diabetes, more autism, who has more add, a.d.h.d., who has more childhood cancer. these things are skyrocketing as we watch the vaccine program growing and you're pointing out a handful of studies mostly funded by the pharmaceutical industry that has an agenda to say this isn't a link. yes, show me a comparative study of the vaccinated versus unvaccinated that shows that the vaccinated has lower rates of cancer, lower rates of diabetes. if you show a stat study then i think we will have to take a serious look at that and say what else is it? what other environmental toxin is it? and then we go into not just the vaccine studies, how do we know it's not vaccines with certain foods. >> i want to make sure we have enough time. a study that looked at vaccinated and unvaccinated-- >> we'll break away for live coverage. u.s. senate. you can watch this anytime if you go to our website,

c-span.org. today lawmakers will continue working on the senate republicans fiscal year 2025 budget resolution and at noon eastern will vote on kelly loeffler to lead the small business administration. coverage here on c-span2. ... the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, send your peace into our hearts. hasten the day when nations will live in friendship, united by

their allegiance to you. may the members of this body seek to build with you a world without dividing walls and partisan strife. to unite our nation and world. lord, strengthen them to work together for the common good as you place your piece that passes all understanding in their hearts. help them to set country above party and place your will above all else. we pray in your great name,

amen. >> please join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> under brady are sort of the leadership time is reserved when businesses closed under previous or the senate will resume consideration of the clerk will report. forth the ap

budgetary levels for fiscal years 2026 through 2034. mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: the senate will soon confirm kelly loeffler. she will then be the next administrator of the small business administration. as a former colleague in the senate representing georgia, i know she understands the need of small business in both rural and urban areas. i am very sympathetic to the needs of small business. these small businesses have experienced disruptions from the pandemic, labor shortages,

inflation, and supply chain issues. i meet with many small business owners as i travel throughout iowa, and i hear about the policy issues that are important to them. small businesses are the backbone of our economy. douching the past 20 years -- during the past 20 years, small businesses have created 75% of the new private nonfarm jobs in the united states. we always hear about excessive taxes and regulations affecting small business, standing in the way of small businesses making the investments that would drive even more job growth. i have consistently supported legislation and policies to keep small businesses robust and prosperous. i look forward to working with

senator loeffler to advance iowa's small business priorities and improve the policies of the small business administration. i recently met with her in my office, and one of the items that i stressed was the importance of responding to congressional letters and inquiries, and i didn't do that just because the small business people nominee was before me. i do this with all the nominees that come to my office because we have this constitutional responsibility of checks and balances, doing proper oversight of the laws and money that we appropriate being handled by the executive branch of government. because we all know, congress not only passes the laws and

appropriates money, but we have to make sure that the president faithfully executes those laws and spends the money appropriately. oversight then allows us to hold bureaucrats accountable to the rule of law and, most importantly, keep faith with the taxpayers. because if we have transparency in government, we have greater accountability. the public's business must be public. i fully expect the new administrator to respond to all congressional inquiries in a timely and responsive manner. i look forward then to working soon with administrator loeffler to support policies to keep our small businesses strong and to keep them productive.

i yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks.

quorum call:

in early $2000 replacing the radar system because of uncoordinated changes to spectrum allocations. this is exactly what i'm talking about when we say we need to work together. we cannot continue to have this play out in a way we are not thinking about our military capabilities. in ukraine we are seeing how essential spectrum is everyday. the russians are jamming ukraine drones communication gps and satellite, this all shows that our military needs to be a blur, more flexible if we are going to succeed in our operations and that kind of contested and congested spectrum and environment.

today how warfare does append on spectrum enabled communications. "spectrum is no longer just an enabler of the warfare, it is the warfare. so today's victories and battles really will depend on us getting those right and if we lose the spectrum war we lose the war. today's healing is about how we keep the same globally competitive while china and russia and other foreign adversaries are making inroads that we need to assert our leadership and the rest of the world so i would like to work with my colleagues on legislation that would help us get this right and continue to move forward. i will also note that president trump, and mr. clark's testimony, has a line "the most challenging driver of u.s. spectrum policy excess requirements will be the trump administration initiative to

establish conference of missile-defense architecture for the united states". while i don't know how we can do that if we give the spectrum away. i look forward to today's hearing and i think my colleagues i think my colleagues and the chairman for this important hearing. >> thank you i will introduce a distinguished panel of experts we have testifying. joining us today is doctor thomas hayes what professor of economics at clemson university. he served as the chief economist of the sec and noted expert in telecommunications policy stop his book the political spectrum chronicles the history of american spectrum regulation and how spectrum policy reforms such as public auctions can a rate explosive technological innovation and economic growth. the oldest continuing operating university in the great state of texas.

dr. biden was currently serves as director of smart hub a dod spectrum innovation center that organizes research efforts among 25 researchers across 15 universities. to revolutionize the increasingly crowded spectrum used by both dod and nonmilitary users. the third witness is not parole. director of the strategic technologies program at the center for strategic and international studies. mr. pearl has more than 14 years of government service including most recently as advisor to the national security council. prior to that he served as associate bureau chief of the wireless telecommunications bureau at the sec. for help transition the use of dod spectrum to include commercial wireless use in multiple bands. our final witness ryan clark is a senior fellow and director of the center for defense concepts and technology at the hudson

institute. 1982 to 2013 he served in a variety of roles in the united states navy. while in the navy he received the department of navy superior service model and legion of merit. we will start with you, you are recognize. >> thanks very much and i think everyone for their kind invitation to dissipate in today's discussion. radio spectrum is a vital component of the modern economy. yet artificial scarcity has been imposed by public policies that prevent entrepreneurs from moving underutilized spectrum sources into their highest value uses such filaments have long been a problem dating to the 1927 radioactive facets of the law to require mother may i the term of art describes the slow process and idle bandwidth is discovered to find its scope and transition into productive

employments. provisions in red tape too often limit markets and impede the economic growth bands have been reserved for maritime communications in utah the forestry service says enjoy exclusive frequency rights in city and today some 35 channels from the tv allocation channel 1952 are still reserved for terrestrial over the air broadcasting. i love lucy may have benefited from this arrangement back in the day we now have more efficient means to deliver video using cable satellites and broadband internet's. these long legs continue to play entrepreneurial ventures to frustrate wireless consumers desiring more bandwidth for enhanced communication. good news is that u.s. policy has not been static american regulators have taken corrective actions to promote the reservation in particular market-oriented policies to relax mandates for how spectrum

must be utilized. in granting users and licensees wider discretion via flexible you suspect might enormously valuable competitive forms have been unleashed. over 10 times as much bandwidth available for mobile wireless than in the mid-1990s. vast mobile ecosystems have as a result bloomed, in addition, competitive bidding, auctions, assign such rights replacing arbitrary distributions. recent decades abroad experiments with new methods and the ones hidebound fcc has invaded in the early 1990s the instruction, the introduction of what became known as second generation cellular or 2g wireless was held up for some years by protests registered by holders of microwave allotments, these incumbents claim catastrophe would result from any change in land access

rights. as is often the case such claims were overwrought the situation was put into clear focus and resolved by a clever fcc policy, and overlay. this approach granted the right to utilize vacant frequencies in the microwave ban under flexible use. further the overlays granted to licensee secondary rights or spectrum occupied by the microwave transmissions. this protected incumbents gave life to entrance by defining the spectrum access rights needed for. investors in 2g networks were able to pay incumbents to move aside using alternative technologies or other frequencies, to free up bandwidth for higher valued services. the holdup ended airways become available in the u.s. then lagging countries began to innovate and forge global leadership in emerging network services. the overlay policy has since been used in numerous contexts

by. [singing] regulators. overlays were modified in option 107 held in 2020ö021 the 500 megahertz allocated there crowded ingested and unavailable to entrance in fact incentive payments entrance relocated winning bidders paid 4 billion dollars for the new licenses that some 13 billion was passed through to the incumbents. the reconfiguration of the bands lesson four years lightning fast spectrum regulation time. such mechanisms have improved incentives for cooperation in the process of radio spectrum reallocation many more targets of opportunity for efficient reforms and radio spectrum await. thank you very much. >> thank you.

>> good morning my name is doctors charlie bailey service professor of electrical and computer engineering at baylor. spectrum innovation center smart stands for spectrum management with adaptive and reconfigurable technology. and consist of 25 us citizen researchers across 15 universities and 13 states he stop our unified mission is to make such reconfigurable policy i humbly been established for national appropriations for commission through the army research laboratory. we are not a typical collection echinacea. we do not desire to publish papers on technology that will stagnate in a laboratory but to quickly put superior technology into the hands of the war fighters and in the hands of consumers. we want to put america first inspector.

arguably the most important dimension a bottle in a very valuable natural resource by adopting we aim to provide flexible opportunistic spectrum capabilities to military systems and 5g and 6g commercial wireless systems maximizing performance in whatever band they operate. we can also simultaneously enable the construction of the iron dome for america. two weeks ago we demonstrated an initial technologist for the pentagon congress and defense industry here in arlington and an example of some of the innovations we develop sensory act and avoid metacognitive techniques to do the best of the spectrum for operation in real time. looking to ai to speed spectrum selection. we are building a dynamic spectrum management system that will include live in or finance reports to inform the real-time

coordination of spectrum. we are working on reconfigurable plasma circuits and antennas capable of handling high transmission power levels that allow us to maximize radar range and a millisecond after changing frequencies to avoid wireless communications. we are pioneering novel measurement module one placed inside it transmitter allows to assess what we are transmitting to avoid interference and improve performance on the fly. these techniques will allow government government systems and commercial wireless functionality to work around each other. technology will convert congestion into opportunity. many attempts to organize spectrum have been limited to regulation and reregulation. but adaptive and reconfigurable technology will revolutionize spectrum use to provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare. as a developer of adaptive reconfigurable technology the united states will gain enormous international advantage from economically and

technically u.s. industries will develop the systems and sell their technology worldwide. china will have to buy the technology from us. commercial wireless systems will realize ããthe military systems will be the strongest most agile in the world dominating in the most important dimension of battle. how to get to the situation spent a lot of time considering a mapping to directly search innovation development spectrum coexistence is driving down techniques and less congested environment device center interaction can be used to coexist past each other autonomously on crowded highways. more congested environment psychotropic highlight ããhow do we grow into this paradigm from where we are today?you can't ãã recognized.

mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, yesterday every single senate republican signed their name on to donald trump's plan to cut taxes for their billionaire buddies. republicans and pundits all seem to be focused on this dispute between one bill or two bills. donald trump keeps changing his mind. one day he says two bills is okay, and then just this morning he wants one bill. trump and republicans have been all over the lot, and this morning the confusion continues. but frankly, this is all a sideshow. republicans could do two bills, ten bills, 50 bills, 100 bills, it doesn't make a difference because donald trump and house and senate republicans are united where it matters most. they want to give their billionaire buddies a tax break

and have the american people pay the cost, no matter how many bills. this is going to be a long-drawn-out fight. the debate we begin this week will spill into next week and the week after and go on possibly further. we will have late nights here on the floor, exposing republicans' hypocrisy on health care, on national security, on job creation, on inflation, and most of all, on where their main focus is, their north star -- tax breaks for their billionaire buddies. democrats are glad to have this debate with the republicans. we are glad to expose the truth here on the senate floor. no matter how republicans spin it, their number-one goal is tax cuts for their billionaire buddies. they're laying the groundwork to defund medicaid and raise health care costs for tens of millions of working families, all so they

can help their billionaire buddies with another tax break. republicans are preparing to cut nutrition programs that feed hungry kids so they can help their billionaire buddies with another tax break. republicans are making it harder for americans to own a home so they can help their billionaire buddies with another tax break. republicans are preparing to slash nih funding and reduce the chances that we get cures for so many illnesses that affect tens of millions. they're slashing nih funding even as a measles outbreak is breaking out in texas, all, all so they can help their billionaire buddies with another tax break. republicans are getting ready to kill thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of clean jobs in order to put more money in the pocket of big oil executives,

all so they can give their billionaire buddies another tax break. of course republicans know how unpopular these tax cuts are. i don't hear them on the floor saying we need to cut the taxes on the richest people in america. oh, no, they'll keep trying to divert and change the subject, just like when donald trump tries to change the subject by talking about the gulf of mexico or annexing canada or building hotel in gaza. these are all distractions, distractions to hide donald trump, elon musk, and the republicans' real goal. donald trump, elon musk, and republicans are trying to give their billionaire buddies a tax break and have you, you pay the cost. republicans can do it in one bill, they can do it in two bills, they can do it in a whole bufrnl of bills.

-- bunch of bills. it doesn't matter. the end game is the same. tax breaks paid on the back, paid for on the backs of working and middle class families. we will not relent. we are going to continue to expose republicans for what they are doing in giving tax breaks for billionaires. we're going to do it in reconciliation, in the budget and throughout the months and years ahead because the american people don't want it. the republicans are trying to hide it. we won't let them hide it. it's going to be front and center as we go through these debates. on trump and ukraine, in a fox interview released last night, president trump spoke about the war in ukraine, and some of his comments sounded straight from a russian propaganda playbook. rather than speak the truth, rather than acknowledge vladimir putin's role in starting this

war, president trump amazingly blamed ukraine for putin's invasion. to quote the president, you should never have started it, he said. he was saying that to president zelenskyy. this is disgusting, disgusting, after how this man has fought so hard and so valiantly. and it deliberately distorts the truth. it's just awful to see an american president, it's disgusting to see an american president turn against one of our friends and openly side with a thug like vladimir putin. it's shameful to hear the president repeat putin's propaganda while laying groundwork for negotiations that favor russia at ukraine's expense. the people of ukraine did not start this war. vladimir putin did. ukrainians have fought and died on the battlefield to defend

their home. the suffering and destruction of the ukranian country and the ukranian people that they have endured is staggering, all because of vladimir putin. and let's not forget, america, maybe there are swhom say enough -- some who say enough already, if we give in to putin now, america will inevitably pay the price later. that's what history has shown. when you give in to thugs, when you give in to dictators, you pay the price. hasn't donald trump and his allies learned the lessons of history? this is not just about the security of another nation. this struggle is in every way about the ultimate security of the american people. make no mistake, right now the kremlin is overjoyed by what donald trump is saying and what he's doing. every single republican must be put on record for president trump's dangerous and false

statements about the war in ukraine. we have an obligation in the senate to take a stand for the truth and take a stand against autocrats, and we will do it shortly. the american people deserve to know will republicans take a stand for democracy and freedom around the world or will they cater to putin and russia, like trump is doing, with ultimately bad consequences for all of us. the faa, the more donald trump and doge indiscriminately hack away at public agencies, the greater harm to americans' well-being and even their safety. the faa is a good example. just weeks after the deadliest plane crash in a long time, and just as we see more incidents around the country, president trump has fired hundreds of faa workers, including air safety

personnel. firing people whose very job it is to keep air travel safe is nothing short of reckless. now the white house accused us of linking the crash of the minneapolis flight directly with faa cuts in staffing. nothing could be further from the truth. i simply said that when there are fewer faa personnel, the skies are less safe. does donald trump deny that there are fewer faa staffers? does donald trump deny that when he fires faa workers, including workers who focus on safety, it makes travel less safe? of course donald trump is obfuscating once again. he doesn't want the truth to come out. but he should correct course immediately and halt these firings, because the safety of the skies is at risk. now of course we know that president trump ignores the

truth, but we need to speak the truth when people's safety is at stake. here are the facts. something went terribly wrong on the flight that took off from minneapolis. that's clear. an investigation is under way, and as i said yesterday, i await their results. similarly, something went terribly wrong a few weeks ago on the flight from kansas to washington, d.c. that claimed 67 people's lives. and here are more facts. donald trump and elon musk have fired hundreds of faa staffers, including safety specialists, the very people who keep our skies safe. all so republicans can help their billionaire buddies with another tax break. why? why at a time when incidents in the air and on the runways and airports seem to be increasing, why would we cut the very people meant to prevent them? simple, donald trump and doge are doing it so they can

help their billionaire buddies with another tax break. i hope the results of these ongoing investigations into recent incidents will produce findings that congress can implement to save lives and make the skies safer. in the meantime, we must prioritize americans' safety and not cut vital faa jobs. these are the facts, plain and simple. donald trump may not like the facts. donald trump may not like the truth. but turning away from the facts will only hurt the american people and put lives in danger. that is a fact. i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the clerk: ms. alsobrooks.

>> your bill allows the possibility of exclusivity as well as charities. in terms of dod being able to continue to use some formal demands in order to maintain the abilities it absolutely creates the opening. >> we also heard concerns that reinstating auction authority could hinder president trumps

initiative to create an american iron dome i'm a strong and passionate supporter of missile defense advocating for american iron dome for some time. based on your experience at both the national security council and the fcc auction worm do you believe those concerns are well-founded that having an auction would prevent missile defense at home, >> absolutely not. as long as we have the proper interagency process and we make sure the engineers work together we can absolutely ensure we have iron dome as well as increase commercial use. >> could an iron dome system coexist with commercial 5g use subject to geographical location carveouts like in the amping process? >> that potentially could we do have some cases of countries using iron dome like the czech republic that are using it quite close to 5g quite close

to the systems so that's one possibility. there are some other ways you could design iron dome so that you could have potential coexistence. >> we are told by some of the defense department that if any of the vast spectrum they currently have goes to the private sector it will cripple the military's ability to defend our nation. >> don't like the facts make that claim highly dubious. right now today about 50 nations across the globe operate commercial license 5g networks and .45 take an example close to home mexico's 5g networks operate on frequencies between 3.353.45 gigahertz. at full power less than 30 miles from fort bliss in texas u.s. operates ground-based

radar systems in the lower third band. likewise, japan, south korea, taiwan, and also have that operate between 3.3 and 3.45 gigahertz bands. given the fact that on much of the rest of the world there are commercial players operating in those bands, is it credible that our military cannot operate the pacific and we cannot operate if the commercial sector is operating in those bands? >> as long as the process is done responsibly, absolutely not it will not cripple the military. >> let me ask you finally, will the consequences to national security be if china wins the race 5g 6g and the global telecommunication network is walc and chinese based is that good or bad for national

security and if bad, how bad? >> it's catastrophic for national security as well as both dod and the intelligence community. because we will not have access to advanced trusted secure technology. through the u.s. will still ãã but the rest of the world where ããand it's not only telecommunications networks those are very important but the plan the prc has with walc is to leverage control over telecom up to the technology stack to be able to control other technologies. i would say it's absolutely catastrophic. >> soldiers use cell phones. >> yes. >> that is something we discovered in ukraine is that a lot of the mobile technologies can be incredibly valuable they been to triangulate drone attacks they been used to create accurate geographic maps of the combat zones. we are already seeing how the mobile technology is critical.

>> thank you for this hearing. i actually so appreciate the panel, doctor ããto give a critique of the sec probably mirror yours. and the issues challenges about agency and addressing our most urgent need. probably the fact good broadband mapping, lacking, even when microsoft produced one by zip code they still have the music. is a long line of concern here about the current fcc structure, the bailiff i love that you're training the next of young people to understand this dynamic because we all needed and there's a reason the information age is sucking up everybody out of college now you can produce and keep producing them mr. pearl, thank you for this crystallization,

your exact words "ensuring we preserve critical military spectrum based capabilities while creating opportunities for commercial access to spectrum and, that's it that's what we are trying to do that's what we try to do and build the dod and tia and department of commerce agreed to. thank you mr. clark for your football analogy because the away game i think that really gives you a picture war fighter space. the one thing i struggle with is that, if you could, i feel like people misunderstand where we are. i'm not saying we are playing peewee league let's say the k-12 week right now but the shift in the dynamics and capabilities of the warfare that's going to take place based on spectrum, it's going to be you are knocking to be in k-12 football your super bowl. how do we get people here to

understand can't unilaterally disarm if the ascending technical capabilities and challenges. could you address white space. e the presiding officer: without objection. thune later today, the senate will vote to confirm kelly loeffler to lead the small business administration. the administration -- [inaudible] -- she grew up on her family's fourth-generation farm in illinois. her dad run a small trucking company and as a young woman, kelly worked in the soy bone fields and waited tables in the heartland. she was the first person in her family to graduate from college before embarking on a successful career in business herself. she has spent her life, and i quote, working in small businesses, starting them, growing them, and helping them succeed, end quote.

helping small businesses succeed, mr. president. that's the work of the small business administration. as a former staffer at the sba under preyed reagan, i know how important this is. i know that's how kelly loeffler will run the sba. most of us know kelly from her time serving here in the united states senate. she may have only served for one year, but it was a critical year for small business policy. of course, in 2020, the mission was helping small businesses survive. senator loeffler worked to help georgia small businesses keep their doors open and their embryos on the payroll. she sought to ensure critical support was getting to her state. she was a leader in sba oversight, especially in ensuring that relief meant for small businesses wasn't going to abortion providers in violation of federal law. mr. president, it's been a

challenging few years for small businesses. first there was the pandemic. then inflation. workforce challenges. burdensome regulations. natural disasters have struck many parts of the country, and small businesses suffered as sba allowed its disaster loan account to run dry. mr. president, america's entrepreneurs are one of our greatest assets and they have a big role to play in our future prosperity. senator loeffler will be their champion. she will focus the sba to be a more effective partner to small businesses, help entrepreneurs make their dreams reality and help our entire economy grow. she plans to modernize the sba and make it more responsive to the needs of the americans it's supposed to serve, and she's pledged to bring accountability and transparency where it's sorely needed. mr. president, kelly loeffler knows there's nothing small

about small business. every decision an entrepreneur makes is a big decision. it's their livelihood, their dreams, and their future. -- that's on the line. kelly loeffler understands this. and i look forward to working with her to support small businesses and to strengthen our economy. mr. president, i yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks.

quorum call:

to lead the small business administration. the upper chamber is considering the nomination of cash but tell the fbi director for a ten year term and the confirmation is expected to take place on thursday. you are watching live coverage senate here on c-span2

it creates chaos in the construction industry and does not allow us to get the most skilled and productive workers if we don't know when the job will start work we expected to start indicates delay by two or three months, that's causing chaos in the industry and our members not to get paid, that is the biggest thing it is about jobs and get people their paycheck. >> can you a lot on that is there a specific stage of the court process that is particularly challenging you mentioned it can be as long as six years. it can be probably longer than that if you can drag it to

court. >> we know need but is the most litigated environmental statute and the amount of lawsuits that are being filed is increasing in multiple years after four and a half years to make your way through the litigation process and liberty broken ground in attractive the form of injunction studies that have been done in using a categorical exclusion, those decisions can be sent back to the agencies which is delaying breaking ground essentially we keep having do overs even after you see the project approval, there's really good ring which that congress and this committee has passed and statute that's put limits and maps when one has 150 day statute of limitation in the critical infrastructure

process there is great language in fact 41 but that is only applicable to a small number of projects and challenges to raise concern early in the process where there is a lot of opportunity for public, and stand on the front and did not dragging projects into long litigation years after. it came out of the survey which i don't want to say lacks of expertise into movies of the different agencies quickly. senator whitehouse. >> thank you chairman, thank you for mentioning project labor agreements project labor agreement who you're seeing the few successor project labor in

the interest of the workers and they do show up and then get on-time on budget and done right. indeed american submarines are built in buildings that were constructed under project labor agreement, thank you for flogging that. we respect to the seven offshore wind projects at a standstill how many jobs do you estimate those would have supported. >> thousands from what the actual work in the water from the port upgrades in the harbor upgrades were building vessels to support offshore winds it's in the thousands if not tens of thousands of building trade jobs, labor jobs and tens of thousands of related jobs due to. >> when ongoing project is put on a standstill you have a sense of what that means for the consumer at the end of the day. >> we're losing power in the country we need predictability and power not only going to work

everyday but to plug in the power and what we need. >> you mentioned at the end of your testimony discrepancies between the existing treatment of pipeline under the natural gas act in the existing treatment of transmission lines under the federal power act could you let me know where those areas are in for the record and where there should be harmonized. >> there are differences between authority and natural gas pipelines and transmission lines, the natural gas act section seven gives burke foci devote permit authority over interest natural gas pipeline. alternatively the power act is section 216 and national interest electric transmission that can be through the department of energy and they

have a limited authority to cite projects within the specific quarters, the energy is going to the process of needing the quarters but there are only three of them so far. what we see from the differences from the natural gas regulation in the transmission and regulation. >> if you don't mind making it less so i don't have to use all my time. >> the transmission. >> thank you. you recommended permitting new lines and that necessary and how did you balance those and availability from moving more electrons over the same line and how much we will solve by building new we need both when

push comes to shove, the scale of the amount ability will have to do for the coming decades is immense and new transmission and capacity. >> with the big new progress is most likely to be made is a building new or is it more new technology that allow electrons to run more smoothly over. >> given the scale of raising demand morgan to build significant and more energy infrastructure transmission and pipe. electron efficiency, new transmission. >> about educated guess 75 - 25 readable that more infrastructure. >> a couple of things. >> i have come to despise interagency process. i cannot stand it any longer.

and fiddle around in the agency and where things go to die and at the end of the day whatever was in the energy process failed everybody walks away and there's nobody who is responsible for that. if you have thoughts on what we can do and congress to turn the interagency process into an efficient mechanism for coordinating this agency which is what we need rather than an executive branch excusable for marketing things done and not have it everyday accountable for the failure i'm happy to hear from all five of you on that one the last thing we saw this particularly in offshore wind we got the first deal in the water and electrons on the grid and offshore wind because we had engaged with obviously interested stakeholders from the

get-go, too often the federal regulatory process and state regulatory process begins from somebody who wants to develop something who hasn't lifted a finger to go out and talk to the folks who will be affected, the first offshore wind permit that was sought at the federal level was catastrophically bad and we talked about which direction you should array your equipment they would gm it through on the strength of their pressures and to get the electrons ashore. if you could talk to the degree of precision and what regulatory process there should be a filing requirement stating what you've done in identifying the stakeholders and what you've

done to run the project by them and get their preliminary input so you start in a better place i went over my apologies. >> senator cramer. >> the first thing i'm going to get the last six minutes and send it to my republican friends so they know and like working with the wall. anyway thank you wall and thank you chairman and ranking member whitehouse for having this really important hearing and the term there is a lot of work to do and as we learned it takes a while. there are two areas, i'm going to start with you all of you you

spoke on the topic the isn't anywhere in my prep but it gets me in the capital intensity often times a lot of folks to the point of workers, labor cannot sit on the sideline and wait for the years to go by. you reference the supreme court in you and mr. harris represent the corps of engineers has adequately responded to that ruling in west virginia and the doctrine you repeal the chevron doctrine, all of this are clear messages that the bureaucracy does not have the power that they think they have and they can exercise, the fact that sackett wasn't clear enough in a

definition of jurisdictional durable rule that the administration came up with in response don't worry about the 87 permits but may be 79800 were necessary but you should ask us first, my question is this what part or why do we have to seek jurisdictional or permission when anybody any homebuilder can read it this is not a jurisdiction i don't need it, in other words we do put highway patrol went on every curve the interstate just in case one of them speeds. we presume most of the vernacular violate the law where am i wrong on this where am i wrong on this. >> the problem it is not clear

and you can ask one person if something is jurisdictional on the next person is jurisdictional and you might get two different answers. for the construction community we need clarity and it's very difficult to move forward when you don't know the water of the united states. not getting a permit when you're in federally controlled water has very significant penalties civil and criminal penalties, the consequences and what is that risk is huge for the developer and the contractor, sackett did provide guardrails in clarity but what came out of the supreme court decision is not being implemented by the agency as mr. harris said there are very unclear terms that have not been defined in the regulation and that was causing a lot of confusion. we need consistency between the

core districts. if we can get true definition of the terms that we are talking about then our builders and our developers would know when they can take reasonable risk before they make a tremendous investment in the property and start moving. we do need the consistency and clarity. >> one thing is for sure they can't be the same that they were before sackett if there is certainly many fewer jurisdictional waters than they were previous to sackett as long as there's a 1% chance is jurisdictional you're almost obligated to your care country shareholders and workers to seek the federal government's permission to obey the law. in seek the permission to allow you to obey the law i only have a minute left and will explore some more on the electricity

side, this is the hard work. i think one of the challenges and what are the things that we often times forget in this gets to cross purposes, electricity is the generation transmission, distribution in the electric consumption. and somebody determines the rates the regular ones determine and transmission generation being built out in the local utility. it can put the tab on the wrong people in the solution there is a solution we have to find a solution with the federal backstop and to the ranking members point, linear siding for

transition can be the same for a water pipeline or any other linear and we do have to recognize those state regulators having been one out of one point the governors. it's going to be a lot harder in the another round of we get a chance. >> thank you, madam chair. we are holding this hearing to discuss the long-overdue need of fundamentally re-examining how the federal government handles the permitting process. i think it's important to start with the bedrock in environmental laws exist the clean air act improves her equality and has been shown to prevent childhood as well and other respiratory problems. clean water act is safe drinking water act make sure rivers, lakes and sources of drinking water are not full of unhealthy

pollutants and requirements to review the long-term impacts of infrastructure development on federal land insurers that we protect her national part in monuments and pores for future generations. i believe there is bipartisan agreement that having these protections for public health and for our environment are inappropriate thing to do. the question is whether our current framework allows us to accomplish the goals of the bedrock statue without needlessly delaying commonsense projects. a few years ago i traveled to taiwan to visit with businesses who were considering expanding their microchip for. [speaking in native tongue] feet businesses into the state of arizona. while i was touring the tech park on the northern side of the island our guide pointed out that right there in the middle of the park and/or guide shared

the anytime company needed a new air or water permit or land-use permit or anything else they could go to the office in the staff they would help them get the permit that they need. by contrast these businesses shared how confusing with the permitting process was, why did they have to work with the city on the land-use permit headshot tissue. three different federal government agencies about air, land and water permits. these businesses they are prepared to invest hundreds of millions of dollars and create thousands of great pain jobs. butter permitting process led them to delay or scale back the planned investment.

it's not that these businesses with clean air and water protection in the requirements and what the requirements were and once they met the requirements and they would need to deal with years of lawsuits. period i had a more macrolevel can you describe how federal permitting processes create uncertainty for businesses looking to make investments in the united states and water the opportunity cost for the current permitting system. >> thank you, senator kellyanne thank you for your leadership on critical infrastructure and time is money when push comes to shove and they are evaluating and how they operate in this country in impacts their investment in the long-term

project. today the process is particularly unpredictable in a wide range of factors that develop it have to factor when they evaluate and the desperate need to provide more certainty in the process to show was the sideboard of how long it could take if it is a particular competent project and how do we maximize the resources in the work on the chips in science act and the regulatory reform that is needed to catalyze and build out the chips that regulatory predictability allowed developers and segment forget environmental. in most of the economic development the projects there were attracting her for clean energy in things like microchip

and battery manufacturing is most of it. and we as a nation with clean energy manufacturing how does our current permitting system affect the development in the context of permitting process hinder the interconnection of clean storage capacity resources. as i mentioned 2600 gigawatts is sitting in your connection cues today, the challenge is to unleash that control in those cues. >> it is in a keel because there is no transmission available because the permitting is held. >> the permitting process is not keeping up with the deployment rate of transmission that we need to unlock the resources. let's fix that.

>> senator curtis. >> chairman capital ranking member white house thank you for this hearing and we've been sitting here today the best analogy i can think of and everybody here has the answers. in the members that are here i think we can get to this. i'm great there is hardly a topic to discuss from washington and bipartisan and we can't get it across the finish line, thank you for your work and i pledge my support and anxiousness to help you in this matter. first of all i would like to give a shout out it's been very, very important in my antecedent lease issues, one thing about utah there is a leader on this we have operation in geothermal

and nuclear in all these energies in geothermal was hard to find an energy source with our agreement among everybody and something that was important and needs to develop. and yet we struggle with permitting i would ask additional measures to the federal government take to support state led efforts in expanding geothermal and utah. >> thank you and thank you for your leadership on these issues with your time in congress and i'm excited to see the next big things here in the senate as well. it underscores a really key point, utah is a great example nationwide in federal state and local entities need to be in the right way and focusing on the geothermal and nuclear and hydrogen development in the state and it could all be

particularly helpful for the federal process to sync up with that utah strategy on the geothermal side, no-brainer is removed duplicative and it's required for geothermal exploration we should streamline the process is a bipartisan bill in congress considering that and if the site is feasible it's going to have to move in environmental process for the generation project let's take the exploration environmental analysis out of it in unleash innovators in that state. i think there is a lot we can do to streamline permitting in existing facilities in the close out the round field and the leadership is looking as reactors in the micro reactor insignificant develop in the state, we're going to have to resolve some of these frictions with federalism both on pipeline and transmission author to tap building the infrastructure for new hydrogen for example in the

state and there are some key things that solve problems that were seen nationwide but will really help unlock the utah strategy. >> a minute come back to transmission the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, two weeks ago president trump issued an executive order titled protecting second amendment rights. this executive order reaffirmed constitutional rights of law-ablieding citizens to keep and bear arms, which of course is part of the bill of rights, the most precious of those rights and liberties that have been protected since the beginning of our country. this executive order directs attorney general pam bondi to review and develop a plan to rescind president biden's overreach when it comes to firearm regulation. the president's executive order

comes on the heels of four years of president biden's bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms and explosives, otherwise known as atf, from trampling on americans' second amendment rights. this started in 2021 with the biden administration's so-called zero tolerance policy. president biden's atf used this policy to revoke the licenses of firearms licensees or ffl's over minor bookkeeping violations. for decades the atf had a history of working with the ffl's to address minor unintentional violations and actually helped them correct them. historically they would only revoke an ffl license in more extreme situations where the ffl had engaged in major willful violations of the law and where these violations presented a threat to public safety.

but the biden administration violated decades of precedent by directing the atf to engage in a zero tolerance policy by simply pulling the plug on any licensee who made an honest mistake on their paperwork. now any of us who pay taxes, which would be most of us, know how tedious federal processes can be. i can't imagine anyone who would want to be investigated for tax fraud for making a simple mistake on their tax forms if it could just simply be cured or rectified. but this is essentially what the biden administration did with their zero tolerance policy at the atf. but the truth is it was just a start. in april of 2022, the biden administration decided to target law-abiding citizens who exercised their second amendment rights to build their own

firearms with the so-called ghost gun rule. what the biden administration failed to recognize and failed to distinguish between were criminals or people who were suffering from mental illness and the rest of the law-abiding gun owners in america. as the national rifle association pointed out, the policy of allowing private individuals to make their own guns as a hobby is a long-standing tradition that goes back to the colonial era. and, again, a gun in the hands of a law-abiding citizen is no threat to public safety, but the biden administration didn't care. paying no heed to our country's long-standing history and traditions and instead preferring to please the gun control activists by issuing regulations to end this practice. again, even for law-abiding citizens. the ghost gun rule is currently being challenged in the courts, but the trump administration

doesn't have to wait for the supreme court to weigh in before rescinding this illegal and unconstitutional regulation. the biden administration's rogue atf continued down this path in january of 2023 when they l finalized the pistol brace rule. in reclassified pistols as a, quote, short-barreled rifle, something it is not. as a consequence, pistols would be subject to much more stringent regulations and penalties simply used with a stabilizing brace. this happened after the atf determined that a stabilizing brace would not render a pistol a short-barrel rifle. so there's obviously inconsistency in the way they approached this issue. all this reckless back and forth

from the federal government causes needless uncertainty and confusion for law-abiding citizens and gun owners, who want to follow the law but are not sure what the law is since they are being whipsawed back and forth. as a result, millions of law-abiding gun owners were no longer able to purchase a stabilizing brace, including people like disabled combat veterans who cannot shoot a heavy pistol without a stabilizing brace. overnight, those who purchased a stabilizing brace for their pistols became felons. this regulation is also being challenged in court and multiple courts have found it to be what it is, arbitrary and capricious. i hope under the leadership of president trump and the attorney general, pam bondi, that the atf

will end this disastrous and illegal regulation. in april of 2024, the biden administration's atf finalized the quote engage business rule. this was an attempt to rewrite a statute that was passed by the congress and signed into law by the president of the united states. but this was an attempt to go further than what congress and the white house had agreed upon in that statute. it was an attempt to impose a nearly universal background check on law-abiding citizens and direct affront to their constitutional rights. there are already background checks required by current law for anybody who purchases a firearm, but this was an attempt to go even further. once again, this rule presents a golden opportunity for president trump and the attorney general to reverse the tide of

the biden administration's unconstitutional attacks on the rights of law-abiding citizens under the second amendment to the united states constitution. i've long been a defender of second amendment rights for the 31 million people that i have the honor of representing in texas and for law-abiding citizens generally around the country. the second amendment is as much a part of the constitution as the right of free speech or freedom of the press. that's why it's included in the first ten amendments known as the bill of rights to the constitution. this is why i introduced the concealed carry reciprocity act which would allow people with concealed carry privileges to exercise those privileges in other states that allow concealed carry. it doesn't change the law of the individual states, it just prevents a gotcha from occurring

when a gun owner crosses into a jurisdiction that doesn't have the same laws as their home jurisdictions. it would literally treat state concealed carry permits the same way we treat state-issued driver's licenses. if you have a driver's license from montana, texas or south carolina, and drive to new york, you can't be arrested for failure to having an appropriate license. our carried concealed reciprocity act act as a driver's license for gun owners. if someone from texas -- someone from texas would be able to drive into another state if they follow the speed and road laws, the same way with this legislation. in addition to this legislation, i will send a letter to the

deputy director of the atf to work with president trump on rescinding many of these regulations in order to reverse the biden administration's reckless attacks on the second amendment. so while the last four years have been a lot of headache for law-abiding citizens who simply want to exercise their constitutional rights, i have no doubt that president trump and attorney general pam bondi will right this ship. i look forward to working with both of them to reform and redirect the energies of the bureau of tobacco, firearm and explosives to safeguard rather than to attack the second amendment right of american citizens. mr. president, i yield the floor. and i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. .

quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks.

the point is we can do this, you talked about some of the conflicting regulations and agencies are doing and flood control act and the dangers and species can you give me some examples of regulation to provide clear congressional intent so the court will have that when they're making these decisions. >> the clear congressional intent is most important having

clear statutory language that lays out congress' intent and implemented by the agency when they're showing overreach and conflicting and inconsistent determination as far as where there are conflicts he is neat but the overarching statute bringing the resource agencies together m call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: i think the world has seen that president trump's cabinet picks are strong and the republicans are confirming them very quickly. by the end of the day we will have confirmed 18 of president trump's nominees. this is more than the nominees president obama confirmed in 2009 and it is more than

president biden did in 20 # 21 -- 2021. twice as many. americans wanted a bold new direction, and senate republicans are delivering. yesterday, this senate confirmed howard lutnick to be the secretary of commerce. he's going to kick start the golden age of american manufacturing. we're also on track to confirm kelly loeffler today to be the administrator of the small business administration. she is a former colleague in the senate and a voice for main street america. the senate will soon vote as well to confirm kash patel, to be the director of the federal bureau of investigation. the united states is seeing increasing threats from terrorism. the previous fbi director told the senate a year ago, he said, i see blinking lights everywhere. on new year's day 14 americans

were killed in a terrorist attack in new orleans. that's why the senate must act quickly to confirm mr. patel. we need to continue to act with speed and urgency. once confirmed, mr. patel will begin working to restore trust in one of america's premier law enforcement agencies. regrettably today only two in five of americans say they hold a favorable view of the federal bureau of investigation. that needs to change. kash patel will reform and refocus the fbi to get it focused on its core mission and that core mission is fighting crime. he's going to reshape the bureau so it no longer is a tool for political attacks. he will rededicate the bureau to keeping americans safe. he is a uniquely qualified nominee. he began his career as a public

defender in florida. he defended the constitutional rights of some of the most dangerous people in the country. he later joined the obama department of justice as a counter counterterrorism prosecutor. he investigated and prosecuted cases that protected our nation from serious threats. he received several awards for excellence for bringing terrorists to justice. he saw the power of the fbi to keep america safe and he also saw how the power of the fbi could be abused. in congress, mr. patel led the investigation that exposed the fbi that they were spying unlawfully on president trump's 2016 campaign. special counsel john durham's investigation later backed up mr. patel's side of the stury. mr. durham quote, the fbi failed to uphold their mission of

strict fidelity to the law. this abuse of power was a breach of trust of america's trust in the fbi. kash patel will return the fbi to its core mission of investigating and fighting crime. at his confirmation hearing, he said he's going to work to cut in half the number of rapes, drug overdoses and homicides in the country today. this is something that every law-abiding sglevens in this -- citizens in this country should welcome. for democrats this seems to be unacceptable. they claim he wants to weaponize government. that's falls. the democrats turned it into a political attack doing. social media companies -- partnered with joe biden's department of justice targeting

barnts who protested woke school board meetings, it targeted katsdz catholics as domestic terrorists. it put politics and personal gain over service to the country. mr. patel will end the weaponization and restore transparency. he believes crime is bad, that two tiers of justice are unacceptable and that equal justice under the law is good. to democrats that's taboo to the rest of the country it's common sense. americans want the fbi to fight crime. kash patel is the man to do it. if you want to confirm our constitutional rights, confirm kash patel, if you want justice and accountability, confirm kash patel, if you want to keep our communities safe, we need to confirm kash patel. he's a man of integrity and fidelity to the rule of law. i look forward to voting to

confirm him. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks.

quorum call:

every single senate republicans signed their name on donald trump's plan to cut taxes for

their billionaires, republicans hoping to be focused between one bill into bills and donald trump keeps changing his mind one day he said to bills is okay and this morning he wants one bill something republicans have been all over in this morning the confusion continues. but frankly this is all a sideshow republicans can do to bills, ten bills, 50 bills, 100 bills it doesn't make a difference because donald trump and house and senate republicans are united and they want to give their billionaire buddies attacks break and have the american people pay the cost no matter how many bills. this is going to be a long drawn out process in the debate the beginning of this week and the week after and go on further and

will expose republican hypocrisy on healthcare and national security and job creation on inflation and most of all their main focus on their northstar and tax breaks for their billionaire buddies, democrats are glad to have this debate with the republicans. were glad to expose the truth on the senate floor, no matter how republicans spend at the number one goal is tax cuts for their billionaire buddies. and raise healthcare cost for tens of millions of working families and they can also help their billionaire buddies with another tax break. republicans are preparing so they can help their billionaire buddies. it's going to make it harder for americans to own a home so they

can help their billionaire buddies with another tax break. republicans are preparing to slot in/nih and reduce the chances that we get cures for somebody ... little fortune will affect tens of millions and even the measles outbreak is breaking in texas all so they can help their billionaire buddies with another tax break. republicans are getting ready to kill thousands if not hundreds of thousands of clean jobs in order to put more money in the pocket of big oil executives. also they can give their billionaire another tax conclusion. of course they know how unpopular the tax cuts are either living it on the point that we need to cut the taxes of her richest people in america,

ono deliver in change of subject. and whether they change of subject of the growth of mexico or annexing candidate were rebuilding hotels in gaza these are all distractions, distractions to high donald trump, elon musk in the republicans real goal donald trump, elon musk and republicans are trying to give their billionaire buddies attacks break and have you pay the cost. republicans could do it in one bill, to bills and they could do it in a whole bunch of bills, it does not matter the on endgame is the same, tax breaks paid on and paid for on the backs of working and middle-class families. we will continue to expose republicans for what they are

doing and giving tax breaks for billionaires. we will do an reconciliation in the budget and throughout the months and years ahead. because the american people don't want to. republicans are trying to hide it and we won't let them hide it. it's going to be front and center as we go through the debates. on trump in ukraine. in the fox interview we released last night president trump spoke about the war in ukraine and some of his comments sounded straight from a russian propaganda playbook. rather than speak the truth, rather than acknowledge a lot of your putin roles starting this war president trump amazingly blamed ukraine for putin invasion" the president you should never have started it he said, he was saying that to president zelenskyy this is

disgusting. disgusting after how this man has fought so hard and valiantly and deliberately distorts the truth. it is awful to see an american president, it is disgusting to see an american president turned against one of our friends in openly side with the thug like vladimir putin. it is shameful to hear the president repeat putin propaganda while relaying the groundwork for negotiation that favor russia and ukraine expense. the people of ukraine did not start this war, vladimir putin did. ukrainians have fought and died on the battlefield to defend their home, the suffering and destruction of ukrainian countries in the ukrainian people that they have endured is staggering all because of vladimir putin. let's not forget america maybe

there is some that will say enough already if we given to putin now america will inevitably pay the price later. that's what history has shown when you given to thugs and dictators you pay the price, hasn't donald trump and his allies learn the lesson of history this is not just about the security of another nation the struggle is in every way about the ultimate security of the american people. make no mistake right now the kremlin is overjoyed by what donald trump is saying and what he's doing. every single republican must be put on record for president trump's dangerous and false statements about the war in ukraine we have an obligation in the senate to take a stand for the truth and take a stand against autocrats and we will do it shortly. the american people deserve to know will republicans take a stand for democracy and freedom around the world or will they

cater to putin and russia like trump is doing and ultimately bad consequences for all of us. the faa, the more donald trump and doge indiscriminately hack away at public agencies, the greater harm to americans well-being and even their safety. the faa's a good example, weeks after the deadliest purring crash in a long time and as we see more incidents around the country president trump has fired hundreds of faa workers including air safety personnel, firing people whose very job to keep air travel safe is nothing short of reckless. the white house accused off of linking the crash of the minneapolis flight with the

custom staffing, nothing could be further from the truth. i simply said when there are fewer faa personnel the skies are less safe, donald trump denied there are fewer faa staffers did he deny winning fires the faa workers including workers who are focused on safety it makes travel less safe. of course donald trump is confiscating once again he does not want the truth to come out. but he should correct course immediately and halt these firings because the safety of the sky is at risk. of course we know president trump ignores the truth but we need to speakns the truth when people's . ms. ernst: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be safetyfi decide whether the honorable kelly loeffler should be confirmed as administrator of

the small business administration. as chair of the small business committee, i would like to strongly urge all of my colleagues to vote yes and support her nomination. as a successful business leader, kelly loeffler is the perfect person to increase transparency and accountability at the sba and prioritize the needs of small businesses. throughout the committee's rigorous nomination process, senator loeffler has been thoroughly cooperative and impressive. she passed out of the committee with a bipartisan vote of 12-7. over the course of her career, senator loeffler has shown how hard work, grit, and midwestern

common sense can take you from illinois's soybean fields to ceo of your own company. and now to lead a government agency. i am confident that senator loeffler will ensure sba once again works for all small businesses and you believer in a gold -- and usher in a golden age for america's small businesses. senator loeffler is the right person to lead the small business administration. she understands the burdens facing small businesses and recognizes how washington is often serve as a barrier and a hindrance to their success. i have no doubt that she will fight to make sure main street is heard. again, i urge all of my colleagues to support her nomination and confirm senator

loeffler as administrator of the small business administration. and with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. ms. ernst: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. ms. ernst: i ask unanimous consent that the previously scheduled vote begin immediately. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, small business administration. kelly loeffler of georgia to be administrator. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question occurs on the loeffler nomination.

is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. ms. baldwin. mr. banks. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. ms. blunt rochester. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mrs. britt. mr. budd. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. curtis. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst.

the clerk: mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mr. gallego. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich.

mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mr. husted. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim.

mr. king. ms. klobuchar. ms. klobuchar. serving america's small businesses, no stronger advocate than our president. actually our commitment if confirmed i will work tirelessly to make small business again. i want to thank my wonderful husband jeff and my wonderful friends who have joined us here today most importantly i gave all thanks and glory to god. as someone who has meant my life working in small businesses, starting them, growing them and helping them succeed, i know that small business is big business for america. they comprise 99% of small

businesses, 2 out of 3 new jobs. they are the opportunity and innovation engines that drive prosperity and growth and they power the american economy as much as they power the american dream and president trump make historic strides driving small business formation, blue- collar boom and agenda created 7 million new jobs. his first term accomplishments were so great that following the 2024 election small business optimism recorded largest jump since 1980 but it was more than 2 months before he took office. small business is in my dna. i grew up the fourth generation

in family's farm, my wonderful parents don and linda, they worked relentlessly to sustain our trucking company risking everything to provide for us while navigate volatile commodity markets and complex regulations and facing countless day-to-day challenges. it's where my mid western ethics us engrained, preparing me for a lifetime of growing and starting businesses. i became the first in my family to graduate college and later earn mba and became only cfa ever to serve in congress. since then i helped grow the a start-up into a fortune 500 company. for ten years i coowned wnba team and later launched financial tech company as founding ceo and first employee.

i recall managing budgets and spreadsheets and working with regulators as much as i recall -- when two of those companies went public. in the senate i strongly supported president trump's historic agenda and pandemic response having spent years as a small business owner i made up my mission to serve as their voice. i spent much of 2020 delivering relief. they were struggling navigate the ppp program, the loan that we help them get didn't just help save restaurant but saved the jobs of georgians. the challenges are consistent from managing inflation to hiring skill force and

uncertainty. job creators have faced rising demands so comply with new rules often drafted with unknown consequence. this regulatory complexity crushes growth, picks winners and losers and denies opportunity to those who dare to dream of a better future. if i have the honor of being confirmed, all leverage, my decade experience to champion america's entrepreneurs will cut red tape the and modernize agency while restoring accountability and transparency that taxpayers deserve. i will crack down on fraud with zero tolerance policy while shifting sba's focus from washington, d.c. back to main street across america. and if confirmed, i will cob late across government and the private sector to delivery efficiency and results. importantly, we will responsibly and urgently meet the challenge of disaster relief.

i'm committed to serving all those who are impacted from north carolina to california to hawaii. each taxpayer dollar entrust today the sba should have an economic multiplier effect delivering productive capital to grow manufacturing, strengthen rural communities, create jobs and develop critical technology thes like ai and chips. i believe we must continue to empower entrepreneurs from all walks of life including women and veterans. above all sba's founding mission needs restoration. that's exactly what the america first agenda does, ending inflation, cutting taxes and reining in waste, fraud and

abuse. president trump's proven agenda will restore the small business economy making -- marking a return to made in america with golden era of prosperity and growth. sba means managing challenges along entrepreneurs and not by sitting in washington or working from home. we will honor their jobs by doing ours. small businesses are the risk-takers, job creators, taxpayers, innovators and providers of first jobs to former waitresses like me and represent the best of american free enterprise. like president trump i've signed the front of a paycheck, we both understand there is nothing small about small business. chair earnst the, ranking member mirky and committee members, thank you for your dedication to small business. i welcome your questions and

honored to earn your support as administrator of the small business administration. >> thank you for your testimony. before we move to questions, the committee has received several letters of support for senator loffler's nominations. america's small business development centers, independent community bankers of america, independent women forum, national association of development companies, national retail federation, small business investor alliance, small business and entrepreneurship council, national association of government lenders, international franchise association, national restaurant association, georgia public policy foundation, governor of georgia brian kemp for, development institute, u.s.

black chambers incorporated and the national small business association. without objection, so ordered. so at this time, we will go ahead and move onto questions. so i now recognize myself for 5 minutes of questions. senator loffler in your conversation you made it clear that given your time in the senate you understand the role in congress. you denoted given your experiences, you view us as your board and taxpayers as your shareholders with responsibilities to all of us to ensure the sba moves forward in the right direction. unfortunately, the biden administration did not share this view. i repeatedly requested information and those requests were ignored or fumbled. can you commit to provide this committee with the documents and information it requests in a

timely manner? >> absolutely, chair earsnt, i look for collaborative. >> thank you for that the. last year sba fail today alert or provide the committee before the agency ran out of funding for disaster assistance program. can you commit to more transparent, timely and forthright dialogue between sba and this committee should you become administrator? >> absolutely, chair ernst. we will work to have all the controls in place. >> thank you for your answer. we know it's extremely important to me that we right size sba and

get it on clear course to deliver its mission. within first hundred days of administrator what would be your primary goals and objectives to get is sba on track? >> thank you for the question chair ernst, i enjoy the time spending with you and your wife. i think your leadership in this committee is critical and i appreciate the work that you've done to date. i look forward to working with this the entire committee toward the aims of restoring the small business -- small business administration to serving small businesses and supporting economic growth in this country. that's our north star. in order to do that, we must have accountability at this agency. it's in dire need of restoration and that start with ensuring up the financial situation, the fact that this the agency has not been able to pass and ad it for four years is a disgrace. we must make sure that we are

accountable to taxpayers, that our programs are solvent and working toward the aims of serving small businesses, so obviously we are going to get our financial house in order and do it quickly and we are going to do that in addition to making sure the programs are working for small businesses and taxpayers. we know that the core 7a loan program is in need of oversight in terms of understanding the rising delinquencies and defaults. we will take a hard look at that. we will make sure the disaster funds are resourced and accounted for and that there are no more situations where americans in a crisis are faced with months of not having disaster relief and then finally, we are certainly going to get this agency back to work. i am grateful for president trump's rapid action through his executive order to return to work. we are going make sure that we have people at work committed to

success of small business, have the heart of small business but have sense of accountability to taxpayers. >> thank you so much for that. and as you talk about the audit, we know that we need transparency within the small business administration and hearing that is music to my ears and i began my elected career representing the taxpayers of montgomery county as their county auditor and i'm just excited to -- to know that you will follow through on that commitment. as you know, i also serve as the chair of the senate doge caucus and we have public mandate and a very rare opportunity to expose and roll back programs for what they truly are, multimillion dollar boom doggles. sba is not immune to this and

will you commit to examining programs to root out fraudulent actors? >> this is critical because we are over four years past covid. the last administration took a pass on rooting out fraud in these programs. i appreciate your work and your legislation continuing covid collections to make sure that we go after those who want to do fraud the government. as i said, zero tolerance policy toward fraud but also toward abuse and root that out within the agency and those who seek to exploit the programs. >> very much. at this moment i will turn the gavel to senator curtis. >> thank you very much, on monday night president trump's

budget office issued a memo that directed agencies to cut off all federal spending outside of payments to individuals. the trump administration issued this order even though this spending was authorized and appropriated by congress and intended to benefit the american people. so my first question is very straightforward, do you believe that this action by the president to cut off federal funding authorized and appropriated by congress was lawful? >> senator, i disagree with the premise of your question because the money was certainly with regard to the agencies discretionary in many cases but i fully agree with president trump's decision to stop wasteful spending. it resulted in a landslide victory that many americans were

-- >> again, you chose all programs. he did not freeze programs that had raised fund and abuse. do you think it's lawful that he freezed all programs? >> i completely disagree. no all programs were frozen at all. specifically in omb call canned called outprograms that relatedt effectively link today the green new deal that picks winners and losers and so americans breathe a sigh of relief -- >> no, no, on the next day, omb did put out a statement funds for small businesses are not subject to the order. he did not single out these programs initially. they were under this, freezing, had cob clarified and that's good for small businesses but only for, now. this uncertainty, the cloud

which was placed over the head of small businesses across the country, that could return at any moment. it's just a dangerous precedent that the president set. >> i hope if i may -- i hope that that you would hold president trump to upholding the law and if president trump asked you to do anything illegal or unconstitutional in the role as sba administrator, would you say no? >> ranking member, the president is not going to do -- i'm not answer hypothetical. president trump is fighting for america -- >> the president has acted i legally in five days, fired inspector general and froze all funding on monday night, that

was also against the law. so it's not as though he won't ask you to do something illegal and unconstitutional, he's been doing it allf week and this is the first week. so let me move on. since its creation in -- >> ranking member -- merky -- >> the president violated the statute -- the president violated a statute by firing the inspector general. it tires 30's day notice. statute signed by congress. it's a violation of law, he doesn't have the ability to be a king. let me move onto sbri, massachusetts has received

9 billion in funding and i strongly believe in these programs and their potential for just super charging our economy. as those programs have in massachusetts and states all across the country. and when i met with you, you mentioned that sbir awards should be award on a merit basis and i agree wholeheartedly that merit drives innovation, so will you commit to working with me and the committee to ensuring that any sbir, sttr, reauthorization effort maintains a merit-base process and does not limit innovation? >> absolutely, ranking member merky, if i have the honor of being confirmed i will look forward working with you and i know that we have a lot of common ground in support of small businesses particularly sbrir, allows the united states

to be at the forefront of technological biomedical and other national security related technology and researching innovation that's so important to the country. thank you. >> thanky, you. >> i now yield 5 minutes to myself and i'm so pleased senator to have you with us. we will call you senator at least for now. when you came into my office i really appreciated the connection we've made about small businesses in our own lives and in your family's lives and like many of the members here, we can all identify with the statistics in our states. i don't think it's very different in mine. 99% a small business, over half of the employees in the state are small business. it's such an important part of our economy yet they often lack resources and don't have larger

businesses. you were generous, i think, if i remember correctly offer today come to our state. i'm getting a nod on the head, a yes for that, not just you coming out but helping educate my small businesses about what's available to them and how they can access those so we will look forward to your visit. >> thank you, senator, i'm very exciting about visiting utah and glad to have you in the senate and appreciate meeting with you and your staff in the basement office. i used to have a basement office. >> like a small business. >> it's a small business. >> i had a small business before i came here and my father was a small business owner and my grandfather is a small business for owner and my daughter and children have small business fors and one of the things that i don't think america realizes that most of the small businesses struggle just to keep the lights on, right, it's hard, paycheck to paycheck, they don't have a lot of money to do a lot

of things that other people do. part of that is they don't have money for lawyers and attorneys to deal with excessive regulations that sometimes we can put on from washington, d.c. and as a result i believe regulations are disproportionally hard on small businesses, so share with me for a minute what you can do to lighten this burden and how do we make sure here in washington that we are not the biggest problem with small businesses? >> senator, thank you for vital issue to america's 34 million small businesses. many who have fewer than 9 employees and, you know, in answering your question i'd like to speak to small businesses in saying you have someone that inf confirmed will understand to meeting payroll for small business particularly with the setback that is small businesses have had in the last four years, losing about 10% on top line

revenue while seeing costs increase by 20% due to inflation so small businesses have lost ground. now the sba can be a way of helping small businesses combat what has been a tough four years if we deploy the resources appropriately and prudently so that the small businesses who need it most have access to that be it through capital, be it through technical assistance or other ways of supporting entrepreneurship in this count which is so vital to our advancement on a global stage but also within our local communities. these are the businesses that sponsor the softball teams. these are the businesses that provide that first job and they are the ones that never work from home. they show up, they turn out, their commitments to their customers and that's absolutely what we are going to do at the sba. >> great, i look forward working with you on that. kind of sister to that federal policy in general and we know we are going to be talking about tariffs in the upcoming days,

once again these are disproportionately hard on small business and we had this conversation in my office, we would love to invite you to work with the administration and the senate as we move into a world where tariffs are a real reality to help small businesses accommodate better to those tariffs. things like a different runway, time frames when those hit the small businesses. can you just comment on how we can deal with small businesses and what might be one of their difficult challenges? >> thank you, senator. i have the honor of being confirmed i will be a voice for small business, but let me assure you, there is no bigger small business champion than president trump. he will make sure that small business has a voice at the table but for i also think it's important that we look at the data and not the hyperbole that happens sometimes in the media. president trump was successful in implementing tariffs in his first term but also successful at keeping inflation right

around that 2% mark which is really, you know, some facts that the media always overlooks, so you have my commitment that small business fors will be considered in all of the decisions we make and that's something that i know firsthand from president trump, he is their biggest advocate. >> i think i should yield my time. >> thank you senator curtis for manning the chair. >> thank you, madame chair, senator loffler, thank you. i asked the following two initial questions of all nominees that come before any of my committees and i will ask you since you became a legal adult however made unwanted request for sexual favors or sexual harassment or assault of a

sexual nature? >> no, senator. >> have you ever faced discipline relating to this kind of conduct? >> no, senator. >> during the pandemic, you opposed planned parenthood, health centers receiving ppp loans for idea willing call reasons even though like other nonprofits they were eligible for loans as they laterred determine sba's own inspector general. last week the president fired the ig without proper notice required by law and it's clear that president trump can do whatever he wants. as the administrator should be confirmed, would you commit to implementing sba programs in a fair and impartial manner? >> senator hirono, let me first say i hope that we could be able to meet. i requested several meets. i keep the people of maui in my

prayers and still struggling through the disaster that occurred 18 months ago and hope we can work together but let me correct with all due respect both premise of your question. i object today the planned parenthood receipt of covid relief loans because they did not fit the parameters. >> actually you do know that the ig said to the contrary position. so all i'm asking whether you can be fair and impartial and being the administrator of sba is a very important position as you say, so many small businesses throughout the country so just simple affirmation that you can do so is what i'm asking. >> senator, i will faithfully uphold all of the laws and ethicsjo rules. >> well, the thing is as i mentioned with president trump, the laws that he likes are the ones he likes and the ones he doesn't lake, he considers them

to be illegal but i will move on. as a senator, you cosponsored the resolution recognize ryan zicnic attacked during resurrection and later died as a result. last week the president issued blanket partners for the januars enclouding those responsible for attacking officer zicnic, do you agree with the president's decision to partner, yes or no? >> yes, they denied due process and time to get past political persecution and that's what americans voted for. >> they were tried and found guilty and some of them even admitted their guilt so i am disappointed that you agree that the violent basically criminals

should be prosecuted. key to that recovery, their recovery has been what i describe as federal families, fema and sba. last week the president proposed to eliminating fema and said let the states take care of tornadoes and everything that happens, end quote. i've seen the devastation in the recovery, the sba itself provided hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to help lahana recover. it would be a huge mistake to eliminate rule and disaster response and relief and have states fend for themselves.

do you agree with the president's recent comments that states should be left to fend for themselves during and after natural disasters, that's another yes or not question? >> senator, i disagree with the premise. the president supports disaster release. he was on the ground in -- i also mentioned hawaii in my opening remarks and we do support the continued relief there. >> continuing involvement of sba and recovery? >> yes. >> thank you. >> individual assistance will not be paused. >> i'm glad you do and you support the continuing role, important role of sba. when you were running for u.s. senate, you -- time flies. >> second round. >> we can do a second round,

yes, senator horono. next senator budd for five minutes of questions. >> thank you, chair. senator loeffler, congratulations on your nomination, leaving your role in private work twice to serve our country. so thank you for what you're willing to do. your state and my state and several others have gone through quite a lot since late september with hurricane helene, in the moments where i wasn't in western carolina myself, it was you standing there, i believe in bedesta, he would support. he's lived up to that. he's been back to western north

carolina. i believe he's our rebuilder in chief. one of the things that we saw was at the sba under president trump. it failed to not nigh congress in a timely manner about the depletion of disaster relief fund and didn't fulfill reporting requirements. so if confirmed, how would you ensure timely and accurate reporting to congress regarding disaster, account balances, funding needs and how would you address transparency failures that we saw during the biden administration? >> thank you for this important question, senator, let me assure you my prayers are with the people of west and northern carolina. i know the president was there recently and it's truly the rebuilder in chief as many private enterprises in your own state, samaritans first and i thank them for their dedication across the southeast and my prayers are with the people of george and all impacted, butt

let me say what happened on october 15th when congress was shocked by the news that despite assurances two days earlier, the disaster relief funding had run out. now, in business this would never be tolerated and -- and we see examples of this everywhere within this the agency that i know we are all trying to get our arms around and make a quick correction on. you have my commitment that we will ensure that disaster relief funding is there for hard-working americans when they need it and i look forward to your feedback on how the response has been so that we can strengthen the program and having the transparency so that this committee is routinely apprized of the status of the agency across all vectors that we are serving the american people on. >> thank you for that. so the sba disaster loan program, critical in supporting small businesses as you

mentioned in a few of your earlier remarks and also being there to help communities during crises but we have recent disasters like hawaii, helene that really revealed a lot of shortcomings in the sba management and loan portfolio, so these have led to funding short falls like transparency, administrative inefficiency that really hindered a timely recovery and people in western north carolina they felt failures firsthand when they needed assistance instead mismanagement during time of dire need. senator, would you commit working with my office and this committee to make sure sba is fully prepared to respond effectively to the needs of businesses in north georgia, western north carolina and the other states that are in need for disasters? >> absolutely, senator, you have my commitment. >> thank you. senator, the numbers paint a

troubling picture for small businesses. you have -- there's a survey in from 2023 to 2024 into quickbooks small business index, it says that small businesses employment declined 51,000 jobs. and it also said that revenue fell on average for those businesses about $12,000 for -- that's a lot for small business for. so that's also the steepest year year over year decline since obama administration 2015. that same time the 2024 goldman sachs survey revealed that 17% of small businesses are deeply concerned about their ability to access the capital that they need to operate reliably, small businesses, they make up the bulk of our economy. small business is big business. so in this level of decline i

would imagine you would think as well is unimaginable. under your and president trump's leadership how do we expect to see a new golden age for small businesses? >> absolutely, thank you for that question because president trump is restoring the golden era from all americans by strengthening our economy, making our country more safe and secure and ensuring wasteful taxpayer spending is not driving up inflation, inflation is the number one problem not only facing families but small businesses, they are looking at 20% higher costs on at least 10% lower revenues. that's an unsustainable situation for our employer who is are putting it all on the line and small businesses have my commitment that i will have their back. >> thank you, senator budd, i now recognize senator schiff for five questions. >> thank you adam chair, it's an honor to serve on this committee and serve california's 4.2 the

million small businesses, nonprofits, child care centers, rural businesses, the arts and entertainment industry, women and minority owned businesses. the numbers grow daily and i'm proud to represent these incredible business owners, innovators and hard-working employees. senator loeffler, i appreciate the conversation that we had last, i think it was last week, the seems have seemed endless these days. as you know very well, horrific wild fires and high winds have ravaged california over the last month displacing thousands of families and destroying homes, schools, community centers and places of worship and countless small businesses as the fires have impacted the livelihood californians. we must rebuild resiliently. the sba provides disaster assistance for homeowners, renters, nonprofits and businesses of all sizes affected

by natural disasters. i good to see this really in operation visiting the discovery resource centers in los angeles and westwood and in pasadena, sba was on hand in large numbers to help small business owners and hope homeowners find what resources were available to them to help them recover and rebuild. i do want to the echo the concern raised by my colleague senator markey about the freeze on federal funding. i know there's been a subsequent statement saying the freeze order has been lifted. none of us really know how the make heads or tails, but what concerns me even if the administration says that help to individuals will not be affected by this, if federal funding to

sba is curtailed, then it means sba cannot make loans to individuals and to small business fors and at a time when california desperately need that help, any delay, any uncertainty will just add additional injury. i've also been distressed by some of the calls to condition to funding to california. california has contributed more to the recovery of other states than any other state of the union. and i want to ask you first of all, to recommit to something that we discussed privately and that is to ensuring if confirmed that all states not just california, but all states receive speedy relief for disaster victims and survivors without regard for whether a state is red, blue, green, yellow or anything else, so are you committed to in a

color-blind political affiliation-blind way make sure that sba systems provide today small businesses in every state? >> senator, i appreciated our time in being in your office and discussing this important matter. obviously my prayers are with california but our efforts will be there as well. as president trump demonstrated by his first official trip to typically presidents might fly outside the country, he went to california, he immediately appointed a task force getting the ric grenell involved and actions demonstrated support in disaster relief and done it effectively in his last term and i will support efforts in leadership to ensure the people of california have the resources they need under president trump's leadership. >> well, let me just say i was grateful the president for came to los angeles. i felt that if he saw the damage

he could not help but by moved and i think and hope that he was. i am concerned, though, about some of the statements he has met about tieing disaster assistance passage of voter id laws or unrelated policy matter. let me also raise the need not just with respect to disaster of california but sba is proceeding with pace of urgency and efficiently processing loan applications. i realize the balance is difficult because you have to avoid fraud and it was massive fraud in -- among some who were applying for covid relief. we do not want to see that repeated but nevertheless we don't want to see excessive delays either. frankly, i think firing the inspector general harms the

ability to fair out waste, fraud and abuse but are you committed to doing everything you can to provide speedy attention to sba applications while providing at the same time safeguards to avoid fraud? >> yes, i am, senator, thank you. >> thank you madame chair or mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator. on behalf of the chair i will recognize myself. senator loeffler, thank you being able to do this job as you and i discussed when we met in my office. i loved serving can you, a terrific senator, it's going to be a great service to our country. let me just ask you a question or two about priorities at sba. i noticed that on day one of his administration, the last president issued executive order directing federal agencies to adopt broad equity agenda and that was particularly a focus of sba over the last four years, in fact, according to one report by far the largest program that

uses racial preferences in the federal government is the aa program run by sba to be eligible for it, companies had to show racial and other characteristics in order to access funding. court ruled unconstitutional, another federal court struck down a similar requirement also administered by sba, revitalization fund, here is my question to you, president trump has now thankfully with his own executive orders said we are going to put a stop to dti programs, will you get sba refocused on actually helping small businesses no matter who the owner is, no matter where they are, they'll be no tip thing of the scales in order to fit some bureaucrats' agenda, we are going to help those in need, help them stood up and get them on the execution, it'll tell us about that. >> importantly, president

trump's eo overturns divisive and illegal dei program that was spread throughout the government and particularly within the sba. this will allow us to reduce the burdens on small business for costly implementation of needless programs but moreover i think the best way we can serve small businesses is making sba lending available to all who qualify as opposed to picking winners and losers and pinning americans against one another. you have my full commitment to make sure it's broadly available to everyone. >> the last administration's small business administration was focused on this dei agenda, what it was not doing was helping people in rural areas of the country like most of my state. in fy24 just to take one example, sba made 103,000 loans only 12,000 of those went to rural businesses. that's just over 12%. of sba's $56 billion in capital,

only 6 billion only went to rural businesses. that's just 11%. you want to talk about inequity, there's imbalance between urban and rural. we have urban centers in my state. i'm all for small businesses in urban centers getting what they qualify for but would you agree that small businesses in rural important are extremely important, often the life blood of our community, what will you do to make surebl that small business in rural america is a priority that they're getting access to the funds that they qualify for and we are doing everything we can to help these small businesses revitalize these communities? >> well, senator, not only do i agree with you, i lived it. i was raised in a family of fourth generation small business. my nearest town had 600 people in it and my high school had small towns. many of my fellow students parents were small business for owners. i saw the hard work that they

did, the complexity of dealing with increased federal regulation even back then and we have to ensure that small businesses in rural communities are getting the support they need. i understand it firsthand and i know that we can do better and we will do better because this is an area that we can grow in terms of bringing manufacturing under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until senate stands in recess until >> the senate is in recess for weekly party caucus. today lawmakers votedo confirm kelly loeffler administrator for small business administration. later this week the upper

chairman will vote on confirmati of kash patel to be by the director. fil vote on thursday. watch live coverage can on the senate when lawmakers return at 2:15 eastern this afternoon here on c-span2. >> get essential contact information from government officials all in one place. this compact spiral bound guide contains bio and contact information for every house and senate member of the 119th congress. contact information on congressional committees, the president's cabinet, federal agencies and state governors. the congressional directory cost 3295 plus shipping and handling. scan the code on the right or go to c-spanshop.org to preorder your copy today.

>> all this week, watch c-span's new members of congress series where we speak with both republicans and democrats about their early lives previous careers, families and why they decided to run for office. tonight add 9:30 p.m. eastern our interviews include virginia democratic congressman who was born in ukraine, served as u.s. army officer and played a role in the story of his brother alexander vinman what came to national attention for testimony in congress on president trump's relationship to ukraine. >> i was lieutenant colonel assign today the white house on the detail. legal adviser and national security staff. i worked right across the hall from my twin brother and he had the portfolio of russia,

ukraine, belarus, maldova. he heard the president's attempt at extortion and reported directly to me. >> watch new members of congress all this week starting at 9:30 p.m. eastern. >> c-span, democracy unfiltered. we are funded by these television companies and more including charter communications. >> charter is proud to be recognized as one of the best for internet providers and we are just getting started. building 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. >> charter communications supports c-spa as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front-are you seat torow seatd