israel in the temporary cease-fire, one of their leaders comes out. you know what he says, we're going to do october 7 again. except we'll do it bigger. so obviously, you can't talk about peace neither with hamas or in the middle east if this toxic, murderous organization is left standing any more than you can make peace in europe after world war ii if the nazi regime was left standing. you want a different future, you have to knockout the people who want to destroy you and destroy peace. that's what we're going to do. i think that will also bring -- usher in actually the peace with saudi arabia and with others. and i think there will be others too. president trump: yes, ma'am. go ahead. reporter: high expectation from you. do you have any plan to change the afghanistan situation?

are you able to recognize taliban because i'm an afghan journalist? what's your future plan for the afghan people? president trump: i have a little hard time understanding you. where are you from? reporter: [inaudible] president trump: i can't understand a word you're saying. the only thing i can say is good luck. live in peace. go ahead. please. it's ok. yeah, please. reporter: you said it was tough for you to implement these sanctions on iran. you did indicate that you were willing to negotiate for them. what would that look like? and are you in conversations with them? president trump: i hated doing it. i want iran to be peaceful and successful. i hated doing it. i did that once before.

we brought them to a level where they weren't able to give any money. they had no money. they were essentially broke. they had no money for he's hezbollah, hamas or any form of terror, the 28 -- if you call it the 28 sites of terror. they had no money for any of it. they had to do their own and focus on their own well-being. i hated to do it then. and i hate to do it just as much now. and i say this and i say this to iran who is listening very intently. i would love to be able to make a great deal, a deal where you can get on with your lives and you'll do wonderfully, incredible people, industrious, just an unbelievable group of people in iran. i know them well. i have many friends from iran, many friends that are americans from iran and they're very proud

of iran. but i hated to do it just so you understand. and i hope we're going to be able to do something so it doesn't end up in a very tas troughic situation. -- -- in a very catastrophic situation. i really want to see peace. they cannot have a nuclear weapon. it's very simple. i'm not putting restriction. they cannot have -- one thing, they cannot have a nuclear went. if i think they're going to have a nuclear weapon despite whey just said i think it's going to be very unfortunate for them. if they can convince us that they -- it's very easy to do, i think they're going to have an unbelievable future. yeah, please, sir, go ahead. reporter: you just laid out your new plan for gaza. president trump: yes. reporter: can you lay down your plan for ukraine.

you consider yourself a strong leader. you blame your predecessor for letting russia to take over ukraine will you demand from putin to get out of ukraine from sovereign territory of ukraine? president trump: we're dealing right now on the subject. i don't want to spend a lot of time because we're here for another reason. we're having constructive talks with ukraine. we're talking to the russians and the ukrainian leadership. it should have never happened. i get reports every week. the number of soldiers, mostly soldiers now. the cities have been largely demolished. you talk about a -- a very sad tight -- sight to see. many of these cities look as bad as gaza and worse. i want to site end. i want to see it end for one reason, the life of young people being absolutely obliterated on

one side. it's very flat land. and the only thing that's going to stop, a bullet is a human body. in this case usually soldiers. and the numbers are staggering when you hear the real numbers in ukraine, what the numbers are. and this doesn't include the cities that have been demolished and it's all of the people that were killed. so i want to see it stopped. we're having very good talks and i think we're going to get it. i think something will be hopefully dramatically -- it will -- lit rise above everything you have to -- you can't let this continue. you can't -- this is an absolute slaughter that is taking place on the beautiful farmlands of ukraine. and we have to stop it. we can't let this continue. it's -- it's a human -- it's a human -- it is -- it is a human tragedy and we're going to try very hard to stop it. yeah, please, go ahead sir.

reporter: mr. president, thank you very much. mr. president, what's your view about the regional changes you want to do? and the other question, what's your view -- and all the much more military stance? prime minister netanyahu: i think the president just said i think is the pivot of everything we're talking about. he said iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. and we fully agree with that if this goal can be achieved by a maximum pressure campaign, so be it. but i think the most porn thing is to focus on the goal, which the president just did. and i fully agree with him. president trump: i said it and he said it very well. it's -- it's a campaign of pressure to see if we can get something done. he doesn't want to do what some

people think will automatically happen because they're very difficult people to deal with as you know. but if we could solve this problem without warfare, without all of the things that you've been witnessing over the last number of years, it will be -- i think it will be a tremendous thing. go ahead, please. reporter: do you have any plans to visit israel? president trump: to visit where? i love israel and i'll visit gaza and saudi arabia and other place all over the middle east. the middle east san incredible place. so vibrant so -- it's just one of the really beautiful places, with great people. and i think a lot of bad leadership has taken place in the middle east that's allowed this to hawaii it's just terrible -- to this place. it includes americans.

but yeah, i'll be visiting a lot of different places in the middle east. i've been invited everywhere. but i will be visiting some. yeah. ok. let's go. kaitlin, go ahead. reporter: thank you so much, president trump. president trump: sate. reporter: just about saying gazans going to another country, where are you suggesting they should go? are you saying should they return after it's rebuilt? who you do envision living there? president trump: i envision the world living there. the world's people. i think you'll make that into an international unbelievable place. i think the potential and the gaza strip sun believable. and -- strip is unbelievable. and i think representatives from all over the world will be there and they'll -- palestinians also.

palestinians will live there. many people will live there. but they've tried the other and they've tried it for decades and decades and decades. it's not going to do work. it did not work. it will never work. and you have to learn from history. history has, you know, you just can't let it repeating itself. we have an opportunity to do something that's phenomenal. i don't want to be cute or a wise guy, but the rivera -- riviera of the middle east. this could be so magnificent. but more importantly than that that the people that were destroyed cowdery in a much better situation -- destroyed could be in a much better situation. we'll make sure that it's done world class. it will be wonderful for the people. palestinians -- palestinians mostly we're talking about. and i have a feeling that despite them saying no, i have a feeling that the king in jordan

and that the general president, but that the general and egypt will open their hearts and will give us the kind of land that we need to get this done and people could live in harmony and in peace. thank you all very much. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. >> wednesday, a look at ways to increase government efficiency and reduce unnecessary spending with iowa governor tim reynolds and citizens against government

waste initiative president thomas schatz. if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage, you can find it any time online at c-span.org. videos of the hearings, debates, and key events feature markers that guide you to interest -- points of interest and highlights. this timeline tool makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's points of interest. democracy isn't just an idea. it's a process. a process shaped by leaders and elected to the highest offices and trusted to a select few with regarding its basic principles.

it's where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nation explores its journey. democracy in real-time. this is your government at work. this is c-span, giving you your democracy unfiltered. mp commerce department nominee howard let nick responded to qns on the trump admition's decision to freeze federal during his confirmation hearing. members of the senate also asked questions regarding tariffs and cryptocurrency.

>> want to make the chairman of the senate armed services committee feel at home. good morning, everyone. welcome to the senate committee on commerce. today we are considering the nomination of howard let nick -- howard lutnick. congratulations on this important nomination. i know there are many members of this committee interested in hearing from you. as the secretary of commerce, mr. lutnick will be responsible for implementing not only major aspects of president trump's agenda but carrying out some of the most sweeping laws congress has passed in the last few years, like the chips and science act.

he is well-qualified to accomplish this. the story embodies the american spirit of resilience and achievement. son of a history professor and an artist, he was born and raised in new york and last most of his book -- both of his parents by the time he was 18. he put himself through haverford college with the help of a generous scholarship. immediately after graduating, he started at cantor fitzgerald, one of the world's leading financial services firms, becoming its chairman at just 35 years old. on september 11, 2001, terrorists killed his brother and 658 cantor fitzgerald employees who were working on five floors in the north tower

of the world trade center. it was the largest loss of life among any single organization on that tragic day. in the wake of that tragedy, mr. lutnick not only rebuild the company but grew it into a powerhouse with operations in more than 60 offices in 20 countries and over 13,000 employees. mr. lutnick has also given back in incredible ways. for five years following the 9/11 attack, he ensured the families of cantor fitzgerald employees who were killed received 25% of the company's profits. he still donates his time today as a member of the board of directors of the national september 11 memorial. he also served on the board of haverford college for over 20 years, made generous gifts to the school, including an athletics center in honor of his brother and friend who died on

9/11, and an art gallery in honor of his mother who was an artist. over the next few years, the department will be leading on key issues such as export controls in emerging technologies, keeping the gulf open for oil and gas exploration, expanding commercial access, and ensuring america's leadership in ai innovation and commercial space and helping lead the resurgence of manufacturing in america. in my home state of texas as well as the rest of the nation will benefit from mr. lutnick's leadership on all these fronts. i look forward to hearing from mr. lutnick on these and other topics and i turned to the ranking member for her statement. >> thank, mr. chairman, and i would like to associate myself with your remarks which are similar to those i was going to make myself as it relates to the charge of a commerce secretary.

welcome today. and welcome to your family. you have a compelling story. as i expressed when i met you, your resiliency as an individual is amazing. the secretary of commerce has a vital responsibility and a very broad mission in an agency with lots of complex issues that affect many sectors of the economy. as my colleague just mentioned, one of those at the top of the list is the bureau of industry and security which benefits from dual use technology. this responsibility just got a lot bigger yesterday when we saw an announcement from china that took $600 billion out of the valuation of a leading american company overnight. the issue of export controls in this organization within the department of commerce is going to be a very big issue for you.

i want to say that i very much appreciate the former commerce secretary, secretary raimondo. i think she was a standout in implementing the policies senator cruz just mentioned but also trying to build consensus among the private sector of how to deal with these export issues. i hope you will follow that lead. in addition to this ai challenge we face, the president directs you, the secretary of commerce, to work with the secretary of state on the review of those export controls and to advise on modifications, so an additional, if you will, not to the president saying that howard let nick is the guy -- howard lutnick is the guy that has to determine these export issues. vital agreements between the department of commerce and iva

sector to ensure a vital advanced -- and private sector to ensure a vital advanced semiconductor manufacturing sector returns to the united states as soon as possible. states like texas, ohio, arizona, new york, and many others are counting on that continued support to make sure that this agenda gets done, that we are bringing the manufacturing supply chain of semiconductors and semiconductor advance chips back to the united states as fast as possible, so we will look forward to hearing your comments on that. you will also oversee the national title agency administration. the two people to my left, senator klobuchar and senator thune, cannot think of two bigger leaders on the 5g, 60,

how is it going to get done and when is it going to get done, but you will be tasked with that very difficult challenge in negotiating you tia and dod and our international efforts at the world radio spectrum. you will also oversee the national of an atmospheric administration's 60% of the commerce budget. i will never forget in a hearing, then secretary of commerce ron brown said, i'm the sec. of commerce. i oversee maritime and shipping and transportation and technology and telecom, but i guarantee you, if a member of congress is calling me, he's calling me about fish. and that says it all. the point is no matter all the business you are given by the president of the united states on these very important issues, and i would say in my opinion,

no demanding of the roles they played, but the secretary of commerce today is part of critical consensus building in a foot race of competition with china and determining what those rules will be, and i don't believe you can get there without the consensus bodybuilding that we did on chips and science. that exercise helped us. a lot of people might have thought we were just trying to pass an initiative. i was not. i was trying to respond to our nation's competitive challenge, and i would have done anything to work together to make sure that happened. so you will be in charge of all of these things. my colleague and chairman mentioned space. i guarantee you there is a lot of work to be done in space and you will be called to provide leadership with theoffice in the department of commerce the complexities -- you will be the

decision-maker on a lot of rules, which leads me to the next point. i have a lot of questions about your involvement in the private sector. in the private sector, i'm sure you played by the rules. we will ask you those questions come up the question is -- you are going to be on the other side of the table now. you are going to be the rule maker, so i will want to understand the issues of how we set rules because i think the president also gave you a responsibility as it relates to the crypto rules. i'm a little more on the cftc side then i am on the sec side, but in general, i believe the markets need rules, and i believe people in your position are going to have to play an even larger leadership role, so those are the questions i will be asking. thank you, mr. chairman. senator cruz: thank you, and as a demonstration that you are the big cheese, you are to be introduced by the vice president of the united states.

as i am reliably informed, he is about three minutes out, so we are going to do something in the senate we are quite familiar with, which is filibuster. i took the chairman's prerogative to ask the senate majority leader if he could fill three minutes with words of wisdom, so i recognize senator thune to say whatever the hell he wants. senator thune: thank you, mr. chairman. i certainly cannot fill three minutes with words of wisdom, but i can certainly fill them with words. let me just say, congratulations, mr. let nick. welcome. we are excited to have you nominated for this important position. your powerful and compelling life story truly is an example of the american success story in someone who has been able to live and pursue and experience the american dream in the midst of a lot of adversity along the way. thank you for being here to

share your skill and experience in a job that requires a lot of that. i expect you will touch on this today. one of the issues we work a lot on his spectrum. obviously, we need more spectrum, licensed and unlicensed. you will oversee the national tell -- national telecommunications administration, and i look forward to working with you to ensure that the federal government is using spectrum efficiently in a way that addresses the needs we have for more commercial use in both license and unlicensed technologies. i expect you to address the and tia's broadband equity access appointment program which provides over $42 billion, but as we know is not collected a signal household. there's a reason for that. those are a couple areas i

expect you will address, and i see my time to filibuster has ended. we look forward to working with you on ai. it is a critical issue under this committee jurisdiction -- under this committee's jurisdiction. >> -- chair cruz: a predictably excellent job. we are now very pleased to welcome the vice president of the united states, and auguste title -- and auguste -- an a ugust title. vice president pence, we are glad to welcome you back to your committee, and with that, recognize you to introduce mr. lutnick. vice president vance: hopefully you have as much fun as i did and do as much good as i tried

to do, senator marino and all the members of the committee. i'm thrilled to introduce my friend who i think will make an amazing commerce secretary for the united states of america. one of my mentors in business always said that any good business has both product people and salespeople, and howard is one of the few people who is both a product guy and a sales guy, and i want to talk about that because i think america as commerce secretary needs a commerce secretary who is both a product guy and sales guy. what do i mean by that? if you look at his career, howard is the kind of guy who developed innovative products. he has a number of patents to his name, something i did not even know when i first got to know him but got to know later, but he is also an incredible sales guy. this is a person who on the world stage will say more and do more and convince businesses that america is back, that america is growing and thriving, and i think that will work to

the benefit most importantly of american workers who have seen their wages stagnate, their real living standards decline, and how it is exactly the kind of guy we need to reverse that trend and get american commerce back on track. howard is more than anybody i have ever met in the private sector aware in part because of the fact that he did not grow up with everything handed to him, of the way in which what happens in the real economy affects real people, and if we have a thriving, growing economy, we will have more national security because we make our own stuff. we will also have an american workforce that is thriving, healthy, happy, and that is what all of us here on the commerce committee most focus on. howard is a force of nature. for those of you who don't know him, and for the employees at the commerce department, i will say with all apologies, you are

going to work harder over the next four years then you have probably ever worked in your entire life. howard is the kind of guy who could have you work 90 hours a week and make you feel like you are still energetic at the end of the day because he is working 110 hours a week and never lets his foot off the gas and never forgets what the mission is that drives him to do all of the incredible things that he has done and that he will do as commerce secretary. i want to say a couple of things about howard's biography because i think it influences certainly how i think about him and informs hopefully how all of you will think about his nomination. this is not a guy who was handed everything. he grew up in a family where they often struggle to make ends meet. he built up one of the biggest financial companies in the world and of course had it all destroyed by terrorists on 9/11 2001. howard did not die that day.

he lost 600 employees, including her brother, i believe, but he did not die that day because he took his son to kindergarten the day on the upper eastside and so was not in the towers when the plane hit. what he did in the wake of it is maybe even more impressive than what he did before. one, he rebuilt the business where it is today. again, one of the great financial firms in the entire world, but more importantly than that, he did not forget the families of the employees who lost their lives that day. talk about a good salesman. when i visited new york on the anniversary of 9/11 during the campaign -- and as you will know, campaigns are very busy. there's a lot going on. howard said, you need to come by my office because on 9/11, we raise money for the families of the people who lost their lives that day. i said, it's the middle of the presidential campaign. i'm the vice presidential nominee. he said no, you are coming.

i showed up on the trading floor of cantor fitzgerald, and every single person was selling and working their tails off not to make money for the business that day, but to make money for the relief efforts and the families they still take care of. that is an incredible testament to a guy who does not forget where he came from, does not forget the people he lost that day, and i cannot think of a better person to be the commerce secretary than a person who is a product guy, who is a sales guy, and who is an incredible human being who does not forget the employees he lost that day. and i want to make one final observation. howard has a beautiful family. it's good to see all the kids here and his lovely wife. on the campaign trail -- as you all know, i have three little kids and i like to take my kids with me on the campaign trail because i am a debt first. when you have little kids don't

behave all the time. in fact, they often do not behave. i remember when we took our kids to howard's house. we had a fundraiser that evening in a different place, but we had a few hours and i told my wife we would take the kids to my buddy's house. she said, do you really want to take our three kids, energetic, wound up to somebody's house back and they will destroy something. they will embarrass us. i set howard's house, his life's house, actually. we spent the morning on the afternoon with them and went to our event and i will never forget afterwards, my wife looked at me and said, we felt like the kids could just be kids. even though they did not know howard and howard did not know them, he was a good enough guy to make it possible for our kids to just be kids, and i think it is important to have the kind of person at commerce who cannot just do the job because howard can certainly do the job, who has not just been wildly

successful because of course, howard has been wildly successful, but is just a good dude. and howard is a good dude. he will make us proud as our next commerce secretary but he makes me even prouder to call him friend. god bless you, man. [applause] chair cruz: thank you. welcome back, and i will say to all the employees at the commerce department, you must be very pleased to know that your incoming secretary will be just fine if you break something or crayon on the walls or spill your grape juice. you can do all those at the department of commerce. with that, i recognize mr. lutnick to give his own remarks. mr. lutnick: thank you. and thank you, jd, mr. vice president, for the kind introduction. i appreciate your friendship.

i'm profoundly grateful to president trump for the confidence and faith he has placed in me. it is an honor to appear before you as your nominee for secretary of commerce. my family is here with me today. i would like to introduce you to my wife, who is behind me, who for 30 years has been my great partner, advisor, and a spectacular mother to our wonderful children. and my oldest son kyle behind me. brandon. casey. and ryan. my extraordinary sister is also here as well as alison's brother rick and my sister-in-law abby and many of my closest friends who have chosen to come down and support me. i grew up on long island, new york. my mother was an artist and art teacher. my father was a professor of american history. my mother taught me how to appreciate life. when i was 14, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. she decided if she was going to

die, before that, she was going to live. i will never forget the day she pulled me out of class, so i rushed to the car and said, are you ok n she said, i am ok. let's go. we drove to new york city. we went to art galleries. then we went to the opera. we got home super late. then of course she expected me to get up and get to school on time the next day. my mother died in february 1978 when i was 16 years old. a year and a half later, my father was diagnosed with lung cancer. he kept his diagnosis secret from me because he wanted to make sure i left to start college in the fall. he dropped me off at school and a week later, he went for his first chemotherapy treatment at a local hospital. the nurse accidentally gave him the wrong dose, and he died right then and there. it was september 12, 1979, and i was 18 years old. we all know losing one parent is heartbreaking. losing both is something

entirely different. it is life-shattering. without any support from immediate family, we put my 15-year-old brother in school and he would sleep with me in my dorm room on the weekends. there are three of us became inseparable. as you can imagine the pain we suffered, when gary and 350 seven of my other friends and cantor fitzgerald were killed -- the company was located in the top five floors of the world trade center. i get emotional, sorry. no one in the office survived. i was taking my son kyle to his first day of kindergarten, which is why i'm with you today. the company was destroyed, but on september 12, i hosted a call when my surviving employees and i laid out two choices.

we can either attend our friends' funerals -- that's 20 funerals a day for 33 straight days -- or we could try to rebuild the company to take care of the 658 families that we lost that day. this phone call led to one of the most extraordinary events in american business history. all of our employees, both new and those that survived, agreed to donate 25% of their salaries -- their salaries -- to the families of 9/11 colleagues. together we raised $108 million over the next five years for those families. and my employees, they stitched my soul back together. my employees never expected to get paid back, but i had other ideas. in 2008, we took a division of your company public and i gave each and every one of those employees double what they had given to those families. i worked to cantor my entire career. rebuilding the company is my

greatest business achievement. after 9/11, we were down to about 1000 employees. today, company employees, more than 14,000. i'm so proud of my exceptional friends. i saw the strength of the american spirit during president trump's campaign and it fueled my desire to serve our nation. we need healthy businesses, small, medium, and large, to hire our great american workers, to drive our economy. i will dedicate myself to making our government more responsive, working to ensure americans have the greatest opportunity for success. i am an outcome-driven leader and upon my confirmation, i will take a thoughtful and rigorous approach to leading this great department and serving our country. thank you, mr. chairman, and i look forward to taking your questions. chair cruz: thank you very much for that heartfelt opening statement. your background is very impressive. not only have you led several

companies, you rebuild cantor fitzgerald in the wake of the unspeakable tragedy of 9/11. i appreciate your willingness now to serve your nation. let me start with just a general question -- why do you want to be the secretary of commerce? mr. lutnick: i think america is in a place to teach the world and to show the world what leadership is like, what a great economy is like, what taking care of americans is like and to be part of that administration, be part of this historic trump administration is one of the great honors of my life. i'm just looking forward to being a part of this administration, to play my part in helping drive our economy's growth and driving the support and dedication to our american

people. chair cruz: in your business career, you have been very successful. you made a lot of money. you told this committee you plan to divest your business interests in accordance with federal laws and regulations to avoid any conflict of interest. can you explain what your plan is regarding your business interests and if you will consult with the designated agency ethics division? mr. lutnick: my plan is to only serve the american people. i will sell all my business interests, all my assets, everything. i have worked together with the department of government ethics and we have reached an agreement on how to do that, and i will be divesting within 90 days upon my confirmation, so i should have no business interests, therefore no conflicts of interest. i made the decision that i have made enough money in my life i can take care of myself and take care of my family.

it is now my chance to serve the american people, and so upon confirmation, my business will be for sale and someone else will leave them going forward, but the office of government at the end i reached an agreement. i have signed a document and made a public and going forward, i will always consult. the commerce department has a great ethics department. i have already met with them and i plan to stay in close contact with them and avoid all conflicts so i can just serve america. chair cruz: thank you for that. let's move to one of the important responsibilities you will have a secretary of commerce. the national telecommunications and information administration is the lead agency for managing federal government spectra, including critical mid band spectrum. -- geordie leader thune, senator blackburn and i have worked closely on a bill that would requirentia to defy identify