this committee traces its origins to 1816, making it one of the first standing committees established by the senate. it is also one of the most powerful committees, and one of the largest. we are so grateful to the generous donors who helped make this evening possible. , independentca community bankers of america, , leonardoor america l , and mr. terry ehrman. thank you all so much for making tonight possible. we will begin the evening with the presentation of the colors and the pledge of allegiance. please rise. > >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. .> please be seated several distinguished guests have joined us this evening. senator that cochran, chairman of the cochran, chairman appropriations committee, senator patrick leahy, vice chairman of the committee, several current community in -- committee members, including barbara mikulski, former chairwoman of the comm ittee. and i saw suzanne collins. thank you for joining us. we also have sever

the committees on chair. -- committee's on chair. wn chair. they do not have the power to withhold in the house the petition or whatever matters were coming to them. when it came to more complex legislation they were -- they were not getting ruled by the floor. they neither were able to fully control their own workload and decide which things they would spend time on and which think they were not in order to bring them to the floor. they had actively asked for the ascent of the house to stop working on a subject that came to them. yes, and the data we do see these multiple referrals and coming back and being referred elsewhere. we also see early on the referrals to the executive branch, which i think one of the other presentations had in their slide. s overall it's rare. what we measure in our data initial petition assignment, which would be the best guess of the floor were that position -- where the petition belongs. it is something that keeps happening. >> i'm sorry. >> john, that's an excellent question. i would just say there is

chairwoman of the committee. senator suzanne collins. thank you for joining us. we also have several former staff directors, ask that you stand to be organized. jim english, charlie hoy, keith kennedy, terry lehrman, jim morhart, and frank sullivan. and our keynote speaker, dr. betty koed. >> [applause] we are so pleased that you could be part of our celebration. an important force on the senate appropriations committee for many years as a ranking member and a chairman. the senator passed away in 2012, but we remember his quiet demeanor and outstanding leadership. senator -- widow, irene, captured his esteem for this committee and his colleagues in a letter that we would like to share with you this evening. i invite charlie hoy to read the letter. >> [applause] >> the letter is dated june 28 17. dear friends, good evening and aloha. if this were a white, everyone would say back, aloha. i wish i could join you this evening as you come together to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the senate appropriations commi

the church committee had 133 staff and the benghazi committee had 146 staff. so this is not to say that the current staff aren't fabulous, but they're human beings. >> well, that's arguable. >> and you're looking at them behind us. >> so let me just sort of tell you what we've done. we've tried to find out what the tools are in the tool box of russia abroad and how they interfere with elections over there, how these tools have been applied here to come up with solutions to the 2018-2020 problem. so we've done that. we've had very good hearings. as to staff, quite frankly, if i feel like we need more we'll ask for more. here's my frustration. i can't imagine a major witness that congress would want that mueller wouldn't want. don junior, we saw the e-mail today. i think everybody in congress wants him to explain what was that all about? i don't know if mueller wants to find out what that was all about, but i would imagine he would be interested. you all have done this before very quickly. what would you advise us to do with people like kushner and don junior an

thank you for returning to our committee. i guess we treated you well enough the last time that you came back so soon. it is always a pleasure to have you here. this is an extremely important hearing, the review of the state department reauthorization bill for fy18 as well as the state department's reorganization plans. chairman corker has laid out what both of us feel very passionately about, and that is congress has a responsibility to authorize the programs at the state department and the senate foreign relations committee is the committee that needs to do that work. you will be watched with what the armed services committee does with the national defense authorization act, which is a very important bill, and we recognize that a lot of issues that should come through this committee we need to look at the nda bill in order to try to get a vehicle to get those issues into statue. we should have our own opportunity to do that, and under chairman corker's leadership we were able to get an important bill done in the last congre

each member of the committee? >> certainly. i would be delighted to. i started last week as the chairman mentioned, i had a conversation before the hearing last week with the chairman and the ranking member on this and i told them then and i will tell the members of committee know that is the first step in our consultation with you. this is the next step and we will make sure that you and all of the members of the committee are aware called forward of opportunities for us to solicit your input and also provide you updates on how we are proceeding. >> lastly, can you assure me that you will not begin implementation of this proposed plan until each member of the committee has been fully briefed on it sir? >> absolutely. >> thank you. >> senator coons. >> thank you chairman corker for holding this important hearing and for all of the work that you and your staff have done on this. i continue to believe it is very important for the committee to look to the process annually. i appreciate the improvements to the process. the bill includes three of my proposa

our resolution of inquiry on the judiciary committee forces the house committee on the judiciary to take up the systematic problems on this administration's conflicts of interest in collusion with russia. it is appalling, frankly, that the house judiciary committee has abdicated its duty to hold the trump administration accountable and refuse to even consider asking for answers on the trump ties to russia. the house judiciary committee should follow the example of republican leaders on the senate judiciary committee, who are taking action on the trump-russia matter. they know how essential it is to our democracy and the senate judiciary committee is holding hearings, has requested information. just as our senate counterparts are going to exercise oversight over donald trump jr.'s meeting with the russian government, mr. cicilline and i will be amending our resolution and sending a letter to chairman goodlatte to demand more information on donald trump jr.'s affairs. our committee must do its job, not only on donald trump jr., but also on jared kushner's participation and the settlement b

. >> deputy secretary of state, john sullivan testified before the senate foreign relations committee on the proposed reorganization of the state department. the plan is a part of trump's fiscal year 2018 budget proposal. the entire hearing is about 90 minutes. >> senator cornyn wanted to make sure that everyone had the opportunity to hear everyone's questions so in order to , at 5:30te that gladly we will recess and 15 minutes and come back at 5:45 so everyone can go over and vote and be back and hear what everyone else's question. we thank you for being here mr. secretary again. so promptly. we appreciate that you've made time to appear before this committee twice in a week's time passing an annual state department bill is one of the fundamental responsibilities of this committee. when we shirk that responsibility and decline to exercise our oversight we in essence surrender our authority and we fail to do the job our constituents sent us here to do. restoring is this annual practice was a top priority of mine when he became the chairman and i'm proud of the progress we made last ye

committees. as congressman woodall said we , are tackling these big challenges in spending. this is a change in culture. when we came here in 2010 we , wanted to and desired to change the culture here in washington and go after that mandatory spending. 2/3 of our spending. we have been unable to do that. this is an opportunity to change the culture here in washington. this is a budget that is the product of the entire conference and now is the time to put this , plan into action. thank you for being here. with that i'm happy to take some questions. guest: does this have the votes to get out of committee and onto the floor? how confident she would be about tax reform coming from this budget? ack: it will come out of our committee tomorrow and they go to the house floor. we have been working our members that are not part of our understand the vision that we committee to help them have in this building of a better america. i love the work that has been done by our committee on this. and we will be w

the very first cycle, designee of the rules committee to the budget committee. and we all sat around the room and we grappled with chairman paul ryan to try to rein in spending, to try to spur economic growth, and we produced an amazing document. and there's not as much gray hair in this room as there is on this stage, but if you remember this press conference our spirits were high, but we weren't able to get it across the finish line. what the chairwoman has done in this budget is the beginning of a culture change in this town. this happens to be the first budget press conference, you wouldn't know the difference. if you've been covering them for years, if you have been covering them for decades you had to be , in this room -- it would have been an entirely different building when president clinton in his first half of his first term came together to try to move the needle on spending. the over $200 billion in reconciliation instructions that are included in this budget say that nobody gets a free pass. that's less than 1% of mandatory spending across this coun

in the case of two thirds of a full committee, two thirds of the committee you don't have to worry that you are going to trip into it because one senator or congressman is an enthusiast. you have to have the full committee. it's going to be solved through. we planned what we did back in iran contra working in consultation with the independent counsel as we have every expectation he would work in consultation with. let's take out of the 26 witnesses that are immunized, the 24th are not all over north and john poindexter whose testimony we needed and have done by immunity in large measure, witnesses who are not prosecution targets were likely to face prosecution take the fifth because they don't want for the personal reasons to testify. they were loyal back then to the people on the national security side of the administration on iran contra and they will be loyal this time take for example people on the campaign staff of candidate trump. the only way i can say this is by taking the fifth, so i will take the fifth. there is a proper course for congress. the easiest thing for the witnesses

i'm happy to talk to the committee.other thing entirely to have it kind of sink in, to realize if donald trump, jr. and paul manafort testified in a public hearing, their words would be parsed. they would have -- the margin of error would be so slim that they could put themselves in real jeopardy legally and otherwise. >> there is a flip side here, though, that i think is important to point out which is the fact that when these hearings are in 3r50i67private, this with michael caputo who testified behind closed doors, and he actually complained after and said that he would have preferred for it to be out in the public. and the reason why -- >> the nonclassified stuff leaks. >> you can have different interpretations. congresswoman jacquie spire came out after the hearing suggesting that he may have lied before the committee. and caputo said i wish we had a transcript of this. i wish this was out in the public so my side could have been seen by the american people. we have obviously a different dynamic with paul manafort

to the budget committee. we all set at around the room and we grappled with kevin paul ryan to try to turn the tide on the economic outlook of the country to try to rein in spending come to try to spur economic growth and we produced an amazing document. and there's not as much greater in the ship as it is on the stage but if remember that press conference our spirits were high but were not able to get across the finish line. what the chairwoman has done in this budget is the beginning of a culture change in this town. it happens to be the first budget press coverage of ever covered you would not know the difference but if you been coming down for years come if you been coming in from decades, you had to be in this room, within this room come an entirely different building when president clinton in his first half of his first term came together to try to move the needle on spending. .. get the past beard no district gets a pass. we've come together and make the tough decisions. so often, madam chair, we have

i'd like to thank very much my colleague from both the rules committee and armed services committee. mr. byrne for his work on this bill. mr. speaker, i rise today to urge my colleagues to support both of these underlying bills. i want to speak particularly about the national defense authorization act. we're today living in a world where we face a more complex array of threats than at any time in the last 70 years. the obligation that we have to our men and women in uniform to make sure that we provide them with the resources that they need to defend this nation is a more solemn obligation than any other we have. there are many things that we were elected to do when we came to washington, and we have done many of those things in this congress. we have been a historically productive congress in the months we have been here. we passed repeal and replace of health care reform. for ssed our repeal bill dodd-frank. we begun our important work on immigration reform. regulatory reform to lift the burden of the massive overreach of the obama years. but there is nothing that we do that is mor

and i think it is the hope of the chairman and members of this committee that the authorizing committees as they fulfill and meet that target that the actual savings will be greater than 203 billion over ten. as everybody who's been around in the budget committee for a while understands, the authorizing committees have maximum flexibility in reaching those numbers. it is not in the purview of the budget committee, not within the pur you too the reconciliation instructions that we can provide a policy directive to the committees that they have to achieve a budgetary savings, deficit reduction savings by any particular policy approach. they have maximum flex ability to reach that number. you will notice in the instructions part of the budget resolution there is just a number for each of the 11 committees and that is to fulfill the requirements of the congressional budget act. they only call for a number. we also do, as i mentioned, we do a number of assumptions within a whole range of mandatory programs. we do make deficit reduction saves in medicare, additional savings from the house pass

senator bob corker chairs the senate foreign relations committee. [inaudible conversations] >> the senator wanted to make sure that everyone had the opportunity to hear everyone's questions and so in order to accommodate that gladly, at 530 we will recess for 15 minutes and come back at 5:45 pm so everyone can vote and be back so everyone can hear when everyone else is questioning. we thank you for being him as a secretary again. promptly, we appreciate your make time to appear before the committee twice now. this bill is one of the fundamental responsibilities of the committee. when we shared that responsibility and declined to exercise their oversight we in essence surrender our authority to the executive branch and other committees. we failed to do the job our constituents sent us here to do. restoring this annual practice is a top priority of mine when i became chairman. i'm proud of the significant process we -- progress that we have made. i would like to thank everyone on the committee for making that happen.however, because of previous inacti

then the committee has what they call a mark-up of the bill in which all of the members of the committee both parties are allowed to offer amendments and get votes on those amendments to the bill. and then that bill, final version of it, is voted out of the committee and then brought to the senate floor and then the majority leader calls for debate on the senate floor of the bill that came out of the committee and oont he n the senate floor, everyone gives their unanimous consent to debate the bill and it is debated on the senate floor and amended on the senate floor and there is a final bill on the senate floor. that is what regular order is. and what i just described usually takes about nine months. least on a complex health care legislation like this. that is what senators mean when they say regular order. when john mccain said last week it was time to return to regular order on health care legislation, that seemed to me would he vote against the bill that mitch mcconnell was dictate together senate from the top down. last week senator mccain said congress must now return to regular o

remains a top priority for this committee and congress. i've been encouraged to see federal agencies and stakeholders evaluating current laws and regulations. since the last humphries hawkins hearing in february, there have been numerous developments that will impact economic growth legislation. senator brown and i have solicited the public for economic growth proposals and more than 100 submissions from stakeholders have come in. they are listed on the committee's website for those who may be interested and we're working together now to put together legislation dealing with it. the committee has held numerous hearings focused on economic growth with financial companies and regulators. federal financial regulators issued their second report and the treasury department issued it first report on core principles of financial regulation. in addition, members on both sides of the aisle have expressed interest in finding ways to help our economy improve. support for bipartisan legislation promoting economic growth continues to build. particular

and i want to thank the house appropriations committee and the house armed services committee for bringing our conference together and all of the authorizing committees. as congressman woodal said we changes. ng these when we came here in 010, we wanted to and desired to change the culture here in washington and go after that mandatory spending. this is an opportunity to change the culture here in washington. this is a budget and now is the time to put this plan into action. thank you for being here and i'm happy to take some questions. reporter: this have the votes and how much is it? mrs. black: this budget will come out of our committee tomorrow and a budget will go to the house floor. we have been working our members that are not part of our committees to understand the vision that we have in this building better america. i love the work that has been done by our committee on this. and we will be working on all of the members and makeing sure they understand the significance, which is a vision of the future of this country. reporter: any conversations with your counterparts, senator en

we couldn't -- as a member of the judiciary committee, or member of the intelligence committee, we couldn't even see the memos. so this looms big in my mind. so i would appreciate it if you could answer the question. >> thank you, senator feinstein. i recognize and respect how important an issue this is. first let me say my view is that torture is wrong, it's unacceptable, it's illegal and i think it's ineffective. second, let me say that -- i'm sorry. >> good beginning. >> exactly. second, both of my predecessors, director comey and director mueller, had a policy which i think is the right policy and i would expect to continue that the fbi is going to play no part in the use of any techniques of that sort. third, i would say that when i was assistant attorney general for the criminal division, one of the things that i think we did that i was most proud of was that we investigated and in one particular case i can remember successfully prosecuted a cia contractor who had gone overboard and abused a detainee that he was interrogating. this was not in iraq but it was an afghan detainee. and th

the function of the committee is vital. woodrow wilson once said the investigative function of congress is to be preferred even to its legislative function. the supreme court held the scope of the power and the kerry as it is penetrating and far-reaching as a potential power to enact and appropriate under the constitution. from senator truman's investigation of the defense contractors to the mccarthy hearings to the watergate hearings and the senate investigative function has always been important even if sometimes imperfect. we have been prosecutors, we respect the prosecuted function and wish to eliminate boundaries that allow criminal investigations in the executive branch and congressional investigations and the legislative branch to proceed in parallel without harm to either. we are pleased to have experts in the area to help shed the light on their study in the periods. one particular issue is the still undisclosed tax returns of donald trump and the separate means for criminal investigations and congressional investi

obviously, this is a big committee with diverse members. first of all, i want to correct, the ranking member i think you talked about an $18 billion increase on defense over what president trump promised. i think it's a $28 billion increase over what president trump requested, which is frustrating. like i said, it's a compromised document. i think president trump tried to propose a very fiscally responsible budget in which he tried to hold discretionary spending even. there were increases in this document on nondefense of almost $50 billion, and i just mentioned the $28 billion increase in defense, which makes it a very difficult budget to vote for. though, i understand this is a compromised budget. this is not the last step on the process. there is going to be a floor vote on this budget. there is going to be appropriation bills coming out, and we're going to eventually see whether those appropriation bills appropriate to the max or somewhat less than the max. but i'd like to thank the chairman for having so many committee meetings. i thin

the budget committee. we grappled with chairman paul ryan to try to turn the tide on the economic outlook of the country to try to rein spending, to try to spur economic growth. and we produced an amazing document. if you remember that press conference, our spirits were high, but we weren't able to get it across the finish line. what the chairwoman has done in this budget is the beginning of a culture change in this town. if this happens to be the first budget press conference you've covered, you won't know the difference. if you've been covering them for years, you had to be in this room when president clinton in his first half of his first term came together to try to move the needle on spending. the over $200 billion in reconciliation instructions included in this budget say that nobody gets a free pass. that's less than 1% of mandatory spending across this country over the next ten years, just to put it in perspective. but nobody gets a pass, america deserves an accountable government and we will go an

so welcome to the committee. you may proceed. >> thank you, very much, chairman grassly and senator feinstein and my former colleague senator hatch and senator leahy and other members of the judiciary committee. it's a great honor to appear before this committee today for the purpose of introducing christopher wray. the president's nominee to be the director of the federal bureau of investigation. history does seem to rhyme. in 1977, i introduced judge griffin bell to this committee recommending him to be confirmed as attorney general. like today, it was a challenging time for the department of justice as well as for the fbi. i described judge bell then as a man noted for his quick mind, his candor, his integrity and his independence. years later in may 2003, judge bell contacted me. i was out of the senate at that stage. praising chris wray as a rising star. he suggested that i recommend him to my former senate colleagues as a terrific choice to be confirmed to head the criminal division of the department of jus

he's testifying before the intelligence committee, the committee probing russian 2016 ference in the election, testimony happening behind closed doors, we won't be questions and answers from that, he's expected o appear behind closed doors with the house intelligence committee later this week. phones, show en what you is on the president's mind right now. just a few minutes ago, a couple tweets this morning. republicans have a last chance to do the right thing on years of lace after talking and campaigning. here is what the president said minutes ago. 18 minutes ago, the shift, totally biassed congressman look intoing russia spends his time on television pushing the loss excuse that is congressman schiff of california, ranking member on intelligence committee. the president clearly watching some of his remarks this morning. taking your calls. phone lines are yours. new jersey, county, line for democrats, you are up first. go ahead. much.r: thank you so i was calling regarding the civil forfeiture. i just want to make a comment or everyone to think about, that mitch mcconnell, the the

second, whatever information you, senator coons, or this committee needs you will get. that's my promise to you. >> thank you, mr. secretary. thank you, mr. chairman, for your indulgence. >> we will stand in recess for 15 minutes. we will reconvene at 5:49. you are welcome to our great coffee back there or sitting and talking to others, but thank you. >>> recess will end and we'll stand in hearing again. i'll move to senator portman. thank you for being here, sir. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary sullivan, you know how i feel about you. i appreciate the proactive approach you took on getting ot ot otto warmbier home. i appreciate you coming to his funeral. i know the reorganization was a topic of discussion and i want to talk to you about that as it relates to the global engagement center. as you know it is something i feel strongly about. in 2017 as a senate and house in the national defense authorization act asked the global engagement center to take on additional responsibilities, specifically with regard toinformation coming from countries intended to destabili

are not the ways and means committee. i would get a phone call, the chairman and market a phone ca call. we give them a number they've got to be deficit reduction and it's up to them to decide the policies. >> thank you for your responses to. >> mr. vice chair is recognized. >> i think the chair and the staff as well. we do provide a deficit of major gold reserve fund and the budget enforcement section is there simply to give congress and house flexibility. so it's not a proposal for 2997. >> it is a mechanism were scoring. it produced a cost estimate on hr 2997. for the record, i mentioned this concept or the budgetary aspect of the concept that was provided for lester's budget as well. on page three of the cost estimate, it concludes that the fact spending will increase by $90.7 million. it's creating a net deficit over the window of 20.70 billion. it's 20.7 billion minutes over ten years, do you agree? the cbo's determination is the new mandatory spending will occur and the committee is involved in making a reduction a

and all the mens of the committee and the staff -- members of the committee and the staff. this is a bill we've passed for 55 straight years. t.s.a. long and complicated bill -- it is a long and complicated bill that sets the defense and national security policy for our country. and there is a lot of good work that has gone into this bill. again, i thank the members for doing that. they recognize the complex threat environment that the chairman correctly described. and we are attempting to address it as best we can in this very difficult environment. i think the thing that is most difficult, that i really want to emphasize, is what the chairman said in the middle of his remarks. that over the past six years, we have had one government shutdown, a number of continuing resolutions, several threatened government shutdowns, and the unpredictability that that has presented to the defense department. now, to be clear, it has also presented the same amount of unpredictability to the nondefense discretionary budget, that also has to deal with those challenges. but that uncertainty

in fact, i think this committee should have the same kind of the process that the armed services committee has where we do an authorization every year. it's debated. he goes to the floor and there's an understanding that it's going to be part of what we do annually. because i think what we need to do is to elevate the role of diplomacy and the state department, and having that kind of the process does that. so i'm told an agreement with you on that and we are just disagree about time. >> that's fine. i moved to senator markey by saying each year there seems to always come in issue, and i really appreciate both of you actually. i think last year on the floor the two of you were actually somewhat resistant for different reasons. i appreciate you building out at allowing us to continue to bill out. i should with the cheesy and senator cardin. i don't come at this with any -- i share with you and senator cardin. i can make this with what you just said exactly. i want this committee to determine the policies that take place at tate department and usaid. it's more important for me to meet each y

in fact, i think this committee should have the same kind of process that the armed services committee has where we do and authorization every year. it is debated, it goes to the floor, there is an understanding it will be part of what we do annually. i think we need to elevate the role of diplomacy in the state department. having that kind of a process does that. i am totally in agreement on that and we're just disagreeing about timing. >> that is fine. each year there seems to always come an issue and i really appreciate both of you, i think last year on the floor the two of you were actually somewhat resistant for different reasons. i appreciate you allowing us to continue to build out. i have shared with each of you and senator cardin, i do not come into this with any ideology. i comment this because i want this committee to determine the policies that they have in place at the state department and usaid. it is more important to me that each year we build that out so that we continue to build it out in whatever direction. i do not know how stopping it this year benefits us, but i a

that's why the watergate committee was established. ms. stahl: sirica was squeezing the burglars and then the next layer and the next layer, and he cut saying, you have to tell me about the higher-ups. you keep talking about sam dash organizing hearings in a way that told a story, but was the purpose the same as the purpose to squeeze your witnesses? in other words, did you always have the president in mind and were you always pointing in that direction? mr. hamilton: no, when we started, we did not think this thing was going to go very high. i think quite frankly, we were all astounded as the evidence started coming in, particularly as we started talking to john. it snowballed quickly and at least in my mind got to be a much bigger thing than we anticipated. ms. stahl: from john dean on, everything pointed -- this was little known. in fact, i did not know about it until three days ago. senator weicker lived directly across the street from john dean. did any of you know that? he kept this a secret. tell us about that. i think you told me t

welcome to the finance committee. we appreciate the willingness to adhere today and we also appreciate the willingness to serve in this capacity. i'm sure the significance of this position at this crucial time is not lost on you. it's not lost on any member of the committee. it's a major focus of the committee for some time now and we agreed to have you here to discuss your thoughts on these matters. on a number of occasions i stated the presidential leadership would be a key component to any successful tax reform effort. just last week i quoted president obama at a speech on the senate floor back in 2012 he said things like the current corporate tax system is outdated, unfair and inefficient. the problem was he never got around to leading out of the tax reform and i expect more on tax reform. that expectation comes in large part because of knowing him and the way that he approaches these things are the. i have to say also because he and secretary have been talking about it so much that's more than that they've engage

it is upon that this committee and other committees are able to receive testimony and briefings and other communications and information. so i'm going to ask you the standard questions we ask every nominee before this committee. you adhered to -- >> yes. >> will you ensure your stuff complies to requests for communications including questions for the record and hearings question marks >> i will. >> will you cooperate in providing witnesses and briefers in response to congressional's request? >> i will. >> will those witnesses be protected from reprisal? >> they will. >> do agree to appear to testify before the committee on request? >> i do. >> do agree to provide documents, including documents in a timely fashion regarding suchasis and providing documents? >> i do. except you assumed any duties or undertaken any actions which would appear to presume the outcome of the confirmation process? >> i have not. >> thank you. navyext secretary of the will receive this role during a time of immense importance for united states seapower. i note the residents of one of distinguished members and a de

we are not the ways and means committee, believe me if i try to tell the committee what ways and means would do, i would get a phone call. the chairman would get a phone call from the speaker's office and that is not what we do. so we do not sort of predict or proscribe to the ways and means it's purely up to them to decide the policies. >> thank you very much. and chairman black, mr. may and the staff, thank you very much for your responses and we have no further questions. >> we'd be glad to answer any others -- >> the gentleman yields back. vice chair is recognized. >> i thank the chairman and the staff as well. it's a pleasure to continue working with you. you do great work. i have a series of questions related to a specific area of the budget and please don't take the questions as a comment on your work, but just i do want to make a recommend. -- make a record. mr. may, you're familiar with hr 2997 the 21st century innovation and reform authorization act. >> yes, we are. >> we take that concept in this budget -- >> we do not accept that concept at all. any of our numbers. so we do

committee could do. for example, in answer to your question how does waiting benefit? if we were actually having legislation that was creating certain parts of the state department in a mandatory form i would say it does not go to our benefit to way. but when we create permissiveness across the board the second complicatingfactor is that the reorganization taking place by the secretary is such a permissive nature and might be seen as giving in and ok. that what you ended up doing is ok. for some of us, some of the things rather intended or not -- and i accept that you are engaged far more, but i know that i be director mulvaney has a different view than the secretary. he may be pushing that viewfrom an administration point of view. it may not even be thesecretary at the end of the day. the point being when we give itthat sense i do not want to be responsible for things i really have a problem with. the last point is the question of it will be far more difficult, in my view, having sat where you have sat

what will the committee do then? dianne be feinstein addressed this moments ago. >> we can hold him in contempt, and that's a more complicated process. i hope that's not the case. i think he said that he would testify in public, and i think this is important for him to do so. i think it's important that members of the committee have an opportunity to see him. he's a very complicated figure, and there is a lot of material there, and a lot of questions that he raises. >> now, i talked to feinstein after she talked to our colleague there and told me specifically they are having discussions with manafort's camp, the senate judiciary committee is, to try to see if they can reach accomodation before any showdown tomorrow. don't know whether or not they'd r be successful but cut a deal last week. thought they had a deal. it fell apart. that why they issued a subpoena. the question whether or not paul manafort and the judiciary committee can get back on the same page. uncertain right now, wolf. >> and amazing what'ses going

sub committee will come to order. welcome to the ways and means sub committee on tax policy our hearing on how tax reform will simplify our broken tax code and help families. i'd like to yield to the chairman of the ways and means committee congressman brady to introduce a distinguished witness who's before us today. >> thank you for your leadership of the tax policy. the sub committee is such a important time in america's history. thank you for leading hearings like this that allow america to have the conversation about creating a bolder, fairer, flatter and pro growth tax code. i want to thank all our witnesses for being here today. i want to give a special welcome to our friend chairman bill archer, former leader of this committee and a long-time mentor to me personally. chairman archer thank you for being here to share your insights and experience on tax reform. i know everyone on our committee is familiar with chairman archer but i'd like to talk about him and his legacy. he's served on the committee for 28 years

of that committee. it outlined in specific the horrific abuses of detainees as well as the flimsy -- mr. wray was associate attorney general at the justice department when the office of legal council issued the torture memos in 2002 and 2003. one of the authors of these memos, john yu testified that olc would not have issued such opinions without the approval of the office of the attorney general or the office of deputy attorney general. in fact, in his testimony, john yu, mr. wray of olc memos so this raises the question of what exactly was mr. wray's role in reviewing and approving these memos and i'd like mr. wray to clear this up this morning. i've had an opportunity to talk with him. i think this should go on the record, and i think that he should respond directly to the full committee. i am also concerned by reports that mr. ray was alerted early on to the abuse of detainees at the abu ghraib prison in iraq. i would like to know more about what the nominee knew and when and what he did in response

lasting five weeks in the health committee, healthar education labor and pensions committee. we had the second longest committee hearing and markup in finance eight years earlier. the longest in history. again, the senate leadership recently said no no exposure in the finance committee, zero days in the finance committee, zero days in the health committee zero months for the senators to go back and talk to their citizens and talk to their health care stakeholders about what this bill would mean and you know that something is wrong when you have a process that has diverged so dramatically from we the people. instead, the secret 13 on the zero days of committee examination and the zero days of finance committee and the zero months to be able to consult with healthcare experts and stakeholders and most portly, zero months we will hold a dialogue with the citizens back home. home but, on. we did hear from citizens at ho home, as much of the effort was to hold them at bay and give them the stiff arm, prevent them from weighing in and they weighed in, nonetheless. my office receive

chairman, the motto of our appropriationses committee is this -- appropriations committee is this, a vision without funding is a hallucination. we've got a visionary leader in our chairman, but we've got to provide the funding to make the dreams that we have come true. that's what appropriations does. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: mr. chairman, i am very pleased to yield six minutes to the gentlelady from ohio, ms. kaptur. the chair: the gentlelady from ohio is recognized for six minutes. ms. kaptur: thank you so very much. i wanted to thank ranking member lowey for the time and also thank chairman frelinghuysen on his maiden voyage. not his first voyage, but his first as chair of the full committee. and the members of our fine subcommittee, and especially the staff. i want to thank chairman simpson for his fine leadership and i value the hard work you put into this bill and your attitude throughout the whole process. i want to thank our staff

the senate arms services committee hearing ran about two hours. >>> the services committee meets today to dollar the nomination of mr. richard v. spencer to be secretary of the navy. to begin, i would like to acknowledge the tragedy in mississippi yesterday, the 16 service members who lost their lives in a crash of a marine corps kc-130 from cherry point, north carolina, reminds us that the brave men and women put themselves in harm's way every day at home and abroad in training and in combat in service to our nation. we're all keeping their families in our hearts and prayers. mr. spencer, we thank you for joining us this morning. we also welcome your family and friends with us today as is our tradition at the beginning of your testimony, we invite you to introduce those who are joining you. it's standard for this committee to ask certain questions in order to exercise its legislative and oversight responsibilities. it's important that this committee and other appropriate committees of the congress be able to receive testimony, briefings and other communications of information. so i'm