect taxpayer dollars from fraud ways to abuse and mismanagement and to ensure the efficiency Effectiveness and accountability of the federal government this budget request is an investment and oversight it's an investment in skilled staff and a commitment to travel as needed to conduct oversight and follow leads to conduct fome oversight and meaningful credible investigations the committee needs skilled in experienced staff
▶ 1:10:57the committee has recruited and continues to recruit staff with oversight expertise and diverse skill sets our proposed budget will allow the committee to not only recruit but retain experienced legal and investigative staff to do our important oversight work our budget request anticipates 133 total staff positions for the committee both majority and minority which maintains the total staff slots from the 118th Congress in addition to a robust hearing schedule working with whistle lowers and conducting Investigations out
▶ 1:11:27of our Congressional Offices here in DC the committee plans to hold field hearings perform site visits and conduct investigative work in our states to understand Americans needs priorities and concerns we must hear directly from them oversight travel is a necessary expense and will allow us to conduct robust oversight on behalf of the American people in closing ranking member Conley and I appreciate your consideration of our budget request we also appreciate your commitment to our committee's oversight Mission we are looking forward of fulfilling this important Mission during the 119th
▶ 1:11:58Congress thank you Mr chairman I yel back thank you chairman comr uh ranking member Conelly you're now recognized for thank you Mr chairman and ranking member m great to be with you today and I want to thank the chairman uh chairman coma for the collaborative approach uh with which he and his staff have uh have uh approached this budget um our request for a combined budget of 32 $613 to
▶ 1:12:28operate our committee is a modest increase from the previous funding allocation and recognition that our committee will take on what I hope will be robust oversight in the 119th Congress importantly our bipartisan request maintains the allocated committee staff slots from the 118th Congress as chairman comr has indicated which is 133 staff slots as the principal investigative body of the house of repres Representatives our committee holds a unique
▶ 1:12:58and consequential role it has authority to investigate the subjects within our committee's legislative jurisdiction as well as any matter any matter within the jurisdiction of the other standing house committees our legislative jurisdiction includes many timely issues such as the federal Workforce District of Columbia the United States Postal Service the National Archives government procurement Federal it just to name a few to meet the demands of this expansive
▶ 1:13:29oversight mandate our committee currently has seven subcommittees up from five in the previous Congress to Faithfully carry out our mission for the American people we must rely on smart talented and experienced staff who work long hours and make personal sacrifices in order to service our nation and this institution the United States Congress they bring Technical and investigative experience that our members of the American people rely on and benefit from
▶ 1:13:59moreover the nature of our work often extends beyond the halls of Congress it takes us into communities impacted by crisis and policy decisions uh from the devastation we've witnessed in places like North Carolina uh and Los Angeles we have seen firsthand the necessity of field hearings site visits and fact finding missions these efforts bring government closer to the people ensuring that those most affected by federal policies have a voice
▶ 1:14:29in the oversight of the process our constituents and the American people need a government to work for them this committee has tasked with delivering that and I believe that the budget request allows us to try to fulfill that mission in its completion I thank my colleague Mr comr for his bipartisanship and I thank you all for your attention today I yield back the gentleman yields back appreciate both both of you being here today uh in particular chairman comr where our committees overlap
▶ 1:14:59uh as it relates to election Integrity uh in particular as it relates to your oversight of the nation's capital here in Washington DC uh which has had some pretty poor practices as it relates to election Integrity um let me jump in uh a question I've asked both chair and ranking member of every committee uh is will you commit to having your house um your your system administrator meet with the House's CIO uh as it relates uh to cyber security in the first quarter this year yes a absolutely we we try to make sure we're in uh uh
▶ 1:15:30that that our systems are secure but we will continue to to meet regularly yes thank you absolutely thank you thank you very much um chairman comr um you created a new subcommittee this year uh a real uh focus in the first quarter of this year uh after president Trump was elected I think in a really positive way uh is oversight over government efficiency across the board it's obviously front and center uh for the Trump Administration it's front and center for congress you created a doge subcommittee uh on oversight could
▶ 1:16:00you provide us a little color on that uh and then the funding request uh that's associated with it absolutely of course this is dominating the Airways you you see uh it's it's probably doge is probably mentioned more by both parties in the House of Representatives than than anything right now so we've created a subcommittee to focus uh exclusively on the the mission of do and that's to identify waste fraud abuse mismanagement the federal government uh the the chairwoman
▶ 1:16:31Miss green is in communication with with musk regular communication and his people uh just uh we're having a Committee hearing now I just left that Committee hearing lots of interest from the American people I believe it was uh covered live on CNN and fox so what what we're trying to do is is be transparent uh with what doge is doing we're working hand inand a lot of the stuff they identify and and their objectives we're having hearings to not only amplify
▶ 1:17:02but but also to to figure out Solutions uh when you identify the waste it's one thing but you've got to make sure that it uh the problem gets solved and I think that's been a problem with oversight in the past we've done a good job identifying waste just no one's ever held accountable and the wasteful spending doesn't stop so doge is going to work uh very closely with with must team to ensure that the goals are uh are met from a legislative standpoint terrific I I look to my colleagues that they'd like
▶ 1:17:32me to yield but otherwise I have another question that I can go to um so let me let me build on on what you were just speaking about your committee uniquely requires a wide array of expertise because the oversight jurisdiction that you have uh is very broad right um as you look at uh the competition you're feeling against private sector against in particular this Administration probably looking for some of the talent that you've uh developed over the past handful of years um do you feel you have the resources you need to be able to compete or is there anything that this committee should be
▶ 1:18:02looking at I think uh with our request we'll be able to to do that we need lawyers accountants we need the most skilled of all government employees uh because there's a lot of uh auditing there's a lot of uh you know specific scenarios where we're meeting with whistleblowers and we're trying to comply with whistleblower protection laws and things like that uh we're you know it's not just Washington DC the federal government waste we spent we took some trips to the
▶ 1:18:32border to meet with border patrol we actually deposed some border patrol members at the border to make it easier for them so uh we do a lot of depositions uh that obviously requires legal expertise and now we're really looking at uh improper payments so there's there's a need for auditing expertise on the committee as well you do a series of uh investigative trips you referen the border is that both staff and members that you're often uh taking there and that's actually an efficiency to do
▶ 1:19:02that because you can bring the team down there and depose Ser go down there then fly them up here and put them in a hotel room I mean the the and it's easier because people always come up with excuses well I can't this day I can't that day so we're you know when we need information we'll we'll go to them so we we have a lot of uh a lot of people that that have concerns that we have to meet with uh you could call them whistleblowers I call a whistleblower a federal employee that that actually takes the Whistleblower designation but we have lots of
▶ 1:19:32people that call uh with concerns some of these concerns pan out some of them don't and it just takes a lot of Staff time a lot of Staff uh expertise to be able to to uh navigate all the the complaints and uh expressions of concern that we receive from the American people well appreciate you being being here you got a lot of very important work ahead of you this Congress um I I'll yield back and I'll now recognize the ranking member for five minutes for purpose of asking questions
▶ 1:20:03thank you uh thank you Mr chairman for being here and uh ranking member Connelly thank you for being here as well um the U and and I apologize if you said this or if the chair asked this question while I stepped out of the room but the traditional 23 one3 split in funding for the committee uh I just want to make sure Mr chair that you uh will continue to respect the minorities uh one-third and and allow them The Independents to spend the money as they see F AB absolutely and I
▶ 1:20:33uh we're excited that Mr connley is a ranking member and and my staff uh is has enjoyed working with his staff thus far great thank you um and I I think this was touched on and I think the chair referenced um the Loper brigh uh decision last year by the Supreme Court which eliminated Chevron Deen so one of the challenges for congress moving forward I think no matter where you are uh on which side of the aisle the role that Congress will play in
▶ 1:21:03policymaking is going to become much more detailed uh the requirements are going to put much greater pressure on Congressional committees in the House and Senate to um to be far more specific than we have been which is going to put a greater burden on your committee because it'll also mean more oversight of the things that Congress has authorized so give that um I'd like to hear from both of you as to whether or not you feel you have the resources to carry out those article one responsibilities particularly in light of of the the
▶ 1:21:34the removal of Chevron Defence you you or me well uh the question is do we have the resources um obviously on our side of the aisle we would prefer the resources Mr comr has uh but uh I think we have uh approached the budget in a professional way and a bipartisan way and uh in the the on the Democratic side of the aisle we do feel there been a fair distribution of resources and we can meet
▶ 1:22:04the task with the resources we have and I agree with uh Mr Conley we we've the staff spent a lot of time preparing the budget and I think we can live with that we commit to working with the minority on on uh what their percentage is supposed to be thank you um both for that um and I will just reiterate something I've said at a number of different uh committees that come in front of us I mean given what's happening
▶ 1:22:34now with the new Administration again without regard to how you feel about the actions in terms of substantively the process uh is chaotic and the need to do executive order instead of legislation when you control both houses of Congress seems to me is wildly wrong misdirected um most of these things in including empowering Doge and doing the other things that uh the administration apparently wants to do should be done legislatively instead of in a regulatory way or by Fiat
▶ 1:23:05or executive order so I hope this is just a my personal view uh just hope that you will use the dollars that being uh uh appropriated to you in a way that allows you to continue to carry that mission out because much of this is precedent setting and um and setting precedent means that not only is congress's role Visa this Administration but congress's role Visa any Administration in the future and many of us you know will likely continue to
▶ 1:23:35serve in Congress Beyond this Administration we we would do well to be mindful of those responsibilities and the fact that the founders set out legislative responsibilities and the power of the purse with the Congress that's U we talked about President Washington in the earlier panel um but we still hold true that that's the way that the founders and the public should want this to be done so I know you have grave responsibilities in that regard and I just you mentioned that as we're uh looking at budgets the final
▶ 1:24:05thing I just want to um say is as you're doing hearings particularly field hearings uh one of the things that the chair and I uh deeply are concerned about is is the welfare of members and staff as we travel from a security perspective so um if you have any comments on how this has been dealt with in the past I'd love to hear them if not simply an invitation for you and your staff to make sure that we're coordinating with the US capital police with the sergeant arms with local law enforcement wherever you go we want to make sure that members and staff
▶ 1:24:35remain safe uh particularly in an increased threat environment absolutely and I think you would see with the makeup of the committee the committee roster on both sides we have a lot of members on both sides that are high-profile that uh receive a lot of death threat so we we take security very seriously when we do the the field hearings thank you with that I yield back Jim yield back uh we appreciate uh the chair and ranking members uh testimony here today uh it's very helpful to us as we go through the committee allocation process uh the committee will
▶ 1:25:05pause uh while the witness panel exits and the new panel arrives thank you very much chairman thank you thank you Mary for
▶ 1:26:11mik we welcome our next panel uh committee on agriculture uh chairman Bost uh ranking member ringing member Lincoln Tano sorry as I look at my notes um um great to have you both with us here today uh we've been having a robust conversation about the committee funding allocation process uh your testimony will be helpful in that we'll give each of you five minutes uh for the purpose of offering an opening statement we'll take five minutes on each side between the majority and minority to ask
▶ 1:26:41questions uh yielding um between our our colleagues um did I did I not say the committee on Veterans Affairs you said committee on agriculture but that's I look at you and I see you from Illinois Mr Bost um I jump immediately to the cornfield south of the state of Wisconsin I apologize as I came zipping in the room I should have taken a moment uh to to pause and reflect uh but important work on the committee of Veterans Affairs and I'll yield to you uh Mr boser five minutes uh to share your proposal thank you
▶ 1:27:11mic's on okay uh thank you chairman and ranking member uh melli for the opportunity uh to discuss the committee on Veterans Affairs budget request for the 119th Congress you know I'm pleased have uh ranking member Mark Tano join me you know we have submitted our funding request forms for the 119th Congress per your committee's guidance and as you know the committee has oversight over the entire uh VA and the department Department of Veterans Affairs various
▶ 1:27:41programs serving veterans at the Department of Labor and defense Arlington National Cemetery our overseas Cemetery as well as other veterans related matters all to ensure that VA is meeting their mission for the over 9 million veterans their and their families and their survivors uh they they serve every single day now VA is the second largest Federal agency and the largest Federal Integrated Health Care system
▶ 1:28:12in the country and in the world now employing o over 30 377,000 people with a budget approaching $400 billion since 20 2015 VA has uh seen budgetary growth of over 140% ensuring proper oversight of taxpayers dollars is essential for the delivery of care and services to our veterans and a waste of those dollars is unacceptable
▶ 1:28:42we owe it to our veterans and taxpayers to ensure VA is making um Mark and making marked progress regarding veterans Access to Health Care wait time and Hospitals and Clinics proper use of the mission act the backlog of disability claims the implementation of the electronic health record and more recently the implementation of the Dole act as well as the packed act um uh that is also out there we're trying to implement before I speak uh about
▶ 1:29:12our request for the 119th Congress I want to say a thank you to the members of of the committee with your support and bipartisan work of the members of the committee in the 118th Congress we were able to conduct over 90 oversight hearings and over 100 VA uh officials uh with 100 VA officials connecting with over 10,000 veterans and their families Nationwide through in-person and telephone town halls and
▶ 1:29:43160 uh oversight letters uh to the VA we conducted this work while our funding request was relatively flat with only a modest increase of 4% in the 118th Congress compared to the 117th Congress to continue our work though to accomplish the mission the committee needs essential uh talented staff uh experience accordingly we have requested a 12% increase in the committee's
▶ 1:30:13annual budget for the 119th Congress as chairman I believe that that this will addition this additional funding will continue to conduct oversight across the country on behalf of every veteran and the new funds would also allow us to hire three additional employees two of these employees on the majority staff side and one on the minority staff side would be on on the majority side they would be Health investigators who are who will and go out and into
▶ 1:30:43the field to conduct oversight for va's vast Health Care system now my goal would be to hire uh clinicians or very experienced Healthcare Professionals for this role now I believe they would be uh an asset to work in Congress as as we do everyday our everyday work in this case we would need additional funds to uh competitively hire these individuals we all know that inflation has impacted the economy and our request takes
▶ 1:31:13this into account we are asking for funding to prevent our experienced and highly technical to keep our experienced and highly technical staff on both sides they di from leaving the committee Mr chairman unlike many other committees with we have a deep bench the staff understand the complexity of the VA and don't simply they don't simply grow on trees despite being one of the smallest committees in the house we punch
▶ 1:31:44way above our weight level to put it into perspective for every one of our committee staff there are over 8,000 VA employees that we have to give oversight to so let me say this again Mr Tano and I have just 43 staff to oversee an agency that has 300 employees this is why it is critical that we have the funds to attract the best and the brightest and equip them with the
▶ 1:32:14tools they need to provide oversight over the VA Mr chairman you have my Assurance that we will continue to account and stretch every dollar afforded us as we meet and exceed the expectations placed upon us but my humble request for you the ranking member and the members of this committee is that we build on the oversight success that we've made over the last Congress and fully fund
▶ 1:32:44this request in closing I want to thank the chairman and members of the staff uh of this committee uh on the administration the work we continue to do to modernize the house and make things easier for members and staff to serve the American people has been extraordinary I want to thank you for the opportunity to be for before you today and I would be glad to answer any questions and I now yield back thank you very much chairman Bost uh ranking member of the committee on Veterans
▶ 1:33:14Affairs Mr Tano uh you are recognized for five minutes uh thanks chairman style ranking member Morelli and members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to join chairman Bost in presenting the budget request for the house committee on Veterans Affairs in the 119th Congress our committee remains one of the most active in Congress playing a crucial role in shaping policies that directly impact millions of veterans and their families throughout the 118th Congress we maintained a bipartisan commitment
▶ 1:33:45to ensuring that those who have served received the care benefits and opportunities that they've earned we Advanced significant legislation conducted rigorous overse site and um and work collaboratively to address key challenges facing veterans today we continue to oversee the implementation of the pacted ACT ensuring that toxic exposed veterans receive long overdue benefits and Health Care additionally we have made critical progress in addressing veteran suicide homelessness and economic and
▶ 1:34:15E economic well-being while working to improve access to benefits for historically underserved populations but despite these successes there's still much work to be done uh the Department of Veterans Affairs is the second largest Federal agency and it has experienced extraordinary growth with its budget increasing over 140% in the past decade and its Workforce surpassing 377,000 employees
▶ 1:34:45and while meanwhile the Staffing and resources uh for our committee have largely made remain stagnant the same without proper resources our committee uh our ability to conduct oversight and ensure veterans receive the care and benefits they deserve is compromised we must have the necessary funding to keep Pace with the increasing complexity and size of va that is why we are requesting a 12% increase in our budget for the 119th
▶ 1:35:16Congress this increase is essential for several reasons and I will outline three of them first staff mention in competitive compensation as my uh as the chairman mentioned the committee's work requires highly skilled professionals with expertise and VA health care benefits in administration these staff members are often recruited by private sector organizations that can offer significantly higher salaries we must ensure that our budget allows us to attract retain and fairly compensate
▶ 1:35:47the experts we need to provide effective oversight of va which administers the nation's largest Integrated Health Care system with the increasing cost of living uh the inflation uh and Main and maintaining a robust and knowledgeable team it is critical to our ability to oversee the nation's largest integrated healthc care system and the expansive benefits programs vaa administers the minority will use its added funds for annual
▶ 1:36:17salary step increases um filling an unfunded slot from the last Congress and hiring additional staffer if the speaker's office approves the extra billets requested by the chairman second we need to have robust oversight of va during the 118th Congress the committee held over 90 oversight hearings with more than 100 VA officials connected with over 10,000 veterans and their families through town halls and sent 160 oversight letters to VA with
▶ 1:36:47an increased budget we can strengthen our ability to hold VA accountable ensuring that taxpayer dollarss are spent effectively and veterans receive the care they deserve Third Field oversight travel the VA operates over 12,000 sites of care across the United States its territories and the Philippines to conduct proper oversight our staff and members must travel to VA facilities to assess operations firsthand this funding request will allow us to support travel
▶ 1:37:17necessary to examine VA Healthcare delivery benefits processing and infrastructure Investments as in previous congresses the committee's funding will be allocated 2third to the majority and onethird to the minority the remaining funds are shared for travel equipment and other necessary expenses historically our committee has operated with a spirit of mutual respect and budgeting decisions ensuring that both majority and minority staff have the resources needed to fulfill their responsibilities and we do anticipate
▶ 1:37:48maintaining that approach and attitude in the 119th Congress congress's funding decisions should reflect our values and adequately uh funding our committee as a direct investment in those who have served our country so our mandate is clear to conduct rigorous oversight of the VA and ensure that veterans receive the benefits and services they've earned to meet this responsibility we must have the resources to recruit and retain expert staff conduct thorough oversight and engage directly with the veteran Community
▶ 1:38:19I do appreciate your consideration of our funding request and look forward to your support and ensuring that we have the resources necessary to fulfill our mission and I welcome any questions you may have thank you very much ranking member Tano um I'll recognize myself for five minutes to ask questions um your committee has a great history of a lot of nonpartisan work making sure our veterans receive the benefits they earned while serving our country uh in uniform uh you referenced chairman boss uh the the scale and size of the VA 377,000
▶ 1:38:49people a 400400 billion doll budg budget um and it's all about making sure our veterans are receiving the benefits it's not how it's not only the input what we spend it's the output what are they getting uh and that's where your oversight role is absolutely essential um when we look at your increase in staff to healthc care investigators um maybe two on the majority one on the minority it sounds like um could you put a little color on that is that sufficient um in understanding the scale
▶ 1:39:19of the VA and the importance of making well if we could figure out a way to do it in this climate where we're trying to spend it spend money as wisely as we can but we could use about four times that many staff but I'm going to tell you that we're doing a job uh over what we've done over the last two years and even before that of oversight uh has been appropriate uh we shift the budget where it need be as far as travel and and everything like that to make sure that we go to those sites where we get words from whistleblowers that
▶ 1:39:49something isn't going right or uh in our investigation team as far as the the auditor generals and everything like that then we can respond this is the type this is a level of staff that we think is sensible to ask for we will continue to bat way above our weight like I said and and because by having that quality staff and being able to make that investment yes I think we can do it with what we're asking for um I'm I'm looking to my colleagues if they'd like me to yield otherwise I'll jump to my next question um
▶ 1:40:20one question I've asked every chair and ranking member out of the gates I'll make it myself second question for you though um is will you commit to having your systems administrator meet with the House's uh Chief Information officer uh in the first quarter of this year to discuss cyber security yes you bet you yes absolutely that that I appreciate that let me let me dive in a little bit on the Travel side of the budget you noticed that the the the additional staff slots would be for people to be in the field um could you just walk through uh the impact on your budget of making sure that your
▶ 1:40:50investigators are in the field at VA locations around the well last year we we asked we didn't ask for an increase in it and we went over a little La last year but we were able to do that with the Staffing funds that we had and we able to shift that the same thing is that that's why we haven't asked for that we can't predict we would love to be able to say hey we know that uh La is going to have a problem and we're going to have to be there this many day or something as big as
▶ 1:41:20the fact hey Guam has a problem now that we talking lot of travel I'd like to be able to predict that we believe based on our past history of things that have come up that we're holding with our travel budget and if it gets to the point like it did last year we can shift that over and by definition you have to be reactive because if you knew a problem was coming you'd prevent yeah over oversight many of our committees um many of our committees that come before you uh their main job is to pass laws dealing with that we we have that but
▶ 1:41:50oversight is some of the most important things we do through the committee and if you believe there's not a problem somewhere in VA as big as it is wait five minutes you'll find one any any entity that's $400 billion do uh 377,000 people uh despite the overwhelming majority of them doing great work for the right reasons to serve our veterans does not mean uh that there's not someone making a mistake making an error doing the wrong thing and one thing that we do have and not that the previous administration
▶ 1:42:21um didn't work with us to make sure we went into the issues let me tell you that because of the friendship I have with the new secretary he and I served with well so did many of you serve with uh uh Doug Collins we're going to be working to make sure that those dollars are going to what they're supposed to do providing for the health care and Veterans Benefits that they're supposed to do not to a heavy level of of bureaucracy or if any fraud or abuse is occurring we will look into that very closely and we have to have the oversight
▶ 1:42:51staff to do that thank you both for being here chairman boss ranking member Tano I'll yield back I'll recognize the ranking member mlli for five minutes for asking questions thank you m chairman and thank you chairman Boston ranking member Tano for being here thanks for all you do um uh I I want to just begin just a quick check you know tradition has it in the house that Minority has one-third of the staff budget uh want to just um get from you uh Mr chair your
▶ 1:43:21commitment that the onethird budget will be at the direction of Mr Tano and he'll what we have is is one3 and 2/3 on the Staffing level the other is shared we've never had a problem with that matter of fact the uh staffer that who's behind me that has handled the budget over the last 24 years um actually for both for Republican and Democrat alike um has that has been our policy and it has always been there's never been a question if there's an ask I mean we still do the oversight
▶ 1:43:52of saying okay is this travel next necessary but whether it's minority or majority we we know what our job is and we work together to make sure that happens and and Mr Tano you're confident your relationship that that that's been the case and we continue yeah the we have a we have a good working relationship with each other and we we respect each other's Turf and we respect the precedents of the committee yes very good um and I'll just make this observation which I've made to other chairs and ranking members who have come before us um
▶ 1:44:22we've made considerable mention in the last two days around um the ler brigh decision which eliminated Chevron Defence um which puts a great deal more pressure seems to me on Congress uh both houses to make sure there's some real specificity in the bills that we pass not simply giving uh the right to the in this case the administrator or the VA or other parts of your significant responsibility so do you feel you have the resources necessary
▶ 1:44:52to make sure as you're doing authorizing legislation that you can give that specificity and that you have the the resources to be able to do that effectively let me tell you I believe we do and we we believe it's our job I from my standpoint I came from 20 years in the state legislature where we actually directed The agencies I think that we should do a little bit more of that and maybe that uh court case will give us that authority to where we take back our power as members of Congress to do exactly that I I I appreciate that I served uh similar period
▶ 1:45:23time in the New York State Legislature and uh I think I've said this earlier today was somewhat surprised when I came to Congress that uh frankly the lack of uh detail or specificity um and to your point at the state legislature we would be much more involved and uh I had some rules relative to giving too much power to Commissioners just generally when I drafted legislation as a committee chair so I I I have been surprised and and perhaps this is a way to without regard to how you feel about the
▶ 1:45:53decision and I'm sure people have wildly different opinions um but the net result is it requires us now to have the level of specificity which we have lacked for some time so Mr Tano do you have a comment on that I I I I would we this came up in uh in an oversight uh there was much discussion about it in a Committee hearing um I do believe that the decision uh does imply that uh Congress does need to staff up uh further we
▶ 1:46:23we need to consider that we need to uh I'm I'm I'm always been worried about the level of scientific expertise available to all members of Congress um we you know we're all limited to like maybe three or four La um but for us to keep up with crypto to keep up with uh AI uh AI certainly has applications to VA and uh how we administer Med medicine um or health health policy um I would also say you know the chairman and I
▶ 1:46:53have shared I think uh uh We've shared an interest in oversight over the implementation of the electronic medical records uh which is a yearl long billions of dollars being spent uh that requires very very uh strong expertise uh and that expertise does not come cheaply and I don't think we even have enough uh you know is this is going this is going to be helpful but to to keep a handle on 15 billion doll
▶ 1:47:24reaching $30 billion uh of trying to get this record system up it's going to be difficult yeah one of my responsib just a just to make an additional comment and then I'm I'm happy to to um to yield but uh you know I served in the state legislature as chairman of the insurance committee you have a large essentially healthc care system to run and it does take expertise and it's it's a real real job that you have and I'll just make my my uh completely uh unol advice that I think longterm
▶ 1:47:54our committee all of us collectively going to need to invest a great deal more in Congress in resources for Congress to be able to do the job that we've been asked to do effectively so anyway thanks for apprciate all your time thank you m gentl y's back chairman boss ranking member Tano we appreciate both of you uh coming before us very helpful as we work uh to finalize the committee budgets uh the committee will pause while the witness panel exits uh appreciate you being here I'm just going s
▶ 1:48:26to yeah
▶ 1:49:02we now welcome our next panel of witnesses uh chairman Guthrie congratulations on your chairmanship ranking member palone thank you for both for joining us today uh we've been uh engaged in a long series of panels uh of chairman and ranking member uh that have come before us it's a real opportunity to make sure that you have the resources you need need there would being good stewards of taxpayer dollars uh there's been a lot of conversation about the end of Chevron Defence when we think about Energy and Commerce that has a big impact on the work uh that you do
▶ 1:49:33we'll give each of you five minutes for an opening statement uh then we'll take five minutes in total each for the majority a minority for questions yielding uh amongst the members I'll now recognize you uh chairman Guthrie uh for five minutes uh thank you thank you chairman Style thank you ranking member melli uh for holding this committee funding hearing ranking member pal and our pleased to submit to the house committee on Energy and Commerce budget request for the 119th Congress the committee on Energy and Commerce has expansive jurisdiction which vests Us in the
▶ 1:50:03opportunity and responsibility to address issues affecting Americans every day the committee has already started tackling many of our priorities for 119th Congress for example we have held hearings examining ways to unleash American Energy consider reforms of the Frank R lottenberg chemical safety act for the 21st century your colleague from New Jer former colag in New Jersey and explore American Spectre management and consider legislation to keep fentel out of our communities and today we're holding a hearing on manufacturing the next generation
▶ 1:50:33of American Technologies the American people are counting on us to focus on these issues and many more to deliver results that improve their lives to further the committee's ambitious legislative agenda our budget request seeks $ 32.3 million ranking member palone and the minority will receive 37 7% of our of the budget the Energy and Commerce Committee has 54 members two more than last Congress to help carry out our agenda therefore a significant part of
▶ 1:51:03our budget will go to attracting hiring and retaining staff with experience and expertise to help these members in their work to pass legislation our budget requests include keeping 130 staff positions for the committee consistent with last Congress the minority will receive an additional slot with 8 5 slots for the majority and 45 for the minority the budget request also factors in committee fieldwork to better inform the committee's oversight and legislative work
▶ 1:51:33Energy and Commerce Committee members will need to travel for fied hearings and site visits to hear directly from the American people small businesses and industries especially those who are unable to travel to Washington DC for example the committee is planning field hearings and site visits to North Dakota Texas Iowa Michigan and California California to look at energy health care supply chains and artificial intelligence issues collecting testimony data and firsthand experiences will help us craft quality and responsive
▶ 1:52:04legislation ranking member palone and I appreciate your consideration for our budget requests we also appreciate your commitment to our committee's mission from Healthcare and energy to telecommunications and consumer protection policy the committee on Energy and Commerce has has a lot to accomplish we are looking forward to fulfilling this important Mission during the 119th Congress thank you and I yield back gentleman yields back uh ranking member P you recognized for five minutes thank you chairman style ranking member melli
▶ 1:52:34and the members of the committee and thank you for the opportunity to testify on the proposed budget for the Energy and Commerce Committee for the 119th Congress and I'm pleased to join uh committee chair Guthrie here today and thank him for seeking me uh and my staff's input in the preparation of the proposed budget request as you know I'm not going to repeat the committee's jurisdiction but it has the broadest jurisdiction of any authorizing committee uh in the house and over the last several congresses our committee has been extremely productive
▶ 1:53:04in legislating even with the challenges of the 118th Congress we were able to advance a lot of bipartisan bills out of the committee some of those bills made it until the end of the year bipartisan by cam agreement that was unfortunately stripped from the committee resolution at the very last minute but that package ban just as an example abusive pricing practices by Pharmacy benefit managers increased funding for community health centers and Crackdown on junk fees it also reauthorized both a support act to build upon
▶ 1:53:35our efforts to combat the drug overdose epidemic and the pandemic and all Hazard of preparedness act to fund P pandemic response I just use that as an example of the types of things that we deal with and while we were not able to get these bipartisan Provisions signed into law last Congress I know we are all committed to getting them done this Congress our proposed budget which request a 17.8% increase in funding for the committee above the 118th Congress levels will greatly assist us in
▶ 1:54:05fulfilling our legislative oversight and the investigative duties over the expansive areas within our jurisdiction the Energy and Commerce Committee has a long and proud history of bipartisan collaboration in the spirit of serving all Americans and to see directly how the laws we pass here in Washington impact the communities we serve we plan to travel to committee members districts to listen to firsthand experiences from people in these districts in order to advance the committee's goal it's also critical that we retain
▶ 1:54:35a strong and experienced staff over the last several congresses the institution has taken tremendous steps to increase staff pay across the board instituting minimal annual pay and recently boosting the maximum pay for senior staffers to and I commend speaker Johnson and this committee for making those staff salary increases a reality these pay increases are essential to attract and retain a diverse Workforce that remains on Capitol Hill but in order
▶ 1:55:05to continue to boost staff salaries we need larger overall committee budgets right now I have nine open full-time employee slots that I cannot fill because we don't have the overall budget for the salaries for those potential candidates and I also do not have the resources in the min minority to give any current staff raises so we have to continue to boost staff salaries to be competitive with federal agencies and the private sector otherwise the legislative branch is at a distinct disadvantage and we simply cannot allow
▶ 1:55:35that to happen in my opinion longtime committee staff who intricately know and understand the legislative history of the laws that previous congresses have passed are critical to ensuring that the legislative intent of those laws is known over time and sters with investigative experience are also critical to our oversight of the administration and our investigative efforts of Industries within our jurisdiction we also have to ensure that the committee staff have the tools they need to do their job and this includes access to essential technical
▶ 1:56:06support and subscriptions to informational sources current affairs policy and this budget increase takes into account the chief administrative officers dir of that committee and Congressional offices regularly update Information Technology infrastructure the committee will also be modernizing our subcommittee room in Raburn which will force the Democratic senior staff to move from an office space that includes offices to one that must be updated with another module of furniture and offices and we've
▶ 1:56:36been told that the committee will have to pay for these necessary updates so chair Guthrie and I will also continue to work together to control and reduce our costs wherever possible I pledge that and as proactively as we can while also promoting a committee culture of accountability ility and respect for the American taxpayer Mr chairman so committee has a lot of work to do over the next two years and I firmly believe this request will provide us the resources we need to get the job done and I join chair Guthrie in voicing my strong support for
▶ 1:57:06this budget request thank you thank you Mr chairman thank you Rec member palone thank you chairman Guthrie uh both for your testimony I recognize myself for five minutes for the purpose of asking questions I'll ask one question I've asked every chair and ranking member and then I'll yield to my colleagues uh with more expertise on energy and commer um will you both commit to having your systems administrator meet uh with the House's Chief Information officer uh to discuss cyber security in the first quarter of this year I will I will as well terrific uh I will yield
▶ 1:57:36uh to representative Lee well thank you Mr chairman and ranking member palone for being with us here today I am proud to serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee which as we've heard today has one of the broadest jurisdictions of any authorizing committee and covers issues that have a profound impact on the daily lives of Americans including energy technology telecommunications and Healthcare we know that in the 118th Congress alone more than 4,000 bills were referred to the committee and it also has a leading role in the reconciliation
▶ 1:58:07process for the 119th Congress ENC is requesting a 17.8% increase in their budget chairman Guthrie would you please describe the process for putting your budget submission together and what were the big factors that you can took into consideration in developing your budget request so thank you very much for that so when we were working together we were looking at the committee now has two more members they are awarded two more members after the last steering committee process and we want to do increased
▶ 1:58:37involvement with shared staff so each subcommittee chairman will have somebody from their personal office is also shared staff with the committee and that links the we we feel that that was a few years back and we think that actually connects the the personal office with uh the committee and and gives more uh ability to maneuver with for the the chairman we we purchas Partyline software that let's just keeps up with members uh commitments and and their achievements and accomplishments we're building a press studio so we can
▶ 1:59:07better communicate it will be used for for both sides and I think the most important thing that that I learned from other committees as I was looking at what to do is the the committee travel as you know you're new to the committee I know our my friend from uh for Virginia would say we did do a lot of field hearings and those types of issues I think that are vitally important and even one particular area when we had fire and in one area and that it was in our jurisdiction to go investigate and we didn't have we didn't do that and I think that's very very important and we're going to be a heavy
▶ 1:59:37legislative lift this Congress and we think it's important to do that that was all factored in thank you Mr chairman I yield back jman yields back U Mr Griffith is recognized yeah let me let me amplify on that and and and ask about that so we're going to use some of this money to to go out and see things and it was disappointing as formerly the chair of oversight investigations for Energy and Commerce that we did the ground breaking work uh I thought we had a great hearing it was bipartisan we were fact finding on the Maui fire and that
▶ 2:00:08we had uh subcommittee and and I had worked together to try to figure out if you know how we could get out there because there were issues that not only related to the elect the electricity was the number one issue the electric department but then there were also some uh collap Al issues with invasive plants uh and some other things that burned hotter than the regular Plants but you can't learn that kind of thing you can't really get a good feel for it unless you go and see it so that because of it was a nicer location and I didn't want folks to think we were
▶ 2:00:38doing a some kind of a junk it I I said schedule us something so that we're not there except for the time to do our field hearing and and you know that one day and we had that all lined up but we for whatever reasons we never got around to doing it and then I I've looked at the committee this year Mr chairman and ranking member I'd ask you all as well we have probably and y'all both served longer than I but an unprecedented number of new members so whether you're for or against using yua Mountain
▶ 2:01:08most of our members have never been to yunka they yua they've never been to Hanford they've never been to the CDC headquarters I mean we've not done that since I've been on the committee it's 14 years been down to the CDC headquarters in Atlanta who we oversee even a simple field trip uh visitation to learn stuff at NIH I've been there on my own I've learned a lot uh of what they do but but we haven't done those things in the past and I I have to tell you I think that I'm glad that you all put that into your budget to take a look
▶ 2:01:38at it you know every one of them not every member goes to uh these field hearings but in the few we have had and that I have been to uh I have learned the tremendous amounts and U any comments that y'all want to add up cuz talked most of my time away thanks well I agree with you we're looking at automotive industry in Detroit uh tech industry in San Francisco Silicon Valley the the Biotech Industry that's going on in Boston those things we all need to see and and also on the other side I think you're planning meetings if
▶ 2:02:09not hearings but field sites in every ranking members District so like Tampa for Kathy caster and for example I go I go through the list tasa being up for Renewal and brownfields Etc I mean I think we ought to go see what we're talking about when we're talking about that and uh I think that's important for all the committee members both majority and minority I yield back chman yields back I yield back uh the ranking members recognized for five minutes thank you uh both very much for being here uh congratulations to you Mr chairman on
▶ 2:02:39uh on your new responsibilities which have been U uh described I think very well by my colleagues in terms of the breadth of what your committee does and always great to see the ranking member um I want to just start first uh relative to the split in dollars uh Mr chair whether you'll continue to commit to allowing Independence uh to the ranking member for the dollars that have been appropriated for uh use by the Democrats yeah that has been a tradition of the committee and plan to do to as
▶ 2:03:09well great and Mr pal you're you're comfortable Mr palone yeah I mean I'm lucky in that the committee over the past four years has moved away from the 2/3 1/3 split uh started when I was the chair in 2021 and the minority budget has been somewhere between 37 and 40% over the past few years and I'm hopeful that chair Guthrie will continue that tradition um in fact I think you're seen a lot of committees move in that direction
▶ 2:03:40um we know no party has a super majority anymore and the the ratios of the Committees are much tighter than 2/3 1/3 obviously so I think it's only fair to give more resources to the minority especially when we know how easily the house can continue to flip in the years to come yeah we're committed to that 37 at with and we even discussed we're new to this so we're learning how we operate our budgets and and if there's more flexibility we're going to do more great thank you um I I want to just
▶ 2:04:10measure particularly given the breadth of this committee's uh authorization responsibilities um we've talked a lot here with previous chairs and ranking members about um the Supreme Court decision last year in lber brigh um relative to removing the Chevron Defence um the importance of our article one responsibilities both as authorizers and as uh providing oversight and frankly without regard to how you
▶ 2:04:40view the current situation uh given the need for Congress to be more specific as it writes laws and gives authorization to uh the various uh agencies um and the need to assert our role under the Constitution do you feel you have adequate resources to carry out all those article one responsibilities with this budget we do think this request if it's met meets our meets our resources if you remember as we're looking all of us for you trying to
▶ 2:05:10get the staff in place um on on our side of the aisle you have you're competing with the Senate and you're also competing with the administration and and so we're trying to attract uh very talented people and keep talented people so it's important for us so we can do the difference and and write the laws that we need to write I don't know Mr palone if you had any comment well I'm never going to say that we have enough money to do uh oversight you know i' I've been here a long time and I remember when uh John diggle was
▶ 2:05:40the the chair you know for and and most of the time when he was the chair you had democratic presidents right but he just did an incredible amount of oversight um the staff traveled all over the country you know visiting uh the communities and agencies and industries so you're never going to have enough uh we can't get back to those days I don't think but I think that what the the budget that we've put together on a bipartisan basis definitely will increase our ability to do the oversight
▶ 2:06:11that's required good and I I think is essential just as an institution and not just as it relates to this Administration but future administrations I mean that's the role we've been asked to play and the public may not always appreciate or understand it but that's what the founders uh described and articulated in the Constitution and still our responsibility as it relates to um hearings I'll just use my last minute I I agree that going around holding field hearings Etc is critical you get a much
▶ 2:06:41different sense uh from talking to people around the country than you might if you do all of your hearings here in Washington um the chair and I have placed a particular emphasis on member security and staff security seen threat assessments go up a great deal in the last few years um and I know you're new in this role Mr chair so you may not have an opinion on it right now but I would invite you as you're preparing to make sure that uh you do everything you can to coordinate with the Capitol Police uh the sergeant arms and local law enforcement
▶ 2:07:12and to the degree that the chair and I and the members here can be helpful in in our responsibilities as it relates to oversight of the capital police and our ongoing communication we we just want to make sure everyone is safe that everyone is protected and uh and and and that and uh both members and staff so I would just offer that invitation uh to you thank you apprciate thank you with that I'll yield back Mr chairman yields back we appreciate both of your testimony today it's helpful uh as we go through the committee funding allocation process uh you have really important
▶ 2:07:42work ahead of you uh over the next Years thank you the committee will pause while uh the the panel exits for
▶ 2:08:31guys interesting yeah they're all Democrats I've invited more Democrats any rep his we now welcome our next panel uh chairman Jordan ranking member Rasin to the uh to the committee um we appreciate you being here we've been going through a robust uh panel of witnesses over the past two days uh analyzing budget funding a lot of conversation about the end of Chevron Defence
▶ 2:09:01uh they need to make sure that all committees have the resources they need about oversight uh your testimony uh will help guide us uh as we formulate committee budgets we'll recognize each of you for five minutes for an opening statement uh we will then have five minutes uh each in total between the majority and minority will yield amongst our colleagues for questions we'll Dive Right In recognize you chairman Jordan for uh five minutes thank you chairman and ranking member and to members of the committee I just have a brief brief statement um we thank you for the invitation to testify today
▶ 2:09:31uh about Judiciary committee's budget request for the 119th uh Congress the fundamental mission of the Judiciary Committee is to protect the freedoms and Liberties of the American people in fact we are the one committee uniquely tasked with protecting the Constitution the Bill of Rights and the Liberties that we enjoy in this in the in the greatest country ever and we greatly appreciate your support in the 118th Congress to that we had the resources and tools to carry out our mission last congress with your support we exposed and stopped the Biden Administration censorship of Americans online in fact we just came from a hearing where that was the subject is
▶ 2:10:02censorship industrial complex uh we tackled the Biden administration's weaponization of the federal law enforcement against American citizens and we highlighted the problems and pass legislation to address the Biden border crisis our work remains unfinished this Congress we intend to continue our aggressive legislative and oversight agenda we also assume additional responsibilities with the new select established by the speaker to carry out our mission we respectfully ask for the 15.85 S million for each session of the9th Congress this funding level matches
▶ 2:10:32uh the level at which the house authorized the jary committee last year following your generous allocation from the reserve fund we also respectfully request that our staff slot allocation remain at 110 110 for the 119th Congress and I'm pleased that uh ranking member raset and I have had discussions and U this request has bipartisan support thank you again for your consideration and for the good work that you and this uh this committee does for the Congress thank you very very much chairman Jordan ranking member Rasin you're recognized for
▶ 2:11:02Mr chairman and Mr mlli what a pleasure it is to be back here with you and with the members of this great committee I uh feel great fondness and Nostalgia about my time served on this committee um the Judiciary Committee as uh our good chairman just said has broad jurisdiction over the matters that are fundamental to just Justice in America the Constitution the Bill of Rights civil rights civil liberties of the people our legislative jurisdiction is wide ranging addressing criminal and civil penalties uh
▶ 2:11:32as well as Government surveillance antitrust bankruptcy Immigration and Naturalization copyright and trademark terrorism Espionage interstate compacts and more we have a charge to ensure that the courts of the country our administrative bodies Our law enforcement agencies are working efficiently for the people in order to fulfill the Mission we need to recruit and to retain experienced staff with a diverse set of skills and expertise accordingly we're seeking a combined 3,714 for the Judiciary Committee in the 119th
▶ 2:12:03Congress the budget we proposed and our agreed upon allocation of funding between the majority and the minority will enable us to conduct the essential work in the 119th I want to thank chairman Jordan for including us in this process and thank you for your time and consideration and I'm ready to answer any questions you might have for me thanks thank you thank you both um I'll recognize myself for five minutes to ask questions I'll I'll ask one question out of the G I've asked every chair and ranking member which is will you commit to having your systems administrator meet with the House's uh Chief
▶ 2:12:33Information officer to discuss cyber security in the first quarter y sure thank you very much I'm now going to yield uh to a member of the Judiciary Committee Laura Lee uh thank you Mr chairman uh ranking member Rasin for being here with us today and for your testimony uh Mr chairman I'd like to start with you in my EXP experience on the committee firsthand experience outside of the Beltway to help us better understand issues is essential to the functioning of the committee I see that you requested a slight increase
▶ 2:13:03in your travel budget for the 119th Congress including funding for some field hearings in roundtables would you please shine some light on the goals of the committee and conducting these field hearings and roundtables and why you find them important well um the the ranking member mentioned this we and I think I did my opening statement to we have uh you know this broad jurisdiction relative to immigration law so we we some of that's going to be border related that's what we did last last Congress we had field hearings in Yuma and on we were in Texas um Down On the
▶ 2:13:33Border to deal with that that crisis situation that was there in in the previous administration and then we we went to some of the big cities we were in New York City I I know the general lady was at uh these hearings as well the hearing in New York unbelievable about these these District Attorneys who aren't Prosecuting the really bad guys and we heard from victims family members so uh we think that's important for our mission um and so we we we appreciate that and that's that's why we're doing it we're also concerned about the this this what's happening in Europe with the attack
▶ 2:14:04on Free Speech it's what's going one of the subjects we're discussing in the in the hearing that's going on right now so um we appreciate the uh the consideration for that that part of the budget as well for for travel you also mentioned in your questionnaire that the Judiciary Committee relied heavily on the ediscovery program that was implemented last Congress through the modernization subcommittee here how did being able to utilize this program assist the committee in conducting its essential and important work well I I mean I talked
▶ 2:14:34to our staff about this and they they were like they were just all thumbs up about it because uh you know as you all know we do a lots lots of Investigations probably more Investigations out of our committee last Congress than maybe the rest of the Committees combined I don't know we did a lot um I think we did 107 different subpoenas 154 investigation keeping all that documents that comes in everything else it was critical I think they gave me a number uh we've received 4.8 million pages of documents
▶ 2:15:04and and and the system is is so helpful to our I don't understand the system but that that's why you have Smart staff you do but they they tell me uh that we should thank all of you for and I know I talked to to to the general lady from Oklahoma about this the other day uh it's it's been very very helpful and we appreciate that well and speaking of that uh smart staff uh we appreciate all of the excellent work of the Judiciary Committee conducting oversight hearings and investigations and we understand that this must require highly experienced
▶ 2:15:34and skilled staff uh you have requested the committee maintain its 2024 level of staff and funding could you provide some details on how the funding and staff slots will allow you to pursue your legislative and investigative agenda yeah thank you for that too um as as as the gentle lady knows we have um an experienced staff we got some young good young sharp lawyers who've come in and done great work for us as well but um I mean our general council's been here like 20 some years uh Mr hixon's Been Around forever
▶ 2:16:05as well Mr Brewer just great great members or excuse me great staff members um who do good work and we want to keep them and we want to keep that great staff who put together the the the numerous did the numerous investigations numerous reports we did so um and I appreciate the ranking member um with the budget with the staff and saying let's let's stick where we're not asking for more we just want to stick with where we're at because we think it's a good team and we like to keep all them together he Mr chairman I yield back CH yields back
▶ 2:16:35I yield back I recognize the ranking member for five minutes thank you Mr chairman and thank you uh chairman Jordan and ranking member rasing for uh for being here and for all the work that you doing let me just begin with um question I've asked a number of the uh chairs and rankers whether or not you're in Conformity about the degree to which the minority will be able to use their allocation to uh make independent decisions
▶ 2:17:05uh with the amount that they've uh got appropriated to them Mr chair if you I believe so um I know we didn't unlike some committees our organizational hearing was 30 minutes versus some of the three-hour ones and and we we've kept the rules the same and so I I believe we're in I think I think we're fine on all that okay at least that was that that was the uh so you're committed to allowing them Independence Mr Ras and you're are you comfortable with the arrangement as it's uh
▶ 2:17:36playing out yeah it's been working out fine in reality you know I was ranking member of the oversight committee where we had a two3 one3 split on the whole budget I think in judiciary we do a two3 one3 split on the payroll and then we do go to ask them for their Indulgence for particular expenditures but so far they've been um they've been very paternalistic and uh respectful of our needs so I think it's all right I mean it you know if I were starting it from scratch I'd probably say just do it the
▶ 2:18:06oversight way but it seems to be working fine thank you um just a a comment we've talked a lot and I think the chair made reference to uh uh the um the decision by the Supreme Court last year to do away with sheph defance Chevron Defence uh and the requirement that we will have to do much more in terms of specificity when we're doing authorizing language that we will not be able to uh give um secretaries uh a
▶ 2:18:36greater flexibility than the law allows which will require more of us um and I think particularly for me uh one of the areas that is under your jurisdiction is uh uh artificial intelligence and generative AI uh I'm very concerned about the fact that we have no civil nor criminal sanctions against deep fake pornography particularly uh when it's used almost exclusively against women um and whether or not you have you feel you have the resource in this budget to adequately
▶ 2:19:07look at some of those issues and make sure that we're protecting the American public and I I'd ask each of you to just comment on that if you might uh yes we do and uh we have a number of our members who um I mean we all share that concern but we have some of our members who brought brought forward legislation to address uh people who've been abused you know in in Miss Lee has uh uh carried some legislation that became law uh through the committee um last Congress um on on areas related to protecting kids protecting women protecting
▶ 2:19:37others so yeah we we we certainly have the resources to to dig into those areas Mr Askin um yeah but my sense is that we've got uh the resources to deal with at least this generation of issues the things like deep fakes and revenge porn but uh I've begun to dabble somewhat in the artificial intelligence literature and there's a whole new generation of uh problems and issues coming and so that would be without prejudice to perhaps are asking
▶ 2:20:07for Budget adjustments in the future to deal with all these things yeah an emerging uh concern certainly AI technolog is miraculous and what it can do in a in a um to advance many things but it it is has a a dark uh potential if misused and obviously a lot of that will fall uh to your committee uh one thing I I did want to ask and have asked other members or at least as much of an invitation as much as asking you for your opinion but an invitation
▶ 2:20:38that as you conduct field hearings one of the things that we're uh very concerned about the chair and I and the members is the threat against members uh and the increased threats over the last several years we've seen we want to make sure that as you're conducting field hearings you're coordinating with Capitol Police local law enforcement sergeant of arms um I don't know what your experience has been and whether you want to comment on it but certainly an invitation to make sure that we're doing everything we can to assist you to make sure members and staff uh are safe as you travel
▶ 2:21:08around the country we take that very seriously I mean you've all maybe had to do the same thing we've had we've had to put I don't normally talk about it but we've had to put you all kinds of security at our home back in Ohio um we just we take that very very seriously uh with with our members and with when we're traveling in our staff um and we've had protests when we we had protests in New York and different things but the the capital police do a great job and we we have a we work very
▶ 2:21:38closely with them and I and I'll pledge to definitely work with the ranking member we want everyone to be safe Y and I I would Echo the chairman on that we greatly appreciate the the hard work that devotion uh The Valor of the Capitol Police and the people in the sergeant arms office um we know that the Threat Level uh has gone up I've had to get um Peace orders uh in court which is a
▶ 2:22:08tremendous investment of time unfortunately to to go and do that and um you know I'm glad that we've got this bipartisan consensus that the security of our members is a Central and um it's a huge distraction from people's work to have to deal with this and so we appreciate the Investments that you're making in the Capitol Police and the sergeant of arms to take care of all of us well descent is protected by the First Amendment violence is not so I appreciate that and please uh
▶ 2:22:38continue to inform us of your needs there with that I'll yield back Jim and yeld back we appreciate both your testimony very helpful uh as we compile the committee budgets the committee will stand uh in pause while the witness panel exits thank you both okay home stretch
▶ 2:23:29just uh waiting for my compatriot there yeah so I would just sit hereward that's probably
▶ 2:26:19for e
▶ 2:29:19e e
▶ 2:30:06wrapped up early we welcome our uh next and for us last panel of a two-day hearing uh as we examine committee budgets we've had had robust conversation Chevron Doctrine oversight uh we're excited to have Hask before us today we'll give each of you five minutes uh chairman Rogers ranking member Smith five minutes for an opening statement then we will have five minutes total in the majority and in the minority for questions yielding uh amongst ourselves
▶ 2:30:37we'll jump right in and recognize you chairman Rogers for five minutes great thank you chairman Steele and rank member melli uh for the opportunity to present the Hask funding request for the 119th Congress I want to start by thanking you and your uh for all your tremendous support that we've had during the 118th Congress the resources you provided enabl us to enact two ndaa and expand our oversight of the Department of Defense at a very challenging time for our national security I'm here today with my friend
▶ 2:31:07the ranking member and my partner in leading the armed services committee to respectfully request a modest increase in our budget for the 119th Congress the budget we are requesting will enable us to accomplish three important goals for this Congress first it will allow us to hire new and retain existing staff we are lucky to have a very experienced and talented staff most are former service members with firsthand knowledge of the programs and platforms we authorize others
▶ 2:31:37are dedicated lawyers and staff with Decades of experience in the house this caliber of staff is critical to our ability to conduct rigorous oversight of the largest and most complex Department of the federal government but keeping and recruiting staff is with Talent is getting more and more difficult uh we often lose good staff to the private sector being able to pay staff what they are worth is important to us your support of our budget requests will enable us to do just that second our request will
▶ 2:32:07enable us to expand the number of field hearings we can conduct thanks to your support last Congress we were able to hold our very first field Hearing in more than a decade it was a huge success that enabled us to hear unique perspectives that we don't get here in DC we're looking to build on that success in the 19th Congress finally our request will enable us to enhance the technology we rely on for our committee operations and member Outreach each year we receive over 1300 requests from
▶ 2:32:37members for the provisions in the ndaa at markup we process over a th amendments when we get to conference we resolve differences on hundreds of legislative provisions and thousands of budget items we rely on Specialized software to track these member priorities process them and turn them into an ndaa we appreciate your support as we continue to update and maintain the system we take the expenditure of taxpayer dollars seriously we will always ensure the budget allocated our committee will be spent judiciously and
▶ 2:33:08prudently thank you for your consideration of our budget request and I yield Back My Time gentleman yields back ring member Smith has recognized for five minutes uh thank you Mr chairman and I will be brief uh I agree completely with everything uh the chairman Rogers just said and I I just want to emphasize the first point he made and say thank you um this committee uh was very generous to us uh last session made a huge difference uh because the the staff needs that chairman rogers's outlined um are incredibly important the oversight is enormously important you know largest
▶ 2:33:38bureaucracy in the world uh we're working towards getting a full audit uh for the Pentagon making sure that they are efficient and effective and the need uh is enormous right now given the challenges that we face in the world the most complex threat environment that we've faced um probably since the end of World War II uh so your support for our committee's ability to do its oversite uh is going to be crucial to our national security appreciate that support chairman laid out what it goes to and I just Echo his remarks and ask you to support uh the modest
▶ 2:34:08increase that we are requesting thank you I yel back J y's back I'll recognize myself for five minutes thanks for the work that you do I think you're you're accurate in describing the the threat as the the the dangerous world that we live uh uniquely now your oversight role of the Department of Defense is essential before I get into my full questions one question that I've just asked every chair and ranking member uh is will you commit to having your systems administrator meet with the House's Chief Information officer to discuss cyber security in the first quarter yes absolutely thank you thank you very much for that um
▶ 2:34:38in your uh report you noted that you had a couple uh vacancies that were not filled due to an office space constraint we've opened up space uh in Canon um want to make sure that you don't have constraints from us uh preventing you from hiring staff in particular period of time where oversight over the Department of Defense is going to be absolutely essential has that been resolved or is that an outstanding issue it it's resolving itself very soon we we did have those constraints spacewise last Congress we will not have them this Congress so we hope to be able to get
▶ 2:35:08up to our full uh authorization on staff okay and is you look to fill out staff positions obviously unique expertise required uh in your staff you're competing not only against the private sector but also uh from the majority side in particular with the administration making hires um do you have any unique concerns in being able to fill those positions no no we we we will be able to get after it if we have the funding to pay them well we we are competing with the private sector robust all right I'll I'll yield uh to
▶ 2:35:38miss Bice thank you Mr chairman and thank you chairman Rogers and ranking memb Smith for being with us this afternoon you mentioned in your budget request that you will need to in uh an increase to update the technology used to build the ndaa and to cover the increases in the cost of Support Services could you elaborate a little bit on how essential this technology is to your committee to manage the uh very large number of amendments that are submitted by members fortunately our staff has has been able to take a state-of-the-art software
▶ 2:36:09system and use it to process this this huge volume and and and uh they're leading the effort for authorizing committees uh in the Congress on that problem is it's very EXP expensive uh and and it has to be upgraded and we're going to have to have the money to do that if we want to stay ahead of this volume uh the good news is is that we take care of our members because we have the capability with the software if we don't keep up with it it's going to be hard to take members request and turn them in the law yeah when we I mean and you know the process
▶ 2:36:39if you're talk in the committee we get gosh by the time you add them all up it's couple thousand different requests just on the committee on the amendment process um you know because there's the original idea and then that idea will certain frequently splinter out into five different versions of the amendment uh members the committee do that and of course when we go to the floor opens up to everybody and the rules committee has to deal with that but we have to deal with it as well uh to work with them it is an incredibly high volume uh so being able to process that
▶ 2:37:09quickly with the best technology helps us serve uh the members of the house I want to say thank you both for your commitment to making sure that we're doing everything we can can to promote uh and support our military uh branches and our service men and women across the world uh I miss being on HK but uh now an appropriator uh can do my part to support you as well so thank you for being with us this afternoon Mr chairman I yield I I would just Echo uh the comments we appreciate the work that you do there is
▶ 2:37:39robust oversight needed uh the Department of Defense and you are have the opportunity to provide that for us I'll yield back I'll recognize the ranking member for five minutes thank you both very much for being here I had the great privilege like Miss Bice of serving on house armed services for unfortunately only for a couple of years but now get to serve on Appropriations defense subcommittee so I appreciate very much your work and your work in a bipartisan Fashion on behalf of uh the American public I I I have no reason to doubt
▶ 2:38:09that that will continue uh but I'm very very grateful for it particularly in an environment that seems far too partisan I think to many of us um I just want to get um um some confirmation I my understanding is that um that the ranking member uh has the independence in terms of his part of the budget I want to make sure that that continues I assume that's always been the case I would hope it would continue absolutely yeah now we do have a substantial portion of our budget that is joint uh which I think were the
▶ 2:38:39only committee that does that um and that I would say is essential to our work as the majorities have bounced back and forth we have the consistency of the St staff um many of the members who worked for me when I was the chairman you know what and worked for Mike and that institutional knowledge is crucial but then we do have portions of our budget and uh as the member of the minority now going on my third year uh with Mr Rogers as chairman it's been a great working relationship and have no complaints great well I and I
▶ 2:39:10frankly always appreciate that the ndaa uh has largely been a bipartisan I hope uh that certainly continues we've talked a lot here about our oversight responsibilities and we've asked the chairs of the various authorizing committees and ranking members about whether their resources that they're requesting are adequate to fulfill article one responsibilities particularly given both the threats that we face around the world and frankly given some of the changes in the administration's posture on um
▶ 2:39:40on on how America engages around the world are you confident you have what you need in terms of your request to to uh to fulfill those article one oversight responsibilities well with regard to our oversight responsibilities with this 5% increase we do feel confident we will be able to to uh do that U although you will hear us throughout this Congress talking about the need for dramatically increased defense spending in the Department of Defense but the 5%
▶ 2:40:10we're asking for here today will be suff sufficient are you comfortable as well uh to the ranking member absolutely in terms of the committee but I mean that the the chairman sensitive that sort of question because because there's a lot of focus on what what the actual size of the defense budget should be and as you know the debate through the reconciliation process we're still trying to get fy2 done um the the variables between where it could be are are about as wide as I've ever seen here so uh chairman wants to make that point to not lose track
▶ 2:40:41of the overarching needs but that's not your direct problem that's right yeah that's on the commit last thing I would to ask I know that I I don't know how much you do in in terms of field hearings or hearings outside um Washington but just curious if if you feel you're receiving the necessary security support from the Capitol Police uh sergeant of arms and in coordination with law local law enforcement when you venture outside of Washington absolutely well I would invite you um before I yield just uh
▶ 2:41:11the chair and I remain very very concerned about the threat environment against members and staff so just invite you to make sure that you you keep us informed of any challenges you have or any concerns that you have in that regard we want to make sure whether we're at Washington or we're elsewhere uh that um we have all the resources necessary to protect people and staff when they travel about uh uh so and invite you to share your concerns with us over time with that I thank you again both for your uh your leadership
▶ 2:41:41and uh and all your service gentan yields back we thank the the chair and ranking member for your testimony today very helpful uh as we work to to fulfill our commitment to to finalize the budget for the uh Committees of the house um this is the last hearing so I think our our members as well for their participation over two days without objection each member including our witnesses will have five legislative days to insert additional materials into the record or to revise and extend their remarks if there's no further business I thank the members for their participation without objection committee stands
▶ 2:42:18adjourned e