resilience and achievement and son of a history professor and artist, mr. lutnick was born and raised in new york. he lost both of his parents by the time he was 18. he started

at cantor fitzgerald and becoming the chairman at just 35 years old.ha on september 11, 2001, terrorists killed mr. lutnick's brother, gary, and 658 cantor fitzgerald employees working on five floors in the world trade center. it was the largest loss of life among any single organization on that tragic day. in the wake of that tragedy, mre company, but he grew it into a pow house with operations in more than 60 offices in 20 countries and over 13,000 employees. mr. lutnick given back in incredible ways. for five years following the 9/11 attack, he ensured the families of the cantor

fitzgerald employees killed received 25% of the company's profits. he stills donates his time tody as a member of the board of directors of the national september 11 memorial and museum. he also served on the board of haberford college and donating generous gifts in honor of his brother and friend and art gallery in honor of his mother, an artist. it'll lead on key issues like export controls of emergency technology, keeping the gulf open for oil and gas exploration, expanding access to mid band vector-borne tram, and ensuring -- access and ensuring ai innovation and commercial space.e. and helping lead the resurgence of manufacturing in america. my momentum state of texas, as well of the rest of the nation,

will benefit from mr. lutnick's leadership on all these fronts. i look forward to hearing from mr. lutnick on thesewa and other topics, and i now turn to the ranking member cantwell for her opening statement. >> thank you, i'd like to associate myself with your remarks and very similar to the ones i was going to say relating to commerce secretary. mr. lutnick, welcome and we look forward to your testimony and welcome to your family. as senator cruz said, you have a veryg compelling story. as i express when had i met you, your resiliency is amazing. secretary of commerce has a vital responsibility in a very broad mission, agency with lots of complex issues that affect many sectors of the economy. that's the challenge here. my colleague mentioned undo use of technology and commercial

military or police officer ration -- proliferation application and this responsibility got bigger yesterday when we saw an announcement from china that took $600 billion out of valuation of a leading american company overnight. the issue of export controls and this organization, bis, was in the department of commerce is going to be a very big issue for you. i want to say that i very much appreciate the former commerce secretary, secretary romando. i really think she was a stanout in implementing the policies that senator cruz just mentioned, but also a in tryingo build onne ken suspended ands among -- consensus among the privateec sector with trying to deal with the private issues and i hope you'll follow that lead. in addition to the ai challenge that we face, the president in his january 20th, 2025, memorandum on america first trade policy directs you, secretary of commerce, to work with the secretary of state on

review of the export controls and revise on modification in light of developments with strategic adversaries and geopolitical rivals. additional, if you will, nod to the president saying that howard lutnick is the guy that has to determine these export control issues. vital agreements between the department of commerce and commerce sector and a vital semiconductor manufacturing sector returns to the united states as soon as possible is a big priority for this committee. i'm glad to hear that chairman cruzo mentioned it. because states like texas, ohio, arizona, new york, and many others on the applications of grants through the department of commerce are counting on that continued support to make sure this gets done and bringing semiconductor and semiconductor advanced chips back to the

united states as fast as possible. so we look forward to hearing your comments on that. you also oversee the national telecommunications and information agents administration charged by congress to manage sector sharing across all government agencies. the two people to my left, senator klobuchar and senator thune, can't think of two bigger leaders on the 5g, 6g, how is it going to get done and when is it going to get done. you'll be tasked with have very difficult challenge of negotiating between ntia and dod and our international efforts at world radio spectrum. you'll oversee the national oceanic and atmospheric association and 60% of commerce budget. i'll never forget in a hearing, mr. chairman, when then secretary of commerce ron brown said i'm the secretary of commerce. i oversee merri bowl time and shipping and -- maritime and shipping and transportation and

technology and maritime. if a member of congress is calling me, he's calling me aboutt fish. that says it all. amen to that as my colleagues have said. so the point is, no matter all the butsiness you're not given -- busyness you're given by the president of the united states on these very important issues. in my opinion, this is not the secretary of commerce of 20 years ago. no demeaning of the roles they played of either administrations, but the secretary of commerce today is now part of a critical cop census against china and i don't believe you can getet there without the body building we did on chips and science. that exercise helped us. a lot thought we were trying to pass a initiative. i wasn't. i was trying to respond to our nation's competitive challenge, and i would have done anything to work together to make sure

that that happened. oh, my colleague, the chairman, said and this space and you'll be called to work in space. so the complexities you're going to be a decision maker on a lot of rules, which leads me to this next point. i'm going to want to understand the issue of tether, issues of one to one and issues of how we set rules because i think the president also gave you a new responsibility as it related to the crypto rules, and i'm a fan of block chain technology and of crypto. i'm a little more on the cftc

side than on the sec side, but in general, i believe markets need rules and people in your position are going to have to playay an even larger leadership role, so those are the questions i'll be asking. thankk you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, and the demonstration that you are a big cheese, mr. lutnick. youee are to be introduced by te vice president of the united states and as i'm re-librarily inform -- reliably informed that he's about three minutes out so we're going to so something in the senate we're quite familiar with and that's filibuster. i took the chairman's prerogative to ask if he could fill three minutes with words of wisdom and i recognize senator thune to say whatever the hell he wants. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman.

i can't always fill it with words of wisdom but definitely can fill it with words. we're excited to have you fill this important position and you will share and as the chairman shared, you're a very powerful and compelling life story and truly is an example of the american subsyces story, and shall a be -- success story ask someone that's been able to live and pursue the american dream in the midst of a lot of adversity along the way. thank you for being here and sharing your skill and experience at a job that requires a lot of that. i hope that -- and expect you'll touch on this today, one issue with worked a lot on is spectrum. we need more spectrum and licensed and unlicensed and you'll oversee the national tell computation kaine or ntia and housed under department of commerce and manages the use of spectrum, and i i look forward o working with you to ensure that

federal use of. there's over $42 billion and hasn't connected akn single household, and there's a reason for that and it's because it's focused on all the wrong things instead of building broad band out into uncertain areas those are a couple areas i expect you'll address, and i see my time to filibuster has ended. we look forward to working with you on ai. that's a critical issue and under this committee's jurisdiction so welcome, thank you, and we wish you the best as you move forward. >> a a predictably excellent jo, leader thune. i think your remarking were spectrum good, we like and want more, all of which i enthusiastically agree and we're now very pleased welcome the

vice president of the united states and vice president advance, welcome back to your -- vicete president vance, welcome back to your committee and with that, recognize you to introduce mr. lutnick. >> great. good morning, mr. chairman, ranking member cantwell and i see senator curtis has my old chair so hopefully you do as -- have as much fun as i did and do as much good as i tried to do. senator moreno and all the members of the committee, i'm thrilled to be here and introduce my dear friend howard lutnick, who i think will make an amazing commerce secretary for the united states of america. one of my mentors in business always said that any good business has both productin peoe and salespeople, and howard is one of the few people who is both a product guy and a sales guy. p i want to talk about that because i think that america as commerce secretary needs a product guy and sales guy.

if you look at his career, howard is the kind of guy that developed innovative products and has a number of pat tents to his name and -- patents to his name and i didn't know that when i first met him but learned later. he's an incredible sales guy and a person on the world stage will say more and do more and convince businesses that america is back, it's growing and thriving and real standard wages decline and howard is the kind of guy we need to reverse that trend and get american commerce back on track. what happen in the economy affects real people and we will

have a thriving economy because we make more of our own stuff and a thriving work force that's thriving and happy and healthy and that's what we're ultimately all of us on the commerce committee most focused on. howard is a force of nature. for those that don't know him and employees at commerce department i will say with all apoll >> is, you're going to -- apologies worry going to work harder over the next four years than ever in your entire life. howard is the kind. of guy that can have you work 90 hours a week and makeve ewe feel like you're still energetic at the end of the day because he's working 110 hour as week and never lets his foot off the gas and never forgets what the mission is that drives him to do all of the incredible things he has done and that he will do as commerce secretary. i want to say a couple words about howard's biography and influences how i feelab about hm

and hopefully how you all think about his nomination. this is not a guy that was handed everything. he grew up in a family where they often struggled to make ends meet. he built one of the most cubbing sycesful and biggest financial -- successful and biggest financial firms in the world and had it all destroyed by terrorists on 9/11/2001. now, howard didn't die that day. he lost 600 employees including i believe your brother, howard. he didn't die that day because he took his son to kindergarten on the upper east side and he wasn't in the towers when s the planes hit. what he did in the wake of it maybe more impressive than before. one, he rebuilt the business to where it is today, again one of the great financial firms in the entire world. but more importantly than that, he didn't forget the families of the employees that lost their lives that day. i will never forget -- talk about a good salesman, when i visited 9 new york on the an

verse evidence of infection of 9/11 during the campaign and they're very busy and a lot going on. he said jd, come by my office because on 9/11 and every year since 2001, we raise money for the families of the people who lost their lives that day. i said, howard, i'm in the middle of a presidential campaign and vice presidential nominee. he said no, no, you're coming. trust me, you're coming and i showed up on the floor -- on the trading floor of cantor fitzgerald and every single person was selling and working their tails off not to make money for howard lutnick or the business that day, but to make money for the relief efforts and the families who they still take care of, what is it, now 24 years later. that's an incredible teskyment to a guy that -- testament to a guy that doesn't forget where he came from, the people hoe lost that day, and i can't think of a better person to be the commerce secretary than a person who is a product guy, who is a sales guy, and who is an incredible human being who doesn't forget the

employees that he lost that day. i want to make one final observation. so howard has a beautiful family and good to see all the kids here, his lovely wife. on the campaign trail, i have three little kids, i like to take my kids with me on the campaign trail whenever possible because i'm'm a dad first. and as you also may know, when you have little kids, sometimes they don't behave all the time. in fact they often don't behave, and i remember when we took our kids to howard's house on the campaign trail. we had a fundraiser that evening in a different place, but we had a few hours and i told my wife, we're going to take the kids to my buddy's house, howard lutnick's house. she said, do you really want to take our three kids, energetic and wound up to somebody's house and they're going to destroy somebody and embarrass us. howard's house, his wife's house actually, yes. we spent morning or afternoon with them and went to our

seventh i'll never forget afterwards my wife looked at me and said we felt like the kids could gnus be kids. they didn't know howard and howard didn't know them, he was a good enough guy to make it possible forrous kids to just be kids. i think it's important to have the kind of person at commerce that can't joust do the job, because howard can certainly doj the job. hasn't just been wildly successful because of course he's been wildly successful, but is just a good dude. howard is a good dude and will make us proud as our next commerce secretary, but he makes me even prouder to call him a friend. god blessss you, man. [ applause ] >> mr. vice president, thank you, and welcome back. you must be very pleased to know your incoming secretary will be

fine if you brake something or crayon on the wall orville grape juice. you can do all those at the department of commerce. with that, i recognize mr. lutnick for his opening remarks. >> thank you, chairman cruz, ranking members cantwell and members of the committee. thank you, jd, mr. vice president for the kind introduction. i deeply appreciate our friendship and he was able to joinat me today. i'm profoundly grateful to president trump for the confidence and faith he has placed in me. it is an honor to appear before you as your nominee for secretary of commerce. my family is here. my wife allison, sitting behind me,e for 30 years has been my great partner, adviser and spectacular mother to our wonderful children. my oldest son kyle behind me, brandon, casey, and ryan. my extraordinary sister edie is here and allison's brother rick and my sister-in-law abby and

many of my closest friends who have chosen to come down to support me.ri i grew up on long island, new york. my mother was an artist as you said and our teacher, my father was a profestivus sore of -- professor of american history. my mother, jane, taught me to appreciate life. at age 14, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer and she decided if she was going to die before then, she was going to live. i'll never forget the day she pulled me out of class so i rushed to the car said are you okay? she said i'm okay, let's go. we drove to new york city, we went to art galleries, then we went to the opera and went to late night dinner, got home super late and expected me to get up and get to school on time the next day. my mother died in february of 1978 when i was 16 years old. a year and a half later, my father was diagnosed with lung cancer. he kept his diagnosis a secret from me because he wanted to

make sure i left to start college in the fall. ... 15-year-old brother in a boarding school in my college and would sleep with me in my dorm room during the weekends and spent the next two years livering with her while she earned law and business degree. the three of us became inseparable but as you can imagine the pain we suffered with gary and 657 of my other friends and colleagues -- the

company was located on the todd: floors ofan the world trade center. i still can't say that without getting emotional. no one survived. i wasy taking my son kyle to the first day of kindergarten which is why i'm with you here today. onco september 12th i hosted a call with private employees and i laid out two choices with them. we could either attend our friend's funerals but that's 20 funerals a day for 33 straight days. 658 families that we lost that day. so this phone call led to one of the most extraordinary events in american business history, all of our employees both new and those that survived agreed to donate 25% of their salaries, their salaries to the families of 911 colleagues, so together we raised $180 million over the next fiveer years for those

families and my employees they stitched my soul back together. my employees never expected to get paid backk but i had other ideas. so in 2008 we took the a division of our company public and i gave each each and every one of those employees doubled of what they had given to those families. i worked at canor my entire career, 41 years and rebuilding over the last 21 years has been my greatest achievement. after 911 weow were down to -- i'm so proud of my exceptional friends at candor, bcg. it fueled my desire to serve my nation.e we need healthy businesses, small, medium and large to driver our economy. i will dedicate myself to make government more responsive, work to go ensure americans have the greatest opportunity fors

success.ul thank you, thank you, mr. chairman and i look forward to taking your questions. >> thank you very much, mr. l udnik, thank you for the heartfelt openingfe statement. your background is very impressive, not only have you led several companies which are global leaders in financial services, realom estate and brokerage, you rebuilt candor fitzgerald on the wake of the unspeakable tragedy of 911. i appreciate your willingness now to serve your nation. let me start with just a general question, why do you want to be the secretary of commerce? >> i think america is in a place to teach the world and show the world what leadership is like

and what a great economy is like, what taking care of americans is like and to be part of that administration, to be part of this historic trump administration is one of the great honors of my life so i'm looking toward beingo part of this administration and driving the support and dedication to our american people. >> so in your business career, you've been very successful. you've made a lot of money. yousu have told this committee n your question aye that you plan to divest your business interest in accordance with federal laws and regulations to the avoid any conflict of interest. can you explain what your plan is regarding your business interest and whether you will consult with the designated agencycy ethics officials? >> so my plan is to only serve the american people, so i will divest and i will sell all of my interests, all of my business

interests, all of my assets, everything. i've worked together with the office of government ethics and we've reached agreement on how to do that and i will be divesting within 90 dais upon my confirmation. i should have no conflicts of interest. i've made theef decision that ie made enough money in my life, i can take care of myself and my family. it's now my chance to serve the american people and so upon confirmation, my businesses will be for sale and someone else will lead them going forward but the office of government ethics and i have reached agreement, we've signed a document. i've made it public and going forward i will always consult the. commerce department has a great ethics department. i've already met with them. i plan to the stay in close contact with themit and avoid al conflicts so i can just serve america. >> thank you for that, let's

move to one of the most important responsibilities as secretary of commerce. over the past years majority senate leaders thune and i identify federal spectrum that can be more efficiently used freeing up some of that spectrum for commercial users. to dominate in next generation wireless technologies. 5g and 6g. stay ahead of adversaries and advance strong economic growth, the u.s. mustc create a pipeline to expand commercial access to mid band spectrum. will you commit to working closely with myself, other members of this committee on solutions that will expand commercial sector access to this keyes spectrum while at the same time protecting u.s. national security interests.

>> you have to ask me tougher questions than that, absolutely, yes. >> so tell this committee in your judgment. why is spring up more commercial spectrum important, why should the american people care that we get this accomplished? >> well, we start by the nt the ia, sort of the coordinator and advise the other the administration on spectrum. enormous amounts of spectrum held by the department of defense and for our country to really reach the scale that it can be for it to be successful, we need to be the leader in the world 5g and 6g so we have to work closely with the department of defense as you said, we have to make sure, of course, to protect ourselves but with all due respect, if i'm going to be your secretary of commerce, i kind of lean towards commerce, so i'd like to try to help us spectrume of that

towards our businesses to free us to drive, be the leader in spectrum in the world. >> thank you, i look forward working with you on that. let's turn to noa, national oceanictm administration, last year activist judge in maryland, vacated noa's existing biological opinion for the then gulf of mexico, i would note that president trump has renamed the gulf. i will say partially to call it the gulf of texas. everyone can have opinion on that matter. noa must file opinion in the gulf by may 21st, noa is notoriously slow moving on these biological opinions and if it fails to get this one done on time, itge could shut down oil d gas operations in the gulf. can you commit to hold noa's

feet to the fire to make sure it meets the may 21st deadline for reissuing opinion. >> i will work hard to make sure they meet the deadline and we do our job online rigorously and if we do t get it in. >> and can you further commit that you will do everything to ensure that noa does not actively hamper energy production in the gulf such as byby implementing unverified and unsafe vessel speed restrictions. >> i can commit to that. i don't understand. i will study, of course, the work of noa but the -- the speed restrictions seem i logical to our fishermen and to our businesses and they need to be studied but you have to take care of americans as well. how about we put that at the top of the list, let's take care of americans? >> thank you, ranking member. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your symbol of resiliency, it's really quite

remarkable. thank you fores sharing even the most personal moments because i'm sure it is hard to do no matter how many times you'veit done itt so, thank you. i want to just -- i want to go as fast as i can so if you can help me by being short answers that would be great. i could cover more territory. do you believe that the investments that we've made in the chips and science act should besc preserved? >> i think they're an excellent down payment as a structure i think we need to get it right. ido think we need to review them and get it right but the way that congress has said it it's excellent down payment and bring semiconducting back to america. >> that's good to hear because the president has said a little different. good to thet hear. and then on noa, do you believe in keeping noa together the and its responsibilities together? >> yes.. >> okay, we are hearing that. maybe they will try to separate some of it out. you t would fight that? >> i want to do it right and

right now commerce is doing it right. we understand how to do it and i expect to continue to understand how to do it so i have no interest in separating it, it's not my -- on my agenda. >> good to hear. ii believe we need a noa organic act. 60% of budget and no underlying policy in the law about noa, so me, i think the way that my colleagues and i get good fisheries management, but we will talk about that later. okay, let's turn to the rule making that we are talking about. i see you a as a big rule-maker in ai and sports and the challenges we face as a nation. i'm trying to get to who you are deep down about this, right, how are you going to go about this really challenging task because i have some ideas of what i think make good principles here and why it's so important because we want to move fast you have to beso collaborative. i know other people think it's

my way or the highway but usually that doesn't work and the ramifications, the best thing that we can do is work together collaboratively like we did on chips and science. okay,, did you advise the president or anyone in his administration on his meme coins? >> i did not. >> can you help me on the treasury issue, this little fight, cme, the settling of treasuries at the london exchange. i don't understand this as it relates to hierarchy of putting the united states treasuries in some drattic situation which we didn't see before and the debt ceiling is this the debate we are having and are we going about the debt ceiling or not. why do you believe that settling in a london exchange would be good for u.s. treasuries. >> the people speaking about it didn't understand it. all u.s. treasuries are held by banks of the federal reserve in the united states of america.

they can't leave, so whether softwareno is written wherever it's written, the treasuries themselves, they always stay in american, the settling of treasury teachers, of course, is in america, the partner fitzgerald shows was the london stock exchange which, of course, has been registered with the cme properly since the year 2000. so it was just lack of understanding, good for the press,di bad for knowledge, they just got it wrong. >> look, somebody tried to make my state, the deep pockets on a default and i didn't appreciate it and i passed a law against manipulation so i know this very well, in fact, the treasury secretary just got asked by my colleague senator cornyn, no, it shouldn't be ever. u.s. treasuries in debt hierarchy of failure should never have london making decisions before we make decisions, and so i will ask you more for the record about this,,

i hope we can get a better answer from you. on the one to one issue, heather had a problem, basically weren't as stable the point exchange, you came in, the cft the c fined them and then you came in to the picture and so my question is, are you prepared, do you think the market needs to comply with audits about whether one to one ratios really exist on stable coins? >> i believe u.s. dollar stable coins should be audited and completely backed by u.s. treasuries 100%. >> how do we prove that if necessary is my question? >> well, and ad it, u.s. audit and one backed by u.s. treasuries and lastly you can't change the rules, meaning if someone has bought the stable coin, you can't change the price. if someone has made a deposit with you, you can't say on a withdraw you are going to change

the price. >> you believeha in robust procs and more opening than it exists today? >> for sure. >> thank you. you ever own teder? >> t the eder? >> i'm not trying to be clever here. i'm trying to get did you or fitzgerald ownic teder. >> i'm trying to answer. >> you as an investor ever own or invest other than the one to one backing own teder. >> fitzgerald owns a convertible bond with teder. it has a bond with teder. >> okay. so now this back again to this the big task on export controls

and forwarding china and dealing with ai problem and all the various interest, i do have some concerns too. i'm a big crypto person in general, cfdc oversight. this issue about teder and amountr of elicit market, as mh as $19 billion on teler could be elicit activity by the north koreans, the russians. what could we do about that, what is your solution? >> the number one instrument of the world of criminals is the u.s. dollar, the number two is euro. so these t are just things that people use so t the eder is the largest stable coin so criminals use it more than circle which is the second largest. it's like blame forking apple

because criminals use apple phone. it's just the product. we don't pick on u.s. treasury because criminals use dollars. i think it's just -- it's just a product. they are -- i asked them too and signed up with u.s. federal law enforcement, they follow all federal law enforcementha instantly.l: >> so that's like saying that your -- if you get a request from the fbi or doj, you're going to comply with maybe that wallet is doing involved in elicit activity, i'm asking you a different question, when you know your customers and any money laundering requirements, why aren't we taking more seriously a potential 19 billion-dollar elicit market that's going against the united states so obviously we have other ways to track dollars and we use those and that is how we are successful. we've past a couple of things

recently on fentanyl that have really helped us, track and basically crack down onve this, but on teder, it's a big elicit market potentially 19 billion, so i'm wanting to know from you, because again it's back to this whole crypto oversight export controls, what are you going to do, what do you recommend we do to try to get a handle on that? >> so in my due diligence, teder did no business with anyone who wasn't kyc appropriate. the fact that some -- at some point their product was bought by someone and used it inappropriately, i think it's important for us -- >> secondary markets need rules here too. i'm over my time, so thank you, but can you -- could you just answer that, you can answer it for the record or you can answer it now. >> i thinkwe ai tools used by te u.s. government running through the block chain of stable coin issuers will rid the world of criminals using block chain for

elicit activity. our ability to oversee the block rain will eliminate it. >> thank you for that answer and we will follow up but we need an aggressive, the complexity here on conflict of interest not you per se but in general is very big challenge. thank you so much, chairman. >> thank you, leader thune. >> thank you, mr. chairman, you covered -- we've covered the issue of spectrum and we look forward working with you on that,wo that's critically important issue for our economy and leadership in the world. i want to come back quickly to the nti, a broadband equity access and deployment program. i didn't vote for the legislation that created this program but it provided over $42 billion to expand internet access to rural areas and as you likely know to program is to connect a single household and the biden administration

included a number of of requirements including climate change mandates, rate regulation onerous labor requirements and other concerning items which is why they haven't signed anybody up and there isn't a single telecom in south dakota which serves underserved areas that can use the program because all these mandates and conditions they put on it. so my question is, will you commit to working with states to remove these requirements so that funds can go to truly unserved areas? >> i'm willing to work to make sure that congress gets the benefit of the bargain. you want to get broadband into the hands of low-income people, let's go do it. let's do it efficiently and swiftly, let's use a satellites, let's use wireless and let's use fiber and let's do it the cheapest, t most efficiently we can and i will work with you to

make sure -- >> and will you also work to ensure that the funding is only used for actual broadband infrastructure bills? >> absolutely. >> thank you. >> i also mentioned and we talked -- you talked to it about it already, alluded to artificial intelligence. i believe that we need to craft a legislative framework that provides basic accountability for high-risk ai models without onerous regulations and as you and i knowti the biden administration only viewed ai as a threat that should be controlled and i was encouraged to see president trump's executive order reversing biden's sweeping ai executive order for his leadership and developing comprehensive proinnovation ai plan that strengths the u.s. global leadership and ai. so i want to just get you if you can to talk generally if confirmed how you would approach ai regulation and to seek the -- and told harness major advancements in our artificial

intelligence. >> so the department of commerce has led the world in cyber, right, our cyber technology the and cyber rules are the gold standard of the world. let's leverage that model into the standards for artificial intelligence. use what we are great at and leverage that again and use that again. thinking about it, we want to make sure that we protect and defend our country but we want to make sure that we lead, it has to be an american-driven leadership in ai. it is fundamental. so leverage what we are great at and issue standards and practices like we did in cyber that will encourage private sector to be the dominant winner as we are in america we've got to do that and make sure we win in ai as well. >> and i just think it'st realy important as we think about it that we not stifle innovation. we want to be the leader, late-touch approach to me is

what makes sense to meh and i hope as we move forward and senator klobuchar and i move towards we think that gets out that and i hope we have an opportunity to work. this is one of the issues that ought to berk bipartisan, i certainly think. so i have a minute left and i'm yielding it back, mr. chairman, because senator wikerk reminded me that i used a minute prior to my question time. you said it was 3 minutes. it wasn't really 3 minutes. thank you, mr. chairman. are this is why senator thune is the leader. welcome, thank you, export to the world and we've made huge bipartisan progressrl on that front. not everything has been done. we all know that and we want to continue america's lead and

competitive edge. one way we've done thatt and senator campwell asked you about this is about groundbreaking investments in chips and semi conductors despite being the land of 10,000 likes i've actually never called about fish in the commerce department. but i have talked about these issues and so i just want to follow up on her question and just secretary raymundo has done admirable work. >> it's vital to bring semi conducting manufacturing to the united states of america. the chips act was an excellent camp down payment to begin that process. we need to study it, but we need to make sure that you get the benefit of the bargain and domestic manufacturing of semi conductors happens in america. >> got it. but are you going to keep operating this because the senator mentioned there are

funds that have to be distributed, there's work that has to be done coming out of that law? >> i expect to do enormous work to make sure you get the benefit of the bargain, we get the money out, appropriately, correctly and we build in america that is vital, we've done it bipartisan and i'm going to help execute that. >> so you're concerned can about the freeze that happened, the proposed freeze would have affected theos program, it's now on hold, temporary hold, are you concerned about that?of get -- it lets me have the time to for a get confirmed and review documents. we need manufacturing, i agree, we need manufacturing semi conductors in america and i am going to do everything i cand o make that happen. >> your life story is incredible. motivation -- you and i talked about the commerce department and some of the people that went to work there went for other reasons, they're not making as

much money and i personally have worked with the people who do trade enforcement for steel dumping both vice president and i share and it made big difference over two presidents administration when this enforcement, president obama, trump, biden actually was continued and i met with who will be your employees if confirmed about this. 100 of them and heard about the work that they did. how are you going to motivate those employees because i think they are feeling very much under pressure and some of them have expertise that if they believe it's going to be hard to hire someone because they won't make as much money in the government as somewhere else? >> the members of the commerce are extraordinary people with deep intellect and deep knowledge. my job is going to be to leverage them, to make them feel heard and -- and we are going to be responsive and we will create

aon great, a great department of commerce that people feel respected, heard and their knowledge use today the better man of america which is why they are there and they are going to know that i support them. >> thank you. >> we talked about tariffs briefly. targeted or across the board, i gave new my preference toward targeted tariffs. weigh in on that. >> i prefer across the board. i i think when you pick one product in mexico, they'll pick one product, you know, we pick avocados, they pick white corn, we pick tomatoes. my way is country by country. let america make it more fair. we are treated horribly by the global trading environment. they all have higher tariffs, nontariff trade barriers and subsidies, they treat us poorly, we need to be treated better.

we need to be treated with respect and we can useer tariffs to create reciprocity, fairness and respect. >> i'm sure we will be discussing this more of the last thing just the broadband funding in the bipartisan infrastructure law. i'm getting broadband to some of thee furthest corners of our country but we have an investment once in a generation investment out of the bipartisan infrastructure law and, again, the freeze would have affected this work temporarily on hold, talk about your support for broadband. >> you passed the bill and they haven't put -- nobody has gotten broadband. >> it's time for commerce

secretary to get broadband out to people and give you the benefit of the bargain. let's let's get it in their hands. get the team working on it and when the pause ends, get it out the door and get it done. >> i think this is going to be fun and productive for the american people. >> some members of the committee voted for the infrastructure act and some of us didn't and it was bipartisan but i think we all agree that broadband is one of the infrastructure issues of our time. do you agree with that the? and we talked about it a lot

that not one single household has been connected and i'm told that there's been endless round of back and forth negotiations about the application process. it seems to me that a man like you is going to able to cut through that and tell states, yes, your application, we know what it's about and we are going to respond to your application. >> i expect the states to provide the most efficient way, the most cost efficient and effective way to get broadband to every house. i heard a story where they were planning to run fiber for $200,000 to a house that was worth $125,000. the waste of america is over in the commerce department. we are going to give broadband to people but we are going to do it cost effectively and get it and give you the benefit. >> if i can squeeze it.

i'm glad we mentioned noa, the noa national data boey center is at the space center in mississippi. it is the national premier rocket, that facility in the next few months will you come see us and let me show you the great potential we have there in the space center? glad to. >> okay, very good. so let's say by april. >> give me till may. [laughter] >> all right. we have a deal. >> okay. also, in addition, in addition to infrastructure, the chips and science act has been mentioned favorably. let me mention the chips and science act as it connects with this the fiscal year ndaa. one of the things we did in

chips and science act was 220, well, actually $10 billion authorized or 20 regional tech hubs. the first round has largely been approved and ndaa, we funded $220 million. it was authorized for 10 billion. 220 million for tech hubs and the potential for another $280 million for a second round. now at this point, i understand your department has a choice. it can either double up on those that have already been awarded or it can try to drive regional growth and global competitiveness by looking at other applications. that's what i hope you'll do. so i just want you to understand

that there are a lot of us who want us to work with congress to maintain the heck hub programs particularly in -- in rural areas and i would suggest that the southeast did not do so well in the fist application, so will you agree to take a closer look in the southeast region including biotech companies, logistic expertise, academic research, national labs, as well as workforce in areas that are already collaborating to deliver biotechnologies thatt meet commercial needs faster. >> i'd be happy to. >> good. thank you very much, i look forward working with you. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator. >> everyone is done before their five minutes is up. mr. lutnik, thank you for taking the time. thank you for your willingness to serve and i want to start with the census, the work of the

census bureau as you know is critical to the functioning of our democracy. it's included in our constitution both article 1, section 2 and 14th amendment require to conduct accurate census, the 14th amendment specifically requires count of whole number of persons in each state so not a trick question but just to geteq you on the record if confirmed, will you ensure that the work of the census bureau is carried out in an apolitical matter? >> i will adhere to the 14th amendment rigorously you implemt a senses that counts every person? mr. lutnick: since the first sentence of the 14th amendment of that clause says we will count each whole person, i promise you we will count each whole person. that is what the constitution says, and we will stick right to it, rigorously. sen. schatz: thank you. i know this has been a bit of a

love-fest. mr. lutnick: stick to it. [laughter] sen. schatz: it depends how you answer, sir. mr. lutnick: fair enough. sen. schatz: let me quote something from last year that was a point of contention among people who care deeply about noaa. from project 2025. i will quote, noaa should be dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized or placed under the control of states and territories. do you agree with that? mr. lutnick: no. sen. schatz: thank you. we are still having our lovefest. on to fish. [laughter] i want to talk to you about the hawaii longline fishery. we are one of the longest -- largest food producers of this dates. -- of the states. if you are eating good ahi on the east coast there is a good chance it was on a fedex plane

overnight. if you are eating bad ahi we also have unusual management situation because of fisheries commission western and central pacific fisheries commission is important too noa. and i want to quote former senator from maryland who took interest noa, she used to say nothing about me without me. this goess to the gulf coast states and everybody else who has a fisheries matter. do i have your assurance that before noa, national fisheries or anyone makes a move regarding our fishery in the pacific that you will consult with our office and our congressional delegation and the state of hawaii? >> i would be delighted. before i make a move, there's lots of people doing lots of things but of things that matter to you, i will happifully commit to working with your -- with your office. that sounds like it'll make me

better at my job so i'd appreciate yourr input. >> thank you. lexes have consequences. a bunch of eo's got posted over the last two weeks and a bunch of biden eo's were repealed. that's -- that's what happens when you have the new administration, but in particular president trump rolled back the biden eo on -- on the ai safety institute. and i think there are a lot of people in industry and elsewhere who whatever --pe however anyone ended up voting, however anyone ended up litigating ai policy under the previous administration, there was a sense that this was one place that we kind of agreed that there ought to be a safety institute and so i'm wondering what you're thinking -- what do we do in place of this and how quickly can we get it done because that part of this was like one of the very few things we were not arguing about as it relates to ai policy? >> so the department of commerce

has the gold standard in cybersecurity standards, so i think ai standards along the lines of that gold standard, that same model, i think it would be very effective. so i think if you think of it as standards, i think we can get bipartisan agreement that we can find the right way to set those standards in a way that makes america, you know, takes care of senator thune's comments of light enough touch but we need to protect america but we also need to make sure that it's an american-driven ai model in the world.n- that's important to us as americans so i think standards would be a good way to think about it. >> that's fine. i'm not attached necessarily to an institute sometimes instituteo excellent work and sometimes they are for. it is unclear what we're doing instead of the ai safety institute and we have to work on a bipartisan basis to figure out what takes its place. thank you. chair cruz: senator fischer.

sen. fischer: it is very good to see you today. thank you for your testimony. i appreciate everyone who sits at that table is willing to serve this nation. if confirming you will lead a massive federal agency across 13 euros, and to start with i want to highlight when you have already heard of, the in tia -- ntia. it has influence over the economy and our security as well. among its roles ntia coordinate spectrum management, ensuring airwaves are being used most effectively. critical federal operations, especially those central for our national security, have been seen as obstacles. at the onset i want to make it clear to you that dod airwaves

are not lying dormant and that proposals to clear them would jeopardize our national security. we have constellations of dod satellites that rely on spectrum. our nuclear command and control spectrum. advanced fighter aircraft like f-35's rely on spectrum. and we are investing tens of billions of dollars in developing sixth generation aircraft that will rely on spectrum. we have radar systems on our navy ships tracking incoming missiles around the world. these allow us to help defend israel from over 300 missile and drone attacks last year. they rely on spectrum. i can go on and on, as my

colleagues know. but this is all to say that i hope we can work together so that we can come up with a really strong strategy for federal spectrum management in the future. i'm from nebraska. and brusque's agricultural and manufacturing industries rely on our strong export markets for our products. you and i talked about trade, and about the need under this administration for trade to be front and center. we know that we did not see much of that happen in the previous administration. we also know that other countries may try to retaliate against our agricultural and our manufacturing industries. if confirmed will you work with your colleagues at other agencies to understand the impact of retaliatory tariffs on agriculture and manufacturing?

mr. lutnick: i will. sen. fischer: thank you. can you also talk a little bit about what opportunities you view that are out there so we can expand certain export markets over the next four years under this administration? mr. lutnick: i think our farmers, ranchers, and fishermen are treated with disrespect. sen. fischer: always the fish. mr. lutnick: you have to include them. how often do we eat seafood? come on. they are treated with disrespect around the world. they are. our farmers, ranchers, and fishermen are treated with disrespect. the countries take advantage of american kindness, american gratitude to rebuild the world after the world wars and after the korean war and vietnam war. we need that disrespect to end. and i think tariffs are a way to create reciprocity, to be treated fairly, to be treated

appropriately. i think it will help our farmers, ranchers, and fishermen to flourish. and that is what i expect this administration is going to drive, and that is why i am honored to serve president trump in his pursuit of that reciprocity and fairness, and the end of the disrespect. these countries have the reliance on the american economy and the to start to respect us and respect us now. sen. fischer: thank you. you heard about the need to funding from senator thune. other members of this committee as well. i hope you will take that to heart and help our states get through some of those regulations that are out there. it has been an impediment to us. i would like to talk a little bit here in the last few seconds about technology and competitiveness. i think i have senator wicker's time. this committee has talked about the united states ai

capabilities and that we are in a dead heat with china. this week we heard about deepseek, and that is having us examine where we are right now with that. if confirmed, given the commerce department's breadth of influence on that issue, how will you address different threats we see coming from the ccp within these information and technology markets? mr. lutnick: i take a very jaundiced view of china. i think they only care about themselves and seek to harm us. and so we need to protect ourselves. we need to drive our innovation, right? and we need to stop helping them. no, open platforms, meta's platform let deepseek rely on it. openai find -- found ways around their deepseek model. it has to end. if they are going to compete

with us, let them compete, but stop using our tools to compete without spirit so, i'm going to be very strong on that. i am thrilled to oversee and thrill to coordinate and empower bias -- bis with tariffs. sen. fischer: i look forward to working with you, sir. thank you. chair cruz: senator moran. no, sorry. senator baldwin. sen. baldwin: thank you, mr. lutnick, for your willingness to serve. i'm going to ask a more general question, then i want to dig into some of the details you have heard a little bit about from my colleagues. the department of commerce does significant work to ensure that u.s. companies are able to compete with china. and drive -- it also does a lot of work to drive innovation in america. i want to ask very broadly, how

will you utilize the programs within the commerce department? including those authorized by the bipartisan ships and science act, to promote american innovation? mr. lutnick: for the example, we want to bring semi conductors back to america. we want to look at the supply chain and bring that back to america. we want to create those great jobs so we can go back to innovating, which is where we began, right? intel began with chips, right? and then the world sort of leveraged our chips. tsmc leveraged us and took it from us. and who drove them? apple. who is apple? it is america. we want to bring that innovation back and make sure our great companies -- and let's be clear -- have them all. there is no other country that has the incredible technology companies, pharma companies that we have. let's bring those companies, any

fetching and innovation, and have them do that manufacturing in america with american workers. sen. baldwin: thank you. one of the key parts of the bipartisan ships and science act, as you have heard from me when we met privately, as well as from others, is the tech hub program. i will bet when you were having your one-on-one meetings with others on this committee heard about their tech hubs, as you heard about ours. wisconsin's bio health tech hub positions the state as a global leader in personalized medicine. it tailors health care treatment for patients' unique history and genetic code. last week i spoke with many in the consortium that presented the wisconsin application, and their number one question was, can we count on future funding? the first tranche of funding has

been disbursed, but there are millions more that have been committed to the tech hub over the next five years. this week the administration announced a freeze on all federal financial assistance passed by congress, including on a bipartisan basis, as most bills out of this committee and out of the senate are. mr. lutnick, i am looking for a yes or no. should wisconsin's biotech hub be concerned that they may not receive future tranches of funding that were pledged? mr. lutnick: i think the best answer i can give you is, i have to look at it and understand it better. i cannot really give you an answer as i sit here now because i do not know the details. i try to answer everything as best i can, but if i don't know the details the only thing i can say is i don't know the details. sen. baldwin: i think you will hear a lot on this panel. particularly this is a key part of how we lead innovation in the united states.

and support for our bipartisan work on this will be very important. you and i spoke also about the impact a trade war will have on wisconsin's farmers and manufacturers. i know senator fischer just ask you about this also. but i want to say that their experience under the first trumpet initiation makes them really nervous this time around. according to the department of agriculture america's farmers lost 27 billion dollars in export sales in 2018 and 2019. in large part because of the china tariffs. a generous share of wisconsin's milk production ends up in dairy products, exported to places outside of the u.s., and proposed tariffs on mexico, canada, and china, three of the main export destinations for

u.s. dairy products are likely to reduce exports to a degree that would harm milk prices and processor profitability significantly. i have been hearing from wisconsin manufacturers who are very concerned about supply chains and their own facilities that are in other countries. wisconsinites are concerned that prices are going to go up. what would you say to wisconsin farmers, wisconsin manufacturers who are concerned about their exports, their supply chains, and retaliatory tariffs? mr. lutnick: our farmers, our ranchers, and fishermen are the best in the world and they are treated poorly. canada treats our dairy farmers horribly. that has got to end. it has got to end, and if canada is going to rely on america for its economic growth of the how about you treat our farmers, ranchers, and fishermen with respect? so i think the president and our

trumpet administration is going to improve the lives and is focused on improving the lives of our producers, our farmers, ranchers, and fishermen. i'm going to work hard to make sure as an example for your dairy farmers they do much better in canada than they have ever done before. and this is a key focus of this administration. sen. baldwin: can you commit to the american people that prices will not go up? mr. lutnick: i can commit that the economy will be much better. in particular products may go up but all of them, it is not inflationary. two top countries with tariffs, india and china, have the most tariffs and no inflation. it is nonsense that tariffs cause inflation. it is nonsense. sen. baldwin: thank you for your testimony. chair cruz: sinema ryan. sen. moreno: the reason we are so short in our questions is because you are so short with

your answers. thank you for being direct. we will have an opportunity to be well acquainted. i chair the subcommittee that funds the department of commerce. mr. lutnick: how are you, sir? [laughter] sen. moreno: all right, you have impressed me. that was what i was looking for. mr. lutnick: yes, to your first question. sen. moreno: let me shuffle my questions. let me tell you something about the beat grant and highlight you have an opportunity to make this program work, as you heard senator thune indicate and others. let me also tell you that the bd grant dollars are subject to taxes. the company that receives the grant to put broadband into rural and underserved areas has to pay taxes on the money received. this is not something you can directly do something about it, but we have legislation to eliminate the tax, and it seems to me that if you want the program to work and get the dollars to the people across the

country, including kansas, who need broadband services, reducing the amount of money available by taxing the grant makes no sense. am i missing something here? mr. lutnick: what you just said sounds entirely sensible. sen. moreno: that is not my first question. that one was too easy. your input may be helpful to us. a lot of talk about trade policy. i was going to ask you about your vision for agriculture. i only would highlight again kansas is one of those states. this committee is a very rural committee. the members often come from rural parts of the country, but there are significant challenges to farmers and ranchers. also i would add to that list, we have a lot of small manufacturers who make farm equipment, and the consequence of a lousy farm economy has a consequence, but so do tariffs on steel and metals, aluminum and the manufacturing process of products that farmers buy. in the first trump administration president trump

included a robust tariff exclusion process for american business. how will you approach that process? companies could make an application for an exclusion from the tariff. you have thoughts about that? sen. moreno: the president signed an eo to study tariffs and do a rigorous study, so i'm going to let the experts drive that study. but on a morse -- i am a more simple view of tariffs guy and i think the president is of like minds, which is the steel and aluminum had 560 thousand applications for exclusions. it just seems that is too many. i think we need to simplify it and make it more effective. sen. moreno: let me ask a question about tourism. and you within the department of commerce have a national travel and tourism office.

there is a creation of a large-scale sporting event task force that we would encourage you to implement. this arises because of major events that are soon to occur in the united states. fifa and the soccer tournaments across the country. the u.s. olympics coming to los angeles. these are huge events that develop lots of economic activity in the country and need the attention of the department of commerce. does that make sense to you? mr. lutnick: that is a really good idea. sen. moreno: thank you. finally, kansas, about 250 million years ago, was covered by an ocean. therefore i have a fish question. [laughter] the previous administration had proposed a rule that saw to amend vessel speed regulations in an effort to further protect the endangered north atlantic

white whale. the intent behind this role, i suppose, is commendable, though the industry was not consulted in its promulgation. can i have your commitment that as secretary of the department you will work with industry, including marine and maritime technology providers, there is a science and technology that can address this issue that is being left behind? want to make sure it is considered in the effort to protect marine life while also leveraging that technology. mr. lutnick: absolutely. sen. moreno: thank you, sir. chair cruz: thank you. senator markey. sen. markey: thank you, chairman. mr. lutnick, welcome. president trump's budget office issued a memo that directed agencies to cut off all federal spending. all federal spending. outside of payments to individuals. the trump administration issued this order even though the

spending was authorized and appropriated by congress, and intended to benefit the american people. a bargain was struck here with the article one power of the purse. the benefit is supposed to flow to the american people. the freeze could affect semiconductor groups, broadband groups, fisheries, disaster relief, habitat conservation. all programs in the department of commerce. do you believe this action by president was lawful? mr. lutnick: i rely on the president. if his advisers say it was, then i will rely on him. in his advisers. sen. markey: that is an unacceptable response, because this action has caused mass confusion, disrupted critical payment systems, and violated directly federal spending

statutes passed out of this committee and the congress. so, how can we be sure that if congress passes an appropriations law for the department of commerce that you are going to feel fully obligated to execute that law and spend funding as it is written? will you spend it as we wrote it? mr. lutnick: it is my promise that i will try my best to give this committee and congress the benefit of the bargain that you have passed. you want broadband, if you want chips in america my job is to execute on that plan. his paws will allow my time to be confirmed, and that is to study and attack it rigorously. but i promise you i will give you as best i can the benefit of

the bargain, that you have appropriated for. that is my objective. sen. markey: that is exactly right. we do the negotiation and the president is supposed to execute. if president trump directed you to unlawfully withhold federal spending that was authorized by congress would you comply with that order? mr. lutnick: i guess i would be spending a lot of time with lawyers, but i do not think that is the way it will work. mr. lutnick: sen. markey: it has already worked that way. we know the president has already unlawfully in violation of the statute fired inspectors general. that was not in compliance with the law. what happened two nights ago in the freezing of all federal funds is in violation of the law. the benefit of the bargain. so, again, my question to you is, given the unprecedented

times we are in the commerce committee going back to being the first committee in congress, we are wondering, obviously, whether or not you are going to ensure that the law that we passed, the funding that is going out to all of these companies, all of these individuals, there is a cloud over their head. will you ensure that an unlawful act is not followed at the department of commerce? mr. lutnick: interestingly, the beads program has not connected yet and he chips has not distributed much money, so the timing is not really impacted. we will work hard and i commit to work hard to deliver to this community the benefit of the bargain. if you appropriated it you should expect from me to deliver efficiently and effectively the outcomes that you anticipated or better. and that is my objective, and

that is my promise to you. sen. markey: again, you understand that the president has already violated the 30 day notice on inspectors general that was supposed to be complied with. we are already in violation of the article one power of the purse. and we believe, obviously, quite clearly, this is going to be a pattern of conduct and we need to know that the cabinet secretary's we are voting on will comply with the law. that is the bargain that was struck with the american people. to make sure they get the funding, they get the programs which are going to protect their families as well. so, i'm not hearing a clear answer on that. mr. lutnick: i will comply with the law. that is a clear answer, for sure. sen. markey: looked law is not the president. below is what we have passed. that is the law. and what is happening right now is the president is seeking to abrogate that constitutional power into his hands. and that is not the law.

that is an abuse of the law. that is a violation of constitutional separation of powers and an abrogation of power into one office. i understand the unitary government theory that is out there, but it is not constitutional. we do not have that as our system of government in our nation, so we are going to be very attentive business at the department of commerce, because the people deserve the benefit of the bargain that was faithfully executed and construct by this committee in terms of the benefits that flow to the american people. thank you, mr. chairman. chair cruz: senator sullivan. sen. sullivan: congratulations to you and your family. thank you for that powerful opening statement, and appreciated our meeting. i'm really enjoying this hearing.

all of the focus on fish, it is great. [laughter] in all seriousness, certain secretaries, most secretaries in my view have not embraced their role. they are really important to our sheen community. as you and i talked about, this is important in my stay. alaska is the superpower of seafood. over two thirds of all seafood harvested in america, commercial, subsistence, sport, is harvested in alaska's waters. over two thirds. we are it. we are the 800 pound gorilla. tens of thousands of alaskans are connected to this industry and we are at -- we are a huge powerhouse in terms of american exports. so, mr. lutnick, the vice president called you a product guy, a sales guy, a good dude. [laughter] that is a quote from the vice president, good dude.

i also maybe want to give you the title of godfather of american fishermen or the patron saint of american fishermen. mr. lutnick: this is working for me. sen. sullivan: keep a focus on these great americans. like deadliest catch and things like that. and to be a leader on focusing. that has not always happened. it usually has not happened with the secretaries of commerce. can you commit to me on doing that? sen. sullivan: i love to fish and i am happy to committee. the fishermen of the united states of america are one of our great assets and it is easy for me to promise to take care of them. sen. sullivan: since you love to fish this next question might be the easiest you get all day. i need a commitment to come to alaska -- you can bring the family. mr. lutnick: as long as i can bring the family, we are coming. sen. sullivan: to meet these great american fishermen who are my constituents, and it would be great for you to get up there

soon. to meet them. can i get your commitment to do that as well? mr. lutnick: it is my pleasure. sen. sullivan: last four years have been tough on my stay. this is a chart that is shown all over the place. the last frontier lockup, we called it. 70 executive orders and actions from the biden administration singularly focused on shutting down alaska. 70. unfortunately this is now a thing of the past -- fortunately this is now a thing of the past. we want to get rid of that. on day one the president issued this executive order. president trump, it's called, unleashing alaska's extraordinary resource potential. and it is long, right? and it is very detailed. the secretary of commerce is mentioned in it. one of the lines is, is the policy of the united states to fully avail itself of alaska's

vast lands and resources for the benefit of the nation and the american citizens who call alaska home. you are mentioned in this. can i get your commitment to work with me on implementing every aspect of this really great trump day one executive order? mr. lutnick: yes. sen. sullivan: thank you. he mentioned disrespect for our fishermen. you and i talked about what we have been enduring for the last 10 years. russia instituted a ban on any exports of american seafood. in 2014. and yet we had open borders essentially from them for the last 10 years, taking market share, literally the most disrespectful, unfair trading situation i could see anywhere in the world. they were coming after our market share, our fishermen cannot export one fish to russia, then i worked really

hard to get that changed. we got a ban and russia started sending their fish to china. to essentially create a loophole, then come into the u.s.. shut that down finally. can you work with me to make sure we don't have that incredibly unfair russia bands everything and can import everything here? ridiculous. same with china. you are a sales guy, products guy. i want you to commit to me to promote american freedom fish, alaskan freedom fish. and don't allow communist fish from russian china. mr. lutnick: we have to get rid of those communist fish. [laughter] sen. sullivan: can i get a comment on that? mr. lutnick: i do. sen. sullivan: no communist fish. freedom is what we do. mr. lutnick, the chairman is going to focus this committee a lot on energy. which i think is great. i know you care about unleashing

our extraordinary energy potential. one of the big areas of focus of the trump day one eo on unleashing alaska's extraordinary resource potential is moving forward and finally getting down this massive alaska lng project we have been working on for a number of years. we got all of the permits during the trump administration. of course, biden blocked those. this would create thousands of jobs, would revitalize the american steel industry, estimates are would reduce our trade deficit by about $10 billion a year. and you commit to work with me, the president who is focused on that, the secretaries of interior and energy, and other cabinet officials, including our asian allies to make this project a reality which would be great for the country, great for our workers, great for our trade deficit and really boost

america's national security? mr. lutnick: i can. sen. sullivan: thank you. chair cruz: as a texan i want to clarify for the record that red snapper are not communist fish. [laughter] and in a nod to my alaskan friend, neither are pink salmon. senator peters. sen. peters: mr. lutnick, welcome. congratulations on your nomination. i certainly appreciate the power wide-ranging discussion we had in my office recently. i know that tariffs are powerful and positive tool that can be used, but they need to be used strategically. they need to be used thoughtfully. and that is why i called for 100% tariffs on chinese vehicles last year. and why am going to continue to fight for aggressive trade policy when it comes to our relations with china. as the senator from michigan i am particularly focused on manufacturing. we know how to make things in

michigan and i don't think you can be a great country if you don't actually make angst. that's what we do in my state and i want to work to make sure we are growing that sector as well as creating good paying jobs that result from manufacturing. however, i am concerned that president trump's plan to impose tariffs on canada and mexico for the rest of the world -- in fact, he could be in a matter of days is what we are hearing -- could hurt our manufacturers who do considerable trade back and forth, as we discussed in the office. michigan is the home of two of the top three border crossings in north america. we are two of them. a lot of those are auto parts. it is a highly integrated industry and our auto companies are very concerned about what those tariffs might mean. the costs, particularly to the cost of vehicles. it is already something we discussed. i'm concerned about the high

cost of vehicles. many families cannot afford them now and if tariffs are put in place to deal with that seamless trade that goes on with canada in the short run that could definitely have an impact on prices and they cowers even more unaffordable. i don't think that is something the american people want to see but i'm afraid it would hurt consumers as well as also hurt those workers. my question for you, sir, is, talk you through how those tariffs would be implemented. what you are thinking will happen there and how it is going to have an impact on prices. particularly in the short term. i know where you're going to go in the long term, but all of this stuff takes time. especially when it comes to manufacturing it is not an industry that can turn on a dime. it is much more complicated. as i know you know. mr. lutnick: the tariff is going to be studied and the president asked the commerce department and the ustr to study the tariff

model long-term. the short-term issue is illegal migration and worse even still, fentanyl coming into this country and killing over 100,000 americans. there is no war we could have that could kill 100,000 americans. the president is focused on ending federal coming into the country. you know that the labs in canada are run by mexican cartels. so, this tariff model is simply to shut their borders with respect -- respect america. if we are your biggest trading partner show us the respect. shut your border and end fentanyl coming into this country. so, it is not a tariff, per se. it is an action of domestic policy. shut your border and stop allowing fentanyl into this country, killing our people. so, this is a separate tariff to create action from mexico and action from canada, and as far

as i know they are acting swiftly, and if they execute it there will be no tariff. and if they don't then they will be. it is an action-oriented model. that is not the ordinary tariff. the ordinary tariffs need to be studied and examined and that would start as the eeoc said, in april. sen. peters: so that is a separate tariff? after that study what would be the timeline of that? mr. lutnick: i think at the end of march and april and you will hear about those at that time. big macro issues are being studied, but the micro issue is canada and mexico and precursors from china. they need to end and we need to protect our americans from fentanyl. and our trading partners in canada and mexico should end it and stop disrespecting us and allowing this to come through our borders. sen. peters: i think we all agree we want secure borders. being a northern border state, i want to do that. my concern is what is going to happen in the april timeframe as

to what they could mean in terms of increased costs to americans. if not properly implemented or thought through. what sort of assurances can you give us that we will not see that when that second set of tariffs get implemented or if they get implement a check it sounds as if that is your plan. we are going to study the actions and economy of america and how it works. but if you think about it, we need to grow domestic manufacturing, as you said. michigan is one of the great places where we build things, and the car manufacturing went to canada, went to mexico. it is important that that come back to michigan and come back to ohio and the great states of america that can build. i think a thoughtful tariff policy that drives domestic manufacturing is fundamental to the american workers. especially to the workers in michigan. sen. peters: thank you, mr.

chairman. chair cruz: senator blackburn. sen. blackburn: welcome. we are delighted that your friends and family are all here to support you, and we look forward to you serving the nationwide as our commerce secretary. you have heard a good bit about spectrum today and the ntia, the fcc, the work they are doing there. i will highlight with you how critical getting that spectrum out -- we need a lot of that mid-band spectrum going to auction, and we have auction authority that has lapsed. chairman cruz is working to move us forward to reimplement that, and we like your support there. as we realize how important it is to have conductivity all across the country. and we want to do this without preference for whether it is wireline, wireless, fixed wireless, satellite. the point is to get people

connected. so, your attention on that issue will be welcomed and we thank you for that. i do want to talk with you about china. and this is something in tennessee that many of our innovators and manufacturers talk about. china is now the leader in 57 critical and emerging technologies when it comes to holding trademarks and patents. and we are -- they were the leader in three in the mid to early 2000's, 2010. now they are leading in 57. we are very concerned about this. senator welch and i have worked on this issue of looking at these critical and emerging technologies. and what we have found is one of the issues is the u.s. patent and trademark office, which is one of those agencies that you

will oversee. and many of the innovators in tennessee talked to me about the frustration that they have quit trying to get a patent pending. the amount of time it takes. i don't know if you have looked at the uspto. the backlog of applications they are is 820,000. it takes 21 months to get a patent pending, and as you know, some of our auto engineers, some of our health care engineers that are working on algorithms and new delivery systems don't have that long to get that kind of assurance. so, will you work with us? we need to do a pilot project so we can push forward ai and quantum and some of these patents that are requested in these areas if we are going to go back to beating china.

mr. lutnick: the backlog is unacceptable and my pursuit will be the rigorous reduction of that to get it down. it used to be historically 500000 and i thought that was unacceptable. i am a patent holder. i have used the patent office over many years. it can be much more productive, but the chinese are abusing us. they do not give us protection in china and they come in and use our patent office against us. this is going to end. we are going to work on ending that and making sure our american inventors get taken care of quickly and effectively. sen. blackburn: thank you. when i saw you held over 400 patents i thought, this is someone who can straighten out the uspto, which needs to be done. the other thing i want to talk about is supply chains. this comes under your purview at commerce. gary peters and i have done a good bit of work on auto manufacturing.

as tennessee has become such a manufacturing center. and you are going to be key in securing these supply chains for the american auto manufacturing sector. we want to make certain whether it is autos, appliances or equipment for data centers, computers, equipment going into x and ar -- xai in memphis in my state. in many times really a loss for our manufacturing entities. whether it is the raw materials or the components needed for high-tech assembly, we need to make certain that straighten out the supply chain system so we are able to repatriate u.s.

manufacturing. >> we need to bring manufacturing and supply chain domestic. i completely agree. sen. blackburn: i yield back. >> senator duckworth. sen. duckworth: yesterday president trump paused disbursement of federal grants and loans including grants already obligated grants from the department of commerce. for the second week in a row president trump's actions are selling confusion, and anxiety. when congress directs agencies how to spend taxpayer funding the funding must be dispersed. that federal law. this kind of chaos will make america less globally competitive, not more. other nations are watching and figuring out how to give themselves an advantage while we deal with the chaos.

department of commerce grants have real impact. the economic development administration recently awarded $51 million to the illinois fermentation and bio manufacturing technology hub. these technology hubs are important across the country. this is cutting edge work that will keep america an innovator and global leader in agricultural business and growth good paying jobs across the midwest. it is confirmed do you commit to dispersing all obligated grant funding from the department of commerce on time and without delay? mr. lutnick: if you add it regularly -- rigorously and making it as efficient as possible i can say yes. sen. duckworth: if president trump asked you to do something illegal would you obey? mr. lutnick: he won't. sen. duckworth: would you refuse an unconstitutional or illegal order from president trump? mr. lutnick: the legal

department of the department of commerce is excellent. i would get their advice and guidance, but this just won't happen. sen. duckworth: so your answer is --. mr. lutnick: this is a hypothetical. sen. duckworth: he has given illegal orders before. he asked the department of defense to shoot protesters in the leg. mr. lutnick: i don't know that. sen. duckworth: we will send you the information. we met last month. good commercial policy is critical for our national security. supporting small and medium-sized manufacturing ensuring farmers have access to international markets, developing strong relationships with friendly partners, strengthening supply chains and keeping critical materials out of the hands of bad actors all helps to keep our country safe and economy strong. i enjoyed our conversation about the fact that our economy and the department of commerce is incredibly important to american national security on a global scale. i think we agreed on that.

agriculture and manufacturing are critical for illinois and the nation as a whole as part of our national strength. not only generate good paying jobs for hard-working americans but advanced u.s. innovation in a highly competitive economy. you touched on that today. i enjoyed your remarks. if confirmed how we would advance america's agricultural and manufacturing industries at home and abroad? i think that our farmers and ranchers and fishermen are treated with disrespect overseas. europe comes up with all of the policy. if you saw a european steer and an american skier, it is laughable. american steers are three times the size. the stakes are much more beautiful. but they make up a nonsense set of rules so ours ranchers and farmers there. it's not. they don't like our fertilizer little bit.

we need to change those rules and end of the disrespect for our farmers, ranchers, and fishermen suffered. that's one thing i'm really excited about. i will help our farmers and ranchers and fishermen be successful around the world. we are the best. our farmers are the best. it's clear. we need to be sell their wares around the world. and i need to help end the disrespect they get elsewhere. sen. duckworth: i agree our farmers are a national treasure and we should give them all the support they need to be successful. when done well joint ventures with economic. it is confirmed what will you do to foster an environment that encourages joint venture, especially with partner nations, especially those with him we have national security agreements like japan and korea to enhance our economy and security? mr. lutnick: our great allies

have taken advantage of our good nature like with steel and a japan and appliances in korea. they have taken advantage of us. it's time for them to partner with us to bring production back home. we will work closely with allies to increase their manufacturing productivity at home. i think your way of thinking about it saying let's work together is really important for us and our workforce. >> sen. young:. sen. young: good to see you mr. love nick. -- mr.lutnick . i enjoyed our visit in the office. you understand that science and technology will play a very important role going forward in our economic growth and national security and you demonstrated an understanding that china has

prioritized, through a number of recent initiatives, boosting science and technology funding and progress on a number of different technology fronts. how do you envision, should you be confirmed, increasing support and funding for basic research so the united states remains at the forefront of global innovation and job creation? mr. lutnick: we have the greatest university system in the world and we need to encourage that productivity from our universities, from our great scientists. we need to enhance their ability to get patents to protect them. we need to drive that model of ai innovation and make sure that baseline innovation is american. these things are vital for us and we need to drive that. we need to have standards in cybersecurity and standards for ai innovation that keeps things american.

it is vital for us to do it here and now. sen. young: have you given any thought to the leakage of our investments and the breakthroughs made, the intellectual property leakage to adversary countries and parties and how we might continue to be vigilant against them? mr. lutnick: how could it be more clear than this week when chinese ai said they were able to create things dirt cheap. how? by leveraging what they have taken from us, stolen from us, or leveraged from us. it is outrageous and needs to be addressed. >> it is of paramount importance to the u.s. continue to lead in international collaboration and engagement on ai, which you just alluded to. i would say that the voluntary standards that have been done at nist and that needs to continue

to be done in some capacity somewhere. if confirmed nist will be under your purview. it has been a vitally important non-regulatory agency when it comes to u.s. leadership on ai. focusing on voluntary standards, rather than heavy-handed regulations. what are your thoughts on artificial intelligence and the role that the department of commerce should play supporting continuing innovation and will you continue to commit to support the great standards work being done at nist? mr. lutnick: i am happy to support. i think nist has some of the greatest scientists in the world who understand ai technology, quantum technology. it is a central hub of knowledge of the american government, which i am very excited to oversee. standards is the right model. as i have said, the way we have

done cybersecurity, the gold standard of the world that everybody in the world follows our model, i think we should have a light touch model like that in ai. set the standards so the world heeds our standards and goes with our standards. that will be very important for america. sen. young: you can imagine a future through which your leadership and that of others and if the administration we are able to tease out our own standards, harmonize the standards with other, non-china countries and then, for those countries to produce products and export them into the rest of the world they would have to abide by our standards of transparency, openness, and consumer protection, all the rest of it. i think you are headed down the right track there. i hope we will have an opportunity to work on that should you be confirmed. let me turn to digital trade.

despite the crank -- strength of u.s. digital services in the previous administration abandoned u.s. leadership on digital trade. they were first decades of bipartisan policy that promoted our digital exports including withdrawing support for key digital trade provisions at the wto, ignoring bipartisan congressional directives, and leaving american companies vulnerable to discriminatory trade barriers and protectionism abroad. will you commit to restoring u.s. leadership in digital trade by advancing strong digital trade rules and prioritizing support for u.s. exports? mr. lutnick: yes. sen. young: fantastic. i am out of time. sen. rosen: mr. lutnick thank you for being here. it was a pleasure to meet your family. i appreciate our conversation ahead of the hearing and i look

forward to your responses on how to carry out the department mission to carry out american innovation. with the administration's unconstitutional move to freeze federal funding including critical investments in american innovation like the tech hubs program, part of that in nevada brought -- building out our broadband infrastructure, really important i am skeptical on the ability of this administration to deliver on that mission and i am concerned that the policies outlined by this administration will raise prices on everyday goods and have the potential to make housing and energy more expensive. with that, i will turn to a few critically important things in the nevada economy we touched on. everybody knows about southern nevada and las vegas, the key economic driver of every single state in the nation. the backbone of nevada's economy , several years ago when i was

chair of the subcommittee on tourism, trade, and export promotion i worked across the aisle passing bipartisan legislation to create an assistant secretary of commerce for domestic, travel, and tourism. unfortunately we didn't nominate anyone for the position even after i secured the funding for it in last year's spending bill. as a tourism is the top economic driver, everywhere it's really important. urban and rural. every state in the nation's somewhere great and wonderful to go see. while we as americans love to do that, people around the world. yes or no, will you work with me to fill this open position with a qualified nominee to be sure that the department supports our travel and tourism economies across the u.s.? mr. lutnick: yes. sen. barrasso: and i will move on to something else in nevada. nevada has a lot of sun. a lot of sun. one of my top priorities, we have a lot of stars and a lot of sun.

one is my top priorities has been to protect the solar industry and the really great paying jobs it creates in nevada. we have more solar jobs per capita than any state in the nation. like you, i want to keep good paying jobs in america. i want to reduce reliance on china especially if it pertains to the solar industry and we can talk more about solar manufacturing. that in mind, will you work with me to ensure any tariffs by the administration don't hurt american solar jobs by making components of the solar supply chain prohibitively expensive? ugly failure to do so will hurt the many small and large businesses in nevada and across to do so -- across the country, as this is a booming industry.

mr. lutnick: i will commit to study that. sen. barrasso: and thank you -- $416 million that will connect all nevadans to affordable, reliable high-speed internet. we are a deep frontier state, one of the most mountainous states in the lower 48 and we have significant challenges. even before the omb guidance was issued earlier this week halting federal funding, some of the administration have advocated for drastically altering the program, calling back funds already allocated to the states. because of our geography and geology. we are years into the process in nevada. we are on the filled out. before you answer -- on the edge of build out. before you answer the question may i say that laws are not

simply suggestions. will you commit that nevada won't have to restart what has been a years long process and will receive the full amount congress has allocated under the program given our plan has already been approved? mr. lutnick: i can commit to you that if it has been rigorously done and it deeply efficient and it is the most efficient use to get broadband to your constituents, then it is easy for me to commit to it. you would not mind if we made it better. the project --sen. rosen: the project has already been approved and we are complying with all of the guidelines. we are building out laws and allocations for congress. they aren't simply suggestions. it is of the law. i am just asking, like others, if you will allocate what has already been complied with and what is ready to be built? mr. lutnick: i can commit that i

will read through the document, understand it with precision, and make sure that the outcome you appropriate it for, broadband to your citizens, i'm totally committed to that. i want to make sure it is done efficiently and effectively. sen. rosen: that's not the question. the question is, will you comply with the appropriators of u.s. congress? mr. lutnick: i would say the same way rigorous --. sen. rosen: do you think laws or suggestions? mr. lutnick: absolutely not. >> senator cotton. sen. budd: and welcome and welcome to your family. thank you for your willingness to step away from quite a roll and also your family as well that supports you. i will talk for a minute about something we have mentioned several times, deepseek. in the release of the chinese ai model that was allegedly trained

on a batch of export compliance, older generation semiconductors were just a fraction of the cost of the models. china, however they got there, might not be as far behind as we assumed. it confirmed how would you approach the issue to ensure that the u.s. wins the ai race against china? as you enter the roll, keep on your hat as an entrepreneur. don't lose data. i am reflecting on why combinative is gary tannen that said as a result of the deepseek disruption 1000 flowers will bloom. how do you see this as an opportunity? how do we win here? mr. lutnick: this showed our export controls are not backed by tariffs like a whack a mole model where they get prevented over here and try to figure out a different way over there.

we have to find a way to back our export controls with the tariff model so we tell china, you think we are our -- your most important trading partner. when we say no, the answer is no. it is a respect thing. they have disrespected us. they have figured out the ways around it. i do not think that deepseek was done all above board. that's nonsense. they stole things, they broke in. they have taken our ip. that has to end. i will be rigorous in enforcing restrictions to keep us in the lead because we must stay in the lead. sen. budd: i want to ask you about the risk of models being hosted on chinese service for american users. and the risk of reverse engineering models. the broader question is about ip. can you dig deeper into how you

want to enforce american intellectual property? mr. lutnick: the chinese use our patent office against us. they use our laws. they have huge applications and the applications are growing like fire. they are trademarks. they would say, senator budd and then s budd and just go right around your trademark and abuse it. we have to stop that. we need to address it. we need to stop it. we need countries to understand, if you don't respect our companies ip there, you should not expect are the same treatment here. reciprocity is a word that is really effective. we are treated horribly and we want that to change. you should expect the same treatment here. sen. budd: i want to ask come up with your financial background, deepseek's founding company i think also owns a hedge fund.

do you think there is a financial plate from china because of the laws in market cap? was it perhaps even a short sell play on the market? sen. budd: -- mr. lutnick: i don't know. sen. budd: is it worth looking at? mr. lutnick: of course. sen. budd: are you concerned that in the u.s. we are focused, perhaps, even here in congress, on regulating our own ai activities at the expense of china taking the lead unlocking agi or artificial general intelligence before we do? mr. lutnick: yes. sen. budd: what we need to do to prevent us falling into their trap? mr. lutnick: we were successful on the internet creating the greatest technology companies in the world because we had an american touch. we did the american -- we did the internet the american way and that is why tech companies around the world are ours. we need to do ai the same way. we need to set standards the world of meats that our american standards. i think that is the way we will keep the lead.

to do it the american way, which we know is a winning way. our allies know it is the winning way. we need to set the standards. sen. budd: i want to follow up on a different topic that we talked about in office and yes, it does involve since. the previous administration withdrew the noaa well strike reduction role with disastrous results for those in the carolina and coastal communities. would you develop policies and procedures that protect marine life without limiting access to north carolina and our nation's coastal waterways? mr. lutnick: and easy commitment. sen. kim: thank you, mr. chair. mr. lutnick it's great to see you and your family. i am representing the state of new jersey. i remember exactly where i was when i saw the towers come down.

as you were talking, can you spend some time in the hearing counting through the -- of the people we lost in new jersey how many were from counter fitzgerald and if i got the number right it was 230, roughly about a third of the victims of new jersey. i just wanted to express that with you. the people of new jersey certainly remember that day. we will never forget it. and the work for you and your colleagues did to help victims and families appreciate that. it is still in that sense of national security. on that day i decided to dedicate my life to national security issues. some of the things we talked about today, the goal is towards that direction. that brought to the bipartisan chips and science act together, the sense are entering a new era of national security concerns. i heard what you said about chips and science being an

excellent down payment. i want to tease out a little more of a sense from you about what you believe our role is in the u.s. government when it comes to building up industries, trying to be competitive. are you someone that sees a role for our government investment directly, like we had in chips and science, or are you somebody who still believes it needs to be more hands-off, more market-driven in that kind of capacity. can you give me some insights into how you approach this? mr. lutnick: you gave the department of commerce the tools to bring domestic semiconductor manufacturing home. i think it needed that jump start and in a bipartisan way you created the jumpstart. i believe that was necessary and important. you will see this department of commerce bring domestic manufacturing of semiconductors

and then drive after that in the supply chain to the united states of america, drive it here. we are too reliant on taiwan. we need to have, for national security, and our business, the production here. sen. kim: i agree. i certainly want to see the manufacturing back. senator budd and others were talking about deepseek, their concerns we face, not just with semiconductor manufacturing, ai, and other technologies. what i'm trying to think through, as a member of this committee and elsewhere, is there a two point know that we can build upon with chips and science to have a coalition stay together? maybe not necessarily specific on chips anymore. but on a different death -- different element of critical manufacturing or technology and innovation is that something you would be supportive of? taking the model of chips and science and applying it to a different sector?

mr. lutnick: i do. my job is to give you the benefit of the bargain. you passed chips and science. my job is to bring domestic production of semiconductors home to america and then we will attack the supply chain. we have the full supply chain so we can be independent from the national security perspective. if i need help, i will come to talk to you about that. first, i need to execute what you have given me. which is, chips and science. let's get the benefit of the bargain. i am not the kind of person to come ask for more appropriations if we have not delivered the first time. sen. kim: i hope this is something we can work on together if you are confirmed because i think it's important. on top of that, look, you have a job not just selling things to the american people, but i hope, as you engage with the president -- i am not positive where he stands on chips and science. some of what i hear, he calls it a bad deal. he called it a ridiculous program. so i am hoping that you and

others can try to help engage their to see what it is we can do to try to move this in a different direction. one last thing before i conclude here. you talked about tariffs, country by country. especially when it comes to country by country is there a prioritization list? are you distinguishing between allies and adversaries? as i started the question about china being an overarching turn that all of the taft, -- that all of us have, why aren't we prioritizing predominately china when we have to consider whether or not we will use multilateral tubes -- tools when it comes to tariffs that will allow us to monitor our own effectiveness going up against such a large economy like china? do we need our allies and parties? are we burning those bridges at this stage? i wanted your thoughts on that. mr. lutnick: i think chinese bricss -- chinese tariffsx=

shoul -- chinese tariffs should be the highest. the fact that we americans can't sell at american car in europe is just wrong and needs to be fixed. while they are our allies and they are taking advantage of us and disrespecting us and i would like to see that end. sen. kim: i have no problems with that sense of fairness but i asked, as we go through this, we keep in mind the tremendous threat we are under now in terms of economic national security. i yelled back to the chairman. sen. schmitt: it's great to see your beautiful wife and lovely family here today. we are very broad as a country to have you step up. obviously her career has been laid out. your work in building a company you should be very proud of. and of course, after the events of 9/11, truly admirable.

i have also seen your -- you have been very successful. so it'd -- it is not lost on me and your willingness to serve in this capacity and i think it is a testament to how much you love this country. i think that is your motivation, which we appreciate. i know that people at home do. i do have to say something. my democrat friends on the other design of the aisle have suddenly found religion on following the law. it is remarkable to me. the reason why we have the freeze on grant applications right now is because the department of commerce, outside the law, interpreted it to say you need to hire enough ex-convicts to build a chips factory. that is why it slowed down. one of the reasons we don't have broadband laid in the country is because you require small contractors to have action plans. spare me the outrage about

suddenly now being concerned about following the law. the biden was lawless. through a free agency, every tentacle, every artery, they infused this dei stuff and climate activism stuff. we never voted on any of that. we never voted on any of that stuff and i look forward to you following the laws. i want to touch on a couple topics. sorry, i was not going to do that but i'm just sitting here listening to this. space. i came into this chamber and by the two years ago. i never would have imagined i would be a ranking member of the space and science committee dealing with commercial space issues that are fascinating. america is really the innovator here. you might i have talked about this. it's a real race. we are talking about ai but it's a real race with china. they are serious about this. they are playing meaningfully in

space per unit we are the leader now, but we would not be if we did not have the competition we have in the private sector. we would not be talking about going to mars in five years. i know we have talked about this. but in the public forum it falls under your purview. how important it is to you. also, there is a small agency within the department that i think we probably need to give it a little more prominence that deals with these issues. mr. lutnick: i think space and the data we can collect from space is fundamental to america. it's american innovation. but they have to be american companies. it's vital these are american companies controlled by america. part of our oversight. that's vital. we have the lead. we have to focus on it and encourage it. i think it will be a great national asset of hours going forward. sen. schmitt: many people have

touched on ai. i am on armed services commerce. you see the military application, the commercial application. and i think a lot of people view it in separate buckets. the truth is, for the chinese communist party, everything is dual use and civilizations have come and gone because they lose the technology race in a military application. what we are talking about with ai, the energy required to go do this, the innovation, we are better innovators than them. they copy pretty well. but we can't allow them to be better innovators and us. deepseek has been mentioned. it is possible they used something called distillation. they use what we do really well. they have an algorithm that has what we have, asking a million questions and essentially copying what we have done to

gain the advantage is that it is possible. that is one explanation for what we saw. my hope is it is a sputnik moment for us. that our focus is less about controlling this, which some of the proposals we have seen the last couple years were about controlling or locking in incumbents. i do not think we need to do that. that is the european model. but to really have real innovation here and not be distracted with the woke ai. we saw the black george washington stuff. we can't be distracted. this is the real deal. ai is the real race. i know that you are very focused on this. i don't want to ask the same question. but as it relates to locking in incumbents, making sure we have really robust competition in the space, can you talk about that in the time i have left, which is none? mr. lutnick: we need to have the lead. we need to stay focused on it.

we need to get the nonsense off the chart and just focus on raw artificial intelligence, making us the leader, to have the standards that we are the leader. it's vital for us and i think your points are very well made. sen. schmitt: i look forward to working with you mr. lutnick. sen. cruz: i do not know if this is a sputnik moment but it is at least a mr. lutnick moment. >> i appreciated talking to you about the critical role that apartment plays in unleashing and promoting economic opportunity in our country and around the world. as i shared with you, securing our supply chains and making them resilient is one of my top priorities and i'm proud to co-lead bipartisan legislation with ranking member cantwell and

senator blackburn. we introduced this week the promoting resilient supply chains act to senate s 257 earlier this week. i know in our conversation you expressed a high level of confidence in the effectiveness of the president's tariff agenda. in what ways do you think imposing macro tariffs will impact our supply chains? mr. lutnick: i think it will assist us in bringing supply chain some the supply chains here. it is vital to our national interests for semiconductors. it's vital for pharmaceuticals. we have allowed our adversaries to take advantage of us and even our allies to take advantage of us. it's time for us to take care of ourselves. i think tariffs will encourage companies to come back and build in america, something that i think our workers need and you and i can agree on. several rochester this was one of the -- several rochester this

is one of the things we focused on when i was in the house. we focused on the department leading on mapping and monitoring threats to the supply chain and making them more resilient. can i hear a commitment from you that you will as the head of the department should you get as lead and focus on mapping and monitoring the threats? mr. lutnick: easy, yes. several rochester -- sen. blunt rochester: you said there were too many exclusions the first time the administration posed tariffs talking about drugs in particular. are there exceptions you would make? you said there were way too many. like producing life-saving drugs or drug components, is this an area where you would make exceptions? mr. lutnick: i think it needs to be studied. i think the right answer is the president launched in his eo substantial studies. let's let the studies play out

and then i will come back and gladly talk to you about it. sen. blunt rochester: we do know generic drugs are being increasingly produced overseas. as a country we are facing drug shortages, with active drugs like 271 of them. you think tariffs will increase the cost of drugs for americans? mr. lutnick: one of the problems we see in drugs is we are the innovator of drugs and in the world. all of the other countries just disrespect us. basically they force our companies to sell dirt cheap to them. i think that if we address that model, drug prices in america will come down. sen. blunt rochester: one of my big concerns is the impact of the cost on the american people. the peterson institute for international economics estimates the president's proposal could result in $2600 of annual loss from middle-class families. i won't ask you more questions about tariff but i want to put a pen in that because it is one of

the main priorities for us, making sure people are safe and well and also that they can afford to live. i am glad that you support noaa. will you maintain programs of the economic development administration? mr. lutnick: yes. sen. blunts rochester: do you support dismantling the minority business development agency? mr. lutnick: i do not. sen. blunt rochester: do you believe it receives enough money to carry out its mission successfully? mr. lutnick: i believe it is small so it's hard to be successful. it can be effective. but to be important to america, it is small. you have to put things in. sort of size containment. it is a small agency, as you know. sen. blunt rochester: thank you for sharing that. i would love to work with you on that. as former secretary of labor in delaware, jobs is one of the

most important things to me. i said if i had another middle name it would be lisa blunt jobs rochester. this department plays a critical role. it was mentioned to cubs are important to us -- tech hubs are important to us in a bipartisan way. your support for that? mr. lutnick: seems sensible. sen. blunt rochester: another example of this kind of innovation is nimble and manufacturing usa institute based at the university of delaware focused on biopharmaceutical manufacturing. do you commit to supporting n imbl as it grows? mr. lutnick: i am happy to come to delaware and visit. sen. cruz: i want to thank senator curtis and senator marino that very kindly agreed to let senator shaheen skip

line. i think that was why's discretion. s --sen. sheehy: ai is getting tons of press and lot of investment. that's great. there are also industries we need that have made this country great that we need in the future. how do we bring back resource industries like mining and timber? how do we get them back on their feet, track capital and it is industries and make america a leader and it is industries again? mr. lutnick: we have chased those industries away with a regulatory environment that makes no sense to me. why would we mine? we don't mine lithium in america.

we want electric cars. we all want clean air and water. why do we mine -- why do we have australian mining lithium with coal? put it on a supertanker, drives that all the way here, puts it in trucks, and drives it across the united states of america instead of mining it in the u.s. . that makes no sense. we need to change the regulatory environment and unleash america for the benefit of america. sen. sheehy: there used to be 36 timber mills in montana and there is now barely one and a half and there would not be any ai if we did not have the components to build the chips and processors we need. we should be getting those in this country. as probably the most powerful person in the economy i am glad to hear you are ready to tackle those issues. the greatest national security advantage we have had is not our military or government or congress. it is our economy.

right now, we have a very consolidated and brittle defense industrial complex. racial -- russia makes artillery shells like 10 times faster than we do, builds ships 30 times faster. how can you, in your role, not just bring back manufacturing, but defense manufacturing so we can be the arsenal of democracy in the next great world? mr. lutnick: the drive to do manufacturing, competitively, in america, the american military-industrial complex has been monopolies to bring competition out, bring drone manufacturing here. these are fundamentals. i am in the room and i can push for it. it is a commerce view of things. let's get competition. let's get american ingenuity out there. let's get new people producing national security. let's unleash america for the benefit of america. i think we have been too constrained for too long. that's over.

it needs to be all about american ingenuity. if you unleash american ingenuity, the scale by which we will outrun, outpace, outperform the rest of the world will be incredible. sen. sheehy: back to the fish that i don't like. noaa, the bottom of the ocean has untold part -- deposits of minerals, oil and gas, resources we have barely touched. i am interested how you would leverage your position to expand undersea mining and resource extraction for the benefit of our economy? mr. lutnick: it is important for american national security that the key rare earths and minerals we create ourselves. fortunately, we have the greatest land in the world and under the sea as the rest of whatever we don't have on land. we need to harness it. we need to understand it. we need to take care of america.

we can. by the end of the trump administration we need to understand and protect ourselves , protect ourselves and take care of ourselves. it's vital. sen. sheehy: you are doing a great job. thank you. sen. cruz:. senator lujan. sen. lujan: mr. lutnick thank you for being with us today. i appreciated the conversation in our office as well. i will start on the subject that it sounds like there has been a lot of conversation in this space. i apologize for not being here for the entire hearing. i was over in the finance. mr. lutnick yes or no do you believe reaching truly universal access to high-speed internet across the country is an important and possible goal to achieve? mr. lutnick: sounds like a great goal. sen. lujan: do you believe it is important high-speed internet is

available at every school in america? mr. lutnick: sounds very important to do. sen. lujan: do you believe it can be done? mr. lutnick: i do. we are the greatest country on earth. how would we not be able to do that? sen. lujan: would you commit to investing infrastructure to get it done? mr. lutnick: with all of the tools available to me i will do my best to get that done. it sounds like an excellent set of goals. sen. lujan: if you are asked to cut that program by the president of the united states? mr. lutnick: i work for him. sen. lujan: if the president asks you to cut broadband infrastructure funding, you will do that? is that what i just heard? mr. lutnick: again, i work for the president of the united states and i am here to execute his policies. that broadband internet to america is important. efficiently and effectively delivered. i think that he, in my conversations with him, he thinks that is important. wasted money and abuse of our resources has to end.

but, i think we can achieve your goals. i think he agrees with me that he will allow me to achieve the goals you have suggested that i agree with. sen. lujan: i don't disagree that there should be efficiency and we should stand up to fraud. my question is, if president trump asks you to cut infrastructure funding as passed by this congress in a bipartisan way to build out internet to every school, as we both agreed was an important issue, will you oppose that? mr. lutnick: i work for the president. sen. lujan: are you saying then, yes, you will cut it if asked by the president of the united states? it is a simple thing, there. i am not going back and forth with you. we have five minutes. i can ask you in writing. we can keep going. it's just a simple question. if you work for the president and he gives you an order, you will do it. is that the case if you are told to cut the infrastructure money as passed by congress when it comes to broadband, yes or no?

mr. lutnick: i will get with the lawyers of congress and do it correctly. but i believe my objective is to give you the benefit of the bargain. that is my objective. i have said that before. you have appropriated it and my objective is to execute what has been appropriated. if the president has other objectives i will sit down and talk with him about it. but my objectives as i sit here today are to execute and give you the benefit of the bargain of which you have appropriated. sen. lujan: i will slow down. if the president asks you to cut infrastructure programs, will you cut the program? mr. lutnick: i work for him. i will say it again and again and again. sen. lujan: are you not going to answer that question? mr. lutnick: i am trying to. sen. lujan: yes or no. mr. lutnick: yes, i work for the president of the united states. sen. lujan: i appreciate you being cute. mr. lutnick: i'm not trying to be cute. sen. lujan: is not cute to the

american people that don't have access to these programs when they are being promised a i will get tutoring to every student. it won't happen if people don't have -- mr. kennedy was in the air -- other room saying every person in america who get the access to an ai doctor to cure the cancer they have or whatever other critical illness. it's not cute. this is serious business. we are talking about carrying programs out for the country. i understand you are a very successful person. we are asking simple questions. we had an incredible conversation in the office. incredible conversation. very respectful. this is not that. i just don't understand. i am not asking for a response. i'm not. mr. chairman, one of the areas we agreed is we should work in a bipartisan basis to get these things done. i have a reputation of being a bipartisan member in this office, working with my colleagues.

i have supported several of these nominees and i came into this hearing with an open mind. maybe i am the only democrat that will say no. it's ridiculous. we have a responsibility to communicate to each other for the people we work for. it is not just that you work for donald, sir. you work for the american people if you get this position. you told me that in my office. it's for the american people. to bring the genius you have brought to your success to deliver the grand bargain, to get things done. that is the conversation we had. i am beside myself with this little exchange. i truly am. i am just surprised. mr. chairman, i yield back. disappointing. sen. cruz: thank you, senator lujan. i would note for the record having participated in dozens and dozens of confirmation hearings, i don't recall a single cabinet nominee for barack obama testifying that he would defy an order for barack obama. i don't recall a single cabinet nominee for joe biden testifying

he would defy a cabinet order from president joe biden. it is unsurprising that president trump's cabinet nominees are not interested in testifying that they intend to defy orders from president trump. sen. lujan: i don't disagree but if the answer is no, the answer is no. >> wait until the second-round ask of the larger nomination of the problem here sen. curtis: well, that took a turn. i was just about to brag that they saved their best for last in the committee. now we are down to three. the vice president rarely speaks in innuendos. but i think that if you go back to the introduction, he pointed out that this side of the room was where he sat. he was trying to imply the best minds of the committee were here on this side. i will touch on the previous question for half a second. you and i talked about this in my office.

let me try to reframe a little bit what i think i heard from you in the office. is it fair to assume you would like every student in america to have the resources they need to be successful in school? mr. lutnick: of course. sen. curtis: is it possible congress did not get it perfectly right when we set standards for getting to those students? is it fair to say what you are really after is the best way to get that to them regardless of if congress got it right or not? mr. lutnick: correct. sen. curtis: let me move on. we talked about technology hubs. we have the best tech hub in utah, silicon slopes. it is a crazy bit of innovation and entrepreneurship. risk-taking, bright, sharp minds. talk a little bit about these tech hubs and the support they receive from the federal government. i have heard you say a couple times you agree we need to figure out how to support those

from the government. i want to double down that that is important to you. i would tell you, if they were here today, they would say it is killing us. it is regulation and taxation. can you talk about how we not only support them with government problems but can stay out of their way and let them be successful? mr. lutnick: i agree it is a broad set of regulations holding back america. we need to unleash american ingenuity, get out of the way, and let americans be that extraordinary people that they are. i completely agree with you. a lesser regulatory environment will unleash america. we will be much better off with less of a hand on her head holding us down and more arms carrying us up. i think that is fundamental and important and you will get that with the trump administration. sen. curtis: and on your state tours, put utah in there.

we will go to silicon slopes. we talked a lot about the chinese model developed for artificial intelligence that is supposedly cheaper and better than the u.s.. color me skeptical. mr. lutnick: it is easy to be cheaper if you steal it. sen. curtis: right. my question is, how do we finally get to accountability for this? i want a really productive relationship with china but as long is -- as there is no accountability, we can't get that. how do we get to accountability on this? second, can we acknowledge this is tiktok on steroids? if we are worried about the influence of the ccp on america with tiktok, this is on steroids. can you address both of those? mr. lutnick: the first answer is reciprocity with china. how you treat us is how you should be expected -- how you should expect to be treated by us.

we have let them off the hook for too long. they treat us horrifically in china and yet we let them ride roughshod over us here. the term reciprocity would show they are treating us horribly. that is the first step i think. a good word for this administration to repeat endlessly is reciprocity. treat others the way they treat us. sen. curtis: i mentioned in the artificial intelligence safety institute that is underneath you and if that needs a new legs. i would love to work with the senate and yourself to give you the tools to do that. when you were in my office we talked about tariffs and i want to double down on a couple points we talked about that day. they are disproportionately hard on small business. we talked about, perhaps, longer runways for small business, things like that. i want to see if you have any thoughts on that and how do we do the goals of president has with tariffs and also look out

for small businesses? curtis -- sen. curtis: i will make sure that is a key part of our studies to think about small businesses and importers of those small businesses and how to best find our way to be acceptable to them in the model. sen. curtis: for those that were not in the meeting part of the conversation was can we have a longer runway for small business to meet obligations because it is harder for them to get it. i look forward to your discussions on that and finally on tariffs, before we run out of time, this concept of, they will make prices go up. we have to think about americans. if we are demanding of our businesses that they meet osha regulations and human rights regulations and we aren't demanding it of somebody else, we either need to stop demanding it here, or demand it of them. with that i am unfortunately out

of time. i need to yield back. sen. curtis: senator heller. sen. butler: mr. -- mr. lutnic : thank you for your time and all you have done. i think that some of the stories of how you responded to not just a crisis of 9/11 but many crises in your life illuminates the kind of person you are and i respect that. i have a couple questions around tether. i was here earlier when you talked about allowing them to get ai. we can follow that up quickly. we know russia has used it to avoid sanctions. one of the main financiers for around -- iran had $100 million,

moving around using tether and it is used in a lot of scams with americans. what is your best sense of how to be efficient with government regulation? how do we try to crack down on these innocent uses of something like tether? what is your perspective? i'm not trying to say you should be held accountable. i'm just trying to figure out, how would you suggest whether it is commerce or congress? mr. lutnick: we only know illicit activity is done on the block chain because it is done on the block chain. meaning, when these same illicit characters use dollars or euros, we don't know about it. we went to iraq and found pallets of hundred dollar bills. the way to do it is to require anybody that is a u.s.-backed stable coin must on board u.s. law enforcement and must allow u.s. law enforcement and our ai tools into their models so we

can go find and catch the illicit activity. remember, it is a central book. that means it can be found. it can be traced. our ai tools will rip illicit activity out of stable coins in a year or two. our technology on their block chain will end it and that is what we should require. it makes perfect sense. sen. hickenlooper: so you will collaborate on a some on making that sign -- kind of rule. mr. lutnick: absolutely. sen. hickenlooper: another argument for this is to have to open a bank and count -- bank account so people have to know who you are to receive and trade tether. there is no easy way to know who people are in that context at the beginning. mr. lutnick: the stable coin issuers only issue to kyc

approved people. but it is really the secondary market. people are using an electronic dollar in the same way they use a real dollar. it's much easier to catch an electronic dollars that it would ever be to catch a physical dollar. much better. sen. hickenlooper: got it. i won't go through the tech hubs things because i know senator curtis was adamant they had perhaps the best tech hub in the mountain west but elevate quantum includes several rocky mountains states and we want to make sure you come out. don't just visit to utah. it's lovely, but the skiing isn't quite the same as colorado's. >> i spent a lot of work on critical minerals. obviously, they are a fundamental building block for

aerospace and clean energy, semiconductors, ai, go down the list. when you are talking about the extraction of minerals or the processing of those minerals, we are falling way behind. the trade administration has responsibility for kind of growing our exports, overseeing trade and really helping to secure supply chains, central supply chains for these critical minerals. how would you work to ensure that we have sufficient sourcing and processing capabilities in this country? >> we have to reduce the regulatory burdens so that they can mine those critical materials for america. we need to bring domestic mining back. we cannot stop mining in america and buying it overseas. it is not healthy for us from a national security perspective

and it is not healthy for your domestic economy so i think we are supposed to be mining in colorado. it is an amazing place that has got incredible resources and we need to bring those resources for the use of america and improve the economy of colorado but also improve the national security of america. >> great. in terms of that -- i agree with you completely and it's also the environmental and other countries when they are processing these minerals, their environmental standards are a fraction of what we require in this country. >> exactly. >> do you see a possibility of a tariffs system like what senator curtis was referring to based on the environmental depredations that come from processing and extracting minerals in foreign countries that have no standards and what that does to the atmosphere that we all utilize? >> that should be part of the study for sure is that someone

else is mining with coal and spewing it into the air and we are worried about the fact that we would do it 100 times better for the atmosphere but instead, we do not do it. we buy it from them and they spew it in the air and put it on a tanker and drive it to us. if you take it as a whole, it seems illogical. we should be mining in nevada. we had a great lithium find in arkansas. we have the iron range. how america is an we are not using our assets to the best that we possibly can and it is time that we do it. >> ok. you would accelerate that process? >> sounds smart. >> thank you. i yield the floor. >> thank you. senator lummis. >> thank, mr. chairman. welcome. first of all, i want to thank you for your generosity to the

college. as you know, my daughter is a graduate. you are the chairman of the board while she was a student there and your generosity to that school is exceptional. i have never seen anything like it so i want to start there. i also want to ask this question in the form of a request. and that is that you will not own the advise the president of the united states about ways we can improve our economic standing, our jobs, our manufacturing, but you will inform this committee and its members of ways that we can help make that happen. case in point. the semiconductor industry has estimated a need for 100 15,000 additional workers by 2030 to meet the chips act goals. but what is happening is there

were mandates for d.e.i. within the chips act that is preventing the chips act from functioning as it was designed. there is a company called taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company that has been trying to build semiconductor manufacturing in arizona. but the d.e.i. requirements that are ongoing, that mandate the workforce that they must have simply cannot be met. so they have faced significant delays in staffing their facility due to a lack of specialized workers in the u.s., particularly those from underrepresented groups. in addition, the d.e.i. requirements also extend beyond workforce composition to include partnerships with minority service institutions and diverse

suppliers. in other words, these companies that we want in this country to change the trajectory of the development of semiconductors so we can do it in the united states cannot do it because of the add additional requirements, the layers of bureaucracy replaced on them in the very chips act that was designed to help our country move forward. some of these delays have caused that company as one to go overseas and they are finding, for example, that in japan, they can break ground and complete a facility and can begin producing way before they can do it in the united states. the japanese government provided clear financial incentives without attaching extensive social mandates.

and they are exploring expansion in germany and other countries that have fewer regulatory hurdles so my request is this. it is not just d.e.i.. it is environmental requirements. it labor requirements. as so many of well-intentioned hurdles that we have placed when we give with one hand incentives to create an industry in the united states, to bring back manufacturing to the united states and then the other hand takes it away. and i am asking you to help us identify where we have created hurdles to our own manufacturing advancement, our own ability to excel and achieved in using ai and using chip manufacturing and using our superior force of

nature. you were called a force of nature. the you are a force of nature. i know you. you are a force of nature. so many americans are and yet we throw these hurdles up for ourselves and i just want to ask you, please, help us. get out of our own way. >> easy for me to commit to. >> and looks up -- i look forward to supporting your nomination. i yield back. >> thank you. senator moreno. >> i am over here. [laughter] >> there is no more over there. right. >> thank you for being here. question number one, do you still want the job? [laughter] >> i do. >> i can tell you, actually. you are in a position where you could literally do anything you want in your life. i think if the 23-year-old howard let nick was sitting here

today, i don't think he could have ever imagined it. >> could not possibly. >> yet you are choosing to serve this country and you are making a great sacrifice to do that. you know, for some of us, myself, i ran for office and i divested of all my holdings. not as complex as years. but to do that is a great sacrifice and it shows how much you really care about this country so thank you for that. my question is this. in your career, give us a sense of scale of how many deals you have made. >> thousands. >> maybe a couple of bad ones that you learn from. just don't do the bad ones twice. >> sadly true. >> right. as long as you don't repeat the same mistake, it is all good. imagine a scenario in which you are a european car manufacturer and you ship that car into america completely tariff free.

it is a car that is extremely expensive, targeted at very wealthy people and it happens to be an electric vehicle. i will give the example of a rolls-royce specter. i'm sure you have lots of friends who have those. fully electric rolls-royce vehicle. could you imagine that the united states government subsidizes that car and leases to the tune of $7,500? is that a good deal? >> are you joking? courts true story. >> how about we and that now? as fast as we possibly can. they should pay america just for being that rich. what do you think? >> all of my democratic colleagues voted for that bill. the inflation reduction act allows luxury european automobiles that are not even remotely made in america to get $7,500 if they are released. now imagine a cadillac with a

big american v-8 engine gets tariffs on the way to europe, let alone been given a subsidy. do you consider that to be a good example of terrible reciprocity with our allies? >> that is the example of the failed industrial policy of the united states of america. it is a failed industrial policy and needs to be changed and needs to be changed now. that is an american first. that is what america first means, exactly what you were pointing out. help us here stop having everyone else treat us so poorly. >> obviously, the car industry is near and dear to my heart. the only commitment i asked for you of course, you have to visit ohio. national champion football team. don't ask about our professional sports, please. but have you come to ohio and see the largest manufacturing facility going up in columbus. i think this is a good example

of what you will change in the commerce department because to have a good strategy with bad implementation is a terrible deal so i look forward to having you there to help us get that plant implemented quicker and more efficiently so we would love to have you come to ohio. >> ohio has a great history of manufacturing and we have got to bring that manufacturing back to ohio and to the united states of america. it has to come back and i am committed to that. >> one last line of questioning. there's been a lot of questions about tariffs raising prices and causing inflation. before doing this, you were obviously deep into the financial markets served during the period of time of 2017 through the end of president trump's term, how would you describe inflation? >> it was virtually nil. >> and from the moment joe biden came in office and started

fiscal stimulus unlike anything i have ever seen in my lifetime, how would you describe inflation? >> massively high. >> those were not done unilaterally by joe biden, right? those bills were not as magically created by joe biden. they originated here in congress. maybe i would ask my colleagues to sit this one out when they are talking about what will happen with inflation over the next four years. i will yield my time back. >> thank you, senator. i appreciate the senators very kind offer to provide those rolls-royce's to all the members of this committee. and i will happily go to ohio to pick them up. all right. i think there are just a couple of us that are going to have more questions so hopefully, you will be out of here very soon. but let me start with this. in august of last year, i wrote asking for information about its promotion of faux educational materials designed to manufacture support for that wing goals. for instance, they pushed a

climate emotions will activity based on the work of a finish eco-theologian, whatever that is. which encouraged students to navigate their emotions before and after engaging in climate action. as the curriculum openly states, the goal is not to eliminate negative emotions because those who experience negative emotions about climate change are more likely to engage in climate action. seems that one goal of the curriculum is to generate feelings of fear and anxiety rather than to educate. i asked for the documents behind this and they refused to provide them. if you are confirmed, will you commit to providing the documents i requested? >> yes. >> thank you. all right, let's turn to artificial intelligence. the nonregulatory federal agency in the lead national laboratory

for providing the measurements and standards that underpin u.s. commerce. success in the fierce competition for global leadership and critical emerging technology like ai relies in part on how well each countries respective firms and experts influenced the development of technical standards. unfortunately under the biden administration, their mission was undermined by the creation of the ai safety institute which politicized ai standards. the ai safety institute took the worst lessons from the tech regulation like requiring climate change assessments and misinformation as part of measuring ai and its risks. when you are confirmed, will you confirm their focus to the scientific mission of measurement science and ensure that the ai standard guidance is based on scientific technical standards and not simply a

trojan horse for social policy or importing the tech agenda? >> yes. >> all right. you have had a lot of questions. after nearly four years, the biden administration did not connect a single american through the $42 billion program. instead, it hoarded nearly $1 billion in administrative funding to impose unnecessary burdens on states and to push extreme left-wing social policies like climate change and rate regulation and fund otter palms at the d.c. zoo. again, otter palms is what their broadband funding went to. when i flapped these failures over one year ago, the department ignored solutions to expedite access and to end the extreme bias against wireless and satellite technology. this red tape has not only stalled development of the program, it has inflated the

cost of expanding internet access. will you commit to working with my office to conduct a thorough review of this program and refocus it on congress's core objective of deploying high-speed internet to underserved area in a technical manner and not to pursuing extraneous or partisan social goals? >> yes. i would be happy to. >> finally, congress created the tech ops program under the chips and sciences act to target areas that will advance technological innovation that will allow us to compete globally. unsurprisingly, under the biden administration, the program became just another piggy bank for low performing blue states. for instance, the first round of funding went towards sustainable climate ready infrastructure and clean energy supply chain tech hubs.

six days before leaving office, the biden administration pulled out an industrial sized shovel and was shoveling as much money out the door as they could including announcing nearly $210 million in additional awards six days before they left. once again, texas received zero. even though it has a designated semiconductor hub and booming tech industry. will you commit to reviewing the tech hubs program and restoring competitive merit-based review processes across the department rather than political cronyism? >> yes. >> thank you senator. >> senator klobuchar. >> thank you very much. mr. chair, thank you. senator. while we were sitting here, it appears that the unknown

bureaucrat to me in the office of management and budget has withdrawn the memo, the two-page memo so it will hopefully open up the ability for you if you are confirmed to distribute this funding. i do want to just follow of in a different way on the questions that the senator was asking. if a court finds that the president or someone does something illegal, will you respect that court's order? >> of course. >> ok. thank you. so when we were in office, i had sort of deferred to the senator on some of the conflict issues and i appreciated some of them that she raised but at that time, i was -- i am particularly interested in scandinavia because in my state, we have a lot of connections there. i'm going way back to walter

mondale, we have had ambassadors to scandinavia and i have personally been to greenland so maybe more than some of the other senators, i have been very much interested for a number of years in former and current president trump's focus on greenland and i know fitzgerald had an interest -- a major interest. would that be a fair way to say it? >> no. no. >> i am just reading this so maybe they are wrong. i know you have divested, ok? i will start with that. so explain to me the greenland connection. >> i think they took a mining company public and in lieu of its fees, it took some shares from minor, teeny from the viewer at large would be the way to think about it. meanwhile, i did not know that we had it until yesterday so i

did not know but i was informed it was just in lieu of fees. they took some shares. >> and now you have divested herself but your family hat -- yourself by your family has an interest in it. like what is that? >> the right answer is i plan to divest upon my confirmation and i will have sold everything and i will have no business assets and no business interest and no conflict, as agreed with the office of government ethics. >> ok so that is that. but then we have the fact that the president has been pressuring denmark to sell greenland to the u.s. that is correct, right? >> i think he has had such conversations and i think that it's right. >> the prime minister -- i see them as such a key ally, scandinavian countries, for many reasons, but the prime minister said no. greenland is not for sale. right?

>> i did not speak to the prime minister. >> and have you discussed mining in greenland with the president? >> absolutely not. >> and would you see that the interests for whatever interest fitzgerald has in mining or other companies have that if america bought greenland or somehow obtained greenland that that would be more favorable to those terms? >> i doubt it but i would not have the foggiest idea. this has to be irrelevant. >> i think it is relevant. quite no, no, no, meaning -- sorry. that is not what i said. >> trying to pressure them. i think it is relevant to our commerce and national security and the likes. >> i'm sorry. that is not what i meant. i meant the economics of it are irrelevant. i was not talking at all about this. sorry. i did not mean that even in the

slightest. >> i will follow up on some of this in writing. last two questions. senator marianne -- he and eileen that caucus together. senator blunt and i worked to create this brand usa which allows our american companies -- it is paid for not by government money but by private money. leveraged hotels and the like. leveraged with visa fees that foreign visitors pay when they, and we have used that to promote our nation as a whole for terrorism. we have seen some really positive results because before that may be vegas or new york city would do it but not the rest of the country. and i just hope that you will work to strengthen programs like other tourism work that we do as jerry mentioned and the senator manchin with the olympics coming and the like. ok. thank you.

last thing. human trafficking. this is a big priority of mine and several people on this committee. under the last administration, the department of commerce collaborated with other federal agencies and committee partners, advocates, and individuals to raise awareness. if confirmed, what will you do to fight human trafficking in our supply chains and economy? >> everything i possibly can. >> all right. thank you. the national weather service. will you work to maintain the national weather service? very key in my state. >> i will. i think we can deliver the product efficiently and less expensively, dramatically less expensively but the outcome of delivering those services should not be changed. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. we are going fast now because i think we have a vote. i just want to clarify a couple of things that have come through as members have asked questions

and as senator klobuchar's just said, the memo that has raised such hackles and is confronting you and many of the other nominees has now been withdrawn. so that is good news. but in these conversations, one thing you said, and this is making a point. it's not about the specificity because i am not sure that you -- when you are in these situations, you never know what the heck you say. you say you wanted to bring drone manufacturing back to the united states. in this particular case, the state of washington has had a lot of startups in the drone area and they have grown into bigger companies and been acquired by boeing so it is a really great example of exactly what we are trying to do. it's a really great example of your quote, unleash american ingenuity, which i wholeheartedly agree with. so when you come to this probably lesser-known aspect or lesser understood aspect of

ships in science, really, it started as the third bill that this committee has passed over decades under the auspices of the moniker america competes so the concept is what do we need to do? as a technology age and r&d age where universities were publishing and everybody was reading our publishing's, we were not patenting enough and we were not translating science fast enough for america competitiveness. so the other aspect of chips and science is -- as my colleagues have brought up so several people have brought these up so we just want to get clarity on your opinion about that kind of activity. forget for a second the individual ones. i can make a very big case for why in aerospace one of our largest exports, if we do not climb the next hill on material science and win that race, it's

going to be very bad for the united states so you do want to test large-scale r&d that doesn't get done by, you know, the private sector because it can't scale at that level. so when you talked about the efforts of semiconductors, you said, yes, i support getting the money out the door. so now on the tax ops, we are trying to understand, do you believe in this translational science effort that is about trying -- in fact, i will never forget him coming to seattle and they said tell us where you are going and we will follow and we looked at each other like what are they talking about? tell us where you are going? the people in seattle said it is too expensive to do all the innovation that we need to do in america in seattle, in silicon valley. in other places. so the point is we have got to spread it out. we have to go get places to do this kind of work so i just want

to understand, do you believe in us finding that kind of testbed, scaling up important manufacturing competitiveness issues? >> i think american ingenuity exists strongly across the country and we should find it and we should harness it and we should unleash it and that means working in each state and trying to find the best and the brightest and i think if the tech hubs can bring that out and they can come together, and show the government, the federal government that they can do it, then i think it is very worthwhile. >> you will be an advocate for those things and you will not try to withhold the funds that have already been allocated? >> i will not. >> ok. my colleague asked about the ai safety institute. will you work with myself and senator young and senator cruz on an ai safety institute that we can get over the goal line that people feel good about?

>> i think we talked about and standards which were fundamental and i would be delighted to work with your office to try to come up with a model and method for the foundation of american ai standards that drive it out and i think that is why it is standards, not safety. they may end up with the exact same concept but i am a proponent of standards. >> you will have a big standards job in the fact -- the notion is you are trying to get commonality. i certainly agree with senator cruz that america should not be pegging its horse to what happens in europe and in fact i think a better approach is for us to have -- that is why i want a privacy law. i don't want to create a bureaucracy. i want a bright line on the books. in this case, what we need for the industry to grow is for commerce to do its job so i am glad you will work with all of us to do that because that is

critically important. ok, the hearing was a few minutes old and a headline popped up. eager to tap pentagon for commercial use. is that good with you? do you want to refine that? >> is that here? >> apparently. is that accurate? let's just say that. is that accurate? >> i think the best way to say it would be working closely with the department of defense to make sure we protect our national security. if we can find it, then we can use it to enhance the united states of america. generational spectrum is important. let's work together and unleash the spectrum if we can. we have got to protect it, the defense industry, but we cannot just sleep through it. we have to make sure we use it to the best it can be for

america. >> i think what happened is that the department under the secretary of commerce led a big dod discussion and tried to get people commonality around dynamic spectrum sharing and i think it holds a lot of promise, but yes, we all have to cooperate. i think there's some, you know, who just say just turn it all over. i think our colleagues are split on this so i want a resolution. i did not coin this but i think collaboration is the next phase of innovation. it's a ted talk done by somebody that i respected. the point is -- another one. the ted talk -- this is years ago. years ago. in an information age, you have a lot of information but if you don't get around a table and agree, you cannot get it implemented so that is where the united states needs to go.

we need to collaborate on what we agree should move forward on the innovation so i hope that on this point, we so much is at stake, look, if we -- manufacturing is growing in my state and i'm telling you chips and science as part of it. we did not get billions like some other states manufacturing -- why? ai is meeting cheap electricity. we want this renaissance of manufacturing in the united states of america. i disagree with my colleague from ohio because we work on this and i can tell you that that investment is what is helping us. it is helping us grow the manufacturing. so anyway, i hope that you will work with us to create that level of collaboration around facts and information said that we can keep moving forward on this. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator markey. >> thank, mr. chairman. i want to come back to

broadband. in the bipartisan infrastructure law, congress invested $40 billion to ensure all americans benefit from the digital revolution. had the vast majority of that money will go towards insuring that all americans, inner-city and rural, have access to high-speed broadband but such -- will you faithfully execute the dispensing of that $40 billion? >> i have said the goals are right and i will try to get you the benefit of the bargain. yes. i will do it as efficiently and effectively as we can. >> i appreciate you and i will repeat again the bargain was won between democrats and republicans on this committee. we largely wanted to go to urban america. so it is not separable, ok? >> great. i said yes. i will try and do it efficiently

and effectively. >> we just needed to be faithfully executed given the designee saying he wants to protect against marxism in our country in the budget and i know he is dead serious and we are dead serious as well. but you know, that $40 billion is important to ensure access for everyone. but such access has limited value if americans don't have the skills or the knowledge to participate in that online world so fortunately, congress set ahead and provided $3 billion across three programs for precisely that type of education for all americans. will you faithfully execute and implement those programs? >> would you have appropriated efficiently and effectively, i will. >> it's a bargain between -- and

those who want a piece of the action, too, but you have to educate. on the chips act, over the past several years, the commerce department has worked quickly to issue grants under this program. will you commit to honor the grant contracts that have been finalized? >> i would have to read them and analyze them and understand them to commit to that. >> if they are finalized, the bargain was here. the contract got signed. quite how do you know the contract that was signed was the bargain? i don't know that. >> the contract said finalized. those are the only contracts i'm talking about now. will you honor them? >> i cannot say. i have never read it. i will read it and i can happily sit with you after i have read it and discuss it with you.

>> again. it's just honoring contracts that have been made. that is the bargain. i wish you could give us more certainty on that because the company has made a variety of commitments in their community impact reports as you pay out awards, will you commit to enforcing the commitments these community impact reports require? >> sure. to the extent moneys have been disbursed, i will commit to rigorously enforcing the documents that have been signed by those companies to make sure we get the benefit of the bargain. if they have agreed to do things, i will rigorously enforce them. >> that is the bargain. these commitments were made as part of final grant contracts so it is unacceptable for the government to come back and simply ignore the terms of those agreements because it was a bargain, no? and they have to get the benefit of that contract

which they signed and i will be looking forward to seeing how you implement that. one final subject here, artificial intelligence. ai has infiltrated every sector of our economy. we talked about this in my office. housing, health care, employment, the criminal justice system, social media. the list goes on and on and on. while ai innovation is important and we do want to use it to potentially find a cure for cancer and other diseases, that would be great but we also have to make sure that the aia age does not supercharge pre-existing bias and discrimination in us, using super algorithms to look at people in our society that make it easier to discriminate against them. early this year, you seemed to suggest that efforts to address discriminatory algorithms was nonsense so i would like to just have you expand a little bit.

is that accurate? is that your view as we move forward to ensure that ai algorithms do not allow for greater discrimination in our society, that that is not nonsense to have that as our goal? >> i think ai standards set by america are fundamental and we should set fundamental standards trying to be as i said -- we were incredibly successful with the internet in our standards and that created the greatness that is america and american technology. we are great the way we set standards in cyber. we have done a great job. it is the gold standard of the world and i would like us to pursue standards in ai that are like those two which set the standard for the world. >> i appreciate that. as the author of the three bills , i understand that. i moved us to this broadband world that we are in but my question to you is --

cyberspace, -- dangerous side, will you commit to working to mitigate discriminatory ai powered algorithms proliferating in our country? >> it makes sense. >> well, i look forward to working with you on that because i just think right now, we hear too much hype from the geniuses -- all the good it is going to do this simultaneously, there is another side to all of this. if you are somebody who has been discriminated against in the past, it is very likely that -- we will need to work with congress to put real protections in place. we can already see the chinese are figuring out how to come in without paying the price that our silicon valley geniuses have and we have got to make sure that across the board, all of these companies, all of these algorithms meet the highest standards for protection.

thank you, mr. chairman, for your indulgence. >> if i could correct a lot of discussion -- the funding has connected 100,000 plus locations and built hundreds of miles so the notion that nobody has gotten connected is just not correct. thank you. >> so thank you, senator. i will note that it may be possible there are other programs that have connected people but the $40 billion program has connected zero homes and locations. i will also note for the record that you just had an exchange with senator markey about the chips and sciences program. the biden administration ignored the text of the law and grafted onto it a host of left-wing social objectives including mandates to open day cares including the green new deal, including every policy agenda they had that was not in the law and the idea that the commerce

committee is somehow bound to follow the biden administration's left-wing agenda that they could not get the votes for in the united states congress is absurd and just for the record, in my view, your obligation is to follow the law, not their extralegal policy that we are stuck on for those contracts. >> already existing signs. collect the fact that the prior administration cause people to sign things that were not reflected in the law, there is no reason at all that they should be held to extralegal commitments that i recognize our policy objectives of democrats but you did not have the votes to enact them in the law. it was not an accident that they were not in the law. it was purely disregarding the law that the biden administration force them onto it so fidelity to the law would

be returning to the actual statute that was enacted, not the policy preferences of the prior president. ok. >> there is nothing arm's-length when one side has $60 billion in the other side is trying to get it. i understand that they can do a highway robbery but that is not an arm's-length negotiation. yes, they want the money. ok. they are not bound by extralegal agreements and i feel confident the administration is going to follow actual federal law and not the policy preferences of the previous administration. all right. we have an open vote we are about to miss so let's not miss this vote on the senate floor. >> we are all in agreement that

the united states needs to bring manufacturing back and move ahead. please close us out. thank you. >> all right. my final question is required of all nominees. if confirmed, do you pledge to work collaboratively with this committee to provide timely responses to the committee's request and appear before the committee when requested? >> i do. >> thank you. i have 29 letters of support from various organizations to be secretary of commerce. i ask unanimous consent for the 29 letters to be inserted in the hearing record. without objection, so ordered. senators will have until the close of business on thursday, january 30, to submit questions for the record. the nominee will have until the end of the day on saturday, february 1, to respond to those questions. we had testimony about how hard you worked so we are giving you a day but we are moving promptly. that concludes today's hearing. the committee stands adjourned.

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