mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise today in sport of the lucas amount h.r. 238. this amendment works to provide much needed relief and certainty for american companies by clarifying how the internal risk producing transactions amongst the businesses and affiliatesed are regulated. many businesses of all types and sizes in our country use derivatives to manage the risk they face within their daily operations. enter affiliate swaps are a common used and effective internal risk management tool these businesses rely upon. unfortunately, - riff tiffs reforms implemented under dodd-frank failed to distinguish the difference between inner affiliate transactions and transactions executed between unaffiliated third parties. such internal transactions ensure firms to centralize their risk management activities between affiliate counter parties parties and do not create additional counter party exposure outside a corporate group. this amendment, therefore, clarifies that inner affi

mr. chairman. it is truly my honor to yield three minutes to one of my classmates and also the vice chair of the budget committee, the gentleman from indiana. the chair: the gentleman from indiana is recognized for three minutes. >> i thank the chair lady for yielding the time. it's a pleasure to continue our work together. on this very important issue. mr. rokita: it's taken us six years to get to today, the first real step in repealing what is one of the most insidious laws that ever came out of these chambers. insidious because it was built on lies. remember you can keep your doctor if you wanted to? you can keep your plan if you wanted to? lies. remember when premiums were to go down because, mr. chairman, was the affordable care act? lies. the gentleman from kentucky made some assertions a while ago and i want to take a look at the state of kentucky itself. four plans left the obamacare exchange at the end of 2016 in the state of kentucky. of the remaining plans, each increased their premiums b

mr. chairman. mr. chairman, thank you for your efforts to get the good general to come to this committee. mr. chairman, i share many of the concerns my colleagues have expressed. all of us were elected to do a job, but today, the incoming administration is asking us to be a abdicate our responsibilities as citizens. it is a corner stone of our democracy. the measure before us requires careful thought and reasoned debate. we cannot did our jobs, have an informed discussion, or have confidence we will reach the right conclusion if the general does not appear before the full committee. unlike many of you, i've never had the privilege of meeting the general. i've never had the privilege of looking in his eyes, judging his sincerity, and making sure he understands the gravity upon the principle of civilian authority and to make sure that he understands the actions that are being asked for us to perform. we need the opportunity to ask these questions, to hear his answers and to weigh his views. for years, i h

mr. chairman. it is truly my honor to yield three minutes to one of my classmates and also the vice chair of the budget committee, the gentleman from indiana. the chair: the gentleman from indiana is recognized for three minutes. >> i thank the chair lady for yielding the time. it's a pleasure to continue our work together. on this very important issue. mr. rokita: it's taken us six years to get to today, the first real step in repealing what is one of the most insidious laws that ever came out of these chambers. insidious because it was built on lies. remember you can keep your doctor if you wanted to? you can keep your plan if you wanted to? lies. remember when premiums were to go down because, mr. chairman, was the affordable care act? lies. the gentleman from kentucky made some assertions a while ago and i want to take a look at the state of kentucky itself. four plans left the obamacare exchange at the end of 2016 in the state of kentucky. of the remaining plans, each increased their premiums b

mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk -- mr. scott: mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk made in order on the rule. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 12 printed in part a of house report 115-2 offered by mr. scott of virginia. the chair: pursuant to how the resolution 33, the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, and a member opposed, will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: this will exempt regulations proposed by the osha fety and health or and plmbings sha which will prevent or reduce incidence of traumatic injury, cancer or irreversible lung disease. this bill will add layers to the rulemaking process and provide incentives to frivolous lawsuits while companies -- while trying to keep work -- currently it requires an extensive review process and stakeholder engagement from risk assessment, economic feasibility determinations, public hearings, multiple opportunities for public comment. according to the g.a.o. to meet these requirements

mr. chairman, -- mr. peterson: mr. chairman, i'm now pleased to yield to the gentlelady from the virgin islands. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. plaskett: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you to my colleagues. mr. speaker, i rise today to speak on behalf of opposition to h.r. 238. and express my concerns with the process and the need for this legislation at this time. as we all know, commotities futures trade commission is an independent federal regulatory agency that after the 2008 financial crisis took on more responsibility to bring greater transparency and oversight to the multihundred-trillion-dollar derivatives market. this new bill, h.r. 238, has new mandates and steps in it which will force the commodities and futures trade commission to redirect funding from its core mission to satisfy some of the new mandates within this rule. 238 sets a flat re-authorization level of $250 million per year for the next five years, despite the annual average budget request of the agency of well over $300 million since

mr. chairman: thank you. >> thank you, sir. mr. irman: the illustrious senator kaine has arrived. >> thank you for holding the vote open and i put up a statement last week of voting no. >> senator kaine will turn his proxy vote of no to no. senator booker and senator murphy are both delayed because , not only onoblems the flight, but i have been told the train has also been delayed. that we do not delay the proceedings further. if they were here, they said they would vote no. mr. chairman: thank you all for your cooperation and i look for to processing this on the floor. i think we have a mark up tomorrow. tomorrow withing nikki haley with the corporate board. yays are 11. nos are 10. a business meeting tomorrow at noon. one of our members will be ranking on a small business committee, so she will get to our committee at some point. mr. chairman: ok. we are adjourned. thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption co

mr. chairman. i remind my colleague his vote today to repeal the affordable care act will result in 234,000 people from his state of arkansas losing their health care coverage. 28,000 workers losing their jobs. and an economic loss of $15.8 billion in gross state product over five years for the state of arkansas. mr. chairman, i now yield one minute to the gentlelady from illinois, a member of the energy and demers committee, ms. schakowsky. the chair: the gentlewoman illinois is recognized. . ms. schakowsky: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i wapt to say right now and -- want to say right now and i believe, and it will be true, you'll see, republicans will regret the repeal of obamacare. hospitals in rural and underserved areas are panicking right now. because they are finally getting paid through obamacare to serve low-income people. jobs will be lost. those hospitals could close. 30 million people will lose their benefits. but i want to tell you, on the energy and commerce committee, i have be

mr. chairman. mr. chairman, senator feinstein, members of this distinguished committee, i am pleased to join senator shelby in presenting my friend and colleague, senator jeff sessions and to offer my support for his nomination to be our next attorney general. >> for what? for what? evil! >> jeff sessions and i were first sworn in to the united states senate on the very same day. in the 20 years since we have worked closely on some issues and on opposite sides on others. in fact, it would be fair to say that we have had our share of vigorous debates and policy disagreements. through these experiences, i have come to know senator sessions professionally as a trusted colleague and personally as a good friend. i can vouch confidently for the fact that jeff sessions is a person of integrity, a principled leader and a dedicated public servant. as a senator, jeff sessions has worked across the aisle to lead important legislative reforms. he has worked with senator dick durbin to pass the fair sentencing act,

mr. chairman -- mr. scott: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. conyers, for yielding. the house has considered three bills on the house floor designed to undermine the executive branch to implement essential public health protections for the people we have the honor of representing. the so-called midnight rules relief act, which could retroactively disallow rules issued as far back as june of last year. the reins act, which requires the majority vote of both houses of congress before any major rule can go into effect. and today's rerget accountability act which is a -- regulatory accountability act which would effectively tie the executive branch into so much red tape that consumer protections might not ever see the light of day. by enacting these statutes, the take care ll not that laws be faithfully executed and replace them with a series of layers that can be applied by deep pockets of special interests including one that prevents a rule from going -- prevents some rules from going into effect that may affect public safety if somebody files a lawsuit. the question o

mr. chairman. would like to begin with a second largest criminal industry in this country, which is now, believe it or not, by revenues produced, human sex trafficking. trafficking victims are among the most vulnerable in our society. the average age is 12 to 14. they are beaten, raped, abused. at times handcuffed at night so they can't exscape and often moved from place to place -- escape, often moved place to place, forced to have sex with multiple men each time. the justice for victims trafficking act, signed into law in 2015, create add domestic trafficking victims -- created a necessaryic trafficking victims fund for victims services to be administered by the department of justice. part of that fund contains up to $30 million for health care or medical items or services to trafficking victims. these funds are subject to the hyde amendment which says no appropriate -- appropriated funding can be used to pay for abortion. however, the hyde amendment does not apply in cases of rape. on the senate

mr. chairman. mr. chairman, senator feinstein, members of this distinguished committee. i am pleased to join senator shelby in presenting my friend and colleague senator jeff sessions and to offer my support for his nomination to be our next attorney general. jeff sessions and i were first sworn in to the united states senate on the very same day. in the 20 years since, we have worked closely on some issues and on opposite sides on others. in fact, it would be fair to say that we have had our share of vigorous debates and policy disagreements. through these experiences, i have come to know senator sessions professionally as a trusted colleague and personally as a good friend. i can vouch confidently for the fact that jeff sessions is a person of integrity, a principled leader and a dedicated public servant. as a senator, jeff sessions has worked across the aisle to lead important legislative reforms. he has worked with senator dick durbin to pass the fair sentencing act, a law that addressed the un

mr. chairman, mr. chairman, a while ago? i think i did. you've been my chairman many years. >> i spent 20 years back and forth. and i'm delighted to turn it over to senator feinstein and senator grassley. >> well, you'll be handling all the money of the united states i understand in your new position. >> i'll -- the -- in 2009 i offered the matthew shepherd and james bird hate crimes prevention act as an amendment to the defense bill. it extended hate crimes protection to lgbt individuals, women and individuals with disabilities. it passed the senate overwhelmingly. you opposed it. you stated at a hearing that you're not sure women or people of different sexual orientations face that kind of discrimination. and then you said "i just don't see it." do you still believe that women and lgbt individuals do not face the kind of discrimination that the hate crimes? >> having discussed that issue at some length, that does not sound luike certainly i said or intended to say. >> did you say it. >> i understand but i've seen things taken out of cont

mr. chairman. just a quick -- i think the remarks were that we were looking to do this prospectively so there is no issue of looking at it as it relates to these nominees and that is unfair. i do think when you have very large holdings that can affect your judgment if you are in the position that it is of importance to this committee, to the senate, to know that and use it as an additional judgment. so i am totally in favor. the reason the rules actually preview and ask the question are you willing to submit are you willing to submit information must be because that is a predicate to when there is a necessity to call upon for the information. i hope we can do that prospectively. this way it is not -- it does not seem as a partisan view. i will be concise, but i want to say a few things. i will be casting my vote against him -- mr. tillerson today. i have taken the role of advising consent of state department nominees seriously. while considering hundreds of nominations for both democratic and repub

mr. chairman, mr. chairman? i think i did. you've been my chairman many years. >> that's okay, i spent 20 years back and forth. i was delighted to turn it over to the senator feinstein and senator grassley. >> you will be handling all of the money i understand in your new position. >> in 2009 i offered the shepherd and james byrd hate crimes protection act as an amendment to the defense bill. the asked it extended hate crimes reduction to lgbt individuals, women, and individuals with disabilities. it passed the senate overwhelmingly. you opposed it. you stated at a hearing that you are not sure women or people of different sexual orientations face that kind of discriminatio discrimination. and then you said, i just don't see it. do you still believe that women and lgbt individuals do not face the kind of discrimination that the hate crimes legislation was passed to prevent? >> mr. chairman, senator , havg discussed that issue at some length, that does not sound like something i said or intended to say. >> you did say it. >> i

mr. chairman. i'd like to have my reasons before i vote, not in the aftermath of the vote. >> okay. i apologize to the other members who are here and ready to vote. let me just -- if i could, i mean, we're accommodating folks who are traveling and we're glad to do so. if we would keep our comments brief and then if you want to expand further after people have voted, that would be great. i would like to say that what we're doing as it relates to tax returns is exactly what we're doing -- what we've done for ten years on this committee. ten years. so we treated secretary kerry and secretary clinton in exactly the same fashion. i just -- i know that we did the option so now it takes 51 votes. that was a big mistake, i think, but that's the way things are now and so now we're looking at changing the rules to tax returns at some point. i hope that doesn't happen because again most of those are used for gotcha questions, they have nothing to do with service. i hope we can talk about that some, but please

mr. chairman? i think i did. >> that's okay. >> you've been my chairman many years. >> i spent 20 years back and forth on this. i'm delighted to turn it over to senator feinstein and senator grassley, but -- >> you'll be hand ling all the money of the united states, i understand, in your new position. >> in 2009, i offered the matthew shepard and james byrd hate crimes prevention act as an amendment to the defense bill. it extended hate crimes protections to lgbt individuals, women and individuals with disabilities. it passed the senate overwhelm league. you opposed it. you stated you aren't sure women or people of different sexual orientations face that kind of discrimination. and then you said, i just don't see it. do you still believe women and lgbt individuals do not face the kind of discrimination that the hate crimes legislation was passed to prevent? >> mr. chairman -- senator leahy, having discussed that issue at some length, that does not sound like something i said or incontinutended to sa

mr. chairman. let me begin by saying i think all presidents, especially the one -- this is evidenced by the fact that a 240 history of the republic, we have only had nine cabinet nominees that have been voted down by the full senate. i also want to add that given how much uncertainty currently exist regarding the future direction of our nation's foreign-policy, this nomination deserve a higher level of scrutiny than tradition would otherwise indicate. spirit in which i entered into these deliberations, as you said, mr. tillerson testified for over eight hours. i spent the prior four or five weeks before hand researching and preparing for it. i had extensive conversations with him. he is responded to 100 written questions. and for the record, none of them were about horses. >> thank you for that. senator rubio but, a couple : things i would say. the first is the fundamental question on whether he is qualified. i believe he is. he has a proven record of managing a large, complex organization and exte

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator. i'm pleased to hand over the my normal witness introduction duties to our colleague, the distinguished senator from georgia, senator isakson who introduce dr. price. senator isakson, please proceed. >> thank you chairman hatch and vice chairman widen and fellow members of the committee. i enjoy being a part of this committee. i couldn't be prouder than to introduce tom price to you today. first time i was called it was to introduce him to the health committee which i also serve on. i was proud to do that and i gave what i hope was the best introduction i could possibly give based on the man i've known for 30 years, family man, legislator, man of our community, great physician and great friend. it was easy to do that. but since that last week things have changed. i feel like i've been asked to be a character witness in a felony trial in a sentencing face of a conviction. things have been said the last week or so just to me need to be refuted and i'll take all the positive things and say

mr. chairman. mr. chairman, senator feinstein, members of this distinguished committee, i am pleased to join senators shelby and presenting my friend and colleague senator jeff sessions and to offer my support for his nomination to be our next attorney general. jeff sessions and i were first sworn in to the united states senate on the very same day. in the 20 years since we have worked closely on some issues and on opposite sides on others. in fact, it would be fair to say that we have had our share of vigorous debates and policy disagreements. through these experiences, i have come to know senator sessions professionally as a trusted colleague and personally as a good friend. i can vouch confidently for the fact that jeff sessions is a person of integrity, a principled leader, and a dedicated public servant. as the senator, jeff sessions has worked across the aisle to lead important legislative reforms. he's worked with senator dick durbin to pass the fair sentencingasentence ing act, a law that addres

mr. chairman. mr. chairman, senator feinstein, members of this distinguished committee, i am pleased to join senators shelby in presenting my friend and colleague, senator jeff sessions, and to offer my support for his nomination to be our next attorney general. jeff sessions and i were first sworn into the united states senate on the very same day. in the 20 years since, we have worked closely on some issues and on opposite sides on others. in fact, it would be fair to say that we have had our share of vigorous debates and policy disagreements. through these experiences, i have come to know senator sessions professionally as a trusted colleague and personally as a good friend. i can vouch confidently for the fact that jeff sessions is a person of integrity, a principled leader and a dedicated public servant. as a senator, jeff sessions has worked across the aisle to lead important legislative reforms. he has worked with senator dick durbin to pass the fair sentencing act, a law that addressed the unfai

mr. chairman mr. chairman, you know, it's a shame there's a character assassination that is attempting to go on here. let me just say i've looked at the background of betsy devos. she started a third shift plant production worker in a retail clerk, could be the start for a lot of members of this committee. i look at things that she serves on, the library of congress board member, kennedy school of performing arts trustee, michigan council of arts and culture. geez, probable qualities would look for in any nominee of any present it. then i look at her memberships. the potter's house, education freedom fund, kids hope u.s.a., compass arts. all children matter, reliance for school choice, art prize of grand rapids, american federation for children inc., foundation for excellence in education. excellence in education in action. if this were any other nominee would be holding these up and saying these are great examples of an individual who is committed a lifetime, not because she had to, because she wanted

mr. chairman. and mr. mnuchin, thank you, and thank you for the conversation and my office -- >> thank you for meeting with me. >> and banking issues, and -- start with this. let's clear up one thing. banks are not your words, highly incented to do modifications for their borrowers. that's why we had a systemic breakdown, why so many families lost their homes and forced to pay billions of dollars in fines and remediation. i want to talk about your situation. i understand your defensiveness, both in individual meetings, mine and others, and in this committee about what happened at 1 west. let melee this out. in 2006, businessman donald trump responded to a question about the possibility of a real estate crash by saying, quote, i hope -- i sort of hope that happens, because then people like me would go in and buy, unquote. now, you didn't just buy properties. you bought the bank, you bought the ability to help families stay in their homes. that's not what you did. so my questions are these. you have been say

mr. chairman. just a quick -- i think the remarks were that we were looking to do this prospectively so there is no issue of looking at it as it relates to these nominees and that is unfair. i do think when you have very large holdings that can affect your judgment if you are in the that it is of importance to this committee, to the senate, to know that and use it as an additional judgment. so i've been totally favor. the reason the roles actually preview and asked the question are you willing to submit information must be because that is a etiquette to when it is a message to -- a necessity to ask for that. let me go to mr. tillerson. i will be concise but i do want to say a few things. after considering his nomination for secretary of state i will be casting my vote against him today. for the 11 years i have served on the senate for relation committee, i have taken the advice and consent of nominees seriously and while considering hundreds of nominations for both democratic and republican adminis

mr. chairman. all members of the committee, i want to thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today and engage and as the ranking member said about the discussion about the road ahead for our great nation, i want to thank senator isakson for his great introduction. am grateful for his friendship, kindness, and our state is blessed to have had his service and his leadership. i also wish to thank my wife, who has been with me for 33 years, and her love means more to me than i could ever say. over the past few weeks, i met with many of you individually and have gained a real appreciation for the passion you have for the department of health and human services. please know that i share that passion. that is why i'm here today and why i am honored to be the nominee for secretary of health and human services. we all come to public service in our own unique ways that in form who we are and why we serve. my professional calling was to first care for patients. that experience as a position -- as a p

mr. chairman. >> welcome, dr. hicks. >> thank you, chairman mccain, ranking member reed and members of the committee for the invitation to appear before you today, and thank you also for taking the time to consider civilian control of the armed forces as it pertains to the nomination of james mattis, u.s. marine corps retired as secretary of defense. the issue before you today regarding a possible exception to the limitation against appointment of persons within seven years relief from active duty as a regular commission officer is one that is called significant discussion within the national security community. we are blessed and the united states with a strong civil-military relations history. tensions do exist and we should never take for granted that sibling control of the military nor healthy civil-military relations more generally are a foregone conclusion for the republic. congress passage of the limitation of privacy commission officer silly as secretary of defense within 10 years of the ces

mr. chairman. first, mr. airman, i bring news from the intelligence community, the hearing of the new director for the cia, all the power went out and the pow went off. >> cyber hack. >> either the almighty or the architect of the capitol has a sense of humor. general mattis, one comment you made about fear, honor, are the bases of all wars, is now in my telephone, if it ever gets hacked, they'll find the quote along with that of lincoln and churchill. thank you for that thought. general mattis, you've been a warrior. this job, you need to move from being a warrior to a manager. two very different sets of skills and particularly the manager of the sprawling bureaucracy that the defense department has become, and as you know, we're constrained for resources. even if they're able to get rid of the budget control act, even if they're able to get rid of sequestration, it's still always going to be limits on resources. i hope that you will examine with a fresh set of eyes the administrative structure of not only th

mr. chairman. i rise today in strong support of the reins act. i would like to thank my colleague from georgia, mr. collins, for taking charge of his bill in the 115th congress and judiciary committee chairman goodlatte for quickly bringing to to the floor. this week and next the primary focus of debate here in the house is the strangle hold of regulation on the economy and its intrusion into the everyday lives of americans. these onerous burdens are well-known to members of congress on both sides. over the past several years, i have spent countless hours traveling across the nearly 6,600 square miles of my district. i have met with my constituents in their homes, in their workplaces and social halls. they have pleaded with me for release from the regulations that limit their ability to prosper, innovate and grow. unlike the nameless, faceless, ever-growing bureaucracy here in washington, we have listened to the people's concerns. we have made regulatory reform a priority and the focal point for ju

mr. chairman. >> mr. chairman, i've had a considerable amount of time with mike over the years and recently. i'm going to -- we're on a strong string here. i'm going to reserve my questions until we get to the closed portion of the hearing. thank you. >> senator feinstein. >> thanks very much, mr. chairman. i just want to begin by saying i really appreciate the private meeting we had an opportunity to have. for me it was a clarification. i do appreciate your apology. i take it with the sincerity with which you gave it. i want to ask one followup question to what the chairman asked, and that's dealing with those enhanced interrogation techniques. and that is that if you were ordered by the president to restart the cia's use of enhanced interrogation techniques that fall outside of the army field manual, would you comply? >> senator, absolutely not. moreover, i can't imagine that i would be asked that by the president-elect or then president. but to be very clear, i voted for the change that put the army fie

mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. congratulations and we all wish you success, but also ask for unanimous consent to add to the record the african-american chamber of commerce letter of support on behalf of dr. carson. >> without objection. >> dr. carson, thank you for being willing to serve and no question if you're confirmed her entire family will feel the impact of your service to this country. there's no doubt if there's a person in this country that is really no reason to offer yourself to public service after all you party down. you've done a fabulous job in a great example for many of us in many ways like senator menendez suggested, were very similar. i wish the type of conclusion you have however that there is so much potential inside the human heart and the human had, brain, to look for ways to expose the potential and allow for people to experience their full potential. that is such an important part of the equation and i believe, like you believe i think, the greatest thing we can do for folks has helped th

mr. chairman. >> mr. mnuchin, you know doubt are aware that one of the things as treasury secretary you will have to face is the multi-em employer pensi-- multi-employer pension funds that are in dire straights. these are ones that have become unstable and they are pension plans for people like truck drivers, carpenters and miners and the treasury secretary has the authority to temporarily or permanently reduce the pension benefits if the plan is projected to run out of money. there in therein, there are two bad outcomes, one it's running out of money and you are going to be faced with the problem of what to do about it. these are folks that are living on the edge. and a reduction of the pension is going to mean something that they have to go without. what do you think about this and how would you approach this heart-wrenching issue? >> i appreciate your concern, and we had an opportunity to talk a little bit about this when we met and i believe your office followed up and sent me some information on this

mr. chairman, mr. chairman, i hope that, about valium doesn't set the tone for the 2017 and this committee. i just, i like senator roberts but i just can't quite believe that he would say that to a distinguished senator from -- >> i set up to the president of united states wants. >> perhaps you did but i hope that doesn't set the tone for this session today. mr. chairman i -- >> i have -- [talking over each other] >> i have the time, please. >> this is outrageous. i don't know about outrageous but i think just a little pinprick of humor might help this committee from time to time, which i engage in. and i appreciate the gentleman scotcontribution with regard toe committee, and he's a good member of the committee. we worked together on the ethics committee, so i'm sorry if i have, you know, incurred your wrath, sir. so we'll be all right. okay, the pass-through -- >> mr. chairman, we have many colleagues waiting -- >> fine, i'm done. thank you. >> mr. mnuchin, we will take your statement at this point. >

mr. chairman: thank you, dr. price. senator murray? senator murray: i would like to put a letter from chairman alexander on the importance of a second round of questions on this nominee, and ask the consent to for the record, 25 lenders signed by organizations opposing congressman price's nomination to lead the department of health and human services, and have a petition signed by 500,000 people from across the country opposing this nomination and i asked to put it in record. mr. chairman: it will be. senator murray: recent reports about your investments in the australian biotech company raises some serious questions about your judgment, and i want to review the facts. you purchased stock in a therapeutic company working to develop new drugs on four separate -- occasions between january 2015 in august 2016 and you made the decision to purchase an opera, yes or no? dr. price: that was a decision i make, yes. senator murray: you are offered the opportunity to purchase stock at a lower price than the general public, yes or no? dr. price: t

mr. chairman. >> and the afghan -- the ama is sustaining -- unsustainable over a period of time losses. >> i need to review the actual figures and the recruitment, sir, but i believe that's correct. >> do you believe that we have a strategy that will allow us to regain control of raqqah? >> i believe we do, sir, however, i believe that strategy needs to be reviewed and perhaps energized on a more aggressive time line. >> it seems to me that some of the actions we're taking, 50 traps here, 200 there smacks of mission creek. is that -- do you think that there is some aspects of that? >> chairman, i am not current on this issue. if confirmed, i will get current very quickly. >> i just returned from a trip to the baltics, georgia, and ukraine. they are incredibly worried about our commitment to them, and one of the major priorities that the baltic countries have is a permanent u.s. military presence, not a base, but a permanent military presence in the baltics, do you agree with that? >> chairman, once

mr. chairman. mr. mnuchin, welcome. we haven't had a single year where the growth rate has exceeded 3%. a lot of the current administration describes that as the new normal. that's a reasonable expectation in terms of the growth rate in our economy? historically if you go back to world war ii, what is a reasonable growth rate? >> hang on. i'm just looking at some of my notes. the short answer is i've said publicly and i believe that we should be able to get to 3% to 4% sustained gdp. i think that that's absolutely important. i think that as a country, the most important issue we have is economic growth. that whatever issues we have, as republicans or democrats, i think we can agree that with more growth, it's a lot easier to solve these issues and we should all be focused on things that help grow the economy. in 1984, we had 7%. in 1998, we had 5%. in 2005 we had 3%. that was the last time we had appropriate growth rates. so i share the president-elect's concern of low growth. our number one priority from my standpoint

mr. chairman. first, mr. chairman i bring news from the intelligence committee we're at the opening hearing at the director of the cia, all the lights went out and the room went dark. >> a hack. >> general mattis one of the comments you made about fear, honor and interest are the bases of the -- if my phone gets hacked i thank you for that thought. general mattis you have been a warrior, this job, you need to move from being a warrior to a manager. two very different sets of skills, and particularly the manager of the sprawling brocur bureaubureau bureaucy. there's always going to be limits on resources. i hope that you will examine with a fresh set of eyes the administrative structure of not only the civilian side but the military side of the defense department in order to be able to find and free up resources for the modernization readiness, training all of those elements i just think this is going to be a very porn part of your job, i would like your thoughts on that. >> i agree, senator. 100% with this. i

mr. chairman. good to see you, senator sessions. you and i have worked together on a number of bills, including leading the international adoption simplification act which i believe made a difference to a lot of families in keeping their siblings together when they were adopted. you had some important provisions in the sex trafficking bill that we worked on last year, and we worked together on law enforcement issues, and i appreciate your respect and support you have from that community, and i also thank you for your work on drug courts. something we both share as former prosecutors and believe in the purpose of those courts. i wanted to lead, first, with another part of the justice department's jobs, and that's protecting civil rights and the right to vote. as county attorney i made -- and that people who were able to vote could vote and that people who shouldn't vote didn't vote. since the voting rights act became law more than 50 years ago, we have made progress, but i have been very concerned a

mr. chairman. >> thank you, vice chairman. members, once director clapper has been recognized and completes his testimony, it is the intention of the shared to recognize members based upon seniority for five-minute questions. there is no scheduled right now for 2:30. the intent of the chair to complete our questions and no concession by the conclusion of that vote and the intent of the chairman to then move to a closed session which would start after the 2:30 vote if they stayed for just that we will make an adjustment on the way. having said that, a reminder to all members that we are in no concession and that you should take that into account from the standpoint of the questions you ask and realized their unclassified and classified reports admit that, direct or clapper, the floor is yours. >> members of the committee, first commit thank you for the gracious comments on the essay should be our last hearing. there's still 10 days last. more importantly, the comments about the work and dedication and patriotism of the women an

mr. chairman and mrs. mcmahon and i than you for the time that you took to sit down with me and the other members of the committee. and thank you as well to senators blumenthal and murphy for being here today. so many times we are caught up in partisanship that we forget that there are many, many issues that we are passionate about that share a bipartisan nature. i want to thank them as well to be here to support you today and i know that many members of this committee love to work on things together, especially when it comes to regulatory reform, and tax reform and others. so i wanted to thank them for that. and now, we sat down in my office, and we talked about a number of issue, and os, and one issues that i brought up is a proskwekt aject that i have beeg on for the last years, and it is legislation to give business owners a stronger voice in the regulatory act, and it is called the prove it act. the legislation passed out of this committee last year, and worked hard with the folks at sba and the obama

mr. chairman. as we start out, i want to take a minute to express on behalf of the committee our condolences to the friends and loved ones of the victims of friday's horrific shooting at fort lauderdale's airport. and i want to thank the heroic work that was undertaken by the first responders and the law enforcement personnel in responding. and although the investigation remains on going, i expect all of us in the congress will continue exploring ways tote protect the traveling public in light of this tragic incident. and while we've made some progress in last year's faa bill to double the number of the viper teams, the dog teams and bolster the screening of airport workers, this tragic shooting serves as a reminder that our work to improve airport security remains a constant challenge. this year's faa reauthorization bill that we have to take up could be a good place to start if more needs to be done to prevent similar tradition from occurring. so mr. chairman, we're here today at a time when our

mr. chairman. thank you, mrs. devos. i welcome you here in thank you for being linked to take on this kind of project to appear before us. i enjoyed our meeting last month and i look forward to working with you as we consider her nomination and after that, you're going to be dealing with a great variety of states from high population to low population. i happen to come from the lowest population state. it has some special challenges in education, call of rural and frontier challenges. we don't allow a child to travel more than an hour by bus to her from school. as a result, we have some schools that have one or two students. a little different situation even envisioned with no child left behind. i'm glad we changed it to tss today. the federal government quality 2017 report that wyoming is ranked number seven out of the fifth estate, in the area of financing education. the states are going to send economic suffering because of the obama administration's war on coal and fossil fuel working families that support those indu

mr. chairman. >> look forward to it. >> senator casey. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. price, good to be with you again. >> thank you. >> i want to ask you a couple questions that center principally on children and individuals with disabilities. first with regard to children, i think if we're doing the right thing, as -- not only as government but as a society, if we're really about the business of justice, and if we're really about the business of growing the economy, we should invest a lot and spend a lot making sure every child has health care. the good news, despite a lot of years of not getting to that point, not moving in the right direction, the good news is, we made a lot of progress. the urban institute in an april 2016 report, i won't ask -- i won't ask the report to be made part of the record, but i'll read a line from this urban institute report. uninsurance among children 1997 to 2015 dated april 2016, says as follows on page 3, it said that the decline in children's uninsurance rate o

mr. chairman. mr. pompeo, think you first of all for your service to our country repeatedly in the army and congress, and now here in this new role. i know we are going to have a closed hearing later today, so the questions i'm about to ask you i ask that you answer based on open source information available to the general public, and also your understanding of the law of war is a graduate of west point and your service as an officer in the u.s. army. first of all, your understanding of the officer in a u.s. army, is military targeting of civilians a violation of the law of war? >> senator, intentional targeting of civilians is absolutely a violation of law of war. >> based on open sources and information available to the american public, in a conflict of aleppo, syria, have russian forces conducted repeated attacks against civilian targets? >> based on open source reporting it appears they have. >> do believe, based on your knowledge again acquired through open sources and your general knowledge of ge