this one way and approach a it one way and another agency look at it and approach it another way? as a result we trained in 2011 more than 2000 federal employees not just from the eeoc but from across all of those agencies as well as from the state and of fair and plame and practice agencies. it's just one example of how we too are trying to make sure we are working smarter that we are collaborating and sharing information. there's no reason for any of us to reinvent the wheel wheel. we are taking the summer approach and sharing information as well about data collection issues and challenges and how to improve our strategic enforcement of the laws.

issue and today he is on the house side. this is live coverage on c-span 3. >> good morning. attorney general holder, thank you for appearing before the committee this morning. i want to mention that our thoughts today are with the families and the victims and the survivors of wednesday's shooting at ft. hood. at this hearing last year as you may recall we spent a great deal of time discussing the victims of the terrorist attacks that occurred there five years ago. today, our thoughts are certainly with the victims and their families. and this latest attack as well as with the earlier victims for

whom this must be a painful reminder of the 2009 attack. the justice department budget request for fiscal year 2015 is relatively flat at $2.7 billion, a net increase of 1%. while the budget would continue efforts funded by the congress in the fy-2014 omnibus to restore hiring for vacant positions, your budget also contains some gimmicks like $900 million of unspecified offsets mostly from the law enforcement agencies. today, we will discuss the potential impact of these proposed cuts to the federal law enforcement today. i want to recognize a few items up front where i appreciate steps you've taken, particularly with regard to improving federal prisons. as you know, the fy-2014 bill created the chuck tolsen task force of federal prisons to provide recommendations on how we can learn from the state's

own best practices for reforming the federal prison system to reduce recidivism and increase public safety. i appreciate the department has moved quickly on the grant solicitation and i believe an award will be made soon so the group can get started. this may be our best opportunity and if this opportunity is missed, it will be fearful. but our best opportunity to improve the prison systems nationwide, federal, as well as state. additionally, the urgent need to rebuild the prison industry so we can put more inmates to work and get them valuable job training. to get more inmates working. i hope you will continue to support these efforts. even getting all of the federal agencies to contract with the bureau prisons. however, i want to address a number of critical issues under the jurisdiction of the justice department where frankly i think i've been disappointed in your

leadership. in certain cases, i believe you bent the law to allow for the expansion of internet gambling and facilitating marijuana suppliers to access the banking system. i'm concerned about the far reaching consequences of the office of legal counsel 2011 abrupt decision to reverse years of precedent regarding the wire act. which kicked open the door for widespread internet gambling. although the decision was signed off in september of 2011, it was inexplicably withheld from the public for months until friday before christmas in an apparent effort to bury the reversal of policy. anything that comes out on a friday before christmas, you got to wonder. there's something not right. to date, no one knows what prompted this change, who requested it, why it was kept hidden for months and leased just before christmas eve. what we do know is this decision will open the floodgates to internet gambling, which will have devastating consequences if

it is not reversed. the society cost of widespread gambling are well documented and the easy accessibility of gambling on computers, phones and tablets 24 hours a day has the potential to create more gambling addicts, particularly among the young, than this country has ever seen. a college student will now be able to go bankrupt in the dorm room gambling on their computer before their 8:00 class. in addition to gambling, i'm also deeply concerned about your selective enforcement of the controlled substances act with regard to marijuana in states like colorado and washington. your relaxation of enforcement as well as your efforts to create a legal path for banking for marijuana distributors will accelerate the normalization of a drug of abuse, a horrible outcome for our youth and our society. just last week, we heard the director of the national institute of drug abuse, nida,

testify about the many negative consequences of relaxes restrictions on marijuana abuse. this is the result of detailed research. if i can -- she was so impressive. would you agree to meet with her, mr. attorney general, will you agree to just take some time to sit down with her? >> sure. >> great. thank you very much. i believe the failure to enforce the federal law and help marijuana providers access the banking system will result in more drug addiction and other fatalities. i know you don't mean for these negative consequences to happen. i suspect you're under a lot of pressure to facilitate the legalization of marijuana. nida and others have testified there is a direct correlation between marijuana use and these help and public safety aspects. you have taken on marijuana internet gem belling and other areas like sex trafficking, you've taken the opposite

approach. extremely rigid interpretation of the law which prevents action. the trafficking of young girls and women on websites like backpage.com. last month, this subcommittee held a hearing with a number of expert witnesses including a trafficking survivor, a fairfax county police officer was working on this, and this has really hit northern virginia and is hitting many areas. the national center for missing and exploited children, which i know you have great respect for, and senator mccain, who helped elevate the issue in the media, all of our witnesses highlighted just how important it is for the government to confront the internet facilitation of sex trafficking. they were truly committed to ending this modern day slavery. just two weeks ago, we've received the report on the issue which i've urged you to provide for years and ultimately

directed in the 2013 omnibus. to the department's credit, the report provided some good information about what statutory and regulatory changes need to be made to go after websites that facilitate sex trafficking. i remain disappointed on how long it has taken to elevate this issue and give it the attention you deserve and it deserves. you have the unique ability to really, mr. attorney general, really make an impact for the people that are trapped in this, and i think it's one that i think you can feel good about by moving on. just think of how many young girls and women, someone's daughter, mother or sister, who have been victims of trafficking other the last five years while the department has hesitated to take bolder action. today, i hope we can discuss what steps the department and congress need to take now to ensure more years don't pass before action is taken. another concern i have is this administration's choice to

narrowly interpret its authority under authorization for use of military force so as not to allow military assets to be used to track down and kill terrorists responsible for the deadly benghazi terrorist attacks. in most of the cases, the administration takes a broad interpretation of aumf to go after terrorists in the middle east and north africa. when it comes to the benghazi suspects, you've read the law in a way that prevents the military action against the al qaeda affiliate terrorists responsible for killing our ambassador and three others. the refusal is particularly inexplicable, considering the former acting director of the cia testified on wednesday that the cia analyst said from the get-go al qaeda was involved in this attack. given that the administration has known from the beginning of the al qaeda connection and aumf allows the military to go after

terrorists connected to al qaeda, how can the department defend the reading of the law in a way that it prevents using all resources including military assets to track down, detain or kill these terrorists. can you really argue it allows you to make a drone strike on awlawi, who was an american citizen, but not on terrorists that killed our ambassador? not a single terrorist responsible has been captured or killed. on limited occasions where suspects have been detailed, your department has failed to exert pressure on the governments of tunisia and egypt to allow the fbi to have access to the terrorists. these are just a few examples of the selected interpretation of the law. you have the responsibility to enforce the law, whether it's politically expedient or

popular. i believe the record falls short. last week, we received your report. on the implementation of new requirements to be applied to the i.t. infrastructure procurement. in particularly, for hardware and systems coming from china. although the administration was not initially supportive of this effort to restrict purchases of questionable i.t. hardware, i do appreciate that the justice department appears to be take the new requirements seriously. in fact, your recent report indicated that the new process put in place caught, quote, seven i.t. procurements from six vendors that were associated with the questionable foreign ownership, control or influence, criminal activities, financial, counterintelligence. i believe this report demonstrates the policy of this committee director was both necessary and constructive. i appreciate the department moving so quickly on that. in addition to the subject, i

mentioned, i expect today to have some questions regarding prisons, cyber, and the growing cyber threat of both home and abroad, and the department's growing involving enforcement workload priorities. finally, i want to address the department's failure to comply with the reporting requirements directed in the fiscal year 2013 omnibus act which you signed into law more than a year ago. the fy-2013 bill required the department to provide 66 reports. to date, over a year later, committee has received a little more than half of these mandatory reports. there are still 25 outstanding reports and briefings from fy-2013 bill and that doesn't include any of the additional reports. which was subsequently signed into law earlier this year. there are already 18 reports in the 2014 bill that are overdue to the committee. with a workforce of more than 100,000 employees, i know the

department certainly has the capacity to provide the director reports. what is lacking is the will to be responsive to the congress on the part of the tent's leadership. that's what i find tis appointing. today, i'm announcing a new policy, that these overdue reports will no longer be tolerated by the committee. i intend to withhold $1 million for either overdue report from fy-2013 and 2014. these funds will be provided instead to agencies in the bill that comply with the reporting requirements. with the current backlog of 43 reports, this could be a significant reduction in funds for the department. but the department has now been given fair warning that these overdue reports will now be taken into account when the subcommittee determines the budget. for the record, i find it extremely unfortunate we have to take this action but i know no other way to encourage the department to follow through on its obligation to the committee.

at this point, i will yield to mr. fattah. mr. fattah. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and attorney general holder, welcome, again, to the committee. i sent the president and yourself a letter referencing the toyota settlement. which was announced a couple weeks ago for $1.2 billion. suggesting that the settlement could issue in an opportunity for us to do something this administration has pointed to and everyone on this committee has supported. which is that we need to do something to literally arrest the increase in our prison population.

we need to do something about turning more young people into positive paths in our society. we have funding youth mentoring. each year, we get closer and closer to 100 million a year. but that we could take a settlement like that and similar to what you did in the bp matter and do something constructive, which is to support some of the nation's youth mentoring organizations to expand their capacity. the white house has indicated there are millions of young people not connected to any of these programs like big brothers, big sisters. we could go through the laundry list of great organizations. the point was that, you know, we can't just complain about the increase in the prison population. now it's rising to almost, i don't know, $7 billion in this year's budget request. which is double what it was

probably a decade or so ago. we have to do something about get young people before they get themselves into circumstances that are problematic. getting them headed in the right direction. so i'd be very interested to hear your view on this. i actually have some bipartisan legislation that i've introduced that would talk about constructively using settlements like this for medical research and just reinvestment activities and so on. i think the toyota settlement is an opportunity where, as some of my republican friends say, you don't need a law firm for everything. some things can just, you know, you can take executive action to do. so i mentioned this to you. i'll be interested in your response this morning. i want to thank you. i know you did a departmentwide video in which you thanked chairman wolf and myself and our counterparts in the senate for

helping in the 2014 bill to be able to lift the hiring freeze into 115,000 employees in the department. it's not every day members get thanked for the work they do. i know it wasn't done for that purpose. i want to acknowledge it. you had a tremendous year and i know sometimes it's hard to follow some of the criticism because most of the time when i'm hearing from members criticizing the interpretations of the law that has allowed our government to go after terrorists in a very -- the most aggressive way ever. and countries far and wide using all manners of weapons at our disposal. sometimes when i hear senators like rand paul speak he's criticizing you. and the chairman saying you're not doing enough it it's hard to find the right, i guess, medium. this administration has tracked down and delivered justice to

terrorists and i think that's been acknowledged. you just had a major success in the criminal courts in new york city just in the last ten days. i want to congratulate you on that. most americans are not affected day to day by terrorist attacks. i just want to say that, you know, for the 11,000 sex fugitives you've arrested this year for a whole host of the activities you've done in terms of some 3,400 drug operations, criminal organizations that you have rounded up, that the department has done for americans who are facing these kinds of day-to-day challenges that you've been ever present and i want to thank you for the work you've done. we want to talk through your budget. what ywe want to hear in this budget is we're going to spend billions of dollars for national security purposes.

there's about $4 billion in your budget request for core national security operations. some 25,000 federal agents that range from the fbi to atf, dea. the big number in there is this prison number that is ever growing. and you taking action inside the department, the chairman and i work together on this, but he deserves the lions share of the credit. have put in the spending bill this prison reform effort. and i think that the time has come for our country to think anew about not just in the federal system but in the state system too. you've referred to it in your written testimony that there's a vicious cycle that takes place in many communities in which you have intergenerational poverty and we are kind of perpetuated in this cycle. we have to figure out how to intervene and interrupt it. and i'm arguing, and i've done this in private.

me and you have -- all of the top youth mentoring agencies. you took the courtesy a year ago to meet with them. we could do so much more to get young people headed in the right direction before they ever get themselves in any kinds of untoward circumstances. so i think that's an investment we should make and i think that you have it within your power to take action that could launch the most aggressive effort ever in our nation to do so. so thank you and we look forward to your testimony and i thank the chairman. >> mr. rogers. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general, welcome to the committee. your request for the department is $27.7 billion. that's a slight 1% increase over fiscal '14 enacted. understanding the difficult

budgetary constraints under which you are operating, particularly the rapidly escalating cost within our federal prison system, we look forward to hearing from you about the impacts of that flat funding level to the operational capabilities of our men and women on the front lines in those prisons. where these dedicated federal law enforcement and intelligence officers are concerned, as members of this committee, we have a responsibility to make sure we are tying funding results. candidly, i'm concerned by a number of proposals and misplaced priorities. which undermine the integrity of the request. first, and probably most importantly, your budget proposes to absorb some $937 million in mandatory pay and

retirement increases, foreign operation expenses and gsa rent, with unspecific amorphous, quote, administrative reductions, end quote. refer to this tactic as smoke and mirrors. we want stoop to that here. we just call that a budget gimmick. the reality is you've set your budget over with $1 billion size hole, that we're going to have to find a way to fill. that's not a very responsible approach to budgeting, particularly given the department's critical responsibility to support its personnel with the tools, training and equipment necessary to carry out the security intelligence and added missions that keep the citizens of the country safe.

second, i regret that you will not find much support here for the dozen new grant programs proposed in the budget, or for any of the programs patently in this year's omnibus bill. i fear your request is not placing a sufficient priority on the law enforcement or national security missions that are the keystones of this agency. beyond my specific concerns about the budget proposal, i would be remiss if i did not register my concern that the administration has completely abdicated one of its chief responsibilities under the controlled substances act. as the chief law enforcement officer of the country, mr. attorney general, it's incredibly disheartening to learn that you are not, in fact, enforcing the law. i suspect the committee will

discuss at length your decision to allow distributors in washington state and colorado to dispense marijuana. and your instruction to u.s. attorneys to de-emphasize marijuana prosecutions. i'm sure you understand that more than contributing to a terrible public health and law enforcement crisis, you're undermining the rule of law in the country when you pick and choose which laws you choose to enforce or not enforce. i hope and pray this does not leave a dark cloud on your legacy in this role, particularly given our many constructive conversations about drug abuse in the country. in fact, this runs completely counter to the department's incredibly positive strides in

recent years to beat back on the scores of prescription drug abuse that's crippling so many communities in our country. i appreciate that you've lent your voice to this cause engaging the law enforcement and public health communities, pardon me, particularly as we've seen a transition from opiate and painkillers to heroin in urban and rural areas alike. this is an alarming trend that we look forward to hearing from you about how doj is using the tools at its disposal to root out bad actors. whether they're street level dealers or the variety that wears a white coat and a stethoscope. thank you for your time. we look forward to hearing from you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ranking member of the full committee. >> welcome.

before i begin, i want to take a moment to send my condolences to the people at ft. hood. to my friend, mr. carter who honorably represented our service members and their family members stationed at the base, all our thoughts are with you. to the matter at hand, i thank you, chairman wolf, ranking member fattah, for holding this hearing. thank you, attorney general holder, for coming before the committee this morning. you come before us today with a budget request of $27.4 billion for fiscal year 2015. 1% increase over 2014. increases for the federal bureau of investigations and the bureau of alcohol, firearms and explosives would continue investments to investigate and arrest criminals and crack down on those who illegally use and traffic firearms. this is so critical.

the security of our nation depends on adequate funding for these agencies. and while the department come bats terrorism and drug and weapons traffickers, you must also address what you describe as a vicious cycle of poverty and criminality and incarceration in which young people who have fallen off the right path have entered the juvenile and criminal justice systems. i agree with you that we must do a better job of focusing on rehabilitation so that those who committed crimes can receive the punishment but also treatment and resources to have productive and law abiding lives. i thank you for raising the serious need for reform of our criminal justice department. and note the budget requests $173 million to support alternatives for detention for nonviolent low level offenses

and invest in programs. it also provides for the dna initiative and 35 million for the new community backlog program. mr. chairman, i just have to bring attention i think is the only woman on this panel. it is shocking to me. i cannot understand it. i'd like a detailed response. how there could be 400,000 rapes, evidence for which are sitting in a box on a shelf. 400,000 rapes in this country. now, many of these same guy could have been out there dozens of times. but you don't have enough money or time? this evidence, this dna evidence is sitting on a shelf? i frankly would like to follow up on that and get a response.s.

this is not some third world country. 400,000 rapes have taken place and the evidence is in a box on a shelf. lastly, i would be remiss if i did not mention the work of the department to get guns out of the hands of the most dangerous among us. in the years since the horrors of newtown, at least 194 children have been shot to death in america. and as we saw tragically at ft. hood this week, these acts of violence continue. there is no reason for these deaths. there's no defense for them. i stand with you, ready to do whatever is possible to end these tragedies and make our community safer. thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. i now want to recognize

congressman carter who represents the area for -- >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, i'm joined today by my colleague, roger williams. he is also -- represents ft. hood and i'm very appreciative the chair's allowed him to sit in on this hearing. the incredible ft. hood family, and i say that because they are quite incredible, have endured not one but two horrific unimaginable shootings. the loss of life, no matter what the number may be, is more than we can bare and, quite frankly, more than this or any other community deserves to bear. we cannot let the worst of humanity wield a gun in a man rage against their fellow soldiers and defeat the best of humanity that is always on display at ft. hood in central texas. sadly, we are dealing with yet

another shooting at ft. hood almost in the same place where 13 americans lost their lives in november 2009. the death of three soldiers this week, which left 16 others wounded, is a stark reminder of the threat our military members are dealing with on a daily basis. but even more than that, each of these shootings strike at the soul of the american military. one of the things -- many americans don't know or many americans forget is the reason a soldier risks his life for his country, one of the major reasons is he's fighting for the soldier on either side of him. they call each other battle buddies. when they go to war, they go to war relying on the fact that the man who wears their uniform is there to protect them and they are there to protect him.

and the strike both by hasan and by this soldier strike at the very core of what soldiers rely upon. young americans go to war, 18, 19, 20-year-old americans go to war, relying on the fact if an american uniform is with them, that person is protecting them. when someone in your own uniform strikes you or strikes your fellow soldiers, it strikes at the very heart of what they call the warrior pathos. that they go to battle because they are americans with americans and they're fighting for their battle buddies. so these are much more important than a lot of us realize. affects the very ability for americans to fight wars. now, i thank the chairman for letting me make a statement here. i'm asking -- have been asking my fellow texan, as well as all

americans, to please keep ft. hood families in their prayers. you know, soldiers go to war together. families stay home alone. they may really be stronger than the soldier they send to war. the coming days will be marked by mourning and the resolve to carry on. the resilient community of fort hood has proven their resilience and they will carry on to defend this great nation and we should never forget what they give for us. mr. chairman, i thank you. >> thank you. i see our colleague mr. williams has arrived. he has represented the 25th district of texas which includes part of ft. hood. committee rules and long-standing practice stipulate that noncommittee members do not participate in committee hearings. but we wanted to invite him to hear testimony of the attorney

general and as a matter of courtesy offer him an opportunity t say a few words. so with that, i ask unanimous consent that mr. williams be permitted to make a brief statement to the subcommittee. >> without objection. >> thank you. thank you, chairman rogers. ranking member. chairman wolf. ranking member fattah. members of the subcommittee. i appreciate you recognizing me. that is very near to my heart. as some of you may know, chairman carter, as you've heard earlier, and i both represent ft. hood. once again, we've seen the tragedy at ft. hood. the great place, as we call it back in texas. we wetness the strength and resilience of the community.

the brave men and women who not only serve overseas but right here at home. the attack yesterday at ft. hood left three of our service members dead and 16 wounded. with the scars of the 2009 attack barely healed, we are once again dealing with the horrors of an unspeakable tragedy. our prayers are with the fallen troops. those who are injured. and those are still in recovery. and the families of all those involved. our thoughts are with the entire ft. hood community and the entire leadership team as they stand together and push through this tough time. we also pray for the excellent medical team assisting the injured. the attack yesterday and the 2009 attack were not just attacks on our base, they were attacks on our troops, on the values and ideas our soldiers have sworn to defend. in 2009, we lost 14 innocent americans. 12 military service members, 1 civilian and 1 unborn child.

doses were injure einjured. dozens were injured. the pentagon, with the advice and counsel of the department of justice, labeled the 2009 attack as workplace violence, like a disgruntled employee taking out his anger on fellow co-workers. but the evidence in the trial proved otherwise. has san in his own words admitted his intent was to harm and kill u.s. soldiers after he switched sides in what he called a u.s. war on islam. he renounced his u.s. citizenship and his military oath. he told military jurors he supports the taliban. showing his attack was a terrorist attack. it was premeditated. proos it was a planned attack. this administration's workplace violence designation clearly favors political correctness over truth and justice. nobody in america thinks this was workplace violence. they know it was a terrorist attack. but labeling it an attack of

workplace violence, the victims are denied the rewards their counterpart receive when killed overseas. we should reward the military victims the purple heart medal and the civilian victims the medal for the defense of freedom. both awards would provide combat related special compensation and the benefits that have been withheld from them. it is my hope that the department of justice will thoroughly investigate yesterday's attack on ft. hood. we will never forget the victims of these horrific attacks. the families and the legacy of service and sacrifice they have left behind. may god bless all the ft. hood community during this time of mo mourning. i yield back the balance of my time. >> thank you, mr. williams, i appreciate it. pursuant to the authority granted in section 191 of title 2 of the united states code.

today's witness will be sworn in before -- that's fine. please rise and raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? thank you. let the record reflect the witness answered in the affirmative. you can proceed as you see appropriate. thank you. >> good morning, chairman wolf, ranking member fattah, chairman rogers, ranking member lowy. mr. carter, mr. williams. distinguished members of the subcommittee. i want to thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the president's fiscal year 2015 budget for the united states department of justice and to provide an overview of the department's recent achievements and ongoing priorities. despite significant challenges, the past year has been characterized i think by remarkable progress from expanding civil rights for all americans to holding private

corporations accountable for wrongdoing in the financial sector. concerns have been raised about a practice called high frequency trading. this practice which consists of financial brokers and trading firms using advanced computer algorithms and ultrahigh-speed data networks to execute trades has rightly received scrutiny from regulators. i can confirm we at the united states department of justice are investigating this practice to determine whether it violates insider trading laws. the department is committed to ensuring the integrity of our financial markets and we are determined to follow this investigation wherever the facts and the law may lead. across the board, many of the department's ongoing activities and recent accomplishments are notable. none have been more important than our work to protect the american people from terrorism and other threats to our national security. we're mindful of wednesday's mass shooting at ft. hood.

as i indicated yesterday, i have directed that the full resources of the department of justice, as well as the fbi, be made available to help conduct a very thorough federal investigation. as we keep striving to achieve justice on behalf of our men and women in uniform by working to determine what happened this week. we need help in healing to those who need it. my colleagues and i will continue to do everything in our power to prevent these horrific and far too common tragedies from happening again. we will also remain steadfast in our commitment to ensure america's national security and to hold accountable those who seek to harm our nation and its people. last week, as was mentioned, the department achieved a major milestone in this regard when we secured the victim of the son-in-law of osama bin laden and a senior member of al qaeda on terrorism-related charges. we never doubted the ability of our system to administer justice swiftly in this case as it has

in hundreds of other cases involving terrorism defendants and this outcome vindicates the government's approach to securing convictions of senior al qaeda leaders. it is my hope this case will help lay that political debate. it's a political debate, to rest. the president's budget request would strengthen our national security work by investing a total of $4 billion in the department's cutting edge counterterrorism and national security programs including 15 million in new funding to maintain and operate explosive device facility in alabama. would support our efforts to strengthen the federal justice system through the groundbreaking smart on crime initiative that i launched last august to make our criminal justice system both more effective, more efficient and more fair. this in turn would enable us to further expand the work done every day in each of the department's litigating division and the united states attorney's

offices. thanks to their efforts from the fiscal year ending in 2015, the department collected a total of more than $8 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties. this represents more than double the approximately $3 billion in direct appropriations that pay for our 94 u.s. attorneys offices and main litigating divisions. in fiscal year 2012 and fiscal year 2013, the department collected a combined total of more than $21 billion. a record amount for a two-year span. particularly in recent months, we've obtained a series of historic resolutions and taken significant actions to ensure we're serving as sound stewards of taxpayer dollars and protecting american consumers from fraud and other financial crimes. the justice department secured a $13 billion settlement with jpmorgan chase and company. the largest settlement with a single entity in american history. to resolve federal and state civil claims related to the company's mortgage secure

thatization process. part of our efforts to hold accountable those who sowed the seeds of the mortgage crisis. just yesterday, we announced a record $5.15 billion settlement with kerr mcgee corporation and certain affiliates and their parent and a darko petroleum corporation. this represents the largest recovery for cleanup of environmental contamination in the history of the department of justice. itled h holds the company and i subsidiary accountable. and fraudulent attempts to evade responsibility for its actions. it marks a critical step in our effort to protect the american people from all forms of fraud

to combat corporate misconduct and to safeguard the environment. now, as we move forward, i'm eager to work with this subcommittee, with the entire congress, to secure the timely passage of the president's budget which provides a total of $27.4 billion in discussion fre resources. $2.1 billion for discretionary state, local and tribal systems programs. this support will be essential to ensuring we can protect the american people and strengthen our criminal justice system. as you know, fiscal year 2014 mark, a critical year in the implementation of the prison rape elimination act. as states will soon be required to comply with national standards for curbing sexual assaults in prisons. the department is committed to helping state and local governments overcoming any challenges they may encounter as they work towards the standards. and with funding the committee

has provided has established a resource center in order to assist with implementation. we're confident these standards which were the results of extensive public comment are atta attainable. the problem with sexual assault in prisons is too great to settle for anything less than an aggressive approach to implementing these key reforms. i want to thank you all for the opportunity to discuss this work with you today. i especially want to thank chairman wolf for his exemplary leadership and for his support of the department's work and particularly our efforts to combat the heinous crime of human trafficking over the course of a long and distinguished career in the house of representatives. mr. chairman, i've come to greatly value your advocacy on behalf of the justice department's essential mission and your high regard for the entireless career employees who make our work possible every day. your expertise and your steadfast support of our public safety efforts, sometimes all by yourself, or with mr. fattah,

you are our saviors in 2014 but you've been invaluable to the department over the years. upon your retirement from the house of representatives at the end of this year, you will be greatly missed. i want to thank you, once again, for your service and for your leadership. i would be happy to answer any questions that any members of the committee might have. >> because of the number of members, i'm just going to limit my questions to one or two and then we'll get -- so i'm going to go quickly. one, on the issue of the prison reform, the committee with mr. fattah, we have is the prison reform commission named after -- can you tell us the status of that? because the quicker that thing moves -- i think we have an opportunity to bring all sides together and really do something really bold and because of your support i think there's an opportunity -- so cab you give us update on where that is and how quickly we can get that thing moving? >> the effort that is contained

in the kols be -- what i call the colson initiative, is one that makes a great deal of sense. it is one that we certainly support. it's an important part of our efforts to improve the federal corrections system. there is atask force that will be a nine-person blue ribbon panel that's made up of individuals with expertise in justice reinvestment correction reform. really practical data-driven ways in which we can increase public safety. we anticipate that this is something that we will be able to put in place i think relatively soon. it is something, as i said, that enjoys my support and the support of people in the department and to the extent that we can work with you, to make sure that we keep the work of that task force on course and responding and operating in a timely way, that is something

that i look forward to. this is something we're trying to do in our smart on crime initiative. i think it can have a profound impact on how we do our federal corrections work. >> thank you. on the human trafficking, i have a lot of questions. could you describe the department's work on human trafficking and the kinds of -- and can you talk a little bit about we can eliminate, you know, the whole issue of backpage.com has come up at every hearing that we've had and all of the groups that are working on this issue all believe that if we -- if we can't deal with the issue of backpage.com and groups like that, we won't be able to deal with the issue. can you tell us a little bit about where the department is and particularly with regard to backpage.com? >> sure. includes $44.9 million for the

department's efforts to combat human trafficking. this is, for me, a top priority for this department. a top priority. this is something we take very personally. the civil rights division or criminal division and our u.s. attorney's office brought 161 forced labor and sex trafficking prosecuti prosecutions. that's a 20% increase over the last fiscal year. i share the concern that you have, about that page. and about other similar publications. there are first amendment considerations that have to be taken into account if there's to be a legislative attempt to deal with this problem. but i do think i'm willing to work with the committee, with members like yourself, to try to come up with a way in which we can address this situation legislativety and deal with the first amendment issues that have

been raised. it will require some careful legislating but it's not beyond our capacity to do that. i think when one looks at what appears on those pages and others like it, the legislative response and enforcement response is totally appropriate. >> the last question -- then i'm going to go to mr. rogers. last year, the department was directed to follow the lead of the fbi to keep distance between government officials and individuals or organizations associated with the support of terrorist activities such as the unindicted co-conspirator council. testified last week this policy was enforced throughout the fbi. can you confirm to the committee such a policy has been implem t implemented throughout the department of justice? >> there's not, i don't think, a formal policy with regard to our intercakes wi interaction with c.a.r.e. in particular. we meet with a of hope grown vi radicalization. it is not -- we don't have a

formal relationship with c.a.r.e. i cannot say categorically that we don't have meetings among our various u.s. attorneys offices around the country, with members of that organization might be present. we don't have any formal relationship with c.a.r.e. >> mr. fatah. >> thank you mr. attorney general. congratulate you again on the settlements that you mention. i want to talk to you about the toyota settlement. toyota is a big supporter of youth mentoring. the administration's a big supporter of youth mentoring. i've sent you a letter on this matter, and i would like to have you comment on it. >> yeah, we -- i certainly you've been a leader in supporting these vital programs. we've had, as you indicated, meetings to talk about this whole question of youth mentoring. and i share your concerns about

how we can keep our young people both safe, and productive, and have them interact with very positive role models. too many of our young people do not have positive adult mentors, and role models in their lives. i know that i have staff that is reviewing your legislative proposal, and i commit to getting back to you with what our views are on your legislation. i think that we want to look at these fines that we are bringing in, these setments that we are bringing in and see how we can make best use of them. i think your legislative proposal is a very interesting one. if you just give us a bit of time to look at it -- >> i appreciate that but as my republican colleagues always say, you don't need a law for everything. right? so i do have a legislative proposal, it's bipartisan. we've got every important organization in the country supporting it and i hope one day that we can pass it.

in the congress. but in the meantime, when the department is coming to terms, like for instance in the toyota matter, it could be, as you did in the bp settlement, the fine could be put in place, and it could be directed, and it would not, as i would understand it, require the congress to act. that is if you take the administration, which said that the white house on monitoring, you wanted to expand mentoring programs, that there are you know, 6 million or more young people who could use positive intervention and are not connected to any of these programs, that you have some programs who are expanding. first-c is a good example. they raised over $100 million. they're doubling their involvement from 5600 schools to well over 1100 schools this year.

boys and girls clubs has doubled the number of clubs around the country. but still, we need to do a lot more so what i'm suggesting is rather than the president said that, you know, this was going to be a year of action. here's an opportunity in which you don't need to get 218 votes in the house, or 50-plus-1 in the senate. that the doj itself could act to, in concert with fulfilling your responsibilities, but also in concert with your other stated goals, which is to eliminate this vicious cycle, to stop growing our prison population, you know, the problem with locking up criminals is you have to have victims. so if we could intervene earlier it would make a lot of sense. so i appreciate the fact that the legislative proposal is going to be reviewed. and i know my colleagues here and i hope one day we'll get a fair hearing and i think we will on that bill. but i'm suggesting that we could

act sooner than that. >> i would say is that we'll look and see what degree of discretion that we have, and i would note that when it came to the distribution of the bp money that was directed at the cleanup that was pursuant to a -- the legislative, largely due to a legislative -- well, a legislative enactment that senator landrieu was especially instrumental in getting passed. >> and i'll leave it, you know, because we do have other members. but there are numerous circumstances where settlements take place. if you take the toyota settlement, those dollars are not being directed in any particular direction. there's no restitution, or purpose to them. they're just going 20 go in a hole. and they're going to, you know, so they weren't appropriated dollars, they're not taxpayer dollars, they weren't expected, they come out of the hard work of your department, and a sense among the leadership of toyota

to settle the matter, right? so what i'm saying is here's an opportunity for us to impact the lives of millions of young people and it can be done in a way in which we don't have to go through the normal process in which the white house tries to get an initiative passed through the congress. so, thank you. i hope you would fully examine it. >> we'll examine it. and i look forward to working with you. i mean, there's no question that the desire that you have is one that i share, that we share, and we'll try to work together on what the mechanism might be. >> thank you. >> thank you mr. chairman. mr. attorney general, i want to talk to you about prescription drug abuse. both of our favorite subject, it seems. we've had some real changes in the war, if you will, in the last few days. when the fda, after ten years of pushing by dea, and attorney

general, and me and others, finally upscheduled vicodin and lortab, hydrocodone opioid medicines from schedule iii to schedule ii which is significant. because a schedule ii drug requires a written prescription. can't be called in. there is no automatic refill. harsher penalties for trafficking and so forth. so it was a big-time victory for the fight against prescription drug abuse, by the center for disease control calls a national epidemic, and which you recently said is an urgent public health crisis. with which i agree with you. but the day after fda rescheduled -- upscheduled these hydrocodone drugs, like oxycontin, the next day,

inexplicab inexplicably, fda voted -- the fda director allowed the sale of zohydro, a new, extremely poetent, ten times oxycontin's strength, is to be released with no abuse deterrent characteristics.tent, ten times strength, is to be released with no abuse deterrent characteristics. when we had a problem with oxycontin, finally the manufacturer agreed to make it under a new formulation. that is sort of like a gel or a gummy substance, can't be shot up or crushed or misused. like it had been. killing thousands. they then people then switched illicit use to opana, until it was reformulated, and now they're switching to heroin, because it's cheaper and all of that. and you can't get it -- you can't get a high -- you can't

use opana and oxycontin like you used to for a high, crushing the 12-hour release into a single explosive use. but zohydro, hydrocodone, opioid, ten times more powerful than oxycontin will be available in its regular form, which can be crushed and shot up, and kill. the fda's advisory commit a on this question, should we or not voted 11-2, no. they said. we're worried about the impact of this drug on people who don't know its power or its adiktability, and consequently they die from an overdose. can you ten me out, am i missing something? why did the fda do this? and what can we do about it? and what do you think?

>> let me first say as i've indicated previously, and had talked about more recently, the concern i have and that i share it with you about opioids and where they are ultimately leading our country. they are -- their abuse in and of themselves have had a devastating impact on our country. and the chain that we see developing between the use of opioids, misuse of opioids and the now growing heroin problem is one that i think we cannot ignore. i'm only familiar with the decision of the fda on the basis of what i read in the newspapers. and i need to understand it a little more. i'm a little baffled, given the progress, as you've indicated, with regard to the reformulations of other substances that had been abused. that were changed, such that crushing them no longer made them -- you could no longer use them in the way that they had been used where people were

becoming addicted. this is something i have to examine a little more, get a little more understanding of what the decision was. but if it is inconsistent with the efforts that we have painstakingly put in place, that is something that would give me great concern. and i just, as i said, i need more information to understand what happened. but i have to say that i do at least hear your concerns about that decision. >> well, i appreciate that. the pattern that we've seen so far in opioid abuse, first oxycontin which exploded in my district, i think probably ground zero for the country, 10, 12 years ago, finally we were able to bring it under control of oxycontin by the reformulation of the medicine. and then, as i've said before, opana took over, and then it -- it was reformulated. and now, zohydro, which fda

says, oh, well, we'll put labeling on the bottles where it won't be abused. we'll have instructions to doctors, and so on. it would be very restricted in who can use it and so forth. that was said about oxycontin 12 years ago. then we started to -- had to start going to emergency rooms and seeing kids die. and i fear that this zohydro in straight pill form, you can crash it and shoot it up, chew it, whatever, will be abused just like oxycontin was. and we're going to see more young people die. and so i urge you to put this on your front burner. i know it is already. you've been very helpful, in fact you and i talked about efforts you and i made in south florida in broward county florida, in shutting down the pill mills, which was furnishing

90% of the nation's illicit oxycontin. and did a marvelous job with the u.s. state attorney down there and the governor in putting an end to it. but this one could be another oxycontin, except this one is ten times more powerful. >> again, mr. chairman, i need -- i guess i want to get some better understanding of what was behind the decision. but i think the concerns that you have raised are legitimate ones. especially given the progress that we have made. i would not want to see us take a step backwards. and we'll be checking with the fda to see if we can better understand what the basis for that decision was. or if there's some understanding or misunderstanding that i have about why they did what they did. >> i hope you can do more than just check with them.

could you tell us that you will get back with us with a report on on where we stand with it, and what we can do about it? >> i will interact with the fda, and then will report on that interaction back to you, and to chairman wolf and the ranking members, as well. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> i agree with the chairman. and boy, you move quickly. about two years ago you were down in south florida and you did a great job. you really -- and if you could do the same thing here, you get an a-plus and that would be very good. >> we had a significant hearing with mr. rogers. >> yes, you did. >> i remember that. >> that's an understatement. >> well, mr. attorney general, i'd like to give you an a-plus, too. >> will the gentle lady yield briefly? >> of course. >> you know, at that hearing we were hollering about broward county, florida, being the place where most of the pills were coming from, oxycontin.

and we asked the attorney general in a modest way to investigate, and see if he could put a stop to it. and we kept referring to broward county and i said finally, do you want me to spell broward county? well, i got a note from the attorney general, maybe six or eight months later, after they had gone in there and really cleaned up the mess, and he was describing what they had done down there and he put a handwritten p.s. note at the end saying, p.s., i learned how to spell broward county, florida. >> thank you. mr. attorney general, i want to give you an a-plus, too. following up on the issue i referenced before. as i mentioned, there are an estimated 400,000 rape kits sitting in police department evidence rooms which have gone untested. with the cost starting at $500 and many substantially higher, many communities are months, if not years, and in some cases

decades, behind on testing the rape kits. in the meantime, violent criminals are free, victims remain fearful that their assailant might never be found. this is truly outrageous. i think you probably are aware that new york city eliminated its backlog in 2003. they had 17,000 untested kits. the arrest rate for the rapists went from 40% to 70%. now the budget request includes funding, both for the dna initiative, as well as a new grant program designed to help communities identify the obstacles they face in handling evidence of rapes, and testing rape kits. can you tell us how will the newly proposed grant program address these needs? what makes it different from the dna initiative, which is already up and running?

>> well, first let me say that the whole question of dealing with sexual assaults is one that is a priority for this department. and for this administration. we're dealing with the issue in a variety of contexts, both on the campus, for instance. we have a task force that is dealing with the issue there. and this question of reducing the backlog on rape kits is something that is extremely critical. this is, in some ways, the best evidence that we have. this is state-of-the-art evidence that exists. it is dna evidence. and so the budget requests that we have made is in an attempt to really speed up the process by which we look at this backlog that exists in a variety of jurisdictions, and give assistance to those jurisdictions so that they can do the necessary analysis, make the necessary hits that i think inevitably flow from them, and be more successful in the

prosecutions. the statistics that you show are really -- that you mention are not surprising. that you have better evidence, if you have dna evidence, which is the gold standard when it comes to evidence, i expect that you would see conviction rates start to rise. this is money that we want to have as part of the doj budget. it is money that we want to push o out. we also know that rapists tend to opt to do -- commit rapes more than once. so we're looking at the possibility of solving more than one case. we're also looking at the possibility of -- so we have the possibility we have within our hands the ability to have a real impact on the crime rate with regard to rapes. so it's not only a question of solving crimes that have already occurred. we can also prevent further ircrimes from occurring. >> thank you. one other question.

i am a strong supporter of:v

and while it is too early to draw any conclusions, the commander at ft. hood has said that the shooter had behavioral and mental health issues and was receiving treatment, though he was recently able to purchase a firearm. could you share us what tools are authority does the nic system need in order for it to represent in realtime the most accurate information and mental health histories for those seeking to purchase a firearm. >> well, let me start by saying that more generally i think that as a nation we should support the commonsense proposals that the administration made after the sandy hook tragedy. and come up with these ways in which we might support these commonsense gun safety measures. when it comes to dealing with the whole question of mental health issues, and the acquisition of firearms, we have

recently proposed a regulation that seeks to clarify who, due to mental health reasons, is prohibited from receiving, possessing, shipping, or transporting firearms. the revised definition that we have proposed clarifies that the statutory term adjudicated as a mental defective and committed to a mental institution would include a broader range of people. so that people with mental health issues, and there are at least preliminary indications that might be the case with regard to the shooter, most recent shooter at ft. hood, that people who suffer from mental issues don't have the ability, capacity to acquire these weapons and so that regulation that we have proposed we think will go a long way to dealing with that issue. but i also think it is something that we as a society have to ask ourselves again the more general questions, and then the more specific one with regard to how

do we deal with the whole question of mental health, and the secretary amendment rights that we all enjoy as united states citizens. >> just following up, what are the next steps that congress should take to open up the nic system so that those who pose risks to others are more quickly entered into the system? >> well, the way in which i think we can do this, we have $182 million in our budget, our now is the time initiative to ensure that those who are not eligible to purchase or possess guns are prevented from doing so. so this budget proposal, $35 million to sustain critical investments in 2014, $13 million for the national -- fbi's national criminal background check system, nics, and $28 billion for criminal firearms program to our budget will give

us greater capacity for the system to take in more information, to process it faster and to make those kinds of on-the-spot determinations of who should and who should not be allowed to obtain a weapon.thos determinations of who should and who should not be allowed to obtain a weapon. and so the passage of our budget will bolster our ability, enhance our ability and make the nics system much more robust. >> i'm going to go to dr. harris but i just want to, this area, the mentally ill owe fentder treatment and crime reduction act was bipartisan approach to better addressing with mental illness the criminal justice system. it's been around for ten years, gives little support, quite frankly, from the administration, and unfortunately the administration budget proposes funding for the mentally ill offender treatment and crime reduction act be eliminated and instead combined into a drug and mental health courts program which would effectively exclude 60% of the key elements and programs. so i think the administration's

taking the wrong position to really propose the consolidation. i ask you to find of think about that as you're kind of -- as you work through this budget. dr. harris? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. and thank you, mr. secretary, for being here with us today. let me follow up a little bit on what the chairman, and the subcommittee and committee both mentioned, basically controlled substance abuse. and particularly, about the enforcement of the controlled substance act. obviously a decision was made in the department of justice not to enforce the controlled substance act broadly in states that have legalized recreational marijuana. so i'm just going to ask, where -- where was the medical expertise that you used in making that decision? i mean i assume you didn't spread that decision to other control 1 drugs, quaalude, ecstasy, heroin, so was there a medical decisionmaking process into selecting that drug for selective enforcement that

schedule i drug? >> what i say is we still enforce the controlled substances act. but we made this a law enforcement decision. >> right, that's right. so making that law enforcement decision to pick out one controlled -- one schedule i drug as opposed to the other ones, was there medical input in to that? it's just a simple question. do you have medical input within the department? >> what we made was a law enforcement decision as to how we were going to use the limited resources that we have -- >> well, thank you. so, i'm going to urge that you take up the chairman of the subcommittee's offer to sit down and meet, you know, dr. volkau testifying in front of the subcommittee calls marijuana part of a complex and evolving public health threat. i don't know, mr. secretary, if you're aware, but if you talk about teenagers, 15.6, one in six teenagers, has used marijuana in the last month. only 9.6% have used tobacco. if you look at 12th graders,

6.5% use marijuana every day. only 2.2% use alcohol every day. wow. that's a public health threat. and you know, the importance of signals can't be underestimated. so i'm going to ask you, do you agree with the president that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol? >> well, i think the president's remarks in that regard were taken a little bit out of context. you have to read the entirety -- >> he said marijuana is less dangerous in alcohol in terms of its input on the individual consumer. do you agree with that? >> as i said you have to keep reading what the president said. and he -- >> that's what he said, mr. secretary. i'm quoting what he said. >> could we let the witness answer the question? >> if you want to yield me some of your time -- >> i'll be glad to yield you time. just allow him to answer. >> then i will take you up on that offer later to yield me the time to finish my questions. thank you. mr. secretary, go ahead. because i thought i read it in the context in which he said it. >> there were further remarks which i don't have in front of me that were a part of that same

interaction, i guess, he had with a reporter, tv reporter, i'm not exactly sure who it was. >> new yorker. >> new york magazine. he talked about how the use of marijuana was not a good thing, it was something that he would not -- he's not advocating for, so in that regard, i think the president had it right. we are -- we looked at -- we looked at the limited federal enforcement resources that we have. we try to make determinations about how we can most effectively deal with them. we set out a series of eight factors that indicated how we would look at marijuana enforcement efforts around the country. and we focus on things like preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors. that is one of the eight factors that we take into consideration. >> thank you. and you know, the administrator of the dea testified there were those eight factors. do you agree with the president or do you agree with the director of the national institute of drug abuse that marijuana is quote part of a complex and evolving public

health threat? do you just agree with that statement? it's not a complicated question. do you agree that it's part of a complex and evolving public health threat? >> i think that the -- what we have done, the way in which we are looking at those laws in washington and in colorado, the enforcement authorities that we have set out, i think that what we are doing makes a great deal of sense. it is a good use of the enforcement resources that we have. and i think it's consistent with the general approach that we have taken with regard to narcotics enforcement efforts. >> okay so i take it you won't answer the question. i can't blame you, because it would be all over the press tomorrow. you we know what the attorney general's opinion is on the danger of main juana. let me talk briefly about two other issues. $182 million in the initiative to reduce gun violence in your testimony you say there's -- it's not certain that's where it comes from. there are grants to quote encourage development of innovative gun safety technology.

is that part of that pot of $182 million? >> i believe it is. >> okay it also says other parts of your testimony the budget request, $143 million to help state and local governments to continue to implement the administration's proposals for increasing firearms safety. that's separate, i take it? >> i'm not sure exactly how it is -- how it is constructed -- >> if you could get back to me about that. those grants to encourage the development of innovative gun safety technology where do they come from? where do they go to? where do they come from? which part of the department of justice and where do they go to as a competitive bid process -- competitive proposal process. is it worked out with nih, cdc, actually some public -- i don't -- is it mechanical issues, studies? i don't understand what the money is spent for. >> well i mean i think that one of the things that we learned in when we were trying to get past those commonsense reforms last year, vice president biden and i had a meeting with a group of

technology people and talked about how guns can be made more safe by making them either through fingerprint identification, the gun talks to a bracelet or something that you might wear, how guns can be used only by the person who is lawfully in possession of the weapon. so it's those kinds of things that i think we want to try to explore so that we can make sure that people have the ability to enjoy their second amendment rights while at the same time decreasing the misuse of weapons that lead to the kinds of things that we see on a daily basis. you know, where people, kids especially, are struck down by -- >> sure. no one wants that to occur. and you know we looked at that in the state of maryland well over ten years ago, and i just would like, and i'll submit a question for the record to actually separate out how much you intend to spend on those grants to gun safe technology.

just finally one very brief question. you asked for an increase in federal civil rights enforcement division. i'm going to assume, and maybe i'm incorrect, is that the division that actually was in court against the voucher program in louisiana? school voucher program? was that -- was that out of civil rights division? >> you -- not correct. that was not the division that was doing anything of that nature in louisiana. we were seeking to get from the state of louisiana information about their voucher program. never, ever took the position that we were against vouchers. >> is that the division that went into court in louisiana to ask for that information? these are not complicated questions, mr. secretary. >> no. they're answers that i -- >> i'm sorry, mr. attorney general. >> what i was saying is that we never sought to do anything with the voucher program, as much as to get information -- >> okay, is -- >> and which a federal judge ultimately agreed with us, and we worked out something with the state. it's a talking point that

governor jindal and others, i guess you, think makes good political fodder. but it's totally inconsistent with -- >> mr. attorney general -- >> inconsistent with fact. >> mr. attorney general, i'm going to take issue with that. >> well, as i -- >> i actually care about the education of children as governor jindal does. and to suggest that we use talking points any more than you use talking points is personally something i think should be above the level. to just have suggested that i'm actually using a talking point, mr. attorney general, you used federal money to go in to a state court, to try to hinder, hamper, disable, a school voucher program the majority of which goes to minority students. so i'm going to just take issue with our characterization of a talking point because we should use children, especially minority children, you can shake your head all you want, maybe you disagree that we shouldn't use minority children as wed

wedges -- i just can't tell you how frustrated i am that you think that minority children in louisiana getting an education in a charter school are talking points. i yield back the balance of my time. >> first off it was in a federal court not a state court. the judge, a federal judge, agreed with us that we were entitled to the information that we sought, and we were clear in the interaction that we had with the state that we took no position with regard to the voucher program. we only sought information about how the program was being run, and how it affected a long-standing statewide anti-discrimination settlement that had been in place for years. simply that. s simply that. >> mr. schiff? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. attorney general, for being here. many of us greatly appreciate your willingness to come and your testimony, and regret when members don't give you a chance to ask the questions that they purportedly want to hear the answers to. i wanted to follow up on my

colleague miss lowey's comments on the dna rape kit backlogs, and thank you, justice department, along with this committee, was very helpful in los angeles, when we had backlog problem at the lapd, and l.a. sheriff's office with more than i think 10,000 rape kits, and with your help we were able to clear that backlog. more than that i know when you took office there was a tremendous backlog in offender dna. and through the introduction of new technologies, investment resources, you've been able to essentially eliminate the offender dna backlog, and that's critical, also, in rape cases, if -- if you go ahead, and you test the rape kits they're only going to be as effective as the offenders that match them in the database. so eliminating that federal backlog is very important, and we greatly value your efforts to eliminate the backlog in the

states, as well. he wanted to ask you about the metadata reform. and i know you've been spearheading the effort to find a new model for how that -- we could get the information we need to protect the country, make sure we maintain our privacy protections. and i think the plan the president announced a week or so ago was exactly the right direction to go in. the one difference, i think, substantial difference between what the president has proposed, and now a bipartisan proposal of the intelligence committee, is that the administration's proposal would have the court review or request to query the telephone companies on a suspect number before the search is done. in the absence of an emergency or exigent circumstances. i think that's the wrong approach. there is a bill from the committee now that would